Release 1.2!

     Today marks the release 1.2 of Mini Solar System! Included are backend improvements, such as the upgrade of the Unreal Engine to the latest version and improved multithreading, and user facing polish as well as the introduction of randomization. 


Overview

    I stuck to my promise and was able to release this minor update on time. I had to constantly push back against scope creep as the ideas I had started to balloon, but if I've learned anything over my time shipping games is that, left unchecked, scope creep will kill projects. 
    The development cycle for this update was quite consistent and I am proud of that. Through taking care of obligations in my personal life, and taking care of myself, I was still able to make steady progress toward this milestone over the last two months. I felt the goals for this release were always clear and actionable. The deliverables were all things that would push the game and my own personal knowledge forward.

Technical

    The first technical hurdle I knew I would face when returning to this project was an engine upgrade. I knew that I would be upgrading to the latest version to play with all the new toys and stay on the bleeding edge of Unreal. This was not that daunting as I have assisted with engine upgrades on former projects so I knew what to expect. I was able to clean up deprecated functions, and update my code to the standards of the new framework in less than a few days. It is always nice to develop a project when starting from a clean slate and no warnings, and that's what I did.
    The technical challenge that took up most of my time for this update was the multithreading improvements. I knew there was room for improvement in the old system and so I decided to tackle it early rather than to put it off. It took some trial and error, but I am pleased with the solution that I came up with as it is currently implemented. With a nearly 10x improvement in time efficiency it feels way more responsive without sacrificing any visual fidelity. I know there is still room to improve, and I do plan to return to it someday, but I know that perfect is the enemy of good and that it was time to take the win and keep marching on.

Randomization & Misc. Changes

    Changes that players can really see in the game mainly come from the addition of randomization tools. Now in the overview mode you can click one button to randomize some aspect of a celestial body whether that be the shape, color, or atmosphere. With hindsight I can say that I wish I thought about the implementation a bit more before I dove in. It would have been better if I'd have anticipated the need for the interfaces and such before I had to retrofit the functionality that I started on. I can see potential for a refactor in the future as part of a larger rework of the settings asset system, but it remains to be seen if/when that is necessary. And if it does become something that I pursue then I will surely have learned this lesson and will be able to write a clearer implementation.
    A non-insignificant part of the update was also planned to include improvements to the user experience. The more I tested, the longer that list got to a point where I had to cut myself off and decide what was most important. I did get to implement those, and parts that I still think are important will be slated to be included in future patches. I want to make the experience as effortless as possible, and that will be an ongoing task.

Conclusions & Looking Forward

    Overall, I am glad that I was able to stick to the deadline and ship everything that I wanted to. I think I did a good job of properly scoping out the features that I could complete and executing on those plans. This release went about as well as I could ask for, given personal time restraints.
    That all being said, the future of MSS will scale back a little bit. There are other more urgent matters that I'm still dealing with, and so MSS will have to take a bit of a back seat. I hope that the way I am continually implementing AI tools will be able to offset some of the workload. I am exploring these tools more every day and they are very strong. Going forward though, these progress updates will be posted whenever there is something major to report as opposed to the weekly schedule that I have been doing for this release.
    I hope these progress updates have given you, the reader, an insight into my development and thought processes. Until next time!

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