It's been a while since I last the last update, but there has been significant progress. Spiritus Astrum is now running in T3D Beta 2. The port to T3D took a while, but the new features make it easily worth it. I think a lot of features will be made easier to develop with the advances that T3D brings, as well as providing many benefits I hadn't thought of including in the game.

MS2 is coming along nicely, I have completed a simple TorqueScript Database to store user's acount details, complete with new user registration, login and verification functionality. It is possible to modify the database's instance variables dynamically, without having to reload it from file. This is unusual in a game, generally you would decide on what data you wanted to store beforehand, and then stick to that. But, since the primary aim of Spiritus Astrum is user-generated and dynamic content, I wanted the data base to reflect that. Being able to add instance variables to the database at run-time will provide great scope for procedural content and expandability of the game.

I have also started constucting space scenes, including a large multi-deck space station complete with interior. Space Stations are "hubs", allowing the player to accomplish various tasks, such as teleporting to the planet below, purchasing a starship, or serving as a respawn point.

Spiritus Astrum now has a more advanced server setup, with a game lobby, where players must sign in to be able to proceed to the game itself. Guests and new users who have not been verified will be restricted to a small number of areas, and will not be able to take part in combat. They will also, obviously, not be able to save their inventory between sessions.

Currently, I am working on the in-game store, where the player will be able to buy and upgrade weapons, ammo, and equipment. This has proven to be trickier than I thought, since it needs to be tied into the database and inventory system, and the player should be able to access and view details about stored equipment from anywhere in the game, but only purchase items while at a store.

In addition to the aformentioned elements, MS2 will feature:
- Spaceflight
- The ability to land on and explore planets
- Basic Combat (AI)
- The ability to recruit and control various squadmates
- Multiple dedicated servers to create a persistent game world

I have uploaded a work-in-progress of the Game's background, explaining the game world and it's history:
Spiritus Astrum Universe (PDF File)

Some pics of the GUI's:

This one was one of most complex GUI setup's I have ever implemented, it has multiple pages, each with multiple sub-pages, and finally every type of object is arranged by category. A quick reference menu is displayed at the top, with Cargo, Crew, and Credits. This gui will be accessible anywhere in the game, (from a PDA-like device), allowing the user to check their stats at any time:

Simple user registration menu, this will be expanded in future releases:

The new T3D Island map:

Some shots of the new space environment, using mostly placeholder art for the moment:

That's all for now, I'll try to update more often in future.