Hi everyone, Void of Darkness has been updated to version 1.1 with many fixes, enhancements and one major change to design involving special weapons and technology for the ship, how they are acquired etc.
You can read the patch notes here: Patch notes
A Windows demo of this latest build is available here: Download from Gamefront
Update for the demo Here. This allows you to respawn easily if you die in battle mode.
There is now a tutorial which begins when you undock from the station for the first time, after you have recruited your crew and named your ship. The in game 'codex' has been revamped to be more instructive and all of the entries work and have been updated to be in line with the design change. You can also 'restart' the tutorial from that codex interface.
Regards the demo - It is the full game with the only restriction being that your ship is confined to a particular area. Going beyond it will transport you back. Think of it as a simulation. It allows you to do everything still and explore most of the features apart from full on exploration i.e. Mining, communicating, salvaging, engage enemies, upgrade and trade.
The demo also includes a 'battle mode'. When you activate it, you are transported safely further away from the station. From there instructions are given on what to do. But it will spawn waves of enemies once you begin.
You can choose between two ships up front, the corvette and the heavy cruiser. Your ship has also been upgraded for the demo. You have full access to all special abilities (lower right window) and it's shields, weapons, engines and armor have been upgraded to some of the best available to help you out when the battle mode gets tough. The mode probably won't get too tough until you've reached wave 10 or more 🙂
If you like the demo and want to experience the full game and complete the game's story please consider supporting it and getting a copy from Gamersgate or Desura.
On the 25th, a linear mission system to compliment the sandbox will be released. As it is now the game is quite like Starflight where you talk with the aliens to discover what to do where to go and solve the mysteries of the game. All of that will still be there, but playing in the 'mission mode' will give you access to these linear missions, which would probably enable you to experience the games story in a shorter period than being a space detective 🙂
I will continue to fix issues anyone comes across. The main (rare) issue I am encountering is compatibility with a few people's systems. I nor my few friend testers have experienced any crashes to desktop for some time now. But some people have reported issues with auto detect, could be related to video card or monitor. If you do experience issues, let me know I'll try to work with you to fix it and hopefully solve a compatibility issue at the same time. But generally it is running well on most PC's.
The frequent CTD's some people experienced in way earlier versions was related to the GUI text code. Since there is a lot of text in VOD, it presented an issue. Since those issues were fixed is when my ability to reproduce crashes ended.
Once the mission system is done, and I have fixed any remaining issues and more, I consider this chapter complete and I might try to get it green lit on steam for a wider release. Depending on the outcome of a wide release, chapter 2 and 3's fate to finish the story begun in this first release will be determined.
Thanks,
-Justin
Project Creator
Hi Justin
Updated the game on Desura, but I am getting an exception_access_violation and the game quits to desktop. The very first version worked just fine. I am using Windows 7 with and ATI graphics card, 8 gigs and an AMD bull dozer CPU if that helps.
Hi Geraldine unfortunately the desura install never seems to work well. Hopefully they update it to the latest version soon and it solves the issues.
In the mean time private message me your email and I'll give you a link to download it from gamers gate, never had any client issues with their platform.
Thanks Justin!
Could be a good game, but seems very buggy. I'd even say unplayable. It's version 1.1 like it says here, should be the latest.
Targeting is weird, like why can I target 2 things at once?
I want to scan a planet but at the end of the scan an asteroid image shows up and it shows me the composition of the asteroid instead.
Space bar wants to do everything. Like, everything. The only thing it does consistently is stops engines. It also: opens tactical map, opens ESC menu, opens random windows and skips dialogs, etc.
The initial drone for the tutorial spawned on the station so I shot the station instead of the drone when trying to kill it.
I accidentally skipped a tutorial message (with space bar, lol) and had to restart it to figure out how to salvage the drone.
Other weird bugs like the value for Tactical being on the next line down, many text messages being cutoff with seeminly no way to increase window sizes. Shouldn't be an issue in wide-screen (1920x1080), right?
My ship randomly became extremely fast in normal flight mode. It was like hyperdrive with full mobility. The engine graphics even detached from it. This is the bug that made me close the game. I can't play this. Seriously.
I'm sorry guys. I don't know what you've done but this game is a mess.
Just downloaded the 1.1 version from Dedura and got the 1.1b patch.
Hello
Could be a good game, but seems very buggy. I'd even say unplayable. It's version 1.1 like it says here, should be the latest.
Targeting is weird, like why can I target 2 things at once?
I want to scan a planet but at the end of the scan an asteroid image shows up and it shows me the composition of the asteroid instead.
Space bar wants to do everything. Like, everything. The only thing it does consistently is stops engines. It also: opens tactical map, opens ESC menu, opens random windows and skips dialogs, etc.
The initial drone for the tutorial spawned on the station so I shot the station instead of the drone when trying to kill it.
I accidentally skipped a tutorial message (with space bar, lol) and had to restart it to figure out how to salvage the drone.
Other weird bugs like the value for Tactical being on the next line down, many text messages being cutoff with seeminly no way to increase window sizes. Shouldn't be an issue in wide-screen (1920x1080), right?
My ship randomly became extremely fast in normal flight mode. It was like hyperdrive with full mobility. The engine graphics even detached from it. This is the bug that made me close the game. I can't play this. Seriously.
I'm sorry guys. I don't know what you've done but this game is a mess.
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I am not sure what you mean by targeting is weird. You can target one ship at a time.
You have to have a planet targeted or click on it in tactical to scan it. Otherwise the last thing you targeted is what will be scanned.
Drone spawning in tutorial - I can fix that. For now do the tutorial away from the station.
I don't understand what you mean by the value for tactical being on the next line down since I can't think of what value you are referring too.
Text messages are in text boxes which can be scrolled up or down. Nothing is cut off, a screen shot would help me to see what you are experiencing such as a resolution issue.
As for the speed up issue, you might need to turn on 'always vsync' in your graphics settings.
Also what are your system specs?
For now use a 16:9 resolution when playing not the newer 16:10 ones.
Space bar repeats the last interface interacted with. Example, if you had clicked on tactical and haven't clicked off... then space bar 'presses' that button again. It is am issue in the third party gui which I have not been able to fix. The only alternative would be to consider making another button act as all stop besides space bar, so this issue is not encountered.
@pinback: if you have issues with the desura version let me know I'll send you the Gamersgate download which has had no problems installing, and Desura's third party MCF delivery system always seems to bork updates of the game.
-Justin
Just downloaded the 1.1 version from Dedura and got the 1.1b patch.
I think that mine is still the 1.1 version.
Should say v1.1b if you installed the patch.