Hello, Engineers!
Hello Engineers of the first category! You've probably already noticed that there have been no updates for over a month. At first glance, it may seem that we are not doing anything because we didn’t release devlogs on Discord and we didn’t release new experimental versions, but this is not the case. This article should tell you about everything that we have been doing all this time.
• Main menu UI update.
When creating this update, we were very much concerned that many newcomers could not figure out the game on their own. The first step towards solving this problem was to rework the old menu into a more beautiful, functional and understandable. We have optimized the navigation of the players in the menu, moved some old functions to more appropriate places, and added new ones that simplify the interaction with the game.
• Multiplayer.
Also in this update, work continued on the multiplayer. More sync items have been added and network code optimizations have been made. It is highly likely that in the final version of this update, multiplayer will be available in alpha access.
Adding multiplayer to a game that is not intended for him is a very difficult process, especially for one person, so it can take a long time.
• Display of problem areas.
The continuation of the solution to the problem of the difficulty of understanding the game is to add to the game a system for displaying problem areas of your contraptions. It will display a special icon in places worth paying attention to.
For example, if you forgot to connect the power to the device, the game will remind you of this. This will help avoid confusion and show the player what needs to be fixed in his contraption in order for it to work correctly.
• Fuel system and new engine.
As mentioned earlier, we are working on a new fuel system that should bring more variety and complexity to the game when building vehicles. At the moment, only the new jet engine has been optimized for this system.
For the operation of this engine, it is required to build a specific structure from connected modular blocks: an air intake, a combustion chamber, and a nozzle. After the design of this structure, it is required to bring the fuel line to the combustion chamber and the tank with aviation fuel.
I would like to clarify that fluid physics works on a simplified model. This means that the fluid inside the pipe is not affected by gravity. At the moment, this works on the principle of pressure differences in different parts of the system.
• Updated particles.
Also in this update all the effects (clouds, smoke, fire and etc.) is redrawn.
• Best Community Contraptions.
As our game is developing very quickly, it needs to update the screenshots and trailer, which will more clearly reflect the gameplay. We would be happy to select the best work from the community for this task. We will write more about the competition later.
• Conclusion.
In conclusion, first I would like to clarify that at the moment we do not know when this update will be fully released, but a new experimental version will be released very soon. We would like to hear from you in the comments what difficulties you encountered at the beginning of the game in order to try to get rid of them.
Also, if there are players among you who are quite familiar with the game, we would be glad if you could write your own guides on Steam, because it will help newcomers to get used to it.