Surviving Ceres News

Greetings Pilgrims;

This update is yet another round of visual improvements for Ceres.

There are a few small fixes and one major fix. In the last update, a change made to the mess hall broke its collision, making it impossible to be placed, which locked progression, as the mess hall is one of the requirements to bring in colonists.

This has been fixed as well as a handful of smaller issues that were brought to my attention by testers.

On the visual side, there are quite a few small details and some larger changes that will be quite obvious to returning players.

For example, the rocket has been overhauled in both exterior and interior. On the interior side, I have added some venting and smoke particles that indicate oxygen is flowing. Some players were unsure how to get their oxygen back in the early game and this change should help make it more obvious that you can replenish oxygen in the early game by using the rocket.

There are still some aspects in the works, but the demo is feeling and looking great. I am planning to finalize the demo very soon and include it in the upcoming Next Fest. After we reach that point we will switch focus to overhauling the late-game visuals and animations.

If you would like to help improve the full game please consider joining the discord and requesting a beta key. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I am very excited for the future of Ceres.

Greetings Pilgrims;

This is the third part of improving the game's visuals and overall presentation with various models, VFX, SFX, and tweaks.

There are quite a few visual and sound changes in this update, and I am not going to list them all. If you have played previously, you will see what is new. If you haven't played before, then the game will just be that much better when you do decide to try it out.

My current aim is to finalize everything related to the early game that is included in the demo as I am planning to join the upcoming "Steam Next Fest" with the demo build. However, some late-game aspects have already had changes as well. Some of these were done for the new trailer on the store page, and some were done just because it made logical sense to do so at the time. Ideally, when the demo is complete we will move on to finalizing the late-game visuals. Most of the late-game facilities are still just using placeholder visuals, but we will get there. I am targeting May 2, 2025, for release, and I believe we can hit that mark largely due to an amazing group of beta players helping out.

There are a few fixes and tweaks in this patch based on small issues found by beta players, a huge shout-out to all of you for your amazing work. The game's quality would be far worse without your ongoing help. There were no major issues found, but there were many small issues such as the wrong pre-placed visuals, incorrect tooltips, and some incorrect indexing of items. These have all been fixed.

On top of the fixes and changes, we have added some new content and items as well.

There were 16 new decorations added to the decoration constructor. These include a variety of wall posters, signage, and some plants that you can place around your base (they do not produce oxygen).

I considered some other types of decorations such as rugs and chairs, but it felt clunky and I pulled them out. If anyone has feedback on what other sort of decorations would suit the game, please let me know I am very much open to any ideas.

Another small but awesome change was the completion of the dynamic main menu. This is something the majority of players will never even notice, but I think it is super cool. In essence, as you terraform Ceres in your save the main menu also reflects these changes with nine different visual stages based on your progression. I put together a short YouTube video showcasing these stages if you are interested you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiA2atCR91A

It is a small detail that many will never see, but I love small details that add up to an amazing game in general. So, we did it.

I expect to drop one or two more updates to the demo before the next fest begins. There are still some elements that need to be reworked and improved. If you would like to join the beta and help guide the future of the game, join the discord and request a key.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and I can not wait for players to experience the finished version of the game later this year.

Greetings Pilgrims;

This is the next update in a series of updates related to visuals, VFX, SFX, and general polish.

The following aspects have been overhauled;

- New colonist models. We now have cool little stylized colonists with models for both males and females with multiple variations of heads, facial hair (for men), and hairstyles. As each colonist is generated a head, face, and hair options are selected and a profile picture representing that colonist can be found in the colony management HUD. Each colonist arrives in a space suit with a helmet and backpack. When they find a bed they will place their helmets and backpacks into storage and reveal their actual faces. I have also added the ability to customize the uniform for your colonists from the colony management HUD with your chosen colors.

- Expedition One has had its map overhauled and designed into a better space to battle alien bugs. The bosses now also explode through a wall and bust into the map when spawned. Expeditions two and three will be overhauled in the next update.

- Added bushes and grass clumps that begin to spawn after passing 75% terraforming progress.

- Added Butterfly and fireflies to the map that begin to spawn after passing 80% terraforming progress.

- Added a variety of tree models around the map that start to spawn and grow into full trees after passing 85% terraforming progress.

- Added fish to the lake that forms. These begin to appear after passing the 95% terraforming mark. I will also be adding flocks of birds to this terraforming event in the future.

All the terraforming event visuals that begin to appear are set up to not spawn if the player has built any structures in their vicinity. I can't know where players will make their base, or how large a base players will create. So, I have covered the map with trees, bushes, and bugs. If any building is in range they simply won't spawn there.

These items such as trees and grass also do not block future buildings you may place. If you spawn a building that intersects with any map visuals they will be removed on construction.

I have put a fair amount of vegetation and bugs around the map, but there is room to increase their density. I don't want to run into performance issues, but when we get to the stage where performance is being overhauled and monitored, if there are no issues I will increase the density of trees, bushes, and bug spawns.

Greetings Pilgrims;

I am pleased to announce that the first round of visual updates are now live in the demo and beta version of the game.

All 10 place-able machines have had unique visuals, effects, and sfc created and applied.

They are not insane high detailed AAA quality models, but I am not a AAA developer. They are however each unique with interesting animations and stylized visuals.

On top of the machines the early game facilities such as the refinery, basic manufacturer, and fuel refinery have had a visual overhaul.

There is still a lot of work left to be done in terms of set dressing, ambience, and advanced facilities. However, this is a great first step.

I will continue to work and bring the game to life with a unique visual style over the next few months at minimum. If you would like to help shape the games future consider joining the beta. You can do so by popping into the discord and requesting a key. Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you enjoy what has already been done with much more to come.

Greetings Pilgrims;

I have been bust working on new visuals, but many others have been playing the beta and providing feedback. A big thank you to everyone for the feedback as it has raised some great ideas and changes that are now implemented.

Change List;

- Fixed the rec-room pre-placed visual to match the final building
- Fixed an issue that could prevent ice from melting at the correct percents
- Fixed an issue that caused the mounted rail-gun when used manually that caused shots to go through aliens not triggering a kill and the attached achievement from doing do
- Added some extra slots to the liquid processor
- Added a new facility that auto generates filtered water. This facility only functions after 25% terraforming (when rain starts)
- Added the workshop which is a large 2 tiered empty space that is perfect for organizing machines and or storage boxes
- Fixed an issue that prevented the colonist achievements to not correctly fire when adding 8 and 12 colonists
- Reduced the normal level difficulty for drains related to air, food, and water. Some players found it a bit strict so it has been reduced. However, the highest levels of difficulty are still the same, only the lower difficulty settings where changed
- Added a toxic effect to the alien caves you can explore to acquire high end loot. There was not many ways to lose hit points so this change will enforce creating health potions. It is not to drastic of a damage over time, but it will make players move a little faster when inside the caves
- Added a warp type intro to starting a new game that makes the initial launch feel more spacey.
- Added and changed a few icons for certain items and materials
- Reworked the "Basic Base Constructor" visual. It is now better looking and smaller
- Added the workshop to the players starter inventory and reduced how many HUB's you start with to one

This is it for this small patch. I will continue to work on visuals, polish, vfx, sfx, and other aspects to bring the experience to life. Please continue to enjoy the beta and or demo while providing critical feedback that will be used to improve the game. Thank you for your time and support.