The latest on the development of Objects in space and big news regarding the team working with 505 Games. No Images? Click here Objects in Space Dev Update Number Seventeen If you're receiving this email, it means either you've signed up on the Flat Earth Games web site, or you put your name down on a notepad at one of the many shows we've been to in recent years with one of our games (TownCraft, Metrocide, Super Death Fortress or Objects in Space). The Podcast in Space - Episode 17 Much like our last episode, the team hasn't been travelling and doing any events or anything, just working our asses off on the game. So this podcast episode (recorded Wednesday 6th April is just a massive bunch of Elissa and Leigh talking about all the new features in the game. Check it out here. Release Plan Last time we mentioned it, we were looking at May for a launch date. Currently we're looking at the very end of May, but May nonetheless. If that changes, we'll let y'all know! Meanwhile, we're planning an announcement of the game's launch / date etc very soon alongside a trailer. The plan is to reveal the structure of the game and the size/scope of it. So the next one of these you get will feature a trailer link and let you know just what on Earth (or perhaps I should say in Apollo) to expect come launch day. Seventeenth dev update Once again, in this update, we're just going to list all the features we've been implementing since there have been so many things: Polish Phase: Much of what we're occupied with right now is just finding and squashing bugs, readying the game's Steam implementation, looking for logic errors in stories, that sort of thing.

Opening Sequence: Following on from the work we've done on the tutorial section, the early stages of the open world have had a lot of work. Many small 'mini encounters' which introduce the player to the basic concepts of the game like trading, smuggling, passenger ferrying, salvage etc have now been added. The idea is to not railroad the player but have plenty they might happen to find which help orient them.

Long-form testing: We've been watching close friends sit and play the game for 2-3 hours at a stretch now rather than just testing combat mechanics or single stories. We're looking to see if the game's opening educates players about what they can do well enough.

Animations: While the animations themselves were built ages ago, they're just being implemented now. NPCs on space stations will have appropriate idle and active animations, and facial animations are up next.

AI: We've been tackling AI on a per-ship-class basis. Authority vessels will scan your vessel appropriately and fine you as necessary if you're found to have illegal goods. Merchants stick to their routes accordingly. Pirates are up next.

Space Station Detail Pass: All the architecture and lighting for space stations is done, but now we need to give them some life. That comes in the form of signage, flags, news-tickers, NPC spawn points, decals for walls and vending machines.

Story Logic / Exit Points: This game never lets you fail and retry a mission. So at any point throughout any story, we need to account for the chance that the player fails to complete the task or just chooses not to and pisses off to the outer rim for like... no reason. So we've been tracking activity with timers and adding angry messages etc accordingly.

PDA Functionality: Your personal PDA device which you use to interact with NPCs now also houses a 'notes' section detailing all your current commitments and promises made to NPCs, as well as a map-in-your-pocket of the whole Apollo cluster.

Contract Edits: We've had to cull a few contract features to get the system working in time for launch. All contracts are now either A to B or A to anywhere, and they each only allow one kind of good. We hope to add anywhere to B contracts back in later, but for now they were breaking too many things.

Contract Types: We're hoping to have more than just good trading contracts in there, but how many others we can get in between now and launch will depend on time. Other potentials include hacking contracts (hack X ship), salvage contracts (retrieve X cargo), scavenging contracts (retrieve cargo from X derelict), bounty hunting contracts (destroy X ship) etc. Jump on the forums, spread the word, and keep on flying! About Us We (Elissa and Leigh) started Flat Earth in early 2012 in Sydney, Australia. Following the release of our first game TownCraft (iOS/PC/Mac), we released the top-down cyberpunk hitman game Metrocide (PC/Mac). TownCraft was a bit of a local success, reaching #2 in the paid app charts in Australia, and we still continue to create original games for various platforms which aim squarely at bringing their love of 90s gaming into modern titles. Objects in Space is our biggest passion project ever, and we're pouring everything we've got into making it the best game we've ever made!