Hello Colonists! The game just received more improvements!
Construction searchbar
Before the update, the construction menu had a simple "filter" which was just filtering the currently selected category. This update improves the system by allowing users to search items in all categories and showing a preview of the categories found.
Expert docking
Players asked for faster conveyor belts for docking, since it was slowing down resource transfer. Currently, there are 3 docking levels available: - default - can transfer electricity only - advanced - can transfer electricity and water; has faster conveyor belts - expert - can transfer electricity, water, and gas; provides the fastest conveyor belts
New tutorials
The tutorial bot got improved with better interactions and new tutorials.
Improvements
Expert docking station added to the game
Construction SEARCH is now providing results for all categories
Camera for interactions can now move, this should make selection for logic blocks (sensors, deciders) easier
Tutorial bot screen interaction + swap
Hotbar start with 3 elements, allowing players to configure their hotbars easier I believe this change will help to understand that items from the construction menu can be dragged
A new tutorial about recycling
New hotkeys in the settings - next item, previous item, next category
Resource quantity shows a million symbol if the number gets large M+ 25M+
Fixes
Fixed shared technologies syncing when the player is joining
Decider only updates the ON/OFF state when it has a signal; it fixes the issue where no signal would disable the logic blocker
The upgraded smelter is now checking the iron bar recipe and activating iron bar+; the same is true for copper bar and copper bar+
Upgraded device keeps inventory sensor link
Fixed issue where radial menu would not turn on animal capture
Fixed multiplayer issue where client would not have voxel collision after station undocking
Construction of the blueprint (imported) requires all items to be unlocked to construct
Fixed an issue where the blueprint designer would not allow removing locked objects.
Fixed issue where Player Host would have wrong Tech Tree assigned after client join (invalid universe ID)
Fixed issue where some first generated planets for clients in another universe would appear empty
STREAM
It's finally time for another live stream! Please check it tomorrow (Saturday) 20 CET on Steam or Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/tefel/
Thank you guys so much for your support! Tefel (Terad Games)
Improvements update - big station performance, gamepad camera, sharp UI, hotkeys
Hey Astro Colonists!
In preparation of a major content update "Life of a Colonist", I just published another improvement and stability update. Below, you can check what actually changed in the game.
Thank you guys, for reporting bugs and cases with lower than expected performance.
Improvements
Improved rendering for UI, so scaled elements are sharper, especially text
Increased chances to spawn amethyst (violet planet)
When starting the game, random buttons cannot lock the game anymore
Gamepad is now active in the cinematic, can rotate the camera and skip the cinematic
Gamepad camera improvements make it's possible to control the cameras of devices
Client interactions in blueprints are now possible
Client copy-paste settings is now correct
New efficient rendering of many instances (thanks Dylan Hunt)
Voxel system improvements to make it more efficient and use less memory
Improved hotbar UI order, so it can be used with a 130% UI scale
Bug fixes
Fixed crash related to invalid client interactions for blueprints
Fixed crash when theme was pasted to an invalid cell
Fixed hotkeys where scaling UI / saving empty settings could remove some hotkeys
Fixed multiplayer issues to preserve player state and station movement when player joins
Updated Demo
The demo is now updated to benefit from recent fixes and improvements.
Active bundles
Astro Colony is currently partnering with the developers of Desynced and Techtonica.
Thanks guys so much for your support! Tefel (Terad Games)
Instant ASYNC planets generation!
Hey Colonists!
It's time for another major improvement to the game. Maybe I'm slowly becoming obsessed with optimization, I hope not 😅
What exactly is Async planet generation, and why is it so important?
INSTANT ASYNC PLANET'S GENERATION
Before the update, only the planet surface was calculated in the background (async). When elements of the planets (resources, rocks, and plants) were generated, it caused a hitch (lag).
Right now, all planet objects are generated seamlessly (async). Player cannot even notice when a planet is generated.
This change makes the experience pleasant, reduces the load on the CPU, allows older PCs to run the game, and makes Multiplayer syncing and joining quicker!
MAP IMPROVEMENTS - GAS CRATER
It was a frequently requested feature to show more types of resources, like geysers, directly on the map. There is no need to visit each planet to find gas anymore!
OPTIMIZED VEHICLES
Spawning multiple vehicles was causing a huge performance drop. After the latest improvements, this is no longer the case. It's now possible to spawn 10–20 vehicles and keep 60 fps+.
IMPROVEMENTS & FIXES
new async system to generate planets
snap objects have the correct visuals when placing
snap objects when picked → constructed are replicated correctly to clients - keeping pasted size
map improvements showing new types of resources like gas
remaining multiplayer shader objects are fixed when moving (tools and some devices)
sounds have now corrected attenuation, fixing the problem that other players in multiplayer can hear distant sounds
asteroids should now look sharper
new improved algorithm for anti-aliasing, making it less blurry
Despite all the effort and many improvements, the game is getting less visibility and fewer reviews than usually. It is quite concerning that the number of reviews dropped drastically, from 60 last month to only 20 this month.
Soon Steam Summer Fest will start, and I will stream the game and make the demo available once again, so I hope that will help spread the word about the game!
Thank you, guys, for supporting the project! Kind regards, Tefel (Terad Games)
MULTIPLAYER 3.0
Hey Astro Colonists!
The game just received the big multiplayer update, which addresses default engine replication issues. I took time to investigate the position of replicated actors, the movement system, what is going on behind the scenes, and why sometimes positions sent from the server to the client can vary.
What I found:
Data compression level is not suitable for Astro Colony
It turns out that all types of compression have limitations and can't fit large values. The replication distance limit was just about 10 million units (about 100 LY). When crossing the limit, unexpected things could start happening, such as the engine trying to teleport both players and planets.
With some custom engine changes to the compression, I managed to increase the distance to 1000 LY. This should be enough to consider it reliable.
Endless exploration
In a game where the world is generated indefinitely, like Minecraft, it is important to keep precision in every calculation. The game uses various methods to update the origin (center of the universe) to keep it precise, showing shadows and smooth animations.
When the game is loading, it's taking time to update World Origin.
This was always a huge problem in multiplayer, causing my headache more than hundreds of times. I managed to get two new rebasing systems for the dedicated server and the Player Host server. Right now, the server decides exactly when rebasing can happen for clients.
New shader movement for client
To keep client movement smooth. My previous approach was to let the client apply its own position. This was causing corrections from time to time from the server if positions changed too often. Right now, the server always applies the location, and all shader data is adjusted for the client.
IMPROVEMENTS & FIXES
new replication system using compressed data suitable for long distances
new docking system avoiding rebasing origin problems
new client shader movement position updates, reliable to not cause teleporting issues
new player host rebase system, 100% controlled by the server host
transmitter energy power is now copy pasted
preventing the rover from falling down when loading games on the server
Capturing animals is now fixed for clients
Parallel universe, some visuals fixed for the client - invisible asteroids
client now shows the proper effect of capturing animals
increased number of max selected elements, so box selection keeps working for maximum box selections
3d object optimizations for shader movement
particle optimization for shader movement (combining many into one)
fixed icons (hologram objects) to rotate towards the camera
fixed shader offset when changing space station as a client
fixed camera rotation for walls when first time enabled
fixed various dedicated server warnings
fixed issues with blueprint designer - entering grid on server and shader movement
fixed client properly leaving grid, so planet particles are removed
sky shader movement is working for all possessed modes
Thanks guys so much for your support! Tefel (Terad Games)
PERFORMANCE UPDATE
Hey Astro Colonists!
It's time for massive performance update! I decided to finally finish work that I started 3 years ago.
Why did it take me so long?
I was afraid that not everything would work or look as it should. The change required modifying the way rendering works. Every single object is now rendered with a position offset. Many necessary engine changes were required in order to have it work.
Some of the text below is technical, but I hope you will like it:
SHADER MOVEMENT PROTOTYPE 2021
I've been thinking about this technique even before the game's release. As you can see, early prototypes with cameras and some objects were very promising! Early tests allowed me to evaluate the technique and find out about visual glitches.
RENDERING ALL OBJECTS WITH OFFSET
Tricky task when the game is using more than 300 different materials. This required changing many of them and adding a shader offset.
STATION ACTORS
Every interactive station actor had to be accessed and modified when station is moving. In addition, all interactions with cameras had to be updated, where the camera offset also changed.
VIEW BOUNDARIES
The game engine is constructed to reduce the rendered objects on the screen as much as possible. If objects are outside the camera's view, they won't be rendered. Without increasing the boundaries of the object based on velocity this wouldn't be possible.
MATERIAL WORLD POSITION OFFSET
Many materials, based on position, can randomize its look. Turns out that many position based materials like shaking trees, wheat, water, ground or voxel terrain, started to scroll and had to be adjusted accordingly.
EDGE CASES
Many in-game actors required special care due to their unique roles in the game. Almost every system with interactions had to be adjusted to the new modified positions of objects and shifted cameras. Here are just some improved elements:
rover with its complex suspension system
spacecraft with thrusters and calculations for thrust
bot with its animated mesh, camera, projection cone particles and text
all other characters visible in multiplayer
every interactive system like asteroid catchers with new "catch"
sky and nebulas
SUMMARY
Thanks to reducing the physical location updates of all stations from 60 to just one a second, it greatly improves performance. As you can see in the example, the gain is enormous. Moving station before couldn't keep 10 fps, right now it's running at 80 fps.
RENDERING OPTIMIZATION
In addition to many CPU improvements, some GPU improvements were made. A new culling system for objects is in place, which disables updates and makes them invisible when they are far away. In addition, voxels are using LODs, so far-away planets are not affecting GPU.
Please be patient and let me know about every issue encountered. I believe this is actually the biggest and the most technical update, so it's impossible to avoid some bugs. I hope to fix all of them this week. The most urgent issues will be fixed in the hotfix tomorrow.
Thanks guys so much for support! Tefel (Terad Games)
New movement, docking transfer, near stations detection, snap/decal rotation
Hey Astro Colonists!
The game just received a big update with plenty of improvements! Movement system was completely reworked, docking stations can now transfer utilities (electricity, water and gas), decals and snap elements are now correctly rotated and pasted with a new rotation. In addition, there are many fixes and optimization improvements!
Please check the list below:
NEW MOVEMENT SYSTEM
The movement system was redone to make it smoother and remove glitches in low framerate scenarios. In high-velocity situations, character could be pushed back, diagonal movement could be a little bit shaky. With new improvements, the movement is more reliable and has fewer network updates, which is good for network traffic.
There are also small changes like:
Character is moving a little bit faster (max move velocity 1400, before 1100)
Booster max speed is capped to 11000 matching previous
Ctrl key is now slowing down the character, useful with gravity boots, harpoon or when station elements needs to be precisely placed
Please let me know if any corrections need to be made!
NEAR STATION CONSTRUCTION DETECTION
Many new players coming to the game tried to drag elements from one docked station to another. This resulted in missing functionality, since conveyor belts belonged to two different stations. Right now, each time the system detects constructed elements near another station object or planet terrain, it will show a warning symbol (arrow).
This should help players to understand that the docking station needs to be used to transfer resources (conveyor belts), electricity, water, and gas.
To ensure that player knows where object belongs, it is showing station name for all looked at objects.
DOCKING CAN TRANSFER ELECTRICITY/WATER/GAS
Each docking station got new functionality to transfer utilities:
Harpoon connector - can now configure electricity transferred (max 20)
Docking station - can transfer electricity (max 100), water (max 100)
Adv. docking station - can transfer electricity (max (max 1000), water (max 100), gas (max 100)
Transferring is configurable, so it allows transferring the required amount easily from one station to another. For example, all water can be pumped from one station to another and then to a third.
SNAP ROTATION & DECALS PREVIEW + ROTATION
Before the update, only snap elements could be rotated via the menu. Picked elements did not paste rotation, but only size.
Right now, decals are fully supporting rotation. Both decals and snap elements can be rotated 90 deg using R key. Pasted objects are keeping original rotation. Preview of pasted rotation is also showing correct construction result. The constructed decal is now shown with a decal preview.
FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS
Finally fixed crash related to Apex Destruction when too many debris are spawned.
Fixed crash related to copying player data from single player savegame to dedicated server
It was a very busy week, so I hope you will like the changes. Please let me know if you encounter any issues on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/EFzAA3w
Thanks guys so much for support! Tefel (Terad Games)
Hey Astro Colonists! It's time to announce a Developer stream during the ongoing Steam Replayability Festival! The game just received another update, which is making it more stable and performant.
IMPROVEMENTS
MOD HUB button (H) is now re-bindable
Saving is now faster and saves less data. The game is checking if objects are modified, it is skipping them completely.
Optimized loading for elements updating adjacent cells like floors, foundations, cables, pipes, water tanks
Removing savegames from the list selects the previous element
Multiplayer client is now showing resources picked by miners
Multiplayer client is correctly updating extracted deposits numbers
Fixed an issue where upgraded robots could get stuck in the upgrader
Migration screen is now more responsive
This Sunday, 21 CET I will be streaming live Astro Colony! It's a great opportunity to find out more about this base-building game, where you need to automate your colony while exploring an endless procedurally generated voxel Universe!
Don't forget to try the new demo created for the Festival! Please wish me good luck and don't forget to come over to say hello!
Thank you very much for your constant support! Terad Games
SANDBOX MODE - STEAM ENDLESS REPLAYABILITY FEST
Hey Astro Colonists!
For the last 2 weeks, the game has been preparing to participate in the festival on Steam! Endless Replayability Fest seems to be the perfect fit for Astro Colony. Thanks to the procedural generation and an infinite number of planet combinations, the game offers great opportunities to play it over and over again.
The game receives a SANDBOX mode. More experienced players will be able to create blueprints with access to all technologies and devices. New players can check out what the game has to offer! Sandbox mode is perfect for everyone who just wants to be creative!
Check the list below to find out what's new in the game
GAME MODES - SANDBOX
There are 3 game modes to select when starting the new game:
SURVIVAL - The default mode of the game. Unlock technologies and get resources to pay the cost of buildings and construction.
CONSTRUCTION - There is no construction cost, but progression is still required through unlocking the tech tree technologies.
SANDBOX - Total freedom to allow your creativity to explode! There is no build cost, and all technologies are unlocked.
ENDLESS REPLAYABILITY FEST
Astro Colony is participating in the Endless Replayability Festival. It has a new Demo, Sandbox mode, updated Modkit. Please don't miss opportunity to try the demo and if you like it, get the game with a discount!
DEMO 3.0
The new demo with new tools and progression has been released! It's the perfect opportunity to try the game, if you haven't yet!
MODKIT
Modkit is now supporting all latest changes. Check out more about modding here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZDhyMEZzLPiHIUOYyHeiAVVUIPFvbwLul9WAgymHazI
Improvements & fixes
Mass migration and transferring bots UI is performant, refreshing only updated bots
Fixed an issue where the terrain of a planet in another universe was interactive
Improved multi-dimension data - not showing bots that are in another universe
Multiplayer speed limited to x1 only to avoid desync issues
New SANDBOX mode unlocking all technologies
Improved Demo 3.0 - new tools, technologies and progression
Please don't forget to leave a review if you played a game and enjoyed it, so it can be supported for years to come!
Thanks guys so much for support! Tefel (Terad Games)
Mass Migration, ramp drag construction and more!
Hey Astro Colonists!
The game just received massive update with more improvements! There are new systems in the game, like Mass Astronauts/bots migration, drag construction for ramps, mass bot upgrading, mass astronaut training, and more.
Please check this article to find out more!
MASS ASTRONAUTS/BOTS MIGRATION
Migrating many bots/astronauts before this update wasn't an easy task. As you may know each AI is looking for a job and can migrate when finding one - for example miners to the mine, scientists to the laboratory. That was the only mechanic that could help with migrating many drones. But what about transport drones, newcomers etc? You could use menu in the Astronauts panel (P). As you can see, only one selected astronaut could be migrated. It requires many click.
With new mass migration, you decide: where to migrate, how many bots, what status (idle, all), and station.
RAMP DRAG CONSTRUCTION/SELECTION
Before the update, 12 different construction modes were present in the game, allowing players to construct vertical/horizontal lines, boxes, floors, walls, diagonal, snap elements, single and custom. Two more are now present! Creating RAMP LINES!
Improvements
Mass migration system allowing to migrate multiple bots/astronauts at once
Two new drag systems for ramps
Migration in multiplayer is fully implmeneted
Improved copy/pasting for some properties with triggers - ex. dedicated specialist count
Making visuals subtle and not visible behind other surfaces. https://i.imgur.com/i4qdoOd.png
School has multiplier buttons and can add many trained astronauts
Bots upgrader has multiplier buttons and can add many trained astronauts
Bug fixes
Fixed issue where re-tried pathfinind would remove small elements like pipes/cables
Fixed issues with objects created "far away," preventing incorrectly constructed objects
Fixed Host Server & Dedicated server players counter
Fixed issue where parked bots (locked) would be called after undocking/docking
Fixed an issue where, after loading, Player wouldn't be attached to the space station
Fixed issue where pathfining points wouldn't update after digging terrain
Fixed issues where transferred humans would not show heads anymore
Fixed an issue where trained humans would not update professions for Clients
New validation for blueprints to prevent crashes
Fixed lights starting station
Please don't forget to leave a review if you played a game and enjoyed it, so it can be supported for years to come!
Tonight stream (Sunday) 9PM CET
I will stream again, showing new tools that just came to the game, continuing a previously started game! Please wish me good luck and check the stream on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Tefel
Thanks guys so much for support! Tefel (Terad Games)
Improvements + Linux Dedicated Server + Developer stream #2
Hey Astro Colonists!
It was a busy few days focusing mainly on fixing reported bugs.
Firstly, I would love to thank everyone who contributed in improving Astro Colony. Without your bug reports and feedback it wouldn't be possible!
LINUX DEDICATED SERVER IS NOW ON STEAM
I promised to add Linux Dedicated Server to Steam directly, so there is no need of getting files from google drive anymore. The day has come! You can grab Linux Dedicated Server from Steam already.
Below I share with you some of the changes which makes the game way more stable. Blueprint Designer for multiplayer is now reliable and should not cause crashes when using it. Exploring other dimensions are now possible in multiplayer, where other players should also get technology tree expanded.
IMPROVEMENTS
Improved pathfinding for bots, increasing efficiency by 90% and ensuring that long requests are not blocking other
Improved resource requests for bots and pasting
Improved various UI visibility issues (slider, texts, button) to not block interactions
Each time Idle bot is requested is finding the closest to the building (bots upgrader, school)
New sanitize systems to make savegames and blueprints compatible
FIXES
Fixed crash related to removal of Mines with drones assigned
Fixed crash related to loading recycling machine with invalid item
Fixed multiplayer issue where client traveling to the next universe didn't have tech tree revealed
Fixed multiplayer blueprint
Fixed camera mode issue where game get stuck when going to the map
Fixed issue where copy pasted properties would not be handled (dedicated specialist, resource requests)
Fixed Astronauts menu to register AIs and migration tab
Fixed issue of voxel selection tool - where rotated box would allow moving arrows
Stream starts today (Sunday) at 20CET (8PM)
Last but not least, I decided to stream the game for you guys, showing new game and progressing enough to reach at least the next dimension! I will try to be better prepared with some blueprints, so my setup will be easier to digest ;)
For people who have Steam broadcasting issues, it's also on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/Tefel
Funny moment when fixing bugs...
Thanks guys so much for support! Tefel (Terad Games)
