Hi subROvers! 😊
Jose here -0.7.41 is up in the beta branch. Let's take a look at the changes:
Revised Manual
The manual is now up to date with all the new recently added features.
New Creatures
Here's the Frilled Shark, with its many rows of teeth and characteristic gills,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3246340399
And here's a complete revision of the Angler Fish (Melanocetus), based on this sighting from MBARI
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3233668029
New Music
There's several new tracks, adding to around 40m of in-dive music. I will make all the music available in various ways later this year.
External Camera Improvements
I've revised the "External Camera Terrain Avoidance System" to tackle edge cases where the corner of the view would sometimes show the back of the terrain (particularly when moving the camera fast against it), and I've changed the way the camera moves so it keeps its height, instead of descending towards the ROV. I've also added camera glitches to the "entry" and "exit" points: right now it's eye candy but I'm considering making this camera damage-able in the future.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3246527023
New Screen Glitch sound
I've added a "bzzt" sound to all the cameras' visual glitch effect. It's meant to be subtle, and it might be too soft: I chose to err on the side of caution and revise later if needed.
Added Steam player Name and Icon to the Profile
This is a small, safe feature I wanted to add before I tackle more serious steam integrations like cloud save or achievements.
Bug Fixes and Other Improvements
- Fixed/Dives: if you docked the ROV with the TMS while it was ascending (with D.Pos on), D.Pos apparently disconnected itself, but if you released the ROV again, the TMS started ascending on its own. This was reported by Venator Draw, who is a veritable saint and waited patiently until I could see this properly.
- Fixed/Dives: Underwater environmental light still active after ROV resurfaces (a faint bluish hue).
- Fixed/Menu: The profile in pause menu doesn't load saved data (from v0.7.40).
- Fixed/Dives: Barrels' icons in San Pedro don't have correct proportions.
- Improvements/Dives: In San Pedro, the barrels' icons will now appear as big exclamation mark on the map when pinged with the SONAR. This should make them more obvious as points of interest.
- Improvements/Dives: Revised Tokelau's objectives' description (after player feedback).
- Adjusted benthic fish collision/school behaviors to help avoid terrain clipping.
Notes
- The volume I recommend for in-dive music volume is somewhere around 70, regardless of adjustments to individual tracks that I will probably make over time. New installs will have this value by default, but I'm not going to force the change when updating from 0.7.40, since it's minor and subjective.
- There is a persistent bug with fish behavior whereby they sometimes get into the terrain. I'm very much aware of it and I've done various tweaks to the underlying code to mitigate it. I'm not discarding a major revision in the future, but I'm giving priority to adding content at the moment.
- IMPORTANT: It looks like there's been cases when, after updating the game to 0.7.40, it starts with a low or incorrect screen resolution -or rather, it detects more options than before, and applies the "index" of the one it had previously selected, which is now wrong. That's my best bet at the moment and I don't know if it's worth forcing a "re-choosing". I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if it's happened to you, and your thoughts on it.
What's Next?
The next goal is adding three new creatures: the Mariana snailfish, the Giant isopod, and the Lizardfish. Now, I can incorporate the lizardfish to existing dives, but the isopod and snailfish both demand the Challenger Deep Dive, so I'll be adding this new dive too. I don't have an ETA for this -we have a system in place to address technical issues derived from deep dives, but the Challenger Dive will test the literal limits of the game. In principle I'll give it 1-2 weeks, and if I see it's going to take more time, I'll roll this update to everyone.
Final thoughts
As always, I appreciate all and any constructive feedback you have, and I take it to heart, so please do get in touch!
Also, if you enjoy subROV and would like to support the game, please leave a review. If It reaches 50 with the current ratio, it will give it a nice boost -not to talk about the morale boost it gives me 😊
Anyway, thank you so much!
et Monsieur Venator,
"Tu réclamais le TMS ; il descend, finallement ; le voici :
Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe le ROV,
Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci."
(merci bien mon ami)
Teaser
