Hey everyone!

The next major update is getting close so let's shine some light on what's been hiding behind some of the recent teasers!

As far as the release goes, the current plan is to release the update around the end of this month (September).

I know the wait has been long but as you'll soon see, I really think it will be worth it. So thank you so much for being patient with us!



The biggest feature will be without a doubt the TANKS!
(as many of you successfully figured out)

For now, I will share that there will be different types for different purposes and that you will be able to destroy or disable them in A LOT of ways. We didn't want them to be just bullet sponges.

You can see concepts for the military and refinery tank below. Keep in mind these were just concepts and will look much different (less modern, more steampunk) when the update releases.




(you might recognize this one from a certain blueprint)


Another thing that will spice up the combat dynamic will be the new DRONES!

The smaller types will be guarding the lower airspace of the island.



While the much larger drones will hunt you down from above the trees.



And since you guys seemed to like the April Fools' airship so much, we tried to figure out how to add one in a way that would make sense for the scope of this update. So this other large drone below is our attempt at it. It's not the big-scale (even though it is pretty big) airship you were probably hoping for but it was the best we could do with the given time and resources.




This update will also bring you 3 new craftable weapons inspired by real-life models:

• Lewis Gun (machine gun)
  
  
• Mauser C96 (automatic pistol)
  
  
• Lee Enfield (bolt action rifle)
  

A lot of people asked if these will be replacing the old guns and the answer is NO. They will be added alongside the current weapons. But we do plan to rebalance the old ones.

And as far as their new names go, we are still selecting the winners, so stay tuned.

See them all in action below!

If you haven't heard yet, we will be adding 3 new guns (amongst other things) in the upcoming major update:

• The Lewis Gun
  
• The Lee Enfield
  
• The C96 Mauser

But we don't want to just use their real names, what's the fun in that? And if you've been following the development for some time, you know we have a history of giving things terrible names.

So that's why we need your help! Enter the...


Comment below this post what names YOU would give to these guns and the team and I will:

1. Select one name for each gun that we liked the most from the comments
   
2. We put the names on the guns in the upcoming update
   
3. We give you credit in the update patch notes (if we pick your name)
   
4. And once the update releases, you (might) find yourself shooting a gun that you named yourself!

Now you don't have to suggest names for all 3 guns. If you came up with a killer name just for the Lewis but got nothing for the other two, post just the one! Just make sure it's clear what gun you're suggesting a name for like: "Lee Enfield - Steamfield"

Once the update releases, the names will appear whenever you point at the guns in your inventory, crafting table, etc.



The contest will end on Sunday, August 14th.

Excited to see what you guys come up with!

- Rich

EDIT: Whoa! Didn't expect so many people to share their ideas. Thank you all! It's gonna be hard as hell picking just three haha

Hey everyone!

Even though we're going full throttle at the next major update, we still wanted to push out a smaller update in the meantime fixing bugs that have been lingering in the game for quite some time now.

So that's what this update is.

That being said the upcoming major update (that I've been carefully teasing) is getting closer and there will be a more detailed Steam post about it soon!

Lastly, Volcanoids is 30% off during the Steam Survival Fest right now so if you have any friends that were looking to give the game a try, now might be a good time to recruit them for your crew.

• Added more scrap recipes for destroyed parts that can be scrapped into copper ingot
  
• Added autoupgrade to Wide Stations and Hubs, all upgrades now install automatically except Segment
  
• Changed order of recipes in Research station
  
• Increased stock value of all ingots
  
• Increased default drillship storage on the start
  
• Changed default mode of HUBs to Queue when built
  
• Removed Military COGs from T1 ships to make the first combat easier for new players
  
• Adjusted repair kits to allow stack, it will keep used repair kits in different slot
  
• Changed icon in Volcano Heart quest to properly show the icon of entry to the last level

• Description of an icon does not fit and wrong texts
  
• Quests dead end
  
• Quest ‘Explore nearby mine’ doesn’t lead to nearby mine
  
• Client cannot finish control bracer quests
  
• Quests ignore cog pickaxe
  
• Texture streaming setup
  
• Hand computer adjustments for camera
  
• Player - hand computer was moved into Skeleton, revert this change
  
• No completable quests available
  
• Quest: Find Upgrade advanced production incompletable
  
• SuperSoaker mod crash
  
• Find grenade instead of produce grenade
  
• Host does not see armor breaking up effect when destroyed by client
  
• COGs without weapons - STR updated
  
• Stuck in the loading screen
  
• Upgrading drillship core with override core freezes quest
  
• Quest Disable COG Front Drill leads me underground to tunnels for no reason
  
• Boiler is reflecting lava
  
• Intro cinematic black screen
  
• Quest Hardened Drill - Find COGs heads
  
• Building menu mentions Q for rotating items but it brings out the bracer
  
• Cannot load enclosed savefile without mods - stuck on entering the game
  
• Find cogs head quest
  
• Broken fog near lavapools (particles, distortion layers, etc..)
  
• Quest ‘Prepare for attack’ tells you to find materials
  
• Station wide refinery needs refinery module to operate
  
• Quest: Upgrade refinery worktable not possible
  
• Find Upgrade starter refinery
  
• Find upgrade starter research
  
• Free hands animations visible and offset
  
• Cannot access boiler inner storage
  
• Interior houses have doors and doubled walls and pipes (z fighting)
  
• Please change Level of detail to be related to tangens function with FOV
  
• Refinery T3 recipe only in hub
  
• Dropcrates are missing the icon on top
  
• Client cannot put armor on himself
  
• Storage door description old
  
• Quest control drillship with bracer bug
  
• FrontBoiler - lighting retest on master
  
• Player keeps walking animation when accessing any device
  
• Broken detonator animation
  
• Recheck duplicating items in mp
  
• Modded SMG has free hands
  
• Handcomputer display and diodes blinking/corrupted - arm shaking
  
• Updated front boiler model
  
• Fix hand computer mesh, player can see through
  
• Quest saying explore house but it leads into the mine
  
• Dropping crates can be hear all over the map
  
• Player looking weird while using camera
  
• Stuck on entering the game
  
• Drillship override core 1 needs T3 component
  
• Periscope can see through itself
  
• Advanced research quest available after tutorial
  
• Cannot access storage through wide stations
  
• producing the pistol turret takes too much time
  
• Grenade empty hand
  
• Grenade off hand bug
  
• Player armor destroyed but still visible
  
• Lavapool missing sounds
  
• Energy production doesn’t update
  
• Hand computer is spazzing in 3rd person when holding armor
  
• Command function called on pure server (no client)
  
• All objects have a purple texture
  
• Can’t hide the Control Bracer toolbar using the dev console
  
• Story intro screen shows a black screen halfway in
  
• Players got into T2 without destroying laser device
  
• Starting new game results in hand bug
  
• Hidden mods prevent worlds from loading
  
• Quests do not check if pickaxe is in player inventory
  
• Fixed many issues on stuck quests, by adjusting recipes
  - Mine Coal quest
  - Gatling
  - Advacned Research T3
  - Modified tracks
  - Drillship core and engine
  - Geothermal module
  - Hand mortar
  - Power plant T1

Big thanks to folks who brought our attention to these bugs by sending reports!

See y'all around!

Rich

Social Links
Join the community on Discord
Follow us on Twitter for more teasers

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

A bolt action rifle as many of you correctly guessed from the clip in the previous teaser!



I also saw some folks in the comments asking for a higher-quality version of the previous teaser to use as a wallpaper. Here it is in 4K: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/196lwm-Lz5lRpjMOXSbmLLjj-2Imx8kwt

Last but not least, in case you haven't picked up Volcanoids yet, it is now 20% off during the Steam Summer Sale till July 7th!

- Rich

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

PS: new teaser coming soon

or is there?

Hey everyone!

Got a quick progress update for you so let's dig into it, shall we?

First, just clarify, the airship announcement was, as most of you skillfully recognized, a joke for April Fools'. Drillships are here to stay and airships are NOT coming (but you know what they say, never say never).

Now, as far as development goes we are currently working on two main things:

1. The Cold Fix update that should fix everything the Control Bracer Update broke
   
2. The NEXT. MAJOR. UPDATE.

But let's start with the Cold Fix since that's coming sooner.


Is pretty much done when it comes to fixes regarding technical bugs, AI navigation, and the other usual suspects. And most of the team has already moved on and is working on features for the next update. So far so good.


Even though everything seems to be ready, we ran into an issue related to balancing and progression in general.

The way we've been balancing things until now has been pretty wobbly. In simple terms, we just continued adding things on top of things hoping it would hold together, and till now it somehow did. But this less than ideal approach has finally caught up with us as we released the last update and showed that things need to change. So now we're trying to build a more sustainable system that can be reliably used for every update. Sort of like a tech tree that takes everything into account and can be quickly adjusted for every update without so much room for error.

So to wrap this part up before you fall asleep, the Cold Fix is taking so long because the last update caused some balancing issues and in order to fix them, we need the new system I mentioned in place.

As far as when it should come, we don't really have an estimate but I'll keep you updated.


Now the rest of the team that's not working on balancing issues has begun working on the NEXT MAJOR UPDATE!! woo big hype

We do have a pretty solid idea about all the things we want to add in it but you already know I won't spoil it all right away. But don't worry, I won't leave you empty-handed either.

Here come the teasers!


Flying drones will be a new type of enemy unit in the next major update! OGs might remember the concept art from some time ago. There will be 4 classes of them (like the current units) each with their unique abilities.

Here's a REFINERY DRONE, TIER 1:



And here's concept art of MILITARY DRONE TIERS:




The Mauser C96 will be added to your arsenal in the upcoming update. As well as a couple of other well-known guns from the same era.




Another thing that's finally coming is proper controller support that you guys have been asking for. The reason why we've been putting it off is because it will require a pretty significant overhaul of the game's UI.

And yes, this is a stepping stone for the eventual console release. Don't have any details yet though.





Meaning this won't be part of the next update but some update later on.

Our level designer is knee-deep in working on the island rework I mentioned at the bottom of this announcement some time ago. From what I've seen so far, I can confidently say that once all the map changes get released, it will feel like a whole new game.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the new locations, THE MILITARY BASE:



And that's it for this quick progress update. So keep an eye out on our socials for updates about the Cold Fix as well as more teasers from the upcoming major update!

Take care guys and as always, thanks for the support!

- Rich

Social Links
Join the community on Discord
Follow us on Twitter for more teasers
Subscribe to our Newsletter to get only the most important news in your inbox (e.g. new update)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/



bonus leak

Hey everyone!

The team and I decided to make a pretty major change to Volcanoids. The drillships were cool and all, we had our fun with them but I think we can all agree that they are getting kind of boring and overdone at this point.

So to keep the game fresh and original we've decided that for the next update, we will remove all the drillships and replace them with airships.

As for the core gameplay mechanics, this change won't affect them all that much. For example, instead of hiding underground from the eruptions, you will have to fly away from the island for a bit and so on.



We really think this is a step in the right direction and we hope you're on board with the idea. Stay tuned for more updates, pilots!

- Rich and the team

PS: you might wanna check the date on which this was posted

Social Links
Join the community on Discord
Follow us on Twitter for more teasers
Subscribe to our Newsletter to get only the most important news in your inbox (e.g. new update)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

Hey everyone!

You know the drill... another major update is here and we've got a lot to cover!

Two things before we look at the new stuff though.

1) In case you haven't read the two previous posts, this update is dedicated to some of the most requested features by you guys mainly related to overall quality of life but also production, quests, and other parts of the game that needed some long overdue love. BUT there's some brand new stuff as well.

2) Volcanoids is 20% OFF for the next 48 hours! So if you (or your friend) have been waiting for a sign to finally take the drill for a spin, this might be it!

Now that we got that out of the way, it's time to answer the ultimate question:



The first and biggest addition is the "control bracer" aka as everybody calls it "the steampunk pip-boy". With it, we took all the different gadgets that were previously scattered all over and put them in one place.

How does that work in practice? Pulling the bracer out (using the "Q" key) will bring up a second toolbar with these gadgets. Some you already know (eg. drillship calling) and some that are new.



One of the new ones is remote access to the periscope. Basically, no matter where you are, you can always access your periscope using the bracer and quickly check on the drillship.

In the case shown below the turret takes care of the attack but if it didn't, you could just easily send the drillship underground using the control bracer as well.



Second new gadget is the camera. When you run into something and you're not quite sure what it is, you can just activate the camera, snap a picture of it and the archive (which is like our in-game wiki) will open with info about it.



But wait there's more! The camera can also work as a diagnostic tool. If you just point at things around your drillship (like a turret module) the screen will show you a bunch of useful info that was previously hard to find. And in case of the turret (and couple other things), you can use the scroll wheel to get even more information.



Last thing I should mention is the watch part of the bracer. It tells you 3 vital pieces of information:

1. Red light on the left = volcano is about to erupt soon
   
2. Green light on the right= the location you're currently in is going to keep you safe from the eruption
   
3. Time = how much time is left before the volcano erupts

This is one of the features that has been looong overdue.

You now can:

• drag and drop items on the toolbar
  
• left-click on an item in inventory to place in an empty slot
  
• right-click a slot to remove the item in it
  
• drag one item over another to switch their places

We noticed a lot of new players getting overwhelmed by the amount of information and interactable parts the old boiler had. So we selected only the most vital parts to keep and improved them.



The new dial above the driving handles actually shows how the drillship is moving when someone's driving underground.



While the dial above the diving lever shows how the drillship is going underground, back up, deploying, and so on.




TLDR version: you can now produce and refine basic items underground the same way you would if the drillship was on surface but slower.

Longer version:

Each module adds a certain amount of production/refinery/research points to the drillship. You can now see how many points each module adds by pointing the camera gadget I mentioned in the beginning on it.



The more points you have in each category, the faster you can produce/refine/research.

Now to start production you'd also need access to storage and energy.

BEFORE, the drillship would have zero points in each category on its own so you needed for example a production module + storage and energy modules to be deployed in order to start producing something.

NOW the drillship has some points in each category on its own. Storage works the same way no matter where the drillship is. And the boiler produces energy even underground.

So now even if you're underground and all modules are closed, you can still produce and refine some basic items (like ammo, small components, etc.). It will be slower than if you'd be on the surface with deployed modules (therefore had more production points) but it's better than nothing.

We decided to make this change because we noticed that a lot of you didn't like how there's not much to do underground. Especially if you're playing co-op and someone is already driving. Now one of you can be driving while others are setting up basic production lines preparing ammo and other supplies in the meantime.


Now what if you overdo it with the production underground and the boiler isn't able to produce enough energy to cover it?

Enter the geothermal module! This new roof module that comes in two sizes (T1 and T3) gives you an alternative way to produce more energy underground.



The way you can do that is, when you drive through lava the module will convert the heat to energy and store it so you can continue producing. We added a new indicator to the travel view window that shows the energy output/input and how much you have stored.



Be careful not to stay in the lava for too long or it will destroy your modules or even the whole drillship.


Periscope finally got a proper model that pops up from the ground (or the drillship) when someone's using it.



Another improvement is related to using the periscope underground. Till now, the periscope would only work in a few selected spots. Not anymore though, you can now use it anywhere.


If you open your inventory you will notice these new little boxes with small icons on them. They are filters that allow you to quickly show only a specific type of items in your inventory (eg. ore, tools, ammo).




Say adios to tediously pointing the wrench at each thing making sure it has full hp. Damaged parts are now going to be marked on your UI when holding the wrench.




Once you acquire necessary upgrades you can now upgrade the worktables into stations and eventually the stations into hubs.

This is possible because we changed how they relate to each other. Each version can do what the previous one could and something extra. We also changed the station's visual to better reflect this change.




There's a way now to claim enemy drillship without needing to destroy majority of modules first. You can now use the "bypass core" upgrades that are much more expensive and harder to get, but let you capture an enemy drillship without damaging it.




Fixes

• Fixed flashlight making weapon scopes brighter than the Discord light theme
  
• Fixed doors closing by themselves in enemy drillships

Changes/Improvements

• Hard difficulty can now be selected only if you already finished the game once
  
• Increased the time it takes for the drillship to explode when all its modules are destroyed
  
• Removed non-vital devices from submarine to make it less cluttered and easier to navigate for new players
  
• Removed non-vital devices from the starter drillship to make it less cluttered and easier to navigate for new players
  
• You can now drag and drop items anywhere outside the inventory window to drop them on the ground
  
• Hid destroyed drillship icons on travel map
  
• All interior subpart sockets (round things on the wall you can build stuff on) now require hull upgrade 2 or higher to appear
  
• The basement door and the mine gate are now visually damaged to indicate there is something behind them
  
• Optimized default module textures
  
• Optimized COG unit navigation (should no longer get stuck thinking where to go next)
  
• Player gets notified about every new item that enters player's or drillship's inventory (can be disabled in settings)
  
• Improved the damaged core model and added VFX to make it easier to spot for new players
  
• Added warning text when the drillship is about to explode
  
• Added an option to audio settings to change volume of the menu sound effects (eg. that clicking sound when you point at a button)
  
• Installing higher Core upgrade now adds extra inventory slots for the front drill default storage
  
• Installing higher Core upgrade increases default energy storage value and boiler power plant output
  
• Added sounds effects that play when you complete or acquire a quest
  
• Drillship doors now get visually damaged
  
• Backpacks on the ground disappear when fully looted
  
• Lots of adjustments have been made to the quest system

Before we wrap up I just wanted to address that we didn't manage to do the preview branch testing this time but we definitely want to continue doing it in the future!

And that's it for this update folks! We'll catch up on some sleep, probably do a caffeine detox, and start working on the next one.

However we'll still monitor the bug reports and in case it's needed, we'll release a hotfix update asap. So if you spot something, don't hesitate to report it through the in-game feedback system.

Thank you for the amazing support leading up to this release and hope you have a blast with the update!

- Rich and the team

Social Links
Join the community on Discord
Follow us on Twitter for more teasers
Subscribe to our Newsletter to get only the most important news in your inbox (e.g. new update)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/



future content leak