We are finishing up the next big update and adding the final touches in the coming weeks. In this post I wanted to give you a brief overview of some of the content you can expect in the next update!
This week's blog post is up. John talked a bit about a new AI trading system that's been implemented, some upcoming fishing content, and progress we're making on the current patch. You can read the post here and as always, we'd love to hear your feedback!
A new minor patch is available. This is a smaller update in-between our larger main ones, but it contains some good stuff. It includes new pirate models, an updated rendering pipeline to improve performance, and new content.
New Pirate Models
It is a bittersweet occasion. It is time for the old goof-ball pirate models to leave us. As is the case with many wonderful things in the world of Early-Access, their job as a placeholder has come and gone, and they have served their purpose with scallywag grace.
New Rendering Pipeline
We have changed the default rendering pipeline, which controls how the graphics in the world are drawn to your screen. It has been upgraded to use a deferred shading pipeline. This should improve performance, and add support for physically based shading, which is a more true-to-life way of lighting objects in the world.
New Content
A new structure can now be found throughout the world. Along with it, some new items, lore books, and secret mini-boss.
Change List
Added a new structure that can be found occasionally throughout the world, and a number of new items.
Replaced the models of all pirates and friendly NPCs.
Changed the default rendering pipeline to test performance. Make sure that Forward Rendering is turned OFF in order to take advantage of this change.
Added context specific action descriptions that appear near the interaction cursor when hovering over certain objects.
Placing a boat on top of yourself now causes you to automatically board the boat.
Increased the maximum field of view.
Improved pirates ability to hit when they are above you.
Increased length of the basic fishing pole line.
Main menu slider options can now be adjusted in increments of 1 with the controller.
Changed a number of materials to use physically based rendering.
Adjusted return-to-center speed of some of the boat helms.
Made some modifications to ocean shader to use physically based rendering.
Deer hide armor now requires less hides to craft, but now requires plant fibers.
Changed the texture on the hardwood bow to match the look of the materials.
Increased the targeting distance slightly.
Adjusted the armor values on some items.
In-world health bars now disappear after a time.
Increased the height of the static target bar interface element. Previously, certain letters were too tall to fit in it.
Fixed some typos.
New Models, Rendering Pipeline, and Content Available for Testing
Ahoy captains, swabbies, and honest-folk! A new minor patch is available for testing. This is a smaller update in-between our main ones, but it contains some good stuff. Hop on over to the testing branch to enjoy the changes and help squish bugs!
New Pirate Models
It is a bittersweet occasion. It is time for the old goof-ball pirate models to leave us. As is the case with many wonderful things in the world of Early-Access, their job as a placeholder has come and gone, and they have served their purpose with scallywag grace.
New Rendering Pipeline
We have changed the default rendering pipeline, which controls how the graphics in the world are drawn to your screen. It has been upgraded to use a deferred shading pipeline. This should improve performance, and add support for physically based shading, which is a more true-to-life way of lighting objects in the world.
New Content
A new structure can now be found throughout the world. Along with it, some new items, lore books, and secret mini-boss.
Change List
Added a new structure that can be found occasionally throughout the world, and a number of new items.
Replaced the models of all pirates and friendly NPCs.
Changed the default rendering pipeline to test performance. Make sure that Forward Rendering is turned OFF in order to test this change.
Added context specific action descriptions that appear near the interaction cursor when hovering over certain objects.
Placing a boat on top of yourself now causes you to automatically board the boat.
Increased the maximum field of view.
Improved pirates ability to hit when they are above you.
Increased length of fishing pole line.
Main menu slider options can now be adjusted in increments of 1 with the controller.
Changed a number of materials to use physically based rendering.
Adjusted return-to-center speed of some of the boat helms.
Made some modifications to ocean shader to use physically based rendering.
Deer hide armor now requires less hides to craft, but now requires plant fibers.
Changed the texture on the hardwood bow to match the look of the materials.
Increased the targeting distance slightly.
Adjusted the armor values on some items.
In-world health bars now disappear after a time.
Increased the height of the static target bar interface element. Previously, certain letters were too tall to fit in it.
Fixed some typos.
Friday Dev Update: The Update Process
Salt lead developer talks about the process that the team goes through to plan, create, test, and release an update in this blog post.
Update 1.5 - A Brand New Interface
New Interface
The old black sidebar interface is gone and a completely new one is now in its place. It has a redesigned appearance as well as some changes to functionality. Some of its most notable changes are as follows:
Equipped items now have their own window and can be viewed at the same time as the normal inventory. This new window also shows some player stat values.
The entire inventory is navigable using a controller.
There is a new hotkey bar which will allow you to quickly see what items are bound to hotkeys. This can be set to “Always Show” in the main menu options.
Inventory tabs now work as filters rather than distinct groups.
When crafting, you are now able to see all of the potential crafting results for a given set of components rather than having to cycle through them as before.
Items can be inspected by left clicking them. This will open up a window with the full description as well as an option to destroy the item.
Merchant sellables/buyback tabs have been combined into one.
Added in-world health bars for damaged units.
Added in-world damage numbers.
Health, hunger, and stamina bars are now grouped together.
Books can now support images. This is currently only used for the controls help book.
Controller Support
You are now able to play the game fully with a controller. This means everything from using items in your inventory to driving boats is now supported. This has currently only been tested on PC with an XBox 360 controller, but XBox One controllers should work as well as they have the same button mapping.
To bind an item to a controller hotkey, select the item and press one or both of the bumpers and then A/B/X/Y or any of the DPad directions. You will then be able to hit the same button combination to activate the hotkey while playing.
Upgraded Engine to Unity 5
We upgraded the version of the engine that Salt runs on from Unity 4 to Unity 5. This upgrade lays the foundation for performance and graphical improvements in the future. It also provides some fixes for graphical issues that some systems were experiencing.
Under-The-Hood Change To Item Saving
When you update to version 1.5 and load a game that was created in a previous version of Salt, you will be prompted to upgrade the save file. Once the save file is upgraded, it will no longer work with previous versions of the game. The way that items in your inventory save has been changed underneath in order to more easily facilitate more complicated item state saving in the future.
Other Changes
There is now a normal mode check box as well as a hardcore mode checkbox when starting a new game to make it a little less confusing.
The name field when starting a new game will now have a random name in it by default.
Fixed quest text for treasure hunters. Many unintentionally had the same text.
Tab on the keyboard now works as a “back” button as well as opening the inventory.
Escape on the keyboard now works as a "back" button as well as opening the pause menu.
Split the help book into two books. One for general game information and another for controls. Both books can be accessed from the pause menu.
Added x and y sensitivity options.
Fixed some misspellings.
What Got Pushed Back
Due to time constraints, we had to push back some items that were originally candidates for this update. Updated humanoid models, recipe learning, and mouse-over tooltips will come later.
1.5 Available For Testing
Hello seafarers! Update 1.5 featuring the new user interface and controller support is available for testing on the Steam testing branch. Instructions for switching to the testing branch can be found here.
Patch notes for the testing branch can be read here
Hotfix 1.4.1
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the game to act strangely after you died.
Made some mostly cosmetic tweaks related to some of the new content introduced in patch 1.5.
Re-worded one of the readable items involved in the new quest line to make it a little less confusing.
Re-added the text telling you to open your help book when you start a new game.
Cultists can no longer spawn during cleansing events.
Update 1.4 - Dawn of the Story
Added a portion of the main quest line.
Revised resource placement. Many resources now spawn in more appropriate locations. For example, logs are more often found near trees, and flowers are more often found in fields.
Added inns.
Added new items.
Added new NPCs.
Added many new lore books.
Flattened terrain around some structures.
Added two new performance options to adjust the rate at which islands generate.
Fixed some typos.
Decreased rarity of pirate cartographers.
Reduced the size and appearance of floaties slightly.
Changed the appearance of hardwood logs.
Improved boat steering.
Various bug fixes.
Hotfix 1.3.1.3
This is a small patch to fix some bugs.
Fixed a bug that would cause you to lose a boat upgrade item if you had the placement preview in a valid position, looked away where there was nothing, then tried to place it.
Fixed a bug that would cause you load in a different location than the one you saved at when you saved in a place with no islands nearby.
Boat added messages no longer pop up when you load the game far away from islands.
Made some changes to the way the sun/moon/sky are rendered to fix some visual bugs some poeple were experiencing.
