Welcome to our 43rd newsletter on Star Atlas! This is a weekly newsletter, published by Aephia Industries, that is focused entirely on Star Atlas. Here we try to aggregate all the newsworthy tidbits that were dropped by the team throughout the past week
The last week was exciting, with many new images and short clips being shared with the community, illustrating the progress made on SCREAM and the Showroom. Furthermore, there was a new Townhall (#33) with two guests from the team: Brad (UE5 Gameplay Engineer) & Chris (Director of Game Economy - focus on SCREAM). Lastly, a new issue of the Atlas Star was published, presenting us with a deep dive into the lore that surrounds the Cataclysm at the center of Star Atlas!
426Live
There was also some bad news. Before the Townhall started, there had been some hints that we might hear more about the next 426Live event. During the event, Michael (CEO) admitted that they had indeed planned to announce the date, but that unfortunately a complication had surfaced on that very Friday that made the team backtrack on that.
The team did not go into any detail of what this complication entailed exactly.
What to expect
In lieu of an official date, Michael felt compelled to at least share what we can expect during the upcoming event. There will be:
- The release of Showroom R1 (previously: pre-alpha). The distribution of this game will rely on a “unique technique”, using a new partnership.
- A presentation on “Sustainable Governance” by Dan Park (legal council)
- The roll-out of the Atlas Locker (Atlas Staking)
- A presentation on the Foundation Kit, which is a toolkit that allows for the integration of Solana (e.g. a wallet) into Unreal Engine 5 (aka: Foundation SDK)
- A talk about how they plan to solve the potential less-than-optimal-user-experience of using Cold Storage (e.g. a Ledger) while playing the game.
Volant Studio Showroom
While we wait for the distribution of the initial release of the Showroom, the team is working hard on the second release (R2). This release will come with multi-player support and limited flight capabilities (Pearce X4 only). The team released a video that shows the mounting animation for a Pearce X4.
Prototype
In addition to that, the team shared another video showing off one of their developers (Brad) flying a Pearce X4 through an obstacle course, with stationary turrets shooting electrical charges at them. A hit of these would make him lose speed.
Note that we may not see this exact gameplay end up in future game modules, but it’s sure nice to see some more of these prototypes the team is working on.
SCREAM
We did not get that much information on SCREAM this week, but we did get some awesome art!
First off, the team shared an updated piece of concept art, showing the aesthetic they are going for. Note that the starbase here is using placeholder art from another universe (Star Trek).
Interestingly, the design for the starbases is already there (or at least part of it), proven by the fact that the team shared some shots of both Tier 1 and Tier 4 versions of these:
In addition, they showed what a Fimbul ECOS Greenader would look like when slotted into one of the available hangars within SCREAM:
Finally, the team shared some WebGL renders of the Fimbul Mamba & VZUS ballad ships, and on top of that added one for the Ustur Central Space Station as well! The originals for these can be found in the Star Atlas #announcements channel. Below we provide some short clips in GIF format to give an impression:
Progress
In their weekly roadmap report, the team shared that the blockchain programs for Cargo, Crafting, Player Profile, [Loyalty] Points & [Loyalty] Points Store are almost ready. Ship escrowing has been completed and they have been busy finalizing movement. Additionally, the team started implementing programs to allow crafting at a starbase, and fleet configuration.
The economy design team has been researching starbase crafting and upgrading. And finally, the web team has started working on the “Outliner UI” and updating warp and impulse movement functionality.
Features
Some other tidbits we got last week from Chip (Game Systems Designer):
- If you emergency-escape (flee) then you will end up in an adjacent sector.
- You don’t earn LP for attacking someone in open space because that would be easily abused via kill trading. Open space is when you aren’t assigned to a planet or starbase.
- Starbase battles and planets will likely be large-scale timed events. Open space single target battles are small-scale timed events. Smaller timer to enter and help your buddy out if they get attacked.
- Battles automatically resolve with the fleets that have elected to join once the timer hits zero.
- You can defend starbases by clicking on the starbase and selecting “Defend”.
Ships
A new ship was teased by the team that we expect will arrive in the marketplace this Thursday:
It may look like an insect, but this ship is anything but a pest. Inspired by an interstellar space hero, this upcoming vehicle will be available on the Galactic Marketplace in just over a week! 💥
Video Contest Winner
The short-video contest -that sprung into existence after Star Atlas team member DaveyB (Content/Creative Producer) shared a fun video he made during his vacation- has resulted in about 10 videos produced by the community. In the end, there could only be one winner though! The winner of the first Creative Community Cinema Contest* (*as this has been dubbed, or Star Atlas 4C in short) is Morpheus! His prize: three Fimbul Lowbies!
Education
Another episode of “Michael and the Metaverse” was shared last week, and it looks like there is only one more to go! This one is about what we can expect from the future of Star Atlas.
The penultimate episode of Michael and the Metaverse is here!🚀
In this edition, @at_mwagner discusses what the future of technology in the Star Atlas metaverse looks like! ✨ https://t.co/akgc5Mf8XN