AutoForge News

Another quick update with the focus on general improvements and a few issues resolved. If you do run into any issues then please help us fix them by reporting issues either on the Steam Forums or on the AutoForge Discord. Thank you to those that have reported issues and to everyone for playing AutoForge!

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Improve Alt mode handling so that it is not triggered with alt+tab
  
• Fabricators will now only craft items when there is enough space in the output for all of the resulting items
  
• Porters and similar mechanics now get the last item in the group rather than the first
  
• Porters will now sort a container after emptying out an item stack which updates the item preview
  
• Items are now sorted by category
  
• Improved tutorial logic with dispensing into a transport tube
  
• Added illumination glow to Storage Tank
  
• Stone Deposit map color is now different from normal Stone
  
• Resolved issue with grabbed item glitching when obtaining a "Carry" upgrade
  
• Resolved issue with transport tube tiling being a little off at certain zoom levels
  
• Resolved issue with some stalactites being upside down on the ceiling
  
• Resolved an internal error when targeting a pump
  

Hello! I just wanted to do a quick little patch to improve the user experience for those launching AutoForge for the first time. The game will now use your Steam language setting rather than always defaulting to English. Additionally, we made some other small improvements you can read about below.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Default to Steam's current language on first time launch
  
• Add output section to Foldery UI
  
• Improved logic with moving unused bonders to output
  
• Resolved issue with newly placed Folderies not using the current technology's bonder
  
• Resolved UI issue with Foldery UI inputs not all fitting
  
• Improved graphics for several props found throughout the world
  

Greetings Golems!

We're excited to announce that AutoForge's latest update, The Stargazer, is now live! Thank you to all the Experimental and Beta players who gave us a lot of helpful feedback, especially in such a short period of time.



In case you missed the previous updates, The Stargazer brings life to the Sky Biomes with sky islands, new NPCs, new quests, and new points of interest and technology. There’s a lot of new content for you all to discover. Have we said the word “new” enough?

Before we get to the patch notes, there’s a few things we want to share. But first, a surprise!

[h2]New Languages![/h2]
Adding more languages has been something we’ve been working on for a while, and we’re excited to announce that AutoForge is now available in TWELVE new languages!

• Brazilian Portuguese
  
• Chinese (Simplified)
  
• Chinese (Traditional)
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Italian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Polish
  
• Russian
  
• Spanish
  
• Ukrainian
  

We've heard the concern many community members have expressed about the default pricing in certain regions. Our huge team of accountants have been tirelessly working to address this. I'm happy to say that we have decreased the price of AutoForge in several currencies associated with these new languages. Our goal is to make AutoForge more accessible to everyone, regardless of their location and language.



[h2]Sky Biomes and Points of Interest[/h2]
The Stargazer introduces a very large number of Points of Interest into the world generation, that are going to make exploring each area much more rewarding and exciting. Not least of all the previously empty Sky Biomes! Now, the world so abundant with magic has levitated full islands from the planet, filling the regions above; packed with resources, goodies, and perhaps a new friend or two...?

All of these new Points of Interest required a lot of time and talent to build and we were lucky enough to contract a pillar of the community Grizzle to design these with us, Thank you, Grizzle!



[h2]Bonding Agents[/h2]
Researching new technologies in AutoForge is receiving a new twist - bonding agents. Midgame and beyond technologies can require a bonding agent but which bonding agent changes from technology to technology. You'll need to be clever with this part of your factory!



[h2]Save Reset[/h2]
With the release of all the new content in 0.4, a save reset is required. As we mentioned before, we hope this will be one of the very few times this needs to be done in Early Access, and appreciate everyone’s understanding! For those who want to see through their existing save, a beta branch of 0.3 is accessible through Steam. Go to AutoForge Properties > Betas and select the "0.3.0 - Strange Encounters" branch from the dropdown menu.



[h2]Community Support[/h2]
With 0.4 being a very content-driven update with a lot of new additions and adjustments, things are going to feel a little different (and there might be some bugs hiding that we haven't caught yet). If you run in any issues or have thoughts on the latest content/changes, please let us know either in our Discord or through the Steam Discussion Forums. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on all the new content, characters, Points of Interest, and any general thoughts! With that in mind if you're enjoying AutoForge and our progress through Early Access please don't be shy about leaving us a review (it really helps)!

With all this out of the way; let’s go stargazing!



[h2]Patch Notes for 0.4 The Stargazer[/h2]
[h3]Major Changes:[/h3]

• AutoForge is now available to play in many new languages
  
• Introduced many new NPCs
  
• Expanded the technology tree with several new technologies
  
• Introduced Bonding Agents - a new addition to researching
  
• Introduced the new Sky biome
  
• Added hundreds of new Points of Interest of all sizes to add variety
  
• Added dozens of new tiles, doodads, and decoration items throughout the world
  

[h3]General Improvements[/h3]

• New plants: Cyclona, Echone, and Falstar
  
• New Monster: Quaridin
  
• Added Factory Lamp craftable light source
  
• Added Sturdy Crate and Storage Container items
  
• The Fiery biome surface terrain has been reworked
  
• More camera zoom levels added to both gameplay and map mode
  
• Map is now centered onto the player when switching to map mode
  
• UI Scaling can now go up to 400%
  
• Depleted resource nodes are no longer shown on the map
  
• Changed to new game fonts
  

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• Change Terraform upgrade to increase both harvest power and speed by 25%
  
• A few recipes are now now listed in learned recipes from technologies
  
• Harvest power is now consistent regardless of harvest area (below it would be lowered with a larger area)
  
• Reduced the fuel burn rate of the Forge by 20%
  
• Revised item stack sizes
  
• Cermet Lava recipe is now acquired through the Cermet Technology
  
• Slightly reduced maximum jump height
  
• A few learned recipes are not listed such as alternative recipes
  

[h3]Critical Issues[/h3]

• Resolved issue with Mana Conduit prime and infuse button were not always set correctly
  
• Resolved common crash while playing after having quit to menu
  
• Potentially resolved seemingly random crash when transitioning between biomes
  
• Resolved issue with map colors being wrong on some GPUs
  
• Resolved issue with map colors becoming off when new tiles are added
  
• Resolved issue with UI text scaling being smaller than it should at X50% UI scales
  

[h3]Minor Issues[/h3]

• Resolved issue with settings UI being scaled down more than it should
  
• Resolved issue with NPC dialogue sometimes not being positioned correctly
  
• Resolved issue with being able to clip through ceilings with double jump
  
• Resolved issue with clipping into the wall when roll jumping and then running back
  
• Resolved issue with player moving up when changing a nearby slope
  
• Resolved issue with scaffolding placed during world generation not working
  
• Resolved several minor issues all potentially occurring when exiting to the main menu at certain times
  

Our next update, The Stargazer, is now playable on the public experimental branch. As mentioned in our last update, this experimental will be for a short period of time. We are anticipating a few days, at most one week, so that we can crank out any necessary fixes and have the full update published as soon as possible.

There are still a few things that are a work in progress, like refining the new world generation and touching up some artwork for a lot of the new additions, so please keep that in mind as you explore.



[h3]How to get started playing the update: [/h3]

Go to AutoForge Properties > Betas and select the "experimental" branch from the dropdown menu. Steam should update AutoForge to the latest build. You can verify this by launching the game and checking the version in the bottom left corner. It should be "0.4.0 experimental".



[h3]Important Reminder[/h3]

A reminder that with the release of 0.4, there will be a save reset, and we will be providing a beta branch of 0.3 where you can continue your existing save.

[h3]Changelog Highlights[/h3]

• Expanded the technology tree with several new technologies
  
• Introduced Bonding Agents - a new addition to researching
  
• Monster Husbandry has been redesigned
  
• Lots more to explore in the world
  
• Introduced the new Sky biome
  
• Introduced many new NPCs
  

Complete patch notes will be with the official update release.





Please provide your feedback either here, or in our Discord, and report any issues you run into while playing on experimental.

Thank you for your help!

[h2]So, what’s next?[/h2]
We just released our first major update, 0.3 Strange Encounters, a few weeks ago, and we hope you’ve all been enjoying the many quality of life improvements, new technologies and features, as well as fighting off those pesky new invaders. While the previous update was a very systems-heavy update, our next move is to build on those new foundations and focus on introducing new content. It’s time to look to the stars...


[h3]Stargazing[/h3]
Production on 0.4 is well underway, and we're pleased to say it'll be entering our orbit very soon! As shown in our roadmap, this update will focus on filling out those Sky Biomes, adding many new points of interest and NPCs, as well as continuing the main story with new quests and technology. There might just be a few other surprises too!



As with 0.3, there will be a public experimental for 0.4 for a brief period of time. The goal is to get feedback, make any necessary fixes, and then get the full release in everyone’s hands as soon as possible.

[h3]Sky Islands[/h3]
One of the new things we're working on for this update are sky islands. These sky islands will be found all throughout the upper regions of the world. They will have several different themes and resources. There was some back and forth on the design but we ultimately landed on using what we call POIs (Points of Interest). These are created using LDtk and then stitched together in many ways during world generation. We're still finalizing things but here's a screenshot of some early designs in LDtk.



[h3]Save Reset[/h3]
Another very important piece of info about 0.4: To fully introduce new content you will be required to begin a new save with this update. We desperately want to limit the amount of times this happens during Early Access, and in order to expand into 0.4 this has to be one of those points. To help alleviate things we will be providing a beta branch of 0.3 where you can continue your existing save if you wish to do so.



We look forward to sharing more on The Stargazer in the coming weeks! For now, here’s Qodot, one of The Stargazer's new NPCs. Something seems to have caught his eye....