Here's just a small patch to address edge case loading problems - applied to both branches.
We've been getting reports of people still having trouble loading, and with the help of some players found the cause of this. It turns out that in same cases, the frame rate is actually too high which somehow causes the game to choke on the level load. Best practices are to clamp the frame rate during the load process, then open up the frame rate to max after the load completes, which is what is applied to this version.
If you experience any problems loading please reach out to us here. The last thing we want is for you to have any trouble playing and experiencing the game.
Sincerely, -Brian
Main Build Update 0.5.196
Hey explorers! OK, so we've been looking into this 0% loading issue and found a couple of reasons this may be happening for some players. Not only did we solve these, but we added more detail in the loading sequence so that you can clearly see where the game is with loading of data. If after getting this update you are still having problems please contact our support here. We want to help.
As exciting as load meters are, we've done a bunch more since Friday. Lots of various clean up throughout the game, including adding back in the creature health indicators (though we may eventually make this a suit upgrade) and Drone controls on the map are working again (our bad on that one, slipped through the cracks!). Here's the full list:
Change List
Added - Proper location names for Aziel Added - Improved Aziel planet rendering Added - Improved Zer planet rendering Added - More detail on loading levels in readout Added - Creature health indicator is now back on Added - Set all planets to have proper map location names
Changed - Set VSync back on for now, may create an option for this Changed - Temporarily turned off creature foot camera shake Changed - Texture and sound optimizations Changed - Aziel terrain specularity adjustments Changed - Limited Compass to display up to 3 names on merged markers
Fixed - Solved 0% loading error Fixed - Droid control panel in the map is once again operational Fixed - Minimap now turns back on when exiting dungeons Fixed - After death, player's animation state is now properly reset Fixed - Removed all colliders in Main Menu Fixed - Increased resolution of melee crosshair Fixed - Particle lighting to gather correct location settings Fixed - Reticle displaying at player death Fixed - Particles to show correct color per planet Fixed - Cleaned up extra colliders in all dungeons Fixed - Simplified carrot collider Removed - Unused heat triggers in Aziel trench
In the meantime, we're chipping away at more story integration, controller support, and creature AI upgrades. So, lots to do!
One of my favorite movie tags of all time: "In space no one can hear you scream" -Brian
Main Build Update 0.5.195
Hey explorers! Yet another update this week for you. This latest version features a nifty way to reverse engineer items in your inventory. To try it out, use the Workbench to "Recycle" any item to various parts. So far we have found this to create interesting emergent gameplay scenarios and really gives the feeling of resourceful-ness while also contributing to a feeling of being "sciency".
Build Goals are now on a new Right Click menu to easily select and deselect buildables you are working towards. Building Structure Walls is faster and easier, and Tools now display their Harvest classification.
In addition to that we fixed up some loading and memory issues some people were seeing, plus added more polish and fixes along the way.
Change List
Added - New Item Recycle system, allowing the dismantling of items for various resources Added - Low Tech Recycle, High Tech Recycle, and Metallurgy as unlockable abilities to the skill tree Added - Workbench now supports Basic, Low Tech, and High Tech recycling Added - Forge now supports Metallurgy (Alloy recycling) Added - Tools inventory buttons now show Harvest Type such as Sharp, Blunt, Surgical Added - Support for adding and remove Build Goals through Right Click Menu
Changed - Turned off colliders on Space Station Airlock doors when opening and closing Changed - Inflatable Dome Kit now requires 4 Cloth Bundles instead of 1 Changed - Removed Space Debris conversion recipe from Furnace (replaced by Recycle system) Changed - Removed Scrap Hinge conversion recipe from Workbench (replaced by Recycle system) Changed - Kitchen is now unlocked by building a Habitat Changed - Bin and Smart Bin are now unlocked by building a Bio Dome Changed - Inflatable Dome now replenishes 30 hit points when activated Changed - All Huts now replenish 15 hit points when activated Changed - Bed now fully replenishes hit points when activated Changed - Set player to die if falling from a really high distance Changed - Adjustment to Sprint speed to be a little more realistic
Fixed - 0% loading hang and crash in most instances, greatly improving load times and game memory usage Fixed - Optimized colliders within Proteus mines and dungeons Fixed - Huge Bug fixing pass on Proteus Mines and Hives Fixed - Dungeon teleport routing issues on Proteus Fixed - Instances where the game would soft lock when canceling placing an item mid-build Fixed - Tool Redicle on building structure walls Fixed - Mouse button click bug when building walls Fixed - Build Buttons now show green if recipe is in inventory Fixed - Stopped player movement while building a structure or wall Fixed - Build events now complete instantly Fixed - Walls should now properly refund all costs when dismantled Fixed - Highlighter now properly displays when looking at a Workbench Fixed - Missing materials on crashed satellite Fixed - Small Crates are once again interactable Fixed - Highlighter should now properly display on Small solar panel Fixed - Repairable Buggie should no longer duplicate when repaired Fixed - Stim unit recipe now fits within 4 item slots Fixed - Adjusted space depth of field to proper settings
Removed - Outdated Survive and Collect Beetle Balls missions that were uncompleted
Be sure to check out this version and the new Recycle mechanic in the WorkBench, and enjoy all the polish we continue to put into the game!
"Comb the desert! Do you hear me? Comb the desert!!!" -Brian
Main Build Update 0.5.185
Hey explorers! We quietly released this version yesterday which comprises the past few weeks and graduates to the Main Branch. There's a lot of nice stuff in here, such as:
Huge Rate Improvements
Since our gameplay systems have matured we took a pass at frame rate optimizations and found a lot of huge savings. Just get the latest version and enjoy frame rates well above 100FPS on most modern machines!
FOV Slider
Separate adjustments for first and third person, complete with new helmet interior and improved screen FX in first person!
New Underground Areas on Proteus 2
Using the new tech used on the later planets such as Aziel and Zer, we revisited the underground on Proteus and added tons of detail.
Revamped Space Walk
Movement in low orbit has never been better, and both first and third-person modes have been upgraded.
Full Screen GPS
An expanded map system with more tools allows you to find what you're looking for. You can also place Map Markers through the right-click menu.
Change List
Added - Full-screen GPS Added - Movement while in UI modes Added - Big optimization pass Added - Fullscreen support for GPS panel Added - New progressive buildable unlock system Added - Map Markers to Mini Map Added - FOV slider to first-person camera Added - FOV slider to third-person camera Added - Variants of Meteors to drop all types of ores Added - Updated Proteus 2 Mine Art Added - Another art pass for Hives Added - Roll for spacewalk Added - Near camera for improved first-person detail Added - Key binding to inventory equip slots Added - Key Binding option back into in-game Options Panel Added - Moving HUD, based on camera rotation Added - Option to turn off ambient camera movement Added - AimIK to CrabMonster Added - Max time parameter to Seek task to prevent getting stuck in rocks when backing up Added - Weather volume to sound mixer Added - Slider to weather volume Added - Post-processing volume to near camera Added - Prefab for game settings UI Added - Tool materials Added - Space dust to increase movement visibility while in space Added - Updated news screen with notification about build progression system Added - Collision LOD system Added - LOD fading shader Added - Collision optimizations for dungeons and low orbit Added - Collision optimizations to all minerals Added - New textures to Proteus ground Added - Sound to on person crafting Added - New interior helmet art Added - Optimized first-person helmet interior Added - Helmet interior to first-person camera rig Added - Improvements to first-person helmet interior Added - New rotation methods for directional and strafe rotation to AI Added - Configured all movement behavior tasks to properly utilize the interface rotation method Added - Optimized Sand Dunes Added - Scalar to creature species animation speed Added - Minimap to HUD Added - Right-click menu to Map Buttons Added - All mineral descriptions to Map panel Added - More Entry points for cave systems Added - Creatures Zones now spawn different creature sets depending on location and time of day Added - Readded and improved support for specific spawn groups to Creature Zones Added - Decorated mine entrances Added - Far LOD management for persistent objects Added - Meteors now fall on Lutari, and at a much higher rate than on proteus Added - Additional light to the top of the Spaceship to better highlight it at night when it's headlights are on Added - Assault Rifle to random loot crates Added - Automatic unlocking of already placed buildables Added - Unlock icon to build buttons to denote buildables that unlock additional tech tree stages Added - Custom option to toggle new Progression Buildable Unlock system Added - Crude Battery craftable in the Workbench that can power the flashlight at 25% efficiency Added - Power Cells can be used as a power source for the flashlight at 50% efficiency Added - When Flashlight energy is depleted, an emergency light on the suit will now activate, providing a small amount of light just around the suit Added - Entry trigger to all huts to make third-person interaction easier Added - Teleport feature to Third Person Camera for going in and out of dungeons Added - Event to respawn to properly display all scenery Added - Mouse over the display to inventory Added - Support for hand-placed manually configured repairables for use in missions Added - More features to voice log system for use in missions Added - Entrances and exits to all mines on Proteus 2 Added - Hit interaction to rock walls
Changed - Tweaked hunger and thirst drains Changed - Improved first-person camera springs to higher frame rate Changed - Optimized HUD to one canvas Changed - Set build item to move much snappier Changed - Optimized minimap Changed - Widened compass Changed - Optimized all mineral colliders Changed - Optimized all environment base colliders Changed - Optimized all Proteus 2 environment rock colliders Changed - Removed the need to crouch when walking down a slope Changed - Optimized all plant colliders Changed - Proteus fruit and berry balance tweaks Changed - Up res pod and map textures Changed - Various UI layout changes Changed - Optimized sand dunes Changed - Updated all creature prefabs and creature behavior trees to utilize proper rotation speeds and styles Changed - Optimized various creature calculations to improve framerates Changed - Optimized various vehicle calculations while they are not piloted to improve framerates Changed - Ground fitter on creatures to be more performant and look a bit less robotic, more organic Changed - Skeliopod sped up rotations Changed - Lower worm earthquake intensity Changed - Improved third-person camera and movement in space Changed - Improved first-person camera and movement in space Changed - Improved camera orientation when switching modes while in space Changed - Turned off weapon unequip while in space Changed - Now that wreckage crates are persistent, they can be opened after they have been emptied, previously they could only be salvaged Changed - Improved build particle to be more vibrant Changed - Adjusted all first-person items, weapons, and tools to use the new camera Changed - DOF to slightly fade from near focus on first-person arms Changed - Updated Rover salvageable model Changed - Updated and optimized salvage satellite Changed - Updated Item, Structure, and Utility icons Changed - Updated Tool Melee items with better art Changed - Updated Tool Icons Changed - Updated Structures/BuildIcons with Particles and Sounds Changed - Updated Aziel Occlusion data, low orbit atmosphere, and planet art Changed - Updated Aziel Rock materials Changed - Optimized creature despawn check Changed - Reorganized buildable unlocks to be in a few large stages instead of smaller unlock paths, allowing more freedom in the progression Changed - Creatures will once again spawn at all times of the day, different creatures will spawn at different times Changed - Improved look sensitivity with a game controller Changed - Moved a creature spawn zone that intersected with a spawn point to instead be nearby Changed - Moved a few creature zones to ensured each spawn point has at least 1 nearby spawn zone Changed - Increased size of Battery charge meter in HUD Changed - Disabled creature dust particles at night until their lighting is fixed Changed - Improved Buggie UI Changed - Improved Buggie sound Changed - Improved Buggie handling and wheel sizes Changed - Adjusted Drone Map UI Changed - Meteors are now more common on Zer Changed - Reduced prevalence of Radar Scanner in loot crates Changed - Increase prevalence of Broken Wires in loot crates Changed - Branches now have less weight Changed - Leather now has less weight Changed - Space Debris Chest now has 18 inventory slots Changed - Silver material to more shiny Changed - Weather sounds now fade faster to keep up with visuals Changed - Increased size of unlock icon on the build button Changed - Various Texture optimizations Changed - Optimized various sounds Changed - Updated Aziel Mines and updated wall/floor materials Changed - Updated Aziel Distance Terrain Changed - Optimized Aziel terrain Changed - Optimized Lutari terrain Changed - Optimized Proteus 2 terrain Changed - Optimized establishing shot camera Changed - Optimized Proteus 2 world art scene Changed - Increased flight speed of Flying Skeliopod Changed - Map icons buttons to click instead of mouseover Changed - Adjusted Arachnoid IK values Changed - Added improved transitions to Crab Monster animations
Fixed - Fixed broken Forge Upgrades Fixed - Moving inventory off an equip slot now forces the player to unequip an item Fixed - Alien Population slider is now respected and will multiply how many creatures are spawned from Creature Zones Fixed - Flashlight energy is now persistent and no longer resets upon login Fixed - Added additional colliders to the rear legs and the underside of the Colossus so it is easier to hit while near the creature Fixed - Repairable colliders should now properly reenable when the player is nearby Fixed - Player death animation now properly plays Fixed - Battery meter now properly displays battery charge Fixed - Clock in HUD now displays correct in-game time Fixed - Proficiencies are now properly visible within the skills screen Fixed - Spelling error for Fluorine in many locations Fixed - Moved space debris on proteus that was stuck inside rocks Fixed - Small Crates Appliance should be easier to interact with Fixed - Repairable colliders should no longer randomly be disabled Fixed - Should no longer spawn beneath a structure when logging out inside or above said structure Fixed - Repaired structures are now properly unlocked as buildables after repaired Fixed - Undiscovered structures can now be properly examined Fixed - Crab scythe should now properly inflict damage on all intended targets Fixed - Dismantling buildables with upgrades in the same session they are crafted should now properly return all used items Fixed - Set map screen canvas size to properly border icons Fixed - Set Easter Egg icons to appear on the map Fixed - Various errors that were causing players to be unable to load their worlds Fixed - Hydrocarbon Solution interactions Fixed - Weapon and tool interaction when item lost durability Fixed - Red Berry Tree collision with LOD system Fixed - Gem Leaf fruit should no longer fall through the map Fixed - Autowalk will now properly walk instead of sprint Fixed - Wreckage loot crates are now properly persistent and will not respawn after a relog Fixed - Logging out in dungeons now properly returns you to the entrance when loading back in Fixed - Potential fix for creatures not spawning in multiplayer Fixed - Creature zones will now properly spawn creatures while the player is within a vehicle Fixed - Camera bob in space Fixed - Camera bob on weapons in space Fixed - Melee weapon animation in space Fixed - Exiting space ship in space with proper orientation Fixed - Drills should now attract a correct assortment of enemies on all planets while drilling the core shaft Fixed - Some instances of autosaves failing Fixed - Numerous instances of localization bugs in GUI Fixed - Numerous errors reported by our backend tool Fixed - Shovel when looking down sights Fixed - Adding missed LODs on objects throughout proteus2 Fixed - Lessened range of third-person FOV Zoom Fixed - Potential fix for malware warning concerning open localization folder button Fixed - First-person layer sorting when getting in and out of vehicles Fixed - Screen FX sorting for new first-person rendering Fixed - Droid passive particles not disabling on death Fixed - Hunger warning will no longer display eat in pressurized structure when it is not a requirement Fixed - Errors caused by the repair droid repairing while a structure is dismantled Fixed - Errors propagating from the spawning of unfinished creatures Fixed - Potential issue causing creatures to sometimes become desynced between clients Fixed - Errors arising during creature death, potentially causing bugged invincible enemies Fixed - Error when reopening language panel Fixed - Prevented Autosave from occurring while leaving the game to prevent data loss Fixed - A few errors appearing during unsetting a build goal Fixed - Errors arising from highlighting a vehicle on the map Fixed - Errors with auto crafting causing storage instability Fixed - Errors with network propagation of creatures, fixing some instances of creature desync Fixed - Errors caused when using any repair tool on wreckages Fixed - Various errors arising from the use of some weapons Fixed - Errors intermittently being thrown when extracting gasses from geysers Fixed - Rotation issues with CrabMonster Fixed - Resources with duplicated mesh issue Fixed - Deleted old rover mesh that was causing a duplicated mesh issue Fixed - Player should no longer spawn within rocks or under structures after loading back into the world Fixed - Creature zones will properly spawn while the player is in a vehicle, correctly this time Fixed - All buildables are now unlocked by default in creative mode Fixed - Interaction sounds on utilities are now played when interacting with them instead of just looking at them Fixed - Set up movement to not move while in console or pop up modes Fixed - A bug where the weather would never go back to sunny after hazy Fixed - Rename popup should now properly ignore unintended key input Fixed - Crash when looking at crates Fixed - Rotations on item crates Fixed - Set all rock materials to opaque by default Fixed - Chat panel will no longer appear in singleplayer after the player is killed
Removed - Camera shake in spaceship when entering the atmosphere
So a stealthy little main branch update with a lot of nice adjustments and improvements! We hope you dig it! Be sure to reach out as always and we'll see you on the next one.
"You will refer to me as 'idiot' not 'you captain'!" -Brian
Experimental Build v0.5.185
*Note - These changes are only on the Experimental Branch. To access the Experimental Branch, be sure to select it in your Steam Library. If this app does not appear, please check if this app is hidden in your Library. Experimental Branch changes upgrade to the primary branch monthly.
Hello brave explorers! We have another Experimental Build for you this week with lots of nice additions and polish. We had lots of conversations with you over our channels of what worked and what didn't in last week's build, and I think we found some excellent solutions!
Minimap and Map Markers
The mini-map is back with new features, the map now shows your placed markers. Simply right-click on any marker in the GPS to designate it as either Marker 1 or Marker 2, and these markers will display on your Minimap. You also have full Latitude and Longitude lines from before, and the map is a little smaller and more transparent, so it satisfies the goal we had to reduce its impact on the overall scene and exploration.
Creature Spawning
The day and night change from last week was a good experiment since it showed us that nights full of aliens is the right feel, but agree that it felt there was missing during the day. We added a lot of detail to how and when various creatures would spawn through the day and night, and went through and adjusted all the creature spawns throughout the entire game. This allowed us to really dig into the ecosystem of the alien life, adjust what creatures appear where and when, which gives the world a more natural feel.
Unlock System and Proficiencies
We decided we like the Unlock System of buildables and revised the unlock logic further. We also added a unlock hint in the corner of each buildable that unlocks other buildables, which gives a nice subtle hint that these objects can be valuable to create.
We also added the Proficiency Points to the Skill Tree screen. How you receive skill points is still being decided - we may more this into an overall "Level Up" event, but for now this is a nice subtle evolution of this system.
Proteus 2 Mines and Hives
We've been building up the art for these for a while now, and are so happy to share these new beautifully dark and dank underground dungeons with you! We added a lot of dungeons to the world too. And there are multiple entrances and exits. And they're sprawling. And they're full of dangerous creatures!
Smaller Things
There's lots more, like a crude battery that can be made inexpensively to power your flashlight, and an Emergency Light that automatically illuminates if your flashlight is empty. Lots of little bug fixes and polish. FINALLY fixed that pesky bug where you unequip when dragging inventory out of an equip slot. Lots of things like that.
Change List
Added - Minimap to HUD Added - Map Markers to Mini Map Added - Right-click menu to Map Buttons Added - All mineral descriptions to Map panel Added - Updated Proteus 2 Mine Art Added - Another art pass for Hives Added - More Entry points for cave systems Added - Creatures Zones now spawn different creature sets depending on location and time of day Added - Readded and improved support for specific spawn groups to Creature Zones Added - Decorated mine entrances Added - Far LOD management for persistent objects Added - Variants of Meteors to drop all types of ores Added - Meteors now fall on Lutari, and at a much higher rate than on proteus Added - Additional light to the top of the Spaceship to better highlight it at night when it's headlights are on Added - Assault Rifle to random loot crates Added - Automatic unlocking of already placed buildables Added - Unlock icon to build buttons to denote buildables that unlock additional tech tree stages Added - Custom option to toggle new Progression Buildable Unlock system Added - Fullscreen support for GPS panel Added - Crude Battery craftable in the Workbench that can power the flashlight at 25% efficiency Added - Power Cells can be used as a power source for the flashlight at 50% efficiency Added - When Flashlight energy is depleted, an emergency light on the suit will now activate, providing a small amount of light just around the suit Added - Entry trigger to all huts to make third-person interaction easier Added - Teleport feature to Third Person Camera for going in and out of dungeons Added - Event to respawn to properly display all scenery Added - Mouse over the display to inventory Added - Support for hand-placed manually configured repairables for use in missions Added - More features to voice log system for use in missions Added - Entrances and exits to all mines on Proteus 2 Added - Hit interaction to rock walls
Changed - Reorganized buildable unlocks to be in a few large stages instead of smaller unlock paths, allowing more freedom in progression Changed - Creatures will once again spawn at all times of the day, different creatures will spawn at different times Changed - Improved look sensitivity with a game controller Changed - Moved a creature spawn zone that intersected with a spawn point to instead be nearby Changed - Moved a few creature zones to ensured each spawn point has at least 1 nearby spawn zone Changed - Increased size of Battery charge meter in HUD Changed - Disabled creature dust particles at night until their lighting is fixed Changed - Improved Buggie UI Changed - Improved Buggie sound Changed - Improved Buggie handling and wheel sizes Changed - Adjusted Drone Map UI Changed - Meteors are now more common on Zer Changed - Reduced prevalence of Radar Scanner in loot crates Changed - Increase prevalence of Broken Wires in loot crates Changed - Branches now have less weight Changed - Leather now has less weight Changed - Space Debris Chest now has 18 inventory slots Changed - Silver material to more shiny Changed - Weather sounds now fade faster to keep up with visuals Changed - Increased size of unlock icon on the build button Changed - Various Texture optimizations Changed - Optimized various sounds Changed - Updated Aziel Mines and updated wall/floor materials Changed - Updated Aziel Distance Terrain Changed - Optimized Aziel terrain Changed - Optimized Lutari terrain Changed - Optimized Proteus 2 terrain Changed - Optimized establishing shot camera Changed - Optimized Proteus 2 world art scene Changed - Increased flight speed of Flying Skeliopod Changed - Map icons buttons to click instead of mouseover Changed - Adjusted Arachnoid IK values Changed - Added improved transitions to Crab Monster animations
Fixed - Moving inventory off an equip slot now forces the player to unequip an item Fixed - Alien Population slider is now respected and will multiply how many creatures are spawned from Creature Zones Fixed - Flashlight energy is now persistent and no longer resets upon login Fixed - Added additional colliders to the rear legs and the underside of the Colossus so it is easier to hit while near the creature Fixed - Repairable colliders should now properly reenable when the player is nearby Fixed - Player death animation now properly plays Fixed - Battery meter now properly displays battery charge Fixed - Clock in HUD now displays correct in-game time Fixed - Proficiencies are now properly visible within the skills screen Fixed - Spelling error for Fluorine in many locations Fixed - Moved space debris on proteus that was stuck inside rocks Fixed - Small Crates Appliance should be easier to interact with Fixed - Repairable colliders should no longer randomly be disabled Fixed - Should no longer spawn beneath a structure when logging out inside or above said structure Fixed - Repaired structures are now properly unlocked as buildables after repaired Fixed - Undiscovered structures can now be properly examined Fixed - Crab scythe should now properly inflict damage on all intended targets Fixed - Dismantling buildables with upgrades in the same session they are crafted should now properly return all used items Fixed - Set map screen canvas size to properly border icons Fixed - Set Easter Egg icons to appear on the map Fixed - Various errors that were causing players to be unable to load their worlds Fixed - Hydrocarbon Solution interactions Fixed - Weapon and tool interaction when item lost durability Fixed - Red Berry Tree collision with LOD system Fixed - Gem Leaf fruit should no longer fall through the map Fixed - Autowalk will now properly walk instead of sprint
I just want to say thanks to all the players (on Discord especially) who jammed with us this past week. There was a lot of passion, especially last weekend, and the collaborative effort we've had with you this week was great. There was a lot of truly valid criticism and we very much respect that, as we always welcome fruitful discussions about design. This is what we do, and we love what we do!
Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff. For now, please enjoy our latest Experimental Build!
"I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookiee win." -Brian
*Note - These changes are only on the Experimental Branch. To access the Experimental Branch, be sure to select it in your Steam Library. If this app does not appear, please check if this app is hidden in your Library. Experimental Branch changes upgrade to the primary branch monthly.
Hey explorers! We focused much of this week to performance, and we found a lot of savings! Not to get too technical, but physics tree calculations were eating up 30fps, and the various UI canvases were eating another 20fps. Basically, we cleaned up a bunch and gained a very significant frame rate boost!
LOD Fading
Unity has a fancy LOD system that actually works well and is performant, but does not have a native shader to handle the fade. We augmented this feature to allow for true dithered LOD fading, which completely removes the ugly LOD popping. On top of that, since it's 1 bit alpha, the LOD shader sorts perfectly with the atmosphere and is extremely fast to render.
VSync Off
We trying something else this week: forcing Vsync to off. This will uncap the frame rate. There's a few artifacts that this caused (like the logo flickering when loading a world) but it's really fun to play at 120 fps!
Crafting Unlock Progression
We are also trying a new progression system to add clarity to the tech tree progression. Simply build from your current build options to sequentially unlock new buildables. We have tried all kinds of fancy unlock systems and gates in the past, but sometimes simple is better. So far, we like the simplified approach, but let us know what you think.
Creatures Come Out At Night
Yet another gameplay balance idea we're testing, is having creatures mostly come out at night. The goal here is to have them start emerging while the sun is setting, then more and more come out under the shade of darkness. Oh yeah, night is a little darker too.
Improved First Person
Lots of updates here. We found the physics springs that run the boyancy on the camera were clamped at 30FPS, creating a jitter. We opened this up to an unlimited speed, which gives the result of silky smooth spring movement in first person. On top of that, we added a nicely modeled helmet interior and cleaned up the DOF settings.
UI Version 3.0
The in game UI got lots of treatment. For instance, you can now move while in menu. There's a status bar on the top, and we'll be making progress on getting more full screen with the UI panels, such as the skill tree. Speaking of skills...
Proficiencies And Stats Are Turned Off
Skills are in and Proficiencies and Stats are out. We'll be building up the Level System with experience points, which will unlock various skills and abilities. Again, we're on a simplification kick this week! So weird.
Change List
Added - New progressive buildable unlock system Added - Updated news screen with notification about build progression system Added - Big optimization pass Added - Collision LOD system Added - LOD fading shader Added - Collision optimizations for dungeons and low orbit Added - Collision optimizations to all minerals Added - New textures to Proteus ground Added - Sound to on person crafting Added - New interior helmet art Added - Optimized first person helmet interior Added - Helmet interior to first person camera rig Added - Improvements to first person helmet interior Added - New rotation methods for directional and strafe rotation to AI Added - Configured all movement behavior tasks to properly utilize interface rotation method Added - Optimized Sand Dunes Added - Scalar to creature species animation speed
Changed - Tweaked hunger and thirst drains Changed - Improved first person camera springs to higher frame rate Changed - Optimized HUD to one canvas Changed - Set build item to move much snappier Changed - Optimized minimap Changed - Widened compass Changed - Optimized all mineral colliders Changed - Optimized all environment base colliders Changed - Optimized all Proteus 2 environment rock colliders Changed - Removed the need to crounch when walking down a slope Changed - Optimized all plant colliders Changed - Proteus fruit and berry balance tweaks Changed - Up res pod and map textures Changed - Various UI layout changes Changed - Optimized sand dunes Changed - Updated all creature prefabs and creature behavior trees to utilize proper rotation speeds and styles Changed - Optimized various creature calculations to improve framerates Changed - Optimized various vehicle calculations while they are not piloted to improve framerates Changed - Creature Zones now have set hours within the day that they can spawn, proteus creatures are now mostly nocturnal with very few active during daylight Changed - Ground fitter on creatures to be more performant and look a bit less robotic, more organic Changed - Skeliopod sped up rotations Changed - Lower worm earthquake intensity
Fixed - Player should no longer spawn within rocks or under structures after loading back into the world Fixed - Creature zones will properly spawn while the player is in a vehicle, correctly this time Fixed - All buildables are now unlocked by default in creative mode Fixed - Interaction sounds on utilities are now played when interacting with them instead of just looking at them Fixed - Set up movement to not move while in console or pop up modes Fixed - A bug where the weather would never go back to sunny after hazy Fixed - Rename popup should now properly ignore unintended key input Fixed - Crash when looking at crates Fixed - Rotations on item crates Fixed - Set all rock materials to opaque by default Fixed - Chat panel will no longer appear in singleplayer after the player is killed
Removed - Camera shake in spaceship when entering atmosphere Removed - Health indicators on creatures
Please check out this experimental build and let us know how we're doing. We hope your feedback is positive at which point we'll graduate this to the Main Branch. In the meantime, controller support and story integration is top of the list for next week!
“It’ll be dark soon and they mostly come at night! Mostly!” -Brian
No, I don't work at JPL, but making a space game allows me to think I do.
Experimental Build v0.5.104
*Note - These changes are only on the Experimental Branch. To access the Experimental Branch, be sure to select it in your Steam Library. If this app does not appear, please check if this app is hidden in your Library. Experimental Branch changes upgrade to the primary branch monthly.
Hey explorers! This week adds lots of new features and improvements to spacewalk control. The first and third-person modes have gotten a rewrite to greatly improve moment and viewing while in space. Please check it out and share your thoughts!
We also added full support to change your field of view for first and third-person modes. We’ve had lots of requests for this and are happy to get this over to you.
Additionally, and just for fun, we added this cool secondary effect to the HUD. Again, let us know what you think!
Also, there’s a lot of general polish and fixes, mostly based on community feedback. Here’s the full list!
Change List
Added - FOV slider to first-person camera Added - FOV slider to third-person camera Added - Roll for spacewalk Added - Near camera for improved first-person detail Added - Key binding to inventory equip slots Added - Key Binding option back into in-game Options Panel Added - Moving HUD, based on camera rotation Added - Option to turn off ambient camera movement Added - AimIK to CrabMonster Added - Max time parameter to Seek task to prevent getting stuck in rocks when backing up Added - Weather volume to sound mixer Added - Slider to weather volume Added - Post-processing volume to near camera Added - Prefab for game settings UI Added - Tool materials Added - Space dust to increase movement visibility while in space
Changed - Improved third-person camera and movement in space Changed - Improved first-person camera and movement in space Changed - Improved camera orientation when switching modes while in space Changed - Turned off weapon unequip while in space Changed - Now that wreckage crates are persistent, they can be opened after they have been emptied, previously they could only be salvaged Changed - Improved build particle to be more vibrant Changed - Adjusted all first-person items, weapons, and tools to use new camera Changed - DOF to slightly fade from near focus on first-person arms Changed - Updated Rover salvageable model Changed - Updated and optimized salvage satellite Changed - Updated Item, Structure, and Utility icons Changed - Updated Tool Melee items with better art Changed - Updated Tool Icons Changed - Updated Structures/BuildIcons with Particles and Sounds Changed - Updated Aziel Occlusion data, low orbit atmosphere, and planet art Changed - Updated Aziel Rock materials Changed - Optimized creature despawn check
Fixed - Fixed broken Forge Upgrades Fixed - Wreckage loot crates are now properly persistent and will not respawn after a relog Fixed - Logging out in dungeons now properly returns you to the entrance when loading back in Fixed - Potential fix for creatures not spawning in multiplayer Fixed - Creature zones will now properly spawn creatures while the player is within a vehicle Fixed - Camera bob in space Fixed - Camera bob on weapons in space Fixed - Melee weapon animation in space Fixed - Exiting space ship in space with proper orientation Fixed - Drills should now attract a correct assortment of enemies on all planets while drilling the core shaft Fixed - Some instances of autosaves failing Fixed - Numerous instances of localization bugs in GUI Fixed - Numerous errors reported by our backend tool Fixed - Shovel when looking down sights Fixed - Adding missed LODs on objects throughout proteus2 Fixed - Lessened range of third-person FOV Zoom Fixed - Potential fix for malware warning concerning open localization folder button Fixed - First-person layer sorting when getting in and out of vehicles Fixed - Screen FX sorting for new first-person rendering Fixed - Droid passive particles not disabling on death Fixed - Hunger warning will no longer display eat in pressurized structure when it is not a requirement Fixed - Errors caused by the repair droid repairing while a structure is dismantled Fixed - Errors propagating from the spawning of unfinished creatures Fixed - Potential issue causing creatures to sometimes become desynced between clients Fixed - Errors arising during creature death, potentially causing bugged invincible enemies Fixed - Error when reopening language panel Fixed - Prevented Autosave from occurring while leaving the game to prevent data loss Fixed - A few errors appearing during unsetting a build goal Fixed - Errors arising from highlighting a vehicle on the map Fixed - Errors with auto crafting causing storage instability Fixed - Errors with network propagation of creatures, fixing some instances of creature desync Fixed - Errors caused when using any repair tool on wreckages Fixed - Various errors arising from the use of some weapons Fixed - Errors intermittently being thrown when extracting gasses from geysers Fixed - Rotation issues with CrabMonster Fixed - Resources with duplicated mesh issue Fixed - Deleted old rover mesh that was causing a duplicated mesh issue
Removed - Small collision damaging vehicles
Thanks again for your support and playing! We have a lot to do, so we’re going to get right back to it.
“The only good big is a dead bug!” -Brian
Main Build Update v0.5.073
Hello everyone! The latest two Experimental Builds have tested strongly and we’re joining them into the Main Branch! In case you’re wondering what is included in this version, here are some highlights and a full Change List:
Change List
Added - Droid Control panel to F3 map screen in PlayerGUI Added - First pass localization system implementation for various menus in the app Added - Improved Sentry droid targeting AI to avoid aiming and shooting through obstacles Added - Improved unstuck AI to droids to allow them to better handle getting stuck during traversal Added - Various droid minimap icon improvements Added - Travel to position behavior tasks to all available droid types Added - Various pathing corrections in droid behavior trees Added - Reworked compass display to greatly improve system's performance and improve readability Added - New compass supports merging nearby markers, mostly preventing overlap Added - Updated Interior of the spaceship with Decals and flight screens Added - Updated a portion of the Proteus mines Added - Updated Proteus Hives with new Art Added - Explosive Icon Added - Ground turret medium decals and emissive power mesh. Added - Specific map icon for hovercraft Added - Summon dev console command to allow manually teleporting vehicles and droids to your location Added - Destroy dev console command to allow manually destroying vehicles and droids in the world Added - Event support for damage states on buildable Added - Fx support for build icons for build completion Added - Unstuck buttons in Feedback screen to help players when stuck inside objects and when lost in space Added - Integrated Structures, Utilities, and Vehicles into the map info panel Added - Expanded 'move to position' command for droids to continue their primary task when reaching the destination Added - Behavior task for updating home position for droids Added - Behavior task for spawning a valid/invalid GUI popup message
Changed - Updated more Aziel and Zer planet materials Changed - Updated Silver prefab to be higher so Bottom Silver Fragments can be accessible Changed - Buildings will no longer re-anchor (sometimes sink into the ground) when the data is believed to be from a legacy save file, this was also triggering when Mineral world persistence would corrupt Changed - Improved Sentry droid's gun damage Changed - Optimized occlusion data to reduce build size Changed - Updated and optimized vehicle console textures Changed - Optimized occlusion in caves Changed - Updated Aziel sky material Changed - Updated wall defense Prefabs with optimized textures Changed - Updated wall Icons Changed - Updated Aziel Atmosphere material and clouds Changed - Updated Zer and Aziel plants with impact sounds Changed - Restricted panning and zooming of the minimap to the bounds of the screen
Fixed - Tweaked collision and physics on Buggie so it's less likely to get stuck on terrain or glitch under the world Fixed - Buggie should be much less likely to launch the player when running into the hood Fixed - Droids will now properly sync in multiplayer Fixed - The Elevator within the habitat is now much smoother to ride and can no longer crush the player through the floor of the habitat Fixed - Riding on or within vehicles is now much smoother Fixed - Watchtower collision meshes should no longer be visible Fixed - Incorrect creature spawning in Lutari mines has been swapped for finished creature Fixed - Compass now properly respects control/ownership Fixed - Compass markers no longer move with head-bob Fixed - Compass icons no longer display for currently occupied vehicle Fixed - Going too far in some directions on Aziel will no longer teleport you back to the origin Fixed - Salvaging wrecks should now properly network in multiplayer Fixed - Common FPS hitch when the player takes damage Fixed - Terrain collider issues on Lutari Fixed - Lab vehicles and droids are now properly buildable in creative mode Fixed - A single instance where item duplication was possible Fixed - Added Custom collider for space station ring module fixing some collision issues Fixed - Spaceship will no longer get blocked on Aziel when flying around Fixed - Texture tiling issue on distant Aziel material Fixed - Lutari cave without a door blocker Fixed - Typo in fuel cell description Fixed - Some instances of ice materials not sorting in fog Fixed - Normal issue with spore texture Fixed - Build icon material in the spaceship Fixed - Vehicles duplicating when other players enter a multiplayer room Fixed - Mineral world persistence corruptions should now be much less likely Fixed - Wreckages now properly consume resources when being repaired Fixed - Rotation issues when pathing on Security Droid Fixed - Droids not canceling their current paths when receiving a new command issue Fixed - Security droid not correcting path when headed toward the obstacle Fixed - Instances of built objects, vehicles, and droids from older saves being invisible Fixed - Spaceship ramp should now properly open when the ship is floating above the ground Fixed - Ruined base locations on Aziel, Lutari, and Zer should no longer float, duplicate, or reappear Fixed - Nicknamed objects selected on the map will now show their nickname Fixed - Creature Health and Attack damage sliders will now properly affect creatures Fixed - Additional fixed for Sentry Droid pathing tasks and switching between pathing tasks Fixed - Restricted droid display to owned droids on the map panel Fixed - Text errors throughout the app caused by the first pass implementation of the localization system
As always, we appreciate your diligence and honesty in communicating to our team all concerns you come across, and what features you would like to see in the game. We enjoy working with you all and hearing from you on our Socials, Feedback Reports, Houston emails, and our Discord. Thank you for helping us make Osiris: New Dawn as great as we possibly can, during our EA development!
"I need a new corporal. You're it until you're dead or I find someone better." - Brian
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We are so proud of our team and community for working together and want to share everything we've implemented so far. Thank you for taking part in our EA journey and contributing to the development of Osiris: New Dawn!
Be sure to check out all the ways we celebrate working and listening to you and everyone in the OND community. We have our in-game Feedback, which is monitored and recorded daily into our Zoho bug lists, our Roadmap, which features community voting, the itemized Change List that breaks out all the additions, fixes, and changes we conduct monthly, and our official Discord channel, which members of the dev team jump into. Our goal here at Fenix Fire is to work with you as much as possible so that we can make the best game for us all to enjoy, now and far into the future.
Sincerely, The Fenix Fire Team
Experimental Build 0.5.072
*Note - These changes are only on the Experimental Branch. To access the Experimental Branch, be sure to select it in your Steam Library. If this app does not appear, please check if this app is hidden in your Library. Experimental Branch changes upgrade to the primary branch monthly.
Hey explorers, while we have been focusing on player feedback polish this week we decided to make a push to get in a long time request: localization. I'm proud to announce we have localization about 80% in and functional and will be working to sweep up any remaining text in the coming weeks. If you read something in the game's UI that seems a little off in your language, please reach out to us with any suggestions you have.
Compass system got a massive update, marking version 3.0 of our Compass code. This update adds proper name stacking in the UI and massive performance and memory optimizations. Some tests we've conducted are showing up to 50% increases in frame rate and 20% overall memory usage, which may be pointing to the memory leak we've been tracking down for a while now. Players that were seeing 40-60 fps are now getting 80 fps consistently, so this is proving to be a big win for the development of the game.
We've also been tracking down lots of stability and bugs, adding as much polish as we can. The double vehicle issue in multiplayer has been found and cleaned up, along with the sinking structures. We also added "unstuck" buttons for realigning your player if you get stuck underground or in space, acting as a fail-safe in case something weird happens during gameplay. These fail-safes buttons are found in the "Feedback" panel.
Important Note - we also fixed the creature health and attack meters, which we found were not responsive previously. Be warned that if you've cranked up these meters on your creatures before they will now be much harder now!
Change List
Added - First pass localization system implementation for various menus in the app Added - Summon dev console command to allow manually teleporting vehicles and droids to your location Added - Destroy dev console command to allow manually destroying vehicles and droids in the world Added - Event support for damage states on buildables Added - Fx support for build icons for build completion Added - Unstuck buttons in Feedback screen to help players when stuck inside objects and when lost in space Added - Integrated Structures, Utilities, and Vehicles into the map info panel Added - Expanded 'move to position' command for droids to continue their primary task when reaching the destination Added - Behavior task for updating home position for droids Added - Behavior task for spawning a valid/invalid GUI popup message
Changed - Updated more Aziel and Zer planet materials Changed - Updated Silver prefab to be higher so Bottom Silver Fragments can be accessible Changed - Buildings will no longer re-anchor (sometimes sink into the ground) when the data is believed to be from a legacy save file, this was also triggering when Mineral world persistence would corrupt
Fixed - Vehicles duplicating when other players enter a multiplayer room Fixed - Mineral world persistence corruptions should now be much less likely Fixed - Wreckages now properly consume resources when being repaired Fixed - Rotation issues when pathing on Security Droid Fixed - Droids not canceling their current paths when receiving a new command issue Fixed - Security droid not correcting path when headed toward obstacle Fixed - Instances of built objects, vehicles, and droids from older saves being invisible Fixed - Spaceship ramp should now properly open when the ship is floating above the ground Fixed - Ruined base locations on Aziel, Lutari, and Zer should no longer float, duplicate, or reappear Fixed - Nicknamed objects selected on the map will now show their nickname Fixed - Creature Health and Attack damage sliders will now properly affect creatures Fixed - Additional fixed for Sentry Droid pathing tasks and switching between pathing tasks Fixed - Restricted droid display to owned droids on map panel
Thanks again so much for playing and your support! There's a lot that we have in progress that didn't quite make it into this version that we can't wait to share with you. Until then, we hope you enjoy this latest version of Osiris: New Dawn!
"No, you fool, we're following orders. We were told to comb the desert, so we're combing it." -Brian