Hello everyone! The long awaited event is upon us - WoTU is going to be released for public on Steam on [b]17th December, 2022 at 10am UK Time[/b]. You can find the WoTU Steam Store page here: [url]store.steampowered.com/app/2131430/Wings_of_The_Universe/[/url]. The game will be released under open alpha with game version v0.2.4. [u]What to keep in mind:[/u] - the game will be open alpha, which means it is not finished yet. - there are plans for further development and improvements. - the game might contain some bugs and it would be truly appreciated if you could report them asap so that they can be addressed. - not everything visible in the game is available yet - there might be some placeholders. - I am very interested in your feedback! Constructive criticism is the best way to improve the game for everyone, so please, let me know what exactly you liked, didn't like, what would you like to change or adjust. - You can create a thread on this forum in forum/suggestions board to let me know of your idea for a change or even a new feature. - You can create a thread on this forum in forum/bugs to let me know what you have found to not work properly and what are the steps to recreate this issue. - I will also create a new thread in forum/general which will be open for discussions of the impression of the initial public release. [u]What happens next (after release to public):[/u] After the game is released, the next update would be introduced at the end of January 2023, as I already have a 3 weeks holidays scheduled from 19th December to 8th January. During this time, I won't have my main computer with me, so no releases would be possible. But I will have my laptop with me so that I can work on improvements and fixes. Once I am back from my holidays, I have a plan for regular updates taking place every 2-3 weeks. [b]What are some of the main placeholders that will not work in the first public release:[/b] - [u]planet interactions[/u] - there is a visible button above some planets. This indicates that the planet can be colonised. This is a placeholder for colonising planets feature which is currently scheduled for later development in the future as it will also require quite solid in-game user amount. - [u]some tabs and buttons in station interior[/u] - once you land on a station, a window will appear with its menu on the left side. Some buttons in the menu (leaderboard, nation and social) are not available yet. The Social tab is scheduled for development at the beginning of 2023 and the plan for it includes in-game mail system and friend list. - [u]In-game help window called "WoTUpedia"[/u] - this help is not full yet. This help window will be updated with each update to reflect explanation of all current mechanisms. - [u]ship cargo[/u] - currently is not being used. The plan is to have unlimited cargo space in player's inventory, which in turn will decrease the max speed of the ship by half if the cargo in ship exceeds the current ship HP. During next week, I'll also provide some hints and tips in the FAQ section of this forum as not everything is fully explained in game yet and some mechanisms are just not clear enough. Rest assured that I have thought of a plan to counter this and there will be hints and tips option in each HUD window to provide immediate explanation of the feature. I hope to see you in the game soon! Regards, Lukas Tokar