Space Scum News

[h2]Hey everyone 👋[/h2][p][/p][p]You’ve told us some pretty interesting and weird stuff recently. In this first devlog we’ll be reviewing all the things you apparently like and dislike.[/p][p]But first off, it's worth noting we didn’t expect so many of you to play the open playtest. Over 5000 people have given it a try and almost 400 of you completed a feedback form. That’s over 6,500 bits of feedback in the forms alone, not mentioning those of you that contacted us on Discord and Steam![/p][p][/p][h3]🚀 You all totally disagree on weapons (and that’s good!)[/h3][p]We’ve really strived to balance ranged weapons (melee is coming later). Earlier builds had a ridiculously overpowered Assault Rifle that was long range, incredibly accurate and extremely powerful. We nerfed the Assault Rifle and tried to give each weapon a niche in an attempt to give the game some balance. The stats speak for themselves:[/p][p][/p][p]We’re really pleased about the variety of responses here, it suggests a certain amount of balance between the weapons. For example, to see roughly as many people love the shotgun as hate it is great. We want you to play the game differently and there to be no one “correct” meta. [/p][p]It’s also interesting because in previous playtests we’ve had people feel like Melee combat has been both overpowered and at other times underpowered. We modified some of the damage values and skills to help bring it into the fore and feel valuable, so it’s great to see a melee weapon in the top 3![/p][p]We’re also continuing to think about synergies between the different weapons. For example, the Pistol’s “Execute” works well on enemies affected by the SMG’s “Suppress”. This allows you to spray an area with SMG fire then have your pistols go in and murder enemies whilst they cower. Expect more of these![/p][p][/p][h3]👨‍🚀 Your personal lives keep getting in the way of gaming[/h3][p]One of the questions was “When did you stop playing, and why?”. This was really meant to determine if there was a specific game related reason that ended your playthrough, such as a bug, or a balancing issue. Instead, we got lots of details about your personal lives, which was genuinely great. [/p]

• [p]“i was playing while working, work is over”[/p]
• [p]“I have to pee...”[/p]
• [p]“I would've kept going, but it was dark.”[/p]
• [p]“Time to go to bed”[/p]
• [p]“I only stopped playing to go to work”[/p][p][/p]

[h3]🎯 Are we having fun yet?[/h3][p]It’s always pretty nerve wracking to see if players actually like your game. It’s er, pretty important! Those of you that filled in the feedback form seem to be enjoying yourself thankfully - 89.6% of you would recommend the game and average enjoyment was 7.74/10. This figure went up to 8.30 after updates.[/p][p]We’re really glad to see this as we’ve revamped the difficulty curve a number of times. We originally had the second dungeon be filled with Mercenaries, but that ended up being too deadly (as some of you may know!), so we tweaked it to Scavengers. We eased off the brutality of the wandering encounters to allow players to recover and level up their squad if needed to between story missions (Though some of our mobs may have been too hard even then...no names (Molten Cragborn) ).[/p][p][/p][h3]🩸 Definitely got time to bleed[/h3][p]It’s great to see so many of you enjoying long playthroughs of Space Scum. Especially given we’ve still got so much more content/polish/new systems to put into the game:[/p][h3][/h3][h3]🪐 Something’s missing[/h3][p]We know there’s lots of things missing but it’s still interesting to see where you think the issues are. The 5 most requested things were:[/p][p]
Comments about the UI confirmed much of what we already thought – that it needs some attention. Besides revisiting the general usability aspects of the UI, we’re also producing some mock ups in a new style. This should simultaneously give the game a visual boost and make it more fun to play. New UI screenshots will be shared shortly![/p][h3]
🛸 Origin Gangsters [/h3][p][/p][p]If we’re honest, most of the origins were last minute additions - we really weren’t expecting many people to try origins beyond the tutorial but as it turns out over 50% of you did?! It’s great that you wanted to try the variety and the different starts, it means we know they’re important to you and we’re definitely going to make sure they’re scaled, balanced and tweaked to be good fun for when the demo comes out.[/p][h3]
🛠️ Future Scum Logs[/h3][p]We’ll be doing regular devlogs from now on. Future updates will give you more of an insight into what has been happening on the day-to-day dev and the thinking behind the design decisions being made. [/p][p]And finally…thanks for all your help and feedback, lots of which has already been acted on. In the most literal sense we’ve have been overwhelmed by this, but that really is great![/p][p]
[/p][p]Simon & Ed[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p]Looking for more?[/p][p]Another Forklift-published game Roman Triumph has just launched in 1.0! 🏛️[/p][p]Build your city, defend it from invaders, please the gods, and see how long you can survive 👇🏻[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p][/p][p]Thanks again to everyone taking part in the Space Scum Playtest and sharing your thoughts. Your reports keep helping us squash bugs and refine the game’s systems.[/p][p]Version 0.6.5.8 is now live, it adds three new skills to master, smarter AI, balance tweaks, and plenty of bug fixes. Jump back in and see how the galaxy feels after this update![/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]🔧 Latest Patch Notes[/h2][p][/p][h3]💥 Crash Fixes & Stability[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a crash with an unknown weapon ID[/p]
• [p]Made sure status effects are always removed after a battle[/p]

[h3]🛠️ Gameplay Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed crew above level 3 not being checked for the main quest requiring the player to be level 3 or higher[/p]
• [p]Fixed some elevation issues with AOE abilities[/p]
• [p]Fixed characters on the map not changing their speed immediately after changing the game speed[/p]
• [p]Fixed typos and text alignment errors[/p]

[h3]🎯 New Skills & Abilities[/h3]

• [p]Side Step lets the user move freely this turn without triggering attacks of opportunity[/p]
• [p]Belt Trick allows a character to switch items from their pack once per turn for free[/p]
• [p]Dead Man’s Luck prevents the character from being critically hit[/p]

[h3]🤖 Units & Drones[/h3]

• [p]Drones and Robot Drones have been combined and can now be equipped by either species[/p]
• [p]Robots no longer show morale indicators[/p]

[h3]⚔️ Factions & NPC Variety[/h3]

• [p]Galactic Ascendants patrolling cities now spawn in greater numbers[/p]
• [p]Galactic Ascendants can now spawn away from cities[/p]
• [p]Galactic Ascendants, Scavengers, Mercenaries, and Yolihuani Empire now have additional backgrounds and equip additional types of armour and weapons[/p]
• [p]Many of these non-player backgrounds will not appear in game until day 3 to 5[/p]

[h3]🎯 Weapon Balance[/h3]

• [p]Sniper Rifle AP cost changed from 6 to 7[/p]
• [p]Sniper Reload cost changed from 6 to 8[/p]
• [p]Shotgun range changed from 6 to 7[/p]

[h3]🧠 AI Improvements[/h3]

• [p]AI reacts better when targeted[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]📡 That's All For Now[/h2][p]As always, keep sending us your thoughts through the Feedback Form (you can also find it in the Main Menu). Every report helps us improve Space Scum during the Playtest.[/p][p]And if you want to keep up with development, chat with the community, and talk directly to us, join us on Discord![/p][p][/p][p]Until next time, keep on survivin’![/p][hr][/hr][p]Looking for more?[/p][p]Another Forklift-published game Roman Triumph has just launched in 1.0! 🏛️[/p][p]Build your city, defend it from invaders, please the gods, and see how long you can survive 👇🏻[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Thanks again to everyone jumping into the Space Scum Playtest and sharing your feedback. Your reports keep helping us squash bugs quickly and polish the experience.[/p][p]We’ve just deployed Version 0.6.5.6, featuring more crash fixes, smarter AI behavior, improvements to Hacking, and even a brand-new robot system in shops. Jump back in and let us know how it feels!
[/p][hr][/hr][p]
[/p][h2]🔧 Latest Patch Notes[/h2][p][/p][h3]💥 Crash Fixes and Stability[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a crash when selling equipment[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur when loading into a tactical battle[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🛠️ Gameplay Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed power level of initial enemies not resetting between playthroughs[/p]
• [p]Players chosen Origin and Ambition are now saved. New save files will display this correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed character recruitment cost sometimes being extremely low as their equipment cost was not taken into account[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🤖 AI Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Slightly increased a characters AI speed when that character is not visible to the player[/p]
• [p]AI will now stop hanging back so much once engaged into combat[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🛒 Economy and Shops[/h3]

• [p]New Teleporter robot system added to shops[/p]
• [p]Grenades and Robot ability systems are slightly more common in shops[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🎯 Combat & Abilities[/h3]

• [p]Improved which cells are selected when using some AOE abilities[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🖊️ Miscellaneous[/h3]

• [p]Fixed various typos[/p]

[p][/p][h3]🧠 Hacking Improvements[/h3]

• [p]
  New Hacking ability: Teleport Mechanical – Teleport a friendly or enemy Robot, Automated Sentry or Barrier[/p]
• [p]New Hacking ability: Overclock – Increase a friendly Robot or Automated Sentries Ranged Attack, Ranged Defence, Melee Attack and Melee Defence[/p]
• [p]Hacking Attack stat now increases the effectiveness of most Hacking abilities[/p]
• [p]Automated Sentries now scale their Ranged Attack, Damage and Health by the creators Hacking Attack stat[/p]
• [p]Barriers now scale their Cover Value and Health by the creators Hacking Attack stat[/p]
• [p]Teleport Mechanical scales its range by the users Hacking Attack stat[/p]
• [p]Overclock scales its Ranged Attack, Ranged Defence, Melee Attack and Melee Defence by the users Hacking Attack stat[/p]
• [p]Added new starting origin called Neural Syndicate to enable players to easily test the new hacking changes. Start with a Hacker and two Robots[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]📡 That's All For Now[/h2][p]
As always, keep sending us your thoughts through the Feedback Form (you can also find it in the Main Menu). Every report helps us improve Space Scum during the Playtest.[/p][p]And if you want to keep up with development, chat with the community, and talk directly to us, join us on Discord![/p][p][/p][p]Until next time, keep on survivin’![/p][p][/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p]Looking for more?[/p][p]Another Forklift-published game Roman Triumph has just launched in 1.0! 🏛️[/p][p]Build your city, defend it from invaders, please the gods, and see how long you can survive 👇🏻[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Exactly one week ago we launched the Open Playtest for Space Scum, and we’ve been blown away by the response. Thousands of you have already jumped in, poked at systems, broken things in creative ways, and left us a ton of valuable feedback![/p][p]We can’t thank you enough ❤️[/p][p]In just the first three days, we shipped three major patches with fixes, balance tweaks, and quality-of-life improvements, all based directly on what you told us. Your reports, comments, and suggestions have helped us improve the game quickly and meaningfully.[/p][p][/p][h2]🟢 The Playtest is staying open for now![/h2][p]We want you to be part of this journey as we continue building and improving the game. Keeping the Playtest open means you’ll get access to upcoming changes as soon as they’re ready![/p][p]In the coming weeks, we’ll also start publishing Dev Logs. These will give you a closer look at how Space Scum is being made, what’s next on our roadmap, what we’re still figuring out, and what we’ve learned so far.[/p][p][/p][h2]💫 How to Join the Playtest[/h2][p]If you haven’t joined yet, it’s easy:[/p]

1. [p]Go to the Space Scum Steam page[/p]
2. [p]Scroll down to the Playtest section[/p]
3. [p]Click the Request Access button[/p]
4. [p]Steam will grant access automatically, and the Playtest will appear in your Library[/p]

[p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]🤝 Help the project[/h2]

• [p]Leave your feedback after a session. Even a single paragraph helps a lot.[/p]
• [p]Wishlist the game on Steam if you haven’t yet. It really boosts visibility.[/p]

• [p]Join our Discord to chat with us and other players[/p]

[p]
See you out there, Scum! 🛸[/p][p][/p][p] — The Space Scum Team

[/p]

[p][/p][p]This is an early build and we are opening it for a full week because your opinion matters most right now. Jump in, try whatever weird ideas you have, and tell us what clicks and what doesn't. Your feedback will guide our next steps![/p][p][/p][h2]🟢 How to join[/h2]

1. [p]Open the Space Scum page on Steam[/p]
2. [p]Hit the big green button to install, then launch the Open Playtest build[/p]

[p]Play as much as you like through September 9[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]🎯 What we want to hear your thoughts on[/h2]

• [p]Core combat feel, pacing, and moment to moment choices[/p]
• [p]Early game onboarding, how quickly you understand what to do[/p]
• [p]Performance on your setup, frame rate and stability[/p]
• [p]Any rough edges in menus, tooltips, and readability[/p]

[p]If something surprises you, good or bad, we want to know about it![/p][p][/p][h2]📝 Send feedback from inside the game[/h2][p]Open the feedback form from the Main Menu. Short notes are great, detailed write ups are amazing. If you record something, drop a link to the video. Specs help when you report performance. Every report goes straight to the devs![/p][p][/p][h2]❓ Quick answers[/h2]

• [p]Free to play for the entire week, no keys needed[/p]
• [p]Streaming and videos are welcome. Tag us if you post, or drop a link in our Discord[/p]
• [p]The build is in early development, some things will change[/p][p][/p]

[h2]🤝 Help the project[/h2]

• [p]Leave your feedback after a session, even a single paragraph helps a lot[/p]
• [p]Wishlist the game on Steam if you have not yet, it really boosts visibility[/p]
• [p]Join our Discord to chat with the team and other players[/p]

[p]Thank you for testing, for caring, and for pushing Space Scum forward. See you out there, Scum![/p][p][/p][p] — The Space Scum Team

[/p]