AETHUS News

Hello, Pioneers!

Welcome to the August Development Diary for AETHUS.

This time, I have updates for you on our next Steam event participation (very soon!), a massive demo update, and sneak peeks at new mechanics and features in development.



AETHUS will be taking part in the Space Exploration Fest here on Steam, starting September 2nd at 10:00AM PST (18:00BST)!

As part of the festival, I am happy to announce that a new demo will be available for the game!

This demo is a massive update, featuring new mechanics, new content, countless bug fixes, new options and settings, full keybinding support, and much more!

The demo update will go live on Friday 30th August, 10:00AM PST (18:00BST), so mark your calendars and make sure to hit those Wishlist and Follow buttons on the Steam page to be alerted when the new announcement is posted!

If your favourite content creator is yet to play the game, why not let them know that they can get early access to the new demo by getting in touch with me at [email protected]!



A lot of the month has been spent preparing for the updated demo, so here's a sneak-peek at some of the new features you'll be able to enjoy! Check out the July Development Diary for some additional features including a new Scanning feature and a whole Power system!

[h2]Keybindings[/h2]

A much-requested feature that I am pleased to bring to the demo (and of course, full game) - full keybinding support for all controls in the game is now possible!

This will also allow for support for non-QWERTY keyboard layouts, so non-English-players rejoice!

[h2]Terraforming[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Terraforming was present in the original demo in a placeholder format, and I'm excited to bring the full feature to the updated demo.

Using Terraforming Charges of different types, you can terraform the surface of the planet to clear the way for your Outpost, in an explosive way! 🧨💥

In the full game, this will be a fully featured progression system integrated with exploration and crafting, so that you can expand your Outpost over time.

Oh, and the Surface of the planet is now ~4x larger than it was in the original demo!

[h2]Build Mode Improvements[/h2]

Making the building system in the game as easy and flexible to use as possible is a big focus of mine, and the updated demo brings several improvements, including but not limited to:

• Much greater zoom.
  
• Detached free-fly top-down build camera, or attached player camera.
  
• Build from Storage.
  
• Improved snapping behaviour.
  
• Auto-clear gatherable resources if building on top of them.
  
• Ability to disable collision checks, for the ultimate build flexibility.
  

I can't wait to hear how these improvements work for you, I'm always looking for feedback on ways to make this area of the game even easier to use and more powerful to create your ideal Outpost!

That's it for this development diary - as always, thanks for your support.
See you at the festival!

Greetings, Pioneers!

Summer always feels a bit slower development-wise than normal, and the Pawsmonaut Team have been trying to take a little rest here and there over the month, but work on AETHUS continues at full steam!

This month, I wanted to focus on two areas - one based on feedback from the Demo, and one entirely new feature!



One concern that some of you had in the Demo is being unable to always tell where you are in the world, or having a poor sense of direction.

The Compass at the top of the screen is intended to be the main navigation method through the world and aid you in discovering new points of interest, as well as finding your way back to things you've already discovered (or back to the Surface!), but I felt there was still room to improve.

One thing I've tried that is feeling good so far is the addition of a Radar.


Pairing nicely with the Suit Scan ability (X), the Radar is a new feature that displays points of interest in the world, in small-scale, directly around the player.

As in the Demo, a tap of X will Scan the area around you and highlight resource nodes, items, and other objects of interest, but hold X for a little longer and you'll also bring up the Radar.

Points of Interest shown on the Radar are located in the exact direction they're shown around the player, just at a smaller scale, meaning you can easily know which direction to head in to find them.

The Radar will show cave entrances, Task locations, oxygen areas, Glowsticks you've deployed, datapads for unlocking new crafting plans, construction blueprints, journal logs, etc.!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
I feel that the addition of the Radar will really help those of you who struggled a little with navigation, but I'd be really keen to hear what you think of the feature before you get a chance to play with it yourself - drop a message in the comments below or join the Discord and provide your thoughts!




In the Demo, you got a taste of one aspect of Power in the building system of AETHUS - Power Slots.

In the full game, Power has expanded to become a more feature-rich system that you will manage in order to keep your Outpost running efficiently.

Power Slots now provide Power to facilities in your habitats, drawn from an Outpost-wide pool (no need to connect things with wires!), and facilities are automatically powered if the Power value remains above zero.


As you can see from the image above, there will be several different options for powering your Outpost (which will unlock over the course of the game) including Solar power! Different Power Generators will have different trade-offs, so choose wisely!

As Power is not intended to be a micro-management system, you don't need to worry about things like fuelling generators, using batteries because the sun isn't shining, etc.

Remember, I'd love to know your thoughts on this feature, as well as what you like or dislike in other similar games when it comes to this type of Power system!

Drop a message in the comments below or join the Discord and provide your thoughts!



That's all for this devlog!

A wee reminder that AETHUS has a Kickstarter notification page which you can sign up for with no commitment! The more followers we can get, the more likely the campaign will happen and raise some money to make the game even better!

Hope you're having a great summer, stay safe out there!

- Alex

[h2]New:[/h2]

• Upon 'dying', Maeve now drops her inventory into a small crate which will persist until all contents are subsequently removed and then disappear.
  
• Added an interactable icon on the Vitality HUD to show that a new Journal entry has been added.
  
• Added a new Setting to automatically open the inventory when interacting with a Facility with an Inventory. This is the new default.
  
• Added a new Setting to allow holding LMB to repeatedly interact with the world rather than needing to repeatedly click.
  
• Added some new SFX to the Surface and Outer Caverns biomes.
  

[h2]Tweaks and Fixes:[/h2]

• Fixed issues with interacting with things when standing very close/in front of them.
  
• Fixed possible duplication when dying with items picked up from crates.
  

A lot of you requested the ability to tweak the 'difficulty' of the game - governed by the three main survival mechanics present in the Demo: Air, Vitality, and Carry Weight.

I'm happy to say you can now choose between five different options for each of these mechanics individually, making the game harder or easier in each of these areas depending on your preference.

I want you to enjoy AETHUS the way you like most, and if my 'standard' options aren't for you, then who am I to stop you playing the way you prefer?

Let me know what you think! ❤️

Oh, and I've added a few other cool new things. Take a look!

[h2]New:[/h2]

• Added Modifier Options to allow for tweaking individual aspects of the survival challenge in the game to your preference.
  
• Options range from Easy, through Forgiving, Standard, Challenging, to Hard.
  
• Storage Containers (except the Makeshift Crate) now have external lights which indicate their inventory state (empty vs not empty).
  
• All Storage Containers can now be placed both inside and outside.
  
• Added a new 'Short Connector' construction which unlocks at the same time as the large one. It's a connector... but small.
  
• Added a sneak peek at a new feature to the 'Surface Camp' crate. This requires a new game.
  

[h2]Tweaks and Fixes:[/h2]

• Disabled torch lights on Maeve and Roland when inside your Habitats.
  
• Updated a bunch of construction icons.
  
• Fixed potential flickering of lava in the Prologue.
  

Some pretty big quality of life changes in this patch, as well as a few new options (and a bunch more to come!) to tweak your experience the way you like it.

[h2]New:[/h2]

• Overhauled the Build Mode UX to make it quicker and easier to do anything you want.
  
• Modify and Terraform modes have been integrated into the 'standard' Build Mode, you can access these options by simply opening Build Mode and clicking on an appropriate object in the world. No more need to switch to a separate mode and then click. The whole experience of switching between building, modifying, and terraforming should all be smoother. Let me know what you think!
  
• Terraforming UX now follows the same pattern as the other modes (buttons, not double clicks).
  
• Added a new Settings option for triggering 'cutaways' on all Outpost buildings when one is entered, rather than just the entered building. This is the new default behaviour.
  
• Added a new Settings option for adjusting the sensitivity of Camera Rotation
  
• Added placeholders for future new settings options.
  
• Removed negative effects from neglecting Vitality system.
  
• Added the ability to remove an item from a hotbar slot by hovering it and pressing (DEL).
  

[h2]Tweaks and Fixes:[/h2]

• Fixed Modify Mode button text sizing being inconsistent.
  
• Updated Power Slot graphic with new art to make its purpose clearer.
  
• Increased FOV multiplier slider maximum value from 1.5 to 2.0.
  
• Set default antialiasing value to a lower level to improve performance.
  
• Fixed 'jumping' Build Mode UI issues.
  
• Unified shader material between all Build Modes.
  
• Set DX11 as default renderer which may improve performance and fix(?) a crash issue for some users.
  
• Fixed some surface objects being terraformable when they shouldn't be.
  
• Fixed hotbar scrolling behaviour being incorrect if player also used keys to select slots.
  
• Fixed Dew Catcher having the wrong Compass POI name.
  
• Updated icon for Small Crate.