Update log
Full Starforged Legacy update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Extracted changes
- Gameplay
Captain's (Developer) Log #3
Good afternoon, Commander!
In today's log, we want to share our evolving plans for the Starforged Legacy Demo, including its temporary closure on March 14th as we move from recruitment to refinement. We also want to give you an early look at two major features making their way into the game: Narrative Encounters —where your choices could have lasting consequences—and Ship Customization! Let's get into the details.
The Demo Is Leaving (Temporarily)
Following Steam Next Fest, we received an enormous amount of incredible feedback on the demo. We've seen over 3,500 new pilots take to the stars, pushing our total wishlist over 5,000 and rapidly approaching 6,000!
With this in mind, we'd like to begin addressing said feedback as soon as possible, primarily regarding the 'New Player Experience'. Here are some of the major pain points we've identified, and what we're doing to fix them:
| Player Feedback | Our Response |
|---|---|
| Ship controls feel unintuitive, especially for players coming from other survivors-games who expected screen-relative movement (press 'D', player moves right). Others felt the ship was slow to respond to turning inputs. | We're adding an alternative movement scheme as a settings toggle. You'll be able to choose between the current ship-relative controls (space sim style) and a new screen-relative mode where your ship moves in the direction you press and auto-rotates to match. We're also tuning ship responsiveness so every ship class feels tight to control from the moment you start flying. |
| Button mapping didn't follow standard conventions, creating friction across the entire experience for controller players. | We're working on updating gamepad controls to better follow platform conventions. We're a small team on a tight schedule, but this is a priority, and we're going to do our best to get it done. |
| Enemy behavior didn't sell the fantasy of commanding a warship in deep space. Combat worked mechanically, but close-range enemies felt more like a zombie horde than a space battle. | We're reworking close-range enemy behavior so combat reads and feels like a space battle. We want every enemy encounter to reinforce the fantasy of piloting a warship, not just surviving a swarm. |
| Players wanted more story, more meaningful choices, and a reason to keep coming back between runs. | Narrative encounters are a new feature we've been developing behind the scenes that, unfortunately, wasn't ready in time for the demo. See below for more details! |
| Players died without realizing they were in danger. There wasn't enough feedback when taking damage, and the transition from 'I'm fine' to 'I'm dead' happened too fast. | We've improved player damage audio, added more distinct visual indicators for hull damage versus shield damage, and added a low-health screen indicator, so you always know when your ship is in trouble. You should always be able to feel the difference between a scratch and a crisis. |
| Newer players struggled to understand what pickups do, how upgrades work, and what they should be paying attention to early on. | This is our top priority during the demo hiatus. We're rethinking how the game communicates its systems in the opening minutes and taking a close look at what the first few minutes look like, especially when you play for the very first time. The goal is for every player to understand the build system well enough to start making interesting choices in their first run. |
| Difficulty could spike unexpectedly, with enemies scaling faster than intended, creating frustrating, unfair spikes. | We've overhauled how enemy difficulty scales. Previously, difficulty increased while you were on a map, which meant |
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