The Future of Astro 4x

It has been about 5 years since there was any news or updates to this game. It has not been abandoned and I have plans for it. I will quickly summarize those plans and then explain the absence.

Future Plans:

1. I'd like to completely redesign Astro4x to have more 4x elements and fix many issues (like small text and not scaling properly to different resolutions)

2. I'd like to make Astro4x completely free and refund anyone who purchased it (thanks Bartwe! ;p)

3. I'd like to completely change the art style, music, soundfx, ui, and design of the game

What happened for 5 years?

Well, I put Astro4x into early access in May of 2019, and I'm writing this in Jan of 2024. Later in 2019 I was working on a prototype game that got some attention on twitter. That turned into a game development contract and a kickstarter for my other game Lazr. My time and effort was focused on Lazr and only Lazr during the last 5 years. Lazr is almost complete and I can see the finish line (it's about 80% done). However, a few days ago I got an email from Steam urging me to do something with Astro4x. Apparently, letting a game sit in early access for 5 years is not what Steam wants you to to do with their platform. I can see their pov. So, Astro4x will live!

During the past 5 years I have thought a lot about Astro4x and redesigned the game on paper a few times. The game as-is lacks depth to me, along with interesting art. The current style is simplistic, but I would like to be able to show different units with different sprite graphics, instead of just using an arrow to show any kind of ship. I've also listened to the feedback from players about small fonts and scaling issues. I also think the music is sleepy. This game also runs on .net 4.5 and monogame 3.7, which are long outdated now. I would like to completely rewrite the game in MG 3.8+ and .net6+.

So yeah, that's the future of this game. I'm probably going to start working on it on the side while I finish Lazr. maybe you will see an update in the next few months?

//MrGrak