Approaching Infinity News

Greetings! I've taken the past 3 days off for Christmas, but I'm back to work a day early.

I woke up to a message from a player who was having trouble with keyboard input: It was way too fast! This is rare, but it does happen. I could slow it down for everyone, but that's not fair to a lot of people. So I made it an option.

And since the options menu already needed some work, I decided to tackle the whole thing. It looks pretty similar, but along with a few additions, you should notice some much-needed visual feedback.



It now tells you what the current setting is for anything that has settings.



Auto-Scan Planets
This new option allows you to automatically scan un-scanned planets the first time you move over them, or all planets every time you go there, or not at all. It's a convenience feature.

Key Repeat
This is the input speed control. It affects how long you have to hold a movement key down before it starts to repeat. From very slow to very fast, you should be able to find a speed that suits your system. If it doesn't get slow enough (or fast enough) let me know ;)

Text Animation
This feature is there for those who just want the information and are tired of waiting even a second for it. If you turn this off, then all scans and hails will immediately show the final full-text state, with no waiting.


That's it for now, but I might still have one more update in me before the year is over... and keep those map editor submissions coming, I like what I'm seeing!

A few months ago, I asked David (Gervais, AI's artist) for some "new dirt tiles", and he ended up giving me over 300 beautiful new terrain images that eventually set in motion a complete remodel of planet surfaces.

Last week, he asked me if there was a level editor so he could "make some ships". I said there wasn't, but I'd make him one. I did...so...

[h3]You get a level editor, and you get a level editor, and you get a level editor, and YOU GET A LEVEL EDITOR![/h3]

Approaching Infinity 1.6e3 comes with a built-in level editor where you can design not only shipwrecks, but also caves, planets, and sectors!






What David made opens up some very interesting...







What do these ships (shapes) remind you of?



Could it be...



The playable ships?!

Yes! This just screams "bones files": finding the remains of previous runs in your current game. Maybe you didn't die for nothing, and you can come back later and loot your own space-corpse (yes, I feel weird saying that).


OK, but once you've played a predesigned level, won't you know what to expect?

Nope.

AI already uses a few pre-designed levels (not many, but certainly the one that looks like a giant "AI", yes, I made that a long time ago).


But to keep it fresh, Approaching Infinity makes...





The game occasionally takes something that's already made, wipes it clean, and gives you entirely new content.

This is also useful in that, if you want to make a cool shipwreck or planet, but want to leave it without specific monsters or treasures, you absolutely can, and AI will add whatever is appropriate to the player's level and location.

That's right, Approaching Infinity will populate your levels for you. Let's take this cruiser that David designed, and see what happens:



It adds different enemies, set dressing, loot, even additional force-fields, traps, and damaged areas. It almost always adds lots of commodities to the big open space in the middle, but everything else is pretty unpredictable ;)





No.

Not yet.

The editor comes with a built-in "submit" function that uploads your map to a database where I can look through what has been created and add to one of the periodic updates. Your steam name gets appended to the file name so you'll get credit for it.

What about Steam Workshop?

Maybe someday. I don't have the integration for that right now. Approaching Infinity has a huge potential for modding, in addition to creating levels, so that can be addressed in the future. For now there is still so much content waiting to be added.

So for now, upload it:




There are a few other limitations, too:

• You must be logged into Steam to use the level editor
  
• You need to have reached sector 5 in the game
  
• You can only upload 1 level every 2 minutes
  
• That's it. Go nuts!
  

[h3]What else?[/h3]


Feature-wise, there is one new addition to the game, partly inspired by my own over-use of nuclear weapons in the game, and the subsequent infamy boost that creates. But the motivation to actually do something about it comes from a Discord user trying to start a particular alien quest line.




Having too much Infamy will slowly but surely erode your reputation with certain races, and until now, there hasn't been any way to counteract this...

Monks, Limoquee, and Unifier embassies will now offer a paid service to remove 20% of your infamy. Each race calls it something different, but it has the same effect.



The more total infamy you have, the more it will cost. There's also a fairly long cool-down after using the service, to prevent abuse by criminals. In that picture, I'm in sector 2487, with nearly a billion credits. It won't be that expensive for you. Probably.

OOh, what about special services from other races? Yep, they're coming. It is already planned to have Tentaculons and Vordalene offer a "Skill Re-Spec" service for your officers. What else can you think of?


That's it for now. Activated officer cool-down skills are coming in early 2021.


So Happy Holidays! Stay safe! I look forward to seeing what you create

There's still a little more work to be done before I present you (haha) with your holiday gift, so for now, here's something for anyone who's on the fence, and those who want to send a copy to their friends:





But here's something now:

Rescue Codes:

• 12/22 : omS3b3^H
  
• 12/23 : goq3efA4
  
• 12/24 : L!5f3pLS
  
• 12/25 : umbZnhh0
  
• 12/26 : Xmzi0iaY
  
• 12/27 : m^y3MZHH
  
• 12/28 : EoPiPiLn
  
• 12/29 : 3^sfgpc^
  
• 12/30 : imLZah7o
  
• 12/31 : EoHiBPWK
  

AI has a system that allows you to enter one code per day to receive something special: items, currency, or a shield and oxygen recharge. You can find yourself codes on special well-guarded planets in the game.

These are the life-saving kind of codes, and they can really get you out of some tight spots.

I recently added the ability to cut-and-paste codes (copy them here and control+v them into the code area), to make it as easy as possible. There's also a thread devoted to sharing these codes among players.


Now is the perfect time to take advantage of all the awesome improvements that have come to Approaching Infinity over its
[h3]5 months on Steam:[/h3]

• Tactical Zoom Mode
• New Away-Team Death Method
• Grenades
• 22 Weapon Damage Types
• Planetary Terrain Overhaul
• Fire, Gas, and Nano-Swarms
• Planet Scanning
• Hailing Aliens
• And countless:
  Fixes
  Balances
  Player feature requests fulfilled!

So much more is planned for 2021 and beyond, and I look forward to sharing it with you. Happy Holidays, and you should be getting your Approaching Infinity present on Wednesday the 23rd!

[h3]I'm working on your gift, but it's a surprise, OK?[/h3]


I think we'll have a little party on Wednesday, does that work for you? But yes, there was an update on Friday. Here's what happened:

• Different Narcratu ship types will now appear more reliably. Look out.
  
• If you damage a shipwreck and get trapped, save and re-load the game. A new function should help you get back to the shuttle.
  
• There was a bug when installing the excavator device after you're already on a planet, it wouldn't register. It does now.
  
• I limited late-game officer-level-up warnings. If you don't know what I mean, then don't worry about it ;)
  
• I made a lot of preparations for that holiday gift I mentioned...
  

That's it. I'm going to get back to work, and I'm also looking forward to taking a little more time off.



Have a good weekend!







Although,






you know,




I *could* use a few people's help...




"Apply" below and I'll contact you Sunday 12/20/2020



THANKS!

[h2] ^ Introducing Tactical Zoom Mode ^ [/h2]


Get further into the game with the push of a button!

See everything at twice its previous size.

Press [Backspace] , roll your mouse-wheel , or click the new magnifying-glass icon.

And the "map legend" turns into a mini-map, so you'll always know where you are:



[h3]
(If you're still wondering, that was the secret feature!)
[/h3]





[h3]Watch your away team die in real time![/h3]


No more cheating the system :D

When the landing party's health drops below 40%, someone dies immediately. But if the away team survives that encounter, they can rest for a few turns and heal back to their (now lower) full HP.

Field medic, ship's surgeon, self sealing suits, and other previous means of healing have been adapted to work with this new method.

And not only that, but there is also a quick melee attack animation, showing which monster is hitting you (or which one you're striking). It's a great piece of simple visual feedback that players have enjoyed in the beta.


[h3]Empty Slot Listing[/h3]

Now, when your ship can have an extra weapon or shield, or if you haven't fully equipped your away team, you'll get visual feedback about it. It says "Empty Slot", and tells you what should go there.

It even works for officers:




[h3]Terrain Affects Movement Speed[/h3]
Makes sense...

This is mostly important in tactical situations, because speed is a measure of how long your actions take, versus that of other beings in the world. If you're "slower", then another entity might get to make an extra move. If you're particularly fast, you might get to hit twice for every time a certain big slow creature hits you.

Walking on water and mountains (which require special skills or equipment) incur the biggest speed penalties. You can find this information by tool-tipping or using the Peer/Look command. If it doesn't list an affect on speed, then there isn't one.

[h3]Hypno-Flowers[/h3]
There's a new life-form out there, and all it wants is to be admired.



Your crew has no defense against it: They just can't help stopping to stare at the wonderful pulsing colors...

Of course the other creatures on the planet just don't appreciate beauty like you do, and they have no trouble ignoring the flowers and taking a bite out of your away team.


[h3]Melee weapons have damage types[/h3]
From now on, all melee weapons you find, buy, or craft will use the game's damage types. Knives do piercing, swords do slashing, hammers do crushing, and eviscerators do hybrid damage, which is very hard to resist. Your old weapons won't obey these rules, but you'll find something better ;)



[h3]More![/h3]

You can look through the other news items from the recent beta to see what other changes have been made...or you can just try it for yourself!