Hi Captains, I’m Kip - - General Manager of Magic Fuel Games.
First off, wow! It’s surreal to think that 56,000 of you downloaded our demo. Not only that, but you’ve fulfilled 26,506 material requests, and sadly... 6,337 red shirts have perished on this dangerous journey. Combined with an overwhelming amount of submitted suggestions and bug reports, I’m excited to kick-off the first of our Captain’s Devlogs, showing you how our team is addressing your feedback (and truly, thank you for submitting it!).
Our vision for Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is to combine a narrative-driven experience full of iconic Star Trek mystery, with a mechanically robust colony-builder. We’re all fans of strategy games (having made a couple, SimCity, Spore, and more!) and Star Trek, and our 20 person team is truly excited to bring this game to you. 🖖
(Being a worldwide team, it’s hard to take an accurate group photo. Pictured is almost everyone from Magic Fuel Games!)
Pace of Outpost, and Day/Night Cycle
The biggest piece of feedback we’ve received is that the pace of the game feels slower than the Bozeman getting out of a timeloop. We agree, which is why we’ve introduced a night shift. As Captain, you’ll have complete freedom on which crew will work days and nights, and the U.S.S. Resonant will better display what your crew are getting up to when they’re not on-planet.
Another big addition is the introduction of crew quarters within your outposts. Mess halls, medical facilities, and entertainment options will help your outposts be self-sustaining across the X’Lehari System, giving the U.S.S. Resonant the ability to travel to other points of interest while your important on the ground research on the Tetryon Rift continues.
Speaking of the Rift, more structures will require special shielding to protect your outpost and its crew from Tetryon radiation. Shield Emitters are costly expansions that require the processing of rare materials, so you’ll have to carefully choose what areas you’ll want to expand into and protect.
Vehicles & Visitors
Something else we’ve heard is that our planets are quite large, and traversing and exploring them can be quite the walk as Tetryon Rifts interfere with the ability to freely beam across the planet. To address this, your outposts will have access to both ground and air vehicles to help explore the surface of the planets across the X’Lehari System, and to facilitate the quicker transfer of resources between your facilities!
Starfleet and the Vulcans aren’t the only factions visiting your outpost. The Andorians and X'Lehari will also have resource missions you’ll be able to fulfill with the unique research generated from this system of space.
Crew Commands & Field Actions
Another common point of feedback was that you wanted more direct control over your crew. This makes sense, part of what we want you to feel is that you are the captain. To address this we’re introducing actions that you can directly select from each crew member, depending on their role within Starfleet. Engineers will be able to maintain buildings, Medics will be able to treat injured crew, Security will be able to respond to threats… you get the idea, Captain.
These commands will bypass the work queue, so you’ll be able to set longer term building and production goals while responding to emergency situations without having to worry about command queue hierarchy.
In Closing
Thanks again for all your feedback on our demo - - we’re working hard to address everything we’ve heard, and can’t wait to talk to you next month about a new planet, crew promotion, crew species, outpost decorations, and an overhaul of both how and why you’ll receive resources from Starfleet and the U.S.S. Resonant, and what that management looks like across multiple outposts.
Until then, don’t forget to wishlist our game on Steam and join our Discord!
Thanks for joining us on this journey,
-Kip, Playstack, and Magic Fuel Games