Saving

The research prompt is done, you can now research technologies.  I decided to bite the bullet and forge ahead on saving/loading games since most of the underlying data structure is already in place.  The saving mechanism is now done.  Next is the loading of games.

One thing that's neat about this system is that the save games are saved inside the dataset that you are using, which are copied over to your local application folder.  What this means is that if you launch a mod, its save games will be separate from other mods.  No worries or trying to remember which save works with which mods.

Here's a screenshot of the semi-final saving and in-game menu (I need to get a generic OK/Cancel button artworks, will commission that soon...):

Preview of Research Prompt

This is the UI that you see when you get a tech breakthrough, as well as selecting items to research.  I've combined the two separate screen from MoO 1 into one UI (The new tech, and the tech selection).  On top is the newly discovered tech, with its accompanying icon (for now, the ? is a place holder until artist creates the icon artwork).  If researching your first item, then it shows the field's description to help introduce new players to that field.

On bottom is list of available topics to research, and if you hover over it, it shows a description of that technology.

It's not quite done yet, still have under the hood code to finish...

Technologies

Just a quick update on the code backend.  I've added all the technologies and their correct values to the game.  I also matched Master of Orion 1's random technology selection rules, so the list of available technologies should be familiar.

I'm currently working on adding UI for selecting technologies to research, as well as displaying newly researched technologies.  Then the "technology screen" that you can look at for viewing researched technologies.  Should be done soon...

Newscaster!

The artist have finished the artwork for the newscaster, and the first icon (the news item that you see in top right corner).  I was very pleased with how it looks, so I gave the artist the go-ahead for rest of the icons (21 more icons, all matching MoO 1's 22 news items).  I was also provided with an animated gif to see how it looks in practice (The speaker part won't be as regular in-game, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like)

There's no text on the icon, unlike MoO 1.  This is so that I can add text programmatically, and it can be translated into different languages without having to alter the artwork.

IndieBundle and Lowered Price

Indiebundle.org contacted me and offered to have my game as part of their sci-fi bundle.  We worked out the details, and it's up on their site now!  http://indiebundle.org/scifi-bundle/  There's four other games in the bundle, but Beyond Beyaan and one other game is in "Plus" bundle, which means you need to pay $7 to get the two extra games.  Otherwise it's $5.

I've also lowered the Desura price for my game to $5.99 to compete against certain digital releases of similar games.

Thanks for all of your support!

Demand for Linux version

During the development of Beyond Beyaan, I've been asked many times if I have plans to port the game over to Linux.  So here's my official announcement regarding Linux version.

Yes, I will develop a Linux version.  However, since it uses an different environment, and don't support DirectX, hence SlimDX which my game's 2D engine relies on, I will have to change to another 2D engine that runs inside Linux AND Windows.  Since this is a drastic change, I will wait until the game enters beta, then branch off and work on a Linux compatible version.

Now, when will the game enter beta?  It will enter beta when all the gameplay features and UI are implemented, similar to Master of Orion 1.  AI won't be tuned or balanced, those will be done during the beta phase.

Here's the remaining major features/UI that need to be implemented before the game enters beta for clarification:
Saving/Loading games
Ground Combat (Transports are working already, just need to add this)
Researching Technologies (The technologies are already in the game, just need UI and logic for researching them)
Fleet Management Screen (Code already stores all fleets, just need UI)
Planet Management Screen (Code already stores all planets, just need UI)
Diplomacy Screen
Spying
Diplomacy relations code (such as no combat if you arrive at an allied player's planet, penalties for attacking a colony, meeting a new race, etc)
Ship Design (The technologies and underlying code already support ship designs, you can see scouts and colony ship as evidence of this, so only UI is left to actually add new designs)
Finish the planet code (Such as refitting factories, building ships, missile bases, etc)
Start on some rudimentary AI code
Victory/Loss checks

Here's what will be implemented after beta starts, not in any particular order:
Random events
Newscaster (BNN)
More work on AI
Linux version
Bug fixing/polishing

After those are done, the game will become a full version.  Only at this point will I start adding modding support (replacing hard-coded values with data-driven values, like technologies, scripts, etc)

Hopefully around winter, the game will enter Beta.

Transports and new video

I've implemented transports, so you can interact with them, send them off to another system, etc.  The only thing that I haven't added yet is ground combat.  But the good news is that I've uploaded a new version to Desura, finally!  Both Demo and Alpha branches are updated (Alpha is the full version).  Yes, the 4 new races artwork is included in the alpha branch!  It's waiting for approval right now.

I also created a new video showcasing the features that I added ever since I reverted to an old version.  You can see fuel ranges, transports, colonization, etc. Hope you all enjoy it!  Again, no sound, due to me being deaf, but I will hire a sound programmer at one point...

Colonization

I've implemented colonization UI.  The code behind the UI supports multiple planets/ships, but the UI as of now only have up to 4 different colony ship designs and one planet.  When I add multiple planets, it'd be just a matter of updating UI to work with the already existing planets code.

Now for screenshots!

The ui for prompting player if they want to colonize:

And yes, landing animation!  Basically just the ship coming down, but at least it's something!  You get to preview the ground view that will also be used in ground combat.  This one is Jungle planet.

I've also started work on actual transporting of people, it's mostly implemented, except that when the new fleet is created, it don't go anywhere...  Once I fix that, I'll add ground combat.  Hopefully in a day or two...

Exploration Notification!

I've started working on the "Processing Screen" part of the game, and added comments on where various steps in processing should go.  This will be almost identical to the MoO 1's process (the order it resolves different items).  Then one of the first things that I added is the "Explored System" notification.  Here's a screenshot of it in action:

Next up is the Colonization prompt, and the actual colonization process with accompanying landing animation.  I'm trying to get this game as much playable as possible soon, because there's something big related to this game coming up next week.  More news on that soon!  It means soon I'll upload a new version to Desura, both Demo and Full, and the Full will finally contain all the new race artwork!

New Game and Race Selection

Whew!  I replaced the old "New Game" screen with its old ugly UI with the following UI.  The icons with question mark are random races.  Let me know what you think of it!  Suggestions are welcome!  Oh, I also branched off the galaxy generation code into a background worker, so galaxy generation no longer freezes up the UI.