I found out recently that the game engine I am using (3D Gamestudio) actually prefers pcx and dds files to bmp, jpg and png files. I have been using a variety of image files for Star Explorers and I occasionally have encountered some "bad file format" errors.

So in an effort to eliminate these kinds of errors, I am going through all the image files and replacing them with the recommended formats.

It is a long process and I am just starting. One good side effect is that I am saving disk space in the process, as well as eliminating a bunch of unused functions in the game script. So by the end of this process I think Star Explorers will become a much tighter program that takes up much less room on your hard drive.

In the process I was able to identify some textures that were missing from the game files. However, I am guessing I will mess up in the process and some textures might be missing (if I failed to reference the right file or something).

I was also able to identify and fix the bug that caused planets to go to night time after players left a cave, so the day/night cycle should be more consistent now.

There was a bug in the blueprints. When crafting an item it used the older values and the resulting item would have strange features like having a negative value for trade.

I had updated items which appear in caches and merchant inventories, but forgot to update the items when crafted with blueprints.

This will not fix items that were already crafted, but should produce the right results when crafting any new items. The blueprints themselves should be fine, so don't get rid of those.

The trade menu allowed players to cheat by manipulating the amount of an item bought or sold (I won't get into details).

I was able to reproduce the bug, and find the root cause. Now it should not allow for this kind of swindling to occur.

I have now overhauled the whole inventory system and added some other cool stuff. It will also require a new game if you want to play it.

The old inventory items had a very confusing system and I revised the whole thing, so it will not be compatible with old saves games.

The menu and inventory graphics have all been spruced up to look more spacey, and I was able to add some nifty sound effects to these interactions. There is still work to do here, but inventory, quests and blueprints/crafting have all been improved.

This has been updated to include some helpful information about where to find certain items

During these updates I was able to discover and resolve a large number of bugs.

• Items should retain their correct values when trading
  
• A bug occurring when shooting the rocket launcher was fixed
  
• The "Place All" and "Take All" buttons now appear correctly depending on the item type
  
• UFO interior bug was causing staircase colliders to appear in the wrong place (these colliders are invisible so it's possible no one noticed it)

I am continuing to find and repair issues with the game. I plan to do this a lot before I start adding new features.

There were a couple bugs when buying and selling to merchants. Prices were not calculated correctly when selling, and weapons were not priced correctly when buying.

I also changed the "price" to "n/a" whenever the player is not actually dealing with a merchant, as that was just a bit confusing.

I have once again fixed the sonic cannon. It works as of the moment I am writing this. I cannot guarantee it will work by the time you try it.

So this is my official announcement that Star Explorers is getting a new major update. Version 6.0 is just getting started, and will be relegated to the testing branch until it is all ready and shiny.

So far there are a few major changes. Most of them involve the way the code works, rather than things that directly effect the gameplay. For instance, the entire galaxy and star chart system has been rewritten from scratch. It is *supposed* to be more stable and less prone to developing database errors which have plagued the the game since it's inception.

There are some major, obvious changes to the star chart that players can see for themselves. The biggest difference is the at the old "Target Sector" system has been dropped in favor of a star chart that shows all the sectors right away.

Now, when you open the star chart for the first time you will see something like this:

It won't have any of the little green dots, which are stars (you still have to scan those yourself before they will appear in the chart) but all the sectors will be visible and clickable.

Now you can locate and warp to stars, and the mothership, directly from the star chart.

I have removed the interactive guide from the game. It was causing several bugs and it was not compatible with the new galaxy and star chart, so for now it is no longer in the game.

I don't plan to write a complete list of planned features, because I cannot make any promises just yet. I do have a lot of incomplete and unfinished things in the game that I want to polish up. So most of this will be about fine tuning what is already there.

I also have a number of "new" ideas, that are actually things I always wanted to include in the game, but had to cut in order to allow me to finish it. I want to make some new planet types like ocean planets (completely covered in liquid) and perhaps have a way for players to explore the upper atmospheres of gas giants.

I also have an idea about being able to take samples and conduct scientific research on planets. I haven't quite formulated how this will work, or exactly what it will do in terms of gameplay. But I want the game to provide more activities that will take place on the surface of planets, and this is the angle I want to take in order to achieve that.

Finally, I have plans to make another kind of life-form. This one will be more procedural and have a wider variety of forms and interactions than any of the others. I am calling these new aliens "fruits" for now, because the idea came out of making actual fruits that would grow on the alien plants and trees. From there I wondered what would happen if the fruits were self aware ... and the rest is history.

But these are all just ideas, no promises yet.

If you want to try out the current update, go to "Star Explorers > Properties > Betas" enter the code "rocketship1234" and then choose "testing" from the drop down menu. You will need to start a new game, as the new version will not be compatible with the current default version.

The official soundtrack for Star Explorers is now available!

What does it mean? The songs on here are generated from the algorithm used by the game*

The sounds used in the music and the different kinds of melodies are all influenced by the parameters of the planet you are landing on. Each time you land on the same planet, you will hear the same song. But each new world will have a different one. Also, caves on a planet will be a kind of remixed version of the same song, using the same "instruments" and rhythmic outline, but having a different melody.

While I don't expect this record to top any popular music charts, it is just fun to hear some of the ideas the game's algorithm can come up with. These songs were chosen because they all surprised me in some unexpected way when I first heard them.

* These songs in particular were recorded pretty early on. The sounds and algorithm used has been changed and perhaps even improved since these recordings. However, they have grown one me in the meantime and still capture the overall mood of the in-game music.

Okay this is a slight update since yesterday

The game manual is now included in the local game files as well as on the Steam page and online.

To access the local manual, go to "Star Explorers > Properties > Local Files > Browse Local Files"

Open the "Manual" folder and then open the pdf to read at your leisure.

The manual for Star Explorers has finally gotten an update!

It covers a few of the game's "new" features and corrects some errors that have not been relevant for a while. You should be able to open it via the in-game menu link, as well as from your Steam library.

Please feel free to send me any feedback or suggestions on how it can be improved.