Surviving Ceres News

Greetings Pilgrims;

So, the next fest is over, and we got some fantastic feedback. I have been compiling a list of players' requests, and this update brings the more minor but impactful changes into the game. Some of the larger ideas will be worked on this month, with the hope of dropping them in April. A huge shout out to everyone who tried the demo, and especially to those who took the time to give amazing constructive feedback on Steam and Discord.

Here is a list of changes found in this patch;

• We have added an option to allow players to invert mouse Y (up and down) and mouse X (left and right).
  
• We have added an option to use low-flashing VFX. Some players found harvesting at night a bit bright, so this option adds a variant to those VFX that reduces any bright flashes. I also reduced a couple of facility VFX with this option. If any player encounters a VFX they find too bright, let me know, and I will include it in this system of alternate VFX.
  
• We completely reworked mission objective/tip texts and data pad texts, adding critical information and giving all of these texts a serious polish pass for grammar and clarity. We still need to do this for the help texts found in the help wiki, but these critical mission texts have been seriously improved.
  
• We added some names to the colonist name generation pool that players requested in the discord SC_Project channel.
  
• We added a couple of new posters for content creators who have been showing the game some love: DarkSky and Drayus. I am not in a position to offer sponsored videos, but I am happy to reward creators who promote the game through in-game posters.
  
• We have reworked skylighting, light shafts, and lens flares. Overall, the aim was to increase visibility at night in the early game, which we have achieved. This is a tricky aspect that we will continue to examine as we develop, but I am happy with the current lighting and hope that players who found it a bit dark on Ceres feel better about the nighttime visuals.
  
• We added an iron and ice deposit to the starting rocket area. This was a suggestion to help players learn about deposits and push them not to build beside the rocket but to locate the large flat area for the base building. I am not 100% sure how I feel about these nodes being there. I might switch them to rocks or something else that denies placing a HUB beside the rocket, but for now, there are nodes. After players see the new landing spot, I would love to hear feedback on this issue.
  
• We changed Register Storage to Name Storage. It was register due to colonist logisitics, but some of that was pulled back as it added complexity that didn't benefit the game. This new name the storage fits the use better.
  
• Changed the overweight penalty to limit speed in a flat linear way instead of a percentage-based penalty. If you had good moving speed, this penalty was too low; now, it will always slow you down enough for you to care about weight management.
  
• We added an auto-turnoff feature for basic farm irrigation systems. When the water runs, if it senses no active plants growing, it will automatically turn off, saving you ice.
  
• We did a bit of recoloring to the main inventory/player stats HUD. I made the scroll bar black to make it pop out, and I recolored all the stats to match their colors displayed on the primary HUD bottom left panel. I stick to a small color palette of only a few colors I know work together, as my color theory is not expert-level. However, it was suggested that I color the stats, and after doing so, it looks good. Let me know what you think.
  
• There were also a couple of fixes for the beta client that I won't bother to list as this was mainly focused on next fest feedback, but everything that has been reported as an issue in the beta has been sorted out as well.
  

That is it for this patch. Some of the more enormous suggested ideas will be worked on this month, as well as some optimization and anything that arises from Beta feedback. Thank you so much to everyone for their interest and support in the game. The feedback has been very positive, which is the only thing that matters to me. We may never find that many players, but if the players who play the game have fun, I can live happily with that. Stay tuned for more updates as we head towards the 1.0 launch.

Greetings Pilgrims;

This update brings a few small changes and additions to the DEMO build but primarily focuses on the late-game aspects only available in the BETA build.

A new key action was added to remove the player's main HUD. This is by default on the "P" key but has been added to the key-binds section of the options menu for rebinding.

We have added new visuals, animations, VFX, and SFX to all the late-game facilities.

Facilities with colonist workers have had a worker terminal added to them where colonists will sit and work on the machines of that facility.

On top of the facility face lifts many other aspects have been added or reworked. These include such things as;

-Ice walls no longer just disappear when you cross terraforming thresholds. They have multiple states and visuals for multiple phases of melting, eventually ending in just being removed completely. But, this makes it more realistic for the melting process.

-More trees, bushes, and bugs have been added to the later terraforming stages. After doing some experimenting I was able to increase the visual fidelity of the world post terraforming.

-Both expeditions two and three have had finalized levels created for them.

In addition to these major aspects, there have been many smaller additions, tweaks, and changes made mostly aimed at streamlining the end-game and improving the overall game experience.

The DEMO is feeling great, and we are pushing toward "Next Fest". The May 2nd release date is well on track, and I will continue to work and use all your feedback from the demo and beta builds. If you would like to be a part of the game beta please join the games discord and request a key. Thank you so much for all of your support.

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.