BlogLogin

Thorium Nova Alpha 7 - The Big One

Alex Anderson 🚀Alex Anderson 🚀, December 8, 2022

Hello, everyone. Happy Thorium Thursday!

And what a happy day it is. As I promised in the live chat last week, here is the latest alpha of Thorium Nova.

Access the alpha here.

Just scroll down on that page to find downloads for both macOS and Windows. Or you can download the code and compile it yourself.

Notable features include:

  • A completed pilot screen for controlling the movement of the ship.
  • A navigation screen for seeing possible destinations and setting waypoints.
  • A cargo transfer screen for moving inventory through the ship using automated cargo containers.

And all of the backend processes to make it all work. It's been really fun to work on these features, and while I've felt over my head pretty much the whole time, I've loved to see some of my vision for Thorium Nova begin to unfold.

There isn't really an instruction manual yet, so hopefully you can figure out how all of these features work by playing around with it. I recommend starting a flight, choosing "Earth" as your starting point, and then making sure you press the "Resume" button before choosing a station.

And if that's a little too daunting, I'll be streaming the new features and taking questions on Discord. That will happen on December 14 at 7:00PM ET. Mark your calendar, you don't want to miss it. The link to the Discord event is here: https://discord.gg/sHxPDxNs?event=1050114691298500709

The Future of Thorium

Last week we discussed the future of Thorium, which boils down to three simple things.

  • I'm pausing development on Thorium Nova, but everyone is welcome to contribute and I'd be happy to support anyone as they get up to speed on the codebase and project.
  • I promised I'd release the current state of Thorium Nova as an alpha by the end of the year. This email is the fulfillment of that promise.
  • I'm shifting my focus back to Thorium Classic, to revamp the codebase, fix bugs, and add enhancements. I have no plans for new features.

Anyone is welcome to contribute to both projects, and I'll be providing regular updates about development. If you want to contribute but don't know where to start, read the blog post about contributing. You can also get up to speed by reading the issues and discussions on the Thorium Nova repo.

That's about it for this update. I hope you all are doing well and getting ready for a warm and festive holiday season.

Alex