Beyond Contact News

[h2]UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE![/h2]

[h3]Space Corps Strikes Back![/h3]
Our third Early Access Roadmap Update "Space Corps Strikes Back" is NOW AVAILABLE and includes Raids 1.0 release, Research improvements including Shared and Queued Research, a quality of life polish to the Campaign, the addition of Secondary Weapon Actions, improvements to Creature Behavior, and much, much, more!

[h3]Raids![/h3]
Prepare to face the power of the Corrupted!
Legions of Corrupted and hordes of Urchins will now attack any Space Corps base or Outpost built on Ketern. Periodic attacks will keep the tension high and force you to defend your base with the newly introduced Guardian Turret!

As you spend more time on Ketern and expand your reach through the biomes, Raids will increase in ferocity, so look to the new Raid HUD which will provide you with information about upcoming Raids, including enemy type and a countdown to when the Raid will take place.

Raids are now live and on by default, unless you create a game with the custom difficulty set to Story, in which case Raids are off by default and will need to be toggled on.

Raids is a feature that will continue to evolve moving forward, this first foray into Raids can be
considered a minor skirmish compared to the forces that await you in the future. Good luck
Operative!

[h3]Weather Effects and Creature Behaviors[/h3]
In addition to the official release of Raids, you will now also find dangerous weather effects in certain environments, as well as more diverse combinations of creature groups, abilities, and behaviors.

[h3]Guardian Turret and Weapon Upgrades[/h3]
To combat the new and enhanced dangers of Ketern, you can now craft the Guardian Turret, and upgrade your weapons to include additional offensive capabilities.

[h3]Research Improvements[/h3]
To speed things up while preparing for battle, improvements to research including Research Speed and Queued Research have been added, and in cooperative games, you now share research and can queue the tasks up together.

[h3]Campaign Polish[/h3]
We have also completed the first major polish of the Campaign. This should make the campaign easier to navigate and improve the experience for players.

[h3]Change Log[/h3]
The team has included a massive amount of improvements to Gameplay, UI, Audio, FX, and Technical aspects of the game, which we have presented in full in the Space Corps Strikes Back Change Log which can be found here:
Beyond Contact - Beyond Contact Change Log 0.53.14

Some of our personal favorites to this change log are:
• Health stat gains from health items have been greatly increased.

• You can now use the middle mouse button to control your camera. (without camera zoom)

• Added a visual loading progress bar to the loading screens.

• Added the ability to hide and reveal the HUD on PC. Specifically added as a request to take screenshots with the HUD. Default keybinding is set to CTRL + Z.

• Added a new crafting category for permanent upgrades.

As always, if you have bugs to report or would like to suggest gameplay features please create a suggestion in our public feature upvoter and bug tracker.

On behalf of the United Worlds Congress, we sincerely thank you for your continued patience and support and we hope you enjoy the update.

[h3]Added Raids Version 1.0[/h3]
Raids are now live and on by default, unless you create a game with the custom difficulty set to
Story, in which case Raids are off by default and will need to be toggled on.
The new Raid HUD which will provide you with information about upcoming Raids, including enemy
type and a countdown to when the Raid will take place.
Raids is a feature that will continue to evolve moving forward, this first foray into Raids can be
considered a minor skirmish compared to the forces that await you in the future.
[h3]Added Improvements to Creature Behaviors[/h3]
Improvements and balance changes have been made to creatures and how they spawn
throughout the world. The player will find new diverse combinations of creature groups as
well as a few new abilities and behaviors. A variety of creature stats such as health,
damage, and aggressiveness have also been tweaked.
[h3]Added Improvements to Secondary Weapon Actions[/h3]
Weapons can now be upgraded to include additional offensive capabilities. A number of
weapons that can be found or fabricated will now have an optional upgrade that can be
applied to give an entirely new attack.
These new attacks possess considerable firepower and will help turn the tides against
Ketern's most formidable foes.
[h3]Added Campaign Polish[/h3]
We have also completed the first major polish of the Campaign. This should make the campaign
easier to navigate and improve the experience for players.
Objective Updates
We’ve updated the objective requirements text to help indicate what players should be
doing.
● Added wording updates for each objective requirement
● Each objective requirement now displays a relevant icon to help direct the player to
what they need to do
● Added new requirements to provide more information as deemed necessary
[h3]NPC Markers[/h3]
We’ve added NPC quest markers to the game.
When a player is required to speak to someone, the NPC will display a yellow question mark
above their head. This is also visible on world objects such as the Damaged Machine and
the Captain's recorded messages.
Note: these are currently not shown on all Brachylon talking objectives. This is primarily due
to the fact you can talk to almost all of the Brachylon, so we did not want yellow question marks
everywhere as it would add confusion. In a later pass, we will designate specific NPCs that you will
need to talk to.
[h3]Improved Tracking & Map Lerping[/h3]
We’d made improvements to the tracker for the objectives as well as lerping to help guide
players to the correct locations.
Players can now click on many of the “Travel to...” locations on the tracker or objective
screen to open the map and lerp to the location.
Additionally we improved the order of tracking objectives, as in the past the tracker often
automatically tracked the wrong objectives.
Added Shared and Queued Research
Shared research is a new setting in the game that is on by default. It can be toggled off in
the custom settings.
● In cooperative multiplayer, shared research will track all research performed by the players, as
well as unlocking and progressing the research for everyone in the game.
● Players can also view who started the research, displayed on the right side panel in
the research screen.
● When a player starts researching with Shared Research enabled, all other players will receive
a small notification.
[h3]Queued Research[/h3]
In both Single-player and Cooperative Multiplayer, players can now Queue Research.
● This enables players that meet the research requirement of multiple entries, to queue
them while other research is in progress.
● Each player is able to move their research up and down in the queue. Players are not
able to change the queue priority of a research queued by another player.
Show Completed Research
There is now a “Show Completed Research” button toggle which will list all completed at the
bottom of your research list.
[h3]Added Permanent Weather[/h3]
The game now has permanent weather in certain environments.
● Players can expect to see Fireballs in The Magma Crags and Snowstorms in Fallen
Frostlands and The Frozen Peaks.
● This is to make these areas more dangerous and more interesting to traverse.
Gameplay:
● Health stat gains from health items have been greatly increased.
● Using the middle mouse button to pan the camera no longer zooms the camera in.
● The maximum number of players allowed in a game has been set to 4. This is
aligned with the designers direction to help with balancing and the campaign.
● The warmth radius of the Escape Pods where players spawn and respawn has been
increased to ensure players loading in for the first time have warmth.
● Captured creatures are no longer set free when attempted to be picked up when the
player has no inventory space.
● Fixed an issue where Gomble Grapes couldn’t spoil. They now turn into Rotten Food
again.
● Fixed an issue where Quinn could be revived by an obelisk and appear to have zero
health.
● Fixed an issue where players weren’t able to harvest plants that creatures had eaten.
● Fixed an issue where digging up evolved or fruitless plants would reward too many or
too few plants.
● Fixed an issue where picking up a net would be interrupted by taking damage.
● Fixed an issue where projectiles were blocked by resources in the world.
● Fixed an issue where Quinn would bark about being able to fertilize the Cactus plants
when they couldn’t be upgraded.
● Fixed an issue where players could continue scanning nothing when the item had
been picked up by another player.
● Fixed an issue where players were able to build over harvestable resources. These
building blockers are removed when the affected plants are dug up.
● Fixed an issue where creatures were not flinching when they took damage.
● Fixed an issue where equipping and un-equipping armor would incorrectly update
the hazard protection provided by the unique armor sets.
● Fixed an issue where a Portable Stove would not function if two had previously been
used at the same time.
● Fixed various issues with Obelisk interaction to try and prevent bugs where they
couldn’t be activated.
● Fixed issues where doors and walls were blocking damage inappropriately.
● Fixed an issue where captured creatures were released when turned in causing them
to become invisible.
[h3]User Interface:[/h3]
● Added a visual loading progress bar to the loading screens. This replaces the previous Space Corps
Logo which would often freeze.
● Added a button tooltip for deleting saves on the PLAY screen when using a controller.
● Increased Clawtooth’s dialogue portrait to better represent his size compared to
Quinn's.
● Added the ability to hide and reveal the HUD on PC. Specifically added as a request
to take screenshots without the HUD. Default keybinding is set to CTRL + Z.
● Added an icon for a harvested Bloom Crystal mine so players will know where they
will re-spawn.
● Added a new crafting category for permanent upgrades.
● Improved hover tool-tip on obelisks to prioritize when they can be activated instead of
just inspected.
● Added a visual update of the research and crafting screen list items.
● Fixed the red exclamation mark research icon not appearing under the correct
circumstances.
● Fixed an issue where players could scan the same items twice.
● Fixed an issue where tabbing out of the game would make the first clicks on tabbing
back into the game, not perform any action.
● Fixed an issue where loading an old save would display unread notifications for
previously unlocked research tasks and schematics.
● Fixed an issue where the hover line on objects flickered at the edge of the
interaction.
● Improved consistency of fonts in server settings and character windows.
● Fixed the description box on the Create screen always displaying information even if
nothing is being hovered.
● Fixed an issue where the research progress yellow ring would carry over into new
games.
● Fixed an issue where one time crafting schematics would not disappear from the
tracker after they were crafted.
● Fixed an issue where dialogue could be triggered after entering a cinematic state,
causing the dialogue to get stuck on the screen.
● Fixed an issue where the Schematics Created counter on the death screen was
misleading and unclear.
● Fixed several instances of the hover tool-tips appearing over other panels.
● Fixed an issue where C.A.R.L. could get in the way of fertilizing a plant by hovering in
front of it as the soil is dragged over it.
● Fixed an issue where Quinn could bark about crafting a weapon when F is pressed
while dragging something from the inventory.
● Fixed an issue where resources would appear available on the map but were not
there.
● Fixed an issue where the subtitles from the opening FMV would appear after the intro
was skipped.
● Fixed an issue where players couldn’t move if they were using the teleporter interface
and the Transporter building they interacted with got destroyed.
● Fixed an issue where other players' map pings would play all at once when another
ping was performed while the map was open.
● Fixed an issue where players were not able to ping directly on top of other map
icons.
● Fixed an issue where the tracker interface overlapped the dialogue interface, making
it impossible to close conversations using the mouse.
● Fixed an issue where the hover tooltip panel would flicker in the wrong position.
● Fixed an issue where multiplayer notification messages were not appearing in the
selected language.
● Fixed an issue where an in-game schematic unlocked notification would repeat when
a specific inventory transaction was performed.
● Fixed an issue where in-game chat messages would appear over the main menu.
● Fixed an issue where the research interface could not be opened via C.A.R.L.
● Fixed an issue where the UI elements would repeat their on-boarding timing on
resuming a game, delaying core UI elements from appearing.
● Fixed an issue where clicking on required research tasks as a part of the Void Power
objective was not navigating to them on the research panel.
● Fixed an issue where the Out of Range text in a hover tool-tip was not appearing for
long enough to be read.
● Fixed the issue where hovering other players would read To Be Completed... instead
of Science Officer.
● Map icons colors have been improved to better represent what they’re assigned to.
● Fixed an issue where the player browser could not be closed while using a controller.
● Added keybind modifier support. Players can use buttons like Alt, Ctrl and Shift with
additional key presses to perform actions.
● Fixed an issue where the tool-tip hover information in the crafting panel was being
incorrectly capitalized.
[h3]Audio:[/h3]
● Added a delayed transition to music from running between two similar biomes. For
example Dense Jungle to Clearing will continue to play the previous soundtrack, to
prevent music from changing rapidly.
● Added new musical stingers for first entering sub-biomes.
● Improved the audio emitted by The Forge Heart.
● The low health music track now plays correctly when Quinn re-spawns.
● Added sounds to the Join, Browse and Back buttons on the PLAY menu.
● Improved the Crog sound design and 3D placement.
● Added audio for a digging action.
● Improved sounds and 3D placement made by the Corrupted.
● Improved the pre-combat music.
● Improved the Vyperlisk’s unique battle track and sound design.
● Fixed an issue where equipment hit sounds only played once on a player, instead of
on each actor hit.
● Fixed an issue where selecting to view the game credits from the options menu
would play two overlapping music tracks.
● Fixed an issue where the priority of important music tracks was not high enough,
leading to the incorrect track being played.
● Fixed an issue when the player was on low health, the music track would get stuck in
a transition state and no music would play.
● Fixed an issue where music would stop playing after re-spawning at an obelisk.
● Fixed an issue where music would stop playing after completing the campaign.
[h3]Visuals:[/h3]
● Improvements to several consume animations and portable stove animations.
● Various environmental assets are no longer allowed to appear on the spaces
between rooms to prevent seams from appearing in the world.
● Added a gate to Barr Hollow that will only open when players reach that part of the
game’s story.
● Various visual improvements to on-hit VFX for creatures.
● Improved the in-game lighting on terrain.
● Updated the harvested versions of Kepple plants to be more easily identifiable when they
have no fruit.
● Taking damage from eating raw food no longer triggers a directional hit effect on the
player.
● Fixed an issue where the oxygen bubble consumed effect was not triggering.
● Fixed texture clipping on bridges at different camera angles.
● Fixed an issue where mineable resources were not playing their break effect when
they were mined.
● Fixed an issue where the doors on the Morpheus Prime would not appear.
● Fixed an issue where players would be affected by extreme wind while inside The
Oasis and Morpheus Prime.
● Fixed an issue where Chitterlings were not playing their burrow animations when
escaping into Resin Mounds.
● Fixed an issue where Bloom Crystal node models would reappear after harvesting
them before they res-pawned.
● Fixed an issue where the Void Reactor did not have visible connections to the power
grid when placed.
● Fixed various clipping issues with the Brachylon Warrior’s sitting animation.
● Fixed an issue where flares would sometimes appear to float in front of and above
Quinn.
● Fixed an issue where the half closed rift at the Damaged Machine was not swirling
with dangerous energy.
Technical:
● Fixed a crash experienced by players that captured Phase Sprites under specific
circumstances.
● Fixed an issue where the camera angle and zoom level of the game was not loaded
correctly.
● Fixed an issue where interacting with Captain Jackson’s hologram was not awarding
the associated achievement.
● Fixed an issue where players who had left multiplayer games left behind their
unpiloted bodies.
● Fixed an issue when the window lost focus and which caused input to be stuck.
● Fixed an issue where after losing the game and restarting you would no longer be
able to save.
[h3]Known Issues:[/h3]
● A crash was experienced when a UI panel was opened as a piece of equipment
broke from use. This is still being investigated by QA.
● Spawn Safe Zones may not protect players as intended on some seeds.
● Player custom color reset button can get blocked, any change to colors will fix this.
● When 2 players stand near a dropped portable stove they will each see 2 stove
holograms.
● Performing the Void Claw’s secondary attack while standing on certain areas of
templates will make Quinn’s dash appear to be performed on the spot.
● Some secondary actions don’t display cool-down indication, this is because they
technically have no cool-down but when the recovery animation is cancelled with
movement there is a delay between repeated attacks.
● The Brachylon gate can be walked around in some seeds.
● Super enlarged edge of world VFX can appear in some AoE attacks at night in
builds

[h2] Gameplay:[/h2]

• A new teleporter network has been added to the game. Players can no longer directly teleport to a Transporter from anywhere. Players must now interact with the Transporter to teleport. Players can now teleport between active Obelisks and Transporters.
  
• The functionality of Forcefield Walls has been changed. Forcefield Walls now require power and the player can run through them.
  
• Forcefield Doors have been removed due to being able to now run through Forcefield Walls.
  
• Forcefield walls now regenerate health while powered.
  
• Item stack size limits have been increased. The Basic Locker now stacks items to 100 and Storage Vault to roughly double their inventory limit.
  
• Players can now rotate the camera with the middle mouse button.
  
• Picking up items next to a deployed Portable Stove will now prioritize the items instead of the Stove.
  
• Added a delay before respawning to show Quinn's death animation instead of instantly respawning.
  
• Scanning a captured creature on the ground before it’s picked up now scans the creature correctly.
  
• Corrupted weapons found in the world now have lower durability to prevent players from stockpiling them at their base.
  
• The Airsynth was removed as the scan reward from the Destroyed Escape Pod and replaced by a Thermo Stick.
  
• Players can no longer build structures on bridges.
  
• Void Rifts that previously spawned next to story objectives that blocked progression will now be regenerated elsewhere.
  
• Players are now able to run out of Void Rifts easily without being pulled into the center and instantly dying.
  
• The Plasma Welder now repairs faster and has more durability.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Brachylon Obelisk could not be activated after activating another Obelisk first.
  
• Fixed a bug where you could not interact with buildings while holding a Plasma Welder.
  
• Fixed a bug where Void Rifts would reset a lit Thermo Stick once the Void Rift was destroyed and dropped items.
  
• Fixed a bug where items on the ground would block attacks from creatures, preventing them from taking damage.
  

[h2]User Interface:[/h2]

• Player Bases now have an icon to display where they are on the map.
  
• Player Bases now have auto-generated biome-specific names.
  
• Unscanned items will no longer be displayed as grey when they can be placed in a storage container.
  
• Added the final cinematic to the game. This is played when the player chooses to leave the planet at the end of the campaign.
  
• Reduced the starting delay for the cinematic after fully repairing the World Forge.
  
• Large notifications and creature notifications are now ignored while in a cinematic.
  
• The Oxygen Drain Rate displayed on Oxygen Equipment and the Player Interface screen has been updated to be easier to understand.
  
• Updated various icons on the map, updating their art and increasing/decreasing their size.
  
• Updated various icons in the inventory, including specific captured creatures icons, and player equipment such as the Power Pickaxe, Power Shovel, Net, and more.
  
• Updated the icons on the Character Interface screen.
  
• Improved the Objective requirement layout. The tick is now green, text no longer clips on the right side and the confusing “task” text was removed.
  
• Added Koch Media / Deep Silver Credits to the game.
  
• The main menu message pop ‘OK’ button (that displays after disconnecting, being kicked, server closed, invalid server name, etc.) is now centered.
  
• Updated the latest translations, fixing grammatical errors and adding missing text.
  
• When using a controller, the inventory now wraps from one side to the other.
  
• Removed the Default button on the Extras Tab in the Options screen.
  
• Players and buildings now display the distance to them when tracked on the map.
  
• The Research ring (around the hud icon) now updates correctly based on the research speed setting.
  
• NPC dialogue portraits are now displayed behind the inventory.
  
• The save game deletion key on the saved game list is now displayed when using a controller.
  
• Plants that have been fertilized now display (Evolving) instead of (Growing).
  
• Fixed a bug where if a player died with a building inventory open, other players could no longer open it.
  
• Fixed a bug when using a controller, closing a storage container would not actually close it.
  
• Fixed a bug where hovering over the Scanner requirement in the Research Interface would display the Scanner as needing to be discovered.
  
• Research and Crafting list items now resize their text based on the length/number of the words.
  
• Fixed a bug when clicking ESC instantly after respawning would quit and delete the saved game.
  
• Fixed a bug where the right mouse button could be held to move the map.
  
• Fixed a bug where the data icons would disappear after placing structures.
  
• Fixed a bug where clicking on the dehydrated dead Brachylon would display numbers instead of text with subtitles on.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Captured Shock Sprite’s icon was greyed out when the player had the Shock Sprite Generator’s inventory open.
  
• Fixed a bug where players rejoining a server would not display the doomsday countdown if it was active.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Obelisks would not display the correct state on the map (Respawn available, Respawn Unavailable etc).
  
• Fixed several issues where the terrain was displayed incorrectly on the map, leaving streaks instead of outlines of rocks.
  

[h2]Audio:[/h2]

• Added several new sounds into the game such as inserting fuel into buildings, swapping armor, missing Bloom Sprite attack audio, and more.
  
• Adjusted various audio in the game that was playing incorrectly, either too loud or too quiet.
  
• Fixed an issue where the low health music would stop when the player was on low health.
  
• Fixed an issue when the ambient sound was not changing during dusk or night.
  

[h2]Visuals:[/h2]

• Static terrain details (such as grass) will now hide when buildings are placed in close proximity.
  
• Updated various models in-game including the Net, Power Shovel, Power Pick, and Void Crystal.
  
• Polished various effects in the game including creature attacks, creature hit effects, creature blood effects, and others.
  
• Updated various environmental assets to fix graphical issues, holes in the ground, and floating terrain.
  
• Fixed several instances where the player could get stuck between environment assets.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Fireballs effect was ending early instead of fading out.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Healing Rod would appear invisible on the ground.
  
• Fixed a visual glitch where plants and foliage would jitter when running past them.
  

[h2]Technical:[/h2]

• Fixed several instances where the game could crash.
  
• Fixed a bug where losing internet connection in a single-player game would kick the player back to the main menu.
  
• Fixed various Steam achievements not unlocking correctly.
  

[h2]Known Issues:[/h2]

• Creating a new game may fail to load the world. Resuming old games works fine.
  
• During long sessions, some powered buildings can passively drain power instead of when they are only in use.
  
• Teleporting wipes the tracked directional arrows on the mini-map.
  
• Inputs being performed are repeated when tabbing out of the game via click.
  
• Octomians can be pushed to appear as though they are walking up the sides of the ship.
  
• Lava deals no damage to Quinn after a save and load.
  
• Doomsday timer/music never goes away after specific actions.
  

[h2]Attention Space Corps Operatives![/h2]

[h3]Now is a great time to add Beyond Contact to your Steam Library and get involved with our community influenced game development!

From Wednesday 09/03/22 at 19:00 CET, through 11/03/22 19:00 CET Beyond Contact will be 20% off in the Steam store. [/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/877010/Beyond_Contact

[h3]It's also a great time to check out the progress we have made so far in Early Access, and to see what is included in our near future plans. [/h3]



[h3]For more information about the updates since our Early Access launch check out these updates! [/h3]

Rise of the Corrupted Part 1- Game Difficulty Options
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/877010/view/3146324000454453418

Rise of the Corrupted Part 2 - Raids Beta Branch
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/877010/view/3146324738913649593

Quality of Life Update - Expanded Game Settings, Base Building Improvements, and Map Improvements
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/877010/view/4334153583495852725

[h2]UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE![/h2]


[h3]Quality Of Life[/h3]
Our second Early Access Roadmap Update "Quality Of Life" is NOW AVAILABLE and includes Expanded Game Settings and Base Building Improvements, as well as Map Improvements which feature better filtering and a new notification system.

Also included in this update is a massive amount of improvements to Gameplay, UI, Audio, FX, and Technical aspects of the game, which we have presented in full in the Quality Of Life Update Change Log which can be found here: Version 0.51.10 Change Log

For your reading pleasure, at the bottom of the change log we have also categorized the changes per the Roadmap specifications, Expanded Game Settings, Base Building Improvements, and Map Improvements, plus Actor & Misc. changes so you can see specifically what aspect of the game the changes affect. We've also included some relevant Known Issues in case you get stuck during your return to Ketern.

Some of our personal favorites to this change log are:
• Crafting now pulls components from nearby storage containers when you do not
have all the required items in your inventory.

• Added additional game settings: Research Speed, Damage Taken, Creature
Health and Doomsday Speed.

• Added a new Points of Interest Map interface. Any map icon tracked will
automatically be added to the Points of Interest list.

• Added the map functionality to ping. Pinging will display for all players in multiplayer
to help draw their attention to a specific location.

• Letters are now supported in seed generation. Players are able to type in words to
more easily share world seeds.

As always, if you have bugs to report or would like to suggest gameplay features please create a suggestion in our public feature upvoter and bug tracker.

On behalf of the United Worlds Congress, we sincerely thank you for your continued patience and support.