Devlog #90 Development Update
Greetings, Martians!
In this devlog we want to let you know about the progress of work on the upcoming Major Update.
This upcoming update is revolutionary in many ways and as such requires thorough testing. Our hope is that this update will answer to many reported issues and feedback we have collected during the first year of Early Access. We are working hard on testing the build, but as of today it's not yet ready for release, even to public_testing branch, but we will let you know as soon as it's possible.
Due to changes in the core game mechanics it was hard to predict how long some those features will take to implement, so we prioritized those which take the most time first and divided this update into parts. Here's what we have achieved so far (Anniversary Update - Part #1):
[h2]Animations[/h2]
- We have improved player animations - it's not perfect yet, but you should notice many improvements in the quality, smoothness and responsiveness of the animations. During first launch of the new version, you will be shown the new game settings screen where you can adjust gameplay to your preferences. Hand animations will be disabled by default, so that default gameplay is even faster.
- Overall responsiveness should be better. Our goal was to get rid of the feeling of "controlling the astonaut" and instead to achieve better feeling of "being the astronaut". ๐ค
- We have improved using tools and targeting, now grinding small objects will no longer be a problem and drilling should be easier both in FPP and TPP modes.๐จ
- The mechanism of opening the airlocks was overhauled, it is now much faster, and the automatic doors are almost instant allowing for smoother gameplay while running between base sections.๐จ
- Positions of doors and cupboards are now saved, we've also fixed doors and cupboards, which were opening again after closing. ๐ช
- We have fixed astronautโs feet colliders which were a little bit too high + now each feet stands independently on the ground when placed on different heights and the player will step over small obstacles instead of requiring a full jump - this also makes the astronaut feel more alive. ๐ฅพ
- Improved tablet opening animation and position. We have also made it possible to open the tablet and take helmet off while crouching - as requested ๐
[h2]Electricity & Balance[/h2]
- We have made huge changes in electricity & substance flow system - no more thinking about percentages when splitting power, from now on - only numerical values! Also: now outlets have priorities - the lower the ordinal number of an electrical outlet, the higher the priority (same applies to pump splitter).โก
What does it mean in practice? For example: if your electricity input drops then it will not cut off every connected building but instead it will supply energy first to socket #1, then if it has enough power - to socket #2 etc. Many of you have requested this change and we hope you will enjoy it. This should allow for easier energy management while also opening new possibilities. ๐ข - Be careful about connecting electricity to buildings - if you transmit too much power to one outlet - the external fuses will burn and you will have to replace them. ๐
- Electricity & Substance Flow System have been rewritten for more accurate and faster flow calculation. They will now be refreshed every 1 in-game minute instead of previous 10 in-game minutes. Also now only the amount of energy/water actually used by connected building is consumed, instead of everything that's set as the socket output๐
- Added new detailed infopanels with advanced information about electricity and substances to devices like ECU Transformer, Battery, Pump Station etc.๐ชซ
- We have changed buildings costs, positions, electricity usage and overall balance of the game.๐
- We've also changed Early Game balance: faster tech tree progress and less grind at early stages.๐ช
- Stack size of many items have been changed to make more sense. ๐
[h2]Construction[/h2]
- We have added technology for printing circuit boards. This functionality will be moved to special workbench in future update, but for now this technology will enable printing circuit boards using 3D printers. ๐
- Added new mechanic: Decorations - scanning furniture and decorations in abandoned bases using additional mode in "Spectral Detector" tool will let you use them for decorating your own base using new "Cordless Drill" tool. Unlock different variants of furniture and decorations and place them where you want.๐๏ธ
- We've improved building placement and snapping to grid and other buildings.๐ญ
- Added short descriptions for In-game locked blueprints.๐ณ
- Added a special repair kit for buildings and vehicles - so you can instantly repair vehicle or a building.๐ ๏ธ
- We've made it easier to build inside buildings: if you equip a welder you'll be shown a list that tells you what you can build on a given slot; if you prefer to build by selecting a device from the blueprints tab - no problem, we've added a marking that shows on which slot you can place it as well.๐ช
[h2]Survival changes + hydration & oxygen rework[/h2]
- Double progress bars on HUD for Oxygen, Hydration and Stamina - in the new version the bottle system will change. When the water bottle runs out you still have additional hydration level bar to know how long you can survive until the bottle is refilled. When your oxygen bottle runs out then there's a little bit of oxygen left in your suit which is shown by the thinner progress bar at the bottom. The Stamina bar also has second thinner bar which shows your Tiredness (maximum stamina regeneration level).๐งด๐
- Added options to disable or change weather duration and effects in the Freeplay Start Menu ๐ช๏ธ
- Sleep deprivation will now cause damage, but Astronauts can sleep during the weather events! (we had to implement sped-up weather-damage simulation during sleep to achieve this)๐งโ๐
- We've reworked the bottle refill system while also adding auto shut-off to sinks after water is replenished to prevent water waste.๐ง
- We have added technology to unlock, to automatically refill the oxygen bottle from environment when inside.๐ซ
[h2]Plants[/h2]
- From now on you will be able to mix different plant types in single device, like: shelves, fields, incubators and domes! ๐ฑ
- We have finally converted the plant breeding facilities - they all now have an equal number of plant slots for easier replanting โฟป
- Trees will finally start to act like real trees - after harvesting fruit, the tree does not disappear, but continues to bear fruit (if you get bored with the tree - use the grinder to get rid of it) ๐ณ
- It's also now possible to collect all plants to the plants crate with one click. ๐ฑ๏ธ
[h2]Gameplay changes[/h2]
- Hotbars are now visible in all inventories and containers.๐จ
- Added search and sorting options to tablet: Blueprints menu, Inventory and FAQ! ๐
- We've modified CO2 Scrubber and Battery Rack UI to make them more intuitive and easier to use.๐ฅ๏ธ
- We've improved the grading of colors on the map to have better control over the condition of your buildings.๐บ๏ธ
- We've improved the target points - now you can have more colors and their names from the map are displayed above the target point on HUD.๐
- We've have made changes in the Tech Tree and added additional technologies like: "Cleaning Nanobots" for automatic cleaning of solar panels.๐ป
- We have moved rear camera of rover behind the HDS Arm.๐น
- Rover and Truck now also require battery and oxygen bottle to build, they also require charging after construction.๐
- We have improved optimization, now there are much smaller FPS drops while driving.โ
- We have added new types of abandoned outposts.๐๏ธ
- We have moved Quick Load to F9 - it will be harder to miss-click quick save and quick load. โจ๏ธ
- Added new video-tutorial system to the game.๐ฌ
- Hundreds of bugs fixed! ๐ชฒ
- We are adding main purpose quest to the Freeplay Mode ๐ (more details about it later ๐)
- and much more! ๐
๐ That's not all of the changes, as we still have many tasks to add and implement, but first we want to stabilize the build with the core changes mentioned above. Join our Thursday development stream on Twitch and YouTube where we'll be showing some sneak peaks and talking about those changes in detail.
[hr][/hr] If you missed the ๐Steam Summer Sale remember that there are still many bundles available which allow you to get our games cheaper while also helping us with the development of updates!
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31567/Pyramid_Games_Bundle/
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/28017/Occupy_Mars_Universe_Bundle/
Click here for full list of game Bundles available together with Occupy Mars!
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Thank you very, very much for your continued support! ๐
Take care,
Occupy Mars team
