Drifter 0.7.0 is out!

Drifter 0.7.0 is now live! This is the first release in the 0.7.x series, codename "Defiant".

Note: We've got a new trailer and new screenshots up on the store page, so you should definitely check those out!

Because I’m going to be in Seattle next week for Steam Dev Days I really didn’t want to delay updates any further so I decided to go ahead release 0.7.0! We managed to get the bulk of the initial 0.7.0 update done and Material Synthesis is about 90% of the way there. So the plan is for me to complete Material Synthesis and add it in 0.7.1 in 1-2 weeks time after I get back. In the meantime there’s a ton of new stuff in 0.7.0 and the game is looking amazing, even if I do say so myself.

We’ve spent a lot of time filing down rough edges and generally polishing the game to where we’re very happy with how it looks and feels. There’s still some work to be done but it’s much closer to feeling “done” as of 0.7.0. In addition to an all new starfield background we’ve improved the look and feel of the UI in a number of areas, station interiors are now more interactive and all of the current items and equipment in the game now have icons. That said, the full list of what’s new and improved is below!

One big change I feel is important to note is I removed the old controller UI interaction system as I was never particularly happy with it and it was proving to be difficult to maintain. So going forward the controller will use what I’m calling a “joypointer” where the left analog stick moves a virtual pointer. Pressing the “GUI Accept” button will click buttons and holding it will let you drag things like lists and sliders. Also if you press the “GUI Cancel” button it will allow you to quickly leave station areas and close menus instead of hunting for the close button. It’s still not 100% where it needs to be but it already works a lot better than the old system and we’ll be improving it in the coming weeks.

WHAT'S NEW

• New trailer and screenshots
  
• New (much better) starfield background
  
• New UI and HUD color scheme and fonts
  
• New ship radial menu colors and design
  
• New ship radial menu icons for jump, stop, system, dock
  
• New “joypointer” for better controller UI interaction
  
• New integrated UI for Station interiors
  
• New interior for material synthesis
  
• New interior transitions with fades and audio
  
• New docking sequence including docking animation
  
• New fade transition on undocking, and rotating stars in bay
  
• Player now lands in docking bay instead of the station hub
  
• Player ship now docked in docking bay, with idle animation
  
• Improved Odyssey model and texture
  
• Improved pilot quarters and docking bay interior
  
• Improved main and pause menu design
  
• Improved station info bar
  
• Improved item detail popover
  
• Improved ship info block in Docking Bay
  
• Improved sliders ui with a border
  
• Improved ship display size in Ship Market and Ship Fitting
  
• Improved star halo
  
• Added comma separators to ship equipment amounts and prices in market
  
• Added item detail popup for remote market view
  
• Added Star halos and planetary atmosphere in system map
  
• All current equipment and item icons are complete!
  
  
  
  • All existing icons polished up
    
  • 17 new icons
    
    
    
    • Antimatter, Trilumin, Fusion Reactors, Chemical Processors
      
    • Mining Laser, Particle Beam, Gamma Beam, Neutron Lancer
      
    • Industrial Robots, Iron, Molybdenum, Adamantine
      
    • Station, Colony and Ship Components
      
    • Farm Animals, Domestic Animals
      
    
    
  
  

Implemented 99% of Material Synthesis functionality and UI 0.7.x weekly builds will contain usable implementation

BUGS FIXED

• Fixed memory leak in scene system
  
• Fixed Rogue Librarian mission being incompletable