Ever since I first started Direct Ascent development late last October, all of my versions have started with a 0: 0.1.0, 0.2.0, 0.3.0, etc.

10 months later, and I can finally do something I have never done before: start a version number with a one.

That's right, the first snapshot for the full release, 1.0, of Direct Ascent is out! This snapshot (and the next one) will work on the new area, Cosmic Calamity. It is a much slower-paced level than the other four areas, but once it's finished, it'll take some precision to get past it.

Also, so that I can get your feedback on all the new features I'm adding to Cosmic Calamity, you start at Cosmic Calamity. You won't start at it after I'm done developing all the features.

New features:

• Cosmic Calamity! (But I've already talked about it so let's move on to its actual features:
  • Hot, hot stars fall at you, hoping to burn you to a crisp
  • However, a much bigger threat to you is the neutron stars. The blazing blue light radiated from them is enough to deal two hearts to your ship, and the cooler pulsars will deal one heart. However, the collision for the pulsars is pretty messed up, so I have some work cut out for me there.
  • Black holes - currently they just look cool and do one heart of damage, but in the next snapshot they will suck you in and either deal two hearts of damage or be instant death. I'm still trying to decide if I should do something that's harder (instant death) because this is the later game where it's supposed to be hard, or have it deal two hearts of damage because it sucks you in anyway, and that's gonna be hard enough to evade. Leave your suggestion in the comments section below.
• And now on to the other new features (of which there's only a few that I can remember)!
  • Diamond Astro Dollars - they are much rarer than normal Astro Dollars and are the equivalent of four normal Astro Dollars. However, they don't fill up your health restore wrench more than normal Astro Dollars; I should definately fix that.
  • Added an ability indicator that shows how long it is before your ability recharges.
  • The version checker on the title screen has gotten a upgrade - it now says the newest version instead of just saying that there's an update available.

New changes:

• Money is more likely to fall when you're on one heart
• A Diamond Astro Dollar has a 1/10 chance to replace a normal Astro Dollar when it spawns
• Minor tweaks
• Bug fixes

Aaaand there's more! But you'll have to play it yourself to find the other features out. Give your suggestions in the comments section and the discussion board, and I'll see you on probably Friday with a snapshot finishing Cosmic Calamity!

Current Cosmic Calamity gameplay footage: