Development Update

2025-02-12

Lots of new stuff this month: out of fuel encounters, winding back time, tutorial encounter, beam weapons, boss fights, and more...

Out of Fuel Encounters

I've added multiple encounters that can occur when you run out of fuel. If this happens, you can no longer make hyperjumps, and your only option is to send out a distress signal and wait...

As a side note, in this screenshot, you can see the reworked sector map. The entire map now fits within a single screen (the cells are smaller), there are icons for specific encounter types, and the player ship has a limited "scan range" where only nearby cells are visible. This adds an element of mystery and requires some guesswork to determine the optimal route.

Anyway, back to being out of fuel. If you're lucky, a friendly freighter may come along and sell you some fuel—at an inflated price, of course.

If you're unlucky, Reavers may find you first. They definitely don't give away fuel. But if you manage to destroy them, you might find some tritium fuel in the wreckage.

Winding Back Time and Rogue Mode

Since eXoSpace is rather dangerous, it's entirely possible for your ship to explode (e.g., after being caught out of fuel by Reavers). In this case, it's mission over. However, this could be frustrating in some cases, so there's an option to rewind time to just before your last hyperjump. This allows you to alter your ship’s design, choose a different jump destination, or simply try again.

For an extra challenge, you can enable "Rogue mode," where the rewind option is disabled, and your mission save file is permanently deleted if your ship is destroyed. This makes the game significantly more challenging.

A Short Tutorial

At the start of a mission, you now begin at a small starbase on the eXoSpace frontier. Here, you can go through a brief movement systems test and shooting exercise or skip the tutorial and proceed on your way.

Beam Weapons

One major missing weapon type in eXoSpace was beam weapons, so I’ve added them. Beam weapons come in two variants: spinal mount (fixed direction) and turreted.

I've also added defensive turrets for both beam and projectile weapons. These automatically (and independently) target incoming missiles and torpedoes.

Boss Fights

I've laid the groundwork for scripted boss fights and introduced the first boss. Bosses use the same scripting as other AI-controlled ships, making them moddable!

The first boss fight is against a space station and consists of three phases:

1. Destroying the outer ring while avoiding missiles.
2. Destroying the arms as the station starts rotating faster and firing massive lasers.
3. Destroying the core while it fires "neutron flame" balls in a classic boss fight pattern.

It works pretty well and gives me plenty of options for future bosses.

Sandbox Mode

I've added a sandbox mode to the game. Here, you start in an empty area where you can spawn any ship design you've previously encountered during missions—including bosses! You can also freely design and test ships using all modules unlocked throughout your missions.

The sandbox mode and bounty hunter missions complement each other: the more modules and designs you unlock during missions, the more options you have to experiment with in the sandbox.

Other Changes

• More encounters, including a warzone where capital ships battle (you can choose a side), stranded transports that you can help (or ignore), and more.
• Major performance improvements when editing larger ships—calculating part connections now scales linearly instead of exponentially.
• Ship designs can now have a name, designer, and description.
• Most thrusters now have a "boost" mode that consumes extra energy but provides a temporary thrust boost.
• A variety of new ship designs have been added.
• Disconnected modules are now clearly marked in the ship editor.
• When painting your ship, you can automatically apply slight brightness variations, making ships look more natural.
• GUI overhaul: most screens now have a more streamlined interface.
• Numerous quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.

What's Next

Some things I plan to work on in the coming weeks:

• Reworking antimatter usage. Currently, it’s only used for firing rare weapons, making it mostly irrelevant. I’ll change it to function more like "ammo" for missiles and torpedoes. These will become much more powerful but will require ammo to use.
• Adding an input mapping configuration screen.
• Implementing quality-of-life improvements, such as hotkeys for various functions and on-screen control information.
• Creating a cool hyperjump animation.
• Adding more encounters.
• Hopefully, beginning real beta testing!