I will try and keep it short and concise as possible, though a lot has happened since the last dev log. However before that a quick note for those who haven’t been here in a while and haven’t noticed the new trailer on the Steam store page. It contains most of the end result of the work mentioned in this log, so check it out here. Star Zeal 4x on Steam
Also an apology for the delay in posting on the website compared to other places, it comes with the territory of being a solo dev. Anyway lets get started with the log.
Colonies & planets:
-Colonies are ~90% ready for early access release.
-Planets now have separate sectors which are procedurally generated even on premade planets. These sectors can change over time and will have effects on whatever is on said sector. They are also part of my setup for introducing ground forces in a post release update.
-Refined the planet and colony UI, and adjusted it to accommodate the new additions/functionality.
Characters, Crews & RPG:
-Character and crew experience gain ready for testing and likely 95% of the way for there for release.
-Character and crew traits and their effects are ready for testing.
-Characters and crew are effected by the environment. They can even be fearful or terrified by it. As an example, crew can be unnerved by being far from home colony.
-Characters and crew now have equipment to boost their effectiveness. Equipment is a manufactured resource but not mandatory/required for crew to function as normal. This is also part of the build up to ground forces(which is planned for a major post release update).
-Diplomacy and character dialogue additions and further refinement.
Ships & Fleets:
-Ship combat and general physics have been even more refined and now ready for testing. About ~90% ready for early access release. Only ECM and point defense are left to finish up in this regard.
-Ships can now take critical damage and even internal components can be destroyed, disabling or reducing their function. For example ships can be stranded if engines or reactor are destroyed. Observable in footage of the new trailer.
-Also added a small targeting UI window and component targeting. This was not a planned one and very recently added. Tactical combat needed more options, not much else of a reason really. Added post video so it won’t be visible there.
-Ships are now affected by environment more obviously, example: Dust level effects the sensor strength and in effect also help with concealment.
(Note that tactical combat is only available for the fleet under the command of your main leader aka you the player).
Design, tech and research:
Exploration & environments:
-Design window and functionality ready for testing. The window itself has had a big do over. I made it feel more unique and suitable for the game.
-Tech generation and research window ready for testing. I set it up for future expansions post release though as it should be.
-Many additional, fixes and refinement of the techs and tech generation itself. They are too numerous to mention here.
-Planet and area scanning/surveying ready for testing.
-Anomaly generation is mostly ready for testing(needs a tiny bit more work). Anomalies are special objects/effects that can sometimes be extremely dangerous. Observable in the video.
-Improved some of the fuel and distance calculations, it is now closer to real scale than in previous iterations. Even solar systems are daunting in scale, averaging about 2-3 light years across.
Subspace Relays:
-A new critical tech called the sub space relay has been added. Distances like those between star systems and above will now have a severe effect on communication and detection. I will reveal more about it as development continues.
Other:
-Culture generation has been added. This functions using colonies and other details to generate cultures within a faction, which effect aspects like character generation and faction traits. It is designed to be fleshed out much more during early access.
-Cinematic camera added. This will be useable by the player but it is mostly for short procedural in game cut scenes.
-Many UI improvements have been made. Including to the main map.
-Many improvements and additions to sound effects and ship chatter.
From now on updates should be more frequent as the core is mostly complete. It did take a lot longer than I assumed, but that does seem to be par for the course in game development, especially for a complicated title such as this game.
The next step which is already underway is to get AI ready for the 3rd closed alpha build, which will be the first proper test of the game with combat and resource management. Then the final test build and versions with fixes before release.
Smaller and more frequent updates and info are available in the discord here: https://discord.gg/cgSAV277wM
Steam store page link: Star Zeal 4x on Steam
New Bluesky account: Akuu Digital Entertainment (@akuude.bsky.social) — Bluesky
Thank you for reading.
