We’re happy to announce that today we released patch v0.1.4.0 to all of our Developer Access backers. It contains numerous improvements and tweaks to the game. Most notably it has our new input mapper with support for gamepads and joysticks, a more realistic atmospheric flight model, the second iteration of the corvette, and most importantly the new interceptor! We’ve been getting some questions from Alpha backers about when the game will be available to play. The Alpha release is currently scheduled for October 29th, 2016.

(Mockup of the interceptor cockpit)

Over the next few weeks our engineering focus is going to shift from integrating ships and gameplay tweaks to taking care of some low level plumbing before we dive into weapons. Specifically we need to make some improvements to our core networking layer such as removing the last remnants of our trusted client code, which prevents hacking, and improving latency compensation. On top of that we still need to get our pledge upgrade system built for those of you who are looking to get in on the action sooner rather than later.

(Revision 2 of the corvette cockpit)

The art team’s primary focus will be on space stations, land bases, and factories. These are large, complicated assets that will take a lot of time to complete. They will also continue work on revising the bomber, interceptor, and corvette as needed based on playtesting feedback. Looking back, full development began on February 1st and in the 3 months since then we’re pretty happy with our progress. There’s a lot that still needs to be done for the Alpha but we’ve worked through the initial ramp-up and reached a good cadence.

(Revision 3 of the bomber)