The first build of the closed alpha has been finally released and testing well underway. It was technically active since the start of March, but I waited until some initial private feedback came through from the first of the testers. I intended it to be a stealth release of sorts, which is why it was so quiet around here for the first two months of the year.
About the first ever released build of Star Zeal 4x:
The initial feedback was quite short since most of the game was blocked off, however it was better than I expected and all the basics are seemingly in order. Essentially, what I wanted to test in this first build was whether or not the game runs as intended and I was not merely dreaming it before I uploaded.
There will either be one or two more versions in phase one and then I will move on to phase two. Public release into early access will come at the end of phase 4. The next build in Phase 1(build 2.0) will unlock and refine much more to play with, especially related to exploration and fix a few UI indicators plus add some important options like key rebinding. I will also open up the initial bits of the logistics system, which is the most volatile part of the code, so its best to carefully ease it in throughout the closed alpha. New closed alpha builds are planned to come out less than a week at a time, so it should not take long until going public.
Anyway, there is not much else to say other than Star Zeal 4x is officially out of the house. On to the next build!
Check out the discord link here, there are some better details about the closed alpha there: https://discord.gg/bm6wRYcZER
Website: https://starzeal4x.com/