This is the second MAJOR update of the year, and this one was a lot of work. I've pretty much rebuilt every single user interface panel in the game. I wanted to get this done before we go into Early Access so here it is. Lots of quality of life changes and bug fixes also made it into this one.
UI / HUD Overhaul
Hopefully, this new look has more of a sci-fi feel. I never really heard anything positive about the old design. I remember one streamer saying it was functional, but now it's a bit prettier while retaining that functionality.
Avatar Rework
I've always outsourced the avatar artwork as they're far beyond my art skills. Our artist at Hunted Cow Games Karolina has been working hard on making them more memorable. Obviously, we plan to add a lot more during Early Access, but hopefully this is enough for now. You can still import your own if you don't like the ones we've made so far.
Item Notices
Whenever you pick up a rare or legendary item, it'll now pop up in the bottom right of your screen in a quick notice. This was a suggestion from Splattercat back when he reviewed the game and it makes picking up items more fun. I've also moved the Achievement notices down into this new section.
Assembler Improvements
You will now see a preview of changes when upgrading equipment, so you can better judge if it's worth the cost. In addition to this, I've added a 'Reset to level 1' option for items. The thought behind this is if you find a cool weapon but don't want it on your current build, you can reset it to level 1 and throw it in global storage for your next playthrough.
Upgrade Improvements
I've finally found a system that works well for controller AND mouse/keyboard so here it is. It's now much easier to scan through upgrades and see what they do regardless of your controls.
Language Removal
I've removed Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Spanish from the list of supported languages on the store page. They're still in the game, but as they're entirely AI translated, it feels a bit underhanded to list them as "supported".
All languages will be fully human translated before we launch into v1.0 but as content is changing quickly, it's very expensive to keep on top of human translation with so many languages.
The official release date for Early Access will be announced next week with the release of our new trailer, so keep a lookout for that!
There may be a few bugs with the number of things I've changed, but the hotfixes should be coming thick and fast, so please report anything on the Community pages or Discord. Enjoy!
Patch Notes
New Features / Content
• New UI skin is now implemented across the game with a new font.
• New HUD is now implemented with more of a sci-fi feel.
• Rare items and achievements are now shown in the bottom right of the HUD.
• Added 4 x Schematics design icons.
• Added 1 new player avatar and refreshed the existing 4 with new colors.
• Outcast's dialog has been rewritten to reflect their updated backstory.
Balance Changes
• Hull regen is now paused when a ship has boost invulnerability.
• Halved the range of Barrage Launchers from 500m down to 250m.
• Fleet locations are now treeted like waypoints and will not have rare loot nearby.
• Surge modifiers can now be transferred regardless of the damage type of the weapon.
Quality of Life / Accessibility
• Some achievements are now hidden until earned to avoid spoiling content.
• Increasing item level in the Assembler now shows stat changes it will receive.
• Increasing item rarity in the Assembler now shows how many modifiers it may receive.
• Removed storage borders from item displays as they served little purpose.
• Added a 0.2s delay to item tooltips to make navigating the interface feel nicer.
• Tooltips on upgrades now show on selection to allow for quicker viewing.
• Add/remove point buttons on upgrades are now below for easier navigation.
• Items can now be moved to and from storage by holding SHIFT when clicking them.
• Gateways now have arrows showing which direction they'll take you.
• Numbers for hue and saturation can now be typed directly into ship design boxes.
• Higher level parts can now be dragged into ship designs they'll just be invalid.
• Cone weapons now emit particles on hit and look more impressive.
• Adjusted post-processing bloom effects to look cleaner and less overwhelming.
• Removed enemy names from targeting as not relevant to combat.
• Removed segments from mini bars as they were kind of useless for judging toughness.
• Doubled the speed of ship explosions and added some more particles.
• Rescaled many UI elements to better fit longer text in for better language support.
• Control bindings displayed on buttons are now hidden when a button is disabled.
• Menu background artwork will now stay a single colour to match the last update.
Bug Fixes
• Various fixes when navigating the UI with a controller or keyboard.
• Controller navigation around ship slots in the equipment panel now works as expected.
• Consumable hotkeys now work correctly regardless of language.
• Fixed some cone weapons firing invisible projectiles.
• Fixed null pointers in CopyFlightLeaderAI() when destroying modular enemies.
• Fixed bug where dropped item name plates would sometimes not appear.
• Fixed a null reference when cancelling out of a sector jump.
• Tags no longer show on hidden black market weapons.
• Behaviour button no longer shows on hidden black market auto specials.
• Fixed incorrect display of numbers in some languages.
• Rescue ships now jump away in the direction of the fleet after being saved.
• Assembler rescue now correctly shows Engineer Relios in the HUD display.
• Fixed rescue countdown in HUD displaying extra decimal points after time remaining.
• Removed broken hue-shifted pixels in the EMP's item artwork.
• Fixed bug where some panels would not be aligned correctly inside the mothership.
• Fixed HUD enabling too early during the tutorial.
• Camera now moves instantly during Echo cutscenes far away.
• Schematics will no longer spawn with Effectiveness or Required Level modifiers.
• Cooldown modifiers can now be moved to or from Displacement Thrusters.
• Achievement for clearing a sector is now awarded and will be added retroactively.
• Fixed bug where some upgrade points would not remove despite being valid for removal.