Patch: PAMELA v0.2.1.9 is Live – Movement Polish, Brightness Tweaks, and Lots of fixes
Happy Tuesday, Sleepers! We've had a huge influx of new players from the first few days of the summer sale - welcome to those of you who are new here!
We've also recieved a huge amount of feedback and bug reports. All of these threads and emails have been carefully combed through, and added to our internal tracker. In fact many of the bugs fixed in today's update came from this latest batch of feedback.
One big change that we'd like your feedback on is a visual tweak; very dark areas are now slightly less dark, and the flashlight is slightly wider than it was before. Many of you have complained about overcontrast in the lighting and we've tried to address this while still retaining the game's visual style - let us know your thoughts in the commetns!
We also tweaked our player movement quite a bit; it is now much more responsive with almost instant acceleration, compared to the previous version of the game. We've recieved a ton of feedback on this aspect, so we're eager to get your feedback on these new changes.
There's a lot more we have in the works, so stay tuned for upcoming patch notes with a new batch of fixes soon. Thank for to those of you who've taken the time to report these issues, and help us to make PAMELA a better game for everyone.
Balance
Increased game brightness slightly in dark areas
Increased default flashlight width slightly
Reduced bloom post effect slightly; this should make the flashlight less overblown in dark areas, along with reducing overall blowout
Changed "Auto Pick Up" keybinding in inventory to Middle Mouse Click; this used to be double left click, which was cumbersome
Genome Points Abilities: Health regen now kicks in only after 6 seconds of taking damage; this means it will no longer out-heal effects like bleeding or starvation, or concurrent attacks
Tightened up character controller greatly; movement is now much more responsive, please give us feedback on this!
Fixes
Improved responsiveness of picking up/dragging items within inventories
Added item descriptions to all Nanoflex armor set pieces
Corrected several typos and incorrect keybinding references in the tutorial system
Re-added the effect that highlights the corresponding slot when hovering over an attachment that can be equipped
Fixed an issue in which the Recylcer would not calculate Lux sell value when item is placed into the Recycler by Middle Mouse Clicking (used to be Double Left Clicking prior to this patch)
Fixed an issue that caused Seekers to infinitely walk towards/away from the player
Fixed a typo in the sleep menu, which indicated that sleeping reduced health (this did not actually happen, but still a very confusing typo!)
Fixed a nasty bug which could occur if tutorial popups were activated while player is interacting with a container, which could break future player input
Fixed an issue in which junk items could not be salvaged from the Radial Menu
Fixed flashlights/utilites occasionally spawning in with incorrect scales
Fixed an obscure issue in which pausing the game during certain events could break future input
Datapad Statistics screen now shows correct value for ranged weapon accuracy
Fixed attachments cases not reseting properly on player death
Reimported several weapon attachments to add proper open/close states, and fix some texturing issues
Re-Added Quick Use functionality when in standard Inventory menu; pressing Middle Mouse on an item will use its default action (eat, drink, equip, etc.) - note, with a container open, Middle Mouse will auto-swap items between inventory and container, not Quick Use
PAMELA is 30% off during the Summer Sale!
If you've been waiting on the sidelines following development, or waiting to pick up PAMELA at a discount, today is your day!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/427880/PAMELA/
Our recent HUGE update added crafting to the game, making base building better than ever. We also completely revamped our tutorial system with video content, implemented a ton of stability fixes, a new NPC, and a whole lot more. There's never been a better time to pick up PAMELA.
Welcome to the new members of our community! As always, please share your experiences and feedback in the discussions; we're always on top of these. Have fun!
Hotfix: PAMELA v0.2.1.7 is Live – Hydroponics and Misc Fixes
Happy Thursday, Sleepers! We've got another patch for you, fixing a few small issues we uncovered in our testing today. There was one final, very obscure issue with Hydroponics that could break saves; it doesn't look like anyone outside of our testing has been affected yet, based on our error logging.
We also tweaked the hunger/thirst decrease rates a bit; they should be less intrusive but still significant. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Balance
Decreased base hunger/thirst decrease rates by roughly 25%
Fixes
Hydroponcs Small and Large can no longer by enhanced to UV versions for free
Fixed rare issue of Hydroponics not being saved correctly
Fixed an issue with footstep sounds not being triggered correctly when walking on certain props
Fixed an issue in which pressing C to open crafting menu before opening the inventory menu would cause it not to render correctly
Added proper rounding to Lux sell prices displayed on the Recycler (eg. strange values like 900.00001 are now rounded correctly to 900)
Fixed an issue in which mouse cursor would not lock/disappear correctly when closing out of the inventory screen by pressing "I"
Update: PAMELA v0.2.1.6 is Live – Saving fixes and Stability Improvements
Happy Wednesday, Sleepers! We've got a big stability update out today, with a ton of fixes for issues that many of you have brought up in the forums.
Most importantly, we've squashed a bunch of saving/loading bugs which were either stopping users from saving, or failing to save certain items that had been collected. This should dramatically improve stablity of built items, though unfortunately did require us to wipe saves - we're sorry!
As always let us know our feedback in the discussions! We've been replying in each thread to confirm what has been fixed, so you should be able to find your issue here if you made a report over the weekend.
Feature
Recycler: These new objects can be found throughout the world, and are used to sell unwanted items for Lux
Balance
Stage 1 and Stage 2 enemy health has been increased
Engineering menu scroll speed has been increased for easier navigation
Datapad log no longer records "Stamina Became Critical" messages, which occured all the time and were not useful to store
Added several new statistics for counting items sold, plants harvested, buildables repaired, etc. in the Datapad menu
Fix
Fixed several behind the scenes issues that were breaking some users' save files; this could cause buildables and items to disappear from the world, as well as from within containers
Fixed a save-related issue in which the Main Menu and Quit button would not work on the Pause menu
Datapad: datacard entries now clear correctly when player dies
Enhancing equipped items when having a full inventory no longer causes the slot to become bugged out (filled by a "ghost" item)
Repair beam now works correctly on damaged buildables when player has maximum elements in Engineering Menu
Water condensors no longer occasionally delete water bottles
Fixed an issue with Shield Doors not saving correctly
Fixed several miscellaneous errors that could occur when returning to main menu from pause menu
Fixed bug that caused issues moving storage containers in player's inventory
Fixed issue with using radial menu when interactive with another object
Fixed an issue in which equipped item icons would be too large when reloading a game, causing them to overlap the slot boxes
Fixed several behind the scenes errors that occured occurently when returning to the main menu
It is no longer possible to upgrade Ion Core+ to ++ for free
When picking up an element cube, flytext notification no longer displays twice
Hotfix: PAMELA v0.2.1.3 is Live – Base Saving and Misc Fixes
Happy Friday, Sleepers! We’ve got a quick hotfix up for you before the weekend.
There were a few saving/loading bugs that slipped through, caused by some of the recent memory optimizations we implemented.
We also implemented a few balance tweaks, and will be working on a few more values over the weekend.
We’ll be keeping our eyes on the discussions, and have already made some adjustments based on your collective feedback. Thank you all as always for the detailed feedback and reports!
Balance
NPC dodge chance has been reduced
Engineering menu scroll speed has been increased for easier navigation
Fix
Bases should no longer disappear occasionally after reloading the game (if this happened to you, we suggest starting a new game to ensure no glitches continue)
Fixed an obscure bug which could break Hydroponics farming if not harvested quickly enough
Fixed lights on F.A.B. and L.A.B. building items not turning on correctly
NPCs will no longer dodge when stunned
Fists are no longer buggy after respawning
Kiosk now reads Lux values from the player correctly
Tutorials pop ups should now scale with different screen resolutions
Mega-Update: PAMELA v0.2.1.2 is Live – Crafting, Tutorial 2.0, and much, much more!
Happy Thursday, Sleepers. Sit down, get comfortable, and grab a snack because this is going to be a long read!
Picture in your mind a snowball, rolling down a snowy slope. It starts out small, but before you know it you’ve got a ton of frozen destruction barreling down towards you.
That’s pretty much what happened with this update; with each passing day we squeezed in more new features, optimizations, and fixes, and this ended up postponing the update up until today. This is now *by a huge margin* our largest update since launch. Thank you for your patience during this period between updates; let’s dive into it!
----Engineering and Harvesting----
Using your IVG, you’re now able to harvest elements from various items throughout Eden. Object like stretchers, crates, and just about everything can be harvested and generate Carbon, Iron, Silica, etc. elements that can be refined into components such as Plastics and Metal. You can also Salvage items from within the Inventory, which will break the object down to its elemental components. Rare items can provide a large amount of materials, so sometimes salvaging a valuable item can actually be a valid choice.
These components can then be used to construct base building items, as well as enhance and repair various items. To unlock advanced schematics like Turrets and Hydroponics, you’ll need to construct F.A.B. and L.A.B. stations.
Currently only building items are craftable, but we’ve got plans to extend this feature further in the future now that the foundation has been created.
Another major feature of this system is the ability to Enhance certain items, and repair damaged items with crafted Solder and Repair kits (armor/weapons are now be damaged when the player is hurt). Almost all building items, as well as armor, shields, and Glyphs can be upgraded to + and ++ levels through this menu using crafted components. You no longer have to rely on luck along to get that Tricarbyne ++ set you've been dreaming of!
This is a massive new system which we think you’ll have a ton of fun with; as always, please give us your feedback to help refine it even further.
----Tutorial 2.0----
PAMELA includes a ton of systems. We’ve experimented with a few different tutorial schemes in the past, and our Tutorial 2.0 system is an evolution of those previous designs. We’ve created video content for each and every important control, system, and concept in the game which show how things work in great detail.
Those of you who’ve been playing for months already probably don’t need to see all of these (aside from the crafting section!), in which case you can disable tutorial popups completely from the Options menu.
Lastly, these videos can all be viewed at any time within the Tutorial tab of the AARM datapad (Press Tab, then scroll down to Datapad and left click).
We hope these new videos prove helpful to new players; please let us know your thoughts!
----PAMELA Intro----
Since release we’ve been focused primarily on bugs and stability, which has delayed our narrative plans a bit. With this update, we’ve integrated a new intro sequence after the Cryo Spawn cutscene in which PAMELA (briefly!) introduces herself.
We’ll be continuing this narrative thread in the future, so stay tuned for more updates in this direction.
----IVG and Looting Streamlining----
We’ve tweaked how the IVG and containers work, with the goal of smoothing out the minute to minute gameplay experience. When you hold R to scan now, you will emit an omni directional search pulse, rather than the smaller cone scan. The reasoning behind this change is that previously, you could initiate a scan and then spin around quickly to scan with the greatest efficiency; it didn’t feel great to do that, even though it was technically the most efficient way to scan. This new method gets out of your way, and lets you focus more on the environment as you explore.
In a similar vein, you are now able to open containers without scanning them by holding E on them for a second. If you have scanned the container, you can simply press E (the way it previously worked), but you no longer have to scan every container if you wish.
----Re-Added Dyes----
After some issues in the past, we’ve re-added Dyes into the world! You can find Dye Bottles throughout Eden, and when used, they will unlock to be used in all future playthroughs. You can assign them to your weapons, armor, or both in the Equipment menu once unlocked.
They’re to dye for!
………
I’m sorry.
----New NPC – SEC-RTs----
We’ve added a new non-hostile NPC to Eden: the SEC-RT custodian bots. They’re peaceful towards the player and other NPCs, simply welcoming you as you walk by. We think they add a great touch of flavor and life to Eden.
They can be killed and looted, you monster.
----New Armor – Nanoflex----
There’s a new suit of armor to find and wear! The Nanoflex armor is lighter than the other armor types, and improves your stealth abilities; you’ll make less noise, and will be harder to see with it equipped.
----Loading Improvements----
Previously, at the end of the loading bar, the game would hang for some time and appear frozen; this is because all of the lighting and mesh data was being loading in one burst. This unfortunately made it seem like the game had crashed on certain machines, even though it was actually working in the background.
We split up this data into smaller chunks, which will now result in smoothing out the overall loading bar. This will reduce the false appearance of the game having crashed, and also provide a much more accurate progress bar.
----Unity Engine 5.6 Upgrade and Vulkan (experimental) ----
We’ve upgraded to a newer version of the Unity Engine. You may see some performance improvements, and the video playback should be quite smooth compared to how it would have been in 5.5. It also makes our lives a bit better, behind the scenes!
One interesting new feature of 5.6 is Vulkan Rendering support, which in theory should provide a nice performance boost. Unity themselves have marked Vulkan as “experimental”, and our experience with it has been a bit flaky so far. But, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can run PAMELA in Vulkan mode by adding “ -force-vulkan” in the Set Launch Options setting accessed by right clicking PAMELA in Steam, and then clicking properties. We don’t recommend testing this unless you don’t mind potential stuttering/crashing, but if you do feel adventurous, we’d love to hear your experience with it.
----And much, much more----
As always, find the full list below. There’s a ton in there in addition to what you’ve already read above.
Thank you again for your patience, and for reading this massive post! We’re so excited to finally get this huge update out into the wild; let us know your thoughts on all of the new features and changes in the discussions.
Changelog
Feature
New ability, crafting: able to create buildables through collected elements from the world or by drops
New IVG ability, Harvest: Most scenery objects in the world can be dissassembled into crafting elements by using energy
Added an NPC Resolve system, when you hit an NPC their toughness will temporarily increase, making them much harder to stagger
New Item: Bandages, stops the player from bleeding
New Pamela intro with dialogue
Added new tutorial system, utilizing videos to better explain complex concepts
Re-Added Dyes into the world
Pressing any key during into will bring up prompt to press space to skip
New NPC, Sec-RT, to add flavor and life to Eden
Newly Modeled entrance to the soon upcoming district, make sure to find it!
Can now use elements and components to enhance items to + and ++
New menu, Engineering, accessed through inventory menu
Weapons and equipment now degrade from damage done to the player, can be repaired in the Engineering menu
Two new buildables that, when placed, give the ability to craft more complex items
Many new items that can be found in the world to facilitate the crafting system
New option in the right click action menu in the inventory, Scrap. Can dissassemble any object into its base elements
New item, Nanoflex Armor
Balance
The way the IVG works has now been streamlined, there are now only two modes, Materializer and Build. The blue Materializer mode allows you to repair buildables, and deconstruct world objects into their elements, both use energy to function. Build mode functions as normal, but is now colored green. Scanning mode has been eliminated, but at all times the player is able to press and hold 'R' by default to pulse a 360 scanning wave that does the same function as a normal scan.
If a player has not scanned an object, by holding the interact button they can open a container regardless.
Fix
Loading improvements: loading progress bar is much more accurate, and should be smoother than it previously was with less long hangs during the process
Applied a proper custom graphic to the Holowall Buildable, which should now look many times better
Updated our pathfinding middleware, which now also includes simple local avoidance
Enemies should no longer be able to spawn inside player bases
Large Canteen now has its own unique model and Icon
Refactored the background code for the inventory/loot/container menus that will allow it to be expanded upon more easily in the future and makes it more stable as a whole
Made a few objects that were hidden but not turned off completely disable, saving a slight amount of performance
Fixed a staircase clipping through the ceiling in the Promenade
Fixed a wall clipping through the entrance in Garrison
Sounds between inventory/loot/container menus are now more consistent
Fixed some really ugly UV errors near the entrance to Garrison
Fixed a gap in the walls in Garrison Level 3
Fixed a keypad that was embedded in a wall in the Promenade Garrison Outpost
Fixed geometry that was clipping through the back of some stores in the Promenade
Fixed some Z fighting on a wall in FUD in Origin Station
Fixed some Z fighting on a floor in the Promenade near Genesis
Fixed some messy geometry in the back of the front desk of ARK Medical Cryo Clinic
Fixed some clipping geometry on the roof of the ARK Medical Cryo bathroom
Fixed some geometry that was poking out of the bathrooms in Arcadia Lvl 3
Fixed some geometry that was partially cutting off a hallway in the Arcadia maintenance stairway
Fixed a crack in the geometry in the back of the Promenade
Fixed a window on the side of the Arcadia building that had no UV mapping
Fixed a piece of clipping geometry that was in the back of Fraiche
Update on the Update
Hi there everyone! Thank you all so much for your patience while we put the finishing touches on the huge update we've been cooking up.
In addition to everything we discussed in rhe last posts, we ended up implementing a slick, updated tutorial system which features a ton of videos instead of pure text as it is now, and upgraded the project to a newer version of Unity which will hopefully help address some of the stability issues some of you have been dealing with.
We'll post a huge announcement to go along with the Update soon; rest assured we're working around the clock to get it ready and it should be live any day now.
