The update has been released to the default, public branch of Colony Survival! By popular request, it mostly adds decorative items like doors and window frames. Much of that content has been detailed in previous blogs, so we’ll start by mentioning some features that have been added since the start of the Open Beta.
0.9.0 added “horizontal elevators” that could quickly move players in a straight line. The Open Beta changed that to actual rails which could go up hills and around corners. This full release adds junctions, both three-way and four-way. Hold the default movement buttons to determine your direction: “A” to go left, “D” to go right.
We’ve also added rail gates. They are closed by default, blocking passage towards both monsters and colonists. When a railcar approaches, it quickly opens and closes to allow the railcar to pass the gate smoothly.
Another new feature that can be seen in the picture is signs! They can stand independently on the ground, be attached to walls or hang from roofs. Players can enter their own custom texts on the signs.
The final important new feature of the last few weeks is Archimedean screws. When you’ve accidentally flooded your mines, this is the new tool to drain them. Sadly, completely realistic, realtime 3D water physics on a large scale aren’t possible yet, so their functioning is a bit wonky. When you place an Archimedean screw, water in a radius around it just straight up disappears. Unrealistic, but practical and computationally inexpensive.
Apart from these recent features, there is a long list of new content and changes. A lot of it is based on a new system of automatic adaptation. Roofs will react to their local environment and other roofs that are placed around them. Doors will automatically combine into double doors, window frames merge with nearby windows. Crown moulding automatically forms proper corners, pillars receive their top and bottom in the appropriate location.
Items like doors, window frames and flowerboxes can be painted to make buildings even more unique. We’ve added “proper” stairs that look much more realistic than the old quarterblocks. Of course, all these new items can be produced by your colonists, requiring a bunch of new recipes, sciences and a new job: the artist. Another practical benefit of 0.10.0: controller support has been significantly improved.
Last but not least are the less practical, less tangible improvements. Zun has done a lot of deep technical refactoring. The networking code has been enhanced, and there are some performance improvements which are mainly noticeable in worlds with enormous amounts of colonists.
Since the release on Steam in 2017, we’ve added large amounts of new content, dwarfing the amount of content on the day of release. Simultaneously, at least 25% of inflation has occurred. As announced before, this is why we’ve decided to do a slight price hike, coinciding with the release of 0.10.0. The price has gone up from €/$19,99 to €/$24,95.
We wish all of you a lot of fun with the new update! Let us know what you think of the changes, and please alert us if you encounter any bugs. We’re planning to film a new trailer showing the new content, so if you build something interesting and/or beautiful and upload your world to the Steam Workshop / to our Discord, there’s a chance of it being featured in the new main trailer!
The new automatic adaptation / paint system gives us a lot of new options for new content. If you feel like some options are missing, if you think you’ve got a good idea that fits in well with the new content - let us know and there is a very decent chance it will get added!
Veel plezier :D
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