What’s up survivors, it’s been awhile! We sure hope the latest update is treating you well and that you will continue to voice your concerns, critique, and suggestions (praise is also welcomed).
During the past few weeks we’ve been collecting and analyzing community feedback and working on Hellion’s next update. We believe it will bring several much wanted improvements, address a number of gameplay issues pointed out so far and further expand the gameplay introduced in the Don’t Panic update.
Today’s dev blog will outline various changes coming in the next update that is expected to land mid December. Next installation of our blog will bring a detailed preview of the update.
Systems
One of our objectives with the next update is to rework and rebalance the way systems work in Hellion. At the moment systems are something that players activate and then forget about. We aim to change that in a way that makes systems, and in turn base-building, essential to player survival and one of the key factors when making decisions.
In this regard Power Supply system is our main focus, as we want to completely change the current balance of resources, output and power requirements between ships, stations and individual modules.
Our second goal is to rework the Life Support system and rebalance O2 and Nitrogen consumptions to bring them in line with changes to the power supply system. Also important to note is that we want to make a clear distinction between using a jetpack and having a fully operational environmental control system, with the other being far superior in terms of resource consumption.
UI improvements
Next on the list is a series of improvements to the user interface as one of the often voiced complaints was that many of the UIs, especially power supply and life support were unclear, confusing or simply inadequate for proper station management.
The new interface is designed to be simple, clear and intuitive and should make station management (regardless of the number of modules) faster and more enjoyable. We expect it to solve most if not all of the issues players have with system management while also providing sufficient information regarding consumption, production and power requirements to make it easier for new players to learn and understand.
Parts
Don’t Panic update introduced system damage and malfunctions without touching the way parts currently work. One key feature of the next update will be a full rework of the way parts work and interact with different systems.
Contrary to the current mechanics, where players collect a bunch of different parts just to have spares in case they break down, we want each part to be important with rare “higher tier” parts providing a considerable bonus to systems they are attached to.
Localization
We want to use this opportunity to thank everyone for their efforts in community-based localization process as the level of dedication and attention to detail far exceeded our expectations in this regard. Eighty people gave their best during the weekend to make this possible. Join them in our continuous effort to make Hellion available all over the galaxy. Starting from today, a new set of languages will be imported into the game, ready to be approved by community. If you have any translation suggestions or you want to have Hellion localized in your native language you can visit our localization project.
Discord integration
We are also proud to announce that our work on Hellion’s rich presence for Discord is also nearing completion. We are looking forward to letting you try it out as soon as it’s finished.
Roadmap
Also, we have updated our roadmap so you can keep track of the development process.
That’s all for today folks! Stay tuned for future dev blogs when we will talk in-depth about all of the changes outlined so far, as well as some new features that haven’t been announced yet!
Until next time, fly safe and mind your oxygen level!
Zero Gravity Team