This week, we have new visuals, UI elements, and enhancements to the menu system.

Hello, Wayfarers!

When you log into this week’s playtest, you’ll notice a new coat of paint and polish on some user interface elements. We’re continuing to make updates for functionality and consistency, so expect to see more of this in the coming weeks.

We’ve made updates to the initial login experience, including new artwork and a better layout that will support additional monitor aspect ratios. (We know there are some ultrawide fans out there!)

Login Screen and MOTD

We have opened up the ability to access the options screen before you log into the game, which will help smooth out the experience for those that need to make some tweaks before loading in. We’ve also added Message of the Day capabilities, so we can surface important information as soon as you reach the login screen. And, if you ever need to find us out in the world, we’ve made that easy with the addition of prominent social links.

Profile Screen

When you enter the game and visit your menus, you’ll notice a new tab alongside inventory, missions, and everything else. The Profile tab is all about you, Wayfarer! Well, it’s about your character anyway.

The Profile tab includes two sub-menus:

SELF tab

• Basics: Name and Species
• Player Description: This is where you can tell everyone about your character. Please be polite and remember that everyone else can read this. Pretend your mother, significant other, or boss will read this. (Our mods will, so please don’t make us take action.)Stats: This is a visual depiction of your nine stats and where they stand relative to their max. This will also note if you’re currently buffed or debuffed.
• Status: This is where you’ll find all the effects and stat mods that may be acting on you, and how long they have left before expiring.
• And, you can see inside your stomach! Well, sorta. You can see what foods you have eaten recently, whether they have taken effect yet, and how much longer they will last.

SOCIAL tab

• Friends List: Not only can you see your closest galactic companions, but you’ll be able to manage your roster here.
• Citizenship: Find out where you call home (and renounce your citizenship here, too).Guild: If you decide to join a guild, information will be displayed here.

Interactive Object Highlights

Pointing your cursor or reticle at interactive objects now triggers a visible edge highlight. This system is tool-specific. For instance, vegetation will glow when the harvester is equipped, while construction tiles react to the fabricator tool.

Weapons also utilize this feature, providing a clear visual cue to confirm if a target is within your primary weapon’s effective range.

Beyond visual clarity, this update significantly optimizes performance for building tiles, replacing our previous highlighting technique with a much more efficient method.

Inventory Tabs for Data Objects

There are a number of object types that are not intended to take up ordinary inventory space. Instead, they are categorized into their own inventory tabs.

Examples of these include waypoints, pets, and spaceship and vehicle keys.

We’re in the process of shoring up the systems and UI to support these. Once we start to flesh out the professions more, these will become very important data objects.

Revised & Optimization of Hard Objects

All of the assets in the game are being overhauled to use the new shader system. This newer system lets us be much more creative with color and textures, while opening the door for player customization of crafted items. Stay tuned for more on this!.

Many of the Building tiles are being simplified (polygon count reduction) while maintaining much of their old look for performance reasons. This will cause some of the objects to have slightly different appearances, but we attempted to match the original design as closely as possible.

Other Changes, Bug Fixes, and Updates

• Fixed the collision mesh on several building tiles that were broken in a previous update.

Known Issues

• Some players may experience an issue when zoning that causes the character to fail to load into the zone. Exiting the game and restarting will often resolve this issue.
• Due to the optimization of the hard objects, some prefabs like the space station or buildings on Haven may have some odd visuals. Please keep an eye on them and report things that look out of place. Example: There is a platform and ramp floating under the space station.