Milestones and roadmap info will be in a closed group going forward - all regular users will have access to it automatically, but bots/webcrawlers etc will not.
If you’d like access to the thread and don’t already have it, just drop me a note and I’ll be sure to add you.
Thank you so much!
The final chapter of “Final Lap” is now up on the patreon:
The complete ebook will be out soon for all patrons, or you can catch up right now:
New wallpaper up for all backers!
ALPHA 0 GD Patch 3:
Characters in the station!
Two animated characters are now in “Bad Luck” Bart’s, including “Bad Luck” Bart himself. The basic interaction is still extremely limited, just a stub to the dialog file, but that will change.
Fixes and improvements in this patch :
Having to balance the view draw to make sure the cockpit doesn’t clip but the station doesn’t flicker. Still some flickering and depth issues to resolve, but we’ll get there.
Landing platform lights (red/green, which is just a backup indicator to the landing sphere)
Part of the landing shaft for the full scene is now visible just to tease. 
Fixed bug with closing the job screen before the jobs load.
Fixed bug with setting thrust too low and causing a crash.
Accidental duplicate sun removed.
Colorspace changed to allow colored lights (Replaced ACE with Filmic).
Added character rigging that’s compatible with mocap.
Added character portraits and dialogs.
You can land at the yellow sphere on the station module and it will put you inside, then run down the hallway to the Hangar Bay and it will put you back in the ship. It’s a start, anyhow - this is not the final process. Same as last patch, this is just a reminder.
Known Bugs:
For some reason if you click the green check as soon as the ship builder starts instead of going through to paint , it might crash. Still working on that one.
Some flickering on planet texture in the 3 seater El Toro cockpit, and some clipping plane issues in the 4 seater cockpit. Being tuned.
As always feedback on the forum is appreciated, you can go here: Alpha 0 Feedback Thread - #12 by MiguelB and drop bugs, opinions, and feedback. We really appreciate it!
Quite a few features haven’t made it to the Godot version quite yet. They are coming! We’re not planning to remove any features yet, some are just a bit delayed as I learn. 
Coming Next: More NPC interaction.
Coming Soon: The hangar bay itself.
https://longplaygames.itch.io/smugglers-of-cygnus-ea/devlog/560019/alpha-0-gd-p3
Patch 3 stream recap:
40th wallpaper is up, and this August, the wallpaper is all about some things coming in this next patch - asteroids!
Someday soon you might get a mission to deliver or pick up cargo from a stealthy hidden asteroid base.
I have gotten the major bugs out of the dialog system, and it’s just about ready for the next patch!
ALPHA 0 GD Patch 4:
Asteroids, mission system WIP, and more NPC dialog.
You can now start conversations with “Bad Luck” Bart himself. I’m still working on the mission system UI and the actual mission itself - which will involve some piloting skills!
We’ve also moved to Godot 4.1.1 with this build.
This might even be the last build of Alpha 0… I sure hope to be on Alpha 1 next patch.
Fixes and improvements in this patch :
Still working on balance for the view draw to make sure the cockpit doesn’t clip but the station doesn’t flicker. Still some flickering and depth issues to resolve, but we’ll get there.
Adding the cockpit doors that will lead further into the ship.
Part of the landing shaft for the full scene is now visible just to tease.
Improved the UI screen for job info when there’s no job.
Added asteroids! Some you can run into… and some have secrets. No destructibles yet.
You can land at the yellow sphere on the station module and it will put you inside, then run down the hallway to the Hangar Bay and it will put you back in the ship. It’s a start, anyhow - this is not the final process. Same as last patch, this is just a reminder.
Known Bugs:
For some reason if you click the green check as soon as the ship builder starts instead of going through to paint , it might crash. Still working on that one.
Still some flickering on planet texture in the 3 seater El Toro cockpit, and some clipping plane issues in the 4 seater cockpit. Being tuned.
As always feedback on the forum is appreciated, you can go here: Alpha 0 Feedback Thread - #12 by MiguelB and drop bugs, opinions, and feedback. We really appreciate it!
Quite a few features haven’t made it to the Godot version quite yet. They are coming! We’re not planning to remove any features yet, some are just a bit delayed as I learn.
Coming Next: Missions and more interaction
Coming Soon: The hangar bay itself.
All that remains is finishing “Bad Luck” Bart’s first mission, then we’ll move on to Alpha 1.
Alpha 1 is all about expanding content and passing parity with the Unreal version.
New rewards for all backers - Patreon membership now includes a digital copy of the soundtrack!
Chapter 5 of the Smugglers of Cynus book Odatria is now up for all backers!
December should be fun - we’ve got the patreon backer ebook of the month ready to go, a new chapter of Odatria all ready to go, and I’m nearly done with the incredibly large set of changes for Alpha 1.0
Which, to be brutally honest, was a lot more work than I was expecting.
The motto for Alpha 1 is “we do these things not because they are hard, but because we thought they would be easy”
The mission system alone is vastly flexible by design, which required so much more testing and bug hunting than I was expecting
Many times while preparing for Alpha 1.0 I thought it was ready, and then something broke that I wasn’t expecting
Patreon backer ebook of the month:
New chapter of Odatria to follow shortly, along with the big Alpha 1 patch
Chapter 6 of the Smugglers of Cygnus book Odatria is now up for all backers
ALPHA 1 Patch 0:
The major milestone you’ve all been waiting a very long time for.
The first 2 missions involving “Bad Luck” Bart are now included. The long awaited and unexpectedly complex mission system is now in place.
Alpha 1 marks a major milestone - and at this point the ‘core gameplay loop’ is complete. The core gameplay loop for Smugglers of Cygnus is:
Customize your ship
Find and complete jobs
Engage with NPCs and the environment to find and complete missions
Earn money and faction by completing missions and jobs
Explore the environment in 1st and 3rd person
This obviously is not to say the game is done, or even that these are in a fully finished implementation (far from it) - just that the core gameplay loop is complete for the first time. Now that Alpha 1 has landed on Itch and Steam, we’ll be switching to feature enhancement and content creation mode.
That means a LOT more missions, jobs, NPCs, etc. More customization options. In-game customization using credits, faction, collectibles, etc. Character creation. More voice work, etc. Heck, we haven’t even finished the Alpha System yet, let alone added the ability to travel between systems. A complete redo of the flight control/handling system. Joystick support.
So, THANK YOU to everyone who’s been a part of this game, regardless of if you were a backer or just a retweeter. Thank you for your help, your questions, your frustrations, your suggestions.
We’re getting there, and this feels huge even though it’s still just the first big step towards the release candidate. We’re now at Waypoint 0, and it took 3 years and so much work with your support to get here.
Fixes and improvements in this patch :
Missions! Voice acting!
Still working on balance for the view draw to make sure the cockpit doesn’t clip but the station doesn’t flicker. Still some flickering and depth issues to resolve, but we’ll get there.
Esc/back now exits menus if they’re open before exiting the level.
Distance figures now make more sense. Scale still needs tweaking.
Part of the landing shaft for the full scene is now visible. Landing zone changed from yellow to green.
Improved the UI screens.
Added collapsing to the current tasks menu.
Asteroids! Some you can run into… and some have secrets. No destructibles yet.
You can land at the green sphere on the station module and it will put you inside, then run down the hallway to the Hangar Bay and it will put you back in the ship. It’s a start, anyhow - this is not the final process. Same as last patch, this is just a reminder.
Known Bugs:
For some reason if you click the green check as soon as the ship builder starts instead of going through to paint , it might crash. Still working on that one. This one is hard to reproduce, but the ship chooser is due a re-factor soon.
Still some flickering on planet texture in some cockpits. Being tuned.
As always feedback on the forum is appreciated, you can go here: https://forum.longplay.games/t/alpha-1-feedback-thread/265?u=miguelb and drop bugs, opinions, screenshots and feedback. We really appreciate it!
Coming Next: More of everything. Improved handling and controls. Missions and more interaction. Poll to follow on forum.
tl;dr:
Alpha 1 feedback thread:
