Update

Alpha 13 update

Hey everyone,

Today marks the first major update for SpaceSlog since it’s Steam early access release, in which I have tried to focus on QoL, balance and reported issues. You can see the full changelog below.

I hope you have all been enjoying yourselves out there in the Slog! And for those that have not, I hope this update makes it a little easier for you.

As usual please continue to report any issues or suggestions you may have. I will continue to try and release an update every 3(ish) months depending on the amount and complexity of the content being worked on.

We are also part of best indie games summer showcase for the next week over on Steam, where we are currently running a 10% discount.

New items

  • Added an animal sleeping spot.
  • Added a refinery.
    • Turn Uranium into Fuel Cells.
  • Added an electric cooker.
    • Cook various packaged meals.
    • Turn raw mean into cooked meat.
  • Added tasty packaged meals.
  • Add Uranium asteroids. These will start to show after travelling a certain distance.

Improvements

  • Improved orders UI.
    • Added ‘forever‘ and ‘until you have‘ options.
    • Added the ability to set priorities.
    • Change the amount directly on the orders ticket.
  • Changed the ore colours for ice asteroids.
  • Pressing ESC on the start menus will now take you to the previous menu rather than close them all.
  • The game will now detect if you are using a controller or mouse and keyboard and react accordingly.
  • Added a hint alert that will show if your ships temperature is too high.
  • Added a hint alert for when your ship has no oxygen.
  • Notifications for points of interest when travelling will now make a sound to alert the player.
  • Doubled the time all notifications will show within the menu.
  • Add ate raw food negative thought.
  • Add ate tasty meal thought.
  • Make the rats a little larger visually so they are easier to spot.
  • Ship mass is now affected by resources again.
  • Updates to various texts.
  • Update/improve trade price display text.
  • Localised more text.
  • Add support for multiple recipe outputs.
  • Alloys are now used for various equipment.
  • Updated textures of alloys.
  • Update all dyes where used as a secondary material.
  • Add a crew bar at the bottom of the screen to show all crew.
  • Add a toggle in the options menu to show/hide the crew bar.
  • Noted in the pawn randomise popup that you cannot randomise your captain.
  • Switched around adulthood options when creating a captain so loner is no longer the default.
  • Expose more data to JSON.
  • Implement pawn carry capacity.
  • Various optimisations/improvements to pawn behaviours.
    • They will be less likely to get stuck on walls or box themselves in.
    • They will now gather as many materials as they can carry and supply multiple prefabs.
    • They will also do the same when hauling and sowing.
    • If your pawn is commanded, you can now override certain situations, like not being able to go where they cannot breath.
  • Adjust the sound of the speed buttons to be less obnoxious.
  • Transfer ventilators can now work externally (venting to space).
  • Improvements to atmosphere (gas and temperature) equalisations between rooms and to space.
  • Gasses will now correctly leak through closed internal doors depending on the materials they are made out of.
  • Add any new custom pawns.
  • Fires no longer cast shadows (optimisation).
  • Adjust/improve how lighting works.
  • Update various menus to display other language text better.
  • Removed error spam when using an unfinished language.
  • Show more information about each item on the items information menu.
  • Split nutrition into hydration and nutrition to make it clearer what the item replenishes. (Shown on the info menu)
  • Added options to change the temperature display to Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvins.
  • Improve camera centering onto planets from the planet menu.

Balance

  • Increased the amount of starting med kits when choosing Resourcefulness option.
  • Added some starting med kits when choosing Wastefulness option.
  • Slaughtering now increases animal skill.
  • Brewing speed is now affected by cooking skill.
  • Slightly reduced hours to sleep for humans.
  • Added a minimum amount to bribes so it can never be 0.
  • Failed bribe attempts will reduce your relations with that faction. (Note: Diplomacy will be revamped in a future update)
  • Bruises no longer cause bleeding.
  • Rats now also drop leather.
  • Increased the amount of leather that drops overall.
  • Increased leather requirements for some buildings.
  • Rebalanced mass for various resources.
  • Adjusted mass of various other items.
  • Adjust weapon cooldown calculations to account for the extra mass.
  • Various equipment updates.
  • All pawns will now suffocate much more quickly.
  • Split up passing star incidents so you are less likely to pass extremely hot stars near the start of the game.
  • Reduce Debris Titanium drop by 1.

Mods

  • The workshop uploader will now check a mod folder with the same name as the mod named in mod_info, if it doesn’t find it, it will find any folder containing the correct mod_id.
  • Update module descriptions to use BBCode.
  • Mods version code has been updated to show orange if within the same alpha – for caution.

Community Localisation

  • Add Brazilian Portuguese language – Thanks Lucas559-noob
  • Updated French translation – Thanks Daneel53

Fixes

  • Fixed: Saving then reloading would reset some incident timers.
  • Fixed: Saved games were not showing local times. (Note: This fix will take effect after resaving)
  • Fixed: Issue with pawn age when reloading a saved game.
  • Fixed: Planets and stars could change positions after loading a game.
  • Fixed: Some sounds could incorrectly carry on playing when loading into a new game.
  • Fixed: Pawns would not always stay aggrod after loading a game.
  • Fixed: A rare race condition could cause the game to crash when loading a save.
  • Fixed: Materials would not preserve colour when loading a game.
  • Fixed: Pressing ESC at the crew selection menu would cause crew to stack up/not reset.
  • Fixed: Could not force a pawn to sleep in a bed if they already own that room.
  • Fixed: Various issues when assigning your crew to rooms.
  • Fixed: Various issues with temperature logic.
  • Fixed: Text input on the trade menu did not work.
  • Fixed: You could not trade if your only crew member had 0 skill in social.
  • Fixed: The trade menu would show even if you have no crew with the required skill.
  • Fixed: You could still bribe even if you had no crew with the required skill.
  • Fixed: An error could show when demolishing something that doesn’t contain component classes.
  • Fixed: Incorrect species information.
  • Fixed: You could force your crew to eat/drink consumables that are not part of their diet.
  • Fixed: Pawn inventory weight would keep drastically rising.
  • Fixed: Encumbrance on the pawn equipment menu would not update correctly.
  • Fixed: Incorrect colour for orange dye.
  • Fixed: Pawns could construct buildings even if they do not have the correct skill requirements.
  • Fixed: Pawns could sometimes finish off a creature without it being collapsed.
  • Fixed: A characters hair would not update on the character panel when selected and removing their helmet.
  • Fixed: Issues with rotating prefabs of a certain size.
  • Fixed: Transfer vents could transfer into walls.
  • Fixed: Error when loading a language with no tips translated.
  • Fixed: Gas display was incorrect on the ship systems menu.
  • Fixed: Showing two forced options for drink and eat for items that satisfy both.
  • Fixed: Text would not start at the bottom of the screen on the credits menu.
  • Fixed: Regression with power circuits where disconnected items would not always turn off correctly.
  • Fixed: Would not correctly show the no power indicator if the building was not connected to the grid.
  • Fixed: Some sounds would incorrectly play when the game is paused.
  • Fixed: A pawn on rare occasions could teleport to a bed.
  • Fixed: Facing issues when sitting at chairs.
  • Fixed: Equipment menu would not update carried item amount when open.
  • Fixed: Spawned custom pawns would not persist through saves.
  • Fixed: Custom pawns could sometimes get random facial hair.
  • Fixed: Not all Pawn GUI visuals would update when a pawns equipment had changed.
  • Fixed: Various issues with resolution when starting the game.
  • Fixed: Commanded button state would not always update if the pawn was selected and the command option had changed externally.
DevSlog

Early Access week retrospective and other information.

Retrospective

Hey everyone!

Its been a little over a week since we launched into early access here, so I want to share a few numbers and some information regarding our next update. We sold roughly 800 copies with a refund rate of around 11%. Whilst we have sold much less than I had hoped, I’m confident with more updates, more people will decide to jump in and play. Our refund rate is around average for an early access title and actually much lower than average for this particular genre. This tells me those that have purchased the game are relatively happy with it, or understanding of its current release state. source

I’ve seen the reviews stating there is nothing in the game, or this seems more of a tech demo. I do feel that’s a bit of an unfair representation and may be due to a lack of onboarding, which I will continue to work on and improve in order to show what content we do have.

Of course, we did only release into early access here Friday, meaning there will be much less content than other similar titles in the same genre. So please do keep this in mind when deciding to buy this game or not.

Our next update

I have already released a couple of smaller updates and I’m now working on the next larger update. I will try and prioritise the things asked for the most, which currently includes cooking, fuel production and crafting.

Lots of people have also been posting various bugs and issues which I am also working on fixing. This is the first time a large amount of people have played the game, so naturally there will be lots of extra issues that I or the other testers have not found leading up to this point. So please be patient whilst I try and get through them all. I am only one person and there is only so much I can do at a time.

I will be opening the experimental branch here within the next couple of days for people to play on and test if they wish to do so. Though keep in mind, there may be bugs and issues which could ruin saves etc. You can find more info about this over on our Discord.

Community Updates

Amazingly we already have a few mods in the Steam workshop!

User Kolcio138 has created a Healwort mod:

Grow and harvest the Healwort plant which can be used to heal your crew’s injuries

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3713849263

User TinyPanda has created the Training Dummy mod. And what’s even more amazing is this uses injected GDScript code, injected using his own SpaceSlog mod loader app he has already created

Place down a training dummy your crew members can use during entertainment time to practice combat skills

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3715005281

Over on our Discord we already have users with several in game year playthroughs. Here’s a screenshot of user BloodStarOfficials ship!

We will continue to feature ship designs and mods so please come post yours over on our discord or forums.

That is it for today. Don’t forget that if you want to help us you can;

  • Post a review
  • Write a guide for those that may be struggling
  • Or even ask your favourite steamer to play the game

And remember, you may only be one person, as am I, but together is when great things are made. That is why every little helps.

Thanks

Marcus (Produno)

Information, Update

Steam Launch and new update!

SpaceSlog is set to launch on Steam into Early Access on the 17th of April, that’s next week! Check out our new trailer!

I have also pushed a new update. You can view the full changes below.

We have a new way to start the game. Before you would choose from a list of scenarios. I decided to change this to create a captain. Where the choices you make will not only give you a customised pawn to take with you, whom will be given the captain role, but it will also affect how the game starts. You can see one of the menus below.

I changed how building works slightly to make it a bit more intuitive. Now you can place structure wherever you want, as opposed to having to place it next to other structures. Airlock doors can also be placed anywhere now. I suspect this will continue to get refined and improved throughout the early access period.
With that, any structure not connected to the main ship, will be left behind if leaving the area. I added a handy overlay so you can see what is connected or not.

I also updated the airtightness overlay to show any breached tiles. This should make it much easier to understand what’s going on if you have a breach somewhere.

More menu options have been added, like the new keybinds menu. Plus UI scaling which a lot of people have been asking for.

Another major feature in this update is chickens and mating! This adds another source of food and you can now work towards creating your very own farm spaceship. More animals will be added later with new features.

v 0.12.0.0

  • Speed up metadata loading on the Save/Load menu.
  • Added a stagger for combat.
  • Added stopping power to ranged weapons.
  • Updated/Improved how nutrition for food works.
  • Updated current recipes to reflect the new nutrition updates.
  • Different creatures can now eat/drink different consumable types.
  • Space worms have lithophagy type diet, meaning they eat rocks for the minerals inside.
  • Improved font visuals.
  • Reduce the size of various textures.
  • Reduce the size of various sound files.
  • Add various new sounds.
  • Added chickens.
  • Added fertilised chicken egg.
  • Added breeding.
  • Added small animal bed.
  • Added a new animals tab in the crew menu.
  • Optimised component ticks.
  • Added some extra error checks when importing data from JSON files.
  • Slightly adjusted how sleep works to try and encourage crew to follow their sleeping schedules better.
  • Add a notification if a custom role could not be created.
  • Changed work type Veterinarian to Animal Handler, as it fits the role better.
  • Add and adjust various pawn behaviours to accommodate animals.
  • Add right click options for feeding and hydrating crew and animals.
  • Changed the red collapsed icon to green.
  • Updated how trade values are calculated.
  • Moved asteroid pawn spawn values into json.
  • Add more dev actions to the dev menu.
  • Minor tutorial updates.
  • Updates and fixes to how different kinds of dirt works.
  • Updates to various pawn behaviours including, slaughtering and mating.
  • Ensure the enable tutorial button is only selected if we have not yet completed the tutorial.
  • Updated/balanced fire:
    • Various objects are less likely to catch fire.
    • Fires generate less heat.
    • Fires don’t spread as quickly.
    • Heat extractors extract more heat.
  • Changed rendering pipeline on Windows to Direct3D12, with fallback to Vulkan.
  • Transfer vents must now be placed on top of Ship Structure. (graphics will be updated for these in the future)
  • Improve transfer vent placement.
  • Various age related issues fixed and improved.
  • Adjust walling placement:
    • No longer needs to be placed next to another wall or floor.
    • Any structure not connected to your main ship will be left behind when exiting the area.
    • There is a new overlay that shows what is connected or disconnected.
    • Airlock doors can also now be placed anywhere.
  • Improved air tightness overlay to show any breaches.
  • Update options menu.
  • Add UI scaling option.
  • Add keybinds menu.
  • Any location that spawns asteroids will also spawn rocks.
  • Update in-game credits.
  • Move scenario data to Core folders for easier translating.
  • Removed choosing a scenario on a new game.
  • Added a new captain creation on game start which will also influence how the game starts.
  • Fixed: Various incorrect texts.
  • Fixed: Exhaustion illness was not being applied.
  • Fixed: Crash when creating a new role that could not be created.
  • Fixed: Work type tooltips would not show the jobs it can perform if using a language other than English.
  • Fixed: Various issues with the dev menu.
  • Fixed: Crash that could occur on explosions.
  • Fixed: Lighting issues with fires and muzzle flashes.
  • Fixed: Trader stock could not be more than the max stack size of that item.
  • Fixed: Meta text could go off the screen.
  • Fixed: Health condition tended status was not saving/loading correctly.
  • Fixed: Doors would sometimes be placed with the incorrect direction.
  • Fixed: Doors would not always load the correct direction.
  • Fixed: Showing room breached if building over a flooring overlay.
  • Fixed: Various issues with room breaches.
  • Fixed: Doors would not always breach a room.
  • Fixed: Floor could be placed in a gap if a utility was placed, causing breach sealing issues.
  • Fixed: A larger room could not fill with gasses higher than the room next to it due to incorrect equilibrium calcs.
  • Fixed: Breached cells would not always reset.
Update

SpaceSlog v0.11.0.6 Update

Unfortunately our Steam Next Fest demo was supposed to be up for another week or so after the event, but I ended up having to remove it due to too many negative reviews. The majority of these reviews were from people that said they had no idea how to play, or various other reasons related to that.
So it was pretty obvious we needed a more robust and guided tutorial, which is what I have been working on.

This updates includes the start of that, guiding people through stockpiles, basic resource gathering and building. I will continue to expand and improve upon this as we go through Early Access. I have also re-released the demo and I will monitor its feedback.

I also added a new menu which includes all the current lessons in the game which you can read whenever you like. Keep in mind this is not yet a comprehensive list as things are still subject to change.



You can see the full changelog below.

Changes

  • Moved leather to the front of material selection for some furniture.
  • Started adding an interactive tutorial.
  • Skipping the tutorial is disabled when playing the demo.
  • Ensure build menu does not open empty.
  • Streamlined some lessons.
  • Added a new Operations Handbook menu that shows all the current lessons in the game for quick reference.
  • Some GUI improvements.
  • Show a hint alert whenever black alert is activated.
  • Ensure all buildable items start either open or switched on.
  • Change cable highlight colour.

Fixes

  • Fixed: Controller left and right triggers were not working when not using Steam input.
  • Fixed: Hull was not being placed correctly, causing save/load issues.
  • Fixed: Only one oxygen tank was being filled.
Update

New update v0.11.0.2

v 0.11.0.2

  • Constructing your ship structure should now be cheaper and quicker with the changes below:
    • Reduced Ship Structure cost from 4 to 2 materials.
    • Increased Deck Plating cost from 1 to 2 materials.
    • Decreased Ship Structure build time from 240 to 120.
    • Increased Deck Plating build time from 60 to 120.
  • Add an alert hint if all of your crew are idle, or commanded and given no orders.
  • Adjusted indoors to space temperature equalisation equations.
  • Add hysteresis to battery charging/discharging.
  • Changed shares room thought to no privacy and fixed various issues with this.
  • Add force haul materials to prefab option.
  • Updated trade menu to be clearer and easier to understand.
  • Several improvements to pawn behaviour.
  • Several other balance updates and fixes.
  • Fixed: Crash on mayday incident.
  • Fixed: Various issues with the room menus.