Hey, folks! Another update is released. There are improvements for the world design, new quests, a brand new mechanic and, of course, some bug fixes and optimizations.


Roadmap was updated.

I'd like to remind you that now you can vote for tasks you like. Voting system will help us to get your feedback about which features you’d like to see as soon as possible, so please, take some time to vote for tasks you’re fond of. You can do that by clicking cards and using ‘Vote’ button on the right. You can also ‘Watch’ any card to get updates on your mail.

If you never heard about our roadmap before, you can learn more here.




ːdwYellowStarː means community choice, alterations made with your feedback.

WORLD

• improved a cave occupied by scalphunters in Windscream Canyon ːdwYellowStarː
  
• gates with crushing device in Outcast Camp replaced with defensive barricade

• added Outcast Farmer's farm around E.D.E.N. generator
  
• improved roads near Outcast Camp ːdwYellowStarː
  
• added locked doors and chests with loot throughout the world

ENVIRONMENT

• added new appearance for Old Outcast, he's Herbalist now
  
• added violet material for E.D.E.N. Generator sphere
  
• old beds replaced with new ones with linens and sleeping bags

QUESTS

• added new quest Tools for Herbalist
  
• added new quest Ragpicker's Store Heist

MECHANICS

This update brings new mechanic to the game. Lockpicking. We were working on this feature for a long time, and now proud to share it with you. Keep in mind, though, that this is probably not the final iteration, so your feedback will be really important.



What do we have at the moment? There are two types of locks in the world of Exoplanet: mechanic and digital. You need a key to open a mechanic lock or a code to open a digital one. But since Jack is not very law-abiding guy, other methods also could come in handy, ain’t it? And all you have to do is to find the right type of lockpicks.

How does it work? Every lock has ‘health’ and every lockpick can damage it for certain amount. Lockpicks breaks during the process. When lock’s health disappears, it unlocks. Locks could be pretty simple but you can also find complex ones with more health, so it is wise to get as many lockpicks as you can find.



We also have some plans for padlocks. So far they are usually no more than a decorative element but we would like to add a possibility of breaking them with an accurate shot.

Anyway, let us know what you think and do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us.

ANIMATIONS

• added new walking and running animations for Jack (no weapons)

ENGINE

• fixed a bug with audio playback: random sounds no longer play instead of intended ones ːdwYellowStarː
  
• minor bug fixes and optimization

If you are experienced a crash or found a bug, let us know via special crash reporter tool. It shows up when the game crashes but you can also send a report in-game with F1 button.


Keep in mind, that crash reporter makes an in-game screenshot when you press F1 so you might want to be sure that the visual problem you’re referring to will be captured. Enter your email and a short description of a bug or describe last actions before the crash.

You can also let us know about your problem on technical support forum or via Discord channel.



If there's no sound after the game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact that we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please unblock Exoplanet's .exe.


Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
  
• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey! Here is our Dev Blog #2 to share some news about Exoplanet’s development and its progress. If you missed our first report, you can find it here.

I want to remind you that this is a sneak peek at some things we are working on at the moment, that’s why your feedback is very important. Don’t hesitate to let us know what you like or don’t like whether it’s a concept art or an asset.


Let’s start with something you can already see in-game (partly). Big Hat’s new appearance was added in the previous update.



As you can see there are a few options for his appearance, and he’s probably gonna change it through the story a bit (he actually lacks his big hat at the moment, for example).



We are also working on a new Old Outcast appearance. He’ll become a healer though and will guide our hero through the tutorial. He also will become an important person for the story arc in Anomaly Lake area.



As you may know, we are also working on new rocks. Despite the fact we've
created a set of rocks instead of the old ones from demo version and managed to significantly improve the appearance of the game to the release, these assets are yet flawed and have a lot of problems to deal with.



It is probably important to mention that the new rocks are inspired by Shadow of the Colossus. Lead environment artist of this project actually helped us a lot by sharing his piece of advice and experience, so we are using the same technique. So, a little sneak peek of what should be the result:



At the moment all new whiteboxes are ready (60 pieces), we are already using them for the new tutorial level but, of course, they are not yet final.



Some tasks are not that big but yet important. Exoplanet lacks a great deal of simple assets and of course we are trying to fix that. Last time I showed you a concept art of downhome utensil for abori dwellings in Outcast camp: dirty jars, buckets etc. Now the assets are ready though they yet need some polishing.



Another simple assets we need are sources of light: some of them are primitive (torches) but modern lamps are also presented.



These assets are also ready but since our lighting model could use an upgrade (we are developing Exoplanet on our own custom built engine if you don’t know) it will take some time to see the real impact of these sources of light on environment and other assets.



We do like interactive objects, so there will be levers and buttons in Exoplanet. Perhaps, some of them will be hidden and could lead you to a great treasure. Or a great danger—you’ll never know.



And of course we are still working on vegetation assets. At the moment we are experimenting with small grass.



Of course, I can show and tell you even more of our work but let’s call it a day. Feel free to share your feedback and ideas or ask questions.

Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
  
• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey, guys! Another build is here. There are a few level design improvements and preparations for future quests, new models and significantly improved optimization.


Roadmap was updated.

I'd like to remind you that now you can vote for tasks you like. Voting system will help us to get your feedback about which features you’d like to see as soon as possible, so please, take some time to vote for tasks you’re fond of. You can do that by clicking cards and using ‘Vote’ button on the right. You can also ‘Watch’ any card to get updates on your mail.

If you never heard about our roadmap before, you can learn more here:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1654384966961614188



Just as I mentioned in the previous update, :dwYellowStar: means community choice, alterations made with your feedback.

WORLD

• added more details to cliffs to the east and southeast from Anomaly Lake :dwYellowStar:
  
• added Training Grounds
  
• added Farmer's Cave
  
• added Guard Tower
  
• added Electrical Substation
  
• detailed the cave where looters who robbed Jack are hiding
  
• improved snipers' nests at Cutthroat Pass :dwYellowStar:

ENVIRONMENT

• added new furniture for Outcast Camp made from scrap metal

NPCs

• brand new Big Hat appearance

ENGINE

• improved framerate
  
• improved loading speed
  
• fixed bugs with shadow resolution reset bug, that could cause performance drop :dwYellowStar:
  
• fixed stretched textures on some GPUs
  
• bug fixes and optimization

IMPORTANT: If you have problems with FPS from the start, try alt-tab and alt-tab back. Also, it is recommended to set shadows on medium. If you are playing with Intel Graphics, please set shadows on low.



SCRIPTING

• improved algorithms of interaction with in-game objects
  
• expanded functionality of scripting and dialogue systems in preparation for future quests
  
• fixed a bug that caused sound of hitting antigravium crystal with the pickaxe to play after Jack already stopped mining

If you are experienced a crash or found a bug, let us know via special crash reporter tool. It shows up when the game crashes but you can also send a report in-game with F1 button.



Keep in mind, that crash reporter makes an in-game screenshot when you press F1 so you might want to be sure that the visual problem you’re referring to will be captured. Enter your email and a short description of a bug or describe last actions before the crash.

You can also let us know about your problem on technical support forum or via Discord channel.




If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
  
• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey! As we promised before, in the latest update, we are going to share news about Exoplanet’s development, its progress, and future changes, and this post is the very first in a row. So what do we do now?

This is a sneak peek at some assets we are working on at the moment, its development from concept art to models. Some of them are already available in the game, some will be pretty soon, and some will appear a bit later.


As you may know, the starting area lacks a lot of assets so far but we are working on new ones all the time to make it more interesting and immersive. For example, we put a lot of efforts to improve Outcast Camp, create a lot of assets for abori’s culture and life.

Old ruins, idols, graves, coffins, and tombstones—some of these culture objects you can already find in game but mostly we are saving all that for the new tutorial, there will be an abori cemetery in the area.



There are some assets for everyday life, of course. First of all, tables and chairs. Since Outcasts are working with scrap metal, almost everything in their camp is made with available materials. But there are also some tables and chairs carved out of stone, a legacy from old days.



Another thing for decorations is drapery. These cloth are not yet final but it will make a fine adjustment for abori dwellings in Outcast Camp.



Abori dwellings are pretty empty at the moment, so it would be nice to create a bunch of small assets for detailing like this utensil:



Of course, we are also working on assets for detailing the starting area. So far plants, mostly.

This is twisted cacti, an unpretentious plant which can grow even on infertile soil like the one in Anomaly Lake area.



Next one is resinous plant which is actually a mushroom. It emits tar you can use for crafting. Perhaps, we will make it explosive in future, but it requires bigger ones species due to the fact these mushrooms are pretty small and would be hard to hit.



Another new asset is desert corn. You can find both normal plants and dry ones that have ceased to bear fruit. Corn is a good meal. And probably it can be used for making booze as well?



I guess that’s enough for today, feel free to share your feedback and ideas or ask questions. I will make another post like this in a few weeks. Thanks for your support.

Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
  
• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey, everyone! The new build is here, and we do hope you won’t be disappointed. Of course, there are a great deal of under-the-hood changes which are very important for the game and future updates but doesn’t make much difference now. Still, this build has a lot of improvements in level design and a new quest.

Also, we managed to make a lot of other changes, improvements and assets for future updates. And since a lot of players asked us on forums and via PM to share more about our plans, we won't keep silence until these updates are ready.



From now on we are going to make posts about our development, and progress, and future changes, share concept art and assets with you. I believe it will benefit both players and us, devs, because we will keep you posted about everything what's going on with the game, and you can share your ideas and give us useful feedback on our drafts.:dwYellowStar:

If you are wondering about the star in the end of previous paragraph, it’s not a simple decoration. We always believed that it is very important to listen to our players and correct our plans according to their expectations and vision. And through the times in Early Access we've already made a lot of changes based on your feedback and very grateful for your impact, your thorough reviews and interesting thoughts. That’s why we decided to highlight changes made with your help. From now on, :dwYellowStar: means community choice, alterations made with your feedback.




Exoplanet’s roadmap also got a huge update. At the moment we decided to put our efforts into making the game a true RPG while postponed a few other tasks. Thus, you will have a chance to see the very first version of our role-playing system when it’s ready. If you never heard about our roadmap before, you can learn more here:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1654384966961614188
A few tips for Trello. Take a look at #1 on the picture above. There are some icons on the card. Thumbs up shows how many people voted for the card, next icons say that the task has description, a number of comments, attached files and related tasks, and a checklist.

At #2 you can learn more about the roadmap and also track every activity on the board. Usually I attach a few screenshots or artworks to show the progress on the task and then place a comment on the top with short description of what we did.



#3 has orange label which was added recently. It means that we worked on the card before, there is some progress on the task but it was postponed for some time due to other priorities. That doesn’t mean you won’t see these tasks done for a few years. For example, WEAPON UPGRADES on the picture and another task below, NEW BUGS, will probably hit the update before the Summer Sale if we manage to do it in time.

Speaking of thumbs up icon, another big change is voting system.:dwYellowStar:



Players asked us about it, and from now on, you can vote for any task you like. Unfortunately, this option available for Trello users only but you can easily register with your Google account. With a Trello account you can vote and also watch cards you like. Also, keep in mind that a lot of other games using Trello for roadmaps.

Voting system will help us to get your feedback about which features you’d like to see as soon as possible, so please, take some time to vote for tasks you’re fond of. You can do that by clicking cards and using ‘Vote’ button on the right. You can also ‘Watch’ any card to get updates on your mail.



Also, if you want to learn what we are planning to do with the game in the near future (brand new area with tutorial and quests, more assets to significantly improve the existing starting area, main quest and more), you can check this long read:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1690432065527447093
Thank you again for being with us, for all the testing and sharing, your patience and support. Your opinion is very important and we are always glad to discuss your ideas or answer your questions on forums, Discord and socials where we started to regularly post a lot of interesting things, join us:

• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

WORLD

• improved Scalphunters’ Camp
  
• improved Smugglers’ Camp
  
• improved Big Hat dwelling (Big Hat's Secret Room)
  
• improved Scrap Master’s Workshop
  
• improved the cave with bandits and poisonous mushrooms
  
• improved the cave with poisonous antigravium
  
• improved a number of other caves
  
• improved a number of areas by adding oases (The Big River, Hunting Grounds, The Crossroads)
  
• improved a number of other areas
  
• added idols of Gods-in-Earth to Outcast Camp and Stonehenge
  
• added sprouts and young version of palms and other trees
  
• added arphant’s bones to a few places

ENVIRONMENT

• improved eating corpses by crucases
  
• bonfires go out within 12 hours
  
• arphants near Hunter’s Rest are now vulnerable to attacks and will defend themselves :dwYellowStar:
  
• some of the harvestable plants can only be harvested once

NPCs

• added new Outcast guards model
  
• added new shaman sectarian model
  
• implemented a knockout state—key NPCs in the new quest Broken Crane can be knocked out
  
• Msasi and Vorga doesn’t look the same anymore
  
• Junior and Jorgen doesn’t look the same anymore

QUESTS

• new quest Broken Crane

AI

As you may know, Exoplanet is developing on our own custom built engine and still has a few legacy issues from old demos. If you ever play the game, you know that our AI system was pretty basic and limited for complex sequential actions. For example, we had an issue when some players managed to get rid of most of the Scalphunters in the cave on their own during the quest, ignoring other interesting possibilities it offers, not to mention that our hero is pretty weak in the very beginning of the game while Scalphunters being described as very tough to eliminate.

The thing is, this AI system is very old and has a great deal of restrictions, that’s why some time ago we decided to create a new one and transfer every character to it. It wasn’t an easy task and it is surely took a lot of time. Transfer of the protagonist alone took two months due to the fact that some parts of old NPC’s AI system was used for controlling Jack’s action as well, and this spaghetti code had to be resolved. But I am glad to report that we finally managed to finish this. From now on, our protagonist as well as all other characters and animals are working with the new system.:dwYellowStar:



What does it mean? Now everyone has their own behavior tree which could be expanded as we like to create more immersive and complex things like daily schedules for NPCs, special attacks and different combat behavior for enemies and animals and much more. That’s another big task for us and we are going to release these updates gradually, over time.

Anyway, despite the fact that’s mostly a big under-the-hood alteration, it changes a few in-game things at the moment:

• the protagonist behaves more stable visually, his movement became smoother, especially while falling and getting down the stairs
  
• progress bars appear in rare cases now (when action can be aborted), interaction’s time depends on character’s animation
  
• removed a bug with Jack’s animation, and now you can stop digging at any time

ENGINE

Another big change is migration from OpenAL/cAudio to Wwise. That's one of the very best state-of-the-art commercial sound engines which gives us many benefits and useful turnkey solutions. Wwise offers a lot of features for managing sound effects, music and character voices, processing and mixing, testing and optimizing platform resource usage during the gameplay as well.

Since Exoplanet is developing on our own engine we had to spend some time to set everything. We decided to restore old functions in the very first place: playback, positioning, the Doppler effect, and functioning of world editor's audio component. Also, we added cone attenuation which allows to set directions of sound sources, improved playback randomization algorithms, and expanded audio settings in the game menu.



There are a lot of plans for the game's audio like adding adaptive music instead of the existing static one but that's a story for another time.

IMPORTANT: The new build can lack some sounds or music compositions.

CONTROLS

• NumPad support :dwYellowStar:
  
• Left Ctrl and Right Ctrl support :dwYellowStar:

ITEMS

• new weapon: sledgehammer
  
• added Electrical Tape, Cold booze, Sweet Joy and Circuit Breaker (quest item)
  
• added health capsules, can be used without injector so far (it appears automatically when you use a capsule)

OTHER

• more accurate protagonist’s animations for climbing and descending ladders
  
• a great deal of minor changes, bug fixes and minor polishing

If you are experienced a crash or found a bug, let us know via special crash reporter tool. It shows up when the game crashes but you can also send a report in-game with F1 button.



Keep in mind, that crash reporter makes an in-game screenshot when you press F1 so you might want to be sure that the visual problem you’re referring to will be captured. Enter your email and a short description of a bug or describe last actions before the crash.

You can also let us know about your problem on technical support forum or via Discord channel.




If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
  
• FACEBOOK
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey, space cowboys! The new build is already here, and it will be the last one this year, perhaps we will publish a hotfix though if needed. So we would like to wish you a lot of fun during holidays, Merry Christmas and New Year. And if you are new here and planning to dive into our yet flawed space western world (it's an Early Access title, after all), we are happy to announce that you can get Exoplanet with 25% OFF during Steam Winter Sale.



Keep in mind that we are working hard on the completely new beginning of the game and improving Anomaly Area as well (which is known as the starting area at the time) because we're not satisfied with it at all and believe it gives wrong impression to new players. If you missed our latest long read about it and would like to learn what we are planning to do with Exoplanet, you can check the post to see our early drafts, screenshots and concept art:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1690432065527447093

I would like to remind you that since the previous update we started to name it by build's version that's why it is BUILD 0.27 not UPDATE #12. Builds will be published more frequently that's why sometimes there will be no huge changes as in updates.

WORLD

• added an area above Lemonade Wade dwelling
  
• improved Big Hat hollow rock cave
  
• improved smuggler's den
  
• improved Outcast Camp

QUESTS

• fixed a logical error in 'Find the Arphant' quest
  
• improved texts and fixed misprints

OTHER

• tuned crucases' spawn around Lemonade Wade cave
  
• fixed hero's twitching on steep slopes (there are some other problems though which will be fixed later)
  
• now inventory can't be opened during remote controlling a bug
  
• fixed a bug when Mad Hermit doesn't attack you
  
• a great deal of minor changes, other bugs fixes and minor polishing

If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



If you have any other problem, please let us know via our Discord channel. You can also report about bugs on technical support forum, send us a mail to support@alersteam.com with description of the problem and your PC specs or simply use our crash reporter to do that (Alt+F1).

You can find your .log file here: Documents\Alersteam\Exoplanet First Contact\system.log

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey, space cowboys! We decided to publish updates a bit more regular, that's why the new build is already here. Take into account that a lot of time was spent to prepare the game for future updates and also to improve some important components which can't be seen in-game.

As you may know, we are working hard on the beginning of the game and Anomaly Area but it is a matter of time. If you missed our latest long read about it and would like to learn what we are planning to do with Exoplanet, you can check the post to see our early drafts, screenshots and concept art:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1690432065527447093

Since this update we are going to name every other update by build's version.

WORLD

• reworked the Abandoned Fort

QUESTS

• fixed a bug in To The Fort quest, now you can start it asking Vasily about it
  
• fixed a rare bug in Abori Goes Home quest, now game correctly counts killing of the looters
  
• fixed loss of control in the end of Small Prey — Big Gain quest in the terminal
  
• another guild system revision (partly used in quest at the moment)
  
• improved text in The Lost Arphant quest
  
• fixed a bunch of triggers which didn't work properly

AI

• bandits AI was transferred to the new system (Behavior Tree)

ANIMATIONS

• improved abori melee animation

OTHER

• reworked stats system, it is also more stable now
  fixed a bug when melee weapons stopped working after some time
  
• firearms doesn't unload themselves when you unequip it
  
• fixed a bug with loss of control of the hero if your bug dies far from Jack
  
• cactus bat now works properly and adds poison damage
  
• fixed unstable behavior of looters in the beginning of the game
  
• minor changes in bug control mechanics
  
• minor changes in sounds
  
• minor UI improvements

If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



If you have any other problem, please let us know via our Discord channel. You can also report about bugs on technical support forum, send us a mail to support@alersteam.com with description of the problem and your PC specs or simply use our crash reporter to do that (Alt+F1).

You can find your .log file here: Documents\Alersteam\Exoplanet First Contact\system.log

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

Hey everyone!

As you know, we published a new big update which added x64 binaries, 4K support, damage indicators, a quest, a miniboss and several new areas to explore. You can learn more about it here:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/2932299116266780599
I was also going to make a big section to tell you what we are up to and share some work in progress to give you an opportunity to sneak peek into future updates of Exoplanet and update our roadmap based on this. Unfortunately, two minutes before the new build went live it turned out that Steam almost completely ruined my drafts and also the whole Russian translation. That’s why I had to postpone the idea and publish the short version restored as quickly as possible because by the time I managed to do that the build was live for a few hours without a changelog.

Anyway, today I am going to tell you what I intended to. Here we go.




As you may know, we are really not satisfied with the starting area at the moment. Despite the fact we managed to significantly improve it since it was added, it is still requires a lot of work. Also, there’s no place for a decent tutorial but a small area to show some tips to a player before he dive into action. That’s why it is ought to be changed.

Also, since that’s the very start of the game, it is also necessary to show players what the game has to offer, our strong sides which we believe are:

• open and alive world of space western with complex level design, many secrets and interesting places to explore
  
• complex non-linear quests which can be solved in several ways
  
• interesting mechanics (remote-controlled bugs, for example)
  
• player’s decisions can affect the world and the story

Clearly, there’s a great deal to be done.



TUTORIAL

That’s an important part of the game but we don’t feel like to hold player’s hands. It also won’t be the same tutorial with a bunch of tips but a small story with quests on the new specially created small area—and we already made the very first prototype.

It is a small open world with some places to explore. The story is connected with main quest and also the Anomaly Area’s conflict—this area known as the starting location at the moment. I will tell you more about the story below.

Quests on the tutorial area will use different mechanics to show player basics and possibilities of the game from digging and gathering to crafting and cooking. Moreover, some quests here also could be solved in different ways based on your choices or how well you explored the area. You will also learn some useful lore about plants, animals and antigravium.



We are working on new assets which will allow us to make the start of the game more alien-looking and interesting to explore. It’d take time to get the result we would like to see but it is worth it.

ANOMALY AREA

What is going to change here? At the moment this area lacks proper goals for a player, a strong motivation for the hero, the story is barely present and quests are not involved with it. That’s ought to be fixed.



Let’s start with the story.

As you may know, Anomaly Area is a very harsh place. Its soil is almost infertile, water sources are very limited, it is hard to grow anything edible here. Still, this place is a home for Outcast aborigines. Despised by almost everyone, humans and other abori tribes, they built up a camp on this remote patch of land and trying to survive for many years. Basically, Outcasts exchange scrap they get from wrecks and anomalies for supplies brought by rare merchants.

There are other aborigines in this area called Scalphunters. They don’t get along with Outcasts and are hostile to them and our protagonist. This abori are brutal and prefer to use their victims’ remains as trophies and decorations. They are also blocking the only way out of this area, that’s why poor Outcasts can’t sell scrap for food anymore.



There’s even more backstory to learn but the clash is imminent. And player can affect its result. His actions will define what happened to Outcasts and Scalphunters and will change the appearance of the area.

As for our hero, I’d like to avoid spoilers, so I just mention that he has his own motivation to be involved in the conflict. His main quest has its goals in the area. Also, it is hard to leave the area with all the Scalphunters swarming around.



ASSETS

As I said before, we are working hard to make the starting area more alien-looking. But we also lack some simple assets like different types of grass for each biome (most of the ones we use are pretty old), that’s one of the reasons why Anomaly Area looks pretty naked. Grass, especially the small one is very important in several ways. With its help, you can make roads more notable. Also, it tells a lot about the area, creates its atmosphere. Thus, Anomaly Area should be paved with dry and faded grass able to grow on this wasteland.



When it is done, we are going to make a stress-test for the game to look how well it is going to perform with a lot of vegetation. Once Exoplanet pass the test, we will be able to completely change the appearance of different areas.



As for alien-looking appearance, we are working on a few special plants as well. Some of them are inspired by lithops which are also known as pebble plants or living stones and were designed to be arphant food.

Other plants can be useful for different purposes. There will be new poison stick, for example, which you can craft from two different plants (at the moment, you can simply get it from a cactus plant). This Meat Cage below is just a concept so far but it could be used to push your enemies onto its thorns—yes, we’re so in love with kicking mechanic from Dark Messiah of Might & Magic that actually thinking to do that.



Well, enough talking about flora, let’s save something for future updates. But what about fauna?

I already shared new bitebugs concept with you some time ago in a post about Exoplanet’s roadmap. We decided to make different species with unique behavior (it was actually designed from the start) instead of the old one.

Bugs models are finally ready though they could use a few cosmetic changes. At the moment we are creating animations for them from the scratch. We are also still working on AI, transferring existing NPCs to the new system which allows to create more complex behaviors.



There are other assets which requires some attention. We are working on new barrels instead of the ones we have in the game at the moment.



As you can see, some barrels bares marks of what inside of them, fuel and wastes. Players will be able to explode the red ones to get advantage in a fight or perhaps use the empty ones as a hiding spot when we add stealth mechanic.

What about the rest?

Despite the fact that the beginning of the game is the first priority now, we are also going to create new content for the existing areas. For example, The Scarecrow quest, added in the recent update, will be greatly expanded. It was initially designed as a complex quest with several endings but we need some time to finish it. Anyway, upcoming updates will tell you more about it.

That’s it for today, folks.

Roadmap is updated, so if you want to check our progress, just click here.

If you have any questions, just ask them here in comments or our Discord. And if you enjoyed the reading, don’t forget to click on a ‘thumb up’ button—it will tell us that you care. Thanks.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact

Hey, space cowboys! The new update is finally here and we hope you will enjoy it. There are few very important features, a new quest and areas to explore and even a miniboss.


As you may know, we added a huge and useful tool in previous update—crash reporter. And we would like to thank everyone who sent their reports. We found and managed to fix numerous bugs with your help.



For those who missed the previous update, crash reporter allows you to send us the report with the information that will help us analyze and fix the crash. It shows up when the game has crashed. And it is up to you to choose whether you wish to send the report or which files go into it—you can easily delete the ones you don't want to send, just click on What does this report contain? to open a new window with error report details.

It also allows you to enter your email and/or a short description of your last actions before the crash—click Provide additional info about the problem (recommended). That’s very important because we might contact you to tell you that the crash is fixed or if we might need some additional info. Also, it is much easier to find your report among the others.

In this update we also added another useful thing to the feature. From now on, you can send us reports right from the game. Just press Alt+F1 combination to send it. Unfortunately, the window still says ExoplanetFC has stopped working which is not true, don’t be confused, we will improve the tool later.

A quest bug, a glitch or a bad looking texture—you can let us know in a few seconds. Also, keep in mind, that crash reporter making an in-game screenshot when you press Alt+F1 so you might want to be sure that the visual problem you’re referring to will be captured.




As you may know, Exoplanet is developing on our own custom build engine called Sahara but it is still in development as well and could use a lot of improvements so far. And we would like to announce a really big one today.

From now on, Exoplanet has x64 executable. What does it mean? That means that the game finally can use more than 4Gb of your RAM which is really good due to the fact that optimization ain’t flawless yet. We really hope that you’ll find that Exoplanet runs smoother than usual and has more stable FPS numbers. Please, let us know about the game’s performance on your rig.

If you have any troubles with the client, please, do not hesitate to send us crash reports. We will do our best to fix everything as soon as possible. And, of course, we will do our best to improve optimization of the game.




Due to the really old UI which will be completely reworked from the scratch later, some players complained about small fonts on 2K / 4K displays which make it almost impossible to read.

We are glad to inform you that we managed to adjust our UI and it should feel much better now if you have resolution more than 1920x1080. Please, let us know if it works fine.

Also, we made few tweaks for 720p as well. I hope it will please the ones with old laptops and proud owners of 4:3 displays.




Another important feature is damage indicator. Since Exoplanet has gunplay mechanics, we believe it is necessary for players to know where bullets come from. Probably, that's not final, so let us know what do you think.




WORLD

• new area: Abandoned Fort is now open for exploration
  
• new area: The Scarecrow's lair
  
• new area: Lemonade Wade's Stronghold
  
• improved design of the Outcast Camp
  
• added Pale's Platform to the Outcast Camp
  
• added five Pale's followers with new dialogues
  
• added Pale's Altar to the remote area at the edge of the map in preparation for future quest
  
• added more generic NPCs with new clothing styles and default dialogues to Outcast Camp

• a big rock blocking the road on the west from the Fort has been removed
  
• removed unnecessary boxes in Barnabas' room
  
• removed possibilities to get stuck when controlling a bitebug in Barnabas' room
  
• added more details to Scalphunters' cave entrance and Cutthroat pass arch
  
• improved roads throughout the location

VISUALS

• new bandits with unique appearance: Lemonade Wade and his cronies
  
• added new assets of human skeletons and remains
  
• old nanogrease barrels replaced with new ones redesigned from scratch
  
• new skin textures for Scalphunters
  
• crucases now can detect corpses to eat

QUESTS

• new bounty quest: The Scarecrow
  
• new miniboss: Lemonade Wade

AI

Various bandits' AI enhancements:

• bandits play turning animations now
  
• added recoil for guns
  
• bandits can play shotgun cocking animations
  
• bandits can point gun up/down if the target is above or below
  
• bandits use actual weapon's delay between shots
  
• fixed bandits losing their targets when crowded
  
• added patrolling bandits
  
• snipers now have higher range where they can see Jack and shoot him

ANIMATIONS

• pray animations for Pale's Followers
  
• animate shooting and turning NPCs with ranged weapons
  
• better striking animations for aboris and humans

AUDIO

• added ambient music for Scarecrow Lair
  
• added new sounds for force fields
  
• improved sound of security turret

UI

• UI adjusted to be readable in 4K as well as 720p
  
• added UI damage indicators
  
• allowed mapping of extra mouse buttons
  
• added different loading screen images
  
• random tips displays during loading screen
  
• fonts are more readable now
  
• added confirmation on loading / overwriting save game
  
• fixed journal buggy word wrapping
  
• improved tutorial messages

OTHER

• from now on, Exoplanet works fine with Unicode symbols if you have any on the path to game's folder

If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



If you have any other problem, please let us know via our Discord channel. You can also report about bugs on technical support forum, send us a mail to support@alersteam.com with description of the problem and your PC specs or simply use our crash reporter to do that (Alt+F1).

You can find your .log file here: Documents\Alersteam\Exoplanet First Contact\system.log

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/

• Fixed a particularly nasty bug that was causing most of the crashes
  
• Fixed some cases where expected errors were not caught and resulted in a crash
  
• Unassigned buttons should no longer appear as two single quotes '' in hints
  
• Enabled the broken scanner quest which can be now also fixed in the anomaly zone
  
• Mason now has his own appearance and not that of Master Phil's
  
• Dialog hint now reads "RMB to continue"
  
• Fixed not being able to finish the "Somebody stole my clothes" quest in some cases
  
• "Open Sesame" quest now properly handles the situation when player manages to get in the storage beforehand
  
• Fixed not being able to talk with Old Outcast if you go to Ragpicker first and then kill and loot the bandits
  
• "Small prey—big gain!" quest should no longer break if saved during a certain moment
  
• Fixed Jack's head tracking during bitebug remote control
  
• Added bitebug remote control animation

• Fixed crashing some time after climbing ladders while holding a weapon and trying to equip it later
  
• Fixed Small Prey—Big Gain quest wrong journal entry at the start of the quest
  
• Made reloading much more robust
  
• Fixed label appearing while holding a bitebug taken from an inventory
  
• Fixed sky color not being set properly upon loading
  
• Fixed missing item pickup notifications
  
• Fixed item info border colors on hovering non-weapon type items
  
• Fixed turrets placed by players missing the tripod
  
• Fixed Kenneth's dialog lines cutting off in the dialog window

Dear space cowboys, we’re here to bring you the latest update! So much work went to this update (and so much more work is left to be done!), like the crash reporter that should help squash those nasty crashes, and brand new hand-painted terrains, new camera, new quest, varied talking animations, and further decrease in loading times and performance boost.

We’re hoping that you’re gonna enjoy this update, and when you do, maybe even leave us a Steam review with your feedback, telling us what you liked, and what you would like to see improved in the future updates. Please, don't forget to tick 'Allow Comments' box to let us answer your feedback. Thank you.




We also updated OUR ROADMAP, and you can find something new there (you can easily track changes with Menu button on the right) as well as take a sneak peek to some screenshots from our draft storyboard for Exoplanet intro cinematic.

You can learn more about our roadmap HERE.


Since some people still can experience random crashes, we decided to add a crash reporter which can help us to track and solve your problems even faster. It allows you to send us the report with the information that will help us analyze and fix the crash.



It shows up when the game has crashed. And it is up to you to choose whether you wish to send the report. It is also allow you to preview exactly what files go into the report—you can easily delete the ones you don't want to send.

It allows you to enter your email and/or a short description of your last actions before the crash. Entirely optional but recommended. We might contact you to tell you that the crash is fixed or if we might need some additional info.




WORLD

• All terrain was repainted from scratch using multiple textures
  
• Improved design of Outcast Camp, added many new buildings, new Big Hat cave in a high mountain

CAMERA

• Revamped the camera so it should no longer feel wonky and should feel super smooth
  
• Added a slight camera shake effect when firing weapons (togglable in game options)
  
• Fixed camera getting inside character models in some cases
  
• Fixed camera micro stuttering

VISUALS

• Added hit effects for some mobs that didn’t have them
  
• Turned off Jack’s head tracking in some corner cases that resulted in weird neck angles (shooting, aiming, hitting, using items, sleeping, resting)
  
• Prevented most cases of dialog participants playing identical talking animations one right after the other
  
• Added new outfits for abori Scalphunters

GAMEPLAY

• Jack can now fall from ladders when he is heavily damaged (more than 10% of his health in one shot) or if he is weak due to being low on health (has less than 20% health)
  
• Jack should no longer fall from ladders without reason
  
• Adjusted ladder starting and finishing positions to be more precise
  
• Poisonous alien cactus bat now must be crafted from a cactus head and a stick (or firewood)
  
• Added a tutorial hint for crafting the alien cactus bat
  
• Automatic reload (togglable in game options) now triggers on firing last ammo cartridge and on equipping a weapon with an empty magazine
  
• Automatic reload sequence can be interrupted
  
• Fixed not being able to shoot immediately after automatic reload ended
  
• Rewrote the resting and waiting time skipping system
  
• All guns automatically unload ammo from their magazines on pick up
  
• Only equipped guns visible on Jack’s model are allowed to keep ammo in the magazines
  
• Removing guns from visual slots on Jack’s model unloads ammo from the magazine into inventory
  
• Holstering weapons equipped from the inventory or the hotbar assigns them to the corresponding visual slots (and keeps ammo in the magazines)

QUESTS

• Added a new NPC Carry The Stone with a brand new quest “Scan It”
  
• You can now also talk with Carry The Stone about “K’Tharsis is a harsh mistress” quest
  
• The “Family relic” quest has a suitable ending now
  
• Zak’s whistle should no longer just disappear from Jack’s inventory on quest finish
  
• Fixed arphant Molly’s focusing issue and tweaked her dialog to reflect Jack’s knowledge about her

ANIMATIONS

• Animations during dialog with NPCs are no longer chosen at random—all dialogs were treated with custom gestures animations that reflect what is being said
  
• Ported all missing talking animations from humans to aborigines

AUDIO

• Added footsteps for many NPCs
  
• Added injector use sound effect
  
• Notifications no longer play all associated audio clips at the same time
  
• Added some new sounds to the soundscape of jungle on the far side of Windscream Canyon
  
• Fixed an issue causing sounds of swimming to disappear

UI

• Added a type-out effect for dialog texts, with speed configurable in game options
  
• Dialog auto advance is now also a game option which is off by default
  
• Dialog layout was tweaked with neater aligning
  
• Dialog text window width depends on display aspect ratio to make reading more comfortable
  
• Fixed moving on-screen labels lagging slightly behind their objects\characters
  
• Ambient subtitles shift position during dialog sequence to avoid drawing one over the other
  
• Fixed some cases of read dialog branches not being highlighted as such.
  
• Fixed overlapping notifications
  
• Tweaked notifications margins
  
• Added a new ammo icon for energy-based weapons
  
• Various fixes for the immersive UI system
  
• Fixed keys stuck on multiple actions when trying to remap a key
  
• All non-wearable items should now stack in the inventory
  
• Smoother UI widgets fading and transitions

FIXES

• Fixed a crash that sometimes happened when loading a saved game from main menu
  
• Fixed some cases where the game could freeze without crashing
  
• Fixed crashing on hovering status effects with mouse cursor
  
• Fixed some cases of disappearing status effects
  
• Fixed stuck sounds and sounds that were playing outside of their maximum range

If there's no sound after game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please, unblock Exoplanet's .exe.



If you have any other problem, please let us know via our Discord channel. You can also report about bugs on technical support forum or send us your log to support@alersteam.com with description of the problem and your PC specs.

You can find your .log file here: Documents\Alersteam\Exoplanet First Contact\system.log

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/