Hello!
I've been super busy recently with new features, feedback from the previous build, and getting things ready for Steam's June Next Fest. I've added the full changelog below but I'll talk a little about some of the bigger things first.

(If you'd like to go right ahead and download the demo from Steam, here's the link!)

Pathfinding
This was quite a big endeavour and was quite tricky to get right, considering the destructible environment and freely moving objects, but I'm very pleased with the current state of it in the demo. Right now, there's just one entity using the pathfinding, which is a little scanner drone that wanders the level and looks for resources (gif below). I made a devlog post earlier going into more detail on the pathfinding, so check it out here if that interests you. I will also say that that devlog ended up on the front page of Hacker News, which was a bit of a shock for me.

Soundtrack
Actual music has been missing from the game for a while now, so I'm more than happy that it's finally in there. There's a single track at the moment with more coming, so have a listen after you download the latest build. All music and SFX are the hard and excellent work of JDSherbert, so if you like what you hear go check out more of his stuff.

Steam Next Fest
I've registered for Steam's June Next Fest and have the demo uploaded and ready to go. It should be available to download now since I'm releasing it early ready for the press early access (and to give the build some run time before the festival starts proper), so if you'd prefer to play the demo over on Steam you can! Also, as part of getting stuff ready for the press early access I put together a press kit which you can see here (the HTML I paste into Itch is available to download there if you fancy copying it for your own project).

The Rest
Lots more stuff have changed, like new objects in the levels, more story, a new scripted level, lots of UI changes based on feedback! Go check it out.  :)

Changelog
Major

• Asteroids now take damage from collisions
• Reworked jobs page to more clearly show individual jobs and time/permit choices, also info on resources and asteroids
• Added containers that can be opened
• Added beacons
•  Added scanner drones 
• Added underlying dynamic pathfinding system, currently only used by drones
• First OST track added
• Activator tool is now permanently installed and doesn't require a tool slot (available after charge training level)
• Scripted charge training level to introduce player to activator and explosive charges
• More story mail and "set up"
• Can now request loans and repay debt
• Red crystal will now explode if you don't catch it in time
• Tools now have a small visual indicator on the player ship

• Individual messages when the player receives different types of damage
• Tools can be swapped between slots in the Tools page
• Keyboard controls to select specific tool slot
• Game defaults to windowed 1280x720 on first startup
• Items that you already own at least 1 of show up in the market with an "Owned" tag
• Helper popups the first time you buy different item types
• "Install Now?" popup when you buy an upgrade that you have the prerequisites for
• "Install Now?" popup when you buy a tool that you have an empty slot for
• Credits page with links to contributors and list of playtesters (send me a message if I've missed you out!)
• Credits (money) have their own symbol now, and not a USD sign
• Updated default controls based on feedback, still WIP I think
• Game scenes now have fade in/out transitions
• Extraction ship sequence can be skipped with button press
• Calling for extraction closes pause menu
• Tutorial can now be skipped if already played
• Upgrades are only visible in the market if player has the prerequisites
• Game now remembers which monitor you had the windowed game on
• Gamepad will be recommended when starting a new game if the player isn't using one (will only do this once)
• Discord link on start menu

• Mining hammer causes less spin
• White asteroids are slightly darker to contrast with spectro scanner beam
• Mining Gun and Gatling Gun have less kickback and less spin
• Bullets ricochet less often
• Re-arranged layout of some menus to make more sense with the flow of buttons
• Different types of asteroids have different damage resistance
• Charge launcher has a little kickback now
• Sped up deployment and extraction slightly
• Price tweaks

Bug fixes

• Reduced occurrence of items getting stuck in asteroids and creating a lot of particles and noise
• Fixed possible crash when starting randomised level
• Fixed tutorial mission getting stuck if player mined second crystal before being told to
• Resources inside of asteroids no longer all point in the same direction
• Fix for some item names in popups not being highlighted properly

Build

• Game executable now actually called "Deep Space Exploitation.exe"
• Removing unused libraries depending on platform and architecture (Reduced build size by about 10%)
• SFX are now embedded resources and no longer files deployed along-side the game
• Lots of automation work around code signing and Steam build pipeline