The two most dramatic overhauls of the game were update 0.7 and 0.9. With 0.7, we wanted to make the game more challenging and complex. Thats why we introduced features like the happiness system. Later on, we realized there was a problem with some of these features. They punished growth and recruiting more colonists. That was never the intention. We reworked the happiness system into the current Colony Points system. With 0.9, we wanted to make expanding and hiring more colonists more rewarding. One of the ways we tried to do this was by strictly limiting the player-crafting. If players can create hundreds of building blocks with the click of a button, letting colonists do this work is a bit wasteful and inefficient. We stand by this decision, but it has made the early game slower and less exciting. We want to fix this by letting players make early-game building blocks and other essentials without relying on colonists. But for the sake of balance, this should not be possible with just one click and zero other costs. Were strongly considering to introduce the auto-crafter, a mill-like building that processes inputs into certain building blocks. But the auto-crafter takes some time to finish its production, and players need to be physically present at the auto-crafter to deliver and gather materials. Itll empower the player in the early game, without being totally unbalanced. So we were thinking about the topic of proper early-game building blocks, and thought that we should add some new ones. The special roof blocks have been quite popular, but they appear pretty late in the tech tree. So an extra early-game roof block sounded good to us.
And what is a sensible primitive roof? A thatched roof made of straw of course! So weve been making all roof variants necessary to generate proper thatched roofs in all possible shapes. Were very happy with the end result! While working on the roofs, we discussed another common issue. The sides of the roof are their own thing, but wherever they meet the front of a building, they have to match the blocks. The roofs that are currently in the game use some default textures for that front side - planks and stone bricks. If you were using those to build that structure, perfect, itll look great. But if you were using any other building materials, you get this weird stairs-like pattern where your chosen blocks meet the default texture of the roofs.
So, Zun decided to fix that! In the current unreleased dev-build, the front of roofs will actually match the block theyre standing on. It looks much better! And with that feature developed, Zun applied that a bit further. Why shouldnt quarterblocks also match the texture of the block theyre standing on? So weve been playing around with the dynamic quarterblock now, which does exactly that.
All of these should become available in the next update, which hopefully makes the early game a lot more interesting! Bedankt voor het lezen :D Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord

• Multiplayer support: play with friends and strangers!
  
• Advanced pathfinding: colonists and zombies will find their way in the world you've build. They will dynamically navigate stairs, bridges and tunnels.
  
• Explore a world with realistically placed biomes. A giant jungle in the center of the world, surrounded by savannas, deserts and temperate biomes. Two polar regions in the far north and south.
  
• Support for textures and language packs created by players
  
• Dynamic lighting and eye adaptation
  
• Voice your suggestions and be part of the development of Colony Survival!

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+; 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Pentium G620 (2.5 Ghz dual core) or equivalentMemory: 2 GB RAM
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000. 1280x720 display
• Storage: 300 MB available spaceAdditional Notes: Work in progress: new features may raise the bar. optimizations may lower the bar

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+; 64-bit
• Processor: Intel i5-2300 (2.8 GHz quad core) or equivalentMemory: 4 GB RAM
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 750 or equivalent. 1920x1080 display. supporting openGL 4.2+Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 1 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Work in progress: new features may raise the bar. optimizations may lower the bar