DevBlog #19 - It's starting to look like an amazing game!

Time to give you an update on what we've been working on the past month. We put emphasis on improving the user interface, since many of the game play elements really started needing it. We're working hard towards a "first early version" of the game. Everything we do is with that goal in mind. We have been tackling one problem at a time, and one by one we are able to solve them.

Above is a screenshot of our new user interface, it's looking pretty slick we think! Hope you like it too and it makes you wanna click on things and watch things move. Like a real game!



We've had one bigger problem for a long time. Linking resource usage to hull expansion. Our resource system was initially based on building blocks, meaning all facilities, walls etc. usually needed 1 or more blocks to be built. When playing the game we realized we had made a mistake. It started to take a very long time for the characters to haul building blocks everywhere, too much time. We had to redo the system a bit, to allow us to set custom material costs for elements to be built.

The hull expansion was still a problem since we needed some way for 1 block to be transformed into many tiles of hull, otherwise the hauling would take much much longer than actually building something. Fortunately the mining pods was our answer, and it makes more sense for them to take care of expanding the ship hull. Mining pods can now be loaded with a building block and enables it to build some 10 tiles at a time before having to return to load up with more building materials.



Since we were already working on the mining pods we decided to finish their build and mining animations. Really happy with the result! Look at them go, mining that asteroid for all that it has. Hey, we're really going to need all those resources so don't leave anything behind!



We have also been working on a notification and objective system. These notes will pop up to help you get started in the game and will notify you when something is going wrong. Will be really important to guide the player to understand the game better!



Another screenshot of the user interface. Oh right, characters have their own inventory system. You can equip them with weapons or other items you find aboard ships!



Above is a screenshot of the tile based gas system. You can see the different view modes down to the right, currently oxygen is selected. Apparently this ship has low oxygen in a small room, where the core is. It's recommended to build walls around the core and other refinery facilities. They heat up a lot and some produce hazardous gases. Seal them off and equip the room with a spacesuit door to allow crew members to work safely near it.



The crew job management system. You can assign your crew members to take care of various things. This menu needs a little polish still but it's working well!



Arnie has some lunch and his stomach starts to grumble. Straight off to the toilet he goes! Ever seen anybody do his business so fast? Didn't even pull down his pants!

When will the game be released?

The game is really coming together now! I hope you can see the progress and want to thank you for your patience. Some of you have been following development of Space Haven since the beginning, I believe that's some 2 years now since we started.

I can't say any exact dates yet, because we simply don't know when the game will be good enough. We want to do things right, and not rush out an incomplete package and have years of work go down the drain. The future of our company hangs on this game, if it fails we are in dire shape. Once again, heh!

Also, any type of release of a game is also much more complicated than simply releasing it once it is done. Things we need to consider:

• Is the time of the year right for an indie game release? For example, releasing on Christmas and fighting for visibility against all AAA games is pretty much suicide. Releasing when some big gaming event like E3 is going on is not good. What other games are being released, do we have a chance with Youtubers for visibility at that point?
  
• If we do a Kickstarter, is the time of the year right? Same type of things apply as in above statement.
  
• Has the game been tested enough and bugs ironed out?
  
• Is there a Steam sale going on on that date, or has there just been one recently?
  

As you can see, the best opportunities to release a game for indies are limited to certain times of a year. Best being around February - May and August - October.

To give you some kind of time frame my best guess would be towards the end of this year or early next year.

How can I help?

• Stay tuned! And if you want to help simply give the link to this forum post to a friend, or refer them to: http://bugbyte.fi/spacehaven
  
• You can share this album on a relevant Reddit subreddit or another forum you frequent! https://imgur.com/gallery/revSa
  
• Remember to follow the game on twitter, facebook and now also instagram.
  

Sign up for alpha/beta testing of this game when that day comes below:

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