Update 47: Behemoth Approaching
[p]This build is overall pretty small, although there are some cool new things on the beta branch. That said, there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and it's just taking me extra time to get those pieces in place; they're coming in the next few weeks, so I figured I would also give an update about those.
The "Tier 3 goals" are something I've talked about a fair bit on the forums and discord, but they're essentially ending scenarios for the game. Most of them have more than one possible outcome, although I Am Vorsiber Now is only planned to have a single outcome. All of these T3s are kind of "final boss scenarios" in some respects, with a lot more sandboxy elements to them, and pulling in various things from whatever you did or did not do in the past T1s/T2s in that timeline. So there's meant to be a lot of replayability even for ones that have only a single outcome, since the path through them is affected by other things you've done.
With a lot of help from the writing group, I started with the most difficult T3 to design, since on the surface its concept conforms the least to how I envisioned these things functioning. That one is called Stars Beyond Reach. A lot of interesting ideas came up, but ultimately it became clear that my way of thinking about these endings was just not satisfactory. The key problem was never being able to leave the city even in the endings, since it makes it hard to really pay off the themes and storylines. Happily, that led to a flurry of inspiration. The result is too cool to put in spoiler tags here; it's better if you experience it in the game. If you really want to know, you can check the very bottom of this post.
I'm not trying to be a tease, and I don't want to oversell it. But I am just super excited. My goal is for the Stars Beyond Reach one to be something you can fully experience on the beta branch in the next two weeks, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for that one.
Anyway, in the short term this means fewer and smaller builds on the main branch, as I build out all these parts. Thank you for your patience on that!
If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, that’d be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if you’ve been meaning to write one, I’d be grateful. Steam reviews carry weight. For a project like this — developed by a single person over many years, every review makes a difference.[/p][p]Honest thoughts are what matter. Whatever your experience has been, sharing it helps. It’s a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.[/p][p]Thanks for reading and for playing.
[/p]
[expand]
[h2]Update 47 Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Balance[/h3]
[/expand][p]Full notes here.
[/p][h3]Connect with the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:
💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.[/p]
[h3]The Promised Spoiler Notes (And Images)[/h3]
This isn't everything that will surprise you, but it's some of what's coming:
Battleship from the space nations coming down to the atmosphere:
Space battles coming. Break the space nations blockade while using your city as your economic engine:
The "Tier 3 goals" are something I've talked about a fair bit on the forums and discord, but they're essentially ending scenarios for the game. Most of them have more than one possible outcome, although I Am Vorsiber Now is only planned to have a single outcome. All of these T3s are kind of "final boss scenarios" in some respects, with a lot more sandboxy elements to them, and pulling in various things from whatever you did or did not do in the past T1s/T2s in that timeline. So there's meant to be a lot of replayability even for ones that have only a single outcome, since the path through them is affected by other things you've done.
With a lot of help from the writing group, I started with the most difficult T3 to design, since on the surface its concept conforms the least to how I envisioned these things functioning. That one is called Stars Beyond Reach. A lot of interesting ideas came up, but ultimately it became clear that my way of thinking about these endings was just not satisfactory. The key problem was never being able to leave the city even in the endings, since it makes it hard to really pay off the themes and storylines. Happily, that led to a flurry of inspiration. The result is too cool to put in spoiler tags here; it's better if you experience it in the game. If you really want to know, you can check the very bottom of this post.
I'm not trying to be a tease, and I don't want to oversell it. But I am just super excited. My goal is for the Stars Beyond Reach one to be something you can fully experience on the beta branch in the next two weeks, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for that one.
Anyway, in the short term this means fewer and smaller builds on the main branch, as I build out all these parts. Thank you for your patience on that!
If you’ve spent time with Heart of the Machine and want to leave a review, that’d be appreciated. No need to say more than you mean, but if you’ve been meaning to write one, I’d be grateful. Steam reviews carry weight. For a project like this — developed by a single person over many years, every review makes a difference.[/p][p]Honest thoughts are what matter. Whatever your experience has been, sharing it helps. It’s a powerful way to have your voice heard and contributes to how future patches are prioritized and addressed.[/p][p]Thanks for reading and for playing.
[/p]
[expand]
[h2]Update 47 Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Balance[/h3]
- No Time Traveling Duping: Added in a protection that should keep Daring and Aetagest from being repeatedly gained from loading an older save and then completing the goal in question more than once. I couldn't fully test this with the savegames provided, so let me know if you see it still happening.
- Filth Delay: During the setup phase, filth no longer accumulates in any housing you have.
- An Early Path To A T3: Added a new crossover called "A Vague Sense That Heron Exists" that happens if you've contacted Heron in your timeline.
- Prettier Robot Dog: Improved the coloring and detail on the Spy Hound character.
- Bigger Boat Was In Fact Needed: Added support for really large units that are bigger than a single cell in radius. Previously that sort of unit would clip into other large units incorrectly because the game just wasn't designed for that. Now it doesn't have any issue.
- Isolation Booth: While you're in the VR Screen, it no longer plays ambient sounds from the city. You're meant to be much more isolated from those normal sounds there.
- Codename Clarity: Removed the name "Heron" from the key contact name bank, since that was confusing if that got picked as the name. There's someone else unrelated with that as a codename.
- VR By Any Means: If you have anyone in mind farms or torment vessels on your first timeline from a chapter 2 start, it will now prompt you to create your virtual reality environment. Normally it only does this when you have at least 2000 people in VR Day-Use Seats, which would normally come first, but won't always in this one edge case.
- Flight Path Collision Avoidance: Fixed a longstanding issue with flying units clipping into one another in ways that I never could figure out. It took several hours today, but basically there were two bugs that kind of canceled each other out in most cases. Fixing both the bugs, and now all the cases work properly.
- You've Been Warned: When you are going to start any tier 3 goal from a contemplation, it now gives this warning: All of your existing projects will be halted, and you won't be able to start any other projects or contemplations that aren't part of this goal. Everything in the city will become focused on this goal, which you will either win or fail. It's a good idea to make a savegame before committing to this.
- Project Halting: When you are in a Tier 3 goal, it now automatically fails any projects that are unrelated to that. If you go past the final doom into the post-apocalypse, then it starts working like the post-apocalypse again.
- Locked In Here With The Boss: All of the normal contemplations are all cut off once you start any T3 goal.
- T3 Start Contemplation Stubs: You can't do them yet, but on the beta branch it now shows contemplations when they would normally allow you to start a T3, so that gives you an idea of whether or not you've met the criteria. This is also just part of my work progress for getting these going.
[/expand][p]Full notes here.
[/p][h3]Connect with the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr][p]Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:
💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.[/p]
[h3]The Promised Spoiler Notes (And Images)[/h3]
This isn't everything that will surprise you, but it's some of what's coming:
Battleship from the space nations coming down to the atmosphere:
Space battles coming. Break the space nations blockade while using your city as your economic engine: