Aground Zero News

It took longer than I hoped, partly due to real life events, but the multiplayer beta is now feature complete! That means you can complete all the current single player quests with friends, build and ride vehicles, and test out all the features.

If you haven't heard about the multiplayer beta, or want to know how to access it, check out this news post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1795570/view/4174354971165516277

There are currently no known bugs or issues with the multiplayer beta, although I've only tested it two player with a fellow dev. If you find any bugs, definitely report it! Assuming there are no major bugs, I plan to push this build to the default branch in about a week, so everyone can try it out. I'll keep the beta branch available so you can access your beta saves (as the beta has a different saves list than default), but once multiplayer goes live, the beta branch will not be kept up to date.

As for what's next, I have a growing list of minor improvements and quality of life changes that I've been putting off while I finished multiplayer, so the next update will probably be a quality of life one. But after that, I think I'm going to start the magic path! I've already gotten a lot of models done for it, like the baby dragon below:



I hope you enjoy multiplayer, and are looking forward to the next updates!

As you might have seen from our previous two dev streams, we've been making good progress on online multiplayer, and decided to make an open beta for those who want to try it out. Before you jump right in, there are a few things you should know:

1. The beta only includes demo content as we're still working on vehicles and the later-game stuff.
   
2. Because it can't load full saves, only demo saves, the beta has a separate saves list. If you join the beta, it will appear your saves are all gone - but don't worry, if you switch back to the default branch, you'll find your saves there. Saves can be transferred between the beta and non-beta, but because the beta considers full saves corrupt and it's possible beta saves will break due to bugs, I'd consider any saves you make in the beta throwaway saves.
   
3. The beta is currently windows only (but can run on linux via proton).
   

With that out of the way, if you want to give the beta a try, you can opt-in to it by right clicking Aground Zero in your Steam library and click properties. Then go to the Betas tab and select beta in the drop down (no beta access code is necessary - leave it blank). Once done, Steam will download the beta version and it should say Aground Zero [beta] in your library. You can use this drop-down to return to the stable version at any time.

We'll also be hosting another dev stream Tuesday June 25th at 11am ET, and we'll be letting up to 2 additional players who have opted in to the beta to join during the stream (first come first served)!
The stream has concluded, you can watch a recording below:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

To host a multiplayer game, select multiplayer, then host save. The name as you will appear on the saves list is at the bottom of that menu - it defaults to your steam username. Then, select a slot to host - and you can uncheck add to joinable games list if you want only friends to see you in the games list. To join a game, hit join game to see a list of all currently hosted saves (if any - it won't be common during the beta unless you set it up with a friend). You can also invite friends and join games using steam's normal multiplayer options.

Those of you who want to try it out, I hope you enjoy, and definitely send me any feedback or bugs you find! For everyone else, we'll probably have the full version beta available in a week or so, and release it live to everyone another week after that depending on bugs.

We'll be hosting another multiplayer test stream on our normal update day, Tuesday. This stream will mostly be checking that all the bugs from the previous stream are fixed. If you missed the previous stream, you can see it here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1795570/announcements/detail/4170975369408068892?snr=2___

The recording of the stream is now available here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I haven't posted an update in a while, but that's because I've been hard at work adding online multiplayer to Aground Zero. Multiplayer is always a large amount of work, and there's not much to share during it's development, but it's halfway complete and I hope to release online multiplayer by the end of June (with a beta available before that). Earlier today, I streamed the first test of online multiplayer, with a fellow developer, which you can watch below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I hope you're looking forward to online multiplayer, and I'm starting to accumulate new 3D models for the next section of the game I will start on after it is complete. There probably won't be another update until the multiplayer beta test, but rest assured progress is being made!

This update adds some optimizations for large bases, mounts to the beetle explorer (although some cannot be unlocked yet), and fixes some bugs. It's a small update, but the mounts are fun to play with and the optimizations make a huge difference in some of the crazy saves I've been sent!

To add mounts to the beetle explorer, select the mounting wall and it'll show all mount blueprints you know. For mounts that don't take up the full height, select the wall above the mount, and you can often squeeze in a storage mount above it.

Changelog:

• Optimized performance for large bases
  
• Added mounts to beetle explorer
  
• Fixed lighting on moon
  
• Fixed memory leak
  

I've started work on Online Multiplayer support - which will take a while, so there will only be small updates like this until it's done. I know a lot of you are looking forward to online multiplayer, and I'm excited to add it!