AutoForge News

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....

Greetings Golems!

With Summer coming to a close, we're thrilled to finally be dropping Major Update 0.3 - Strange Encounters! We thank everybody for their patience and also want to shout out our wonderful Beta Testers and the additional folks who have participated in the Experimental build the past few weeks.


In case you didn't catch any of our recent posts, when we started working on 0.3, we quickly realized it required prioritization of other features to better support what we were building. That means this update is has a lot of big improvements both visible and invisible that not only offer the necessary foundation for the base defense and invasion systems but also QoL groundwork for much else to come. We're talking fast travel, a better map system, upgrades, as well as huge performance gains benefitting all current and future hardware (Steam Deck we're coming for you!). This has meant that character customization has been pushed down the line a little, but we think it's worth it. Oh, and Steam Cloud Support also now joins us for those of you bouncing between multiple systems!




With all that said - the meat and bones of Strange Encounters is a vastly improved invasion system, new invaders, a new Warfare branch on the Research tree and tons of new tunable structures for base defense. Maybe it's time to just get into those patch notes?

[h2]Patch Notes for 0.3 - Strange Encounters[/h2]

[h3]Major Changes[/h3]

• Mainframe has acquired a new upgrade enabling Fast Travel between Mana Conduits
  
• Technology Tree has been greatly expanded upon with Warfare Technologies via a new Martial Essence
  
• New automated defensive structures can now be researched including Elemental Turrets and Sky Sappers capable of deploying Skymines
  
• Factory repair structure also now available via Warfare Technology
  
• Fully overhauled Invasion system with better frequency and communication
  
• Several new monsters have been spotted during invasions
  
• Invaders now use proper pathfinding (resulting in them digging up a fraction of the ground relative to before)
  
• Map has been reworked with Markers for discovered landmarks (with toggleable categories via a Map Legend)
  
• Additional New Upgrades for Inventory offering a Trashcan as well as the ability to quick transfer/deposit items
  
• Steam Cloud Support
  

[h3]General Improvements[/h3]

• Greatly improved performance of lighting which significantly reduces both CPU and GPU load
  
• Rebalanced and designed Mana Conduit system with new interface
  
• Technology Tree can now be zoomed in and out with mouse wheel
  
• Selecting an item on the toolbar now sets that as your active item even when an item is already grabbed
  
• Selected toolbar item is now highlighted
  
• Reworked HUD featuring:
  
  
  
  
  • New Heart-based health system
    
  • Improved active mode interface including the currently selected build range
    
  • New directional indicator showing structures under attack
    
  • Cursor targeted entities are now highlighted with a soft white pulse
    
• Added Input and output numbers for many structures
  
• Improved several inventory interactions
  
• Added option to toggle inventory auto-sorting
  
• Pressing Escape key now closes the map
  
• Ancient Tech and Void Matter are now currencies stored outside of player inventory slots
  
• Concrete is now a place-able block capable of withstanding increased damage from monsters
  
• Power Relay can have scaffolding placed over it now
  
• Increased the duration of the on hit effect
  
• Added some tooltips for several various UI elements
  
• Tiles can now be placed on top of grass, vines and other "fragile" tiles
  
• Torch's supporting tile can now be destroyed without first displacing the torch
  
• Various graphical tweaks and improvements
  

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• Magical Essence recipe has changed - Distillers currently making these need to have the recipe changed to update it properly
  
• Initial inventory was increased from 30 to 40
  
• Mana Conduits now only have a single infusion step per tier
  
• Mana Conduits now require slightly more Mana per tier
  
• Mana Conduits now has a single input point
  
• Monster invasions occur less frequently
  
• Assembler II maximum collection range was changed from 2 to 3
  
• Plant Supports now output seeds first
  
• Increased Otto's gathering range by 30%
  
• Item gathering now has a much shorter delay
  
• Jump time is now a little longer so you can jump up 8 blocks
  
• Decreased knockback of flying monsters
  
• Matter Refiner can now be crafted by players
  
• Magical Essence now uses and depends on Gadget Technology
  
• Significantly increased Ore Node richness
  

[h3]Critical Issues[/h3]

• Resolved crash caused by attempting to render too many things
  
• Resolved crash caused with animation system
  
• Resolved major performance issues on Steam Deck
  

[h3]Minor Issues[/h3]

• Collection range is now copied and applied with pipette tool
  
• Resolved issue with manual crafting not working as intended when crafting dependencies
  
• Resolved issue with power display numbers being multiplied by 4
  
• Resolved issue with UI sometimes not resizing vertically to fit content
  
• Resolved issue with putting more of an item into an item slot than allowed
  
• Resolved issue with unlocking a item slot
  
• Resolved issue with an unavailable item being required for unlocking a region
  
• Resolved issue with quickly unlocking two neighboring regions resulting in one remaining locked on the UI
  
• Resolved issue with progression technologies not working properly
  
• Resolved issue with settings UI getting into a back state when reselecting the selected category
  
• Resolved issue with power connection with Mana Conduit not being shown
  
• Resolved issue with soil rendering
  
• Fixing issue with audio settings not working
  
• Fixing HUD vitals misalignment that occurs from UI scale change
  

While this major update brings many features and improvements, there are still many issues lurking about, so please let us know if you encounter any instabilities or have any feedback to share. As always, our Discord remains the best place for support but our Steam Discussion Forums are still good too for those who prefer! This is only the first of many major updates to come and we will continue to be active with player support, balancing the game and fixing any issues you may come across.

As one last note; AutoForge will also be on sale for 15% off for the next week to celebrate the launch of this update!

Thank you as always for continuing this journey with AutoForge through Early Access. We look forward to sharing more about our next content-driven update 0.4 - 'The Stargazer' with you soon!

Now, let's get cranking!

AutoForge's first major update, Strange Encounters, is now available to play on the public experimental branch. We hope to be on the experimental branch for about a week before moving to a full release for the update.

As mentioned in previous updates, we have a lot coming in this update. The focus has been on monster invasions and base defense. We will provide the patch notes for Strange Encounters will it's official release. Here is a little preview of a new invader, the Valerian.



Here are details on how to get started playing the update:

First, you will want to backup your saves just in case. You can find them by browsing to the installed files directory and copying the "saves" directory. With this update we have introduced Steam Cloud support so once you have updated your save files will be relocated to another directory. It will look something like "\Steam\userdata\\1960480\remote\saves".

Next you simply need to 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 "0.3 experimental 1".

Please provide your feedback and report any issues you run into while playing on experimental. Thank you for your continued interest and help making AutoForge a better game!