We’re currently working on major content upgrades, like updated quest lines, but progress isn’t ready to share yet. As a result, Build 75 is primarily a maintenance update.
In this patch, we’ve improved sound design, polished new areas, added fresh assets, and enhanced NPC daily routines and AI. These changes lay the groundwork for new and updated quests coming in future builds. As always, our scripting team has tackled a ton of work, fixing numerous bugs and quest/game logic issues—many thanks to your feedback!
Art assets
- New Animals: Added Meat Slugs and Flying Jellyfish (with variations).
- Gym Equipment: Introduced a basic workout gear set.
- Colonist Dishware: Added basic tableware to the game’s assets.
- New Characters: Included a full Meat Slug set (larvae, juvenile, ripe).
- Crystals: Converted all crystals to a palette-based system.
- Bugfix: Fixed visual glitches tied to the huge 3D model of the Leviathan spaceship.
- Ship Design: Reworked glass panels on the ship’s bridge and other areas.
- Clothing: Completed the first pass on female NPC outfits.
- Gamepad Icons: Added new icons for controllers.
Sound design
- Environmental Sounds: Added new audio—various winds, rustling plants, small animal noises, and insects.
- Asset Rework: Updated some older sound assets.
- Sound Zones: Increased unique audio zones (10+ new ones added).
- Wind Sync: Synchronized sound with wind gusts in certain level areas.
- Spatial Audio: Improved audio processing in caves and the mine.
Level Design
- New Creatures: Introduced Meat Slugs to the world—scarce for now, found in caves and underground spots.
- Cave Adjustments: Made minor tweaks to Pimple’s and Knuckles’ cave (not final yet).
- Cemetery Update: Added urns and pots to the ancient aboriginal cemetery and enhanced its lighting.
- Hornhogs: Paired up lonely Hornhogs in a few spots; slightly adjusted spawner positions.
- Quarry Revamp: Updated the Mad Outcasts’ small quarry with a new dungeon and encounter.
- Mine Expansion: Added a new branch to the mine’s open section—Bim’s workplace, featuring a beetle encounter.
- Lucky Hole Lighting: Slightly updated lighting with a precise nighttime schedule and extra workshop light sources.
- Colonist Details: Added new tableware and interior touches to Lucky Hole houses.
- Crystals Update: Refreshed all map crystals with a color-changing material.
- Workbenches: Placed crafting workbenches (non-functional for now) at Rusty Nails’ place, Scalphunters’ camp, and Lucky Hole.
- Scout Camp: Added a quest-related training camp in the lush southwestern area.
- Jellyfish Encounters: Introduced new Flying Jellyfish encounters.
- Paths of the Ancients: Enhanced visuals for the Paths of the Ancients and its tower.
- Scalphunters’ Camp: Reworked the camp and its lighting.
- Varlynx Lair: Added a new cave—the quest-related Varlynx hideout.
- Visual Polish: Applied tons of small tweaks to rocks, grass, and terrain.
Animations
- Combat Animations: Added some combat sets for Abori children.
- Meat Slugs: Created animation sets for Meat Slugs.
- Character Update: Expanded and updated animations for all characters.
- Daily Routines: Added new animations for NPC routines.
- Finishers: Introduced new finisher and backstab animations for humanoids and creatures.
GUI and input devices
- Controller Support: Made massive improvements to controller functionality and the input system.
- Button Hints: Added more and refined existing hints.
- UI Upgrade: Replaced the old terminal hologram UI with a computer UI.
- Scan Highlights: Updated materials—interactables are yellow, scannable info is cyan, and destroyables/enemies are red.
- Crafting UI: Slightly reworked the modification UI for modular items.
AI and scripting
- New NPCs: Added a couple of new characters at the Outpost—quest roles to be revealed soon!
- Outpost Routines: Updated daily schedules for named characters and background NPCs.
- Watchtower: Refreshed routines for watchers at the Outcasts’ Watchtower.
- Scalphunters’ Camp: Gave each NPC a unique schedule (all renamed to Kson Kahar, by the way).
- Quest Fix: Corrected broken or uncompletable quests.
- Quest Rework: Temporarily disabled some quests for future updates—they’ll return revamped!
- Animal Abilities: Added new skills, like a spit attack for Crucas.
- Routine Features: Included new animations and features, such as wall leaning.
- Reactions: Added startle events—NPCs twitch at gunshots and stagger when players sneak up.
- Bark System: Refactored to support prefab/guild variations and future voice-overs.
- Takedowns: Revamped takedowns and backstabs for a more cinematic feel.
- Stealth: Lighting now impacts player detectability, with a new UI indicator.
Other
- Weather Effect: Added a dust storm effect.
- Desert Storm: Refactored death triggers—rescaled damage and added wind howling.
- Save Files: Included screenshot previews for save files.
- Fixes: Implemented a multitude of bug fixes, adjustments, and improvements.
And in conclusion, a glimpse into some new locations for the upcoming quests—mystical and dangerous places you’ll encounter in your adventures on Tharsis. !!!Not in this Update yet!!!
We hope you enjoy the update! Share your feedback, report any issues, and join the discussion on Discord.
Until next time, space cowboys!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/