Version 4.5 is Up

This version addresses a few issues...

Radiation on Planets:
The existence of radiation was not being stored correctly, so a planet with no radiation might have radiation the next time you landed on it, or vice versa.

Radiation's Effects on Animal Life:
Radiation has a profound effect on a planet's wildlife. Animals on radiation planets may be missing their heads, and have random eyeballs and tentacles on their bodies. Because of issue #1 above, sometimes these features would exhibit on planets where the animal life was normal the first time around, or vice versa.

Animal Color:
The color of animal skin textures was also getting changed between visits.

These issues have all been addressed in version 4.5, and radiation and animal appearance should be consistent from one visit to the next.

Log File:
Star Explorers produces a log file in the save folder. This file just records certain things that are happening in the game. It is only really useful if the game crashes and I want to see where it crashed. Anyway, due to a problem with the script, the log file was being written into the same file on each play session. Over many sessions the file may have become much larger than it should. Now the game will overwrite the log file during each game session, and it should remain a reasonable size.

This is also including a previous update 4.2, described here:

I have updated Star Explorers to version 4.2. Existing players will once again, not experience any changes. However, for new players, the game will default to the "Old-School Pixel Graphics" shader.



Why the Change?
There are two main reasons I have done this.

• I like it. Ever since I added the shader to the game, I have liked the look of it. It gives me a nostalgic feeling of the good old days of gaming. Even though 3D graphics were not really done this way back in the day, it still has this effect on me, and I'm hoping other players will respond similarly.
• Setting expectations. I may have done this myself a few times, but Star Explorers seems to get compared to No Man's Sky quite a bit. This is unfortunate, as that game is an amazing technological achievement that took thousands of man hours over a period of three years and a team of up to 13 full-time developers. The game costs $50 and I think it is an unbelievably cool game. Since Star Explorers has a similar premise, it seems natural to compare the games. However, Star Explorers is much smaller in scope, and was made by a single developer (me) working in his spare time. I am hoping that giving the game a more retro look will set player expectations accordingly. I really do not want to misrepresent what this game offers.

How Can I Stop This?
If you prefer the original look of the game, you can easily un-click the "Old-School Pixel Shader" in the Video Options menu. Again, old players should not have any change, as the game should load your existing settings.