Flotsam News

Hey all!

The Upgrade System is now live!
As part of working towards the next Major Update (0.4), we added the Upgrade System, where some buildings can be upgraded to better versions.

This update is accompanied by Audio and Performance improvements.

Enjoy!

[h2]Early Access 0.3.7: The Upgrade System[/h2]
General

• First iteration of the upgrade system:
  
• Plastic drying rack is now Drying Rack
  
• Drying Rack upgrades into a large & huge drying rack.
  
• Distiller is now Desalinator.
  
• Desalinator upgrades to large Desalinator.
  
• Bed now upgrades to House.
  
• House now upgrades to Big House.
  
• Drifters will now temporarly stop their production, research and energy projects when it's bedtime.
  

Visuals

• Reworked the size of distiller.
  
• Reworked the size of desalinator.
  
• New visual for Large and Huge Drying Rack
  

Audio

• Added FMOD to manage audio.
  
• Various new sounds have been added.
  
• Added effect for ambience when pausing the game speed.
  

Performance

• Reduced overhead of drifters requesting projects, increasing overall performance.
  
• Added LODs for all storage visuals, reducing rendering at further ranges.
  
• Added LODs for all flotsam / fish in water, reducing rendering dramatically when looking at the horizon.
  

Balancing

• Metal plates now require 1 fuel to make.
  

Fixes

• Fixed getting stuck in map view when going to the map while building.
  
• Fixed drifters getting stuck on the energy producer when disabling the building.
  
• Fixed bug where drifter would get stuck on landmark.
  

Hey drifters!

We have another update ready to test for you all: The Upgrade System.
As part of working towards the next Major Update (0.4), we added the Upgrade System, where some buildings can be upgraded to better versions.

We wanted to get these changes out to you as soon as possible in order to gather feedback.
As such, the feature can be accompanied by bugs.

We invite you all to test this update and give us your feedback.

When bugs occur, provide as much information as possible to help us resolve these faster!
Read here how to submit and track the current bugs in the game.

This patch is still in development and can be tested on the experimental branch to give feedback.

This is how you can enable the experimental branch of Flotsam. This will only work when you're not in a game:
1. Open Steam Library
2. Right click Flotsam
3. Select Properties
4. Go to tab 'Betas' at the top.
5. Select 'Experimental' in the drop-down.

Enjoy the new update!

[h2]Change Notes[/h2]
General

• First iteration of the upgrade system:
  
• Plastic drying rack is now Drying Rack
  
• Drying Rack upgrades into a large & huge drying rack.
  
• Distiller is now Desalinator.
  
• Desalinator upgrades to large Desalinator.
  
• Bed now upgrades to house.
  

Balancing

• Metal plates now require 1 fuel to make.
  

Visuals

• Reworked the size of distiller.
  
• Reworked the size of desalinator.
  
• New visual for Large and Huge Drying Rack
  

Audio

• Added FMOD to manage audio.
  
• Various new sounds have been added.
  

UI

• Added upgrade UI.
  

Performance

• Reduced overhead of drifters requesting projects, increasing overall performance.
  

Fixes

• Fixed getting stuck in map view when going to the map while building.
  

Merry Christmas everyone!

We've fixed an issue where boats would get stuck when continuing a previous save.

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]
Fixes

• Fixed issue where boats would get stuck when continuing a save from 0.3.5p3 or below.
  

Hey all!

The Scouting Update is now live!
This update brings a full pacing rework, Map Exploration, an introduction to Scouting and an introduction to the Energy System.

We took our time to rework the game's pacing, making workshops more prominent in the early game.

A new iteration of the World Generation brings Overworld Fog, an introduction to the scouting mechanics and a new way to move using Energy.

Enjoy the new update!

[h2]Early Access 0.3.6: The Scouting Update[/h2]
General

• First iteration of scouting feature:
  
• New Construction: Watch Tower
  
• Information regarding nearby landmarks can now be obtained by building the Watch Tower.
  
• Information regarding nearby landmarks can now be obtained through drifters that join your town.
  
• New Construction: Pedal-Powered Generator.
  
• Implemented the energy system.
  
• Town movement requires energy now.
  
• The Athletics Attribute now increases drifter energy creation speed.
  
• Added construction category: Energy.
  
• Temporarily removed the Oil Refinery Construction.
  
• New construction specific resources:
  
• Floaters
  
• Wooden Planks
  
• Metal Plate
  
• New Construction: Ropecrafter.
  
• New Construction: Small Drying Rack.
  
• Seaweed Patches now spawn in the water.
  
• Screw, Plastic Nets and the Pipe resources have been removed.
  
• World Generator Updated
  
• Fog of War added to the Overworld View.
  
• Zooming added to the Overworld View.
  
• Scouted landmarks clear Fog of War in a radius.
  
• Reworked Town Movement to be able to interrupt town movement with new path.
  
• Added double-click functionality for new town movement paths.
  
• Reworked map cursor.
  

Visuals

• Added a planning line for planning town movement.
  
• Added Watchtower construction visuals.
  
• Added Ropemaker construction visuals.
  
• Added Pedal-Powered Generator construction visuals.
  
• Added Small Drying Rack construction visuals.
  
• Reworked Plastic Recycler construction visuals.
  

UI

• Added Landmark cursor for the map.
  
• Reworked some of the HUD.
  

Performance

• Persistence management has been refactored to reduce lagspikes when the game is saved.
  
• Flotsam inventory has been factored out to avoid unnecessary memory allocations.
  

Balancing

• Size of the world has been significantly increased.
  
• Pacing has been adjusted: Workshops are now more prominent in the early game.
  
• Increased starting energy amount.
  
• Altered start amounts of food and water.
  
• All building costs have been changed to reflect the changes.
  
• All production times have been scaled down to reflect the changes.
  
• Number of resources found on Landmarks has been reduced.
  
• Number of resources in flotsam patches has been reduced.
  
• Number of flotsam patches spawned has been increased.
  
• Factory landmark temporarily gives Metal Scrap and Books.
  
• Increased spawn rate of landmarks with Metal Scrap.
  
• Floaters now appear in Flotsam patches.
  
• Townheart Engine is repaired by default.
  
• Increased Fish Spawning around landmarks.
  

Fixes

• Fixed issue where mooring point couldn't be deconstructed.
  
• Fixed issue where different language could empty all text in all windows.
  
• Fixed issue where save menu would not update after saving.
  
• Fixed issue where boats could get stuck on the "Long Island" landmark.
  

Ahoy drifters!

We have another update ready to test for you all: The Scouting Update. (name can change)
This patch brings the first iteration of the scouting feature to Flotsam.
During development we made changes to the world generator and started making some rigorous changes to the pacing of the game.
We wanted to get these changes out to you as soon as possible in order to gather feedback.
As such, the feature is in a very early stage and a bit rough around the edges.

As part of working on the next Major Update (0.4) we revised the pacing of the game, giving workshops a more prominent role in the game. As a result, we've also 'split' the base resources into 'raw' and 'processed'. Where raw resources can only be used as ingredients, while processed resources can be building resources, fuel, etc,..

This comes with a rough first iteration of the scouting. A watchtower will enable you to spot nearby drifter landmarks. Rescuing drifters might provide rumors of nearby rare landmarks.

We invite you all to test this update and give us your feedback.

When bugs occur, provide as much information as possible to help us resolve these faster!
Read here how to submit and track the current bugs in the game.

This patch is still in development and can be tested on the experimental branch to give feedback.

This is how you can enable the experimental branch of Flotsam. This will only work when you're not in a game:
1. Open Steam Library
2. Right click Flotsam
3. Select Properties
4. Go to tab 'Betas' at the top.
5. Select 'Experimental' in the drop-down.

Enjoy the new update!

[h2]Change Notes[/h2]
General

• First iteration of the scouting feature:
  
• New Construction: Watch Tower
  
• Information regarding landmarks can now be obtained by building the Watch Tower.
  
• Information regarding landmarks can now be obtained through drifters that join your town.
  
• New construction specific resources (names may change):
  
• Floaters
  
• Wooden Planks
  
• Metal Plate
  
• New Construction: Ropecrafter
  
• New Construction: Small Drying Rack (may be removed later)
  
• Seaweed Patches now spawn in the water.
  
• Screw, Plastic Nets and the Pipe resources have been removed. (may return later)
  
• World Generator Updated
  

Balancing

• Size of the world has been significantly increased.
  
• Overhauled the pacing of the game:
  
• Workshops are now more prominent in the early game.
  
• Increased starting fuel amount.
  
• Altered start amounts of food and water.
  
• All building costs have been changed to reflect the changes.
  
• All production times have been scaled down to reflect the changes.
  
• Number of resources found on Landmarks has been reduced.
  
• Number of resources in flotsam patches has been reduced.
  
• Number of flotsam patches spawned has been increased.
  

Performance

• Persistence management has been refactored to reduce lagspikes when the game is saved.
  
• Flotsam inventory has been factored out to avoid unnecessary memory allocations.
  

Saving/Loading

• Experimental: Scouting is currently not persistent