Road bumps & Refinements

Howdy Star Truckers,

It’s been a busy few months for us so we wanted to check in and give you a quick update on our progress towards the next content drop…

Update on the Update

A little while ago we posted a plan to roll out updates in June and September. Unfortunately, we hit a couple of bumps in the road(map).

This was in part due to Dave needing surgery ( I’m alive and OK! But needed plenty of bunk rest - Dave ) alongside some technical challenges and a lengthy QA schedule.

As a result, the next update is now scheduled for late August.

For those curious here’s a high-level breakdown of how that time will be spent…

On the plus it gives us more time to polish the update and sync with QA, addressing any major issues before the update heads out for approvals (It might also let artist Alex sneak in a couple of extra treats).

It should also be noted that this is only part of what we’re up to. Work on a future update is also well underway, and progress continues in parallel.
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Sneak Peek

We’ll go into detail about the new update in the next Dev Blog, but for now, here’s a sneak peek at some new Venture assets and rewards...

Addressing Feedback

It’s been said before but we try our best to heed all of your feedback. So let’s take a moment to run through some things we’ve noted and are currently addressing…

Accessibility

First up we’ve had a few messages about accessibility and the general user experience and where possible we’re always keen to address what we can.

One of these requests was to provide a toggle for the seated zoom. This was something fairly straightforward to implement so from next update you’ll have an option to switch between the following cab zoom modes..

Off - Currently functionality and the default option ( zoom is enabled while button / key is held )
On - Tap button / key to toggle zoom mode
Auto - Tap and hold for longer than 1.5 seconds and the zoom will lock. Tap again to disable.

We’ll also be having another look at some text sizes and layout issues to help improve legibility alongside some other useful QoL (Quality of Life) additions.

Peripherals

There’s been a bunch of messages around specific peripheral setups. The most common being VBK units causing the menu and game controls to freak out.

After spending some time investigating these issues it appears to be a combination of the underlying engine not fully supporting these devices and the hardware reporting inputs in a way we can’t easily interpret.

We’ve brought together a bunch of technical information and opened support tickets with both the engine and hardware manufacturer. We’ll keep the community posted on progress but for now this is as much as we can do.

Oh! There were also some suggestions around new throttle options and other tweaks to help peripheral setup. We’re still determining how feasible these are but your voices have been heard and we’re looking into some extra options and pushing for better all-round compatibility.

Cab Lights

Long time Star Trucker, Igor, and a couple of other requested a QoL option to toggle the interior cab lights without needing to be seated at the dashboard.

Well, good news! The next update will include two new cab switches that you can use to toggle the lower cab and mezzanine lighting whenever you want.

Freight Job Generation

A massive thank you goes out to the star truckers out there providing us valuable data on their play-styles and how the updated freight job generator is performing (especially during the end-game).

For the most part it looks like it’s doing a good job of providing more freight variety across the galaxy. However there are some areas that could benefit from further refinements. To that extent we’re taking a closer look at the following...

Improving the number of local jobs generated
Improving our approach to expiry dates and JIT jobs
Improving the distribution of certification jobs and specific cargo types

This work is ongoing but we hope to roll out some improvements in a future update.

Dock Shocks

Another issue reported by the community was the frustration of losing power while your truck was docked during an electrical storm. You’ll be happy to know that this has been addressed for the next update and stations will now protect your truck while docked. No more power trips while you shop!

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Support Portal

For those new or returning to Star Trucker, remember you can submit feedback and report problems via the Raw Fury Support Portal. This makes it a lot easier for us to collate feedback and track issues resulting in happier Monsters and players.

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Summer Sign-Off

That’s about it for this post. Be sure to check back in a few weeks for a new dev blog packed with information on the new update!

Until then, we hope you all have a great summer. And if you're being bombarded by heatwaves, remember to stay hydrated and keep those solar shutters down when the temperature peaks!

10-10 ‘til we post again

- Dan & Dave ( aka Monster and Monster )