Our latest update is more of a hotfix. There have been a few balancing changes and options menu bug fixes. We are working hard on new features for the next update but this hotfix should help with some of the issues people have been having. Enjoy!
Additions, changes and balancing
Resolutions have been filtered to keep the writing in the game readable.
Available resolutions are now updated from your specific graphics card and/or monitor.
Gauss Cannon usage seemed a little weak and it’s weapon spread was large making the weapon not as popular as it rightfully deserves. Increased the Damage and reduced spread to account for these.
Turrets Damage has been increased to better help fend off Splintermites
Fixes
Found and Fixed multiple crashes with Mining, including while mining rocks, trees and a delightful one when mining your own Eden Kit, you monster.
Squishing more Resolution Bugs. Another possible fix for Black Screen issues.
Fixed several Major Bugs with the Eden Kit UI when switching between items inventories.
Fixed a bug where the Radial Bars/Outer Reticle would remain invisible with Construction Mode
Fixed a bug where Master Audio Volume wasn’t being properly set in the Main Menu, but worked fine when in game (Note* the volume for the Logo Movie is still on and we are looking into this)
Re-mapped # key for showing HUD enemies killed to ‘K’ as some users with different keyboard layouts could not use the key properly
Fixed Invert Y Axis in Options Menu to Apply when loading into the main game
The Known Issues list has been updated to reflect the current version, fixed bugs have been removed and we’ve added bugs to the list that have been found since release. Please continue to let us know about any issues as well as any suggestions so that we can work on making Eden Star the best it can be.
Firstly, we apologise for the lateness of this post!
The Team at Flix have been meaning to report on how we intend to support development on Eden Star for a while, but have been very busy with the release and more recently, the re-design and development of updates.
We have a hot-fix coming out very soon that should take care of a few of the current build’s issues and crashes – if you have problems launching Eden Star, please let us know so that we can look into it for you as soon as possible.
Check out the Public Trello board this week for a load of additional component updates including concepts and designs (flowgraphs etc.) click HERE
To support Eden Star and provide the best possible platform for the game to evolve, we only felt it right to conduct tests and collect feedback first-hand, external to Early Access, both prior-to and during the lifetime of the development cycle (at least – that’s what we’re looking to do!). Late 2014 we had the first of our mass Community Vanguard days (a focused playtest and feedback day) for the first properly playable build of Eden Star in UE4.
The first event was held at the super buff awesome Epic Games Lab at the ever incredible Staffordshire University (Near the middle of the UK).
To comment on and see a full list of all the ideas generated by the attendees on the day, along with feedback from our designers JT and Marcin, click HERE to view and comment within the Eden Star Steam Forums.
We had an overwhelming response to the call for registration with capacity being reached within the 48hours of release. On the day over one hundred and twenty attendees assembled in the foyer of the Epic Games Lab at 9am, caffeinated and brimming with anticipation to get their hands on Eden Star. We saw some incredible creations by the end of the day, our favourite being the lovingly named “tower of death”; a huge tower with more gun turrets than we could count!
We also had the guys and girls reporting a number of interesting bugs, one involving a fountain of hundreds of Splintermites shooting high into the night sky. Another involved turning tree trunks into surfboards and flying across the level like the Silver Surfer. These have now (sadly/gladly) been fixed.
In the afternoon the 120 Vanguard split into groups to work with the Flix Team to review and design new features or amendments to current features for Eden Star. The ideas that came about in the afternoon where varied and great input for the game. The quality of input, the imagination and the passion of each team to improve the gameplay experience, was hugely encouraging.
There were many great ideas that fit with the world of Eden Star, some that filled an essential niche, others that we have, in some form, already planned to include. Proposed features included a quick-travel module, companion creatures and robots, natural hazards, mining explosives, as well as an armour customisation system, and a jetpack!
We promised to choose, announce, and implement the winning idea, whilst, of course, crediting the brilliance of those who came up with them. The decision was difficult, because great ideas were plentiful on the day. In order to come to the conclusion we looked at the pitches through a the following criteria;
– How much the feature adds to gameplay in general
– How well thought through the pitched design was presented
– If the idea fitted with the continuity of the game-world
– How the idea would benefit the play experience at this early stage of development
Firstly, we would like to give honorable mentions to the runners up, whose ideas fitted very well with the game and we would love to see implemented eventually.
EM Harvester – Team Harvest
This idea involves a temporary, robotic, harvesting drone that can be placed in the world to gather nearby resources over time. Mining Upgrades, Utilities and Robotic Allies are features that we’re excited about as possible future additions overall, but this one, especially, has very exciting possible gameplay connotations. Just like thumpers from Firefall it gives you a way to mine surfaces otherwise impossible to penetrate, adds a short term goal of protecting it while it’s working and adds a small gamble aspect, because it would produce semi-random materials.
Discovery Journal – Team Arkade
This team had the idea for collecting information in a journal or Pioneer Encyclopedia that you complete as you explore the world. Finding new Enemies or Materials would unlock information about them. This is something we would really like to add as it gives the player more natural objectives and has a definite completionist appeal, not unlike Pokédex. One thing left to explore are the gameplay-oriented benefits of “unlocking” journal entries.
Enemy Biomes – Team Splintermite Fog and Team Red Sparks
Enemy areas or ‘Biomes’ are something we are exploring as we speak, but they are a technically challenging subject. We agree that the world of Pharus7 would have life breathed into it by truly alien environments. The teams proposed that the alien landscape should expand and terraform around hives, very much like Zerg creep from the Starcraft series. We are planning to reverse that dynamic, meaning that the planet should start completely alien, and it should be the Eden Kits that terraform it to more familiar environments. After all, it’s the Pioneers who are the invaders.
And so last, but definitely not least are our winners:
Quick Build Menu – Team Avengers and Bilbo Swaggins
The basic idea was to be able to quickly craft structures on the move, without having to enter the construction menu every time. One team proposed a radial menu, the other a more classical grid solution. We liked the idea of a simple ‘Left click to place, right click to create’ functionality, which is what we have used in our own Quick Menu design. This one had won, because we believed it would enhance the game the most as it stood at that point in time. So credit where it’s due, the first iteration of the Quick Build feature was implemented even before release with great success, all thanks to these guys!
The members of the Teams above will get their names listed within the Credits as Designer Vanguard and we will return to them for feedback at a later date so that the vision for the mechanics are kept in check!
All of the attendees on the day will have their names as Vanguard listed in the Eden Star credits with special thanks.
To comment on and see a full list of all the ideas proposed, along with feedback from our designers JT and Marcin, click HERE to view within our Steam Forums
We plan on running more of these test and design days over the development of Eden Star, so please tell us what you think and if you would like us to hold a Vanguard day at a University near you.
To keep up to date with our development and future plans, head on over to our Public Trello Board. Please note, nothing is guaranteed to make it into the game until it’s in that right hand column of ‘Current Features’.
It’s been two weeks since pressing that ‘submit’ button and opening Eden Star up to Steam Early Access. We are so happy the community has been as active and supportive as it has; making suggestions, posting bugs and sharing stories. Because of you we were able to find and fix many things and add that all important save feature you requested as a priority!
So here it is, version 0.0.2 change list. We’ve been busy…
Additions, changes & balancing
Basic Manual Save and Load system implemented.
Basic Difficulty Selection Implemented – VERY basic, all this currently adds is a starter-pack of inventory items (not too much, but good for a quick play!).
Hives now have a targeting reticle which displays their health.
Splintermites can now be (semi-auto targeted) smashed into Hives.
Smashing Splintermites into objects now also deals damage to those objects – Experimental – may be taken out in future releases if FPS drops too much.
Improved visuals for Splintermite Hives and their destruction.
Improved visuals for Teslinium Crystals.
Your health now regenerates whilst in your Eden Kit bubble. The amount/rate increases with the Eden Kit Shield level.
Pistol, Rifle, and Gauss Cannon Ammo now stacks up a lot more in the Inventory.
Eden Kit Beam is now 3 times taller to be more visible from greater distances.
Materials have been through a balancing system pass, meaning that their drop chances, statistics and how much Power they convert into are now altered – note – this is Experimental.
You can no longer build on the 8 blocks around your Eden Kit reserved for re-spawning. This fixes problems where the player could spawn inside buildings and get stuck. Foundation visuals have also been improved to show this – Experimental – this may be changed at a later date to enable spawning anywhere within the Eden Kit shield.
Death Screen shows some basic gameplay statistics – Experimental – this may be changed at a later date dependant on game mode, but works for this skirmish mode.
Added a 3rd crashed Eden Kit into the world.
The two extra Eden Kits now appear in the world at random intervals (your default one appears as normal).
New Initialising screen visuals.
Splintermite amounts have been re-balanced.
Everytime hives level up, the distance in which the Splintermites can reach you will also increase. So you may find that you encounter few Splintermites in the first couple of nights, however as they level up, more Splintermites will be able to reach you.
Trees now drop 2 or 3 material shards (depending on size).
Build hologram now highlights supporting structure.
Bug fixes
Fixed a problem where the Initialising screen would get stuck on.
Fix for the game launching with a black screen and crashing.
Fixed a crash which would occur when you mine and then move out the area and quickly re-enter.
Splintermites now take falling damage.
Trees and rocks now regrow consistently.
Fixed a few collision issues where you could potentially fall through the world.
Fixed an area where you could get underneath the level.
Fixed several parts of the world where you couldn’t build structures.
Enemy Targeting reticles now do not show enemies who are hiding behind objects.
Fixed an issue where the sustained blast upgrade wouldn’t deduct Materials from your inventory.
Fixed an issue where sometimes enemies would not attack the player base.
Fixed an issue where some Splintermites were stuck underground.
Fixed an issue where sometimes the AI would fail to spawn.
Fixed an issue where the AI would not attack once the Hive had been destroyed.
Fixed an issue where occasionally a Hive would not respawn.
Increased chances of Hives respawning.
Improved areas where the player could build but AI did not have a path to reach the Eden Kit (please bear in mind that this is an ongoing process!).
Mouse inversion value is now remembered and applied.
Fixed a bug which enabled ammo to convert into insane amount of Eden Kit Power.
Fixed Construction Menu incorrect build amounts for Consumables if you had partially full stacks of ammo.
Fixed Construction Menu Stack amount of Build Items when reaching limits of the stack.
Tool no longer gets in the way of some Menus.
HUD/Helmet Damage indicators disappear properly on respawn.
Fixed a bug where you couldn’t deposit that last material into the eden kit to fully upgrade it.
Fixed an issue with Quick-Craft on uncreated items (such as the absorbed Eden Kit and Easy mode starting inventory) where they give incorrect outputs.
Rock debris chunks now timeout a lot quicker.
Fixed an issue where the Critical Damage indicators wouldn’t disappear after Regenerating health.
Fixed an issue where Tesslinium might not be present in your Eden Kit when starting from a New Game.
Miscellaneous fixes and improvements to level asset placement.
Fixed some issues with the Eden Kit Compass Landmarks not showing up, or showing up when they’re not wanted.
Fixed a bug where the Death Screen appears over other UI’s.
Non-interactive tree stumps will no longer show Material collect chance.
Screen resolutions now pulled from the graphics card to allow people to run their native resolutions.
Fixed ground decals (cracks on the terrain) appearing over foundations built on top.
We hope you enjoy this update. We have updated the Known Issues list to reflect the current version, removing fixed bugs and adding bugs that have been found since release. Please continue to let us know about any issues as well as any suggestions so that we can work on making Eden Star the best it can be.
