Star Control: Origins has been out for for a month now and we've been flatout working on additional content, improvements to the game and making it as smooth as possible. From our forums to Discord and Twitch, we've been reading and hearing your feedback! Our first step towards making the best game for our fans is the 1.1 update. Here's a breakdown of what that includes:
**Free Multiverse DLC**
The most exciting thing for 1.1 is the Multiverse DLC, which allows you to change the existing Star Control universe and add your own content (star systems, quests, characters, etc.). This enables you to engage with infinite new stories and experiences in Star Control. We've built the game from the ground up to be modding friendly, and now players have access to Adventure Studio, the same tools our own designers used to craft and shape the main adventure.
The Multiverse not only allows you to create new content but also allows you to share it with other people. After you've crafted your new content, upload it to Steamworks to share with the rest of the world. Or you can browse Steamworks to see what other cool and interesting content other people have created. As the library of Star Control Multiverse content continues to grow, you'll be able to download and experience countless new stories and experiences. Bounty Hunter and Galactic Zoo are two mods we've made and are now available on the workshop.
**More Content**
Multiverse aside, we've filled the playable sector with even more alien life and encounters. It's up to you to find out how they'll act towards humans. We've also created new unique weapons and distributed them among alien ships, so there's now more variety in combat encounters.
**AI Improvements**
1.1 includes a few improvements to the combat AI, this will make them more dynamic and feel smarter to encounter. They'll make better use of wormholes and power-ups, and more intelligently attempt to evade attacks and incoming projectiles.
**Economy Changes**
More than anything else, we've received a ton of feedback about the economy. We've already made many changes on that front such as increasing the bounty from looting destroyed ships, so that players can focus on pillaging if planet exploration isn't their jam. (Pro tip for would-be bandits, freighters are vulnerable and provide more spoils.)
On top of the existing tweaks, 1.1 includes a number of other changes to streamline the economy and make it feel tighter. In particular, we've reworked the ship component prices; lander upgrades such as heat protection and armor will be much cheaper and more worth the investment, while the late-game ultimate weapons and upgrades such as the super nuke and fleet deflection received a cost increase. We want to make exploring planets more worthwhile and have a better sense of progression, but while ensuring players still have optional, epic late-game stuff to work towards.
**Lander Physics**
We've been iterating upon the feel of the Lander and have modified its physics to make it more weighty. We feel this makes controlling the lander and exploring planets more fun.
**Updated Visuals**
We've updated the visuals on many aspects of the game, improving the appearance of many of the leaders, planet props and critters. We've also further optimized shaders to increase performance which will be most noticeable on planets.
**Audio**
The Free Trandals have received a whole new voice to better distinguish them from the Overmind Trandals. We've also added more weapon sound effects for the nuclear missile and canister bomb variations, and a new track for Scryve system exploration.
These and more tweaks, fixes, quality-of-life and improvements can be found in the 1.1 update which is now available. Thanks to everyone who left feedback about the game. We've already begun working on bringing more content to the game and on v1.2, our next free update for Star Control: Origins. So stay tuned, and happy exploring!
-Callum
