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886

News and Updates / VoidExpanse - Patch notes v0.8.0

« on: May 30, 2014, 01:49:24 am »

VoidExpanse v0.8.0 Update patch notes.

Please read the original blog post with information about the update first: https://atomictorch.com/Post/Id1063

New game launcher:
Now you don't need to bother with downloading each update, unpacking the archive, transferring the saves, etc. Just download one executable file on your desktop, run it and it will take care of everything for you. It will download each new version, patch the game for you and keep track of all new updates. You can also opt-in to receive early experimental versions to the game if you want to be the first to try out the new changes.

New features:

• Completely overhauled quest system. Added more than 20 quests into the game. These include quests to join different factions as well as randomly generated quests from different NPC.
• Different areas on the station instead of just the canteen. Now there may be different areas depending on the type of station.
• New station types have been added to the game. Now there are five station types: outpost, military, mining, business and science.
• New icons for stations on the system map and on the galaxy map. Now you can actually see what type the station is.
• Added mine slot to some ships and mines to equip. It is still work in progress, but you can now use mines to your advantage.
• New ship - Orca. A heavy cruiser with missiles, mine and energy hardpoints.
• New weapons: machinegun, particle discharger and several others. Whole lot of new misc items as well.
• Access level to different NPC on stations. Now you can't just go and barge in to a Faction leader without earning some respect first.
• Destruction of your ship now actually has consequences. You can choose the difficulty setting when you create a new world.
• Upon your ships destruction you will see a notification informing you as to what you have lost, if anything.
• Whole bunch of topics to discuss with different NPC's and depending on who you talk to the answers will be completely different.
• Persuade skill is now implemented and can be used in quests to make people more inclined to your demands.
• New icons for a whole lot of different items.
• Difficulty settings are now properly implemented. You can choose between: normal, semi-hardcore and hardcore modes.
• Fuel, speed, cruise and warp recharge indicators are added to the game.
• You actions now have consequences - killing a faction member or helping him in a fight will have a direct effect on the faction standing towards you.
• New model for heretic ship (properly optimized low poly model).
• A whole lot of other new features!

Changes:

• Rebalanced several ships including heretic, freighter and others.
• Drop/loot lists are changed for all ships and include many more items than before.
• Custom thread pool for background tasks. Should improve performance and loading time quite significantly for some people.
• Relationship change after killing or attacking someone.
• Improved ship overview control in the inventory.
• Changed color coding scheme for different items. It is much easier to understand and more consistent.
• Crates left in space will now disappear after some time to reduce the load on multiplayer server.
• You can now see the total price when buying more than one item.
• Rebalanced ships maneuvering bonuses. General rule now is as follows: Light frigates have full maneuverability, Heavy frigates -10%, Light cruisers -25%, Heavy cruisers -45%.
• Changes to object spawning in the game. It is more consistent now, for example; there will be less objects very close to the stars and more logical placement of space stations and other structures.
• You can now see the number of different utility slots in the ship information tooltip.
• Better presentation of action buttons, for example; pick up cargo, dock to station and others.
• Changes to internal structure of some game mechanics. It should make it less prone to bugs as well as allow us to extend it further with less effort.
• A whole lot of other changes!

Fixes:

• Improvements to local game server. Including fixes to freezing when quitting the game.
• Replaced unreliable multithreading library with custom solution which is much more reliable.
• Fixed: can't pick item in shop.
• Fixed: loading of icons while "Loading" splash screen present.
• Fixed: memory leak in the client.
• Fixed: tooltips positioning.
• Fixed: models loader bug.
• Fixed: long text overflow at some action buttons.
• Safeguard: the game now checks if it is run from archive and notifies user that it's not the way to do it.
• Safeguard: If the game cannot start singleplayer it gives a link a to a wiki page with troubleshooting information.
• A whole lot of other fixes and stability improvements!

Download the game in "My games & items" on the AtomicTorch website!

887

Game discussion / Re: Before we update

« on: May 29, 2014, 09:14:38 am »

Well as i said just the group up and then sharing exp and all my friends will buy the game, the only aspect that we miss

Yup, that is planned for the next release.

888

Game discussion / Re: Before we update

« on: May 29, 2014, 06:00:25 am »

Still sounds pretty good, do you think the next update will include a teamup/party option for multiplayer and share exp when killing npc's/players?
I think you have done an amazing job with the game so far, ive played the Escape Velocity serie since they got released and even if this is a different game its the best and closest successor ever. You are here to axle the mantle probobly for all us EV fans, keep the good work up

Thank you
Hopefully we can sucessfully release tomorrow and meet your expectations and continue meeting them in the future

889

Game discussion / Re: Before we update

« on: May 29, 2014, 05:03:35 am »

Well, there were a multitude of problems actually

First, we couldn't finish one feature last friday, so we pushed it till next week and finished it on monday. Then we did some testing and, surprise-surprise, there were more than 30 bugs in total. We have fixed all of these already except one. But we will release this friday anyway, as an experimental version.

But now, after upgrading our build server we have lost the unity license key! Perfect timing So, tomorrow we have to do *something* to be able to build the final version. We will think of *something* for sure, but still.

And lastly we need to prepare some stuff for press release. This is quite a significan update for us, so we want other people to be notified about it.

So, that's our story so far!

890

Game discussion / Re: Before we update

« on: May 28, 2014, 02:07:08 am »

Fuel display on the HUD!
Unless I missed it... 

Done

Just wondering if i'll be having a VoidExpanse weekend

Weekend for sure. And it will take you at least couple of days to go through all new content and quests.

891

Game discussion / Re: Before we update

« on: May 23, 2014, 08:10:42 am »

Is adding shared xp for people in de same sector doable? For me this would help multiplayer enormously.

It might be possible, but I cannot promise this particular feature.
The feature itself is not that difficult to implement, but implementing UI for it might take a good half of the day at least, or more.
So, we will see!

Could you post a list of fixes which are going in so it helps of thinking of new smaller things?

I don't want to spoil the big release by giving away details too soon. So, please wait just a bit longer

892

Game discussion / Before we update

« on: May 23, 2014, 06:55:46 am »

I just wanted to give you an update regarding the release.

I know you guys are really waiting for the next update and we were really trying to push the experimental version today, but alas, there were some issues that made it impossible to finish today.

But what that means is that we will be able to release the update next week for certain! And while we are at it we could also sneak in some more changes. So if you guys have some requests about really small features you'd like to see implemented please let us know!

But aside from that the update is huge. We were able to  pretty much overhaul everything within the game!

893

Modding info / Re: Effects help

« on: May 22, 2014, 05:05:08 am »

See what I mean about 'new'? 

Then I would suggest searching for any "javascript beginners tuttorial" on google. It's been a long time since I learned that stuff myself, so I can't point to any specific one unfortunately.

894

Modding info / Re: Effects help

« on: May 21, 2014, 11:18:38 pm »

Also want to add something: we will have a proper wiki article for that system once it is ready for use.
And the game uses JavaScript for scripting, not Java, as these two are very different things

895

Game discussion / Re: Ship movement

« on: May 15, 2014, 07:36:02 pm »

This is an important point. The community can start to devise new ideas, once these start...the exchange of ideas will blossom into new game concepts, taking some of the load off. All for it.

That was the idea! We wanted to create not only a game, but a framework upon which anyone can create almost anything else, or even a completely new game.

896

General Discussions / Re: Non-paypal purchase

« on: May 15, 2014, 03:21:48 am »

Well, morepeople are slowly getting the game, so in terms of feedback it's okay
Plus it makes it a bit easier on us like that.

897

General Discussions / Re: Non-paypal purchase

« on: May 14, 2014, 10:36:43 pm »

@Lurler, maybe an idea... can you not talk to humblebundle and get your game sold via them?

That's in the plans also, but it's too early. We want to make sure that the game is more or less finished first. At least when it is in beta.

898

Game discussion / Re: Party in multiplayer?

« on: May 14, 2014, 10:32:10 pm »

Certainly not in the next patch unless you are okay to wait another month

899

Game discussion / Re: Ship movement

« on: May 14, 2014, 10:30:19 pm »

You are flying light ships and they have gravitational dapmening allowing them to perform such maneuvers.
But when you buy a bigger ship, let's say a Hammer (heavy cruiser) you will feel the full power of the enertia

900

Game discussion / Re: Next update

« on: May 13, 2014, 10:04:59 am »

This time we don't want to rush it. We want to make sure that with this new update there would be actually something big, a reason to replay the game from the beginning There will be tons of new stuff!
And to make the wait easier we will continue to post sneak peeks every couple of days. You can always see what we are working on in the news, like for example this http://atomictorch.com/Post/Id1059 we have added mines to the game