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Escape The Pacific News

Hotfix 0.62e.0.1

Hello Survivors!


A new Hotfix 0.62e.0.1 is available!

Changelog:
  • Fixed: Rudder can't be attached or fastened to raft
  • Fixed: Sail mast can't be attached or fastened to raft
  • Fixed: Sail can't be attached or fastened to Sail mast


Thanks for your support, bug reports and feedback.

Peter,
G4GTeam

0.62e.0.0 - Rope system update

[h2]Hello Survivors![/h2]

[h3]Welcome to the Q2 Rope system update (Experimental).[/h3]

Embark on an exhilarating maritime adventure! Explore diverse islands adorned with lush Ivy plants and harvest precious Ivy Stems. Craft rope effortlessly with palm-like bushes and their valuable Bush Fiber. And brace yourself for the strategic twist of anchors, controlling watercraft movement with precision. The seas await your daring spirit!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]How to switch between “Experimental” and “Normal” branches[/h3]

In your Steam library, right-click Escape The Pacific and select “Properties”. A window will pop up. On the left select “Betas” and from the dropdown select “Experimental” to access this update. You can switch back to “None” to access the stable branch.


[h2]Ivy plant[/h2]

We are excited to introduce a new feature in our game: Ivy plants that can be harvested and used for crafting. These plants will grow along the shores of Banana, Papaya, Mixed, Forest, Big Forest, and Big Forest with Hill island types.



Players can obtain Ivy Stems by carefully harvesting the roots using a knife. The Ivy plants have the ability to regenerate and grow back after being harvested. Additionally, their growth rate is influenced by rainfall, allowing for faster growth and increased harvesting opportunities after rain. However, players need to be cautious as destroying the Ivy during its 'Young Ivy' growth stage will prevent it from growing back.

This feature adds strategic decision-making and realism to the gameplay. With the addition of Ivy plants, players will have an immersive experience exploring different island types, gathering resources, and utilizing them for crafting purposes.


[h2]New ingredients[/h2]

[h3]Ivy stem[/h3]

Players will have the opportunity to harvest Ivy Stems from the Ivy plants they encounter in the game. By carefully collecting these stems from the plant, players can acquire valuable resources for crafting purposes.



It's worth noting that the number of Ivy Stems obtained will vary based on the maturity of the Ivy plant. More mature Ivy plants will yield a higher quantity of stems, providing players with an incentive to seek out fully grown specimens. This mechanic adds a strategic element to the gameplay, encouraging players to explore different areas and locate the most fruitful sources of Ivy Stems for their crafting needs.


[h3]Bush Fiber[/h3]

We're excited to introduce a highly requested feature inspired by our community: the ability to harvest palm-like bushes and obtain Bush Fiber.



Players can now use a knife to carefully harvest these bushes and gather the valuable resource, which can be used to create rope more easily. This addition expands crafting possibilities and directly responds to the input and requests of our dedicated community.

By incorporating the harvesting of palm-like bushes and the acquisition of Bush Fiber, we aim to enhance gameplay mechanics and strengthen the connection between the development team and players. Get ready to embark on a new adventure of gathering and utilizing Bush Fiber to expand your crafting repertoire in response to the valuable ideas and feedback provided by our amazing community.


[h2]New Ropes[/h2]



  • Twine, crafted from bush fiber
  • Twine, crafted from tall grass
  • Rope, crafted from Ivy stem
  • Long Rope, crafted from Rope


Please note that we have updated the rope names to make them easier to identify:
  • Small Rope is now called Twine
  • Strong Rope is not called Rope


[h2]Anchor mechanic[/h2]

We are thrilled to introduce an exciting new mechanic to the game: Anchors. These unique items play a crucial role in limiting the movement of water vehicles, such as rafts, around specific points in the water. With the presence of an anchor, water vehicles will experience restricted movement within its vicinity, adding a new challenge and strategic element to water-based gameplay.



The versatility of anchors is noteworthy. In shallow water, players can immediately utilize anchors after crafting them, without the need to extend the rope. However, in deep water, such as around shipwrecks, extending the rope becomes a prerequisite for anchoring. To secure an anchor, players must place it around the edge of their water vehicle and attach it using rope, much like any other object. The length of the rope can be adjusted by adding or removing segments, allowing players to customize their anchoring setup as needed.

The effectiveness of anchors is influenced by their size and quantity. Bigger or additional anchors provide a stronger stopping force, ensuring greater stability for water vehicles. On the other hand, using insufficient or smaller anchors can lead to drifting if confronted with strong winds or waves, potentially resulting in unintended movements and challenges for players to overcome. It's important to note that anchors cannot be used in open sea areas, regardless of the length of the rope, adding a realistic constraint to their usage.

[h3]For bigger rafts it's good to have at least 2 anchors on opposite sides of the raft.[/h3]

Extreme example:
  • 4 Small anchors equals to 1 big anchor
  • While the anchoring effect is more or less the same, it takes more management to craft and use 4 small anchors instead of 1 big anchor


With the introduction of anchors, players can look forward to enhanced water vehicle mechanics and a more immersive gameplay experience. Strategically placing and utilizing anchors will become vital for navigating specific areas and overcoming environmental obstacles. Prepare to explore the waters with caution and skillfully employ anchors to control your water vehicle's movements in the ever-changing tides of the game.


[h2]Anchor types[/h2]

[h3] Small Anchor[/h3]

Introducing the Small Anchor, a specialized tool designed specifically for canoes and small rafts in the game.



This anchor is tailored for use in shallow water environments, including areas around shipwrecks. With its compact size and functionality, the Small Anchor provides an invaluable solution for anchoring watercraft in these specific situations.


[h3] Medium Anchor[/h3]

Presenting the Medium Anchor, a versatile tool designed to cater to small and medium rafts in the game.



This anchor is ideal for watercraft operating in medium water depths, extending slightly beyond shipwreck areas. With its balanced size and capabilities, the Medium Anchor serves as a reliable choice for anchoring water vehicles in these specific environments, offering enhanced stability and control.


[h2]Big Anchor[/h2]

Introducing the Big Anchor, a robust tool engineered specifically for large rafts in the game.



This anchor is designed to tackle bigger water depths, providing stability and control in areas beyond those suited for smaller anchors. While it offers increased functionality in deeper waters, it is important to note that the Big Anchor is not intended for use in the open sea. Its size and capabilities make it a reliable choice for anchoring sizable watercraft, ensuring they stay secure and steady in challenging aquatic environments.


[h2]Anchor placement[/h2]

The Canoe can hold the Small Anchor, mounted at the front of the canoe.



The Long Canoe can hold the Small Anchor, mounted at the front or back of the canoe. It can also hold the Medium Anchor, mounted at the back of the canoe.



Raft modules can hold all types of anchors, mounted along the outside edge of the raft base formation.



Please note that all anchors have to be mounted with the anchor base facing the water. The anchor base is recognizable by the cross (rope or sticks) that holds the rocks.



As we bring this incredible update to a close, we want to express our deepest gratitude to our amazing community. Your feedback and bug report submissions have been invaluable in shaping this thrilling maritime experience.

We encourage you to continue your unwavering support as we sail together towards new horizons. Your passion drives us forward, and we can't wait to embark on more adventures together. Stay tuned for even more exciting updates and remember, the sea is vast, but with your support, our voyage is boundless.


Thank you for being part of this incredible journey! Peter, Luna, Radu, Semion


If you want to go above and beyond and further support the development of Escape the Pacific, please visit our Patreon page and subscribe to a plan.

Steam announcement here: Patreon News.


The entire team is thanking you for your support, suggestions and most of all for your patience.

[h3]
  • If you enjoy Escape the Pacific, please leave us a review posted on our Steam page
[/h3]

[h2]Early Access Reminder[/h2]

Please be aware that during the early access phase game code could change as much as affecting gameplay when loading/saving savegames from earlier versions. To always be on the safe side make sure to start a new game with each update. Thank you!


If you have any further questions do not hesitate to ask us. We will do our best to answer your questions as detailed as possible.

Peter,
G4GTeam.


[h3] Visit the Escape the Pacific Website [/h3]

Social media links
Patreon | Discord | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube

Development update #2

Hello Survivors!

[h2]Here’s what we are working on at the moment. [/h2]

[h3]Please find below details about what’s in store for the next update. Please note that names, mechanics and details might be different or not available at all in the final implementation.

Thanks again for your suggestions and feedback. You rock![/h3]



[h3]Fiber[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for adding more fiber sources
  • Designing new 3D fiber models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Designing spawning system to spawn fiber from bushes


[h3]Rope (small)[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting rope from the new fiber type
  • Designing new 3D rope models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting small rope from the new fiber type


[h3]Vine stem[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for vine stem spawning and growing based on the random generator
  • Designing new 3D vine models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Designing new mechanics to allow for vine harvesting and destroying, depending on hit-box locations


[h3]Rope (strong)[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting rope from the new vine stem
  • Designing new 3D rope models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting strong rope from the new vine stem


[h3]Ivy vine[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for ivy vine spawning and growing based on the random generator
  • Designing new 3D ivy vine models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Designing new mechanics to allow for vine harvesting and destroying, depending on hit-box location
  • Designing mechanics for young vine, short vine, medium vine and long vine
  • Designing mechanics to allow for harvesting of different vine lengths, depending on the stage at which the vine was harvested
  • Designing spawn mechanics for certain island types
  • Designing spawn rate mechanics based on the island size
  • Designing growth system for the ivy vine (grow rate and growth trigger)


[h3]Rope (strong long)[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting long strong rope from the strong rope
  • Designing new 3D rope models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting long strong rope from strong rope
  • Designing mechanics to allow for splitting of long strong rope into strong rope


[h3]Anchor mechanics[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting anchors
  • Designing new 3D rope models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Design anchor systems to allow for attaching it on water vessels
  • Design lowering and retrieving systems
  • Design notification system to inform the player if the anchor can be lowered, can’t be lowered, if the rope is too short, if the rope is too long, if the water is too shallow and if the water is too deep
  • Design anchor rope extension and shortening system
  • Design mechanics to allow the anchor to keep the raft in place when it’s lowered
  • Design multiple anchor system to allow for the use of multiple anchors in case the raft is for a bigger size
  • Design anchor force mechanics to allow either more smaller anchors or less bigger anchors to be used for bigger sized rafts
  • Design anchor release system to allow for automatic anchor release in stormy scenarios or when the waves are bigger than normal


[h3]Small anchor[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting small anchor
  • Designing new 3D models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting small anchor
  • Adding carrying mechanics to allow for picking up the anchor in the hands


[h3]Big anchor[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting big anchor
  • Designing new 3D models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting big anchor
  • Adding carrying mechanics to allow for picking up the anchor in the hands


[h3]Tiny anchor[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept for crafting tiny anchor
  • Designing new 3D models and icons
  • Copywriting of texts
  • Adding new recipe for crafting tiny anchor
  • Adding carrying mechanics to allow for picking up the anchor in the hands


[h3]Collectibles[/h3]
  • Add rope to the collectible mechanics to allow it to spawn in chests all across the pacific


[h3]Tools[/h3]
  • Creating proof of concept to add rope requirements for crafting tools, building modules and raft bases
  • Design new 3D models for tools


[h2]See you soon![/h2] Peter - Dev & CEO
Luna - QA
Radu - Product Designer
Semion - 3D Artist

Hotfix 0.61.1.1 & 0.61e.1.4

Hello Survivors!


A new Hotfix 0.61.1.1 & 0.61e.1.4 is available!

Changelog:
  • Fixed: "Too shallow water" notification for raft in Pause menu
  • Fixed: "Too shallow water" notification for canoe in Pause menu
  • Fixed: Tilted player camera, when going from sitting to standing while on the raft
  • Fixed: Player levitating above the raft (0.7 meters) when sitting
  • Fixed: Escape key not closing the Island/Cluster renaming dialogue
  • Fixed: Unresponsive UI when opening the Island/Cluster renaming dialogue with the Sailing UI already open
  • Fixed: Visible Map edit hotkeys after opening the Island/Cluster renaming dialogue
  • Fixed: Possibility to mark islands when sitting
  • Fixed: Map turning invisible when going from sitting to standing with the opened map in hands
  • Fixed: Hidden Map hotkeys when going from standing to sitting with the Map opened


We would like to thank you for your support, bug reports and feedback.

Peter,
G4GTeam

0.61.1.0 - Quality of life update

Hello Survivors,

This build brings you the long awaited Autosave feature, Quick Save/load, Rock Holder, Pack untying, Splitting item stacks in the inventory, UI fixes and refactoring of the game initialization engine.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Version numbering system update[/h2]

As of this update, we switch to a more straightforward versioning number with the format a.bbx.c.d. Looking at this update version we have 0.61e.1.0 with the following meaning:

  • 0 - This represents the Alpha stage and will switch to 1 once we exit Early Access
  • 61e - This is the current version and changes with every Major update. The “e” stands for Experimental
  • 1 - This is the patch number related to the Major update number and increases with every patch
  • 0 - This is the hotfix number related to the Patch number and increases with every new hotfix


[h2]Autosave[/h2]

The new Autosave system will automatically save your progress at regular intervals or based on specific events during gameplay. This system will be an additional saving system running in parallel to the already implemented manual saving system.



The autosave system will be unique to each player profile and will hold dedicated autosave files for experimental and regular game builds.

[h3]The Autosave system will not override Manual saves.[/h3]


When enabled, it will perform autosaves in the background as follows:

  • After the set time in the settings passed
  • Not implemented yet: After completing a quest
  • Not implemented yet: After reaching a new level


You can also set additional autosave triggers based on specific events:

  • When waking up
  • When leaving an island (by swimming, by canoe, by raft)
  • Every morning and every evening


If you select “when leaving an island”, the following applies, to avoid autosave flooding:

  • For the system to recognize that you are leaving an island, you have to physically be on an island before leaving. Sailing around in the ocean passing islands, will not trigger this type of autosave
  • “Leaving the island” means that the water beneath you has a depth of at least 8 meters
  • The autosave triggers once you have distanced yourself from an island by at least 60 meters


[h2]Quick Save/Load [/h2]

You can now perform a Quick Save with F5 and a Quick Load with F8. Quick save is a faster way of performing a manual save. Quick load will perform a quick load, which will load the latest save (this looks at both manual saves and auto saves and picks the one that’s the newest one)

[h2]Rock Holder[/h2]

Your survivalist life just got easier and more organized. Clean up around your base, bring resources from other islands back to your homestead safely or attach it to your raft to transport them wherever you may sail.



[h2]Get multiple items from Holder [/h2]

You can now take out multiple items out of the item holders, without having to drop them from your hand before being able to pick another one.

[h2]Pack Untie [/h2]

You can now untie all item packs.

[h2]Inventory stack split [/h2]

You can now split item stacks by holding down SHIFT + Fire (default: left-mouse-button) and dragging the items to another inventory slot. The splitting happens automatically 50/50.



[h2]Refactored game initialization code [/h2]

Another refactoring round took place this and past month. While this might seem unnecessary to the player, it was key to refactor the code for future-proofing of the game. When we started coding Escape the Pacific, the code was slim and we added new features in a super rapid way to be able to test what’s possible or not. As time passed, this snowballed into intertwined bugs created by no-so-clean code (as we call it).

Refactoring can be only appreciated by fellow coders and we understand if you’re not happy with this. However, we know already that you will be happy when the game loads faster, in a code-clean state every time and hopefully with less annoying bugs.


[h3]Changelog [/h3]
  1. Autosave
  2. Quick Save/Load
  3. Rock Holder
  4. Get multiple items from Holder
  5. Pack untie
  6. Inventory stack split
  7. Refactored game initialization code


We have set up a Patreon for those who wish to support game development further. Steam announcement here: Patreon News.

The entire team is thanking you for your support, suggestions and most of all for your patience.

Do you like our game and want to help the development even more? We look forward to every positive review posted on our Steam page and thank everyone who decides to support us along the way!

Please be aware that during the early access phase game code could change as much as affecting gameplay when loading/saving savegames from earlier versions. To always be on the safe side make sure to start a new game with each update. Thank you!


If you have any further questions do not hesitate to ask us. We will do our best to answer your questions as detailed as possible.

Peter,
G4GTeam.



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