First 0.9.0 alphas release announcement

_posts/2024-03-16-vegasrike-0.9.0-alpha1-release.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "Vega Strike 0.9.0-alpha2 Released!"
+description: "New Releases: Vega Strike 0.9.0-alpha2, VS:UtCS 0.9.0-alpha1"
+author: BenjamenMeyer
+date: 2024-03-16 00:00:00 +0000
+categories: website announcements releases community
+excerpt_separator: <!--more-->
+---
+It is with great pleasure that the Vega Strike Development Team announces the release of Vega Strike 0.9.0-alpha2 and VS:Upon The Coldest Sea 0.9.0-alpha1.
+<!--more-->
+
+Join our protagonist Deucalion in adventures around the universe as a bounty hunter, mercenary, or merchant flying through the
+stars. Meet the deadly Aera and mysterious Rlaan. Battle with the Confederation. Run alongside Pirates. Or just buy and sell as a merchant while you
+explore. The universe and adventure are yours.
+
+## What's changed?
+
+Since our last release in March 2022 of Vega Strike 0.8.0 we've continued to refactor the code, improve it, and worked towards bringing back official
+support for more platforms.
+
+We now only support Python3 builds. Python2 support is slowly being removed and should no longer be utilized as Python2 is no longer supported by
+its own community.
+
+The 0.9.0 release increases the Engine API to Version 2. This means there may be some incompatibilities for game assets. Please ensure
+that the game assets and Vega Strike Engine match. We do not have a specific change log of the Engine API at this time; assistance during
+our alpha and beta releases with building it would be greatly appreciated.
+
+With 0.9.x we are officially supporting both Mac and Windows platforms. This means that we are ready to provide pre-built
+binaries as part of our build pipelines.
+
+NOTE: Under Windows the Vega Strike Settings utility is currently broken due to a dependency being flagged by Windows improperly and
+therefore preventing the utility from being able to run. Fixing this will be a priority for releasing 0.9.x.
+
+For a complete list of differences see [Vega Strike Engine Delta][vsedelta] and [Vega Strike: Upon the Coldest Sea Delta][vsutcsdelta].
+
+## Want to help out?
+
+There's a lot to do. We're working diligently to update Vega Strike. This is just an alpha release to start getting community feedback.
+Please try it and let us know about bugs you find. We'd also greatly appreciate any help in fixing the bugs.
+
+Version 0.10.0 is our next step along the line.  We've already got several releases planned in the process of continuing to update our dependencies and fix bugs;
+you can see our [Road Map][roadmap]. We need everything from coding, story development, art work, documentation, and even just generally helping the community.
+
+The development team is active at [Gitter.im][gitter] and we'd love to hear from you.
+
+You can also find the community at the [Vega Strike Forums][forums].
+
+## Where can I find the release?
+
+[Vega Strike Engine 0.9.0-alpha2][vse]
+[Vega Strike: Upon the Coldest Sea 0.9.0-alpha1][vsutcs]
+
+### Why Vega Strike Engine 0.9.0-alpha2?
+
+What happened to 0.9.0-alpha1 for the engine? A mishap during the release process meant that 0.9.0-alpha1 was cut against the wrong
+branch (master, aka 0.10.x) so it was removed. 0.9.0-alpha2 is what was meant to be 0.9.0-alpha1.
+
+[sf]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vegastrike/
+[gh]: https://github.com/vegastrike
+[roadmap]: https://www.vega-strike.org/roadmap/
+[gitter]: https://gitter.im/vegastrike/community
+[forums]: https://forums.vega-strike.org/
+[vse]: https://github.com/vegastrike/Vega-Strike-Engine-Source/releases/tag/v0.9.0-alpha2
+[vsutcs]: https://github.com/vegastrike/Assets-Production/releases/tag/v0.9.0-alpha1
+[vsedelta]: https://github.com/vegastrike/Vega-Strike-Engine-Source/compare/v0.8.0...v0.9.0-alpha2
+[vsutcsdelta]: https://github.com/vegastrike/Assets-Production/compare/v0.8.0...v0.9.0-alpha1