Category: gratuitous space battles

So yay! It’s that exciting time again, it’s PATCH TIME. What is in this version? Here are the highlights… <drumroll!>

1. Default ship designs added for all Zyrtari ships!
2. Subtle fill-bars behind variables when looking at a module stats now show immediately how that stat compares with others of the same size class.
3. Fixed a lot of bunched-up dreadnought turret GUI things.
4. Fixed some horrible bugs where composites got scrambled
5. Also fixed thing where layers below the hull were forgotten about.
6. Fixed a pesky ‘design vanishes’ bug.
7. Spatial anomalies are now added to missions!
8. Default engagement ranges now more sensible…
9. Shield resistance of most shield modules reduced.
10. Support for French, Spanish and German!

Plus there are a load of minor tweaks, adjustments and fixes, including some performance tweaks. There are likely still two more patches before release day, and the final one is likely to be pure polish/optimization. (and possibly some module tweaking for balance).

Here is a screenshot showing what I mean about showing relative values of variables:

I think that makes things clearer than asking people to click on a variable and view the comparison chart.

And here is proof that the translations (first pass at them) are in!

(Hopefully that makes sense in Spanish?). On a related note. I’d like a sanity check on the translation in general, so if you speak Spanish, German or French, if you go the steam store page for the game (you still can’t buy it yet) which is here. You should be able to change language at the top right from your account to those 3 languages. Does it all look ok to you?

If you have already bought GSB2 from our website here, then you should get a patch download kick in either today or tomorrow. If you can’t wait,. or it won’t trigger, then just re-download the game using your original download link.

And tell your friends to grab a copy!

So hey, another week, another update to the GSB2 beta. Hurrah! When I look back at the change list there is actually a ton of cool stuff in this update. If I had the time, I’d make a video explaining it all…but I don’t so here it is in lovingly crafted text form!

The complete changelist is here

But the highlights are…

• All Unlock costs are 50% higher, so you don’t ‘progress’ stupidly fast any more (hopefully!)
• In some cases (the first race for now) ships come with a pre-defined ‘default’ visual appearance rather than just a blank hull, because some people were too keen to fight than design ships, and this way those ships still have decent visual appeal.
• Steam workshop support, and a general implementation of mod browsing and creation and toggling is done now, although the workshop is likely inactive for everyone at the moment.

• Some cool new sound effects :D.
• You can now type in exact values when adjusting stuff on the ship design screen. (A feature much requested)
• A better end-battle dialog to explain how honor works. (The actual dialog has the right numbers in :D)

• Sub-deployments are in! (although a tad buggy). You can now save and load sub-deployments and use them in any mission, allowing you to have predefined formations of ships to use as the core of a fleet.

Obviously more patches will come, although things are likely to stall slightly for GDC and then Rezzed, but hopefully around that time I’ll get the translations done and maybe the mac/linux port, so even if the release date moves into April, it will be a decent release with lots of cool stuff. Trading card artwork is being done right now, along with extra module graphics. I’m reading all the player feedback and implementing tons of tiny fixes for stuff which people point out. In the meantime, it really helps if people up-vote any videos/articles they see about the game, all coverage is appreciated, and sharing this blog post/tweeting it is much appreciated too :D

If you are at GDC I am in two talks. And do come along and try out both GSB2 and Big Pharma at Rezzed in London if you can.

It’s that time again! its Gratuitous Space Battles 2 beta update day! Currently the patch is still being put together, but if you can’t wait, you can just re-use your download link to grab the latest copy, 1.17. Here is a video with me demonstrating some of the new features: (uploaded in HD at considerable inconvenience on my rural broadband :D)

And the complete changelist is…

Version Beta 1.17 Feb
==========================
1) Added a bunch of new voiceover sounds.
2) Fixed crash bug relating to very complex scenes.
3) You can now place visual components beneath the ship hull.
4) Fixed GUI issue on R&D screen for modules.
5) You can now disable the suns lens flare under options.
6) Added new ‘reset to zero’ button for object rotation on ship design screen.
7) Choose battle screen now only shows high scores for difficulties that are present.
8) Module order on design screen is no longer scrambled.
9) Fixed composite objects shrinking slightly when split in ship visual design screen.
10) Composite objects on ship visual design screen now have a blue outline.
11) Fixed some display bugs relating to composite objects on ship visual design screen.
12) Composite objects now sorted to the bottom on the ship visual design screen.
13) Engine glows have more variety now, plus contrails and engine glows displayed more sensibly in the ship editor.
14) Ship visuals editor now shows tooltips & display values for the object sliders.
15) Crash at end of challenge games now fixed.
16) Inbox for messages now displayed on online screen.
17) Pop-up indicator for new messages added to main menu.
18) new option to send another GSB user a message from the online screen.
19) Fixed issue where challenge fleets would appear in the wrong place.
20) Fixed bug where text-entry carat was sometimes in the wrong place.
21) Balance: Reduced resistance of light and medium shields.
22) Added new second tutorial mission.
23) Balance: Increased capability but reduced range of gunship mounted disruptor bomb.
24) Added new anti-shield bomb for fighters & gunships.
25) Sounds added for shield impact and failure.
26) Larger more apparent visual effect for radiation damage.
27) Added fuel indicator readout when you click on your fighters/gunships for details.

Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is a space strategy game where you design your own spaceships and space-fleets and then pit them in hands-off battles against either AI fleets, or fleets designed by other players, and you can grab it right now (in beta) from this link: