Volcanoids News

We're beyond excited that the Automation Update is finally out! Prepare for some serious remodeling as this update adds over 40 new machines and gadgets that give you even more control over your brassy mobile base.

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We wanted to give you more options to utilize all the unused space we noticed in your screenshots and videos. No more empty rooms and no more empty segments. The brand new stations, panels, item displays, levers and valves, all designed to fit together like a puzzle, will turn any empty room into something straight out of a WW2 submarine (which is where we got most of our inspiration).

Take a look at these pages for a brief explanation of how each of these new devices works.




Here's also a more in-depth video explanation of the new devices:
https://youtu.be/ARNFcMloQBA

Now that the update is out and ready, we would like to talk more about what is planned next. The multiplayer development has begun a month ago and we would like to continue until it's ready for a major update. Check the pictures and videos, that show the current state. Meanwhile, we will do several smaller updates including features or improvements that don't require too much programming. We are talking about new device variants, level design improvements, better F1 help screen and other. We know the last update took forever to release and will do our best to deliver these minor updates much faster as they won't be so complex.

MAIN FEATURES

• Controllers = manufacture, system, shutdown, custom
  
• Display = sizes small, medium, large
  
• Panels = sizes small, medium, large in variations manufacture / system / core
  
• HUBs in variations production, refinery, research, scrap
  
• Ligts (drillship no longer has default lights, they need to be mounted from now on)
  
• Hacking tool
  
• Explosive and Detonator tool
  
• New eruption particle effect
  

NEW

• Photo mode
  
• Basic implementation of hands
  
• COG Drillship missions (drillships now come to surface more often, not just once per eruption day)
  
• New mount system (objects can be placed into slots placed all over the drillship and on modules)
  
• Inventory Sort, Take all buttons
  
• Storage input point (object that can be mounted on the wall and allows you to access online storage)
  
• New chest variations = low chest, mountable chest, colors red / green / blue / yellow
  
• Chest now support option to set a custom icon
  
• New lever stand variations = mountable on walls and above doors (lets you send drillship underground)
  
• When storage modules destroyed, they now drop item containing random items previously stored
  
• New recipes for destroyed modules, intel items, COG heads, etc. (items can be used for more purposes)
  
• Buttons in load screen = load latest, clear all saves
  
• Walls and floors can now be destroyed
  
• New main menu design
  
• New loading screen system (picture selected based on player drillship location)
  
• Damaged front drill and destroyed drill now have different visual
  
• Worktable has a new model
  

ADJUSTED

• Quest log now has a picture with the main objective (e.g. the upgrade you are supposed to produce)
  
• Players inventory has been increased
  
• Volcano no longer erupts after the game is finished, yet the ore keeps respawning
  
• Repair tool now shows how much repair capacity is left before it disappears
  
• Repair tool now has animation when used
  
• Stations play a sound when item finished
  
• Cranes in area 1 have no default modules
  
• Objects can no longer be built through walls and reverse
  
• When the player attacks the core, it displays messages explaining how to access it
  
• Recipes for Core and Engine were changed to not require research upgrade
  

• Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter or Facebook
• Participate in contests and chat with us/other players on Discord
• Receive development updates through Email
• See upcoming features on Trello
• Watch new trailers and tutorials on YouTube
• See highlights from the office and story specific content on Instagram

Special thanks goes to our Discord and Steam testers. To show our gratitude we added their names to the credits.

Thank you so much for your patience and hope you enjoy all the new additions to the game! Share your drillship designs and production line setups with us. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

It has been a long time since we last posted about the development. Actually, last time we posted the school year was about to end and now it's starting again. So to those that are going back to class we wish you the best of luck!

So far this update has been in development for way longer than the previous updates, and we are very sorry about that. Our goal is still to have an update every month/month and a half maximum. Current development got prolonged by several factors such as vacations and newborn family member that required lots of changes when it comes to time management. As things are finally settling down, the working schedule is getting back to normal. Now let's talk about the new stuff!



This update is focused on Drillship automation systems allowing you to build assembly lines and improved control over all drillship systems. As you advance through the island depths, you get access to more advanced devices allowing higher control over ship production, module setups, and item flows. All the pictures you see, are still work-in-progress that are missing textures or something else.





Since there is going to be a huge amount of devices, we had to come up with new ways players can build drillship interiors and combine objects together. This is how the mounted devices were born, allowing you to place objects into places that were not accessible before. Finally, all the unused space in corridors and on the walls will have some use.





Also, a mounted object does not block space on the ground, so you can combine it with another object. A good example is a combination of mounted chest and the newly improved worktable.



Some objects can even be mounted on the exterior of a drillship, such as lights, displays or panels. This helps with checking the amount of most vital items each time you walk through the door.



In general, new devices usually have three versions. Low stand, high stand, and mounted version. All these versions are in one item, so if you decide to switch things around, just deconstruct the device and place it someplace else (similar to how you can deconstruct a storage module on the wall and place it on the roof).





Hub station will allow you to set six items that will be frequently produced to a set amount. An example would be, that you want 20 grenades to always be ready in storage. The hub station will check the storage boxes, and if the number is below 20, new grenades will be made. Each production type (production, refinery, research, scrap) has its own hub. This allows you to make a complete assembly line, where you only care about input and output.



Panels show important data about the usage of energy and core slots. They work as more detailed stats panel, with a new visual style. You can choose panel that shows overall info about consumption, or panel showing just info regarding consumption of refinery modules. Panels come in three sizes and are often combined with controllers.



Controllers are an advanced version of the State Selector. Each module category has a controller that sets a number of opened modules. Levers allow you to increase, decrease or close all open modules of a specific type. When combined with panels, you can tweak power and core slot consumption to get the most optimized module setup.





Displays show the amount of items in the storage. The tracked items and order is set by the player. This way, you can have a perfect overview of how the production line is working, and if all works as expected. A small icon will show if the item is assigned for production or not. Displays come in many different sizes so that you can place them anywhere needed. Including the exterior of the ship and corridors between ship segments.



Lights are now part of the interior too. There's no more preset light in the drillships you will have to set it up yourself by placing lights around. This applies even to the ship exterior, which may help with finding the door in dark caves, or give an extra atmospheric feel to your drillship when it lands on the surface during the post-eruption state.





Apart from all the above, there are many more devices that can be mounted on the walls. Also, other parts of the game got improved as well but we will save the info for the final announcement once the update is done and ready to go.



Amongst many other platforms, we also started posting development pictures in the Artwork section. Check it out once in a while if you'd like to see what is being worked on. It often has a short description to give you an idea of what to expect in the upcoming update.



Please if you would like to get notified by a Steam message once a new preview branch for testing is ready, subscribe to this discussion.

If you don't know what the Preview Branch is, it contains early versions of the upcoming update with unfinished features and placeholders that we publicly share for players to test if they want to.

• Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter or Facebook
• Participate in contests and chat with the development team on Discord
• Receive development updates through Email
• See upcoming features on Trello
• Watch new trailers and tutorials on YouTube
• See highlights from the office and story specific content on Instagram

If you have any questions drop them in the comments below or on our social media.

Thank you for your patience, we're doing our best to bring you the new update as soon as we can!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

First of all, we would like to thank everyone that immediately sent us bug reports! It helped a lot and gave us a chance to fix the issues way faster. So please keep on posting them as it makes the game better for everyone!

We would also like to apologize for the issues with incompatible saves. We try our best to not break them, still sometimes when a major update is done, it changes the structure of saves file. This could cause a huge amount of bugs if loaded in the new game version.

There are good news tho! Ondrej adjusted files for 1.20 update and old saves made in 1.19 should work again! Although this is something we can not guarantee 100% with every major update.

Still, from now on there will be a second branch with the older game version available to everyone. If you get incompatible save error message, switch to the older branch and you can continue playing in the older game version. See the following video to see how to switch the game version

https://youtu.be/xzdGaRGwetQ

• Saves made in 1.19 should be functional again in 1.20
  
• Ship hull hp issue fixed
  
• Lava on landing site damaging drillship was removed
  
• Blast door on the side of the ship won't open underground anymore
  
• Several places where the player could get stuck in ground fixed
  
• Fixed levitating stones and bunch of badly placed rocks
  
• Spelling mistakes + wrong sentences fix
  
• Unlootable COGs can be looted again
  
• No dual ladders in COG drillships anymore
  
• Quest fixes + change in the structure
  
• State selector animation fixed
  
• No giant white boxes underground anymore
  

Thanks again!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

Listen up Partisans,

We saw your feedback, plotted for days and now it's finally here! Build a pilot seat, explore underground maps, mine with your drillship, discover caves, spy on your enemies using the periscope, and more in the Travel Update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VswT1fR2etQ
Captain put together a quick manual below so you understand how each feature works and don't get toasted the second you jump outta the submarine!



With this update, our intention was to solve following issues frequently reported by community: nothing to do underground, previous traveling system being just a fancy fast travel and not being able to mine with your drillship. This is also only the first iteration. In future updates, you can look forward to things like underground combat, toolbar in the travel map view (for torpedoes, boarding drones, self-repair) and survival mechanics.

Big thanks to our amazing community for helping us name all these new locations! Coming up with names is probably the hardest part of game development (not joking).

• Music audio slider in options
  
• Once a dead COG is looted, the outline no longer shows
  
• New quest hud marker system that keeps markers at the center of the screen
  
• Landing site numbers replaced by names suggested by the community
  
• Ore deposit spawn locations have been decreased, ore respawns only after the eruption
  
• Starter drillship has more items in inventory which makes the first few quests a lot more faster, and less about endless checklists
  
• COG attack groups no longer camp on free landing sites, but run between all landing sites within the node
  
• Unity launcher has been removed
  
• Ability to call drillship to other landing sites is removed, but might be brought back in future (the ability to call it under and above is still available)
  
• Target selector has been removed and will be remembered only in Captain's deck
  
• Map stand has a different texture and will be improved in future
  

• Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter or Facebook
• Participate in contests and chat with the development team on Discord
• See upcoming features on Trello
• Watch update trailers on YouTube
• See highlights from the office and conferences on Instagram

If you have any questions drop them in the comments below or on our social media.

Enjoy, and don't get lost down there!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

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