I've been splitting myself 50/50 these past few days, between writing about the galaxy generation on the website, and working in-engine to progress the next build.
If you're interested in how the galaxy generation works in Starsim, along with what we have planned for filling it with content, then I'd highly recommend checking out our new "Building A Galaxy" page:
https://starshipsimulator.co.uk/?page_id=251
In the game itself, I've been working on getting the prop interaction system working in UE5. Rather than trying to work around the UE5 problems I just wrote the system again from scratch, and to be honest, I'm glad I did because it's a lot more tactile now. An object's orientation now properly reflects where you've grabbed it, and you can press F to lob the item around. I was having far too much fun messing about with it, so I recorded a quick video to share the joy
I've also made the character inputs context-sensitive, so the "Use" (LMB) and "Action" (F) keys for example will perform different functions depending on either what you're currently looking at, or what you're holding. This helps keep the keybinds under control, and also makes controller support easier because the same button does multiple things;
• Pressing F whilst holding an object will throw it.
• Pressing F whilst looking at a UI panel will bring up the mouse cursor.
• Pressing F whilst looking at a chair will make you sit in it.
This also allows for other useful quality of life improvements, like allowing you to press LMB to use a UI panel while also having a weapon equipped. The weapon will not fire, because the game knows you are using a UI panel at that precise moment.
And speaking of chairs, that's next on my list so I'll get right on it :)