Moon Lander Game, Release History

This page tracks notable public changes to the Moon Lander Game and its website. It is intended to give players, testers, and interested developers a simple running history of what has changed over time.

Note: This is not an exastive list, it is just the important changes.

Note: All items have additional details, click on the item to show/hide that detail.

23 0.4.8 Added How to Play Page
Thu 16-Apr-2026 Site / Documentation

New page with initial instructions on how to play the game.

  • Added new page with initial instructions on how to play the game.
  • Added powered decent Line, the path that would be taken with current fuel burn.
  • Proved that major performance problems were related to development envirionment, not production.
  • Updated the footer for the other links not needed on the main menu line
  • Removed new feature, levels from main landing page
22 0.4.7 Added Approach Lines
Fri 10-Apr-2026 Gameplay

Show landing approach guide lines

  • Added Landing Approach (line to pad), the most direct path to the landing pad.
  • Added Free Fall Line, the path that would be taken without any fuel burn.
  • Fixed aspect ratio on Grid Lines
  • Fixed spread of stars so they show over the whole sky
21 0.4.6 Added User Level Selector
Wed 8-Apr-2026 Gameplay

Game is too complex for many users, allow multi levels.

  • Add User Level Selector.
  • Allowing for levels 1 to 5: Beginner, Cadet, Pilot, Commander, Chief Astronaut.
  • Implemented adjustments to Inertia, Initial fuel, Terrain, and Landing pad size based on level.
  • This has been one of the larger changes to the app.
  • Added link to YouTube video 'Artemis II Explained' on about page.
  • Landing page added Apollo_14_Lunar_Module image
  • Initial work on Show Grid Lines
20 0.4.5 Release History page removed
Sun 5-Apr-2026 Site / Documentation

Removed the dedicated Release History page.

  • Release history is only of interest to a small group.
  • It is for most users, just tangental complexity, so hiding it from the world.
19 0.4.4 HUD cleanup, Add Altitude
Sat 4-Apr-2026 Site / HUD

Landing page / HUD altitude colour.

  • Updated landing page information and images.
  • Added colour coding to Altitude.
18 0.4.3 HUD cleanup, Add Altitude
Sat 4-Apr-2026 Gameplay / HUD

Added altitude to HUD and gauges.

  • Cleaned up HUD Data model to suport info on both sides.
  • Put Acceleration arrow on HUD.
  • Put altitude on HUD.
  • Added property MoonLanderState.AltitudeMeters.
  • Moved class MoonLanderSurfaceProfile to MoonLanderTerrain.cs.
  • Added History to main menu (to access this page)
17 0.4.2 Release History page added
Sat 4-Apr-2026 Site / Documentation

Added a dedicated Release History page driven from code-behind data so the site can show an evolving product history.

  • Added a new Razor Page for release history.
  • Used a list of change objects in the code-behind file to generate the page.
  • Structured the page so the change list can grow without hard-coding HTML for each entry.
  • Back filled the initial release timeline.
16 0.4.1 HUD model extraction and acceleration display
Fri 3-Apr-2026 Gameplay / HUD / Diagnostics

Started making the HUD more data-driven and exposed acceleration values from the physics step logic for display and replay analysis.

  • Worked toward a reusable HeadsUpDisplay component and view model.
  • Improved separation between HUD rendering and the rest of the game code.
  • Exposed acceleration values used in the step method as state properties.
  • Strengthened support for debug display, and future replay explanation.
15 0.3.8 DEC Lunar Lander history expansion
Fri 3-Apr-2026 Content / About Page

Expanded the historical material for the About page, especially around DEC innovation and the roots of Lunar Lander.

  • Added a stronger stand-alone DEC Lunar Lander section.
  • Began widening the history section into a broader world history of Lunar Lander.
  • Improved the framing of DEC's historical importance and innovation.
14 0.3.7 AdSense readiness work
Thu 2-Apr-2026 Site / Monetisation

Prepared the site for advertising and ownership verification.

  • Added the AdSense script snippet into the site head.
  • Added and published ads.txt.
  • Requested AdSense site review.
  • Continued work to make the public website production-ready.
13 0.3.6 SEO and crawlability improvements
Tue 31-Mar-2026 Site / SEO

Improved the public website structure so search engines and human visitors can understand and navigate the site more easily.

  • Reviewed page naming for better search relevance and user clarity.
  • Reviewed sitemap and robots.txt behaviour.
  • Added favicon.
  • Reviewed the public site for usability and search-facing improvements.
12 0.3.5 Responsive layout planning for phones and tablets
Tue 31-Mar-2026 UI / Responsive Design

Started adapting the app for smaller screens instead of assuming a large desktop monitor.

  • Reviewed options for making the Blazor game component respond to screen size.
  • Began planning alternative layouts for small screens.
  • Focused on using all available screen space more effectively.
  • Started thinking in terms of desktop, tablet, and phone usage rather than desktop only.
11 0.3.4 Debug query-string support and About page media layout
Tue 31-Mar-2026 Diagnostics / Content

Improved development-time debugging access and refined text-and-image layout on the About page.

  • Added or refined query-string driven debug mode handling.
  • Worked through how debug mode should be read in Razor and component code.
  • Added support for right-aligned image layout with wrapped text on the About page.
  • Adjusted image sizing and placement for historical content.
10 0.3.3 Gauge layout refinements
Tue 31-Mar-2026 Gameplay / HUD

Improved how digital gauges can be laid out and styled.

  • Added support for double-width digital gauges.
  • Moved toward cleaner handling of gauge CSS state.
  • Improved the layout model for important gauges such as status and fuel.
9 0.3.2 About page refinement and clearer build story
Fri 27-Mar-2026 Content / About Page

Improved the wording of the About page so it better explains how and why the app was built.

  • Refined the 'How It Was Built' section.
  • Improved explanations of Blazor and WebAssembly in plain language.
  • Made the technical story more readable for end users.
  • Strengthened the educational and historical framing of the project.
8 0.3.1 Azure hosting, with custom domain, and HTTPS setup
Tue 24-Mar-2026 Infrastructure / Hosting

Moved the game from local development toward a publicly hosted site with custom domain and HTTPS.

  • Published the app to Azure App Service.
  • Configured DNS records for moonlandergame.com and www.moonlandergame.com.
  • Worked through Azure domain verification details.
  • Dealt with HTTPS and certificate propagation issues.
  • Investigated why the site or app failed on some devices after publish.
7 0.2.4 HUD tuning and directional speed indicators
Mon 23-Mar-2026 Gameplay / HUD

Improved the readability of the in-game instrumentation.

  • Refined HUD size and visual balance.
  • Improved speed indicators by using arrows to show direction instead of relying only on plus/minus values.
  • Made the HUD easier to interpret during play.
6 0.2.3 Collection-driven gauges and debug separation
Mon 23-Mar-2026 Gameplay / HUD / Diagnostics

Move gauges away from hard-coded markup toward a more flexible data-driven process.

  • Using a collection of gauges.
  • Separated player-facing gauges from debug-only gauges.
  • Add debug controls for optional additional debug data display.
5 0.2.2 SEO-focused About page framework
Tue 17-Mar-2026 Content / SEO

Designed the main public About page structure to explain the app clearly and rank sensibly in search.

  • Planned an About page with a table of contents.
  • Used expandable headings and sections.
  • Set out the core themes of fun, correctness, and education.
  • Started shaping the long-form story of why the game exists.
4 0.2.1 Public-facing game story and goals
Mon 9-Mar-2026 Content / Product Positioning

Started drafting the site content explaining the purpose of the Moon Lander project.

  • Rework of the app structure for more maintainable code.
  • Captured the game goals: fun first, correct enough to teach, and educational.
  • Started telling the personal story behind building the app.
  • Positioned the project as both game and learning tool.
3 0.1.3 Animation loop and frame-rate investigation
Sun 8-Mar-2026 Core Gameplay / Performance

Worked directly on the browser animation loop and performance behaviour.

  • Implemented or refined a requestAnimationFrame-based update loop.
  • Investigated low observed frame rates.
  • Worked on delta-time handling and frame-to-frame stepping.
  • Strengthened the foundation for smooth real-time gameplay.
2 0.1.2 Architecture simplification planning
Sun 8-Mar-2026 Architecture

Recognised that the codebase was becoming too fragmented and started planning a clearer separation of responsibilities.

  • Reviewed the growing number of interacting classes.
  • Planned clearer separation for physics engine, status, graphics transform, and user interaction.
  • Started aiming for a codebase that is easier to reason about as a whole.
1 0.1.1 Playable browser-side Moon Lander initial work
Sun 8-Mar-2026 Core Gameplay / Architecture

Established the main foundation of the game as a browser-run Moon Lander using Blazor WebAssembly inside an ASP.NET Core site.

  • Built the app as a Blazor WebAssembly game hosted by ASP.NET Core Razor Pages.
  • Kept heavy gameplay computation on the client after load.
  • Used SVG for play-surface rendering.
  • Started the main physics, controls, state, and rendering model.