Flotsam News

We've taken some time to strengthen the foundation of the game, which is the drifter AI. This allows us to build on a stronger base for the upcoming content patches.
We've also implemented some small community requested features such as more saving functionality, improved camera zoom and a bigger map.

Unfortunately old saves won't work anymore. If you want to continue an old save, you can load up a branch with the previous version.

This is how you can enable the previous version 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 'early_access_0.1' in the dropdown.

General

• You can now name any construction or boat.
  
• You can now zoom in more with the camera.
  
• Projects can now have more than 1 assignment linked to them. This means not everyone requires the hauling assignment anymore to keep the town running:
  
• Salvaging means the salvager can also empty their boat
  
• Production projects can import, export and haul fuel to their relative producers.
  
• Builders will now bring the required resources to the production site.
  
• Items no longer need to go through a storage to be useable by other projects. This means agents will be able to haul items directly out of boats to construction sites, producers, etc. They will also be able to drink / eat directly out of their respective producers.
  
• The game now autosaves when entering a new tile.
  
• Set all items discovered as default, making them all visible in the filters at the start.
  
• Added option to set a preferred boat type on mooring points. This means they will only moor there if there are no other mooring points available.
  
• Drifter names are now a first and last name instead of a first, last and nickname. Players can now change the full name of the drifter, instead of just the nickname. Leaving the name prompt empty will revert the drifter back to their original name.
  
• Increased map size.
  

Gameplay

• Added church landmark.
  
• Added metal wreckage landmark.
  
• Added overgrown boat landmark.
  
• Added fresh water oasis landmark.
  

Visuals

• Improved the material and model of scrapsmith.
  
• Added build states for scrapsmith.
  
• Added animation for scrapsmith
  

UI

• Improved readability for non-latin languages.
  
• Added click/hover states to salvage marker overview button.
  
• Added ability to rename constructions.
  
• Replaced clicking on the name with a rename button on inhabitants/constructions you can rename, to make it more clear.
  
• Moved inventory filter closer to the inventory part of the building panel.
  
• Added malfunctions of producers in the construction panel.
  
• Added missing localization for button tooltip in landmark panel.
  
• Reworked save/load panel.
  
• Added quick-save button Default at F5.
  
• Added button to exit directly to desktop.
  
• Resources that are already hauled to a boat/building under construction are now shown in the construction panel.
  
• Added buttons in the main menu linking to our communication / social media channels. [No localization]
  
• Added button in the pause menu to report a bug. [No localization]
  
• Added warnings for incompatible saves.
  

Performance

• Massively reduced memory use when the salvage marker panel was open.
  
• Reduced memory use from swimming markers.
  

Fixes

• Fixed selection colliders for the following landmarks:
  
• Seaweed islands
  
• Bridge island
  
• Single shack
  
• Fixed an issue where a boat would start a new project to clear it's inventory if it was moored after a load. It is unknown what bugs they may have been causing.
  
• Fixed issue where background music in main menu didn't loop.
  
• Fixed issue where health was misrepresented for agents near-death.
  
• Fixed missing boat requirement in landmark panel.
  
• Fixed issue where disabling an item on a salvage marker while an agent was on their way to an item of that type would cause the agent to get that item stuck in their inventory.
  
• Fixed issue where cancelling a marker would not un-reserve the items that were marked, causing storages to have incoming items forever. This could have a number of effects, such as not being able to deconstruct it properly.
  
• Edge scrolling no longer happens when the mouse is outside the game window.
  
• Fixed issue where markers weren't properly cleaned up after finishing the project.
  
• Fixed issue with irrelevant nutritional values appearing in item names.
  
• Fixed issue where storage filters weren't correctly persisted.
  
• Fixed incorrectly placed selection colliders for some landmarks.
  
• Fixed issue where townheart wouldn't be properly registered as an obstacle.
  
• Fixed issue where node description would overlap other elements in the map view.
  
• Fixed issue where playtime on saves was displayed incorrectly.
  
• Fixed issue where producer would no longer import resources after the producer got deconstructed and that deconstruction got cancelled.
  

Fixes to AI and UI bugs. The deconstruction bugs should be solved in some cases. Please report any that you still do. We also reworked the graphic settings to be more stable (and prevent any crashes), this unfortunately means that the settings are more simplified for the time being.

UI

• Updated non-Latin fonts to be improve readability.
  
• Reworked video settings to be more future proof. Options such as V-Sync and AA are disabled for the moment since these are governed by Unity's quality settings already. We'll bring these back with a later update when they are more relevant.
  
• Changed default full-screen mode to borderless window.
  

Fixes

• Fixed issue where markers would be removed after loading a saved game.
  
• Fixed issue where boats and mooring points could be blocked after loading a saved game.
  
• Fixed issue where the video settings would re-apply themselves when changing menus.
  
• Fixed not being able to make new save slots in certain time zones.
  
• Fixed issue where a building could not detach the agents on it when deconstructed. This would cause it to stay there until the game was reloaded.
  

Ahoy!

This is for you, UK drifters!

Starting Thursday we'll be attending EGX in London! If you want to try Flotsam or just want to chat with us, now's your chance.

You can visit us in the Rezzed area. More info about EGX can be found at the official site.

See you there!

Focused this patch on optimizing performance. Mainly code was optimized to prevent too many memory allocations.
We updated the full screen settings as well. Default it runs on exclusive full screen, if you prefer to change windows often, set this to borderless window.

UI

• Added more choices for full screen and windowed mode. Options now are:
  
• Exclusive full screen: Game takes full focus. Is the default and better for performance.
  
• Borderless window: Better suited for multi-screen setups.
  
• Windowed: Regular windowed game.
  

Performance

• Optimized code for agent feedback.
  
• Optimized code for searching mooring points.
  
• Optimized code for selecting to prevent too many calls in one frame.
  
• Optimized project code.
  
• Optimized several physics calls.
  

Persistence

• Changed part of the saving system to help us detect problems easier in the future. This still works with existing savegames.
  

Fixes

• Fixed housing being double assigned when reloading a save.
  
• Fixed issue where seagulls couldn't heal. (Apologies for all the early deaths.)
  
• Fixed issue where drifter would be stuck in jumping pose (including splash).
  
• Fixed issue where unfinished boats could be used.
  

More fixes to the AI and some UI issues. We've also started to investigate the performance issues.
We've also added cloud support to the game. If you're playing on different computers your saves will now be shared between those.

Gameplay

• Agents will now move import & export projects to the back of the project queue, instead of always prioritizing them over all other hauling projects. This would lead to the same producers being filled first all the time.
  

Audio

• Made music in main menu looping.
  

Performance

• Updated several methods to allocate less memory, which will decrease stuttering.
  
• Removed unused game canvases from flotsam, which will increase overall framerate.
  
• Several other small performance tweaks.
  

Fixes

• Fixed issue where recent saved games couldn't be deleted.
  
• Fixed issue where pop-up to delete save could stay on screen after loading that save.
  
• Fixed issue where passive producers (wood dryer, solar still, etc) would get items stuck in them after saving & loading.
  
• Fixed issue where fish schools would float on landmarks or collide with other objects.
  
• Fixed issue where drifters could get stuck when trying to use an item from a storage that was being cleared.