Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a minor update focused on fixes and features. Please see the change notes below for info on what has changed.

While the new fixes are relatively minor, we are pleased to be making positive quality changes, and our plan is to focus the minor updates on quality and bugs over the next couple of months.



One issue that players have been experiencing since V1.7.11 is random music or audio playing when Stormworks is running. It appears that Steam may have updated their overlay software, and at least in some situations, any Steam overlay browser will reopen and start playing any audio on that page. If you are experiencing this issue, you can press shift+tab, and close these browser windows.



With just 4 weeks to go until the new Stormworks: Space DLC, we are hard at work with final testing and tuning. We have a minor update planned for 29 September, and then the major update and new DLC arriving 12th October.



Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.9

Rework - #16776 #20088 Electric fluid valves now only consume electric when changing state
Rework - #18528 Adjusted default workbench storage vehicle position for Meier starter base
Fix - #16140 Linear track body hovering above connected tracks
Fix - #20283 Separator RPS node name
Fix - #20303 Pumpjack place/delete price discrepancy
Fix - #20329 Added drill grabber end to oil research group
Fix - #20439 Adjusted window diamond 1x4x5 placement surfaces
Fix - #20488 Fix back event for microprocessor save confirm screen
Fix - Fluid jet now correctly updates the the world oil data

Addon Lua:
Feature - #4786 Negative values for addDamage now repair the area

Dear Stormworkers,

In this announcement post, we will discuss some of the new systems we are creating as part of the Space DLC, and the associated free major update.

Compressed Gasses and Liquids

As previously discussed, compressed gasses are coming to Stormworks, with a significant rework of the fluids system. This has a big impact for space, but also for deep-sea where high pressure and displacement will work slightly differently.



Gasses in the new version are able to enter and occupy compartments, and these gasses are compressible. When liquids and gasses enter or leave a compartment, they are treated as mixed evenly rather than layered by height, for the sake of usability by players, so behaviour is more consistent and it is easier to understand what is going on. This is to avoid the situation where a port on a compartment cannot capture all the contents because the port is part way up the side - its difficult to understand that the fluid level may have dropped below the port. This is also consistent with current behaviour and avoids players vehicles from breaking.



However, when it comes to doors, it is easier to understand where the water levels are relative to the door and is visually explained, so our system is a bit more in-depth. As in the current system, doors will only allow water through when the level of the water is above the bottom of the door. With new gasses, gas can also only spill through then the water level is below the top of the door.

The implications of this is quite exciting. It means that moon pools will mechanically work, and gas will not escape once water covers the door. Don't forget that the gasses are compressible, so water can still rise and compress the gas, it is just that the gas will not escape. You can pump more gas in to increase the pressure, pushing the water level back down.



The opposite is also true. If you open a door in the top of the compartment, this will allow all your compressed gas to escape, reducing the pressure and allowing more water to enter.

For submarines, this system means that you could open valves (or even a door) between a compressed air container and a ballast tank with opening at the bottom. This would rapidly increase pressure, quickly pushing the water out and displacing it with compressed gas.



Where there is a pressure difference through a door, gas or liquid will get pulled through. Physics objects including characters will be effected by this and dragged by the pressure. At high altitude or in space, a rapid depressurization event can suck you or any other physics object out of the door.

We look forward to releasing this new system and many other features, and the new Space DLC on October 12th!

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a minor update focused on fixes and features. Please see the change notes below for info on what has changed.

Thank you to all who watched the Stormworks: Space live stream! The feedback has been fantastic and we are so excited for the release on October 12th! If you have not done so yet, please consider wishlisting below:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

As well as this weeks minor update, there will be 2 more minor updates before the launch of Stormworks: Space! These are scheduled every 2 weeks as normal.

We are working hard on the last few finishing tasks, and have already been testing for months. While the main features are in the DLC, the release will be accompanied by a major update including the gas and liquid reworks as well as others, which will be important updates for everyone.



Thank you to everyone who have helped inspire this new DLC, including all the incredible creators who have shared space content, and content creators who have made space themed content.

As well as work on the new DLC, there is work on several minor updates, major updates, as well as 'Not Stormworks 2'.



As always, we are interested to hear player thoughts, especially as we plan out what next. Please do let us know where you think our priorities should be, and what you would like to see next. If you have detailed proposals, please consider posting a feature request on the issue tracker too :-)

We are excited to do more, and so we are creating 1 or 2 new engineering jobs to expand our team! If you are a software engineer, check out the new careers section of our website.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.8

Fix - #19773 Steam Deck crashing on launch
Fix - #19460 Updated Zizo workbench interactable
Fix - #19951 Fire extinguisher particles now respect velocity
Fix - #17902 Updated Bertha cannon voxels
Fix - #20287 Added ladder to archtech survey base
Fix - #20392 Triangle errors on arid isles 18_10
Fix - #20363 Several sign positions on Arid isles
Fix - #20544 Removed physics from FJWarner dock pads
Fix - #20012 Spelling error

Dear Stormworkers,

The new Stormworks: Space DLC will release on 12th October!

Wishlist the DLC here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

Watch the trailer here:



Stormworks: Space has been years in the making, and introduces space and moon operations to the world of Stormworks:

Space and Lunar Biome

Travel from earth, up through the atmosphere, across the vacuum of space, and down to the surface of the moon in a continuous simulation. Space is infinite nothingness, while the lunar surface is 900 square kilometers of grey dust, craters, canyons, and caves.



New Simulations

Gravity will be simulated and weakens as you travel away from the earth and moon. Ascend high for a geostationary orbit, or build horizontal velocity for a lower orbit.

Vacuum and compressed gasses are introduced, as well as the oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and nitrogen component parts of air. Maintain life support and avoid over pressure or under pressure, hypoxia and hypercapnia. Equalize pressure before opening doors or risk being sucked through.



New Components

Propel through space with the new liquid fuel engines, fueled by compressed oxygen and hydrogen which can be manufactured using electrolysis. RCS thrusters and gyroscopic actuators can be used for fine control. New navigation components help orientate and position you where there is no GPS coverage. Build spacewalk kit with the new seats.

New Equipment

Operate in vacuum with the new space suits. Limited air supply can be recharged in some seats.

Limitations

Our take on space simulation has some limitations, mostly because the game engine wasn't originally designed for space. For example, while in a seat, you have 6 degrees of freedom as usual, outside of a seat, the player always orientates consistently with the same up direction (no 6-DOF first person controller).

Taking the flat planar world of Stormworks and getting this to work as a spherical body planetary simulation has required a lot of thought. The surface of the earth and moon will tile / wrap around. Our solution remaps 3d space along gravitational field lines, and mostly makes sense in quantum space but is not a true euclidean simulation and has some limitations such as not being able to travel around the back of the moon.



Major Update

As usual, this DLC is accompanied by significant updates to the base game, in order to help with compatibility, and incorporate some of the new systems to the base game where is make sense to do so (such as compressed gasses, world tiling, etc). New components will also be cosmetically available in the base game, with limited functionality to help keep the workshop unified and compatible.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing an update focused on quality improvements. This is a smaller minor update with several fixes, addressing minor issues reported by players.



See the patch notes below for full details. You will see the support ticket numbers next to each card, which corresponds to tickets raised by players on the official issue tracker.

Please do join us next week for the big announcement and dev live stream! We will be showing the next DLC and major update, and will be answering your questions live!



We look forward to your feedback in this update :-)

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.7

Rework - #19596 Updated default gantries and storage to be filter-less and instead delete incorrect fluids
Fix - #19846 Train wheel functionality when mixing flipped and rotated wheels
Fix - #19636 Reset explosion and fire buildup after repairing an engine, battery or furnace
Fix - #19748 Sawyer island terrain issues at bridge entry/exits
Fix - #19541 Emote menu background not filling wide aspect ratios
Fix - #19747 Missing rock face at airstrip base
Fix - #19606 Clear interactions when opening chat menu
Fix - #19623 Beret mesh issues
Fix - #19602 Mesh gap at Taijin dock
Fix - #1976 Removed extra cone on jet engine blade mesh

Dear Stormworkers,

On Friday 25th August at 4PM BST / 8AM PDT, we will be running a developer live stream, and debuting the announcement trailer for the new DLC!

Countdown Timer

The content of this new DLC has been a closely guarded secret, but all will be revealed in this developer live stream! We will start by showing the trailer, then some gameplay, and will be answering questions live from the chat.



This is just the announcement, and not a release. We will be discussing the DLC and will also share the release date at this event.

This new content has been years in development and we are very excited to share what we have been working on. Let us know what you think it could be in the comments :-)



Please subscribe to this event and join us in 2 weeks!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is update week, and we have a bunch of fixes and improvements in this release!

The headline item is a new feature for Industrial Frontier DLC owners! In the third and final addition of new animals, we bring the gila monster and the tortoise as new animals that roam the arid desert.

These sweet and gentle beasts are non aggressive reptiles that live on the Meier Isles. They are shy wild animals, and will move away if you disturb them. In real life, the gila is venomous and tortoises can bite, and both carry diseases, so don't mess with them in the wild, but in Stormworks, they are chill.

Fixes and improvements include a bunch of useful stuff. We have fixed an issue with aerodynamics where we found a tiny typo that slightly changed how aero forces were applied to vehicles. This small offset probably won't be noticable except for very small vehicles with large aerodynamic forces such as missiles.



Other fixes include improvements to the rockets when fired while moving, a performance fix related to missions spawning in the wrong place, and others. Please see the patch notes below for details.

This is the last creature update we have planned, and we have no further plans to add new animals to the game at the moment.

In other news, we are on the final push for the new DLC and have started work on a trailer. We hope to launch this as an announcement trailer when we announce this new DLC, and we may do a developer questions and answers session at the same time. We will set up a Steam event for this when we are ready!



As always, we are also working on additional minor updates, and major updates.

We look forward to your feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.6

Feature - Gila Monster and Tortoises
Fix - #17064 Aerodynamics surface processing issues causing unexpected behavior especially with small vehicles (missiles pitching up)
Fix - #17520 Rocket launcher weapon now respects relative velocity when fired from a vehicle
Fix - #17771 Fixed modular engine audio position and balance the effect radius
Fix - #18543 Centred oil rig base workbench
Fix - #18946 Fixed ocean_milani_explorer mission spawning inside physics (causing heavy lag in a specific area of the world)
Fix - #19418 Structure workbenches ignoring fuel requirements when infinite_fuel is disabled
Fix - #19534 Fixed LUA editor copy+paste for Mac
Fix - #19643 Player names not cleared from the server list if kicked during server join

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is announcement week, with last week being an update, and next week also bringing an update.

This week we discuss a new upgrade that we are planning to the vehicle management engine within Stormworks.

Currently in Stormworks, a single vehicle contains all the physical bodies related to that vehicle. This can include the main vehicle body, as well as any hinged parts such as custom doors or cranes, and any detached parts such as droppable bombs or lifeboats. Because these objects are all managed per-vehicle, this means that these parts load in and out together, even if they have become very spread out. They can become spread out if a part is dropped, or a solid rocket booster is fired off, or a lifeboat leaves its parent ship.

The issue with a vehicle being spread over a large area is that it is hard for the vehicle management engine to decide when that vehicle should be unloaded. This makes it difficult for the game to unload distant islands that the vehicle may be resting on, or unload these distant objects which can improve performance. With the explosions introduced in the Weapons DLC, a vehicle entirely encapsulated within an explosion can be completely destroyed and despawned. Sometimes you can see a missile hit a target before exploding then bouncing off the target or becoming stuck in it. These missiles should really be completely destroyed, but because they are considered a part of a larger vehicle, they are not.



So this is something we are reworking, deep within the game engine. We plan to split vehicles into sub-vehicles, and these sub-vehicles will be managed independently of each other. This will mean that each sub-vehicle will occupy only a small amount of space, which gives a huge advantage when managing them. Missiles and bombs will be destroyed when they hit their target. Distant vehicle parts will unload (unless they have a "keep alive block") which will help performance in some situations. This change will also be very useful for a future major update that we are working on.

The player experience should otherwise not be changed, and returning a vehicle to the edit grid will return the complete vehicle rather than just part of it.

While this is fundamentally a simple change to understand, vehicles connect to almost every system within the game so this change requires us to carefully and methodically upgrade lots of code in lots of places, and has been time consuming.



This upgrade should release later this year.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback! We will return next week with a new minor update.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is minor update week! We are branding this update as the "critical fix" update, as we have fixed a crash issue that was the most common crash for most players. We expect this update to greatly reduce crashes in Stormworks for many.



We have also improved the physics sensor with extra output data. After releasing the physics sensor, some players asked for output in a slightly different format, so we have now added this to help with making certain microprocessors. This format relates to how angles are measured.

Otherwise, this update includes a series of other fixes which are mostly minor.



Thanks to everyone who gave feedback to last weeks announcement. We have read all this feedback and it is really useful to hear players thoughts.

We hope these fixes help, and we continue working on more minor updates, as well as all the other stuff we wrote about last week.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.4-5

Fix - Added protective code to address recent crashing issues related to oil spill data
Rework - #18678 Physics sensor angular velocity calculation updated and added additional tilt/compass outputs
Fix - #17556 Crash when teleported by an addon while in the workbench
Fix - #18474 getVehiclePos and addDamage now work with sub-bodies and returns the correct voxel transform
Fix - #18673 Chaff clouds not spawning in multiplayer
Fix - #18683 Flashlight rendering in photo-mode
Fix - #18846 - Updated Hyanen garage mission zone survivor transform
Rework - #19327 Disabled broken blue van mission location

Dear Stormworkers,

Last week was minor update week, so this week is announcement week! In this announcement, we will discuss the plans and strategies we have for game development over the next few years.

Stormworks

We continue our support and maintenance plans, with minor updates planned every 2 weeks, major updates planned every 4 to 5 months. We also have a new DLC planned for the end of this year.

Stormworks first launched its closed Beta almost 6 years ago, and we are still having loads of fun developing it. We have as many players as ever, and we plan to keep these updates going for a long time.

Minor Updates

The issue tracker is driving most of the content in the minor updates, as we work towards tackling the remaining bugs there. Of the remaining reported bugs, some are fixed and undergoing testing, while many are planned and their work scheduled. We are making steady progress and are usually solving at least 10 issues each minor update.

While bugs and the overall quality of player experience are our main concern, we are trying to introduce the occasional feature as an interest point for players. This can sometimes be a friction point with the community where some players feel that 100% of effort should go into resolving all issues. For this reason, we are thinking about dedicating most minor updates to bugs and quality, and keeping features for the major updates. As always, this is subject to player feedback. What do you think?



Major Updates

We have major updates planned and are currently working on content for 2024. We typically announce major updates with 3 weeks to go before their release.

DLC

We are working on one new DLC to be released at the end of this year. We can't wait to announce this! Exactly how and when we make this announcement, we don't know yet. We want to get a bit more development done but will share info as soon as we can.

Not Stormworks 2

As previously mentioned, we are also working separately on a new game! This new game doesn't affect Stormworks development and is a separate title.

This game is super early in development and is mostly ideas, prototypes, technology tests, designs and discussions. Its a very long way from any release.

Our goal is to make an awesome new building game, inspired by Stormworks, but also inspired by player creations, many other games, and our own new ideas. We plan to make far fewer features, but to a higher quality, with a greater level of finish.

Until we have a final name for this new game, we are calling it "Not Stormworks 2". The point is that while we love Stormworks, there is no point cloning our own game. Most of the features from Stormworks won't be in the new game, but that's OK because it allows the new game to be it's own thing, and allows us to be creative and introduce new ideas!

There are a lot of expectations around a Stormworks sequel, and this is something we have thought a lot about. It is best we focus those expectations on improving Stormworks itself. "Not Stormworks 2" is an ambitious building game, but it's a different thing and isn't intended to meet the expectations of a sequel. It isn't Stormworks 2!

Something we are very interested in for a new game is full modding support. We have been researching and developing some really cool technology that is aimed at a new approach to modding that gives full control and access to mod makers.



Player feedback is super important to us so please let us know if you have any thoughts on any of the above! We look forward to your feedback.


Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers