Greetings from the "game development cave"! It's been far too long since I posted an announcement, so I figured it was high time that I do so. There's been quite a bit going on behind the scenes over the past few months, but we are still in the thick of it so to speak.
One major bit of news is that I was able to work closely with a really awesome game designer who has tons of experience designing game systems. This experience was very helpful, and he was able to really help clarify some key aspects of the game design and flesh out the vision for some of the key game design details.
Game design spreadsheets! How exciting!
On the development side, most of the work has gone into building out the multi-block machine systems, and really fleshing out the way that the player can design and build assembly lines to produce power, materials and items. A lot of this touches very 'core' game systems so it has been slow going. It's slowly coming together however, and I think the end result is going to be a whole lot of fun.
WARNING: Includes programmer art. An example of a multi-machine setup, generating power from wind energy.
I'm not precisely sure when the next update will go live, but I'm hopeful it won't be too far away, and I'm excited to get it out there and share it with everyone.
-Trev
Dev Update #20 Patch Day!
Hey all, by the time you read this a new patch should be working it's way to you through Steams servers. Several new features made it into this patch:
Grappling Hook
A craftable Grappling Hook has been added to the game. The Grappling Hook allows for a lot more mobility while traversing the level, and is fairly cheap to acquire early on in the game. It will likely get another tuning pass at some point, but it is quite fun to use and I am interested to hear your feedback on it.
You can check out a longer video of the grapple in actions here:
https://youtu.be/Ou2e_Crm32k
Unstable Blocks
Some buildings have a chance to spawn unstable blocks which can fail/collapse when walked on. There are some audio/visual cues that telegraph this to the player so that falling can be avoided.
If you step on an unsbale block, you'll have a couple seconds to move before it collapses.
Save Slots Can Be Deleted
Unwanted/unused save files can now be deleted (yay). The game asks you for confirmation before deleting your save game, but the deletion is permanent so use caution.
Faster Load Times On Some Hardware
Changes were made behind the scenes with loading, that should net faster load times on some hardware. These changes will also remove some major annoyances with how the chunk authoring was being accomplished internally, and allow for faster iteration of level design work.
-Trev
Dev Update #19
Hey all, I've been busy behind the scenes coming out of the holidays getting things figured out and ready for the next patch, and I wanted to share some info on what will be coming.
This patch will focus on the exploration aspect of the game, so one of the primary things that I want to include is the craftable grappling hook. Along with the ledge mantling and wall running that is already in the game, the grappling hook will allow you to have much better mobility when exploring the map. The grappling hook will also be the first of many major items that are crafted with parts from the metal casting bench. The primary function of this device is that you can shoot out a grapple, and pull yourself up/over gaps and obstacles. This added mobility should be a lot of fun when it comes to exploring the world.
Along with the grappling hook, there will be a few new environmental hazards planned, which should help give the grappling gun some purpose as you explore the map and tweak the risk/reward balance in a fun way.
There are also a few behind-the-scenes changes to map loading that that will be included in the next update with should improve load times in some situations.
Dev Update #18 Patch Day!
Game Features and Changes
Engine Upgrade
This patch, we made a major move to a much more up-to-date version of the game engine. While not immediately apparent from the outside, this is an important accomplishment because it means the game will now have the benefit of all of the engine-level bug fixes, and features that the more up-to-date version of Unreal Engine offers. Internally, there was a lot of work done to help ensure everything still works as expected and properly on this new version of the engine.
Spawn Point Changes
In new games, you will now have the ability to change and set your spawn point, by placing the Bioprinter down at the desired location. If no Bioprinter is available in the level, your character will spawn back at the starting location in the ship upon death. In the future, spawn points are planned to be craftable items.
Story Elements
Players in new games will now have the ability to control the station's life support power level to some extent. This ties in to story content which is slowly being added to the game.
Early Game Re-Balance
While the game is designed to be punishing, the first hour or so of the game felt a bit to difficult for new players, so various things have been adjusted to help players get their feet under them before the game becomes too difficult, including:
-Food now lasts longer
-Fuel burn time has been buffed
-Some plant-growing recipes are now a little less costly to make
Other
-Added icon for encrypted data pads
-Added game title upon exiting ship for the first time
-New story dialogs added
-Block placing is now more consistent for certain blocks
Dev Update #17: Progress Report
Things have been busy on my end getting ready for the next patch at the end of the month, but I wanted to make a quick update and talk about some of the things that are in-progress over here.
Besides the regular bug fixes, one of the key pieces of content that will be in the next release is the ability to set your spawn point. You'll initially spawn next to a bio-printer (pictured below) and you'll have the ability to move this device to change your spawn point.
Early game difficulty is also getting a small tune-up to give players a little bit more breathing room during the first few minutes of the game, while they are still learning the mechanics.
One of the main focuses this patch will be story and lore content, so I'm also hoping there will be a hefty chunk of new content in that department to discover and interact with on the station.
Dev Update #16 Patch Day!
Build 0.1.5.0 is up! There are lots of new things to check out in this build.
New Content:
New Crafting Tree: Botany
NOTE: You'll need to start a new game in order to acquire the seeds from the chests to fully utilize this tree.
It is now possible to grow your own plants using the items in this tree. It takes a bit of work to keep the plants growing happily, which will be a key driver of the need to upgrade to automated machines and systems later on.
New Items
There are quite a few new obtainable items in the game now, as a part of the new crafting tree:
Tabbed Crafting Menu
Each crafting tree now gets it's own tab in the crafting table. This should make it easier to find the recipe you are looking for, and will help guide new players to the early-game items.
Guidebooks
Each crafting tree can now have a guidebook that will display relevant information about that tree. The first tree to include a guidebook is the Botany tree.
[B]Better Block Rotation
This will not be the last iteration of block placing and rotation, but I've added the ability to rotate blocks in 2 axis using the Numpad keys, which is an improvement over the old system.
Invert Mouselook Several of you have asked for this feature, and I've added it to the game. If can be found in the settings menu.
Other Fixes and Changes
-Fixed placing behavior for crafting benches
-All menu settings should save and restore now
-Fixed: Benches now properly shut off their audio when a construction is halted by removing an item from bench
-Furnace health has been buffed
-Added tooltips for various blocks to indicate source in world and use
I hope you like the new content, and as always, if you have feedback I would love to hear it.
-Trev
Dev Update 15: October 26th Patch Roadmap
Hey All,
I wanted to do a quick update and talk about what I hope to include in the next patch, which is scheduled for October 26th.
[H1]Growing System[/H1]
Currently, the main source of food and fuel in the world is through scavenging loot boxes and garbage piles. This is very much meant to be an 'early game' activity, and to that end, the next patch is slated to include a new crafting tree oriented around growing your own food.
You'll be able to find seeds in the more difficult to navigate areas of the map (rarely). Next, you'll need to create dirt (hydroponics will come later) and build a planter.
Once you've got a planter, you can't just plant the seeds and hope for the best, you'll need to protect the plants from getting too cold, and provide them with water and light.
Piping heat from your furnace to provide heat for your plants will be vital for keeping them healthy, and alive. Image Credit: Tecknowolf
The plant system is designed to be partially self-sustaining, and will provide renewable sources for certain items.
Block Placing
Also slated for the next update (hopefully), is an update to how placing rotated blocks work. Right now block rotation is quite unintuituve, and this next update should help address that, as well as allowing for the ability to rotate blocks in all directions.
A few of you have asked for Mouselook invert - I'm hoping to include this in the next update as well, unless there are some unforseen complications with it.
-Trev
Dev Update: Actually Early Access Edition!
For a small dev, early access is an important tool, because it lets me get feedback from the community on the direction of the game. There are a lot of features and content planned for Lamplight Station, and I am excited to bring you all into that process and let you be a part of it.
Early Access is just the start of things as far as Lamplight Station goes. It means that the game update releases will start happening on a more regular schedule, and development will shift in focus more towards content and stability releases now that most of the core systems are in place. The crafting tree will expand greatly, story elements will start getting introduced to the game & quality of life features like player-controlled spawn points and UI improvements should all start making an appearance in the coming weeks/months.
If you decide to pick up the game, please stop by the discord channel or forums, I would love to say 'hi' and hear what you think.
-Trev
Hotfix 0.1.4.2
Ahead of our early access launch, I've been focusing on cleaning up as many bugs as possible, and addressing any minor qaulity-of-life issues that I can. This will likely be the last patch before early access!
-Trev
[H1] Hotfix Patch Notes
-Buffed chest health
-Railings drop more pipe now
-Signs now correctly drop more signs when harvested
-Improved button readability in recipe list
-Starting area rotated so that block placing is easier in that location
-"Looked At" item label in hud no longer cuts off longer text strings
-Added HVAC pipes to started chest
-Added tutorial tooltips to furnace
-Furnace input now has label showing the fuel that it accepts
-Assembly Table and Door now use correct highlighting meshes
-Fixed bug with duplicate Assembly Table
-Removed decimal from temperature display
-Tab now opens inventory
-Reduced volume of tool breaking sound
-Windowed/Full Screen option disabled temporarily for bug fixes
Anouncement: October 12th Early Access Launch Date!
Early Access October 12th!
Since our last update, all of the critical-level bugs that our closed alpha testers have found have been addressed. Because of this, I feel that the game is finally ready to open up to early access.
There are still many things on the to-do list, and a lot of content to add to the game in the coming months, but it is time to give a larger community of people access to the game.
This is a big milestone for the project. For much of its development, this game is something I have worked on alone. Now it's time to turn this solo gig into something that a wider community of people can speak into, and enjoy, and that's exciting!
