One of my first project priorities is getting Prepare For Warp back to a state where changes can be released on a regular basis.
One of the main reasons it has been so long since a release of Prepare For Warp is because I have been completely re-implementing the store and mission UI. It has taken quite some time to bring this new UI to a state where everything the old UI allowed the player to do is available in the new UI, especially when I have been spending a lot of time setting myself up to do this full time. Until reaching the point where the player can fully play the game with the new UI, I could not cut over to using the new UI in the built game.
Since this new UI is now much further along, and the only things missing now are display-only things like the achievements list and stats and some eye candy like the ship preview, my plan this week is to perform this cutover to the new UI, and temporarily add a button to the main menu allowing access to the “Classic” store to keep access to those last remaining display items.
Also planned for this week is to integrate two new player ship models created by Arvex as cosmetic upgrades. They are already selectable through the new UI, I just need to implement the swap-out of the 3D model itself. For now, all ship models will have the same performance characteristics, including collider size and shape. Later, I may experiment with giving the ships their own advantages and disadvantages if project scope allows.
Once these two things are complete, I will be ready to make another “Bleeding Edge” test release.
With the first week of full-time Smiling Cat work now complete, I have far fewer administrative and marketing tasks for this coming week. Under these conditions, I should be able to gain more traction on development, and am hoping to promote version 2.0.6 to stable within a couple of weeks.
From there, I will be taking a comprehensive look at my remaining backlog for Prepare For Warp, and will be seeking to bring the project to full release within a matter of weeks. Fingers crossed.
This is a mid-level view of my current plans. If you would like more detailed updates, I have started posting “Daily Standup” updates on my Patreon page that go into more detail of what I am accomplishing and planning to work on from day to day. Please support my ability to continue to work on great games like Dehoarder 2 and Prepare for Warp.