Once more another month has passed and so I’m back with yet another update, this time in the form of 0.22.0.

What’s New?

As always I’ll start by going over some of the changes you can expect to see in version 0.22.0 before talking about some of the new additions also introduced in this update. To begin with, the most obvious change you’ll see is with the overall look of the UI. I mentioned previously that I wasn’t happy with the look of the existing UI and so for this update I finally sat down and worked on implementing what I’m calling UI version 2.

Gone are the blue shaded menus and buttons which were admittedly somewhat difficult to see when placed against the darkness of space. In their place are white outlined boxes with a black shaded background and white text giving a more clean and sci-fi look. In addition to the more immediate visual changes, the new UI also makes much greater use of animations. More specifically buttons will now fill when the mouse is placed over them while some panels will display an animated background graphic to help add more life and personality to the UI. Building on this some of the user interfaces have even been completely rebuilt, with the campaign map research GUI and the custom battle setup GUI being just two examples. The research GUI will now use a pre-built research tree while the battle setup screen now supports additional maps and a new layout.

All in all the UI is a stark departure from the more stylized look I had before and one which I hope is seen as an upgrade rather than a downgrade. Though as I mentioned before, this is only UI version 2 and building an aesthetically pleasing and functional UI is difficult. So there’ll no doubt be a version 3 and/or 4 at some point in the future as I continue to build and iterate on the new design.

Beyond just the changes to the UI this update also brought some improvements to the campaign. In particular and as mentioned before the UI for research has been redone with the research tree now being pre-loaded instead of being built at runtime. Something which was becoming more complex than it needed to be thanks in no small part to the four new research options introduced in this update. Additionally the auto resolve option for battles has also had some changes made to it. With the average amount of damage dealt increasing (thanks to a collection of changes with how damage bonuses are calculated) and the percentage chance of winning the battle now being more clearly displayed and calculated out 100 instead of whatever the total fleet power of the battle was, like it did previously. Most importantly of all though there is now a retreat option on the pre battle GUI, meaning you no longer need to load up a battle and quit in order for your fleet(s) to retreat.

These changes are not the only alterations made to the campaign as this update also brings a new look for the map used in the freeplay mode. In previous versions the number of locations totaled 18. Now, the total number of locations stands at 33 as this update added 10 new planets and 5 new asteroids and nebulas. To accommodate these new locations the campaign map size was also increased just as battle maps had been in 0.21.0. For now these new locations do not belong to any faction and can thus be occupied by simply moving a fleet to them. In the future though they will be occupied by a new pirate faction which has yet to be implemented.

Finally I should also mention that in preparation for future versions and optimizations, custom battles also had a number of changes made to them. In particular 5 new team colours have been added alongside 3 new maps. A 3 v 3, 4 v 4 and 5 v 5 map. Again, these maps were added with future optimizations in mind and so I wouldn’t expect great performance for now when trying to use them. Especially with each of the AI spots occupied. At the very least though the 5 v 5 map should give you an idea of the kind of scale I’m hoping to achieve in future versions.

Update 0.23.0

Now that you know what to expect from the 0.22.0 update I’ll quickly lay out my current plans for the 0.23.0 update. In keeping with the theme of the 0.21.0 and 0.22.0 updates. 0.23.0 will first be focused on continuing the refinement of existing features before adding new content. To this end I’m going to start by taking this chance to make some more direct overhauls to the research system. The current research tree is rather trivial and quick to complete, with most options being cheaper than basic units and providing little by way of unique or interesting tech from a gameplay standpoint. Something which I’m planning to change for 0.23.0

Furthermore I’m also going to take a long overdue look at the camera and accompanying camera views. I’ve never really been happy with how close the camera centre (the point which the camera rotates around) is to the bottom of the screen, causing most of the action to be cut off by the UI when the camera is moved to a given point. Or how cumbersome it is to move around the now more expanded battle and campaign maps. Nor have I ever been too happy with the barebones tactical or free cam views. With the tactical view in particular being little more than a top down overview of the battle and displaying no real useful information or providing any kind of opportunity to direct the action on show. As such both the camera and aforementioned views will be getting an overhaul in the 0.23.0 update.

In addition to refinements and to ensure I don’t go too long without adding any meaningful content 0.23.0 will also add a new class of units for each faction to use. Utility units will as the name implies provide some sort of utility on the battlefield or on the campaign map and so won’t be combat oriented. I have ideas in mind for what kind of units I want for each of the factions but as always I’m open to ideas for more unique and interesting gameplay options.

Last but not least 0.23.0 will also see the start of some kind of trade network. As you have the opportunity to be at peace or allied with other factions it makes sense to have other gameplay options beyond just preparing to wage war with them again. A trade system can be extremely simple or extremely complex and so I’ll admit right now that I don’t know how much of this new system will be implemented by the time of the next release. Ultimately though, I'd like to have a system based around producing and trading unique resources, with individual planets or locations allowing you to gain an edge in benefiting more from the in-game economy and winning on the solar market.

Closing Thoughts

It’s taken longer than I originally thought it would (when doesn’t it!) but Stelestial Contact: Solar Storm is finally starting to look and feel more and more like a complete product. Though there’s still a long way to go I think I’m getting close to the point of having an adequate level of gameplay and polish such that I would be happy to more proactively advertise it. To achieve this however I need to reach said level of polish and so as I do at the end of every dev log I’ll bid you farewell for yet another month while I get to work on the 0.23.0 update.

As always if you have any questions or queries then don’t hesitate to ask and similarly if you have any feedback for existing systems. Or indeed if you have any ideas, features or changes you would like to see implemented then also don’t hesitate to let me know.

As with all of my updates a full list of the changes made can be found in game, with the changes and additions pertaining to this update listed below:

• Added a new debug option to the campaign map to disable the intel system
• Added a new debug option to the campaign map to damage the currently selected units
• Added a new retreat button to the pre battle GUI for when the attacking team is controlled by the player
• Added a new research option to the campaign map, optimised unit blueprints which reduces unit build time by 10%
• Added a new research option to the campaign map, optimised building blueprints which reduces building build time by 10%
• Added a new research option to the campaign map, optimised unit builds which reduces unit build cost by 10%
• Added a new research option to the campaign map, optimised building builds which reduces building build cost by 10%
• Added a new 3 v 3 space battle map
• Added a new 4 v 4 space battle map
• Added a new 5 v 5 space battle map
• Added map previews for the 3 v 3, 4 v 4 and 5 v 5 space battle maps
• Added support for speeding up the movement of the camera while in the tactical view by holding down the shift key
• Added support for a debug menu when on the campaign map and in dev mode
• Added support for animated buttons
• Added support for animated checkboxes
• Added support for changing the zoom level of the minimap using the mouse wheel and for changing the position of the minimap by holding the shift key and dragging the minimap with the left mouse button
• Added support for selecting moving fleets and armies using a selection box on the campaign map
• Added a set of 5 new team colours for use in custom battles
• Added a set of 10 new planets and 5 new locations (asteroids and nebulas) to the freeplay campaign map
• Added a follow button to the campaign map GUI where you can have the camera follow a moving fleet or army
• Added a follow button to the space battle GUI where you can have the camera follow a moving unit
• Updated the freeplay campaign map faction previews to match the new layout of the freeplay campaign map
• Updated the look of the main menu to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the changelog to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the tutorials page to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the guide page to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the settings page to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the credits page to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the loading screen to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the battle results screen to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the battle setup screen to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign setup screen to make of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the pause screen to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the save and load screen to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the battle GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the debug GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the info GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the unit buttons to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign fleet, army and unit buttons to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign building slot and recruitment GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign popup GUI's to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign prebattle GUI to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the look of the campaign location labels to make use of the new GUI theme
• Updated the campaign research GUI to use a prebuilt research tree instead of building one at runtime
• Updated the campaign map to make use of the same sky shader as space battles
• Updated the campaign map minimap to also draw moving fleets and armies
• Updated the campaign map auto resolve to deal more damage to squad based units
• Updated the campaign map auto resolve to have a chance of dealing damage to units that win individual battles
• Updated the campaign map auto resolve to give the win percentage for a battle instead of displaying the fleet power split
• Updated the campaign map auto resolve to take into account the winning team when calculating unit damage
• Updated the settings page to take into account key rebinding when checking for any changed settings
• Updated the battle map unit movement to take into account the unit size when calculating the middle section of the movement curve
• Increased the size of the freeplay campaign map from 100m² to 400m² to allow for longer travel times and more locations
• Increased the maximum height and updated the starting position of the camera on both the campaign map and in battles
• Fixed a bug where space stations of the same faction would share the same team colour despite them being on different teams
• Fixed a bug where the name of a selected location would still be displayed above the minimap despite the player having no intel for said location
• Fixed a bug where the rebind key option on the settings page no longer worked
• Fixed a bug where moving an fleet or army to a unoccupied location would result in a game crash
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map hidden planet shader couldn't be updated if it was already animating
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map popup GUI's could no longer be moved around the screen like in previous versions
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map GUI no longer displayed notifications
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map repair and delete unit buttons were usable while a fleet or army was in transit
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map auto resolve would result in units having their health reset before the new damage was applied
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map auto resolve wouldn't remove units after they reached 0 health
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map fleet manager would attempt to load armies currently in space above the selected location
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map move army button would result in a duplicate button remaining in the space or surface tab
• Fixed a bug where the campaign map research GUI would cut off the name of the current research under the research labs list