Our issues with the master server are still unresolved so we have put in a bypass for the server browser until it is fixed. For now when you click play online it will simply give you the option to directly connect to either official server.

Join the community on our Discord!

This patch adds new parts to diversify building options.

Additions:

• Added 7 new parts which should help make ship designs more interesting. These are all structure parts.
  
• Added the option to have your character move relative to the direction your character is facing rather than relative to the screen. Toggle this with Z key.
  

Join the community on our Discord!

This patch addresses many outstanding bugs and issues and should improve overall stability.

Additions:

• Printsettings command added for console, which reads out all server settings.
  

• Players are no longer removed from the game when their owner leaves the game. (Be sure to protect your character!)
  
• Adjustments to loot table.
  
• Redone code for loot table logic.
  
• Updated Discord plugin on for Linux OS.
  
• Updated network code.
  
• Removed holiday themed items.
  
• Changed game settings to block odd screen resolutions.
  
• Added timestamps for player logs.
  
• Maglock connections are now saved and remade when the server saves or loads.
  

• Fixed an issue with loading saved games where:
  
  
  
  • Players and items would have a velocity of 0 when loaded from a save game.
    
  • Physics objects would be loaded and activated in series rather than simultaneously causing a spaghettification of positions across all objects.
    
  
  
• Fixed an issue where planet gravity would fail if an object within the sphere of influence was marked as not being simulated.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could move their character or open the map when using certain menus.
  
• Fixed bug where player could take Gee force damage when loading into game or teleporting.
  
• Fixed an issue where planet 3 had it's visuals in a separate location than it's physics.
  
• Fix for camera panning not freezing while using menus.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game would the the player "resource storage full" on parts that did not have a resource storage.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game did not inform the player what resources they were transferring and the quantities, while filling resources storages.
  
• General fixes for Discord plugin.
  
• Fix for keeping health bars at the correct length regardless of max health value.
  

We are now well into the new year and this is an exciting time, hopefully, with many updates and changes soon to come for Planetes.

While we released in 2018 (Early Access), we expect 2019 to be an even bigger year for Planetes. We knowingly released the game early, many might say too early, but as a small development team it can be difficult to find enough people to play and test the game. Releasing when we did allowed us to get a much larger amount of feedback about the game as well as to discover a lot of bugs and issues. So, thanks to everyone who has been here with us through the difficult times!

What can be expected moving forward? Each of the categories below will be addressed in-depth in a later blog write up, but we have outlined them here.

- Improved server stability and performance.
- Player hosted and community hosted dedicated servers.
- Crafting implemented.
- Revised ship building system. (This is a big one!)
- More unique ship parts with varied footprints.
- Internal ship management.
- AI.

Server Stability: While the server performance has been OK when there are a handful of players on at a time, it certainly has issues when we start getting anywhere near the 24 players per server limit. This is not how we want the game to be and we will not stop working on this until the per server limit is much higher (above 50 concurrent users).

Community Servers: This has long been requested by the community, and it is currently being worked on. We had hoped to get this in back in November, but we had a lot of other things that we were stuck working on at the time. While we could release this now, it would not be as feature complete or user friendly as we want it to be. Ideally, this should be as easy to set up as starting an offline game.

Crafting: This is a feature that should have been in the game from the beginning, but again is one of those features that connects into so many other areas of the game that it can be difficult to get working if the other linked features are not as complete as they should be. The crafting system will use designs or blueprints that can can either be unlocked from a skill tree or found as loot depending on the design and its rarity. Each design will require a number of resources to craft and the appropriate crafting station. Through crafting, players will also be able to craft ship parts, which will be able to be placed by putting the part on your hotbar, selecting it, and then placing it like you would with the current building system. This is important because the current building system will be changing.

Revised Ship Building: Our current ship building system works, but there is nothing special about it. Its nothing great or unique. It is also very performance intensive when large ships with many parts are built onto a ship. We are going through the process of redesigning this system to be more performance intensive and unique to Planetes. Our new direction will be sacrificing some of the freedom players had to build any design they wanted, but hopefully the benefits will outweigh this!

New Ship Parts: The majority of our current parts fill out a unit square or can be combined to fill out a unit square. We dont actually have a reason for this aside from it making building a bit simpler for the player. Our engine can support any parts of any shape so, moving forward, we will take advantage of this to let players truly build some unique ships within the revised building system.

Ship Management: This has been a feature that was always meant to be a big part of Planetes, but has yet to be included in the game even on a small scale. This system will be how ammunition, power, and fuel are delivered to the various parts of the ship. It will include the UI that allows the player to choose which weapons to fire. It will also include the the ship radar system, which will not just be informational, but will also be how the player controls various weapons and drones at range.

AI: Having AI in Planetes has always been planned, and by AI we do not just mean ships that fly around waiting for a player to stumble on them. We wanted NPCS, and creatures as well, so for a while we avoided this area since we knew it would be a pretty big undertaking and we wanted to be sure we had the resources to do it right. This has now been moved up on our priorities list because we feel that, until Planetes becomes a more widely played game, it will suffer from feeling empty. While some players enjoy this, because it provides a sort of creative mode, the majority of players have indicated they would like a more engaging experience. So, until we have active servers, adding AI will be necessary to breath a bit of life into the game.

Short Term: Moving forward we will be putting out a small update within the next week that addresses some major outstanding bugs and issues. For several weeks following this update, we will only be putting out a couple of small patches for other small bugs and issues. This is because our attention is going to be refocused on some of the redesign work we need to complete for us to start putting in the above mentioned features and systems.
We plan to first work on the redesigned ship building system since it is such a core element of the game and the new system will be a defining element of Planetes.

From our very small development team, thanks again for all the support, encouragement, and feedback over the last months!

We're aware of an issue with the Mac and Linux builds which prevent players from doing Offline or Online mode.

We're currently working on a fix!

Join the community on our Discord!

Star System Overhaul Patch, We have gone through and updated all of the planets to use the new rendering tool. They should all be much more interesting to explore and build on.

Additions:

• Added parts: Light armor plating in 3 sizes and Medium armor plating in 3 sizes.
  
• Added Christmas Tree room part (functions as a small storage and looks cozy).
  
• Added Christmas Tree Loot Crate.
  
• Added new roof panel art.
  
• Added new part: HGas Fuel Tank 3X6.
  
• Added panning camera for ships.
  
• Added four modes to the camera (Cycle through camera modes with C).
  
• Added loot spawns. (Crates (currently disguised as christmas trees) will spawn in certain areas on planets, open them using F to get a surprise!)
  
  

• Lowered pan distance and max zoom of player camera.
  
• Gave the panning camera distance based smoothing.
  
• Made the camera freeze its panning if you open menus.
  
• Made the camera pan relative to zoom.
  
• Improved the look of raised terrain.
  
• Changed how explosion force is calculated.
  
• Rebuilt part explosion method.
  
• Improved orbit calculations so trajectory lines are much more stable.
  
• Improved how thrusters reverse thrust and thruster damage are calculated.
  

• Fixed roofs having invalid transforms to check visibility against.
  
• Fixed weapons being able to shoot through raised terrain.
  
• Fixed map trajectories sometimes turning dark grey.
  
• Fixed issue where parts would explode when deconstructed.
  
• Fixed issue where explosions could sometimes pull you inwards.
  
• Fixed some minor issues with gravity calculations.
  
• Fixed issue where atmospheric drag was not being properly applied to objects.
  
• Fixed issue where a player or ship could get stuck on the edge of a planet and would not be able to move.
  

Hello Everyone!

We hope everyone is having an enjoyable holiday season, and with that we would like to offer Planetes at 20% off during this year's Steam winter sale!

Additionally we will be patching shortly (hopefully tomorrow the 21st).

Some things you can expect to see in this patch:

- Holiday cheer! Various items have been added or re-skinned to make Planetes more festive during the holidays.

- New Armor panels. The old one block panel was not sufficient and had issues. We have now added six new armor panel parts. Three sizes of each armor level with both light armor and medium armor. Also the armor parts have been improved so they can now fit closely together. Previously it was not possible to place two armor panels on an inside corner.

- Redone starting star system. All the old planets have been replaced with new ones using our updated mesh for planets. This allows us to build much more dynamic and interesting planets, also much larger!

- Loot box spawning. We now have a system in-place that will spawn loot crates semi randomly in preset areas on asteroids and planets. These crates can contain anything from resources to weapons and items.

- These are just a few things you can expect in the upcoming patch, which will also include plenty of smaller additions and many fixes and changes.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays!

Join the community on our Discord!

Additional settings added to server persistence and new Camera panning.

Additions:

• Added to server persistence: Derelict Spawn rate, spawned ship part limit, client can spawn ship, cargo destroy on container break percentage, auto save frequency, velocity soft cap, ship part limit, resources set as infinite.
  
• Added map icon for current controlled ship, (indicates direction ship is pointing).
  

• Lowered the stars overall gravity and increased the radius of the star's gravity well. (objects can now hold a stable orbit around the star).
  
• Improvements to weapon carry poses.
  

• Fix for null ref error on status bars when parts are destroyed.
  
• Fixed issue allowing ships to move through raised terrain.
  

Join the community on our Discord!

Small patch fixing major issue with ship spawning.

Additions:

• New Utility suit art added (being used temporarily as the default suit).
  

• Modified Planet3 (newest planet) by adding cliff structure prototypes.
  
• Slightly improved cloud rendering.performance happy.
  
• Increased overall star brightness.
  

• Fix for junk collector removing constructs before they had properly spawned in.
  
• Fix trajectories not being displayed when playing online.
  
• Fix for thrusters pushing too strongly against projectiles, items and players.
  
• Fix for null ref occurring when a construct was removed from game while player is in adminmode.
  

Join the community on our Discord!

This Update wipes the servers!
Spooky Halloween event cosmetics removed.

Additions:

• Added derelict ships that will randomly spawn and move in towards the star system.
  
• Added thruster burn area indicators visible when building.
  
• Added missing thrusters (both the physics and the visuals) on Large 6X6 Chemical Thruster, they can be used as turning thrusters.
  
• Added console command for admins to allow clients to spawn in whole ships.
  
• Added console command to enable server wide infinite building resources.
  
• Added console command to edit derelict spawn interval.
  
• Added trajectory prediction indicator to map view.
  
• Added gravity well and atmosphere limit visual indicators to map view.
  
• Added a new planet which uses new tech that will eventually be used for all the planets.
  

• Adjusted map zoom limits.
  
• Refactored planetary gravity code to be more stable, accurate and performance happy.
  
• Map will automatically close if open while leaving a seat.
  
• Improved resolution of orbit rings.
  

• Fix for discord connection errors on headless server.
  
• Fix for map opening when leaving a seat.
  

This Update wipes the servers!
This Update has Spooky Content.

Spooky Additions:

• Batwing 2X6 Solar Panel.
  
• Batwing Low Profile Solar Panel.
  
• Dragon Skull Ion Engine 2X2.
  
• Pumpkin Inert Gas Fuel Tank.
  
• Tri Skull Ion RCS.
  

• Players now drop all items on death.
  
• Added healing while standing in Spawn Bay.
  
• Added effect for when a part separates from the construct it was previously attached to.
  
• Added support for non admin console commands.
  
• Added "KillMe" console command. (Can be used by anyone).
  
• It now costs resources to repair parts. (It is cheaper to repair then to build new)
  
• Added Battery Resource and Capacitor Resource items.
  
• Added confirmations for deleting ships and game saves.
  
• You can now combine resource stacks and swap stacks by dragging to each other.
  
• You can now split resource stacks using middle mouse button while dragging.
  
• Added discord user names to bug reports.
  

• Update rules for dropping items. (Items will be dropped with 0 velocity when carrier's velocity is below 25 otherwise item inherits velocity of carrier)
  
• Different resources now have different allowed max sizes.
  
• Improved logic for adding resources to a player.
  
• Increased angle of offset from desired direction that a thruster will fire at.
  
• Improved code for refueling and repairing.
  
• Save/Load game option only shown in offline games now.
  

• Fixed bug where weapon would shoot for a moment after being destroyed.
  
• Fixed bug where weapon would stay firing after player controlling ship had died.
  
• Fix for bug where player would be immobile if their cockpit was destroyed.
  
• Fix for null reference (newCCRB) on save load.
  
• Fixed issue with thrusters not firing correctly in all directions.
  
• Fixed various text bugs on tooltips.
  
• Fix for parts not darkening when taking damage.
  
• Fix for using too many resources when refueling.
  
• Fix for not dropping resource items when value reached 0.
  

This Update wipes the servers!

Additions:

• Added notifications for when trying to fuel a tank without the correct resources and for when it is full.
  
• Discord Rich presence! Planetes Development Discord https://discord.gg/5Rq6jGW
  
• Console command to set velocity soft cap.
  
• Added notifications for picking up items.
  

• Lowered fuel and energy cost for Ion thrusters.
  
• World building changes, added additional asteroids in the inner belt. Visuals changes to Blue planet. Added more Fissile material nodes.
  

• Fix for feet being weird when exiting a seat while moving fast.
  
• Fix for save/load menu scrolling.
  
• Fix for zooming while trying to scroll save/load menu.
  
• Fix for mouse cursor being lagged while moving. (Additional improvements planned)
  

This Update wipes the servers!
Additions:

• Added ability to set your own controls.
  
• Added parts: Girder Angle 2X2, Part Panel Angle 2X2.
  
• Added UI for saving/loading ships and offline games.
  

• Overhauled movement update syncing, (player and ship movement should now be much smoother).
  
• Lowered both ship and player update rates, (high rate is no longer needed with better position syncing).
  
• General UI improvements.
  
• Improved game copy authentication.
  
• Ships are now saved to disk.
  
• Improved loading code.
  
• Many small fixes and improvements.
  

• Fix for not being able to do anything on a multiplayer game.
  
• Lowered sound levels on thrusters and Polytool.
  
• Fix for character being seated in a lagged position when enter a moving cockpit seat.
  
• Fix for not being able to fire projectiles.
  

Additions:
- With this patch we have upgraded our servers to much better hardware. Hopefully this will solve a lot of the lag and performance issues players have experienced.

• Added inspector highlights for seats and cockpits.
  
• New Part: Spawn Bay, use this to place a spawn location on your ship.
  
• New Part: Cargo Container, can be used for storing a number of items.
  
• New Part: Two seat Bridge.
  
• New Part: Ion RCS.
  
• Console command, Teleport to coords.
  
• Server settings are now saved.
  
• Center of mass indicator. Red and black circle will update to the center of mass of the ship when parts are added and removed.
  
• Added additional stats to generator and solar panel parts.
  
• Added resource container status bars to the UI while controlling a construct.
  
• Added authorized user list to constructs. To add yourself to your constructs authorized users, set a pincode on any part that uses them. This will allow you to deconstruct with the poly tool at the maximum rate.
  

• Improved rules for inspecting highlighter.
  
• Updated how visibility under roofs is calculated (should improve performance)
  
• Improved how player impact/Geeforce damage is calculated.
  
• Improvements to damage overlay.
  
• Increased master server refresh rate.
  
• Reequip item when closing inventory.
  
• Lowered update rates where possible for additional performance improvements.
  
• Various Art Updates to parts.
  
• Lowered velocity softcap.
  
• Updated Console UI.
  
• Improved GiveInfiniteResources Command.
  

• Fix for cockpit glass not staying transparent.
  
• Empty resource items are now removed automatically.
  
• Fix for chat autocomplete staying open when chat was minimized.
  
• Fix for avatar not always sitting in correct seat position.
  
• Fix for ship mass being wrong when ships split in certain situations.
  
• Server now forces a ship update if the network position and the client position are too far out of sync.
  

Additions:

• Resources are now items, can be dropped/picked up just like weapons.
  
• Added 1X5 Solar Panel.
  
• Added art for resource items.
  
• Added ability to refuel fuel tanks using the PolyTool (will only fuel a tank if tank is at full HP).
  
• Added more tutorial stages covering primary features currently in game.
  

• Chat window location and state is now saved.
  
• Modified sounds on ship weapons.
  
• Performance improvements for dedicated servers. (Removed status bars from headless, removed nodes from headless)
  
• Changed how items are held by character.
  
• Increased Torpedo life duration.
  
• Polytool will now only "shoot" objects it will have an effect against.
  
• Lowered fuel cost of all chemical engines.
  
• Removed passive resource gain from all fuel tank parts.
  

• Issue where servers would delist from master server.
  
• Issue with doors not opening on default F press.
  
• Bug fix for incorrectly checking integrity of a construct with 1 or fewer parts.
  
• Null ref issue when dying related to tooltips.
  

All content in this post is subject to change and should only be viewed as a rough idea of upcoming features/content. Items are listed in no particular order.

Additionally this quarterly roadmap represents an overestimation of what we will be able to complete by the end of the quarter, so naturally there will be many items listed that will not be completed by the end of the quarter.

What we want to complete by end of Q3 2018

• Tutorial covering the main features in game.
  The tutorial is currently a basic framework. The tutorial is meant to cover all primary areas of the game. Tutorial is meant to update based on actions the player completes.
  
• Ship UI.
  The ship user interface will display key information to the player such as fuel quantities, mass, part count, etc. The ship UI will also have a separate hotbar which can socket the different weapons and functions on the ship. The ship UI should also have a tab menu system allowing the player to access deeper functions gathered from parts on the ship, such as radar and automatic weapon targeting.
  
• Community/Local Hosted Servers.
  Players should be able to host their own games using their local machine or a dedicated server. Players should be able to control whether their hosted games are private, password protected and have access to additional server settings.
  
• Persistent Inventory.
  The player’s inventory should persist through logging in and out of a server. The player’s inventory should persist through server restarts.
  
• Resources as items ingame.
  Resources are currently stored in containers on the character. Resources need to be in game items like weapons and tools which can be added to the inventory and put down into the game world.
  
• Ability to target weapons better.
  Currently weapons fire from the weapon towards the cursor. This setup functions but can be better. Weapons should be changed to prioritize hitting objects/terrain under at the cursor’s position.
  
• Ability to secure/protect your ships/bases.
  Pin Codes were added for doors, these need to be added to other functional parts on a ship including the cockpit. When a pin code is set on a cockpit and the cockpit is locked, only players with access will be able to use their PolyTool to place, repair, or deconstruct parts on that ship. Additionally without pin code access you cannot use any function on a part that is locked.
  
• Supply Drop / Pod crash events.
  These events should occur periodically where a supply drop or pod will crash on asteroids or planets. The supply drop / pod can be looted for gear and resources.
  
• Basic AI.
  First iteration of AI, providing some PvE experiences for players as well as providing a peacekeeping system near spawn locations.
  
• Consumables.
  There is currently no way to heal your character or recharge your suit energy/fuel levels. Consumable items will be added that can be crafted to serve this purpose.
  
• Refueling of resource containers.
  Resource containers currently have a passive recharge rate, this needs to be removed and a method for players to refuel their resource containers added.
  
• Crewed and uncrewed turrets.
  Manned turrets that can be entered and controlled by players along with auto turrets (primarily point defense cannons).
  
• Crafting of items.
  Crafting of weapons / gear / consumables is a priority feature. Players should be able to craft their gear rather than hunting for it in the world.
  

New Parts

• Spawn bay.
  
• Ion RCS.
  
• Two seat Bridge.
  
• Point Defence Cannon Turret (Auto).
  
• Laser System Turret (Manned)
  
• Side Mount Cannon.
  
• 1X4 Solar Panel.
  
• 2X2 Angle Girder/Panel.
  

Additions:

• Persistent inventory.
  
• New Part: Side mount ship cannon.
  

• The small bridge can no longer be entered through it's walls.
  
• The cockpit is now easier to enter from all directions.
  
• Improved names and tooltips on parts.
  
• Reduced fuel burn amounts on all chemical thrusters.
  
• Increased timer for removing unused parts/items from the game.
  

• Barrel rotations on gimballed weapons/turrets now updates on the client.
  
• Damage overlay now works on clients.
  
• Client should no longer freeze when disconnecting from a server.
  
• Fix for players damaging themselves by quickly changing direction while sprinting.
  

Additions:

• Added damage indicator overlay.
  
• Added art for PolyTool.
  
• Added more nodes to certain parts.
  
• Added ship and players markers to adminmode.
  

• Increased collision damage received by ships.
  
• Increased GForce damage on players.
  
• Improvements to server browser menu.
  
• PolyTool can no longer mine/deconstruct at any range.
  
• Adjusted ship weapon damages.
  
• Junk collector resets it's timer for ships when a new part is placed.
  

• Fixed issue with getting out of ships breaking game.
  
• Fixed issue with status bars not being repopulated when a ship splits.
  
• General fixes for junk cleanup.
  
• Fix for player being able to activate items while using a pinpad.
  
• Fixed cryopod render layer.
  
• Fix for flickering issues with rendering asteroids.
  
• Fix for offline games showing up in server browser.
  

Additions:

• Added player inventory (Toggle with tab, move items between hotbar and backpack with click and drag.)
  
• Added server browser.
  
• Added 2X2 Ion engine.
  
• Added gimballed laser weapon for ships.
  
• Added low profile solar panel.
  
• Added 1X3 Battery.
  
• Added 3X3 Structural Panel.
  
• Added Fissile material storage 2X2.
  
• Added stat panel for backpack.
  

• Certain actions now have delay buffers.
  
• General UI improvements.
  
• You can now drop things by dragging them out of your inventory.
  

• Issue with ping/fps counter.
  
• Projectile thruster effects now play on clients.
  
• Issue when exiting cockpit it would put you back in sometimes.
  

Additions

• Added legacy save warning.
  
• Part - Solar Panel 2X6.
  
• Part - Reactor Core.
  
• Part - Panel Adapter 3-2, and Panel Adapter 2-1.
  
• Added I-Gas resource nodes.
  
• Remaining materials node art.
  
• Ship splitting.
  

• Added parameters to resource nodes and harvest tools to control effectiveness/ease of mining.
  
• Resource Nodes can use a particle effect as a fullness indicator.
  

• Exiting small cockpit did not move you to your previous position.
  
• Asteroids turn invisible when hitting U key.
  

Fixes:

• Various fixes for server-side errors from previous patch.
  

Additions

• System Map, open using "M" With map open, click and drag to move the map, "C" to center back on your character's position. Scroll wheel to zoom.
  
• New art for Light metal, carbon, fiber, fissile material and ice resource nodes.
  
• Ship part limit.
  
• Indicator for new chat messages.
  
• Chat auto complete.
  
• Chat player joins/disconnects.
  
• Server bans.
  
• Battery 3X3.
  

• Major world building.
  
• Collider and Render layer pass.
  
• Chat opens when you press Enter.
  

• Fixed backwards build nodes.
  
• Fixes for server chat.
  

Additions:

• In game chat added. (message server wide or a specific player using /tell)
  
• Fps/Ping counter which can be turned on in the esc menu.
  
• Added 2X2 Medium thruster.
  
• Added Low Profile RCS.
  

• Added additional nodes to some parts.
  
• Increased the player's starting resources.
  
• Increased collision damage.
  

• Fixed resource node tooltips.
  
• Fixed weapon overheating.
  
• Fixed maglock not disconnecting if you destroyed the part it was connected to.
  
• Fixed issue where some interior parts were difficult or impossible to target with Polytool.
  

Additions:

• Added Mac and Linux builds to steam, please test these if you can!
  
• Basic ship stats for part count, mass, etc place din save file now.
  
• Resource nodes to world.
  
• New spawn locations.
  
• Resource cost for all parts.
  

• Build menu is now set to stay open while building.
  
• Updated Unity3D and Forge Networking solution.
  
• Deconstructing a part with the PolyTool now rewards 90% of the resource building cost.
  
• Sound pass.
  
• Building Collider pass.
  
• Fuel tanks set to passively gain fuel overtime, until fuel harvesting is added.
  

• Resource nodes now properly networked on clients. ( a result of the Forge update)
  
• Various performance improvements.
  

Additions:

• More console commands for admins/offline play (type help in console ~)
  
• Saving/loading ships!
  
• Parts cost resources to build
  
• Resource mining
  

• Ion thurusters balanced
  
• Disabled some colliders on ships, giving performance to clients
  
• Admins don't drop their OP guns on DC (sry)
  

• Avatars of DCing players not disappearing on clients connecting to a server
  
• Parts not being removed on clients if they're DC'd from the server when they're removed
  
• Misc fixes