Above Earth News

This test build can be opted into in the Steam properties for the game. (test - Test Public Branch)

[h2]New Content and Features:[/h2]

[h3]-New Options Menu Sliders:[/h3]

• Field of View, Brightness, Contrast.
  
• These options sliders will allow players to adjust the appearance of the game to suit their own visual needs/preferences.
  
• The default Field of View has been increased slightly.
  

[h3]-Sprinting and Stamina:[/h3]

• There is now a sprinting and stamina system in the game that is fully functional.
  
• Sprinting and jumping will deplete stamina.
  
• Without sufficient stamina, sprinting and jumping are no longer possible.
  
• Sprinting will cause hunger, thirst and fatigue to increase at a much faster rate than while walking. It will also increase the warmth of the player.
  
• All audio and cold breath effects are completed for this system.
  

[h3]-Launch Checklist Interface:[/h3]

• This interface is now inside the starships and the reentry capsules.
  
• It serves as an end goal for completing a scenario.
  
• It provides functionality for choosing a destination scenario and traveling to it.
  
• More distant destinations have a more difficult checklist to complete with larger resource requirements.
  
• These checklists will require equipment on board these spacecraft to be repaired in order to initiate a launch sequence.
  
• This interface replaces the old starship launch interface which was not adaptable enough for having different locations and destinations.
  

[h3]-Surface Functionality for Spacecraft:[/h3]

• Starships and reentry capsules are now fully functional on the surface scenarios.
  
• They can now be entered on the ground via their own EVA port. The starship has a ramp with a bay door and the reentry capsule has a hatch.
  
• Moving between sections of the starship on surfaces is handled through various door interaction menus.
  
• If their launch checklist is completed they can be launched off their landing pad.
  

[h3]-Station Menu Wreckage and Debris Selection:[/h3]

• Items on the exterior of the stations can now be selected on the station menu and set as the current target.
  
• Other information about the wreckage can be viewed in this menu once the item has been visited.
  
• The contents of containers and wreckage can be viewed for objects that have already been visited.
  
• A question mark symbol will appear over objects that have not yet been visited.
  

[h3]Bugfixes:[/h3]
-Fixed an issue with inner EVA doors not opening/closing properly when initiating airlocks.
-Fixed an issue where the intro cinematic would not end until the station was entered.
-Fixed an issue where station exterior items could spawn on top of the player camera.
-Fixed some issues with sun alignment for cinematics on various scenarios.
-Fixed an issue with spacecraft interior doors not opening/closing properly when initiating airlocks.
-Fixed the positions of certain module interfaces that were clipping into walls.

[h3]Tweaks:[/h3]
-The EVA fuel warning will no longer make noise(i.e. beep) when there is gravity and the jetpack is not on.
-Increased the rate at which oxygen scrubbers and thermal regulators will control their environment.
-Reduced the max distance of certain types of wreckage from the station.
-Reduced how much inventory encumbrance affects the ability to turn.
-Increased the volume of the Jetpack sounds slightly.

[h3]Other Improvements:[/h3]
-The deep space scenario now has its own end goal requiring the damaged booster engine to be repaired and an anomaly be explored.
-When a VLAR Bot is now shot and destroyed the force from the last shot will be applied properly to the wreckage(usually sending it flying some distance).
-Electroshock weapons will now create an electricity visual effect when they hit a target.
-Tilting solar panels now appear more damaged when they require repairs instead of just having some missing panels.
-Some more improvements to the look of the Earth in various scenarios.
-Made the buttons on the EVA port menu slightly more pronounced.
-There is now an angle limit for the camera on surface scenarios so it cannot clip into the landscapes.
-EVA exterior item HUD tracking will now be hidden when sleeping on the surface scenarios. (since drifting is not allowed)
-Completed all functionality to assign physical materials to assets in the future for surface type specific footstep and collision sounds.
-Completed all surface type specific footstep and collision sounds.
-Improved footstep sounds. Player animations are now synced up with footstep sounds during walking and sprinting.
-Enabled slight volumetric fog on the Mars scenario to give the appearance of slight dust in the air.
-Improved collisions sounds.
-Added more realistic jump sounds.
-Fixed an issue with how starships were procedurally spawned on surface scenarios. The problem was caused by an improper rotation.
-Made some New Game Menu visual improvements.
-The oxygen scrubber menu will now show the current air quality as well as the projected air quality.
-The thermal regulator menu will now show the current temperature as well as the projected temperature.
-Station windows will now appear to glow from a distance. This makes them visible from longer distances when before they would look too dark.

[h3]Things that would be most helpful for testers to test in this build are:[/h3]

• In terms of general performance, how does the game perform on your system?
  
• Do the new options settings work properly for everyone(FOV, Brightness, Contrast).
  
• Do the larger Moon and Mars landscapes cause people any significant performance losses?
  
• Does saving and/or loading in any awkward/unusual situations cause any issues?
  

[h3]What remains before the merge?[/h3]
This will probably be the last build before the merge with the main build. The focus from now until the merge is going to be on bugfixing and stability. It will also be to create a new trailer and take new screenshots as the game has improved significantly visually. The old trailer and screenshots do not accurately reflect the current visual quality of the game. This shouldn't take too long. After the merge is done, the focus will be on a tutorial.

Thank you for your patience while the test build is prepared for a general release.

[h2]New Content and Features:[/h2]

[h3]-The Martian moon Phobos is now visible in the Mars scenario. It provides a faint source of light at night.[/h3]


[h3]-The player will now sleep on the ground when there is gravity and no sleeping bag or sleeping pod.[/h3]


[h3]-There will now be a starting survival container full of useful items on all scenarios.[/h3]


[h3]-Surface landscapes on the Moon and Mars scenarios are now significantly larger.[/h3]


[h3]-Sleeping bags:[/h3]

• Sleeping bags will now be available as a starting item on surface maps.
  
• Sleeping bags will allow the player to recover condition if deployed and used.
  
• Sleeping bags can also be crafted by the player using cloth and thread.
  
• Sleeping bags cannot be used during EVA.
  
• Sleeping bags can be deployed and used inside stations.
  

[h3]Bugfixes:[/h3]
-Dynamic colored meshes were not updating properly in the centrifuge module.
-The centrifuge module interior meshes had some modelling errors.
-Cargo containers on the deep space craft were not showing up on the EVA HUD overlay.
-The procedural generation area of the Mars landscape was not sufficiently flat and was sometimes clipping through the landing pads.
-Sleeping in a sleeping harness or sleeping bag could cause collision problems.
-Some rocks on the moon and mars scenario were floating off the ground.
-Placing items in the world at some locations were considered as invalid even though they should have been valid.
-The player's cold breath had some lighting and display errors.
-Stars' brightness were not updating correctly at night and/or when it was dark.
-Hovering over a module when using the station menu was not always working properly.
-Solved various problems by disabling player collision with moveable physics objects when there is gravity.

[h3]Tweaks:[/h3]
-Slightly increased ambient lighting on Mars so it is easier to navigate when there is pitch black darkness.
-The airlock port beacon antenna is now lit better.
-Increased the brightness of the glow stick slightly.
-Reduced power cell salvage time slightly.
-Reduced the size of inventory item icon boxes.
-The effect of inventory fullness on movement in all gravity modes will now be minimal unless the encumbrance threshold is reached.
-Certain items that should not be used with gravity will not be constructable when there is gravity. (such as the sleeping harness which is replaced in functionality with the sleeping bag when there is gravity)
-The sleeping harness cannot be crafted during EVA.
-Slightly reduced jetpack fuel consumption.
-Sleeping harnesses or sleeping bags will now be available in all scenarios to allow the player an early way to recover condition while sleeping.

[h3]Other Improvements:[/h3]
-Improved moveable item interaction. Right clicking on an item will now lift it in front of the player.
-Improved the transition from sun light to moon light at night for all scenarios.
-Improved the tether line gun functionality so it is useable on surface levels.
-Inventory items now have custom strings associated with construction and dismantling.
-Improved construction menu visuals.
-Improved landscape performance using more and better LOD settings.
-Some visual improvements to space station window frames.
-EVA locker hatches will now open only when the player is inside a station.
-Inventory fullness will now effect tether line gun retraction speeds more realistically.
-Put red marks on the tether line gun spinner to provide a visual cue of its functionality.
-Implemented functionality that could prevent the player from falling through the landscape forever.
-If a player ever fell through a landscape they will now return to the last safe location before falling.
-Music will now play during procedural generation.
-Steam stats and achievements version functionality. This is an internal feature that could be used in the future to reset achievements globally if that ever becomes necessary.
-Created functionality to customize injuries when working on equipment and circumvent injuries when working on safe things such as sleeping bags.
-Inventory item boxes now have colors reflecting condition.
-Item condition is now visible in inventory item descriptions.
-Deployable items will now display their deployed version in the inventory item description.
-Deployment and dismantle sounds can now be customized per item.
-Certain kinds of inventory items can now have their condition decay when they are used instead of being fully consumed(for example med kits which can be used multiple times)
-Input mappings in the options menu will now be displayed alphabetically.
-Some input mappings now have better descriptions.
-Items can now be placed on slopes of hills and other slopes. Angle limit dot product is customizable per item to allow some items to not be placed on too steep of a slope.
-Inventory item deployment mechanics.

[h3]The things that it would be most helpful for testers to take a look at in this patch are:[/h3]

• Do the larger Moon and Mars landscapes cause people any significant performance loss?
  
• Is it possible to fall through the Mars or Moon landscapes?
  
• Does saving and/or loading in any awkward/unusual situations cause any problems?
  
• Is sleeping bag deployment sufficiently intuitive?
  

Thank you for your patience while the experimental build is prepared for a general release.

-Fixed an issue where save games on the Mars and Moon scenarios would load extremely slowly.


This was interpreted by some players as a save file corruption but was actually caused by a particular kind of asset that was interfering with the save loading process. Players would have had to wait 2 or 3 minutes after the loading bar stopped for the map to load and most assumed it would never complete.

The Mars and Moon scenarios should now load at similar speeds as the other scenarios.

Thank you for your patience while the experimental build is prepared for a general release.

The 1.5.0 Experimental Build is now available. If you want to opt into it you will need to right-click on the game in your Steam library and change the beta participation field to "expirimental - expirimental branch".


It will likely have some issues but is currently playable and includes all the improvements made to the game over the last 2 1/2 years of development.

After a short period of testing, this experimental build will become the main build and players can experience the game normally.

This experimental build will include:















Thank you for continuing to support the game.

The Trello board will remain the same until the main build is released:
https://trello.com/b/ewpYkK9i/above-earth-development

Here are some new screenshots showcasing the space station interiors that will be part of the update:





































[h3]Dynamic Colorization[/h3] There will likely be some kind of dynamic colorization of the module interiors:



This would help players to remember and navigate the stations better.

How much longer until the 1.5.0 update?
These screenshots showcase the last batch of assets that needed to be completed for the 1.5.0 update. The next step will be to integrate all the assets created over the last two years into the existing game systems. This will probably take two or three months. Finally, everything will need to be playtested.

The 1.5.0 update will most likely be released as an experimental build initially. Players will be able to opt into it in the steam launcher. Many things will need to be tested and playtesters can help a lot to reduce the amount of time this will take. This process could take a month or, more likely, it could take several. It will depend on how many problems there are and how quickly they are discovered/reported/fixed.

The next post here on Steam will hopefully be to announce the availability of the 1.5.0 experimental build.

Thanks for continuing to support the game. Happy New Year.

The Trello board remains the same:
https://trello.com/b/ewpYkK9i/above-earth-development