Space Is Big
Our first human playtester sat down with Cultures of the Belt and told us the truth: the solar system didn't feel like a solar system. Asteroids looked as big as the Sun. Orbits completed in minutes. The vastness of space — the thing that makes it terrifying and beautiful — was missing. v0.5.0 fixes that.
Scale overhaul
The Sun is now visually dominant in the scene. Asteroids are properly tiny specks in comparison. Major planets — Jupiter, Saturn, and the rest — are visible in the background for the first time. When you zoom out, the belt looks like a belt, not a debris field competing with its star for screen space.
Real orbital mechanics
Orbital periods now use AU-based Kepler's 3rd law. Inner belt asteroids take their time getting around the Sun. The result feels slower, more deliberate, and much more like actual space. The scariest thing about the belt is how far apart everything is, and now you can feel that.
Depleted husks
When you mine an asteroid dry, it doesn't just vanish anymore. It darkens into a husk and throws off a burst of debris particles. It's a small thing, but it makes the belt feel like you're leaving a mark on it.
Fixes
Aria's "not configured" error is gone — the fallback chain now correctly distinguishes missing API keys from network failures. NaN values no longer appear in the resource HUD. Early research descriptions have been rewritten to avoid spoiling late-game discoveries. And if we deploy a new build while you're playing, the game detects stale assets and prompts a clean reload instead of crashing.