Approaching Infinity News

It's been 2 weeks since any new content has been released for Approaching Infinity, and that's a comparatively long time. But trust me, it's worth the wait.



Brighter stars, bigger planets, and hungrier black holes. And that's not even what this update is about. The real subject is planetary terrain.

[h3]Over 300 new images have been added![/h3]
Grounds, trees, mountains, flowers, mushrooms, craters, crystals, and more!


You can read about how I manipulated a simple sine function to produce these beautiful planet maps.

Or you can watch a video and skip the reading altogether!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUZqmlb1ZFA

And this isn't even coolest part of the terrain remodel...

[h3]Fire![/h3]

Weapons, monsters, and other methods will soon be able to create fire on the map. It spreads quickly on warm oxygen-rich planets, but goes out instantly on barren moons. It even converts to "chemical fire" in corrosive atmospheres.



Similarly, for those special occasions where you can't see the forest for all the trees, you will soon have access to "Tactical Herbicide", a gas that spreads quickly and eradicates plant-life:



And what terrain modification system would be complete without...

[h3][/h3]


We have those too. You can now blow holes in the walls of caves and shipwrecks alike. Just don't blow yourself into the vacuum of space!

I'll let you experience that one for yourself ;)




For now it's purely for testing, and you have unlimited "ammunition" of fire, ice, explosions, and herbicide. Just use the "Look" command and press the appropriate key. But this is *not* how it will be for long. And it's only in the Beta Branch. You can opt in or out at any time.

Your weapons will be adapted to sometimes carry these "elemental" effects. You will also have access to the brand new away team item, "Grenades"!

But we're not there yet.

These small steps will eventually lead to giant leaps in tactical gameplay.

Other additions and adjustments have been made, as well as addressing some player-reported issues. And you know what? Device icons have been updated *again*, and they are beautiful.





Stay safe and enjoy the season!



PS: do you have an opinion on this?

https://steamcommunity.com/app/551620/discussions/0/3002172045226588823/?tscn=1604085431

Approaching Infinity has been on Steam Early Access for a little over 2 months, and we've accomplished SO MUCH! You can do things in this game that I never conceived of before. Some aspects are revolutionary, others were painfully and obviously lacking until now. But it's done: v1.5 is complete!

[h3]Planet Scanning:[/h3]


Today is the release of planet scanning into the main branch. It has been in beta for about 2 weeks, and has needed surprisingly little fixing.

Fly over a planet and activate your scanners. You'll get a readout of the general atmospheric conditions, followed by lots of little tidbits of information about what's actually there. Of course, you won't start off getting all this information: you need to upgrade your sensors for that. But still, it's a great way to see what you're getting yourself into...

I've done a few previous announcements about this new feature, so I won't overdo it here. If you want to know more, you can either read the previous news items, or check out this in-depth blog post I wrote about it.

[h3]Looking Back...[/h3]
So with the end of version 1.5, let's look back at what's been accomplished, before we look ahead.

The "Hail" feature allows you to communicate more directly with each alien ship you encounter, increasing your reputation and understanding of each race. You can even get a resupply, information about a location, or force them to surrender to you!



I also wrote a blog post about this: "How I created 12 alien languages for Approaching Infinity".


The "Graveyard" (Past Lives) section allows you to see some record of your previous runs. It shows the date, how you died, and a score based on what you accomplished. What, you didn't die? You won? OK, well it shows how you won, and an even better score!




The "Look" function lets you look around the map in classic roguelike fashion, aiming the cursor with your movement keys. This was always available with mouse-over tool-tips, but now purely-keyboard players have a way to do it too. It also lays the groundwork for things like grenades and teleporting :D




"Multiple Concurrent Games" means that you can now have up to 9 separate games of A.I. going at a time! When you get tired of playing your trader, just load up that sweet assault scout and blow stuff up! And when you unlock a new ship, don't wait, just start a new game and try it out!




It kinda took forever to get "Player Defined Keybindings" into Approaching Infinity. Sorry. But it's here now. Don't like the way the keys are set up? Customize it!




The "Captain's Log" feature was a big hit. It lets you take in-game notes about your adventures, and leaves a mark on the sector map so you can easily come back. This way, you can keep track of places you want to revisit, whether to pick up some inaccessible loot or save money and buy something you need.




Those are the major features. There were literally hundreds of other things: fixes, additions, tweaks, and balances. And I couldn't have done it without the Steam Community... Thank YOU!

...and cool new devices too...like...magnetic boots!



But now...


[h3]1.6[/h3]



Version 1.6 will start with the release of a huge graphical update to planet surfaces. The entire terrain system will be revamped, as well as the images themselves. Most of the tiles have been updated, and some things will be added that simply never existed before...



This whole thing started when I asked David, the game's artist, for some "new kinds of dirt." The first thing he sent me was about 20 new tiles for frozen planets (which aren't really represented well in the game). And then he just kept going... Mountains, flowers, trees, and yes, dirt too. And then some things I'd never imagined, but maybe always dreamed of...


No fewer than 130 new flowers, mushrooms, and truly alien, indescribable things. Imagine what can be done with these things in the future. Not just window dressing but...

• Collection quest targets
  
• Ingredients for disease cures
  
• Scientific research and cataloging
  
• Harvesting single-use items
  
• Catching horrible diseases
  
• Whatever else you can imagine!
  

And then, there's...



Gas giants!

You won't be able to land on these beautiful planets (they don't have a solid surface!), but that doesn't mean you can't use them for something...


[h3]Depth and Interactions[/h3]

I mentioned that I would be redesigning terrain for this update. It's not just to show you all the pretty pictures. It's also in preparation for the next step, where the world becomes much more interactive.

We need to know what happens if you set fire to an area: does it burn? What does it turn into? What if you freeze it? If you set off a "tactical deforestation grenade", is it affected by the gas? Does the gas even pass through the area, or is it blocked? Can you dig through that kind of wall?

So much to think about, and that's just regarding terrain!

Once the underlying framework is updated, it'll be time for the really meaty stuff. And that's where the game will change.

A.I. has always been very streamlined in its play, and I want to keep that as a core design goal. But there's a lot of room for improvement while still keeping things abstracted and easy to manage.

One thing A.I. lacks is activated powers. And there is just so much room for this within the setting. Here are some of the skills (with cool-downs) and items I'm imagining you'll be able to use in the future:

• Incendiary Grenade: a thrown explosive that sets the area on fire (given oxygen)
  
• Tactical Teleporter: move instantly to a nearby tile
  
• Pep Talk: reduces all other officer's cooldowns by 20%
  
• Deploy Cover: create a barrier nearby that blocks enemy movement, vision, and shots
  
• Engine Boost: move 3 tiles this turn
  
• Emergency Repairs: fix your ship's hull by 25%
  
• And this just really scratches the surface...
  

Officer skills will need to be completely re-written.

But I guarantee they will be BETTER than they are now. Probably a lot better. Some of the existing skills are redundant, or even boring. The classes will have much better life, differentiation, and options in the future.

And that's the beginning of version 1.6. I can imagine what I've outlined here taking about a month. That's not the entirety of what I want to accomplish, but I am going to quit talking now.


THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Planet scanning is here (in the beta branch anyway), and this version is much more successful than the previous experiment from late August. Please note that I have very good scanners in the image below. You will *not* be getting that much information when you start out!



You know the drill by now:

• Move over a planet.
  
• Press [V]
  
• Get details:
  
  • Atmosphere
    
  • Environmental Damage
    
  • Terrain
    
  • Amount and Kind(s) of life
    
  • Amount and Type of natural resources
    
  • Special features
    
  • Alien signals?
    
  • Human life signs?!
    

Would you like to know more?
I wrote a blog post about how hard this actually was, adding scanning to a 7-year-old game.


Also in this version is the "Look" command. But since the L key is taken by the Captain's Log feature, it's called "Peer" and assigned to the [P] key. Of course you can re-bind that yourself...
You can even press [enter] to move to the space you've selected with the peer command.



Try it out!

Help files have been updated considerably, and the tutorial now includes information about all the new major features that have been added over the past months.


I am really hoping to move this into the main branch on Friday, get it 100% stable by Sunday, and then start on the next big project. I said it was going to be deeper interactions, and that is the next really big project.

But David (AI's artist) has been sending me a wealth of new images, and instead of putting them in a little bit at a time, I want to drop them all at once. I'm actually going to need to re-write how planetary terrain is handled, but it's going to be worth it...

[h3]Graphics Update Incoming![/h3]

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?