A sample of things to come – Interstellar Rift development update 012

This weeks update includes quite a few menu upgrades. It is now more in line with the rest of the game and it offers a lot more space to place necessary settings. As such, you will find a few new settings to play with. The join game window has also been revised to match with what you’d expect from a server browser in most multiplayer games. While it is in no way complete, we feel its a step in the right direction and it should make joining servers easier and feel more familiar.

 

This week we’re also adding a new prop type with the tech II Ion Engine. This much larger engine has both an interior and an exterior component, this will eventually allow players to make repairs while in transit, unlike the tech one engines which will require a repair drone or a repair station.

We have received feedback, pointing out that the mirrored version of some exterior tiles were missing, and these new hull blocks have now been added. Mistakes like this are to be expected in a pre-alpha, but we are working to get the game as complete as we can, and feedback like this helps us to do it as fast as possible. Additionally, some missing quarter walkways components have been added to the game.

 

As an indie company, we like to support and get in touch with the industry as much as possible, so we went to gamescom to find out what’s up. Although we didn’t have our own stand or official presence this year, we met a lot of interesting people. We are very interested in the indie games industry, so let us know what you are working on.

Character customization

I’m sure you all really love our test character, but are eagerly awaiting the ability to change your character’s gender and appearance. We are planning to allow players to gather new armor pieces from the galaxy by looting, crafting and trading. Each armor piece will have its own module slots and stats. Here’s a preview of the Apollo armor set, designed by Anthony Scroggins. This is but one of the dozens of armor sets which players will be able to find in the game and mix and match with other sets to create the look that will make your character unique.

 

Graphical improvements

Also, behind the scenes, our programmers are working hard to improve the visuals of the game. One of the biggest challenges of building your own game engine is creating various special effects yourself and being able to take a specific twist on it so it meets the specifications of the game and the company as close as possible. Although it is not finished yet, we are working on a shader editor and particle engine, once these are completed we’ll be able to let the artists loose on those, which will greatly improve the way the game looks.

Here’s a teaser picture of the upcoming material system:

There are many more things to come, such as the procedural galaxy, enemies and a lot more. but we’ll reveal more about those when we get closer to implementing them.

For now, we hope you enjoy this new update and follow us on facebook and twitter for the latest info about Interstellar Rift

“Captain! I think it wants to communicate” Interstellar Rift development update 011

Last time, we let you guys get a first taste of multiplayer, and I must say that the results have been great. Seeing so many of you drop by the test server and exploring your ships has been a real treat for us here at the office. Of course there were bugs, like there are with any game at this stage. That said, there was something missing, something no multiplayer game should be without. We saw so many of you walk around and explore the test server but no one could talk to each other. And on the forums and through e-mail you have made your wishes perfectly clear.

So today we add chat to multiplayer. As well as a round of bugfixes that should fix most of the big issues in multiplayer, such as the characters which remained on the server even after the players had logged out.

Apart from that we’re also adding mass based ship controls. Based on your ships interior, the number of engines and the amount of maneuvering thrusters you place on your ship, your vessel will behave differently. The bigger your ship’s interior, the more engines and maneuvering thrusters you’ll need. Engines will provide your ship primarily with forward thrust and a slight amount of turning and strafe capability. While maneuvering thrusters will provide your ship solely with turning and strafe ability. Along with this, we have created a new space flight GUI to make things clear.

This is a very early incarnation and is going to be subject to a lot of tweaking. your feedback is very much appreciated.

As a final note, we have also put a new large hydrogen tank into the game and filled it to the brim with fuel.

Also, we’ve recently been getting a lot of questions from many different sources, asking: “When do you update the game?”.

We are currently on a bi-weekly update schedule, so every two weeks on Monday/Tuesday (depending on your location), we will release a patch. The next one is scheduled for August 18th/19th.

As always we appreciate your feedback and we look forward to seeing you guys and flying your creations on the servers.

This is the Split Polygon team, Signing off!

 

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