The alpha 0.14 update is quite a big update and is taking a bit longer than initially planned. I've made a lot of great progress and wanted to share some of the things you can expect to find in the next update.
Colonist Portraits
The colonist info window shows a colonist portrait image at the top left. This portrait is generated dynamically and will change when changing outfit colors.
All selectable objects also show an icon at the top left of their info window as well.
Roster Management Window
The colonist selection window for roster management now uses the new colonist portraits for easier identification of the colonist you're looking for. For more information on the roster management system check out the previous developer log.
New Research Interface
The research interface has been completely redesigned as a visual tech tree. This is something I've wanted to do for a longer time, but I wanted to ensure the tech tree was dynamically generated instead of manually positioned. Being dynamically generated means it's easier to add to/modify and easier for modders once modding is supported. This interface also better visualizes the break down of research progression.
Fine Dining
The original purpose of the recreation room was for eating as well as entertainment, but I've decided to separate out the eating experience into the new cafeteria room. The cafeteria will be for eating tables and the new food dispenser. The food dispenser is a dedicated container for meals and the fridge is being changed to only store raw food ingredients. The existing recreation room will still be available, but will serve little purpose until future updates.
With the addition of new crops and meals I've changed how meals affect colonists. Edible items will now have satiation and nutrition attributes. Satiation is how much, in percent, of the hunger bar is decreased when eating that item. Nutrition affects the change rate of the hunger meter which means colonists will get hungry again slower with more nutritious foods. The nutrition affect will naturally decay over a few in-game hours after eating food. Higher quality foods will have better satiation/nutrition values.
There are a lot more additions/changes/fixes coming in the Alpha 0.14 update. As with all major updates, this update will be available on the Test Build beta branch first, for those that want to help work out any issues, before coming to the main branch. I hope to have this update out on the test build branch later this week or next week. Thank you all for your patience and I'm super excited about all the new content this update will bring.