The Retrograde Perspective

2022 in summary

Last year, we had 86 stable releases and 782 experimental ones. I fixed 458 bugs, added 131 new features and polished up 272 aspects of the game. The most voted-for feature in 2022 was performance improvements, and they got the most attention.

I improved the overall game performance by 291% - it works almost three times faster than in 2021. Here is a detailed month-by-month breakdown, sampled from versions released in each month:



Overall, 2022 improved over 2021 by:

• Average rendering framerate raised from 32.5 to 81.5 (+251%)
  
• Physics simulation framerate raised from 47.1 to 90.3 (+192%)
  
• Improvements allowed to extend the number of simultaneously simulated physical objects from an average of 120.4 up to 182.6 (+152%).

Performance optimisations of a game are never done. You can always make the game faster, target a bit older hardware, and make it use a bit less power. This would introduce a constant feature creep - adding more and more workload to the project without any terminal goal. To manage it, I set the target hardware for 2022: I aimed to make ΔV run at least 30 fps on the Steam Deck. As of now, it seems we have reached that point.

Most significant changes of 2022

• Introduced ship variants - ranging from facelifted models to complete aftermarket overhauled. This brought the number of distinct player-flyable ships up to 16.
  
• A completely new ship: the Antonoff-Titan AT-K225.
  
• The Enceladus station now includes a Services menu.
  
• New game plus mode with parallel universes and ship rerolling.
  
• 4K texture support.
  
• Additional soundtracks.
  
• Information billboard on the Enceladus station providing extra game lore and improving immersion.
  
• New Pilot tab on the OMS menu, with the ability to hail other ships.
  
• Exploitation of the rings is now saved and persists between missions.
  
• New, more immersive and engaging astrogation protocol for in-ring transits.
  
• New hardware options for big ships.
  
• A separate Fleet menu on Enceladus Prime.
  

Delays, expected and otherwise

Delays always plague game development. 2022 was no different for ΔV. This year delays of ΔV had serious reasons. My child had severe surgery - the kind that is only a handful performed worldwide.
While I tried to contain the estimated release date to the end of 2022, the stress and absences finally won, and the estimated release slipped by almost four months. You can spot that on the release estimation chart:



This chart is based on dividing the remaining work for 1.0 (and 2.0) by the average progress made each day. The estimated release moves daily not only because things get done, but also because new work is added daily. While it’s tempting to push back any new ideas for -later releases, some things - like bugs - need to be addressed as soon as they emerge.

Demos and charity

ΔV is an independent, self-published title. When I started developing it, it was unclear if this was a viable career choice; thus, ΔV began as a side project, something I do in my spare time. The journey of an independent game developer is similar to the road a writer takes - we have our day jobs, we are creating something we dreamt about, and we have a team of people that helps us. The Early Access title is like the first book in a trilogy for a new author - some will buy it, and others will wait until the trilogy completes or there are enough positive reviews.

ΔV crossed the line of profitability in 2021. With the war breaking out in 2022, I decided to lift all the restrictions from the game demo, making it essentially the same as a full game - asking only for a donation to a worthy cause instead. Many of you did that, and many more got the game keys from charity events - I would like to use this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all of you. You are making a difference in the world.

store.steampowered.com/app/949730

Despite the game being available for free, you kept surprising me with your generosity and buying the game anyway. In 2022 ΔV stopped being just self-sustaining and moved to be my primary income source. It turns out that players don’t buy the game just to get access to it, they do it to support the developers they like. Thank you!

Game Translations

Besides the indirect contributions, like bug reports and idea suggestions, most of the ΔV’s translations are made by players. With our development velocity, with new versions of the game coming out daily, this is the best way to ensure that most of the game is translated. Thank you! Here is a list of our current language support status:



The community-supplied translations are marked with translation percentage, which you can see both here and inside the game. English, Polish, Ukrainian and Spanish translations are handled completely in-house - either by team members or by hired professional translators. This ensures that these four languages are always kept up-to-date.