New UI & Fonts

After saying I would go look at fonts and stuff multiple times on stream, I finally got around to doing it; and while I was at it, I updated all the UI panels to look a little less default Unity assets. It's just a first pass, but I think it looks OK.

Additionally, there's a lot of more transparencies, slight changes to positioning, and so on.

These fonts are not entirely final. They can be quite unreadable at times, so there will be even more fonts and changes coming in that respect.

New Waypoint Sprites

Waypoints now have a new, simpler sprite that fits the new UI stuff better. Additionally, there's a new sprite that appears on screen while the target destination is within screen space. Finally, the number showing the distance is now displayed flat, making it easier to read while the waypoints spin around the player.

Custom Ship Textures

You might have noticed that the player's ship looks a little different than usual. Well I've implemented some sprite masks and made it possible to use custom ship textures for the player ship. I won't commit to the player being able to load their own into the game just yet, but it does mean that new ship decals are now possible, meaning more content for you to earn in the game.

Debris & Space Junk

Various new pieces of debris will now spawn in the space system. Colliding with them will damage your ship though, so be careful.

Advanced Stations & Repair and Rest Mechanic

A semi-new type of station now spawns, an Advanced station. These stations will allow you to repair your ship for a small fee should it become damaged or in need of supplies and fuel. The player's home station also has this functionality.

Bug Fixes And Other Changes

• Fixed a bug where leaving and entering a station multiple time while having incoming deliveries would increase the incoming delivery count on the incoming deliveries page despite the player list not changing.
• Fixed the planet masks as there was a glitch caused by the new ship texture stuff.
• Camera now has smoothing when zooming in and out.
• Fixed a glitch where the Inventory and Status screens could be opened when inside a station menu or paused.
• Fixed a bug where handing in one incoming delivery would wipe the whole list for that station until you quit out and back into it.
• Updated ship stats and relating UI so that the percentages are now based on the actual totals of the ship's various capabilities. (I was using a float of 100 previously, regardless of ship type or potential upgrades the player might be able to get.)
• Changed out cloud sprites for planets for newer blurred ones that should cause less flickering.
• Credits updated.

Other Stuff

I was hoping to make this post with news regarding NPCs and such. Unfortunately, adding them into the game is proving to be harder than I initially thought. The biggest problem right now is pathfinding and behaviours. Now that the play field is a lot more complicated, implementations or either of those aspects change drastically from what I originally planned. So it's gonna take a bit more time.

Going forward; I want to add a proper upgrade and customisation shop. It's probably going to take a while to get working properly though. I still have a lot of artwork left to do to make the game look a little less "default assets" as well as more objects and background stuff. Inventory management and such still need to be expanded upon, again, likely going to take some time.

Right, so here's the bad news. Ghost Of Tsushima is coming out and I want to play it. So I might take that opportunity to take a short break from the game dev side of things. Consider it my Summer holiday. At any reason, it's at least going to be the excuse for the delay between this point and the next one. Hopefully I will post again before the beginning of August.

Take care.

Wait, one more thing. If you see another demo popping up relatively soon, it's probably only for testing purposes. You're welcome to play it if you can grab it in the short time it might be up though.