Ostranauts News

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.9.5.9 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a hotfix to our recently released "Wear and Tear" update, and includes some fixes and changes we felt were important to release as soon as we could. Plus a few changes unrelated to the next milestone which seemed ready to release.

Note that we are still working on the next (Slots/Wounds) milestone, as well! But those inventory and wound changes still have some work to be done before they are ready for players to try.

Saves from v0.9.0.0 should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Changed sleeping to restore tiredness 4x faster than normal (until a faster fast-forward system is added).
  
• Changed nav station to show ship silhouettes when zoomed in close enough.
  
• Changed nav station to scale ship icons based on relative ship size.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused broken save files if captain name had invalid file system characters like '?'.
  
• Added tutorial to use cycle crew hotkey after hiring first crew.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented tutorials from continuing after loading a save file.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused tutorial objectives to not be flagged as new if they occurred while on non-subscribed ships.
  
• Changed social combat UI to make it clearer that there are more available actions below the fold if the user scrolls down.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused thermostats to get bad readings if installed in a place that overlaps a docked-ship's exterior.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused derelicts to spawn too close together.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused inventory and UI to both close if attempting to open inventory while control panel is open.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused context menu options to remain open and on top of control panel after control panel opens.
  
• Added 'clear' command to debug console UI, to clear previous log lines.
  
• Added 'bugform' command to debug console UI, to take the user to the online bug submission form.
  
• Changed self care kiosk in character creation to have green crosses instead of red, to avoid trademark issues.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused strange lighting shadows when dragging lit items around in the ship editor. (E.g. battery)
  
• Added a quit button to ship editor.
  

One of the bigger changes here is to make sleep restore characters faster. Previously, people required about 8 hours of sleep per day, and even at 16x fast forward, that was 30 minutes of waiting. Now, the wait time should be much lower, until we can develop a more powerful fast-forward system for long-term waiting.

Also, the nav station now shows ship silhouettes! If you zoom in really close, you'll see an approximate shape of the ship on the nav station map. The arrow icons for ships are also now scaled relative to each other, to give you an idea of relative sizes. Plus, derelicts should no longer spawn too close to each other.

We fixed a save file issue involving captains with invalid filename characters in it, as well as some bugs that prevented tutorials from appearing or showing as unread. Plus a new tutorial for how to cycle to the next crew member.

The social UI now has some visual cues to help you notice if there are more options below the fold, requiring scrolling down.

We also fixed a series of UI and other minor issues which could cause trouble, especially for new players unfamiliar with the controls/UI.

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!

If you've still got Ostranauts on your wishlist then this ones for you! As part of the ongoing Steam Survival Fest we're running a 10% discount offer on Ostranauts (and a 75% discount on Neo Scavenger 👀).

If you're on the fence why not check out Total Xclipse's playthrough on YouTube, has he found the best way to make money?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Our most recent update brought some hot new changes with it such as:

• New tutorial objectives and objective pacing to help newer players learn to play the game
  
  
  
  
• Newly updated docking UI to show more information
  
  
  
  
• Nav Cheat Sheet has been updated to contain more up to date info
  
  
  
  
• The PDA can now be opened over other UIs
  
• The game now Autosaves and autosaves can be loaded separately when continuing a character
  
• Conversations and encounters now have a "Force Exit" button to close them quickly or in emergencies
  
  
  
  
• Cops have generally been made less annoying

We hope you enjoy what we've been continuing to work on and have some big plans for coming features and mechanics! If you have any feedback please feel free to come join us in our Discord here or follow and get involved with our Twitter 💬

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.9.5.7 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a feature update to our recently released "Wear and Tear" update, and includes some significant changes to new player tutorials, docking, and other quality of life enhancements, and fixes.

Note that we are still working on the next (Slots/Wounds) milestone, as well! This update is just a brief 1-week sidetrack to address several new user bugs we identified in a recent test.

Saves from v0.9.0.0 should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Added visual indicators to docking UI for range, orientation, and offset.
  
• Changed docking UI text to be distributed around next to the relevant indicators
  
• Added Wrong Way message to docking screen when applicable.
  
• Added pause indicator to game's top left corner.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Ostranauts to always start in fullscreen 1024x768 mode on a fresh PC.
  
• Added note to video options screen to prefer widescreen if possible.
  
• Added 'Loading...' message to save slots after user clicks one.
  
• Changed save slot selection buttons to be more obvious and consistent with each other.
  
• Changed character creation tutorials to wait until each is finished before creating new one.
  
• Added tutorial objective for pausing the game.
  
• Changed character creation tutorials to wait until each is finished before creating new one.
  
• Changed sink objective to complete as soon as sink is opened, instead of when clicking Done, if applicable.
  
• Changed nav station starting zoom to be closer.
  
• Added code to nav station so it remembers zoom from session to session.
  
• Changed docked ships so they face each other instead of same direction.
  
• Added nav tutorial objective for targeting OKLG.
  
• Added nav tutorials for CW and CCW thrust.
  
• Added nav tutorials for halting rotation.
  
• Added nav tutorial objective to change bearing to point at OKLG after QER controls.
  
• Added nav tutorials for rear and forward thrust.
  
• Added nav tutorials for left and right thrust.
  
• Added nav tutorial objective to target derelict.
  
• Added nav tutorial objective to navigate to docking range with target.
  
• Added nav tutorial objective to switch to docking screen.
  
• Added docking tutorial objective to get docking clearance.
  
• Added docking tutorial objective to dock with derelict.
  
• Changed tutorial for damage tooltips to appear after launching from chargen.
  
• Changed manuals to have higher resolution.
  
• Changed context menu buttons to have scaling text size so long names are visible.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused arrow keys to always switch control panels, even if user bound those keys to move the ship.
  
• Fixed objectives disappearing behind inventory.
  
• Changed nav tutorial to set tutorial conditions on user as objectives are completed, instead of all at beginning of game.
  
• Changed PDA so it doesn't close UI when it slides open.
  
• Changed PDA to appear in front of control panel instead of behind.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed user to have inventory and item control panel open at same time, locking out context menu controls afterward.
  
• Changed sink skin selector to be at top, so users see that first (and don't lose lots of customization when doing it last).
  
• Fixed a bug that caused encounter UI to freeze when finishing chargen due to autosave.
  
• Fixed descriptions of various conditions (green wall light, purple wall light)
  
• Fixed typo in crackdown encounter text
  
• Fixed incorrect stat usage in caffeine, now uses correct StatSolidTemp
  

As you can see, there's a large number of quality of life changes in this build! Most are meant to help new users avoid common pitfalls we recently identified in a usability test. But a fair number are also beneficial to veterans.

One of the biggest changes this update is to the docking UI. It now shows a lot more situational info and relevant warnings, to help the user orient themselves. We think both new and veteran users will find useful things here.

We also updated the Don't Crash! paper note taped to the nav screen to be much clearer, and more up-to-date. And while there, we also upscaled all the in-game manuals to double the old resolution, for better legibility.

A new pause indicator will flash on screen when the game is paused, as a number of players didn't realize the game was paused. And in a similar fashion, we added some better visual feedback to things like clicking a new/continue save slot. (And made the clickable regions for those buttons easier to see.)

We also discovered that the game would 100% default to 1024x768 resolution on new users' PCs, which is far from a good resolution for the game. It will now attempt to choose the largest widescreen option supported by the user's monitor. And when changing resolution in the options screen, it will highlight which resolutions are the best picks for the user.

The tutorial objectives received an overhaul, as well!

The chargen tutorial is now sequential, instead of burying users in incessant objectives. There is also an extensive nav station tutorial, teaching the user about important flight controls, and targeting. This carries through to docking with the first derelict.

The objectives also now appear in front of all other UIs, so they aren't missed. Plus the PDA can now open without closing control panels.

Also, it turns out a bug prevented the user from using arrow keys on the nav screen to fly, due to them also switching control panels. This has been corrected! Shift+arrow keys is the new default keybind to swap control panels, and it can be edited in the options.

We fixed a potentially game-halting bug that happened when opening the inventory while in the trading UI, making context menu options unclickable.

And we mived the sink's skin selector button to the top, since it randomizes some features that aren't available on other skin colors. Players frequently spent time customizing all the other features, only to try a different skin color and lose all that info.

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 v0.9.4.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a feature update to our recently released "Wear and Tear" update, which changes the career kiosk a bit, and adds a new exit button to social combat.

Saves from v0.9.0.0 should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Changed career kiosk to auto-choose shipbreaker career on first use, since no other choices are available yet.
  
• Changed career kiosk page header to show captain's name, age, and funds at all times.
  
• Added a dedicated "Force Exit" button to social combat UI, in case player is stuck.
  

The two big changes here are to the career kiosk and social combat UIs.

The career kiosk previously asked the player to choose a career track first, but only ever offered one option: Shipbreaker. That option is now auto-selected for convenience, and we'll add the choice back later when other careers become available.

The career kiosk also now shows the captain's name, age, and funds at the top of the main text area, so it's easier to keep track of progress.

In the social combat UI, there is now a dedicated "Force Exit" button players can use in case there is a problem during conversation. Under normal circumstances, it should be possible to exit all conversations organically (via social moves in the list of conversation options), or by walking away by clicking the floor somewhere.

But if something prevents conversation options from appearing, or some other problem is preventing the player from exiting/walking away, this button will hard exit the scene. Such a hard exit may have problems of its own, depending on the conversation. But hopefully it gets players back into the action without having to close the game.

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

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.9.3.2 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a feature update to our recently released "Wear and Tear" update, which adds autosave! Plus a fix for buying salvage licenses.

Saves from v0.9.0.0 should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Added autosave every 15 minutes.
  
• Added a feature to the continue screen that lets the user load normally (last manual save) or use a dropdown to load autosaves or older saves.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from purchasing salvage licenses because their captain didn't feel like succeeding.
  

The big change here is, of course, autosave!

The game will now autosave approximately every 15 minutes, and backup up to 2 autosaves in the same slot where your usual save files go. This way, if you forget to save progress for a while, and something happens, you should have both your last manual save and some recent saves to choose from.

The main menu's Continue screen also now has a new dropdown at the bottom of each save slot. It lists all manual and autosaves in the folder, in reverse chronological order. This will let you choose which specific save you want to load. Clicking the main slot button above continues to work as before, loading the latest manual save found.

Finally, there is also a fix for the salvage license kiosk. Some players were seeing a log message that they lacked funds when attempting to purchase, despite having enough.

It turns out there was a missing flag on this transaction that let the captain's AI choose what outcome it wanted. And some masochistic AIs preferred to fail. I guess to feel something? I dunno. Anyway, they purchase correctly now.

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