Okay, I have come up with an absurd naming convention. I can't call it 4.x, because the newest version is not compatible with the earlier 4.x games. I don't want to call it 5.0 yet, because that is what it will be called when it is ready. So I'm calling it the 5.0 Pre-Release 0.0.1 and that's what's gonna happen.
Anyway, what's going on here?
There are some major improvements happening. First, I plan to focus on fixing and streamlining content that already exists. Then I have plans to add lots of new content. So far, I have accomplished the following:
Improvements:
- Improved Load Times - Loading times for planets, caves and space has been cut by about a third (so it should take 2/3rds of the time it used to).
- Improved Frame Rate - Planets, especially those with grass and more dense surface features should see an improvement in performance. I plan to do more with this in future updates.
- Geysers should now become invisible on foggy planets when you move away from them. Also, geysers should no longer switch on and off when your character jumps from one side of a planet to another, it should be more smooth now.
- Lava Smoke should also stop jumping as well.
- Radiation clouds should form more randomly, they used to form in horizontal lines.
- Nebulae in outer space would freeze your spaceship's lasers, this should no longer happen.
- Sonic Cannon Fixed - the weapon should now work ... sorry it did not do anything for some time.
New Content:
Storm Planets
Some planets you land on will be Stormy, with severe high winds and other dangers like tornadoes and crystal rain. This was added after learning about some real life exo-planets that have similar conditions.
Volcanoes
The old volcanoes have been replaced with bigger and better volcanoes. These will do damage to the player if they get too close, and they also spit out exploding globs of lava ... watch out!
New Cave Textures:
Now caves will have different wall textures based on the surface type of the planets they appear on.
UFOs
I have focused more of my attention on UFOs, which have undergone some major changes.
First, UFOs will now form a permanent part of the Star Explorers galaxy, leaving a star system, and returning to it, should reload the same UFO(s) in the same condition.
Friendly UFOs now exist. You may approach and board these UFOs with no trouble, and interact with the aliens aboard.
Aliens are now on UFOs, previously, only robots "lived" on UFOs.
Derelict (damaged) UFOs now have a different look, with all sorts of holes and stuff (see image below)
UFO interiors now have better collision detection, so going up stairs is much smoother than before.
More to Come:
UFOs are not done, I still have to make sure the aliens aboard will reload with the same items and quests, like they do on planets.
Alien AI on UFOS still needs some tweaking too.
I also want to offer at least three different types of UFOs, one for each alien type, and have some more interesting differences between an undamaged UFO, and one that has been damaged.
I also have a number of ideas about terrain, animals, plants and other stuff. I look forward to diving in to this game again, and I hope you will join me for the ride!