Hey everyone! We are now one week away from launch, and we've been hard at work getting ready for the first public Steam release. Here's what we've been up to...
Version 0.6 is now in testing!
Our biggest update is now available to be tested from our Discord (link below) - this version will be closely tied to the first public Steam release, so if you've wishlisted the game and want to test the game before it comes out, join our Discord!
What's new in 0.6?
- Added the difficulty selector menu
- Added new turret, Flamethrower
- Added new turret, Minigun
- Added new turret, Sunbeam
- Added new building, Engineer
- Added new building, Solar Panel (placeholder art)
- Added new building, Area Cooler
- Added new building, Energizer
- Added new building, Gold Storage
- Added new building, Essence Container (placeholder art)
- Added new building, Iridium Purifier
- Added new building, Iridium drill
- Added new enemy, Speeder
- Added optional tutorial sequence
- Implemented new hit detection system
- Implemented new enemy movement system
- Implemented new bullet movement system
- Added custom difficulty support
- Added unlimited save support
- Added multi-engineering support
- And more!
Resource Storages
In order to try and counter AFKing for long periods of time, we've implemented the new (somewhat controversial) storage system. You'll need to continue expanding your storage array to hold more of each resource. We're trying to find a good balance between keeping Vectorio a somewhat idle game but also making sure that idling isn't extremely overpowered, especially in the mid - late game portion.
Iridium Refinement
This update also adds in iridium refinement. Iridium is used in the engineer to unlock and apply experimental modifications to defences and buildings.
New hit detection (experimental)
We're introducing a new hit detection and enemy movement system this update. This update removes physics based components from enemies and bullets, and instead replaces it with our own system that handles the movement and collision detection of each individual object through a master script. This system is FAR more optimized, which should lower the lag issues some players were experiencing in the mid - late game portion of the game. This also gives us more control over how we want enemies and bullets to behave on an object-to-object basis.
Engineering Modifications
We've just added support for multi-engineering modifications, essentially allowing for experimental modifications of pre-existing turrets. We can also use this in the future to allow players to create their own turrets, and possibly share them on the community workshop! (but more on this later)
Additional plans
Below is a list of the other plans we have for the game, some of which may even be implemented into the first public Steam version!
- Different modes beyond just Survival and Creative
- Multiplayer PvP (this will most likely be 1.0)
- Adding bosses to survival as a transitioning stage between enemy variants
- Workshop support for custom maps, challenges, and buildings
- And more!
Want to get in on development?
Vectorio is meant to be a collaborative projects not only between the devs, but the community as well. The goal is to work together to create a fun simple game to pass the time on for fans of the base-building / survival genre. If you have ideas, want to help test out dev builds, or just want to chat with the community, join our Discord! This is where all of our main discussions take place.
Discord link: https://discord.com/invite/auDgRJqtT9
Don't have Discord?
We now also have a Reddit page and Fandom page! Links below to both
Reddit page: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vectorio/
Fandom page: https://vectorio.fandom.com/wiki/Vectorio_Wiki
That's all we have for this update. Next week we'll have our first major update that will detail everything in the game (as well as a trailer) when the game releases to the public.
Thanks for reading!
~ Ben