Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure News

Thanks to everyone helping us test these changes in the beta branch.
These changes are now live for everyone!

[h2]Changelog (Demo; v0.1.S15223)[/h2]
[h3]Important Changes:[/h3]

• Remappable Keybindings: Added rebindable movement and camera keys.
  We prioritised adding rebindable movement and camera keys into the feature. You can now rebind movement control from WASD and camera control from Arrow Keys. The feature is still in Beta and better keybinding UX will come later.
  
• Default KBM Controls: Moved Radial Menu off Shift key to Alt +.
  We didn't realise just how used everyone was to pressing Shift! Since accidentally opening the radial menu was a very destructive mistake to the moment to moment flow, we've moved it to Alt. However, we are keeping the rest of the default keybindings the way they are for now, until we get more feedback and data.
  Note: This has now been changed to + since Alt was also causing problems.
  
• Pinned Quest UI: Added "Return to Questgiver" reminder.
  We noticed players not realising that they were supposed to hand over quests, partially due to players being used to tutorial quests auto-completing. We have added a reminder that only appears when you have finished all the steps that you should return to the quest giver.
  
• Movement Speed: Minor bump to standard walk speed, no change to path running speed. This may cause some more pop-in of the environment, but unfortunately, that's the tradeoff. Hopefully it should make walking not feel punishing, while making it still feel rewarding to build paths for your own personal use.
  
• Online Multiplayer: Stability fixes for 3-4 players.
  Multiplayer sessions with 3-4 players should be a lot more stable than it was previously. We still have some issues, but playing with 3-4 players shouldn't be less stable than 2 players anymore.
  

[h3]Other Changes:[/h3]

• Fixed some client crashes.
  
• Fixed multiplayer saves suddenly having millions of play hours counted (for hosts).
  
• Removed traces of secret project name before Oddsparks was called Oddsparks.
  

[h3]Additional info:[/h3]

• if you changed your keybindings, double check them after the update
  

If you have any feedback, notice any bugs or had any crashes, you can let us know via the usual methods. Hit us up on our Discord. tell us on our Steam Discussions forum, or you can email us at [email protected].

Welcome to Oddsparks Patch Notes!
These patch notes are for a Beta branch of the game we're about to add to the demo.

That means that these changes will enter into a beta branch that you can access by:

1. Right clicking the demo in your Steam Library
   
2. Selecting "Properties"
   
3. Going to "Betas"
   
4. Opting in to the "Beta" branch in the drop-down.
   (You may need to update the game and restart Steam.)
   

When we're sure this version is stable, we'll distribute it in the Stable (the steam default) branch.

We'll do our best to ensure that your saves will continue to work, although this is just not always possible depending on the type of bugs and features we worked on.

For this specific set of changes: your saves should not be affected.

[h2]Changelog (Demo; BETA v0.1.S15183)[/h2]
[h3]Important Changes:[/h3]

• Remappable Keybindings: Added rebindable movement and camera keys.
  We prioritised adding rebindable movement and camera keys into the feature. You can now rebind movement control from WASD and camera control from Arrow Keys. The feature is still in Beta and better keybinding UX will come later.
  
• Default KBM Controls: Moved Radial Menu off Shift key to Alt.
  We didn't realise just how used everyone was to pressing Shift! Since accidentally opening the radial menu was a very destructive mistake to the moment to moment flow, we've moved it to Alt. However, we are keeping the rest of the default keybindings the way they are for now, until we get more feedback and data.
  
• Pinned Quest UI: Added "Return to Questgiver" reminder.
  We noticed players not realising that they were supposed to hand over quests, partially due to players being used to tutorial quests auto-completing. We have added a reminder that only appears when you have finished all the steps that you should return to the quest giver.
  
• Movement Speed: Minor bump to standard walk speed, no change to path running speed. This may cause some more pop-in of the environment, but unfortunately, that's the tradeoff. Hopefully it should make walking not feel punishing, while making it still feel rewarding to build paths for your own personal use.
  
• Online Multiplayer: Stability fixes for 3-4 players.
  Multiplayer sessions with 3-4 players should be a lot more stable than it was previously. We still have some issues, but playing with 3-4 players shouldn't be less stable than 2 players anymore.
  

[h3]Other Changes:[/h3]

• Fixed some client crashes.
  
• Fixed multiplayer saves suddenly having millions of play hours counted.
  
• Removed traces of secret project name before Oddsparks was called Oddsparks.
  
• Fixed movement input getting stuck when button was released during a loading screen.
  

If you have any feedback, notice any bugs or had any crashes, you can let us know via the usual methods. Hit us up on our Discord. tell us on our Steam Discussions forum, or you can email us at [email protected].

Architects, Pathfinders and Spark-throwers,

We mentioned in our last devlogs that we are working on a demo, and it's out! Now!
Download it while you read, so you can play right after!

Very important, if you find a bug or have some feedback, you can tell us via Discord or via the Steam Discussions forum. If you’d rather something a bit more one to one, you can also directly email us, at [email protected].

We'd especially like any feedback regarding accessibility! We've tried to keep both approachability and accessibility in mind (both in the core design, and in accessibility features), so that as many people as possible can try out the fun joys of automation puzzles. So if there's something that you feel like is preventing you from playing the game properly, please reach out. We'd love to get it ironed out during, or even before, we enter Early Access.

[h2]What’s in the demo?[/h2]

So, the demo contains about half of our first biome, the Woodlands. You can already play with your choice of Mouse & Keyboard or Gamepad, customize your character, enjoy the core loop and the beginning of our story! We’ve included two Beta features in the demo: the button remapping and multiplayer. They might be a bit limited, but they should be functional.

In total, the demo has 38 out of 61 Woodland quests, which means you'll be able to unlock 3 out of the 5 Woodland Sparks, build 9 out of 18 Woodland workstations and logistics buildings, and manage 10 out of 21 Woodland recipes.



We expect a player to finish the demo in about three hours? But the demo is only gated by content. You can play for as long as you want and optimize your base as much as you want, you just can't unlock everything we have.

Also, you can already take a look at what we're planning for by going to the Quest Overview and pressing the Show Full Overview button! You can even see what will be unlocked in the Mountains, although obviously, everything's very work in progress and all of these things might, and probably will, change in some way.

[h2]The Mountains?[/h2]

Yeah, you can already take a glimpse of our second biome, the Mountains, in the Demo!
But ah, not for very long.



We’ve only showed the Woodlands so far (although not all of it, there’s still a surprise or two in the demo for you!) but now that the demo is out, we’re going to talk a lot more about the Mountains. We’re planning to enter Early Access with both the Mountains and the Woodlands (and to add more during Early Access), and it’s where we start letting off the training wheels and giving you more interesting challenges.

You’ll need to deal with weirder and more aggressive enemies, manage vertical logistics with ziplines and elevators, and take care of a whole new element that we’re still working on. However, with tougher challenges comes better tools! You’ll get even odder Sparks that can explode, help you scout, and more!

Alright, that’s enough, it’s time for you to try out the demo. Don’t forget that you can send us bugs and feedback via our Discord, our Steam Discussions threads, or via email at [email protected].

We hope you have as much fun playing it as we do and we’ll see you at the next devlog.
We’re planning to talk about the game in general for a little bit, what our intentions are for Early Access, and how we want to do things.

Your Massive Miniteam

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!