Today marks a major milestone in the six-year saga of Hardspace: Shipbreaker: the day the game hits version 1.0 and leaves Early Access. The project that started as a humble little five-day “game jam” here at Blackbird Interactive is finally ready to launch. And this isn’t even its final form, as the next step on the journey is a release on console.
https://youtu.be/3uEybPy-ajEHere’s a quick summary of the 1.0 Update (for the full details check out the Patch Notes below):
- [b]Campaign Act 3[/b] - The conclusion to the game’s storyline.
- [b]Ship Saving[/b] - Save your in-progress salvage for later!
- [b]Progression Revamp[/b] - Completely rebalanced based on the latest feedback and data.
- [b]Steam Achievements[/b] - Go get ‘em!
- [b]About 200 (!) Bug Fixes, Optimizations and Quality of Life Improvements[/b], including:
- Fixed gameplay issues with damaged Air Regulators.
- [b]Fixed some ships[/b] being unstable on spawn. Hello (or goodbye?) Salvage Gecko.
- [b]Fixed connected objects[/b] that can’t be salvaged together but can’t be separated.
- [b]Resolved various problems[/b] with pressurization and decompression.
[i]“Hello, Collector” Game Jam Demo Gameplay (2016)[/i]
Over the following years, that seed of an idea grew in sometimes surprising ways as we refined the gameplay, the setting and the themes. In one iteration, the game was about exploring abandoned space stations and uncovering an entity of pure cosmic horror. In another, a massive space battle raged above Earth, and as derelict battleships plummeted toward the planet, your job was to grapple between them and slice them up into small enough chunks that they would burn up in the atmosphere rather than crater a city
[i]Orbital “Slice” Concept Animation - Noah Stacey (2017)[/i]
It was at this point we took a step back and reassessed the type of game we wanted to make, how we wanted to utilize the gameplay we’d built, and what themes and ideas sparked the most interest in us. We took our inspiration from a subject that has long fascinated us: the real-world industry of shipbreaking. The idea of a blue-collar Shipbreaker simply trying to make ends meet within the confines of a corporate dystopia was born.
Any game developer will tell you, making games is hard! It’s harder still when you decide to make a game about cutting up fully realized, physically simulated ships into little pieces. Significant technical challenges aside, the creative challenge of providing fun, structure and purpose around that gameplay while retaining a high level of simulation and immersion was daunting. We weren’t even sure if, in the end, anyone would even be interested! That’s where Early Access comes in.
We’re so grateful that our just-shy-of-two years in Early Access showed us that we were on to something, and grateful that the legion of loyal Shipbreakers who joined us on the journey provided the crucial feedback and iteration we needed to shape this unusual zero-g shipbreaking simulation into a complete package. That enjoyable balance between the zen-like joy of good work and the constant threat of death is something unique, and we’re proud to have stuck with our guns (or rather the lack thereof) in making a compelling game without combat.
We’re also immensely proud to make a game that explores the themes and ideas that are important to us, from the struggles and joys of work, to the proliferation of corporate power, and conversations about capitalism that feel as necessary today as they do in Shipbreaker’s theoretical future 300 years from now.
We want to thank everyone who supported us throughout development. Shipbreaker is that much better because of your contributions and feedback. Our team and our studio gained a huge amount of knowledge through this process, and we look forward to leveraging those lessons on future projects. We can’t wait to show you our next adventure, and we’d love it if you’d join us when it’s time.
For those of you who have been with us along the way, it’s time to slip back into your suit, clock in, and maximize those profits. For everyone that waited for full release: your orientation –and your life as a LYNX Shipbreaker– begins now.
See you in the salvage yard,
Elliot Hudson
[i]Game Director[/i]
and
The Hardspace: Shipbreaker Development Team
✨To celebrate the 1.0 release and because we know lots of you enjoy our space-western music, you can now preorder [url=https://bit.ly/3sSZ7Od]a double vinyl edition of the Hardspace: Shipbreaker OST[/url]! ✨
Enjoy our laid-back Americana soundtrack and their synth remixes which infuse your salvager’s existence.
Patch Notes
In-Game Update
LYNX Corporate is pleased to announce that the EverWork Calibration Program is complete. Regeneration failures have reached an acceptable level for roll-out to all divisions. Early Access Shipbreakers are thanked for their many, many contributions to the program. Speak to your Supervisor about a complimentary Fee Rebate Form for 10% off your next regeneration. To New Recruits, LYNX Salvage Division welcomes you to the LYNX family, now with the highest guarantee of safety and protection in history. Please proceed directly to your Onboarding Experience to begin your career odyssey NOW!Changes & Updates
o Third and final act of the Campaign added, including a closing cinematic and credits sequence o In-progress salvage can now be saved: return to the HAB during a shift to save your progress on a ship o Achievements Added o Gameplay Updates- The spawn rate of Damaged Atmosphere Regulators has been greatly reduced, and the number of them that can spawn in a single ship has been limited
- Salvage Goals now reward Mastery Points (MP) as well as Lynx Tokens (LT)
- Credits are no longer converted to Mastery Points (MP)
- MP requirements for all levels has been retuned
- Upgrade costs and LYNX Token reward rates have been retuned
- Armadillo part requirements per level greatly reduced
- Armadillo part extraction removed from Thrusters, Nacelles and Radiation Filters
- Armadillo part extraction added to Waste Disposal, Hoist and Food Processor
- The value of objects and materials has been tuned across the board
- Almost all sticker requirements have been retuned
- Ghost Ship Spawn Rate Increased (from 5% to 15%)
- Cutpoint visuals unified between Stinger / Split-Saw cuttable, and Demo Charge Only cutpoints
- Mackerel Exo-Lab and Atlas Scout have swapped unlock ranks
- Early Atlas Ships can spawn with NO Engine blocking access to the Thruster
- Base Tether amount increased from 10 to 20
- Base Tether lifetime increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds
- Tether Amount upgrades retuned (max 50)
- Tether Lifetime upgrades retuned (max 5 mins)
- Medkits have been added to the Kiosk
- Patch Kits can now spawn in ships
- Mackerel Nose / Cockpit has been redesigned to be more easily salvaged
- Small debris produced from cutting / explosion now vaporize more often in order to help keep the work site clean
- Dialogue pacing has been improved in many scenes, and background SFX have been added to some scenes
- Font sizes and styles increased throughout most of the game for improved readability
- It is now possible to back out of the Oxygen Drain Pop-up when choosing Open Shift
- Ship Images in the Job Board have been updated
- Unread Messages in the Employee Terminal have a Unread Icon next to them
- The Salvage Bay and Ring Station have been heavily optimized
- All ship types have been optimized
- The spawn rate of floating debris has been limited
- Armadillo Parts have been optimized and visually updated
- Small objects (bottles, chip bags, etc.) have been optimized and visually updated
- The max number of placed Demo Charges has been reduced from 35 to 15
- The appearance of the Armadillo has been updated
- The appearance of the Suit in the HAB has been updated
- Subtitles have been added to all cinematics
- LYNX Contract Terms & Conditions have been updated
- Quality Settings have been added to the Video Settings Options tab
- Anti-Aliasing has been added to the Video Settings Options tab
- A pneumatic tube has been added to the HAB
- The Player’s Armadillo is now visible from the Salvage Bay
- Controller vibration has been retuned to reduce strain on the hands
- Objects with Healthbars will now flash briefly when damaged
- Campaign dialogue will now pause and resume when the Player dies and respawns
- Weaver will now still introduce himself to the Player even if they skip the tutorial
- Object health pips have been changed to all be yellow
- Recovered Data Drives now have better organization and titles in the Data Miner screen
