I’m still working on that update I mentioned two weeks ago. I got a little carried away trying to figure out voice commands – ran into trouble getting FMOD & Syn.Speech talking to each other – so I’m going to pass on that for now. it’s something I’ve been interested in trying out for a while, though, so you better believe I’ll be back on it in the near future 😛

in lieu of that, I’ve been focusing on more quality-of-life improvements, and minor additions…

here’s a run-down of what HAS been worked on since I last posted:

• I’ve added some mouse controls to the game, limited to use on certain menus. this is in preparation for a mouse-only player mode that I started a long time ago, but never finished. that mode won’t be ready this update, but this work sets some groundwork.
• using the “causes random enemies to appear nearby” advanced technology now has an effect when on the sector map!
• when a gamepad is unplugged during gameplay, you’re now taken to a screen where you can assign controllers to any players that lost theirs. you have the option to save & quit from this screen.
• on the sector map, when pointing at a planet with a civilization/shop, the planet preview now shows a city skyline (the four possible city graphics are shown above).
• there’s a few new outpost graphics, and a new request that outposts can have for you.

‘not sure exactly when I’ll release the update, but I’m now focusing on fixing remaining bugs & polishing up after the big DirectX->OpenGL move, so the release should come relatively soon; maybe a little before Christmas; maybe a little after 🙂