Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure News

Friends and Soon-to-be Friends,

We’re back from our winter holidays!
We know what you’re here for, so let’s talk about the important stuff.

[h2]Demo Date[/h2]

We mentioned in our last devlog that we working on a demo, and maybe a few of you have realized with the timing that it could be for the upcoming Steam Next Fest on February '24.

Well, those people are wrong, but only because we’re releasing the Demo earlier!

Our demo is going to be released on Tuesday, January 16th 2024! Next week!

Look, a main menu screen!

We’re excited and a little nervous to see this game that we started prototyping three years ago finally be given to the public, even if it’s just in the form of the demo. We’re very proud of what we’ve made. We hope you’ll enjoy playing it as much as we have making it.

[h2]Holiday Promos[/h2]

To round off this little announcement, we wanted to show off the lovely winter holiday and new year promotional images that we’ve shared on social media!

We have this wonderful tree decorating scene by our Animator, Tori, and Lead Artist, Christiane.


We also have a version that you can easily use as a phone background!


And we also have a cute new year’s comic!
This one was done by our Animator, Tori, and our Concept Artist, Trix.


We hope you share our excitement about the demo, and share the news with your friends. You can also share your excitement with us at our Discord!

We’ll see you next week,
Your Massive Miniteam.

Automators, Adventurers and Spark-Decorators,

It's the holiday season! Most of the office has already started taking their winter break, resting after wrapping up some work on something special...

[h2]Oddsparks Demo![/h2]

That’s right, you’ll be able to try out Oddsparks before we go into Early Access!


Unfortunately, we can’t mention anything more specific in public. Rest assured that we’re working (and resting) hard to get something in your hands very soon!

We also updated our Steam page with a new Gameplay Teaser. We wanted to really focus on showing that yes, this an automation game and you get to build expansive and cool bases, and give you an even bigger glimpse on our second biome. This game isn't just set in the Woodlands, you know!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
As usual, we asked what you wanted us to talk about and the poll in our Discord showed that you wanted to hear about our recent Recipes Rebalancing and now have our Creative Director, Michael to quickly talk about it.

[h2]Spark Recipes Rebalancing[/h2]

Recently we have been making big changes on Spark recipes.

[h3]Here is why:[/h3]

For a long time we have been designing the Sparks based on their functionality in gameplay only. When we needed a Spark to carry items for instance, we made a Carry Spark. How a Spark looked and what it was made of was determined by its specific needs. That means we had Sparks that were made from multiple items, some were made from other Sparks and items. Sometimes the item informed the ability of the Spark, sometimes it didn’t.



This led to a roster of Sparks that were mostly disconnected. They were missing a logical and visible inheritance.

[h3]But why is that bad?[/h3]

• If new Sparks are always a surprise it is difficult to anticipate what future Sparks might be like
  
• It is hard to remember Spark recipes if there is no logic and inheritance
  
• You build a lot of smaller disconnected factories every time you produce new Sparks
  

[h3]So what did we change?[/h3]

• Spark recipes now always contain a former Spark (or a live giving magical element in the case of the very first one and some exceptions)
  
• The other part of the recipe is an item that informs the ability of the new Spark (e.g. Wooden Blade for Choppy Spark)
  
• We changed some of the Spark designs to reflect their relationship to Sparks they inherit from
  

There are some fun exceptions where we combine multiple Sparks to improve on existing abilities or add more parts to the recipe, but in general the formula is quite simple to understand. This means if you find or produce a new item you can imagine what kind of Spark you might make with it. In reverse you can remember recipes better, because you see it in the Spark itself. And because almost all Sparks are related, you build a sprawling and branching factory that always grows.

[h2]What's next?[/h2]
As we said up top, we've been super busy taking care of the demo and that mostly means a lot of little polish that isn't super interesting to talk about. But we do have lots of stuff we'd love to talk about and give you the chance to get to know us and how we make games.

To that end, here's some topics for the next Dev Log! If the one you're interested in isn't picked for the next dev log, it'll stay on the list and you can vote again for it next time.
So, what would you like to know about?

• Handling Display Settings by Layal, Software Engineer
  
• Making a Workstation by Anastasia, 3D Artist
  
• Spark Animations by Tori, Animator
  

Before we say goodbye, we also sometimes talk about dev stuff in our social media. Our Audio Designer, Olivier, made a series of posts about his favourite sounds in the game! Here’s part one and part two.

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is work-in-progress, and of course, not everything we show might make it into the game. There’s always a lot happening behind the scenes, feel free to come hang out with us at our Discord and make sure to wishlist and share us with your friends!

Optimisers, Wanderers and Spark-callers,

It's November and it's getting dark, but we have our little pumpkin lights still on! At the end of each month, we set aside a day for everyone to work on their pet projects, learn new things, and try something out. For October, our 3d Artist, Anastasia, whipped up a spooky scene with our art assets for social media. Please enjoy!



Let's talk more about the project and show you something we've been working on. We asked you what you wanted to see and the poll in our Discord showed the next devlog should be about Throwing Sparks at Workstations!

So today, we have one of our programmers, Lukas, to get technical about the feature!

[h3]Throwing Sparks![/h3]
The concept of throwing Sparks has been around since the earliest stages of Oddsparks’ development. From the very beginning our Creative Director, Michael, wanted to create a game with a throwing mechanic. Now it’s a core feature of what ended up as Oddsparks, adding an exciting dynamic to gameplay.

[h3]What can you throw around? [/h3]
As we were exploring different game concepts, we discussed the potential of throwing Sparks and how it could be integrated into various tasks such as harvesting, fighting, collecting resources and assigning Sparks to paths. It only made sense to extend this throwing mechanic to workstations as well: simply throw a Spark onto a workstation to assign it. Similarly, you can call the Spark back from the workstation, just as you would from a path or any other task. However, it's important to note that this wasn't always the case.

[h3]How it used to be[/h3]
Looking back, it's fascinating to see how our ideas evolved over time. Initially, we had separate interaction systems for different tasks. Minions (the placeholder name we used for Sparks) couldn't be thrown onto paths; they had to be assigned through a user interface.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Similarly, Sparks couldn't be thrown directly at workstations; they required assignment through a UI as well. The only tasks that initially supported throwing were harvesting and fighting. Through numerous iterations and playtesting, we were able to streamline the Spark interaction system to its current state, where throwing and recalling them is possible in almost any context.

We wanted players to have visibility into workstations, allowing them to see how many slots are still available and which slots are occupied.

[h3]The secret life of a working Spark [/h3]
From a technical standpoint, throwing the creatures to workstations was a unique challenge. The Sparks placed in workstations are no longer considered active Sparks. Normally, they follow the player character and perform various tasks based on their AI state—fighting, harvesting, following, and so on. However, when a Spark is thrown onto a workstation, it is removed from the game and added to the workstation's Spark inventory, effectively becoming an item.



Each workstation has its own inventory, responsible for calculating the production speed of the machine. The Sparks you see working at workstations are visual representations of this inventory and do not possess any AI behavior or belong to any player.


Throwing sparks at a workstation triggers a satisfying wobble animation, while a failed attempt to add a Spark results in a subtle deny-shake animation. This is the exact moment when a Spark becomes an item and no longer belongs to you.

Calling back a Spark from a workstation differs from calling it back from a path or during a fight. In general gameplay, a Spark transitions from its current state to a follow state when called back—for example, from a fighting state to a follow state. Workstations operate differently. When a Spark is called back, we remove the item from the workstation and spawn a fresh Spark next to the workstation. This newly spawned Spark is then assigned to the player and set to the follow state.

[h3]Other features this month! [/h3]
We’ve also worked on a lot more things. Here’s a few topics that we’re thinking about for Devlog #3. Comment with what you’d like to know more about!

1. Playing together is great! But what if you don’t want to play with a certain friend for now? We’re making a feature to prevent a friend from joining your game!
   
   
2. We did a big Recipes Rebalancing! We can talk a bit about what we want from our recipes and why we did it.
   
   
3. We've crammed lots of information in the game into one convenient Glossary!
   
   
4. We’ve had them for a while, but we can also talk about our Spark Sounds and how we make them.
   
   
5. And we’d also love to talk about Enemy Animations, we’ll give you a peek behind the curtain to see how the Beelephant moves!

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is of course, still being made, and some of these features might not make it into the game. If you’d like to know some more behind the scenes, hang out with us on Discord, and make sure to wishlist and share us with your friends!

Hello Friends and Soon-to-be-Friends,

No need to beat around the bush. We have a release year now! 🎉 If anyone was worried they'll have to wait too long to get their hands on Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure, well, here's our promise.
We'll release in Early Access some time in 2024!



We can't tell you more yet since the specifics are still in flux. We want to make sure that we give you the best version we can and we'd rather give you the date once, instead of promising too early and then needing to delay it. So for now, rest assured that we'll enter Early Access 2024, and we're working hard to get it in your hands as soon as we can!

To celebrate, we made a short video that we shared in our Twitter/X and Instagram!
Here's a nice little spin view to show off the workshop we made for it.



We're looking forward to getting more Oddsparks into your hands very soon! If you want more behind the scenes info and get our news hot off the presses, you can come and hang with us over at Discord!

Wishlist us and get your friends to wishlist us!
Your Massive Miniteam

Explorers, Builders and Spark-petters,

We're working hard like the Sparks in your future workshops to get Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure in your hands as soon as we can. While everything is very work in progress, we already want to show you a few cool things about our game that we think are interesting.

Today, we have the Lead Game Designer, Brenden, and he’s going to talk to you about... Ziplines! Ziplines is a new logistics building that can carry an item from a higher position to a lower position, made to help you create production lines in mountainous areas. Let’s take a quick dive into the feature!

[h3]Ziplines[/h3]
Wandering around an early mountain prototype with the very early ziplines!

So, when we started making the game, we knew that we wanted to add verticality into the gameplay. In our first biome, which we refer internally as the woodlands, we knew that verticality would be a small-scale problem for the player and then we would ramp it up in our second biome, the mountains, and really force the player to solve vertical logistic challenges. It was natural that a zipline came to mind in the early ideation sessions.


Our first Zipline blockout! We reused a lot of parts of other buildings to put it together.

We’ve been pretty sure we wanted ziplines in our games for the past year, and finally it was time to work on them properly. We’re currently still fiddling with the UX and how we restrict their use – we're always really wary when we’re providing logistical tools that don’t involve Sparks and just carry items, but they’re in and we absolutely love them.

Figuring out the perfect restriction is always difficult. We want to carve out a specific niche for every logistic tool and ensure the balance with every tool feels great! We want you to look through your Sparks and the build menu like it’s a box of chocolates. You’re spoiled for choice, but aha, here’s the perfect thing you were looking for. Hopefully we can hit that feeling just right.

Zipping down our current zipline. Note that we’ve changed the model to clearly show that you have to build it on the cliffs.

What also helps us get it right is that with every logistics tool, there’s both a use for the Sparks and for the player! You can go close, interact and slide down the zipline. It’s a great tool for both carrying items and navigating the world and makes it really fun to explore your workshop!

It’ll take a bit of time to unlock them since they’re for the second biome, but we hope you’ll love them and zipline around just as much as we do.

[h3]Other features this month! [/h3]
We’ve also worked on a lot more things. Here’s a quick list of five more features we’ve recently added. Comment with what you’d like to know more about!

1. A Spark Pen was invented to keep your non-working Sparks out of the way, but ready to be called anytime. You won’t need to fiddle with equipping Sparks if you quickly need a new set.
   
2. Speed Booster Path Addons to get your Sparks to reach places even quicker! Be careful, they go a bit too fast even for them and won't be able to do things like pick up and drop off items when they’re boosted.
   
3. You can now throw Sparks at a workstation to assign them to produce stuff there. We’re working on calling them back from workshops, in case you need them for other tasks.
   
4. A Scouting Spark (names not final!) is now made for locating and knowing what's around you. If you need to know which way to find something, this Spark is for you!
   
5. Wooden and Magical items are being renamed and given a new look. We want to make sure you won’t mix things up!
   

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is still a work-in-progress, and some of these features might not make it into the game. There’s so much more happening behind the scenes as we’re working on the game... come hang out with us at our Discord and make sure to wishlist and share us with your friends!