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Ostranauts News

Ostranauts Patch 0.6.10.0 Is Live!

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.10.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This patch has several improvements to ship collisions and crew AI, some new content, and some significant bug fixes. It is also the first patch to use our new (and hopefully more useful/meaningful) version numbering system:

E.g. Version W.X.Y.Z, where:
W = Release Version, where 0 is Early Access, and 1 is released.
X = Major Version, changes when a significant milestone in the game's development.
Y = Feature Version, changes when a significant new feature is added.
Z = Hotfix Version, for each hotfix within a Feature Version.

And numbering of XYZ can now go beyond 0-9, such as in today's build!

Saves from 0.6.9.8 and earlier should be compatible, but if you were seeing bugs or other issues in the old save, they may continue and it may be necessary to start a new game.

  • Added air vents to game.
  • Added new encounter art to OKLG.
  • Changed container pod starting ship to have no mortgage.
  • Fixed a bug that caused crew to ignore tasks unless player manually assigned crew to do them.
  • Fixed a bug that caused NPCs to forget actions they were doing between saves. E.g. police questioning
  • Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player has recently undocked.
  • Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player is docked to something.
  • Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player is away from the nav station.
  • Changed overall collision damage to be lower.
  • Added more conversation options to police shakedown encounter.
  • Changed versioning system to support multi-digit sub-versions.
  • Added code to prevent docking with target in docking UI if another ship docks there first.
  • Fixed a bug that would corrupt saves if a loot spawner had a missing count value.
  • Added code to limit docking ships to player if loading a save file that has too many ships docked to player.
  • Fixed a bug that caused NPCs from other ships in the system to sometimes load into the current scene and die when loading a save file.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some items to be inaccessible when over the reactor or other sight-blocking objects.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause null exception if hired crew was ordered to return to ship but lacked airlock permissions.
  • Added log messages for items gained in an interaction.


We now have air vents! They allow air to pass between compartments without an open door. They're pretty basic right now, and have to be manually opened and closed. But as we learn more about how we want to use them, we can expand their features.

There's also some juicy new encounter art for your first visit to OKLG, if you want to see Charlie's latest work :)

Ship collisions got some major work done, which should hopefully reduce the severity of collision damage when caused by AI pilots. It's not fun to be obliterated when you didn't see them coming, so let us know if these changes help!

Similarly, crew AI had a bunch of work done, and they should once again tackle work tasks without you having to manually order them each time they finish one. They also once again remember what they were doing from save-to-save.

Also, the container pod starter ship has no mortgage anymore! While we get the economy to be better balanced, we thought we'd offer at least one chance to start the game without crushing (and mounting) debt. And it also takes us one step closer to having a range of choices in starting ships and scenarios, each with trade-offs.

Finally, a range of bugs were fixed in this build, many of which could cause corrupt saves or crashes.

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

OSTRANAUTS EARLY ACCESS ANNIVERSARY




Hey Folks,
It's been a year since we launched Ostranauts into early access, and what a busy year it's been!




When Ostranauts launched, we had a 40% review score. Over the last year, with a lot of feedback from you and hard work, we're at 73% and sitting at 'Mostly Positive" on Steam. 

There have been 40 game patches, 174 game improvements, 378 Steam reviews, 878 new Discord members, 176 subreddit members, 116 Twitch followers, and 393 new YouTube subscribers.

And we've made major changes to AI, the gameplay loop, environments, character creation, and ship design. I go into more detail in the video below, about both the development over the past year, and what's to come.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The BBG team has also put together a longer form Reddit post with before and after screenshots, statistics about development, fan content and lots more from the last year here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ostranauts/comments/plteio/ostranauts_early_access_1_year_anniversary/



The game is moving in the right direction, but we still have plenty of work to do. And it wouldn't be possible without feedback from players like you.

Thank you for all the reviews and feedback over the past year! For a small game like this, word of mouth and every review makes a big difference.

Right! We'll get back to the grindstone here. Looking forward to another great year ahead!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Ostranauts Patch 0.6.9.8 Is Live!

Hey Folks!

Another quick patch to address a few more issues players have found:

  • Changed police ships to prevent spawning multiple at once near OKLG.
  • Fixed a bug that caused extra NPC scavenger ships to spawn every time a save file was loaded.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause UI to get stuck on screen if ship's nav station was destroyed while player was using it.
  • Added light to new transit kiosk.
  • Fixed a bug that caused ship editor to crash when loading ships.


Several players noted an NPC population explosion recently, and this patch should stop that growth. And although it won't be able to reduce the population directly, there may be a slow decrease in OKLG NPCs through attrition back to stable levels.

In a related fix, the code that spawned NPC police ships should now be smart enough not to spawn multiple at once.

The transit kiosk got some lights, since some players still had trouble finding it. And two crash bugs were addressed.

As usual, if you notice any other issues, let us know on the forums or Discord. And we'll keep plugging away at fixes and features!

Best,
Dan

Ostranauts Patch 0.6.9.7 Is Live!

Hey Folks!

Super quick patch here to fix a serious issue identified in 0.6.9.6.

Turns out, every new nav station since 0.6.9.6 has issues clicking the map to target. And this was due to the paper note being disabled by accident by yours truly. Sorry!

Nothing else new this patch, just getting folks back on their feet for the long weekend.

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Ostranauts Patch 0.6.9.6 Is Live!

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.9.6 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This patch fixes a pretty serious bug that affected players loading the game a second time (or more) from the main menu, as well as adds a button to the nav station to silence the tracking alarm.

Saves from 0.6.9.5 and earlier should be compatible, but if you were seeing bugs or other issues in the old save, they may continue and it may be necessary to start a new game.

  • Fixed a bug that caused strange behavior when loading a save game for the second and subsequent times in the same game session.
  • Added button to cancel tracking alarm on nav station.


Small update today, but it was a pretty serious issue worth patching asap.

Some players have noticed strange behavior in the game, like not being able to click things or control their character unless the game is paused. And this appears to be a bug that can happen when loading a game from the main menu more than once in a session, if that save file had police vessels approaching.

A milder symptom of this same bug is that police AI are not flying anymore in a loaded save game.

Patch 0.6.9.6 addresses these issues.

It also adds the ability to manually clear the tracking alarm you hear when a vessel is targeting you. You can find this button near the proximity alarm.

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