The notes!
http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Stars_Beyond_Reach_Beta_Phase_2_Release_Notes#Version_0.899Possibly not what you were expecting from us today. I think that this technical diversion of mine (hunting performance issues, etc) is a bit of a way for me to just mentally ease back into the full design space. This is super useful stuff that absolutely needs to be done, and it also does need sufficient time to be present in the game code so that we can actually test it over time and make sure the bugs are out before release. But it's also not really at the top of my features list in terms of getting the game itself where I want it to be gameplay-wise.
But! On the largest savegames on my machine (larger than is now possible in the editor), I went from having a garbage-collector hitch every 3 seconds to having one every 15 seconds. That's huuuuuge in terms of the feel of the game.
Such is life, on that. This is what I felt (very very) motivated to work on, so I went with my gut and it's been a very high-yield result. I've learned that sometimes I just have to go with the flow in that way in order to get maximum productivity out of myself over a period of weeks. I try to extend that flexibility at least somewhat to the rest of the staff where I can, as well, and in general try to keep an eye on burn out for any one activity. Hence us jumping around sometimes, where whoever it is just needs a break from one thing in order to focus on something else after a few grueling days.
Anyway, I have more HUD stuff that I need to do personally, and more design stuff that I need to write up and finishing hashing out for trade in particular.
Oh: you may notice that the bottom bar is misaligned in this version of the HUD, with one extra space now. That's because there is a new button coming for the underground/surface toggle (that's already completed in terms of art), but I didn't have time to code it in today. Tomorrow, though!
Enjoy!
