v0.5.0.0 update will be released tomorrow 14th September, probably in late evening (Europe timezone).
As you already know, the main feature added is the ability to build a shelter, but the changelog is quite massive! I've already covered part of it in the previous announcement, you'll have the chance to fully read it tomorrow (if you have 30 min of spare time :P).
For now, just enjoy a couple of new screenshots:
Daniel
Progress to next update!
Development is proceeding steadily, next update will feature the shelter system and many improvements!
You will be able to build walls and a roof to be protected from the environment and predators:
If you check the HUD, the insulation takes into account proximity to walls and clothes, but if you are close to any other "insulator" like boulders or the volcano, it also contributes to it, just as before.
The new build system allows to place a structure where you please:
One of the additional changes of this update is the new character info screen, which migrated all the advanced info as metabolism, muscle, fat, weight and skills to this new windows you can check pressing Tab:
A good reason to do this, is that the character variables and skill will increase as the game is developed, so they needed a bigger place. Also, every variable now shows a detailed description (via tooltip) of it, more advanced than both the previous tutorial and the character creation screen (which have been updated as well).
This is still a WIP and some additional info may be added before the release of the update, and things could change (for the better, of course!). Also, the previous HUD on the right side of the screen is now gone... you can only check the advanced info in the info screen, which makes more sense.
There are literally TONS of improvements in this update, and the number is increasing every day, one of the most prominent ones is the new way objects interact with the "solid" obstacles like boulders, improved dynamic shadows, improved character animation and sprite shape, many fixes and rebalancing, and refined interface for the Survival mode.
As I've anticipated in the previous announcement, since this is a big and important update, the release will shift to 10-14th September. I know some of you are eager to check the new stuff, but I want to polish it as much as I can before releasing it! Also, from now on, major updates like this one will normally take a whole month to be completed and released, while "normal" ones will still take around two weeks.
Will keep you updated as much as possible in the upcoming days before the release, but remember: the less I lurk around here, the more I'm working on the game ;).
New update, reworking and expanding the ambience sounds, adding the ability to drag animal corpses, and rebalancing several ecological variables, as well as making tons of tweaks and fixes!
This update is NOT compatible with old savegames!
(major glitches and bugs may occur if you try to load a previous save)
Click HERE for the changelog.
Click HERE for the video devlog.
Things are getting interesting: next update will introduce the essential Shelter System, which will allow to build walls and a roof to protect yourself and your stuff from the environment and predators. This will require a little more work than the average update, so it is likely it won't be ready on 31th August, but I will do my best to meet the timeline!
Daniel
Survival Guide!
The Steam user PhantomRaptor is working on a complete guide for DinoSystem. I'm quite impressed by the dedication and effort put into it and I urge you to give it a look. It's great to have such a helpful community, even if still small! The guide is so well done and complete, that you could just skip the in-game tutorial and read it instead.
About the next update, I'm thinking about anticipating its release a little bit, probably on 13th, so I have more time to focus on the next one, which will require more work than usual as it will include the shelter building system.
Daniel
Hotfix v0.4.7.1
Just a little hotfix for the recent major update, fixing a potentially gamebreaking bug that prevented the character sleep, some typos, and improving the map generation load times, which some users reported being too long after the update.
Please keep the reports coming, I will release another hotfix, if necessary, before moving to add new stuff ;).
Daniel
Update v0.4.7.0 - Fishing, backpack and more!
2d major Steam update, introducing fishing, the backpack for carrying more items, and a new setting that, if enabled, takes a snapshot of the island every 4 ingame days, allowing you to create a "island history" slideshow!
As usual, the update also adds a substancial number of tweaks, improvements and fixes, so make sure to read the changelog below for the full list.
This update is NOT compatible with old savegames!
(major glitches and bugs may occur if you try to load one)
Click HERE for the changelog.
Click HERE for the video devlog.
For the next 15 days I will work on consolidating and polishing the game, and improve the ambience sounds which are quite monotonous now. This means the next update will not be very big, but only on the surface, since it will lay the fundations for the Shelter system (which will be added later) and many other future additions!
As always, make sure to check the forum and report bugs, deliver suggestions or just whine because a T-Rex killed you while sleeping ;).
Daniel
Update v0.4.6.0 - First aid, improved sprites, new settings!
This is a major update, finally bringing the ability to stop bleeding (with bandages), new graphics options for scalability, enhanced animal sprites and many, many tweaks, improvements and fixes!
This update is NOT compatible with old savegames!
(major glitches and bugs may occur if you try to load one)
Click HERE for the changelog.
Click HERE for the video devlog.
About the bag system, I wasn't able to complete it yet; it will be in the next update! Remember that if you need to store leaves and prevent them from blowing away with the wind, just place the on a Fire Pit (with no fire lit), before the bag is implemented.
Make sure to report any bugs, English mistakes or anything you encounter, I'll be polishing this build in the upcoming days before working to the next big update!
Daniel
New T-Rex sprites!
Next major update is close to release (15th july). One of the things I'm working on is the new Tyrannosaurus Rex sprite. It is more detailed than the old one, and much more anatomically accurate; the previous one was similiar to how the Tyrannosaurus is depicted in cartoons, and therefore quite unrealistic. It was also natively very low-res.
Although I'm not intentioned to revert back to the old one, I still want to know what you think about the new one, and how it looks compared to the previous sprite.
Also the carcass and skeletons have been overhauled both to match the new T-Rex sprite, and to be considerably more detailed, so reverting to the old sprite would force me to use the old, ugly carcass+skel graphics!
Bi-weekly updates
After reading your feedback in the previous announcement, I've decided to adopt bi-weekly updates with dev-logs. 14 days are more than enough to stack-up improvements and add a main feature.
Next major update will come around 15th July and will bring the First Aid system, new graphics options, and lots of tweaks and polishing!
Daniel
Update frequency - need feedback
Hello survivors!
I'm posting this to have your opinion about something.
For the last 18 months, I worked on DinoSystem pretty much every day, and I'm totally committed to continue this way. This means I could upload updates very frequently, as I started doing after the Early Access.
There are few problems with this workflow though: feature/content updates, even smaller ones, can break savegame compatibility. Also, frequent updates make more difficulty for me to track the cause of a reported issue and get useful feedback on a feature just implemented, since smaller updates will force me to upload half-finished or unpolished features.
My idea is to adopt a monthly update model, like the one of Prison Architect, with a big list of additions and tweaks, possibly regarding a specific area of the game.
On top of that, I would record youtube vlogs to highlight the changes/additions of the new major update (again, just like Prison Architect). The problem is that my English isn't very good, but it would be a chance for me to practice it.
This doesn't mean that if you find a gamebreaking bug it will not be fixed until the end of the month, as smaller updates will be periodically released to fix major problems or make essential tweaks, if and when necessary.
So, let me know what you think about this: constant, smaller updates, or monthly, bigger ones + vlog?
