Hey everyone! First off, we very much realize that this update is really late in coming. After releasing the update earlier in the year, the plan was for this update to essentially be the "official releasing of the game update".  Unfortunately the save / load system has continued to slow things down.  We continued to hold off on this update in hopes that things would get finished. 

A few things I want to make clear. We really appreciate all of you and your patience. We realize some of you are very upset and are chomping at the bits ready for this game to be released. We hear you and you have every right to feel the way you do. All we can say is that this game is going to come out. Not releasing this game is not an option. Please realize we are SO close to the finish line here. All of us have dedicated so much energy, blood, sweat, tears, and not to mention family time to get this game done. There have just been a lot of set backs in this project beyond anyone's control. This is not about making excuses, just stating some facts. Regardless, SpaceVenture is absolutely going to get released!

SO WHAT HAS BEEN THE FOCUS THE LAST FEW MONTHS?

The majority of our focus has been on the save/load system, which has gone through a major overhaul. To clarify on the problems with the save/load system, we had put the original system in place during the beginning of our progress on the game, and it worked okay during that time. During the first phase of SpaceVenture, we didn't have anywhere near the amount of game mechanics as we ended up with when the game got to its final stages. Throughout this process, the save/load system got back-burnered due to us trying to finish the full game. Our thoughts were that it shouldn't be too much trouble to bring the system up to date once we had all the mechanics in. Unfortunately this was very wrong. 

The approach we should have taken would have been to modify the save / load system along the way. This would have taken longer to get to the final stages of the game, but we would have not ran into the problems that we have now.

On top of the save / load system being worked on, there has been more polish put into the game as well. Our beta testers did a great job of documenting things that were wrong and team members not working on save / load components have been able to put some time on those items as well.

HOW WILL THE SAVE / LOAD SYSTEM OPERATE IN SPACEVENTURE NOW?

In a perfect world, we would love for the player to be able to just save anywhere, anytime they want and be able to restore and things go exactly back to the way they were. In a lot scenes in SpaceVenture, you will get just that.

There are going to be three things to understand about the system you will experience while playing SpaceVenture:

• Normal Saving and Loading: The game lets you save on a scene and you can just restore back to the way they were when you saved.
• In certain sequences saving will be disabled: During certain areas of the game, mostly when animation operations are occurring, there will be a red X that appears over the save icon. You will need to wait until a certain sequence finishes or complete some small task before you will be able to save. There are very few cases in the game where you will experience this.
• Saving in certain scenes will reset the scene upon reloading: On certain scenes due to the different mechanics occurring, the scene will reset upon reloading. This issue has been the biggest thing we've been trying to solve during the course of this year. Unfortunately there is just no easy answer to solving this problem for every single scene in the game. The good news is, this is just in a few areas of the game and understand that even when the scene resets upon load it will take very little time for you to complete tasks to get back to where you were before reloading. Also, you will know when this is going to occur because the game will warn you before saving.

SO WHATS HAPPENING NOW?

We are very close to having the save / load system working for the whole game but there are still some troublesome areas that we are fighting. These areas need to be 100% working with the system before we release the game.  

WHEN THE GAME IS RELEASED WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT?

The game will be released on Windows first. As you all probably remember, we are using Unity as the game engine so porting the game over to the other systems shouldn't be a big problem, but we do expect there to be some issues that need to be worked out for that to happen. We also realize that you all may report bugs and we will try to release fixes for those as well. 

After all of that, we will be working on shipping rewards. Please do not message us your updated address information for rewards. We will eventually send out a survey that will allow you to put your updated information in there for us.

So that's it folks. The next update WILL contain info about releasing the game and how it will be going out. Thank you all for your patience and hope you will find the game to be worth the wait when you get it.

Not sure if this place is still being monitored, but will there be any more betas before release?

It's been a long time but I remember a lot of issues with the last beta build other than the save engine.  If those have been fixed too it might help to have more eyes going over it to verify before final release.  First impressions count for a lot so releasing a buggy game could hurt sales.

I am guessing - that when they're comfortable with having the Save/Load "done" - they may have us beta test it and see if there's still something broken, before the actual release. But that's just speculation on my behalf as I am not involved directly with the development. I just chatter a lot about it. :D

I'd be happy to continue beta testing, especially since I couldn't even advance further in the game last time, even with the help of other players save files.

Without sounding rude, I think the game needs a bit more help. Wish I had the skills to program, but alas...

Well, looks like the goal is slowly coming into sight, huh?

Indeed!

Hey everyone! We are super excited to make this announcement! The Kickstarter update that we have all been waiting for is finally upon us. On September 16th, 2022 we are officially releasing the Windows DRM-free version of SpaceVenture to all of you $15 and up backers.

To start this off, we would like to give you a bit of an FAQ on things you might be wondering:

Q. What? I thought you said a few weeks ago that the save/load system was still not working?

A: As of a few weeks ago, we were already pretty close to getting it working. As mentioned in the previous update, we had a couple of developers (one of which is the senior developer Patrick Johnston) that got together and worked four long days in getting the system where it needs to be. And the meet up was a success!

Q. Will the game be coming out on Steam?

A: Yes! After we release the game to you backers, we’re planning to release it on Steam. And our goal is to get all $15 and up backers Steam keys as soon as possible.

Q. What about the other platforms promised in the Kickstarter?

A: Yes we plan to get the game released on all the promised platforms. When we did the Kickstarter our plan was to release all platforms at the same time. At this point, in order to do that, we would have to make everyone wait even longer. So we feel it’s a good idea to go ahead and release it on Windows. The plan is to follow that up with Macintosh, Linux and then iOS/iPAD and Android.

Q. How will we get access to the DRM-free version of SpaceVenture?

A: Everyone who is a $15 and up backer will receive a message from us on September 16,2022 before the end of the day (Pacific Time) containing download information.

Q. Since we have a DRM-free version of SpaceVenture, can we share it with everyone in the world?

A: We can’t stop you, but we would REALLY appreciate it if you didn’t 

Q. What about bugs?

A: Though there may be some bugs in the game, we have it in a state now to where we feel comfortable with releasing it to everyone.

Q. If we have problems/find bugs with SpaceVenture, how will we report those?

A: The download message you receive from us will contain that information. Please don’t report problems in the Kickstarter comments. We will not be looking there for bug reports.

Q. Will you be making updates that fix bugs in the future?

A: Absolutely. We plan to have a way to report bugs and post updates/patches.

Q. What is the deal with the physical rewards promised in the Kickstarter?

A: Please see the “Physical Backer Rewards” section in this Kickstarter Update below.

Q. Speaking of rewards, should we be giving you our mailing address?

A: Not at this time. We will request this from you when the time comes to ship everything out. We still have to get everything together before we will be ready to ship. Please see the physical backer rewards section of this update below for more details.

Q. Is there any way I can up my rewards tier so I can get some of the higher level physical rewards?

A: Not at this time. Though we have been purchasing a few extra (just in case of mailing issues) of each item and may make them available in the future.

Q. What about all the digital rewards for SpaceVenture?

A: Please see the “Digital Backer Rewards” section of this Kickstarter update below.

PHYSICAL BACKER REWARDS

For physical backer rewards we want to be clear on some things. After the Kickstarter was funded we went ahead and purchased a lot of the rewards that we needed. These rewards have been kept in a safe, clean, and dry storage area. There are some rewards we have not purchased yet but we are currently working on them as I type this up.

Here is a list of the physical items we still need to purchase:

• Materials for the Andromedon Nose to be created by Mark Crowe ($7500 and up backers)
• Hard copy concept art book ($500 and up backers)
• SpaceVenture movie posters ($150 and up backers)
• Guys From Andromeda Postcard ($150 and up backers)
• Game DVD sleeves to go into the game boxes ($100 and up backers)
• Game DVDs that will contain SpaceVenture ($100 and up backers)
• 8×10 photo containing an Easter Egg to be seen in game ($45 and up backers)

Here is a preview pic of the DVD sleeve/DVD

Another glimpse of the back of the actual game box

If you don’t see a physical reward listed in the above list, it is because it is most likely something we have already purchased. For example, Buckazoid Coins, T-shirts, Game Boxes, etc..

We hope you will all understand that though we do have enough money in the bank to purchase the rest of these rewards for everyone, unfortunately we don’t have enough money to cover all the shipping expenses right now. We will be shipping out items to around 2000 people. It has been a long 10 years and we hope you can understand that though a lot of money was brought into the Kickstarter, we (like you) could never have imagined it would take this long to finish it. Even though we kept our belts tight, the money has almost run out.

So here is our plan. Getting these rewards to you is very important to us. There are three strategies that we are planning to implement.

1: After purchasing the final rewards we need, any money left over from the Kickstarter will be used for reward shipping.

2: Once we put SpaceVenture on the market for sale, such as Steam, the money made from that will go to fulfilling the shipping of all of these rewards. We are not going to be taking any money from sales until we’ve shipped out rewards.

3: Some of you may decide you don’t want to wait any longer and would like to get your physical rewards sooner rather than later. We plan to make an option available where you can pay your own shipping to receive items faster. And yes we realize that you have all paid enough money as it is. This is just an option. Anyone who wants to wait for us to get the money for shipping will totally be able to wait. Either way, we plan to get the rewards out to you. And in time, you’ll all get the physical rewards in your hands.

As for getting us your information for shipping. Please don’t send us any updated shipping address information. We do realize a lot of you have moved. When the time comes, we’ll ask for your updated address information.

VERY IMPORTANT: We do ask that you update your Kickstarter profile/account settings to reflect your name/updated email address as you would like us to communicate with you. Please do this ASAP.

DIGITAL BACKER REWARDS

One of the things that the team is working on right now is putting the finishing touches to the cool digital backer rewards that are available in SpaceVenture, including:

• Name a star or have your name on a star in game ($5000 and up backers)
• Fan/Name Vanity Card hidden object in game ($500 and up backers)
• Backer names in the credits of SpaceVenture ($100 and up backers)
• 8×10 Easter Egg related reward ($45 and up backers)

If you don’t see a digital reward that you are looking for listed above, it’s probably because it is something we’ve already completed. For example, the Wall of Fame reward, etc.

VERY IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, please update your Kickstarter information ASAP. Backers at the $100 level: The name that is listed in Kickstarter will be the name that is listed in the credits. We are going to give everyone a few days to take care of this. Backers at the $500 and up level, please update your Kickstarter info as well. You will probably get a message from us regarding your information. Please be on the lookout for that and respond ASAP. It is very important that you respond to this message quickly. Ideally, we want to get everyone’s info correct the first time.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

So that is it everyone. We realize it has been a long road. No one knows that better than our team. We have worked hard through some difficult times to make the game right and not release it half baked. And we are so appreciative of all of you that have hung in there with us. We also realize that there is still some road to hoe, as we have to get the game out on the various platforms and rewards shipped-out, but we are extremely excited to finally be releasing this game to everyone. We hope it lives up to your expectations. We realize that nothing can replace the nostalgia you may all have of playing Space Quest when you were younger, but think that SpaceVenture will be a proper spiritual successor to the series. Thanks again everyone!