Hey ArkCoNauts!
Things are moving right along with the next patch, and we're working like crazy on more new content and features. Our last patch brought in everyone's favorite derpy shark with people teeth, Fineous. While we saw a few hiccups with dialog, we were able to stomp out most of those issues, and continue to iron out the NPC system. This has set the stage for all of Fineous' crazy friends to make their appearances
http://i.imgur.com/nFCyzF9.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/I9pumZZ.gifv
To get into a little more detail about what to expect, let's talk about the rest of our cast of NPC's. Unlike Fineous, they will be scattered around for you to run into, rather than waiting around your base. Once you meet them, and help them out, you will be able to gain the anchor for them as well, and collect them all for your home base. Who wouldn't want to live with Business Ape?! Ok, so maybe he gets his own room. Joking aside though, we feel that we have a good solution for allowing players to decide when and where the NPC's spawn. Additionally, collecting NPC's will start to grant bonuses to you for having them around. These guys will definitely keep you all busy as you gather them up and take them home.
http://i.imgur.com/s0vDVYc.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/UKcNYsj.gifv
While the NPC's are nearing completion, we're also working on another long awaited feature: The wormholes! When complete, you will be able to hop to entirely different maps and explore new worlds in addition to your main world. These alternate worlds will present you with fresh sources of additional materials, and plenty of new things to discover. These will be stable wormholes, unlike our first iteration, and you will be able to visit them over and over! While the first implementation you'll see will be kept somewhat simple, more types of alternate world will be added over time, we have more than plenty of ideas for things we can have lurking about behind the portals.
If that doesn't have you excited, we are also preparing to unleash Steam Inventory integration. What does this mean? Tradable armors, weapons, and other redeemable goodies will now be available, letting us give you all sorts of new shinies which you can redeem by codes! I don't know about you guys, but this is one of the moments I've been waiting for above all else. There's nothing more fun than being able to shower the community with awesome gear to use in game, and I am very much looking forward to putting this awesomeness to work!
On the community side, I do want to put a reminder out there that Jake is now doing weekly livestreams to keep everyone even more up to date on the latest happenings, and what we're working on. We stream every Monday night, starting at 8PM Eastern. (Except this week, due to the holiday we will be streaming Tuesday the 26th at 8PM Eastern instead) In addition to catching up on the game, I'm usually there with a few spare copies in hand to give away, so if you don't have a copy yet be sure to come hang out! You can find the Twitch channel at:
www.twitch.tv/edgeofspace (http://www.twitch.tv/edgeofspace)
Be sure to follow the channel to get notified when we go live! Thanks as always for reading, and we'll see you next time with ArkCo News!