We are still in the office for a few days yet but will be closing down for a week and a half to take a break over the winter holiday.
We have already been preparing a minor update, so expect a small update with some new components over the holiday! This means our minor update release schedule continues uninterrupted, and we are already testing and working on more fixes and improvements for a planned bug fix release at the start of next year.
We are also working hard on the next major update - natural disasters! We have made some great progress and look forward to making a big announcement in the new year. More details will follow in that announcement, but we will say - we think you will like the natural disasters!
We have also been working on our plans to support Stormworks through 2022 - with at least 3 major updates, as well as minor updates or bug fix updates every 2 weeks - the same release pattern as this year. Even after over 4 years of live development, there are so many awesome things we can add to the game, and we have been getting excited in the office about all the stuff we can do next year.
Happy holidays to all Stormworkers!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
v1.3.16 - The Holiday Season Outfits Update!
Dear Stormworkers,
This week we add a bit of fun with Christmas and holiday celebrations here in Stormworks!
We have added a series of new seasonal outfits to the Stormworks wardrobe! From elf outfits to reindeer knitted jumpers and Christmas pudding hats! There are a wide range of new clothes to check out when starting a game or visiting the in-game wardrobe.
The seasonal winter holiday event also begins and includes the usual snow, white tipped trees, and decorations across the various islands.
As always, this minor update includes many bug fixes and improvements. See the full list below for details. While we have said this before, we cannot emphasize it enough - thank you to all the players who have submitted clear issue reports via the official issue tracker! It is a huge help and allows us to fix issues with the game much more quickly.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this new update!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.3.16
Feature - Seasonal Outfits
Fix - setVehiclePosSafe vehicle performing a bounds check against itself (boats in the sky) Fix - #3429 Contains ammo logic node being outside the voxel bounds for belt connectors Fix - #3134 Compass ball East and West swapped when upside down Fix - #3052 Crankshaft 3x1 using the wrong mesh for its connections Fix - #3053 Windows not see through on creative island / north harbour Fix - #3282 Hole in creative island floor mesh Fix - #2478 Resolved empty ammo box rendering for model export and added export rendering for belts Fix - #3060 Increased tree physics cylinder radius Fix - #3208 Added invulnerable slider to addon vehicles, updated several default vehicles to be invulnerable Fix - #3135 Color picking a blank additive pixel no longer applies this colour Fix - #3030 Removed extra voxels from bertha connector belt Fix - #3217 Fix static vehicles not updating/initializing their internal transforms (teleporting not working) Fix - #3510 Fix setVehicleWeapon description Fix - Flare lights sometimes delaying activation Fix - #3148 Mainland and arctic airstrip broken physics Fix - #3501 Crash caused by rendering removed addon zones with a parent Fix - #3235 Fix script error 211 for unnamed cargo on old saves Fix - #3627 medium/large/huge missile fin component surface area values (new fin parts not applying enough force) Fix - #3002 Optimized physics flooder inside certain shapes (extreme vehicle load time leading to hang) Fix - #3554 Fix missing contains ammo node on autocannon belt (corner) Fix - Tank track render lerping Fix - #3668 Saving an addon with no name overwriting the addons directory (now defaults to unnamed_addon) Fix - #3298 DLC weapons script size data parsing (wrong hp values and explosion sizes) Fix - showOnMap not affecting local vehicles
Rework - #3549 Normal beds now heal slowly but cannot resuscitate like medical beds do Balance - #3298 Increased default health and scaling for dlc weapons large and medium size enemy vehicles Balance - #2842 Reduced dlc weapons explosion size for small and medium size enemy vehicles Balance - Increased oxygen tank size for scuba and diving outfits Rework - Flare objects now have near-neutral buoyancy Rework - Removed Bugsplat error reporting
Lua: Added onPlayerUnsit and onCharacterUnsit Added setVehicleInvulnerable Updated outdated playlist keyword to addon in default scripts
Upcoming - Winter Holiday Minor Updates!
Dear Stormworkers,
In this upcoming announcement, we discuss the minor updates scheduled for release over the remainder of the year!
We are closing our office for 2 weeks at the end of the year for the Christmas break, but we are planning one minor update next week, and another one during the break while we are on break.
The in-game Christmas event begins next week and we have a Holiday season themed update planned which is largely cosmetic in nature. It will just be a bit of fun and we won't say anymore so not to ruin any surprise!
We are also planning to release a small number of new components over the winter break. These will just be simple parts but a much requested addition to the game. They will be weapons themed parts and so will be cosmetic for non-weapons players.
With regard to the 2021 roadmap, there is just one update outstanding - the Natural Disasters Major Update. This update is deep in development (and looking awesome!) but we are pushing it back to Q1 2022 to give us more time to make it as good as possible.
We look forward to getting stuck into a 2022 roadmap in the new year and sharing our plans in the new year! 2021 has been the biggest year yet for Stormworks and we expect 2022 to be even bigger. We remain committed to improving quality and delivering exciting updates!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
v1.3.14 - The Small Radar Guided Missiles Update!
Dear Stormworkers,
In this weeks minor update, we introduce small missile parts!
These new parts are designed so that players are able to make 1 block sized radar tracking missiles, the missiles look better, and the process is easier than before with new built-in radar logic.
Solid rocket booster fuel sections are now available with fins, with a composite input to control X and Y fin rotation. The finned versions are the same block size as the regular solid rocket parts.
We have added a new cylindrical hardpoint part to help build 1 block sized missiles with a cylindrical section. This hardpoint component is exactly the same as the existing one and is entirely cosmetic.
We have also added a new composite output to radars - the tracking data output. This output gives the X, Y motion vector of the primary radar signal, corrected for rotation. It sounds confusing, and it is - its a similar algorithm used on many anti-air missiles such as the Sidewinder. The idea is that if our missile is heading on a collision course with a target, then the relative direction of that target will not change - if the relative direction is changing - then we must adjust the missiles course to be more similar to the target.
While it sounds complex, the good news is that it means there can be relatively little logic involved - you just need to link up the radar tracking data directly to your solid rocket fins, and adjust the fin strength. We have also included a preset example in the presets folder.
We have also added an impact threshold property to warheads, so they can incorporate an impact sensor themselves. It still needs to be armed via the on/off input, and the default value is zero, so the default behaviour is the same as before.
However, be warned! There is a new AI warship variant that is armed with a radar missile array! This warship carries 8 radar guided missiles, and they are very dangerous.
Thats why we have also added new chaff flares, a new flare type for the existing flare launcher. They explode into a cloud of glittery foil shards. Chaff flares omit a strong but short lived radar signal. When timed well they will distract and defeat incoming missiles.
As always, there are also several bug fixes and general improvements. Please see the change log below for full details.
We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on these new features, and hope you enjoy launching some homing missiles!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.3.14
Feature - 4 new missile parts with built-in fins Feature - Missile part model refreshes Feature - Rounded style hardpoint connector child Feature - Warhead built-in impact sensor Feature - Radar "missile instructions" output composite Feature - Chaff flares Feature - Flare launcher trigger passthrough node Feature - New Missile support for weapons ai script (and a new boat) Feature - AI vehicle basic avoidance raycasts Feature - New example missile launcher
Rework - Added a 1s grace period to impact sensors to prevent triggering them on vehicle load Rework - Radar tracking algorithm improved Rework - Cameras are now correctly nameable
Fix - Updated radar descriptions to explain sensitivity Fix - Remove extra physics voxel from missile radar Fix - MC tooltips now show in seats if they have logic nodes Fix - Robotic pivots no longer drain electric when damaged Fix - Ski no longer requires electric Fix - Ammo box not rendering on mesh export Fix - Non-arctic tiles spawning in the arctic (e.g. trainline tiles) being outside the search radius when spawning env-mods (env-mods not spawning for those tiles) Fix - Weapons AI turrets now respawn Fix - Default AI boats placing waypoints inside the riverbanks of sawyer isles
Scripts should no longer try calling onTick before onCreate (Path nodes being built after scripts ticked caused boats to path through land after loading a save) added setVehiclePosSafe added resetVehicleState onPlayerLeave should now fire for all disconnect events Added body_index parameter to onVehicleDamaged (useful to ignore damage to sub bodies aka missiles)
Upcoming - Plans, Activities, Studio Update
Dear Stormworkers,
In this upcoming announcement, we will discuss the general plans and activities going on in the development studio and look at the bigger picture!
We are most of the way through our roadmap that we published at the start of the year, with just the natural disasters update outstanding. This major update and a couple more are in development, as well as several minor updates. We don't have any release dates yet but will let you know when we do.
Our release schedule is major updates every 12 to 16 weeks, and minor updates every 2 weeks. However, we have more recently done some "only bug fixes" minor updates which have been well received, As we focus more on quality improvements and fixes, we are considering that this type of minor update could become more common (perhaps every other minor update).
As previously discussed, we have also been working on our quality assurance procedures and we are spending longer testing updates, with clearer plans on exactly what changes need testing. The impact of this has immediately been noticeable and we continue to look for more ways we can improve the quality of updates.
Following the release of our new issue tracker, there has been another big improvement in the way we track and plan work internally. It is now so much easier for us to communicate with players and give individual support, as well as identify issues. Players have been very awesome and engaged with the new tool, and in kind, we have been doing our best to make the required improvements to the game.
The new issue tracker has helped so much, that we have been working on a 2nd phase of internal tools to help track tasks and workflow. The new task-tracker forms part of our agile workflow, and is built specifically around our new processes and should further help us track progress, communicate internally, and better control quality. In reality, this is just an internal website, but we are receiving around 1500 requests a month, and managing that volume is a challenge.
We remain committed to supporting Stormworks and are already working on many updates for the rest of the year and far into 2022. Developing Stormworks for this community of talented builders is very rewarding and few Steam developers are fortunate enough to be able to serve such an active and creative community. We value this, and are excited to continue bringing updates and improvements into the future.
Beyond Stormworks? As many players are already aware, we developed Carrier Command 2 which has been very rewarding and fun to build. We have also learned a lot from building a very different type of game from the ground up. We are not working on any other games right now, but are thinking about the future. We are very interested in modding, as are a huge number of our players, and any future game we might build should have much improved support for modding. We have been doing some research and development around this, intended for any future game engine we may create.
We will be back next week with a new and exciting minor update!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
v1.3.13 - The Bugs and Environment Fixes Update!
Dear Stormworkers,
This week we are releasing several important bug fixes and quality improvements to Stormworks that are much needed and long overdue!
We have begun looking at some of the issues with the world and environment assets, and have been improving the in-game islands. Expect fixes where the island physics may not have been correct or geometry was out of place!
We have also been improving the content generally, including some smoothing to some of the terrain and improving the height difference between airstrip runways and the surrounding land.
There is also a long list of other important bug fixes, including multiplayer and dedicated server issues. See the change notes below for details!
As always, much credit goes to the many players who are giving feedback and reporting issues through the official issue tracker. This is very valuable thanks to the many detailed and clear reports so thank you again.
These fixes will continue to arrive! We are continuing to improve our processes and are giving ourselves more time to internally test changes to the game. This has the effect that last minutes changes are much rarer now, and so changes to the game are tested more thoroughly. This also means that there are many more fixes already implemented that are currently going though our new quality processes and will be included in future releases.
We hope these new fixes improve your experience and we look forward to your feedback!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.3.13
Feature - 2x2 Pyramid and Inverse Pyramid Windows Feature - Addon editor load screen searchbox Feature - Default cargo scripts improved tooltips, spawn probabilities and scaling rewards/times
Fix - Weapons Addon not saving the new menu settings across sessions Fix - Photomode post process exposure values Fix - Inputs not cleared when opening custom menu via keybind Fix - Missing female crouch animation Fix - MP clients remote control not connecting correctly Fix - Rx range description for handheld radios/remote control Fix - Kick players out of vehicle/character editor on death Fix - Incorrect range description on laser distance sensor Fix - Allow C4 placement underwater Fix - o_id typo in addon lua example Fix - Slightly increased client ladder auto exit box Fix - Fix multiplayer hosts dropping client players not creating ragdoll animation Fix - Missing parent parameter in lua docs for spawnAddonComponent Fix - Tutorial crane and tractor no longer despawn on tutorial end Fix - Editor multibody child blocked voxel positions Fix - Editor multibody child bounds in component selector Fix - Rotary / Heavy autocannon ammo not being manually placeable into belts Fix - Coalbox sometimes rendering hot when returning to workbench Fix - Added blue arrows to laser point sensor Fix - Removed reserved voxels from ammo connector belts Fix - Rocket launcher SFX looping underwater Fix - Capture vehicle tooltip not updating for enemy controlled islands Fix - 2 Handed items being usable on ladders Fix - HOTAS seat not using animations Fix - Bubble trails for projectiles fired in underwater buoyancy volumes Fix - Increased autocannon ammo belt load time to keep up with rotary autocannon
AI vehicles now explode when sinking, over-damaged or 5 mins after they are incapacitated AI vehicles now scale HP and explosion based on size added spawnExplosion Lua function when DLC is enabled
Repaired various mesh issues across all islands: Smoothed terrain and fixed clipping ocean on Sawyers island. Train depot side has been leveled and parking physics fixed. North Harbour on Sawyers island. Ladders added to Military base and Fishing village dock. Holt town parking was under terrain. Arctic lighthouse stairs physics fixed. Floating rocks on Submarine and Airfield base. Multiplayer base wall physics fixed. Donkk village door now opens. Tajin Airstrip invisible wall removed Chemical storage physics fixed. Refinery terrain gaps fixed. Terminal Camodo parking fix. Arctic Refinery terrain. Railing and crash guard physics boxes resized. Airport base landscape. Camodo base landscape. MP Island terrain smoothed.
Knowns issues: - 1 or 2 locations required larger fixes, and this may cause some problems for old saves only at these locations. - a small number of players have experienced poor performance near the Beginner Outpost. This may be due to older versions of the game having an issue. Both can be fixed by starting a new game.
Upcoming - Bug Fixes and Improvements!
Dear Stormworkers,
This week we have been working hard on bug fixes and quality improvements. We have a huge bug fix update planned for next week, with the two most important fixes being promoted to a hot fix (now live).
Next week will be a particularly large bug fix update, thanks to the many players who have given very valuable information on the official issue tracker.
Thanks to all the players who have let us know about issues through the official issue tracker - most of these fixes are a direct result of your issue reports. There has also been a marked improvement in the quality of reports since last weeks Q&A video where we discussed this - thank you for this extra effort, it is often the difference between us not understanding and dismissing an issue, and being able to fix it for the next update. The clear information is helping a huge amount.
As well as these fixes, we are continuing work on the planned minor updates and major updates - we have some really cool content on the way that we are really excited to share. We discussed and gave some hints to some of the new stuff in development (such as new outfits), and previously discussed the new weapons focused parts such as small missile parts and chaffs, but there is plenty more in progress. We will announce more as the work comes together over the coming weeks and months.
Be sure to check back next week for the fixes update!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
v1.3.12 (Hotfix)
Fix - Hot but non-ignited fires no longer count as lit, consuming extinguisher particles Fix - Handheld weapons not spawning server projectiles unless host was rendering
v1.3.10 - The Addon Mod Settings Update!
Dear Stormworkers,
It is currently Halloween in Stormworks!
In this weeks update, we add settings for add-on mods! When starting a new game, you can now customize the settings of your add-ons as you wish. If you make add-on mods yourself, this system is entirely lua driven and available for you to use in your own add-ons too!
When starting a game, you can click "add-on settings" to activate and deactivate your add-ons. You can sort your add-ons by active, alphabetical, or date. Clicking any add-on will show the settings in the panel on the right.
With the Weapons DLC AI add-on, we have added plenty of new customization options including 7 sliders that allow to to tweak various game difficulty aspects. This is in response to lots of player feedback on their desires to customize their experience when battling the AI.
If you haven't seen the Questions and Answers video, you can view it below! Thank you again to all the players who submitted questions. After the video we discussed formats and have plans to answer more questions next time. Thanks to MrNJersey for hosting!
[previewyoutube="otuHGsUElWE;full"]
As always, we look forward to your thoughts and feedback on this new update!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.3.9-10
Feature - Addon Script Main Menu Properties Macro-like script functions that can be parsed to provide checkboxes / sliders in the New-Game Addon Selector The default AI / Weapons scripts have been updated to include a few settings
Balance - Slightly lowered default AI spawn amounts
Fix - Only charge for ammo for player vehicles Fix - Extinguishers can no longer hit unlit fires Fix - Halloween red eyes now only show on sharks Fix - Swapped mis-labelled MC timer node descriptions Fix - Tech tree component icons now render without opening the vehicle editor Fix - Parse the vehicle state when using setVehiclePos
Upcoming - New Weapons Minor Updates
Dear Stormworkers,
In this weeks update, we discuss some of our plans for the upcoming minor updates, including small missile parts, modular barrels and muzzles, chaffs, and more!
We are also releasing a quality focused patch today to address some issues that you have told us about on the issue tracker.
Thanks to everyone who submitted Q&A video questions! Question submissions are now closed and we will record the video shortly!
We are continuing to implement fixes, improvements and new features, as requested on the new official issue tracker. It is proving very useful for our development process, so thank you to all the players who have let us know about issues or shared their vision for new ideas!
Players have been asking for improvements to rockets and improved parts for creating smaller missiles. We are having fun developing improved missiles so thank you to all who have given feedback. We are planning extra radar information to help with target tracking missiles, and miniaturized fins for 1x1 solid rockets.
We are also interested in modular barrels and muzzles, to add cosmetic improvements to your modular guns, as well as some muzzle brakes. As well as being cosmetic, some muzzle types may provide a reduction in recoil.
With improved missile tracking, players will need countermeasures... chaff flares! Chaff flares will function in a similar way to regular flares, except having a strong but short lived radar signature to distract radar guided missiles.
We have many more updates planned. While these ones highlighted are weapons DLC themed, we also have many more updates in the works for the base game.
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
v1.3.7
Feature - added hard cap to active flares (32) Feature - weapons tag for workshop vehicles
Rework - mid-air rocket-rocket collisions are now ignored to prevent launchers from self destructing Rework - radar threshold for detection is now higher for weaker radars
Fix - mirrored surface painting for sloped blocks Fix - updated GLFW version for compatibility Fix - rescaled radar range Fix - update environment audio when paused Fix - microprocessor damage now works the same as logic gate components Fix - medium turret editor mesh Fix - weapons script c is nil error Fix - block mouse input bindings when map/custom menu is open
v1.3.6 - The Turret Ring Bearings Update!
Dear Stormworkers,
This week we are adding a set of new parts - turret ring bearings! These are velocity pivots with a hole through the middle. The holes in the bearings are considered doors (for the purposes of compartments and flooding) and are connected to each other - so you can now have a rotating coupling where moving parts can remain water-tight.
The turret rings come in small, medium and large sizes.
We have a host of other changes in this update that will be important to a lot of players. These changes include reworking cannons so their shells have a much longer life and more appropriate physical behaviour, allowing for high trajectory firing.
We are also doing another Questions and Answers video soon. In these videos we go through player-submitted questions and answer as many as we can! Submit your question here! Please submit just one clear and concise question.
There is big list of other changes including important fixes and improvements. Please see the list below for the full details.
It has been another exciting week with new and incredible user-creations showing up on the workshop! We are blown away with these player designs and how quickly players have got to grips with the new parts and their creative applications.
We have loads more updates and improvements planned and are actively using the new issue tracker to communicate and deliver these changes. We are also planning on doing another poll soon to get general feedback on the future direction of updates. We are also planning several dedicated bug-fix updates in the weeks and months to come.
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.3.6
Feature - 3 New Turret Rings Rotating pivots with a large central hole; designed for tanks and other turrets.
Rework - Increase cannon and rocket projectile life significantly Balance - Refreshed projectile physics for better indirect firing Balance - Wind now affects large projectiles less than small projectiles
Fix - Animals HP always clamped to 100 when syncing, sharks now have 500, megalodons now have 5500 Fix - Repaired batteries capacity is now restored Fix - Added missing description for warhead body (small) Fix - Mass of EMP warhead Fix - Value of small / medium warhead Fix - Only despawn vehicles from explosions when vehicle damage is enabled Fix - Re-Added radar effective range preview after fixing associated crashes Fix - Radar descriptions still mentioning radians Fix - Warheads now use the correct explosion sizes Fix - Infinite ammo glitch when activating two autocannons simultaneously on a single ammo drum Fix - Host lock not deactivating dlc custom menu buttons Fix - Phalanx radar editor arrow height Fix - CTD on game exit caused by Magalls Fix - Water plane causing swimming inside a dry but sealed compartment Fix - Ammo belt junctions now work correctly when pushing ammo Fix - Weapons addon flating fires - fire dynamic objects are now teleported with their parent vehicle Fix - Missing documentation for new items Fix - Missile radar detection angle output Fix - Batteries now output zero charge when damaged Fix - Increased node search radius for internal pathfinding to prevent pathing issues near sawyer island Fix - Crash when teleporting/despawning vehicles with C4 attached
