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So, this is quite possibly the biggest update yet. Since I've been going full time with development lately, I've got quite a bit done on the game. As you might have guessed, the majority of this update deals with the space exploration part of the game. There's been a bunch of things, under the hood and otherwise, so I'll just run down the main features:
New graphics for the sparrow bridge and space stuff: Finally the command console looks like an actual spaceship cockpit. Other graphical improvements applied to other areas as well.
Completed Launching and Landing sequence. You can now launch and land without issues. These sequences are skippable as well. This includes docking sequences for the ISS.
Feature Complete ISS: The ISS is explorable, with people to talk to, a pawn shop, crafting area, and commerce area. You can also pester station admin and get some backstory, including a new readable item.
Feature Complete Spaceport: All sections of the spaceport are finished. You can buy commodities (although right now there is nowhere to actually ship them), and purchase station services including ship upgrades and repairs. There are people to talk to who may have interesting things to say about some of the things you can do.
Added D-Ring Activity: Earth's Debris Ring is the result of a massive orbital cleanup operation that nearly bankrupted the Big Five, but basically eliminated the danger of space debris by keeping it within a specified zone, a ring around the planet. You can visit four quadrants of this ring and brave the dangers of this area to find potentially valuable wreckage and earn bounties for taking dangerous debris out of circulation.
Added Recycling: This can tie into the D-Ring activity, allowing you to open up large garbage containers and sift through the disgusting junk inside, procuring bits and pieces you can salvage via the crafting system for valuable materials. Sell or use these materials to build other items, the choice is yours.
Implemented Stock Market: The stock market is now fully implemented though untested.
Frameworks Established: Many under-the-hood support structures for future game mechanics have been built and refined, specifically oriented toward space exploration, which should make future development of space exploration features easier.
QoL Improvements: General quality of life improvements in some areas, like ATM's, which allow you to manage your bank account in a simple way, from most public places.
Stargirl is Ready: Once again I have rebuilt and further refined the Stargirl (Xandra) save with the aim of enabling you to immediately go to space and explore the new features.
Other features: Check the changes file in the freebie folder for a complete rundown of new stuff.
As for things that aren't in this update but I am planning on adding soon:
More space events, sensor tie-ins, research probe events, etc. Things like finding derelict satellites and repairing them or scavenging them for different rewards. More space combat stuff (Space combat is technically in the game but it is in dire need of testing and probably extremely buggy). Fleet stuff. The framework for fleets is in the game and functional but the mechanics are not developed enough to use it fully, and as such it is untested and probably buggy.
Travel to other planets, and the Moonbase. I want to have an orbital shipyard at the Moon, as well as a small lunar city on the surface (well, technically, most of the city is underground). Mars will have a very small colony on the surface, and Venus has a mining station, both of which are not yet in the game. I want to have a recycling center orbiting Mercury. Initially my goal will be to get the Solar System complete. This will allow me to develop and test the commodity trading system and all of the fundamental parts of the game having to do with space travel, exploration (both in space and on planets), finding anomalies, and so forth. These mechanics will then form a foundation for the development of the procedural generation system used to populate the galaxy with interesting planets and star systems, as well as a few scripted systems with handmade content to explore.
Space stuff that's slated for later development:
Ability to fly other types of ship and change your flagship between ships in your fleet. In order to make this possible, I need to develop the fundamental parts of every other part of the space exploration game. Then I can use the Sparrow Explorer as the template to build other ships with radically different characteristics and abilities.
Aliens. The truth is out there.
Okay, that's enough for now. This is a big one, but it's also just a step in the right direction. If I continue to be able to work full time on the game, we could end up seeing more big updates soon. It's not always easy to justify putting this kind of time into development, but when the opportunity presents itself, I try to exploit it.
Give it a day or so to upload the resources (thanks to my slow ass upload speed). The core files for v56 are already available in the Silver folder, but you'll likely need the resources for this update. Still, you can try the core and see how far it'll get you with an older set of resources. All other versions have been pushed up as usual.