Gameplay
- fix a small chance of unreachable areas being generated on the larger high level planets
- ensure there are always a reasonable number of rescuable crew members available
- performance optimizations for low end hardware

UI
- fix crashed escape pod status icon not showing in some cases

This patch addresses some gameplay quality of life issues, improves performance, and various minor tweaks.

Gameplay
- if reduced to a single crew member, an emergency crew member can be purchased from Upgrades
- there is now a confirmation prompt when launching if it would leave a crewmember behind
- the price of Hunker Down was increased
- rescued crew members will be in a random mode
- enemies should be less likely to spawn directly on top of each other

Graphics
- improved performance on lower end hardware, particularly in the Forest biome
- fix a small graphical artifact caused by health bars and progress gauges
- the ship tail lights have been repaired

UI
- Engineer constructs display an Engineer icon if they require work to build or deconstruct
- action bar now indicates disabled and active states
- fix action bar remaining on screen after selected construct is cancelled
- fix auto harvester icon on Engineer action bar
- added a short transition graphic when landing on a planet

Audio
- sounds are muted when game paused
- fix incorrectly offset sound emitter on Firebutt enemies
- added various missing sound confirmations on button clicks

Controller Support
- UI can be navigated with the dpad
- keyboard/mouse mode switch buttons are hidden and replaced with a dpad graphic when using a controller
- targeting reticle now rotates slowly

This update fixes several gameplay issues, adds some new effects, and improves controller support.

Gameplay
- enemy spawners should no longer end up directly beside the ship
- crew size is limited to 4, additional escape pods cannot be opened
- the dedicated evacuate / launch buttons have been removed from the HUD (they are on the action bar when the ship is selected)

Visuals
- ship catches fire when heavily damaged
- ship explodes instead of just disappearing
- restored some missing post processing effects

Controller Support
- controller binding glyphs added throughout the UI
- key binding display updated throughout UI
- controller reticle is hidden while action bar is active or placing a construct
- help tip for currently selected action is displayed when using the action bar with a controller
- active button is no longer deselected when clicking in empty space in the UI

As a wise man once said, "Step inside, stay alive."



Keep yourself, your family, friends, and neighbors healthy by avoiding groups and gatherings. Stay at home, and play some games!

Feeling lost this holiday season? Tentacle Head is here to help. By popular request, and just in time for Spacemas, From Orbit now has a minimap!



Merry Spacemas,
from Tentacle Head

This dev log post covers the work on From Orbit this year leading up to launch, Phases 9 and 10

From Orbit Dev Log #7 - Lift Off!

From Orbit is out now for Windows, Linux, and Mac!

The countdown is nearly over...
From Orbit is launching on August 27 for Windows, Mac, and Linux!

Three years ago today, I committed the first revision of From Orbit into SVN.



Which is, by some coincidence, the same day eight years ago that I registered @tentaclehead and tentaclehead.com. At the time I didn't have any specific plans for what to do with Tentacle Head, but when From Orbit came around 5 years later, it finally had a purpose.

As a side project, working weekends and evenings, I've put in about 1100 hours so far over the past three years. And that's not including the time other people on the team have spent on music, sound effects, and art.

The finish line is drawing near and I hope to have From Orbit finished and out into the world this summer.

Read the latest entry in the From Orbit dev log on the completion of Phase 8!

From Orbit Dev Log #6 - Creature Complete

Let's just pretend I posted this on December 25, shall we?

Wishing everyone a Merry Spacemas!