So here we are , a week after we let Astrobase out in the wild. We’re really excited by your reception. It’s given us a big boost. Your feedback has been great, too. It doesn’t matter how much internal testing devs do, it’s the initial set of players (YOU!) that really puts a game through its paces. Your input at this stage will et the conditions for success in the future.

By popular demand, we’ve also come up with a way for our Stardust and Meteor Kickstarter backers to join in the alpha adventure. If you’re one, and you’d like to upgrade, check your email. We’ve sent an invitation. If it’s gotten lost in the tide of emails, or the voids of the spam filters, drop us a line on Kickstarter, Discord, or through info@jellyfish.games, and we’ll sort you out.

Daniel – @Polygonatron

Hi Everybody! These last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for us all. I’ve been all over the place, doing what I can to make sure everything we’re wanting to get in gets done and isn’t blocked by anything. This has had me doing a bit of everything, from asset production, to particle effects, to playtesting,etc, all the way to a little bit of programming in parts of the code that is more art adjacent and therefore more accessible to me helping out.

Adam – @adam_blahuta

Aloha!

This week, I spent a bunch of time getting through some priority alpha features, improving overall presentation and reacting to feedback from our amazing Closed Alpha Crew! If you’re an Alpha Backer, definitely take a minute to read through the patch notes on tonight’s build!

Here are a few of the highlights:

I worked on integrating crew using their division-based uniform colors and color-coding different game elements accordingly (This caused a huge debate about which color triad was better: TOS or TNG). I spent some time integrating an updated approach to interacting with desk elements that Daniel proposed. It’s consistent across all desk elements and makes more sense overall. It definitely took a bit of time to unlearn the old approach, but definitely feels more responsive and intuitive.

I also made the character highlight on pressing Shift more prominent to make it easier to spot characters at a distance.

Finally, I integrated the updated section info panel, which will make it clearer what sections are for and what their status is, as well as give the ability to unassign characters from jobs, quarters and the like.

Dave – @Dave_Astrobase

Hey guys! Having been working on all the necessary tasks to move the game along the alpha timeline. Lots of playtesting, balance & tweaking game parameters, writing text, logging and sorting bugs for Adam to squash, recording footage for trailer video, and miscellaneous designer tasks like last-minute design and design reviews. Very excited to see the alpha players get their hands on what we have in store!

Max – @Max_Shields

Allo!

I was busy tweaking the new version of the alert notices. They haven’t been implemented yet, but let me tell you that finding out that your reactor’s about to blow will never have looked better.

Besides managing the dissemination of alpha upgrade keys, I’ve been going over Dave’s footage to put together a few videos and a sizzler reel for when we open the store back up.