The Journey Ahead

In this post I wish to share my thoughts on the journey ahead, and what to expect. Keep in mind that this is a plan, and it might change.

As some of you might know, this project has been going on for soon 7 years. When I started the project, I had a dream of letting players (myself included :D) experience Apollo and the Lunar Landing in full immersive 3D, with every switch functional in one way or another. It quickly became too much, and I decided to start smaller: Project Mercury.

And some of you might have been part of this journey since day 1. You might have seen things like a couple of total overhauls of the main menu, seen Mercury evolve into what it is today, the release of Gemini, Apollo, and landing on the Moon with the Lunar Module. Since the lunar touchdown, we have seen a lot happening with the product. Developer tools has emerged into what we see as the Mission Control Multiplayer modules, and the return journey from the Moon back to Earth with TEI has become a thing, optics in the CSM was made, and the entire physics engine got an overhaul named TSS. For those who only play simulators in VR, we have seen a preliminary release of VR for Mercury and Gemini, and Apollo is around the blocks.

So what's next?

Version 0.8X: Short term
During the summer, a lot of the features you have seen rolling out on the alpha-branch has been improvements and bug fixes to Apollo. Key features has been TEI-improvements, rendezvous and docking improvements and co-pilot features to aid during this maneuver, CSI/TPI burn length calculations, the introduction of CSI-2, a lot of changes on the S-IVB and CSM T&D logic and bug fixes.

Following the initial release of MOCR, a lot of general improvements in Apollo flights (for the astronaut) has been high priority so it can be possible to perform full Apollo missions from Pad to Splashdown. This has earlier not been possible at all. This has been a priority as both those playing single player and being astronauts in multiplayer sessions as well as mission controllers have a good experience.

We have also seen the addition of VR for Apollo, and general improvements on all spacecrafts when it comes to VR and how the VR implementation in Reentry works, and the latest iteration on the DSKY digits, and a new external docking camera (fixed orientation) accessible using F2.

So the next natural thing in the near-term pipeline is to roll a lot of these improvements to the public as version 0.82.

Some of the features you will see are:
- Two new Lunar Module Crew Member features to aid in Rendezvous and Docking after Lunar Ascent
- Moon Tessellation Settings for increased performance on some computers
- Improved the Lunar Module Quad Heater logic and temperature methods
- Entry Monitor System improvements
- New cloud rendering system to remove the black pixel artifacts seen earlier
- File based camera tooling, you can now modify where default cameras are set
- Minor needle shake when engines are burning on the various analogue gauges in the cockpit.
- Fixed the Gemini Space Walk campaign mission
- Fixed the CSM SCS roll stutter issue and general SCS attitude logic
- Mercury has received some upgrades on the MA-6 mission.
- Faster camera transitions in cockpit views.
- Moved the default camera points for astronauts in the CSM and LM to their correct head positions.
- Corrected the visibility of the Moon map and Mission pad on Apollo Mission load
- TEI Planner prevents the insertion of values below 1.1.
- DSKY digits 2.0 has been added to the AGC and LGC.
- Apollo Moon Map legend and minor coloring changes
- CSM VR Mission pad visible when not in VR has been corrected
- TrackIR sensitivity bug in the CSM and LM corrected
- Long Press on the EMS increase and decrease, and for the Attitude Set Control panel added. Hold mouse button to adjust instead of spamming the mouse buttons.
- AGC Light Test changes
- AGC warning light bulb color corrections
- Apollo VR: Use motion controllers as joysticks for attitude and translation control
- CSM: Possible to use the NUMBERS selector to change brightness of the DSKY rendering
- New F2 external view camera with fixed attitude (not relative to spacecraft rotation) to aid in maneuvering, docking and so on. Only available in Apollo for now, as I still need to test it before rolling it out.
- VR for Apollo
- VR: Gaze Cursor
- VR: Mission Pad menu
- VR: Mission Command Subtitles
- VR: Checklist Guide Panel
- VR: Change Camera view using the left thumbstick

You can find the full list here, and can test them in the alpha-floor branch today (if you want): https://steamcommunity.com/app/882140/discussions/0/3118160027737663624/

I hope to release 0.82 very soon as it has been out in alpha-testing for a few weeks now with good results from testing.

As I dive into the rest of version 0.8X towards 0.89, the focus will be on fixing bugs and issues, improving systems, adding the major missing things and solving blocking issue. I wish to invite you, the community of Reentry, to join me here. I will need your help on suggestions on things you would like to see, but still are missing, so I can compare it with my own list of priorities. I have a dedicated forum for this: https://steamcommunity.com/app/882140/discussions/1/

The following list contains the major focus on the 0.8-updates:
- 0.83: IMU drift errors (correct with P52), CSM ECS v1, Mercury ECS improvements
- 0.84: Lunar Module ECS
- 0.85: Lunar Module Optics and LM DPS Burn Planner
- 0.8X: ???
+ some surprises :)

You can find a roadmap here:
https://trello.com/b/ip2zVHUa/reentry-an-orbital-simulator-roadmap

While doing this, I will also focus on language support. I have completed the system needed to support multiple languages, and I need to now apply this on all elements in the game that should have language support, before being able to translate the game to different languages. I hope to bring the first official support for another language in Reentry in version 0.9.

Version 0.9: Language support, game mechanics and integration
In version 0.9, I will continue the work on language, improve the game mechanics, continue iterating on the most critical systems both you and I wish to see fixed as soon as possible. I wish to also look into Steam Cloud saving, update scenarios for Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, integrate with Discord, GeForce Now, add the game over system and remove developer flags such as infinite fuel, and so on. Generally get the state of the simulator in shape for version 1.0.

Version 1.0: The End of the Beginning
The goal of version 1.0 is to provide a fun and immersive experience with realistic procedures, based on a strong foundation of systems. As you know, you can work on systems for a lifetime in Mercury alone and still not be 100% realistic, so the goal for 1.0 is to at least land the most important parts of a space flight mission, so that it's possible for players, through their own computers, to get a feel of how it was to be an astronaut, what systems a spacecraft had to have, be able to operate them, and learn how the technology evolved from Mercury to the Lunar Landing. 1.0 is just the end of the beginning, a strong foundation to iterate and expand the experience from.

Version 1.1 towards 2.0 and beyond: Systems improvements, continue to build on the foundation from 1.0, game improvements, historical missions
Post 1.0 will basically have a lot of focus on systems, improving procedures, and continuing to add new systems to each of the supported spacecrafts as we progress towards 2.0. I also wish to then give both the Mercury Control Center and the Apollo Mission Operations Control Room more attention as the systems in the spacecraft should have received their needed facelifts and improvements. And who knows, maybe other multiplayer modes?

From a visual perspective, I would also like to improve the Earth and Moon rendering models and textures at this stage, transitions, and the VR experience for those who use this.

DLCs, new spacecrafts, etc:
When it comes to new spacecrafts, you might have seen my Vostok implementation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V1DgbaPsQQ

I plan to expand the "Reentry Universe" with some additional modules, and Vostok will be one of them. I wish to release it some time after the 1.0 release (and I have another spacecraft waiting in-line as well, as the simulator progresses towards 2.0 ;) ).


I wish to thank each and every one of you for playing Reentry, providing feedback, being part of the community and helping others who are learning, sending me suggestions, contributions, and all the help you have provided in one way or another to improve the experience for all of us.

Thank you!


For those interested in some very old screenshots from the game:
One of the first versions of the Mercury Cockpit back in 2015. I had started to wire up some of its first systems, and was implementing my Cockpit Panel Building System (gauges, switches, etc)

The main difference with Gemini from Mercury was the requirement of maneuvering in space, modifying the orbit, rendezvous and docking. This was one of the first iterations of the math to perform a rendezvous. Agena was still just a gray cylinder.

A lot of excitement was going on as I started to model the panels of the CSM. Apollo had been a distant goal for a couple of years as I was working on Mercury and Gemini. Suddenly the time had come to start working on the CSM. This was in 2017/2018, and I'm still working on it's core systems.


And some more recent shots:


Thanks to General Kenobi for the nice cover screenshot. :)