Residual News

Polish, tweak, polish, tweak, add, change,polish, tweak.. That's pretty much my week! How was yours?! If you're a kickstarter-backer, make sure to update your version of the game, because this week it finally happened:  Your planet got named! - or at least for 99% of the "name your planet" tier backers (still missing 6 or 7 survey replies).  So you can browse through the galaxy (options menu) and locate your planet!

A lot of areas of the gaming are now coming together, and with only a few weeks left on actual code-development, it better gets together! This update is full of tiny new things, improvements and as mentioned in last couple of updates: MANY fixes!

A lot of new planet graphics, new creature-dna, and I locked up the Astronaut character! You'll have to unlock it, and I'm not telling you how -- don't worry, you'll figure it out!

Last Thursdays video isn't as much a devlog as it is just a tiny look into a developers head as he is trying to wrap up work on a year long project! No biggy, check it out:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Full changes list:

• added: "artifacts found" to "continue" screen
  
• added: "fruit" to the visor resources
  
• added: drop item if grabbed by Slurper plants
  
• added: logo added to snapshots
  
• added: back-key to exit snapshot mode
  
• added: 2nd "hot" planet soundtrack
  
• added: new tilesets
  
• added: KS Backer planet-names
  
• added: make "flowers" static on some planets (tileset based)
  
• added: time of day is now visualised with a sundial (since days can be any length, this might be more clear)
  
• added: Astronaut character now an "unlockable" character
  
• added: "freeplay unlocked" information box
  
• added: astronaut-unlock elements and dialogs
  
• added: new creature bodies
  
• added: DNA life-form scanning now a progress-bar. Requires player to stay near the subject
  
• added: sting-wasps from the egg-nests
  
• added: map-view of the planet on load-game screen
  
• added: hologram info speech (after hologram)
  
• done: moved all text to file for localisation
  
• changed: level-generator rules
  
• changed: improved generator images
  
• changed: less darkness when raining
  
• changed: less frequent switch between rain/no-rain
  
• fixed: craft-knowledge (when just 1) not centered
  
• fixed: crash bug when holding an item and being grabbed by eating plant
  
• fixed: pushing/grabbing blocked by "less important" actions
  
• fixed: some spawn spots for proc-creatures
  
• fixed: Electentacle can now be passed when it's not in "electrified" state
  
• fixed: design bug in some areas with spikes - not being escapable
  
• fixed: shading on console pillars
  
• fixed: connector-switch overriding other events when nearby
  
• fixed: can't make oil burn (torch nor phaser)
  
• fixed: ugly rendering corners in tilemap/backdrop
  
• fixed: moved "marker" on top of echo-pillars down to the "console" on the pillar
  
• fixed: improved intro (more context, improved text)
  
• fixed: rain/snow fall starting like horizontal lines
  
• fixed: single-time spawner triggers would still trigger new spawns
  
• fixed: don't spawn arachnid near "generators/fidgets"
  
• fixed: pdb dialog at a hologram device disappears very fast
  
• fixed: day-hud was not lined-up with statusbars (Vertically)
  
• fixed: electro-block doesn't change itsimage back after it deactivates
  

The closer I get to an actual release, the more "fixes" and "changes" these weekly updates seem to have!  Luckily there might be a lot more items in the changes list below, but most of these are tiny changes or fixes.

I did add a few new features, one of those is colored water! This was pretty simple (literally changing the color of the water) but I had to rewrite some code because of the way the waterfalls, pools, and water-waves all worked. But it's done now, and you'll find some interesting water colors on different planets!

Another change was something I wanted to create for a while, but for that I had to rewrite the way we color the sky during the night and day cycles. Now that that's done, it was very easy to have every planet have it's own hours-per-day. Depending on how close they are to their sun, you can now find planets with 10 hours in a day, or planets with 30 hours.. and everything in between! I can imagine that's not going to work for all players, so I also added a setting in the menu that allows you to force 24 hours.

This weeks youtube update isn't solely about Residual, but I needed a little break from talking about Residual all the time! ;)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Full changes list:

• added: "bite" to trats biting player
  
• added: different colors for water (Depending on planet-graphices)
  
• added: artifact found info to planet view
  
• added: improved galaxy-viewer to fit on all types of resolutions
  
• added: different hours-per-day cycles per planet
  
• added: player option to force 24-hours per day
  
• added: artifact information to save-game
  
• added: extra shine to artifact-pickups
  
• added: doubled amount of hologram lore
  
• added: over 15 extra Lore for datacards
  
• added: 20 new artifacts
  
• added: egg-nests in cold areas
  
• added: split up craft knowledge and EDP knowledge
  
• fixed: rewrite of water/waterfall code fixing tiny bugs
  
• fixed: tech-vine switches floating in a room without any purpose
  
• fixed: portal code now generates it's own required switches
  
• fixed: force-field floating above the ground
  
• fixed: savegame file was missing some info on the planet
  
• fixed: stop creatures from "idle" state in water
  
• fixed: techdrones keep spawning at a spot (when old one is still hoovering nearby)
  
• fixed: some PDB messages blocking player investigation-animation
  
• fixed: rare crash on deploying devices
  
• fixed: make dialog speech float upwards (movement to grab player attention)
  
• fixed: black-bar behind instructions not vertically centered
  
• fixed: rebalanced spreading of Ooze (less)
  
• fixed: weird sliding animation when walking near campfire
  
• fixed: connector-switch - hotspot for analyze is in center between 2 connectors
  
• fixed: "cold" information getting overwritten by "find resources" information on cold planets
  
• fixed: pdb for "EDP" or deployables now bounces due to alpha-value
  

This update is pretty much the result of me trying to sit down for a good long gameplay session in Residual, and just writing down a long list of things that are just a bit "off" and need a tiny change, or need to be more user-friendly, give a better first-experience to players, etc.   Of course my whole idea in such a gameplay session is to just sit down and enjoy the game, try to figure out how long an average gameplay session takes, but I rarely make it into the game further than 20-30 minutes and my list of things that need fixing has grown.

Soooo, this weeks update comes with another long list of tweaks,changes and fixes that's mostly focussed towards the player-experience. Dialogs that need to wait for other dialogs, or in some cases should replace older dialogs.. pop-up notifications that vanish too quickly, too much information coming at the player at once, trying to delay all that or have it wait for other things to complete their visibility cycle, but then it still needs to work in all cases and with all types of notifications.. it's a lot of tweaking and trying!

I also got to mix all that stuff with implementing some new things, I'm also happy to announce that the Hyper Gates now have a purpose! And I got some new room-templates in there with interesting obstacles and little puzzle effects (one of them is up there in the GIF).

Really a very nice update this week! I think there is just one more bigger feature I need to implement, and then it's really just a matter of wrapping up all the loose-ends (features that need a bit of tweaking and improving here and there) and adding some extra content in the shape of puzzles/obstacles

Speaking of extra content, this weeks video I show and talk about the first 10 tilesets that got submitted for the Residual tileset contest - some cool stuff here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Full changes list:

• added: new game now prefers "unvisited" planets above other planets
  
• added: picking up broken-fidgets now add a sub-mission
  
• added: broken-cpu now added as sub-mission
  
• added: analyzing events are reset on new games for all objects+tools (not for food)
  
• added: deuterium-eaters now stop floating when deuterium is picked up
  
• added: activated Photomode (press F1)
  
• added: temperature min/max for the Proxima galaxy
  
• added: freeplay mode (need to be unlocked per planet)
  
• added: Make portal-fixable, and then unlock freeplay mode on that planet
  
• added: Echonium-transmitters (used for clearing and keeping an area free of ooze)
  
• added: new character-select background (makes more sense to start in the Meganoid docking bay)
  
• added: Cold-planet music
  
• changed: dialogs won't vanish faster because player is moving (was bad design)
  
• changed: improved elevator/switch mechanics and elevator/push-stone interactions
  
• changed: improved swinging from vine to vine
  
• changed: creature-modifiers for tails and temperatures
  
• fixed: datacard-text, when closed, shows PDB repeating the text
  
• fixed: first-boot/install will check for best resolution setting (fixes issue on resolutions smaller than 1920x1080)
  
• fixed: new mission triggers not always showing up when needed - improve user-friendlyness
  
• fixed: climate description for creatures
  
• fixed: double "analyze X" mission would trigger a complete of that sub-mission
  
• fixed: switch with broken fidget doesn't give analyze
  
• fixed: fire-pillars still don't spawn analyze
  
• fixed: dpad-down button shows as #12 in on-screen instructions
  
• fixed: techdrones don't init the "look at us" trigger
  
• fixed: datacube doesn't show "hey lets go to the printer"
  
• fixed: double-spawning of treasure and datacube devices
  
• fixed: crash caused by Arachnid placement during world-generator
  
• fixed: character select arrow rendered on top of spaceship
  
• fixed: can't place burning torch on the floor
  
• fixed: various issues with galaxy-render interface
  
• fixed: Echonium-transmitter now placeable on the floor
  
• fixed: picking up a forcefield-generator gave wrong item
  
• fixed: picking up echonium-transmitter gave wrong item
  
• fixed: tweaked planet temperatures
  
• fixed: limited spit-plants to only spawn in "warmer" areas
  
• fixed: remove ooze from doors opening up
  
• fixed: removed creature spawners on door-location during world-generator cleanup pass
  
• fixed: aggressiveness of creatures - now also follow and "bite" player
  
• fixed: eating mushrooms now close inventory to show you the effect
  
• fixed: eating mushrooms will give extra PDB dialog explaining side-effects only last short time; and cooking them is better
  

A week of slow progress, mostly on purpose as I took it all a bit slower this week!  BUT that doesn't mean nothing got done, it actually allowed me to focus on a bunch of tiny things, and at the end of the week.. that makes up for a huge list of fixes!

All Kickstart backer names are now in the credits (yay!) and surveys sent out for planet name rewards. I also started working on the lore, if you know bump into one of the Hologram shrines, you'll be greeted with a variation of messages and hints.

Every planet now also comes with a new little storage-container device, once you activate and open it, you'll find a random collectible trinket in there! Every planet has one, sometimes two, and there will be a menu interface to keep track of the full collection (also showing you what you missed).

So Patrons and Kickstarter backers, update your version and enjoy !

This weeks devlog dives into the whole galaxy-viewer added last week!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Full changes list:

• added: Techdrones spitting out ooze will now also spread it across floors and walls
  
• added: more hologram-speech lore
  
• added: new planet backdrop
  
• added: mirrored versions of planet backdrops (minor extra variation)
  
• added: Artifact storage containers
  
• added: final batch of KS backer names to credit screen
  
• added: pause and inspection for ooze-spreading-tech-drones
  
• added: first batch of artifacts
  
• added: DNA scanning of non-procedural creatures
  
• added: chair now gets a "something here" marker for first time sleepers
  
• added: Show "ZZZzzz" above players head when tired (walking slower)
  
• added: EMP also destroys "spawner" locations - keeping area safe
  
• added: Creatures can now also be tempted to bite other creatures, including humanoids
  
• fixed: solar-suit now decreases less quickly (had test code doubling decrease rate.. oops!)
  
• fixed: push/pull items now show "Move" instructions, more clear than the "Grab" instruction
  
• fixed: notifications sometimes staying on screen far too long
  
• fixed: for single placement of special-mushroom
  
• fixed: markers above known devices are now different from unknown devices
  
• fixed: proper light in crash area (Based on time of day)
  
• fixed: bouncers now properly "eat" deuterium
  
• fixed: made passing-out text more clear on what happened
  
• fixed: entities activating "life scanner" without player interacting
  

A week of a bunch of minor improvements and changes, and one BIG feature. The bunch of smaller changes are all to de-clutter the interface. With missions, pickups, notifications, and all those things sliding in and out the screen, I wanted to stream line all of that a bit more, as it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming to new players. So most of the fixes are aimed towards all that.

The BIG feature is going to be a very important part of the gameplay once I’m fully done with it. I added a full-galaxy generator this week, which means that all the planets are now build based on the star-system they are in, the distance to their sun, and the galaxy that star system resides in. It’s been a couple of days work, but it was well worth it!

For now you can check out the known Proxima galaxy from the options menu (stats -> universe) and navigate a bit through the starsystems and planets within. You can zoom into a star-system, and then you’ll get a list of the planets with some details on that planet.

The purpose of this screen is a couple of things. The game’s technology is awesome, having unlimited amount of planets.. but to a player, all that technology isn’t visible or known. So this galaxy-view will give the player some feel and understanding of the size of the game, and the fact that there is more out there!

Second reason is sharing experiences and findings with other players. You’ll be able to find artifacts on planets, and how cool would it be to share the location of those items with your friends!

Third reason, I want to add some sort of free-play mode, where you get to choose the planet you’ll crash on. This just adds more value to gamers who can now pick a certain planet to either replay it, or visit all the planets, or do scavenge hunts for all the artifacts in the game. It will also make it more interesting for streamers or speedrunners.. just in case !

This weeks video shows the creation of the Residex, and a new planet backdrop:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Full changes list:

• added: show “unlock” notifcation for new devices becoming available
  
• added: raw mushrooms = long side-effect and 50% health+energy / cooked mushrooms = short effect and 100% health+energy
  
• added: mushrooms are placed in more (dark/damp) areas
  
• added: crafting of power-upgrade items (used to upgrade devices)
  
• added: items to upgrade mining-devices for faster mining
  
• added: option for shorter days per planet (not used for now)
  
• added: galaxy-viewer – show all starsystems+planets+details
  
• added: proper galaxy-creation – all planet generation now done based on the galaxy data
  
• fixed: echo-pillars and treasure spawning in “spike” pits
  
• fixed: less interface clutter / overlap with multiple notifications happening at once.
  
• fixed: made inventory icons more clear (even when not selected)
  
• fixed: regrouped some inventory stuff from tools to items
  
• fixed: changes to sunlight code
  
• fixed: bug in visor showing creature info on planet-tab (oops!)
  
• fixed: removed showing a “pickup notification” when putting items back in backpack.
  
• fixed: mission trigger events properly wait for other info to be gone
  
• fixed: pickup notification stay on screen forever
  
• fixed: delay mission pop-ups during “cinematic” events
  
• fixed: improved “craft unlock” notification rendering
  
• fixed: changed mission popup sound (now different from interface interaction sounds)
  
• fixed: localization support for delimiters in various numbers (percentages,etc)
  
• fixed: recruit solar suit message repeats WAY to often