Hardspace: Shipbreaker News

Dear Cutters

First of all, we’d like to thank all of our hard-working employees for the love and support we received since EA launch! Your devotion towards LYNX Corp’s Path To The Stars program is helping us create an ever better game for everyone out there!

LYNX Corp has also won over the streaming community - check out today’s trailer as streamers discover, explore and explosively decompress within the zero-G physics system.

https://youtu.be/ih302A5oZFg

Our fourth month anniversary is coming in just a few days and to celebrate, the game is now 25% off for the first time ever! If you have been thinking about applying to LYNX Corp, now is the moment!

The September Equinox community event also arrived today, bringing two competitions open to salvagers everywhere! These include a contest to write an in-game narrative log, and another to design a collectible decal. The two winners will have their submitted content implemented in-game, as well as other prizes still to be announced. Players can join the Hardspace: Shipbreaker Discord or check out our latest Steam News for more information!

Our research team is working day and night on bringing you the best salvaging projects of the galaxy. We are currently studying our upcoming Salvage Gecko and we now only need you and your talents to make it memorable.



The Salvage Runner is a model of Gecko-class ship designed for remote salvage and recovery. LYNX Salvage operates the vast majority of Salvage Runners in service, and has been aggressively trying to corner the market and push out their closest competitor, Hanzo Freight.

Salvage Runners are industrial vessels outfitted with large Salvage Holds and decent-sized Crew Quarters for longer missions. Typically used for salvage operations that are either too hazardous or too broken up to haul to a yard, you never quite know what you’re going to find in the holds of these decommissioned ships.

One of the key components specific to the Salvage Runner are the mechanical Utility Arms scattered around its outer hull. These manipulators are critical for remote salvage operations, but they can be retro-fitted for a variety of purposes and seen as highly valuable.





You can help LYNX Corp by playing on our Beta Branch:
switch branch by right-clicking on the game from your library page -> select Properties-> go to the BETA tab and join the branch called public_beta.
Support us by sending us your feedback, your suggestions and any possible issue you might spot regarding this new type of Gecko.

For adventurous cutters, ready to hop on our Beta Branch, here are some issues our lab pinpointed so far:

Salvage gecko

• Some objects are not correctly tagged i.e. names and destinations may be missing
  
• A rare crash may occur when interacting with door consoles in the salvage hold
  
• Some objects overlap on spawn and can cause explosions upon entering the salvage bay
  
• Unable to complete certain work orders
  

Stargazer Geckos

• Additional cut points may spawn in crawl spaces
  
• Thruster systems don't work (Computer terminals and Emergency overrides)
  

Station Hopper Geckos

• Thruster systems don't work (Computer terminals and Emergency overrides)
  

Heavy Cargo Gecko

• Some exterior panels may be missing on spawn
  
• The thruster computer terminal doesn't work
  

Greetings Cutters!

We’d like to give an update regarding our ongoing research into rewards for working hard and in accordance with all five-thousand and nine Articles of Salvage Procedure outlined in your employee manual.

First, an important update on the PosiGel pilot program. The results of this test were clear; while the Gel did produce positive physical sensations, the needed dosage required completely flooding the subject’s suit. Our data showed that this produced a host of complications for salvaging, such as heavily obscured vision and a so-called “sensation of drowning”. We also discovered a significant cost involved in cleaning the Gel from the suits between shifts. We would like to thank all the participants in this pilot program, and reassure them that our Revivification Department is close to fully removing the memory imprints of “drowning”.

[h2]Collectible Decal Design Contest[/h2]

Progress! As we all know, constant learning is part of LYNX’s success in today’s stellar marketplace. However, sometimes to go forward, we need to look backward. Our research teams have discovered a powerful technique used in the 20th and 21st centuries to reward hard-working employees. When coal was still a source of energy for humanity, thousands of hard-working individuals such as yourselves would venture deep into the Earth’s crust to retrieve it, through sheer grit and determination.

While they were of course rewarded with the paper and metal currency of the time, the more powerful reward was the recognition and acknowledgement of their hard work by their superiors. This was shown primarily through the reward of “stickers” for achievements and milestones, which could then be proudly displayed on their gear and equipment for others to awe at. For those who prefer to amass groups of things, these “stickers” were also highly collectible:

This discovery is exciting because it doesn’t use any chemicals or medicines to induce positive sensations. Rather, the human body itself produces these sensations when receiving such a reward! Once again, nature has proven that the way we work here at LYNX is the most natural and effective way for the human organism to operate.



We will soon be bringing these rewards to you, our loyal Cutters, in the form of Collectible Decals that can be applied to your tools in order to showcase all that you have achieved! We are working hard to craft the first round of these Decals. Salvaged 10 Class II Reactors? Slap that Decal on your cutting tool. Completed 100 Work Order Objectives? Show it off on your grapple! We hope to continuously find new ways to reward you for doing your job, and for doing it well. We’ll give more details as we get closer to launching the program.

Here’s an example of where the Decals might appear on the cutting tool:



With that, we are proud to announce our first official Decal Creation Contest!

Since your input is incredibly valuable to us, we want your designs for what Decals you would like to see. We know that many Cutters exhibit creative tendencies, and while your Employment Agreement prohibits creative expression while at work in the salvage yard, you are free to explore your creative side in your off-hours.


Following the guidelines listed below, create and send us your own Decal designs. We will judge all submissions and choose a handful to become official entries in the roll-out of the Decal program to all Cutters!

Guidelines are as follows:

• Must be three colours or less
  
  
• Try to use simple, bold designs
  
  
• Avoid gradients or super-fine details; these designs need to stand out while being relatively small
  
  
• The image should somehow convey the achievement behind the Decal
  
  
• All images and artwork must be your own creation or from the game itself! Any form of plagiarism otherwise will be disqualified.
  
  
• Must fit inside 160px by 96px
  
  
• NOTE: Decals can be any shape as long as it fits within these bounds.
  
  
• Check out our rules to learn more!
  

You can share your designs with us on social media by using the hashtag #LYNXDecal. Note that we may modify any of the winning designs as needed to be used in the official Decal program.

Below are some additional examples as reference:


Paving the way to the stars, one salvage a time.
LYNX Corp


[h2]Community Narrative Log Contest [/h2]

In celebration of our September update we wanted to give you, the Community, an opportunity to contribute to the lore of the Hardspace Universe. We've been keeping an eye on our Discord Fan-Fiction channel and we must say we are all very impressed by the storytelling chops on display and decided to hold this contest. The top entries will go on to become either text or audio logs to be found on salvaged Data Drives!



To have the best chance of being selected to win the contest and be included in the game, please follow these guidelines:

• We are looking for text logs that shine a light on the following subjects:
  ⭐ Life and Work on Earth or Earth Village
  ⭐ Life and Work on Mars or Mars Village
  ⭐ Traveling via the Rail Gates
  
  
• Use your own words. Not anyone else's. Unless referencing subjects in the current game, any form of plagiarism will be immediately disqualified.
  
  
• Stories that relate to people, places, things already in game are preferred but not mandatory.
  
  
• Be mindful of length. Submissions must be 100 words or less. One submission per person.
  
  
• Please be patient. If we receive even a 1/10 of the submissions we think we are going to get based on how awesome our Community has been up until this point, it's going to take us some time to properly review each submission.
  
  
• Check our rules !

Note that we may need to edit or modify any of the winning narrative logs for use in the game. All texts should be sent to our team on Discord (in #Narrative-log-contest): https://discordapp.com/invite/shipbreakergame

Thank you in advance for all of you that are going to help us further flesh out the Hardspace Universe. To say we are all excited about this contest would be a galactic understatement. So excited!!!


Good Luck Cutters!

The Hardspace:Shipbreaker Dev Team

Hello Cutters!

Today we released a hotfix for version 0.2.0. This fix addresses two very important stability issues:

• A very common crash that mostly occurs when putting a Mackerel's inner frame or airlock into the furnace
  
  
• A common physics bug that would cause objects to become physically unstable and uncontrollable when disjointed from a surface with the grapple
  

We know how frustrating it is to meticulously peel the entire outer-hull of the Mackerel off, carefully extract every component, and safely defuse the reactor, only to then toss the Mackerel's inner frame into the furnace and instantly crash. That sucks during any shift, but it's especially bad when competing for a high score on the Weekly R.A.C.E.

Likewise, clearing a path through the crawlspace and then trying to detach a Fuel Tank, only to have it jump erratically around and immediately explode, creating a chain reaction that sets off the reactor and nukes half the ship.. also really sucks!

In our testing, this hotfix resolves both those issues.

We mentioned in our last dev video, and in last week's post about common issues, that the team is about to take a much needed two-week break. We felt that it was important to try and fix these two issues before we go, as they were impacting a lot of people’s play experience.

We wish we could fix all the issues in the game! We acknowledge many of you are seeing issues unrelated to the two above. These were just the issues that were the most common and which we were in the best position to address in a hotfix before we go.

Thank you all again for your patience and support! We look forward to coming back in two weeks and seeing what everyone has been up to, who made it to the top of the R.A.C.E. leaderboards, and who has the latest best time for salvaging a Gecko reactor unscathed!

Until then, keep reaching for the stars! But make sure to still pay your daily fees on time.

Thanks,

Blackbird Interactive

Greeting Cutters,

This week, we are back as promised with a new update introducing to you R.A.C.E. (Rapid Acquisition Competence Exercise)!

The Weekly R.A.C.E. is a new initiative from LYNX where Cutters can compete against each other for a highscore on a new ship every week. It’s a level playing field, with each Cutter getting the same tools and upgrades, facing the same ship and objectives, for a shot at the dedicated R.A.C.E. leaderboards. LYNX hopes that this weekly challenge will help Cutters hone their skills and improve their day-to-day salvage efficiency!

ADVISORY: Putting a pressurized airlock into the furnace may cause a crash when working on a Mackerel. Be sure to depressurize airlocks before putting them into the furnace.

The weekly challenge ends every Thursday at 8:30 AM PST (3:30 PM UTC), and a new ship will be available shortly after at 9:30 AM PST (4:30 PM UTC).



Lynx Corp is bringing to all cutters this week:

• “Weekly R.A.C.E.”
  Cutters can compete against each other for a highscore on a new ship every week. ⚠️ On the weekly race screen, checking the leaderboard will make you unable to start the challenge. You'll have to go back to the main menu and then launch the shift
  
  
• Additional Morrigan Station Life
  Cargo Elevator shuttles all the accumulated salvage to the Station’s docking arm
  Polaris Superfreighter docks periodically to collect salvage for transport through the Rail Gate
  
  
• In-Game Campaign Leaderboards
  Campaign Leaderboards can be accessed from the Main Menu
  

[h2]Full Patch Notes
[/h2]

• Weekly Ship Feature (Beta) added
  
• Campaign Leaderboards added to Main Menu
  
• Polaris Freighter Animation Sequences added
  
• Cargo Elevator Animation Sequence added
  
• Ability to change player voice in the Gameplay Options added
  
• Nova Fuel plumes now vaporize things they touch
  
• Interior wall padding texture updated
  

[h3]BUG FIXES:
[/h3]

• Sometimes, the reactor explodes right after entering a meltdown state.
  
• Collider for cutter beams (Stinger and Split Saw) is larger than the VFX themselves, causing undesired fire damage to the Player's surroundings
  
• Rail guide weight is inconsistent after processing.
  
• Incorrect button prompt used to back out from keybinding with a gamepad in the pause menu.
  
• Repairing while listening to an audio log will stop playback
  
• In Science Geckos, the padding that can spawn on storage bins remains unmoved when yanking the bin
  
• Cutting the Reactor with the Stinger will cause it to vapourize rather than explode.
  
• Helmet light no longer working, after using Reset to defaults in the Key Mapping menu
  
• After dying via a cutter overheat, the overheat VFX persists until user makes a new cut.
  
• The user cannot navigate past the Brake option in the Controls menu, when using a controller
  
• When purchasing an upgrade with the controller, the user is kicked back to the tool on which the mouse pointer is hovering over
  
• The user is kicked out of the Equipement tree, when wanting to access a tool and the mouse pointer is hovering over another tool
  
• Inconsistency with Brake control remapping on controller.
  
• Black textured parts on the flush switch in scanner mode.
  
• When backing out of the keybind remapping menu, the user returns to the options' Gameplay tab
  
• On a fresh user_config.ini, rebinding brake from leftctrl to any key makes the brake action become a simultaneous button press with leftctrl and the selected key
  
• A certain portion of the power junction box texture remains visible in scan mode
  
• After changing languages in the options, a UI element doesn't scale properly in the remapping menu when rebinding an action
  
• The "padding" / aluminum panels on Stargazers are marked for the barge but are only processed by the furnace
  
• On science geckos the lights and the storage bins with aluminum panels make a single object
  
• Fuse handles remain functional and deal electrical damage, after being detached from their panel
  
• Misc. Action 01/Misc. Action 02 prompts don't update after remapping the gamepad controls
  
• Gamepad remapped interaction prompt does not update to new input
  
• Remapped gamepad input does not update the tutorial tooltips
  
• Tab Right/Tab Left prompts don't update after gamepad remapping
  
• Gecko's Silverfish don't have a name tag in the HUD when hovering over them
  
• Pressing Y on the front end plays the audio for deleting a profile no matter which screen the user is on
  
• Cut guards have permanent burn effects on them
  
• Cockpit door console not attached to a wall in the Stargazer.
  
• Mackerel Noses are using the old cut point bases
  
• When picking up fuses, the cutter's arms do not animate
  
• Gamepad Start/Back does not update button callouts after rebinding
  
• HUD Cycle Scan prompts don't update, after remapping the gamepad scan inputs
  
• Toggle Work Order prompt doesn't update after gamepad remapping
  
• Pressing F (keyboard) or Y (gamepad) prompts the Restore Defaults pop-up in Contract Sequence, HAB, Pause Menu, and while Deleting Profile
  
• Hydroponics cabinet glass is too cloudy
  
• Gecko cockpit interior UV has alignment issues
  
• Hitting the back wall with force does not send correct impact intensity numbers
  
• Player voice option in FE and pause have no scroll over sfx
  
• Pressing Y on the Post Session Screen brings up the “Restore Defaults” pop-up from the key rebinding feature.
  
• Confirm/Decline button callout does not update after rebinding gamepad keys
  
• Unable to back out of Control Remapping screen after reassigning a key
  
• Confirm/Decline prompts don't update after gamepad remapping
  
• In the Kiosk the input for the Back prompt is not displayed, when using a controller
  
• Padding inside of Science Gecko has metal impact fx instead of soft impact fx
  
• During Contract sequence, entering a name with the letter T will open the webpage within the Steam client
  
• Icon for View button is incorrect when using XBOX Controller
  

Hello everyone,

Following the reception of our first dev vlog, we’re happy to be back this week with our second vlog! This week, we’re disclosing more info on our upcoming update!

We’d like to thank everyone once more for supporting us and sharing your feedback on our forums, social networks, but also our official discord!

Get behind the scenes at Lynx Corp right away with Elliot, Jessica and Tina to learn more about:

• Our Stargazer, now available in-game!
• Cut guards ( ⚠️ our dev team recently answered community’s feedback, check it out)
  
• Rebinding, localization & bugs fixed
  
• 🔥 Weekly ship challenge!
• And more new content!

https://youtu.be/sfUpFfmmWX8

And don't forget to join our official Discord channel as we often do community AMAs there as well.

See you in space,
The Hardspace: Shipbreaker Team