Aground Zero News

While waiting for the Beetle Explorer to be modeled (it could take some time for a ship that big), I decided to start working on Space - as what is a spaceship without Space?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I probably spent more time than I should have on rendering the Earth and atmosphere, but I think it came out really cool! Plus, I'll be able to reuse that on the Moon (although, the Earth will look smaller in the sky there).

You can move around in all 3 dimensions without any restrictions in space - but there's no oxygen, so until the Spaceship is done and I add oxygen generators you can place in space stations you build, it is pretty inhospitable. However, I'll include the orbit area in the next update for you to play around in (later this week, or next Tuesday at the latest), along with a bunch of other fixes!

In other news, I added trading cards to Aground Zero! All of the trading cards include original concept art for the game - so check your badge progress and click on the card to view the full concept art. You should've automatically received trading cards based on your playtime if you've already been playing the game.

While we have nothing in game to share this week, we've been hard at work adding the first spaceship to the game - and it is quite the big one! The Beetle Explorer has a control area with a view at the front, a single fixed laser cannon, and an interior with wall mount slots you can use to customize it as a small mobile base. Able to function in the air, space and underwater, it is quite a versatile vehicle!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Beetle Explorer will not be buildable in game until the next major update, but while you wait, you can check out the amazing concept art made by Jacob Carroll, and imagine how you'll customize it and where you will fly it once you can build it!

This update has a bunch of minor improvements and ways to decorate and improve your base, as well as dealing with water more effectively. You can see a video of some of the changes in the last video update:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1795570/announcements/detail/6664834251009519608?snr=2___

Changelog:

• Added doors (check the blueprint printer)
  
• Added forcefield and glass blocks, plus a sand item to craft glass
  
• Drains don't block water, and will continue to drain anything that enters while powered. Forcefields were added to old saves around drains so that water cannot enter the 3 blocks above like before.
  
• Added water vaporizer.
  
• Space is now ascend, Shift descend for the sub and anti-gravity pack. You will hover in place once flying until you hold shift to hit the ground.
  
• You now exit teleportals the same side you enter (can place the back of all of them against walls)
  
• Added ability to dismantle subways.
  
• Added surface props and paint blueprints to vending machine
  
• Click+drag added for bucket until full (can scoop up lots of thin water)
  
• Added checkbox to allow/disallow NPCs access to teleportal
  
• if NPCs have nothing to do, they now stay in their bed in the bunker.
  
• Fixed a bug where you would sometimes collect items on belts
  
• Added large text accessibility option
  
• Increased effectiveness of cooked foods
  
• Added power warning to generators if there's not enough power generation
  
• Increased bot limit to 20
  

While this doesn't add any content, it does give you a lot more options for base building. I also want to add more tasks you can assign to NPCs (like mining blocks or building blueprints), and the next major content update hopefully wont take too long (we're already working on the spaceship, which is quite exciting).

Stay tuned to future updates!

I'm starting up weekly Tuesday updates again! If there's not a game update, I'll post a video update like I did before, and since I haven't posted any update in a while, I decided to include all the cool new things I've been working on in this update:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The video includes Glass (made from Sand, it is like a Truss block but blocks water), Forcefields (blocks water, but allows objects to pass through), and Doors (they don't block water, but forcefields can be placed inside like in the video). Drains have been changed and are no longer block water (you need a force field to do that), but that means they can drain a lot more water. Thin water can remain where there are no drains, but the new Water Vaporizer can quickly remove that.

I have a few other changes I want to make for this update before uploading, and when that's done I should have everything I need to get started on the next content update, which will be pretty exciting!

This update has a lot of minor improvements and bugfixes.

Changelog:

• Added bgm for flooded city.
  
• Added log list to Pai's help
  
• Added crafting limits
  
• Added cancel button on assembler that gives raw materials back
  
• Laser drill can now kill bats instead of the fabricator (which was tougher/unintuitive)
  
• Splitters will now rotate to distribute evenly between structures with the same priority.
  
• Splitters will now prioritize generators and factories that have less of the required material (to try to keep them all balanced).
  
• Fixed Worker Bots
  
• NPCs can now take items from bunkers if needed at workplace
  
• Storehouse can manually request items from other storehouses.
  
• Added click and drag for belts, drains, cables, ladder, painter
  
• Fixed Friend Locator if you never get the Cryopod Locator quest.
  
• On death, if you hit reload, it will restore health and oxygen (to avoid endless death loops).
  
• Increased defense and damage of turrets (player built and enemy)
  
• Made it easier to shove NPCs around
  
• chests can have priority set like storehouse, but defaults to low
  
• Friend shows quest indicator and has increased health, making it less likely to kill it by accident
  
• Assembler on update stays on selected item
  
• Crafting structures now show the required item count below the item (so it doesn't overlap the inventory count).
  
• Added down arrow on buttons that change recipes/fuel
  
• survivors get +1 max on their starting skill, so they can reach level 5
  
• Structures now show how long things take to produce
  
• Changed deep cave generation - new games will start with more caverns, and bats cannot spawn near start.
  
• Shift+click for factories put extra resources into the empty slots.
  
• Enemy subs no longer start spawning until you reach the surface, and they cannot attack you out of water
  

None of these changes are major, but combined they add up to a decent sized update, and hopefully they make the game experience smoother and more polished.

Look forward to future updates!