Lets break it down into

Engine changes

Graphics changes

And cough content additions

Reading the changelog '

Alpha 20

* New features

* Thrusters now require fuel to operate. Refuel when you dock or buy water

refuel during flight. Fuel club will refill and sell you water cheaply.

(#980, #993, #992, #1018, #1032, #1034)

* New thruster and laser graphics (#945, #962, #149, #148, #973)

* Heading-hold flight mode (press CTRL while changing flight mode) (#450, #990)

* Rewritten DeliverPackage mission module (#1027, #1041, #1042)

* Hungarian translation (#947, #894)

* Minor changes and tweaks

* LED effect on timeaccel buttons (#946, #153)

* Render projectiles out to 20km from the camera (#957)

* FOV is now specified vertically (and correctly) (#971)

* Cargo screen updates automatically when cargo changes (#982)

* Fewer background stars, but brighter. Looks about the same but takes

less effort to construct and draw (#1020)

* Change death spin to a simple zoom (#916, #1033)

* Fixes

* Updated zlib and libpng DLLs for MSVC to fix screenshot crash (#942, #645)

* Only allow missiles to be fired in open flight (#951)

* Assassinations module now uses character classes for character variety

and consistency (#953, #948)

* Assassination targets will now gracefully handle an autopilot failure

when taking off (#955, #950)

* HDR visuals removed (#939, #963)

* Fix projectile collision checks (#965)

* Various scanner range fixes (#944)

* Make sure all bodies have a minimum radius of at least 10km (#968, #321, #301)

* Fix crash when requesting system information whilst in hyperspace (#975)

* Messages no longer cause the game to un-pause when they clear (#966)

* Game no longer quits if you cancel loading from the main menu (#920)

* Fix game crash if a script tries to add or remove a negative amount of

cargo or equipment (#982)

* Fix flipped Hammerhead "neck" textures (#986)

* Don't show "fly to" option for combat target if the player does not

have an autopilot fitted (#988)

* Close comms menu on hyperspace (#996, #984)

* Fix game crash if game is loaded over a loaded game (#1014, #1015)

* Fix bulletin boards being re-created after game load (#1017)

* Don't allocate and deallocate hyperspace starfield every frame (#1020)

* Stop attacking ships continuing to fire on dead player (#1033, #57)

* Don't extend model textures to power-of-two sizes (#923)

* Script changes

* New FlightLog class that tracks systems and starports visited by the

(#1021)

* New method Ship.SetFuelPercent and attribute Ship.fuel to set and get

ship fuel amount. New event onShipFuelChanged to report fuel status (#980)

* Net method Ship.Explode to destroy the ship immediately (#974)

* Internal changes

* New graphics/rendering infrastructure (#960, #913, #1001, #1002, #1013,

#1024, #1007)

* Silence MSVC warnings (#964)

* Remove dependencies on Pi from Texture (#969) and Font (#981)

* Move EquipSet into its own header (#991)

* Give float comparison functions consistent naming (#991)

* Use the correct size_t format specifier for the compiler (#991)

Its still weighted towards graphics-engine

You didn't actually break anything down, but lets look at the list.

For "New features", I see the following:

[*:2lzpnfak]Game mechanics: Fuel use, heading-hold flight mode

[* New delivery mission module, forced refueling and docking charge, updated Fuel Club, Hungarian translation

[* Thrusters and lasers

Plenty of new content there.

For "Minor changes and tweaks" I see mostly visual changes, but as always with this section, they're updates to things that already exist in the game. Content does get a win here, with assassination missions now using the character system.

For "Fixes", well, bugfixes are bugfixes. Most of them are things that crash the game. I don't think they get included in the score, because obviously they need fixing.

"Script changes" are entirely about content, though you wouldn't see it directly as modules need to actually start using the features. That said, the fuel stuff is already used, adding docking fees, automatic refueling, and Fuel Club extensions. A win for content.

And under "Internal changes" we see a lot of code cleaning, restructuring and other work. I acknowledge that you could read "New graphics/rendering infrastructure" and imagine that its all about graphics, but in reality nothing has improved. If anything, you'll find that alpha 20 has a few graphical glitches that didn't exist before, and your framerate will probably be slightly less than previous versions until we get it all back up to snuff.

Based on the above, I disagree.

But even if it were all eyecandy and no game, what right do you have to criticise? This is a volunteer project for some very hardworking and dedicated people. They work on what they're interested in, and they all do an absolutely amazing job of it. I count 11 contributors (not counting the three that have code waiting that hasn't yet made the cut). 266 files changed, 9527 insertions, 4475 deletions. No where in any of this do I see your name or your code.

If you'd like to contribute to Pioneer, every opportunity has been made available to you. If not, that's fine, that's your choice. Download the game and enjoy it, just like the hundreds of others that do. We like that people want to play, and we enjoy hearing their stories and their feedback. But lose the sense of entitlement. This is not a charity, and we owe you nothing.

Oooh goody 🙂 Cant wait! 😀 Alpha 20 looks to be packed with tons of new features. Great work once again guys! 😉

Think I will update the threads on Amibay, The Frontier Forum and PC Gamer.

Could be the best release so far 😉

Yeah fuel and heading-hold mode do it for me 🙂

The new navigation mode is one of the best additions in Pioneer since Its birth 🙂

Pioneer is going to be better than Frontier! I cant imagine how good It will be since Pioneer is still Alpha!

Well said Gudadantza, I would hazard a guess that the best is still to come. That's just one of the reasons why I am so fond of Pioneer and it's devs 🙂 Awesome and dedicated work for a game still in alpha. Goodness knows what will be in the game once it gets to beta, but whatever it will be, I do know it will be great, unique and special 😎

Haha do I detect a hint of bitterness 🙄

Don't worry, I'm sure the colonisation and empire building elements will be in the next update! 😆

Respect Robn. You guys have done amazing things.

I've updated some planetary system info for the galactic map (on my wiki). Would this go into ver 21?

You've got to submit a pull request for that first and it will go through merciless review 😉

This would go in Alpha 21 if merged before the freeze for that version. Once an Alpha has been frozen only bug fixes are merged into it.

To submit a pull request you'll have to modify the appropriate .lua file in data/systems, commit the changes, push them to your fork on GitHub, and finally submit the request. (You can also use your browser to edit the files directly on GitHub

Are you aware of 01_werribee.lua which has a planet named New Australia? That is in addition to the Arcturus that exists in 02_local_stars.lua.

We'll have to test to see if descriptions can be added to 02_local_stars and 03_bright_stars, without having to define the entire system.

If you need help with the pull request, join us in IRC.

Is this something I can do?

No testing required. System properties can be set independently of body definitions. If not bodies are defined then they will be generated.

See the custom systems API guide and study 00_sol.lua and 01_epsilon_eridani.lua for more info.

I'm trying to edit those files in my fork but it just sits there 'loading' the edit page for ever. Not sure if its github or my computer. Is there a way to download, alter and reload to github so you don't have to alter it online?

That would be the 'git' part of GitHub.