New update 1.3 out - Winter biome changed with fixes
Greetings friends!
It's taken a while longer to get the new update out than I anticipated. I had to move away from the character controller to refocus the efforts towards finishing up the biome updates and AI fixes for this patch. The current character controller, which is modified and tweaked to work in this particular environment/setting, is highly integrated into many aspects of the game on the back end. Combine this with Networking and it's a challenge that's been above my personal scope(we used to have a network guy that worked on all online aspects of the game). I'm still trying to sort it.
As many of our early supporters know, all the negative reviews early on in the development of the game (after Steam killed positive reviews developers earned from our supporters during their crowd funding and pre-order phases) our company was put into a situation where there would be no coming back. It's a downhill domino effect that for various reasons the bad reviews keep outweighing the good(which are minimal). I don't need to get into the validity of said reviews - its neither here nor there because I and the rest of the crew ceased to care about said opinions long ago(for again, various reasons not worth getting into here). We made mistakes early on and tried like mad to fix and improve those things at the fastest pace that we were able to(we were doing a patch every 2 weeks then). Once the game became a labor of love and there was no return because of the reviews preventing sales, in fact it costs us money to work on this project, we shut the negativity out(reviews and forums) and just focused on putting out patches as we can. The team has been down to 1, me, for a long time now and I also have to work to feed my family, pay bills, etc.. That said, I still love to work on game development as a hobby and will continue to put out patches every few months for Astral Terra. We have a new Cannabis business and we hope to use some of the money we make there to fund new projects the proper way, with proper staff and a better scope(Astral Terra was our first big game, first Steam game and it got out of scope) as well as continue to tinker with Astral Terra. I have the option of scrapping the character controller and making the game a single player game - which in turn would make the entire project so much more manageable and leave me in a capable position. That said - I also tinkered with a VR version of the game last year and we may put that out eventually as a free experience.
For now, my focus will be to try and tweak the current character controller to fix what people don't like(for example pressing down mouse and drag lets you turn but the turn key works at the same time and it spins the character) for the next patch. I also have new character assets we've been considering dropping in to freshen up the look but I'm not entirely sure that's something that we need at this time(kind of more of a want than a need). We have apologized so many time in the past for letting people down or putting out a game that people didn't like or thought was trash. Astral Terra has and never will be a cash grab - it was a labor of love and a chance at turning our 20 years of experience in new media, marketing, graphics design, animation, and love of games, into a company that makes fun stuff that is also a fun place to work at. That hasn't happened yet but we will keep at it as we re-strategize and try to sort where we are going next. Thank you so much to all of you that have been patient or gave the game a chance without crapping all over it and us. We(my partner and wife Amy) really appreciate it - we do this because we think it's a really neat, fun, industry to work in(when you're not stressed out lol). We've learned a lot over the last 4 years and hope to continue to develop our skills and make better products down the road.
Chris Wightman Tethys Interactive Creative Director, Lead Designer
PATCH NOTES
Beta 1.3 - Forest biome has returned to normal, winter stuff as been removed and replaced with new higher quality forest assets. - Wind now works on trees and bushes in Forest and Tropical Biome. - Gameobject pooling and management optimized for better performance. - Tropical Biome trees and some bushes replaced with new, higher quality assets with a Tropical Fantasy look to them. - AI Tweaks and fixes. - Added water back to the Forest biome. Dig down to the lowest level to reveal enough water to create streams and ponds. - Fixed digging at lower levels.
Winter update out - snow biome is live!
Hello friends! We just pushed out the winter updater with makes live the new Winter Biome. We have reworked the winter biome with new assets and will be pushing out another update next week with the new Tropical biome update. After that we are pushing a new controller for players and then taking the game out of Early Access and into released state. Happy holidays!
Update live - Spring and bug fixes.
Greetings friends. Latest update is out, the most important detail being that we fixed the door placement for buildings. Enjoy.
Patch Notes:
1.1
- Converted Forest/Mountain biome to Spring.
- Fixed door placement for buildings.
- Removed presents from random spawns in the environment.
- Removed the old doors from the crafting window.
- Added the blacksmith station to the merchant as an item players can buy now.
- Optimized terrain shader.
Winter is HERE! Snow is EVERYWHERE!
Greetings friends. We have just a small update for the Holidays. This update brings Winter to the Forest/Mountain biome, as well as some holiday goodies. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Patch Notes:
1.06
- Converted Forest/Mountain biome into winter.
- Added Snowman to place-able items. You can either craft a Snowman or buy them from the merchant. Snowmen do an AOE Heal every 10 seconds.
- Added random present spawns. From now until the New Years update, enjoy random gifts found throughout the Forest/Mountain biome.
- Reduced total amount of Werewolves and Bloodfiends that can be spawned by one each.
Thanks for playing! There are a couple new bugs that we have on our list for the next development sprint and then another content update after that.
Update live - New water avoidance for mobs.
Greetings friends! Small but important update today. I haven't been able to have water avoidance for mobs due to the procedural generation of our voxel terrain/water. I discovered a way to add it in recently, though it isn't perfect. Mobs will sometimes still wander through the water and sometimes get stuck. However, a new system is in place that allows the mobs to see the body of water and avoid it once they wander into the shore. It works most of the time and is a big improvement over not having water avoidance at all. I also did some optimizations and fixes, see the notes below.
Patch Notes:
1.05
- Fixed issue that would cause an out of memory crash.
- Reduced Terrain generation time and overhead.
- Added obstacle avoidance for water. It's basic avoidance where they will wander up to the shore and then turn around at a certain depth.
- Tweaked obstacle avoidance on all mobs to work better.
- Made a change to most mobs that will allow them to get over small obstacles in the terrain such as rocks. Most MOBS should walk over these objects now instead of getting stuck on them.
- Brought back water for the Tropical biome. Small ponds and lakes can be found throughout now.
- Mineral spawn density increased overall for all biome caves.
- Reduced the volume of the sound effect on bee and dragonfly swarms by 90%.
As always, thanks for playing our game and giving your support.
Bug fixing update is live - New Forest biome
Greetings folks and happy Friday. This update fixes two recent critical issues. We fixed the data share bug with buildings as well as did a major change to the Forest/Mountain biome. It was challenging and rather annoying to be stuck spawning in between steep mountains, or in some cases, inside a mountain. Since we knew the building bug was going to create a data wipe, we figured this was a good time to also change the Forest biome. Mountains are spread out and smaller now and there is lots of flat land to build on in between them. Since we now have lakes in addition to streams, we will push out an update soon that will have some sort of rafts or simple boats. The starting area is much more accessible now due to the change, and with the new additional caves lower down on the hills/mountains players can acquire many of the resources they need to get going much quicker now. Right from the start a player will spawn in or just beside a river or lake. Within sight should be a great flat spot (or island) to build close to the water and also close to caves that have a plethora of resources.
Patch Notes:
1.04
- Fixed building data bug which made buildings from all worlds appear in all worlds. Now each worlds buildings are properly saved to that unique world.
- Fixed the issue with spawning under terrain by changing the Forest/Mountain biome terrain generation type. Mountains are much smaller and broken up and there are now large areas of flat land and passes that go through the hills and mountains.
- Fixed the Golden Griffon deadlock state so that it can now fly out of or around trouble spots.
- Added new caves lower down in the Forest biome. Lots of resources to be found now in easy reach.
- Forest biome now has lakes in addition to rivers.
- Reduced dig depth limit by 1.
October update is Live - new Monsters, NPC and other goodies!
Greetings folks! Todays update is mostly about content and some AI tweaks, as promised with last update. We also have some new architecture that wasn't ready yet, hopefully in the next update. I also realize that there are a few new bug reports/tweaks that have been requested and I have put that on my list for the next development sprint.
Patch Notes:
1.03
- Improved Player detection on AI. Players can no longer walk behind MOBS without causing aggro as MOBS now detect any movement within 12 feet around them.
- Reduced frequency on Mountain/Forest biome generation slightly. The result is more flat land and slight hills while retaining mountains.
- Moved the default spawn to a better place on the map. Still spawns by/on-top of water but now does so by flat land and meadows. New spawnpoint works for all characters but will require spawning into a new seed as positions are saved to old seeds. Both existing and new characters get the new spawn(if using a new seed).
- Added 2 aggressive Halloween themed mobs: Werewolf and the Undead Pumpkin Warrior.
- Added 1 new anti-monster MOG: The Golden Griffon. the Golden Griffon will attack any enemy mobs on sight and wanders about the players area.
- Added the new Dragon Turret. Craft or buy these and then place them where you need protection. They will shoot fireballs at enemy mobs as they come into range.
Small update for a bugfix.
Greetings folks! Today is just a small update with some visual improvements and a major bug fix. Enjoy!
Patch Notes:
1.02
- Fixed a bug with building placement in Single Player mode where placing pieces would not work but would remove the resources anyway. Placing peices works normal again in single player mode.
- Added SSR for cheap reflections on reflective surfaces.
- Adjusted exposure on LUT to brighten things up slightly.
- Adjusted the Sparkle Glass material.
- Adjusted the wood floor materials to be more reflective.
The next update will be larger with a building content update with some more bug fixes.
The Prismatic and Iridescent update is live!
Greetings friends, the new update is live. This one fixes some bugs and gives everyone some more building options via the Prismatic and Iridescent texture sets. Enjoy!
Patch Notes:
1.01
- Fixed a bug with being able to delete buildings on accident when spawning into the world on start, before building tools had been activated.
- Fixed a bug where hitting escape would open an empty crafting window in certain conditions.
- Fixed creatures/MOBS getting stuck on terrain objects and building foundations. All creatures can now jump in an attempt to break their deadlocks caused by items in the environment.
- Improved obstacle avoidance on all creatures.
- Stag and Doe now run straight away from players and DO NOT seek cover from trees.
- 2 whole new texture sets for building based on the current style(Prismatic and Iridescent).
- More basic ceiling pieces added that have the same floors as the foundations offered.
- 1 new foundation added(White Granite Tile).
HUGE update is live - new building system!
Greetings friends!
We just pushed out a huge update today that replaces the old block building system with a new system with better functionality and more pleasing aesthetic. Instead of blocks, this new system is made of detailed architectural pieces similar to some of more popular survival based games you guys may be familiar with. Building also requires resources now, something the community has asked for that we all felt would add value and immersion to the game play. When constructing buildings, you must start with a foundation piece and 2-4 pillars. From there you can place walls, windows, doors, ceilings, etc... We are launching the system with a basic construction set with plans to release new architectural styles and texture sets regularly until the system is well filled out. We decided to start with a Castle style with 2 texture sets. Since building now requires resources and some of the resources need to be refined, we recognized the need to make crafting more streamlined. Enjoy the new functionality - crafting can simply be started now by hitting the big crafting button. More advanced items still require the forge. Lots of work/time went into this big update, as usual, thanks for playing and everyone's patience while we work out the bugs, enjoy the Steam Summer Sale have a great weekend!
Patch Notes:
1.0
- Fixed a bug with character deletion where characters inventory would remain. Other characters, when making a new character with the same name, would get the old inventory.
- Replaced old block building system with new detailed parts building system.
- New building interface with tool tips. Use the NUMPAD to cycle through pieces.
- All new building pieces. 1 Architectural style, 2 texture sets and 12 different foundations for the first release.
- Integrated resource management with building. Building now requires resources. The most common resources needed for building will be Wood, Stone, Refined Wood, Refined Stone.
- New Feedback ui that tells players what resources are used, or returned, when building.
- New crafting button added to allow players to craft basic items on the fly.
- Crafting on crafting cart no longer required. Spell to be removed on future update.
- Escape added to various windows for closing functionality.
- Details density for all biomes raised by 20%.
- Tree density on River biome raised by 6%.
- Stone resource spawning increased by 20%.
- Copper Ore and Iron Ore added to the merchants available items for purchase.
- Fixed Stag and Doe falling through terrain. More MOB tweaking for the next update.
- Removed Barghest temporarily.
