Exoplanet: First Contact News

Hello, friends!

The release of the Major Update is round the corner now and in the run-up to it we’d like to talk about the most significant element for any game — the gameplay. We’ve partially mentioned some of the changes in the technical update and now we’ll tell you more about each improvement.



The most important changes happened to the fighting system. We’re trying to make every fight as dynamic and interesting as possible — and the first step to it is combos. Now Jack can make three to four strikes one by one coming closer to the enemy and increasing the damage. He has also learnt to block the strikes — we’re going to add different variants of dodges and slides later. NPCs (both people and abori) also got combos — as a rule, they consist of two or three strikes.



We have also worked with fighting animations. You can see where exactly the shot hit and how much damage it caused by the NPC's reaction — and now you can finish the enemy with a good old headshot! You also have to watch your stamina during the fight — if Jack runs out of it, he will freeze for a short time and the enemies will definitely use it! And if our character gets significant damage he will need some time to recover from it — Jack will cease any actions he was intended to do, whether it’s a combo or reloading the weapon.



Speaking about weapons — we want to make The Edge a wilder place which means that there will be even less traces of civilization. That also goes for good weapons. It will be replaced by simple scolders and powerful homemade abori rifles — bangboks. They allow you to shoot from just one barrel as well as from both simultaneously which will help to cause more damage. A priceless opportunity considering aggressive fauna of K’Tharsis — if it’s possible to spare no bullets.



A lot of players complained that not every strike counts in the fight with enemies who are not tall enough, like bugs and crucases. We’ve solved this problem — and in an attempt to avoid the impression that Jack hits the air above his enemy, made an animation of bending during the strike.



We have also fixed the problem of interaction with objects. Thanks to the updated system of focusing and new filters, the interaction has become more precise and believable. For example, now you can’t pick an object through the wall and there will be considerably less pixel hunting.



One more important change for the Major Update 0.70 is a wheel which allows a player to choose weapons and items more conveniently than with the hotbar. We’re planning to test it but in the future updates the final choice will be up to a player. Don’t hesitate to give us feedback on what seems more convenient to you.

And of course, we’re concluding another key raffle in Discord — one of the final ones. The winners of this week are:

@falletangel
@HuskyBit
@СТОН СОСЕДА
@pesan
@Zelos

Congratulations, mates!



The raffles are coming to an end but nevertheless you still have a chance to win the key — join our channel for this. And while you wait for the results, don’t forget to drop by our devblog, get the freshest news from the development, leave your feedback and ask the developers everything you want to know! If you didn’t manage to get the key, don’t get upset and stay with us—we’re planning to go on having interesting events and raffles.

That’s all for now, friends. Try our new update and make sure to leave your feedback in the comments!

See you on updated K’Tharsis!

Hello, space cowboys and cowgirls!

The Major Update 0.70 is coming very soon, so it’s time to speak about the most interesting part—new quests which wait you in the game.

Update will add about thirteen brand new quests. Most of them can be completed in different ways. Now Jack can finish the story on The Edge—which means it’s high time for him to move on!



You have several options about how to leave the Edge: fixing Harry’s hoverbike, making an agreement with Herbalist or solving the conflict between the Outcasts and Scalphunters—both tribes will be happy to help Jack on condition that he will rid them of their enemies. But don’t forget that every choice has its consequences.



We have also reworked some of the already existing quests adding new ways to complete them or simply changing their logic, and have also fixed some bugs to make your gaming experience as smooth as possible.



That’s all for now about the quests, but it is time to conclude the results of another key raffle in our Discord! Congratulations to the winners of this week:

@magnus13
@Skyboy
@boris_sheremetev0
@skud79
@serialsata

Join our Discord and win a key, keep yourself updated with our #devblog, and of course feel free to leave your feedback in the comments!

See you in space, cowboys and cowgirls!

Hello, friends!

Before the Major Update 0.70 we would like to talk about the way we've made and remember how it all started.



That’s how the demo looked—K’Tharsis wasn’t so abandoned and alien-looking and there were more signs of humans’ presence.



The demo version was completely remade for the Early Access release—the world has become much bigger and way more interesting for exploration but still had a lot of flaws.



We collected feedback and considerably remade the game and that’s how in 2021 the Edge appeared—a picturesque but abandoned place where the cultural legacy of abori is considerably bigger than the traces of colonization. It was the very first iteration and through the last year the game has undergone a lot of changes. Let’s have a look at them!



The game has become much more colourful and the objects in it—much more realistic. We made every part livelier with help of plants and worked with the distant landscape so that the horizon would look natural.



The objects in the game are placed in a more picturesque and lively way. The shadows have more correct and clear positions and rare desert plants make the picture more interesting.



It’s a special pleasure now to look at the K’Tharsis sky. The night was very dark and dull before. Now the constellations are seen much better, the moon and stars enlighten the world and the sky changes over time.



Some areas of the Edge have also considerably changed. For example, the cemetery of aborigines has grown much bigger and all of its buildings have become more solid. Ancient tombs, quite big, also appeared there. The old statue hasn’t disappeared though—you can find it in the Hermit’s zone.



A small abandoned town Lucky Hole was completely rebuilt. Earlier it was created from our old assets which we used back then, in the very first demo. Now we’ve made a new construction kit and with its help managed to build a newer, more lively version. The rocks around it also look more natural and the area around—more versatile.



The field of anomalies has gone through changes. The spheres have become more matte and the area now more alien-looking.

There is more information about visual improvements in our technical update, and for now it’s all, friends. Don’t hesitate to leave feedback and offer your variants of improvement! And for now let’s conclude another key raffle in Discord:

@Reming
@立香
@AngryFrog
@egor
@geriatrius

Have a nice game, folks!

The raffle will go on up to the release of the Major Update, so if you’re not lucky this week, you will get a chance to get the key next one.

That’s all for now—give your feedback in the comments, express your opinion about the game and make sure to drop by our devblog in Discord to stay tuned about all the freshest updates.

See you next week, space cowboys and cowgirls!

Hello, folks!

Today we want to tell you about new music which we’ll add to the update 0.70. It’s written by Michal Cielecki, Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz and Adam Skorupa. The latter is famous for his work on such games like The Witcher series, EVE Online, Call of Juarez, Painkiller, Ash of Gods: Redemption and many other projects.



At the moment five tracks will be added to the game. They’ll be spreaded between the key zones of The Edge. You can hear them exploring the fallen spaceship,if you make your way to the Outpost of the Outcast and to the camp of Scalphunters and also wandering around the desert full of anomalies. Every track perfectly reflects its mood and characteristic features.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Here is a small part of a track that will sound in the Scalphunters’ camp. Don’t hesitate to give your feedback!

And we also remind you that the key raffle in our Discord goes on and we want to congratulate the winners of this week:

@Seki_ETS
@Bar666
@aleksander_suvorov
@koukakurin
@raget01

Have a nice game, guys!

We remind you that you have a chance to get a free key if you join our channel. And if you’re not a winner this time, don’t worry — you’ll automatically become a participant of the next weekly raffles up to the release of the major update 0.70.

That’s all for now. Leave your feedback, follow the news of development in Steam and make sure to drop by to our #devblog in Discord.

See you next week!

Hello, space cowboys!

Today we want to tell you about the new animal we added to the game. We have already showed you our progress in our #devblog in Discord, but since that time plenty of work has been done.



The working name of the mob is alpha but to the release of the update 0.70 it will get a new name suiting the most dangerous predator of K’Tharsis better. Luckily, alphas walk either alone or in pairs—otherwise it wouldn’t be so easy to deal with such strong, fast and clever predators.



It took a lot of time to animate alpha—we’re planning a lot of unique skills for it, quite hard to make. So, a mature species should be able to crawl, attack in a jump, knock down. But it will be added later—and now in the game there is a young species which can only strike with its paw and bite. Don’t underestimate the monster though. His attacks can cause serious damage.



Thanks to its colour, Alpha can easily hide in high grass. If you come close, it will try to frighten you—it’s jaw really looks intimidating!



We’ve tried to make the mob’s movements as smooth and fluid as we could. Considering a lot of details, it turned out to be not an easy task. Do you think it works?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’ve tried to make as intimidating sounds as possible—heavy breath, sonorous growl, hissing. Most of the work with this mob is still ahead of us. We’ll be happy to get some feedback on already existing ones though.



The information about alpha also exists on one of the load screens from which you can find out more about this monster. The text will be slightly reworked and of course we will change the name.

Hope you’ll like the new mob—and we want to show you the list of the winners of our weekly raffle in Discord who will get an opportunity to fight it:

@Brainwagon
@Ivan
@AnatoliyBIK
@crank34r
@Shetland

Have a nice game, friends!

The raffles will continue up to the release of the Major Update 0.70, so be sure to join our channel, drop by the #devblog where we post the freshest news of the development and leave your feedback. And also suggest a good name for our new mob.

See you on K’Tharsis!