Approaching Infinity News

[h3]You might know him from his recent "CURSED" Dwarf Fortress Video:[/h3]

https://youtu.be/kw8jsJwm0gg?si=_WWyrQgj15ffGiby


[h3]I've known his name for years as he really supports the roguelike community. And apparently, he's known about my game for years too. Ironically, one of the things that kept him from playing was my constant updates: he kept saying to himself, "I'll wait until that next feature is finished".


Well, we finally got on the same page, and he Streamed the game. Afterwards, he had some really positive things to say, and gave me a chance to talk about my experiences creating my universe over the past decade+. [/h3]


[h3]You can read the whole thing here. [/h3]

Greetings captains, just a small patch to all branches with a few little fixes and changes. The main issue is a rare but pervasive text overflow issue, but a few crashes have been solved as well.

[h2]However:[/h2]

• Scans of existing planets may show the wrong information about terrain for a while.
• The ampersand "&" in daily codes has been replaced with the dollar sign "$". Old codes will need to be changed, but newly generated codes will already have the change accounted for.
  

[h3]Other smaller things:[/h3]

• Players will now see a new kind of planet (long-time players may recognize it and realize it was missing)
  
• I have cut the number of pre-loaded images in HALF, speeding initial load and somewhat lessening working memory requirements.
  
• Shipwrecks should no longer keep spawning when you have the "disaster records" quest.
  
• I fixed the "3rd treasure" pirate quest.
  
• Clicking on the lower-right icon for your swap weapon will now swap it.
  
• Your away team may now comment on planets with no monsters.
  
• Removed another case where a quest pointed to sector 50.
  

[h3]UI makes me scream, but after 9 months, I finally get to scream "it's done!" [/h3]


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



The map fills the screen and is freely zoomable:




Sort and scroll your inventory:




Big readable displays:




Customize your captain:




Stations sell more items:




Classic UI as promised:





[h3]Crafting[/h3]
Crafting sticks out like a sore thumb right now, but as stated in several places, it will be the next big project. And it's not just the look, but the whole system will get the attention it deserves, remaking it into something even more awesome.



Maybe it's time you finally gave the game that nice positive review you've been planning?

The UI overhaul was released the morning after this announcement. Thanks Steam Team.



[h3]UI Overhaul Update[/h3]

[h3]It's ready. It's uploaded.
But I can't release it in the main branch.[/h3]

Because of this new Steam security feature, which I didn't know about because I haven't altered the default branch in 9 months.


I am at the mercy of customer service emails on the weekend. And so are you.
I apologize, but I offer you a solution:


You can play today's update in the beta branch right now. It's the release I intended to make today. Anyone can use the beta branch, there's no password and it doesn't effect your saves. Go to:

Steam > Library > properties > betas > betafromnowon



Here's a teaser if you need some convincing:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]That's how long this UI overhaul has taken. That's how long you've been playing the same version. The wait it over![/h3]

[h2]Friday, July 26th, Approaching Infinity version 1.9
will premiere to all players.[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
(Channeling my inner Bob Ross)

And screenshots of this, if you need a quick look:










...and yes, there is a "classic UI" option:





Today I've made a new Steam branch called "Legacy18", and you can switch to it right now if you *don't* want to experience these incredible changes. But I encourage all captains to embrace the future!