Big announcement today! Too much to talk about in text so here I am in person:

Please consider voting for Rodina on Greenlight!!! :D

So, until now, all of the versions of Rodina released have been versions 1.0.X. This release is the first one at 1.1.X.

What does this mean for customers? If you’re in the Buffet tier or above, it means nothing- you’ve purchased the right to play all versions of the game! However those in the Appetizer tier, who chose to pay under the $15 base price of the game, cannot play this version of Rodina past the usual demo limits.

To those of you in the Appetizer tier, thank you so much for trying and buying Rodina. In order to unlock this version, I ask that you either:

1. Donate again. Any amount will refresh your key for this new version. Or:
2. Donate enough to get up to that Buffet tier! Once you do, you can play all future versions of the game.

I hope that the work I’ve put in over the past few months to get Rodina more stable and fun than ever will be worth some more of your money. Rodina needs it in order to continue development! Thank you again!

I’m so pleased to announce that Rodina 1.1.0 is available for download and purchase! You can also get this version in ZIP form.

This update’s main feature is Ship Fires!

Ship fires occur infrequently when your ship takes damage in combat or after a collision. Fires spread fast so when one starts, quickly get your ship to a safe place, grab a fire extinguisher, and start extinguishing!

Note well: Using fire extinguishers leaves an area temporarily immune to fire. Use this to your advantage- often the better strategy is to box a fire in to prevent it from spreading before fighting it directly. You’ll have to be quick, otherwise your ship will end up destroyed!

1.1.0 is also a major engine update, with too many engine upgrades to list. Users who have had problems with high-performance mice will see their problems resolved. Actor management is greatly improved and optimized. The game now autosaves at important moments. The editor has undo/redo buttons.

There are also many tiny new engine features and bugfixes. The save/load menu now lists files by date. You can no longer punch through an atmosphere by using the Limnal Drive. A new section on the main menu will alert you when a new version is available. The bugfixes are legion.

Thanks to those of you who have stuck with me for so long waiting for this update! I’ll be putting out a video later this week with a bit of an explanation for what took so long and what I’m going to do in the future to improve the process. Now I know how George R. R. Martin feels :P

After long last, I’m excited to tell you guys that Rodina 1.1.0 is in Beta! That means that all the features are done- there’s nothing else on the list, and things are working really well.

I’m going to take a few days to test this baby up but I’ll release it to you folks as soon as it’s ready! Won’t be long now :)

EDIT: The store should now be working again. Please let me know at brendan@elliptic-games.com if you experience any new trouble!

The Rodina Store is experiencing some problems, which are preventing people from registering new accounts. Very sorry about the inconvenience- I’ll edit this post once they are fixed!

In the meantime, please use this link to download the Rodina demo / full game.

Oh my! It’s been so long since I gave people a real update. Here’s the quick intro! Progress on Rodina 1.1.0, the first major update to the game, is going well, although I was hoping to have it released by now. The delay is due to standard reasons like feature creep (which I will outline below), along with some personal events which have been a distraction. Unfortunately, due to some changes and running around in my day-to-day life, I haven’t gotten much work done over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

Nevertheless, progress continues. I’m hoping you guys will be really pleased with what the next update contains, although there won’t be as much new content as I would like, as I’ve decided to also spend quite a bit of time on bugfixes and improvements. Here’s what to expect:

• Ship Fires
  You guys know about this already, but this will be the main new gameplay addition. When your ship is damaged heavily and takes a hit, it will occasionally start a fire somewhere in your ships interior. You have to get to a fire extinguisher and kill the fire before it consumes the whole ship, including you!
• Improved Ship Crashing
  This feature isn’t finished yet, but I’m hoping to improve the way the game handles NPC ships crashing on the planet surface. Right now it can cause weird behavior, and huge slowdowns. In the future, they will be handled a bit more intentionally.
• Improved Mouse Handling
  I added some features which make mouse control MUCH smoother. It might be hard to notice the difference, but it’s there. Also, I fixed a bevy of mouse-related bugs which should clear up many of the problems various people have reported with sluggish controls, etc.
• Improved Streaming
  As per my last post about Youtube streaming, I’ve added some fixes which will hopefully make the video creation process a bit easier. Fewer crashes and a smoother experience (I hope!!!)
• Improved Atmospheric Reentry
  In addition to fixing some bugs with atmospheric entry which improve the experience, I’m also toying with the idea of adding an option to adjust the “push” of the atmosphere, and initializing the default to a setting which will make it quite a bit easier. Feedback welcome on this point :)
• Improved Savegame Management
  I’ve added backups to the savegame system, in case you overwrite something or a save gets corrupted. Also, the loading menu now sorts savegames by date rather than name. Finally, I’m hoping to add an Autosave feature.
• Editor Undo/Redo
  A very useful new feature which will hopefully give people some confidence to create new ship interiors.
• New Game Modes
  I’m splitting “Exploration” mode into two separate modes- a “Freeform” mode which allows full freedom of exploration with no story elements, and a “Peaceful” mode which is similar to Freeform, but with no enemy ships.
• Improved Actor Management
  The game requires better functions for updating actors, and for spreading out updates over time, and for ensuring that actors are being handled correctly. This is all interior stuff you won’t see, but the hope is that I can improve performance and remove some cases where the game might start to stutter over time.
• Pre-work on an auto-updater
  I don’t have time to complete the auto-updater for this release, but I do want to prepare the road for it. So I may have some features which are related to downloading files / checking for updates on the server. Nothing major, but it’ll be a good intermediary step towards making sure you guys don’t need to download full Rodina installers anymore.

And of course, there are a bunch of bugs that will be fixed in the new update as well, including this one, this one, and this one.

I hope to have this update out within a few more weeks.

Finally- be aware that this update will be the first update that constitutes a NEW GAME VERSION. So if you’ve bought the game at the Appetizer tier, that means that you won’t be able to run the new game outside of demo mode! To upgrade, all you need to do is donate some more money once the new version comes out (as little as $2) to refresh your membership. Of course, everyone who purchased at the Buffet level or above will be able to play this and all future updates!

I hope you guys are as excited about these changes as I am! I’m sorry there won’t be as much meat in this update as I’d like, but I’m eager to get the game on even more solid footing, at which point it’s back into lots more new features and content!

Discuss this update on Reddit!

Firs things first, because some people have asked for it, here’s a little legal notice for anyone making videos for Youtube:

Elliptic Games explicitly grants permission to anyone to make recordings of Rodina, and to monetize any videos of the game they produce..

Secondly, some folks have let me know that the game starts crashing when they record video. If you are experiencing this, could you try the following steps and let me know if they help?

• The problem may be a conflict with recording and the music streaming. In the options menu, way at the bottom, there’s an option that says “[debug] disable music”. Please turn this on, restart the game, and let me know if that helps!
• Just as a test / idea, could you try saving your video to a different hard drive than the one you have Rodina installed to?
• Finally, I have created a test build which may help this issue, though I’m not certain it will. Download, drop it in your Rodina folder, and try that!

If you are having that issue, and try any/all of these potential fixes, please let me know which ones work and which ones don’t! This will help me clear this problem up once and for all. Thank you so much!

It’s over! The first Official Rodina Vote! The winner is……

Nuts and Bolts!

…with 50 votes! Hacking, First Aid, and More of the Same all tied for second place with 6 votes each!

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that the next chunk of development time will be focused on gameplay surrounding emergency fires, and damage to the interior of the ship. After that, perhaps more “Nuts and Bolts”, although we’ll have to see how long it takes and whether or not another vote is warranted.

While I’m updating: I made a few changes to the site. Added a new Patrons page to publicly thank those individuals who have been extraordinarily supportive towards Rodina. I also revamped the FAQ to account for the fact that the game has been out for a month and a half :P I’m trying to get everything settled so that I can start working in earnest on the next update. Between PR and support emails, it’s really hard to get enough time to actually get work done :\

Final point. There were 6 people out there who voted for First Aid. That means that there are at least 6 paying customers whose primary concern is the game’s stability and/or performance. If you were one of these people or feel similarly, please email me at brendan@elliptic-games.com and let me know about the problems that you are having. If they are severe, I’d like to try to get them fixed anyway.

I’ve just realized that I never mentioned how long the official vote would be active! So- there’s one more day left. Tomorrow I’ll post the results, along with some notes on what’s going to happen next. Last chance to get your voice heard!

The time has finally come to issue the first official Rodina vote! Everyone who is in the Bossypants tier can participate, and if you aren’t yet in the Bossypants tier, you can upgrade at any time in order to have your voice heard.

The topic of this vote is very simple: What should Brendan focus on next? All items will be addressed in time- which would you like to see first?

Nuts and Bolts

This option will have me focusing on ship simulation stuff. Fires in the engine room! Electrical grids! Life support systems! I love simulation stuff cause it can lead to emergent situations, which will be the long-term focus of the game.

This is the option I would like to start work on first, as I think the character-level gameplay needs some work, and that it doesn’t make sense to work on other features (such as hacking) until there’s more going on in the ship. I imagine the VERY first thing that will happen are fire emergencies!

Hacking

A fan favorite! This feature will eventually allow players to customize their own ship’s behavior, and someday to hack enemy ships as an offensive tactic. But until the game becomes more complex, this feature would be more of a sandbox. I favor waiting on this feature until there are some simulated elements in the ship which the hacking could manipulate, but I’m also totally happy to just dive right in and see what can be created right now!

First Aid

Choose this option if you’d prefer that I focus on Rodina’s performance and stability! Since Rodina was released about a month ago, I’ve been trying to clear up crashes and improve problems people are having. I’m pretty happy with where things are, but if you’d like a LOT more focus on this area, choose this option!

More of the Same

More weapons! More enemies! More planets! If you like Rodina the way it is and would just like to see more of it, choose this option! I can try to add some moons for a couple of the planets, and perhaps some dwarf planets in the Asteroid Belt, some new projectile types, some new enemy types with cool new behaviors.

Go Vote!

Check out the vote by visiting your Dashboard (after you log in, if you are presented with the payment page, click “Dashboard” from the menu at the top of your screen).

If you’ve got feedback on this vote, please feel free to jump into the conversation about it on Reddit or Twitter.