Flotsam News

Hey drifters!

We have a major update ready to test for you all: Eel-ectricity!
This patch brings energy, weight and slottable items to your floating villages. Allowing you to connect buildings with energy grids and produce power to move your town.

Each item has it's weight, which will impact the energy required to get to destinations. Workshops can be slotted with Generators, replacing their need for a drifter to work there.

This patch comes with a complete update to the render pipeline, offering smoother performance and fancier graphics. (shadows on the water!) As well as a pacing rebalance and many other changes.

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]
New Energy System

• Energy buildings can now be connected to energy grids.
  
• Buildings that require energy will draw energy from their connected energy grid.
  
• If an energy grid becomes overloaded, connected buildings will work at reduced efficiency.
  
• Certain buildings now require energy, instead of fuel
  
• Town Engine
  
• Research Station
  
• Desalinator
  
• Food Truck
  
• The townheart starts with a crank to produce energy which prevents players getting stuck when they didn't build an energy related building.
  
• Added an energy overlay that shows the energy consumption, production or storage of energy related buildings.
  
• Removed old fuel import system and replaced it with the fuel being part of the production recipe.
  
• Added a method to link energy grids together using click and drag energy wires.
  

Town Weight

• Your town now has a weight, which will affect the energy cost of town movement.
  
• The town weight is calculated by the total accumulation of all resource weights in construction costs, inventory and in storage.
  
• There are currently 6 different weight tiers:
  
• Very Light: 0kg - 400kg
  
• Light: 400kg - 800kg - Movement cost increased by 50%
  
• Medium: 800kg - 1200kg - Movement cost increased by 120%
  
• Heavy 1200kg - 1600kg - Movement cost increased by 230%
  
• Very Heavy: 1600kg - 2000kg - Movement cost increased by 400%
  
• Overloaded: 2000kg+ - Movement cost increased by 600%
  

Slottable Items

• Certain buildings can now slot items in them as an upgrade.
  
• A generator can be slotted in workshops to remove the need for a drifter. Workshops with a Generator will need to be connected to an energy grid.
  
• Batteries can be slotted in the Battery Holder to increase their energy storage.
  

New Buildings

• Battery Holder: A holder where adding batteries will increase energy storage.
  
• Wood-Powered Generator: This building can burn wood to generate energy.
  
• Oil-Powered Generator: This building can burn oil to generate energy.
  
• Energy Pole: A building that is used to connect buildings to the energy grid.
  
• Solar Panel: Generates energy from solar power.
  
• Electro Crafter: Turns Electric Scrap into various electric items.
  

New Items

• Battery: Used for energy storage. Can be slotted in a Battery Holder
  
• Generator: Used to upgrade a workshop to no longer require a drifter. Can be slotted in any workshop.
  
• Solar Panel: Used to generate energy from solar power.
  
• Electric Scrap: Can be made into energy related items.
  
• Temporarily removed Books.
  

New Landmarks

• Polluted Woods
  
• Car Battery Island
  

Pacing Rebalance

• The research station comes into play much faster now, with many buildings being behind research.
  
• The research station no longer requires books. Instead, it requires plastic buoyants and energy.
  
• Dried wood can now be found more frequently on a new landmark: The Polluted Woods.
  
• Wood drying has been slowed down.
  
• Reduced Metal Scrap cost for Metal Plates.
  
• Increased amount of landmarks containing Metal Scrap.
  
• Overhauled each building's cost to take weight, time and energy in regard.
  

Render Pipeline Update

• Updated the render pipeline to the Unity Universal Render Pipeline.
  
• Reworked all shaders to increase overall performance and visuals.
  
• Reworked the ocean shader.
  
• Shadows can now be cast on the water.
  
• Reworked the underwater world, as you can now see it better.
  

Animations

• Added Manual-Powered Generator animation.
  
• Added Ropecrafter animation.
  
• Added Plastic Recycler animation.
  
• Added Reroll animations for the crew selection screen.
  
• Added Wood-Powered Generator building animation.
  
• Added Oil-Powered Generator building animation.
  

Misc.

• Seagulls will now be scouted by drifters.
  
• Added LODs for walkways.
  
• Added LODs for flotsam.
  
• Changed names and descriptions for various buildings.
  

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the fog of war would not go away around the town when moving to the outer edges of the map.
  
• Fixed an issue where loading a save would make the day / night visuals appear out of sync.
  
• Fixed an issue where a drifter would get stuck on a mooring point after moving the town.
  
• Fixed an issue where the boat panel would sometimes show the wrong captain on a boat.
  
• Fixed an issue where a boat would get stuck at the wrong mooring point after moving the town.
  
• Fixed an issue where a drifter would not eat or drink if the game was saved in the night.
  

Behind the Scenes

• Added a landmark generator to improve our workflow for the landmarks.
  

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.