AETHUS News

[p]Hello again, Pioneers!

AETHUS is featured in this year’s Steam Automation Fest! [/p][p]As part of the fest, be sure to check out the free demo. [/p][p]I've worked hard to ensure the demo provides the best possible intro to AETHUS for new players, so if you’re jumping into the game for the first time this Automation Fest, welcome aboard! [/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]AETHUS is a narrative sci-fi survival and base-building game at its core, but its gameplay systems have all been designed with a satisfying polish that make it a perfect fit for Automation Fest. You can automate your experience in various ways to ensure your adventure runs like clockwork![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Restore machinery left behind by the expedition which will generate resources for you - either mining drills which you equip with new drill bits, or mining lasers which you equip with focusing lenses. Almost all the ore-type resources in the game have machinery to automate their production![/p]
• [p]Equip machinery with drones which will deliver the resources directly to cargo bays which you construct in your outpost.[/p]
• [p]Construct various other types of facility in your outpost to generate resources, including water pumps, atmospheric gas extractors, and biomass planters.[/p]
• [p]Hydroponically grow almost all the biological material in the game and use it for production, cooking, and so on![/p]

[p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p]

So be sure to check out the demo during Automation Fest and if you enjoy what you play, leave a review. As mentioned before, the more positive reviews we can gather, the more new people we can introduce to the game![/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]And thanks again to everyone who’s reviewed the demo already! Have an awesome Automation Fest! [/p][p][/p]

[h3]I’m super excited to share that I have joined forces with CULT Games, who will publish AETHUS and bring it to a much wider audience than I could achieve on my own![/h3][p]As a solo-indie developer this partnership will allow me to focus all of my energy on creating the best game possible, and not need to spend time and effort on all the other bits that go along with it - marketing, social media, business relationships, press, etc.[/p][p]CULT really ‘get’ the game and I’m super excited to be working with them.
[/p][p]I wanted to share some words from Sarah, brand manager for the game at CULT, who you will be hearing more from (along with others!) in the near future:[/p][p]“Hey Pioneers, just popping my head out of the dev cave to say: AETHUS is a beautiful, soulful game and we love it. We love you for loving it as much as we do. We're here to champion and protect its anti-corporate heart. Please keep talking at Alex and the team at CULT about what you want and think of AETHUS. We’re listening (and also probably lasering scrap at 3am). Really looking forward to spending time with the community and seeing you all play the finished game this year.”
[/p][p]I also want to make it clear that I still have full creative control over all aspects of the game, and I was very careful in choosing a partner who totally respects that and trusts me to deliver on my strong vision with no compromises.[/p][p]Long story short - this partnership will make the game better. Simple as that.[/p][p]You can check out the new trailer for the game below, and if you haven’t already, please do wishlist the game - it helps a huge amount! [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]The new demo for the game is also available and ready for you to play, and I’d love to hear any feedback or suggestions you might have. It’s genuinely really important to me.[/p][p]Speak soon, Pioneers![/p][p]Alex, Apollo, and CULT Games[/p]

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the May Development Diary for AETHUS!

This month, we recap on the May Playtest, cover the new Demo Update and check out a rework of the Power System based on feedback!



[h2]May Playtest[/h2]
The May Playtest mentioned in the last devlog has now concluded, and once again was hugely successful!

A vast amount of excellent feedback was obtained, and over the two weeks of the playtest I worked very closely with the testers to iterate on features, balancing, new content and fix lots of (small!) bugs!

I'm very proud to say that the average enjoyment score for the game was 8.8/10 after leaving feedback!

The game is better than ever thanks to the help of our excellent playtesters, so I want to thank them all again for their help making the game the best it can be!

There will be one final large-scale playtest before launch, coming in the next few months, so if you'd like the chance to take part make sure you join the Discord and become part of the community!

[h2]Demo Update[/h2]
[h3]What's Changed?[/h3]
Eagle-eyed community members spotted that the demo for the game received an update last week, so I wanted to let you know what changed!

This update brings the demo build up to quality parity with the rest of the game (as of the end of the May Playtest), including some new content with a slightly reworked early-game, new Settings and Options (and keybinds!), and brand new QOL features with keybinds + buttons such as:

• Inventory Auto-Stack
  
• Deposit Refinable Items
  
• Deposit All Items
  
• Take All Items
  

and more!

Overall, this update is intended to make the demo the best possible intro to the game it can be for new players as we move forward towards release!

[h3]Demo Steam Page[/h3]
As part of this update, I also swapped the demo to a separate Steam page!
This means that you can now leave reviews directly for the demo, which helps give new potential players an idea of what people thing and make an informed choice!

It would help me out a lot if you'd take a couple of minutes to head to the Demo Page and leave a review if you enjoyed it, even if it was a while ago! The more positive reviews we can gather, the more new people we can introduce the game to!

Thanks a lot to those who've already left reviews, it really does help and means a lot to me as a solo developer! ❤

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2822250/AETHUS_Demo/
[h2]Power System Rework[/h2]
November's Playtest brought up a bunch of feedback about the Power System in the game - some testers enjoyed it, but several found it a little confusing and potentially restricting.

[h3]OLD SYSTEM:[/h3]
There were two 'Power' systems in play at once:

OUTPOST POWER
An overall power level of your base, simply the amount of power generation you have minus the amount of power consumption you have (from facilities).
If Outpost Power hit zero, facilities would stop working and you'd need to build more power generation.

POWER SLOTS
Each Habitat had a certain amount of 'Power Slots' available, and each Facility you built would take up a certain amount of them, depending on its size.
If a Habitat didn't have enough 'Power Slots' available, you couldn't build a Facility that took up more than was available.

For example, the Basic Habitat had six 'Power Slots', while the Crafting Bench took up two. If you were already using five slots in the Hab, you couldn't build a Crafting Bench in there.

The motive behind this system was to essentially force you to expand the Outpost, create new Habitats, and unlock bigger and better ones as you progress in the game which support more Power Slots.

[h3]NEW SYSTEM:[/h3]
OUTPOST POWER
Unchanged (subject to changes in the future around progression of generation types!)

POWER SLOTS Removed. You can now build as many facilities in each Habitat as you can physically fit!

The removal of Power Slots both makes Power much simpler and easier to understand (no confusion between Power and Power Slots), and allows you more freedom and creativity. If you want to try and fit every facility into one Hab, who am I to stop you!

HAB BONUSES
I do still want to encourage you to expand your Outpost, so to do this I've created a new incentive system - Hab Bonuses.


As you progress through the game, you will unlock new types of Habitats with Hab Bonuses - these are powerful benefits which the Hab provides you when used.

As an example - the Greenhouse Hab; hydroponic crops grown within it will often create produce extra resources!

You can still grow things in any other Hab, but it's a powerful bonus and worth expanding your Outpost with a Greenhouse Hab if you intend to grow crops!

If you have ideas for Hab Bonuses you'd like to see, why not drop a comment and I'll add the best ones to the game! 👇

That's it for this development diary! Remember to take just a minute to head to the demo page and leave a review and help me out! ❤

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the April Development Diary for AETHUS!

I know, I missed the dev diary for March, again, my bad!
Things have been incredibly busy preparing for the next Playtest, which is scheduled for early May - there will be a full 2/3 of the game playable from start to finish, so if you're keen to take a sneak-peek, head over to the Discord where sign-ups will be happening in the very near future!

I also have a big announcement coming up that should mean a lot more getting shared with you over the coming months, but we're not quite ready to talk about it yet... It won't be too long, though!



[h2]Intro Animatic[/h2]
If you've played the demo of the game, you've probably noticed the click-to-progress text-scrawl at the start before you get into the game - it's always just been a placeholder to set some context for the characters and story, but it's always bugged me because it looks a bit rubbish! Well...

Presenting the Intro Animatic!


This is just one (unanimated!) shot from the brand new fully-voiced-over and very fancy Animatic which will feature as the new intro to the game, giving you a good dose of world context as well as story, character and narrative setup as you start the game!

The new Intro Animatic will feature in the upcoming playtest as well as appearing as a standalone cinematic trailer in the coming months, so once again, get involved if you'd like a sneak-peek!

[h2]Prospecting[/h2]
Prospecting is a system you'll unlock partway through the game, which allows you to collect and then Prospect valuable geodes that you can find when out mining in the world!


Via a minigame, you'll use the Prospecting Bench's laser to chip away at the geodes you load into it, to uncover whatever's hidden inside - this could be high quality ore, gems, or even special collectible items...


Unlock Upgrades and find items through exploration that can improve your Prospecting abilities as you advance through the game, to make sure that you always end up with the maximum yield from your finds!


[h2]Graphics Settings[/h2]
Providing a diverse set of game settings for you all is important to me, so that you can tailor the experience of the game to your preference - that goes for gameplay settings as demonstrated in previous dev diaries, but also for graphics settings!


I've recently added support for a bunch of new settings related to Image Scaling/Anti-Aliasing, including the following technologies:

• FXAA/TAA/MSAA/TSR
  
• NVIDIA DLSS/DLAA
  
• NVIDIA Image Scaling
  

In addition, you can increase and decrease the resolution scaling of the game manually when using one of the Built-In AA technologies or NVIDIA Image Scaling on 'Custom' Mode.

Finally, I have also added support for DLSS Frame Generation, including 4x FrameGen for those with the supported newer cards.

Are there any other graphics settings or technologies you'd like to see implemented? Leave a comment below! 👇

[h2]May Playtest[/h2]
As mentioned at the start of the dev diary, the next playtest for AETHUS will begin in early May.
Signups will go live on the Discord next week, so if you're keen to see the post-demo areas of the game, join us over there for a chance at advanced playtesting!

The last playtest was a huge success and made for excellent feedback and changes to the game, and I'm very confident that this will be the same - another step closer to release!

That's it for this development diary!

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the February Development Diary for AETHUS!

You may have noticed there wasn't a January Development Diary - apologies for that, but there just wasn't that much of interest to show at the start of the year while lots happens in the background and just general work on the game continues!

We're back now though, and have a couple of things to share!



[h2]New Key Art[/h2]

You may have already noticed from the cover image of this post, but AETHUS now has new key art!

As we ramp up towards launch this year, I wanted new key art and Steam capsules (which are also already live, check them out!) which better represent the themes of the game and try to make it clear what type of game this is - a survival-crafter, all about exploration, mystery and discovery!

I hope you love the new art as much as I do, I'd love to hear your thoughts, either on Discord or in the comments!

[h2]The Magma Rifts[/h2]

Here's the final biome of the game, at the border of the very mantle of Aethus itself... the Magma Rifts.

What's that weird floating crystal? What kind of resources await you here? What kind of mysteries lie in wait?... All will be revealed!

[h2]Loading Times[/h2]
A small but important one - you'll be coming and going from the caverns and underground of Aethus very frequently, and it's important that your time isn't wasted while doing so.

To that end, I've recently been optimising the level loading/unloading and related functionality to make sure that this process is as quick as possible, getting you out of black-screen-fades more swiftly and back to doing what you do best - gathering resources and building your Outpost!

So far, after a first optimisation pass, I've managed to improve loading times by 25-30% over previous (e.g. in the Demo).

There's always more work to be done, but from playtesting I've already noticed a big difference!

That's it for this development diary!

Next month may well have some very exciting news to share, that's been a long time in the making...

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)