Alpha 8 (v1.0.5133) of PewPew has been released!
The most noticable change in Alpha 8 is the new UI when flying around. Power, shields, armor and temperature have been replaced by bars so it's easier to glance and understand the information rather than trying to parse numbers. Planets are now higher resolution images and now have moons and space stations orbiting them. Help screens have also been added through-out the game. Press F1 anywhere to access help about the particular screen you're on. Please note that the help system is still pretty basic. Ideally I'd like to add pictures and multiple pages to explain in-game mechanics better. Speaking of UI and help screens, the font used in the game has been replaced by something a little easier to read. This might have to change again however as the current font doesn't show lower case letters and it's still hard to discern between certain characters (S/5, H/K/X, A/R, etc).
There's been a bunch of work done on the star map as well. The UI has been cleaned up a bit although there's still potential work to be done there. Star systems now have procedurally generated descriptions to try and make the world feel more "alive". Star systems also have security ratings now, which will affect spawn rate of NPCs in later builds. Another new thing that the map will reveal is the concept of limited range. Each ship can only jump so far, depending on the total mass and available fuel.
The AI has received some updates as well and will now attempt evasive maneuvers when fighting as well as try and run away if they're heavily injured. There's still a lot of work to do here though, so don't expect a very clever fighting AI yet. On top of that there are now three different kinds of pirates that can be spawned. Some are very common and easy to defeat. Others are fairly rare but pack big guns.
The stores have had some UI work done to try and make it easier to view and purchase items. There's also some new equipment and software and some of the equipment and ships have been rebalanced.
Please consult the download page for a full change log.
Screenshots
