Developer Systems Era Softworks has announced that its rather lovely space exploration adventure Astroneer will be leaving Steam, Windows 10, and Xbox One early access on February 6th next year.
Astroneer initially launched in Steam early access at the tail-end of 2016, where it immediately delighted with its relatively laid-back, low-key mix of interplanetary meandering, terraforming, and survival. It's a wonderfully soothing endeavour, and features a beautifully vibrant low-poly art-style that gives its procedurally generated planets a distinctive flair.
And should you wish to go adventuring with friends, there's even drop-in/out co-op for up to four players - which currently supports cross-play between Windows 10 and Xbox One.
Cute space survival sandbox Astroneer isn’t far from the finish line, say developers System Era Softworks, it’ll be bounding out of early access in just a few months – February 6th, specifically. The studio have some big plans for the release – the launch version will include a “new exploration-focused adventure”, taking you to new planets full of interesting new things to poke around, or be poked by. The launch version will also support cross-play with Xbox One folks, hopefully ensuring a healthy and well oxygenated player-base for a while. A stardate trailer lies below.
Steam 'Early Access' players will receive this update November 14th, 2018.
Update 0.10.5 contains a Tech Test of a new planet using an early version of Terrain 2.0, a new suit only for Early Access and Play Anywhere players, and bugfixes for the main version of the game. This will be the final early access update before 1.0!
UPDATES & INFO
Exotic Moon Tech Test
This build includes a first look at an early version of Exotic Moon. We are using it as a stress test for Terrain 2.0, the new technology we are using to generate planets. This planet is an earlier unfinished version than the current development one, so it will be missing large parts of the gameplay loop. You should expect to encounter bugs and missing gameplay. If you do, please report them on our forums so we can track major issues as we go through our bugfix phase before 1.0! No amount of feedback is too small! You can access the build by scrolling left on the starting menu space ship and loading "Terrain Tech Test"
Because the planet has missing decorators, effects, research, and resources, Exo Dynamics has provided the Astroneer with 100k bytes, and an experimental development plinth that provides all necessary resources to craft items. Consider this an EXTREMELY loose test for players who want "Creative Mode" type experience. Please give us feedback on what you would like to see included if Astroneer added a dedicated creative experience after 1.0!
Also, the planet has a fixed seed, so every player of the game will experience the same exact planet. Share your favorite mountains, caves, craters, and with others and directions on how to get there using the Astroneer's compass!
"Retro" Suit Unlock
As a gift to everyone who supported us throughout development, a new suit has been added to the game! This “Retro” suit is exclusively for Early Access players of Astroneer as a thanks for your ideas, bug reports, feedback, and encouragement. Anyone who owns the game before 1.0 will receive the "Retro" suit, and we have no plans for making it available to post 1.0 players. Thanks so much for your support thus far!
BUGFIXES
The following live issues have been fixed as of version 0.10.5.0:
[AS-3717] - Addressed an issue where some players were unable to join a Multiplayer game on Xbox One. We will keep monitoring to see if the issue persists, please let us know on the forums if you are still encountering this problem.
[AS-3983] - Fixed a bug where clicking on the opened Backpack while holding down a terrain modifier key breaks cursor selection
[AS-4003] - Fixed a Multiplayer bug where Client players could not start the Soil Centrifuge from the control panel
[AS-4047] - Fixed a bug where the Chemistry Lab would stop functioning mid-print if a player was holding enough resources to perform crafting twice
[AS-4088] - 3-Seat modules should now be appropriately facing outward when printing directly on an Extra Large Rover.
[AS-4602] - Fixed a rare, but annoying crash that occurred when players attempted to shred a second non-empty Oxygen tank with oxygen in it after shredding a non-empty Oxygen tank.
INFORMATION!
Release Date
Just in case you missed it, Astroneer now has a solid release date, February 6th, 2019! While we hoped to release the game into 1.0 right after the two year anniversary of our Early Access + Game Preview release in mid December, we have made the tough decision to delay the game 6 weeks to make sure we meet the quality bar we have for what we consider a polished 1.0 experience. The game is all but finished, but we ate up too much of our bugfix and performance time that we had slated for the end of development, and feel the few extra weeks of work will allow us to make Astroneer 1.0 a polished experience. We hope our players will understand! For more context about the decision, check out our developer Q&A that we posted on Youtube today, and then check out the release date announcement trailer to see just how different Astroneer is:
We always said we would revisit this once we got closer to 1.0, and now that we are here, it is time! Astroneer will be officially moving to a 1.0 launch price of $29.99 USD on November 19th, 2018. Our 19.99 price point was always seen as a discount because the game was unfinished. Just as a reminder, Astroneer 1.0 will include 7 entirely new planets with multiple brand new biomes, new vehicles, modules, items, suits, and an exploration based experience! This also includes around a years worth of completely free content updates. You can view future content being considered on our roadmap!
One last thing to mention: This will be Astroneer's final Early Access update, and anything that you see from here on out is a preview of the 1.0 version of the game. Also worth mentioning that saves from this last build (0.10.5.0) will not be compatible with the 1.0 version of Astroneer.
That's all for now! This final update is a bittersweet one, this Early Access journey has been an amazing experience, and we cannot wait to deliver an incredible game on February 6th that we can all be proud of having worked on together. Thanks so much from every single member of our team.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Fraser Brown)
We ve been battered by wave after wave of survival romps since Minecraft popularised the genre, with its deadly nights and groaning zombies, almost a decade ago. In its wake, we’ve been introduced to a cavalcade of punishing, persistent environments intent on putting us in an early grave.
The masochistic impulse to put ourselves through the wringer for entertainment has spread to RPGs, management games, cosmic sandboxes and more than a few horror games, so even if you don t fancy punching rocks and trees while wandering around in the wilderness, you might still find a survival game to tickle your fancy. (more…)
Steam 'Early Access' players will receive this update September 6th, 2018.
Update 0.10.1 contains a complete overhaul to the crafting and progression systems, including new resources, minerals, recipes, modules, and a new shuttle! Watch the trailer here:
In order to prepare for new items that will be added in 1.0 as well as creating a progression that encourages exploration, we have overhauled the progression of crafting. There are now new resources in the world to gather, completely new craftable resources, and a new resource type, Atmospheric! Now, in order to craft everything in the game, Astroneers must travel to different planets. Progression now happens in a few stages:
Stage 1: Gathering resources with your terrain tool. In addition to the existing in-game resources, there are several new mineral deposits found throughout the world, and different densities of those resources on different planets.
Stage 2: Smelting and Refining resources. Like the current version of Astroneer, step two requires smelting and refining materials. There are new smeltable resources, be sure to check their UI card for more details!
Smelter has been renamed “Smelting Furnace”
More resources can be smelted
Stage 3: Extracting resources from soil. This system has gotten a complete overhaul. Rather than just extracting all resources, the newly dubbed Soil Centrifuge's role is now to help Astroneers extract common resources without all of the manual labor. This should allow players to focus on finding rare resources and automate the process of gathering items like compound and resin.
Mineral Extractor has been refactored into the “Soil Centrifuge”
Centrifuge provides easy access to common and uncommon resources but no longer can create all resources.
Stage 4: Compositing two resources together. Stage 4 now requires some science! In order to create rare composite resources, Astroneers must use the "Chemisty Lab" to combine resources from the above steps. Rare resources will now sometimes require a specific atmospheric gas to create.
Hydrazine Catalyzer has been refactored into a “Chemistry Lab”
Brand new resources can be crafted by combining multiple resources together
Some high-level resources require an Atmospheric resource as a type of fuel
Stage 5: Collecting Atmospheric Resources. As mentioned above, Atmospheric Resources are a new resource, and the new Atmospheric Condenser is the way to gather them. Not all atmospheres have every gas, and some have higher concentrations of gases than others, so make sure to visit new planets in order to collect all gases for crafting!
Fuel Condenser has been refactored into the “Atmospheric Condenser”, and visuals for the module have been completely replaced
Allows you to collect different resources from the planet’s local atmosphere
Different planets have different resource availabilities!
New Resources and Recipes
A new ore has been added - Sphalerite. Sphalerite can be smelted into Zinc, and is found above ground and below ground on most planets.
New types of resource deposits have been added - Quartz, Clay, and Graphite.
Quartz can be smelted into Glass
Clay can be smelted into Ceramic
Organic can now be smelted into Carbon. Coal deposits have been removed from the game and any existing Coal nuggets have been migrated to Carbon nuggets.
The Medium Generator now uses Carbon!
The following new crafted resources can be created at the Chemistry Lab:
Rubber
Plastic
Aluminum Alloy
Tungsten Carbide
Graphene
Diamond
Hydrazine
Silicone
Explosive Powder
Steel
Titanium Alloy
Nanocarbon Alloy
The following new atmospheric resources can be gathered using the Atmospheric Condenser:
Hydrogen
Argon
Methane
Nitrogen
Helium
Sulfur
To enable early game exploration of new planets, two new items have been added: the Solid-Fuel Thruster and the Small Shuttle.
The Solid-Fuel Thruster is unlocked in the Catalog for 500 Bytes and is printed from the Small Printer for 1 Aluminum and 1 Ammonium. This disposable thruster will enable you to take a one-way trip to another planet so you can collect the resources you need to complete your crafting progression. For your convenience, it prints to a small package that fits in your backpack, so be sure to take spares with you if you want to make round trips!
The Small Shuttle is unlocked in the Catalog for 1500 Bytes and is printed from the Vehicle Bay for 2 Aluminum. The Small Shuttle works with both the Hydrazine Thruster and the Solid-Fuel Thruster.
Recipes for many of the objects in game have changed! The goal of these changes is to give each item a clearer place in the crafting and gameplay progression. We hope players will now have a much more gratifying sense of progression as they unlock and craft new technology!
Because this is such a big change for the game, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the forums.
General Changes
The Catalog has received a visual redesign! We heard your feedback loud and clear on this, and with all the new recipes, we decided to overhaul the catalog and the information provided within. We hope that players will now make better informed decisions when spending bytes and planning out progression!
The Catalog display now shows the required resources to help you decide how to spend your hard-earned bytes
To further streamline Research and Printing, researchable items have been arranged by the printer type they come from (Backpack, Small Printer,
Medium Printer, Vehicle Bay) instead of their gameplay role.
All Fabricators have been renamed to Printers.
Collectible power nuggets and oxygen nuggets have been removed from the game!
To mitigate oxygen “rescue” moments, oxygen filters are unlocked by default and resin deposits are more common.
To mitigate power collection, the collectible nuggets surrounding hazards will collect as organic for small power generators.
Miscellaneous
Hovering over the required Resource holograms on printers now displays information about obtaining that Resource in their Tooltip. There are tons of new things, so this should help players find the resources they need!
EXO Wrecks and fallen Astroneer backpacks now have a chance to grant the newly added resources. See you in the stars fallen friends. Byte values of researchable items have been adjusted Byte costs of purchasable items have been adjusted
Bugfixes
The following live issues have been fixed as of version 0.10.1.0:
[AS-2487] - Fixed a bug where the Smelter sound loop would persist for Client players in Multiplayer games after smelting has finished
[AS-2676] - Fixed a bug where the Client player in Multiplayer games was unable to hear the Smelter when it was active
[AS-3330] - Fixed a bug where the Client player in Multiplayer games was not able to see the preview holograms while printing Medium and Large Rovers
[AS-3341] - Fixed a bug where Vehicle Bay will pop to center of the Shelter once it has been unpacked
[AS-3362] - Fixed a minor issue with the Medium Solar hologram which appeared too bright in the Catalog
[AS-3363] - Fixed a minor issue with the Terrain Analyzer image clipping through the background of the Catalog
[AS-3419] - Control + Click shortcut should once again work on the Landing Zone control panel
[AS-3426] - Fixed a bug with the item pads of small objects becoming separated from the object under certain conditions
[AS-3461] - Fixed an issue where Fireworks explosion became visually offset with the rocket
[AS-3465] - Smelter will no longer drop items to the ground when queuing up resources
[AS-3509] - Items will no longer fall out of world when packages are unpacked upside down
[AS-3522] - Fixed a bug where the green light on the side of certain module packages did not light up
[AS-3523] - Fixed a bug where Printers were not prevented from printing when items were placed in the center of the preview hologram
[AS-3541] - Fixed a long term usability issue where Smelter slots did not have priority over platform slots for placing ores for processing.
[AS-3571] - FIxed a visual issue where the Medium Storage became unskinned for a brief moment when unpacking
[AS-3602] - Fixed a number of localization issues in the Quick Help menu screens
[AS-3608] - Fixed a number of objects whose holograms appeared too large in the Catalog and caused readability issues with localized text
[AS-3647] - Fixed a bug where the Small Fabricator could finish its current printing process while being stowed in the backpack
[AS-3665] - Resources found in the white resource caches now show UI information cards
[AS-3669] - Exit key is no longer present in the shuttle UI when in orbit
[AS-3739] - Fixed an issue that occured when the player died with the research catalog open which caused previously unlocked items to show as locked and unpurchasable after respawn.
Steam 'Early Access' players will receive this update today, August 6th, 2018.
Update 0.9.2 contains the groundwork for extensive changes to the crafting and resource systems, as well as additions to printer lists and changes to printers overall!
UPDATES
You can find these updates in 0.9.2.0, the current build of the game.
NEW RESOURCES AND RECIPE CHANGES
New resource deposits have been added to the solar system! Titanite, Wolframite, and Hematite deposits can now be found on the surface of planets and in caves. But you won’t be able to find all of these on Terran, intrepid Astroneers will have to travel the solar system in order to find the new resources.
Titanium has been changed to be the refined form of Titanite.
Wolframite and Hematite can be smelted into Tungsten and Iron, respectively.
New recipes have been added to include these new smelted resources! New resources need new recipes to print them! These are just a few items that will be using this new resource progression, be on the look out for more items in updates very soon.
Drill Head: 1 Tungsten and 1 Resin
Extra Large Platform: 2 Iron
Extra Large Storage: 2 Iron and 2 Aluminum
Fireworks: 1 Titanium
Thruster: 2 Tungsten
GENERAL CHANGES
- Medium Printer has been removed as part of an ongoing effort to streamline crafting. With the introduction of the Small and Medium Fabricators, the Medium Printer became increasingly redundant and created confusion about where objects can be crafted.
All objects that previously printed from the Medium Printer can now be crafted from the Small Fabricator.
Existing Medium Printers in saved games have been automatically converted to Small Fabricators.
- Thruster is now a craftable object. It is available in the Catalog for 2000 Bytes and prints from the Small Fabricator for 2 Tungsten.
- The respawn rate of Harvestables has been positively adjusted!
- EXO wrecks can now be found in caves! Adventurous Astroneers will also discover new large wrecks on the surface that hint to each planet’s theme.
- The orange launch button has been removed from the Shuttles. You can now use the Auxiliary keys (Z / X on keyboard or RB / LB on gamepad) to launch into orbit.
- Beacons have received an update and a bug fix.
Beacons are once again visible when slotted. Now players actually can locate their vehicles if a beacon has been put in a slot on the chassis.
They can now be turned off. This option is available when you finish cycling through all of the color options using the input keys.
They can now be turned on, off, and their color can be changed using the aux keys when slotted onto an auxiliary slot on vehicles and backpacks.
BUGS & CRASH FIXES
The following live issues have been fixed as of version 0.9.2.0:
A number of frequently occurring low-level crashes have been fixed, increasing overall stability.
[AS-2475] - Fix an issue where the Backpack "No power” notification did not account for attached extra power from batteries.
[AS-2521] - Fixed an issue in Multiplayer games where an incorrect required resource notification is displayed when a Client player scrolls between craftable objects with a resource in their backpack.
[AS-2576] - Picking up or quick stowing a bundleable item into the Backpack no longer starts a new bundle if a non-full bundle of that item is already in the backpack.
[AS-2598] - Fixed a Multiplayer issue where the Backpack printer did not display necessary resource to craft for the Client player.
[AS-3256] - If you open the catalog while your terrain tool is out, it will be put away. This fixed an issue where the mouse did not work with the catalog if the catalog was opened while the terrain tool was equipped.
[AS-3261] - Fixed an issue where Medium Generators attached to a Rover aux slot could not be toggled using the aux keys.
[AS-3267] - Fixed an issue in the Tutorial, where the Research Module control panel could not be examined when the progress tooltip refreshed too quickly.
[AS-3294] - Fixed an Audio issue causing the reverb audio filter to persist when Players exited a cave.
[AS-3311] - Fixed a small visual issue where the Trade Module Rocket appeared unskinned for a brief moment when the Trade Module platform is unpacked.
[AS-3331] - Spiker Seeds now have a UI card.
[AS-3339] - Client players should once again be able to slot items to the top slots on the Medium and Large Rovers.
[AS-3349] - Fixed an issue on the Xbox One where the selection cursor persisted upon respawn if the Astroneer died while browsing the catalog.
[AS-3382] - Drop SFX have been restored on small modules.
[AS-3383] - Pick-up and placement SFX for Small Wind Turbine, Small Solar, and Small Generator have been restored.
[AS-3389] - Clients should once again hear Fuel Canister emptying SFX.
[AS-3396] - Vehicle Bays should now be able to print Rovers and the Small Shuttle on top of a wrecked Spaceport.
[AS-3424] - Blowing up a Large Shredder should no longer leave an unusable partial Scrap resource.
[AS-3430] - When modules are picked up from their bases, their control panels will now close automatically instead of jittering erratically.
[AS-3463] - Tweaked the Fireworks sound effect so it no longer starts before the visual effect appears.
[AS-3525] - Resource slots on small fabricator can disappear or reappear as camera is rotated to put it offscreen
Fixed a number of small localization bugs, naming inconsistencies, and text spacing issues.
Restored a number of missing icons indicating the contents of a printed package.
KNOWN ISSUES The addition of new Wrecks and Discovery types will cause terrain seams in old saves. This will no longer be an issue once Terrain 2.0 gets rolled out!
Thanks for reading! Can't wait to see you all at PAX in a few weeks to talk about some really exciting news related to Terrain 2.0! Keep an eye out on our Youtube channel about the next info related to what we are bringing to Pax West!
Steam 'Early Access' players will receive this update July 6th, 2018.
Update 0.9.0 contains a new gameplay mechanic and module, the Shredder, and tons of new things to discover while exploring planets!
UPDATES
You can find these updates in 0.9.0.0, the current build of the game.
NEW DISCOVERY TYPE - EXO WRECKS
Players can now find new types of EXO discoveries while exploring! From small crashed dropships to sprawling empty outposts, these discoveries await you on the surface of all planets across the solar system. Some of these structures are still somewhat usable… will you strip them of their goods, or settle down and repurpose their working parts into a new base of operations? Some of these include:
Solar and wind farms
Wrecked dropships
Abandoned spaceports
These discoveries will also provide valuable parts that you can use for shredding, which brings us to our next addition...
SHREDDER AND SCRAP
The Small Shredder and Medium Shredder have been added to the game! Shredding is a new gameplay mechanic in Astroneer, that will allow players to use found and created materials to create Scrap, a new resource. Scrap is created by shredding items and modules you no longer need, or wrecked objects and debris you find in the world. Players can then use scrap to trade for materials at the Trade Platform.
The Small Shredder is available in the Catalog for 500 Bytes and prints from the Small Fabricator for 1 Aluminum
Medium Shredder is available in the Catalog for 1000 Bytes and prints from the Medium Fabricator for 2 Aluminum
TRADE PLATFORM
The trade platform has been updated to be the primary source of trading for Scrap. Instead of trading using crafting materials, you now use the trade platform to send scrap away in exchange for resources you might need! We will continue to make adjustments to the exchange rates so make sure to let us know how these work for you!
IN-GAME UI IMPROVEMENTS
As part of ongoing improvements to the in-game UI, the Power and Oxygen status visualizations have been changed to icons and notification tags rather than floating text.
Hovering over another player in Multiplayer games now gives you a bit of information about them.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
Harvestables now appear on Radiated and Arid, as well as in Caves on all planets! The design team is eager to hear your feedback on respawn rates and point grant values of Harvestables. Please visit the forums, or other social channels, and let us know what you think!
All Rovers now have tighter turn radius, enabling more awesome donut maneuvers, but also better maneuverability in caves.
BUGS & CRASH FIXES
A number of frequently occurring low-level crashes have been fixed, increasing overall stability.
[AS-3127] - Fixed a crash that occurred when printing a Large Shuttle both a Power Nugget and directional power to the Vehicle Bay.
[AS-762] - Fixed a UI bug where the text on the Vehicle Bay would flip upside down when approaching it in a vehicle.
[AS-877] - Fixed a long standing issue in the Trade Platform where the trade resources would appear inconsistently between client and host players in Multiplayer games.
[AS-2792] - Fixed an Audio issue where storm effects would not return if a player entered and then exited a cave during a storm.
[AS-2840] - Footstep sound effects have returned!
[AS-2841] - Fixed an Audio issue where the Lowpass filter would remain in effect after dying.
[AS-3048] - Adjusted the headers in the Quick Help menu so they no longer overlap in Windowed mode or with longer translations.
[AS-3065] - Fixed a bug where a Terrain Analyzer occupying a Backpack slots would interfere with the ability to place objects directly into the Backpack.
[AS-3097] - Fixed a camera collision issue that occurred when a player would pan across in front of the Habitat causing the Landing pad to flicker in and out.
[AS-3104] - Small platforms should no longer topple over easily on uneven ground.
[AS-3106] - Filter hologram should once again be present on the Backpack printer preview.
[AS-3114] - Fixed an issue where an unusable Examine prompt would appear when selecting the Small Fabricator in your Backpack. [AS-3129] - The Dropship should no longer be deployable when it is placed on a Shuttle.
[AS-3149] - Fixed an Audio issue where only the first hydrazine canister attached to a shuttle would play its associated SFX when fuel is transferred into shuttle tank.
[AS-3150] - Fixed an annoying issue where Hard Terrain and its surrounding terrain could not be flattened together without the appearance of a small gap or jagged edges.
[AS-3175] - Tooltips no longer remain visible on the Terrain Tool after closing the Backpack.
[AS-3289] - Fixed a major issue on the Xbox One causing the game to not save after entering the Habitat and then powering down the console.
KNOWN ISSUES
In a higher latency situation, rejoining players may appear at first where they last were in a Multiplayer game, but due to latency, input is still bound to the EXO satellite and on pressing 'A' they get relaunched from the station.
The addition of new POI's and Discovery types will cause terrain seams in old saves. This will no longer be an issue once Terrain 2.0 gets rolled out.
Thanks for reading, and if you want to see some behind the scenes about this update, watch the vlog!
Astroneer, the open world survival and exploration sandbox from System Era, is now in its second year in Early Access and aiming for a 1.0 release at the end of 2018. Its trailer at E3 announced the December release for 1.0, and if you watch closely you can pick up some hints for a few things it plans to deliver. Astroneer currently supports up to 4-player co-op, but a scene near the end of the trailer shows more than four astronauts running around together.
"We want to push that player number as high as we can go," said Joe Tirado of System Era when we spoke at E3. "No specifics there, but we have a dedicated server running [in-house] and we've had as many as 10 people running around." A scene in the trailer shows nine co-op astronauts—not quite enough for a battle royale match, as System Era joked on April 1st, but it's still definitely more than four.
And while many players enjoy the self-guided sandbox experience of Astroneer, "We've also heard this call of people want stuff to do," Tirado said. "They want directed goals, they want exposition about the universe we built." These goals will be a part of version 1.0. These aren't quests, Tirado told me, and there won't be a proper campaign in Astroneer. But players interested in a more directed experience will have a path to follow if they're looking for one.
"High level goals of the game that you sort of aspire to once you've learned the mechanics of the game," Tirado said. "So, I'm really good at systems, I'm really good at deforming [terrain], so some of those goals might be using those skills to problem solve and figure out how to use deformation to circumnavigate some sort of problem that you encounter."
Those who are perfectly happy to follow their own bliss don't need to concern themselves with these goals if they don't want to, said Tirado. "The game will be telling you that those things are there, but not necessarily forcing you in their direction."
As a reward for completing some of these optional high-level goals, Astroneer also plans to introduce player customization. System Era isn't completely sure yet what the nature of the customization in 1.0 will be, though they're looking at a few different options. Above you can see some concept art of different color palates for spacesuits—some could be specific to the different planets and could be worn as a sign that you've visited them. The idea of adding mission patches is also being explored as a way to decorate your astronaut to show off where you've been and how much you've achieved.
Crossplay is currently supported between Windows Store and Xbox versions of Astroneer, but 1.0 also plans to include the Steam version in that crossplay as well. For more on what's coming in Astroneer in 1.0, you can visit its official site and take a peek at its development roadmap.
Steam 'Early Access' players will receive this update today, June 14th, 2018.
Update 0.8.0 contains a new tutorial, the beginnings of a complete overhaul to the game UI, and a completely new element in the Research system, Harvestables!
UPDATES
You can find these updates in 0.8.0.0, the current build of the game.
The game has an all-new Tutorial experience that is accessible from a new drop pod in the Main Menu! The goal of the new Tutorial is to introduce the basic concepts of Terrain deformation, Oxygen / Power management, Research, Exploration, and Basebuilding in a more streamlined way to new players. We hope that this tutorial will be good for new players to Astroneer, but also to players who haven't played the game in a while but are coming back!
When launching Astroneer 0.8.0.0 for the first time, new and returning players will be prompted to try the new Tutorial. Returning players can skip the Tutorial and it will be available to replay at any time from the Main Menu.
In order to match the unlock progression of the Tutorial, new games will now begin with the Canister, Tethers, Small Generator, and Open 1-Seat unlocked, in addition to the modules and platforms already available by default.
Even if you’re already familiar with the game, we encourage you to play through the new Tutorial. We will continue iterating on the experience over the coming months so please be sure to share your feedback with us in the forums!
The game has been updated with a "v1" of an overhaul to all of Astroneer’s in-game text UI. Instead of persistent floating text, almost all interactive items, modules, chassis, and resources, have been updated with a "UI card" visual design.
All modules and resources now have an icon associated with them.
Hovering over holographic input indicators will now tell you the resource required for module, printer, and fabricator recipes.
Proximity-based tooltips have been added to all embedded Resources.
Position indicators have been removed from vehicles, so be sure to print Beacons and slot them on your Vehicles if you intend to walk very far away!
Some areas like: main menu UI, spaceflight UI, Backpack UI, as well as UI for the Trade Module and Mineral Extractor will be updated in a future release.
There are now special plant and mineral formations on Terran, Barren, Arid, and Exotic planets that spawn unique objects you can instantly research for a variable amount of Bytes. These Harvestables will respawn their research items over time, and also have a chance to spawn a large, single-use Research Item at their root. Be warned, though: uprooting the plant or mineral will prevent it from respawning their instant-use research items. So weigh your options carefully between single use and respawning values - and be careful where you dig! The goal of the Harvestables system is to smooth out the starting gameplay experience by offering small, renewable sources of Bytes in areas that might have a low density of Research Chests, and to provide interesting points of interaction across the surface of planets.
Your Backpack inventory and location are now preserved between multiplayer game sessions! When returning to your friend’s saved games or rejoining after a lost connection, your Astroneer will load in the last location you left them. Also, in order to fix a number of bugs that could occur if clients joined before the host deployed the shelter, multiplayer is now unavailable until the host has landed on the starting planet and deployed the shelter.
BUGS
[AS-2855] -- Fixed an issue where storms were appearing pixelated for players on the Xbox One
[AS-2890] - Fixed a bug with Generators so they once again pull available organic from backpack slots
[AS-2894] - Fixed a bug where Terrain Analyzer color meters changed to black upon exiting game and reloading the saved game.
[AS-2917] - Audio should now reset properly after Astroneer death.
[AS-2935] - Player backpack oxygen tank should once again pull oxygen from connected tanks or filters.
KNOWN ISSUES In a higher latency situation, rejoining players may appear at first where they last were in a Multiplayer game, but due to latency, input is still bound to the EXO satellite and on pressing 'A' they get relaunched from the station.
1.0 RELEASE DATE NEWS
Also, just in case you missed it, we were at E3 and announced some big news! Astroneer is now slated to go into full 1.0 in December 2018! We will be updating the roadmap to reflect the rest of our plans during Early Access, but rest assured, we will continue updating and adding to the game in order to make 1.0 a huge advancement of Astroneer!
Click here if you want to hear more about what we revealed at E3, including news about cross-play between Steam and Xbox via dedicated servers, increased multiplayer counts, and more.
When you are done with that watch the E3 trailer below!
