Release notes for Alpha Test 1 - Version 0.8.0

Welcome to our first Alpha test, I'm really glad you’re here!

The purpose of this alpha test 1 is to gather feedback from a wider audience.

The game is in an early development state, all gameplay features are experimental and the art,sound and music are not final.

I hope you enjoy the game.

System requirements

A modern browser with a hardware accelerated WebGL implementation (anything with a decent GPU).
Graphics settings let you adjust graphics performance, from the old mobile GPU to the latest desktop discrete GPU.
Bug reports of any graphical glitchs/bugs/problems are welcome, it is difficult for an solo indie developer to test on a wide variaty of hardware/os/browser.
The game uses all the CPU cores reported by the browser, the more the better.

Procedural generated universe

This feature is the closest to the final vision of the game, but some work remains.
The spatial scale of the star systems is 1:1, but the time is 8x faster.
All details of the universe (star systems, places, stations, names etc.) are subject to change with the development of the game.
The procedural algorithm tries to create a realistic and consistent universe. If you find anything fishy, please report it.

Navigation

Explore star systems in detail, most of them have something of interest.
The gameplay favors direct Brachistochrone trajectories, but small impulse-based orbital operations work as expected.
Some bugs remain on autopilot (Goto), especially in some corner cases when the destination is blocked by another object.
The jump animation/transition is just a placeholder.
Your traveler's logbook is kept local in the browser, needs to be manually synchronized with the servers, this may change in the future.
Before logging out, check if your ship is in a stable orbit or docked at a station. the game continues even when you are offline.

Internal ship systems

The connection grid does not have a graphic representation, it is only present in the user interface.
The crew does not have automatic task scheduling (like other colony/crew simulations), they are managed manually, this may change in the future.
The crew only acts automatically with some items in the action slot, attacks/defends with weapons, repairs with the repair tool.
The crew inventory manegemnt still has usability issues!

Exploration of space stations

Remember to wear a space suit on the body slot before leaving a pressurized environment!
The crew combat gameplay is still a work in progress.
The user experience in the transition of ships and station modules (actions/user interface) are not final, this may change in the future.
Ship/Station reactivation may depend on its damage state and player experience, its a difficult task with a high risk/reward.
The gameplay logic of the ship's internal systems also applies to other entities (ships, station) once reactivated.
If the player triggers a full alien response, The alien ships ETA depends on player wanted level (not explicit shown).
I would like any feedback on how discoverable the interaction of modules, items and crew is to achieve the desired outcome.

Space combat

Space combat is very tactical. It's vital to know the capabilities and limitations of the weapons.
All autonomous mobile vehicles have drone in their names (even when they have other common names like missiles, torpedoes, etc).
Defense drones are optimized to intercept other drones.
Attack drones are used against other ships.
Laser drones are mobile laser platforms. they are full autonomous and seek new targets, but can be controlled directly.
Drone carriers are mobile launch platforms. they are full autonomous and seek new targets, but can be controlled directly.
Lasers and Railguns are short-range defensive weapons, but can be used offensively if the opportunity arises.
Jammer/Decoy drones divert the attention of other drones.
EM drones regularly pulse EM energy, targeting other ships' power systems.
Interdictor drones will regular pulse EM energy, targeting other ships' QDrive.
Remember, in the space combat, 1000Km is point blank.
The learning process requires some experience, but the risk is too high (permadeath). This is a known problem. Stay tune!
Alien controlled ships will allways overcome you, it's a mater of time. dont stay to long on a hot star system.
You are being hunted, don't go back to the recently visited star systems, they will be waiting for you.