Coronado Gold

Star Solo just received a small update – the Coronado Gold update!

You can download the most recent version of Star Solo here on itch.io!

This is a much smaller update than I anticipated, and deviates slightly from the roadmap I outlined about a month ago. I’ll explain the update, and why I had to change plans, in this article.

From the Coronado Starport, you can take a shuttle to Central City for two credits (or fly directly to Central City). At Central City, you’ll learn about Coronado Gold.

Coronado Gold is a naturally occurring substance known only to form on Coronado, and used for a myriad of things in the system, including manufacturing, technology, and art. Coronado Gold can be found in 4 forms – dust, nugget, liquid, or crystal. Each of these forms have different uses throughout the system.

You’ll have the ability to survey the surface of the planet for Coronado Gold. If found, you can stake your find back at Central City, and then mine your stake. Eventually, the results of your mining operation will come in – may fortune smile upon you!

Mining for Coronado Gold is not cheap, and it’s a risky venture…but if you hit it big, the results can be extremely lucrative! You can sell nuggets at Grease Junction, dust at Kote, liquid at CORE, and crystal at Travene.

Eventually, the mining mechanic will be tied into a Boomtown Track (similar to Kote’s Revolution Track) at Coronado. However, I haven’t determined if this will be included in the free game yet, or if it will be in the full paid version of the game.

A Small Wrinkle

A month ago, it was announced that Microsoft Publisher would cease being supported by late next year.

Guess what Star Solo (and a few other games I make) are published in?

This isn’t a disaster or anything – it just means I need to be flexible, and plan for it. Since Star Solo is currently written in Microsoft Publisher, it doesn’t make sense to continue working with that program. It certainly doesn’t make sense for me to do a graphic design overhaul, which I outlined as next on my roadmap.

What does make sense is for me to find another program, and learn/transfer my game files over. I’m leaning towards using Affinity Publisher at the moment.

For Star Solo, this means my roadmap will likely be pushed back a bit. Learning a new software will take a bit of time, as will transferring the game files over.

But it’s not all bad! This gives me an opportunity to start with a fresh slate and consider new options for the layout and design of Star Solo, that I may have been blind to earlier.

Connect

Thanks for reading, and I’ll keep you all updated on Star Solo going forward. I’m hoping to have more news sometime in the second half of the year. In the meantime, I’ll be learning new publishing software, and transferring the Star Solo files over.

Again, you can download the most recently updated version of Star Solo free here from itch.io

You can also join the main newsletter here, which will allow you to receive updates on news around Star Solo and other games.

Finally, if you have feedback, you can follow me on itch.io and favorite Star Solo. You can also share your comments through my Star Solo feedback survey.

Thank you for being a fan of games! I’m looking forward to flying with you!