Creepy Features and Spooky Ads – Interstellar Rift Development Update 042

This week’s update contains a number of quality of life improvements while we work on some bigger features, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a bunch of new stuff to share.

We have updated the ship editor to have an extra mode called “device edit mode.” This mode will allow you to set up your devices before you construct a ship in the game world. What this means, is that you can click on devices and set stuff like permissions, shield levels and more, and the game will transfer these settings to your ship when you actually built it. This will also allow you to set up your signage around the ship once, instead of having to do this again every time you construct your ship.

We have also added strobe lights that you can place on the outside of your ship, these blinky lights will make you more visible against the dark backdrop of space!

There are currently six different colours to choose from, just note that they don’t show up in the editor yet, only in the game world. There are more lights though, the ammo loader that got introduced last update will now have working sound and indicator lights. These lights will indicate the status of your ammo storage, and alert you if you’re running low. You might also find some new stations in space, as we have added a couple extra which have functionalities that were lacking in the stations already available. A new apparition next to the starting station is something you will see more of as we fill space, ads. No real ads, but ads for ingame companies. These will update with coming updates to show you, for example, new devices added to the game, or special features that might be introduced.

We also got multiple requests to add in more admin options, and although they are far from finished, we have added a couple more. Admins now have the option to teleport to any ship, any player, and teleport any player to them. They can also toggle ships to be invulnerable to damage.

It will be Halloween soon and even space becomes extra scary around this time of the earthly year. Watch out for some spooky pumpkins that you can find in the universe, maybe you’ll find some on the various stations, or is there a pumpkin stuck in your extractor? No one knows for sure! These pumpkins will be in the game for a short time only, but hold on to them if you come across some.

Like always thank you for playing Interstellar Rift, and we hope you enjoy these new features. As always if you’d like to keep up to date with the latest Interstellar Rift news and previews of upcoming updates please follow us on Twitter, Facebook or drop by our Steam forums.

and happy halloween!

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Blow em up! – Interstellar rift development update 041

Welcome to patch 0.1.8, The first incarnation of combat is introduced today!

In the editor you will find a new category in exterior mode called weapons. Here you will find the first projectile based weapon in Interstellar Rift. In order to fire it you will require an ammo loader onboard as well as ammo crates.

With the Introduction of combat we are also adding the ability to build ammo, and it marks the first multi-stage tech tree in Interstellar Rift. In order to create ammunition you will need to go out into the universe and explore to find new raw materials like zinc and nitrogen. These new resources together with some of the ones already found in the game will allow you to create ammo.  You will need to combine oxygen and nitrogen to create nitrous oxide. Combine zinc and copper to create brass, combine brass and Iron to create shells in the assembler and then combine nitrous oxide and shells to create ammunition. In the future we will be adding different kinds of ammo which behave differently from these standard rounds.

When in the editor, you also have the option to create weapon groups. These groups can contain multiple weapons and ammo loaders. You can switch between the first 10 weapon groups by pressing the number keys whilst sitting in a cockpit. In this update we can only allow you to make changes to these groups in the ship editor. But in the near future you will be able to do this on the fly when piloting a ship.

Now that you’ve built ammo, there is one more step which is needed for your ship to be combat ready. In order to use your ammo you will need to put it in the new ammo loader which you can find in the editor under prop edit mode. When you’ve added your ammo loader to your ship you can continue to the exterior editor and put the mounted turret on your ship. This is the first weapon available and it only fires in the direction it was placed in. Gimbaled and manned turrets are coming in future updates, together with missiles and energy weapons.

We have also made several new additions to the cockpits to allow for a more expanded combat UI. As with combat itself expect to see many more additions to these GUI’s in the coming weeks and months.

This is the first iteration of combat that we are ready to show to you guys but this is by no means finished. We need your feedback and suggestions as we attempt to balance weapons while maintaining your creative freedom in the construction of your ships.

We are already looking at new weapons and weapon convergence as well as turrets. But every bit of feedback is welcome. We have our own ideas on how to improve, but ultimately we answer to you guys. So please don’t hesitate to let us know what you think of the new changes.

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It’s a Sign! – Interstellar Rift Development Update 040

Today Interstellar Rift will allow you, the players, to communicate better in game through the ancient but highly efficient use of signs.

Above every door you will now find a sign stating what room lies beyond that door. Each door will do this automatically based on the name that you assign to the room inside the ship editor. This also means that for the time being these signs cannot be changed unless you rename the room inside of the editor and salvage and rebuild your ship ingame.

But that’s not all. We’re also adding several new wall building blocks to the interior editor. Including a new wall section with a screen embedded in it. This screen will allow you to write a small piece of text and add arrows to either side. You can also customise the text color to one of 8 different colors. This sign is primarily added as a way to give directions aboard ships. More signs will be added in upcoming updates which will allow more text.

In addition to the new sign system, we have also been working on adding more effects to the game. Every engine now has a visible beam of particles coming out of it, and thrusters will emit little jets every time you turn your ship.

Most of our efforts have been concentrated on getting the multiplayer into a much more stable state than it has been over the last month. Last patch you might have noticed a significant improvement to the overall stability of servers and much fewer desynchronization events such as bumping into invisible asteroids and the like. With this patch, most of these issues have been resolved. This allows us to proceed with some major features again such as combat.

We sincerely thank you, our fans, for your patience over the past month while we worked on fixing these issues. We now have the proper tools that will allow us to quickly identify and squash these bugs as soon as they show their ugly faces.

On another note we would like to make everyone aware that Split Polygon is offering internships for tools, gameplay and engine programmers, if you’re interested please visit: http://www.interstellarrift.com/jobs/ for more Information.

We hope you enjoy this new patch and as always, if you would like to know more or would like sneak previews of upcoming features and patches please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and our own and Steam forums.

 

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Information warfare – Interstellar Rift Development Update 039

We’ve spent the last few weeks mostly working on fixing bugs with the multi-player. This time we feel that we’ve made a lot of progress in getting multi-player back on track.

However, the work on fixing bugs is not done yet, and we will continue getting to the bottom of any issue that may present itself. We believe that this patch will significantly improve the the viability of the multiplayer, and we sincerely apologize for the major issues we’ve had these past few weeks. In addition to fixing a lot of problems we have also improved performance across the board.

Besides fixing bugs and improving performance we have also spent the past two weeks working on a new Information Kiosk (among other stuff for upcoming updates). Which will display information about devices and resources, and will also allow you to access some tutorials. Many of you have been inquiring about tutorials, and this kiosk is a first step to make the game easier for new players.

This new kiosk can be found on the starter stations and will be updated in the coming months as new features are added. The kiosk can be found under admin models in the editor. It does not require unobtainium, allowing players to place it on their own ships and station. To see admin models in the editor, you will have to enable them in the options menu under editor settings.

We’ve also added new admin commands for server owners. You will be able to assign administrator rights to other players, in addition to the ability to kick and ban players from the server. These new functionalities are located in the admin menu which you can access by pressing F8 while in game.

As always we hope you enjoy this update. And we’d like to ask that if you find any more bugs or if you’d simply like to follow us for more info and previews of upcoming updates please visit our forums, or our Steam forums  or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Push button receive beacon – Interstellar Rift Development Update 038

It has been an interesting two weeks, our addition of the infinite galaxy caused a few problems in multi-player. This week’s patch should address the major visual desync issues which were caused by the last patch, A.K.A the invisible asteroids that were destroying your ships. We have created new tools that will allow us to detect these issues more easily so in the future these problems shouldn’t slip past as easily.

As for new features, we are adding a new Assembling Machine. This device will be used to make smaller devices. Devices such as the new signal beacon.

Similar to the refinery, in order to use the Assembling Machine you will have to put refined resources into the hopper and select which device you wish to have it construct. In the future this machine will be used for similar devices such as repair drones, combat drones and more.

The new signal beacon allows you to mark locations in the galaxy. It can be detected from 150 kilometers away. Using the sensor menu on terminals, you will be able to change the transponder message of the beacon.

To deploy a beacon, simply put it into the disposer and eject it from your ship. It will then unfold into its beacon form and begin transmitting. Using the sensors you can find your beacon and change it’s transponder message. Using the same menu you will also be able to deactivate it. Similar to NPC stations beacons will drift back to their original position.

We’ve also updated the way the cargo manifest works. You can now see what cargo is currently on board your ship, how many cargo spaces you have in total and, how many are occupied.

you can access this screen from the GRIP and the wall terminals. With the sensor list you can also check the cargo holds of other ships.

We hope you enjoy this new patch and as always, if you would like to know more or would like sneak previews of upcoming features and patches please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and our own or Steam forums.

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Distress signal detected! – Interstellar Rift Development Update 037

Exploration has been one of our biggest objectives when we started Interstellar Rift. Today we take the first step to realising that goal. Today we implement the first version of infinite universe generation. Up to this patch there were no asteroid fields beyond 100 kilometers from the starting station. Now the game will start to continuously generate new asteroid fields and stations the further you fly out.

This first iteration will have several space stations, mineable asteroid fields and large asteroids. But now that the system is online we can gradually start to add new things to the universe generator to fill your universes with cool new stuff.

In addition to the universe generator we are also adding a new resource recipe. You will now be able to create steel by combining 2 units of iron and 1 unit of carbon. Steel has been added to the required resources of all tech 2 devices and some of the smaller devices. But don’t worry you wont need stand next to your life support huffing as much oxygen as possible in order to acquire carbon. Since carbon is now abundant in all asteroid fields as it can be found as an additional resource found in most asteroid types.

But wait there’s more. Because you can now spend much more time and fly much further trying to find new stations and resources it may be hard for your friends to find you, therefore we are adding a new ship device, the transponder. The transponder allows you to send out a signal which can be picked up from 150 kilometers away when activated. You can set the transponder to transmit any message you want.

There has also been a revamp to the engine display in the cockpit to make it a little clearer which engines are online, or are functioning at a lower capacity.

Please note that you will have to rebuild your server from the admin menu so that the universe generator will engage. however this means that all of the ships that are stored in the Store-o-Tron will be removed and the resources will be refunded to the individual players

NOTE: to continue with an old galaxy the world has to be rebuild, to do this the Admin can press F8 and hit rebuild world. This might take a couple of minutes.

As always we hope that you enjoy this weeks update and if you would like to know more and  see sneak peeks at upcoming patches please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, our own forums or our Steam forums.

 

Storage wars! – Interstellar Rift Development Update 036

Are you sick and tired of finding your ship all banged up after a good night’s sleep. or waking up to an empty cargo hold? Well fear no longer! Introducing the Vaultron Store-o-Tron Ship storage kiosk!

So this week we are introducing a somewhat smaller update than usual because this patch has to go out a little early. On the starter station you will find a new Kiosk brightly labeled as the Store-o-Tron. This new kiosk will enable you to put your ship into safe storage, so when you are logged out you can rest assured that your ship will not be damaged or destroyed.

In order to store a ship, it will have to be within 500 meters of the starter station.

Like the vault the ship storage kiosk is only available under dev models and requires unobtanium.
it is not intended for player construction use.

 

This week we will also be at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, showcasing Interstellar Rift at the holland pavilion in the business area. So for all of you attending gamescom, if you see us walking the floor feel free to say hi. You’ll recognize us by the Interstellar Rift t-shirts. This also means that in the coming week we’ll be a little less active on the forums.

Note: As an admin, if there are stored ships in the Store-o-Tron on your server please note that if you rebuild your server via the admin menu all stored ships will be deleted. We will update the kiosk so it survives server resets in the near future.

We hope you’ll enjoy this patch and if you want to see previews of things to come, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or drop by our own or our steam forums.

Raise shields! – Interstellar Rift Development Update 035

Death, destruction and all of that good stuff. Ship destruction hits Interstellar Rift in patch 0.1.2!

As of today, asteroid mining has become a whole lot more dangerous. Asteroids impacting your ship will now cause damage and if you’re not careful it will destroy your ship and everything and everyone on it. But don’t worry too much, we do have some new defensive technology ready to help protect you.

Introducing the Sentinel Security Systems Shield Generators. These new shield generators will allow you to protect your ship from incoming damage. When an object impacts your shield bubble, it will decrease its strength for a moment and deflect whatever object hit you. Then it will quickly regenerate back up to full strength. Shields require a constant power supply in order to remain operational. Therefore we recommend that you do not run your shields at full strength when you are not near an asteroid field or not playing a destruction derby with another ship.

If the shield strength falls to zero, it will take a while before the shields regenerate enough again to form a bubble. When your shields are down and an object impacts your ship you will start to take hull damage, hull damage does not regenerate. The only way to repair your ship for the time being, will be to salvage it and rebuild it.

With this patch, we will also be introducing particles. The only particle effect we are shipping in this patch will be the explosions when ships receive fatal damage. In the future we will be adding more particle effects in both interior as well as exterior to make the game feel a whole lot more spectacular.

The introduction of the new power system in the previous patch was missing a device, a proper battery. So we are adding these as well. The battery works in such a way that it’s actually a battery and it discharges its power slowly rather than all at once which is what the power cells did before. This means you can leave your ship to charge its power cells for a while and you’ll be able to fly it for a while until the power cells are empty. So in theory solar powered ships should once again be somewhat viable.

We hope you enjoy this Interstellar Rift patch and if you want to know more feel free to drop by our Steam Forums our own Forums or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Electrifying – Interstellar Rift Development Update 034

Today we are releasing the much coveted powergrid revamp. This is a major change as to how ships are powered and how devices behave under low power conditions.

For example, your ship produces 1500 power but your consumption is at 1700. That means that devices will function at a lower efficiency. Engines will not produce their maximum thrust output unless they are fully powered. The amount of thrust will be relative to the amount of power they receive. In a future patch we will be adding proper power management features such as the ability to divert power from one system to another.

This new power system has many benefits. One of the main advantages is that it is far more efficient, meaning the server should be able to handle far more ships and ships and stations with lots and lots of devices. Players in the past have made gigantic space stations that were almost completely powered by solar panels. When spawned, these stations would lag the entire server. The new power grid should alleviate this problem substantially. Keep in mind though, that solar panels are meant as a supplement to your generators, not a replacement. Be prepared to put a lot of solar panels on your ship or station if you want to go green.

Power cells have also been updated and are now required to help keep your ship at a more stable power level. For example when a teleporter is used, it instantly takes a big bite out of your available power, usually more than generators and solar panels can generate. Charged power cells act as a buffer between the device and your generators which handle large power spikes like this accordingly.

Another very notable effect of the new power system is that devices don’t need to charge anymore. Before today’s update, every device had its own power buffer which needed to be charged before the device would operate. This caused devices to appear underpowered where in fact they were waiting for other devices to be charged. The new power system only powers devices when they are used and divides its power equally over all those devices.

The new power system makes it a lot more predictable compared to its predecessor. This allows us to put some information in the ship editor indicating how much power a ship generates, how much it drains and how big your spikes can possibly get. This should give you an idea on how your ship is going to perform. In the G.R.I.P. and on terminals you should now find some graphs which can be used to find out how much power is drained when certain devices are being used.

We’ve also done a balance pass on the power consumption of several devices. So dont be surprised to find that your ships go faster or slower than you’re used to. Additionally, we have added some new control functions like mouse sensitivity and mouse Y-axis inversion.

We’ve also fixed most of the performance problems that were plaguing the map. When you activate the regular or cargo teleporter your performance should no longer be affected as much by the loading the map.

We hope you’ll enjoy this update, and as always, if you want to know more feel free to ask us anything on our Forums, the Steam forums or follow us on Facebook and twitter.

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Welcome to Early Access! – Interstellar Rift Development Update 033

Early Access! We’ve done it, we’re here! Split Polygon’s first game Interstellar Rift is now available on Steam Early Access! To celebrate we’ve made another trailer for everyone to enjoy

As of today interstellar Rift will work exclusively with Steam. This means that the Interstellar Rift account which you used to play the pre-alpha is now no longer usable. You’ll need a valid steam account that has Interstellar Rift attached to it in order to access the game. This also means there is no longer a log in menu at the bottom of the screen in the main menu.

With today’s Release we are implementing a couple of new features such as creative mode.

You will now be able to host a server or start a solo game with creative mode enable. This allows you to test your ship designs without the need to gather the necessary resources. To enable this feature simply check the box in the host game menu or the solo game menu.

In addition, we have improved the ship and asteroid interpolation which means that asteroids and ships no longer jitter when they move. And as of this patch the character sits in the pilot chair when piloting a ship.

In the coming weeks/months we will be focusing on further expanding the game in the same manner that you’ve come to expect from us. And update every two weeks and a hotfix whenever necessary.

The first big feature coming in two weeks will be the power grid revamp. This redesign will significantly increase performance for ships and stations that have a large amount of devices installed. Instead of working like a valve system where one device is charged at a time, every device connected to a power source will charge at the same time.

Not long after the updated power grid we will be implementing shield generators and then finally combat!

We know you’re probably tired of hearing this but just one more time for old time’s sake. Thank you! We wouldn’t be here without the support from you guys!

 

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