Greetings Pilgrims;
This minor update includes many fixes and tweaks to existing issues.
There are a few bug fixes for minor issues, such as drill salvage containers spawning incorrectly when destroyed by alien bugs, and other minor issues with customization and colonists.
There are also many improvements and tweaks to drones, auto machinery, and colonists.
These include fixes, optimizations, and some rebalancing of drone carry amounts and auto machine crafting speeds.
There are still potential issues when combining automation, such as drones bringing food to an auto-cooker to be cooked, while other drones take food from that machine to the mess hall, where colonists automatically take food to eat.
When things occur randomly close to one another, we can get unexpected results. Such as a colonist selecting what food and water they want from the mess, then just as they try to collect, a drone drops new food and water off, which can re-arrange and extend the inventory array at just the right time to make a colonist grab the wrong item or the wrong quantity of items. Or when drones drop materials into an auto-refiner right as it is taking materials to create the next bar, potentially grabbing the wrong materials or amounts, flagging the bar as unable to be made.
I have added a variety of checks and balances into these systems to avoid such situations, but it is not 100% perfect yet.
The next major update I hope to release will be a rework of the visuals for machines and facilities. Once that happens, we can remake base visuals and tie those in even deeper with customization options from the new customization center. But to do this, I am looking to work with professional 3D artists to deliver high-quality visuals that match the depth and quality of the gameplay and systems.
This update will take some time to complete, but while I hope to bring in artists, I will continue to refine and improve all existing systems as we wait for them to elevate the game visually.
I don't have a large budget to hire artists, but I am working to find some small but talented help that will work for reasonable pay. I don't expect the visual update to land before 2026, but in the meantime, I will refine systems and start prototyping additional game ideas for the future. If you want to stay up to date or be the first to check out my next rough prototypes, consider joining the Discord, where I am always active.
Thank you to everyone for their continued support of the game, and I hope to bring the visuals up to the level the gameplay systems deserve, followed by a free DLC additional map if everything works out as I envision. But since I rely on others, I can't make any promises. I just wanted to be very transparent with my plans and where I am with the game.