Oct 25

Update 1.1.0 now live - Plus our biggest discount yet!

Exogate Initiative - Xeno Bits Dev

Greetings, Gaters!

After months of post-launch updates focused on bug fixes and stability, it’s time for a gameplay update! Version 1.1.0 brings a host of improvements, balance changes, and quality-of-life upgrades — all inspired by your invaluable feedback.

Here are some highlights:

A complete rework of strongholds, they can now be repaired, even if you lose the sector
Improved offensive and defensive gameplay when dealing with other factions. Territorial Defense missions will now launch in priority for example.
Numerous quality-of-life enhancements and performance tweaks throughout the game.

To celebrate, we’re launching our biggest discount ever - 50% off!

Your feedback continues to be the most important thing to us. We’re listening across all channels, and the in-game report tool (F10 key) remains the best way to help us solve issues quickly (don’t forget to include your save file when submitting a report!).

We’ll keep supporting the game with smaller patches to iron out any remaining issues and further refine the experience based on community input.

Until then, safe travels across the universe, and thank you for being part of our journey!

Maxime MILLET

Creative Director, Xeno Bits

Changelog 1.1.0

Changes

Stronghold will be more efficient at defending sectors

Stronghold will no longer be permanently destroyed and can now be repaired

It is now better communicated to the player when a stronghold is destroyed or when it repel an invasion

Allies won’t force you into peace anymore

Liberation missions are more efficient

Invasion missions are shorter.

Defense missions now have the highest priority and will launch before other missions

Increased player teams efficiency when they handle automatically fight against other faction teams

Reduced Xp gained by scientists for researching tech, writing patents, studying samples and specimens

Slightly reduced steps required to study alien cultures

Reduced opponent factions count to 2 by default (including in initiation mode)

Factions will now limit the influence they are willing to trade over time.

XP worlds level requirement will no longer exceed 8 anymore

Gaters are now properly ordered when toggling between them in the detail panel

Changed prices of tables in mess hall

Equipment will be reassigned to the same gater after being moved

Improved ambulance bot pathfinding

Game will now loads paused

You can now force the behavior of a whole team in the gater list panel

Increased chance to hire hostile alien gaters

Affinity between gaters is now displayed as a percentage

Fixes

Fixed a bug where the screenshot key would trigger 2 screenshots

Fixed a bug where builders would stop repairing things after a while

The gaters picker popup will now scroll back to the top when it appears

Fixed a bug where gaters could be seen with some floating items around them

Fixed a bug where diplomatic mission could remain stuck on a faction’s homeworld after the faction was defeated

Buff and debuff amount are properly displayed in tooltips during team fights

Fixed a bug where soldiers would be stuck removing their armor during base invasion

Fixed a bug where shield could remain visible when it was off on shielded guardpost

Fixed a bug where some equipment crates could remain unhandled and could not be disassembled

Fixed a bug where scholar would not study alien culture if the bookshelves were not in the same room

Fixed a bug where gaters were preferring dumbbells over treadmills

Fixed some tooltips on factions details in the faction list panel

Oct 25

Dev Diary #4 – The Vertical City

Whiskerwood - Auverin (Hooded Horse)

Our earliest design goal with Whiskerwood was to explore vertical construction. This is why every gameplay mechanic in Whiskerwood interacts with verticality in some way -- be that terrain, pollution, terraforming, heating, or logistics.

Verticality as Design Challenge

Our prior game, Railgrade, was an early exploration of vertical gameplay, but limited to logistics. As we developed the game further, we found that logistics alone was not enough. We felt verticality deserved more mechanics and simulations.

Now, with Whiskerwood, we're crafting an entire game around verticality, with mechanics for pollution, heating, sunlight, and (of course) logistics. There are trade-offs for building vertically vs horizontally, and there should be a constant push and pull between density and expansion. Building upward might help reduce logistical distances, create more compact heating areas, and centralize your storage. But it can also leave your Whiskers depressed from the lack of sunlight or choking on pollution. More thoughtful construction patterns can allow in more light, or let wind push out the pollution -- but you will also be contending with dense, puzzle-like construction restraints.

Terrain Pushing Up and Down

As you play Whiskerwood, you'll find yourself chasing forests and berries upwards on mountain islands. We wanted players to start on the shorelines, and over time chase their way to a more challenging, vertical situation. By mid-game, you should find yourself nearing the mountain peak or tunneling underground to connect new islands.

Of course, not all islands are the same, and each type of island brings its own challenges and rewards. There are a few rare islands with flatter terrain. These may seem easier to optimize, but may prove too small or too barren to mine for resources. I suggest most players start on the more flush volcanic islands, which are rich in resources. Though they may lack enough arable land to farm effectively, this can be resolved with terraforming. More on that later.

No matter what your starting island, moving up (or down) presents a number of logistical challenges.

Housing & Services
With Whiskers roaming farther from their homes, you must decide whether to build houses and places to eat near the mountaintop, or to build slides that can take them down the slope quickly. Both are decent approaches with different costs.

Other services will become less centralized as you move up the mountain. This means more places that need to be heated, and more resources spent on keeping Whiskers warm during the winter.

For anything involving pipes, you will have to expand your network both vertically and horizontally, which can get quite expensive. For example, if you want to avoid Whisker travel time for bathing and hygiene, you'll need to build showers near the mountain top, and provide the necessary infrastructure.

Logistics of Goods
If you go up the mountain to pursue wood and other materials, those resources must come back down the mountain eventually. You will need to decide how you distribute these resources to your down. Will you put whiskers in charge to carry them all the way down, or use belts to move everything to a central location?

Elevators, slides, conveyor belts, and every flavor of stairs will help create an effective path up your mountain island. Toward the late game, trains can help alleviate the challenges of vertical and horizontal travel as well. If you reach the end of your tech tree, you can even use steam jump pads to effectively launch your Whiskers up the mountain.

For a deeper look at this type of logistics optimization, check out this dev diary about the Machines of Industry.

Mastery Over the Terrain

As your Whisker colony grows, you will be able to dedicate a work force to terraforming. Digging is the first type of terraforming you'll be able to do. Whiskers are good at digging, and mines carry the bonus of rich Ores. Intentionally mined areas can help you expand your town, smooth out logistics, or even expand your farmland. (Watch out though, because mined cells will be low fertility at first.)

If you've unlocked the requisite Schematic, you can even start building new land. This type of terraforming is a byproduct of Stone disposal. Your mining operations will generate large amounts of Stone, which is a useless resource gained from non-Ore mine cells. Stone cannot be traded or sold, and at best can be used to construct cold and damp housing. If left unchecked, it will clog up your storage infrastructure and you'll find your warehouses overflowing with stone.

When this happens consider disposing of the excess in the Stone Droppit. This special building allows Whiskers to dump stone and accumulate it into new terrain cells. These terrain cells can be used to construct new land, build bridges, create more farmable areas, or even build land into the ocean,

Our Dutch readers will recognize this as a powerful technique when combined with Steam Pumps.

Thanks for reading!
Daniel Dressler
Lead Programmer on Whiskerwood

More Whiskerwood Dev Diaries

In case you missed them, be sure to check out our other dev diaries for Whiskerwood:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/658207707628569427
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/515221043692962197
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/523104697900335294

Join, Discuss, and Keep Informed About Whiskerwood

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also visit our website for more information.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2489330/Whiskerwood/

Oct 25

Major Update "Cursebreaker" Released

Wayward - Drathy

Over the last year, our so-called “minor” updates have been anything but small, so we thought we might try something a bit different this time around; instead, focusing on a special seasonal theme in the form of a major release. just in time for the big spooky day! Speaking of spookiness, have a peek at our teaser for this special update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_buexXeNOvQ
Some stand-out features this time around include:

New Trick or Treat Curse Mechanic: You are cursed! While awake at night, there’s a chance for random events to occur. The higher your curse level, the more frequent and potentially dangerous these events become.

Added Jack-o’-Lanterns: A new spooky, curse-warding light source.

Tree Update: Trees now include a new “Seeding” growth stage, and the “Bare” status is part of the tree’s life cycle, which now cycles back from “Bare” to “Budding”. Leaves from most trees now decay into “dried leaves”, which can appear under trees when reaching their “Bare” stage.

Temperature Overhaul: Added a temperature indicator that appears only when it’s cold enough to freeze or hot enough to overheat. The temperature and insulation system has been overhauled to go along with this. Values are simply added together instead of being weighted per piece of equipment.

Sticky Situation: Spiders can now spin cobwebs. Moving through them will cause you to lose a turn.

New Recipes: Two new baking recipes have been added for use with a new set of pans. There are a few other new goodies as well.

Check out the full changelog below:

New

You are cursed! At night, when awake, there is a chance of a random event occurring. The higher your curse level, the more random events, and the more danger you face...
Added a "Seeding" growth cycle for all trees.
Added a display for the temperature stat, showing only when it's cold or hot enough to be freezing or overheating.
Spiders can now produce cobwebs, which can make you skip a turn when moving over them.
Added jack-o'-lanterns, a new scary, curse-warding light source.
Bare trees are now part of the normal plant's life cycle - they will return to budding after a typical cycle or turn count.
Added clay, glass, and metal baking pans.
Added two new baking recipes to be used with pans.
Added two types of sugar.
Added two new cooking recipes with sugar.
Leaves now decay or dry into "dried leaves", which can be used as better compost and tinder.
Added a "pile of leaves" tile event that can appear by or around bare or seeding trees.
Some items can now be damaged when walking on them or as some creatures move over them. This can be mitigated by walking barefoot.
Added new generalized "action" sound effects (previously, just used the crafting sound effect).
Added a new item break sound effect (separate from general failures).
Added a new sound for crafting and crafting failure.
Added glass and clay baking trays.
Added a new Starter Quest regarding repairing and durability.

Improvements

The effective radius is now displayed when mousing over a scarecrow doodad.
The Temperature Insulation system has been simplified. Insulation is now entirely flat numbers summed together, rather than weighted averages and percentages.
Updated the menu screen for Cursebreaker — new major releases going forward will all look and feel at least a little unique.
Items dropped on campfires (or open fire sources) will now automatically be "stoked" in the fire, instead of a new fire being created "on top" of the doodad.
Some items, doodads, and tile events can spawn in zones with certain creatures.
Modified the recipe and graphic for bone flutes so they are more distinctive over bone needles.
Added a new tooltip for showing the item stacking keybind under item tooltips.
Fixed a number of cases where options in the custom game "customize" menu didn't display in the tooltips in the in-game pause menu.
Added a random event for temperature checks so tiles will melt properly over time unlike before.
Significantly improved the display of custom game options in the in-game pause menu.
Improved alerted icon positioning for tall and flying creatures.
Added indicators via the status effects UI for the last core stat raised for the Statistician modifier and the last rune received for the Runekeeper modifier. (Thanks Andrej27!)
Changed the default bind for "Toggle Auto-Use" to Ctrl + Right click.
Charcoal will now turn into carbon powder when broken.
Creatures now disappear at the end of their movement animation when moving out of your line of sight, rather than at the start.
Scarecrow items will now exactly match what is placed down as a doodad (previously, it was randomized).
Reduced the size of alerted creature icons slightly.
Reduced the volume of the failure sound effect.
Items with seeds will now break with their seeds remaining.
"Bare" trees can now be healed/regenerated just like other growth stages.
Water still tooltips will now reveal if the tile is too cold for the still to function.
Added an option to disable UI animation. The option to disable UI effects disables animation by default.
The doodad tooltip now mentions whether or not there is a container attached to stills. (Thanks Townfall!)
Changed the default crafting display to "Craftable Only".
Solar stills will now reveal in their tooltips that there is unpurified water in them when placed over shallow water.
A hint now shows in the Stats UI when there are still stats yet to be discovered.
Added a sound effect when jumping.
Some tile events now get removed when jumping onto them, like puddles.
Cooked fish kebabs now return their base components (wooden spear) when destroyed.
Added new information to Help and the Starter Quest to explain sorting and filtering in the crafting dialog.
Tweaked the background behind messages to still fulfil the same purpose, but without being quite as intrusive.
Setting a "Repair" action to be auto-used now only actually uses the action when the target item is at its minimum durability.
When creatures damage items on the ground, there is a new sound effect and particles to indicate it is happening.

Balance

The Fanaticism magical property has been significantly buffed, now working on the Invoke effect for an additional deity, reducing the cooldown between Invokes, and even reducing the chance that runes are consumed at all.
Random events now no longer happen three times per turn globally across the map, but instead happen twice: once near the player, and once outside the player's area.
Drastically improved the conversion rate from one rune tier to the next, which should allow players much greater access to higher-tier runes. Fanaticism gear can still be used to improve the conversion rate further.
The chance of shadow creature spawns has been removed from invoking.
Increased the stoke value of coal.
Increased time needed to filter water in dripstones, decreased time needed for water stills.
Reduced the mining/chopping effectiveness of all tools that are not pickaxes/axes.
Added a chance to wake up from uncomfortable or extreme temperatures.
The chances that creatures will drop runes on death have been rebalanced across the board to roughly match their difficulty.
Reduced spider silk drop chances on giant spiders. Added the ability for trap door spiders to drop spider silk.
Boat paddles can now be fished up randomly.
Decreased the odds of getting "stuck" on Volcanic islands without a boat by modifying loot groups, creature spawning, tree generation and more.
Some items can now break much more easily when thrown.

Bug Fixes

Fixed item highlighting not resetting when hovering over the action bar and from other sources. (Thanks Nama!)
Fixed items getting stuck on the screen. (Thanks Sophie!)
Fixed item greying out effect when previewing a stack not working after moving a stack to another container.
Fixed items indicated for trade in the Trade dialog being used or destroyed not being handled correctly, causing errors and stuck items. (Thanks Ole!)
Corrected hunger and thirst drain when traveling; this was too high due to the travel time changes. (Thanks Chl!)
Fixed random plant events and dryad special abilities not working properly.
The number of full item tooltips that display in the inspect dialog when inspecting a tile is now capped to 8.
Fixed the consecration action saying that the deity is pleased even when you failed to upgrade anything and the total worth of your runes has decreased.
Fixed text with tooltips in hidden menus still showing their tooltips if you mouse over their position. (Thanks muzzy!)
Fixed wooden chests using the wrong skill when using disassembling, repairing, etc.
Fixed an empty grey bar appearing when showing more information in tooltips. (Thanks muzzy!)
Fixed Jelly Cubes not having any slime ball resource drops. (Thanks warriorsforever482!)
Fixed dropping items onto traps not setting them off.
Fixed decayed items not returning the same unique magical naming when they returned their disassembly items (cooked fish kebabs).
Fixed ash turning into incorrect tile types when dug in certain biomes. (Thanks Ole!)
Fixed being able to pet slimes way too quickly. (Thanks warriorsforever482!)
Fixed instances of skill gain proccing multiple times from a single action not also proccing stat gain and rune drop chances multiple times.
Fixed item crushing happening when dropping items. (Thanks Ole!)
Fixed showing attack on the cast action within item tooltips. (Thanks Grub!)
Fixed being able to farm an excessive amount of theurgy skill via repeated consecration of the same runes, especially with Fanaticism gear.
Fixed pouring water on the stills with water already in it not extinguishing the fire.
Fixed some more container item list desyncs (instances where the item list has to regenerate due to it being incorrect, which costs performance.)
Fixed the wrong water type from being created when picking up stills or dripstones in some instances.
Fixed drop being disabled on explosive traps.
Fixed being able to attempt to purify milk.
Fixed the stamina stat always being discovered by default.
Fixed not being able to disassemble basalt walls.
Fixed the change counts at the top of a changelog displaying weirdly.

Technical

Items can now have base components (this system is used for pies), so separate recipes aren't needed for every pie in every different pan and are stacked together.
Replaced the require.js dependency with a custom module loader. Modders: Circular dependencies are no longer possible.
Updated to Electron 38.

Modding

"Mod.get()" can now be used in the top-level/init context of mod files in order to get the mod's "ModInformation", which will be injected with the mod's instance when available.

Mods

TARS

Fixed not being able to craft most metal items.
Will now create crucibles as part of their main tool set.

Debug Tools

Added support for the new Curse system.

Oct 25

Mining Mechs Franchise Recap

Mining Mechs - Delayed Victory

Hey everyone!

Today Valve has been generous enough to include Mining Mechs as today's "Deal of the Day" on Steam. Because of the amount of new players learning about the game today, I figured I'd make a little post to recap the 2 games in the franchise, and the upcoming spin-off.

Mining Mechs

Mining Mechs is the first game in the series and offers a relaxing, chill, casual mining experience. Mine in singleplayer or with up to 8 players in online co-op and unravel the storyline as you make your way down. The base game takes about 3-5 hours to complete, and each DLC adds an additional world to explore, with a new storyline, new mechs and new resources, offering a similar amount of playtime. If you're looking for a short and fun mining experience, this one is perfect!

You can check out the game and all of its DLC in the Gold Edition bundle and get an additional 10% discount:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37447/Mining_Mechs__Gold_Edition/

Super Mining Mechs

Super Mining Mechs is the sequel to Mining Mechs, adding a bunch of new features to the game such as modular mechs that can be built from unlockable parts, multiple planets to travel to and explore, underground building, a passive skill tree, an all-new objective system and a fully voiced storyline. It has online co-op similar to its prequel and takes about 15 hours to complete. If you're looking for a bit more freedom and a longer grind, this is the one for you!

You can find the game and all of its DLC here in the Gold Edition bundle and get an additional 10% discount:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46084/Super_Mining_Mechs__Gold_Edition/

Mining Merchant

Mining Merchant is my upcoming game! It's a spin-off to the Mining Mechs series with a focus on shopkeeping, where you set out to restore your uncle's crumbling shop. You have to mine for resources by day, craft them into valuable goods, and sell them in your shop at night. Just like the previous games, Mining Merchant supports online co-op, so if you enjoy mining with friends and running a shop together, make sure to add the game to your Steam wishlist to get notified on launch!

Please add Mining Merchant to your Steam wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3744080/Mining_Merchant/

Franchise Bundle

Lastly, if you're a mining fan and you just want everything, there's also a "Complete Franchise" bundle containing both of my games + all DLC and extras. You can find it here and get an additional 30% discount on top of the other discounts:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46085/Mining_Mechs__Complete_Franchise/

Alrighty, that's it! Hope you all have a great weekend and rest of your week, and happy mining! If you want to stay updated on my next game and upcoming updates / DLC, follow the Steam franchise page below, or join the Discord!

Wishlist Mining Merchant Follow the Franchise Page Join the Discord