More to discover, more reasons to trade
Hello, pilots!
Version 0.27 brings new ships to buy, more cargo to collect, and a revised introduction to Gravity Break's strange little corner of space.
The shipyard lets you build a collection of ships and switch between them. Each ship keeps its own upgrades and remaining health, so returning to an old favourite also means returning to the damage you left it with.
There is more to find between destinations, too. We've added cargo, salvage, and encounter zones, with everything from food to discarded household objects drifting through space. Back at the market, clearer prices, stock levels, and demand indicators help you decide what to sell and what to carry onwards.
We've also revised the opening dialogue and mission flow, added portraits, and fixed a collection of problems with navigation, damage feedback, audio, and restarting after death.
A note for returning players: 0.27 uses a separate save slot from earlier versions. Previous-version progress will not load automatically, so this is a fresh start with the revised introduction.
Experimenting with AI in development and storytelling
It is no secret that new modules are heavily supported by AI, but I make sure to include testing and looking at code in the workflow. It's still weird, and even though there is lots of controversy on the topic, I feel like the tool is very useful. I have an LLM under my desk, but commercial models are also being tested, and the games theme fits the way I use it, I think.
This update includes a new introductory dialogue. The very first sequence is hand-written, and the rest is based on a structure and script I wrote, but as a test, I let the LLM write the whole thing. It's not entirely perfect, but I feel like the tone, characters and direction is really interesting. As the solar system is populated by different colonies of cybernetic animals, I want to experiment with different models for different characters, but I'm not sure if it will just be a drain. We'll see.
This is an ongoing experiment. We want to understand where these tools help, where they create more work, and how they affect the game's voice.
We'd like to hear how the revised introduction feels to you. Do the characters have their own voices? Do you understand what you're trying to do? Where does the dialogue drag or get in the way of flying? Specific examples will help us shape the next round of changes.
On top of this, I have hooked up my local AI to the Discord, and is currently pushing for an interactive character to engage on that platform. Join us to attempt your abuse, play along or provide feedback!
Release notes
Ships and damage
- Added a shipyard for purchasing ships and switching between owned ships.
- Added ship models and specifications, with upgrades stored separately for each ship.
- Ships retain their own health, including partial heart damage, when you switch away and return.
- Damage leaks now appear on partial damage and scale with ship health. A one-heart ship shows at most one leak; ships with four or more hearts start leaking below three remaining hearts.
Trading and exploration
- Added cargo types, salvage pickups, obstacles, and encounter zones.
- Improved market displays for prices, stock, and local demand.
- Added a preview of the proceeds from selling all eligible cargo.
- Cargo mass displays now reflect the amount carried. Trade prices appear while landed.
- Improved cargo capacity handling when switching ships.
Missions, flight, and fixes
- Revised the introduction, dialogue, and mission flow, and added portraits.
- Improved mission target indicators and the mission display (also made it worse).
- Added relativistic travel mechanics and a time-scale readout alongside the date.
- Fixed orbit activation and ring velocity handling.
- Fixed health restoration and checkpoint reloads when restarting or returning to the menu.
- Fixed duplicate audio playback, dialogue issues, and laser upgrade purchasing.
- Improved weight and thrust displays and adjusted high-speed dust colours.
Thanks for playing, reporting bugs, and helping Gravity Break take shape. Let us know what you find out there!
For the next update, I want to fix the camera really bad. I expect October to be a month of polish, fixes and AI experiments, and maybe testing the endgame.