Wyell...
It was only a matter of time that we bit off more than we could chew for a month-long update, and that time has arrived. While most of the other features that we planned for the next update are in place and working, the biggest, most requested feature - the new submarine - is still not complete.
We Need to Go Deeper was built over the course of 4 years or so (with an engine change in the middle) with a single, reliable, ever-present submarine. When we listened to the overwhelming consensus from our players that it was time for a new submarine, we thought we could accomplish that in a month. As it turns out, when you build essentially the whole game in such a way that the submarine is always there, UN-doing that means rewriting parts in nearly all aspects of the game. In fact, rather than listing which parts of our game we had to change, here's the list of things in our game which DIDN'T have to change to accommodate a new submarine:
1. Cave generation
2. Exterior level generation
3. Interior enemy AI
4. Exterior enemy AI
5. Main menu
6. Play menu
7. Customization menu
8. Player handling (controls, weapons, position).
Everything else has either been changed or is going to be. In fact, it's possible that some very small changes will still need to be performed on a few items in that list which we haven't found yet.
Which is why...
We need beta testers!
So much in the game has changed to accommodate the new submarine that essentially everything needs testing once again! Whether or not it's totally 100% stable and working, we will release the entirety of everything we have for this update to the Beta branch as soon as possible. How do you get into the beta? Simply right click our game in your Steam library, go to "Properties", and select "Beta" as your branch from the "Betas" tab!
We're really sorry that we couldn't meet our deadline this month, but every additional submarine from here on will be easier. In software engineering terms, we're paying off lots of our "technical debt." Bear with us for a little longer here and have fun testing the new features early if you like!
Thanks everybody!