Hi everyone! Icaria is now officially launched into Early Access after nearly 6 years in development. I’ll start this post with a quick rundown of the new content, then go over our plans for what’s next.
New Robots
The rover, a robot that walks along the terrain and is perfect for bulk transport of items.
The surveyor, a new moving programmable entity that functions like a beacon.
Heavy drones, slow moving drones that can hold up to 10 items. These provide a really interesting scripting challenge, I’m excited to see what people do with them.
Fluids
The game now has fluids!
Pipes, pumps, and liquid storage tanks, which let you handle fluid logistics.
2 new crafting buildings, the Chemical Factory and the Refinery, let you do high-tech manufacturing using fluids.
A new high efficiency, large radius generator that runs on liquid fuel.
New Resources
Gold, a precious new resource used for crafting drones, rovers, surveyors, and heavy drones.
New Tech Tiers
The game now has 2 new tech tiers!
These tiers contain all the previously mentioned new content, as well as dual lane conveyors.
Thank you for all the support in the year our demo has been out. Icaria has improved so much thanks to the people providing feedback, filing bug reports, and experimenting in the game. And this is just the start!
What’s Next?
For the next month or so, we will be focusing on bug fixes, balance changes, and quality of life improvements. Some of the things to expect in the short term are
- Rover tutorial
- QoL improvements for pipe building and dual lane conveyors.
- Steam Cloud Saves.
- Lots of smaller UI improvements.
In the mid-term we’ll be working on a few bigger improvements. These are some of the things on our list but we’ll be listening to the community for suggestions and priorities.
- Text-based scripting
- More scripting features
- Blueprints (includes allowing you to place construction sites using scripts!)
- Some cool new toys to play with in the early to mid game.
Finally, when we get to extending the progression and major content additions, these are some of the ideas we’re looking at. Again, we’ll definitely be guided by the community as we choose our direction.
- Boats and other islands
- An enemy
- Flowing fluid in the terrain
- Upgrade modules
- A story that leads to a nominal end.
The order in which we prioritize new features will be based on what the community feedback. If you’d like to give feedback, the best way is via our discord server: https://discord.gg/XyY9dXqe