With our first proper update on Steam, we want to address something a lot of the community has mentioned: game performance! Some players with high end machines wanted to push even more pixels, others with lower specs wanted the game to run faster, and everyone wanted to be able to play further in the game, gaining more and more workers, without noticeable hitches.
We've heard you, so here's what we've done to get you the most Fs out of every S:
Volumetric, Fluffier, and Way Faster Clouds
We're using a new technique to render our clouds, tracing paths to make them fully volumetric in the game. This sounds more complicated, but it's actually a lot faster! As a bonus, the clouds look fluffier and cast better shadows too!
Major Shader Optimization
There isn't a nice screenshot for this one, but we've gone back through our shader code -- and even some Unity default shaders -- to optimize everything for your GPUs. Atmospheric Scattering and Screenspace Ambient Occlusion should run much better now, and all our shaders can run in parallel much more easily.
Very Low Quality Setting
Everyone should benefit from the above changes, but for those who even struggle to run the game at all, we've created a Very Low quality setting. This reduces the number of animations playing and replaces the Worker models with cheaper Pawns. Hopefully this should allow most people to enjoy their time in the skies!
Unrelated but...
We've fixed some issues that you pointed out as well (and some you didn't but came up when fixing others!). We've also added Tutorials to the Pause Menu, so you can review (or read ahead!) as much as you like.
See the full patch notes below. We're still working hard on updates, and we're very excited to share even more in the future!
• PERF: Fluffier clouds, now volumetric, which both look and perform way better
• PERF: Optimize Atmospheric Scattering
• PERF: Optimize Screen-space Ambient Occlusion
• PERF: Optimize background shader logic
• PERF: Optimize all shaders so most can run in parallel
• PERF: Add a Very Low performance setting
• PERF: Add setting to swap Worker model with simpler Pawn
• PERF: Add setting to disable some animations
• ADD: All Tutorials can now be accessed via the Pause Menu
• FIX: Housing block roof models change after save/load
• FIX: Town Center preview does not changing when hovering buttons in Creative Mode
• FIX: Paths don't always highlight when being placed in range of a Street Lamp
• FIX: Buoy icon disappears on map when loading
• FIX: Cloud colors sometimes incorrect when transitioning between biomes