Hello, Navigators!
It has been quite a year, with the release into early access, GameCon Canada, and several patches delivering roadmap items, fixes, and new features meaningful to the community. Thank you all for being a part of this journey thus far and thank you for all the support, ideas, participation, and sharing that each of you has contributed this year. I am truly thankful for everyone one in this wonderful space loving community. While this is the last update for this year, know this.
We are not done yet.
Before this year is out, everyone will have access to opt into the public beta which includes:
Multiple galaxy support.
Import/Export of Galaxies.
Import/Export of Star Systems (user request).
Improved atmospheres (more on this later).
Several fixes (thank you to all the testers in the closed beta).
A new irradiated planet designed by one of our community Planetologists with more to come.
"Navigate to" feature in the system catalogue to quickly find those tiny moons.
And also and very much importantly, a solid foundation from which Steam workshop support can be built!
Implemented Star System Import/Export
Irradiated planet by StregaRevenge
Improved Atmospheres
The latest atmosphere shader has seen a change to the way it handles interactions with light sources. This has not only improved the general quality and control of the atmospheres. Giving them a far more rich color and finer control over density. The new shader now supports interaction with multiple light sources! Further work will be done to really dial in these new atmospheres as development continues.
New Atmosphere Shader (no more cracks in the Ozone🎉)
Multi-light Interaction
But why is this important you might ask. Well, this is a huge step forward not only in overall quality, but also customization and it opens the door for future potential and the possibility of full 3D perspective views of star systems. While there is nothing yet on the road map, it has been a long standing hope of provide more ways to view star systems than just the current profile. Multiple light sources and improved lighting interaction has been a limitation of atmospheres until now. Which means one more hurdle out of the way. There is still much work yet ahead to make perspective views a reality such as improved planet textures and additional user interface development.Nevertheless, keep an eye out for the updated roadmap of 2026 for future plans.
Well folks, that is what we have for this month and until the new year. I hope everyone stays warm and has a wonderful time over this holiday season, and I can't wait to explore the next frontier of Stellar Navigator in the new year with all of you!
Happy Holidays and wonderful new year!