General Update - Graphics, Bugfixes, Tutorial

This is a busy time, with lots of university projects and exams coming up followed by a move to California in January, so there are my excuses for updates.

That said, I did finally make the switch to Unity's deffered rendering - it allows me to use HDR and get some proper post-processing effects. It also means I simplified all the layers and simplified the whole process. I get fancy distortion effects in return as well.

I also took a lot more time than usual to playtest the game and managed to fix a lot of bugs, including a whole rewrite of the music system. I still need a major sound pass (something I know very little about) to make it all more satisfying.

The new lighting in action, along with a much easier to follow tutorial.

Ship physics have been slightly reworked so that ramming is a more effective tactic and "grinding" damage has been reduced. You'll need to really charge your enemy to attack them, and you'll probably need to disable their engine core to slow them down and do it. Ship speed is also detached from the number of engines you have, so your ship's visual design is no longer tied to stats. It makes movement more predictable.

Station - Visiting Actions

Made a new main menu background

Of course, there should be a reason to come back home and at least visit your station. As of right now you can add a shipyard to your station, allowing you to edit your ship while in your base but also order the construction of ships to add to your fleet. They're automatically stored in your base and unmanned and cost as much as building the ship yourself. If you ever find yourself with too many credits and not enough ships, that's one way to spend them. Keep in mind salvaging ships is not 100% effective!

Build-a-ship menu, much like the ship loading in the editor

You can now also send crew home from anywhere - boarding craft will undock from your main ship and warp to your home sector or dock with your station if you're already there. Taking out crew, however, is reserved for when the player is home.

Boarding craft going from your ship to your home station

I'm also still adding upgrades and encounters to the game, optimising and bugfixing. A lot of the goals I had for stations are complete, only a few features left to implement!