Jan 2, 2023

X-Plane 12 - danial

XPD-13676 - dev assert in shut-down in ATC controller.
XPD-13665 - Massive performance drop at sunrise/sunset.
XPD-13654 - Async compute has race conditions.
XPD-13647 - Add two new ATTR_Layer_groups.
XPD-13621 - ATTR_light_level control of alpha channel causes total chaos in v12.
XPD-13070 - XP12 fuel flow override and tank not drained.
XPD-13659 - Slight roll for swept-wing aircraft.
XPD-13658 - Heuristics for FISO/ATC default should take existence of ground/clearance delivery frequencies into account.
XPD-13642 - Custom docking jetways only working for ONE JW per airport.
XPD-13583 - Assert error conditions_dis_mtr > 0.0.
XPD-13468 - Missed-approach zone at far end of runway can be triggered during overflight on approach.
XPD-12879 - TCAS Target Wake Turbulence no longer exists.
XPD-10179 - Facade with illicit wall selection causes crash.
XPD-13688 - RV10: Engine volume too soft.
XPD-13687 - MD80: Incorrect tank names.
XPD-13686 - B738: Config warn and relay sounds when testing cockpit lites.
XPD-13678 - HSI broken since Baron cockpit update.
XPD-13664 - R22: Carburetor temp gauge fix.
XPD-13651 - Gate-hold due to airport flow change was not being cleared correctly.
XPD-13649 - Alia has no defined manufacturer or model code.
XPD-13640 - Citation X has no aileron and no rudder trim.
XPD-13637 - KBTV update.
XPD-13631 - Baron flightmodel improvements.
XPD-13615 - Boats sync is broken in multiplayer.
XPD-13601 - Trying to rewind in replay causes CTD with no error window.
XPD-13576 - Rare crash for AI trying to direct-contact field for landing.
XPD-13551 - X-Plane Hard crashes on PNG errors.
XPD-13549 - Race or some other failure to have l_temp texture in SSR init.
XPD-13518 - Crash when loading X-Plane 11 default controllers in X-Plane 12.
XPD-13510 - Rare crash checking arrival conflicts.
XPD-13493 - ATIS order differs between FAA and ICAO.
XPD-13488 - Can be told “off taxi route” before receiving it when leaving the runway on an unexpected exit.
XPD-13464 - Crash during unexpected shutdown.
XPD-13419 - Replays arent showing the instrument_brightness_ratio transformations.
XPD-13380 - Intrinsic balloons drawn at ground/sea level.
XPD-13274 - Tower may say “descend and maintain 0" on final depending on exact timing.
XPD-13254 - Hang/device loss with async compute and alt-tabbing out of X-Plane.
XPD-13135 - Some commands are registered into two categories.
XPD-13080 - Missing type for internal FMS waypoints.
XPD-12911 - The AutoUpdate process locks up X-Plane when 2D Panels are set.
XPD-12748 - the type-2 facade has distorted geometry.
XPD-11228 - Super Cub reflected in Evo.
XPD-13655 - Log spam with AI waiting to transmit checkin messages.
XPD-13639 - Save/Don’t Save/Cancel Alert Not Clickable When Windows are Popped Out.
XPD-13598 - From Bug Report: F14 Odd visuals when paused in external view - afterburner on.
XPD-13578 - AI were obeying the user’s choice of pilot/copilot transmission setting.
XPD-13469 - OrthoXP DSF files provide no elevation data, breaking terrain avoidance and routing.
XPD-13409 - A pattern-type approach is used too often when a direct approach might be used.
XPD-13382 - Sky ambience cube map not reset when changing weather presets.
XPD-13136 - Catch2 wxr_def_t_test Wind altitudes fails.

Jan 2, 2023

Between the Stars - The Bullet

Greetings, captains!

We know that these last few months have been complicated, and that many of you are unhappy with the pace of development of Between the Stars. In this announcement, we want to update you and give you explanations about the future of the game. We will try to answer the doubts you have had during this time.

1 - Is the game abandoned?

The answer is a categorical no. The pace of development has slowed down due to issues that we will explain below, but the game is going to be finished. During all this time, we have continued working on the final chapter, which closes the main story line and ends the campaign. In addition, there will be secondary content to be implemented, such as Kickstarter rewards.

2 - When will we get the end of the story?

Although we don't want to give a closed date, we expect it to be ready in about four or five months. The story is already completely written, and we are currently programming the events and working on the English translation, and soon we will start recording the dubbing. As soon as it is playable, we will launch a beta version, so you can all try it out before the official release.

3 - Why has development slowed down for so long?

As many of you know, Isolated Games is now working on two projects: Between the Stars and Travellers Rest, this has caused us to have less time for Between the Stars. We know that many of you are unhappy, and that having two games in development at the same time is not an ideal situation, but there is an explanation for this.

4 - Why have you produced another game if you haven't finished the first one?

This is the core of the matter. Travellers Rest is not an original game from our studio. The game was created by another developer who for personal reasons had to abandon the development and offered us the opportunity to take it over without any upfront payment.

At that time we were looking for a way to finance the final chapter since we were dangerously close to bankruptcy, and although we knew that another game would add to the workload, it seemed like a good opportunity to keep the production going. Our plan was to use the revenue Travellers Rest was generating to hire an independent team, while Shovah and I (The Bullet) continued to work on Between the Stars and sporadically lead the Travellers team with the basic guidelines, but in practice it was impossible to accomplish.

5 - How has the development of a second game affected Between the Stars?

With the extra revenue Travellers Rest generates, we have been able to keep the studio afloat and maintain both productions. But on the other hand, our plan to stay completely focused on Between the Stars has been too optimistic.

When we were given the Travellers Rest project, we found an alpha version with a lot of potential. We knew that with the change of studio, many players would be upset, so we needed to make visible improvements in the shortest possible time. New art, design, mechanics, interface change... These modifications were not easy to implement, and we had to spend much more time than we would like helping and managing the development of Travellers Rest. It was very important not to fail with Travellers Rest, because if it didn't succeed, the next step would be to close Isolated Games, abandon both games and leave us all unemployed.

After more than a year of hard work combining our time on the two games, we reached a solid foundation. The Travellers Rest community had grown, and we finally had enough time and budget to finish Between the Stars. Now, Shovah3D has already finished writing the final chapter and I am already revising and integrating the new missions. We have to keep in mind that, despite having freed us from part of the workload of Travellers Rest, it still demands a lot of time: management, meetings, design, recruitment, marketing, publishing, translation... This obviously still slows down the development of Between the Stars.

6 - It's not fair that Between the Stars players have to wait because of another game

No, it is not. We understand the general anger about the delay that Between the Stars has suffered, but the reality is that we had no alternatives. We underestimated Between the Stars development time and production costs.

Some of you already know this, but Between the Stars was born as a personal project in which I (The Bullet) worked for 4 years alone, later Shovah joined the project and we worked together on the game, while I financed everything with my personal funds. When the time came, the money ran out, and we were very close to being able to release a playable version.

That's when we decided to launch the Kickstarter. Although the goal we were asking for was low, it was enough to be able to launch the prologue and the first chapters. The plan was to use the revenue from the launch to finish the project, but we were soon overwhelmed.

Although the initial launch was good, sales dropped off. In addition, the launch content was less than 25% of the final game, which meant that there was a high percentage of work to be done. We pushed forward as long as we could, until, at the critical moment, we managed to save the production thanks to Travellers Rest, although this has delayed the development.

7 - About criticism and our silence

During this time we have not missed the forums and the painful criticisms that have come in because of the delay of the game. Once again, we understand the general anger, but we want to reiterate that, if it wasn't because Travellers Rest has allowed us to keep the studio afloat, Isolated Games would be closed by now, and Between the Stars would be really abandoned.

Despite negative comments, financial problems or accusations of abandonment, we have never stopped working to give Between the Stars the ending it deserves. We have put years of effort and risked a lot to make the game a reality, and moreover we love the game, and we are going to finish it no matter what it takes.

8 - What can we expect from the final chapter?

Another of the most frequently read comments is that if we release an update it will be to finish it poorly and quickly, but that is not true. The final chapter has 45 missions and will be the longest so far, and will finish the story without leaving loose ends. Although you know that our resources are limited (we are only two developers), we assure you that the quality will be in line with the rest of the game, and it will probably be the best chapter of the whole game.

9 - About Kickstarter rewards

Once we have launched the final chapter, we will work to implement the backer rewards. Thanks to all the people who trusted us when we needed it the most, the game was able to see the light of day. We are really grateful to them, and we will make sure we honor their trust.

10 - Finally...

We have tried to calm the community on several occasions, assuring that we are working on the game and that soon you will have the final chapter. In spite of this, some people have assured that the game is abandoned, that it will never be finished, that we are scammers, that we have run away with the money...

As we have said before, all this is false. The game is going to be finished and is not abandoned. If we wanted to abandon the game, it wouldn't make sense to write this announcement or keep replying on the forum, but we keep doing it because we are committed to finish Between the Stars.

To those of you who have supported us during this time, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. To everyone who has been disappointed by the delay, we are extremely sorry. We hope that, despite everything that has happened, you will be able to enjoy the end of the game that we have been working on for so many years and that you will be happy with the final product.

Jan 2, 2023

Dev update - Time of Day & Lighting

Tiny Glade - h3r2tic

Happy New Year, and welcome to our first post of 2023! 🥳 We hope you had a wonderful holiday and plentiful cozies. We ourselves took some time to recharge, and we're now getting back into focus mode 👩‍💻👨‍💻

Hopefully you are itching for more Tiny Glade news, since we have a couple remaining features to cover from the trailer 🙏 (and a little something on top 🍒)

🌄 Time of day

As you've probably noticed from our screenshots, Tiny Glade has different times of day: noon, dawn, and night. Right now those are just presets, but we're planning to add smooth time passage.

This is a part of a larger theme in the game: you can directly sculpt human-made structures like walls and paths, but the glade is home to animals and plants, and nature has its own ways. We want the world to have natural cycles, to give you moments of focus and building, but also times when you can take a break and relax.

We also have some plans for making each day and night feel a bit different, but more on that another time 🤫

🔦 Lighting

If you followed our game just before its Steam announcement, you might notice that it looks smoother and more visually cohesive than before. That's because we've rewritten most of the lighting code 😀

Previously everything had its own lighting calculations, so the planks in a fence reacted to light differently than the pillars, the bricks, and so on. They all lived in their own tiny universes with different laws of physics 😅 This gave us control in a single lighting situation, such as noon, but made it hard to achieve a pleasing look across all times of day.

We've since unified all the lighting, and moved to deferred shading. The latter also allowed us to switch from multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA) to temporal anti-aliasing (TAA). The result is a game that looks better _and_ runs faster 🤓 Just the way we like it!

🍒

Of course we couldn't keep ourselves away from Tiny Glade for long, so during the Christmas break we did a bit of cleaning, refactoring, and added a few small things here and there. Not all of them are visual, but this one is pretty fun - now if you raise a tower quickly, a few roof tiles will bounce up 😋

Aaaand that's all for now. Thank you for reading, and for the overwhelmingly positive response so far 💘 Many of your comments have put gigantic smiles on our faces 😁 We aim to return the favor once the game is in your hands :3

Until the next update 👋
Ana, Tom, Martin & Oda 🏰🌿