Dev Livestream for the Earth Appreciation Festival! 🌍💚
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
We are proud to announce that Aloft is participating in the Earth Appreciation Festival on Steam starting today until April 8th!
To celebrate this event, Aloft's Game Designer & Community Manager will be livestreaming tomorrow at 01:00 PM EST!
They will be covering the latest Critters & Wonders update, share some exclusive concept art, and maybe spill a secret or two. 👀
Catch them live on the Aloft Steam Page, Aloft's official Youtube channel, and Nico's Twitch channel! We will also upload the recorded livestream to our Youtube channel in case you can't make it.
Looking forward to chatting with you all! 🐸💙
Aloft joins the Earth Appreciation Festival!
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
We are happy to announce that Aloft is participating in the Earth Appreciation Festival on Steam. Here at Astrolabe Interactive, we deeply value the preservation of environments and coexistence with nature. That is why in Aloft, we encourage our players to actively improve the world around them, by eliminating invasive fungal corruption and restoring ecosystems by planting trees, diverse flora, and, most recently, introducing critters!
To celebrate the occasion, you can purchase Aloft with a 20% off discount.
This Earth Day, April 22nd, you might see some of your favourite content creators streaming live to raise awareness for the Cool Earth initiative whose mission focuses on protecting rainforests and tackling climate change, while also supporting the well-being and livelihood of the people in those communities.
This is our Earth, and we appreciate it greatly. 💙
See you in the clouds!
🌀 PATCH NOTES - 0.3.2.20
BUG FIXES
Fixed a collider issue on Elder Trees that caused players to get stuck in the branches
Fixed a terrain piece that was missing colliders in Red Cliffs
Fixed an issue where players could rejoin a multiplayer session after being banned
Fixed an issue where animals failed to load in properly when Personal Homes were spawned
Fixed an issue that caused dropped animals to disappear
Fixed an issue that caused cooking plates to disappear
Fixed an issue where the “Ordered one of each” achievement would not trigger
Fixed an issue that caused error logs on dedicated servers
🌀 PATCH NOTES - 0.3.2.18
NEW CONTENT
Added new critter: firefly
Fireflies will only spawn on newly discovered islands
Added an animation in 1st person when luring birds with feed
Added 24 critter stands & trellis building pieces
SMALL CHANGES
Dropping flying insects will place them in the air instead of on the ground
Resized a lot of critters (small adjustments)
Vivariums and the pigment pool automatically till the grass underneath
Storage chests and baskets now have the option to quick drop (only items already present in the storage can be dropped)
Reduced the intensity of the ripple VFX when standing still in water
Increased the hitbox of gatherable planks
Flower and rock vivariums can now hold a stack of critters, instead of 1. Stacks may only be composed of one critter type
BALANCING
Vivariums can now accommodate critters from every biome. They still require to be of the correct type (ex. butterflies can only be put inside a flower vivarium)
Queen bee larvae are now twice as common in natural bee nests
Bee nests on the leviathan no longer clip into the tree’s collider
Pressing [TAB] and picking up an animal will no longer cause a soft lock
Item pouches can now be interacted through other colliders
Can no longer overwrite a custom island file by creating a new one with the same name
LODs on the rope bundle prop now maintains detail further away, preventing final LOD from disappearing
Islands marked as too heavy can no longer be sailed
Shared Homes now trigger the “At Home” condition and the home theme song
Invasive plants should now only be present on unhealthy islands
The Stormchaser input will no longer accept input from the prior menu
Planting tree seeds won’t have a missing texture on the previewed model
Moonlight Moths are now functional when equipped in the hotbar
Fixed an issue where habitats from Fallen Heights and Red Cliffs wouldn’t be detected properly
Going back to the main menu will now re-initialize the input type properly (controller vs keyboard/mouse)
The character animation will no longer trigger the default state by accident as much
Stone stairs should now align properly with one another
Replaced incorrect materials on upper pond of Fallen Heights and Red Cliffs pond habitats and vivariums
Tree vivariums now properly display birds and bats depending on which type of critter is placed in them
Fixed an issue where a player couldn’t join a session
Fixed an issue where players would see different terrain pieces on the same island in a multiplayer session
AUDIO
Added audio for the firefly
Fixed some music-related issues
USER INTERFACE
There is no longer placeholder text in landing pad menu
All homes (personal or shared) from any player will have an home icon tracker
Knowledge Stones now correctly display the vivariums and habitats texts when hovered
The description for frogs have been updated to better reflect what biome they are native to
The blur behind the landing pad menu should scale to any aspect ratios
Localisation has been fixed on the animal bell sign
Vivariums have been moved to the storage section of the build catalogue
Removed the birdhouse warning pop up
Fixed issue with the “back” button of the landing pad menu not scaling properly to ultrawide resolutions
Soar the skies and save the earth with the Aloft & Forever Skies bundle! ⛅
Ahoy, Sky Sailors! 👋
As you may know, we just recently released Aloft's first content update Critters & Wonders. It also brought a handful of new and highly requested features alongside a whole bunch of quality of life fixes! 🐸
Needless to say, this is the perfect time to try Aloft. And to make it even better, we are putting Aloft on sale for the first time as a part of the Steam Spring Sale! You can now get Aloft for yourself or for a friend with 20% off! 💙
We are collaborating with our friends at Far From Home to bring you the Aloft & Forever Skies bundle where you can get both games with a nice 31% off until March 20th. If you own one of the games, you will still get the other with a discount.
In case you didn't know, while they may have different aesthetics, Forever Skies and Aloft cover a lot of common ground with their themes of saving the ecosystem and working towards a healthier environment & better future. In Forever Skies, you are tasked with scavenging resources and surviving to find a cure for humanity. It's a fun co-op survival crafting game that you can play with up to 3 players!
See you in the skies and have a great spring season! ☀️
🌀 PATCH NOTES - 0.3.2.12
BUG FIXES
Melee swing wont trigger leap attacks by default
The leviathan will snap to the right position when flying out of bounds
Fixed snapping issues with wood shingle roof inverted triangle piece
Fixed an issue where the keyboard of UI elements was displaced
Removed the place-holder firefly geo until we have the proper rig
Replaced the plant diversity icons (Emerald Isles and some for Fallen Heights)
Removed unused empty “in construction” states from Trellis construction pieces within the Island Creator
Fixed issue with Opal beam having placeholder material when placed in the Island Creator
The vivariums and habitats can now be unlocked properly
The variants of the Emerald Isle perched tree vivarium are now behaving correctly
Potential Fix: Players can sometimes get stuck in an Infinite loading screen when creating Multiplayer Sessions
CHANGES THAT WILL ONLY APPLY TO A NEW WORLD
Exploration challenges have been added to all Emerald Isle islands
Rare resource spawns and animals have been added as challenge rewards
Fixed an issue where starting cluster chests would appear outside of the starting cluster (which led to disappointing loot)
KNOWN ISSUES
MAJOR
Reishi and animals disappearing from player’s Personal Homes
Crashes / file corruption
Potential memory leak that persists through sessions
Some actions are not triggering the Steam achievement
MINOR
Unlocking the Red Cliffs Habitats also unlocks the Red Cliffs Vivariums
Bats don’t spawn properly. They can be found on terrain instead of their normal habitat
The order in which you unlock the vivariums in a preexisting game doesn’t align correctly with player progression
The difference between what the habitats and vivariums do is not clear enough
UPCOMING ANIMATION IMPROVEMENTS
List of animations that will come in future patches:
Bird and bat eating in your hands
Critter interaction in hands (1x per critter)
Critters idle in their habitats (bird house, burrow, etc)
Bat idle on ground
Many idle breaks (bird, jerboa, bat, bugs)
Movement animations while holding critter (jump, run, slide, etc)
Bat wings visual fix
Bird Feed holding position fix
General animation polish
The Critters & Wonders Update is Here! 🦋
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
Our first major update is now available!
Say hello to your new best friends in the sky – Critters! In today’s update, the world of Aloft welcomes new life. Take a look at our video showcase below:
Collect all the critters! 🦇🐸
Starting today, critters can be found scattered across the world of Aloft. Bees, butterflies, bats, frogs, lizards – you name it. Pick them up to look at their beauty up-close! These little fellas are key to a healthy ecosystem, and that’s where you come in.
Catch them (carefully!) on any island using the net or lure them with feed in order to bring them with you on your journey across the sky. Wherever they live, the ecosystem benefits so make sure to introduce them to new environments – the more, the merrier! You can even spoil critters by building fancy vivariums for them on your home base.
Players can also build landing pads to ensure animals land safely after sending them home. Additionally, animal bells can be placed to call all or a specific group of animals back to their pen or enclosure – perfect for shear or meal time!
Critters come in all shapes, colours, and rarities – so be on the lookout for unique and uncommon patterns!
Wonder Islands 💭
During your travels, you may now come across a new kind of island in the sky, called Wonder Islands. These islands are fixed in the world and always offer a unique reward or discovery.
In today’s update, we’ve added two Wonder Islands. Explore them to uncover mysterious ruins, rare treasure, and other secrets. We look forward to adding more of these diverse islands in the future, filling the sky with unique experiences.
Shared Homes 🤝
After listening to community feedback, we've decided to offer players an easier way to collaborate together on a single island. Now, when placing a Home Kite, you can choose to create either a Personal Home or a Shared Home. Shared Homes allow all players in a multiplayer session to cooperate, build, and teleport to their Shared Home without requiring permissions.
Shared Homes are world-bound, so they cannot be spawned in/out (for now). If you’d like to revert a Shared Home back to a Personal Home later, you can do that too.
For the full list of changes, including a number of quality-of-life, server, and performance improvements, you can check out the changelog here. We want to express our gratitude to all of you for your support and for playing Aloft. We’re always listening to your feedback, and can’t wait to share more of what we have in store!
As always, if you come across a bug (of the technical variety), don’t hesitate to report it and we’ll jump on it like a critter with a treat.
And as a last surprise: starting on March 13th, Aloft will be part of the Steam Spring Sale, making it the perfect time to invite your friends, build your dream skyship, and explore the skies – at a discount!
See you in the clouds! 🌥️
🌀 CRITTERS & WONDERS CHANGELOG - 0.3.2.11
CRITTERS
Critters can be found scattered across the world of Aloft with varying spawn points
Small Animals: frogs, jerboas, lizards, birds, and bats
Insects: butterflies, bees, moths
New models for: worm, beetles, and ladybug
Critters can be picked up and equipped in the toolbar
New crafting recipes have been added: The Bug Net, Bird Feed, and Bat Feed
Some critters can be lured by holding feed
Some critters can only be collected with the Bug Net tool
Islands now have a new ecosystem need: Small animals diversity
NEW BUILDING PIECES
Beehives
Used for beekeeping
Produces honey and wax, and bees will spawn nearby
Gathering resources from Beenests and Beehives will sometimes give a Queen Bee Larvae which is required to craft a beehive
Landing Pads
Can be placed to assign an animal landing spot
Used for sending animals to another island in a safe and controlled manner
Animal Bells
Bells will attract or teleport animals to it when rung
Affects only tamed animals
Can assigned to a specific type of farm animal or all farm animals
Habitats
Critters can spawn on habitats
Unlockable via sketching and knowledge stones
Vivariums
Players can build vivariums to showcase their critters
Unlockable via sketching and knowledge stones
PERSONAL HOME + SHARED HOME ISLANDS
Quality-of-life changes to Personal Home islands
The dedicated server parameter preventing players from importing their home island is gone. Now, you’ll need an explicit authorisation *only* to set a new Personal Home island
Spawning/Despawning Personal Homes is now automatically allowed, with no way to forbid it.
Introduction of Shared Homes Islands
Accessed through the Home Island kite
Allows players to share and collaborate on the same Shared Home
Allows players to spawn and teleport to the same Shared Home using the Shared Home tab (in the player menu)
Shared Homes behave as home for the game states (gives ‘at home’ condition, etc.)
MISC. CHANGES
Water opals can now be placed in the editor and gathered in-game (grants 1 water opal)
The Opal and Golden Feather decorative pieces can no longer be unlocked through Knowledge Stones. They can now be discovered in Wonder Islands within a new world
Corrupted Animals and Animal Pods have an updated Mykter texture
Removed the Occlusion Box option from the Island Creator
The spinner can now spin fibres (wool/linen) into thread
The loot obtained from chests (wood, stone, hidden, locked) is now based on the biome in which they are placed
Rope baskets now cost waxed rope
Gamepad support for world backup menu
This update techs’ can now be unlocked via Knowledge Stones
Localisation updates
The Field Guide now indicates that the decomposer need requires diversity instead of an amount
BUG FIXES
Major bug fix with timed parameters in worlds that have existed for a long time. This means that multiple behaviours in the game will now stay consistent over time and behave accordingly (machines will output resources, trees will mature, animals will age)
Major bug fix where memory usage would increase continuously over very long game sessions
Major bug fix where saving/reloading objects (especially home islands) could result in unexpected behaviours, leading to file corruption
Multiple island fixes: spawn points, hidden rewards, missing textures, missing Mykter barriers, clipping and floating assets, collisions
Fixed an issue that caused a problem with dedicated servers that were running in a screen-less environment
Destroying the wormboxes now gives back a worm
Wild veggies are no longer harvestable on unhealthy islands
No loss of resources when failing at repairing a bird house
Smaller islands surrounding heavy islands can now be claimed as homes
Field Guide will no longer show corrupted islands as healthy
Fixed the Field Guide / Pause Menu softlock
Fixed the Gliding / Pause Menu softlock in multiplayer
Fixed an issue where fresco doors could be opened on a corrupted islands
ACCESSIBILITY
Added a motion sickness preset
UI/UX
Some user interfaces have been improved
Sailing UI
Certain in-game buttons
Text prompts
Menu design
Major Field Guide changes
New corruption pages
New insect diversity pages
New small animal diversity pages
Updated icons
SOUND EFFECTS, VISUAL EFFECTS, AND ANIMATIONS
New SFX for critters, animal bells, animal landing pads
New VFX for animals bells, animal landing pads
New animations for critters, interacting with critters, animal bells, bug net
CHANGES THAT WILL ONLY APPLY TO A NEW WORLD
World Design
2 new Wonder Islands that contain rare resources, sketchable building pieces/decor, and hidden rewards. They have been placed in Fallen Heights & Red Cliffs
16 new regular islands added
Variations and small tweaks on starting cluster islands
New points of interests for all biomes
New points of interest caves for Emerald Isles
Trellis construction pieces can no longer be found in points of interest and Emerald Isles fresco islands
Linen lanterns and linen furniture with darkwood can no longer be found in points of interest, fresco islands, and the Fallen Heights Wonder Islands. The only exception is the sawmill fresco
NEW critters (jerboas, lizards, butterflies, moths, frogs, bats) will spawn in newly-created worlds and unexplored islands in older worlds
Critters that were already present in the Field Guide will spawn in older worlds as well, even if those islands were already explored
UPCOMING CHANGES
We will continue to add content to this update over the coming weeks. Among other things, we'll be working on:
Bug fixing
UX improvements
Complete localization (a few keys are still missing in non-English languages)
Multiple critter animation improvements and added variety
New critter-related building options
Critters & Wonders - Steam Page Streamers! 🐸🎦
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
🌼 We're kicking off spring with an awesome lineup of community content creators LIVE on our Steam page throughout the week!
📅 Check out the schedule below and join us for some curious encounters, new discoveries, and more!
March 11: LellybeanTV, Murningstar, CozieSweets, Catpiet, and Kodeations!
March 12: Becsters, Cuddlemonster86, XoChop, and Insaneboxx!
March 13: State of Survival Podcast!
March 14: BehavingBeardly, SongbirdGaming, and Ellibehr with xoPEACHI!
March 15: Chief Dancing Bear!
Aloft’s First Major Update is Almost Here! 🐦
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
Our first major update will arrive on March 11th!
We’re excited to announce that in the Critters & Wonders update, the world of Aloft will burgeon with new life, as critters inhabit the wilderness of the sky.
Ranging from bats and birds to frogs and lizards, bees and beetles, these lovable creatures strengthen the ecosystem wherever they live, so you’ll be able to collect them and bring them on your journey, as you restore balance to the skies.
We’re also bringing new islands to explore, with unique rewards and hidden secrets for you to discover.
There’s even more to discover in the update, and we’ll share all the details on March 11 when it releases.
This will be our first major update for Aloft, and we hope you’ll love it! Thank you all for your support and feedback, we couldn’t do this without you all!