Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. I’ve been hard at work on what was supposed to be a patch update. The result, however, is another content update. Whoops.
The Move It update is not exactly what was planned on the road map, but I got sidetracked with adding some new decorations and the ability to move placed objects around. There are a host of new tweaks and fixes as well. Thank you all for the amazing feedback and support. Have a merry/happy Holiday and/or Christmas! 🙂
Moving Objects
Objects can now be quickly and easily moved around. Simply click the Move Object button in the footer section of the object info panel. This allowed for easier decorating and optimizing colonist workflows. While most objects can be moved, structural objects such as walls, doors and the elevator can not be moved using the new object move function.
Decorations
The wall sign and wall poster have been added to the game. Once placed they can be configured on what to display. Some sign and poster options are unlocked as part of existing research projects.
Colonist Behavior
I’ve made a few tweaks to colonist behavior to help make them a bit quicker when gathering items and performing actions. I’ll be working on more balance-related changes in an upcoming update.
Colonists will now factor in the distance from a previous inventory position when calculating multiple inventories to pick up from or drop off to. The old method only factored in the distance from the colonist’s initial position for all checked inventories. This change should mean colonists take less time gathering items when getting the items from multiple inventory locations.
Colonist action speed has been sped up overall. They will still perform more quickly based on their level, but their overall speed range has been increased.
Each time a colonist fails to perform an action, their success chance will now increase slightly. The success chance will continue to increase until they finally succeed at the action, at which time the success chance will return to normal. This should reduce instances of colonists, especially at lower job role levels, getting into long cycles of failure when mining or crafting for example.
25% Off
Mercury Fallen is currently 25% off for the rest of the week. It’s a great time to pickup or gift a copy!
Be sure to check out the full release notes below for all of the additions, changes and fixes.
Added a “Move Object” action button to info panel footer for applicable objects. This allows the player to easily moved placed objects/machines. Structural objects like walls and flooring can’t be moved.
Robot Uprising scenario has a slightly different starting story
Overslept mission replaced with a robot specific mission in the Robot Uprising scenario
Changes
Can now copy/paste algae farm settings
Can now copy/paste aquarium settings
Beds reduce colonist fatigue a bit faster
Water flowing in conduits now brighter to better show water flow
Storage containers no longer show the “allowed items not set” icon if the container isn’t constructed yet.
Colonists will now factor in distance from previous inventory position when calculating multiple inventories to pickup from or drop off to. The old method only factored in the distance from the colonists initial position for all checked inventories.
When picking up items on the ground, colonists will now check for additional items to pick up in a larger radius.
Colonist action success chance increases by a small amount each time they fail an action until the action succeeds. This minimizes colonists getting stuck in long failure cycles.
Increased colonist work speed range. Colonists will still work faster at higher job role levels, but the over all speed has been increased.
Modding
GDGameScenario now has an intro_story tag. This is the story that will play when starting a new game with that scenario
Fixes
Fixed: Misspelling in the challenge scenario description
Fixed: Unable to reach 100% success chance for builder job role even at max level/attributes
Fixed: Colonists not choosing the closest valid target when deconstructing
Fixed: Electric consumers connecting to incorrect conduit network if two different networks are available in some instances. This caused machines to be unpowered even though they are clearly connected to a power network with power.
Fixed: Game soft locks if right-clicking a build button in the object build menu
Fixed: Active object selection still selected when selecting a new object to build
Fixed: Incorrect description for Beetle Miner vehicle
Fixed: Water flowing through conduits showing random darkened conduits in some instances
Merch, Sale & Content News
Howdy Folks!
Hope everyone applicable had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving yesterday. I had a good Thanksgiving that I spent with some family.
As a solo developer I really love sinking my teeth into developing new content and making the game great, but in order for the game to continue to be developed, I must also spend time marketing the game. Self promotion is something I struggle with, but promote I must. So onward to the marketing and a sneak peek at the end.
Autumn Sale
The Steam Autumn Sale is upon us and Mercury Fallen is now 25% off! It’s a great time to grab a copy, gift a copy and tell your friends.
Labor Of Love Nomination
Be sure to nominate Mercury Fallen for the Labor Of Love award on the store page.
Merchandise
I recently announced the release of the first wave of Mercury Fallen Merch available here. Be sure to go check it out and get some sweet merch.
Patreon
If you want to help support development of Mercury Fallen and future projects I hope to create, then be sure to become a patron. Your support, for as little as $1 a month, would be amazing.
New Content
Now for the part every one is here for. Thanks for much for not scrolling to the end to get to the good bit. As I’ve mentioned before I’m working on some smaller patch/content updates before moving on to another larger content update. In the next patch update I’ll be adding wall posters and wall signs.
Like planters and hologram emitters, you’ll be able to choose what is displayed on the sign/poster after it’s placed and constructed. Some poster/sign options will be unlocked via research. I’m also working on some additional options for the holographic emitter, but it may or may not make it into the next content update. Keep an eye out for more updates.
Thank you all for the amazing support and feedback.
Thanks for the amazing feedback on the Surface Control update. With that out the door, I’ll be focusing on smaller updates to address issues and add some smaller content. This first patch update addresses a few critical issues that were reported and makes a couple of tweaks.
There are some additional patch releases coming that will include some new decoration options and further tweaks/fixes. Thanks again for all the feedback and let me know what you would like to see in Mercury Fallen. 🙂
Active vehicle bay queue items now states if it is waiting for materials delivery
Active vehicle bay queue item now has outline
Planet map now has a separate “paused” graphic that appears over the map when the game speed is paused
Increased the bonus of vehicle mining speed equipment items
Updated notification text of new surface resource deposit to improve clarity
Drop on ground toggle for crops now visible before selecting a crop or crop is planted
Fixed: Story header text incorrect for several poi stories
Fixed: Mining equipment item for buildings has incorrect attribute effect
Fixed: Tier II building equipment item research not requiring blueprint discoveries
Fixed: Incorrect description for building/vehicle mining equipment items
Fixed: Waypoint selection instructions don’t disappear when canceling the Explore POI action
Fixed: Vehicle height position not loaded correctly in some instances
Fixed: Vehicle Explore POI action not loading correctly
Surface Control Update Now Live!
Howdy Folks!
The Surface Control Update is now live! This update is packed with various improvements, changes, fixes and a few new items and recipes. A huge thank you for all the great feedback and support on the experimental branch. It’s always great to hear your thoughts on new content. There are a lot of changes, additions and fixes in this update so be sure to check out the release notes below.
Merchandise
Christmas is right around the corner and guess what? Mercury Fallen merch is now available. Some great deals are going on so be sure to check it out, get some great merch and help support Mercury Fallen.
And now back to our regularly scheduled update information.
Surface Resources
Surface resource visuals have been completely revamped and improved. The density of a deposit is now also visually illustrated.
Resource deposits are now limited to surface and subsurface resources. Mining vehicles are now only capable of mining surface resources and a mining platform is required for sub-surface resources. Surface deposits are also spread out a bit more on the map, but each resource deposit contains much higher quantities than before.
The vehicle action bar has been removed and all vehicle actions are now presented in the footer of their info panel.
Surface Buildings
Equipment items have been added for surface buildings. New POIs have been added to unlock tier II building equipment recipes.
You can now queue up to 3 vehicles for construction at the vehicle bay.
Surface Balancing
In addition to the changes above, I’ve reduced the construction cost of all vehicles and several buildings. This improves the transition and progression from the underground facility to surface side expansion. Tier II vehicles will now also require aluminium instead of steel in their construction.
Colonist Control
Colonists can now be directed to a specific location by clicking the Move To action button on their info panel and selecting a destination.
Decor Changes
An issue was discovered, and fixed, that was causing room decor values to calculate much more positively than they should be. This means your existing rooms may now have a lower decor score.
To help with managing decor, the decor overlay will now highlight objects that affect decor to show a positive or negative impact.
Many more changes and fixes are included in the Surface Control update. Check out the release notes below.
Release Notes
Changes
Robot recycle button moved to info panel footer
Stink Plant POI now has more biomes it can spawn in. This should make it easier to find.
Added move to button to colonist info panel footer. Clicking this and clicking a destination will force the colonist to walk to that position.
Power generators now show a warning if not connected to power conduits
Added new POI locations to find blueprints for tier 2 building equipment research
Removed surface vehicle action bar display at bottom middle
Vehicle action buttons now in vehicle info panel footer
Reduced construction cost of all vehicles
Reduced construction cost of vehicle bay, mining platform and resource depot
Room highlight now visible when selecting rooms
Added Only Collect When Full toggle to water traps
Added tooltips to water trap toggles
Added optimization to how room decor is updated
Objects that provide positive or negative decor will now highlight green/red when in decor overlay mode
Updated Vehicle Assembly guide section
Updated Vehicle Actions guide section
Updated Surface Resources guide section
Game Menu now shows the game version at the lower right
Surface Buildings
Vehicle bay now has enable/disable toggle. This serves to pause/unpause vehicle construction
Added Vehicle Bay queue. Can now queue up to 3 vehicles for construction at the vehicle bay
Vehicle Bay info panel now shows power info below assembly information.
Added equipment slots to surface buildings
Added new attributes and equipment items for surface buildings
Surface Mining
Mining speed decreased for mining vehicles
Mining vehicles can now only mine surface level resources. Subsurface resources require a mining platform
Increased cargo space for resource collection vehicles
Mining time attribute replaced with a mine speed attribute. This is to allow for better control over mining speeds for vehicles.
Increased base travel speed and storage capacity of resource transport vehicles
Increased base travel speed of beetle miner
Surface Resources
New visuals for surface resources
Planet surface resources now show depth icons when zoomed out
The minimum distance between surface resources changed from 3 tiles to 8 tiles. (Will only affect new game)
Surface Resources now only have surface and subsurface resources. Removed deep depth.
Reduced the total amount of surface resource locations
Surface resources now contain much higher quantities of resources
Surface resources will no longer spawn on river tiles
Some surface resources are now faster/slower to mine based on their internal work_time value
When selecting a surface resource to mine, the hover cursor will now show red if the target is invalid.
Modding Changes
Robot XML data must now include a CRecycleable component to be recycled
Vehicle action icons must end in _On and _Off. The tag, however, should reference the root icon name.
Fixes
Fixed: Internal error generated during launch platform mission
Fixed: Robot equipment items not brought to storage containers
Fixed: Colonist pop icons are not always cleared properly when returning to the main menu. This could cause the game to freeze or cause performance issues.
Fixed: Planet map visibility filters not showing objects if the category was marked as hidden first
Fixed: If a gameobject can’t be found then an error is generated in the log instead of the game getting soft locked
Fixed: Game soft lock if attempting to place a building on a tile at the edge of the map
Fixed: Launch platform poi story able to be completed without meeting requirements
Fixed: Error can occur if attempting to re-order the construction queue if only one item is on the list
Fixed: Incorrect description for vehicle dock at facility action
Fixed: Game crash that can occur when starting a new game due to colonist starting job roles in some instances
Fixed: Colonist name in schedule screen incorrect after renaming a colonist
Fixed: Robots not dropping carried items when interrupted to go recharge
Fixed: Room decor score calculated incorrectly. This caused rooms to calculate as higher decor than they should be.
Fixed: Decor colors not showing correctly for rooms after adding an item that affects decor. Decor overlay for rooms should show a solid color for the entire room.
Fixed: Unable to select anything when in decor overlay mode
Fixed: Decor overlay mode colors not showing correctly in rooms when loading a save game
Fixed: Charging the mechanical generator does not provide technician skill experience
Fixed: When in object placement mode the object does not get placed where it looks like it should when clicking in some instances
Fixed: Item duplication glitch caused by destroying a receiving container with items in the receiving inventory
Fixed: Can install cargo expanders on DOGE/Wasp vehicles
Fixed: Time of day info on the game hud not showing correctly after loading a save game until the game is unpaused
Fixed: Time of day info on planet map not showing correctly if opening the map while the game is paused in some instances
Fixed: Colonist miner stuck attempting to mine after loading save game in some instances
Developer Log #76
Howdy Folks!
Hope everyone had a great Halloween and a lovely week. As you may know, the Surface Control update has been on the experimental branch for a couple of weeks now and I wanted to thank everyone for the great feedback, suggestions and bug reports. For those not actively fiddling about in the experimental branch, I wanted to go over some of the cool new things that are coming in the Surface Control Update.
Vehicle Bay Queue
I’ve added a queue system to the vehicle bay. Now you can queue up to 3 vehicles to get constructed.
Surface Building Equipment
Craft-able equipment items can be installed on surface buildings to improve their power output, power consumption, efficiency and more. Points of interest have been added for tier II building equipment blueprints.
Vehicle Recipe Rebalancing
Vehicle construction materials has been reduced across the board to better ease the player into the surface side expansion. Tier II vehicles now require aluminium instead of steel for construction.
There are whole lot more tweaks, changes and fixes coming in the Surface Control update. The content update should be releasing on the main branch sometime next week.
Thanks everyone and have a great weekend! Be sure to follow and/or support Mercury Fallen development below.
Hope everyone is have a great start to their week. I’m super excited to announce that the Surface Control update is now on the experimental branch. There is still some more development to be done, but it’s ready for your feedback and, of course, bug reports.
The Surface Control update makes a bunch of tweaks and changes to surface visuals and mechanics.
Check out the experimental branch if you would like to help provide feedback and bug reports on the latest content.
Last time I talked a bit about the roadmap and the path to the final release of Mercury Fallen. There is still a lot to do and the next update will be focusing on various changes to surface side mechanics.
Surface Resource Rebalancing
After reviewing the surface content, a few changes are coming, some of which deviate from what I had originally intended. The most obvious new change is that surface resources are being updated with some shiny new visuals.
In order to better balance surface resources, I’ve decided to simplify resources into only having surface and sub-surface resources. Mining vehicles will now only be capable of mining surface resources and a mining platform will be required for sub-surface resources.
There are some changes to world generation that will be coming as well. There will be fewer overall surface side resources locations, but each one will provide, on average, far more resources. This will help to reduce surface side micromanagement. Mining speeds for mining vehicles and platforms will also have some adjustments.
There are quite few additional tweaks and changes coming. Keep an eye out for more developer logs. I’m hoping to bring this version to the experimental branch within the next week or two so keep an eye out for that as well.
Thanks for all the great feedback, suggestions and reports. Let me know what you think of some of the changes in development.
1.0? Wait… what? Version 1.0 is coming, but not just yet. There are a few more major updates planned to lead to 1.0. So what does it mean to be approaching 1.0, what will 1.0 include, and is this the end of the road for Mercury Fallen? Find out next time on- I mean find out right now!
Roadmap
There are three major content updates planned before the final 1.0 content update. While these updates have a primary focus, there will be additional content included in these updates that isn’t specifically listed in the roadmap. This is generally the case with most of my updates. Additionally there will be bug fix and tweak updates in-between the major content updates.
What Does 1.0 Mean?
The 1.0 update means Mercury Fallen leaving Early Access. Leaving Early Access, however, does not mean that there won’t be further updates to the game. I will continue to add new content and fix any issues that arise. Content updates may be a bit slower once the game has left Early Access as I do have plans for future projects after Mercury Fallen.
The version 1.0 update will finalize the story campaign missions with a final goal. While the campaign will have an “ending”, this won’t mean you can’t keep playing after you’ve accomplished the final goal.
So What’s Next?
The surface content has been through quite a few revisions since it was first added to the game. Based on your feedback, this content needs some further tweaks to reduce the amount of micro-management and make it feel like less of a chore.
The Surface Control update aims to streamline how vehicles are interacted with. This should provide more autonomy to vehicles and less micro-management. In an upcoming developer log, I’ll cover this in more detail.
Trailer
I recently updated the trailer for Mercury Fallen. Figured it was about time. 🙂
Thanks everyone for the amazing feedback and support. Let me know what you think about the roadmap.
Patch Update 33.7
Howdy Folks!
I’m back from vacation and feeling a whole lot better. Thanks for all the support and feedback. I hit the ground running yesterday and finished up a small patch update with a few tweaks and a few fixes.
Planet Map Hover Info
In this patch update, I’ve updated the look of the planet map hover info panel. By default hovering over objects will now show the name as well as the description of an object. Some objects will show additional information such as resources showing resource amounts and vehicles showing their current action.
What’s Next?
Moving forward I’ll be shifting gears to focus on the next larger content update. This will focus on further improvements and additions to planet side content. I’ll be covering this in more detail in the next developer log. Be sure to keep an eye out as I’ll also be covering some big news regarding the Mercury Fallen roadmap.
Thanks, everyone for the amazing support. Certainly, let me know what you think of the new content. Check the release notes below for all the details.
Release Notes
Changes
Updated the look of hover info on planet map. Planet entities now show name and description by default.
Vehicles now show current action in hover info
Surface resources now show resource quantities in hover info
Updated look of surface resource info
Updated description of mining platform
Uploading a Mod no longer includes a tag for the game version
Fixes
Fixed: Object build category not showing correct items after unlocking new items via research in some instances
Fixed: Objects modified or added via a mod not appearing in a category if missing a sub-category
Fixed: Models in custom artwork mods not loading correctly if there was a space in the asset path
Fixed: Objects showing unreachable hover icon if all colonists are sleeping
A Little News
Howdy Folks!
Thanks for all the great feedback and support. I hope everyone has had a great week and an even better weekend. I had hoped to release a smaller patch update and a developer log this week, but unfortunately, I’ve not been feeling too well.
I have some sort of cold/flu, that is not COVID, which has resulted in conjunctivitis and sinus pressure that caused fluid in both of my ears. So it hasn’t been a fun week, but I’m doing my best to recover as I’m going to be on vacation next week.
I’ll be in San Diego next week visiting some friends. While I’m away, I’ll still be checking in on the forums, discord and social media.
I’m looking forward to feeling better, some relaxation and completing more work when I return. Thanks again everyone and have a great weekend!
