Hey everyone! The new update is now live on our UNSTABLE branch. This is available for everyone by following the steps below! We intend to put the update live on the main branch next week :)
Unstable Branch
To access this branch, you can take the following steps:
Fully exit and relaunch Steam (you should be prompted to log in again) if it is already open.
Right click Surviving the Abyss in your Steam Library and select the Properties Window.
Navigate to the Betas tab within the Properties Window.
Enter 'unstabletesting' in the text box and click 'Check Code'
Select the Unstable branch in the 'Beta Parcipitation' dropdown.
Ensure the name of the game in your steam library is now followed by 'Unstable'
Important notes:
You may need to fully exit and restart Steam to ensure it updates. You should see the game download and update the new files once you have switched branch. Make sure to change back to the normal branch if you want to play a more stable version of the game again. This branch is unstable and may introduce new bugs, broken save files and unbalanced changes.
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We're still working on some bug fixing and tidy up for the update, we're intending to release this fully before the end of this week. We'll be taking any feedback and bug reports into account over the next week as we finalise and prepare for this release!
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Changelog:
Genomes, and creating the genetic sequence:
The next phase of our Cloning updates. We are significantly changing the creation of the genetic sequence to improve the feeling of splicing genomes together for new effects.
Genome collection is streamlined, you now only need access to a genome and can use it permanently (unless the habitat is destroyed or depleted) and do not need to stockpile genomes.
New effects for combinations of genomes are also included along with QoL changes to cloning.
The cloning interface has also undergone significant changes to support the new features.
Cloning lab now displays a predicted population when left running.
Added alert when cloning gets interrupted
Fixing possible null error in cloning lab ui
Clamping max cloning slots to 8
New type of Clones (Basic Clones):
Basic Clones are now the first type you will encounter, these clones are far more imperfect and can only undertake menial roles on the base. This update feeds into our updates to the game pacing and progression changes.
The Anomaly:
Signifigant changes to the Anomaly. includes changes to pacing of the game, the point at which the anomaly appears and how it interacts with the Player in the early and late game. We'll give a little more detail on this alongside the update releasing!
Threat Effects will get activated on load upto the correct tier.
Changes to music and audio effects related to the Anomaly
Game Pacing / Staging:
We're putting focus on the games pacing and the players journey through different biomes towards the late game. Biomes have been tweaked to push the player into more exploration and encourage exploring new biomes to access important resources.
New Buildings:
Automation Module: Can replace the labour or Basic Clones.
Tidal Generator: Provides signifigant power output with no fuel cost, but only available within the Kelp Forest Biome.
Bio Generator (O2): Provides signifigant oxygen output with no fuel cost, but only available within the Coral Reefs Biome.
Save/Load:
Brig now has small delay before kicking out crew -> fix a load issue
Fix for fauna depleting while stabilized (and causing save/load problems)
Power:
Improvements for combining power grids with improved UX
Remove buildings from all power grids on destroy
Added error handling when loading power gens
Power Lens active when building a power line
Removed the limit on powerline placement
Temporary colour on effected buildings
Crew:
Fix to force crew leave a building when incapacitated ( e.g. sick crew )
Making clone lab pause when there are not enough slots to prevent issues with crew assignment potentially cancelling cloning
Fixed Issues with de-assigning crew mid transport ( when they are moving towards the building )
Fixed an issue with assigning to a powered down building
Fixed Bug where crew will walk to building if unassigned midway
Removed the crew limit on recreational buildings
Reduced recreational effect range 70 -> 40
UI:
Alloy furnace UI Improvements.
Rm unused status tags for improved perforamnce.
Resource tags switch between icons/dots depending on size
Increased the size of the power / o2 ui to allow multiple digits
Changed power/oxygen consumption text to red when required > current
New building images added
Techtree width updated
Adding status tags for Air Quality when building tunnels
Adding HUD item for air quality
Removed fauna counts from biome lens
Sub map doesnt reset zoom
Central hub power/destroy/repair buttons disabled
Updated Icon on OutpostPlacement
Updated Brig UI To Only show one open slot at a time
Set fuel resources to show depleting tooltip and fuel lens resource count when consumption > production
Set fuel resources to use a resource model to reduce multiple calls to update tooltip
Updated production/manufacturing buildings to show total daily usage(kept per unit countdown/progress)
Marine stabiliser now shows correct efficiency
Updating new resources icons to be more consistent.
Misc:
Fixed multiple small bugs with building attachments such as research lab modules.
Fixing a few objects still being visible in darkness
Make right click movement move at same speed as mouse world position
Emission will not display when outside the light radius
Stop resources & rocks from spawning too close to outpost spawn point
Increase tree count in coral reef
Automatic UV Mode
Make sure the uv mode has been unlocked before it is automatically turned on
Tutorial:
Added tutorial steps for Air Quality.
Removing stockpile coal tutorial event.
Updated population task to be dynamic
Events:
Malnourished crew event gives tasks
Multiple changes to the rewards / outcomes of POI events
Resources:
Resource Lens/Counts use all lit and scanned resources
Small scanned resources cannot get expedition
Fuel lens fix when filtering coal/oil
Removed coal/oil from resources lens
BIomes:
Coral reef/Kelp forest available at start
DarkGlows available after Coral
Basalt available after Kelp
Volcanic available after DarkGlows/Basalt
Exploration:
Change to allow any specialist type to be selected for expeditions
Fixed exploration sub status message en route to target
Brig / Aggession:
Specialists will show up in brig assigning
Crew show as imprisoned on crew management screen
Fixed bug where crew would auto assign over others in brig
Balancing:
Some tweeks to event rewards and science production
Fix for not producing enough food with 1 carb farm
Reworked destroyed lab objective
Beacons no longer discover biomes, building outpost/other lights can
Fixing rare instances of resources failing to spawn in starting zone
Adjusting some building costs to use Copper / Aluminium
Buffed generalist genomes slightly
Changing warnings for malnourished and air quality so they appear less severe
Crew with low health can now become sick
Only engineer / scientist and above require HQ food
Added extra starting crew
Added more basic clone slots
Adjusted crew requirements on various mid game buildings
Expedition subs can only be sent with full crew count
Anomaly Darkness Effect will destroy buildings instead of damage them
Anomaly Attack that turns off the light will leave a temporary icon on the building
This stellar log I'll be talking about the polish stage of the game and potential demo next month.
I feel bad that I keep pushing the demo for the sake of better polish. But now I've got to think if it's too much. Because at the end of the day, no matter how good the game is, if it never releases then what's the point?
So as I said earlier, there is a high chance that a demo will be available early in the month. But I'll inform you more about the details, maybe will do a demo on Steam as usual or I'll do a more controlled playtest on Discord.
Now on to the topic of game progress today, Game Juice Update! These are the gameplay footage comparisons of before and after I've added in some game juice. Hopefully, this will add more feel and impact to the action of the game.
I've said that this game got major inspiration from Nova Drift, Brotato, SNKRX, and Vampire Survivor. So I've borrowed quite a lot of elements from these great games and mesh into some Frankenstein abomination.
(This one is about a months ago, for a university game contest.)
(This one is the current build of the game, newly added more game feels.)
This game is for Arcade Shooter and Auto Battler lovers. (Such as myself) An auto battler game with more things to do during combat, borrowing asteroids and arcade shooter feel like Nova Drift. I've also tried making this game have great synergy depth as I love how Brotato handles min maxing through their item and stats system. And for SNKRX, there is a lot of similarity. I love their base gameplay loop, and so I like to make a game that expands upon it. Finally Vampire Survivor, the god of destruction simulator. Everyone loves to see everything on the screen melt within seconds.
If anyone reading is interested, I'd love to see you try out the demo soon. All feedback and suggestions are really appreciated. So let's make a great game together! X/Twitter Link Discord Link
Practice makes perfect. Get ready for some intensified training in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO.
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO continues to give exciting glimpses into the game's character roster, this time highlighting the unique master-apprentice relationships that are one of the most important elements to the world of DRAGON BALL.
See the characters revealed HERE:
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO gravity-defying battles promise to showcase spectacular fights, with each DRAGON BALL character’s signature destructive powers and Ki abilities showcased in stunning detail with damage capable of destroying entire parts of the arena.
Stay tuned for more updates as we eagerly await the release of DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO!
Hey Outlanders! 📣 Join us for our Gameplay Preview Dev Stream! We'll be streaming the PC version of Vigor and showing you everything you need to know to outlive the apocalypse. Let's dive into the tutorial, game modes, settings, and much more! Tune in to chat with us! 🍅
Big news, small news. News to share throughout the week.
Hello hello!
To start, yes, we have been a bit radio silent lately. But there is good reason for that: the team have been working insanely hard on Bitmagic!
Were talking vehicles, FX, physics and a whole host of thoughts for the AI to compute! They are working non-stop, except for their morning coffees, to really make Bitmagic as fantastic… as magic as possible!
So, with some spoilers out of the way, let’s get to some of the news!
Hell yeah, tons of vehicles are now ready and waiting for some bright minds to add to their games.
We got buggies, sports cars, SUVs, Combine Harvesters…yep, trucks, compacts and a whole host of other vehicles. And better than that, they are all drivable, flippable and all-powerful, well some are, the dinky little cars are, dinkey little cars.
While whipping around your game is tons of fun, there is a bit more work to do on vehicles, and a brand-new team member will be adding to the awesome feeling of fast cars. And yes, the dinkey little car.
I will be back on Thursday with some more update news!
👩🔬What have the devs been working on this month? 👩🔬
We’ve turned our afterburners up to maximum this April as we rocket towards another successful milestone. The key underlying systems that govern our surface view gameplay are now in a playable state! Rovers are deployable upon the surface of Mars and can impart on extra-terrestrial excavations.
Our hex based gameplay is now tangibly tessellated with the fog of ignorance, providing a wealth of necessary tactical decision making as rovers are piloted across the hazardous terrain of distant celestial bodies.
Supporting the rovers from the atmosphere are our flybys and orbiters. These payloads, despite never interacting with planetary surfaces directly, provide invaluable information in the form of surface scans. All of this functionality is in game and is granting the whole team a great deal of perspective on how these systems feel when interacting.
Dust storms, volcanos, chemical rain, and more hazards are all taking shape. These perilous environmental events display the true dangers of our neighbouring planets. Players will have to map out their steps very carefully when searching for the essential ingredients that make up the potential for life.
Breathing a sonic soul into our solar system has been a focus this month. Work on the implementation of the soundscape of Mars Horizon 2 has begun in form of background music for all scenes. Payload sound effects and stingers for all UI are providing real depth to gameplay interactions.
The entire team has been getting hands on with the build and we couldn’t be more excited for what the next month holds.
- Matt Holmes, Producer for Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life
👀 Something is on the Horizon 👀
Earlier this month, we met up at the Auroch Digital offices to record something which we look forward to sharing with you in the future.
Stay tuned for more info soon... 🎥
🌍 Participating in the Earth Appreciation Festival 🌍
Thank you for having Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life be part of the festival and hopefully everyone who experienced the event was able to check out some great games that celebrate our planet! 💚
Lunar Horizons is available now in Fortnite, where it can be experienced using code 3207-0960-6428 or by searching for ‘Lunar Horizons’ in Discover. We hope you enjoy checking it out!
🛰️Join the official Mars Horizon 2 socials🛰️
With the new direction of Mars Horizon 2 and the screenshots we shared this month, there's never been a better time to follow our social channels! This will ensure that you don't miss out on the cool content we'll have to share throughout the development journey and some behind the scenes looks at what we get up to. 👀