As part of the Steam Awards, please consider nominating Terraformers in the 'Best Game You Suck At' category! Or feel free to choose another category â this will help us a lot anyway! đ
Hello Martians! Letâs start with the most important point first: the next update will be released on the 7th of December! And it will be a big one: weâre merging updates 2 and 3 together into a single large update (and making some changes to the roadmap). Further in this devlog weâll give insights in some iterations weâve made to the way you expand over oceans, shine some light on the new scenario and explain in what way weâre tweaking the difficulty level.
Roadmap update
So why didnât we release the second update earlier? Well the very simple answer is we encountered more challenges than expected and it took a bit longer to polish than what we had originally planned. Once we were finally ready with the second update we were well on our way to finalize the content of the 3rd update. Our plan was still to release the 2nd and 3rd update separately (though relatively close together) and as for the previous update we wanted to put the game on sale at the same time, but Steam has some limits and conditions on how and when a game can be put on sale. These timers, combined with Steamâs own events like the halloween and autumn sales made us push the date even further back. As by then the content for the 3rd update was in the polishing phase, we decided to just go for it and give you all a single much larger update.
We have also been working on some roadmap tweaks, shifting around some of the elements so that the 2nd update would be focused mostly on new gameplay features and the 3rd update would be focused mostly on new content. But now it will be both at the same time, bringing 57 new projects (buildings, lifeforms, space projects), 8 new leaders, 2 new city slot layouts, 1 new scenario and 9 new events.
We are sorry it took so long, but we think it was worth it. We are pretty excited to see everyone get their hands on all these new carefully crafted pieces and to get your feedback on it. Here is the updated roadmap:
Iterations to the ocean expansion
After weâve implemented docks that automatically expand towards nearby oceans, as explained in the August Devlog, weâve noticed that there was an issue with that mechanic: If you would be on ocean level 1 or 2, and later increase the amount of oceans, the already constructed dock would not give you access to those new ocean locations. After playtesting this, we discovered that this was unintuitive (why would the boats leaving a dock not be able to reach these new locations?). Therefore weâve simplified and changed how it works: when you now construct a dock, it has a free unlimited action with which you can expand to oceans. You can do this at any time and expand as far as you want, though the further you expand, the more negative support is generated (just like with city expansion).
The new ocean expansion flow
Difficulty changes
We regularly receive feedback from players who find the game too difficult. A large number of players are currently not able to complete the final difficulty level, especially within 65 turns for the Platinum award. While designing the game, we thought this wouldnât be a problem as everybody can just choose the difficulty that is appropriate for them. However, the way weâve designed the scenarios screen can give the impression that you need to complete all difficulty levels to have âcompletedâ the game. For the completionists among us, this can be frustrating.
Therefore we are lowering the difficulty and victory requirements of the scenarios a little bit, to make them more achievable for a larger group of players. Donât worry though, they still are a proper challenge.
For the expert players, weâre adding extra expectation levels to the custom mode. In this way you can make the game as difficult as you want, still providing a good challenge for everybody. Here you can also select higher victory conditions (1500 points opposed to the 1000 points of the final scenario) so you can still play longer games if you wish.
One of Marsâ frozen CO2 glaciers.
Continuing your game after winning
Weâve received multiple requests that players would like to be able to continue a game after achieving the victory condition. Weâre also adding this option in this update! You will be able to choose how you want to continue: in âsurvival modeâ or âleisure modeâ. In survival mode, the expectations keep going up, so the challenge will be to survive as long as possible. In Leisure mode, the expectations stop rising, so you can continue without the further stress of running out of support.
Weâre looking forward to screenshots and stories of the awesome planets and cities youâll build up to after a well earned victory.
Continuing after a well earned victory.
That was it for this devlog, in the next devlog weâll expand more on the features that weâre also adding in the upcoming update that were originally planned for later, like the lifeform adaptation events and the catastrophic events.
Terraf team
September Devlog: Marine lifeforms, coastal city artworks & new leaders
Hello world (whichever one youâre on)! This devlog is the 2nd part about the upcoming ocean & leader themed update. In case youâve missed it, the first part can be found on our blog. So put on your wetsuit, and join us as we dive into the Martian oceans!
Marine lifeforms
The first thing we notice is that weâre not alone in this ocean. In the next update, you will be able to spread a new type of lifeform: marine lifeforms. Ranging from plankton, to coral reef and even whales, weâre adding 9 marine lifeforms to the game. Marine lifeforms come in the same 3 categories as land-based lifeforms: bacteria, plants and animals. However, where a land-lifeform requires that at least 1 location of the climate zone is land, the marine lifeform requires that at least 1 location in the climate zone is ocean.
Some of the new marine lifeforms.
Coastal cities
As we start running out of oxygen, we leave the wonders of the Martian ocean and make for the surface. Weâre adding that a city background will update if it is located next to an ocean. The ocean provides new opportunities as well: weâre adding 12 ocean related projects in the upcoming update. Gather your resources to construct seaweed farms, oceanic laboratories, water barrages and even, after a bit of terraforming, Martian beach clubs!
Work in progress city location location when near an ocean.
New leaders
We go inside a local bar to warm ourselves, and see on the news that elections are taking place. Leaders weâve not seen before are running various political campaigns. The plans of seafaring leader Ayokunle Ndiaye directly appeal to us, as he orates about even vaster oceans and a network of connected docks and harbors. Letâs hope he will do as well as his 2 predecessors, Beatrix and Jan, who greatly helped Martian healthcare and dike construction move forward.
One of the new upcoming leaders.
Our adventure in and around the Martian oceans comes to a close for now (weâve got a game to develop!). There is no exact release date yet for the next update, but that should be announced within a few weeks on our Discord server. See you in the Martian oceans!
Terraformersâ Team
August devlog: First major update release and a sneak peak into the next one
Hello Mars enthusiasts! We hope you are doing well. Here in Europe weâre seeing a warm and dry summer again. If only we could export our CO2 to another planetâŠ
EA1 release
On July 18th, we released the first major update for Terraformers. Besides some bugfixes (and a few bug introductions), the main new features were:
A custom mode where you could define your own difficulty settings and game length (also endless), and share your game-seed with other players, so you could play the exact same map and compare your results.
The introduction of technologies. Technologies are suggested at specific moments and can be researched with science. They have an everlasting effect on the rest of your game and allow you to specialize more in specific strategies.
The addition of the Marsyclopedia. This is a digital library accessible from the main menu where you can read about all the projects, leaders and lifeforms youâve encountered so far.
Thank you for the feedback on this update, and weâre happy that most of you seem to be enjoying it.
Sneak peak into upcoming ocean related gameplay
So far, oceans have been mostly inaccessible terrain. But with the next major update (which will still take some time), they can be traversed and used to your advantage.
A city near the ocean, you can see a few coastal locations.
You will not be able to simply expand towards the ocean with your current expansion points. Instead, youâll construct a sea port on a coastal location (a land location that borders an ocean). This seaport will then expand to nearby ocean locations automatically in a similar way as the expansion hub currently does this over land. A small dock will only expand to adjacent ocean locations, while an industrial harbor expands multiple connections further. Then on the ocean you can build platforms that extend your reach even further.
After building a doc the city was able to further expand to the with an ocean platform.
Once expanded over the ocean, youâll be able to construct new buildings there. For example a water filtering installation that produces water, a fish farm that produces food, or an oceanic laboratory that produces science. There will also be specific buildings for coastal locations, like a barrage that will generate power, or a beach club that will generate support (more if itâs also warm there). And of course we are also finally bringing ocean specific lifeforms.
Some of the new marine lifeforms.
As development is still in an early stage, weâll have to postpone screenshots on this until the next devlog, where weâll also discuss the other main aspect of this new update: new leaders!
Gamescom 2022
In two weeks weâll also be attending Gamescom in Cologne, something for which we are very excited. Itâs the first on-site edition in three years. The last on-site edition we were also present, pitching an early prototype of Terraformers to publishers on the business days. This year weâll only be attending the public days, to demo the game to players!
The indie arena at Gamescom 2019.
If youâre also attending Gamescom, be sure to meet us at the Indie Arena! Otherwise, see you in the next newsletter (or on Discord/Steam)!
Terraformersâ Team
small patch v0.8.51
This small patch fixes an issue with a city layout providing twice an adjacency effect.
Small patch version 0.8.49
Small patch version 0.8.49:
fixed some unsafe code which can potentially trigger crashes
saving the player progression on more regular intervals so that less progress is lost in case of crashes
Patch v0.8.47
Additions:
Added that starting options will unlock after playing endless mode for a while
Added new âexpectation risingâ event texts
Added a safety to avoid an infinite expansion bug (but did not find the source yet)
Added arrow key control for the planet camera (so they can be mapped to a stick on the steam deck)
Changes:
Lowered the expectation rise frequency significantly in the early mastery levels, and a tiny bit in the later mastery levels.
Bug fixes:
Fixed a memory issue which will hopefully stop some crashes from happening.
Fixed the bug where only 1 lifeform was proposed
Fixed a bug where lifeform spreading time would be displayed for hidden regions
Fixed a bug where expanding to a location with a building would destroy the building
Fixed a bug where relocating a building would inherit the damage
Fixed a bug related to displaying information for Mine Venting skill (and other similar ones)
Fixed a bug where you were not able to use the Mine skill on oceanic locations
Fixed a bug where an error message with â131 missingâ would appear
Fixed that you could destroy an expansion building (like a bus station) even when itâs expansion points were used
Fixed the select leader screen would be cropped on small resolutions (like the steam deck)
Fixed that you could relocate a city mine to a slot with no resources.
Fixed a bug where the trade route breakdown was not displayed correctly for special mine trade routes.
Some other small fixes and improvements
Custom Mode available now!
Hi Terraformers,
As we previously announced, the Custom Mode (including Endless Mode) is now available to play and comes with lots of new features - Marsyclopedia, Technologies, new scenario and much more!
Check out some gameplay in our latest trailer:
- Complete patch notes below -
[expand type="details"]
Additions:
Added new Custom mode (includes Endless mode)
Added new Marsyclopedia (compendium)
Added new gameplay mechanic: Technologies
Added new scenario âPlanet of Knowledgeâ focused on science and technologies
Added new difficulty level for scenarios (Mastery level 36)
Added new procedural leaders for long games
Added new welcome popup
Added decorations on project frame to indicate rarity
Added a new tooltip when displaying lifeforms as well as full region coloring
Added an âabandon marsâ option in game menu
Added many new building images
Added a platinum trophy when winning a scenario in 65 turns (currently gold), giving 5 mastery points. Lowered the requirement for the gold trophy by 5 turns.
Added that if you win a more difficult scenario, all lower difficulties of that scenario are also completed with the same trophy.
When spreading a lifeform, the climate zones will now light up in different colors to communicate where the lifeform can be spread and how fast
Added a table that breaks down the duration of the spreading of the lifeform depending on which climate zone you are hovering
Balance changes:
Increased weight of the expectation rises a little bit in the underlying event-luck system, to balance it out better with the other (positive) events. As it was reported that getting more positive events resulted in a more difficult game as it also leads to more expectation rises.
Decreased the expectation rise frequency a little between turn 20-40, increased expectation rise frequency a little after turn 40.
Increased migration time on the planet by 1 turn.
Changed the amount of mars points you win for winning a scenario and winning it in fewer turns.
Increased prestige of palm trees by 1.
Giant crystal cave, Giant diamond cave and Rich soil now also place small resources on nearby locations (shown as hints when exploring).
Slightly increased amount of exploration satellites proposed.
Martian Workers Association now gives 2 support per uniquely produced resource instead of 3.
Division of labour now gives 1 comfort of living per 2 robots in the city, and is lowered in science cost to 5.
Reduced the amount of water required and support gained for the "Cultural festivals" skill.
Increased amount of city locations, lowered amount of empty locations.
Lowered the starting power supply of the terraforming starting option by 5.
Added an extra power supply crate near the starting location.
Slightly increased amount of damage you'll receive.
Increased the cost of founding a city by 5 water.
Changed Electron Beam printer's effect to "Titanium mines owned by this city produce +1 titanium and -2 support", changed its power cost from 9 to 11.
Slightly increased the chance of large/gigantic resource deposits in colder climate zones.
Increased tritium cost of "Import oceans from Europa", "Import Methane from Titan", "Import Hydrogen from Gas Giant" by 1.
Reduced spread duration of artificial bacteria by 1 turn.
Slightly increased amount of research & development centers suggested in the early game.
Reduced science cost of Robot Ingenuity Center by 1.
Improvements and changes
Safe save system handling, the save is now specific to the computer user and the store (steam or gog) specific user. (It should also be more safe from unwanted progress reset.)
General memory usage improvements.
Added a safety to avoid building a city mine at the same time as constructing a building.
City locations are now destroyed when expanding to them.
Improved the display of numbers on the resources (in case the numbers become very large).
Improved the display of power costs when using the âMineâ skill.
Improved the display of the specialization and other game effect elements.
Enabled âproject run in backgroundâ for the game (so you can continue to listen to the music ;) ).
Improved the Expectation rise events (new text and artworks).
Updated the roadmap.
Fixes:
Fixed refounding power cost when canceling using Thomas mining skill.
Fixed a bug where you could expand a city to another one.
Fixed a bug with the last prestige level of lifeforms not working.
Fixed âHappiness Leads to Creativityâ specialization.
Fixed an issue with card highlights.
Fixed a bug where reloading a game would reset specializations.
Fixed a visual issue in the âselect leaderâ screen.
Fixed an issue with the Enthusiasm widget not being visible when the player is about to lose.
Fixed an issue with ocean locations (they are now fully destroyed).
Fixed the ârevert actionâ with the wrong name issue.
Fixed that the costs of the âselect projectâ popup were set to zero while in a city which is currently relocating.
Fixed the trade boost specialization.
Fixed the applied science center issues.
Fixed the description overlapping in the scenario screen.
Fixed and improved the âdismiss tutorialâ logic.
Fixed the âinvestmentâ game event option 2.
Fixed some bugs related to flooding and dikes.
Fixed some issues related to tooltips in the trade panel.
Fixed a bug where it was possible to import more resources than normally possible.
Fixed a bug where you could play âlockedâ difficulty levels.
Fixed a bug with âRESOURCE_NONEâ when exploring a flooded location.
Made it not possible to replace the expansion hub to be in line with the fact that you could already not destroy it.
Fixed that clicking on a web link would trigger twice.
Fixed a situation where you could be requested to pick more projects than you were proposed.
End game reward will show neutral color costs.
Lots of text related fixes and improvements in all languages.
[/expand]
We can't wait to read your feedback on our Discord server!
And if you don't already own the game, get it now and save 20% off!
June devlog: First EA update release date, new features and improvements
Terraformers,
with this devlog weâre shining a light on the first major Early Access update. Be prepared, as this update will go live on July 18th! Hereâs an overview of what to expect:
Custom (endless) mode
As was requested by many players, we will add a custom mode in which you can define what type of game you want to play. You will be able to select the pace at which expectations rise (or even fully disable them), choose the frequency of natural disasters and select how long the game should last by selecting an amount of victory points, or even not define any end goal and just continue playing for as long as you want. The game will then calculate a mastery level, to give you an indication of how your created game compares to the scenarios in terms of difficulty.
When starting the game, a specific âseedâ will be generated. By sharing the seed, you can challenge someone else to play the exact same game (even with the same map generation and projects/leaders presented).
As the endless game can last for a long time now, we have also added randomly generated leaders for the longer games. These leaders will have a shaded portrait and randomly selected skills, but come without specialization. This feature is also active in normal scenarios.
The new custom mode start screen.
Technologies and new Scenario
The aspect that will have a significant impact on gameplay in this update is the introduction of Technologies. At specific turns, you will be able to choose 1 of 3 technologies (though you can speed up this proposal process by constructing âApplied Science Centersâ).
Technologies cost science and have global effects that last for the entire game. There are technologies that reduce the costs of robots, reduce the costs of removing rocks, give support per new trade route or reduce the cost of other technologies.
Weâre also adding a new scenario called âPlanet of Knowledgeâ. This scenario is focused on the scientific reasons we have for going to Mars. To win the scenario, you must have spent a certain amount of the science resource, and have explored a certain amount of locations. Also, double the amount of technologies are proposed in this scenario.
Technological advancements event lets you select a new technology.
Lifeform spreading improvements
Another widely requested improvement has been to have clearer information when spreading lifeform. For this we are adding two improvements:
When youâve selected a lifeform, each climate zone will light up in shades of green and other colors to indicate if the lifeform can be placed there.
When hovering over a climate zone, you get a tooltip explaining how the recharge duration after spreading the lifeform is calculated for that climate zone.
We hope that this will help new players understand the lifeform spreading flow better, and that it will help experienced players have a quicker overview of where they can spread each lifeform.
Climate zones will display different shades of greens and a detailed tooltip for spreading lifeforms.
Difficulty level and platinum trophy
Weâre also unlocking the next difficulty level: Mastery level 36. And for all scenarios, the difficulty has been tweaked a little bit: weâve reduced the amount of expectation rise events youâll receive in the early game, and increased the amount youâll receive in the late game. Besides that, weâve increased the amount of damage youâll receive in the late game by a small amount.
Finally, weâve added a new trophy: the âPlatinum Trophyâ. This will replace the current golden trophy (complete the scenario in 65 turns or less). The golden trophy will now be 70 turns, and silver 80 turns. You will receive 5 mastery points for the Platinum trophy. All trophies will be automatically updated, so you can expect your mastery level to increase upon launch of the next update! Weâve also added that if you have completed a more difficult entry in a scenario, you will get the same trophy in all easier entries of that scenario. With these additions, you can jump ahead to more difficult challenges faster. Our goal is not to lock content behind grinding but to provide an increasing challenge as you get better at the game. So if the early levels are too easy, this system allows you to jump ahead to more challenging levels faster.
The new procedural leaders for longer games.
Marsyclopedia
Weâve also added the âMarsyclopediaâ, in which you can view all projects, lifeforms and Leaders that youâve encountered at least once in a game. You will be able to read and compare all descriptions, and see the rarity of projects, the type of lifeform and if a leader can be presented in the early, mid or late game.
Weâre also happy to say that we have finally completed unique visuals for every single building in the game.
We would like to improve the Marsyclopedia in further updates. We would like to add search and sorting functionalities to it as well as add missing content such as landmarks and their options.
Marsyclopedia displaying which projects you have encountered and those still to discover.
Bug & Crash improvements
Weâve had reports from players experiencing crashes in the game. As we donât experience those ourselves, it has been challenging to fix those. Weâve made some improvements, and hope that they will help.
In addition we have also worked on solving many of the reported bugs, added many new building artworks and other small improvements.
We hope that you will enjoy this first major Early Access update, and are looking forward to hearing your feedback!
Asteroid Lab's Team
Terraformers stream at INDIGO
Hello Terraformers! Tomorrow, I (Jasper, game designer for Terraformers) will be a guest at the INDIGO showcase. At 17.05 CEST a streamer (TeamWALL) will play Terraformers for about twenty minutes and ask me some questions about the game. If you're interested, you can check it out via this link: https://www.twitch.tv/indigoshowcase .
The event will start at at 9:30 and 19 other indie games at different stages of development will also be streamed. You can view the full program here: https://indigoshowcase.nl/discover/.
