Aground Zero News

The subways are mostly done now in the playtest, and I also did a lot of quality of life improvements so I decided to update the demo too! While I don't plan to add more content to the demo, I did add a river of water that will spawn in a new save (and shows off the new water mechanic).

Changelog that affects the Demo:

• Added water and an underground river
  
• Added buckets
  
• Added footstep sounds
  
• Added a clear option to the painter to remove paint
  
• You can now climb ladders from any direction (even if the ladder is behind you)
  
• Adjusted the shield so it no longer works with 0 power
  
• Other adjustments and minor improvements
  

It's been a while since our last public update on Aground Zero, so I figured it was time to update everyone!

Development progress is going smoothly, the next area (the subways) are mostly complete and I just recently added water (the last major feature of the game). However, when I went through the amount of models left to finish and the rate at which the modeler is making them, I realized we weren't going to be able to release this year. So, we've tentatively postponed the release date to "Early 2024," potentially with an early access release in late 2023.

While I am sure many of you are disappointed about this, here is something fun to lighten the blow:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Maybe worker bots are exactly what our dev team needs.

I finally finished the split screen co-op I was testing during the Steam Next Fest - you can now play with up to 4 players on the same computer (or remotely with Steam Remote Play)! You can watch the dev stream where I tested co-op for basically the first time here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This update also includes a lot of improvements and fixes based on feedback we received during the Next Fest! I hope you enjoy, and definitely let me know if you have more feedback!

Changelog:

• Added split screen co-op
  
• Splitters will now rotate to redirect items to factories directly from rigs/producers
  
• Assembler can now queue multiple of the same item
  
• Now shows how many remaining items needed for structure while building
  
• Added notifications and reminders if you cannot do something
  
• Now shows power cost and size (4x4x3 etc) in structure hover info
  
• Smoothed out jumps - they now increase height if you hold jump key longer
  
• Added invert y axis option
  
• Minor improvements and bugfixes
  
• I might have added a secret area to the game (new saves only)
  

I am still planning to add online multiplayer, but that probably wont be until release. For now, I'm moving on to the next area, the Subways!

There were a few bugs and issues in the demo, so I decided to post a small update before the Next Fest!

Changelog:

• Added locator for teleportals
  
• Added brightness slider
  
• Fixed falling through world bug
  
• Option to turn output arrow on structures (not just blueprints)
  
• Fixed linux controller bindings
  
• Fixed bugs with item dispatch
  
• Minor bugfixes and improvements
  

Enjoy!

Join the devs as we play through Aground Zero and talk about development!

This will be an hour long stream during the Steam Next Festival - follow along and try the demo yourself!