Well it’s the 18th of December and as promised here I am with the next update along with a brief overview of my plans for the year ahead. Detailing both what I want to achieve before the end of the year and what kind of changes you can expect to see in 2025.

What’s New?

First up though and for the last time this year I’ll quickly go over what's new in this update which as you may have guessed by the shorter amount of dev time isn’t as much as you're probably used to when it comes to one of my updates. Having said that though there are still some new things in this update, the first of which is the promised new ship models. Though unfortunately unlike the plans I had set out before there are only two this time around instead of the five I had originally wanted to include. Nevertheless with this update both the Human Frigate and the Human Battleship now have new models, the specifics of which can be seen in the images above.

To go along with the new base ship models a whole slew of new turret models were also added for use by not just these but all of the ships belonging to the human faction. These include a tiny variant of the laser turret, a medium variant of the laser turret and a large variant of the laser turret. Additionally a set of tiny, small and medium ion laser turret models have also been added using the same style as the regular laser turret models so they match when placed side by side. Finally a medium and large variant of the engine model has also been added for use by the new units, both of which are in line with the previously added tiny and small engine variants.

Last but not least there was also the usual collection of smaller changes and bug fixes which can be found in all my updates. In the case of this update some of the highlights include new tooltips for the campaign setup screen to better describe what each of the different buttons do, a fix for the human corvette unit which meant that the collision shape didn’t line up with the shape of the new model, a fix for the engine shader not extending the length of the engine exhaust when on a unit which is part of a squad and a fix for the missile turret not being targetable and therefore also not contributing to the overall health of the unit.

Future Plans (2025)

So it’s that time of the year again, time for me to once again look back on what I was able to achieve over the past year with regards to Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy At War. While also talking about what I hope to achieve in the coming year. Probably the biggest addition of the past year would be the ground combat which didn’t even exist last year but is now in a functional, if still in a somewhat undercooked state. Not only are you able to fight battles on a selection of maps in a custom battle but ground battles can also be fought through the campaign map, a feature which served to close the loop between fighting and conquering on the campaign map and fighting and conquering on the battle map which was originally limited to just space battles.

But enough about what was achieved over the course of the past year, a detailed breakdown of all the changes made can be found both in game and in the past years worth of devlogs. Instead I want to talk about my plans for next year with regards to Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy At War and my plans for turning it from a small personal project into an independently developed video game that I can be happy promoting and selling. To this end 2025 will see the implementation of the final gameplay area which I believe is needed not only to reach version 1.0 but also to provide a game worthy of being sold for more than the price of £0.00 that I currently charge.

As a result of this a couple of things will be changing with regards to the normal once a month updates that I currently aim for. To begin with changes within the updates will now be split into two different parts, those being the changes relating to the free release version of the game and those relating to the paid version of the game. Additionally I can’t guarantee that said updates will continue to be once a month as gearing up for a paid release will no doubt take time away from the normal work I do on updates as I instead need to work on making more external materials. Such as promotional posts, images, videos and attempting to build something of a community. Equally there may be a point in time where I am releasing updates more frequently than once a month, in particular once I begin actually selling the game and thus have a greater responsibility to ensure the game is as stable as it can be for each new update.

Having said all that you're probably asking yourself what exactly the split between a free and paid version means. For now nothing much will change and while it may not be the smartest idea from an economical point of view I want to keep the content currently in the game as it is free to play. That means the custom space and ground battles, along with the free play campaign map and the in game tutorials and guides will all keep being playable for free. Alternatively the paid version will include (based on current plans) a set of 4 story campaigns for each of the 4 playable factions currently implemented, additionally the paid version will also get access to a new faction with its own set of units, campaign missions and faction specific mechanics.

As with anything in life the above plans are not concrete and so they will no doubt change and alter as the year goes by, but for now at least these are my own thoughts on where I’d like to take Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy At War over the next year. While I am still very inexperienced when it comes to being an indie dev, I hope that over the next year I can polish the game and include enough quality content to the point where some people may consider it worth even a token amount of money.

Update 0.40.0

Well now that you have an idea of my overall plans for the next year we’re at that point in the devlog where I talk about what you can expect specifically from the next update. As always the first element that will be included is that of a set of new models, specifically the new Human Carrier model alongside a new Human Repair Ship Model. I had planned for these to be in the 0.39.0 update but in the end I ran out of time and decided that I should just push the work back to the next update rather than rush to try and include them. So as a result the first thing you can expect from the next update is two new unit models along with any new subsystem models should they be needed to accompany either of them.

Keeping with new looks 0.40.0 will also finally have a new look along with some new functions for both unit and building shields. In fact the new look is already completed and though I haven’t implemented it yet I’ve already researched the principles for the two new shield functions that will be added alongside said new look. These are support for changing the shield size based on the size of the unit model, freeing me from having to make individual shield models for each unit or building. Additionally shields will also be able to react to being hit with a laser, kinetic round or missile with the hit producing a wave that travels across the entire length of the shield.

Moving on from new visual looks there will also be some new functions in 0.40.0 to be more specific it will be the first update to include the new story campaign map. Which for this update will be the one belonging to the Human faction. While the campaign map itself won’t be accessible for now I’ll start work on setting the map up with the correct planets, locations and factions for when I start adding the campaign story itself. Of course just adding the story campaign map itself won’t change anything for people who can’t access it and so depending on the amount of time I find myself with I’ll also be looking at working on the other systems I’ll need to make the story mode functional. Which in the case of this update, will be through the implementation of in game events.

As always beyond the above ideas 0.40.0 will also include the usual selection of miscellaneous updates and changes. But one area in particular that I am looking at putting a bit more development time towards this time around is with regards to creating animations for all the new subsystem models that I’ve been implementing. Currently the only subsystem with any form of proper animation is the missile turret and so I’d like to try and add the same level of animation to the other subsystems. Not only will this help to add another level of polish to the game, but it will also give me another chance to go back over some of the models I’ve added previously to ensure that they are all up to the same level of quality.

Closing Thoughts

So I won’t lie as you could probably tell by the size of updates over the past couple of months my motivation for working Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy At War has faltered somewhat. To be clear I still enjoy working on the game and once I get stuck into working on a feature or redoing some of the models then the time seems to fly by. However, getting that initial start has been becoming harder and harder for me over the past couple of months.

Having said that this is something I’ve recognized I think before it got too bad and so I’m hoping that by both; taking a short amount of time away from working on the game along with taking the time to make more concrete plans for what to work on when I don’t feel like doing anything. Then perhaps I can help rebuild some of the motivation I had when I first started working on Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy At War. Additionally with work now starting on writing the campaign stories for each of the factions, there is another area for me to work on when I don’t feel like I have the motivation to work on programming or 3D modelling.

Anyway I’ll end this devlog here to not only get to work on the next update but to also take a small amount of time to reset myself. I need to go into the new year with a more stable plan for what I need to achieve over the next year if I want to make the most of it. So for the last time this year I’ll bid you all farewell and return again next year with the 0.40.0 update some time before the end of January.

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 model for the medium human engine subsystem
• Added a new model for the large human engine subsystem
• Added a new model for the fixed tiny ion laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the tiny ion laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the small ion laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the medium ion laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the fixed tiny laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the tiny laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the medium laser turret subsystem
• Added a new model for the large laser turret subsystem
• Added a small laser turret to the Human Missile Ship for additional non missile based damage
• Updated the image used by the Human Missile Ship to include the newly added small laser turret
• Updated the image used by the Human Frigate to match the look of the new unit model
• Updated the image used by the Human Battleship to match the look of the new unit model
• Updated the model used by the Human Frigate
• Updated the model used by the Human Battleship
• Updated the load save button on the campaign setup screen to display the text load game instead of the text load save
• Updated the load save button on the campaign setup screen to have a tooltip
• Updated the freeplay campaign button on the campaign setup screen to have a tooltip
• Updated the story campaign button on the campaign setup screen to have a tooltip
• Fixed a bug where the engine shader didn't extend the length of the engine effect when a squad based unit was moving
• Fixed a bug where the missile turret subsystem could not be targeted and didn't contribute to the units overall health
• Fixed a bug where the collision shape of the Human Corvette unit didn't match the unit model