Most of the work since the last update here has gone into procedurally placed plant clusters:



This took way too much time but I like the end result. Each plant in a cluster reacts to player or enemy bodies, wind and blast waves from explosions. This makes them look dynamic and alive.  There are currently three different variants of clustered plants.

I also tweaked the site generation code a bit to pick the used obstacles and decorations more intelligently. It  is now guaranteed to pick at least one light emitting obstacle type every time to prevent dull looking sites with no dynamic lights at all.

The original plan was to have the next alpha update also on Steam early access by the end of this year but it's clear at this point that I can't make it. I have pushed the release year on Steam to 2025.  The next alpha update will still likely come this year but it won't be initially available on Steam. If things look good with that update, I will send it to review on Steam and it will be published on early access later.

This forces me to make decisions on pricing as I will have to set a price for the game on Steam. I was planning to have the game still freely available (pay what you want) here on Itch.io with a minimum payment to get the Steam key but now I can't figure out how to do that. If I can't find a solution to this, I will have to revise my plan.

Now is a good time to go wishlist Phobos Down on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2754880/Phobos_Down/