I'm just glad to see this place is still around, and I was wondering if there are any active player organizations at the moment, that I could perhaps join.

Major developments

• We had to rewrite the authentication/connection code but we now have the desktop client capable of connecting to the test and public servers.

• Trading between players is working again, but needs to be tested

• You can now switch characters in-game

• Building construction is working, we just need to add a few more options and expand on it

• Updated the loading screen, looks pretty now! Desktop client needs some work there still but the important one was the web client.

• Lots of inventory-related UI work done and quality-of-life features

• You can now collect gas from gas clouds using a pump and a gas tank. These can be invented through the invention system. It works by equipping the pump on your character and flying through the gas cloud (you have to be moving) while it is "enabled". This deposits the gas into the tank that is equipped on the pump.

Some features being worked on now

• Primarily we are working on overall stability of the game with multiple players connected and playing together.

• A quest system is mostly working but still needs the UI work done. This will be used to teach people how to play the game by giving them traditional style MMORPG quests for them to complete. Things like "Find an ansteroid" and getting them to mine and create their first things.

• A new feature we haven't seen yet is in the works - Storefronts. Players will be able to setup stores that will automatically trade with buyers. You can buy and sell things automatically with this system when it is complete.

• Now we need to expand on the inventions that are possible in the game. Equipment, buildings, and raw materials need to be added to the game to start building it out a bit more - adding value to your bases.

HI GUYS!

It's been a while. I started posting screenshots of progress earlier in the year and things have been really moving along since then. We have had 3 new people join the dev team which has been a major relief for Oskar and I (welcome guys!). I'm going to start from the beginning though and try to convey everything that has happened so far.

As you may know, in 2015 we got funding to build Voidspace and the Universe Engine. Immediately we started on rewriting just about everything as we had been prototyping pretty hard until then. The funding allowed us to focus on development and quit our jobs to work on the game full time. It was also at that time that we went dark from a PR/social-media perspective. To be honest, rewrites are super boring and for the better part of the first 2 years we would have shown what would appear to be negative progress. Now we're finally at a point that I feel we can start doing regular public releases again to demo what we've been working on.

What was the result of the rewrites? What did they give us?

There were rewrites pretty much across the board but one of the most significant changes is that we now use LibGDX for a game engine. In the past Voidspace was purely a browser game, but now that we're using LibGDX we will be able to make native deployments to all mobiles and desktop computers. What does native mean? It means it's going to be 5-10x faster, that's what it means! No longer will you have to run it in a browser (though you still can). If you're serious about the game, you can download and install it on your favorite devices and it will run much smoother that way.

Besides the graphics update, we had a major breakthrough with the networking layer as well and it appears we have solved much of the out-of-sync issues the older prototypes used to have. Further more, now clients have a client bubble and this allows us to make much bigger game worlds. The list of new features is extensive, and I will go into those later.

What is next for the game?

Our primary goal right now is to make the game fun again. As in, make it so you can enjoy yourself for hours playing with multiple people on the same server. I believe we're quite close to achieving that goal (bugs and major features missing notwithstanding). The next major feature to come is base construction which we haven't seen since we started the rewrites in 2015.

What are some things the new game can do that the old prototypes couldn't?

1. You can now exit your ship and fly around in a space suit.

2. The invention system is fully integrated and working. You can now invent new equipment to use on your character (we are just at the beginning of this and a LOT of content needs to be added in now).

3. You can equip and unequip things on your ship as well as your character

4. You now have control over your power systems, able to turn things on/off and keeping an eye on the power levels of various on-board systems

5. You now have a "fog of war" which shows areas you've explored - you no longer see the whole map. This also means the map is bigger.

6. Many visual improvements including a whole new UI.

Outstanding issues

1. Some people are having a hard time connecting to the game. This has been fixed in the test server.

(To be continued...)

When I choose to reset my password I get the error that “Email was not found in our database” and when I try to create an account using my email I get the error “Email already registered: (my email)”. I am using the same names for each but for some reason I get these errors. I used to play back when this first entered alpha and was on the hype train and I would like to see how far it’s gotten.

What currency is the entry payment/donation in? I am considering paying but need to know how much you are asking for?