Approaching Infinity News

It's been an exciting week of development for Approaching Infinity:



...or this...




There's other fun stuff too, like a free strike-back with any eviscerator melee weapon, updates to whitespace (what's that?), and more!



Please note this is in the Beta Branch. Anyone can join to try this out, there's no password. It won't break your saves, and you can always go back.

And here's a first pass at an update to the help menu, which has not been released yet:



I think a lot of this speaks for itself, so I'm going to leave it to that.

Have a good weekend!


PS: The answer to last week's question was "Gas Giants"...

PPS: If you'd like to learn more about how I created the alien languages in Approaching Infinity, you can read about it here.

...are you threatening me?


These features have been in the beta branch for a while now, and they're ready to roll out to the masses! If you haven't played them yet, here's what you can expect:

[h2]Multiple Games:[/h2]
(This one is simple)

You now have the option of starting a new game even if you're already having a good run. So if you unlocked a new ship or character class and want to try them out without messing up your existing game, now you can!



This feature is designed not to interfere with or break existing saves. Enjoy!


[h2]Hails:[/h2]
(This is the big one)

One of the biggest requests I get about Approaching Infinity is for more information about all the alien races: Who are they, what do they want, how can I get them to like me, etc. Well this right here is going to go a long way towards giving you that information:



You can now get a message from any ship within visual range.
They might:

• Give simple introductions
  
• Insult you (or compliment you!) (based on your relations with them)
  
• Say what they think of other races in the system
  
• Offer you some supplies if you're running low
  
• Give you little bits of trivia about themselves
  
• Reveal undiscovered locations in the sector
  
• Even let you surrender (stop a fight before you die), or surrender to you!
  

Each ship will (usually) only give you one message, and it's currently dependent on the situation, but random. Sometimes if you're fighting a ship, they won't answer until there's a clear winner.

Letting someone surrender to you almost always improves your reputation with that race (although some races see surrender as a weakness, and you will lose respect with them).

There is still room for this feature to grow, but it is pretty robust and stable right now. One thing it doesn't do yet, and that I would like to develop, is giving you quests:

Maybe their ship is stranded and they need your help repairing it. Maybe they forgot something on a distant planet. Maybe they can't dock at the local space station, and need you to pick them up something... Who knows? What do you think?!

Here's a short video where I outline the new features:
https://youtu.be/UGjsMOMf9CU


What's next? Well, do you remember this?


[h3]Planet scanning is coming back.[/h3]

It is my goal to get planet scanning working properly *this weekend*! When it was introduced, people loved it, but there were a few problems, such as, it broke several quest types.

But I have a new approach in mind, and a good chunk of time to try it. You'll be able to get information about a planet before you ever set foot on it. You'll be able to plan and take the right equipment, as well as stay away if there's nothing there you want, or if it seems too challenging.

And that might just be the last big new feature of this phase.

What?!

Well, that means it's time to move onto to something that will be GAME-CHANGING, pun intended.

• Can you run faster if the gravity is low?
  
• If you get an oxygen leak in your suit on a planet with a methane atmosphere, will you burst into flames?
  
• Is there such a thing as fire, and does it spread?
  
• Can my Officers have activated skills that have cooldowns?!
  
• Will cryo-weapons freeze liquids on planets?
  
• Can I use a tractor beam to pull an enemy ship into a black hole?
  

YES!

"What about the roadmap, Bob?"

Good question! Next on the roadmap is "rebalancing", and that means 2 different things.
The first part is actually called "Pacing" and it means how quickly new players are introduced to different game and story elements. That needs some work for sure, but there has also been a lot of progress on that front.

The other meaning is to literally re-balance ships, monsters, away team gear, officer skills, devices, pretty much *all the numbers*.

And to go through that process, and then try to tackle adding new powers and interactions, it's just going to have to be re-balanced *again*, and I'm just not into that!

So deeper interactions are coming sooner :)

For now, enjoy talking to aliens.









PS: what's 82% hydrogen, 15% Helium, and coming to AI?

Approaching Infinity has always been a game where you play until you die and then start a new game. OK, that's fine. But what if it wasn't?

What happens when you unlock a new ship or character class and want to start with those? Either you abandon the current game, wait it out, or go for a quick win. All fine, but what if you didn't have to?

[h3]
Introducing Multiple Concurrent Games![/h3]



You can now run up to 9 individual games at once!

This does not mean you can have 9 copies of the same game saved in different slots... I'm not supporting that kind of behavior in a rogue-like at this time. (But I won't try to stop you from copying your saves in the local file system either...)

This is all happening in the Beta branch which anyone can join. Let me know if you have any problems.

I even designed the new system to incorporate your old save into the new format, so that you won't lose your current game. I really don't like breaking your saves :)

There are also some other little features and upgrades in this one, but I won't go into detail here.


[h3]What about "Hails"?[/h3]

Oh, yeah, that's still a thing... talking to alien ships is pretty important in a space game!



There haven't been any big problems with the hailing feature, and there's been a lot of positive feedback on it, so you can expect that to come to the main branch this Friday!

Communicating with aliens in Approaching Infinity has always been more of an abstracted thing than a direct conversation.

But that's about to change!





Last week I hinted about a new feature that could serve many purposes. Well, this is it!

Press [H] (re-bindable) when you are near an alien to get a message from that ship. There are lots of possible outcomes:

• They might just say hello, or hint at what they think of you.
  
• They could ignore you (especially if you're fighting them).
  
• They might offer to resupply you if you're running low.
  
• They can let you know about undiscovered planets in the area.
  
• They might say how they feel about other races in the sector.
  
• They can even offer to surrender, or allow you to surrender...
  

Many of these interactions will improve relations with that race. They can also provide important insights into the psychology of these aliens, as well as let you know who their friends and enemies are.

You might discover that the Space Pirates and the Gruff don't get along. (Or you might already know that, if you've seen their ships fighting). Then you might understand why, if you're friends with both races, your relations start to decline with both, until you pick a side.

I made this video last week, when the "Hailing" feature was just getting started, but I didn't announce it. The function has progressed a lot since then, but it might still be worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXjzEOCkqrc

If you haven't already, you can opt into (or out of) the beta branch at any time from within steam, under settings>betas. It's called "betafromnowon", and it won't break your saves.

[h3]There is still a lot of untapped potential for the "Hailing" feature, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Please check it out![/h3]

If you need further incentive, check out this new type of sector that's available: every race you've met so far will have a space station present in the new "Diplomacy Sector":

I know some of you have already been following these new features with great anticipation, and so you've already read most of this, but I'm going to lay it all out here anyway.


Did you ever find a force-field you couldn't get through, or a Firax clue on an island with no way across? I'm sure you tried really hard to remember, but a few sectors later you can't ever remember what you forgot, much less where.

The Captain's Log is the solution!



Don't strain your brain, make a log entry! You can make hundreds of entries, and it's easy to sort, edit, and delete these notes, too. They're also conveniently displayed on the warp screen, where you might need them most.



And your entries display on the star map, so you can use tool tips to read them right as you move around the sector!



I know, this is a pretty standard rogue-like thing (and something that's been in video games for 40+ years), but Approaching Infinity finally has a high score list! It keeps track of your best scores, and can sort up to 25 of the most recent or highest scores, both in the "victories" and "deaths" categories.



It'll be great to see what kinds of scores emerge. I don't have a win score yet (those are fakes!), and my deaths haven't made it out of the 700's. Please note that it will only record your death if you're playing with perma-death turned on. It will record a win either way, so get out there are do some quests!



Wait, that sounds more like a bug, doesn't it? Well it's not. From now on, you can use your landing shuttle as tatical cover for your away team. Shoot from the ship!

However, there is a chance that if you're standing in your shuttle while that mercenary is shooting at you, or that hulking cyclops is swinging its fists, the shuttle could get damaged!



For now, damage to the shuttle just increases the cool-down time before you can launch again. In the future it might cost supplies, parts, money, or something else. Be thankful it's just a few extra turns while you repair it!






Ok, that doesn't really qualify as a big feature, but it's pretty darned convenient for mouse players. Click the middle mouse button to toggle tool-tips on and off. This works great in conjunction with the captain's log feature!

There has also been some adjustment to the input methods over the week, hopefully making them more efficient. There have also been some cool graphical updates you might notice ;)



Well, just this morning an idea congealed in my head that's going to fill in a lot of cracks. It will:

• Get the story out sooner
  
• Give the player hints and lore
  
• Create an entirely new kind of interaction
  
• Launch a new kind of quests (eventually)
  
• Help you make friends!
  

I'm really excited about this new feature, but I won't say more right now...

You go make some captain's log entries, I'm going to play some Borderlands 3!