I've been having trouble getting my ass into gear with ship customization, so rather than stalling out I decided to move on to other areas of the todo list. With the release of v0.3, I finally shared Black Road Sky with a few dark corners of the internet, mostly to the soothing sounds of internet crickets, but a few nerds took the bait. Some of them were even enthusiastic enough to offer suggestions for the next release, so let's kick off a round of gameplay improvements by bending to the will of the people, yeah?
Free Flight Mode
I'm well aware that the first 5 minutes of the game are pretty fucking dull, so it was no surprise to learn that players found the first 5 minutes of the game to be pretty fucking dull. Eventually there will be more going on at the start of the game, and the space stations won't be boring white caverns, but we're obviously not there yet. So when someone suggested a free flight mode, where you can just jump in and start flying, I thought it was a pretty great idea.
You can now choose "Free Flight" from the title menu, and start the game parked in orbit near Gagarin with a full tank of gas and a ton of spacebucks burning a hole in your pocket. This is a great way for new players to quickly check the game out, and a nice starting point for people who just want to dink around and explore rather than getting into the trucking grind.
Help Menu
I had a lot of fun making the BRS v0.3 YouTube Tutorial Series, so I don't regret the time I spent on it, but spending 4 hours watching a dude get drunk and ramble while playing his own game is obviously not the ideal way to onboard new players. At the same time, with the game in such a state of flux right now I think it would be a waste of time to implement a proper in-game tutorial. So I am instead, thanks to another player suggestion, leaning into the opposite extreme and augmenting the TMI tutorial videos with some very basic in-game help.
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| Help Menu |
Hopefully a quick reference for flight controls and standard procedures for departures, arrivals, and warp will help to make the learning phase of the game a bit more accessible.
Vincent Mode
One dude asked for an infinite fuel option so now it exists. Be the dev you want to see in the world.
Coming Up Next
I'm currently working on some improvements to the cryopod and I've got a few more gameplay related features that I want to squeeze in before moving on to concentrating a bit on the game's visual style. You know how you can run into a spacestation going like 1000 k/s and just sort of bounce off of it unscathed? Well not for long, bucko!
