Welcome to Skywatch #27
Greetings Awoken! The team has been hard at work since Early Access, processing all your amazing feedback and channeling that energy into the next phase of development. We’re making some big strides in expanding the world, deepening gameplay systems, and adding some terrifying new creatures to the skies. Let's go!
Core Tech & UI Improvements 💻
Vlad has been busy improving the technical foundations of the game. He’s been refining the UI, improving how the game understands what the player is looking at, and implementing better gamepad support. He’s also been making it much more intuitive to navigate the player inventory with a gamepad.
Crafting & Player Systems 🛠️
The crafting system has also received some love! We're exploring alternative views and new categories to make finding and crafting what you need a smoother experience.
Olly has been undertaking a massive review of food and its effects. All 80 food items have been analysed and given a unique buff or debuff. He's also been diving deep into game difficulty, using player feedback and in-game data to create a secret calculator tool! This formula helps us balance NPC stats and damage to fine-tune the time-to-kill and overall challenge of the game.
Performance Optimisation ⚙️
Andy has been focused on performance, specifically tackling the memory strain caused when the environment loads. His work aims to make the experience of discovering and exploring islands much smoother for everyone.
Design Deep Dive 🗺️
Luke and Tony have been collaborating on some significant improvements to core gameplay systems, giving players more diverse ways to play.
Randomised Ship Part Stats
To mitigate the issue of lighter ships always having an advantage, stats on ship components are now randomised! - Huge apologies! Our design team are telling me this is not the reasoning behind the randomised ship part stats. Please see the actual reason below. - Adam * UPDATED - Until now it didn't matter what propellers you used on your engines, or what barrels you used on your cannons - it was purely a cosmetic change. Going forward however these sub components now come with random stat rolls, allowing you to find the perfect combination to enhance and modify your ship parts. Sub components can even roll with unique stats that cannot be found on ship parts. This introduces a new challenge of hunting for schematics and parts with the best possible stats. Different schematics will grant different stat ranges, so you'll have more options to create your perfect build.
The Comfort System
Luke and Tony have also been working on the comfort system implementation. In short, the more effort you put into decorating your ship, the more rested you will become! Furnishings like plants and other nice items will grant a buff while you're on board. As you can see in the video, walls will also affect line of sight for these comfort zones.
Ship Core Upgrades
A small but mighty improvement: when you move your ship's core, any attached core upgrades will now move with it!
A Host of New Creatures 🐲
Olly has been designing a menagerie of new creatures to populate the skies, particularly for the upcoming Region 4 biome.
Cave Bug Hulk: A monstrous scorpion-like evolution of the Cave Bug.
Atterbane & Harpie: These new flying beasts hunt in family groups of adults and juveniles. Harpies are blind but have incredibly sensitive hearing; they will circle overhead and dive at any sound you make.
A core theme for Region 4's creatures is a new poison mechanic. The Atterbane, for example, will leave a lingering cloud of poison gas when it dies. This was such a great idea that we're applying it as a theme to all mobs in Region 4!
AI in Action 🧠
Danny has been bringing these new creatures to life, programming the AI that will have you watching your back in Region 4. Check out how cool these new mobs look, especially with the poison-on-death effect!
Art Showcase 🎨
The art team has been creating some stunning new assets for the 1.0 release.
Lara has designed a range of beautiful new player masks and ship parts.
Meanwhile, Klaudia has been working on some incredible new boss-tier enemies: the Arbiters, Heralds, and the truly intimidating Harbinger. As you can see below, these formidable foes will have segments that break off as you deal damage!
Skytravel & World Building ☁️
As we build out Region 4, Andy has been working on the awe-inspiring weather wall that separates the different regions of the world. Just look at those lightning flashes!
This all comes together on the new world map, which is being updated to accommodate Region 4. Speaking of new regions, keep an eye out for more island creator contests in the community soon!
It's a Wrap!
Phew, that was a lot! We’re incredibly excited about the direction these new features are taking the game, adding more depth, challenge, and variety to your adventures. Thank you for your continued support and feedback!
See you in the skies!