Research Objectives have been tough to find as the labels on the map coupled with the objective description was simply not enough information to get players to the destination. Now when players start research, the Objectives will appear on both the World Map and the Mini Map as yellow diamond icons that can be hovered over with the mouse to see their names and they can even be "right clicked" like any other landmark to place a way point on them. This provides absolute clarity as to exactly where the objective is located and should remove the confusion for players, especially new players.
Some research areas have been reimagined (about 1/3 of them). The jumping puzzles specifically have been significantly updated to make it easier for players to traverse with the number of items to jump onto increased so that the fun of exploring is still there.
Research objectives that players do not currently have as "in-progress" will no longer be interactable and will not have a proximity UI when close to them. Only the research objectives you are currently working on will appear in the world to interact with. This will reduce the confusion players were having when seeing objectives that they didn’t have yet, which they would interact with thinking maybe it was something they needed.
Database UI has been reimagined to better reflect the player’s progression of absorbing energy. The new UI is intended to be simpler and more intuitive in design. This will help new players better understand the process of elimination and benefit existing players as well.
The Dungeon Entrance will now default to the active or previous entity type in the drop down when interacted with rather than always defaulting to “demon” type even when the current dungeon is something other than a demon which was causing confusion to many players.
Level 2 Energy is now always either Vocalization or Writing similar to how Level 3 is always either black mold or fingerprints. This change was necessary to make the database and deduction process more intuitive.
The interaction cursor has been updated to look like a “E” button press image rather than just the letter “E” to better indicate the desired action.
The Astral Core info section in the top left has been simplified to directly state how Bonus XP works.
Awaken Update: Awakening caused by burning corruption to spawn a trait will no longer end if the entity walks into a light. This will help players conserve more Bio Fusion as I noticed lots of players were losing the trait because the entity would despawn when touching a light.
Added a server filter option “in-game friends only” to help narrow down friends to only those that are currently playing the game and have their Steam game presence set to non-private.
Updated the Museum to be slightly smaller in size by cutting off the left wing of the building.
Further reduced text in the story introduction to make the new player experience quicker and more intuitive.
FIXES
Fixed an issue where certain combinations of evidence (usually ectoplasm with writing or vocalization) were causing the database to cross out wrong traits.
Fixed an issue where the Server filter option for "friends in servers only" was not working.
Fixed an issue where the Server filter option for "online friends only" was not working.
What's Next?
There's still so much work to be done, but we are getting closer with every update to having the foundation of the game polished and fun and of course, enjoyable for new players that are starting off. Soon, I will begin working on NEW Open World Features that will include open world threats, more survival tactics, endgame replay-ability, and more! I will drop greater details on those updates as we get to them, but let’s just say that if all continues to go well and the community is reporting an overall positive experience, then I'll have some great things coming your way!
Thanks again to everyone who has supported and played / is still playing the game. All your feedback and help with bug reporting has been invaluable!