Research Story News

[h3]Greetings Researchers![/h3]
We're here with another mini-devlog to update you on development progress!

[h2]✨ Key changes - in v0.1.32[/h2]
[h3]Changes in player hitbox -> Prevents players from getting stuck[/h3]
Player hitbox has been reduced, and also standardised. This should prevent some weird collisions and players getting occasionally stuck on things like trees. We've also made it such that players can walk past this small gap in this mine layout - as we've heard that players sometimes get locked into a small area due to ladder spawns. This seems fairer!


[h3]Changes in seasonal debris spawn -> Reduced farm clutter[/h3]
Players mentioned that the seasonal debris spawns can be a bit too much, and we agree! We've reduced the spawn rates and also made it such that no debris will spawn within a 2-grid radius around tilled ground and placed items.



[h2]🎮 Controller Support - in development[/h2]
Developer note: Controller support is in development and will only be available to players when it's mostly/fully implemented in all parts of the game!

I've been spending the bulk of my time on controller support. Here's a progress update:
[h3]Interacting by going close to NPCs/signs etc.[/h3]
When walking close to an NPC or interactable sign, an indication will appear, prompting players to interact.


[h3]Grid-detection when using tools[/h3]
Tilling, watering, and planting actions are tied to the grids on the farm. When using the controller, the game detects the grid in front of the player, and tools and actions will update the indicated grid.


[h3]More UI controller implementation[/h3]
In many cases, navigating the game UI with a controller is different from navigating with keyboard and mouse. Here is one example, where the buttons are navigated with the left stick:


[h3]To-do for the controller support update:[/h3]

• Remaining UI (Map, Violet Archive UI, customisation etc.)
  
• Animal and plant interactions
  
• Fishing minigame & other minigames
  
• In-game keyboard for naming player & animals
  
• Updating tutorial & adding glyphs
  
• Controller remapping
  
• Adding Steam Cloud support
  

As you can see, there're quite a few areas where extra consideration and programming are required in order for the controller to work smoothly. Happy to say that we're making steady progress! Our target for the controller update for players is sometime next month (April).

Thank you for reading!
- Miki

Small update:
[v0.1.32.1] Fixed a minor bug from the v0.1.32 update (Some creatures following the player were not triggering their perks).

v0.1.32 Fixed:
- Creature perks with countdown (e.g. boar) sometimes not triggering after loading a game.
- Debris spawning on old crops when new season arrives
- Shaking trees actually drop sticks now.
- Ice Salamander resting state does not show its resting sprite
- Crash related to having a fox/chicken follower and hitting a rock.

Changed:
- Player collision box, to reduce chances that players get stuck on weird environment collisions.
- Seasonal debris spawn: Debris spawns at the beginning of each season will not spawn 2 grids around tilled soil and player-placed items. Also reduced overall spawn rate.
- Added version number in Pause Menu.

Fixed
- Crash when foraging mushrooms/fishing after reaching maximum Research Rank.
- Creature Perk doesn't trigger the following day, if the creature was following the player while sleeping to the next day.
- Chroma Watering Can not listed on Remus' shop after upgrading to Gold Watering Can.
- Incorrect seasonality information for Sapphire Diver in the Journal: it correctly shows as 'Summer and Autumn' instead of just 'Summer' now.

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Update (13 Mar): Just adding a note here to make it clearer that controller support is in-development and will only be available to public when it's mostly/fully implemented in all parts of the game!
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[h2]Hello Researchers![/h2]

We've decided to start posting regular mini-devlogs to keep our players up-to-date on what we're currently working on and our progress.

Since the v0.1.24 update, we've been busy with further bugfixes and minor changes, controller support implementation, and engaging our community! Here are some highlights from the past week:

[h3]Controller Support - in development[/h3]
Controller support for most of the Start Menu has been implemented.


Moving items within the Inventory with a controller.


There are a few more things that need to be done, including support for other UI, having interactable objects show interact prompts when being near them, and updating tutorials to show corresponding controller buttons. We'll need to complete these before having controller support available to our players!

[h3]Minor changes[/h3]
While working on bugfixes, we also make gameplay changes where relevant. One of the feedback we received was that having tilled soil untill itself the next day can disrupt some of the players' plans and efforts. With that in mind, we made a change in our latest patch (v0.1.30) where tilled, sandy soil will retain its tilled state forever (or until the player changes the soil back to the loamy type).
Loamy Soil (left) untills the next day, while Sandy Soil (right) will remain tilled.

[h3]Discord community reached over 500 members! With the EA release of Research Story, our Discord community has grown to over 500 members! We're so grateful that the community has been so kind and fun - the many questions, suggestions, feedback, and bug reports encourage me to work on the game every day. I really want to make RS a good experience for the players!!


That's all for this devlog, thank you for reading and see you next time!

- Miki

Fixed:
- Soil modifiers (fertilisers, sand etc.) disappearing sometimes, causing previously growing crops to wither.

Changes:
- Added Insects as a diet option for Chickens.
- The Seafood Bowl crafting recipe now takes 1 fish instead of 2.
- The Cliffside Cave now unlocks earliest on 5 Spring, instead of 7 Spring.
- Players can no longer go deeper than floor 80 of the mines We changed this after hearing some feedback/confusion from players, so that it doesn't seem like there's new content beyond that. This is likely to change in the future as we add more content.
- Sandy soil retains its tilled state and does not get untilled the next day. Loamy/Default soil will still be untilled the next day.

Thank you for your bug reports and feedback, and for your patience as we work through these fixes! It's been really awesome seeing so many people play our game.
- Miki