Heat Death: Survival Train News

Hello survivors and engineers!

We're rolling out the new open beta version of Heat Death for everyone to test and enjoy!

[h3]How to update to open beta?[/h3]
Here's how you can opt-in:
- Go to your Steam library and right-click on "Heat Death: Survival Train Demo".
- Select "Properties", then navigate to "Betas".
- From the drop-down menu, choose "open_beta".
- Let Steam take care of the game update.

[h3]What's new in v0.1.12.e?[/h3]
Here's a rundown of the fresh changes in this version:
- Prologue Redesign: We've given the Prologue a makeover, with updated quests and a rebalanced resource system.
- New Build Menu: By pressing the "Q" button, you can access a wheel/grid menu for building, scrapping, and more.
- Moving Module: The "Move" option in the build menu lets you shift modules without having to scrap them. Please note, scrapping modules will now only return a fraction of the resources used to build them.
- Module Color Change: You can now add a dash of color to your train by changing the color of the structural elements!
- Stickers: Add a personal touch to your train with stickers! You'll need a new resource called “Cartridge” for this.
- Scout Drones: We've added two scout drones to the game! You'll need to either travel during the storm to avoid them or destroy them using the Icicle.
- Module Repair: Scout drones can cause damage to your train. Any critically damaged modules won't function until they are repaired.
- New Structural Modules: You can now add fences, half-walls, half-floors, and half-ceiling tiles to your train for more customization!
- New Weapons System: Direct control of weapons is no longer available. Instead, you’ll need to build a new “Weapon Controller” module to operate them remotely. Don't forget to load them with ammo before you start firing!
- Motion Sickness: We've added a new setting under the "Other" tab that allows you to disable camera shake, which could help reduce motion sickness for some players.
- Performance Optimization: We've revamped part of the building system, which should now offer improved performance when building a train with numerous modules.
- Various bug fixes, optimizations, and tweaks.

[h3]Public version (non-beta version) revert:[/h3]
Due to VC++ Runtime issues for some players (mostly on Steam Deck), we've reverted the public version back to 0.1.7.i. If you played the public version in the last two days without any issues, feel free to opt into the open beta and continue playing.

We're always excited to hear your feedback and we thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

Hello & Welcome!

In this very first blog post of "Heat Death: Survival Train" on Steam, we will tell you a quick description about Heat Death and also a brief history of it. If you just want the links, skip to the last paragraph "How to learn more?".

Please follow along, join the community and subscribe to our socials to get the latest videos and news about Heat Death and its updates.

. What is Heat Death?

Heat Death is a sci-fi survival game where you can build your train and explore a frozen world! This train is not only your base but also your vehicle and weapon!

#Gameplay
You will explore a vast world with different biomes and weather conditions. You can craft and customize your train with various compartments and attachments. You must survive deadly storms, hostile bots and drones. Discover the planet’s secrets and the lore behind it. Heat Death is being developed using Unreal Engine 5 and offers stunning graphics only possible on latest version of engine.

#Environment
Heat Death takes place on an Eyeball planet, which is tidally locked to its star. One side of the planet always faces the star, and the other is always dark! Your goal is to travel to the dark side of this planet!

. How heat death started?

The idea of a mobile-base survival game was on mind of our co-founder for a couple of months, until the first designs came to life in late 2022. Our indie team - with previous experience on mobile titles - was founded and the alpha version of demo was playable on itch.io in mid 2023. Heat Death received couple of updates and by the end of 2023, the first public demo was live on Steam.

Since then, the updates have continued on two separate channels on Steam. One for the "Beta" version of demo and another for the "Public" version of demo.
The beta updates are gradually pushed to the public channel as they are getting polished and bug-fixed.

. What is the current status?

Today we are publishing the new beta version openly, meaning that everyone can join and try it. This open beta has been worked on for a few months in the closed beta channel. For instructions on how to join the open beta, please follow along our next post here on Steam.

. What's good?

Not only Heat Death is participating in Steam's Next Fest of June, but we have been chosen by Steam to be in the official Next Fest content produced and streamed by Steam. We are giving away more exclusive content during the Next Fest which begins on 11th of June 2024. Join our Discord server from this link for more news on this.

. What's next?

The next phase after demo, will be an early access on Steam, which will be available sometime after the Next Fest and will include updates on a lot of things e.g. the environment, map and story.

. How to learn more?

First, get a first-hand experience by downloading the free demo and playing it for yourself. You can get it from:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2662780/Heat_Death_Survival_Train/
or searching the steam for "Heat Death: Survival Train".

Also make sure to join our Discord server from this link:
https://discord.gg/WH8RCvcnUQ

On Discord, we post latest news and also the latest videos and live streams our community is continuously making about Heat Death.

Also subscribe to the official YouTube channel to get the latest trailers and gameplays straight from the development team. Subscribe from:
https://www.youtube.com/@HeatDeathGame

We hope to see you soon on our socials. Stay tuned for more blog post and updates.