I’m pleased to announce the release of Skyw0r version 0.8, with a number of new improvements for Windows and Linux. (A Mac OSX update from 0.7 is coming soon.)

Here’s a list of the improvements.

• The distance and direction to the current mission objective are now shown on the map.

• Endurium fuel is now cheaper, and the asteroid fields yield more of it.

• Enemies sometimes drop endurium crystals when destroyed; harvest them to refuel your ship.

• There are now enemies in some asteroid fields.

• All map objects display helpful labels when you are nearby.

• The player begins farther away from the starbase, and must find it using the beacon.

• Bomber jet firing rate reduced a bit.

• Fixed missing keybindings.

• Fixed incorrect camera position/angle on switching to some flight mode scenes

Not bad for a single evening of coding! I want to send out my thanks to those who’ve played the game and provided feedback. bug reports, and constructive criticism. Your contributions are invaluable—-and they improve the game for you, as well.

What’s next? Planet surface gameplay is pretty lacking right now; there’s nothing to do but fly around and collect minerals. Furthermore, there’s only one mission. The overall quest structure needs to be fleshed out. Accordingly, the next release of skyw0r will include significant expansion of planet surface gameplay, including enemy combat and scanning for hidden minerals. There will also be an expanded quest with multiple mission objectives, new enemies and locations, and perhaps even the beginnings of the campaign.

I want to thank you all for your kind words and suggestions. I hope you will enjoy Skyw0r.

— David