Solar Lander News

Recently, I have received some suggestions from a player on how to improve this game. While I can't implement all of them in a Physics Update patch, I can implement some of them. In this case, there are three that I could put in a patch to the Physics Update. Most (if not all) of the rest will be implemented in future updates, such as the Modding Update. Also, this game has it's own YouTube channel and Discord server. See the Links section below.
[h2]Game Updates[/h2]

1. A queue box has been added to the ascent stage and the command module, which will appear when the camera is zoomed out too far to be able to easily see them. The box is always aligned with the camera regardless of craft rotation.
   
2. The camera will now be able to zoom out to see the entire planet, plus 50% (based on planet's radius). This is to implement the suggestion to allow the player to always be able to zoom out enough to see the command module.
   
3. You can now adjust your settings from the escape screen. This is to allow the player to change control assignments mid-game. Note that controls are the only thing about this feature that has undergone any testing. Changing other settings mid-game may break something or just not have any effect.
   

[h2]Links[/h2]
Here are the links to Solar Lander's Discord server and YouTube channel.

• Solar Lander's Official Discord Server
• Solar Lander's Official YouTube Channel

Solar Lander's home page has moved to a new location on the TChapman500 Gaming Website. It is no longer in "/Projects/Software/Solar Lander". It is now in "/Solar Lander". The website's main page now directly links to Solar Lander's home page under "My Games". This new home page for Solar Lander has all of the information you need about the game and its updates all in one place. There's also a section for in-game screenshots. More information will be placed there in the near future (eg: what my plans are for the upcoming v0.3 Modding Update).

This is perhaps the last update for the v0.2 Physics Update as I want to now focus on the v0.3 Modding Update. In v0.2.4 (which also updates the demo), the following items have been changed.

• Added Solar Lander logo to splash sequence
  
• Added Solar Lander logo to main menu header
  
• Added exhaust particle texture from pre-0.2 builds
  
• Added old sprite exhaust texture to game (not usable right now, but needed for the next major update).
  

In addition to the v0.2.4 update, the store page has also been changing. I've updated some of the store-related graphics as well as the library graphics. The vehicles displayed in those graphics now perfectly resemble the in-game vehicles. Updates to achievement icons are next, and maybe the addition of some new achievements.

Saving/Loading your progress in Progression has been added to the game, but is quite limited at the moment. After you complete the first level, you will be able to go into the escape menu and click "Save". The game will then save what level you are on, your score, the number of attempts you have left, and how many times you have upgraded each item. You can then quit the game and reload at a later time.

When you want to reload, start a new progression game, go into the escape menu and click "Load". You will then start at the level you left off as if you had clicked "Start Level" on the upgrades screen.

Limitations:

• Once you load a saved game, the save file is deleted. You can work around this by simply saving again.
  
• Once you score points from landing, you will be unable to save until you start the next level.
  
• Terrain generation data is not saved.
  
• Progress within a level is not saved.
  
• If save file corruption is detected, the game will immediately end and the save file will be deleted.
  

The 0.2.1 update introduced a bug that caused the axis controls to be unresponsive (sorry about that). This update, which was supposed to introduce progression saving and loading, fixes this bug. Time acceleration now disables the axis controls, but allows for control when no time acceleration is applied.