Wow where to begin!? This has been the biggest update as a team we have ever pushed to any title. We aim to push larger updates like this in the future to all our titles rather than small bite size updates.
We’ve taken a huge look at the game and where we were at from our launch. We’ve taken a tonne of feedback and we’ve tried to change as much as possible to improve the game.
We've changed almost 200 things in the game so please bare with us whilst we fix any bugs or issues you may find.
I’ve made a video with all the things we have addressed in the game so i’ll drop that here;
But if you would like a list here we go….
BUILDING SUPPORT SYSTEM
Firstly, we’ve completely disabled the support system for Junkpunk, whilst it was good, we felt it was limiting a lot of players' creative ability and was too much of a task to balance and get perfect. Now all players have complete creative freedom to build where they desire. We will take feedback and see where this goes but we feel this will be better overall.
GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENTS
We have also completely reworked our graphics rendering and now the game looks really nice. Although our team is tiny, we strive to try and push the boundaries of modern graphics fidelity here and I feel we are giving that a good shot.
We have also introduced Chromatic Aberration into the game to really give it a nice Sci-Fi pop. If you don't like this we also added it to the menu for players to turn off.
DYNAMIC WEATHER
We have introduced a dynamic weather system that also couples nicely with our changes with graphics. Now the world chooses from a pool of various volumetric weathers depending on the stage of the game. This means dust storms during monolith one and rain during monolith two for example.
Yes we have also introduced volumetrics into the game.
BALANCE
We have re-balanced some of the game to try and make it less grindy, slightly more automated and we’ve added more resources around to find what you need without having to walk for miles.
VOICE OVER
We have completely re-worked our voice over with a professional voice over artist. It’s awesome.
POWER
We have completely redesigned how power works in the game. We tried to do something different for JUNKPUNK but the way we did it seemed to just aggravate players. We have taken a much friendlier approach to how electricity works now and we have simply based it off a grid. Now you can add power and nodes to a whole grid and power everything that way.
BELTS
We have greatly improved spline belts. There's another update to come with belts as they are missing our latest “belt system” but soon they will get even better. But for now we have improved how belts look and auto spawn supports where they should.
We have also added a second tier of belts and large belts into the game.
FAST TRAVEL
After unlocking monolith two youl will also get the ability to unlock fast travel and build teleporters. We want to add vehicles in future as well but for now we thing this will help traverse huge distances.
DRONES
After monolith two you can now build mining drones that will mine large resources and allow you to automate for finishing monolith two. Drones will fly away, gather resources and return.
RESOURCE NODES
We have now also added certain nodes to the game where you can mine resources with ground extractors. Such as Sand and Phosphorus.
USER INTERFACE
We have overhauled the entire UI after listening to feedback - this is still a WIP but we think its much nicer and easier to understand. Again, we will be taking feedback on this.
We have also improved the map so now you can add markers and beacons to show your way and also add markers for points of interest. The map will also show teleport locations that you can teleport to.
We have added a recipe book to the game so you can see exactly what items you need to make certain things so you dont forget and this can be seen on the fly.
We have also added a data log so you can re-read what you find from the lore in the game.
The game also now counts how many days you have been playing.
We have added a 3D text to show power on machines and power items so people can easier read what's going on.
NEW CONTENT
Added an entire new tier of machines to the game for monolith two and have also completed monolith two for gameplay. We’ve added over 20 new items/machines to the game with various recipes.
Monolith two is finished and ready to complete.
Replaced monolith bridges with awesome new ones.
Added an abandoned village to the game. I'd like to do more here but just didnt get enough time for this update so will drop more on the next.
Added a new dynamic landscape to the game that we can change in real time.
QOL
Improvements to player torch brightness.
Improvements to how far you can see during a sandstorm.
Reduced sandstorm frequency, you will now never get two in a row and they are less frequent.
Remove fog from inside monoliths when you enter.
Flattened a lot of areas to make it easier to build your factories in.
Improved snapping on buildings to make them easier to snap together.
Increased the run speed by 20% so its quicker to get around. We know its really big out there and were working on faster ways to travel in the future!
BUG FIXES.
Just tonnes of fixes here I can barely begin to remember them all but there has been a lot. Im sure youll all find more though!
Thank you for all your continued support on the game during Early Access.
We will see you soon with any fixes you all find.
Best
Rich and SCT