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[Alain]

Please note the date

Don't tempt me lol

I have actually considered seeing if

I could get Startron to run in DOS

Sorry for tempting you: If you decide to do it, I'll buy the 3½" floppy version. Consider this an order placed!

[Rogod]

I think everybody will have to wait on that one

Plenty of other things I want to get in first (e.g. I'm more likely to figure out music on Linux before Startron on DOS)

I'll consider it as a for-fun project later on in this already-for-fun project

[Alain]

I think everybody will have to wait on that one

Plenty of other things I want to get in first (e.g. I'm more likely to figure out music on Linux before Startron on DOS)

I'll consider it as a for-fun project later on in this already-for-fun project

I totally understand, but will keep my hopes up

[Rogod]

Update v0.72
Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed

• Redesigned the main menu and added a little section for acknowledgements

• Added a transition between views and locations in game

• Corrupted the database in pirate ports

• Added 5 superstructures (from left to right):
  
  • Verse portal
  • Particle accelerator
  • Terraformer
  • Energy funnel (currently doesn't do anything yet - this'll be expanded on in future updates)
  • Ship factory

• Hid the blueprints for these in the pirate port database

• Added lithrogen canisters to the wares for sale in Captain T's shop

• Balanced some pricing regarding lithrogen & juice

• Converted space stations in nebulæ with no neighbours to pirate ports (because having them just on black holes & worm holes would sometimes mean they were rare enough that you would never find one in your cosmos)

• Fixed some missing prompts on the UI

More importantly, as promised, I recorded a long-play video as well as a short demonstration for v0.72:

[JobLeonard]

You can try passing the recorded file through FFMPEG first, it should allow you to re-encode the audio without changing the video, so there is no quality loss:

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/AudioVolume

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#loudnorm

[vdapps]

Super cool update.

Regarding silent audio, yep, you have to check audio before uploading to YouTube, no post-corrections when uploaded are possible. Only delete video and upload new one with higher volume.

I have YouTube channel (I'm not updating it now) and one of my best videos (by narration and edit), I uploaded with quite silent audio (I not checked my audio levels in LightWorks properly and when editing I didn't notice). I was sad as creator, I noticed very late, didn't want to delete and reupload so I left it like it is.

[Rogod]

Fixed the videos :3

[JobLeonard]

I forgot to comment last time (I already watched them with the volume way up). Nice summary, the whole game already appears really polished in motion compared to the last video you made, especially for an ASCII style game

I kinda wonder if it would be possible to "zoom in"/"zoom out" of the planet when transitioning to and from the planetary, instead of the current approach. You know, "just" increase/decrease the circle radius of either rendering mode, and switch halfway or something. I bet that would make the whole thing a bit more immersive stil

[Rogod]

Oo that's something I hadn't actually thought of.

In theory yea, it's possible - and for system↔cosmos too

I will have to investigate !

[JobLeonard]

Ok so I just checked out the new uploads and I'm afraid there's another technical hitch: you accidentally created a left-channel only stereo output for (presumabely) a mono input! Since I'm almost-deaf on the left that makes it impossible to listen to with headphones now (unless I put them on the wrong way around )

Not the biggest of deals but something to make sure you fix for next time I think

[Rogod]

I didn't even realise that was possible lol

I just recorded it on a headset mic with OBS into a .mkv then put it through a video editor to up the volume

[Rogod]

Update v0.73
Got her all fixed up for ya

• Shifted the system name from top right to top left on the cosmos overview (consistent with the system overview now)

• Highlighted the R key on the flashing transmission prompt at the top of the screen

• Added a prompt for when you try to collect from a body with no yards

• Provided a readout of some basic cosmos stats when generating a new cosmos on the main menu

• Ensured homeworlds are more populated (sometimes they'd generate with 0 visible cities which looked dumb - not game-breaking, just silly)

• Made build mode flash the building you have selected so you can more easily see what you're doing when creating colonies

• Made hailing pirates from the bridge actually work (I acknowledge there is still a bunch more to implement on the bridge - I'll get to it )

• Squished down the menus in the corners of the UI so less screenspace is taken up with text, leaving more room for the game (it was starting to look kinda ugly with all the blank lines between options)

• Fixed the "What you say" part of the intro sequence not displaying its image

• Fixed some poor grammar/layout in the credits

• Fixed the background shop interaction while typing in the Captain's log

• Fixed destroying buildings not giving any resources at all (this will be upgraded to a proper loot table later so they give you back more of the valuable resources spent building them - ensures mistakes are less devastating)

• Fixed cobwebs & dust showing in readyroom even when collectibles are present

• Fixed the camera sometimes losing the player when zooming into a new body (it just made for an ugly onscreen shuffle as it sought you)

• Fixed the rare artifact heading on the bar TV only showing for collecting the pirate flag (now works for all other collectibles)

Just some of the low-hanging fruit I found on a recent playthrough - more features and bigger improvements to come

[Rogod]

Update v0.74
Why don't you see green suns?

• Planets and moons now generate with craters on them (they illuminate depending on the direction the sun is in and must be cleared to build on)

• Your last position on any entity is now stored so navigating in and out of things for repeated tasks is far less tedious

• The cosmos now generates systems with 51 possible solar-centres (instead of the 10 previously found).
  
  These solar centres can be any of the following:
  Black holes, wormholes, pulsars, neutron stars, magnetars, nebulæ, black/brown/red/white dwarves, yellow/red/blue main sequence stars & red/blue giants - and on top of this, most of the star types, plus black holes, can make up binary systems now (making the total of 51 system types now found in v0.74)

• Old star system types are automatically converted to their v0.74 equivalents to ensure backwards compatibility

• The stats on the bridge have been laid out better to account for longer system type names

• Binary systems also now orbit eachother slowly (they're no longer just 2 yellow circles sat next to eachother)

• Made the generation readout on the main menu disappear while generation takes place, so you can tell it actually did something

• Redesigned how asteroids generate so there is more land mass and they're a bit more useful now
  (Deliberately not touched gas giants as the original shard-like appearance from before suits the interior of a gas giant better in my opinion)
  

• Suns now have random corona bursts so they're a little more lively to look at (does not affect binary systems yet - I'll save that for a future update)

• Planets now show a thin surrounding atmosphere from the system view

Been a bit busy lately with some drastic positive shifts in lifestyle, so this update's a lot later than I had originally intended (I also wanted to pool all the cosmos-generation stuff into 1 update so it's less disruptive)

Am now off to play in the Zenith alpha for a week too

Have fun all

[JobLeonard]

Excellent update!

Glad to read the delays are for good reasons too!

[Rogod]

Update v0.75
Ima firin' mah lazer!

• Improved the appearance of pulsars (now they don't look identical to magnetars and neutron stars)

• Added a PC speaker beep for various interface actions (it helps to have some kind of feedback when performing actions in a game with such limited graphics ) - This can be turned off with the config file outlined in the readme or support section of the website. If neither your operating system or computer provide a PC-speaker interface, you won't hear anything :D

• Added an interface for energy funnels:

• Added a firing animation for energy funnels (planet killing tech):This stuff will become more important for the story later on but for now it just lets you obliterate any entity in any solar system. (Charging up the energy funnel will devolve the sun 1 level until it becomes a black hole, so make sure to build it in a system with a big sun or in a binary system so you get your money's worth. )

• Added some missing config information to the readme too

[JobLeonard]

I'm sorry did you say "planet killing tech"

[Rogod]

Update v0.76
Electromagnetic interference is disrupting our communications!

• Debuffed communications near black holes

• Added arrows to fly into at the edges of planets and moons to flip them (seems trivial but solves the problem of people not realising you can flip them)

• Added an options menu finally! (You have no idea how long that's been on the to-do list )

• Moved the language selector into the options menu (so it's actually reliable now and not tied to the cosmos save file)

• Fixed energy funnels saying recently fired-upon systems don't have entities

• Fixed being abled to fire energy funnels at nothing

After the larger update last time, I wanted to tackle some more niggly stuff (like options menus and bugs) that have been putting me off working on Startron so I can get back to doing the fun stuff.

But yes, you can indeed kill planets now lol. I am hoping to make the moral/ethical issues of doing so key to the story when I introduce the Grog α and Grog ß (so far only referenced in bar patron chit-chat) so we'll see where that goes.

[JobLeonard]

people not realising you can flip them

Bro, do you even flip moons?

(How do you do that? Are you Archimedes with an infinite lever?)

[Rogod]

Lol, it is just a convenient short-hand for "fly your ship to the reverse side of"

[Rogod]

Update v0.77
Self destruct sequence activated

• Your ship now requires petroop to travel between star systems

• Petroop is shown on the bridge and in engineering where it can be converted from fuel held in the cargo bay. Petroop storage can also be upgraded from engineering.

• Petroop stations will now generate in the unused corners of planets to be used for refuelling (this is applied backwards to old saves as well )

• Added a prompt to advise you on petroop usage the first time you try to use the cosmos overview

• Added a self destruct sequence as it is now possible to become absolutely stranded if you don't plan your journeys properlyI may make this more showy later

• Fixed the new game button showing as available while saving is still taking place on slower systems

• Fixed mismatches between UK English and US English

• Fixed the transmission prompt at the top of the screen not actually being in the centre