Some weeks the focus is on big new features, other weeks, there are a huge amount of lose ends and tiny features that need improving or had to be developed further at a later date.. This week was that later date, and was a week full of tiny but fun tasks.

The most obvious change will be the planet and galaxy name when you crash on a planet. These are, for now, fully generated by the computer. At some point some of these will be replaced by the names provided by Kickstarter backers. I’ll most likely be tweaking the naming code some more, but it’s already doing a nice job of naming the planets!

A most requested feature was also, finally, added to the game: you can now put those fish on the BBQ ! This will provide you with a cooked fish, and for some reason that will restore more of your health and food bars than sushi… don’t ask me why, it’s a sci-fi game!

Your starting inventory now also includes a couple of power-beacons that can be used to keep creatures away from your ship or campfire. You start with four of them, so placing two on either side of your area should keep most creatures out. I’m still deciding if I want these beacons available from the start, or that the player perhaps has to craft them after learning about some of the animals. Something to think about.

There’s a lot more tiny changes and improvements all over the place, so make sure to check the full changes list below and of course take the new version out for a spin (Patrons and Kickstarter backers).  Finally, this weeks video talks about the datacards I introduced last week, so have a look:

Full changes list:

• added: Techdrones don’t appear above ground at start (until player “opens the planet”)
• added: planet seed is now based on galaxy, star-system and planet
• added: intro scene now uses actual level-data for front/ground layer
• added: Planet and Galaxy names
• added: “groups of item-types” handling to mission structure
• added: extra depth layer to intro scene
• added: force-field generators
• added: deuterium and metal are now “always” minable near crash area
• added: name-generator for Stars and Galaxy naming
• added: picking fruit now leaves the stick alone (can still pick the stick up in separate “grab” move)
• added: fruit can grow back as long as the stick is left alone
• added: option to cook fish on campfires
• added: resin fluid (usable as sealant)
• changed: soften the volume on some creature sounds
• fixed: crash bug on planet-generation
• fixed: optimized rendering (got rid of a lot of double-rendering happening on background art)
• fixed: blocking device generation if no mining-device is made (metal, deuterium)
• fixed: centered devices on device-select interface
• fixed: enabled pressing “inventory button” to exit inventory (keyboard/mouse)
• fixed: music wasn’t alternating between different tunes available
• fixed: placement/drop-rate of rocks had faulty math