Steam news4 Apr 2025Aground Zero Full Launch!Aground Zero started with a simple idea: What if I made a 3D spinoff of Aground focusing on base building and automation? I teased this idea with an April Fool’s joke that turned out to be very real: Now, four years later, we’ve shared another April Fool’s joke and Aground Zero is finally released! What is Aground Zero? Imagine you wake up underground having missed the Apocalypse. At first, it…
With the full launch date around the corner, we're releasing version 1.0! This includes 5 new languages: Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Simplified Chinese. We also made some last minute improvements: · Added Large O2 Generator - get it from the vending machine · Added clean road paints (no cracks), they unlock when you get the Surface Paint Blueprint · Lowered resources need to build a…
After a successful year in Steam Early Access, tons of community driven updates, and a host of new features (including multiplayer), new areas and new content, Aground Zero is ready for players to get the full experience! We'll be leaving Early Access in one month - on April 4th 2025, and to celebrate we've made a new launch trailer: We've also been making a video every week showcasing a differ…
This is another small update with some bugfixes and minor improvements. Changelog: · Added Large Generator (get blueprint from the printer after unlocking the interstellar drive) · Changed icons for com device, locator, mass miner · Edges of the map will show a red forcefield when you hit them (so you know you can't go through them) · Fixed block of flood next to glass bug · Fixed memory leak ·…
There's nothing exciting here, but I did fix a bug that greatly increases performance if your world has a large number of items laying on the ground. Changelog: · Optimized for areas with large numbers of items · Added option to disable warnings on structures · Added warning when get the dishonored one quest that it locks the science path ending (if you haven't already done so)
The Magic Path ending is here, and it includes the only planned boss battle in Aground Zero! I hope you bring lots of burgers! The Dishonored One was one of the more disappointing boss fights in the original Aground. He was from the race of original magic users (who taught the enemy everything they knew), and after a big setup, the fight itself was pretty easy. So, for Aground Zero's magic path…
While I'm still waiting for the assets needed for the final ending, I thought it was a good time to do some quality of life updates. Some of these are quite nice, including an overpriced, but super powerful mass miner tool! Changelog: · Added Mass Miner tool - buy in the vending machine for an outrageous amount (it's worth it). · Added Bank structure (can sell items sent to it, and allows you t…
Right now, I'm waiting for the final assets needed for the second ending - I'm hoping they will be done soon. But in the meantime, there's still bugfixes, minor improvements and quality of life changes to add! Changelog: · Added skip tutorial quests option (for those starting lots of new games) · PAI will now give the interstellar drive quest if the peacemaker has left and you still haven't got…
It's been a year since Aground Zero entered Early Access, and after a lot of updates and changes, I am happy to announce the first ending of the game has been added! The quest for this ending will automatically start shortly after completing the "Humanity's Survival" quest (10,000 colonists), and will seem a little straightforward at first, but stick around for the after credits scene, where th…
The final assets needed for Mars are complete - get ready to continue the magic path, meet the exiled, complete a few quests and discover a few secrets there! You'll even be able to right a past wrong (if you were one of those who drained the oceans on mars in the original Aground). Speaking of which, I should probably add a way to auto-cast the book of splash for quickly flooding larger areas.…
This update includes a lot of quality of life improvements, but no new content changes (I'm still waiting on one last asset for Mars). Changelog: · Added Anomaly track · Added Mega Storehouses and Signs (can obtain them in the blueprint printer) · Added Locator item, which can show your current position · Dragon ships can now auto-fire like dragons, and be summoned · Vehicles (including the dra…
The main addition of this update is the Dragon Spaceship - something I was quite excited to add! You can now complete the evolution gem quest with the Anomaly, and doing so will unlock the blueprint. I wanted the Dragon Ships to be very distinct from the Beetle Explorer, so I made them small, fast and deadly. They aren't a mobile base, but they can maneuver in tight spaces/underground and they…
This update includes a lot of quality of life features and improvements while waiting for the last models for the next magic path quest. Our main modeler was sick last month (thankfully, he's recovered now), so that puts us a little behind where I wanted to be on the magic path. But, while waiting, I've added a bunch of improvements you can see below: Changelog: · Added Difficulty Settings. Whi…
This is a small patch - it does add some progress on mars, but you cannot access it without cheats (and doing so is a bad idea, it might cause problems with your save later). Changelog · Added elemental damage system (same as original Aground). It'll be used for elemental spellbooks later, and mods can use it now. · Added toggle all option to select structure window (com station/device) · Fixed…
This is a small update that has some minor improvements and bugfixes. I've mostly been working on Mars, and while that's not ready to upload, I did decide to make a sneak peek video for it: Changelog: · Doors now auto-close when mount beetle explorer · Transfer all now ignores the top row of player inventories if there is more than one row. · Optimized oxygen so that it doesn't hang when fillin…
Today's update adds the surface to CaptAIn's Colony! It's a single island that you can develop however you want and even invite colonists to help out! The island also adds grass and trees, which you can move to other planets (even the moon, as long as you make a greenhouse and place an oxygen generator inside). I made a quick video showcasing the new island (and the space station, which I've ne…
This week's update is not a big one, but I've been working on spellbooks that will unlock on Mars, and have plans for allowing you to descend to the colony world in a future update as well! The full changelog is as follows: · Added bombardment shield (talk to anomaly to unlock) - you can finally stop meteors from falling! · Added a new hairstyle, and improved the ponytail and bowl hairstyles ·…
After the colony update, I switched back to the magic path. I'm currently working on adding Mars, but it is not done yet. However, all of the utility spellbooks are done, so I decided to post an update so you can play around with them! Here's a video of me using all the new spellbooks: You may notice that you can no longer craft the book of summoning in the magic lab - it unlocks with the rest…
The first interstellar planet - CaptAIn's Colony, is ready to visit! There's a short questline there, and several easter eggs, and I think it came out really cool in the end! While I might eventually allow landing on the surface of the planet, everything currently takes place in the space station in orbit around CaptAIn's Colony - let me know if you're interested in some sandbox building on the…
You can finally complete the Interstellar Drive quest! The first interstellar planet isn't done yet, but I'm getting close (hopefully next week), and this update includes a lot of other improvements as well! Changelog: · Interstellar Drive questline complete · Kitchen and factory mounts added · Added spellbook model+animation · Allowed transfer directly between vehicles and storehouses - simply…
Remember that Evolve Dragon button you couldn't press before? You now can and evolve your own dragon to follow you or ride it! I also added the Book of Summoning (the first spellbook) so you can move your dragons (and caught wyrms), as well as NPCs! To celebrate this update, I decided to make a video where I fly a dragon around the surface, and to space (because why not?): Changelog: · Added dr…
The magic path is underway, and while a pure-magic run will not be possible (you start the game with relatively high science), it adds a lot of abilities that compliment the science path nicely. Changelog: · Added the Anomaly - check the wyrms tunnels around the old bunker, this is where you'll get quests for the magic path. · Added first few magic path quests and achievements. · Wyrms now resp…
Online Multiplayer is now out of beta! You can now play with your friends, completing all quests together or just mess around, building a cool world or a large automated factory. You can even ride around in each other's spaceships - although it can be a bumpy ride! The beta is still available, but no longer up to date - if you tried the beta and want to keep your beta saves, I'd recommend expor…
It took longer than I hoped, partly due to real life events, but the multiplayer beta is now feature complete! That means you can complete all the current single player quests with friends, build and ride vehicles, and test out all the features. If you haven't heard about the multiplayer beta, or want to know how to access it, check out this news post: There are currently no known bugs or issue…
As you might have seen from our previous two dev streams, we've been making good progress on online multiplayer, and decided to make an open beta for those who want to try it out. Before you jump right in, there are a few things you should know: · The beta only includes demo content as we're still working on vehicles and the later-game stuff. · Because it can't load full saves, only demo saves,…
We'll be hosting another multiplayer test stream on our normal update day, Tuesday. This stream will mostly be checking that all the bugs from the previous stream are fixed. If you missed the previous stream, you can see it here: The recording of the stream is now available here:
I haven't posted an update in a while, but that's because I've been hard at work adding online multiplayer to Aground Zero. Multiplayer is always a large amount of work, and there's not much to share during it's development, but it's halfway complete and I hope to release online multiplayer by the end of June (with a beta available before that). Earlier today, I streamed the first test of onlin…
This update adds some optimizations for large bases, mounts to the beetle explorer (although some cannot be unlocked yet), and fixes some bugs. It's a small update, but the mounts are fun to play with and the optimizations make a huge difference in some of the crazy saves I've been sent! To add mounts to the beetle explorer, select the mounting wall and it'll show all mount blueprints you know.…
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