Astro Colony News

Hey Astro Colonists!

The game is currently broadcasted live!
Please check the stream on:

[h3]Steam[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1614550/Astro_Colony/

[h3]Twitch[/h3]
https://www.twitch.tv/tefel/

Tefel (Terad Games)

Hello Colonists!
The game just received more improvements!

[h2]Construction searchbar[/h2]

Before the update, the construction menu had a simple "filter" which was just filtering the currently selected category. This update improves the system by allowing users to search items in all categories and showing a preview of the categories found.

[h2]Expert docking[/h2]

Players asked for faster conveyor belts for docking, since it was slowing down resource transfer.
Currently, there are 3 docking levels available:
- default - can transfer electricity only
- advanced - can transfer electricity and water; has faster conveyor belts
- expert - can transfer electricity, water, and gas; provides the fastest conveyor belts

[h2]New tutorials[/h2]

The tutorial bot got improved with better interactions and new tutorials.

[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• Expert docking station added to the game
  
• Construction SEARCH is now providing results for all categories
  
• Camera for interactions can now move, this should make selection for logic blocks (sensors, deciders) easier
  
• Tutorial bot screen interaction + swap
  
• Hotbar start with 3 elements, allowing players to configure their hotbars easier
  I believe this change will help to understand that items from the construction menu can be dragged
  
• A new tutorial about recycling
  
• New hotkeys in the settings - next item, previous item, next category
  
• Resource quantity shows a million symbol if the number gets large M+ 25M+

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed shared technologies syncing when the player is joining
  
• Decider only updates the ON/OFF state when it has a signal; it fixes the issue where no signal would disable the logic blocker
  
• The upgraded smelter is now checking the iron bar recipe and activating iron bar+; the same is true for copper bar and copper bar+
  
• Upgraded device keeps inventory sensor link
  
• Fixed issue where radial menu would not turn on animal capture
  
• Fixed multiplayer issue where client would not have voxel collision after station undocking
  
• Construction of the blueprint (imported) requires all items to be unlocked to construct
  
• Fixed an issue where the blueprint designer would not allow removing locked objects.
  
• Fixed issue where Player Host would have wrong Tech Tree assigned after client join (invalid universe ID)
  
• Fixed issue where some first generated planets for clients in another universe would appear empty

[h2]STREAM[/h2]
It's finally time for another live stream!
Please check it tomorrow (Saturday) 20 CET on Steam or Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/tefel/


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

Hey Astro Colonists!

In preparation of a major content update "Life of a Colonist", I just published another improvement and stability update. Below, you can check what actually changed in the game.

Thank you guys, for reporting bugs and cases with lower than expected performance.


[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• Improved rendering for UI, so scaled elements are sharper, especially text
  
• Increased chances to spawn amethyst (violet planet)
  
• When starting the game, random buttons cannot lock the game anymore
  
• Gamepad is now active in the cinematic, can rotate the camera and skip the cinematic
  
• Gamepad camera improvements make it's possible to control the cameras of devices
  
• Client interactions in blueprints are now possible
  
• Client copy-paste settings is now correct
  
• New efficient rendering of many instances (thanks Dylan Hunt)
  
• Voxel system improvements to make it more efficient and use less memory
  
• Improved hotbar UI order, so it can be used with a 130% UI scale

UI HUD elements are reordered. For example, the hotbar appears on top of every interaction window. This allows a player who uses 130% UI to be able to drag construction items to the hotbar.

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed crash related to invalid client interactions for blueprints
  
• Fixed crash when theme was pasted to an invalid cell
  
• Fixed hotkeys where scaling UI / saving empty settings could remove some hotkeys
  
• Fixed multiplayer issues to preserve player state and station movement when player joins

[h2]Updated Demo[/h2]
The demo is now updated to benefit from recent fixes and improvements.

[h2]Active bundles[/h2]
Astro Colony is currently partnering with the developers of Desynced and Techtonica.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42762/Astro_Colony__Desynced/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/43157/Techtonica__Astro_Colony/

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

Hey Colonists!

It's time for another major improvement to the game. Maybe I'm slowly becoming obsessed with optimization, I hope not 😅

What exactly is Async planet generation, and why is it so important?

[h2]INSTANT ASYNC PLANET'S GENERATION[/h2]


Before the update, only the planet surface was calculated in the background (async).
When elements of the planets (resources, rocks, and plants) were generated, it caused a hitch (lag).

Right now, all planet objects are generated seamlessly (async). Player cannot even notice when a planet is generated.

This change makes the experience pleasant, reduces the load on the CPU, allows older PCs to run the game, and makes Multiplayer syncing and joining quicker!

[h2]MAP IMPROVEMENTS - GAS CRATER[/h2]


It was a frequently requested feature to show more types of resources, like geysers, directly on the map.
There is no need to visit each planet to find gas anymore!

[h2]OPTIMIZED VEHICLES[/h2]

Spawning multiple vehicles was causing a huge performance drop. After the latest improvements, this is no longer the case. It's now possible to spawn 10–20 vehicles and keep 60 fps+.

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS & FIXES[/h2]

• new async system to generate planets
  
• snap objects have the correct visuals when placing
  
• snap objects when picked → constructed are replicated correctly to clients - keeping pasted size
  
• map improvements showing new types of resources like gas
  
• remaining multiplayer shader objects are fixed when moving (tools and some devices)
  
• sounds have now corrected attenuation, fixing the problem that other players in multiplayer can hear distant sounds
  
• asteroids should now look sharper
  
• new improved algorithm for anti-aliasing, making it less blurry
  
• vehicles are optimized (performance 10x)

[h2]SALES[/h2]
The game is currently discounted, so please use this opportunity if you still haven't played it!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1614550/Astro_Colony/

Despite all the effort and many improvements, the game is getting less visibility and fewer reviews than usually. It is quite concerning that the number of reviews dropped drastically, from 60 last month to only 20 this month.

Soon Steam Summer Fest will start, and I will stream the game and make the demo available once again, so I hope that will help spread the word about the game!

Thank you, guys, for supporting the project!
Kind regards,
Tefel (Terad Games)

Hey Astro Colonists!

The game just received the big multiplayer update, which addresses default engine replication issues. I took time to investigate the position of replicated actors, the movement system, what is going on behind the scenes, and why sometimes positions sent from the server to the client can vary.



What I found:

[h2]Data compression level is not suitable for Astro Colony[/h2]
It turns out that all types of compression have limitations and can't fit large values.
The replication distance limit was just about 10 million units (about 100 LY).
When crossing the limit, unexpected things could start happening, such as the engine trying to teleport both players and planets.

With some custom engine changes to the compression, I managed to increase the distance to 1000 LY. This should be enough to consider it reliable.

[h2]Endless exploration[/h2]
In a game where the world is generated indefinitely, like Minecraft, it is important to keep precision in every calculation. The game uses various methods to update the origin (center of the universe) to keep it precise, showing shadows and smooth animations.

When the game is loading, it's taking time to update World Origin.


This was always a huge problem in multiplayer, causing my headache more than hundreds of times. I managed to get two new rebasing systems for the dedicated server and the Player Host server. Right now, the server decides exactly when rebasing can happen for clients.

[h2]New shader movement for client[/h2]


To keep client movement smooth. My previous approach was to let the client apply its own position. This was causing corrections from time to time from the server if positions changed too often. Right now, the server always applies the location, and all shader data is adjusted for the client.

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS & FIXES[/h2]

• new replication system using compressed data suitable for long distances
  
• new docking system avoiding rebasing origin problems
  
• new client shader movement position updates, reliable to not cause teleporting issues
  
• new player host rebase system, 100% controlled by the server host
  
• transmitter energy power is now copy pasted
  
• preventing the rover from falling down when loading games on the server
  
• Capturing animals is now fixed for clients
  
• Parallel universe, some visuals fixed for the client - invisible asteroids
  
• client now shows the proper effect of capturing animals
  
• increased number of max selected elements, so box selection keeps working for maximum box selections
  
• 3d object optimizations for shader movement
  
• particle optimization for shader movement (combining many into one)
  
• fixed icons (hologram objects) to rotate towards the camera
  
• fixed shader offset when changing space station as a client
  
• fixed camera rotation for walls when first time enabled
  
• fixed various dedicated server warnings
  
• fixed issues with blueprint designer - entering grid on server and shader movement
  
• fixed client properly leaving grid, so planet particles are removed
  
• sky shader movement is working for all possessed modes

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