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Abiotic Factor News

Abiotic Factor is Better With Friends!

[h5][color]Greetings, esteemed colleagues![/color][/h5]

Happy Steam Autumn sale! Abiotic Factor is 20% off from now until December 4th.

We hope that’s enough incentive for you to give us a little nomination for the Steam Awards. No? Fie, well you’ve twisted our arm so we will also promise a Christmas update to happen in the very very near future.

On what is definitely an unrelated note - this decade old magazine was turned into Warren's Lost & Found. If any of our scientists recognize it, please let us know.



Huh, interesting.

[color]Onward -- to science.[/color]

[h2]Join the Scientific Community![/h2]

[h3]Join the Research Division Today![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/

SR #17: The Road to Reactors

[h5][color]Greetings, esteemed colleagues![/color][/h5]
In this Status Report we will be sharing some important news on our update schedule along with a peek at a most-festive update. A peek at your presents, if you will.

[h3]A Message from the Director[/h3]
Kicking off this whole post, our Design Director Zag is here to share some words on the changes to our roadmap.

Greetings scientists!
The team has been heads-down on Dark Energy. It is massive. And it’s proving to be one of the largest updates Abiotic Factor has ever seen. With the introduction of a whole new faction, a whole new sector (made of multiple sub-sectors), and doing it all the right way, we’ve made some adjustments to our roadmap timeline. Not by much, but adjustments all the same, and as you know, we like to communicate. Anyone who has watched the vlogs knows we actually can’t shut up sometimes.

Ahem, anyway - we want to get you into the Reactors (and beyond?) as soon as it’s ready, but we also want to take the time to get it right. As you know from the gazillion hours you’ve put into ABF, we have a certain level of quality, a certain bar for new content, and a very specific amount of love that our updates require, and we are never going to compromise on that quality or balance sniper spawn rates.

(That last part was a joke - probably.)

As we’ve neared the end of 2024, we felt we were compromising on one-too-many things, just little things, but the things that make the game what it is. The change is this; we’re shifting the Christmas update in front of the major Dark Energy update. As for Dark Energy, you’ll see it just on the other side of the holidays - Q1 2025.

You’ve trusted us this far to deliver (and we love you all to the Flesh Dimension and back for that) so we ask that you carry on just a bit further. But don’t fret – we have a community-centric bundle of stuff dropping just in time for Christmas.

We also have another little present coming up pretty darn soon, but it’s still under wraps. Keep an eye out.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the updated roadmap as it now sits, and then we’ll talk more in-depth about the Christmas update coming in December!

Oh, but first, the tiniest of peeks at Dark Energy… while you wait.

Neat.

[h2][color]The Updated Roadmap[/color][/h2]


[h2]A Peek at Your Presents[/h2]
For the Christmas update, we’re dropping all kinds of gifts. Let’s take a look under the wrapping.

[h3]Early Access Rewards[/h3]
For the many many scientists who have been helping us create great things during this Early Access period, we want to thank you! We’re not done yet, but we wanted to make sure everyone who plays before 1.0 receives a few in-game goodies.


[h3]Heard the Buzz?[/h3]
Is anything as sweet as science? According to the Brix viscosity scale, honey comes close, at 60 to 80 percent! Is it actually honey? Are these actually bees? We’ll leave that up to you and your tastebuds to decide.


[h3]The Purple Armor[/h3]
Some scientists may have already noticed the Crystalline armor floating around in a few of our screenshots and videos. We were going to blame Dr. Stern for their early reveal - after all, he prototyped the thing - but when we went to yell at him about it, we couldn’t find him and we’re not entirely sure where he’s gone.



[h3]Charging Up the Field[/h3]
As expeditions into the depths of the Facility (and worlds beyond) become longer and more fraught with danger, sometimes there simply isn’t time to search for a power outlet when you need to recharge your gear. And carrying around that charging station? That’s just bad form, really.


We’ll dive further into this little doohicky on release.

[h3]deepth feld plz fix throwing[/h3]
Don’t throw a fit, scientist… Throw knives instead!


Throwing knives are a new type of weapon, with multiple tiers, that you can soon craft. We’re also looking at making Throwing XP easier to gain, but also a bit more sensible, taking into account weight of the item, and so on and so forth.

[h3]Something about Soup[/h3]
As you know, we’ve added some handy quality-of-life to cooking, but we still feel soup just isn’t quite there yet. We’ve been working on improving some of the soup system, particularly around discovering recipes and finding new ingredients. We also feel that the current soup system is a bit too punishing on failure to make a good soup, so we’re doing a few things there as well. We’ll dive more into that bowl (of soup?) when we’re ready to share (our soup?) with you. Soup, soup, soup.

Soup.

[h3]Other Christmas Things (Not Soup)[/h3]
We have a few more things coming for Christmas, but some presents are best left un-peeked. Dr. Stern has been muttering something about a contamination involving IS-0083, but that’s an arcade machine and we weren’t really listening anyway because he keeps wearing his Santa Hat around the labs and like, it’s still November, man!

When we find that guy we’re gonna give him a piece of our mind.

Anyway, I’m sure all of these questions will be resolved soon.

[h3]The Holidays Cometh[/h3]

Thanks for joining us on all of our scientific ventures! If you find yourself unable to move due to excess holiday ingestions, take a relaxing break by submitting your most infuriating bugs through the in-game bug report form link!

Thank you for all your work in the GATE Cascade Research Facility!

Onward -- to science.

[h2]Join the Scientific Community![/h2]
We’re now also on 🦋Bluesky, by the way. You can find us here, but we’ll probably be changing the username to a cleaner URL shortly, so don’t use this link if you’re reading this at some point in the future. Or something like that. But you can use it right now! … If you’re reading this right now.
[h3]Join the Research Division Today![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/

Peer Review #1

[color]Greetings to our fellow colleagues,[/color]

We're starting a brand new series called [color]Peer Review[/color], where we look at creations from the scientific community -- that's you!

To start us off, today we’re going to set some standards for Fan Art, fan fiction, and other fan creations. We’ve heard feedback that you’d like more detailed guidelines, as well as our not-so-vague approval of fan creations in general. Many people ask us if X, Y, or Z is okay to draw, write about or post.

Generally, the answer is absolutely yes! Let’s hop into specifics.

A small forward from Henry Feltham, Narrative Director at Deep Field Games:

We’ve witnessed incredible results from your endeavors over the last six months - groundbreaking research and professional creativity of the highest order!

After paying meticulous attention to the fruits of your creative endeavors, we offer the following guidance to assist your scientific efforts going forward.

There’s a lot of speculation around IS numbers and how they operate, so below are a few rules we use at GATE for classification, lore-keeping, and remaining consistent within our universe.

[h3]Writing Your Own Immurement Candidates[/h3]
  • GATE assesses all potential subjects for official immurement. Until such time as an IS becomes official (let's call it “canon”) it is under a different designation: IC.

  • This classification is: Immurement Candidate (IC) and is assigned a four-digit reference number, for example: IC-1234.

  • If you’re writing about a hypothetical candidate, please use the IC numbering system, instead of the IS numbering system, to help differentiate “canon” entities from “community created” entities.

  • Typically these numbers should avoid any already in use by an IS, and it is always possible that GATE will announce an IS designation in future using that number, at which point any IC that uses it will, presumably, have to change.

  • A reference number is unique and can be used only once. Consult the (SPOILER WARNING) ABF Wiki Immurement Registry for a list of known entities that GATE has cataloged.

  • IC’s are given provisional designations depending on their qualities and behavior, itemized on the Immurement Registry page.

  • There are no current limits to what GATE may consider an IC: objects, artifacts, organisms, events, certain locations or anteverses – even ideas – may be considered an IC.

  • However, if you are researching a location, independent from our own local universe, it will most likely be categorized as an Anteverse, rather than an IC.

  • Your findings increase and expand our understanding of the universe and realms beyond. You can post your own findings in the community-led GATE Collective section of the Abiotic Factor Wiki. Please remember to respect the rules and regulations of the Wiki, both in the community-created content sections, and all official Wiki pages.

We maintain awareness of such esteemed scientific periodicals on Twitter, Discord, the Steam Community Hub and Reddit, and eagerly await your further data and findings. Along with written creations, we are also keeping an eye on artwork and other creations, which we post periodically on Twitter.

[h3]Some Exemplary Examples[/h3]

Happy Halloween from Tiberius the Inquisitor! by LostAlyx on Steam
Sister of the Unlost by tsenphil on Steam
Symphonist by Wormweed on Steam
Dr. Riggs by zura on Steam
Till Leyak Do Us Part by CHMcat on Steam
Little Squishy Pest by hm.nom. on Reddit
Just some memes by Kailunsite on Steam
A Birthday Feast! by zeldafreak96 on Reddit (made by their family)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Deceptively Simple Lore of Abiotic Factor's GATE Organization by Myriad on Youtube
[color](editor's note: spoiler warning, and exact accuracy is... well, speculative!)[/color]

[hr][/hr]
[h3]Thank you for your incredible work and creativity, and we look forward to sharing more of your creations with the scientific community in the future.[/h3]

Do you want to share your own creations but are unsure where to post them? Here are some places we recommend!



Platform

Type of content




Artwork, GIFs, Videos




Artwork, GIFs, Links to Videos




Artwork, GIFs, Videos


[color]Onward -- to science.[/color]

[h2]Join the Scientific Community![/h2]

[h3]Join the Research Division Today![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/

Hotfix 0.9.2.12333



Salutations, sweet scientists,

We’ve released a hotfix that should banish some ghastly issues!

Please update your game and servers when you get a moment away from scientific study. If you don't receive an update, verify your game files.

Hotfix 0.9.2.12333 Changes -


[h2]Customization Changes:[/h2]
  • New Hair Color: Bronze
  • New Hair Color: Black

[h2]Other Fixes:[/h2]
  • The Splintered Crossbow can now be salvaged.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause multi-ammo-type weapons to fire the wrong ammo type.
  • Changed the text color on Small Signs to be slightly more white to improve legibility.
  • Fixed a bug causing the Small Sign’s durability value to be overridden with an incorrect (and much smaller) number upon taking damage.
  • Fixed a bug causing caught fish or other fished up items to spontaneously disappear if the player has no room in their inventory. Fish and fished up items now drop on the ground if the player’s inventory is full.
  • Fixed a bug preventing turrets from reliably firing at enemies if placed at a sideways angle.
  • Fixed a bug that made players fly when using a Cloth Rope and Plant Rope deployed close together.
  • Fixed a bug preventing the radiation glyph from appearing on radioactive items and containers with radioactive items in them.
  • Potential fix for Cauldron bubbles disappearing after rehosting a world.
  • Reduced the size of grown pumpkins in Garden Plots so that the water level is visible again and scientists can properly interact with them.
  • Fixed some subtitle timing and localization issues for Dr. Riggs.
  • Fixed an issue with Niketas’ dialogue not being properly localized in French and Simplified Chinese.


We are still investigating other reports and issues so please keep the science coming. Thanks!

Onward to science!

❤ The Deep Field Team

Hotfix 0.9.2.12106



Greetings my ghouls,

AHH! 👻 A hotfix. Truly the scariest time of year.

Hotfix 0.9.2.12106 Changes


[h2]Canaan Changes: (SPOILERS!)[/h2]
  • A new enemy can now appear in Canaan after it's been completed (on return trips), which will sometimes drop additional Lodestone fragments.
  • Reports of floating rope bindings are to be ignored, we don’t know what you’re talking about, honestly. Maybe you’re eating too much of the bad corn?
  • The men breathe a bit quieter now, when in combat.
  • Potential fix for Crossbow wielders shooting themselves in the face.
  • Several friendly (and less friendly) NPC lines that were not properly localized have been corrected.
  • Various fixes for Canaanite’s inability to attack deployable objects placed by scientists, as well as attacking scientists on inclines.
  • Torchbearer damage reduced a bit. His “Holy” fire still remains potent, and ignores armor.
  • Fixed a journal typo.
  • The Cauldron is no longer (accidentally) unlockable by item pickup as the recipe is intended to be found through other means.
  • Hexed Trees drop slightly more Hexwood now.
  • Improved certain trigger state issues around the swamp witch and her very real threats. She should no longer ever be heard after a certain point.
  • Niketas will now never drop bio scrap, always drops the good stuff.
  • Replaced the placeholder appearance of Niketas’ shield.
  • The Canaanites have installed a new window in their barn.
  • A particular wooden ramp near the swamp in Canaan is now easier to get up.

[h2]Item Changes:[/h2]
  • Wessex (Sniper) Rifle damage increased to 105, from 90
  • Romag (Military) Shotgun damage has been reduced to 18, from 20
  • Increased max Battery on Tech Sceptre from 60 to 90
  • Increased max Battery on Welding Spear from 100 to 150
  • Increased max Battery on Lightning Spear from 50 to 150
  • Warren thought your work on the Lodestone Crossbow could be improved and has made some fine-tuned modifications to your design. I guess he is useful for something after all. He also said you’re “playing with fire” but who knows what he meant by that.
  • Increased damage to 40, from 26. This damage will apply to all types of bolts it fires, but not change their secondary effect damage.
  • Increased fire rate to 0.9, from 1 second.
  • Increased magazine size to 8, from 6.

[h2]Other Fixes:[/h2]
  • Potential fix for an issue where clients might hear Platform Carts moving upon joining, when the carts are not moving.
  • Increased the character count in the Direct Connect text input box, for those who have this option enabled. This feature remains experimental and can be enabled by running the game with -directconnect in the launch parameters.
  • Fixed Defense Analyst selection showing unknown information on tooltip for Slow Learner.
  • Fixed incorrect camera angle when emoting after being grabbed by certain enemies.
  • Ground shake on footsteps of big bois now respects your camera shake settings.
  • Certain items that SHOULD be salvaged for their resources will no longer ask for confirmation to do so.
  • Possible fix for the area soundtrack not changing correctly when entering a new location under certain circumstances.
  • Resolved an issue where Dr. Manse spoke the wrong IS number during his archival recordings. Manse hadn’t had his tea that day, but he is very aware the IS number is 0064, not 0046. Please do not correct him again.

Onward to science!

The Deep Field Team