Signs of Life Update 24
One of the things we've been wanting to do for a long time was to add more depth to the melee combat, so we've done a pretty significant rework. We added combo attacks, running attacks, aerial attacks and charged heavy attacks to almost every weapon. We also added some new weapon types that we'll be expanding over time.
Prior to this update, the metal refining and cooking has been kind of messy. In this update we've split cooking and refining into their own devices, and added a tech tier that lets you refine metals and cook using batteries instead of fuel. All of the basic refining devices have also been made into structures rather than items because they are just too big and awkward to be items, but we also added some portable options.
While reworking the refining systems we realized that we needed dedicated devices for chemistry processes.
For a long time we've had a functional cooking system, but it was pretty thin and wasn't very interesting, so we've reworked it considerably. Like the rest of our game, we've come up with a fun mix of procedural and hand-crafted foods. You'll be able to make straightforward foods like hot dogs, sandwiches and sweet rolls, but you'll also be able to make custom meals that let you combine different ingredients with stacking effects. You can make a Plated Meal with egg and bacon, or a Big Salad with raw crawler meat and buttery nuts. That last one will probably give you parasites though.
Up to 2 ingredients, and can be cooked in a Brick Oven, Iron Stove, or Kitchenette
Up to 3 ingredients, and can be cooked in an Iron Stove or Kitchenette
These are recipes that do not require cooking, and they can be made in your inventory through the crafting menu.
For awhile now there have been 8 ali[spoiler]en temples scattered around worlds that allow you to unlock abilities of the Strange Alien Gadget. In the last update, we expanded on the "Spacetime" temple that always generates under the mining base, and in this update we expanded on the "Heat" temple. There is a new boss, and a new dungeon to explore.[/spoiler]
We added an ipecac herb and made it so you can turn it into medicine. When consumed, it... clears you of status effects and empties your uh... fullness meter.
Our immediate goal is to do a slight revamp of the intro/tutorial areas to make them flow a bit better and to file off some of the rough edges. After that, we're mostly going to be working on one of the last story related areas of the game deep underground on the planet. This update was primarily about tying up the loose ends with the basic systems of the game, and now we need to do the same with the story content. Right now the story content just sorta ends abruptly, and nothing is really resolved, but hopefully we'll fix that in the not too distant future. This update ended up having us touch just about every part of the game from top to bottom, so it is entirely likely that there are some issues we haven't caught and I encourage you to let us know if you run into any issues or have any suggestions. As always, we would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment on this post, get in touch through the Steam Forums, join the Official Discord Server, or email us at playsignsoflife@gmail.com.
[ 2022-06-23 17:24:06 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Melee Rework
One of the things we've been wanting to do for a long time was to add more depth to the melee combat, so we've done a pretty significant rework. We added combo attacks, running attacks, aerial attacks and charged heavy attacks to almost every weapon. We also added some new weapon types that we'll be expanding over time.
- Combo Attacks - Every weapon has a string of 3 combo attacks that are triggered by using the primary attack button (left click by default) shortly after hitting a creature. If you just hold down the attack button, it will pretty much act like it used to and just loop the first attack of the combo.
- Running and Aerial attacks - If you're running or in the air and you tap the alternate attack button (right click by default) then you'll do the relevant attack. Each weapon has different running and aerial attacks so they all have a bit of a distinct feel.
- Charged heavy attacks - If you hold the alternate attack button then you'll charge a heavy attack. Partial charge will result in a weaker attack. While charging or holding a charged attack you will walk slower.
- The platinum weapon tier has been renamed to "Piezo-Electric" and instead of being made mostly of platinum, they are now built primarily with steel and they use platinum for the electronic components which enable the weapon to have a built-in Static Capacitor that add 25% extra damage with a 3 second cooldown.
- We also added Dagger, Greatsword, Warhammer and Skillet weapon types, although there are still only a few of them as we're still fleshing out their various tiers.
New Weapons
Daggers
- Curved Dagger - Iron Ingot + Stick
- Combat Knife - Steel Ingot + Plastic (Requires Steel Anvil)
- Scalpel - Steel Ingot + Plastic (Requires Steel Anvil)
Clubs
- Copper Club - 4x Copper Ingots (Requires Hammer)
- Iron Club - 4x Iron Ingots (Requires Iron Anvil)
- Bronze Club - 4x Bronze Ingots (Requires Iron Anvil)
- Silver Club - 4x Silver Ingots (Requires Steel Anvil)
- Steel Club - 4x Steel Ingots (Requires Steel Anvil)
- Jewel Club - 2x Bornite Ingots + 4 Refined Rose Quartz (Requires Steel Anvil)
Refining Rework
Prior to this update, the metal refining and cooking has been kind of messy. In this update we've split cooking and refining into their own devices, and added a tech tier that lets you refine metals and cook using batteries instead of fuel. All of the basic refining devices have also been made into structures rather than items because they are just too big and awkward to be items, but we also added some portable options.
- Campfire now can cook any single ingredient food and can be used to make bricks
- Replaced the "Basic Smelter" with a clay Draft Furnace, that can refine Copper, Iron, Lead and Tin
- Replaced the "Advanced Smelter" with a Blast Furnace that can refine Bronze, Steel, Aluminum, Bornite and Silver
- Added the Induction Furnace that is powered by batteries rather than fuel and can refine Platinum, Titanium and Energite
- Removed firestarter requirement from all refiners
- Added a Steel Anvil and a Drop Hammer as requirements for various recipes
Chemistry
While reworking the refining systems we realized that we needed dedicated devices for chemistry processes.
- Mortar and Pestle - Can process chemistry recipes that require up to 2 ingedients. Portable.
- Chemistry Bench - Can process chemistry recipes that require up to 3 ingredients.
- Chemistry Lab - Can process chemistry recipes that require up to 4 ingredients.
New Chemistry Recipes:
- Ammonia - Lye + 10x Dirt + Empty Glass Bottle
- Antiparasitic Medicine - 3x Pumpkin, Bana or Delicious Seeds
- Chunky Nut Butter - Buttery Nut
- Cornmeal - Corn
- Glycerol - Fat (Tallow, Plant Oil, etc) + Lye + Empty Glass Bottle
- Ipecac Medicine - Ipecac Herb
- Lye - Charcoal
- Nutmeal - Hard Nut or Spray Nut
- Organic Acid - Citrica Fruit or Spitter Gland + Empty Glass Bottle
- Organic Black Powder - 2 Bust Nuts
- Plant Oil - Nutmeal, Cornmeal, or Nut Butter + Empty Glass Bottle
- Poison - 3 Cooked Grey Mushrooms + Empty Glass Bottle
- Saltpeter - Animal Waste + Charcoal
- Smooth Nut Butter - Chunky Nut Butter
- Stimulant Medicine - 3x Sweety Fruit Seed
- Sugar - 3 of the same Fruit
- Sulfuric Acid - Sulphur + Saltpeter + Empty Glass Bottle
- Wheat Flour - Wheat
- Yeast - Wheat Flour + Sugar
Cooking Rework
For a long time we've had a functional cooking system, but it was pretty thin and wasn't very interesting, so we've reworked it considerably. Like the rest of our game, we've come up with a fun mix of procedural and hand-crafted foods. You'll be able to make straightforward foods like hot dogs, sandwiches and sweet rolls, but you'll also be able to make custom meals that let you combine different ingredients with stacking effects. You can make a Plated Meal with egg and bacon, or a Big Salad with raw crawler meat and buttery nuts. That last one will probably give you parasites though.
- Added the Brick Oven that can cook any food with 2 ingredients
- Added the Iron Stove that can cook any food with 3 ingredients
- Added the Kitchenette that can cook any food with 4 ingredients
- The Iron Grill now works like the Iron Stove, but it has 1 slot instead of 3 and it is portable.
- The "Portable Tech Grill" has been renamed to the Portable Electric Stove, and it works like a portable Kitchenette but it has 2 slots instead of 4. It runs on batteries.
- Added a Blue Cooler for organizing cooked food
New Cooking Recipes
Basic Recipes
Up to 2 ingredients, and can be cooked in a Brick Oven, Iron Stove, or Kitchenette
- Roasted Nuts - Any Nut
- Bread - Dough
- Bread Loaf - Dough + Dough
- Sweet Bread - Sweet Dough
- Honey Glazed Meat - Honey + Any Meat
- Plated Snack - Clay Plate + Any Raw Ingredient
Intermediate Recipes
Up to 3 ingredients, and can be cooked in an Iron Stove or Kitchenette
- Cornbread - Cornmeal + Egg + Any Fat (Tallow, Plant Oil)
- Pancakes - Batter + Egg + Any Fat (Tallow, Plant Oil)
- Plated Meal - Clay Plate + Any Raw Ingredient + Any Raw Ingredient
- Pie - Sweet Dough + Any Fat + Any Raw Ingredient
Advanced Recipes
- Feast - Clay Plate + Any Raw Ingredient + Any Raw Ingredient + Any Raw Ingredient
- Cake - Batter + Any Fat + Sugar + Salt
- Baklava - Honeycomb + Wheat Flour + Any Fat + Any Nut
- Artisanal Pie - Sweet Dough + Any Fat + Any Raw Ingredient + Any Raw Ingredient
Preparation Recipes
These are recipes that do not require cooking, and they can be made in your inventory through the crafting menu.
- Simple Salad - Clay Bowl + Lettuce
- Topped Salad - Clay Bowl + Lettuce + Pretty much any ingredient
- Big Salad - Clay Bowl + Lettuce + Pretty much any ingredient + Pretty much any ingredient
- Dough - Wheat Flour + Yeast + Any Fat + Salt
- Sweet Dough - Dough + Sugar
- Batter - Wheat Flour + Egg + Any Fat
- Sandwich - Bread + Any Cooked Meat + Lettuce
- Big Sandwich - Bread Loaf + 2x Any Cooked Meat + 2x Lettuce
- Sweet Roll - Sweet Bread + Any Fat + Sugar
- Hot Dog - Bread + Any Meat
New Dungeon
For awhile now there have been 8 ali[spoiler]en temples scattered around worlds that allow you to unlock abilities of the Strange Alien Gadget. In the last update, we expanded on the "Spacetime" temple that always generates under the mining base, and in this update we expanded on the "Heat" temple. There is a new boss, and a new dungeon to explore.[/spoiler]
Quality of Life
- Added an AGIS assisted automatic journal that records "important" things that happen during gameplay. The intention here is to strike a balance where we can give folks something to reference if they get lost or stuck, without just blatantly telling the player what to do in the form of an explicit quest objective. This is something that we'll be fleshing out over time, and we're very much open to suggestions about places where we could add additional entries.
- If you have a refiner open and you are looking at a relevant refiner recipe in your crafting menu, you can now click a "Transfer" button to put the items in the appropriate slot in the refiner with one click.
- Added an option to scale the entire game up in 25% increments. This should help folks that have trouble with the tiny UI on high resolution monitors.
- Complete overhaul of recipes and their organization
- Added a Change Ammo Type keybind (C by default) that will cycle through the valid ammo types for your weapon.
- You can now hide items from the Automatic Item Slots in the HUD by clicking the "hide" icon in the item details in your inventory.
Gameplay Changes
- Adjusted tutorial asteroid boss fight - It was brought to our attention that it was pretty darn irritating that the very first thing we give you to fight is immune to damage from the player, so we added a first phase to that encounter where you get to beat up on a weird tentacle creature. After dealing enough damage, the boss creature will wake and engage the player. We also made the destructible block in that boss area more obvious.
- Creatures will now only spawn on natural blocks (dirt, mud, etc)
- A bunch of small changes to various structures in the world to fix a variety of issues.
Ipecac
We added an ipecac herb and made it so you can turn it into medicine. When consumed, it... clears you of status effects and empties your uh... fullness meter.
What's Next?
Our immediate goal is to do a slight revamp of the intro/tutorial areas to make them flow a bit better and to file off some of the rough edges. After that, we're mostly going to be working on one of the last story related areas of the game deep underground on the planet. This update was primarily about tying up the loose ends with the basic systems of the game, and now we need to do the same with the story content. Right now the story content just sorta ends abruptly, and nothing is really resolved, but hopefully we'll fix that in the not too distant future. This update ended up having us touch just about every part of the game from top to bottom, so it is entirely likely that there are some issues we haven't caught and I encourage you to let us know if you run into any issues or have any suggestions. As always, we would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment on this post, get in touch through the Steam Forums, join the Official Discord Server, or email us at playsignsoflife@gmail.com.
[ 2022-06-23 17:24:06 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 23
Reworked Mining Base - Expanded the area beneath the mining base in order to expand on the mechanics and lore of the [spoiler]intelligent aliens[/spoiler]
In this update we added a new set of [spoiler]alien spells[/spoiler] based around the idea of being able to [spoiler]summon a helpful totem. You can acquire the first totem spell at the end of the new area.[/spoiler]
With this update, we're pretty happy with the amount of content on the surface and near-surface of the planet, so we're going to go deeper. Our next goal is to make the bottom of the planet more interesting as well as start to tie up the story content progression. We're just a couple content updates away from finishing the base story content now, and once that is done we'll be pretty close to ready to leave Early Access. As always, we very much want to hear what you folks think of our new update. Let us know if you see balance problems, bugs, or if you just have suggestions for cool stuff to add by responding on this event, on the Steam Discussion forums, the official Discord server, or you can email us directly at playsignsoflife@gmail.com.
[ 2022-02-20 18:31:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
Reworked Mining Base - Expanded the area beneath the mining base in order to expand on the mechanics and lore of the [spoiler]intelligent aliens[/spoiler]
- New Boss - [spoiler]Xenostone Colossus, found in the area underneath the mining base.[/spoiler]
- New enemies:
- Xenostone Artillery - Throws explosive rocks at players
- Xenite Crawler - Crawler that seems to be infused with xenite crystals
- Xenoid Hound - Quadruped creature that will try to run down the player and gore them with his tusks
- Energy Plate Armor Set - A set of armor based on a new material introduced in this update called Energite. This armor has a set bonus that gives you a recharging energy shield that can block physical damage.
- Titanium Armor Set - A set of high-tier armor made from the strong and light metal Titanium.
- Mining Light Helmet - A helmet you can wear that projects a light in the direction that you're looking.
- Titanium Weapons
- Titanium Sword
- Titanium Pick
- Titanium Spear
- Titanium Club
- Titanium Bow
- Titanium Crossbow
- Titanium Shield
- Xenoid Repulsor - This structure is able to [spoiler]pull asteroids out of space and cause them to crash into the planet. The meteors can be cracked open to find mineral deposits. Right now, the meteors can contain Platinum, a new mineral called Energite, and [redacted]. We plan to expand on this system in the future. It can be found along the bottom of the planet.[/spoiler]
- Industrial Mining Laser - A large, hand-held mining laser that can rapidly dig through tiles.
- Strange Energy Leecher - A device that can [spoiler]leech alien energy out of the strange stalks with the glowing tips.[/spoiler]
- Craftable Thatch Tile Set
- Energite Capacitor - Increases maximum Capacitor Charge by 250
New Recipes
- Titanium Armor Set
- Titanium Helmet - 3x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Torso - 5x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Arms - 4x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Leggings - 4x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Gloves - 2x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Boots - 2x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Shield - 6x Titanium Ingot, 1 Strap (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Armor Set
- Energy Plate Helmet - 2x Energite Rod, 2x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Torso - 5x Energite Rod, 5x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Arms - 3x Energite Rod, 3x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Leggings - 4x Energite Rod, 4x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Gloves - 2x Energite Rod, 2x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Energy Plate Boots - 2x Energite Rod, 2x Titanium Ingot, 2 Straps, 1 Buckle (Requires Material Printer)
- Steel Combat Armor
- Steel Combat Helmet - 2x Steel Ingot, 2x Plastic, 1x Buckle
- Steel Plate Carrier - 5x Steel Ingot, 5x Plastic, 2x Buckles
- Steel Combat Boots - 2x Steel Ingot, 2x Plastic, 1x Buckle
- Riot Shield - 2x Steel Ingot, 6x Plastic, 1x Buckle
- Carbon Fiber Spindle (x3) - 1x Plastic, 1x Sulfur (Requires Smelting Furnace)
- Titanium Bow - 4x Titanium Ingot, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Crossbow - 4x Titanium Ingot, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Arrows (x5) - 2x Titanium Ingot, 1x Carbon Fiber Spindle, 2x Plastic
- Titanium Bolts (x5) - 1x Titanium Ingot, 1x Carbon Fiber Spindle, 1x Plastic
- Titanium Sword - 4x Titanium Ingots, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Pick - 4x Titanium Ingots, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Spear - 4x Titanium Ingots, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Titanium Club - 4x Titanium Ingots, 1x Carbon Nanotube (Requires Material Printer)
- Energite Capacitor - 1x Energite Rod, 1x Platinum Ingot, 1x Carbon Fiber Spindle, 1x Advanced Launcher Parts
- Industrial Mining Laser - 1x Advanced Rifle Part, 1x Standard Lens, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Microchip (Requires Material Printer) (Must be found in-world before you will get the recipe. It is located [spoiler]in a cave left of the lowest part of the Mining Base. It is accessible after getting some items within the new expanded area under the Mining Base.[/spoiler]
New [spoiler]Strange Alien Spells[/spoiler]
In this update we added a new set of [spoiler]alien spells[/spoiler] based around the idea of being able to [spoiler]summon a helpful totem. You can acquire the first totem spell at the end of the new area.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]White Totem: Once deployed, you can use the homeward spell on creatures in order to teleport them to the totem.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Red Totem - Heals in an area around the totem[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Black Totem - Repeatedly fires a chaotic, powerful projectile[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Orange Totem - Emits a moving flame wall that can set creatures on fire that are caught in items[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Blue Totem - Emits a freezing beam that will slow the movement of hostile creatures[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Purple Totem - Emits a damaging beam of energy that harms any hostile creatures[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Green Totem - Fires bolts that calm hostile creatures for a few seconds[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Yellow Totem - Increases the growth rate of nearby plants[/spoiler]
UI Changes
- Added a search button to containers, which will let you search through them for any items that match a search term.
- Fixed some issues related to the item details on quick slots, including issues with changing ammo types.
Balance Changes
- Arrows and bolts now do more damage the faster they are moving when they strike the target. This also involved a bit of a rebalance of arrows. Arrows should do more damage overall now.
- We've removed the crossbow alternate fire with the fan of bolts, and have instead made the crossbow fire more like a semi-automatic gun once it is loaded with bolts.
- We've renamed the Steel Armor Set to the Carbon Steel Armor Set, and added a carbon nanotube to the recipe for the components. Originally steel was one of the highest tier materials, but over time we've made steel ingots easier to craft, so we feel like this puts steel in a better place in terms of the overall gear progression.
- Increased the amount of sulfur deposits and added sulfur to the drop table for ants. The goal here is to make it less annoying to get the raw materials for gunpowder.
Other Misc Changes
- We recently changed the way picks work in order to make them more generally useful. In the past, picks would either break or damage one block at a time, no matter how strong the pick was. Now, picks can slice through multiple blocks per swing depending on how strong the pick is and how weak the material you're digging through is.
- Fixed some slope tile collision issues. You shouldn't hit your head on overhead slopes anymore
- Fixed some issues with ladders.
- Improved damage calculations for explosions to be more consistent
- Material grinder will grind more natural tile types, including dirt, mud, and tiles associated with ants and crawlers. Let us know if you notice any other tiles that aren't grindable and should be.
- Added a map ping for the GPS device that tracks the Hypercapacitor
- Added female graphic option for the background of the Equip window and the Cybernetics window
- Updated container graphics for the side-pouches of the inventory
- Fixed some graphical inconsistency with the various gems
- Added new SFX to Material Golems and Xenite Remnants
- Made most of the structures in the Pioneer Station and the Mining Base breakable if you have the highest tier lens installed in your MEG tool.
- Fixed a bunch of miscellaneous bugs not worth mentioning specifically.
What's Next?
With this update, we're pretty happy with the amount of content on the surface and near-surface of the planet, so we're going to go deeper. Our next goal is to make the bottom of the planet more interesting as well as start to tie up the story content progression. We're just a couple content updates away from finishing the base story content now, and once that is done we'll be pretty close to ready to leave Early Access. As always, we very much want to hear what you folks think of our new update. Let us know if you see balance problems, bugs, or if you just have suggestions for cool stuff to add by responding on this event, on the Steam Discussion forums, the official Discord server, or you can email us directly at playsignsoflife@gmail.com.
[ 2022-02-20 18:31:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 22
We decided to add cybernetics because we felt like the game needed more fun choices with regards to character progression. Cybernetics lets us add certain kinds of specialization or trade-offs that are rooted in something physical rather than just an abstract skill or stat. Maybe your character is better at melee combat because he equipped big beefy Behemoth cybernetic arms, or maybe you've got Sleek cybernetic arms that improve your ranged accuracy. Most cybernetics have an energy cost, either over time or when used, and all cybernetics can be toggled on and off within the Cybernetics window, which can now be accessed by clicking the button on the top right of the Character menu. When toggled off, cybernetics will still function as basic limbs/organs, but they will lose any of their beneficial properties as well as their associated energy costs.
Cybernetics arms and legs will have the most direct impact on minute to minute gameplay, as they will have the most impact on your defenses, movement abilities and weapon handling. Cybernetic legs will be able to adjust things like your run speed, encumbrance, jump height, etc while cybernetic arms will be able to adjust things like ranged accuracy and melee damage. All cybernetic limbs will have some additional defense, although the tradeoff is a slight reduction in blood volume (max health). Some cybernetic limbs are "Bulky", which means they cannot be worn under armor, but the rest can be combined with armor.
We got some feedback regarding the overall tech progression that led us to adding a new crafting material, Carbon Nanotubes. They're used in all of the cybernetics crafting, and we will also be updating some old recipes to include carbon nanotubes over time. Carbon nanotubes are grown in a Carbon Nanotube Processor, and require a charged battery as well as a rich source of carbon such as coal, anthracite or charcoal.
You'll be able to find a carbon nanotube processor [spoiler]in Dr. Hahn's lab in the Pioneer Station[/spoiler], and once you've scanned it you should get the recipe.
In this update, we've basically completely re-written the world generation code as well as reduced memory usage to the point that we could support much larger maps. The most immediately obvious change is that newly generated worlds will be bigger, and we've added slopes to all naturally generated tiles like dirt and stone, which really makes the world look and play a lot better. In general, worlds should also generate a bit less messy - things on the surface will more cleanly mesh with the ground, tunnels underground will connect to locations better, etc. The biggest change isn't really exposed to players directly, but opens a lot of doors, and that is that we've now got the world generating based on data files instead of being hard-coded. This means that it is now much, much easier for us to add new things to the world generator (new bases, new materials, etc), but it also means that, at least in principle, folks can tinker around with those data files and make custom worlds. We haven't really exposed that stuff cleanly through Steam Workshop yet, but that is very much our intention in the not too distant future. One thing we will need help with is dialing in the proper ore and resource density with the new world generator. We tried to match it pretty closely to what it was before, but we need you folks to get your hands on it and let us know how it feels. There are probably still some other issues as well, so let us know if you see any general weirdness with the world generator.
You can now zoom in and out in the world by using the Up and Down arrow keys by default. We are also working on making it so you can scale the UI and containers/menus, but that is not quite ready yet.
We've replaced the existing fonts with some more readable, bigger fonts. We've also gone through most of the UI elements in the game to make sure that all sizes of fonts fit and look right. There are a handful of exceptions, notably the MEG tool menu, which is slated for a full re-work in the not-too distant future. The changes we made to the font systems also means that we're a step closer to supporting other languages.
Having only the base colors for clothing and armor was pretty limiting, so we decided to add dyeing. You can use Dye Pigments
on Dye Basins
which will bring up the Dye color picking menu. Once you've dyed a Dye Basin, you can use the basin to dye armor and clothing. You can then later use a Dye Cleaning Rag
to clean off any dye.
From now on, when you die with item drop on death enabled you will drop a convenient backpack rather than spewing out your items. When you right click on that backpack it will re-equip you with whatever you had when you died. Your dropped backpack will also show up on the minimap and GPS Device Map.
We've struggled with the balance problems inherent in a game like this for awhile, and we want to try something different for the way blocks are placed in the world. We don't want to make creatures that can simply move or attack through walls, but the ability to just place blocks instantly anywhere you want really makes it easy to trivialize almost any fight in the game. The solution we want to try is a new system that delays block building by a short time in a way that shouldn't slow down the creative side of building. It works like this:
Blocks will be printed out over time, and any creature that passes through will cancel the building process of that block. You can queue up many blocks to build at once, so ideally it isn't too intrusive when you just want to build, while still making it a bit harder to just wall up any creature you come across. Try it out and see what you think. If you hate it, this change can be disabled by going to the settings menu and setting "Instant Block Placement" to "on".
We've never been particularly happy with the way the Scan Laser
functioned in the game so in this update we've reworked it pretty significantly. Now, the primary function of the Scan Laser will scan creatures, structures, and it will also periodically send out a pulse of ground-penetrating particles that bounce off of any detected ores or other buried resources.
Our goal here is primarily to reduce the amount of random digging you need to do, while still leaving some ambiguity about what you're detecting. The scan laser is great for finding pockets of resources, but you'll need to dig your way there to find out what the resource actually is. Give it a shot and see how it feels.
We've overhauled the Codex a bit. Previously you could only scan creatures, but in this update the codex will also track scanned structures in the world and any datapads you find will be automatically downloaded to your codex.
We wanted to add craftable corn dogs but we hadn't actually added corn to the game yet. Each corn seed will grow 2 cobs, and a cob can be put in the grinder to separate out some seeds.
Apparently the creatures on the planet are infected with some kind of parasitic lifeform, so you should make sure to cook any raw meat before eating it.
We've been working on new story content simultaneously with all of this other stuff in this update, so our plan is to finish some of that up next. We're actually pretty far along on the next story content update, so it shouldn't take us all that long to get finished. We've got a handful of story updates planned that should give more context to the world (and it's inhabitants...) and have a satisfying conclusion, so finishing that story content will be our primary objective for awhile. As always, we very much want to hear your thoughts about the new changes, and just the game in general. Tell us what you think in the comments, the Steam forums, official Discord server, or you can email us at playsignsoflife@gmail.com
[ 2021-05-27 17:27:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Cybernetics
We decided to add cybernetics because we felt like the game needed more fun choices with regards to character progression. Cybernetics lets us add certain kinds of specialization or trade-offs that are rooted in something physical rather than just an abstract skill or stat. Maybe your character is better at melee combat because he equipped big beefy Behemoth cybernetic arms, or maybe you've got Sleek cybernetic arms that improve your ranged accuracy. Most cybernetics have an energy cost, either over time or when used, and all cybernetics can be toggled on and off within the Cybernetics window, which can now be accessed by clicking the button on the top right of the Character menu. When toggled off, cybernetics will still function as basic limbs/organs, but they will lose any of their beneficial properties as well as their associated energy costs.
Cybernetic Limbs
Cybernetics arms and legs will have the most direct impact on minute to minute gameplay, as they will have the most impact on your defenses, movement abilities and weapon handling. Cybernetic legs will be able to adjust things like your run speed, encumbrance, jump height, etc while cybernetic arms will be able to adjust things like ranged accuracy and melee damage. All cybernetic limbs will have some additional defense, although the tradeoff is a slight reduction in blood volume (max health). Some cybernetic limbs are "Bulky", which means they cannot be worn under armor, but the rest can be combined with armor.
Cybernetic Arms
- Stripped
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Low Profile
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 2 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Sleek
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Plastic
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Ratchet (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Copper Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Junker (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Bronze Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Heavy (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 D6 Polymer
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Behemoth (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 Lead Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Autocannon
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel SMG Parts
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Bolt Driver
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Launcher Parts
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Forgeblade
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 2 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
Cybernetic Legs
- Stripped
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Low Profile
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Sleek
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Plastic
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Ratchet (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 Copper Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Junker (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 Bronze Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Heavy (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 D6 Polymer
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Behemoth (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 6 Lead Ingots
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 2 Microchips
- Jet (Bulky)
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 3 Carbon Nanotube
- 4 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Jumpjet Core
- 2 Microchips
Cybernetic Organs
Cybernetic Hearts
- Synthetic Heart
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
- Partially Synthetic Heart
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Human Heart
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
Cybernetic Lungs
- Synthetic Lungs
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
- Partially Synthetic Lungs
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 set of Human Lungs
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
Cybernetic Stomachs
- Synthetic Stomach
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
- Metabolic Accelerator Stomach
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 2 Carbon Nanotube
- 1 Standard Capacitor
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
- Bioreactor Stomach
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 2 Biofuel
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
Cybernetic Eyes
- Synthetic Eyes
[expand type=details]
[h4]Recipe[/h4]- 1 Carbon Nanotube
- 2 Standard Lenses
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Microchips
Carbon Nanotubes
We got some feedback regarding the overall tech progression that led us to adding a new crafting material, Carbon Nanotubes. They're used in all of the cybernetics crafting, and we will also be updating some old recipes to include carbon nanotubes over time. Carbon nanotubes are grown in a Carbon Nanotube Processor, and require a charged battery as well as a rich source of carbon such as coal, anthracite or charcoal.
You'll be able to find a carbon nanotube processor [spoiler]in Dr. Hahn's lab in the Pioneer Station[/spoiler], and once you've scanned it you should get the recipe.
World Generation Changes
In this update, we've basically completely re-written the world generation code as well as reduced memory usage to the point that we could support much larger maps. The most immediately obvious change is that newly generated worlds will be bigger, and we've added slopes to all naturally generated tiles like dirt and stone, which really makes the world look and play a lot better. In general, worlds should also generate a bit less messy - things on the surface will more cleanly mesh with the ground, tunnels underground will connect to locations better, etc. The biggest change isn't really exposed to players directly, but opens a lot of doors, and that is that we've now got the world generating based on data files instead of being hard-coded. This means that it is now much, much easier for us to add new things to the world generator (new bases, new materials, etc), but it also means that, at least in principle, folks can tinker around with those data files and make custom worlds. We haven't really exposed that stuff cleanly through Steam Workshop yet, but that is very much our intention in the not too distant future. One thing we will need help with is dialing in the proper ore and resource density with the new world generator. We tried to match it pretty closely to what it was before, but we need you folks to get your hands on it and let us know how it feels. There are probably still some other issues as well, so let us know if you see any general weirdness with the world generator.
World Zooming
You can now zoom in and out in the world by using the Up and Down arrow keys by default. We are also working on making it so you can scale the UI and containers/menus, but that is not quite ready yet.
Fonts
We've replaced the existing fonts with some more readable, bigger fonts. We've also gone through most of the UI elements in the game to make sure that all sizes of fonts fit and look right. There are a handful of exceptions, notably the MEG tool menu, which is slated for a full re-work in the not-too distant future. The changes we made to the font systems also means that we're a step closer to supporting other languages.
Armor and Clothing Dyeing
Having only the base colors for clothing and armor was pretty limiting, so we decided to add dyeing. You can use Dye Pigments
on Dye Basins
which will bring up the Dye color picking menu. Once you've dyed a Dye Basin, you can use the basin to dye armor and clothing. You can then later use a Dye Cleaning Rag
to clean off any dye.
Dropped Backpack on Death
From now on, when you die with item drop on death enabled you will drop a convenient backpack rather than spewing out your items. When you right click on that backpack it will re-equip you with whatever you had when you died. Your dropped backpack will also show up on the minimap and GPS Device Map.
New Block Building
We've struggled with the balance problems inherent in a game like this for awhile, and we want to try something different for the way blocks are placed in the world. We don't want to make creatures that can simply move or attack through walls, but the ability to just place blocks instantly anywhere you want really makes it easy to trivialize almost any fight in the game. The solution we want to try is a new system that delays block building by a short time in a way that shouldn't slow down the creative side of building. It works like this:
Blocks will be printed out over time, and any creature that passes through will cancel the building process of that block. You can queue up many blocks to build at once, so ideally it isn't too intrusive when you just want to build, while still making it a bit harder to just wall up any creature you come across. Try it out and see what you think. If you hate it, this change can be disabled by going to the settings menu and setting "Instant Block Placement" to "on".
Reworked Ore Scanner
We've never been particularly happy with the way the Scan Laser
functioned in the game so in this update we've reworked it pretty significantly. Now, the primary function of the Scan Laser will scan creatures, structures, and it will also periodically send out a pulse of ground-penetrating particles that bounce off of any detected ores or other buried resources.
Our goal here is primarily to reduce the amount of random digging you need to do, while still leaving some ambiguity about what you're detecting. The scan laser is great for finding pockets of resources, but you'll need to dig your way there to find out what the resource actually is. Give it a shot and see how it feels.
Reworked Codex
We've overhauled the Codex a bit. Previously you could only scan creatures, but in this update the codex will also track scanned structures in the world and any datapads you find will be automatically downloaded to your codex.
Corn
We wanted to add craftable corn dogs but we hadn't actually added corn to the game yet. Each corn seed will grow 2 cobs, and a cob can be put in the grinder to separate out some seeds.
New Recipes
- Cybernetics Station
[expand type=details]
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 1 Carbon Nanotubes
- 4 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Microchip
- Carbon Nanotube Processor
[expand type=details]
- 1 Steel Machine Parts
- 4 Platinum Ingots
- 1 Microchip
- Corndogs
[expand type=details]
- 3 Shucked Corn
- 3 Raw Red Meat
- 1 Wood Board
UI Changes
- Fixed various graphical issues with the Minimap
- Revamped the GPS Device Map
Gameplay Changes
- Creature spawning has been changed pretty significantly, let us know if you think it is better or worse
- Slopes should work better now. They're still not perfect, but they should be a lot less janky than they were previously.
- Status effects are now saved when you exit the game
Parasites
Apparently the creatures on the planet are infected with some kind of parasitic lifeform, so you should make sure to cook any raw meat before eating it.
What's Next?
We've been working on new story content simultaneously with all of this other stuff in this update, so our plan is to finish some of that up next. We're actually pretty far along on the next story content update, so it shouldn't take us all that long to get finished. We've got a handful of story updates planned that should give more context to the world (and it's inhabitants...) and have a satisfying conclusion, so finishing that story content will be our primary objective for awhile. As always, we very much want to hear your thoughts about the new changes, and just the game in general. Tell us what you think in the comments, the Steam forums, official Discord server, or you can email us at playsignsoflife@gmail.com
[ 2021-05-27 17:27:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
What We're Working On (January 2021)
We're somewhat close to finishing this up, as we have most of the new mechanics, creatures and assets finished. We still need to finish up the new boss, build out the levels and tie everything together.
The current worlds are too small, and use up too much memory so we're fixing the glitch. The next update will allow for larger worlds, and those larger worlds are really going to let us play around with making the surface of the planet more interesting.
We're adding the ability to zoom in and out in the world. We also plan on doing UI scaling before leaving Early Access, but this is the first step in future-proofing the game for different screens and resolutions.
The current ore scanning has always felt functional but really janky to me, so we're re-doing it completely. Our main goal is to create a system that helps you find ore so it doesn't feel like you're just digging randomly, without simply pointing out the ore on your screen. The new system will show you the projected density of ore overlayed on tiles in the world, and if you find a bright enough spot then you'll find ore.
Um, we decided to add cybernetics to the game. I can't fathom what inspired it, but here we are.
The current in-game codex only tracks creatures, but we want to make it more of a generic data storage device. To that end, we're adding the ability to scan structures in the world, and the codex will also track any datapads you find and read.
One of the persistent balance problems we've had with the game was that it was too easy to just take a stack of blocks and wall in any creature you come across. In the next update, we've added a small delay to block building, that can be interrupted if any creature moves through it while it is building in the world.
Anyway, that's what we've been working on. We don't really have a firm ETA for you folks on when it'll make it into the game, but I'd be surprised if it took us more than a month or two to finish this stuff up. Hope everyone has a great 2021! As always, if you have any suggestions, criticisms or just want to say hi then feel free to post a comment on this announcement, make a post in the Steam discussions, or join us at the official Discord Server.
[ 2021-01-09 22:47:58 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Revamped Mining Base Story Content
We're somewhat close to finishing this up, as we have most of the new mechanics, creatures and assets finished. We still need to finish up the new boss, build out the levels and tie everything together.
World Generation
The current worlds are too small, and use up too much memory so we're fixing the glitch. The next update will allow for larger worlds, and those larger worlds are really going to let us play around with making the surface of the planet more interesting.
World Zooming
We're adding the ability to zoom in and out in the world. We also plan on doing UI scaling before leaving Early Access, but this is the first step in future-proofing the game for different screens and resolutions.
Ore Scanning
The current ore scanning has always felt functional but really janky to me, so we're re-doing it completely. Our main goal is to create a system that helps you find ore so it doesn't feel like you're just digging randomly, without simply pointing out the ore on your screen. The new system will show you the projected density of ore overlayed on tiles in the world, and if you find a bright enough spot then you'll find ore.
Cybernetics
Um, we decided to add cybernetics to the game. I can't fathom what inspired it, but here we are.
Parasites that burst out of your stomach
Reworked Codex
The current in-game codex only tracks creatures, but we want to make it more of a generic data storage device. To that end, we're adding the ability to scan structures in the world, and the codex will also track any datapads you find and read.
Block Building Delay
One of the persistent balance problems we've had with the game was that it was too easy to just take a stack of blocks and wall in any creature you come across. In the next update, we've added a small delay to block building, that can be interrupted if any creature moves through it while it is building in the world.
Anyway, that's what we've been working on. We don't really have a firm ETA for you folks on when it'll make it into the game, but I'd be surprised if it took us more than a month or two to finish this stuff up. Hope everyone has a great 2021! As always, if you have any suggestions, criticisms or just want to say hi then feel free to post a comment on this announcement, make a post in the Steam discussions, or join us at the official Discord Server.
[ 2021-01-09 22:47:58 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 20
[ 2020-10-24 00:38:07 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
- New Creature - Ominous Bulb
- New Seed - Ominous Seed(
) - New Flora - Ominous Tree (with 4 color variations)
- Ominous Wood(
) - Ominous Crystal (
) - New Weapon - Ominous Wand
Other Changes
- Base stamina reduced from 200 to 100, but the Well Fed buff now also gives +100 Max Stamina
- Sweet fruit now gives you a buff with +50 max stamina
- Expanded modding API to support scripted projectiles and flora
- Added a setting that enables walking up one block inclines
[ 2020-10-24 00:38:07 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 19
Prior to this update, batteries were very simple and didn't actually hold a charge. You would craft one once and it would run forever. No more! As of this update, batteries must be charged to function. This includes the battery equipped in your MEG tool. We've also added a craftable Capacitor which can be installed in your MEG tool. The capacitor now determines how much available energy you have (Basically it is the old energy bar) while the equipped battery now influences the total pool of power which is displayed underneath the capacitor's energy on the top left of your HUD.
With no capacitor installed and no (or an uncharged) battery installed, you will have only 25 energy available and the charge time of the capacitor's energy will be slow. With a standard capacitor (+75 capacitor charge), then you would have 100 energy (same as prior to this update) and as long as you have a battery equipped with any amount of charge, your capacitor's energy regeneration speed will be faster than what it was prior to this update.
The following structures now require a battery to function. They also have an on/off switch that is accessible by right clicking on the battery port.
In this update, we've added a stamina system. This is something that has been a long time coming, because it took us awhile to come up with a system that gets in the way as little as possible, while adding some more meaningful decisions that have to be made during combat. Dodge rolls, back-jumps, running, jumping and melee attacks all have a melee cost now, and when you completely run out of stamina you will get exhausted for short time which prevents running and slows you down a bit.
While stamina is a thing you'll need to take into account now, it also means we'll be able to use stamina for things like new power attacks, and it will allow us to differentiate the weapons more. We could make clubs heavy, high stamina, slow weapons that do appropriately high damage for example. We want this mechanic to make the game *more* fun, not *less* fun, so let us know how you feel about it after playing with it for a bit. All of the stamina costs, regen values etc are very easy for us to tweak (and even moddable!) so your feedback will help us nail down a system that encourages more thoughtful combat without being annoying.
Earlier this year we started working on mod support, and adding Steam Workshop support was the next obvious step. We've always thought it was very important to support Steam Workshop because of how convenient it makes it for folks to subscribe and search through mods. We've put a few Example Mods on the workshop, and if you would like to make mods you can check out the Modding and the Steam Workshop pages on the Official Wiki. We've also added several mods related to this latest update: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209316957 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209316784 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209317132 Everything about the mod support is still a work in progress, so bare with us as we fix issues that crop up and continue to expand the documentation. If you have any trouble or confusing documentation, we're more than willing to help out. We're usually reachable from the official Discord Server if you run into any issues either using or making mods.
One of the neat things about this workshop support is that we can use it to let folks test out some mechanics that are still a bit of a work in progress. Along with these other changes, we've been tinkering around with some changes to both melee and ranged weapons. To that end, we put out an optional mod on the Workshop that adds a "Test Iron Sword" and a "Test 9mm Pistol" https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2237032351
One of the mechanics that we're considering is adding combos and charged power attacks to melee weapons. The "Test Iron Sword" has the ability to progress through a 3 hit combo by clicking the attack button shortly after hitting a creature, and if you hold the attack button after progressing to the third attack in the combo it will do a flurry attack that attacks very quickly until you run out of stamina. The goal here is to add options for more involved combat in a way that can be pretty much ignored if you don't want to engage with it.
The "Test 9mm Pistol" uses a hipfire by default, and a focus fire with a higher accuracy and rate of fire when the right mouse button is held. Try these out, and let us know if you think we should apply these mechanics to the rest of the weapons in the game.
Sometimes beehives now form on trees. If this happens, try to avoid pissing off the bees, and definitely don't huck them like a crude organic grenade.
This update includes some of the systems and mechanics that we've been working on since the last content update, but we've also been working on story content that isn't quite ready to release. The next story update will include new story elements, alien ruins, new creatures, a new boss and a revamped mining base in the world. That update is about half finished at this point, and we're hoping to get it out before the end of November. Here is one of the creatures that will be in the next update:
After that, our plan is to start working on our plans for the endgame. We've got some *really* cool plans for the endgame section of the game, and we're really looking forward to making it our main priority. Lots of cool stuff ahead, so stay tuned =) As always, we really appreciate any feedback you have. We're inching our way towards finishing the 1.0 version of the game, but we're still very much able and willing to change things based on feedback so don't be shy. Feel free to post a comment on this announcement, make a post in the Steam discussions, or join us at the official Discord Server.
[ 2020-10-02 23:56:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Batteries and Energy
Prior to this update, batteries were very simple and didn't actually hold a charge. You would craft one once and it would run forever. No more! As of this update, batteries must be charged to function. This includes the battery equipped in your MEG tool. We've also added a craftable Capacitor which can be installed in your MEG tool. The capacitor now determines how much available energy you have (Basically it is the old energy bar) while the equipped battery now influences the total pool of power which is displayed underneath the capacitor's energy on the top left of your HUD.
With no capacitor installed and no (or an uncharged) battery installed, you will have only 25 energy available and the charge time of the capacitor's energy will be slow. With a standard capacitor (+75 capacitor charge), then you would have 100 energy (same as prior to this update) and as long as you have a battery equipped with any amount of charge, your capacitor's energy regeneration speed will be faster than what it was prior to this update.
Batteries
- Small Battery - [5000 Capacity] [1x Copper Wire, 1x Lead Ingot, 1x Spitter Extract, 1x Rubber]
- Medium Battery - [10,000 Capacity] [2x Small Battery, 1x Copper Wire]
- Large Battery - [25,000 Capacity] [2x Medium Battery, 1x Copper Wire]
Capacitors
- Makeshift Capacitor - [+25 Capacitor Charge] [1x Copper Wire, 1x Copper Ingot, 1x Beeswax]
- Standard Capacitor - [+75 Capacitor Charge] [1x Copper Wire, 1x Aluminum Ingot, 1x Plastic]
- Advanced Capacitor - [+175 Capacitor Charge] [1x Copper Wire, 1x Silver Ingot, 1x D6 Polymer]
Charging Options
- Solar Charging Station - Slowly trickle charges a battery as long as it is daytime and there are no blocks above it. You should be able to find one on newly generated worlds near the Pioneer Station on the right side.
- Powered Charging Station - A quicker battery charger that will only function if you are on a map that has an activated Pioneer Station Generator.
- Magnetic Inductor - The magnetic inductor (shake weight) will now slowly charge your equipped battery.
Battery Powered Structures
The following structures now require a battery to function. They also have an on/off switch that is accessible by right clicking on the battery port.
- Iris Port Bot Spawner
- Material Printer
- Personal Medbay
- Teleporter
Stamina
In this update, we've added a stamina system. This is something that has been a long time coming, because it took us awhile to come up with a system that gets in the way as little as possible, while adding some more meaningful decisions that have to be made during combat. Dodge rolls, back-jumps, running, jumping and melee attacks all have a melee cost now, and when you completely run out of stamina you will get exhausted for short time which prevents running and slows you down a bit.
While stamina is a thing you'll need to take into account now, it also means we'll be able to use stamina for things like new power attacks, and it will allow us to differentiate the weapons more. We could make clubs heavy, high stamina, slow weapons that do appropriately high damage for example. We want this mechanic to make the game *more* fun, not *less* fun, so let us know how you feel about it after playing with it for a bit. All of the stamina costs, regen values etc are very easy for us to tweak (and even moddable!) so your feedback will help us nail down a system that encourages more thoughtful combat without being annoying.
Steam Workshop
Earlier this year we started working on mod support, and adding Steam Workshop support was the next obvious step. We've always thought it was very important to support Steam Workshop because of how convenient it makes it for folks to subscribe and search through mods. We've put a few Example Mods on the workshop, and if you would like to make mods you can check out the Modding and the Steam Workshop pages on the Official Wiki. We've also added several mods related to this latest update: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209316957 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209316784 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2209317132 Everything about the mod support is still a work in progress, so bare with us as we fix issues that crop up and continue to expand the documentation. If you have any trouble or confusing documentation, we're more than willing to help out. We're usually reachable from the official Discord Server if you run into any issues either using or making mods.
Weapon Mechanic Test
One of the neat things about this workshop support is that we can use it to let folks test out some mechanics that are still a bit of a work in progress. Along with these other changes, we've been tinkering around with some changes to both melee and ranged weapons. To that end, we put out an optional mod on the Workshop that adds a "Test Iron Sword" and a "Test 9mm Pistol" https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2237032351
Melee Weapon Combos and Charge Attacks
One of the mechanics that we're considering is adding combos and charged power attacks to melee weapons. The "Test Iron Sword" has the ability to progress through a 3 hit combo by clicking the attack button shortly after hitting a creature, and if you hold the attack button after progressing to the third attack in the combo it will do a flurry attack that attacks very quickly until you run out of stamina. The goal here is to add options for more involved combat in a way that can be pretty much ignored if you don't want to engage with it.
Ranged Weapon Hipfire and Focus Fire
The "Test 9mm Pistol" uses a hipfire by default, and a focus fire with a higher accuracy and rate of fire when the right mouse button is held. Try these out, and let us know if you think we should apply these mechanics to the rest of the weapons in the game.
Bees
Sometimes beehives now form on trees. If this happens, try to avoid pissing off the bees, and definitely don't huck them like a crude organic grenade.
What's Next?
This update includes some of the systems and mechanics that we've been working on since the last content update, but we've also been working on story content that isn't quite ready to release. The next story update will include new story elements, alien ruins, new creatures, a new boss and a revamped mining base in the world. That update is about half finished at this point, and we're hoping to get it out before the end of November. Here is one of the creatures that will be in the next update:
After that, our plan is to start working on our plans for the endgame. We've got some *really* cool plans for the endgame section of the game, and we're really looking forward to making it our main priority. Lots of cool stuff ahead, so stay tuned =) As always, we really appreciate any feedback you have. We're inching our way towards finishing the 1.0 version of the game, but we're still very much able and willing to change things based on feedback so don't be shy. Feel free to post a comment on this announcement, make a post in the Steam discussions, or join us at the official Discord Server.
[ 2020-10-02 23:56:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 18
Pod fruit is also something that we added.
Our next update will expand the story content, which will involve a significant revamp of the Mining Base (to the right of the Pioneer Station), a new boss, new mechanics and new content related to the [spoiler]intelligent aliens[/spoiler] on the planet. As always, we would love to hear from you about what you like and don't like about the update, as well as any issues you run into or suggestions you have. Feel free to post on this announcement, on the forums, or join our official Discord server. The eventual quality of the game is going to largely depend on the feedback we get from players, so don't be shy!
[ 2020-07-08 18:58:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Plants
- Hard Nut Tree
- Spray Nut Stalk
- Buttery Nut Tree
- Pod Fruit Tree
- Bust Nut Bush
Nuts
- Hard Nut - A hard nut that does damage when thrown at stuff
- Bust Nut - A volatile nut that explodes when it strikes something with sufficient force
- Spray Nut - A volatile nut that sprays shrapnel when it moves too quickly
- Buttery Nut - A volatile nut does medium damage and splits into additional projectils when it strikes something with sufficient force
Pod Fruit
Pod fruit is also something that we added.
Nut Based Technology
- Slingshot - It flings seeds, nuts and rocks.
- Nut Chucker - A farming tool that allows you to rapidly propel and launch seeds and nuts.
What's Next
Our next update will expand the story content, which will involve a significant revamp of the Mining Base (to the right of the Pioneer Station), a new boss, new mechanics and new content related to the [spoiler]intelligent aliens[/spoiler] on the planet. As always, we would love to hear from you about what you like and don't like about the update, as well as any issues you run into or suggestions you have. Feel free to post on this announcement, on the forums, or join our official Discord server. The eventual quality of the game is going to largely depend on the feedback we get from players, so don't be shy!
[ 2020-07-08 18:58:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 17
Prior to this update, nearly every crafted tile in the game had an outline around it which resulted in really blocky looking buildings. With this update, we've gone through and added the ability for tiles to connect with each other in a way that looks a heck of a lot better. All crafted tile types (steel, wood, etc) now have a "wall" tile that can seamlessly stretch in any direction, as well as floor, ceiling and roof tiles that will stretch in a line. We also dramatically improved the visual quality of ores that you find on tiles in the world. Here is what it looks like in action:
As we get (a bit) closer to the 1.0 version of Signs of Life, we've been going through and expanding on some of the elements that weren't very fleshed out. One of the things that has been on our list for a long time was adding more doors, so we did just that. We finally have more than 1 boring wooden door! Here is what they look like in action:
We've added the following doors in this update:
One of the things that has needed work for quite awhile is the equipment menu. We've remade it from the ground up to be larger and more user friendly. It's now a lot less cramped, and it has a panel on the side that lists all of the effects currently active on the player. We also increased the number of equippable accessories to 5.
For a long time we've wanted to add a bunch of new plants, but the plant system we were using wasn't very flexible or dynamic. It got the job done, but it really made it difficult for us to add any new types of plants. So - we ripped it out and re-did it completely. Now plants can be animated, they grow more smoothly, and most importantly it is dramatically easier to add just about any kind of plant that we can imagine. We also built the system from the ground up to be moddable. This update mostly just replaces the existing plants with updated versions, but very soon we'll be adding a whole bunch of new plants, fruits and nuts. You can punch trees (but make sure you wear gloves or it's going to hurt!) which causes the fruits to drop as well as occasionally causes some tree materials to drop out out. In this way, you can gather tree materials without destroying them by whackin' them every now and then.
And you can cut them down, now with fancy animations.
In the very near future we'll continue adding some new plants, as well as some new early-game weapon options that utilize nuts for some nut-based combat. This update will come very shortly (within a week or two). After that, we're going full-steam ahead on the next major content update which will include a significant expansion of the Mining base, as well as a bunch of new mechanics, gadgets, and story content related to the [spoiler]intelligent aliens on the planet.[/spoiler] As always, we would love to hear from you about what you like and don't like about the update, as well as any issues you run into or suggestions you have. Feel free to post on this announcement, on the forums, or join our official Discord server. The eventual quality of the game is going to largely depend on the feedback we get from players, so don't be shy!
[ 2020-06-26 17:08:49 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Improved Tile Drawing
Prior to this update, nearly every crafted tile in the game had an outline around it which resulted in really blocky looking buildings. With this update, we've gone through and added the ability for tiles to connect with each other in a way that looks a heck of a lot better. All crafted tile types (steel, wood, etc) now have a "wall" tile that can seamlessly stretch in any direction, as well as floor, ceiling and roof tiles that will stretch in a line. We also dramatically improved the visual quality of ores that you find on tiles in the world. Here is what it looks like in action:
New Doors
As we get (a bit) closer to the 1.0 version of Signs of Life, we've been going through and expanding on some of the elements that weren't very fleshed out. One of the things that has been on our list for a long time was adding more doors, so we did just that. We finally have more than 1 boring wooden door! Here is what they look like in action:
We've added the following doors in this update:
- Wood Door
- Ramshackle Door
- Stone Door
- Iron Door
- Steel Door
- Granite Door
- Marble Door
- Tech Door
New Equipment Menu
One of the things that has needed work for quite awhile is the equipment menu. We've remade it from the ground up to be larger and more user friendly. It's now a lot less cramped, and it has a panel on the side that lists all of the effects currently active on the player. We also increased the number of equippable accessories to 5.
New Plant System
For a long time we've wanted to add a bunch of new plants, but the plant system we were using wasn't very flexible or dynamic. It got the job done, but it really made it difficult for us to add any new types of plants. So - we ripped it out and re-did it completely. Now plants can be animated, they grow more smoothly, and most importantly it is dramatically easier to add just about any kind of plant that we can imagine. We also built the system from the ground up to be moddable. This update mostly just replaces the existing plants with updated versions, but very soon we'll be adding a whole bunch of new plants, fruits and nuts. You can punch trees (but make sure you wear gloves or it's going to hurt!) which causes the fruits to drop as well as occasionally causes some tree materials to drop out out. In this way, you can gather tree materials without destroying them by whackin' them every now and then.
And you can cut them down, now with fancy animations.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that would cause grid containers to not display all the items that they contain
- Fixed an issue that could result in your escape pod storage or equipment getting mixed up between characters.
- Fixed several crashes
- A bunch of little things not really worth mentioning, but just know that we love you.
What's Next?
In the very near future we'll continue adding some new plants, as well as some new early-game weapon options that utilize nuts for some nut-based combat. This update will come very shortly (within a week or two). After that, we're going full-steam ahead on the next major content update which will include a significant expansion of the Mining base, as well as a bunch of new mechanics, gadgets, and story content related to the [spoiler]intelligent aliens on the planet.[/spoiler] As always, we would love to hear from you about what you like and don't like about the update, as well as any issues you run into or suggestions you have. Feel free to post on this announcement, on the forums, or join our official Discord server. The eventual quality of the game is going to largely depend on the feedback we get from players, so don't be shy!
[ 2020-06-26 17:08:49 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 16
This is where most of the new content is in this update. We've dramatically expanded and redesigned the Pioneer Station to be much more interesting to explore and more fulfilling in terms of story content and mechanics. When you first reach the Pioneer Station the power will be out, and you will need to find a way inside and get the generator working before you'll be able to fully explore the station. There are new weapons and gadgets to find and craft, new creatures and a new boss fight with a certain fowl creature...
We realized that the early game experience can be a bit unforgiving for new players because of the lack of decent heal options, so we revamped the potion systems pretty significantly. Now potions should be accessible much earlier in the overall "tech" progression, and the heal potions do a better job of quickly healing you. Instead of being single use, potions now have a number of charges, and one charge is consumed by each chug of the potion. You can also hold down the drink button to chug the whole potion if you wish. There are 3 tiers of vessels that can hold potions: A glass vessel that holds 3 charges, a standard vessel that holds 4 charges, and a reinforced vessel that can hold 5.
We added platinum ore to the world generator, and added a platinum armor set as well as a sword, spear, axe, pick, club, bow and crossbow. The armor is heavy with high defense, and its set bonus increases your melee damage.
As part of the revamp of the Pioneer Station, we ended up also reworking the way elevators work and have made them craftable by players. Right now there are 2 elevator types, a small "personnel" elevator that is 3 tiles wide, and a large "freight" elevator that is 9 tiles wide. An elevator can travel up and down a track made out of elevator shaft tiles elevator floor tiles. The elevators will stop automatically at the top and bottom of the shaft as well as any of the elevator floor tiles.
We added quite a few new ambient songs that play while you're exploring the world. The songs are:
We've also started exploring mod support. We're still fairly early in the process, but we have gotten it far enough that you can already do some pretty cool stuff with it. We're still figuring things out, so expect things to change and your mods may break as we nail down exactly how it all needs to work. So far, you can mod in the following stuff:
Right now mods can be distributed as zip files, and are placed in a new "Mods" folder in your Documents/My Games/Signs of Life directory. For the most part the mods should work in multiplayer as long as everyone has the same mods. In the future we're planning on setting up Steam Workshop support.
There is very little documentation right now, but we're starting to fill out the Wiki with information about how do get started with modding. If you need help or just want to talk about modding, feel free to make a post in the modding section of the forum or in our official Discord server.
This update took us a heck of a long time to get done, partially because we were re-working a lot of stuff behind the scenes that we've been meaning to do for a long time. On top of the new content that we added, we integrated a new, better animation tool (Spriter), fixed a bunch of issues with our particle effect system and started integrating mod support. These things took us awhile to get working, but they're already paying off in a big way. Long story short, we're really happy with the way things are coming together, and hopefully a lot of the time we invested will result in quicker updates from here on out.
Our primary goal is to continue working on the story content. Our next bit of story content is going to involve a rework of the mining station similar to what we did with the Pioneer Station. As part of that update, we'll be expanding the story and mechanics related to the [spoiler]aliens[/spoiler]. There are just a handful of content updates left to finish the story we have planned for the 1.0 release, so we're getting there! Signs of Life is a work in progress, and we always want to hear your feedback about the current state of the game, so let us know what you like and don't like. Tell us what you think in the comments, the Steam Forums, or our official Discord server.
[ 2020-04-26 23:45:18 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Redesigned Pioneer Station
This is where most of the new content is in this update. We've dramatically expanded and redesigned the Pioneer Station to be much more interesting to explore and more fulfilling in terms of story content and mechanics. When you first reach the Pioneer Station the power will be out, and you will need to find a way inside and get the generator working before you'll be able to fully explore the station. There are new weapons and gadgets to find and craft, new creatures and a new boss fight with a certain fowl creature...
New Potions and Vessels
We realized that the early game experience can be a bit unforgiving for new players because of the lack of decent heal options, so we revamped the potion systems pretty significantly. Now potions should be accessible much earlier in the overall "tech" progression, and the heal potions do a better job of quickly healing you. Instead of being single use, potions now have a number of charges, and one charge is consumed by each chug of the potion. You can also hold down the drink button to chug the whole potion if you wish. There are 3 tiers of vessels that can hold potions: A glass vessel that holds 3 charges, a standard vessel that holds 4 charges, and a reinforced vessel that can hold 5.
Platinum Material Tier
We added platinum ore to the world generator, and added a platinum armor set as well as a sword, spear, axe, pick, club, bow and crossbow. The armor is heavy with high defense, and its set bonus increases your melee damage.
Elevators
As part of the revamp of the Pioneer Station, we ended up also reworking the way elevators work and have made them craftable by players. Right now there are 2 elevator types, a small "personnel" elevator that is 3 tiles wide, and a large "freight" elevator that is 9 tiles wide. An elevator can travel up and down a track made out of elevator shaft tiles elevator floor tiles. The elevators will stop automatically at the top and bottom of the shaft as well as any of the elevator floor tiles.
New Music
We added quite a few new ambient songs that play while you're exploring the world. The songs are:
- Daylight by Andrew kn
- Sphere by Andrew kn
- Surreal Ambient Mix by Andrew kn
- Drops by Andrew kn
- Road in the Forest by Andrew kn
- Thing II by Night Note
- Friday 13. Night meditation by Night Note
- Sunday moved to Monday by Night Note
- Landscape of Dreams by Night Note
- On a smooth surface by Night Note
- I don't have to get up early on the weekend by Night Note
- Away at sea by Night Note
- The way to the constellation Andromeda by Night Note
Experimental Mod Support
We've also started exploring mod support. We're still fairly early in the process, but we have gotten it far enough that you can already do some pretty cool stuff with it. We're still figuring things out, so expect things to change and your mods may break as we nail down exactly how it all needs to work. So far, you can mod in the following stuff:
- Basic items - Simple items that just have a sprite, name, description etc. Examples include things like metal ingots, wood sticks and toilet paper.
- Containers - Any kind of item that holds other items.
- Consumables - Potion vessels, potion types, and food.
- Melee Weapons - You can add simple melee weapons fairly easily, and we've also got some basic lua support working as well for more complicated melee weapons.
- Recipes - You can add new recipes that will be used in the crafting window.
Mod Installation
Right now mods can be distributed as zip files, and are placed in a new "Mods" folder in your Documents/My Games/Signs of Life directory. For the most part the mods should work in multiplayer as long as everyone has the same mods. In the future we're planning on setting up Steam Workshop support.
Mod Creation
There is very little documentation right now, but we're starting to fill out the Wiki with information about how do get started with modding. If you need help or just want to talk about modding, feel free to make a post in the modding section of the forum or in our official Discord server.
Behind the Scenes
This update took us a heck of a long time to get done, partially because we were re-working a lot of stuff behind the scenes that we've been meaning to do for a long time. On top of the new content that we added, we integrated a new, better animation tool (Spriter), fixed a bunch of issues with our particle effect system and started integrating mod support. These things took us awhile to get working, but they're already paying off in a big way. Long story short, we're really happy with the way things are coming together, and hopefully a lot of the time we invested will result in quicker updates from here on out.
What's Next?
Our primary goal is to continue working on the story content. Our next bit of story content is going to involve a rework of the mining station similar to what we did with the Pioneer Station. As part of that update, we'll be expanding the story and mechanics related to the [spoiler]aliens[/spoiler]. There are just a handful of content updates left to finish the story we have planned for the 1.0 release, so we're getting there! Signs of Life is a work in progress, and we always want to hear your feedback about the current state of the game, so let us know what you like and don't like. Tell us what you think in the comments, the Steam Forums, or our official Discord server.
[ 2020-04-26 23:45:18 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life 0.15
[ 2019-10-28 20:55:32 CET ] [ Original post ]
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]
Gameplay Changes
- Improved Gun Aiming
- Accuracy when using guns is now dynamic based on what you're doing and the statistics of different weapons.
- Walking and running will decrease accuracy, and crouching will increase accuracy.
- Added Handling and Recoil statistics to guns.
- Adjusted gun damage
- Most guns have had their damage numbers adjusted.
- Damage is now based on the ammo type as well as the gun type.
- Updated Pioneer Station
- Tweaked the layout of the Pioneer Station a bit. This is an interim step, and the next update should dramatically expand the Pioneer Station.
- Added hostile bot spawners.
- Steel, Silver and Bornite can now only be smelted in the Smelting Furnace.
UI Changes
- Updated gridless player inventory
- Increased the size
- Added crafting and block pouches to the sides that automatically collects relevant items
- Added an option in the Settings Menu to only allow click and drag to pick up items from the world if you do not have weapons equipped. On by default.
- Added an option in the Settings Menu to only allow you to pick up items while your inventory is open. Off by default.
New Content
- New Creatures
- Kinetic Bot
- Fires 9mm rounds.
- Can drop ball bearings, a microchip and 9mm ammo.
- Gauss Bot
- Fires iron projectiles at an extremely fast speed.
- Can drop ball bearings, copper wire, a microchip and a small battery.
- Explosive Bot
- Explodes if it gets close to you.
- Can drop ball bearings, a microchip and an explosive charge (if you don't set it off).
- Tesla Bot
- Zaps you with electricity if you get close.
- Can drop ball bearings, copper wire, a microchip and a small battery.
- Kinetic Bot
- New Guns
- Handguns - C96, Derringer, MK3, Parabellum, Marksman Pistol, Machine Pistol, Wasp 57, M1911, Energy Pistol
- SMGs - Lanchester, Combat SMG, P90, Energy Repeater
- Shotguns - Lupara, Break Barrel Shotgun, Arnie's Gun, Combat Shotgun
- Rifles - Small Game Rifle, Lever Action Rifle, Hunting Rifle, Marksman Rifle, Rex 700, Subsonic Rifle, Energy Rifle
- New Ammo - .22LR Rounds, .45 ACP Rounds, .357 Rounds, .308 Rounds, .700 Rounds
- Ammunition Press - Allows you to break ammunition down into it's constituent parts.
- Explosive Charge - Drops from explosive bots. Can be thrown, and will detonate when shot. It can also optionally be used to craft rockets or grenades.
- Ladders - Added wood and iron ladders. Can be placed like blocks.
New Recipes
- Handguns
- C96 - Crude Handgun Parts
- Derringer - Crude Handgun Parts
- MK3 - Crude Handgun Parts
- Parabellum - Crude Handgun Parts
- Marksman Pistol - Crude Handgun Parts
- Machine Pistol - Steel Handgun Parts
- Wasp 57 - Steel Handgun Parts
- M1911 - Steel Handgun Parts
- Energy Pistol - Steel Handgun Parts / Small Battery / Microchip
- SMGs
- Lanchester - Crude SMG Parts
- Combat SMG - Steel SMG Parts
- P90 - Steel SMG Parts
- Energy Repeater - Steel SMG Parts / Medium Battery / Microchip
- Shotguns
- Break Barrel Shotgun - Crude Shotgun Parts
- Combat Shotgun - Steel Shotgun Parts
- Rifles
- Small Game Rifle - Crude Rifle Parts
- Lever Action Rifle - Crude Rifle Parts
- Hunting Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts
- Marksman Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts
- Rex 700 - Steel Rifle Parts
- Subsonic Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts
- Energy Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts / Large Battery / Microchip
- Gun Parts
- Crude Handgun Parts - 4x Iron Ingot / 2x Rubber / 2x Boards
- Crude SMG Parts - 4x Iron Ingot / 2x Rubber / 2x Boards
- Crude Rifle Parts - 4x Iron Ingot / 2x Rubber / 2x Boards
- Crude Shotgun Parts - 4x Iron Ingot / 2x Rubber / 2x Boards
- Steel Handgun Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x Plastic
- Steel SMG Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x Plastic
- Steel Rifle Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x Plastic
- Steel Shotgun Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x Plastic
- Steel Launcher Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x Plastic
- Advanced Handgun Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x D6 Polymer (Requires Material Printer)
- Advanced Rifle Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x D6 Polymer (Requires Material Printer)
- Advanced Shotgun Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x D6 Polymer (Requires Material Printer)
- Advanced Launcher Parts - 4x Steel Ingot / 2x D6 Polymer (Requires Material Printer)
- Tools
- Ammunition Press - 8x Steel Ingots / 4x Plastic
- Ammo
- .22LR Rounds (x16) - Lead Ingot / Black Powder
- .45ACP Rounds (x9) - Lead Ingot / Black Powder
- .357 Rounds (x6) - Lead Ingot / Black Powder
- .308 Rounds (x6) - Lead Ingot / Black Powder
- .700 Rounds (3) - Lead Ingot / Black Powder
- Dismantle 9mm Ammo - 12x 9mm Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle .45ACP Ammo - 9x .45ACP Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle .357 Ammo - 6x .357 Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle 5.56 Ammo - 6x 5.56 Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle .308 Ammo - 6x .308 Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle .700 Ammo - 3x .700 Rounds (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle Shotgun Shells - 6x Shotgun Shells (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Dismantle Blunderbuss Shells - 6x Blunderbuss Shells (Requires Ammunition Press)
- Ladders
- Wooden Ladder (4x) - Wooden Board
- Iron Ladder (4x) - Iron Ingot
- Decorations
- Small Wooden Window - 2x Wooden Boards / 1x Rubber
- Large Wooden Window - 4x Wooden Boards / 1x Rubber
- Reinforced Background Viewport - 1x Steel Ingot / 1x Plastic / 1x Glass
- Round Reinforced Window - 1x Steel Ingot / 1x Plastic / 1x Glass
- Square Reinforced Window - 1x Steel Ingot / 1x Plastic / 1x Glass
- Square Reinforced Window 2 - 1x Steel Ingot / 1x Plastic / 1x Glass
- Square Reinforced Window 3 - 1x Steel Ingot / 1x Plastic / 1x Glass
Changed Recipes
- Handguns
- Flare Gun - Crude Handgun Parts
- 9mm Pistol - Steel Handgun Parts
- Magnum - Steel Handgun Parts
- Python - Steel Handgun Parts
- Thermite Pistol - Steel Handgun Parts
- Energy Slicer - Steel Handgun Parts / Medium Battery / Microchip
- Laser Pistol - Steel Handgun Parts / Standard Lens / Raw Ruby / Microchip
- Laser Pistol Mk2 - Advanced Handgun Parts / Laser Pistol / Rough Sapphire / Precise Lens
- SMGs
- Clobb - Crude SMG Parts
- Micro SMG - Steel SMG Parts
- Shotguns
- Blunderbuss - Crude Shotgun Parts
- Energy Beam Shotgun - Advanced Shotgun Parts / Power Core / Precise Lens / Microchip (Requires Material Printer)
- Rifles
- Assault Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts
- Burst Rifle - Steel Rifle Parts
- Energy Beam Cannon - Advanced Rifle Parts / Power Core / Precise Lens / Microchip (Requires Material Printer)
- Tesla Rifle - Advanced Rifle Parts / Power Core / Precise Lens / Microchip (Requires Material Printer)
- Launchers
- Rocket Launcher - Steel Launcher Parts
- Grenade Launcher - Steel Launcher Parts
- Railgun - Advanced Launcher Parts / Power Core / 4x Copper Wire
- Hybrid Lobber - Advanced Launcher Parts / Xenoid Dynamo / 2x Xenoid Alloy
- Misc Guns
- Sulfure Gas Gun - Gas Bladder / Crude Rifle Parts
- Chitinous Dart Gun - Crawler Medulla / Crude Handgun Parts
- Spitter Pistol - Spitter Gland / Crude Handgun Parts / Xenohide
- Batteries
- Small Battery - Lead Ingot / Spitter Extract / Rubber / 2x Copper Wire
- Medium Battery - 2x Small Battery / 1x Copper Wire
- Large Battery - 2x Medium Battery / 1x Copper Wire
- Power Core - 2x Large Battery / 1x Copper Wire / 2x Plastic (Requires Material Printer)
- Crafting Tools
- Smelting Furnace - 10x Iron Ingots / 5x Lead Ingots / 5x Aluminum Ingots
Misc Fixes and Changes
- Changed the name of "Bauxite" to "Aluminum Ore" to avoid confusion
- Fixed an issue that would let friends join your game during the introduction map
- Fixed some issues with lighting on the edges of the screen
[ 2019-10-28 20:55:32 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Roadmap
[ 2019-06-26 05:08:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
[ 2019-06-26 05:08:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.14 (Story Introduction and Tutorial)
We have two large goals left before we would be ready to take Signs of Life out of Early Access. One is to finish the story content, and the second is to expand on the existing content by re-working some existing areas, adding bosses and cleaning up issues with the progression through the game. This includes things like finishing up the earlier work we showed with the Spitters, as well as a possible rematch with a certain fowl creature... This update took ages in large part because we couldn't really split it up into smaller pieces, but the things we're going to be working on next are smaller individual chunks so we should be able to get updates out quicker going forward. We feel pretty happy with this intro/tutorial content, but it is still a work in progress. Let us know in the comments, on the Steam forums and in our Discord channel if you have any suggestions, complaints or just want to say hello!
[ 2019-05-31 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
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]
New Content
- Added story introduction and tutorial
- New starting map
- Hephaestus colony ship
- Contains several sections, including the Bridge, Hydroponics, a Medical Bay, a Dormitory, Outfitting, the Hangar and Cryogenics.
- Added generic NPCs as well as 2 named NPCs
- Dr. Stein - The head scientist and captain of the Hephaestus. His office in the bridge, and he can help you with information about your mission to the asteroid.
- Larry - The head engineer of the Hephaestus. His office is above the hangar pod bays, and he can help you diagnose and launch a landing pod to the asteroid.
- Added decorations and furniture for the various sections of the Hephaestus.
- Added a MEG wrist tool install station and diagnostics station in the Outfitting section of the Hephaestus.
- Added a new weapon/tool called the Thermothrower, which can shoot streams of ice and fire. It can be found in the Hangar storage area and it can be refilled using a charging station in the same storage room.
- Added Hephaestus Pick, obtained along with a suit of armor in the Outfitting section of the Hephaestus.
- Added a rivet gun. It fires rivets and can be found in the hangar.
- Asteroid
- Added an asteroid mite creature, and an asteroid mite hat made from its skin and entrails.
- [spoiler]Underground alien structure[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Added an alien altar that is missing a crystal and has a slot for the "Strange Device".[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Added an alien boss[/spoiler]
- Added a short story related cutscene that plays at the end of the new content.
- Hephaestus colony ship
- New starting map
- Added a Help menu with entries about various topics.
- Added a Seismic Imager structure that can be used to scan the area and add the data to your minimap.
Gameplay Changes
- Added AGIS Investigate bind (I by default) that allows you to ask agis about something in the world without first opening his dialog.
- Removed most left click interactions in the world, and replaced then with right clicks. Let us know if you notice spots where we still have you left click to interact with a device or thing in the world.
- Prevented weapons from using their alternate fire when right clicking to interact with something in the world. This fix must be applied to things individually and I'm sure we missed some, so let us know if/when you notice this issue in the future.
- The Multipass is now obtained in your starting room after you've gotten dressed and eaten some food.
- [spoiler]Moved the "Strange Device" to the end of this area. Previously it was located on Osiris in the mining base.[/spoiler]
Misc Changes
- Added a unique respawn effect when you are respawned by the [spoiler]alien Xenolith.[/spoiler]
- Added an idle animation that plays when you are using your inventory.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that was causing the game to crash on launch on 32 bit systems
- Fixed display issues with various items in the grid inventory.
- Fixed some foods not stacking correctly.
- Fixed an issue with placeable items such as torches when using the grid inventory option.
- Fixed a bunch of graphical and gameplay issues with the [spoiler]alien ship you reach by portal.[/spoiler]
- Fixed an issue that may have been causing food to not get eaten despite showing the animation. Let us know if this problem shows up again.
- A whole bunch of tiny things that I can't remember.
What is up next
We have two large goals left before we would be ready to take Signs of Life out of Early Access. One is to finish the story content, and the second is to expand on the existing content by re-working some existing areas, adding bosses and cleaning up issues with the progression through the game. This includes things like finishing up the earlier work we showed with the Spitters, as well as a possible rematch with a certain fowl creature... This update took ages in large part because we couldn't really split it up into smaller pieces, but the things we're going to be working on next are smaller individual chunks so we should be able to get updates out quicker going forward. We feel pretty happy with this intro/tutorial content, but it is still a work in progress. Let us know in the comments, on the Steam forums and in our Discord channel if you have any suggestions, complaints or just want to say hello!
[ 2019-05-31 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
What We're Working On, November 2018
[ 2018-11-02 22:06:09 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
[ 2018-11-02 22:06:09 CET ] [ Original post ]
What we're working on, August 2018
[ 2018-08-02 19:58:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
[ 2018-08-02 19:58:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.12
[ 2018-06-21 09:54:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
- A new [spoiler]alien themed aread[/spoiler] to explore
- The area is entered via [spoiler]a portal that the Xenoid scouts open from their deployment pods that drop to the ground after you attempt to contact the Hephaestus with the satellite dish in the Pioneer Station.[/spoiler]
- 2 new [spoiler]intelligent alien[/spoiler] creatures
- [spoiler] A Xenoid Specialist that shoots fireballs [/spoiler]
- [spoiler] A tanky soldier Xenoid [/spoiler]
- All of the [spoiler]Xenoid aliens can now teleport to the player as long as there is an unobstructed path.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler] A Xenoid Specialist that shoots fireballs [/spoiler]
- 3 new [spoiler]less intelligent alien[/spoiler] creatures
- [spoiler] A ProtoXenoid Crab [/spoiler]
- [spoiler] A ProtoXenoid Slug [/spoiler]
- [spoiler] A ProtoXenoid Hound [/spoiler]
- A new [spoiler]alien[/spoiler] device that can be used to [spoiler]duplicate items.[/spoiler]
- The device has [spoiler]4 crystals that must be stabilized with alien energy[/spoiler] in order for the machine to function.
- The [spoiler]crystals will spawn ProtoXenoids from special portals when the machine is on and the crystals are not stabilized.[/spoiler]
- Items placed on the device's tray will [spoiler]be pulled up into the machine when the lever on the device is set to the on position.[/spoiler]
- Once an item is pulled up into the machine, it will slowly be [spoiler]duplicated[/spoiler].
- A [spoiler]Alien Turret that fires alien energy projectiles.[/spoiler]
- A [spoiler]Xenoid Reflector[/spoiler] that can be used to [spoiler]redirect alien energy projectiles[/spoiler].
- Devices that can temporarily or permanently [spoiler]provide power to connected alien devices after they are struck by an alien energy projectile.[/spoiler]
- A device that [spoiler]disables the power in the new area, which disables the duplication machine, prevents the aliens from respawning and prevents the alien pods from dropping to the surface of the planet.[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]alien wiring that connects the new alien devices to power sources.[/spoiler]
Gameplay Changes
- You no longer need to manually scan the environment to fill your map. Your surroundings are now scanned automatically
- Added a Codex to track information that you have discovered about creatures, including a description and a list of drops
- The primary function of the wrist scanner gadget is now used to scan creatures and add their information to the codex
- Creatures should be more persistent. If you build a house and put a chicken in it, the chicken should never disappear unless you kill it. Our intention is to move in the direction of letting you "farm" creatures for resources, and this is a step towards that.
- Increased the range of the wrist light
- Improved functioning and reliability of the grapple laser. It still needs improvements to its functionality and graphics, but it should be better now.
- Herb Catalysts and Remedial Herbs now get automatically sorted into Forager pouches.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some issues that would cause weapons and gadgets to stop firing occasionally.
- Fixed an issue that would cause the inventory grid/gridless setting to not save
- Fixed a graphical issue that would cause asteroids to be visible for a few seconds after entering the game
- Fixed an issue that would cause the Backglider equipment to jiggle around when placed on a surface
- Fixed some issues related to dying while using the Grapple laser
- Fixed an issue that would cause the stone pressure plates to not function correctly sometimes
UI Changes
- Enabled VSync by default. Let us know if you notice any new lagginess or input delay.
- Added tooltips for items in the hotbar
- Added an "info" button to the hotbar slots that opens the selected item's details
- Changed the default font size from Small to Medium
- Improved the descriptions for some of the creatures. Our intention is to do a pass over all the item and creature descriptions soon since quite a few of them need to be improved.
- Now that the world is scanned automatically as you explore, the scan button on the HUD has been changed so that it now opens the minimap.
- The various refiners (campfire, brick oven, advanced smelter) now require you to insert a firestarter.
- Added tooltips and error messages for the refiners
- Recipes that require a "heat source" will now recognize nearby (active) refiners as heat sources.
Graphics Changes
- Improved and enlarged many item sprites.
Known Issues
- We're not done decorating the new area, and we need to add some more/better rewards to find
- There are likely still some multiplayer bugs, but I'll be squashing them as they come up.
- Some sound FX are still missing for the new creatures and some new structures, but they'll be coming over the next couple weeks.
- Currently, if you destroy all the alien drop pods (that drop to the surface of the planet and spawn the Xenoid Scouts) after [spoiler]disabling the power in the new area,[/spoiler] then you will be unable to enter/exit the new area.
What is next?
- Our next goal is to flesh out this new area a bit. We're going to add a boss fight as well as some new weapons, armor and gadgets. Much of the planned work is already finished, so this should happen before the end of next month.
- Our next planned large content update is going to be the intro/tutorial. This is something that we've been putting off for awhile because we wanted to make sure we didn't miss tutorializing anything important, but I think at this point we have a pretty good idea about what things give players trouble early on. We're always interested in hearing what gives folks trouble when they're first learning the game though, so don't be shy! The more feedback we get about the early hours of playing the game, the better the tutorial will end up being.
[ 2018-06-21 09:54:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.10.0
[ 2017-12-20 18:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Story Content
- Added an [spoiler]Alien pod that occasionally drops down on the surface of the planet after you've attempted to use the Pioneer Comm panel with the satellite repaired. Another will spawn every 20-30 minutes as long as the player is on the surface of the planet near a flat spot of land.[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Alien enemy that spawns from the alien pods. Another spawns every 60 seconds or so[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]damaged alien alloy and damaged alien dynamo drops when you kill the aliens[/spoiler]
- The [spoiler]alien refinery (the alien device with the 3 circles that can process the strange purple ore)[/spoiler] can now be used to process [spoiler]damaged alien alloy and damaged alien dynamos[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Hybrid Lobber explosive energy weapon[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Double-jump backpack and Momentum Preserver backpack.[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Hybrid armor set[/spoiler]
Gameplay Changes
- Re-worked the new character intro sequence, it is now much more succinct ;)
- Expanded the functionality of the Material Grinder
- Grinder can now grind up any craftable item and returns some of the items used to craft it.
- Grinder can now be opened, and the grinder can be fitted with a stone, iron or steel grinding blade. Better blades give you a better material yield when disassembling items.
- Grinder now requires a battery to function, and better batteries make it run faster.
- Removed salvage kit recipes, as their functionality has now been replaced by the Material Grinder.
- The AGIS call button on the HUD now lets you ask AGIS for advice about what you should be doing. We want this to be an unintrusive way for players to get some direction about what they can be doing to move the story forward.
- The AGIS call button on the HUD now also lets you ask AGIS about structures in the world.
- Prevented some creatures from spawning near the escape pod to make things a bit easier for new players.
- Tweaked material and ore generation. Let us know if you have trouble finding anything in particular, this may still need some tweaking.
UI Changes
- Added a grid based inventory option. You can either set this per container by clicking the grid button on containers or you can set the default you'd like to use from the settings menu.
- Made the various menus more visually consistent and fixed various display issues.
- You can now close the inventory without closing other containers or menus.
- Tab now opens and closes just the inventory, as well as any open containers that are in your inventory.
- Escape now closes the most recently used menu or container, and will open the main menu if you press escape with no menus or containers open.
- A bunch of small changes related to font sizes, but there is still some work to be done here to make sure the game always respects your font size option in every menu.
New Recipes
- Stone Grinder Blade - 12x Basalt Blocks, 4x Grey Rock, Requires Hammer
- Iron Grinder Blade - 12x Iron Ingots, Requires Iron Anvil
- Steel Grinder Blade - 12x Steel Ingots, Requires Material Printer
- [spoiler]Hybrid Lobber - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 1x Steel Gun Parts, 4x Plastic[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Double Jump Backpack - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Momentum Preserver - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Helmet - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Torso - 4x Strange Alloy, 4x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Arms - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Gloves - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Leggings - 4x Strange Alloy, 4x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Boots - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Reactor Pack - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that could result in instant death if you were wearing something with damage reflect and got damaged by caltrops
- The game should launch faster in Steam now.
- Fixed some world generation bugs that would cause the generation to get stuck. Not 100% sure we've fixed all of these, so let us know if your world generator ever gets stuck.
- Fixed an issue that would cause you to take damage when eating certain mushrooms
- Fixed an issue that would cause the player to get stuck for a few seconds after using the respawners
- Fixed a crash related to having an extremely large number of characters in the character select menu
- Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the game to display in the wrong place when using the borderless window display mode
- A bunch of small issues
[ 2017-12-20 18:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.10.0
[ 2017-12-20 18:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Story Content
- Added an [spoiler]Alien pod that occasionally drops down on the surface of the planet after you've attempted to use the Pioneer Comm panel with the satellite repaired. Another will spawn every 20-30 minutes as long as the player is on the surface of the planet near a flat spot of land.[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Alien enemy that spawns from the alien pods. Another spawns every 60 seconds or so[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]damaged alien alloy and damaged alien dynamo drops when you kill the aliens[/spoiler]
- The [spoiler]alien refinery (the alien device with the 3 circles that can process the strange purple ore)[/spoiler] can now be used to process [spoiler]damaged alien alloy and damaged alien dynamos[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Hybrid Lobber explosive energy weapon[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Double-jump backpack and Momentum Preserver backpack.[/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler]Hybrid armor set[/spoiler]
Gameplay Changes
- Re-worked the new character intro sequence, it is now much more succinct ;)
- Expanded the functionality of the Material Grinder
- Grinder can now grind up any craftable item and returns some of the items used to craft it.
- Grinder can now be opened, and the grinder can be fitted with a stone, iron or steel grinding blade. Better blades give you a better material yield when disassembling items.
- Grinder now requires a battery to function, and better batteries make it run faster.
- Removed salvage kit recipes, as their functionality has now been replaced by the Material Grinder.
- The AGIS call button on the HUD now lets you ask AGIS for advice about what you should be doing. We want this to be an unintrusive way for players to get some direction about what they can be doing to move the story forward.
- The AGIS call button on the HUD now also lets you ask AGIS about structures in the world.
- Prevented some creatures from spawning near the escape pod to make things a bit easier for new players.
- Tweaked material and ore generation. Let us know if you have trouble finding anything in particular, this may still need some tweaking.
UI Changes
- Added a grid based inventory option. You can either set this per container by clicking the grid button on containers or you can set the default you'd like to use from the settings menu.
- Made the various menus more visually consistent and fixed various display issues.
- You can now close the inventory without closing other containers or menus.
- Tab now opens and closes just the inventory, as well as any open containers that are in your inventory.
- Escape now closes the most recently used menu or container, and will open the main menu if you press escape with no menus or containers open.
- A bunch of small changes related to font sizes, but there is still some work to be done here to make sure the game always respects your font size option in every menu.
New Recipes
- Stone Grinder Blade - 12x Basalt Blocks, 4x Grey Rock, Requires Hammer
- Iron Grinder Blade - 12x Iron Ingots, Requires Iron Anvil
- Steel Grinder Blade - 12x Steel Ingots, Requires Material Printer
- [spoiler]Hybrid Lobber - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 1x Steel Gun Parts, 4x Plastic[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Double Jump Backpack - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Momentum Preserver - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Helmet - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Torso - 4x Strange Alloy, 4x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Arms - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Gloves - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Leggings - 4x Strange Alloy, 4x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Boots - 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Hybrid Reactor Pack - 1x Strange Dynamo, 2x Strange Alloy, 2x Steel Ingots[/spoiler]
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that could result in instant death if you were wearing something with damage reflect and got damaged by caltrops
- The game should launch faster in Steam now.
- Fixed some world generation bugs that would cause the generation to get stuck. Not 100% sure we've fixed all of these, so let us know if your world generator ever gets stuck.
- Fixed an issue that would cause you to take damage when eating certain mushrooms
- Fixed an issue that would cause the player to get stuck for a few seconds after using the respawners
- Fixed a crash related to having an extremely large number of characters in the character select menu
- Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the game to display in the wrong place when using the borderless window display mode
- A bunch of small issues
[ 2017-12-20 18:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.9
This update is intended to add some flavor to the world and make it feel a bit more lively. Weve added several new creatures to the upper parts of the world, particularly on the surface of the far side of the planet as well as relatively shallow underground. Weve also added some new areas to explore (and a new boss) that are related to the new creatures. You will need to generate a new world from the sandbox menu or create a new character to see much of the new content. Here are a couple of the new creatures:
In addition to the new creatures and related content, we added a bit of story content and changed some of the existing progression a bit. We added a new button on the Pioneer Station comm device (the device that requires the battery on the top floor) and there is a new satellite dish on top of the Pioneer station, but it seems to be missing a component
We also changed the method of obtaining the Level 2 keycard upgrade - The upgrade device is now found in [spoiler]the captains room in the Pioneer Station barracks.[/spoiler] This update is fairly light on the direct story content, but the next update should expand on the story and the mysteries of the planet quite a bit.
We re-worked the cooking/food system quite a bit. Prior to this update only a handful of food items had buffs associated with them, but in this update weve added buff effects to most of the foods. All fruits, mushrooms and meats now have buffs that you can get by eating them. In previous versions, youve been able to cook food by using the crafting menu, but now cooking is done similar to how ore is processed. Weve added pop-up menu when you right click the campfire, and you can both cook food and process ores in the same devices.
The campfire has just one slot for ingredients, but the brick oven and advanced smelter both have 2 slots, which allows you to combine some food items to create new recipes. For example, a Juicy Fruit will give you a heal over time and a sporepod mushroom will temporarily increase your max health. Both items will fill 1/4th of your stomach, but if you cook them together you can make a food item that will give you both buffs and still just fill 1/4th of your stomach. You can also cook a fruit with a plant fiber to make Fruit Chews, which give you longer lasting buffs that fill less of your stomach.
Some of the new creatures can inflict a bleed status effect on you, so we added Primitive Bandages (can be made with plant fiber) and Cloth Bandages that can stop the bleeding status. In addition, you can add some medicinal herbs to the cloth bandage in order to make a Poultice Bandage that heals you.
All of these recipes are obtained by destroying matching projects that are in the world with your wrist laser.
Most of these new status effects are currently attached to various food items.
[ 2017-05-30 23:17:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Content
This update is intended to add some flavor to the world and make it feel a bit more lively. Weve added several new creatures to the upper parts of the world, particularly on the surface of the far side of the planet as well as relatively shallow underground. Weve also added some new areas to explore (and a new boss) that are related to the new creatures. You will need to generate a new world from the sandbox menu or create a new character to see much of the new content. Here are a couple of the new creatures:
Story Content
In addition to the new creatures and related content, we added a bit of story content and changed some of the existing progression a bit. We added a new button on the Pioneer Station comm device (the device that requires the battery on the top floor) and there is a new satellite dish on top of the Pioneer station, but it seems to be missing a component
We also changed the method of obtaining the Level 2 keycard upgrade - The upgrade device is now found in [spoiler]the captains room in the Pioneer Station barracks.[/spoiler] This update is fairly light on the direct story content, but the next update should expand on the story and the mysteries of the planet quite a bit.
Food/Cooking Changes
We re-worked the cooking/food system quite a bit. Prior to this update only a handful of food items had buffs associated with them, but in this update weve added buff effects to most of the foods. All fruits, mushrooms and meats now have buffs that you can get by eating them. In previous versions, youve been able to cook food by using the crafting menu, but now cooking is done similar to how ore is processed. Weve added pop-up menu when you right click the campfire, and you can both cook food and process ores in the same devices.
The campfire has just one slot for ingredients, but the brick oven and advanced smelter both have 2 slots, which allows you to combine some food items to create new recipes. For example, a Juicy Fruit will give you a heal over time and a sporepod mushroom will temporarily increase your max health. Both items will fill 1/4th of your stomach, but if you cook them together you can make a food item that will give you both buffs and still just fill 1/4th of your stomach. You can also cook a fruit with a plant fiber to make Fruit Chews, which give you longer lasting buffs that fill less of your stomach.
Other Content
Some of the new creatures can inflict a bleed status effect on you, so we added Primitive Bandages (can be made with plant fiber) and Cloth Bandages that can stop the bleeding status. In addition, you can add some medicinal herbs to the cloth bandage in order to make a Poultice Bandage that heals you.
New Cooking Recipes:
- Glazed Mushrooms - Any mushroom + any fruit
- Glazed Meat - Any Meat + any fruit
- Meat with Mushrooms - Any Meat + any mushroom
- Fruit Chews - Cook any fruit + plant fiber
- Gleaming Syrup - Ant Bulb/Ant Ichor/Ant Chitin + Sap
- Bitter Jelly - Jiggly Fruit + Lovely Herb
- Strange Compote - Strange Egg + Blue Fruit
- Pulsing Paste - Strange Egg + Jiggly Fruit
- Cooked Steal - Raw Choice Meat
- Zesty Mash - Bana Fruit + Grey Mushroom
New Crafting Recipes:
- Primitive Bandage - 4x Plant Fibers
- Cloth Bandage - 1x Cotton Bolt/Wool Bolt/Linen Bolt/Scrap of Cloth (requires scissors)
- Poultice Bandage - 1x Cloth Bandage + 1x Lovely Herb
- Makeshift Shiv - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
- Makeshift Spear - 1x Makeshift Shiv + 1x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
- Makeshift Blow Pipe - 3x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Wood Dowel + 2x Plant Fiber
- Blow Dart (x6) - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 2x Bone
- Tortoise Shell Brace - 6x Carapace + 1x Iron Ingot + 4x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding
- Tortoise Hammer - 1x Mature Tortoise Gland + 4x Carapace + 2x Iron Ingots + 2x Logs
- Makeshift Tribal Shield - 4x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding + 2x
- Leather Strap/Plated Hide Strap/Xenohide Strap
- Iron Caltrops (x3) - 1x Iron Ingot
- Fruit Seeds (x2) - 1x Any Fruit
- Pumpkin Seeds (x2-x8) - 1x Pumpkin
- Snare - 4x Makeshift Scrap
- Sticks (x3) - 1x Log (requires saw)
- Pumpkin Rind (x2-x6) - 1x Pumpkin
New Projects
All of these recipes are obtained by destroying matching projects that are in the world with your wrist laser.
- Spike Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones
- Poison Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 8x Bones
- Snare Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones
Recipe Changes
- All gem upgrade recipes require 2 instead of 3 gems. We will probably eventually change this back once we have more sources for gems in the world.
New Status Effects
Most of these new status effects are currently attached to various food items.
- Increased Jump Height
- Light Aura - Generates light around the player
- Increased Max Energy
- Increased Max Health
- Increased Melee Damage
- Protection - Reduces damage from all sources
- Resist bleed - reduces duration and severity of bleeding
- Increased Strange Tablet Damage - Increases the damage of all abilities used through the Strange Tablet device
- Reduced Strange Energy Requirement - Reduces required strange energy for Strange Tablet abilities
- Improved Dodge - Dodge roll or backjump further than normal
- Bleeding - Slow damage over time, which can be cured by using a bandage. Inflicted by blow darts.
- Spore Poison & Vulnerability - Increases damage from all sources
Misc Fixes
- Fixed some issues where certain sounds would play at full volume regardless of distance. Let us know if you notice any other sound fx that seem too loud.
- Changed the projectile attack of the golems. Instead of throwing rocks, they now use some kind of sufficiently advanced technology to levitate materials out of the ground and fling them at players
- Fixed some issues that would cause certain tooltips to not appear when they should.
Known Issues:
- The world generator may get stuck while generating worlds. We think we've fixed all the cases where this can happen, but we can't be completely sure that there are no more lingering issues. If you run into this issue, definitely let us know.
[ 2017-05-30 23:17:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.9
This update is intended to add some flavor to the world and make it feel a bit more lively. We’ve added several new creatures to the upper parts of the world, particularly on the surface of the far side of the planet as well as relatively shallow underground. We’ve also added some new areas to explore (and a new boss) that are related to the new creatures. You will need to generate a new world from the sandbox menu or create a new character to see much of the new content. Here are a couple of the new creatures:
In addition to the new creatures and related content, we added a bit of story content and changed some of the existing progression a bit. We added a new button on the Pioneer Station comm device (the device that requires the battery on the top floor) and there is a new satellite dish on top of the Pioneer station, but it seems to be missing a component…
We also changed the method of obtaining the Level 2 keycard upgrade - The upgrade device is now found in [spoiler]the captain’s room in the Pioneer Station barracks.[/spoiler] This update is fairly light on the direct story content, but the next update should expand on the story and the mysteries of the planet quite a bit.
We re-worked the cooking/food system quite a bit. Prior to this update only a handful of food items had buffs associated with them, but in this update we’ve added buff effects to most of the foods. All fruits, mushrooms and meats now have buffs that you can get by eating them. In previous versions, you’ve been able to cook food by using the crafting menu, but now cooking is done similar to how ore is processed. We’ve added pop-up menu when you right click the campfire, and you can both cook food and process ores in the same devices.
The campfire has just one slot for ingredients, but the brick oven and advanced smelter both have 2 slots, which allows you to combine some food items to create new recipes. For example, a Juicy Fruit will give you a heal over time and a sporepod mushroom will temporarily increase your max health. Both items will fill 1/4th of your stomach, but if you cook them together you can make a food item that will give you both buffs and still just fill 1/4th of your stomach. You can also cook a fruit with a plant fiber to make Fruit Chews, which give you longer lasting buffs that fill less of your stomach.
Some of the new creatures can inflict a bleed status effect on you, so we added Primitive Bandages (can be made with plant fiber) and Cloth Bandages that can stop the bleeding status. In addition, you can add some medicinal herbs to the cloth bandage in order to make a Poultice Bandage that heals you.
All of these recipes are obtained by destroying matching projects that are in the world with your wrist laser.
Most of these new status effects are currently attached to various food items.
[ 2017-05-30 23:17:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Content
This update is intended to add some flavor to the world and make it feel a bit more lively. We’ve added several new creatures to the upper parts of the world, particularly on the surface of the far side of the planet as well as relatively shallow underground. We’ve also added some new areas to explore (and a new boss) that are related to the new creatures. You will need to generate a new world from the sandbox menu or create a new character to see much of the new content. Here are a couple of the new creatures:
Story Content
In addition to the new creatures and related content, we added a bit of story content and changed some of the existing progression a bit. We added a new button on the Pioneer Station comm device (the device that requires the battery on the top floor) and there is a new satellite dish on top of the Pioneer station, but it seems to be missing a component…
We also changed the method of obtaining the Level 2 keycard upgrade - The upgrade device is now found in [spoiler]the captain’s room in the Pioneer Station barracks.[/spoiler] This update is fairly light on the direct story content, but the next update should expand on the story and the mysteries of the planet quite a bit.
Food/Cooking Changes
We re-worked the cooking/food system quite a bit. Prior to this update only a handful of food items had buffs associated with them, but in this update we’ve added buff effects to most of the foods. All fruits, mushrooms and meats now have buffs that you can get by eating them. In previous versions, you’ve been able to cook food by using the crafting menu, but now cooking is done similar to how ore is processed. We’ve added pop-up menu when you right click the campfire, and you can both cook food and process ores in the same devices.
The campfire has just one slot for ingredients, but the brick oven and advanced smelter both have 2 slots, which allows you to combine some food items to create new recipes. For example, a Juicy Fruit will give you a heal over time and a sporepod mushroom will temporarily increase your max health. Both items will fill 1/4th of your stomach, but if you cook them together you can make a food item that will give you both buffs and still just fill 1/4th of your stomach. You can also cook a fruit with a plant fiber to make Fruit Chews, which give you longer lasting buffs that fill less of your stomach.
Other Content
Some of the new creatures can inflict a bleed status effect on you, so we added Primitive Bandages (can be made with plant fiber) and Cloth Bandages that can stop the bleeding status. In addition, you can add some medicinal herbs to the cloth bandage in order to make a Poultice Bandage that heals you.
New Cooking Recipes:
- Glazed Mushrooms - Any mushroom + any fruit
- Glazed Meat - Any Meat + any fruit
- Meat with Mushrooms - Any Meat + any mushroom
- Fruit Chews - Cook any fruit + plant fiber
- Gleaming Syrup - Ant Bulb/Ant Ichor/Ant Chitin + Sap
- Bitter Jelly - Jiggly Fruit + Lovely Herb
- Strange Compote - Strange Egg + Blue Fruit
- Pulsing Paste - Strange Egg + Jiggly Fruit
- Cooked Steal - Raw Choice Meat
- Zesty Mash - Bana Fruit + Grey Mushroom
New Crafting Recipes:
- Primitive Bandage - 4x Plant Fibers
- Cloth Bandage - 1x Cotton Bolt/Wool Bolt/Linen Bolt/Scrap of Cloth (requires scissors)
- Poultice Bandage - 1x Cloth Bandage + 1x Lovely Herb
- Makeshift Shiv - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
- Makeshift Spear - 1x Makeshift Shiv + 1x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
- Makeshift Blow Pipe - 3x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Wood Dowel + 2x Plant Fiber
- Blow Dart (x6) - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 2x Bone
- Tortoise Shell Brace - 6x Carapace + 1x Iron Ingot + 4x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding
- Tortoise Hammer - 1x Mature Tortoise Gland + 4x Carapace + 2x Iron Ingots + 2x Logs
- Makeshift Tribal Shield - 4x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding + 2x
- Leather Strap/Plated Hide Strap/Xenohide Strap
- Iron Caltrops (x3) - 1x Iron Ingot
- Fruit Seeds (x2) - 1x Any Fruit
- Pumpkin Seeds (x2-x8) - 1x Pumpkin
- Snare - 4x Makeshift Scrap
- Sticks (x3) - 1x Log (requires saw)
- Pumpkin Rind (x2-x6) - 1x Pumpkin
New Projects
All of these recipes are obtained by destroying matching projects that are in the world with your wrist laser.
- Spike Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones
- Poison Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 8x Bones
- Snare Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones
Recipe Changes
- All gem upgrade recipes require 2 instead of 3 gems. We will probably eventually change this back once we have more sources for gems in the world.
New Status Effects
Most of these new status effects are currently attached to various food items.
- Increased Jump Height
- Light Aura - Generates light around the player
- Increased Max Energy
- Increased Max Health
- Increased Melee Damage
- Protection - Reduces damage from all sources
- Resist bleed - reduces duration and severity of bleeding
- Increased Strange Tablet Damage - Increases the damage of all abilities used through the Strange Tablet device
- Reduced Strange Energy Requirement - Reduces required strange energy for Strange Tablet abilities
- Improved Dodge - Dodge roll or backjump further than normal
- Bleeding - Slow damage over time, which can be cured by using a bandage. Inflicted by blow darts.
- Spore Poison & Vulnerability - Increases damage from all sources
Misc Fixes
- Fixed some issues where certain sounds would play at full volume regardless of distance. Let us know if you notice any other sound fx that seem too loud.
- Changed the projectile attack of the golems. Instead of throwing rocks, they now use some kind of sufficiently advanced technology to levitate materials out of the ground and fling them at players
- Fixed some issues that would cause certain tooltips to not appear when they should.
Known Issues:
- The world generator may get stuck while generating worlds. We think we've fixed all the cases where this can happen, but we can't be completely sure that there are no more lingering issues. If you run into this issue, definitely let us know.
[ 2017-05-30 23:17:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.8
[ 2017-02-07 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Features
- Added Linux OS support
- Added support for resolutions higher than 2048x2048 (tested up to 4k)
- Added Grapple Laser function to the MEG tool. Activated by holding and releasing C by default and uses energy to stick you to walls and ceilings. You can press S by default to release the grapple. The grapple laser is still a bit of a work in progress, but we figured it was too useful to hold back until we get it just right. Expect some changes to this over time.
- Emeralds - Can be inserted into the MEG tool in order to increase the efficiency of the grapple laser
- Added an option for the minimap that lets you use a UI popup instead of the projected minimap. The option is in the settings menu, and the popup is opened with the minimap key and can then be docked wherever you'd like on your screen.
- Reworked start screen menus to be easier to use and work better on all resolutions
Known Issues
- The new version of the game requires at least Windows 7 and an OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics device. We believe that the vast majority of players should still be able to play, but there will be some players who will be unable to play the new version even if they were able to play old versions. We're still investigating what we can do to lower the requirements further, so if you are unable to play the game after this update please email your system information (OS version and graphics device) to playsignsoflife@gmail.com. We've put up the previous version as a beta option (xna_version_0.7.6.6) which you should still be able to play, but that version will not get future fixes or new content.
- Occasionally, certain sounds will play louder than they should. We fixed most of the instances of this, but let us know if/when you notice it.
Gameplay Changes
- Increased the width of all map sizes by about 50%, we'll increase it even further after we spend some time optimizing the world generation speed.
- Tweaked some parts of the bases on the world to make them a bit more interesting
- Increased the player's base jump height slightly
- Reduced the damage of the infected sheep from 25 per hit to 10
- Made cooked food give you more fullness
[ 2017-02-07 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.8
[ 2017-02-07 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Features
- Added Linux OS support
- Added support for resolutions higher than 2048x2048 (tested up to 4k)
- Added Grapple Laser function to the MEG tool. Activated by holding and releasing C by default and uses energy to stick you to walls and ceilings. You can press S by default to release the grapple. The grapple laser is still a bit of a work in progress, but we figured it was too useful to hold back until we get it just right. Expect some changes to this over time.
- Emeralds - Can be inserted into the MEG tool in order to increase the efficiency of the grapple laser
- Added an option for the minimap that lets you use a UI popup instead of the projected minimap. The option is in the settings menu, and the popup is opened with the minimap key and can then be docked wherever you'd like on your screen.
- Reworked start screen menus to be easier to use and work better on all resolutions
Known Issues
- The new version of the game requires at least Windows 7 and an OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics device. We believe that the vast majority of players should still be able to play, but there will be some players who will be unable to play the new version even if they were able to play old versions. We're still investigating what we can do to lower the requirements further, so if you are unable to play the game after this update please email your system information (OS version and graphics device) to playsignsoflife@gmail.com. We've put up the previous version as a beta option (xna_version_0.7.6.6) which you should still be able to play, but that version will not get future fixes or new content.
- Occasionally, certain sounds will play louder than they should. We fixed most of the instances of this, but let us know if/when you notice it.
Gameplay Changes
- Increased the width of all map sizes by about 50%, we'll increase it even further after we spend some time optimizing the world generation speed.
- Tweaked some parts of the bases on the world to make them a bit more interesting
- Increased the player's base jump height slightly
- Reduced the damage of the infected sheep from 25 per hit to 10
- Made cooked food give you more fullness
[ 2017-02-07 13:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7.6 - Happy Halloween!
[ 2016-10-30 18:54:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
- Ghost creature
- Ghost Hide armor set
- Ghost Hide Helmet
- Ghost Hide Torso
- Ghost Hide Leggings
- Ghost Hide Gloves
- Ghost Hide Boots
- Ghost Hide Arms
- Ghost Blade
- Soul Vessel
- Another creature
- Pumpkin Bushes and Pumpkins
- Pumpkin Berry
- Small Pumpkin
- Medium Pumpkins
- Large Pumpkin
- Very Large Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Seeds for growing Pumpkin Bushes
- Edible Pumpkin Rind
- Various Halloweeny masks
- Pumpkin Mask
- Jack O' Lantern Mask
- Halloween Hood
- Hockey Mask
- Plastic Pumpkin Bucket
- New crafting materials
- Ghost Hide
- Ghost Claw
Item Changes
- We changed the Flying Javelin to a Flying Harpoon, which fires darts with the alternate fire. This is unrelated to Halloween.
New Recipes
- Ghost Hide Armor
- Ghost Hide Helmet - 2x Ghost Hide, 1x Leather Strap
- Ghost Hide Torso - 5x Ghost Hide, 3x Leather Straps, 2x Ghost Claws
- Ghost Hide Arms - 3x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps, 1x Ghost Claw
- Ghost Hide Gloves - 2x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps
- Ghost Hide Leggings - 4x Ghost Hide, 4x Leather Straps, 1x Ghost Claw
- Ghost Hide Boots - 2x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps
- Ghost Blade - 2x Ghost Claw, 4x Iron Ingots, 1x Ghost Hide
- Halloween Masks
- Pumpkin Mask - 1x Medium Pumpkin
- Jack O' Lantern Mask - 1x Medium Pumpkin and Something Sharp
- Halloween Hood - 2x Ghost Hide and Scissors
- Hockey Mask - 3x Plastic, 2x Leather Straps
- Plastic Pumpkin Bucket - 3x Plastic
- Flying Dart (5) - 5x Laminous Wings, 5x Sticks, 1x Bone
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some crashes related to being too high up in the map
- Fixed some issues with breaking deposits
- Misc other things
[ 2016-10-30 18:54:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7.6 - Happy Halloween!
[ 2016-10-30 18:54:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
- Ghost creature
- Ghost Hide armor set
- Ghost Hide Helmet
- Ghost Hide Torso
- Ghost Hide Leggings
- Ghost Hide Gloves
- Ghost Hide Boots
- Ghost Hide Arms
- Ghost Blade
- Soul Vessel
- Another creature
- Pumpkin Bushes and Pumpkins
- Pumpkin Berry
- Small Pumpkin
- Medium Pumpkins
- Large Pumpkin
- Very Large Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Seeds for growing Pumpkin Bushes
- Edible Pumpkin Rind
- Various Halloweeny masks
- Pumpkin Mask
- Jack O' Lantern Mask
- Halloween Hood
- Hockey Mask
- Plastic Pumpkin Bucket
- New crafting materials
- Ghost Hide
- Ghost Claw
Item Changes
- We changed the Flying Javelin to a Flying Harpoon, which fires darts with the alternate fire. This is unrelated to Halloween.
New Recipes
- Ghost Hide Armor
- Ghost Hide Helmet - 2x Ghost Hide, 1x Leather Strap
- Ghost Hide Torso - 5x Ghost Hide, 3x Leather Straps, 2x Ghost Claws
- Ghost Hide Arms - 3x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps, 1x Ghost Claw
- Ghost Hide Gloves - 2x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps
- Ghost Hide Leggings - 4x Ghost Hide, 4x Leather Straps, 1x Ghost Claw
- Ghost Hide Boots - 2x Ghost Hide, 2x Leather Straps
- Ghost Blade - 2x Ghost Claw, 4x Iron Ingots, 1x Ghost Hide
- Halloween Masks
- Pumpkin Mask - 1x Medium Pumpkin
- Jack O' Lantern Mask - 1x Medium Pumpkin and Something Sharp
- Halloween Hood - 2x Ghost Hide and Scissors
- Hockey Mask - 3x Plastic, 2x Leather Straps
- Plastic Pumpkin Bucket - 3x Plastic
- Flying Dart (5) - 5x Laminous Wings, 5x Sticks, 1x Bone
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some crashes related to being too high up in the map
- Fixed some issues with breaking deposits
- Misc other things
[ 2016-10-30 18:54:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7.5 - Balance Changes
[ 2016-08-15 23:34:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Balance Changes
- Changed armor calculations to use flat damage reduction instead of percent damage reduction
- Shields no longer add to encumbrance
- Encumbrance values tweaked across the board
- Encumbrance can now slow your melee attack speed if it is high enough
- Projectiles now have individual armor piercing values
- The weird pink eyeball creatures can now only spawn spikes on appropriate block types. Also reduced their initial spawn rate.
- Sulfur gas now does its own damage type, we'll probably make a gas mask or something soon
- Tesla gun does more damage but uses more energy
- Base energy regen rate has been doubled
- Reduced energy regen rate bonus on the Jewel sets
- Increased damage of most projectiles
- Increased health of most creatures
- Increased armor on many creatures
- Fists now do more damage with better gloves
- Kicking now does more damage with better boots
- Increased rocket/grenade explosion range
- Reduced the spawn rate of creatures
- Spears no longer prevent you from moving while attacking
- Increased the amount of sand that generates on the surface of planets
Gameplay Changes
- Changed quick slots to use Z/X instead of Q/E by default, and changed the default dodge behavior so that Q/E make you dodge left/right.
- Reduced knockdown received from creature
- Spiked wall creature updated, it is now much easier to damage in the soft spot and much harder to hurt it from the back
- Fruits can no longer spawn quite as close together
- During world generation, the area between the mining base and Pioneer Station have been cleaned up a bit. This means fewer spikes, etc.
- Deposits should now only generate on flat ground
- Added some grass golems to the far side of the planet during world generation
- Toilets can now be opened
- Tweaked some bits of the Pioneer Station and Mining Base. Nothing major, but we're working on fleshing them out a little bit at a time.
- Renamed Rifle Ammo to 5.56 Ammo
- You can now click quick slots in order to select them while the inventory menu is closed.
- Sheared sheep now drop 1 piece of wool when sheared post-mortem instead of 0.
- Slightly reduced the drop rates of sticks/logs when breaking trees
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some cases where certain energy bonuses wouldn't stack. Let us know if you see more.
- Fixed some graphical issue with the spike blocks
- Fixed a crash related to fireballs
- Fixed a bug with fall damage calculation related to using multiple fall damage reduction items
- Movement buttons no longer get stuck on if you were holding them while clicking in the search box of the crafting window
- AGIS message received when you equip the entire prototype mining suit now only appears once
[ 2016-08-15 23:34:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7.5 - Balance Changes
[ 2016-08-15 23:34:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Balance Changes
- Changed armor calculations to use flat damage reduction instead of percent damage reduction
- Shields no longer add to encumbrance
- Encumbrance values tweaked across the board
- Encumbrance can now slow your melee attack speed if it is high enough
- Projectiles now have individual armor piercing values
- The weird pink eyeball creatures can now only spawn spikes on appropriate block types. Also reduced their initial spawn rate.
- Sulfur gas now does its own damage type, we'll probably make a gas mask or something soon
- Tesla gun does more damage but uses more energy
- Base energy regen rate has been doubled
- Reduced energy regen rate bonus on the Jewel sets
- Increased damage of most projectiles
- Increased health of most creatures
- Increased armor on many creatures
- Fists now do more damage with better gloves
- Kicking now does more damage with better boots
- Increased rocket/grenade explosion range
- Reduced the spawn rate of creatures
- Spears no longer prevent you from moving while attacking
- Increased the amount of sand that generates on the surface of planets
Gameplay Changes
- Changed quick slots to use Z/X instead of Q/E by default, and changed the default dodge behavior so that Q/E make you dodge left/right.
- Reduced knockdown received from creature
- Spiked wall creature updated, it is now much easier to damage in the soft spot and much harder to hurt it from the back
- Fruits can no longer spawn quite as close together
- During world generation, the area between the mining base and Pioneer Station have been cleaned up a bit. This means fewer spikes, etc.
- Deposits should now only generate on flat ground
- Added some grass golems to the far side of the planet during world generation
- Toilets can now be opened
- Tweaked some bits of the Pioneer Station and Mining Base. Nothing major, but we're working on fleshing them out a little bit at a time.
- Renamed Rifle Ammo to 5.56 Ammo
- You can now click quick slots in order to select them while the inventory menu is closed.
- Sheared sheep now drop 1 piece of wool when sheared post-mortem instead of 0.
- Slightly reduced the drop rates of sticks/logs when breaking trees
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some cases where certain energy bonuses wouldn't stack. Let us know if you see more.
- Fixed some graphical issue with the spike blocks
- Fixed a crash related to fireballs
- Fixed a bug with fall damage calculation related to using multiple fall damage reduction items
- Movement buttons no longer get stuck on if you were holding them while clicking in the search box of the crafting window
- AGIS message received when you equip the entire prototype mining suit now only appears once
[ 2016-08-15 23:34:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7.4 - Special Independence Day Update
[ 2016-07-04 04:01:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Fireworks
- Roman Candles
- Red Roman Candles
- Blue Roman Candles
- Green Roman Candles
- Yellow Roman Candles
- Multicolored Roman Candles
- Bangsnaps
- Bottle Rocket Kit and Bottle Rockets
- Sparklers
- M80s
- String of 20 Firecrackers
- String of 100 Firecrackers
- String of 1000 Firecrackers (Best Value!)
- Fireworks Party Pack (Right click in your inventory to open)
[ 2016-07-04 04:01:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.7 - Strange Mysteries
[ 2016-06-23 16:04:39 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Things to keep in mind
- You will need to generate a new world in order to see most of the new content. You can generate a new world from the sandbox menu without losing your character, and you can go back to your old world through the sandbox menu as well whenever you would like.
- Much of the new content is purposely unexplained, but hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. We're hoping that figuring out how the new content works will be fun and encourage players to work together both inside and outside of the game to figure everything out, but let us know if you think parts of the update are too confusing or hard to understand. We want to make players think and experiment, but we don't want people to feel like they need to go to a wiki to figure out how to use the new content.
- A small number of players have reported an issue that prevented them from cutting down trees with both the axes and the wrist laser. We're still trying to figure out the cause of the bug, so if you happen to figure out a way to cause it reliably please let us know. Apparently restarting the game fixes the issue if you do experience it.
- Similar (and possibly related) to the above tree breaking issue, there may be an issue with the Grab Laser, but we have been unable to replicate it.
- If you need a hint as far as where to look for some of the new content, make sure you fully explore the [spoiler]Mining Base on the surface of the planet.[/spoiler]
New Content (Some parts redacted to avoid spoilers =D)
- Added a gross eyeball creature to the areas near the spiky bosses.
- Added a craftable spike dart launcher
- Added a Python revolver that has an alternate fire that allows you to fan the hammer and quickly unload all the remaining bullets in the cylinder.
- Added a paper bag container :I
- Added this weird creature
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] that allows you to [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Tablets
- Ice [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] for a few moments and [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - Explodes, [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Calm [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Bolts - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] hard to control explosive [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - Send the [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Energy [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] damages a target
- [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - Lights up [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Tablet - Used with the Strange Artifact, and can be bound with [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] and [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] used in various [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]. [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] is now added to the world generator
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - Converts [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Device - [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] mark a location and then [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] a portal that [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler].
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] for [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Altar for acquiring [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] to the HUD under the enery bar - Does not charge over time and must be replenished by [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]. Enabled once you find [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] - A pedestal that is activated by [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler], and [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] your [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] when right clicked once activated. [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] when you die.
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] Expansion - When broken, [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler]
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] creature
- Added [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] deposits
- Added many different [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] statues and decorations
- Added several [spoiler][REDACTED][/spoiler] containers
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue with particle effects that was causing them to look more muted than intended. The majority of particle effects should now look better.
- Fixed many cases where items would get desynchronized between clients and servers (should result in less items that can't be picked up when on a multiplayer game)
- Fixed some issues that could have caused graphical corruption on a narrow range of computers
- Prevented the player from deleting key items
- Fixed rendering issue on the text input popups on larger font sizes
- Scrolling in the crafting menu no longer causes the scroll slots to scroll as well
- Many other small issues
General Gameplay Improvements
- Improved medium and large fonts
- Re-worked the Crafting menu significantly
- Added larger buttons for categories
- Reduced max crafting items to 4 (Some recipes that required 5 items have been changed slightly)
- Combined with functions of the Projects menu
- Increased the overall size to make the menu less cramped
- Added ability to change materials in crafting, for example you can now choose between using a normal or rubber stick in many recipes. Some recipes also let you change the primary (first) material, which can change the crafted result, for example now there is just a "torch" recipe, and you can change the result from a normal sap torch to a biofuel torch by changing the primary material from sap to biofuel. We only adjusted a few recipes, so let us know if you have more ideas for places we could use this feature.
- Removed Projects menu since its functionality was included in the Crafting menu
- Added mineable Biofuel to world generator
- Added optional settings for the Dodge mechanic as well as a bindable dodge action - Can be found in the settings menu
- Double Tap - How it worked previously, double tap forward to dodge roll forward, double tap back to backjump.
- Shift + Double Tap - Double tap only works when holding shift
- Binds Only - Only activates when you press the key bound to dodge, dodge rolls forward if you're moving forward, backjump if you're moving backwards or standing still. Bound to Z by default... but honestly that is a terrible key to use and we're trying to find a better one, but its tricky to find something that we're not already using that can be easily pressed while doing other actions. Still working on this, and if you have any suggestions let us know.
- Increased friction on the player when stopping to be less slippy
Balance Changes
- Tweaked combat balance a bit - We only made some small changes for now, but we're planning on doing a bit of an overhaul soon
- Melee weapons do a bit more damage, and have a wider spread between tiers
- Enemies have a bit more health
- Added additional health set bonuses to Bronze and Tin armor sets
Miscellaneous
- Added ability to tweak various balance settings for creatures and melee weapons through a text file located in your game install directory (The directory should be something like Steam/SteamApps/Common/Signs Of Life/Content/CSV)
[ 2016-06-23 16:04:39 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.6
This update had two objectives, we wanted to make the underground a bit more interesting and we wanted to do some work on general user friendliness features. We've still got a lot of work on our plate before we'll feel like the underground is as interesting as we want it to be, but this should take us a significant step closer. We also added some sweet weapons and gadgets because they're fun to make =D We've fixed all the bugs we're aware of, but I'm sure there are some things we missed, so let us know when you run into issues. We still have a bit more planned for the new Biome, but we didn't want to keep you folks waiting any longer, so expect some new things to trickle in over the next couple weeks.
[ 2015-12-23 02:33:41 CET ] [ Original post ]
Version 0.6
This update had two objectives, we wanted to make the underground a bit more interesting and we wanted to do some work on general user friendliness features. We've still got a lot of work on our plate before we'll feel like the underground is as interesting as we want it to be, but this should take us a significant step closer. We also added some sweet weapons and gadgets because they're fun to make =D We've fixed all the bugs we're aware of, but I'm sure there are some things we missed, so let us know when you run into issues. We still have a bit more planned for the new Biome, but we didn't want to keep you folks waiting any longer, so expect some new things to trickle in over the next couple weeks.
New Content
- New Underground Biome
- New Creatures
- Dart Crawler
- Crawler Pod
- Chitinous Spike Wall
- Chitinous Spike Boss
- Added a Decoy Hologram throwable gadget that will distract creatures that aren't too mad at you.
- Added an Explosive Grenade.
- Added a Trajectory Computer that displays predicted paths for throwable items and arrows.
- Changed the sprites on the Vintage Mining Suit armor pieces, and renamed them to "Prototype Mining Suit" pieces.
- Added a portable Iron Grill as a heat source.
- Added Optical Camo activator gadget.
- Added Armor Patch mods for armor pieces. You can add any one patch to any armor piece. The patches cannot be removed, but they can be replaced. If you have good ideas for more of these let us know!
- Carbon Nanotube Mesh - Adds 2% damage resistance to a piece of armor.
- Ceramic Plate - Adds 5% heat and energy resistance to a piece of armor.
- Optical Camo - Adds optical camo to a piece of armor. Must be activated with the Optical Camo activator and all armor pieces must have optical camo applied to function.
- Added 9mm Ricochet Ammo, it is not very helpful...
- Added a Railgun. Its still way overpowered, but we'll be tweaking it.
- The Escape Pod now has a built in respawner.
- Equipment Spoiler: [spoiler]Added an upgraded version of the mining suit, the Mining Suit Mk2. Equip all the pieces of the Prototype Mining Suit to discover the recipes for the pieces.[/spoiler]
- Equipment Spoiler: [spoiler]Added a Chitinous Shield crafted with bits from the new underground boss.[/spoiler]
New Recipes
- Decoy Hologram - 2x Steel Rivets, 3x Copper Wire, 1x Small Battery, 1x Refined Sapphire, 1x Standard Lens.
- Trajectory Computer - 1x Microchip, 1x Plastic, 1x Copper Wire, 1x Standard Lens.
- Explosive Grenade (3) - 1x Iron Ingot, 1x Black Powder.
- 9mm Ricochet Ammo (12) - 1x Lead, 1x Black Powder, 1x Springtail Nectar.
- Armor Patch Mods
- Carbon Nanotube Mesh - 1x D6 Polymer, 1x Steel Rivet.
- Ceramic Plate - 1x Clay, 1x Steel Rivet.
- Optical Camo - 1x LED, 1x Steel Rivet.
- Optical Camo Activator, 1x Microchip, 1x Plastic, 1x Small Battery, 1x Copper Wire.
- Iron Grill - 6x Iron Ingots, Requires Tool: Hammer.
- Railgun - 1x Steel Gun Parts, 18x Copper Wire, 1x Standard Lens, 1x Refined Ruby, 4x Medium Battery.
- Iron Railgun Slugs (6) - 1x Iron Ingot.
- Microchip - 1x Sand, 1x Copper Wire, 1x Rough Topaz.
- [spoiler]Chitinous Shield - 1x Medusa Medulla, 6x Crawler Spines, 1x Chitinous Plate, 1x Plated Hide Strap.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 - You get the recipes when you wear the entire Prototype Mining Suit at once.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Helmet - 1x Prototype Mining Suit Helmet, 1x Medium Battery, 1x Microchip, 2x Plastic, 2x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Torso - 1x Protoype Mining Suit Torso, 6x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 4x D6 Polymer, 4x Copper Wire.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Legs - 1x Protoype Mining Suit Legs, 6x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 2x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Arms - 1x Prototype Mining Suit Arms, 4x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 2x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Boots - 1x Prototype Mining Suit Boots, 4x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 2x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Gloves - 1x Prototype Mining Gloves, 4x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 2x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Mining Suit Mk2 Jumpjet - 1x Prototype Mining Suit Jumpjet, 1x Large Battery, 6x Steel Rivets, 4x Plastic, 4x D6 Polymer.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Prototype Mining Suit Jumpjet - 1x Broken Prototype Mining Suit Jumpjet, 1x Jumpjet Core, Requires Tool: Screwdriver.[/spoiler]
Gameplay Changes
- You can now switch to a manual item slot mode that lets you drag your items to your hotbar.
- Added an Auto Pickup option to the settings menu. Automatically picks up items on the ground when you walk over them.
- The player respawns in the escape pod by default.
- You can stand in respawners you find and right click it in order to set your respawn point to that respawner.
- The player now has acceleration and deceleration when moving around.
- Fall damage calculation changed - fall damage is now potentially much more deadly if you fall for long distances.
- Added a shield bash
- Changed Jumpjet behavior to be much more useful
- Increased growing time of bush saplings.
- Thrown items no longer stack with existing items in the world.
- You can now cancel a throw or bow pull by pressing the reload key.
- Changed controls for throwable items. Left clicking now drops items and you can hold the right mouse button to power up a throw. You can use the scroll wheel to adjust the power of the throw after holding down the right mouse button.
- Tweaked thrown item physics a bit.
- Removed Material Printer crafting requirement from: Steel Arrows, Steel Bolts, Jewel Arrows, Jewel Bolts, Explosive Arrows, Rockets and Launcher Grenades.
- Reduced healing rate of the Regeneration Salve by half.
- Smelting Furnace now smelts metal twice as fast as the basic smelter.
- Jewel Arrows and Bolts now travel a bit faster.
- Jewel Bows and Crossbows have a bit more power.
- The pale spitting creature's melee attacks now break weak blocks and its spit can corrode away weak blocks.
- Tweaked creature AI to be a bit more consistent.
- Mobs should no longer be able to hit players through the wall with melee attacks.
- Marble Deposits now have a chance to drop anthracite when broken.
- Tapping the hotbar slot for the active item now holsters it
- Fall damage is no longer impacted by armor. We likely will add more fall damage reduction foot items rather than have the armor value itself reduce fall damage.
- [spoiler]The old steel jumpjet has been replaced with the Prototype Mining Suit Jumpjet, which is crafted from a broken one you find in the Pioneer Station. along with the Jumpjet Core that you get from the robot chicken.[/spoiler]
Misc Changes
- Prototype Mining Suit armor pieces are now distributed randomly in bases in the world.
- Platforms now draw in front of trees and bushes.
- Increased the max audio volume from 11 to 20.
- Significantly decreased world generation time.
- Various performance improvements.
- Renamed Puncher Plate to Chitinous Plate.
[ 2015-12-23 02:33:41 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.5 - Multiplayer!
[ 2015-07-21 20:59:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
Multiplayer
- Added drop-in, drop-out multiplayer. Enabled by default, so you should be able to drop right into your friends' games.
- Players join in the middle of the surface of the planet
- Players show up as a blue dot on your minimap and also show up on the GPS device
- Added a multiplayer join menu to the main menu which shows your friends that are currently playing, you can also join through the friends list
- Added an in-game multiplayer menu that allows you to disable/enable multiplayer as well as turn on/off auto join (by default it asks for permission when a friend tries to join your game)
- Added a player listing to the top right of the screen when the inventory menu is open and you have other players on your server
- Added server-wide chat, opened by pressing T while in game.
New Content
- Added a new underground creature
- Added Rubbery leg and boot armor based on the above creature
- Added Rock creature arm and glove equipment
- Added a Burst Rifle
- Added several new hairstyles
- Hairstyles (including facial hair) are now gender agnostic
- Updated sheep graphics, sheep are now shearable with scissors
- Added/changed several sound effects
- Added rubber wood materials and craftable blocks. Not much use for the rubber wood materials yet, but we'll add more over time.
- Added a flying javelin throwable weapon
- Added a tomahawk throwable weapon
New Recipes
- Burst Rifle - 1x Steel Gun Parts, 5x Plastic
- Flying Javelin - 1x Laminous Wing, 1x Stick, 1x Bone
- Tomahawk - 1x Bone, 1x Stick, 1x Plant Fiber
- Rocky Arms - 1x Rock Lips, 1x Rock Core, 4x Wool Padding, 2x Leather Strap
- Rocky Gloves - 2x Rock Lips, 2x Wool Padding, 2x Leather Strap
- Rubbery Legs - 4x Rubbery Skin, 2x Organic Joint, 4x Wool Padding, 2x Leather Strap
- Rubbery Boots - 2x Rubbery Skin, 2x Leather Strap
Recipe Changes
- Smelting recipes are now displayed in the crafting menu
- LED recipe material requirements reduced significantly
- LED crafing recipe output changed to 3
- Copper Wire recipe output changed to 3
- Black Powder recipe output changed to 3
- Rubber recipe output changed to 3
- Plastic recipe output changed to 3
- Unrefined glass smelting recipe output changed to 3
- Launcher Parts now require the material printer
- Crafted blocks recipe outputs changed to 5
Gameplay Changes
- Screwdriver and scissors are now equippable, and you must right click things while they are equipped to use them
- Made crossbows more accurate on the first shot, but less accurate with multiple bolts loaded
- Arrows and bolts now have a chance to break when they strike creatures or surfaces
- When arrows and bolts break, they have a chance to drop some of the materials used in their crafting
- Cracked arrowheads can be smelted into ingots
- Increased goat jump height
- Holding RMB now loops the melee attack on the pulse rifle
- Auto organize containers no longer get sorted inside of matching containers
- Material grinder no longer allows you to drop items on it directly in the inventory
- Fixed the clicking hitbox of the wooden door when opened
- Fixed some issues with thrown items and made their trajectory a bit better
- Tweaked the graphics of the rock creatures
- Added new item drops to the rock creatures
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some issues with creature AI
- Prevented creatures from attacking the player while they are respawning
- Tweaked the main menu to work better on low resolutions
- A bunch more we forgot about
[ 2015-07-21 20:59:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.47
[ 2015-05-08 08:13:36 CET ] [ Original post ]
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
New Content
- Added 3 new creatures
- Sulfur gas creature - Found at medium or deeper depth
- Plant creature - Found occasionally on the surface of the planet
- Goat - Found on the surface of the planet
- Sulfur gas creature - Found at medium or deeper depth
- New tree system
- 4 total tree types, each with their own fruit type (including 3 new fruits) that return a seed to your inventory when eaten.
- 2 wood types, one contains sap and the other contains rubber
- Trees now grow slowly, but grow while you are away (even when you are offline)
- Fruit now grows slower, but also grows while you are away
- Trees re-grow limbs as long as you don't cut it down to a stump.
- In order to remove a tree, you must destroy the stump with an axe.
- You cannot break the blocks under a tree.
- Tree tap item added, can be attached to a tree limb or trunk and generates sap or rubber over time. Holds up to 20 sap or rubber at a time.
- Added a Material Grinder that grinds up basic materials like stone and granite in order to find trace metals.
- Added a Backglider - Allows you to glide while falling and holding the jump button
- Sulfur gas gun - Fires blasts of sulfur gas
- Razor Leaf Sword
- Added 4 new materials
- Laminous Wing
- Gas Bladder
- Sulfurous Ash
- Razor Leaf Blade
- Added 3 new fruits
- Jiggly Fruit
- Delicious Fruit
- Sweet Fruit
- Added 3 new seeds
- Jiggly Fruit Seed
- Delicious Fruit Seed
- Sweet Fruit Seed
New Recipes
- Backglider - 2x Laminous Wing, 4x Bone
- Sulfur Gas Gun - 1x Gas Bladder, 3x Plastic, 4x Iron Ingot
- Razor Leaf Sword - 1x Razor Leaf Blade, 4x Plant Fibers
- Tree Tap - 3x Iron Ingots
- Sulfuruous Ash - 1x Sulfur, Requires a mortar and pestle tool as well as a heat source
- Material Grinder - 8x Plastic, 12x Iron, 4x Unrefined Glass
UI Changes
- Added a loot all button to containers that takes every item from a container and puts it in your inventory
- Added buttons to the GPS Device. You can still use the mouse and scroll wheel to navigate, but now there are some buttons too.
- A button for centering on the player
- A button for zooming in and out as well as a zoom level display
- A button for panning around the map
- Replaced ore sprites on the GPS Device, more sprites coming for bones/coal/anthracite/amber
- GPS Device mineral scan visibility duration doubled
- Added a funky holo effect thing to the background of the GPS Device
- Added the ability to label containers. Labelled containers will show the text over the container item while inside other containers.
- Blocks with rounded corners should no longer leave gaps when placed next to each other. Let us know if you notice blocks that still leave annoying gaps
Gameplay Changes
- Flint and Rocks are now throwable
- Reduced blue flying creature spawn rate a bit
Bug Fixes
- Changed the way the world is saved - This should fix several minor bugs such as items popping out of containers, items not saving proper positions in containers, as well as some dupe bugs related to containers. Let us know if you notice any issues with saving, such as items disappearing after quitting and loading the game
- Fixed buggy player movement while walking on rotated/flipped sloped blocks
- Possible fix for issue related to not gaining fullness upon eating
- Fix for an issue related to crafting using items taken from a worktable in the world
- Fixed a crash related to sound effects during the intro escape pod section. The crash should only happen on systems without a sound device, and there will likely be other crashes but this should fix the first one and we'll go from there.
- Fixed a bug that would cause the kinetic inductor to not work when encumbered
- Fixed an issue that would prevent you from splitting items in containers in the world
- Fixed the AGIS button the HUD
- The players fists are now "unequipped" when you die
[ 2015-05-08 08:13:36 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.46
[ 2015-02-27 13:32:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
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 =)
New Content
- Added the teleporter project! Build two, set them to the same symbol and instantly transport yourself (and anything inside the teleporter) across the world.
- Added a deployable turret! It loads 9mm ammo and must be retracted to pick it up. Prevents mob spawning nearby.
- Added flare arrows (Flarrow!)
- Added Bone Arrows
New Recipes
- Steel turret - 1x Microchip, 1x Steel Machine Parts, 1x Steel Gun Parts, 1x Large Battery, 1x D6 Polymer (Requires Material Printer)
- Flare arrows - 1x Aluminum Ingot, 1x Bauxite Ore, 1x Iron Ore (Makes 3)
- Bone arrows - 1x Bone, 5x Sticks, 5x Feathers (Makes 5)
- Power Core - 3x Large Battery, 3x Steel Ingots, 3x Plastic, 1x Refined Rose Quartz (Requires Material Printer)
UI Changes
- Added cursor icons when hovering over things. Let us know if you notice things that we missed that you think should have cursors.
- Fixed some issues with the medium and large fonts.
Gameplay Changes
- Added reload animation to grenade launchers.
- Reduced regeneration salve effect by half, it was pretty overpowered considering you could use 2 and combine it with the health regen from being well fed.
- Doubled energy regen per step of kinetic inductor
Bug Fixes
- Changed saving method for player inventory, should be backwards compatible but let us know if you notice any missing items or anything like that.
- Disabled connection to local server by default, may cause issues so let us know if you have problems dropping items, things not working as expected, etc. This should fix the issue for people who were having problems dropping items.
- Changing font with a dialogue box open will now properly resize the dialogue box.
- Changed static lighting system (torches, etc) to hopefully be a bit more optimized. Should result in fewer hitches with lots of static lights, let us know if you see a reduction in performance.
- Kinetic inductors now properly stop working when unequipped
[ 2015-02-27 13:32:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update 0.45
[ 2015-01-28 03:28:19 CET ] [ Original post ]
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.
New Content
- Added a trash container that holds deleted items until you leave the game. This should be useful if you accidentally delete an item.
UI Changes
- You should no longer open the key item pouch through other containers when you right click
- Fixed some graphical weirdness with equipping items in the MEG menu with right click
Gameplay Changes
- You can now dig multiple background blocks simultaneously with the proper upgrades (Meant to be in the last update, but its here now!)
- Pick damage reduced, but picks now pierce through armored creatures
- Most bullets (not shotgun pellets) now partially pierce armored creatures (reduce armor by half)
- You can no longer equip batteries from power sockets menus.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue with the item detail popup buttons (items getting deleted when split, etc)
- Fixed a bug that would cause basic smelters to pause their progress
- Fixed beds not making you go to sleep
- Fixed some minor tooltip issues
- Fixed some dupes/issues with the crafting/build menus
[ 2015-01-28 03:28:19 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.44
[ 2015-01-09 00:25:18 CET ] [ Original post ]
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 =)
New Content
- Added a popout map when you right click the GPS device
- Rubies now increase the number of blocks you can dig simultaneously with the wrist laser, max of 6.
- Added Grenade Launcher
- Added jeweler and munition pouch that collect gems and ammo respectively
New Recipes
- Grenade Launcher (3x Steel Ingots, 1x Rubber, 1x Launcher Parts)
- Launcher Grenades (1x Steel Ingot, 1x Propellant, 1x Black Powder)
- Jeweler Pouch (5x Hide)
- Munition Pouch (5x Hide)
UI Changes
- Added buff tooltip labels and duration display
- Added search box to crafting menu
- Added expand/collapse all buttons to the crafting menu
- Item quantities now display on top of all items in a container
- Darkened the background of the minimap to make it more visible
- Brightend the minimap lines
- Added a whole bunch of tooltips
Misc Gameplay Changes
- Increased damage of the ant queen scythe to 10
- Destroyed projects now drop all the items they cost to craft
- Added a GPS device to the starting escape pod on new characters
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug related to middle clicking power cores while they are in power sockets
- Fixed some spots where animations could get stuck, let us know if you experience any more
- Fixed a crash related to having apostrophes in your save path
- Fixed a physics bug related to the jump jet
[ 2015-01-09 00:25:18 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.43
[ 2014-11-02 04:31:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
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 =)
New Content
- Impact Rod
- Added Ore Scanning alternate fire mode to Wrist Scanner
- Added punching as a default melee weapon
New Recipes
- Impact Rod (6x Tin Ingots, 4x Plastic, 4x Tin Rivets)
- Impact Rod Ammo(1x Tin Ingots, 1x Copper Wire, 1x Black Powder)
UI Changes
- Minimap size and brightness increased
- Wrist terrain scanning changed to left mouse button by default
- Added edge peek option to settings menu
- Added keybinds for the Equipment menu, MEG tool, Crafting window and Projects window
- Ammo is now displayed on the active scroll slot for a second while scrolling
- Hovering over scroll slots now shows the name of the item in the slot
- Fixed some of the issues with font size rendering after changing font sizes
- Analyzing crafting requirements will now give you the recipe for that item if it exists
- You can now analyze crafting requirements by right clicking on them
- Added a crafting category in materials for bricks
- Fixed UI display issue on equipped batteries
- Added achievements for crafting gems
Item Changes
- Reduced energy cost of wrist map scanner
- Lowered granite and marble deposit densities to match block density
- Basic smelter now requires mud bricks instead of regular bricks
- Increased number of rocks and flint during world generation
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes result in incorrect collisions on melee weapons
- Fixed a bug that resulted in 2x the proper encumbrance from shields
- Fixed a crash related to foreign languages and certain dialogue boxes
- Fixed a crash related to planting grass seeds
- Fixed a crash related to changing keybinds without a selected character
- Added a workaround for people who had items disappearing when dropped in world from inventory, probably still has issues but let us know
- Fixed a bug that would let you take items from the crafting window
- Fixed an issue related to switching weapons during a roll
- Fixed a bug that could cause prefabs to overlap during world generation
- Fixed winter hat recipe
- Fixed a crash related to certain dialogue boxes
- Fixed a bug related to using high velocity ammo on SMGs
- Fixed an issue that could result in ant tunnels generating over certain underground bases
Creature Changes
- Mobs that block the player no longer act as trampolines (almost sorry)
- Reduced mob spawning a bit
- Further reduced flyer spawn rate
[ 2014-11-02 04:31:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.42
[ 2014-08-18 08:35:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
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 =)
New Content
- Aluminum Bat
- Clobb SMG
- Micro SMG
New Recipes
- Aluminum Bat (6x Aluminum Ingots, 2x Leather Straps)
- Clobb SMG (4x Iron Ingots, 2x Rubber, 4x Tin Rivets)
- Micro SMG (1x Steel Gun Parts, 2x Plastic, 4x Steel Rivets)
UI Changes
- Added an auto-organize button to containers
- Added Key Items pouch to the side of the player's backpack
- You can now flip the glass wall project from the project menu before placing it
- Tweaked some dialog UI issues and added the ability to highlight "important" information.
- Removed new recipe text from the bottom of the screen, seemed kinda messy? Might put back as an option.
- Quick slots should now be labelled properly if you rebind the keys
Item Changes
- Smelters now should continue working when you walk away from them - This probably needs some testing, but it seems to be working right for me.
- Made keycard into a key item
- Fixed some item descriptions, let us know if you see more bad ones
- Impaler spikes now have a 25% chance to break on contact, do less damage and are a bit slower/heavier.
- Impaler spikes now do 30 base damage to the player when dropped by Impalers
- Fixed some UI issues with the equipment window
Bug Fixes
- Possible fix for save failure/rollback after spending a long time in pause - Definitely let us know if you still run into any save issues
- Fix for a crash related to explosions
- Fix for a crash related to orange shorts (lol, not even kidding)
- Possible fix for issues that could cause the player to get stuck, let us know if you still get stuck and unable to move
- Fixed a bug that could result in duping/losing block items when added/removed from containers in the world
- Fixed some bugs related to the escape pod container
- Fixed a dupe related to multi-quantity recipes in the material printer
Creature Changes
- Changed crawler behavior a bit so they won't walk on the bottom of platforms
- Tweaked the big chicken AI a bit
Recipe Changes
- Changed most Jewel tier recipes to be less rose-quartz dependent
- Jewel Helmet (2x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Torso (5x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Arms (3x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Gloves (2x Bornite Ingots, 2x Rough Rose Quartz)
- Jewel Leggings (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Leggings (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Boots (4x Bornite Ingots, 2x Rough Rose Quartz)
- Jewel Pick (6x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Bow (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Linen Bolt, 2x Rough Rose Quartz, 1x Refined Rose Quartz)
- Jewel Crossbow (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Steel Machine Parts, 1x Linen Bolt, 2x Rough Rose Quartz, 1x Refined Rose Quartz)
- Jewel Spear (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Sword (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Axe (4x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
- Jewel Shield (7x Bornite Ingots, 1x Refined Rose Quartz, 1x Rough Ruby, 1x Rough Topaz, 1x Rough Sapphire)
[ 2014-08-18 08:35:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.41
[ 2014-07-24 04:31:46 CET ] [ Original post ]
- Added a 7th quick slot for throwable items
- Added separate buttons on the HUD for the wrist light, wrist scanner, and AGIS hints
- Wrist light gadget and AGIS activator removed from scroll slots
- Wrist scanner and wrist grab laser moved to Gadgets scroll slot
- Changed slot 1 to the "digging" slot, right now it basically just holds the dig laser and picks
- Tweaked the UI a bit for low resolutions
- Seeds now get autosorted into forager pouches properly
- Fixed another crash related to players who previously used resolutions higher than 2048x2048
- Sunlight now penetrates less through denser blocks
- Fixed some issues with world generation
- Tweaked the crafting category buttons a bit
- Fixed a bug that could result in your key bindings not saving
- Fixed a bug that resulted in some ant deposits dropping steel
- Reduced time between shots for the pump shotgun
- Fixed a crash related to explosions
- Fixed a bug/exploit related to salvaging ammo that is already in a weapon
[ 2014-07-24 04:31:46 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.40
[ 2014-07-19 00:00:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Content
- Added female gender option to character creator
- Ant Biome - Added to newly generated worlds
- 5 new creatures, including one mini-boss
- A new melee weapon
- 2 new throwable weapons
- 4 new deposits
- Energy Slicer - Voted on by the community, this gun uses energy to fire and pierces through up to 3 creatures
- Salves - Equippable devices/accessories
- Regenerative Salve - A salve that grants a small boost to health regeneration.
- Influx Salve - A salve that grants a small boost to energy regeneration.
- Burn Salve - A salve specially designed to make you fire resistant. Grants 25% fire resist.
- Corrosive Salve - A salve that grants 25% resistance to that gross spitter goo and other corrosives.
- Tonics - Drinkable and throwable, uses fullness and grants various effects
- Clarity Tonic - Cures negative status effects
- Blast Tonic - Explodes if thrown or if you drink it. Don't drink it
- Heal Tonic - A strong heal over time. We will likely eventually replace this with something more realistic like bandages down the line, but we already made it so we figured we'd throw it in the game for now
- Added new clothing items
- Black Leather Jacket
- Black Tank Top
- Black Sports Bra
- Red Skirt
- Red and White Shirt
- Yoga Pants
- Added Biometric Scanner Device - When equipped, it shows the health of creatures in the world
- Added GPS Tracker - When dropped in the world, this item creates a long-range GPS signal visible on any standard MEG tool map
- Added Tech Blower - Blows items and mobs around, consumes energy
- Added Tech Portable Grill - Can be carried around in your inventory, and once it is placed in the world and deployed it can be used as a heat source
- Added Mortar and Pestle tool, required for some recipes
- Added D6 Polymer, a new material that is made by refining plastic with anthracite as an additive.
- Added a few AGIS tutorial/info popups
- Tweaked the Pioneer Station a bit, including adding a new room to the barracks
Gameplay Changes
- Reduced held flashlight energy cost from 4 to 2 per second
- Reduced wrist light energy cost from 3 to 1 per second
- Wrist laser energy cost reduced from 5 to 3.5 per second
- Bows now do up to 50% more damage when fully drawn
- Bows now take 50% longer to draw
- Arrows and other ammo are now salvaged as a stack
- Increased speed of bullets and updated some projectile effects
- Magnum round damage increased from 15 to 18
- Beds now advance the time from night to day and from day to night and fully heal the player
- Beds now weigh 100 pounds
- Guns, bows and crossbows should now automatically pick a new ammo type if they run out of ammo and you attempt to fire
- Laser pistol no longer requires you to find the blueprint in-world
Recipe Changes
- Black Powder, Propellant and Thermite Charge recipes now requires a mortar and pestle tool
- Replaced Steel with D6 Polymer in most furniture requirements
- Added D6 Polymer requirement to Tech Bed and Tech Terminal recipes
- Replaced Steel requirement with D6 Polymer on the Magnetic Inductor
UI Changes
- Items that are crafted or picked up with the grab laser are now highlighted in your inventory
- Added item name hover tooltips to items in containers and other menus
- Increased maximum font size for item requirements in the crafting and build window
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that would result in the cricket drone being disabled before you get to it
- Fixed some issues with world generation that would lead to strange holes under bases
- Possibly fixed a bug that would result in lost items when dropped in the world
- Projects that are destroyed should now always drop a power core if it is required to build it or has a power core installed at the time it is destroyed
- Fixed some animation issues related to moving the mouse very close to the player's head
- Possible fix for rare crash during crafting, not totally sure as I can't replicate the bug myself
- More fixes for floating grass/foliage near bases
- Fixed a bug that resulted in the enemy damage noise being too loud
- Fixed a bug that would result in the player getting stuck in an animation after falling through a platform
- Fixed some animation issues with the bed
- Fixed a bug that was causing the big chicken to not fly away at the end of a fight
- A bunch of other things I forgot about
- Fixed a bug that could result in items in the wrong place if you closed the inventory menu while dragging an item
- Fixed a bug with item pickup notification and blocks
- Impalers can no longer spawn on the bottom of platforms
- You should no longer be able to knock around Impalers
- Fixed some missing/inaccurate item names
New Recipes (Slightly spoilery)
- Ant biome melee weapon (1x Ant Queen Claw Segment, 5x Ant Chitin, 5x Ant Ichor)
- Ant biome grenade (1x Ant Chitin, 1x Ant Ichor)
- GPS Tracker (4x LED, 1x Iron Ingot, 1x Rough Topax, 1x Copper Wire, must be found in-world to get the recipe)
- Energy Slicer (1x Steel Gun Parts, 4x Bronze Ingots, 1x Microchip, 1x Copper Wire, 1x Large Battery)
- Salves
- Regenerative Salve (2x Unrefined Glass, 4x Juicy Fruit, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Influx Salve (2x Unrefined Glass, 4x Bloo Fruit, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Burn Salve (2x Unrefined Glass, 4x Bana Fruit, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Corrosive Salve (2x Unrefined Glass, 15x Spitter Extract, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Tonics
- Empty Tonic Vessel (1x Unrefined Glass, 1x D6 Polymer)
- Clarity Tonic (1x Empty Tonic Vessel, 1x Strange Herb, 2x Bana Fruit, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Heal Tonic (1x Empty Tonic Vessel, 1x Strange Herb, 2x Juicy Fruit, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- Blast Tonic (1x Empty Tonic Vessel, 1x Strange Herb, 2x Biofuel, Tool: Mortar and Pestle)
- New Clothing
- Black Leather Jacket (3x Hide, Tool: Scissors)
- Black Tank Top (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Black Sports Bra (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Red Skirt (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Red and White Shirt (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Yoga Pants (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Orange Shorts (3x Cotton Bolt, Tool: Scissors)
- Flare Gun (3x Plastic, 2x Iron Ingots, 4x Tin Rivets)
- Biometric Scanner (1x Microchip, 1x Steel Ingot, 2x Plastic, 1x Unrefined Glass, 1x Medium Battery)
- Steel Machine Parts (3x Steel Ingots, Tool: Material Printer)
- Tech Blower (12x Plastic, 1x Steel Machine Parts, 4x D6 Polymer, 1x Large Battery, 12x Steel Rivets, Tool: Material Printer)
- Portable Tech Grill (1x Steel Machine Parts, 4x D6 Polymer, 1x Large Battery, 2x Copper Wires, Tool: Material Printer)
- Mortar and Pestle (1x Log, 1x Stick, Tool: Saw)
[ 2014-07-19 00:00:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.39
[ 2014-06-04 20:27:03 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Mechanics
- Eating - Food is now equipped and eaten by left clicking. You can also throw food by right clicking if for some reason you feel the need to do so.
Gameplay Changes
- Picks have been moved from the melee scroll slot to the gadgets scroll slot
- Added saltpeter deposits to newly generated worlds
- Impalers (spike dropping guys) now have a set number of spikes they can drop, and then need a period of time to re-grow more spikes inside of its body.
- Eased landing restrictions on pod, lands sooner now
- Corrosive damage (spitter pistol) should now ignore armor on naturally armored creatures
UI Changes
- Added hover tooltips to items in the world
- Added item pickup notification, can be disabled by turning off tooltips
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug related to maintaining momentum after death
- Fixed an issue related to the firestarter/grass seeds/chicken feed getting stuck on when used in the quickslot
- More work towards a fix for the crash on launch experienced by some players
- Fixed a bug related to the comm junction and right clicking an inserted battery
- Energy explosions should now do AoE damage
[ 2014-06-04 20:27:03 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.38
[ 2014-05-20 08:24:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Mechanics
- Shields - Equipped in the equipment window similar to armor, shields can be used at any time by pressing left-alt by default.
- Encumbrance - Heavier and bulkier armor will now affect your movement speed, dodge roll and backjump distance. If you like spreadsheets and graphs, then you will like this link.
- Item Weight - This isn't technically a new feature, but as we've added item weights to more items it will probably start becoming more apparent sooner rather than later. Right now, melee weapons, armor and shields have item weights, but in the coming patches more items will have item weights. This will be a long-term balancing act, so definitely let us know your feelings.
New Content
- Shields - Wooden, Copper, Iron, Tin, Bronze, Silver, Steel and Jewel Tiers
- Leather Whip
- Thrown Dynamite and placeable Dynamite bundles
UI Changes
- The crafting menu has been reorganized and additional filtering buttons have been added in order to make navigating the recipes easier.
- Added a defense display bar to the bottom of the equipment window
- Added an encumbrance display bar to the bottom of the equipment window
Balance Changes
- You are now immune from damage while dodge-rolling
- Hog bite damage increased from 25 to 40 damage
- Puncher (Armored orange guy with the tongue) damage increased from 25 to 50 and now blocks player movement unless dodge-rolling.
Bug Fixes
- Possible fix for blue screen issue experienced by some players
- Wrist laser now properly uses energy while digging blocks from the background
- Fixed an issue that would cause your selected weapon to switch to the wrist light or map after a dodge roll or holstering the weapon
- You can no longer use your wrist gadgets while respawning
- You can no longer place/remove torches outside of your grab range
- Fixed an issue with the required energy display for some weapons that would result in the wrong amount being displayed when max energy was increased with a battery
- Fixed an issue that would cause the thermite gun/flare gun sound effect at the character select screen
- A lot of other small things that I forgot to write down
[ 2014-05-20 08:24:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life Update v0.37
[ 2014-04-25 22:56:17 CET ] [ Original post ]
Version 0.37
- Signs of Life should now run on a wider variety of machines.
- Maximum resolution is now 2048x2048 (related to above)
- Added Rocket Launcher and Rockets. Recipes found automatically with steel ingots. Here is a video of it in action
- Added Propellant, used in Rocket recipe, recipe found with Bauxite.
- Added a Material Printer project, which is now used for crafting many existing high tier recipes. Here is a video
- Background blocks near the surface on newly generated worlds are now mineable by right clicking with the wrist laser.
- Added some more tutorial dialogue bits with AGIS.
- Fixed some issues with equipping items out of containers by right clicking
[ 2014-04-25 22:56:17 CET ] [ Original post ]
Recent Updates
[ 2014-03-31 09:03:00 CET ] [ Original post ]
Here are the interesting recent updates for February 12 - March 31:
New Content
- Added Magnum pistol and magnum pistol rounds, pistol recipe is discovered when you find steel gun parts and the ammo recipe is discovered when you find lead
- Added Laser Pistol Mk2
- Added a secondary function for the wrist scanner tool that scans the area and adds it to the minimap. Here is a gif of the function with a high quality amethyst installed.
- Added a thermite pistol and thermite charges. Steel gun parts will give you the recipe for the pistol and bauxite will give you the recipe for the charges.
- Added a new armor set made from those white speckled spitting guy's skin, it protects from their nasty spit if you wear enough of it.
- Plated hide armor now has a set bonus that reduces damage similar to the armored mobs themselves.
- Added grass seed bag and recipe, lets you throw grass seeds like chicken feed
Changes
- Added some new sound effects and tweaked some existing sounds
- Added ability to quickly transfer items to a selected container by using the grab laser hotkey while your mouse is over an item
- Increased jewel armor value to slightly more than steel armor
- Added x10 increase/decrease buttons in crafting
- Added an analyze button (little magnifying glass) to the crafting window, it lets you target an item in order to find its recipe
- Added a button to sort the crafting window alphabetically
- Added ability to rotate and flip blocks with a hotkey, press reload with a block equipped to rotate it and press g by default to flip it.
- Increased the rate of lower tier ores deeper underground a bit.
- Increased the number of deposits at world gen by 50%
- Added a debug map generator type in the sandbox menu, its for dev purposes but feel free to play with it, its just a blank world with a line of dirt right now.
Bug Fixes
- Kicking collisions should be better
- Fixed some UI issues on lower resolutions
- Fixed a graphics corruption issue that affected a small number of players
- Fixed several rare crashes
[ 2014-03-31 09:03:00 CET ] [ Original post ]
Recent Updates!
[ 2014-02-11 15:37:12 CET ] [ Original post ]
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:
New Content:
- Added many types of craftable blocks
- Added some new hats and hairs
- Added more options for fonts, small/medium/large
- Throwable bricks (http://www.playsignsoflife.com/images/brickThrow.gif)
- Added Assault Rifle with corresponding ammo
- Added new mob underground that floats over to ya and pops.
- Added dodge roll, double tap forward, we'll work out rebinding soon
- Added glowstick recipe
- Added LED recipe
- Added a craftable hoe that can remove grass from tiles, also pulls out grass seeds
- Added grass seeds
- Added recipes for energy cannon, energy shotgun and tesla rifle
- Added recipe for the Blunderbuss
Bug Fixes:
- Added a better crash logger
- Fixed a bunch of rare crashes
- Added auto-run option in the settings menu
- Fixed some issues with saving
- Fixed a bug that would dupe tiles with the firestarter
- Fixed an issue that would cause some items to get lost
- Fixed an exploit/bug with crossbow ammo
- Fixed minor artifacting on asteroids on main menu
- Fixed a crash related to not having a sound device
- Fixed a bug that would copy inventory from one character to another when switching characters
- Tweaked lighting above ground a bit to make it more natural
Gameplay Changes:
- Made the torch equippable, shows up in the gadget slot (slot 4), equip it and right click on a background tile to attach it.
- Changed behavior of some mobs to stop them from piling up quite so much.
- Spitter spit no longer affects spitters
- Mobs should no longer spawn anywhere that has a player-placed background.
- Tweaked mobs to make them spawn in less annoying places (Shouldn't spawn in the pod or on inorganic materials)
- Scissors and saw now require copper instead of iron
- Capped the width/power of the laser pistol
- You can now swing melee weapons through platforms
- Brick oven now requires bricks instead of brick slabs to craft
- Pod no longer automatically generates on existing worlds after you've destroyed it
- Added item drop on death toggle, press "t" to open the console, then type /toggledropitems
- Added a toggle command to disable mob destruction, /togglemobdestruction
- Added brick/mud brick smelting recipes
- Upped drop rate of biofuel on pupa and saltpeter on larval eggs, increased the at-generation amount of pupa/larval eggs, and increased the spawn rate of pupa/larval eggs. We likely will need to do more with the way the pupa/eggs spawn as they are still too hard to find (they only spawn on mud).
- Doubled the length of the spitter melee DoT, halved the damage.
- Added stone and mushroom deposits to the surface area during world-gen
UI/Graphics:
- Made it so you can scroll through the scroll slots by clicking the appropriate number repeatedly
- You can now drop items on containers to put them inside
- Made gems stackable
- Project window amount font switched to the small font
- UI element positions are now saved between sessions
- Ammo type/ammo in clip now saved between sessions
- Added feedback effects for when melee weapons hit blocks
- Misc work on weapon effects
- Updated copper sword sprites
- Squished the scroll slots a bit closer together to make the UI better for people at lower resolutions.
[ 2014-02-11 15:37:12 CET ] [ Original post ]
Signs of Life
Sweet Dog Studios
Developer
Sweet Dog Studios
Publisher
2014-01-27
Release
Game News Posts:
42
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Mostly Positive
(686 reviews)
The Game includes VR Support
Public Linux Depots:
- Signs of Life Depot (Linux) [568.15 M]
Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't even want to kill you and eat your corpse. Along the way, you'll be able to craft armor, weapons, gadgets and more to assist you in surviving in an inhospitable environment.
4 years later, as the Hephaestus approached its destination a faint signal was detected from a nearby asteroid. Against their better judgement, the crew of the Hephaestus decided to investigate, and in doing so set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to their destruction.
The good news is, you managed to survive by hitching a ride on a small escape pod just in the nick of time. The bad news is, everyone you knew and loved is dead, you have nothing but the clothes on your back, a standard issue multi-function wrist laser and a faulty artificial intelligence companion named AGIS. Oh, and the human race is probably doomed.
Probably.
Right now our first priority is making sure that the content we have in-game is as bug-free, balanced, polished and fun as possible based on feedback from you folks. We have a significant prologue/tutorial planned, as well as significant content beyond what is currently playable, so the sooner you get involved the more of an effect you'll have on the final game. We deal in hard science, and in working very closely with our personal science advisor at Sweet Dog Studios, that tends to lead to results.
We are still very much in development, and we would like you to join us in shaping the game from here on out. Your feedback is vital to us, so don't be shy =)
Story
Sensing that an apocalyptic war was imminent, the United Nations executed a last ditch plan to save what they could of the human race. 2 crafts were launched, a massive colony ship called the Hephaestus and a smaller, faster scout ship called the Hermes. The destination was a recently discovered earth-like planet with the potential to harbor life located roughly 18 light years away. The Hermes reached the planet first in order to establish a presence in anticipation of the arrival of the Hephaestus.4 years later, as the Hephaestus approached its destination a faint signal was detected from a nearby asteroid. Against their better judgement, the crew of the Hephaestus decided to investigate, and in doing so set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to their destruction.
The good news is, you managed to survive by hitching a ride on a small escape pod just in the nick of time. The bad news is, everyone you knew and loved is dead, you have nothing but the clothes on your back, a standard issue multi-function wrist laser and a faulty artificial intelligence companion named AGIS. Oh, and the human race is probably doomed.
Probably.
Features
- An expansive world with procedurally generated and hand-crafted content.
- Online Co-Op Multiplayer
- A bunch of weird alien creatures.
- Some familiar creatures.
- Chickens.
- Mining, hunting, gathering.
- Gobs of ores, materials and animal organs you can use to...
- Craft all kinds of weapons, armor, gadgets, furniture, etc.
- A bit of story and lore to hold the whole thing together.
- Eggs.
- All spiritual content in this game has been assessed by Dr. Halamkah, advisor to the stars.
Current State of Development
Signs of Life is currently in Alpha. We feel like we've put together a fun, satisfying experience that will allow us to get wider feedback while we complete the rest of the game.Right now our first priority is making sure that the content we have in-game is as bug-free, balanced, polished and fun as possible based on feedback from you folks. We have a significant prologue/tutorial planned, as well as significant content beyond what is currently playable, so the sooner you get involved the more of an effect you'll have on the final game. We deal in hard science, and in working very closely with our personal science advisor at Sweet Dog Studios, that tends to lead to results.
We are still very much in development, and we would like you to join us in shaping the game from here on out. Your feedback is vital to us, so don't be shy =)
Caveats/Issues
- Some sound effects are missing, but we are actively working on filling them in.
MINIMAL SETUP
- Processor: Dual-Core 2 GHzMemory: 2 GB RAM
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.0 Compatible Graphics Device
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- Processor: Dual-Core 2+ GHzMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.0 Compatible Graphics Device
- Storage: 1 GB available space
GAMEBILLET
[ 5974 ]
GAMERSGATE
[ 1554 ]
MacGamestore
[ 1808 ]
FANATICAL BUNDLES
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