Exogate Initiative News

Greetings Gaters!

Just a quick message to let you know that patch 0.8.5, also known as the Alien Gaters Update, is launching on Monday 20 November, some time in the morning (French time).


You can read more about what else is coming in the update in our patch preview (returning to visited planets!), but we’ll also be doing a launch post on the day to give you the full lowdown, so please look out for that.

Until then...

Safe travels,
Maxime MILLET
Creative Director, Xeno Bits

Greetings Gaters!

As we mentioned in our last patch preview about alien gaters (which you can read here if you missed it), we wanted to update you on the progress of Early Access so far, and be more specific about what new features you can expect and when.

Here is the latest look at the roadmap:



We're immensely grateful for your support, having just passed the six-month milestone since our Early Access launch.

[h2]The Story So Far[/h2]
We focused the first updates after the Early Access launch on improving the game’s stability, performance and balancing, so thank you to everyone that has reported bugs and other issues. Remember, there’s the in-game feedback tool in the pause menu if you spot a bug, or just want to let us know your thoughts.

The first major content update was patch 0.8.4, which added the Event Editor and Steam Workshop integration, allowing you to create and share story events using the same tools as the dev team - including the new ability to link events together into overarching storylines. This came with a bunch of new events and storylines added to the game, along with more bug fixes, polish, and buildable objects.

[h2]Next Steps[/h2]
The Alien Gaters update is progressing well towards a November release. We can’t wait to get this new content into your hands, so you can recruit alien gaters into your base - along with the ability to revisit planets via the new Operations room!

After that we’ll be working hard to add more content to the game, so that exploring the universe is even more rewarding and fulfilling.

Thanks to our early adopters our funding is secure, and our vision is becoming a reality. With this strong foundation, we're excited to confirm that Version 1.0 is still on track for a spring 2024 release!

Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you’re as excited as we are about what’s coming next through the Exogate!

Safe travels,
Maxime MILLET
Creative Director, Xeno Bits

Greetings Gaters!

First, we are so grateful for your support and feedback, which are precious for our indie team. Thanks to our early adopters, our funding is secure, and our vision for Exogate Initiative is becoming a reality. Things are moving along smoothly so far and the next update is still planned for November – and we think you’ll be pretty excited about what's in store!

Alien Gaters

The next patch will introduce new intelligent beings to the game, who may be eager to join the Initiative - once you’ve made progress learning more about them. Each one will feature not only a new appearance, but also unique traits and abilities!

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the 3 alien races you may soon find within your ranks: We are glad to introducing the Nuclid, energy-based life forms living inside a bipedal exoskeleton!
Brings new meaning to having a meltdown

New Room: Operations

Welcome to the new Operations room, ready to be installed in your base! Among other fixtures and fittings, here you’ll find the Expedition Mapper, which enables a scientific team to return to any exoplanet already visited; they may bring back bio samples, specimens, and any other items of interest! We know this is a much-requested feature, and we look forward to getting it into your build menu, XO!

Science teams can finally return to previously-explored worlds, to unlock their full potential

We will soon get back to you with more info regarding our roadmap (we are on track 🚀).

Your continued enthusiasm and feedback drive us forward. Here's to more discoveries and adventures beyond the Exogate!

Safe travels,
Maxime MILLET
Creative Director, Xeno Bits

Hello Gaters!

Thank you so much for your patience the last couple of weeks as we readied our latest patch. The team is now back in full force and we're coming to you today with a brand new, fairly major update to Exogate Initiative. Thank you to those of you who provided feedback on our beta test opt-in, as it helped refine a few bits a pieces. For those of you who took part in the beta branch, we're recommending you switch back to the release version with this patch. We plan to keep the beta branch on par with release, but we feel it's safer for your saved games to opt back into the beta if/when we drop another beta test.

This patch brings forward a long-teased addition to the game, plus a bunch of fixes and new bits and pieces. There's also a bit of news for you as well, so let's dive in:

First off, we brought on a new developer to help build and improve on Exogate Initiative. Their past experience includes work on Dune Spice Wars and Northgard and we're very happy to welcome them.

Secondly, we realize that we originally announced this patch for "by the end of July," and then there was another delay in August, so unfortunately it took a lot more time to put together than we expected. We're going to work to be more open and communicate changes like this better with the community in the future.

As for the patch itself, we've made some big optimization changes, which in turn changed a bunch of things. You'll experience a LOT of improvements throughout the game experience, but there's always the possibility that we missed some new issues. Should you come across anything, please report them through the in-game tool.

We'll continue working on improvements to the UX, Gaters, and team & equipment management. We also thank each and every one of you for providing feedback and ask that you continue to do so on all platforms. Your feedback will continue to help guide us, showing us where the community is most focused.

As for the next major patch, we're aiming for early November, though there will likely be smaller updates/hotfixes along the way. For this next major patch we're looking to add the following:

• Alien Gaters - Yep! You'll finally be able to recruit aliens to your squads.
  
• Revisiting Planets - We're working on a new room that will handle what is without a doubt the most requested feature, returning to previously visited planets.
  
• And of course continued balancing and UX improvements.
  

From all of us, thank you,

The Xeno Bits team




[h3]New[/h3]

• Mission event editor that allows you to create new events, storylines and aliens
  
• Mission event simulator to test your creations
  
• Steam Workshop integration to share your creations and/or download those created by the community
  
• You can find a guide to the Mission Editor here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3013337316
• 37 new narrated events, including 24 for a new event type related to environmental hazards
  
• Storylines support - mission events connected together that span across multiple destinations
  
• A new warning will be displayed on the game HUD when an invasion is about to happen
  
• New unlockable builders tech to dig the bedrock
  
• New barrack room object: Canopy bed, a deluxe bed with a locker included
  
• New barrack room object: Nap pod, aunit that provides fast sleep but with a mental health cost
  
• 5 new male-presenting gater facial hairs
  
• 6 new female-presenting gater hairstyles
  
• New visual effect when Sqarbs body dissapear
  
  

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• Massive performance improvements related to AI and pathfinding
  
• Team management improvements: it is now possible to manage teams directly from the star map.
• More details are also displayed like the status of each gater
  
• Equipment management improvements: exosuits are now assigned to gaters for a specific destination only when setting up the mission
  
• Big improvements on Sqarbs AI
  
• Not all Sqarb invader bodies will drop bio samples anymore
  
• Made first contact objective retroactive
  
• It’s now possible to skip mission reports from mining teams
  
• Mission events will be interrupted if a team member falls unconscious
  
• Medics will now heal other medics as priority
  
• Medics will now heal the most critically-injured gaters as priority
  
• Improved widescreen cursor management
  
• Escape key can now cancel current object placement
  
• Equipment requirement is now directly displayed on starmap
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Alien culture data pack could double in size with each save reload
  
• Medic injury severity reduction on missions was not always calculated properly
  
• Builders were sometimes not fixing equipment
  
• Gaters were sometimes not going on mission
  
• Issues with exosuits not loading properly
  
• Improved performance when doors are locked
  
• Fixed issues with sound and music that were stuttering after long playtimes
  
• Fixed issues where teams got stuck if a mission was started when an invasion was about to start
  
• Fixed issues with meal trays being left on tables