Moon Lander Game
Traditional Moon Lander Game.

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.

24 0.5.0 Added Distances Page
Fri 12-Jun-2026 Content / Documentation

New page with human readable distance information.

  • Added new page: Distances with human readable distance information.
  • Added physics diagram to main landing page
  • Added new page: Software Engineering Lessons
  • Made the release history page public
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.