Dev Diary #8 - New Skill Masteries & Scouting Changes!

[p]We've been hard at work on Oceaneers, making lots of adjustments and improvements as we internally test the full game build.[/p][p][/p][h3]Important: These changes are NOT live in the current demo.[/h3][p][/p][h2]Let's dive in![/h2][p][/p][p]Just a quick reminder, the best way you can currently support the game is:[/p]

[p]Wishlist it.[/p]
[p]Let your favorite YouTuber/Streamer know about the game.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Character Skill Mastery![/h2][p]If you've played the demo, you are likely already familiar with the research table requiring a character of a minimum Science level to do "Advanced Research".[/p][p]We are now experimenting with skill mastery levels, and high tier cooking stations and crafting stations will require "Advanced Cooking" and "Advanced Crafting".[/p][p] [/p][p]Characters must reach the mastery level in the appropriate skill and then use a training station to obtain the mastery level. You may have noticed characters studying and training at combat dummy's in the recent gameplay trailer. Once they complete training they gain the mastery level, AND get to choose a special skill trait.[/p][p][/p][p]Not all skills will have mastery levels (we will add it where it feels appropriate). Some skills like combat have two mastery levels so you gain two extra skill traits.[/p][p]When combined with our character creator, equipable items and clothing this gives you a good amount of depth for customizing your character and making them specialists in their field.[/p][p][/p][h2]Scouting![/h2][p]Overall we love the scouting mechanic; it really plays into exploration and the excitement uncovering what's in the nearby sectors - but... we didn't love the pacing at the start to get to scouting. This added friction for new players, and just felt unnecessary for experienced players. So we're testing some changes.[/p]

[p]There is only one tier of scout vessel, the new "Scout Glider", strap on your canoe shoes![/p]
[p]We are also experimenting with possible upgrades to the glider.[/p]
[p]There is a new outpost vessel, the "Outpost Barge", that has nothing to do with scouting, but follows the Scout Glider on the research tere.[/p]
[p]The game starts with an abandoned scout glider which works well with the story, and allows you to start scouting right away without the additional research or construction time.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]Demo Update![/h2][p]We are planning to update the demo at some point and bring all of the new changes across, however there are more changes we are testing and a few other QoL improvements before we do that.[/p][p]Another reason we aren't rushing this out is that the demo update will not work with previous saves due to significant underlying changes, so if you want to finish your current demo playthrough you have plenty of time (we know some players have already put 10+ hours into the demo!).[/p][p][/p][h2]And More...[/h2][p]The full game is being put through its paces with lots of testing, and we are going through and tweaking balance, pacing and even making some more significant changes to systems we aren't' 100% happy with. Here's a few other things we are experimenting with, we should have more detail to share on these soon:[/p]

[p]Changes to how upgrades work in the research tree[/p]
[p]Changes to combat & related equipment[/p]
[p]Changes to the temperature system and how heat sources work[/p]
[p]New automation features & improvements to existing features[/p]
[p]Lots of QoL improvements[/p]
[p]UI Improvements[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Translations[/h2][p]On the translation front, we are still deciding the best way to handle localization. A lot of big titles went into Early Access as English Only and later added support for community translations (Raft, Subnautica, Oxygen Not Included, RimWorld, Satisfactory), so we may follow suit. With so much depth to the game there are a lot of objects and a lot of text, and we want the flexibility to make quick changes throughout the Early Access period.[/p][p][/p][p]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/p][p][/p][p]You can show us if you are interested in a language by:[/p]

[p]Wishlisting the game (we see wishlists per region)[/p]
[p]Let us know via forums/discord.[/p]

[p]The number of wishlists and interest shown for each region heavily influences the languages we will localize into, and we will be considering whether community translations are a good fit for the game.[/p][p][/p][h3]Controller & Steam Deck Support[/h3][p]Some players have already played on the Steam Deck, but we don't have official support just yet. We do plan to have it fully playable on the Steam Deck further into development (and we have our Steam Deck ready to test!)[/p][p][/p][p]Controller support is challenging for this type of game that has this much depth, and we don't want the gameplay to be limited by controller inputs. Our plan is to look into this once we have all of our features in to see what is possible. We have good experience implementing controllers and it is on our mind during development, but we are also aware of the limitations.[/p][p][/p][h3]Found a Bug?[/h3][p]Please report them! Whether it's a typo or something more significant please let us know via the forums or via Discord.[/p][p][/p][h3]Help & Guides[/h3][p]This genre of game naturally comes with a lot of freedom, and this includes freedom to make mistakes (e.g. not building water production for your colony). Figuring things out is a big part of the fun for these types of games![/p][p]Having said that, if you struggle to survive you can follow the progression guide shown on the side of the screen and there is a bunch of tutorials in the handbook.[/p][p][/p][h3]If Somethings Needs Better Tutorials[/h3][p]There is a lot of depth in the game and we already have a heap of tutorials shown in the handbook. We do have more tutorials planned so if you find something is not explained well enough or are still confused about anything, be sure to let us know.[/p][p][/p][h3]"What game is it like"[/h3][p]We like to ask players what game it reminds them of, and, "oh buoy", we have seen just about every game under the sun mentioned by now! [/p][p]It's been really interesting to see what type of games players have brought up - obviously this depends a lot on which games payers have played in the past. In no particular order:[/p]

[p]Don't Starve and Paper Mario (in relation to the art style).[/p]
[p]Oxygen Not Included, Rimworld, The Survivalist, Cult of the Lamb.[/p]
[p]Raft (and open world survival crafting games in general).[/p]
[p]The Flame in The Flood, Flotsam, Frostpunk & Sheltered.[/p]
[p]A hint of Fallout/Fallout Shelter.[/p]
[p]Monkey Island, The Sims, Craft the World, Clanfolk.[/p]

[p]We knew there would be comparisons to similar looking games (like Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included), so we were extremely pleased to see players add comments to this comparison that Oceaneers is still very different and innovative, it's very much doing its own thing.[/p][p][/p][h3]What's Next!?[/h3][p]We are hard at work on the full game! Recently we have been improving crop farming, fishing rods and smelting metals - then tying all of the survival progression into the story/objective progression.[/p][p][/p][h3]Come have a chat![/h3][p]Our community is growing, and everyone has been amazing and really friendly. Come chat with the devs and other players in our Discord[/p][p][/p][h2]Leaving Feedback[/h2][p]If you encounter any bugs, or would love to discuss features please do so via the Steam forums or our Discord. It's really helpful to know about the parts of the game you enjoy, as well as anything you don't.[/p][p][/p][p]You can also check discord for a list of known bugs, community suggestions and upcoming plans![/p][p][/p][p]
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[/p][h3]⚡ Be sure to Wishlist Oceaneers, and stay tuned for the next dev diary and more announcements. ❤️[/h3][p]

[/p][h3]Join Us![/h3][p]Join our discord to discuss the game and share your ideas!
Join discord here

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Some recent Dev Diaries in case you missed them:
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