Hello, space cowboys!

As we’ve promised, we’re starting to tell you about the tastiest changes which are waiting for you in the major update 0.70. And the first one is intro cinematic.



Jack Sharp’s story will finally be introduced not only by a small description on the load screen, but by a proper dramatic cinematic. We’ve put a lot of effort into it, to show how a self-confident captain Jack Sharp found himself in a desert on an unknown planet without a ship and without any chance to get out from there.



In the intro you will also meet Smiley who hired Jack to take his cargo to the far away planet K’Tharsis distant from the Core Worlds.

By the way, the characters in the cinematic have voices—it’s our first test of a comprehensive voiceover, so don’t hesitate to leave feedback about the voices—maybe we should use these actors for the voiceover inside the game.



In the cinematic there are a couple of surprises for the most attentive watchers—references to our favourite series. Can you find them?

And finally we want to congratulate the winners who got the keys in our weekly raffle in Discord:

@maloon
@Markb
@! apple bum
@ookaminoken
@isinusx

Have a nice game, guys!



We remind you that you still have a chance to get a free key if you join our channel in Discord. And if you’re not lucky for the first time, don’t worry, you’ll automatically become a participant of the next weekly raffles up to the release of the major update 0.70.

Don’t forget to peer into our #devblog in Discord to get the freshest news from the development process and leave your feedback!

See you on K’Tharsis!

Hello, space cowboys!

Since the time we decided to rework our game completely, a lot of changes have already happened. We’ve done a great deal of job with biomes and are filling them with new plants and animals step by step. More and more quests appear in the game and are revealing K'Tharsis and its severe problems.The work on the big location—the town—is also in progress. And today we’d like to announce that the next update will be a MAJOR UPDATE.



Yes, we are doing our best to bring you a great deal of fun with build 0.70. What’s gonna be there, you ask? Well, follow us to learn more! We are going to reveal everything with weekly updates here on Steam. And we also would like to celebrate it with a contest!

Everyone who joins our Discord from NOW till the MAJOR UPDATE release, gets an opportunity to win a free key for Exoplanet. The winners will be chosen weekly by our unbiased and beautiful A.N.N.A.



If you are not lucky enough the first time, don’t worry—you automatically participate in every other raffle till the Major Update release.

And while you are waiting, there is plenty to do in our Discord! Do not hesitate to share your feedback with us on daily updates, play a little quiz game with A.N.N.A., ask devs anything you want or just start any discussion you want in our #off-topic section .

See you in Discord!

Hello, space cowboys!

It’s been a bit more than a month since our last update, and we’re ready to show you a new build 0.69. There are a lot of animations, new quests and a totally remade Outcast camp.


LEVEL DESIGN



The Outcast camp has completely changed. Now it’s a cosy place with picturesque rocks, a waterfall and a lot of plants. There’s also much more space and more events.



Besides that, we've made the level design more complex by adding some vertical layers to The Outcast.



We also go on working with the spaceship in the desert. The bugs that prevented players from passing to the Edge are fixed, and we also improved some elements of the interior.

QUESTS

There are four new quests in the game. During them Jack will have to communicate a lot both with people and with abori.



In the quest Vandals a small disenchantment awaits for Jack—the terminal which he needs so much is ruined by some vandals. And before fulfilling Fix terminal near mine quest and fixing the town’s property he will have to take care of local hooligans. Jack won't regret it though—turns out that he knows these guys really well!



Treacherous bastard quest seems no big deal on first glance, but it’s because of it Jack gets on a track of his ship Beth. Kraven’s neighbour is none other that the bastard Smiley who hijacked the ship! Locals will willingly tell everything about this guy who managed to annoy them too.



In the quest Нornhog Rabies Jack will have to deal with the herd of hornhogs and do his best not to be got on the horn while he’s looking for sick species. Well, run, Jack, run! Or hide properly.



All quests have several variants of solving and several outcomes which will influence more or less on further events. And during the missions you will not only have an opportunity to know the Edge better, but also to get some useful skills!

ANIMATION AND SOUNDS



We keep working on the animations of the animals. Arphants, hornhogs, crucases and insects will get new movements. Now these mobs will be able to jump which means that Jack will have to try hard to win fights!



We have also added and improved animations of people and made new sounds for them. So, for example, Jack can hear the woman’s cry and decide if he should save a damsel in distress or if it's one more trap of K’Tharsis.

ASSETS



Placeholders for Scolder appeared in the game. A new model of the weapon is ready and already transferred to PBR.



Bandannas get back to the Edge! Now you have more opportunities to make the character’s style more different. Which one do you like best?



We’ve also added a new ritual decole—working on more and more elements of abori culture.

Here are all changes that await you in the build. We remind you that the release of a major anniversary build 0.70 is coming. We’ll start telling you about it beforehand in Steam and in our #devblog channel in Discord.

Follow the news, try to play the new version and leave your feedback on Steam and in Discord!

See you again on K’Tharsis!

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

Hello, space cowboys!

We’re happy to show you the summer build and want to tell you about the new content and the improvements we have made, and also about the bugs we got rid of—thanks to your feedback as well.

We also remind you that we publish unique updates in our channel in Discord almost every day—and now you can comment on every piece of news to share your opinion, influence the game development and ask questions.

And now let’s see what is waiting for us in the build.




QUESTS

We’ve dedicated a lot of time to improving the quests that already are in the game and adding new ones. For example, the story of Herbalist got an extension with the quest Tools for Herbalist. Now when a grateful abori reaches the mining town, he can teach Jack the basics of the craft.



We’ve added more interactivity into the quest Grave Business. We’ve also divided it into two parts and organized the space better—instead of some small graves, which were not very comfortable to look for, there is a big and significant one. And for improving cutscenes visually, we’ve worked on more harmonious placement of decorations.



In the quest Quick Adventure you can see a lot of beautiful and mysterious things—Jack headed to research aboris’ ancient burial in an attempt to find out who stands behind the tomb raiding.



We’ve also added an occasional event—the quest View Enjoyer. Now you should drop by Lucky Hole more often—there is a chance to meet a mysterious stranger who will make an interesting offer.



LEVEL DESIGN

We keep improving the space ship for the quest Dead Leviathan—new animated elevators are added, and we’ve also reworked the decor—we’ve normalized the position and the size of the chairs for the environment to look more natural.



We’ve also reworked most of the surfaces and reset the parameters of renders to make locations and objects more natural, colours richer and textures more plausible. And each surface sounds more accordingly.



In particular, we’ve renewed hulks, remaking three already existing textures and adding the fourth which gave their skin and body structure a more alien look. The clothes of new hulks are also already remade for the new system of colouring. Besides, we’ve made them new better eyes, considerably adding to these creatures' humanity. We’ve also added a hat-helmet for the main guy. But actually anyone can try it on.



A kid-abori deserves a separate talk. He’s also transferred to new materials and got new eyes. He’s so cute that we’re thinking of adding more abori kids to the Edge.



ANIMATIONS

Going on with the topic of abori-hulks—we’ve added them some new animations, and now the movements demonstrate their power and strength much better.

We’ve also added the movement animations to women NPCs.



SOUNDS

Many bugs are fixed in this build. The loudness of some sounds is normalized and some uncorrect effects are replaced. We’ve also «fixed» music which used to stop from time to time—now the track will please you while you reveal secrets of K’Tharsis.



That’s all for now—a lot of changes about which we were writing in the #devblog channel in Discord will be introduced in the next two builds, but you’ll definitely find things to watch in this one. So add the game into the wishlist and be sure to share your feedback in the comments in our Discord—it’s very important for us to hear what you think of the changes in the game.

See you in the vastness of K’Tharsis!

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

Hello, friends!

In our last article we started telling you about a new UI, and now we’d like to give you more details about the latest changes. Regretfully, despite the huge work we’ve already done, these changes won’t go in the nearest build—nevertheless, we’d like to share the results with you and will be happy to hear your feedback.

MENU



As you could see in our devblog in Discord, we’ve completely changed the main menu and made it much more stylish, modern and suiting the theme of the game. We’ve also changed the style of the logo, adding more sci-fi to it. That’s not a final variant yet—but we’ll be happy to hear your opinion.

INVENTORY



We’ve done a great deal of work over the inventory. We’re trying to make it more intuitive and
“lightweight”. We’ve also experimented with rotating the icons in the inventory to demonstrate the look and the description of them better. And finally we tried to make sure that the interface goes well not only with day time, but with night time as well.



All these changes touched upon the loot screen too—in the new interface it has become much neater and more informative. Besides, we’ve made a “cleaner” display for tracked quests.

NOTIFICATIONS

The system of notifications was totally reprocessed—a lot of elements have changed beyond recognition, and we’ve also added something new. Also the Q button activates the compass at the top of the screen.



That’s how, for example, scanning looks like. The colour of the wave changed according to the main colour of the interface, and we want it to highlight enemies, loot and neutral units with intuitively clear colours.



Prompts during the scanning have also become more stylish and intuitive. We paid attention to the layout of the text and icons, so that players can find everything they need for a fight as fast as possible. Now the level of the enemies, the number of their lives and weak spots are completely evident.



The same thing has happened with learning tips—now all the important information will be formed in a proper manner.

DIALOGUES

In our previous devblog we showed the changes touching upon the dialogues. They will be much more readable and convenient.



At the moment we are also working on adding the display of the options that are unavailable for Jack and that demand a certain level of skill.

JOURNAL

We have redesigned the journal window: took away the wall of the text and added more visual elements. Now quests are conveniently combined into categories, it’s easier to switch between them and, thanks to redesigned visuals, it’s much more convenient to persept what is written. By the way, the glossary will look the same.



LOADSCREENS

Showing you something beautiful in the end—remember our post about alpha recently? You can meet this handsome guy during the loading of the game! We’re working on adding more of such screens to the game and want them to reflect useful information about K’Tharsis.



Here are all changes about the UI for now—but we’re working on a huge number of other updates. We publish all of them almost every day in our Discord, in #devblog channel. There you can not only see all the interesting changes before they get into the game, but also leave your feedback that we read attentively and consider to every post! The game will definitely become better with your help, so be sure to come! And also follow us and add the game into your wishlist!

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

Hello, friends!

While we’re preparing a new build, we’d like to tell you more about the things we’re working on right now and what changes await you in the game — and not only there.

DISCORD

Especially for those who like to follow the process of development we publish unique updates in Discord almost daily, in #devblog channel. There we share the freshest works and will be happy to get feedback or an interesting idea from you. You can also get some answers to the questions about the game right from the development team.

DEVBLOG

We work hard on the Edge, adding a lot of new content and we also improve assets that already exist in the game. And at the same time we work on a considerably bigger location with the town and a canyon.



We make a lot of small changes that improve the general look and atmosphere of the game.

Working on the sky—creating clouds and working on their interaction with the sunlight.



A bonus for those who love watching the stars. We’re improving the night sky of K’Tharsis by adding nebulas and constellations.



We’re creating new concepts of plants to make biomes richer.



You already can see some of them in the game, not in the final variant though.



We substantially redo mobs of K’Tharsis giving them a more alien look. That’s how, for example, crucas will change:



Remember the shark from our old demo?



We also considerably changed it and are ready to show you new concept arts. This monster will go to the desert very soon!



We have also added a new powerful monster called alpha to the game.



We’re thinking of putting more difference into the population of K’Tharsis—looking for new shapes and styles for abori.



One of the most important processes is the work with colours. So we’re trying many variants of painting for different assets.



We’re also working on the replacement of the UI for a long time and experimenting a lot, trying to find an interesting combination reflecting both sci-fi setting and a cowboy theme.



Within this change we also did some work with the dialog box and made it more stylish and qualitative, and also more comfortable for the eyes.



A great deal of work was dedicated to compiling icons with new UI—here are the first attempts of stylization.



This is just a part of changes—the team is adding new content into the game all the time. To stay in touch join our Discord channel, leave feedback, subscribe to our page on Steam and—the main thing—add the game to your wishlist!

Follow us on social nets:

DISCORD
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
VKONTAKTE

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

Hello, friends. April is over and we release a new update. We want to tell you about the improvements in gameplay, new quests and changes in game design.

But before we come to the list of changes, we’d like to tell you that we have started developing our Discord channel where we publish almost daily unique updates, tell about the game development and share interesting working materials that nobody sees. Here you can also leave your feedback about the game, share your ideas and interesting content, and also ask your questions to the team and get the answers.

Join in and become a part of the history of Exoplanet!


GAMEPLAY

A lot of players asked us to give them some extra instruments for orientation because of our complicated multi-layered level design, that’s why we decided to add a compass. It’s always available at the top of the screen. At the moment it’s only the first iteration, and we’re going to improve it.



We’ve also added the effect of poisoning. Every time Jack is influenced by toxines, the green mist on the edges of the screen will inform you about it.



QUESTS

As you know, for the last few months we’ve been working on the spaceship and its detailing . Now the new quest Dead Leviathan is available, where Jack has to overcome the systems of protection coming to life and find the way out.



Besides, we have renewed the quest Wild planet, and now there are many more variants of events for the meeting with robbers on the spaceship. Find out how Jack can avoid being robbed!



More variety was added to the quest Find Curios. Now Jack can get a small aborigen if he breaks the wall with his pick if he has enough skill. He is also able to render the boy unconscious and hand him over to Skalphunters. Besides, a lot of cutscenes are added to the quest.



LEVEL DESIGN

Our level designers have taken a small break in the work with the ship to improve other areas of The Edge. This month the changes have touched upon the ancient aborigen cemetery and the caves where there are ancient tombs.

We weren’t really happy with the topology of the old cemetery, that’s why it was remade from scratch, with a lot of new assets we had been preparing for several previous months.



The caves at the cemetery were also considerably changed. Now it’s a gigantic dungeon where you can see well-preserved samples of aboriginal ancient architecture.



Apart from it, with the help of new canvas we have also repainted the outpost of the Outcasts and partially a ship.

SOUND

We brought our gunshot sounds to an upper level. At first now they are audible at further distance. But also, now they have a more immersive spatial effect that gives an impression of a distance between the listener and the audio source. The related demonstration is in the following video. Enjoy!



Besides, there was an improvement of the sounds of aboriginal mortar and rifle, the way the sounds of the carabiner’s shooting work, some special settings of hearing the sniper weapon were added and the sounds of waving pole arms were remade.

Another important thing. Thanks to our audio engineers, we reduced CPU and RAM usage by about 10 percent, which means now you have a little bit of extra performance and we have a little bit of extra space to show you more high quality content. Optimizations are not limited just by these improvements (and we already have got some plans for it) but we are glad to announce that we have such results.



ASSETS

We’ve added a lot of new architectural assets, the first sets of electronic devices inside the ship on the temporary texture, extra animations of beetles—arphants, crucases and kabarogs, some new types of ladders and a new set of furniture.



Besides, some headgear was transferred to PBR, and some textures were fixed in different places.



CONCLUSION

That’s all, thank you for your attention, everyone. We remind you about Discord—subscribe to get access to the unique content of the devblog. And also follow us here and add the game to your wishlist!

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

Hey folks! Another month has come to an end, so it’s time for another update. Let’s take a look at the changelog.


QUESTS

We’ve improved the ‘Daily Bread’ quest. Now Rusty Nails is alright with any food Jack brings to him but the rot. Also, Jack can learn more about cooking his meals with a bonfire.



Rusty Nails is also eager to learn about his pal’s fate, so he has a new quest for Jack. Perhaps, this brave space cowboy can find any information about Rusty’s lost friend.

There are also some under-the-hood changes for some quests and their logic.



GAMEPLAY

We've polished combat finisher death animation, added a knockout visualization and fixed a few issues.

LEVEL DESIGN

As I mentioned in the previous update, our level designers were working hard on improving the abandoned ship, and today we are ready to show you the first results.



SOUND

We’ve reworked the balance of in-game sounds and improved sounds’ audibility and positioning of NPCs, environment and the protagonist. Also, we've fixed the layering of equipment sounds.

VISUALS

A great deal of work was put into the ship. We’ve added a bunch of new assets and new textures for humans. Also, we’ve transferred some new hats to PBR.



That’s all for now. Join our Discord, we will be back in a month with another update.

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

Hey cowboys! It’s the end of February, so another monthly update is already here. What’s new, you ask? See for yourself.


GAMEPLAY

We are working hard to improve melee combat, and there is a new feature added for those who fancy knives. Now you can finish an enemy with a blade if his health is reduced to a certain amount.

We have also fixed knockouts, navigation errors for Outcasts and Scalphunters patrols and many other pesky bugs and issues.



QUESTS

Idol in Anomaly quest was significantly reworked. There are new ways to solve it and brand new cutscenes. On the top of that, now you can obtain beads whether you helped Scalphunters with the idol or didn’t.

There’s also a new quest connected to this one, it is called Making a Profit.

LEVEL DESIGN

Our level designers are very busy at the moment with an important task—they are doing their best to improve the abandoned ship, so there are no big changes on The Edge in this update but some furniture in the mining village.



SOUND

There are plenty of SFX changes, though.

First of all, we’ve reworked the attenuation of sounds in the game world to make it more plausible, decreased the initial volume of the game audio mix, improved the balance between all the in-game sounds and the positioning of sound effects close to the player’s character.



Second, we have also slightly improved the sounds of range weapons, reworked the sound of impact while shooting and fixed a bug where the sound of a hitting shot was not audible.

And, of course, we finally added sounds of a barge.



VISUALS

Another batch of apparel's was transferred to PBR.

NEW TEAM WEBSITE

Recently we launched the official Exoplanet website with a forum.



And today we also would like to bring to life our old hacked and broken team’s website, https://alersteam.com/. There’s a brand new and simple design, and we hope you will like it.

That’s all for now. Thanks for your support, we will be back in a month with another update.

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

The long holidays are over and we are eager to show you the results of our recent work. This update contains less new quests or gameplay features but lays solid foundation for further major improvements coming up this year.

We have added only one but pretty fun quest that gives you more insight into Scalphunter tribe lore.



In terms of visuals we focused our efforts on improving the rest of the clothing models for aborigines, so they will look more colorful and diverse than ever.




VISUAL IMPROVEMENTS:

• All models of the aboriginal clothing now use Physical Based Rendering (PBR) technology for their textures.
  
• Our custom shader is applied when possible so designers now are able to dye these clothes in a wide range of colors.
  
• A number of hats were adjusted to fit other races and now use PBR, so they can come in different color variations as well.
  
• Terrain textures for the desert biome were replaced by a better set.

COMBAT MECHANICS GOT MORE DEPTH:

• Blocking was added as an option for the player in combat. Hold Right Mouse Button to block.
  
• Heavy attacks are now activated by pressing Shift+Left Mouse Button combination.
  
• NPCs now can choose behavior patterns between attacking, holding the distance, strafing, side stepping and blocking.
  
• In melee fights characters now will use more appropriate animations for different attacks (still placeholders though).
  
• NPCs now will reload their weapons when shooting.

AI:

• Obstacle avoidance algorithm for NPCs was improved.

QUEST CONTENT:

• A new Quest was added to the Scalphunter camp. Talk to the character called Wall Eye near the big cage with beasts to start it.

Thanks for staying with us and providing your immensely valuable feedback!
Don't forget to join our Discord server for more news and discussions about Exoplanet.

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