\[Devlog] 2 weeks of Lab: what we observed and what we are working on
[p]The Lab has now been available for two weeks. First of all: thank you for your enthusiasm. Thank you as well for the time you have spent testing, discussing, streaming, experimenting, criticizing, creating memes, and writing positive reviews about our work.[/p][p]This post is here to share what we see on the studio side, what is working, what raises questions, and how we are moving forward. We hope you will enjoy reading this article as much as we enjoyed writing it.[/p][h2]
What the first numbers and feedback show[/h2][p]During this first period, several signals clearly stood out.[/p][p]The
Steam Hub post related to the Lab update has passed 1,000 likes, a first for us, with many comments as well, all of them interesting to read. This is not an objective in itself, but it is a strong indicator that the topic matters to you and makes you want to react.[/p][p]Written feedback (reviews, discussions, etc.) confirms something important for us: our work does not leave people indifferent. From what we read, it both validates our direction and sparks new desires and expectations.[/p][p]Many of you also jumped into the update to try it out. This was visible on the concurrent players curve, with a peak above 1,500 players, and the game gained an additional 0.1 percent of positive reviews, reaching 94.7 percent. You are now very close to the 95 percent mark, which would be extraordinary. Reaching 95 percent is a dream milestone for studios, and for an indie studio like ours, it is also one of the best ways to gain visibility on Steam.[/p][p]If you enjoyed the game and have not yet left a review on the Steam page, now is the time. Let’s go for that 95 percent together.[/p][p][/p][p]
EDIT : YOU JUST HIT THE 95% !!![/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]What you liked in the new content[/h3][p]Almost unanimously, you appreciated the quality of the new ship sector. Its environmental variety, the preserved atmosphere, and the small surprises encountered in certain corridors were often mentioned.[/p][h3]What was sometimes mentioned as disappointing[/h3][p]While the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, two points caught our attention and deserve a closer look.[/p]
- [p]One comment pointed out that the update does not bring enough satisfaction for players who already have a very large amount of in game currency, meaning players who have effectively completed everything available in Early Access so far. This is a fair remark. This update completes a playable area that was previously unfinished and continues the work we had already started. It does not add a new very late game arc. For new players, however, a whole part of the map was clearly missing, and completing it was important for us.[/p]
- [p]Naturally, the absence of proximity chat in this update was also highlighted by a few players. Proximity chat is highly anticipated, but we are not ready to deploy it yet. It is both a technical and a gameplay challenge, which means there are many points of attention during development. We are excited to see you use this feature one day, but even more excited to see you truly enjoy it. That is why our small team needs to move carefully, especially for a feature like this. We talk about it in more detail below.[/p]
[h2]Discussions that surprised us and made us smile[/h2][p]Some discussions clearly went beyond what we expected. One example is the paragraph mentioning the burglary that happened at the studio, which generated many unexpected reactions, often funny and always comforting. We saw it come up again in several threads on Discord.[/p][p]The studio’s Discord server is also a wonderful place to meet funny and kind people. Special mentions this week go to two initiatives we particularly enjoyed:[/p]
- [p]a gameplay montage set to the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, shared in the dedicated Memes channel,[/p]
- [p]the warm welcome given by the Species: Unknown Specialists to onboard new players, many of whom arrived with this Lab update. Congratulations and thank you to them for this great welcoming effort.[/p]
[h2]Among the features currently in development[/h2][p]Two gameplay initiatives that were suggested on Discord have officially started development:[/p]
- [p]Mission Terminal: you will soon be able to add a terminal directly inside your shuttle. This will bring additional comfort for players starting farming sessions.[/p]
- [p]Work on new sidearms[/p]
[p]On these topics:[/p]
- [p]Nico is prototyping the game design intentions and weapon animations.[/p]
- [p]Guilhem is working on the UX and UI to integrate these features into the existing game systems, in the same spirit as the current tools.[/p]
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Nico (Game Director) and Guilhem (UX/UI Designer), picture taken few weeks ago[/p][p][/p][h2]Ongoing technical work (the less visible side)[/h2][p]
Engine Update to Unreal Engine 5.7. Over the past few days, a significant part of our work has focused on migrating the project to Unreal Engine 5.7. This change is not just a comfort upgrade. Following infrastructure changes on Epic’s side at the end of January, it became necessary to move to a more recent version of a specific SDK in order to remain compatible with the system used for multiplayer.[/p][p]The version we were using could no longer be migrated correctly, with compilation issues and editor instability. This is why we prioritized this task at this stage of development, right after deploying the Lab update.[/p][p]The objective is clear: benefit from a more optimized and better tested engine, with fewer crashes over time, improved performance, and reduced technical debt.[/p][p]Concretely, the first step was to ensure that the game runs properly both in real conditions for players and inside the editor for developers, while keeping our automated build pipeline functional.[/p][p]The second phase is a full QA pass, as if the game were launching for the first time, since this type of migration can introduce unpredictable regressions. The biggest unknown is always how many bugs will surface and how long it will take to fix them, but the current signals are rather positive, with fewer regressions than we initially feared.[/p][p]This is a structural task, not very spectacular in the short term, but essential for the stability and future evolution of the game.[/p][p]
Proximity Chat. We know this topic is highly anticipated, and we want to be transparent about its current state. We already discuss it on Discord, and this article is also a good opportunity to share more context.[/p][p]The voice chat solution currently used in the version of the game you are playing has technical limitations that prevent us from implementing a proper proximity system. That is why we are taking our time. We have explored a new approach, with a different solution, and started the first tests.[/p][p]The idea is to keep both solutions running in parallel during development, so that the existing service is never broken while we experiment. At this stage, the quality is not yet at a level we consider acceptable. The immediate goal is to reach at least the same level of reliability as the current system. Once this foundation is solid, we will be able to explore features such as sound spatialization, effects, or settings like individual player volume and microphone selection. For now, this work is on hold due to the Unreal Engine 5.7 migration, which is a technical priority. Stabilizing 5.7 is essential before we can safely resume work on proximity chat.[/p][p]
Bug hunting and fixing. With more than 200,000 players, the situations encountered in game are almost infinite. If there is a one in a million chance for a bug to occur, it will happen. When an extremely rare bug appears, identifying the exact reason why it triggered becomes our main challenge. We fix bugs on a daily basis, and you might not even notice it, which is actually a good thing. QA is a major topic for us, and we explain our approach just below.[/p][p][/p][p]
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Barthélémy trying to identify why a gas canister can sometimes fall through the floor. There was a very small chance for this to happen, but it did happen. Thanks to the players who reported this bug on Discord.[/p][h2]How we test the game internally[/h2][p]We do a lot of QA, and not only at the end of the pipeline. The entire team is involved, following a shared routine.[/p][p]We work with several testing environments, from the farthest to the closest to the version you are playing. We start with tests directly in the Unreal Editor, which are very efficient for quick iteration but obviously far from real gameplay conditions. Then come several successive builds, in development mode and in shipping mode, with or without internal debug tools.[/p][p]The closer we get to the player version, the more QA simply means playing the game normally, without shortcuts or tools, because this is where real issues tend to appear.[/p][p]Every night, the developments from the previous day are automatically built so they can be tested in real conditions the next day, and the demo version of the game is also checked at each iteration.[/p][p]The technical setup for these tests is handled by
Jérémy, with constant prioritization based on recent changes, since it is simply impossible to fully retest everything on every update. Barthélémy is also heavily involved in QA follow up. Your in game feedback helps us tremendously to detect issues we might miss, and we also watch many of your streams to identify behaviors and bugs that do not appear in our own play sessions.[/p][p][/p][p]
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Jérémy, Lead Dev on Species: Unknown[/p][p]On the organization side, we use a workflow close to the SCRUM method for those familiar with game development. This includes a daily meeting to synchronize the team and remove blockers, as well as a sprint planning every two weeks to decide what goes into the next sprint.[/p][h2]Looking forward to the rest of this early access[/h2][p]Thank you sincerely to everyone who takes the time to play, test, discuss, stream, or simply read and react to our posts. The game and its updates live through your feedback, whether enthusiastic or more critical, and it helps us move the project in the right direction.[/p][p]Keep sharing your thoughts on the Steam Hub, discussing on Discord, and if you have not done so yet, leaving a review. It is one of the most useful ways to support the project and guide our decisions.[/p][p]On our side, we will continue to move forward, test, stabilize, and iterate, with the desire to remain transparent and close to you. See you soon in game, and thank you for the trust you place in us.[/p]