Lacuna Passage News

There have been enough additions to the game that I felt it was time to go back and make some serious performance improvements. So there are fewer feature updates in this release, but it should make a big difference for some players on lower end systems. Check out the full change log below. Many of these fixes were suggested and tested by our helpful community on our official feedback forums.

• Significant performance improvements have been made across all gameplay systems. If the game ran slowly for you before, please report back if you see any improvements after these changes.
  
• Lighting improvements have been made inside habitats, including windows that now glow brightly from the light of the sun outside. This is most noticeable with the lights in the hab turned off.
  
• Added a selector to the navigation screen that allows you to display locations where previous research samples have been collected.
  
• The “Withdraw All” option for inventory management now only withdraws the items of the filtered category you are currently viewing.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from repairing equipment if they were too close to death.
  
• The selected item cursor for inventory management now returns to the nearest position of the last selected item rather than returning to the firstmost item in that inventory. You can now more easily deposit or withdraw items without needing to use the arrow keys to navigate to multiple items.
  
• The PRT RTG slot will now degrade similar to the rate of other RTG slots for exterior modules.
  
• The “interact” text hint is now properly hidden for the research station in an unpowered habitat.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused an incorrect distance indicator for custom objective points that were set inside of a habitat.
  

This month's update is focused on expanding the research mechanics of the game. You now have a new research bench inside each habitat that lets you track your research progress towards four new achievements. There are lots of other bug fixes as well. Check out the full change log below. Many of these fixes were suggested and tested by our helpful community on our official feedback forums.

• There are four new achievements based on mission research progress.
  
• There is a new workstation in each habitat called the Research Bench.
• Similar to the Crafting and Salvaging Bench, you can interact with the Research Bench to see an overview of your research progress for each research category. This can help you track your progress towards the new research achievements.
  
• Habitats also now have one center table art asset to add more visual interest.
  
• You can now “run” inside the habitats. Interior walk speed is about 60% of the exterior walk speed, which is what it has always been, but interior run speed is now equal to exterior walk speed so that you can move around inside a bit quicker if you want.
  
• Fixed an issue causing driving controls to be disabled when using the escape key to close the datapad while driving.
  
• Charged backup batteries and oxygen filled canisters can now be used inside habitats.
  
• The “Quit” option from the pause menu will now exit straight to desktop after a confirmation prompt instead of returning to the main menu.
  
• Fixed another instance where exterior module components were incorrectly spawning in new games causing the diagnostic screen to display blank information.
  
• Fixed a major bug with how dust storms were impacting the degradation of exterior module components which could cause irreparable states to occur.
  
• Fixed the hab status panel to correctly display the state of the reoxygenator when running on reserve power.
  

This month I'm introducing the first of many new late-game goal mechanics. No longer will the survival mode be entirely based on survival time. You now have the optional side objective of completing mission research.

Much of this update consists of background implementation that will allow me to expand on the research features down the road, but for this first iteration I have added rock sample collection as the first type of research.

So how does it work? Collecting research is a critical goal for these manned missions to Mars. There will be many types of research samples to collect and then deposit in the storage sections of each habitat. You only have five slots for each type of research sample in your personal inventory, so make sure to deposit these samples in habitat storage regularly. Habitats also only have five slots for each type of research sample. Research samples in your inventory do not contribute to your progress, so between the three habitat locations that is a total of 15 possible samples that will be used to judge your overall research quality. Filling all 15 slots will certainly help, but the quality of each individual sample also greatly impacts the overall research quality.

Rock sample research is collected with a pickaxe. Equip a pickaxe from your inventory and then use it to break off small samples from the terrain or other rock formations. Visible differences in the surface being sampled will result in a unique type of rock sample being collected and added to your inventory. You have five slots in your inventory to hold these samples. Your rock sample research quality is judged on three factors. Diversity of rock type, average distance between sampled locations, and average difference between sampled altitudes. Only the samples that have been deposited in habitat storage will be judged for research quality.

Currently you can view your research quality by viewing the samples you have deposited in the habitat storage, but that progress does not yet apply to any meta rewards. In the next few updates I will be adding new Steam scoreboards and achievements for high research quality scores.

• Added unique material type of Rock Sample.
  
• Pickaxe is now equippable during an EVA.
  
• Using a pickaxe on the terrain or a rock will add a Rock Sample to your inventory.
  
• Limited inventory and storage slots for Rock Samples allow for unique data to be saved associated with each sample.
  
• Research quality is calculated based on data differences between stored Rock Samples.
  

On July 29th, I released 0.64.1 which adds Atmospheric Research.

Reduced maximum radiation storm length slightly.
Radiation storms now are only a serious threat during daylight hours since it is solar radiation (this was an oversight when originally implementing radiations storms).
Added new Weather App warning messages for radiation storms so you can check if a storm is still active before exiting a habitat.
Fixed a bug with the new equipable pickaxe appearing inappropriately after some inputs.
Fixed a bug where the datapad was incorrectly closing when attempting to switch to a different app with a hotkey.
Fixed a bug with broken components not appearing correctly when viewing the status of a component slot.
Slightly increased the appearance rate of dust devils.
There will now always be a Pickaxe found in Hab Beta.
Fixed a bug where the loading indicator would get stuck when leaving the habitat.
Added unique material type of Atmospheric Sample.
Empty Canisters can now be used to collect Atmospheric Samples.
Limited inventory and storage slots for Atmospheric Samples allow for unique data to be saved associated with each sample.
Research quality is calculated based on data differences between stored Atmospheric Samples.

Radiation storms are a new environmental hazard for Lacuna Passage. They will not occur if you pick the "No Storms" scenario, but otherwise they are randomized low levels of radiation exposure that you can only escape by taking shelter in a habitat.

This update is a bit lighter on additional features than I was hoping for, but I just wanted to get something out for this month. Because of the rush to publish, there are also some balance issues that may need to be addressed in the near future since I didn't have time to properly test everything.

The main change that may cause balance issues is the lengthening of the day-night cycle. Players have requested for quite some time now that the days should be extended a bit to feel more realistic. Previously, 30 minutes real-time equated to a full in-game day. Now this has been doubled to 1 hour real-time. Almost every variable in the game will be affected by this change, and so the ramifications aren't fully known yet. Please report any major issues via the feedback forum.

There are several other changes in this update as well. Here are all the major additions that you can expect to find:

• Randomized radiation storms have been added.
  
• New datapad documents have been added to help explain dust storms, radiation storms, and radiation zones (map boundaries).
  
• A failed or turned off heater will now eventually cause water tanks to freeze. Once the internal habitat temperature reaches below 0 Celsius water will be slowly lost to freezing.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with the PRT maintenance screen.
  
• Components installed in exterior modules will degrade slower if they are not essential for module operation. For example, if you have 5 fuses installed, 2 of them will degrade slower than the first 3 because only 3 are required for operation.
  
• Navigation systems are now based on proximity to WayStats during a dust storm. The more intense the storm, the closer you will need to be to an operational WayStat in order to maintain your navigation systems.
  
• The movement speed penalty during a dust storm has been drastically reduced, but now your exhaustion, calorie and water consumption are increased during a dust storm.
  
• The degradation rates of exterior module components are now increased for habitats that are in the area of a passing dust storm.
  
• The charge rate of an equipped portable solar panel while on EVA is now identical to the charge rate with it equipped in a panel slot of an exterior module. This has reduced the EVA charge rate enough that it can no longer surpass the battery drain of your suit, but it does drastically reduce the speed that your suit battery will drain. This is to prevent the exploit where you could charge your suit battery quickly with an equipped portable solar panel and then dump the charge back into your habitat battery.
  
• The scanner overlay has been fixed for ultrawide monitors.
  
• One real-time hour now equals 1 in-game day/sol.
  
• Death from EVA suit battery being depleted (death from heat loss) now takes much longer to bring it in line with other systems and be more realistic.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused exiting a pop tent to result in falling through the map.
  

Radiation storms are a new environmental hazard for Lacuna Passage. They will not occur if you pick the "No Storms" scenario, but otherwise they are randomized low levels of radiation exposure that you can only escape by taking shelter in a habitat.

This update is a bit lighter on additional features than I was hoping for, but I just wanted to get something out for this month. Because of the rush to publish, there are also some balance issues that may need to be addressed in the near future since I didn't have time to properly test everything.

The main change that may cause balance issues is the lengthening of the day-night cycle. Players have requested for quite some time now that the days should be extended a bit to feel more realistic. Previously, 30 minutes real-time equated to a full in-game day. Now this has been doubled to 1 hour real-time. Almost every variable in the game will be affected by this change, and so the ramifications aren't fully known yet. Please report any major issues via the feedback forum.

There are several other changes in this update as well. Here are all the major additions that you can expect to find:

• Randomized radiation storms have been added.
  
• New datapad documents have been added to help explain dust storms, radiation storms, and radiation zones (map boundaries).
  
• A failed or turned off heater will now eventually cause water tanks to freeze. Once the internal habitat temperature reaches below 0 Celsius water will be slowly lost to freezing.
  
• Fixed a visual bug with the PRT maintenance screen.
  
• Components installed in exterior modules will degrade slower if they are not essential for module operation. For example, if you have 5 fuses installed, 2 of them will degrade slower than the first 3 because only 3 are required for operation.
  
• Navigation systems are now based on proximity to WayStats during a dust storm. The more intense the storm, the closer you will need to be to an operational WayStat in order to maintain your navigation systems.
  
• The movement speed penalty during a dust storm has been drastically reduced, but now your exhaustion, calorie and water consumption are increased during a dust storm.
  
• The degradation rates of exterior module components are now increased for habitats that are in the area of a passing dust storm.
  
• The charge rate of an equipped portable solar panel while on EVA is now identical to the charge rate with it equipped in a panel slot of an exterior module. This has reduced the EVA charge rate enough that it can no longer surpass the battery drain of your suit, but it does drastically reduce the speed that your suit battery will drain. This is to prevent the exploit where you could charge your suit battery quickly with an equipped portable solar panel and then dump the charge back into your habitat battery.
  
• The scanner overlay has been fixed for ultrawide monitors.
  
• One real-time hour now equals 1 in-game day/sol.
  
• Death from EVA suit battery being depleted (death from heat loss) now takes much longer to bring it in line with other systems and be more realistic.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused exiting a pop tent to result in falling through the map.
  

• Increased the supplemental recharge rate of equipped portable solar panel while on EVA. Still won't overcome the normal drain of your battery, but it reduces the rate of discharge quite drastically.
  
• Fixed a major bug causing an incorrect passing of time when sleeping, crafting, salvaging, or repairing.
  

• Fixed a bug causing game freezes to occur while repairing components.
  
• Fixed a bug affecting water production after frozen storage tanks are reheated.
  
• Fixed a bug causing removed components to sometimes still appear visible in exterior module slots.
  

• Added a simple loading screen animation with randomized gameplay tips.
  
• Fixed a bug where double-tapping a datapad hotkey caused unintended conflicts.
  
• Added a notification that crafting and salvaging are not accessible when there is no power.
  
• Fixed a display issue on the habitat status screen where it was showing full water tanks with no water available.
  
• Fixed a bug where pressing the inventory hotkey while viewing the habitat storage caused the datapad to close instead of accessing your inventory.