Status Update

Thank you all for your help in making the kickstarter a success!  I apologize about the delay in updates, I've been sick on and off.  Anyway, I will post updates here and on Kickstarter.  As a result, only significant updates will be posted on kickstarter, while both those and small updates will be posted here.  The big updates will include information from small updates as a review so kickstarter guys won't miss anything.


I've been sick on and off, today I'm going to a specialist doctor to start investigating the cause.  Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and fix it.  I'm starting to suspect that I may have developed a new food allergy, but we'll see what the doctor says.

I've sent out surveys for the tier awards, and most have responded!  For those who haven't responded yet, don't worry, take your time (unless Kickstarter has a time limit on surveys? I'm not sure about that).  Kickstarter sends out automated reminders, so if you want to take more time, ignore those.

Anyway, I've started to feel better today, so tonight I'll send out the Desura key codes for backers.  I apologize for taking a long time to do this, but the stupid sickness has drained my energy.

As for the development side of the game, recently I got a 4X game called Armada 2526 Gold since people said it is pretty similar to MoO 1/2.  After "researching" it for a bit, I have realized that I need to make some changes to my game to make it more pleasant and fun.

First of those changes are the stars themselves.  Currently, they're 64x64 pixels, and takes up a lot of real estate, and makes it feel like you're zoomed in really close.  Also, they're not animated.  So I've asked my artist to re-do the stars after he's done with spiders, making them 32x32, and have animation so they'll occasionally flare up (similar to MoO 1).  Black holes will also be constantly animated, and 32x32 as well.  Nebulae will be added back, but as a visitable destination instead of being in the background.  As soon as those art are done, I will add them and show a new screenshot!  This should help make the galaxy feel more alive.

Speaking of spiders, I've decided on the name "Araneas" as per feedback from you!  They are actually peaceful, except when they're hungry, so the name fits :)  The artist is almost done with this race's artwork.  Here's a peek at one of their large ships :)  Customers of this game will get the full artwork.

In case you don't know how the ships are rendered in the game, I use a shader to modify the red color to become the empire's color.  So you see the red paint on the spider ship? Those will be replaced with appropriate shade from your empire's color.  This enables me to have the same race across multiple empires, and to be able to distinguish between them in space combat.  I will add a game configuration option to limit one race per game to have it match MoO 1/2, but for stock Beyond Beyaan, you can have multiple empires of the same race.