Originally posted by Bigfoot on the official forums.
Hello everyone!
With the release of our latest major update and moving on to the next one coming on October 5, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the roadmap for the game.
The Outbreak Upgrade was a bit rough. Given the feedback, it was clear that we misbalanced the early game difficulty of disease, and we worked hard to identify that and improve things as soon as possible. Additionally, while we agree that a new system was not the most requested feature in the game, we felt strongly that we needed to bite the bullet and work on building out the base systems before digging deeper into those systems.
At its core, Oxygen Not Included is about building a thriving colony on an unforgiving asteroid. The game is a huge simulation, with tons of layers that are constantly being simulated at all times. The interaction of these systems is both what creates challenges for the players and the opportunities to exploit it.
In order for us to build such a system, it requires that we build a solid foundation to work on. With the latest update, we believe the core systems are now in place, and are now building deeper into the tech tree.
The following is a broad view of what you can expect as we fill out the rest of the game:
More variety in the world
We will continually be expanding what the world holds for the players. This means more biomes, more elements to manipulate, more creatures, and so on.
The exploration of the world is a key part of the discovery process.
Deeper Tech Tree
If the variety in the world creates the ingredients, then the tech tree is the way players can manipulate it. We will continue to advance the tech tree to allow greater use of the materials and systems in the world. This includes advanced refinement techniques, building protective suits for Duplicants, better resource extraction, improved logistics to increase efficiency, and so on.
One of the core principles of the game is that everything you do creates externalities. Want to breathe some oxygen? It produces CO2. Want to electrolyze the water to create O2? It also creates Hydrogen. Want to go to the toilet? Better have a place to put the waste product.
The tech tree will continue to push players to manipulate the systems to handle these externalities, and even use them to your advantage.
More Duplicant interactions
Currently, Duplicants mostly interact in solitary ways. Over time, we will be adding more ways that the Duplicants will notice the presence of each other. Loud sleepers or duplicants helping to heal each other are examples of such interactions, but many more are possible.
We have many ideas for this, and will expand on it as we get closer to implementing them.
Lore Discovery
The reason why Duplicants are stuck on this Asteroid and the background of the world will slowly be revealed.
In the final phases of the game, we expect the tech tree to be much deeper than it is now, extending to what we would call “space tech”. During that phase, the Duplicants will discover why they are trapped on an asteroid, and what they can do about it.
During Early Access the game will evolve. As the team builds upon the game sometimes it may be too easy, sometimes it may be too difficult, and sometimes it could just be wrong. The process of Early Access helps us land exactly where we want the game to be, and we’re thankful for your feedback as a community helping us to achieve that. We truly think the game is better because of your involvement.
This is our 6th Early Access title, but the process is never simple. What you can be sure of is that we always put our full effort to complete our games -- since we launched on Steam the team has grown, and we will continue to build and support it fully to the end.
Thanks so much for your support of our game, we hope you enjoy your journey with us as we continue to develop it!
And that’s it! With all that said, here is a sneak peak image from the upcoming update.
Best,
Jamie.