HIDDEN FOG UPDATE
This test cycle has been extremely helpful and we have a list of bugs we are working through – some of which you can see on the roadmap.
Day and night visuals were improved. Volumetric fog and improved terrain tiling were added. The overall effect of these changes can be dramatic and not all of the lighting values and tuning have been completed so more will improve over time. The volumetric fog does impact performance so we have set it as a preference in the escape menu – defaulted to off. (Hence the “hidden fog” reference.) Note: there is one bug affecting lighting in the initial hallway. If you have volumetric fog set to off, some light sources will not be functioning. This is being worked on now.
There will be a minor patch next week with bug fixes, user interface tweaks, updates to the simulation, and tiny changes to the initial hallway. The update notes will be posted mid-next week.
More useful details can be found here:
TESTING PLANET ROTATION
Recent additions to the game include Wild Wormholes and GovBot.
Wild Wormholes is being temporarily mothballed while we work on features to support it and make it attractive. This was planned. We needed to shake out the framework of it, prove it could do what we wanted, and now we go back to tooling to make it fun.
GovBot is doing what we hoped it would do, but with only four static planets at this time, we need to rotate those planets out occasionally so that there are new resources, opportunities for new players, etc.
Additionally, the mechanics of a planet being “shut down” is part of our gameplay and so we need to test those systems out, regardless of how often it actually occurs in the game.
So we’re making this change to ensure that:
There are always new resources entering into the game (which will occur naturally once we have a Galactic Frontier to explore but for now, it needs a way to occur);
The worlds aren’t constantly in a ripped up state. New players need to see new pristine worlds occasionally, because that will also be common in the launched game;
That more than just a handful of people get to try the GovBot experience from scratch. With four static planets, there’s no way to allow new players to participate in the GovBot experience if all the planets are already max leveled;
That we experience as many biomes and types of planets as possible during these testing phases.
The drawback, of course, is that established planets will rotate out after a month of playtest time. A month is quite a long time to play and people can get emotionally bonded. That’s totally understandable. However, the homesteads and citizenships will be refunded to players when it occurs and there will be plenty of warning before a rotation occurs. Players can pick up items they’ve made and use them on a new planet.
Ultimately, this is still a pre-alpha testing phase and despite the drawback mentioned above, we’re opting for the overwhelmingly positive aspects so that our tests can produce the most effective and fun game as early as possible. We hope you understand.
MASSIVELYOP NOTES VISUAL IMPROVEMENTS
MassivelyOP remarks that while the most recent patch for Stars Reach might not bring a barn burning addition like player cities, what it does do is refine and improve several aspects of the game including several visual effects, the tutorial, and a few facets of its general gameplay experience.
You can read the full article [HERE]:
MMORPG EXPLAINS PATCH UPDATES
MMORPG.com mentions that the update doesn’t just touch art and visuals. The new player experience has now been completely overhauled with a number of aesthetic improvements, wider hallways to feel less claustrophobic, and a few changes to make the experience a bit more intuitive, from changed dialogue to putting in a ladder where there was previously a shaft you should climb.
They mention that one of the biggest goals in this update is clearly performance improvement. In addition to the visual upgrades and faster rendering, they’ve reduced the number of objects where possible. You can check out the full patch notes for more details on all of the changes, as well as improvements and fixes to see how the team is shaping development. [READ MORE]:
PLAYTEST SCHEDULE
We are making testing schedule adjustments for the holidays. This current test will run through Tuesday morning, as usual. But the next test will run Thursday through Monday evening.
This change will allow us to deploy a mini patch a day early on the next cycle. More on this later.
LOGO MERCH AVAILABLE
We currently have three sets of logo merchandise in stock:
The Transplanetary League set
The Stars Reach logo set
The Infinite Worlds set
You can visit the store here:
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If there is one thing you can do to help us, you can wishlist us on Steam. This makes a difference for the algorithm and also helps on the day we eventually launch on Steam. Thank you for this support.