Hey Folks!
Lately, we've been focusing a lot of attention on getting the Fire In the Hold (0.15) Milestone ready. It's getting closer, and we expect to be in closed beta testing as soon as this week.
If you want a sneak peek at some of the sensor and weapon features it'll include, check out this short video of a battle between ships:
Content Creator Sign-Up
And speaking of closed betas, are you a content creator interested in Ostranauts? If so, fill out this form to get updates on future opportunities and promo materials as we get closer to 1.0 launch.
QoL Patch
And last, but not least, what about this patch? We're still trying to reserve some dev time to keep fixing and improving the existing game. Update v0.14.5.20 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This is a hotfix update to our "Inventory Overhaul" update, which includes fixes and improvements for undocking, the PDA Vizor, inventory, and others.
Saves from v0.14.0.0 and later should work. Note that if you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.
Note: 📢 indicates changes inspired by community feedback!
Undocking from ground stations no longer obliterates large ships.
PDA Vizor presets and saving now works more reliably, and older saves with problems can be fixed via 'pda reset' console command.
📢Inventory Trash slot is now in the bottom left, instead of top left.
Inventory Trash slot timer now ignores fast-forward, and correctly resets when new items placed in it.
Click-swapping an item in a container's inventory grid no longer makes the new item invisible outside of that grid.
📢Painting item install jobs via PDA now maintains item rotation between installs.
Box Sled ship type removed from starting ships.
Damaged doors no longer have the Access Locks option.
📢Autovents now power-on into the closed state, instead of open, to avoid losing atmosphere during a power cycle.
Bash action is now available on items after a save/load.
Characters will no longer get trapped in an infinite teleport loop when standing up from chairs.
One of the more concerning problems we've heard reported involved large ships trying to undock from a ground station. They were frequently colliding with the ground on pushback, and sometimes causing total destruction.
This patch adjusts the pushback to avoid collisions better in those cases, and large ships should once again be cleared for departure!
We also heard reports that older saves had broken PDA Vizor after the last patch. So this patch improves how those settings are saved and loaded, and keeps settings between crew members. It also includes a new command users can use to factory reset their PDA if it's stuck in a bad setting. Simply open the debug console (default F3 key), and type "pda reset" to scrub the settings back to their defaults.
A number of users requested the inventory trash slot move away from the head to avoid mis-clicks and lost items, so we swapped that with the social items slot. We also fixed the timer on trash to make it easier to undo.
While testing this, we also found a bug that hid the cursor item when item swapping, and were able to fix that.
Users have also requested that the PDA install painting cursor remember item orientation between each click. It turns out we had that in Ship Editor, but not the main game, so we carried that over.
Two changes were the result of watching new players struggle with the game. First, we finally removed the Box Sled ship as a character creation option. Way too many users would suffocate trying to board that ship, not realizing it had an open floor between the airlock and cabin. We tried making this ship only appear after a few new games were started, but it wasn't enough.
Now, you can still get the ship, but it has to be more deliberate. The ship broker should basically always have one in stock.
Second, a lot of users would encounter damaged doors, right click on them, and see "Access Lock." And reasonably assume that was how to get them working again. So we removed that option from damaged doors.
Another long-time player request was to change the auto-vent behaviors to start "closed" instead of open. Losing power on a ship would often mean the vents briefly open after power was restored. And in some ships, this could mean certain death, as the limited air was lost.
They now start in closed state, to avoid this unexpected air loss.
Finally, we fixed a few other issues players encountered with missing Bash actions and chair dismounting.
We hope everyone's getting settled-in for some cozy holidays! The team here at Blue Bottle Games will gradually be heading out for holiday breaks over the next few days, likely until the new year.
I may poke my head in here and there to see if anyone needs anything, but other than that, I'm looking forward to a few days of food, a warm fire, some (arguably) friendly games of cards with the family, and maybe a homemade karaoke night or two.
From everyone at BBG, we hope you have a safe and happy winter break, we wish you a healthy and prosperous 2026!
Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC