Ostranauts News

Hello there!

We have previously shared the Ostranauts player-driven roadmap with the community on Steam (in fact, you've probably taken part in the feature voting!). However, newer players may not have seen this. We wanted to make a post with all the up to date information so you can be aware of what to expect, what we're currently working on and why.

This is Ostranauts player-driven roadmap for the next approximate 2 years of early access of the game:



We're using an in-game voting system where early access players are able to vote on what upcoming features should be prioritised.



We held the first vote in November 2020 and 'That's An Order' came out on top. Players voted for us to focus on improving crew management, which is what we've been working on across the game updates since (...well that and quite a few other things too!)

There's a lot that people want to see in the game, so here's an FAQ for planned features:



If you want to hear more about this in-depth, Dan has covered it all in this video.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thanks all! Have a great weekend.

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.4.3 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This one's a short list, but had some worthwhile fixes we wanted to get to you asap.

Specifically:

• Fixed a bug that caused pathfinding to get stuck around certain items like unpowered lights.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused saving game to fail if placeholder item was missing data. Save will now omit said item.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused saving game to fail if a container had bad stacking info on contained items.
  
• Added code to remember item placement in inventory grids.
  

The main reason for the quick patch today was a pathfinding bug that caused crew to get stuck on things like unpowered lights. In some situations, this would almost completely stop a crew member from walking through airlocks due to light hitboxes creating a narrow passage.

Crew should get around more smoothly now.

We also saw a few crashes occur when players attempted to save games with some bad data present. We've added some code so these games can be saved again, while we work on a more permanent fix.

Finally, inventory items should now stay in the same grid square when you close and reopen the inventory UI. So go ahead and organize items to your heart's content. They should still be where you left them next time!

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.4.2 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

We found one more cause of sudden air loss that we fixed. There's also a new turbo pump, and reversible air pump behaviors to use. Plus a bunch of UX improvements and bug fixes.

Specifically:

• Fixed a bug that caused ship rooms to suddenly evacuate when loading a save file.
  
• Added Exit button to main menu.
  
• Added new turbo air pump item to Ocelot airlock.
  
• Added turbo button to air pump controls. If enabled, pumps operate at significantly higher speed.
  
• Added reverse button to air pump controls. If enabled, pumps operate in reverse.
  
• Changed nav station to disable torch drive for now. Not fully working, and confuses new players.
  
• Added torch drive warning message to nav station when used.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused N2 and O2 sensors to always fail uninstallation.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented shift-clicking stack on floor from taking them when there's a full stack already in inventory.
  
• Added ability to drag from slot to grid and releasing to transfer item.
  
• Added ability to drag from one stack to other stack in same grid and then releasing to stack item.
  
• Added ability to shift-click slotted item to transfer it.
  
• Fixed an inventory null bug that would occur when swapping an item from the grid with a slotted item.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused face customization buttons to disappear at certain resolutions.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused some crew progress bars not to show correctly.
  
• Added skills to list of traits that are revealed in social UI.
  
• Added social move to ask about career, and replies for each skill.
  
• Added code to exit socializing UI if there are no available options and Confirm is pressed.
  
• Added small light to batteries so they are easier to find in the dark.
  
• Fixed a bug in ModeSwitch that caused new items of different size to appear straddled across grid lines.
  
• Changed crew pathfinding to reduce chances of standing inside objects.
  
• Changed O2 sensor rate from 0.000866h to 0.000278h, so O2 sensor stops pumps sooner after good pressure reached.
  
• Changed pump control knob to use GUIPropMap for override on/off setting, so it would persist from template ships to actual ships.
  
• Changed GUIOrbitDraw cheat sheet to say verify nav mode instead of toggle, so it doesn't confuse new players into switching prematurely.
  
• Fixed missing sprite detail on RCS cluster loose.
  
• Removed unused sounds from EVA, drill, torch, and helmet COs.
  

One of the trickier fixes to make involved sudden air loss in rooms, especially when loading a save file. We found at least two causes of this bug that we were able to fix, and with luck, those are the last remaining cases. (Note that it may not fix old save files.)

There's also a new toy in this build: turbo air pumps. You'll find an example in the Ocelot's airlock, which can be used to manually evacuate the airlock's atmo into a storage canister. Also, all air pumps now support a reverse function, so you can reverse the flow via the control panel.

The main menu now has a dedicated exit button, in addition to the Esc key to quit. We also temporarily disabled the "Course Engage" button on the nav station due to the confusion it was causing. Until we get torch drive flight finished, it will show a warning when clicked.

The inventory UI had a bunch of new quality of life features added, making drag-drop, item swapping, and shift-click work in more cases. And crew progress bars should show up in more cases now.

You can also now ask NPCs what skills they have, and skills are now a thing you can see on character sheets. It's not finished yet, but it's a step towards hiring qualified personnel.

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.4.1 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This patch is largely bug fixes, but also includes some improvements to character creation, including non-random face customization, and fewer career repeats.

Specifically:

• Added code to store oldest game version info in save and save info files.
  
• Added savegame version to save slot UI.
  
• Changed career kiosk to have fewer career event repeats.
  
• Changed career kiosk to avoid two ship rewards in a row.
  
• Changed sink face part buttons to cycle through list instead of randomly choosing from list.
  
• Added back and forward buttons to face part selector on sink UI.
  
• Added code to auto-reveal some traits if relationship added via character creation or interaction.
  
• Changed EVA suit to only pump player's CO2 when equipped.
  
• Changed EVA suit to only pump O2 and use power when equipped.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused relationship data to be lost during save/load.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused save system to break if captain's name contained certain forbidden symbols.
  
• Fixed a bug that could prevent saving if components inside repairable item were null.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused room tiles to change if game saved with exterior airlocks open vs. closed.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused PDA to leave a permanent blank screen over UI if PDA power soft button hit while game paused.
  
• Fixed a bug that didn't remove O2/N2 gases from ship when sold at refueling kiosk.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused item prices to be wrong in trade UI.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused phantom mass to be added to containers after a save load.
  
• Fixed bug that caused some traits to be incorrectly shown or hidden in social UI.
  
• Fixed bug that caused AIs to steal items from each other for each task.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused AI to claim failure due to no prying tool when they were really just too tired.
  
• Fixed bug that caused AI to sometimes unskillfully work when they were skilled.
  
• Added base price to crates.
  
• Fixed a bug that showed item price outside of trade UI.
  
• Fixed a bug that would skip generating data cards for locks inside containers when ship first spawned.
  
• Fixed a null bug that occurred when issuing an order to a non-pathfinding object.
  
• Fixed a bug that always generated a new person when new relationship added in interactions.
  
• Changed new relationship message to use friendly text instead of debug text.
  
• Changed installables to have both a CTUs and CTAllowUs to allow unskilled options to check for lack of skills.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause null exceptions when saving the game due to bad record-keeping of containers/lots/stacks.
  

Face customization should now be less of a chore, with per-part selection buttons that let you cycle back and forth through all options. The randomizer is still there if you prefer it, however.

Also, the career kiosk was changed to produce fewer repeats. There should now be more variety each career term before you see a repeat, and no more ship offers twice in a row!

Several trading UI fixes went in, including mass and price fixes for containers with items inside. Selling a crate or a drink pouch should reflect the item contents more accurately now, and stop mixing them up.

Socializing should also more reliably show revealed trait info now. Each starting relationship has some basic traits revealed, and each new interaction has a chance of revealing a related trait. Plus, relationship info will no longer disappear on save/load.

The EVA suit now now longer drains resources when unequipped :)

A number of other bug fixes and optimizations also went into this patch, to hopefully further make running the game smoother.

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.4.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly. This, despite the fact that it's the Friday before vacation, which is usually a terrible idea :)

(And on that note, the previous version, 0.6.3.9, will be on standby as the opt-in "public_test" beta should we need it.)

This patch makes quite a few changes to socializing and the inventory UI, as well as several other fixes and tweaks.

Specifically:

• Changed social status text to show recent trend direction.
  
• Changed log messages to show recent trend direction, where applicable.
  
• Changed socializing UI to only show NPC statuses and traits that we revealed through interactions with them.
  
• Added a Debug button to social UI to toggle showing all NPC traits vs. revealed ones.
  
• Changed social action previews to show more info.
  
• Changed social UI action buttons to have optional text describing traits that led to that option.
  
• Added scrollbar to social actions.
  
• Added code to swap inventory items on cursor if dropping an item on top of something that cannot stack.
  
• Added code to quick transfer inventory items with shift click.
  
• Added code to require fewer clicks to drag inventory items into new spaces.
  
• Added code to automatically open a container's grid in inventory when first equipped.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused significant hitching/lagging when doing certain job types like repairs on a large ship.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused humans' body heating effects to be ignored after awhile.
  
• Fixed debug teleport so it works on other selected crew.
  
• Fixed bug that would leave items stranded at root if save file had different stack limits than current build.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause game to hang or crash when loading a ship with errors in contained item data.
  
• Changed fatigue cost of prying and bashing to be higher.
  
• Changed pricing on drinks to be more differentiated in supply kiosk.
  
• Changed trash stacking limit to 3 so it spreads out more.
  
• Fixed bug in Give Up response that required opposite personality types from what they should be.
  
• Changed Back Away Slowly to have greater intimacy penalty, and smaller privacy reward.
  
• Added banter about Breakout match as possible reply to banter about Breakout match.
  
• Fixed bug that caused dark rectangle under chin in dark skin portraits.
  
• Removed unused price info on installed switches and battery.
  
• Changed trenchers food to have eat as first context option.
  

The social system had a pretty significant overhaul this patch. We now start knowing very little about our conversation partner, and have to slowly reveal their status and traits via social moves. We can now also see how our status has recently changed in both the status UI and message log.

Furthermore, the social actions list now shows which traits and abilities unlocked each move, if applicable. And the preview text tells us more complete info on how the move is likely to affect both us and them.

Similarly, the inventory UI had quite a few quality of life features added. These include auto-swapping items if you drop on a different item type, shift-click to quick transfer between containers, and click-and-drag to start dragging, with releasing the mouse dropping or equipping the item.

There are likely gaps in the above UX changes, or tweaks needed, so we'll be looking for feedback on what works and doesn't.

One small fix with potentially big implications: body temperature would previously stop working after a while, so you might see yourself stuck sweating or shivering. Now, this should work with one caveat: it probably won't fix stuck sweating/shivering on old saves. So as you're working away, you'll have to manage both fatigue and heat, on top of breathing, sleep, and nutrition.

A number of bug fixes and optimizations also went into this patch, to hopefully further make running the game smoother.

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC