A new polish and bug-fixing update has just been released on the beta branch for players to try.
This goal for this version was to tackle as many little complaints players had by going through bad reviews and forum threads, etc. We drew up a big list and went through as many as we possibly could. I'm kind of surprised how straightforward it's been. Making this game isn't usually this focused and efficient... (something must be about go wrong)!
We’ve sorted some issues that had been hanging around for ages. My hope is this puts the game in a nicely semi-polished state for anybody checking it out on Early Access.
This is more an update for brand new players than older ones, but we've got things in store for long-term supporters too...
(Scroll down for full patch notes)
To access the beta branch and the new update, here's all you need to do:
- Right click Atomic Society in your steam library and select properties.
- Select the betas tab and from the drop down menu select "beta - Public beta branch".
- You do not need to enter a code for this public beta. Just close the window and in your library Atomic Society will automatically update to the beta version (if it doesn't restart Steam).
This version IS save compatible. You won't lose anything hopefully. :)
You can now play the Atomic Society Beta (or switch back to the main version anytime). You'll know you're on the new update if the version says 0.1.9.0 on the title screen.
Do let us know on the forum, or in comments, or anywhere if you find any issues with the beta (that's why we're running it).
The Next Big Challenge...
Anybody who read the last dev blog will know what a whirlwind this summer has been. For months of stress, indecision and drudgery on a feature that was going nowhere, to a complete 180 and new focus as a first-time team trying to work out how the heck to make a game that pays the bills with tips from more experienced developers. Making your first ever game (with a day job to get by) is nothing if not educational.
Shortly after writing that blog, thanks to players supporting indie teams, we were able to boost our review score just enough to get it over the dreaded "mostly positive" 70% line where we now dangle with a sigh of relief. It's been amazing and it helped us finanically, just as we hoped it would. We're still technically spending more than we're earning making this game, but the little sales boost has bought us enough time to go for broke and tackle the last remaining (fixable) complaint about Atomic Society...
Making the game longer.
It seems players generally like the game, they just wish there was a bit more of it. We know about all about this one but have so far focused on just getting the core of the game to be fun enough. Now we'll do what we can to expand the length.
The downside is this won't be a bunch of quick fixes like this patch was.
I’ll write more about the inevitable highs and low and problems of doing that over the coming months (nothing is ever simple when it comes to making games). It’s going to take a lot of work to add new things, especially working around day jobs, etc. But if it goes well, I think/hope/pray it might be enough to make Atomic Society ready for it's 1.0 Early Access version. But I think we'll be working right up to Christmas. But if it goes well, it should be worth the wait.
Thanks to everybody who's been a part of our muddling journey! I'll let you know how well or badly it's going in future dev blogs...
Update 9 Patch Notes
Note: This version is compatible with existing save games. You shouldn't lose anything by downloading it.
Bug Fixes
We have tried to clean up as many bugs as possible in this version. Thanks to everybody who told us about a bug. There's no way we would've found all these on our own...
- Fixed: The Trader taking but not giving goods if your storehouse was full.
- Fixed: The murders in the last 30 days statistic becoming inaccurate after a while.
- Fixed: A bug where the UI option to salvage scrap mounds would not appear if you destroyed multiple buildings.
- Fixed: A rare bug where the UI could break after starting a custom game with a unique number of adults.
- Fixed: Inconsistent speeds when builders/engineers were helping the Town Leader construct something. Sometimes it would be too fast, sometimes too slow.
- Fixed: Disabled the ability to save and load when Raiders were making a demand, which allowed players to bypass the Raiders entirely!
- Fixed: A bug where the Raiders would forget to come at all if you saved and loaded at a certain point.
- Fixed: A bug where the timer on the belief menu appeared glitched after the time was up.
- Fixed: The belief menu now updates without you having to close and re-open the menu.
- Fixed: If you walked out during sex with your spouse the sex somehow carried on.
- Fixed: Map descriptive texts being cut off at certain resolutions.
- Fixed: The menus locking the player out if the annual save game reminder popped up at the same time as the Raider story text.
- Fixed: The Town shortcut menu buttons for things like Town Hall stats opened the wrong menu on the first ever time they were clicked.
- Fixed: It is now possible to use capitals in the middle of names when creating a character.
- Fixed: Made small/narrow ruins easier to click on.
- Fixed: A bug where the icons for people who want to be your life partner would switch themselves on after sentencing laws.
- Fixed: The keyboard shortcut to zoom the camera in and out now works in Town Leader mode as well.
- Fixed: Made the keyboard shortcut (F11 by default) to hide the UI able to be re-bound to a different key.
- Fixed: Various rare code errors that could cause slowdown in larger towns.
- Fixed: Corpses can no longer despawn if you’re looking their menus so you have time to read them.
- Fixed: A bug where the population number on the Town Hall stats screen could be slightly inaccurate as it wasn’t counting people who left after a patriot scared them away.
- Fixed: Incorrect tooltips when people were being hung. The reason someone is executed should appear accurately now in all cases.
- Fixed: New migrants now have to get a lot closer to your Gateways in order to become citizens.
- Fixed: Corrected the bios on child citizens who were born after the nuclear war. For example, the entry on how they survived the bombs didn’t make sense.
Gameplay Changes:
- The building costs for all structures have been altered. Rather than most buildings using equal amounts of all 3 building supplies, now a building that is mostly wood will need more wood, one that is metal costs more metal and so on.
- Holding down shift (button can be rebound) now speeds up the camera, letting you fly across the map quickly if you want to.
- The speed of saving has been noticeably improved once again.
- Both mouse buttons can now be rebound in the controls section.
- The tenement, wind turbine and guard tower models have had some extra cosmetic love applied.
- The message that appears when you beat the game has been improved visually with new handmade artwork.
- All citizens now have a button on their menu letting you track them with the camera if you want to watch them going about their business.
- All citizens now have a button on their menu letting you open their workplace menu without needing to find it yourself.
- The screen shake that occurs when your bags are full (to alert you) can now be switched off in the gameplay options.
- All progress bars now show what percentage they’re on if you mouse over them.
- The main 5 need bars now flash if they get seriously low.
- You can see how many days until your child is born by mousing over the conceive button.
- It now shows you what your spouse/kids are up to if you mouse over the icons over their heads.
- New sound effects added for various actions (like entering your town name at the start, your child being born, etc).
- Citizen corpses will not despawn now if you’re reading their menus at the time.
- A repeating warning message has been added which tells you if your food and drink supplies are running out.
- A repeating warning message has been added if plague levels are rising noticeably.
Balance Changes:
- Decreased the rate prisoners starve to death by 50%.
- Survivors now went to the toilet before joining you at the start of a new game, and should be less likely to drop dead from poor sanitation before you’ve got your town up and running. This only applies to the easiest and middle difficulty settings.
- The Engineers you start a new game with have been toughened up and should survive longer now, letting you get more use out of them.
Hopefully all that gives everybody a more enjoyable experience with Atomic Society.
Thanks to anybody who tests the beta and generally for being the most supportive bunch of players a no-budget indie team could hope for!
