Adaptory News

Join Jevon Wright (Adaptory developer) and a special guest as they play the latest version of Adaptory, live!

Learn more about the game, ask questions with the team, deep dive into some of its simulations and mechanics, and get a sneak peek at what will be coming after the game's Steam Next Fest demo.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2201620/Adaptory/

The Steam Next Fest demo for Adaptory is LIVE!! 🥳 You can download your free copy of the game on Steam now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2201620/Adaptory/

Full patch notes are listed below.

This version has been heavily tested but there may still be bugs, crashes, and unexpected behaviour. Please continue sending through bug reports, feedback, and ideas, as we’ll be working on polish and tweaks over the next week. A huge, huge thanks to everyone who has played an early build 🥰

As mentioned in the [url=https://stormcloak.games/2024/01/29/steam-next-festSteam Next Fest plan, the plan is to keep this demo up beyond the festival, but I might need to turn it off if something unexpected occurs. So download a copy today, and please let us know what you think!

[h3]Voices[/h3]

In the demo, your explorers can now express themselves! They’ll make adorable noises when sleeping, digging, carrying, building, having conversations, or any other number of actions.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Overlay selection bar[/h3]

Adaptory is a complex game with multiple simulations all working together to create emergent gameplay. To see what’s going on, you can use overlays to show different views of your base, such as the new breathability overlay in the game:

The new breathability overlay

The selection bar also shows some of the systems and layers that will be coming in future releases.

[h3]Revamped power systems[/h3]

All powered buildings have been improved. Batteries last longer, lights use less power, and stored power is now measured in Wd (Watt-days). I’ve also fixed it so you can’t get infinite power from a light. 😉

Adaptory is coming to Steam Next Fest next week! Here's what will be happening (all times are in PST).

[h2]Today[/h2]

If you haven’t already seen the video, there’s a brand new trailer, just for Next Fest:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Adaptory Steam page has also had an overhaul, with new text, GIFs, and screenshots. I’m in the process of getting the page translated to a number of different languages, as well. (The demo will only be available in English, but I want to make it clear the full game will be localised!)

[h2]Wed 31 January, 2pm PST[/h2]

Jevon is going to try her first ever dev livestream on Twitch! This is going to be a real experiment, not exactly sure how this will go 😀

[h2]Thu 1 February, 4pm PST[/h2]

Adaptory’s Demo will be released on Steam, and anyone can download a copy and play it for free! 🥳

The version we’ll be releasing next week has new systems, content, and heaps of bug fixes. There are no limitations in this demo; you can play for as long as you want, but this version will only be released on Steam.

[h2]Mon 5 February, 2pm PST[/h2]

Steam Next Fest launches today at 10am PST. We will also be livestreaming the game later that day at 10am PST. This stream is going to be featured across all of Steam! I’ll be playing the game with special guest and friend ThisIsRubyOK, showing off some of the new systems, and answering questions. Come join in and say hi!!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2201620/view/3978435073801534645

[h2]Wed 7 February, 8am PST[/h2]

We'll also be doing another livestream this day, at 5pm CEST, with another special guest. This stream is also going to be featured across all of Steam – so come on in and say hi again!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2201620/view/4021219904157277531

[h2]Mon 12 February, 10am PST[/h2]

Steam Next Fest ends at 10am, but I'm planning to keep the Steam Demo live after this date. I may need to turn it off if something unexpected occurs.

We’ll then have a bit of a breather, review all of the feedback, and maybe make an announcement of the Early Access release date?!

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A huge, huge thank you to everyone who has played any version of Adaptory over the last two years, provided feedback, bug reports, and support – especially everyone in the Adaptory discord and friends from NZGDA. The game feels really polished compared to a year ago and I am nervous and excited to share it with the world 😊

Join Jevon Wright (Adaptory developer) and a special guest as they play in Adaptory's first ever livestream!

Learn more about the game, ask questions with the team, deep dive into some of its simulations and mechanics, and get a sneak peek at some of the new art and systems coming to the game's demo for Steam Next Fest.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2201620/Adaptory/

Alpha 7 is now live! You can download a copy on itch.io for free.

If you find any bugs, issues, balance problems or suggestions, please let us know on Discord or by email so we can keep improving the game! 🙂

The focus of this release has been technology, to try get the game as stable as possible before adding all of the systems and content for Early Access. This release has been heavily tested but there may be some bugs, so please let us know.

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[h2]New art[/h2]

We’ve replaced all of the raw resource pile art with brand new art, and it looks amazing. There’s different art for small and big piles, and whether the piles are falling through space or are settled on the ground. Explorers also show what they’re carrying – whether raw elements, or items such as oxygen candles.

Explorers carrying dirt to supply the coal generator building blueprint

There’s also new art and animations for the battery and light buildings.

[h2]Tools for streamers[/h2]

We’re starting to add some tools for streamers to play the game with their community! To start off, you’re now able to rename your explorers. You can change their name at the start of the game, or in the middle of a game by clicking on their name:

You can now rename your explorers

[h2]Resource counting[/h2]

Not sure if you’re running low on construction materials? Is your oxygen candle supply getting dangerously low? We’ve added a resource counter that automatically works out how many resources your crew is able to use. (It does not include resources that are buried, locked away behind doors, or otherwise inaccessible.)

The Resource Station shows all available items to your crew

[h2]Save and load[/h2]

You can now save and load your game in Adaptory, allowing for longer play sessions. This also means you can share save games with your friends, and perhaps collaborate on a base together!

Autosave has also been added (by default every ten minutes). Occasional game crashes should no longer be the end of your game. Save/load is experimental so please let us know if your save game doesn’t load properly.

[h2]New audio and FMOD support[/h2]

Alpha 7 marks our first release with sound design contributed by Mika! We have been adding lots of extra clicks and sounds and adaptive audio throughout the game. There’s also three new music tracks in the game, including a music loop played in the main menu – I recommend listening to the music with headphones, if possible!

This release also switches our audio engine from OpenAL to FMOD.

[h2]And a lot more[/h2]

• More descriptions added to items and elements
  
• Animated dialogs for alerts and popup menus
  
• Brand new scrollbars that feel better and are more accessible
  
• A shiny new splash screen at the start of the game
  
• Command-line switches
  
• Windowed fullscreen mode
  
• And of course, lots of bug fixes and performance improvements
  

Full patch notes below.

[h2]What’s next?[/h2]

We will be participating in Steam Next Fest Feb 2024 so most of the next few weeks we will be focusing on getting our demo and Steam page polished.

Shortly after Steam Next Fest, the plan is to officially enter Steam Early Access! The EA version of Adaptory will include:

• Oxygen generator and gas transfer buildings (these needed a bit of a simulation rewrite, which is why it’s not in A7)
  
• Configurable explorer priorities and jobs
  
• Storage for resources, artefacts, and explorers
  
• A refreshed and modern user interface design
  
• Plants and food production
  
• A basic research tree
  

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[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Now uses the FMOD adaptive audio engine
  
  
  
  • "Sounds" slider now controls all sounds
    
  • Added User Interface levels slider
    
  • Added many more sounds and UI clicks
    
  • (In progress) Added a wider range of item impact sounds, based on the source and surface
    
• Added resource counter, showing all elements and items that are accessible
  
• Game load/save
  
  
  
  • These are saved to %APPDATA%\Roaming\Adaptory (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/Adaptory/ (Mac)
    
  • User preferences (options) are now saved to this location as well
    
• Game autosave – by default every 10 minutes, but this can be changed in Options > Autosave
• New battery and light art
  
• New raw element pile art for all solid elements
  
• Explorers now show what they are carrying, whether raw elements or specific items
  
• User interfaces are now rendered asynchronously, improving performance
  
• Animated dialogs for alerts, options, and escape menu
  
• Rewrote scrollbars to be faster, more accessible, and better behaved
  
• Explorers can now be renamed at any time
  
• Added main menu music, and two more game tracks, by Sai Natarajan

[h2]Simulation[/h2]

• Non-raw item types (such as artifacts and oxygen candles) no longer merge if in the same tile
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]

• Increased item and pawn falling speed from 0.25 sec to 0.20 sec per tile
  

[h2]Internal[/h2]

• Changed game speed options to 1x (1), 2x (2), 4x (3), 0.1x (shift-1) and 10x (shift-3)
  
• Can now create items in the Sandbox tools
  
• Added initial item and element descriptions
  
• Added more active explorer errand descriptions
  
• Runtime options can now be listed with --help on the command line
  
• Changed -Dprivacy=1 to --privacy
• Log messages are now written to disk in a temporary file instead to console
  
  
  
  • On Windows: %TEMP%/Adaptory_*.log
    
  • Added AdaptoryConsole.exe to Windows builds to still launch the game with a console
    
  • Added --log-to-file= to print log messages directly to the specified file, unless --log-to-console is specified
    
• Added splash screen at game startup
  
• Improved fullscreen/windowed logic
  
  
  
  • Added Windowed Fullscreen option, which is turned on by default
    
• Changed selection priority order to Explorer > Item > Build errand > Building > Tile
  
• Improved performance of building and explorer rendering
  
• Renamed "pawns" to "explorers"
  
• Removed Kryo dependency
  
• Updated lwjgl library to 3.3.3
  

[h2]Accessibility[/h2]

• Added "Animated dialogs" to options panel
  
• Scrollbars now change width based on the UI scale factor
  
• Added "Mouse wheel" scroll multiplier to options panel to control the speed of mouse wheel scrolling
  
• Focused buttons can now be clicked with enter or space

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed explorers not making breathing sounds when catching their breath
  
• Fixed footsteps being played too loudly
  
• Fixed animated UI elements rendering on top of other UI elements
  
• Fixed asset loading % at start of game jumping from 0% to 100%
  
• Fixed scrollbars being interactive when a modal dialog was open
  
• Fixed tutorial panels jumping around
  
• Fixed explorer speech bubbles rendering above other dialogs
  
• Fixed explorer speech bubbles rendering above power and other info layers
  
• Fixed clicking a button in a dialog prevented moving the camera with WASD
  
• Fixed selected text background colour vertical offset
  
• Fixed game music not stopping when going back to the main menu
  
• Do not always immediately shut down if an exception occurs while rendering