Hey Drifters, We know the game has always been a bit tricky to jump into, especially with the tutorial being sparse and features often changing throughout development. That’s why I’m glad to finally say the Tutorial is now live!
New and returning players: you can now dive in with a custom experience that will walk you through the early stages of building your floating town, covering the basics with dialogue and objectives.
Alongside the tutorial, we’ve revamped parts of the UI. We've reworked the notifications (since they often felt more like a nuisance than helpful info), and refreshed the Fish Farm UI to make it easier to navigate. Plus, we’ve squashed bugs, made other UI improvements, and updated localization across the board!
What's next?
There’s a reason we’ve been hard at work on the tutorial! Its dialogue and quest systems are setting the foundation for something bigger: the narrative! We’re currently testing small drifter quests, a larger story arc, and more.
In addition, we’re currently testing the re-introduction of Pollution. This feature has always been a bit tricky too, so we’re planning to roll it out on the experimental branch soon to let it marinate. This way we can fine-tune and iterate on it together. Sea you soon!
Early Access 0.8.5: Tutorial
This patch focuses on making the game more accessible with the introduction of a tutorial and various UI/QoL adjustments to help new players start a floating town.
Tutorial
A tutorial has been added, which can be started from the Main Menu. This custom experience will walk you through the basics of building your floating town, with dialogue and quests!
Added the 'Tutorial Pages'. A dedicated panel for in-depth information on gameplay features.
Removed old tutorial pages from the 'Survival Guide'. The 'Survival Guide' has now been renamed to 'Glossary' to better reflect its revised function.
Added a '?' button to various panels. These will open the relevant tutorial page for quick access to information.
Added various new animations for drifters in dialogue.
Localization
All supported languages have been updated to include translations for the new tutorial and tutorial pages.
Fixed and updated several missing translations from the previous localization update.
Fixed various UI elements that were displaying incorrectly in languages other than the default.
Various other small localization improvements.
Misc
Starting a new game will now trigger a dialogue asking to name the town.
Behind the scenes: created a dialogue system.
Behind the scenes: created a quest system.
Changed tutorial video codecs to VP8 to allow for multi-platform usage.
When the game is paused, changing it to any other speed will now un-pause it.
UI
Added a Quest Objective tracker.
Added dialogue UI.
Reworked notifications. We felt that the notifications would often clog up too much of the screen and act like a nuisance rather than give insight into the town's state. Now, notifications no longer stack on the side of your screen. It's now a single line which you can hover over to see all previous notifications.
Reworked the Fish Farm panel UI to make it easier and less confusing to use. The functionality has not changed.
Various other UI improvements.
Fixes
Fixed issue where deconstructing or upgrading buildings with decorations on them (housing) would not get done by drifters.
Fixed issue where moving down with joystick in the options menu caused the menu to glitch shortly.
Fixed issue where the Save button would open a deprecated save panel when there was no save to overwrite.
Fixed issue where going into an overlay and back using DPAD would keep the color overlay when switching back to default view.
Fixed issue with the producer panel where the ‘-1’ button incorrectly removed the first queued recipe instead of the last. Also resolved issue where right-clicking to remove a specific queued recipe removed the wrong one.
Fixed issue where expertise points would get assigned on opening the drifter expertise panel with joystick.
Fixed issue where resetting the camera to the town would not work when the game is paused.
Fixed issue where the inventory top-bar would partially not have a background when you had too many items in joystick mode.
Fixed issue where buildings would get insta-constructed when cancelling salvage too early.
Fixed issue where where keys or glyphs would display as numbers when loading a save.
Fixed issue where time could not be controlled with shortcuts in the map.
Fixed issue where some language characters were not showing properly.
Fixed issue where where buildings, after a canceled deconstruction, could not be deconstructed again.
Fixed issue where the Glossary had duplicate entries for the same building.
Fixed issue where deconstruct icon sometimes wouldn't show above buildings.
Fixed issue where 'export blocked' warnings above buildings would stay even when it was no longer blocked.
Fixed issue where Glossary titles were invisible.
0.8.5: Tutorial is ready for testing!
0.8.5e1: Tutorial
Hey Drifters, We know the game has always been a bit tricky to jump into, especially with the tutorial being sparse and features often changing throughout development. That’s why I’m glad to finally introduce the Tutorial in this update! A custom experience that will walk you through the early stages of building your floating town, covering the basics with dialogue and objectives.
Alongside the tutorial, we’ve revamped parts of the UI. We've reworked the notifications (since they often felt more like a nuisance than helpful info), and refreshed the Fish Farm UI to make it easier to navigate. Plus, we’ve squashed bugs, made other UI improvements, and updated localization across the board!
What's next?
There’s a reason we’ve been hard at work on the tutorial! Its dialogue and quest systems are setting the foundation for something bigger: the narrative! We’re currently testing small drifter quests, a larger story arc, and more. Sea you soon!
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This patch is still in development and can be tested on the experimental branch to give feedback.
This is how you can enable the experimental branch of Flotsam. This will only work when you're not in a game: 1. Open Steam Library 2. Right click Flotsam 3. Select Properties 4. Go to tab 'Betas' at the top. 5. Select 'Experimental' in the drop-down.
Early Access 0.8.5e1: Tutorial
This patch focuses on making the game more accessible with the introduction of a tutorial and various UI/QoL adjustments to help new players start a floating town.
Tutorial
A tutorial has been added, which can be started from the Main Menu. This custom experience will walk you through the basics of building your floating town, with dialogue and quests!
Added the 'Tutorial Pages'. A dedicated panel for in-depth information on gameplay features.
Removed old tutorial pages from the 'Survival Guide'. The 'Survival Guide' has now been renamed to 'Glossary' to better reflect its revised function.
Added a '?' button to various panels. These will open the relevant tutorial page for quick access to information.
Added various new animations for drifters in dialogue.
Localization
All supported languages have been updated to include translations for the new tutorial and tutorial pages.
Fixed and updated several missing translations from the previous localization update.
Fixed various UI elements that were displaying incorrectly in languages other than the default.
Various other small localization improvements.
Misc
Starting a new game will now trigger a dialogue asking to name the town.
Behind the scenes: created a dialogue system.
Behind the scenes: created a quest system.
Changed tutorial video codecs to VP8 to allow for multi-platform usage.
When the game is paused, changing it to any other speed will now un-pause it.
UI
Added a Quest Objective tracker.
Added dialogue UI.
Reworked notifications. We felt that the notifications would often clog up too much of the screen and act like a nuisance rather than give insight into the town's state. Now, notifications no longer stack on the side of your screen. It's now a single line which you can hover over to see all previous notifications.
Reworked the Fish Farm panel UI to make it easier and less confusing to use. The functionality has not changed.
Various other UI improvements.
Fixes
Fixed issue where deconstructing or upgrading buildings with decorations on them (housing) would not get done by drifters.
Fixed issue where moving down with joystick in the options menu caused the menu to glitch shortly.
Fixed issue where the Save button would open a deprecated save panel when there was no save to overwrite.
Fixed issue where going into an overlay and back using DPAD would keep the color overlay when switching back to default view.
Fixed issue with the producer panel where the ‘-1’ button incorrectly removed the first queued recipe instead of the last. Also resolved issue where right-clicking to remove a specific queued recipe removed the wrong one.
Fixed issue where expertise points would get assigned on opening the drifter expertise panel with joystick.
Fixed issue where resetting the camera to the town would not work when the game is paused.
Fixed issue where the inventory top-bar would partially not have a background when you had too many items in joystick mode.
Fixed issue where buildings would get insta-constructed when cancelling salvage too early.
Fixed issue where where keys or glyphs would display as numbers when loading a save.
0.8.4: QoL: Localization OUT NOW!
0.8.4: QoL: Localization
Hey Drifters, Here's a Quality of Life update that brings the localization up to date and includes various improvements and fixes for it, supporting different fonts and languages. Some text, including content added in 0.8.3, remains untranslated but will be addressed in the next update. Both the tutorial and feature information are also currently untranslated, because they are being reworked and will see updates and improvements in the next release.
Enjoy!
What's next?
As mentioned above, our next update will be a small Quality of Life patch improving the tutorial and feature information. After that we're looking at brining pollution back and starting up the narrative :)
Early Access 0.8.4 Localization
Localization
Updated localization for French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portugese (br), Russian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Adjusted some fonts to increase readability.
Tweaked baseline and spacing on some fonts.
Fixed issue where text shown next to the hotkeys or controller buttons was missing in some languages.
Fixed issue where subheaders and tab titles did not change to the required fonts in some languages.
Fixed issue where panel titles and selection labels did not fall back to the required fonts in some languages.
Fixed issue where save slot and load slot names were empty in some languages.
Fixed issue where research node titles were too small in some languages.
Fixed issue where text in landmarks and some other panels was extremely tiny in some languages due to an incorrectly set override.
Fixed issue where text in the Fishfarm's Broodstock Panel and the Farm's Water Distribution Panel was missing in some languages.
Fixed issue where Drifter Diets title was not properly set.
Fixed issue where switching languages in the dropdown menu resulted in seeing square symbols in some languages.
Standardized the size of malfunction and warning messages for buildables to prevent a twitchy panel.
Fixed issue where building names were missing in the construction tooltip in some languages.
Fixed an issue where loading a save in a non-English language would revert building names in the building panel back to English.
Adjusted the construction tooltip to accommodate building descriptions in all languages.
Fixes
Fixed issue where all drifters would go idle when loading a save with a building in limbo, similar to the fix in 0.8.3f2.
0.8.3f2
Hey drifters,
A sneaky annoying bug snuck in, where buildings remained in a limbo state and not finish properly after saving and loading. This fix will ensure that those buildings get finished and the bug no longer occurs :)
Early Access 0.8.3f2
Fixes
Fixed issue where buildings would remain in a limbo state and not construct or deconstruct properly after saving and loading the game.
Misc
Improved Salad Spinner Animation.
Small improvements to the UI.
0.8.3f1
Hey Drifters,
Just a quick patch fixing two annoying issues:
Early Access 0.8.3f1
Fixes
Fixed issue where Botany would be disabled for all drifters after saving/loading.
Fixed annoyance where the growth of plants would have the building sound effect.
Misc
Improved Fryer animation.
New Introduction Trailer!
We’ve updated our introduction trailer for Flotsam!
The previous one was 4+ years old and was really starting to show its age. So, DIVE IN and take a looksie :)
0.8.2: QoL OUT NOW!
0.8.3: QoL
Hey Drifters, Here's a small Quality of Life update that continues on 0.8: Farming and 0.8.2: The Chef. Crops will no longer be temporarily found in supermarkets. Instead, you can now find them at landmarks in rural regions. We've also added a Mill that mills wheat into flour, creating a more streamlined process for producing Yummy food.
Bon appetit!
What's next?
There's still a much-needed update needed to the localization, as some languages have been lagging behind. They will get a welcome refresh soon! However, certain parts, such as the Survival Guide, may still be untranslated as we're planning to expand the tutorial and information sections of the game shortly after. So localization will be updated in chunks over the month of July :)
Early Access 0.8.3: QoL
0.8.3 introduces several Quality of Life (QoL) improvements, farming additions, fixes, and miscellaneous changes.
Quality of Life
Buoy markers now retain drifter amount and radius settings. When placing a buoy marker, it will use the most recent settings.
Multiple drifters can now be assigned to construct a building.
The Town Tugger now displays an error if it is not connected to the Townheart's energy grid.
Added a toggle in the Options Panel to force Keyboard and Mouse Input.
Small performance increases when navigating the Map.
The offscreen direction pointer for the town can now be clicked to pan the camera to the center of the town.
Landmarks now toggled default to Boats when out of swimming range.
Farming Additions
The Rural Region now features Farmland landmarks containing crops.
Drifter and supermarket landmarks have been significantly reduced in the Rural Region, as they are primarily intended for City regions.
New Construction: Mill. The Mill slowly processes wheat into flour.
Flour now replaces wheat as an ingredient in certain food recipes.
Slight rebalances to the food pipeline for various recipes.
Supermarkets no longer provide crops for salvage.
New Decoration: Tulips. A small addition that complements the new Mill :)
New Recipe: Potato Salad. An ordinary meal made with Potato and Seaweed.
Fixes
Fixed issue where some buildings stayed selected because they had a possible energy connection when closing their panel.
Fixed issue where you couldn't close the settings panel when switching input.
Misc
Slightly reduced the Watchtower vision range.
Added Fryer animation.
0.8.2f1
Hey Drifters!
Here's a small hotfix patch for The Chef, addressing the sleeping drifters bug, flotsam/map discrepancy, and some ESC key issues. :)
Early Access 0.8.2f1
Fixes
Fixed issue where drifters would not wake up.
Fixed issue where flotsam patches were visible on the map, but not in the game view.
Fixed issue where pressing [ESC] after tabbing through drifters would trigger the pause menu rather than close the drifter menu.
The Building Menu is now also closed by pressing [esc].
Fixed issue where the veggie salad was not counted in the food counter.
Stray Fawn Strategy Sale
Hey Drifters!
A BLESSING FROM STEAM! The Stray Fawn Strategy Bundle is featured as a Daily Deal today :D To celebrate, there's a crazy discount on the bundle:
It’s a 'complete the set' bundle bundle which means you can still benefit from the discount even if you already own some of the games.
Whether you grab the bundle or not, definitely check out the other games inside and give them a try!
Driftwood dreams, Llama's in Pajamas
0.8.2: The Chef OUT NOW!
0.8.2: The Chef
Hey Drifters, Continuing on the food improvements, we bring you: The Chef. To better manage food in the endgame, you can now prioritize what your drifters eat. This is similar as to prioritizing their duties. Additionally, every drifter now has a favorite food that gives them a big morale boost when they eat it!
We've added three new crops; Potatoes, Tomatoes and Wheat. The food pipeline has been rebalanced, with new dishes for the Food Truck and a new building: the "Fancy Restaurant" :) A place where you can create culinary food and even add your own decorations on top.
Bon appetit!
What's next?
For now, crops like corn and potatoes can be found on supermarket landmarks. Instead of this we're planning to add new landmarks to the rural region for these crops. We originally planned for an additional region, but found it too similar to the rural one.
These will come with a much-needed update to the localization, Some languages have been lagging behind, and they'll now receive a welcome refresh. However, certain parts, such as the Survival Guide, may still be untranslated as we're planning to expand the tutorial and information sections of the game shortly after. So localization will be updated in chunks over the month of June :)
Early Access 0.8.2: The Chef
This patch introduces the Chef, a fancy restaurant, favorite and culinary food!
The Chef
Added culinary food, a step above yummy food. Drifters eating this high-end food will gain a highly positive morale modifier.
Drifters now have a favorite food. Drifters that eat their favorite food will gain a highly positive morale modifier.
Added the Drifter Food Priorities Panel, where you can set priorities on what drifters eat.
New construction: Fancy Restaurant. A place where you can create culinary food, as well as place decorations on top.
New construction: Fryer. You can fry potatoes and fish here, used as ingredients for some yummy and culinary food.
New specialist: The Chef. The Chef currently has +10 to cooking, the requirement to unlock the Fancy Restaurant.
New Crops: Potato, Tomato, Wheat.
Iterated upon current food pipeline to integrate the culinary foods and new ingredients.
Temporarily added the new crop items to supermarket landmarks.
Added new decorations: Pic-Nic Table, Restaurant Table.
Fixes
Fixed issue where loading old saves sometimes lead to landmarks being unusable.
Fixed issue on the map, where salvage icons would be created for finished duties.
Fixed issue with OFF icons not always showing above buildings that were turned off.
Fixed issue when starting a new game, the inventory top-bar would show empty icons from the previous game.
Fixed issue where a dead drifter could cause the town movement to mismatch between the map and default view.
Fixed issue where border decorations could not be placed after a decoration was placed.
Fixed issue where placement of decorations could break on constructions with non-matching width and height deco slots.
Fixed issue where drifters in portraits could sometimes get stuck in T-pose or paused animation.
Fixed issue where volume setting was not loaded until Game Options panel was opened.
Fixed issue where deconstructing a field where a drifter was headed to harvest would bug out the drifter.
