Hey there everyone;
The demo has been out now for a few weeks and so far the response has been fantastic. A lot of players have checked out the game and the feedback, suggestions, and bug fixes have been rolling in. This patch addresses many issues as well as adds some quality-of-life changes, tweaks, and additional guidance for new players.
Fixes
There has been a variety of fixes made to the game. A huge shoutout to TrabTrab on Steam for their amazing bug-finding reports. This individual has played very hard and come back with some great findings to improve the game.
Rocket Issues
There were some issues with rockets, particularly related to multiple rockets using the same landing pad. This has been tracked down and fixed as well as other improvements were made to this rather complex system. It is working much better now, but I will continue to test this aspect as it working correctly is very critical.
Stat Reset Didn't Work
The stat reset in the pilgrim quarters was not bringing up the correct HUD, this has been fixed and it now works great.
I Can See Your Feet
There was an issue when leaving the stasis pod that would show the hidden mannequin used as the player's body. This rather jarring effect won't occur anymore.
Tier 2 Exports Under Valued
Tier 2 exports were set at $5m per export same as the Tier 1 export. This has been raised to $20m to ensure making this complexity leap will be worth your effort as we move to the mid-game and increase research costs.
Over Valued Drill
The copper drill was exporting at $5m this was not intended it has been set down to $1m as intended. I want the focus to stay on manufactured exports in the later game, but I do want some goods to have value. We will continue to monitor and change any values that make sense as we continue to develop.
I Can't Eat That
Some high-end foods were set as drinks by mistake. And trying to drink food didn't work out too well causing them to be useless. This has been fixed. Higher-end food will play a more vital role later in the game with colonists' mood, but right now most people just eat potatoes.
Exploit Detected
There was an exploit that could trigger using manually entered amounts for crafting. This has been removed.
That Ain't Air Tight
There was an issue that if you moved in and out from the door quickly you could trigger the door to not fully close and stay cracked open. I have added a final check on this where if something is off it will auto-fix itself. There should be no way to leave a door open moving forward.
Mission Objective Bug
There was an issue with the mission objective to send an export back to Earth. It was only looking at rocket 2, not rocket 1, it now correctly looks at both rockets and will fire correctly.
Changes
There have been a variety of tweaks and changes based on player feedback as well as my experimentation. The shout-out list would be pretty large for this category, but I will highlight Garret one of my discord moderators for their excellent feedback in this category.
You Want How Much
The foods you can purchase for supplies were far too overpriced. $8m for an M.R.E.? All of the foods have been reduced to be more worthwhile as early supplies if you wish. I was worried about how much you can get with the starting $30m that I overvalued some items that won't hurt your progress.
Tighter Drills
I have tightened the copper, ice, and iron deposit grouping to be closer together so it is less of a walk for the player. This might be too good, but I am open to feedback.
Large Plants
I have added the ability to look at and collect larger plants such as corn and tomatoes. I was using the base of the plant to collect, but now the entire plant can be used.
Equip And Use Buttons
I have removed these buttons from the HUD as I like the idea of drag and drop and using items from the quick bar. Those buttons were more so for console players in the future, but we are so far from that possibility that I would rather just focus on Steam players for now
What Did I Research
I have changed the messaging on the research HUD to show the category of research you just unlocked while it is cooling down. I might change this to be the specific unlock but that is quite complex due to the structuring of blueprints. For now, I have implemented showing the category and hope that helps you remember.
Possible Failure
I want to make sure the core of what you need is reachable even if you make some mistakes. To this effect, I have made landing pads start unlocked. The keys to survival are food, air, and water. But the key to progress is exporting, manufacturing, and rocket fuel production. Hopefully, this helps stop players from burning up all their funding without having the ability to export.
Drilling Reduction
The drills were adding resources very quickly at 1 ore per second. I have changed this to 1 ore per 1.5 seconds. I tried 2 seconds but felt it was too slow. Hopefully, 1.5 is the sweet spot, let me know your thoughts.
Additions
There have been some great additions to the game to make it flow with players even better than it already has been. Shout out to DigitalFrost for some great ideas in this category as well as other contributors.
Give Me A Tip
I have added tooltips to each player's stat to give a breakdown of each stats use. I also changed FORTITUDE to RESISTANCE and it will now be used to reduce damage taken.
Message System
I have created a new message system that shows up in the bottom right of your screen and stays persistent until you are out of the danger zones. These are for low air, low water, low food, and overweight. I have removed them using the large full-screen warning. I felt it was a bit much with full-screen messages, but we will still use those for some critical messages such as your base going offline or a large attack incoming.
Data Pads
I have added a system for datapads to the game. Currently, you start with one datapad titled mission objective. This is a multi-page document about your mission and covers a variety of basics for the player. It is an opt-in readable tutorial in many ways. This system will also be used for future datapads we can place in the world to reveal events from previous missions on Ceres or other story-building points.
Non Stop Crafting
You can now continue to use a machine while it is crafting. This was a big change to get in the game, but it honestly feels great. Now you can take part orders off a machine as they are crafting and we display a nice timer inside the HUD for progress. Now if you queue up 25 bars and then realize you need 5, you can just go grab them. Over all this feature feels great.
Straight To The Slot
It is now possible to quick slot items from machines right into the player's quick slots. If you drag and drop a quick slotable item it will now auto transfer to the player and quick slot itself where you placed it. Many players tried to do this and then manually moved it to their inventory to quick slot. It seemed like a great idea to help the crafting flow better with players.
More Ice
Even though I want players to get to the drilling and hit deposits manually for infinite resources but no exp. Players keep trying to manually farm. So, I added a few more ice resource nodes down below for players spending more time in that area than I meant for them to. I can't control players, but I will do my best to cater to whatever style I see players leaning into, and adding a few more nodes will help with that style of early gameplay.
What's Next
Now that the core early-game loop is functioning well the next focus will be on refining and expanding on that loop before we move on to the mid-game. There are many ideas on the table but you can expect to see some additional open caves to add more value to exploration as well as precursor elements to the narrative of the mission, and some additional life forms to the planet to add some life to the game as well as atmosphere.
There is still a very long way to go before we reach early access, but I am so thankful to have you along for the journey. I can't wait to show you what I have in store for the game.