Astro Colony News

Hello Colonists!

Today I am going to stream Astro Colony, showcasing the newest update about Transport & Locomotion!
Please come and say hello and share your feedback during the stream. I will answer all of your questions!

[h2]Next stream - WHEN (MONDAY 28.10)?[/h2]

• 20:00 CET
  
• 18:00 UTC
  
• 14:00 EST
  

[h2]WHERE?[/h2]

• STEAM
  
• TWITCH
  

It may happen that we will get interrupted by my newborn son crying (obviously due to bugs) :D

For people who have Steam broadcasting issues, I am also streaming on Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/Tefel




The game also yesterday received the hotfix update, which fixed all remaining reported issues.

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Fixed crash when picking up (MMB) twice the same thruster
  
• Improved loading and cleanup when quitting the game. It's now faster and more reliable.
  
• Fixed markers of Wagons to save their state
  
  
• Starting cinematic is no longer showing HUD
  
• Fixed issue where snap elements coulnd't be selected after loading planet of another universe
  
• Fixed issue of rotating and moving snap elements in blueprint designer
  
• Fixed issue of creating snap objects for walls
  
• Improved construction of docking stations on the planet
  
  
• Wagons that travel between stations have now correctly calculated relative coordinates
  
• Loaded wagons are correctly loaded by finding a valid reference grid
  
• Fixed issue with planet losing collisions due to using invalid voxel invoker
  
• Fixed shader movement glitches such as jumping of space carrier when bringing astronauts to
• station
  
• Navigation points are now correctly calculated after using a hand drill
  
• Barrier merging is improved to increase merge distance
  
• Shader visuals have improved, and water is now more visible
  

Please don't forget to join Our Discord community to let me know about your Astro Colony wishes ;)


Thank you for your support!
Tefel (Terad Games)

Hey Astro Colonists!
The game just received the Major Update about transport and locomotion!
There are new systems in the game which improves astronauts, robots and resources movement.

[h2]CABLE CAR[/h2]

Cable car is the new advanced way to transport resources, water and gas between stations and planets. Its purpose is to cover great distances as you build a big space station docked together with other entities. This can replace the docking station's system of inside conveyor belts.


The system is composed of wagons (three typologies according to the resource to transport), depot (where wagons are built), ports (load-unload of resources), and poles in cases where the distance to cover is huge.

[h2]LIFT SYSTEM[/h2]

Elevator is an architectural addition to create faster vertical movement for astronauts and robots.
Build it next to the floor to make the entrance appears.
Two segments above the floor are enough to let astronaut to walk.

[h2]MERGING BARRIERS[/h2]

In addition to many other changes, long awaited barriers are now merged properly. Build as many barriers as you want, and they will be all merged into one big oxygen area.

[h2]NEW MUSIC[/h2]
🎵 Our composer Casper was recently busy working on Astro Colony music, there are already 2 more tracks composed. This update adds one of them to the game!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]What's next?[/h2]
This update was originally planned to introduce new human needs and ways to refill them. Some work was already begun. This means that you should expect another major update soon.
"Life of a Colonist" will come before Christmas.

In the meantime, you can also expect smaller patches improving stability and adding some missing elements like rotations of depots or the possibility for the player to use elevators as well!

Please share your feedback with me on Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/EFzAA3w


Thanks guys so much for support!
Tefel (Terad Games)

Hello Colonists!

The next Major Update is just around the corner, it should come out next month.
In the meantime, I would love to invite you to celebrate Astro Colony
during the Steam Space Exploration Fest!



What makes Astro Colony a bit different from other automation / colony sim games is the exploration of the endless universe!

[h3]Space Exploration has never been cheaper[/h3]

You can get Astro Colony with a 50% discount during the Space Exploration Fest, until September 9th.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1614550/Astro_Colony/

Please share your feedback with me on Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/EFzAA3w

Thanks guys so much for your support!
Tefel (Terad Games)

Hello Colonists!
As You know, the game is coming OUT next year!

The development of the game is not slowing down. The first part of the year brought 5 Major updates, and 2 more are coming in 2024.

The first part of the year brought

• ARCHITECTURE - hundreds of architectural elements and themes to customize them
  
• PERFORMANCE - huge performance boost together with shader movement system for stations
  
• TERRAFORMING - animals and plants collected on planets, new environments in universes II, III, IV
  
• SANDBOX - new game modes giving freedom of construction
  
• MULTIPLAYER 3.0 - with more reliable experience and solutions for default engine problems

We are not stopping there! On the way to release 1.0 I foresee additional updates, as illustrated in the current roadmap.



Speaking of content, here is a brief description of what they consist of:

[h2]LIFE OF A COLONIST[/h2]
To make astronauts more "human" and less NPC, the idea is to require more effort to provide for them. Together with the already-existing needs, oxygen consumption and fulfilling comfort are required.
Besides, new devices are introduced, such as elevators to allow vertical movement of astronauts and robots, and cable cars to transport goods over long distances and multiple stations.

[h2]THREATS AND DEFENSE[/h2]
Along with having some new cosmic events happen more often, you will need to use a defense shield to defend your colony. You will also train astronauts to control it, making it automated.

[h3]NEW ASTRONAUT ARRIVED![/h3]
As the last news, I want to share my personal joy with you! I just became a father, so there is a new member of the crew ;)

Please stay tuned and have faith in Astro Colony!

Hey Astro Colonists!

The new build with more improvements is here! It changes object collisions and eliminates hitches! Thanks to the M4D_4LI3N report, I was able to change physics and remove game stuttering.

[h2]ROVER FLIP[/h2]

Since many physical collisions are now gone, the game needs to rely on optical (query) physics.
There is a new system in place to prevent the rover from clipping, going through planes and flipping over.

[h2]SMOOTH VEHICLES[/h2]

Spacecraft is no longer using physical movement and default replication but instead custom movement similar to character movement with collision detection. I could turn spacecraft into another "character" type, but I preferred keeping it as a simple Pawn and making use of Smooth Sync technology, which precisely synchronizes positions between clients and a server.

[h2]ELIMINATING HITCHES[/h2]

Reducing the number of physical collisions allowed for a great reduction in the number of hitches caused by physics when moving the station. Before the change, it was taking up the entire frame CPU budget (33ms). Right now, it's not even noticeable.

[h2]QOL[/h2]

"Hold" interactions got improved and accurate. Arrows of box selections are no longer "jumping" and are very precise thanks to better collision plane tracking drag.


There are new levels of transferring electricity, water and gas. Expert docking is now capable of sending 5k electricity!

[h2]FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• Fixed crash related to picking parking bot
  
• Fixed construction rotation for walls - is now possible to rotate objects and change camera rotation
  
• Fixed multiple hitches caused by physics calculations
  
• Gas, water, and electricity now have different values for each docking level 1,2,3
  
• Improved drag interactions
  
• Fixed single player Colony Origin construction position
  
• New, easier-to-construct drills and giant drills
  
• Fixed scaling of animated decorations like FAN
  
• Fixed scaling of snap elements like lamps
  
• Changing decal colors is now supported in multiplayer
  
• Copy/pasting of objects, snap, and decals are now previewing the correct rotation and scale

It was a very busy week, so I hope you will like the changes.
Please let me know if you encounter any issues on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/EFzAA3w

[h2]SALES[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1614550/Astro_Colony/

Thanks guys so much for your support!
Tefel (Terad Games)