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Hey folks, we've got a new update ready for ya. This update is largely about tying up loose ends in the various gameplay systems and cleaning things up as we get closer to release. The high points are a re-worked melee system, improved ore refining, chemistry, and an expanded food and cooking system. We also put a good bit of time into various quality of life features that we'd been putting off, including the ability to scale the entire game for folks with very high resolution monitors.
Hey folks, we have a new update ready to go. The main goal with this update was to add a new area to explore, and to do a better job of introducing some of the mechanics related to [spoiler]the intelligent aliens[/spoiler].
I've added spoiler tags to some of these update notes because the intention is for folks to discover these things for themselves, but you do you.
You will need to generate a new world to see most of the new content, which is primarily located in the area underneath the Mining Base.
Heya folks, we've got a new pretty significant update ready. Our intention with this update is to improve on a lot of the foundational parts of the game, improve the ease of use of various mechanics and systems, and add some new fun progression mechanics. Also we made it so when you eat raw meat you have a chance of getting a parasite that will gestate inside your guts and consume some of your digesting food until it grows big enough to burst out.
Hey folks, it's been a bit since our last update and I know we can be kinda quiet when we're busy behind the curtain, so we wanted to give you an idea about the stuff we're working on.
Nights on the surface of the planet have become spookier and more ominous, and there seems to be a strange red comet in the sky. On the plus side, the red comet seems to be emitting some kind of radiation that is increasing the speed of plant growth.
Hey folks, we've got another update for ya. As we get closer to finishing the story content for the 1.0 release of the game (more on that later), we're going through our existing systems to make sure that we finish up some of the things we had planned but never got around to. To that end, we've significantly revamped the battery/energy system, added a new stamina mechanic and we now have basic Steam Workshop support implemented.
Heya folks, we've got some new stuff for ya. In the last update we re-worked the plant system, but we didn't really use it for much more than better versions of existing plants, so we wanted to take some time to add some brand new cool and weird plants. We also figured that we could kill two birds with one stone by adding some new related early game combat options in the form of various nuts and nut based technology.
Heya folks, we've got a new update ready for ya. Our goal with this update was primarily to improve some mostly cosmetic areas of Signs of Life, as well as to lay the groundwork for future content. The high points are: Improved tile drawing on crafted tiles, an improved Equip menu, and a revamped plant system that should allow us to add all sorts of weird and interesting plants.
Hey folks, we've got a new story update ready for ya to try out. The primary goal with this update was to expand the gameplay and story content related to the crew of the Hermes, who set up their residence in the Pioneer Station before you land on the planet. We've dramatically redesigned the Pioneer Station with the intention of making it more interesting to explore, as well as less hospitable. Aside from the story content, we've also added a new platinum material tier, a bunch of new weapons and gadgets and made quite a few quality of life changes. You will need to create a new character or a new world for your existing character if you want to experience much of the new content.
Hey folks, we have a brand new update for ya. We're not quite done with the next chunk of story content, but we decided we should go ahead and release the non-story stuff we've been working on. The main goal with this update is to fill in some of the gameplay gaps and improve various quality of life aspects.
One change we made is that we've pretty significantly improved the way gun accuracy works. Previously any given gun just had a set accuracy for every shot, but now the accuracy is dependent on what you're doing as well as the statistics of the gun. If you're standing still and fire a single round from an SMG then the shot will be pretty accurate, but if you're running while spraying bullets then your accuracy will be very low. When aiming a gun, your crosshairs are now dynamic and reflect how accurate your gun will be when fired.
We also added a whole bunch of new guns.
In addition, we've taken a new approach to handling the recipes for various guns. The recipes for guns all now include some type of "gun part", and many guns only require that part. The main goal here is to make unlocking the recipes more straightforward, while avoiding overwhelming folks with new recipes all at once. We now have crude, steel and advanced gun parts for the various weapon types. Hopefully this makes the gun crafting progression feel a little more like a tech tree.
Another change in this update is that we added some hostile bots and spawners to the Pioneer Station. The intention is for the bots to discourage folks from just moving into the Pioneer Station as a home, and when they are killed they drop various useful components. There is no way to disable the spawners for the bots right now, but the next update will add a way to disable them.
We also added ladders! We've needed a new way of doing vertical movement for awhile. These are still a bit of a work in progress, but they seem to mostly work. Definitely let us know if/when you run into bugs with them.
The base inventory now has two additional compartments, a section for crafting materials and one for blocks. Any items picked up with the grab laser will be auto-sorted into those containers. We also significantly improved the size of the gridless inventory option.
Another late addition to this update was a couple of new settings related to picking up items. We've noticed that it was pretty easy to accidentally pick up items during combat, so we added an option that makes it so you can't pick up items while a weapon is equipped (this one is on by default for now), and another option that only lets you pick up items when your inventory is open. This only applies to items that you pick up by clicking and dragging, so the grab laser is unaffected. Try these out and tell us what you think. We may end up changing the default behavior based on player feedback.
Oh yeah, and [spoiler]Happy Halloween![/spoiler]
Hey folks, we decided it was past time to put out a roadmap and give you an idea of what we have planned between now and leaving Early Access. We're keeping some things intentionally vague to avoid spoiling stuff too far out. This isn't everything we have planned, and it is entirely possible that our plans may change, but this is where we're at right now in terms of planning out the remainder of the game's launch content.
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions of just want to say hey, feel free to comment on this post, post on the forums or join us in the official Discord server.
Hey folks, we've got a new update ready. This update does double duty as both a tutorial and a significant chunk of story content at the beginning of the game. We've known for awhile that we needed a proper tutorial, but we waited until now because we wanted to make sure that we had a good idea of the stumbling blocks that new players have when starting the game fresh. Hopefully what we put together will make it easier for new players, while not being too overbearing or annoying for existing players. From a story standpoint, we've always known that we wanted to start the game like this, but because it was tangled up with the tutorial we had to hold off until we could do both at the same time. Between the tutorial and the story elements, we're hoping the new player experience should be a lot less awkward. You can skip the intro/tutorial content when creating a new character.
The game now starts with you waking up in your bed aboard a colony ship called the Hephaestus. You're part of a decades-long mission to travel through space to a habitable earth-like planet called Osiris. You're woken up by the ship's on-board AI system, who tells you that you're needed for a mission to scout a nearby asteroid that has produced some anomalous readings.
You'll get your handy MEG wrist laser tool installed.
You'll perform some diagnostics
Visit an asteroid
And [spoiler]witness the end of the human race.[/spoiler]
Hey folks, I wanted to put out a quick announcement and let you know what we've been up to since the last one. Originally we were going to put out a smaller update next, but along the way we ended up deciding to go ahead and finish up the intro/tutorial for the next update as well. The intro/tutorial will help introduce players to the world, as well as introduce many of the gameplay mechanics that you'll be using for the rest of the game. Signs of Life does some things a bit different than other games, so we feel like it is super important to make sure that players understand how the game functions before they get dropped on the planet that they'll spend the majority of their time on.
Before I get too far into the details of what we've been working on, I want to let you know that we've set up an official Discord channel for Signs of Life, which you can get to by clicking this link. We'll of course still be using the Steam discussion forums, but Discord is probably where we'll be easier to reach and Discord makes it easier for us to drop in-progress screenshots and gifs.
Here is what we've been working on for the intro/tutorial, but keep in mind that much of it is still a work in progress:
You'll start the intro in your room, aboard the U.N. Hephaestus, a massive colony ship designed to travel to a new earth-like planet many lightyears from home. You'll wake up and find out that while en-route to the new planet, some signs of life were detected on a nearby asteroid and you've been tasked with investigating.
Once you get dressed, you'll take a grav lift down to the main Barracks corridor, and then an elevator to the Supply Room.
While on the Hephaestus, you'll get your wrist mounted MEG tool installed, and run through a series of diagnostics which will teach you how to use the various functions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GrT8keCMeE&feature=youtu.be
One of the gameplay mechanics we want to make sure players understand by the end of the tutorial is the way ammo works, so as part of the tutorial you'll need to use a new tool we've created called the Thermo-Thrower. As part of the tutorial, you'll need to put out a fire as well as melt some ice on an airlock door.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stgzed6plyY&feature=youtu.be
But of course the Thermo-Thrower isn't only a tool, and it can be used for more... destructive purposes. However, because the U.N. Hephaestus frowns upon violence and destruction, you might want to avoid causing too much trouble with it.
https://youtu.be/xtAmHdhd8Eo
This is just some of what we've been working on, and in the next announcement we'll cover a bit about what happens once you leave the Hephaestus and start scouting for signs of life on the nearby asteroid... As always, we love to hear from you folks, so don't be shy. Let us know what you think in the comments, the Steam discussion forums and on the official Discord channel.
Hey folks, I wanted to check in and let everyone know what we've been working on since the last update. In the past we've pretty much gone dark in between updates and worked quietly behind the scenes, but I want to start being more transparent about what we're working on. I've decided to start putting out monthly updates like this, whether we have an update ready to put out or not.
In the last update we introduced a new area based around some intelligent aliens, and one of the things we've been working on is fleshing that area out. We feel like the area still needs a boss, some new creatures and some new gear. We don't want to go into too many details because we don't want to spoil everything before it is done, but here is some of what we're working on for the next update:
This is a boss we're working on:
This is a new creature we're adding:
And here is a new gun that we're working on:
It was also brought to our attention that it was a bit annoying to get ahold of enough acid to craft the various batteries required for the higher-end weapons due to the relative rarity of the Spitter creatures that drop the acid glands, so we decided to do a bit of an overhaul on those creatures. Our intention is to improve their visuals, mechanics and spawning behavior. Here is what the new version looks like:
Aside from the improved visuals, we're making it so the new version of the Spitter can rotate it's head so it no longer just spits directly in front of itself, and we're going to make it more reliable to find them by putting spawn areas near the surface of the planet. The goal is to make them a bit tougher to fight, but easier to find.
We also decided that the existing craftable spitter pistol was a bit lackluster, so we've overhauled that as well. The new version looks better and packs a bit more of a punch:
As always, we love to hear your feedback so don't be shy! If you have any questions, criticisms or just want to say hey, feel free to leave a comment on this post or the forums.
Hey folks, it has been awhile but we have a brand new content update hot off the presses. We had several goals with this update - We wanted to move the story forward a bit, add a new area to explore, and we wanted to add a repeatable combat encounter that would be both fun and practically useful. You will need to generate a new character or a new world (through the Sandbox Menu) to access the new area.
Hey folks, we've got a new update for ya. Over the last several months, we've been working with two main goals: Improving the basic user experience and moving the story content forward. This update contains all the user experience changes we've been working on (including a much-requested grid-based inventory option), and a portion of the story content that we've been working on. We've got a much larger story content update in the works, but we figured it has already been too long since the last update so we'd go ahead and put out some of what we have finished so far.
To see the new story content, you'll need to use the satellite uplink function on the Pioneer Communications Junction (the device in the top floor of the Pioneer Station) and then explore the surface of the planet a bit.
You will not need to start a new world to see the new story content in this update.
FYI: We will be participating in the Steam Winter Sale, so if you don't own the game right now, you might want to wait until then if you want to save a few bucks.
Hey folks, we've got a new update for ya. Over the last several months, we've been working with two main goals: Improving the basic user experience and moving the story content forward. This update contains all the user experience changes we've been working on (including a much-requested grid-based inventory option), and a portion of the story content that we've been working on. We've got a much larger story content update in the works, but we figured it has already been too long since the last update so we'd go ahead and put out some of what we have finished so far.
To see the new story content, you'll need to use the satellite uplink function on the Pioneer Communications Junction (the device in the top floor of the Pioneer Station) and then explore the surface of the planet a bit.
You will not need to start a new world to see the new story content in this update.
FYI: We will be participating in the Steam Winter Sale, so if you don't own the game right now, you might want to wait until then if you want to save a few bucks.
Hey folks, we put out a new update today (version 0.8) that changes the engine that Signs of Life runs on and adds a few quality of life improvements as well as a sweet new grappling laser function for your wrist device. We changed the engine that the game runs on from XNA to MonoGame because XNA has been abandoned by Microsoft for awhile now, and MonoGame fixes a lot of issues that we had with XNA as well as lets us support platforms other than Windows. That said, If we did our jobs right you probably won't notice much of a change right now. The performance seems a bit better for us on our machines and it fixes some crash bugs that we were unable to fix with XNA, but really this update is about opening the door for more stuff down the line and making sure the game is as future-proof as possible. While the new version fixes some things, I'm sure there will be some new problems as well, so let us know what issues you run into.
Hey folks, we put out a new update today (version 0.8) that changes the engine that Signs of Life runs on and adds a few quality of life improvements as well as a sweet new grappling laser function for your wrist device. We changed the engine that the game runs on from XNA to MonoGame because XNA has been abandoned by Microsoft for awhile now, and MonoGame fixes a lot of issues that we had with XNA as well as lets us support platforms other than Windows. That said, If we did our jobs right you probably won't notice much of a change right now. The performance seems a bit better for us on our machines and it fixes some crash bugs that we were unable to fix with XNA, but really this update is about opening the door for more stuff down the line and making sure the game is as future-proof as possible. While the new version fixes some things, I'm sure there will be some new problems as well, so let us know what issues you run into.
Happy Halloween! Some kind of spooky comet has been seen in the sky, and it seems to have resulted in some kind of Halloween related weirdness! You should find a stack of seeds for the new pumpkin bush and a random mask in your inventory. We've also heard reports of weird ghost-like energy beings that can be found on the surface of the planet. We're still hard at work on the next larger content update, but we decided to do a small Halloween update in the interim because Halloween is probably the best holiday. As usual, let us know if you run into any problems or if you have any suggestions.
Happy Halloween! Some kind of spooky comet has been seen in the sky, and it seems to have resulted in some kind of Halloween related weirdness! You should find a stack of seeds for the new pumpkin bush and a random mask in your inventory. We've also heard reports of weird ghost-like energy beings that can be found on the surface of the planet. We're still hard at work on the next larger content update, but we decided to do a small Halloween update in the interim because Halloween is probably the best holiday. As usual, let us know if you run into any problems or if you have any suggestions.
The primary goal with this update was to change the combat balance and armor/weapon progression to be more satisfying across the length of the game. This update is light on the new content because we're still working on the next major content update, but we figured we should go ahead and put out the balance changes in the meantime. Previously, armor provided percentage damage reduction, which meant early armor sets protected very little, the high level armor sets ended up providing far too much protection, and going from one tier to the next didn't feel very satisfying because gaining a few percentage points of defense at a time is really boring. The new system uses flat damage reduction, so if you pick up a helmet that has a defense of 3 it will just prevent 3 damage, which might not seem like a big change but it allows us to make the progression much more satisfying and each new tier of armor or weapons should feel like more of an upgrade. There is a cap on the defense though, and you will always take at least 25% of the damage that is dealt to you. These changes required tweaking the balance of pretty much everything in the game. Most creatures have more health, most weapons do more damage, and we've changed the way armor piercing works so that individual weapons can have specific armor piercing values. We've done a significant amount of testing, but with all the combinations of creatures and weapons we have I'm sure there will still be some balance issues, so let us know what you think. We're definitely not done tweaking the combat balance, but we decided now was a good time to start making some big steps towards a better system.
The primary goal with this update was to change the combat balance and armor/weapon progression to be more satisfying across the length of the game. This update is light on the new content because we're still working on the next major content update, but we figured we should go ahead and put out the balance changes in the meantime. Previously, armor provided percentage damage reduction, which meant early armor sets protected very little, the high level armor sets ended up providing far too much protection, and going from one tier to the next didn't feel very satisfying because gaining a few percentage points of defense at a time is really boring. The new system uses flat damage reduction, so if you pick up a helmet that has a defense of 3 it will just prevent 3 damage, which might not seem like a big change but it allows us to make the progression much more satisfying and each new tier of armor or weapons should feel like more of an upgrade. There is a cap on the defense though, and you will always take at least 25% of the damage that is dealt to you. These changes required tweaking the balance of pretty much everything in the game. Most creatures have more health, most weapons do more damage, and we've changed the way armor piercing works so that individual weapons can have specific armor piercing values. We've done a significant amount of testing, but with all the combinations of creatures and weapons we have I'm sure there will still be some balance issues, so let us know what you think. We're definitely not done tweaking the combat balance, but we decided now was a good time to start making some big steps towards a better system.
We decided to celebrate Independence Day in the best way possible, by adding more things to Signs of Life that explode in a brilliant and dangerous fashion. For this special holiday update, we added several fireworks and stuffed a Fireworks Party Pack into everyone's inventory, filled to the brim with instruments of pyromaniacal delight.
Hey folks, we have a fancy new content update all piping hot and ready to go. Our intention with this update is to continue making the underground more interesting by adding some Strange and mysterious things underground that tie into the larger story we're trying to tell with Signs of Life. There are many new artifacts, gadgets, etc that range from "cool but pointless" to "probably wildly overpowered" so we're going to need a lot of feedback on what works and what doesn't =) We really want to give players a sense of exploration and discovery, and to that end we've decided to do something a bit different with our update notes this time around. In order to preserve the sense of mystery, we've decided to redact big chunks of the new content notes to avoid spoiling it. Hopefully this will let players figure stuff out for themselves (and let folks explore the new content together) without just outright spoiling everything on day 1 in the notes. We'll post the unredacted notes in a week or two.
Got a new update for you folks. The big feature of this update is the long-requested online co-op multiplayer, today is truly a red letter day. Multiplayer uses Steamworks and is drop-in, drop-out, so you should be able to join your friends games through the friends list or the new multiplayer menu from the main menu. Right now the multiplayer is exclusively peer to peer, but we'll be looking into the option of dedicated servers before too long. We've done quite a bit of testing and things seem to be working pretty well, but multiplayer is a very complicated feature so definitely let us know if/when you run into issues. We've decided to bump the version number to 0.5, because in a way we feel like the addition of multiplayer brings Signs of Life to about the halfway point. Almost all of our technical challenges are solved, and we'll be able to focus on mostly content and bugfixes from now on.
Heya folks, got another update for you, sorry for the long delay since the last update but it took us awhile to work most of the kinks out of the new tree system but it also gave us time to add a bunch of fun new stuff. We totally re-did the tree system, which unfortunately means your trees and bushes will be wiped from existing maps and you'll probably see some fruits floating in the air where the trees/bushes used to be. You may need to use the sandbox menu to generate another map, grab some fruits, and then eat them to get the seeds to begin repopulating your pre-patch worlds with trees. On the plus side, the new trees look and work a lot better, and more details about the system are below in the notes. We changed a lot of the behind the scenes stuff related to saving items, creatures, projects and bushes, so definitely let us know if you notice any weirdness with things not being saved correctly. Let us know if you notice any major performance changes, the new way we're saving items may cause some lag and if so we have some ways to speed it up but we're not sure if it will cause a problem yet. Most of the new content this update was a direct result of the feedback we've been getting from players, so we want to everyone out there for their suggestions and criticisms =) If you run into any issues, let us know in the comments, the forums or you can email us directly at playsignsoflife@gmail.com
Update time, yay! Got some fun new toys and features for you folks, let us know if you run into any issues. We changed the way the static lighting works a bit (with torches, etc) so let us know if you notice any reduction in performance. As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts, so don't be shy and let us know what you think in the comments =)
Hey folks, I have a small update for ya. Normally I'd hold off until we had a more substantial update ready, but we found a bug with the item details that would occasionally cause items to get removed when you attempted to split a stack so we went ahead and pushed out what we had so far. We also made some balance changes to picks and guns which should make fighting armored creatures a bit less annoying, but we may still need to raise their health amounts to make up for the change, so let us know what you think.
We've got a brand spankin' new patch ready for you folks, featuring mostly quality of life improvements that we've been working on the last several weeks. Most of this update came directly from feedback we've received on the forums and elsewhere, so I just want to say thanks to everyone who is playing Signs of Life and giving us suggestions and feedback. As always, we more than welcome your comments and concerns with the update, so don't be shy and let us know your thoughts =)
Heya folks, got another update for ya. Its a bit light on content as we've been putting most of our content creation time towards working on the intro/tutorial (which is coming along freakin' awesome) but we have quite a few bug fixes and UI changes for ya based on the feedback we've been getting on our forums. As always, we'd love to hear from you if you have any suggestions or run into any issues with the update =)
We've still got quite a bit to go on the tutorial/intro we're working on, but we figured now was as good a time as any to push out an update with some of the other changes we've made recently. As always, we'd love to hear your feedback and definitely let us know if you have any issues =)
Version 0.37
Here are the interesting recent updates for February 12 - March 31:
Hey folks, we've been super busy working on Signs of Life, here are the updates we've made to the game over the last few weeks:
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