Aloft News

[p]Ahoy Sky Sailors! [/p][p]Aloft is part of the Build, Design, Chill event, which needs no introduction (the clue is in the title).  [/p][p][/p][p]We’re in excellent company, with plenty of other lovely games where chilling and building make up part of their DNA.  [/p][p][/p][p]The recent Bloom & Blight update has reshaped the skies of Aloft, adding new world generation, revamped progression, Life Trees, Wind Lanes, and much, much more! [/p][p][/p][p]A home awaits you, so pick the shiniest rock in the skies and turn it into a place where adventures begin. [/p][p]We’ll see you in the clouds. ⛅ [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Visit the event page[/p]

[h3]NEW FEATURES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Players can now hold the torch forward to set inflammables on fire instead of interacting with the inflammables[/p]
• [p]Players now unlock migration when launching a game world[/p]
  • [p]Characters will relearn everything they had already learnt[/p]
  • [p]This means that when new items are added or moved, players will unlock them if they “should” have them unlocked[/p][p][/p]

[h3]USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Removed the warning pop-up when trying to damage an asset on a corrupted island[/p]
• [p]Added a warning pop-up when trying to plant a seed onto something other than a Seed Mound[/p]
• [p]Added and updated several quests, notifications, and missing keys in-game and in the Island Creator[/p]
• [p]Modified the Early Access pop-up to include information about save incompatibility and the legacy branch[/p]
• [p]Modified +1 Insight\\Knowledge pop-up messages for clarity[/p]
• [p]The whole Tech Tree is now visible but with greyed out silhouette icons[/p]
• [p]Island Creator:[/p]
  • [p]Added 15 degree rotation snapping while holding CTRL[/p]
  • [p]Added icons for Fallen Heights foliage[/p]
  • [p]Added an icon for HindranceWeb[/p]
  • [p]Added an icon for Barrier Sportox[/p]
  • [p]Folder reorganization[/p]
    • [p]New folder: Circuitry [/p]
    • [p]New folder: Life Tree[/p][p][/p]

[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an issue with un-sailable zone colliders[/p]
  • [p]Islands spawned close to the un-sailable zones are now accessible[/p]
  • [p]This fix applies to all existing worlds[/p]
• [p]Fixed several island and puzzle-related issues[/p]
  • [p]These fixes only retroactively apply to undiscovered islands in existing worlds[/p]
• [p]The first Life Sapling quest nows ask the player to investigate the Wasteland before asking to investigate the Meditation Pad [/p]
• [p]‘Deploy Sails’ and ‘Close Sails’ actions are now correctly reassigned to another key when remapped in the key bindings menu[/p]
• [p]The "Analyze Mykter fiber on the Research lab" now gets checked off after performing the action[/p]
• [p]Removed the leftover “Change Species” prompt in the HUD when holding Wild Seeds[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that caused the UI to disappear after opening the pause menu while interacting with a helm[/p]
• [p]Relinked Anomaly pickup SFX[/p]
• [p]Lost Shipwrecks are no longer sailable[/p]
• [p]Corruption barriers, corruption chests, and corruption cores now display appropriate strain suffixes[/p]
• [p]Corruption barriers warnings now display the appropriate strains and terms[/p]

[h3]NEW FEATURES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]The Lost Decoration Sketch and Sketch Fragments have been added to some chests[/p]
  • [p]The Lost Decoration Sketch is a consumable item. Consuming it unlocks a random decorative piece from a biome the player has already discovered.[/p]
  • [p]3 Sketch Fragments can be combined in the Workbench to craft a Lost Decoration Sketch.[/p]
• [p]New opal decorations have been added (only available in Creative Mode for now)[/p]
  • [p]Frog L/M/S[/p]
  • [p]Pedestal[/p]
  • [p]Pedestal with Frog Happy/Neutral/Sad[/p]
  • [p]Chandelier L/S[/p]
  • [p]Trellis Wall 1x2/2x2/2x1[/p]
  • [p]Trellis Floor 2x2/2x1[/p]
  • [p]WallDecor[/p]
  • [p]WallDecorFramed[/p]
• [p]Decorative vines can now be built (they are automatically unlocked when obtaining the wild seeds of the corresponding biome)[/p]
• [p]Fallen Heights cave vines have been added to the Island Creator[/p]
• [p]Emerald Isles cave vines now drop Wild Seeds[/p][p][/p]

[h3]BALANCING[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Critter charge recharge time has been increased. When an island has depleted all its critter charges (placed all its critters on the island), it should now take longer before even more critters appear. [/p]
• [p]The flora need of islands has been greatly reduced. Players should now be able to remove a lot more plants and trees before the island becomes unhealthy.[/p]
• [p]The seed mound has been lowered in the tech tree, now appearing as a mandatory tech after the home flag[/p]
• [p]The loot of tutorial chests has been made less overwhelming; they no longer drop advanced resources[/p]
• [p]The HP of resources has been greatly reduced to prevent gathering frustrations[/p]
• [p]Serrated Bones can now be stored in the bone stockpile[/p]
• [p]Tools charged attacks and combo finale damage multipliers have been standardised[/p]
• [p]Resources and Ruins have had their HP re-balanced for a smoother tool progression[/p]
• [p]All corruption features will drop samples when destroyed with a coated weapon[/p]
  • [p]Barriers[/p]
  • [p]Corruption Cores[/p]
  • [p]Nodes
    [/p]

[h3]LEVEL DESIGN[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Various fixes on several islands floating/missing assets, broken puzzles, wrong barriers)[/p]
• [p]Minor polishing to Life Sapling wastelands[/p]
  • [p]Added dead grass to some islands[/p]
  • [p]Added foliage to some islands [/p]
  • [p]Polished destruction building to have less construction pieces leftover after destruction [/p]
  • [p]Removed dead grass on seed mounds[/p]
• [p]Added opal decorations to the Red Cliff Wonder Islands[/p]
• [p]These changes will only apply to new worlds for now, but they will be applied to undiscovered islands in existing worlds in a future patch.
  [/p]

[h3]USER INTERFACE[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]The correct texture of the impassable storms in the 2nd ring has been added to the Table-Map[/p]
• [p]Player homes now appear with the proper home icon and with a drop shadow on the Table-Map[/p]
• [p]The glider exhaustion and heat stroke gauges no longer overlap the glider boost circle[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where bold texts on a particular font asset were too thick[/p]
• [p]Added tooltip hovers to crafting menu[/p]
• [p]The in-game chat will automatically fade out after 10 seconds of inactivity
  [/p]

[h3]AUDIO[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]New hindrance SFX[/p]
  • [p]Corruption waste destroy, support beam destruction, inflammable web, sick tree destroy, fix habitat[/p]
• [p]Corrected the timing of Guardian VOX spawn 
  [/p]

[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an issue where custom islands made with the Island Creator were not spawning correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed collider issues with destroyable rocks and trees[/p]
  • [p]Arrows should no longer get stuck in them[/p]
  • [p]Critters should be easier to gather[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that could cause issues when cutting down small trees in multiplayer[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the “save the leviathan” achievement could not be acquired[/p]
  • [p]It should now unlock at the end of the cutscene[/p]
  • [p]If you have already saved the leviathan in your world, it can be unlocked upon landing on one of its islands[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where tamed animals could stop functioning properly when transferred between worlds due to the lack of an internal clock[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where constructions destroyed by beams were not playing the correct audio[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with Windstone Lamp textures not showing up properly[/p]

• [p]Updated the Decorational Pots texture[/p]

• [p]Control prompts for Life Wind mini-game now displays the correct text[/p]
• [p]Habitats have been blacklisted to prevent unlocking them through creative mode[/p]
• [p]Removed some Life Tree assets from the Island Creator[/p]
• [p]The customization station's cost no longer requires blue and purple dyes (those were FH resources, but the station is unlocked in EI)[/p]

[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an issue where islands discovered by players in multiplayer would not spawn critters[/p]
• [p]Fixed multiplayer support for the South Africa region[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where an island in Red Cliffs could spawn without anything on it[/p]

[h3]⚠️ This update requires a new character and world. Your older saves are still accessible on the 0.3.3.22 Legacy Branch, available through Steam’s Beta branches. For detailed instructions, check out this post. [/h3][p][/p][h3]NEW CONTENT + REWORKED SYSTEMS[/h3][hr][/hr][h3]New Save System & World Generation[/h3]

• [p]New save system + save validation flow[/p]
  • [p]The entire backend of the save system has been rewritten for stability and greater flexibility when generating maps[/p]
  • [p]The game now validates that a save file is compatible before overwriting it[/p]
  • [p]Players can now abandon islands, this unclaims the island but leaves it permanently in the world[/p]
  • [p]Old saves are no longer compatible with this version[/p]
• [p]New dedicated server options to align with new world generation system[/p]
  • [p]The new parameters for the update are as follow - they only affect the create game, not the load (load is same as before):[/p]
    • [p]islandcount: 0, 1, 2 or normal, big, huge (case-insensitive)[/p]
    • [p]corruptioncount: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or none, little, normal, lots, shrooms (case-insensitive)[/p]
    • [p]creative: 0, 1 or false, true[/p]
    • [p]Ex: "-batchmode -nographics -server create#MAPNAME# islandcount#normal# corruptioncount#normal# creative#false# log#ERROR#"[/p]
• [p]World layout has been reworked[/p]
  • [p]Flipped the wind direction[/p]
  • [p]Rearranged un-sailable zones and shaders[/p]
  • [p]Adjusted the Jetstreams to better match the transition biomes[/p]
• [p]Added hidden clusters (Lost Shipwrecks)[/p]
  • [p]Their location can be revealed by using the Lost Atlas at the Table-Map[/p]
• [p]Added world settings[/p]
  • [p]You can now choose the amount of regular and corrupted islands in the world creation settings
    [/p]

[h3]Progression[/h3]

• [p]New Tech Trees[/p]
  • [p]Knowledge Tree: Knowledge Stones now grant 1 knowledge point that can be used on the Tech Tree to learn basic machinery and home-steading technology[/p]
  • [p]Sailing Tree: Lost Anchors now grant 1 sailing point that can be used on the Sailing Tree to learn sailing & navigation equipment[/p]
  • [p]Research Tree: Research Lab experiments now grant Breakthroughs that can be used on the Research Tech Tree to learn cure-related technologies[/p]
  • [p]All 3 trees have certain thresholds that require Insight (earned at the Life Tree’s underground basin) to continue learning further technologies[/p]
• [p]New quest system
  [/p]

[h3]Ecosystem Restoration[/h3]

• [p]Life Saplings[/p]
  • [p]Only Life Sapling islands (Wastelands) start out unhealthy[/p]
  • [p]Islands only track the quantity of three core requirements: funga, flora, and fauna.[/p]
    • [p]Funga: Amount of mushrooms found on inoculation logs and tree stumps[/p]
    • [p]Flora: Amount of trees, plants, and crops on an island[/p]
    • [p]Fauna: Amount of critters[/p]
  • [p]Remove the hindrances[/p]
    • [p]Sick flora, abandoned structures, as well as corruption waste & cores, inflammable webs, and leechers[/p]
  • [p]Inoculation Log[/p]
    • [p]New farming construction to grow reishi[/p]
  • [p]Seed Mound[/p]
    • [p]New farming construction for planting flora (crops, plants, and trees)[/p]
  • [p]Mulch[/p]
    • [p]New crafting recipe required for seed mounds and farming plots[/p]
  • [p]Meditation Circle + Life Wind Mini Game[/p]
    • [p]Interact with the Meditation Circle to control the Life Wind[/p]
    • [p]Collide with Seed Mounds to grow flora[/p]
    • [p]Complete the ecosystem restoration by colliding with the Life Sapling[/p]
    • [p]Gather new resource: Life Fruit (no current use, placeholder for future purpose)[/p]
  • [p]Wind Lanes[/p]
    • [p]Unlocked by healing a Life Sapling[/p]
    • [p]Allows the player to sail quickly between island clusters[/p]
• [p]Life Trees[/p]
  • [p]Can only be healed once all three Life Saplings in their sector are restored[/p]
  • [p]Interact with the Meditation Circle to channel the Life Wind from the healed Life Saplings to the Life Tree to restore it[/p]
  • [p]Descend into its underground chamber to discover the Insight Basin[/p]
  • [p]Interact with the Orb to earn Insight and continue advancing your tech tree progression[/p]

[h3]
Combat & Corruption[/h3]

• [p]New resource: Corruption Anomalies (used for research)[/p]
• [p]New Sportox and Flogade corruption strains, nodes, environmental assets[/p]
• [p]New Sportox and Flogade enemy tiers (Guardians, Cowards, Shriekers)[/p]
  • [p]Sportox enemies special effect: Spore Clouds[/p]
    • [p]Any player caught within it suffers the Asphyxiated condition, taking steady damage as toxic spores choke the air around them.[/p]
  • [p]Flogade enemies special effect: Scorching Ground[/p]
    • [p]Players who step into it suffer the Scorched condition, taking an initial burst of damage followed by ongoing burn damage over time.[/p]
• [p]Reworked combat gameplay[/p]
  • [p]Nodes no longer attack players[/p]
  • [p]Weak points are no longer chained to the node, instead they are scattered around the island as corruption cores[/p]
  • [p]Players must explore the island to destroy all the cores before the node itself becomes vulnerable to attack[/p]

• [p]New crafting recipes[/p]
  • [p]Windstone tools: increased attack speed, deals more damage than their regular stone counterparts, and has a larger combo zone[/p]
  • [p]Serrated Bone tools: strongest of all the tool tiers, increased combo finale damage multiplier[/p]
    • [p]Made with a new rare resource: Serrated Bone[/p]
• [p]Balancing[/p]
  • [p]Increased player base health from 40 to 50[/p]
  • [p]Updated attack speed for all tool tiers[/p]
  • [p]Updated damage for all tool tiers[/p]
  • [p]Updated combo length for all tool tiers[/p]
  • [p]Updated damage multipliers:[/p]
    • [p]Sharpen effect[/p]
    • [p]Mykter fungicide & cure coatings[/p]
    • [p]Sportox fungicide & cure coatings[/p]
    • [p]Flogade fungicide & cure coatings[/p]
  • [p]Updated damage for arrows of all tiers[/p]
  • [p]Updated damage and HP for enemies of all tiers[/p]
  • [p]Updated HP for nodes and weakpoints of all tiers[/p]
  • [p]Reduced the number of nodes destroyed required to unlock a new combat ability[/p]

[h3]
Research[/h3]

• [p]New Research Tech Tree [/p]
  • [p]Earn Breakthroughs at the Research Lab to unlock cure-related technologies on the Research Tech Tree[/p]

• [p]New biome & strain-specific Brewing Labs[/p]
  • [p]Learn Brewing Labs and upgrades for each strain from the Research Tech Tree to craft fungicides and cures[/p]
• [p]New biome & strain specific Mycosis Terrariums[/p]
  • [p]Farm strain-specific samples[/p]

[h3]
LEVEL DESIGN & WORLD ART[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Many reworks of existing islands, puzzles, points of interest, and the leviathan[/p]
• [p]34 Life Sapling Wastelands[/p]
  • [p]10 in Emerald Isles[/p]
  • [p]12 in Fallen Heights[/p]
  • [p]12 in Red Cliffs[/p]
• [p]12 Life Tree islands[/p]
  • [p]4 per biome[/p]
• [p]17 new regular islands[/p]
• [p]36 new Point of Interest platforms[/p]
• [p]12 Lost Shipwrecks[/p]
  • [p]4 per biome[/p]
• [p]New broken resonator frescoes on puzzle Wonder Islands[/p]
• [p]New flora in Fallen Heights[/p]
• [p]New 3D models + updated textures for many assets in the Island Creator & world
  [/p]

[h3]VISUAL EFFECTS[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]New[/p]
  • [p]Wind Lanes[/p]
  • [p]Seed mounds[/p]
  • [p]Life Sapling + Life Trees[/p]
  • [p]Life Winds[/p]
  • [p]Life Tree Insight Basin, pond water, water curtains, orb[/p]
  • [p]Life Fruit[/p]
  • [p]Sportox + Flogade enemy death[/p]
  • [p]Sportox Spore Cloud + Flogade Scorching Ground[/p]
  • [p]Corruption Core fumes[/p]
  • [p]Corruption Anomaly[/p]
  • [p]Stone debris, corruption waste, inflammable web, sick trees, leecher[/p]
• [p]Removed blue water ripple when in caves[/p]
• [p]Simplified the Corruption-post processing[/p]
  • [p]Removed the hue change[/p]
  • [p]Removed the lens distortion[/p]
• [p]Updated and polished various existing VFX
  [/p]

[h3]USER INTERFACE[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]New text animation for Knowledge Stone lore[/p]
• [p]New Tech Trees (Knowledge, Sailing, Research)[/p]
• [p]New 2D art in inventory and crafting menus[/p]
• [p]New farming menu[/p]
• [p]New icons for wild seeds & tree seeds[/p]
• [p]Updated the quick time event bar[/p]
• [p]Modified the gliding control icons[/p]
  • [p]Added instructions collapser widget[/p]
• [p]Modified the Research Lab menu & animations[/p]
• [p]Modified the Upgrade Station menu & animations[/p]
• [p]Modified the Table-Map[/p]
  • [p]Added filters options[/p]
  • [p]Added filters tooltips[/p]
  • [p]Added island stats descriptions[/p]
  • [p]Life Trees show the required Life Saplings[/p]
  • [p]Wind Lanes appear on the Table-Map[/p]
  • [p]The icon for the main player has changed[/p]
  • [p]Players can now zoom in more[/p]
• [p]Modified the Field Guide[/p]
  • [p]The layout of the Field Guide is updated to match the new restoration system[/p]
  • [p]A new template is visible when the player is standing on a Life Sapling Wasteland
    [/p]

[h3]ANIMATIONS[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Player meditation circle [/p]
• [p]Life Tree root [/p]
• [p]Leecher[/p]

[h3]
AUDIO[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Seed mound SFX [/p]
• [p]Hindrances SFX [/p]
• [p]Leecher SFX[/p]
• [p]Life Wind mini-game music + SFX for all biomes[/p]
• [p]Life Sapling cutscene music[/p]
• [p]Life Tree island music unhealthy vs healthy[/p]
• [p]Life Tree, Insight basin, Orb ambient music + SFX[/p]
• [p]Life Tree cutscene music[/p]
• [p]Resonator fresco cutscenes music[/p]
• [p]Anomaly ambience + SFX[/p]
• [p]Danger music ambience for all 3 corruption strains[/p]
• [p]New Mykter + Sportox Guardian VOX
  [/p]

[h3]MISC. CHANGES[/h3][hr][/hr]

• [p]Changed Unity versions to fix the vulnerability warning issued by Unity (now on 2021.3.45f2)[/p]
• [p]Added the island names/POI names to Player Reports[/p]
• [p]Added a light source on undiscovered frescoes[/p]
• [p]Added a toggle in the controls menu to turn on/off Camera Re-centering (while gliding)[/p]
  • [p]Removed the cheat that served the same purpose[/p]
• [p]Added compression to reduce save file size[/p]
• [p]Added a critter category in the player inventory[/p]
• [p]Added Wisteria Tea as a cooking option[/p]
• [p]Added Camera Shake profiles[/p]
  • [p]When destroying a beam[/p]
  • [p]When near an exploding mushroom[/p]
• [p]Removed shadows casted by the hurricane[/p]
• [p]Replaced the ‘very low’ with ‘off’ for anti-aliasing setting in the Options menu[/p]
• [p]Optimised the cloud settings[/p]
• [p]Updated some Island Creator icons[/p]
• [p]Reduced the amount of asteroids in the Jetstream[/p]
• [p]Added 4 types of Fallen Heights plants in the farming menu[/p]
• [p]Blur pass on volumetric fog to reduce dithering[/p]
• [p]Players now lose positive effects (aka food, water) when respawning[/p]
• [p]Physics settings have been changed to be less performance intensive[/p]
  • [p]This shouldn’t have any impact on the game feel and just lead to more performance while sailing[/p]
• [p]Critter Habitats now behave like Vivariums[/p]
• [p]Insects can now spawn at the base of trees[/p]
• [p]Storm cool-down rate has been increased[/p]
• [p]Crops that used to only spawn on unhealthy island now spawn on corrupted island[/p]
• [p]Corrupted islands will now have better random rewards[/p]
• [p]Removed unhealthy and fresco island tracking from the Stormchaser[/p]
• [p]Reishi mushroom now takes 10 minutes to grow[/p]
• [p]Modified the chest loot tables [/p]
• [p]Modified the construction cost of Wax Hexes decorations
  [/p]

[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3][hr][/hr][h3]General[/h3]

• [p]Fixed several issues where some objects disappear forever when players move too far away from them [/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where objects are no longer present if on a home island that is spawned on another world[/p]
• [p]Fixed several broken puzzles that could not be completed [/p]
• [p]Fixed collision issues for several objects [/p]
• [p]Fixed several art assets that had missing or incorrect textures [/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where some UI assets and icons would appear blurry[/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where players could not pick up and/or reach important resources/items required to solve puzzles [/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where players could walk through solid walls or become stuck between objects [/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where teleporting to an island would place the player inside its terrain [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where Creative Mode would reset the Knowledge Stone data[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that allowed the player to ‘fuel the fire’ infinitely[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that caused a soft-lock when changing Inventory keybind to Menu button on controller[/p]
• [p]There is now a smoother transition between 1st and 3rd person views[/p]
• [p]Removed all leftover garlic icons from menus [/p]

[h3]Building[/h3]

• [p]Many building objects no longer clip through the floor when placed on terrain [/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where some building parts would always appear misaligned when placed with snap mode [/p]
• [p]Pyrologic connections built in single player should remain connected if the island where they are located is spawned in a multiplayer world [/p]

[h3]Combat[/h3]

• [p]Fixed several issues that made Blocking ineffective [/p]

[h3]Graphics / UI[/h3]

• [p]Removed several placeholder art assets[/p]
• [p]UI notifications overlap less often when triggered [/p]
• [p]Fixed several quest-related issues[/p]
• [p]Fixed several localisation issues and missing strings[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues where bats would not appear correctly in their habitats [/p]
• [p]Fixed several controller-related menu display and navigation issues[/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues where some menus would show incorrect or misleading information [/p]
• [p]Fixed issues with Z-fighting on several assets and islands [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the corruption nodes would visually disappear at certain angles[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where two hair colour icons were incorrectly swapped in the character creator[/p]
• [p]Fixed a collision issue that caused the camera to clip through frescoes[/p]
• [p]Fixed a visual bug with shadows caused by the change in Unity versions[/p]
  • [p]Major shaders have been recompiled but some assets might still cause artifacting[/p]

[h3]Stability[/h3]

• [p]Fixed several issues where players could crash in single player and multiplayer when letting the game idle for long periods of time [/p]
• [p]Fixed several specific scenarios that could lead to a crash[/p]
• [p]Fixed a rare circumstance where a save could fail and bring the user back to the main menu[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue that caused servers to rewrite the log in duplicate[/p]

[h3]Resources[/h3]

• [p]Fixed issue where sometimes beehives would not produce honey [/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where several critters and animals did not spawn as intended [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where cutting down the Orange Twined Oak tree did not drop the correct seed[/p]