Hi Guys!

Nice to be talking with you again. It’s been a while, I know! Not to worry though, we’re still very much alive. In fact, we’re making great progress on Astrobase Command.

So what have we been up to?

As always with game development you end up working on several different things at once to hit a common goal of having them all finish at the same time. The main thing we’ve been working on since we last updated you guys and we have now finished is Construction.

Construction might not sound like a big change as you’ve been able to build modules in the game since forever. The main differences from then is that;

1. Now the crew you assign to build a module or connector will actually get jobs to do that, which means that they will go to the appropriate storage section, gather materials, transport them to the thing that’s being built, and work on it until it’s finished. 

2. The construction of a module (and its sections) actually takes time. 

3. The workflow for the player is different, instead of just placing an instantly built module as soon as you exit the Module Builder datapad app you now get a filled out form in your inbox that you need to rubber stamp and send out through the outbox.

Since you can now delay sending a build order out you can end up in a state where the build order is rejected, if that happens, rubber stamp it again and make sure you have enough resources (or whatever caused it not to be built) to build it before sending it back out again.

Also, with having a duration of time until something finishes construction you can not place a new build project in a spot that relies on connecting to a new module until after it has finished construction entirely.

As you might imagine, this has a pretty significant impact not only on the pacing of the game, but also on all the other jobs that need to get done on station. Figuring out how to balance this adds an additional interesting layer of considerations for the player.

But, that’s of course not the only thing we’ve done since last time. Here are some highlights of the additional things we’ve put out in the recent patches:

• Character Overviews! Toggle with Shift to see what all your crew is up to at once!
•  Revamped Character/Section/Module Info panels! Now with Occupants tabs for easier crew tracking! 
• Added Service Schedule to Module Info Panel, so you can see when your conduits will fail
• Personality-based facial expressions
• Sections now get text labels on the floor outside them describing their location and type
• Added a little something to help orient the player when moving the camera around on station Crew can now jog or sprint if they are in a hurry If you’re curious about what the full patch notes, drop by our Discord Channel and read through them!

What’s Next?

We’re currently working on getting small initial versions of the two remaining main features. Once we get these in the game should be more representative of the goal.

Missions – Replacing the current temporary resource aquisition mechanic with actually sending your crew on missions where they will risk life and limb to get more food and other resources your Astrobase desperately needs.

Events – Life on the station will not be as easily predictable as it is right now. The crew and their actions will affect the condition of the station and minor issues, like fires, can pop up and mess with the normal day-to-day life of your crew.

You might see parts of this be part of smaller patches as we go towards this (relatively) short-term-goals.

If you already bought the game and want to help us out and support the development of Astrobase Command you can always join the community on our Discord and back us on Patreon.