Hey guys,
Let's talk about update progress.
Last month was split between feature development and dealing with various logistical matters. Aside from some smaller fixes (including one for the save issue people have experienced when saving with animals in the fleeing state) this upcoming update will focus on improving UI usability, making it easier to learn the mechanics of the game.
AMD Driver Issues
First off I'd like to talk about an issue a number of users with AMD graphics cards have been reporting where upon starting the game they are met with a grey screen, only UI being rendered properly. We've investigated the issue and found that it is caused by AMD's 25.8.1 driver update. The update was released shortly after the game and breaks the shader compiler used by the Vulkan renderer. This is a general issue with this particular driver version and affects any game using the same renderer. Our understanding is AMD is aware of the problem and working on a fix. Unfortunately AMD has had repeated issues like this recently (at least this time nobody's motherboard melted), until they resolve it we recommend people roll back to a previous driver version.
Tutorial and New UI
While players familiar with the genre were able to pick up the game pretty quickly, a lot of newcomers reported issues understanding the game mechanics. While a more in-depth tutorial isn't viable for an Early Access title that's still undergoing development, we've added a tutorial popup system to explain the basics on the go. Previously read messages are collected inside a collapsible submenu, so if you need to refresh your memory you can always access them without leaving the game.
Colony sims are complex games and it's easy to overlook things, so we've added an alert system to notify players of ongoing issues they need to pay attention to that may not be immediately obvious. We've also improved a bit on the event UI. You now get a clickable icon that's less jarring than a sudden dialog popping up in your face. This opens the way for some upcoming gameplay features like mental breaks at low mood that are mostly ready but would've been too frustrating to deal with without proper UI.
New Armor and Backer Outfits
In addition to new UI, we've been working on some new armor and outfits. Most of the outfits came from backer submissions. Our goal is to finish up all the remaining backer hats and outfits with the update after this one. Due to popular demand we've reopened our old backer store where you can support development by purchasing some of the old Kickstarter rewards. Right now the name, hat and outfit submissions are open. We may also reopen some of the other submission types like graffiti in the future, once we've implemented those into the game.
Next Steps
Once we've put the finishing touches on the update it'll go into beta testing. After we're satisfied that there aren't any new bugs or issues the update will go live. While the launch required a lot of rapid hotfixes to address pressing issues, doing updates that fast means there's a high risk of new issues being introduced (like the animal save bug). That's why for future content updates we're not going to force any particular timelines and give our testers and developers the time they need to make sure everything is working correctly. Fortunately, sales performance has been good enough that we can keep going for the immediate future. We already have a number of things planned, such as a quick select bar and resource readout for the UI, improvements to combat mechanics and controls, additional survivor needs, medical conditions like starvation/exhaustion and a major expansion on visitor mechanics including housing, trade, etc. We'll share more details on those as we get to them.
That’s it for today. Until next time, stay safe and keep surviving!