Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

Happy Holidays!

It is update week, and this update includes new variable pitch ship propellers!

These new propellers have a pitch input that allows you to adjust the pitch angle of the blades. This controls the amount of energy transferred by the propeller and controls the amount of thrust generated. Small, medium and large variants are included.



As well as these new components, there are several fixes and improvements included. Please see the patch notes below for details.

We have now included the dedicated server exe with Stormworks. Please can we ask server owners to transition over as we plan to discontinue the separate dedicated server app after 16th Feb 2024.



We look forward to your feedback on the new components and fixes!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.9.21

Feature - Variable pitch ship propellers (small, medium, large)
Fix - improved positioning of player when leaving a seat, particularly at high speed
Fix - fixed looping equipment sfx not playing if 2 items with looping sfx were on the hotbar
Fix - fixed oil deposit placement sea floor height calculation
Fix - fixed typos in the radio antenna transmit logic nodes
Fix - fixed typo in description of the Uran Wind Powerplant
Fix - allow player inspect raycast to ignore ghost physics for hovering NPCs
Fix - Lua addons, added missing documented alias, fixed -1 support for seated_id and seated_peer_id
Fix - resolved issue where looking at NPC wouldn't always bring up the context menu
Fix - oil spills no longer cleared by pumping through fluid jets and improved stability of oil simulation
Fix - fixed occasional crash when spawning vehicles related to body mass calculation
Fix - hid data logging blocks which are used for our unit testing
Fix - fixed crash related to spawn vehicle add events
Rework - renamed 'gender' to 'body type' in character editor

Dear Stormworkers,

This is announcement week, with a new minor update planned for next week.

Updates will continue as normal over the winter holiday, although we will close the office for a few days so we may not make the interim announcement.



We have some really important fixes on the way, as well as really exciting major updates, and progress on our new game. At the moment, we only talk about stuff as it releases, and this is because it makes it much easier for us to change what is in an update and when an update will release. It also helps avoid disappointment - no expectations can get built up before release if we don't hype it up too much before hand.

This strategy is aimed at minimizing release pressure, and allowing the most focus to go to actual development. However, we are aware that different developers do stuff in different ways, with some doing something similar, and others being very open.



What are your thoughts? What stuff would you like to see us do?

We should probably also do another live Q&A session in the new year.

We look forward to your feedback!

Please call back next week for the minor update.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

v1.9.20

Fix - Resolved crash when deleting vehicle from vehicle editor

Dear Stormworkers,

It is update week! This week we have one small feature - end effectors can now cut ropes!

We have also replaced grass with snow for the xmas event, which has been frequently requested, and was in such high demand that one player (briish) even managed to mod this into the game themselves! Very impressive.



During the xmas event each year, some decorations will appear at bases, rain will render as snow, NPCs will often dress up in seasonal outfits, and now the grass and trees will appear with snow. This event is locked based on the date.

Otherwise, this update is mostly bug fixes and improvements. Please see below for the full list of changes.



Behind the scenes, we have finished the framework for the vehicle unit testing system, and are now working on creating the unit test vehicles.

As we discussed last week, we have a big list of stuff to work through and will be releasing minor updates with fixes every 2 weeks as normal.



We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on the new update!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.9.19

Feature - End effectors now cut ropes (#19287 #18207 #12104)
Feature - #6069 Changed grass to snow for Xmas
Balance - Updated heat rate based on volume for heaters inside compartments
Rework - Identical notifications now stack
Fix - Debuff icon rendering stacking
Fix - Map center revealing on game start
Fix - #21808 Fluid cannon pressure issues
Fix - #21628 Fluid hoses clogging
Fix - #22878 Fixed server side workbench interation for static vehicles
Fix - #22856 #23334 Fixed static behaviour for addon spawned groups
Fix - #21872 Jet engine turbojets applying force in space
Fix - #22811 Steam pistons now base their power on steam pressure instead of volume

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is announcement week, with minor updates planned for next week 8th December, and also every two weeks following as normal.

Next week is mostly fixes and improvements, but does include a minor new feature. While we are using the majority of our time for fixes, we are reserving a small amount of time to introduce smaller new features, and plan to add something new on average every 4 weeks.



We are also planning the usual free major updates, and next year should bring 4 of these. We are carefully listening to players, and next years majors will be highly requested features. We have plenty of work to do here, but we are really excited and expect they will make a huge difference to players.

We are not currently planning more DLC for Stormworks in 2024. Our focus will be on quality improvements and highly requested features.



Work continues on 'Not Stormworks 2'. If you are not familiar, 'Not Stormworks 2' is a new game that we are working on. Only one thing is known for sure: it is NOT a sequel to Stormworks! Stormworks will continue for a long time, and isn't affected by this other game. We will announce more info in 2024.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers