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Hello all,
I've just pushed a new build of Sol Trader this morning for you! The key new feature is the optional reduction of generation time - helpful if you're on older hardware or testing mods. There are also a few bug fixes for you.
The latest version of Sol Trader is released! As well as many crash fixes, we have some significant new features to show...
Sol Trader celebrates its second birthday today! To mark the two year anniversary of being released, I've spent some time chasing out old crash bugs and adding a few new gameplay features. I've added UI improvements, including better notification support and integrated history events happening in the main game.
Best of all, we have a new ship, the Puma...
These changes are currently in final testing and should be released as 1.4 in the next week.
Hi all, The builds are coming thick and fast! As more people have been playing the game recently due to the new builds, more bugs are being reported and fixed. Your saved games from the previous version should work fine with this release. Here's a list of changes:
Hi all, The builds are coming thick and fast! As more people have been playing the game recently due to the new builds, more bugs are being reported and fixed. Your saved games from the previous version should work fine with this release. Here's a list of changes:
Hi all, A quick point release for you all, to fix a couple of crashes discovered in the yesterday's release. NOTE: This build will reset your game options - you'll need to set resolution and sound levels etc again. Sorry about that.
Hi all, A quick point release for you all, to fix a couple of crashes discovered in the 1.3.1 release. NOTE: This build will reset your game options - you'll need to set resolution and sound levels etc again. Sorry about that.
Dear all, I've just released version 1.3.1 of Sol Trader, which fixes a number of niggling issues in 1.3 and improves gameplay balance. NOTE: this version will invalidate save games. If you want to continue with an older save, then do the following to stay on an older version of the game:
Dear all, I've just released version 1.3.1 of Sol Trader, which fixes a number of niggling issues in 1.3 and improves gameplay balance. NOTE: this version will invalidate save games. If you want to continue with an older save, then do the following to stay on an older version of the game:
Dear all,
I've deliberately avoided going on about this on here, but I thought you'd like to know that my next game is going live on Kickstarter at 4pm UK time today!
Visit Ealdorlight’s Kickstarter Campaign
(This post is deliberately a little earlier than 4pm to give you a sneak preview and so you can watch the campaign go live if you want. Earlier backers get lower edition numberings on some of the rewards, so you might want to be there from the start!)
The sixth of June is a significant day for me personally. In 2004, I spent the entire of the day in hospital. I remember the 60th anniversary commemorations of D-day on the TV in the background, as I sat beside my wife, in labour with our first child. I became a father an hour after midnight on the 7th June; my son becomes a teenager tomorrow.
Twelve years later, in 2016, I spent the entire of 6th June glued to Steam watching and waiting whilst Sol Trader was released to the world. This was a career dream come true: since I started programming at six years old I’d always wanted to create and ship my own games. Sol Trader’s release was ultimately a painfully formative experience for me, which I wrote about at the time and was interviewed about recently in this article for GamesIndustry biz.
Over the last year, I’ve been keeping busy doing two things. One is to support Sol Trader as much as I can with countless updates and patches. I’ve also been working on a new game, Ealdorlight, a medieval RPG-style take on Sol Trader’s mechanics, with turn-based combat, realistic damage and great graphics. I announced Ealdorlight in March and demonstrated it at Rezzed, strengthening my hope that the idea was a good one.
I decided fairly early on that I wanted to take Ealdorlight to Kickstarter. Sol Trader’s successful Kickstarter was a brilliant experience. The Kickstarter community is one of the kindest, most positive on the Internet. I also needed funding for this game: Sol Trader was self-funded through many long evenings and contracting work, and for Ealdorlight I need a bigger team to realise the vision. It’s built in Unreal Engine 4, which simultaneously saves me loads of development time and means I need a bigger team to pull off the realistic art style I’ve gone for.
As time came near to launch, the first anniversary of Sol Trader’s released seemed an appropriate day to launch the campaign. So today, 6th June 2017, I will spend the entire day glued to Kickstarter as my campaign goes live at 4pm today.
Visit Ealdorlight’s Kickstarter Campaign
There’s plenty more about Ealdorlight on the campaign - head over there and read all about it! A huge amount of work has gone into it, and I’m very grateful for all the support and help I’ve received from the team I’ve put together, and for friends and family who have given me endless encouragements and feedback.
One immediate question you might have is "What about Sol Trader?" Whilst the bulk of my time and attention needs to be spent on Ealdorlight to make the awesome game it could be, I'm still committed to fixing bugs and issues in Sol Trader as they arise.
Thanks for being part of my video game creation adventure so far, and I hope you'll stick with me for the next game!
Until next time,
Chris
Dear all,
I've deliberately avoided going on about this on here, but I thought you'd like to know that my next game is going live on Kickstarter at 4pm UK time today!
Visit Ealdorlights Kickstarter Campaign
(This post is deliberately a little earlier than 4pm to give you a sneak preview and so you can watch the campaign go live if you want. Earlier backers get lower edition numberings on some of the rewards, so you might want to be there from the start!)
The sixth of June is a significant day for me personally. In 2004, I spent the entire of the day in hospital. I remember the 60th anniversary commemorations of D-day on the TV in the background, as I sat beside my wife, in labour with our first child. I became a father an hour after midnight on the 7th June; my son becomes a teenager tomorrow.
Twelve years later, in 2016, I spent the entire of 6th June glued to Steam watching and waiting whilst Sol Trader was released to the world. This was a career dream come true: since I started programming at six years old Id always wanted to create and ship my own games. Sol Traders release was ultimately a painfully formative experience for me, which I wrote about at the time and was interviewed about recently in this article for GamesIndustry biz.
Over the last year, Ive been keeping busy doing two things. One is to support Sol Trader as much as I can with countless updates and patches. Ive also been working on a new game, Ealdorlight, a medieval RPG-style take on Sol Traders mechanics, with turn-based combat, realistic damage and great graphics. I announced Ealdorlight in March and demonstrated it at Rezzed, strengthening my hope that the idea was a good one.
I decided fairly early on that I wanted to take Ealdorlight to Kickstarter. Sol Traders successful Kickstarter was a brilliant experience. The Kickstarter community is one of the kindest, most positive on the Internet. I also needed funding for this game: Sol Trader was self-funded through many long evenings and contracting work, and for Ealdorlight I need a bigger team to realise the vision. Its built in Unreal Engine 4, which simultaneously saves me loads of development time and means I need a bigger team to pull off the realistic art style Ive gone for.
As time came near to launch, the first anniversary of Sol Traders released seemed an appropriate day to launch the campaign. So today, 6th June 2017, I will spend the entire day glued to Kickstarter as my campaign goes live at 4pm today.
Visit Ealdorlights Kickstarter Campaign
Theres plenty more about Ealdorlight on the campaign - head over there and read all about it! A huge amount of work has gone into it, and Im very grateful for all the support and help Ive received from the team Ive put together, and for friends and family who have given me endless encouragements and feedback.
One immediate question you might have is "What about Sol Trader?" Whilst the bulk of my time and attention needs to be spent on Ealdorlight to make the awesome game it could be, I'm still committed to fixing bugs and issues in Sol Trader as they arise.
Thanks for being part of my video game creation adventure so far, and I hope you'll stick with me for the next game!
Until next time,
Chris
Now that I’m back after some time away with family and training away from home, I’m able to support a new release of Sol Trader: 1.3 is now finally released after a length beta period. Here are the highlights:
Now that Im back after some time away with family and training away from home, Im able to support a new release of Sol Trader: 1.3 is now finally released after a length beta period. Here are the highlights:
Hi all, Sol Trader has update 1.3 on the way! Get an early look at the latest UI and gameplay improvements by helping to beta test it! There are a wealth of things for you to try out:
Hi all, Sol Trader has update 1.3 on the way! Get an early look at the latest UI and gameplay improvements by helping to beta test it! There are a wealth of things for you to try out:
Hi all, Another new point release of Sol Trader for you to enjoy! Here's the list of fixes:
Hi all, Another new point release of Sol Trader for you to enjoy! Here's the list of fixes:
Hi all, There were a few rare crashes and some bugs in 1.2 which I've now fixed and released in version 1.2.1:
Hi all, There were a few rare crashes and some bugs in 1.2 which I've now fixed and released in version 1.2.1:
I'm really pleased to announce that Sol Trader 1.2 has been released!
Version 1.2 is the most feature packed and streamlined Sol Trader experience yet, with a myriad of UI and gameplay improvements. Here's a trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sTGFze-oh4
The update is packed with job salaries, new missions, upgraded conversations, transit options, full modding support and Steam Achievements.
The gameplay has had a number of improvements made to it, both to the core systems and to the user experience. The addition of salaries for jobs, and the possibility of being fired, provides early direction to the game. You also now have a reason to stay close to home and build relationships with co-workers.
The hundreds of UI improvements and extra tooltips have streamlined gameplay. New missions provide a more interesting and rounded set of things to do for characters. New conversation questions and a 'meet me' option makes finding people that much easier. The ability to ask characters for transit between cities and planets helps with mid-late game ship management.
The addition of Steam Achievements provides an extra opportunity for players to notch up rewards and compare their progress. Finally, full modding support is added in 1.2, which gives modders the ability to change almost everything about the game, including all the graphics.
Thanks for all your support beta testing: if you have any further issues please do post them to the forums.
Until next time,
Chris
Thanks for all the help testing the beta of 1.2. The trailer for the new version is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sTGFze-oh4 I've released 1.2 to the press today, and I've set a launch date for general release for November 23rd - just seven days away! Until next time, Chris
Dear all, Would you like to have a early stab at the Sol Trader 1.2 beta? It's ready to go (bar achievements) and I’m looking for a few existing game owners to flush out any last minute bugs. There are plenty of new features to get your teeth into, from earning salaries whilst working, to the ability to eject passengers from your ship, hire someone to take you to a new planet, stacks of UI improvements and extra tooltips, many new work-related missions to try, more conversation options… the list goes on! To try the game, follow the following steps: [olist]
Hello everyone Things are getting exciting with Sol Trader as we head into November! 1.2 is now feature complete and has just entered a bug testing phase, with only Steam Achievements left to add to the game before we go live in a few weeks. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the new version has turned out. Salaries and the possibility of being fired from your job provides early direction to the game. It also gives you a reason to stay close to home and build relationships with co-workers. The UI improvements and extra tooltips have really streamlined gameplay. The new missions provide a more interesting and rounded set of things to do for characters. New conversation questions and a 'meet me' option makes finding people that much easier. Finally, being able to ask characters for transit between cities and planets helps with mid-late game ship management. If you'd like a sneak preview on the new build, watch this space: I'll be posting information on how to get on the 1.2 beta to the discussion forums soon. To mark the new release, and to help people learn the game, I've started posting my own series of Developer Let's Play gameplay videos. In the series, I've started a new game completely from scratch, with the aim of teaching the basic gameplay and to point out new 1.2 features. The first one is up right now, with more to follow over the next few days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaeVCr-w3iI Until next time, Chris
Hi all, Another 1.2 development update for you! Here's the latest list of features that are going to make it into the build, along with a new ship date.
A quick development update for you on version 1.2, the next major set of new features for the game.
I've just pushed a new bug-fixing build to Steam, with the following changes:
Hi all, Another quick point release has just gone out:
A small build has just been released, to fix a crash bug encountered when the player completed a mission in the mission giver's home. Enjoy! Chris
It’s raining hard here today - the summer seems to have vanished completely. It’s the perfect weather for listening to the moody ambient tones of the Sol Trader soundtrack, available now as Steam DLC: http://store.steampowered.com/app/506120/  10 dark expansive tracks await you, composed especially for the game: [olist]
A very quick extra point release has just come out, to fix a couple of minor gameplay issues in 1.1:
Hi all,
It's the moment you've been waiting for - 1.1 is finally out!
The version brings a brand new conversation system into the mix, with loads of different ways of interacting with the characters you meet. Your stats (and theirs) are now much more important, and you can now talk about anyone in the game. I’d encourage you to check out the tutorial to get the most from it: you can access it from the help menu at the top right of the screen.
Also brand new in this update is a full system map to help you find your way around. It’ll tell you which parts of the system are easy to get to and which areas aren’t accessible yet.
There are also many many other changes in this update, including the addition of much needed tool tips, the ability to pause the game, a streamlined opinions system, less memory usage, a fix for 32-bit windows, and a couple of crash fixes.
I'd love to know what you think of the new update - let me know on the forums!
You'll be pleased to know that 1.1 is complete and out for final testing. If the beta testers don't find any issues, then we're ready to ship as soon as I get back from a much needed break in the middle of August. Time for me to take a bit of a break and start planning 1.2. Sneak preview: missions... see you after the jump. Until next time, Chris
Thanks for your patience whilst I fine-tune 1.1 for release! The conversations are almost done - here's a new preview video I released yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPb1u7MUm9k I've been working very hard on this and have gone through two major iterations so far. There's still a few more things to add into the mix, such as opinion bonuses based on stats checks, and asking about someone's connections. I'm working on those over the next few days.
I'm still working on the conversation upgrade still this week. Conversations are about to become much more fun... Here's a bit more about how it's going to work. The length of conversations has been revamped. I've replaced the concept of "patience" with the character's opinion of you, and ensured that you cannot keep going on about the same thing for too long without taking a big hit to how the other character feels about you. You can now pick different topics to talk about (ships, people, politics, gossip, etc) and a character will respond differently depending on how they feel about the topic. If you know a little bit of a character's past, it is possible to guess which topics you might get an opinion boost from. Gone is the "choose a person to talk about" screen. You can now bring up any character in the game to discuss, and will be able to ask a wider variety of questions about them. Stats are now a much bigger part of the new conversation system. Less intelligent characters can only handle a few topics in the same conversation, and characters with low charm are unable to handle talking about too many different people at once. I'm also in the process of adding stats tests to conversations. For example: you might challenge a character to an arm wrestle in a bar if you fancy your chances: if you win you'll get a big boost to their opinion of you, but if you lose the opposite will happen. Of course, not all characters will take kindly to being challenged like this... That's a taster of the new features. It's all subject to change, and I'm not quite ready to show screenshots yet, but I should be asking a few active community members to test the new system soon. Until next time, Chris
Hi all, I've written up a Sol Trader launch post-mortem on my blog: http://chrismdp.com/2016/06/5-ways-i-screwed-up-sol-traders-launch-a-postmortem/ In the meantime, work continues apace on 1.1 - I have the conversation system disassembled in pieces right now and I'm working hard on improving it. ETA for 1.1 is towards the end of July. Thanks for your continued support! Chris Developer, Sol Trader
Hi all, Here's another build of Sol Trader for you!
Morning everyone... found another GUI crash due to large numbers of events, so thought I'd get a quick point release out to sort it out for you. If you're still having the issue, let me know if that fixes it. Until next time, Chris
Just a small change for you today:
I'm hard at work responding to your feedback at the moment: I'm in the middle of reworking the conversation system to make it more intuitive and to give the player many more nuanced choices. That's not quite ready for you yet, but I've also managed to fix a ton of errors and add some smaller suggestions in, so here's a new build!
Hi all, Here's another build to bust those Monday blues! :)
Just a couple of fixes for you this morning:
There's a stack of stuff in the new build all ready and waiting for you on Steam!
I've fixed another slew of reported bugs with this build: changes below. Important note: due to the increase of the number of opinions stored on players, I've had to invalidate all save games for this build. I'm really sorry about that and it's something I don't take lightly, but it's essential to help people complete certain missions when characters already know a lot about you. If you're desperate to stay on the old build for a bit to finish something, ask me for some pointers on how to do that.
Hi all, I'm continuing to work as hard as possible to fix all the bugs as fast as I can. This new build contains the following fixes:
Firstly, I'm overwhelmed by the level of support and love Sol Trader has got since launch yesterday - thank you all so much! Sorry about the bugs some of you have experienced when playing the game. There's a new build now right now which fixes some of these issues:
The title says it all - after a 4.5 year rollercoaster journey, Sol Trader is now available on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux. If you have been on the fence about the game thus far, then this is your chance to purchase Sol Trader today. For the rest of you, I cannot thank you enough for helping me make it to launch. Time for us to share this news to the far reaches of the Sol System, and say nice things about the game to all we meet!
Now that the loading and saving is being properly road tested by a large number of people, I've found a few little inconsistencies which were causing crashes on load. I hope that I've ironed out all the major ones with this new build. Unfortunately in order to flatten these bugs across the board, I've had to invalidate saved games for this build. I'm really sorry about that - the perils of early access to games! I promise to be much more careful about this when the game is fully released next week. I've also been tweaking the GUI to remove some mouse clicking bugs, and removed some crashes surrounding missions. Enjoy the new build! Any questions do post here on or http://forums.soltrader.net. Until next time, Chris
Hi there, Another day, another build :) This one is a small improvement to fix text issues and make ship components a little more varied and interesting. Note: it's possible that with all these new builds coming out, I'm making changes that are invalidating saved games. I'll try and minimise this as much as possible, but the pre-launch polishing phase will contain a few "save breaking" changes. If your game crashes loading a saved game, this will be the reason. I'm working on preventing the crash and putting out a better message. Thanks for your patience! Until next time, Chris
One further quick update: I noticed on a YouTube stream that no missions were available. Turns out that due to a subtle memory usage change, none of the missions were getting loaded and therefore the AI never chose any missions for the player to do. Restart your steam client to force it to grab the new build, and you should get some missions to complete! I'm also aware of an occasional crash loading saved games on Windows which I'll figure out first thing in the morning. Until next time, Chris
I've been working hard on fixing some niggly issues based on watching the first playthroughs on YouTube: - I've added a zoom in space mode to give you a clear idea of where you are. Press 'Z' to toggle zooming in and out. - It's now clearer how to hire ships (you have to talk to someone in the organisation to do so.) - There are now options to mute the music, hide the tutorial and speed up scroll. The side effect is that you'll have to redo your video preferences - sorry about that. - You can now show any part of the tutorial at any time by clicking on the '?' top right during the game. Thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to play through the game onstream - it's been very helpful! Not long to go now! Until next time, Chris
I've just released another new build with the all important final feature: "life goals" are now in the game. This small feature has made all the difference to the purpose and drive of the player. Now that there's something concrete to shoot for, the early game is much clearer and intelligible. I've also spent a lot of time tweaking the tutorial to make it as clear and easy to follow as possible. There are also plenty of balance improvements to ships and components. The video options are also much better now - besides running the game in a window, you're able to choose from the fullscreen resolutions your OS claims to support, along with 'desktop' full screen which matches your current resolution. Enjoy the latest build! This will be one of the last before release next Monday! Until next time, Chris Developer, Sol Trader
Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far! I've been hard at work making the build as good as possible for launch. Here are the major latest changes: - New video options screen allows a wider range of cards and displays - Much improved tutorial system with more comprehensive coverage - Ancestor backers names are now in the game - Pre-generating asteroids removes a lot of complexity for the renderer - Escape capsules on death option - Peaceful mode option - A myriad of balance changes There will be another build or two next week as we gear up to launch, so please keep letting me know of any feedback or bugs that you find. Thanks! Until next time, Chris -- Developer, Sol Trader
Calling all beta backers from Kickstarter! You should have had an email from me with your Steam key for Sol Trader. The game should now work on Windows, Mac and Linux.
If possible, I'd love you to spend some time testing the game and making sure it all works ok!
If you have issues, please use the technical support forum here: http://forums.soltrader.net/?forum=472670. I'd appreciate hearing about anything, from technical and graphical issues to gameplay balance and how easy it is to figure things out.
Also feel free to post screenshots, videos and live steam the game! Do send me a link if possible or post it on the Steam community.
For those of you who are waiting until release: not long now... Here's a brand new never-seen-before picture of Neptune to whet your appetite.
(get a load of those random ship colours!)
Until next time,
Chris
Developer, Sol Trader
Time for a development update! Owned ships are now fully customisable and paintable: the artwork went in this week, which makes it all worthwhile:
Getting the paint job right
Customising your ship
Trading ship components
This build is available here now (only Insider backers will have access to this link.)
Dev update: factions and embassies
Today is rather momentous: the final Sol Trader features are going in. I've spent the last week putting in the rest of the Solar System, and adding factions and embassies. Players can no longer travel freely through the system and will need to acquire visas at embassies to move beyond their home sector.
Time to go back and get a visa.
There are four main factions in the game: Pirate, Old Federation, Outer Alliance and New Order. These factions have diplomatic relations with each other that will be different every game. Doing missions for any faction will also affect your relationship with the other factions, depending on their various foreign policies.
This has also affected the history generation: characters will now only take jobs in their own faction, unless they have a visa to travel, which they might have got through their parents' work when they were children. They are also not allowed to take certain high powered jobs outside of their birth faction.
So that's all the features in! Everything else is polish, refinement, balance and necessary infrastructure: such as allowing the player to load/save, getting Steam builds working, adding achievements, polishing the AI, ensuring you can earn the right opinions and progress correctly, various Kickstarter rewards, a Linux port, graphics and driver compatibility checks: there's plenty to do in the final few weeks!
Thanks for all your support getting me this far: the game will be release in five weeks so everything now goes into getting the game ready for launch.
Until next time,
Chris
Developer, Sol Trader
Dear all, The end is in sight - we're well into the second 90% of development (although I harbour this hidden fear that there's a third 90% somewhere in here!)
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