I have started to work on getting the main menu to work properly. So far, so good. I can now load the main menu without having to exit and restart he game. This was always possible, but after trying to start a new game, or loading a saved one, I would encounter errors. Restarting the engine made these things work, and it was an easy solution for the time.
Now it appears to work. I can access the main menu, start a new game, or load a saved game with no apparent errors. I will continue testing this until I feel like it is problem free.
Star Chart
I have also started updating the 3D Star Chart. Some have complained that the star chart is empty. This is by design. I wanted the player to start with a blank chart, and to fill it in as they explore.
However, it is buggy. Sometimes sectors that have been added to the database do not appear. Sometimes you can't click on things (I think I've found the cause of this) and the zoom in and out feature doesn't work as intended.
I also realize that using the chart is a bit confusing at first. Breaking it up into sectors, stars and planets seems a bit restrictive, and non-intuitive. A star chart should show stars! So I am thinking of revamping it a bit.
I will post an update when I have things working. But until then, please feel free to comment on how you think the chart should work, any features you'd like added to it, or anything it has that should be changed or removed.
Beta Version
If you are interested in testing out some of the latest features, including alien spaceships, improved interactions and faster laoding screens, try out the beta version by clicking "Star Explorers > Properties > Betas" and selecting "beta" from the drop down menu. Feel free to share your experiences here, via screenshots, or on the "Report Bugs" dialogue.
All things considered, Star Explorers could probably have benefitted from an extra year or so in Early Access. I can't go back to Early Access, but I can and will continue updating the game. When these updates are finished and fully tested, I will be releasing an official Version 2.0.