Dev Blog #022 August 30, 2025

Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! It’s been a busy couple of months, and I’m excited to share the progress we’ve made. A lot has been completed since the last update, and with open beta right around the corner, things are really starting to come together with the core stability and functions of the game. I have been doing extra contracting work during this time in order to save up to get some more 3d models done, so it's been a little bit slower than I would have liked but progress is still being made.

Open beta testing

The open beta begins September 2nd and will run throughout the entire month. This has been a long time coming, and it feels great to finally open the doors wider and invite more people into the game. I will be ramping up advertising over the month, since getting as many players as possible will give me the feedback and data I need to make balancing and server adjustments before the full release. ( Such as this painful undocking bug I still need more info on )
The open beta will launch on PC only. Mobile versions for iOS and Android are still tied to the Founders Pack, the founders packs can also be purchased in game for anyone that wants to support the development or test on mobile.

Skill Trees

The skill tree system is now active, and it’s one of the systems I’ve been most excited to get into the game as it's a nice bit of extra progression. Right now, you can unlock Mining, Shield, Energy, Wing and Engine trees. Each tree is designed to allow you to upgrade different ship types along with overall bonuses, so improving your stats moves along with the type of ship you fly.

I’ll be rolling out additional branches slowly over time, watching how people use the existing ones before finalizing new ones. Your feedback here will directly shape how the rest of the system develops, if changes are needed they will be done.

Founders Titles

Founders have always been a huge part of the game’s journey, and I want to make sure their support feels visible in-game. You can now toggle your Founder’s title when customizing your avatar, and new frames are available to highlight your status. I am also adding more highlighting to your chat messages and to ship tags while in space.
This may seem like a small addition, but it’s an important step toward giving long-term supporters unique ways to stand out.

Corporation Logos

Corporations now have the ability to design logos and set group colours, this adds more personality and helps corps feel distinct from one another. Right now the options are fairly limited, but I’ll be expanding the library of shapes, symbols, and color choices over time.
The real challenge with this system has been finding the balance between player freedom and not making it too complicated, so my goal is to provide a simple tool that would allow enough choice.

Voice Chat

Voice chat for wings is now working (again, after the vivox updates). Once you join a wing, you’ll automatically be added to its voice channel, though you can turn this off in settings if you’d rather not use it.
Voice is a big deal for coordination, and I’m happy to say it’s now stable enough for players to rely on in real missions.

Fixes and improvements

Over the last couple of months I’ve been focusing heavily on stability and core systems. A few more obvious improvements include reworking weapon targeting so that building ranges are measured against the full structure instead of just the center point, and fixing dust clouds and nebulas so their status effects disappear the moment you leave the area.
Behind the scenes, I’ve gone through dozens of small bugs and optimizations to make the game feel smoother overall. These kinds of fixes aren’t flashy, but they’re critical for making the game ready for more players during the open beta. There are still a few bugs on my list, but with more data from extra players I should be able to fix them faster.

Map updates

The map system has been completely reworked. Previously, events like blockades would sometimes appear on the map even when they weren’t active, which made navigation confusing. The new system ensures events only display when they’re actually happening, and auto-warping now correctly avoids inactive blockades ( because they don't really exist ).
This took longer than expected to fix, but it was worth it. Navigation is a core part of the game, and having an unreliable map was a constant frustration. Now it should feel far more consistent and improves all the random events and changes that happen on the map.

Events

The first version of the Major Incursion event is now live in-game. This system introduces leaderboards and rewards. For the current event, players will be fighting off waves of pirates in new sectors.
This event is very much a “proof of concept.” It’s functional and fun, but it’s also a foundation I plan to build on. In the future, incursions will feature more varied enemy types, objectives, and cooperative elements more like the raids. My main goal here was simply to get the framework in and running before expanding it further, this was heavily linked to the map updates so it's in a good place now.

Engine flare cosmetics

Finally, to get ready for open beta, I’ve introduced new engine flare cosmetics, these will be turned on during the open beta. These allow you to customize the appearance of your ship’s thrusters and add a little extra personality to your build. This is just the beginning of a much larger cosmetic system I plan to grow over time, with more visual customization options coming soon, well, as soon as the new models are done

With open beta launching on September 2nd, the game is entering an exciting new phase. Every system I’ve talked about here is something I’ll continue to expand and refine with your feedback.

I can’t thank you enough for the support so far and I can’t wait to see what happens once more players join during open beta.