Hey everyone! As we continue to work on the next big content update, we're taking features and bug fixes and trying to apply them to the current live branch of the game. We now have an FoV slider available in the graphics section of the options menu! This should help anyone having a hard time with the narrow field of view, and those on ultra wide screens. This was trickier to do than simply adding a new option: our in-world camera is placed in the middle of our robot model, and simply changing the FoV meant that the robot arms were visible on the sides of the screen. Thanks to one of our new developers for this feature. 0.2.5 - Field of view option added, range of up to 130 degrees - Nibbler hats now properly attached to body - Muuse slightly less noisy

[ 2024-11-14 01:51:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some fixes before the next update! Critically, controllers are working for fence placement again. If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

0.2.4

Fix

• Fix broken fence placement with controller
• Fix item not placeable transition sound happening after placement
• Fix miners not showing inventory when resource finished
• Fix miners still running mining animation when no mining happening
• Fix destruction tool UI overflowing
• Fix crash when player's vehicle is destroyed
• Fix greeble construction breaking on faster machines
• Fix shadows on greebles missing on high quality
• Fix broken controls when buttons are held on game start
• Fix error on pressing construction button with nothing to construct
• Fix pet builders launching four pets at once

[ 2024-10-16 20:51:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! It's been a crazy few months for me, but a preview of the next update is now available on the test beta branch!

Features

- New progression, with transports between areas - New Deep forest Area - Better performance - Scanning Tool now scans *most* things - New pet - And many more small things I just got married, and I'm going to be taking a sabbatical, but I still wanted this update to be available for people, even if I can't immediately address bugs. It's missing a few features, and is not balanced, but should be relatively stable and playable. In the future, all these changes make adding new pets, new areas, and new content much, much easier. I'm very excited for what's coming in the pipeline, and I'm confident we will no longer have such long intervals between updates making it to the public builds. Thank you everyone for your continued support, and I'm looking forward to the petting future!

[ 2024-06-14 20:15:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Waking from the Dark

Where are we? What's happening? Where are all my pets? I want to first thank everyone who's been following and waiting, your patience and support has been invaluable. Here's an insight into our journey, and why there hasn't been an update in a while.
Some old WIP features

Adding New Areas

One of the core features that has always been on the roadmap for Industrial Petting is adding new areas. There's an excitement to finding some new biome and seeing what creatures are in it, and then building the factories in this shiny new area. During early access, I've added the gem biome and a fossil biome, and ran into an issue: people's current saves. Adding new areas disrupted existing saves and increased travel times, detracting from the fun and discovery. The gem update caused chaos for a bunch of people's factories, especially if the new gem areas got placed halfway through some existing area. For the update, I added some paths and hints leading towards the closest area, but that isn't a sustainable solution. So I made a major change. To enhance exploration and reduce disruption, we've introduced disconnected worlds linked by teleporters, simplifying navigation and preserving your creations. Suddenly new areas are easy to find: there's explicit systems to travel there, and travel times are now not a problem. You no longer wander through the forest past a hundred cuddlers, hoping to see some weird shape in the draw distance. Doing this required major code rewrites, as every gameplay system now needs to deal with another dimension for positions, and multiplayer needed to be fixed to deal with players being in completely different worlds. Everything was working and stable within two months of the gem update. Unfortunately, this simple design change invited temptation...

The First Redesign

Industrial Petting was once a very different game. It was a factory game, but there were no pets, no multiplayer, and no friendly robots. Just the "Industrial", building in a literal honeycomb. It was too complicated, with a building/factory system was "interesting", but a lot of the core mechanics weren't fun. An enjoyable thing that game did have, was travel on a spaceship between planets, moons, and spaceports. I loved that part, and wanted to bring a little bit of that to the current game. To do that, I threw away the entire game's progression system. Instead, you started on one of the space elevators from the title screen, and had a map in the spaceship. There were missions from different vendors on the ship, with timed goals and a ranking system for those missions. Pets were made in the tens of thousands instead of the hundreds, and nearly every recipe was reworked. It was a huge change, with lots of interesting little bits interacting together. I posted an update showing some preliminary art, and what systems were going to be in there. But the experiment did not work.
Temporary art for the time-limited pet gathering missions The timed missions were too repetitive and stressful. The different vendors just added complexity without offering anything interesting from a narrative or gameplay perspective. Making meta-factories from a map view removed a large part of what makes the game enjoyable in the first place. The whole thing required huge amounts of art I did not have the resources to create. The game had veered too far away from what made it special.

The Second Redesign

So I threw it all away, created a quick moose update, and started working on another redesign. I added a large, completely changed story, with new robots to talk to, resources to interact with, and new systems to unlock items. I was determined to create compelling story, and that story required major changes to the unlock systems and game mechanics. After making all these changes, I realized it also threw away the experience people loved.
A broken map robot, who won't make it into the game

Back To the Roots

But even failed experiments are valuable. After making and unmaking these redesigns, I now appreciate the original system's simplicity. There's a reason that the all major factory games have a similar research system: it encourages automation of more and more complex resources, it encourages careful consideration of resources, and it encourages using factories you've already constructed to push forward down the tech tree. The upcoming forest update will not only add a new area, but rebalance all the existing recipes to reduce the need for constantly rebuilding miners, as well as fixing some build times and ratios to make factories feel less chaotic.

Thanks

I appreciate the messages of encouragement and suggestions, and even appreciate the messages demanding news. It's motivating to see a community out there have enjoyed where this game currently is, and where this game is going in the future. Before I sign off, a quick note on the journey ahead. I've been balancing this passion project with part-time contract work from the start. It's a sustainable setup that keeps me independent and fully invested in the world of Industrial Petting. So, no worries about sudden goodbyes I'm here for the long haul, and I'm excited to keep building this game with you.

TL;DR

After much experimentation, we're enhancing the game with new technology and creatures to match. Expect more pets, more fun, and continued dedication to making Industrial Petting the best it can be. Your enthusiasm fuels this journey. Send suggestions in-game, or join our Discord to share your ideas for new pets and areas.

[ 2024-01-02 18:36:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy year of the rabbit! Industrial Petting is now Steam Deck Verified, so go ahead and do some petting while on the couch, plane, train, or just lounging in the forest. We're still working behind the scenes on the next update, and can hopefully show a lot more in the next few months.

[ 2023-01-24 01:51:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Summer is here, and progress is being made. Moose and squirrels have been relocated to a new deeper forest area, and broken abandoned factory parts are scattered throughout these woods. You and some broken robots will rebuild this world to try and figure out what has happened. In the next week or two, I'm going to be updating the test branch with this new progression, and will be looking for feedback! Old saves can't be loaded, there is some important art missing, and there will be some bugs, but I would like feedback from players willing to try something a little broken. If you want more updates when that happens, as always, join the discord!

[ 2022-06-29 02:31:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Spring is here near the office, and development is squirreling along for the big update. Most of the game's current progression system has been removed to make way for a new scanning tool and pet markets. Justifying those changes is some new story work and worldbuilding being added. While I'm happy with the basic gameplay, there's some plot which needs to be developed before we launch from early access. Also, I finally have a Steam Deck here! I discovered last night that it will automatically download an old broken linux version of Industrial Petting from three years ago, but I'll try to have that fixed soon. Controller support is already in the game, so all that's needed are performance and support fixes.

[ 2022-04-26 21:56:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

What happened in 2021?

This last year did not have any major content releases, which was the result of some failed prototyping, and makes it seem like nothing was happening behind the scenes. A lot of time was spent prototyping some higher level automation gameplay, involving managing factories on a planet and hooking those larger factories together. While that could potentially be interesting in the far future, there aren't enough pets and lower level mechanics right now to justify adding those extra layers of meta-gameplay. Additionally, I took on some contract work to help pay the bills and build up enough funds to only work on Industrial Petting for 2022.

What's next in 2022?

All is not lost from that failed prototype, however. We now can support multiple disconnected areas, as well as players having visually pleasing transitions between those areas. Using that, I'm going to spend this upcoming year focusing on just adding more content to the current design, rather than redesigining everything. TL;DR What's in store for this year? More pets, more areas, more behavior. If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

0.2.3

Features

• New Muuse Pets

Fixes

• Fix VR Teleport not working
• Fix missing/broken animations on some pets
• Fix occasional broken material on deconstructor
• Fix broken material on sploofer
• Fix broken missing cosmetic hookup on SizeableSploofer
• Fix destruction tool not showing correct numbers
• Fix missing description on Gem Hat
• Better Audio/Animation Sync on pets
• Add missing pumpkin description
• Pets don't stop just outside Industrial Petter range

Changes

• Wood planks a little chunkier looking
• Hungry pets no longer follow player
• Add flashlight at night

[ 2022-02-10 23:51:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Artist's Depiction The moose is the largest herbivore in the forests of most pet-producing planets, living on a steady diet of tree bark and underwater plants. Moose are bipedal, but they have vestigial forelegs which are sometimes used to convey happiness or threaten others in the forest. Moose grow additional heads as they age to confuse predators. Remember the old phrase -- "With more heads, the faster it treads!" Happy October, everyone! I've been hiding in the mountains and watching the real world moose eat some very colorful aspen trunks. The Orbital Drop update is still being developed, and is getting to the point where new pets need to be added for some new areas being introduced. The current plan is to also make those pets available in the live version of the game, wandering around current areas. The first of these will be the Moose, which will require somewhat more complicated factory layouts to produce.

[ 2021-10-04 18:18:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

With a whole bunch of new players this last week, I thought I would take some time to back port some fixes which are coming to the future update. Today's patch adds some of the work that's been done for VR players, as well as a whole bunch of fixes for later game content. Thanks especially to those on the discord helping test this release! If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

0.2.2

Changes

• VR Tool Selection now spawns in arc around player at constant offset from head
• VR Movement style changed to per-joystick/pad options
• VR Teleport changed to a more standard arc style
• Click and drag UIs no longer need pixel-perfect aiming in VR
• Add tooltips to VR inspection tool
• Can use VR inspection tool to flip pipe directions

Fixes

• Fix Gemwolf rotation and heart position
• Gatherbots no longer use sightlines when looking for nearby items
• Gatherbots can now set filter to any item
• Growing pumpkins now use correct material
• Discourage pets from running at the same piece of food they can't reach
• Fix main menu not working at narrow aspect ratios
• Fix incorrect list of items for pipe filters and gatherbots
• Fix missing materials on a few items
• Increase size of Crystal Chop
• Gatherbots no longer get stuck if too close to item
• Fix Gemwolf not eating enough

[ 2021-08-16 21:39:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

With a whole bunch of new players this last week, I thought I would take some time to back port some fixes which are coming to the future update. Today's patch adds some of the work that's been done for VR players, as well as a whole bunch of fixes for later game content. Thanks especially to those on the discord helping test this release! If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

0.2.2

Changes

• VR Tool Selection now spawns in arc around player at constant offset from head
• VR Movement style changed to per-joystick/pad options
• VR Teleport changed to a more standard arc style
• Click and drag UIs no longer need pixel-perfect aiming in VR
• Add tooltips to VR inspection tool
• Can use VR inspection tool to flip pipe directions

Fixes

• Fix Gemwolf rotation and heart position
• Gatherbots no longer use sightlines when looking for nearby items
• Gatherbots can now set filter to any item
• Growing pumpkins now use correct material
• Discourage pets from running at the same piece of food they can't reach
• Fix main menu not working at narrow aspect ratios
• Fix incorrect list of items for pipe filters and gatherbots
• Fix missing materials on a few items
• Increase size of Crystal Chop
• Gatherbots no longer get stuck if too close to item
• Fix Gemwolf not eating enough

[ 2021-08-16 21:39:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a little bit of time without news, and I'd like to let everyone know what's being cooked up in the background.

Cities, Land and Pipelines

Using planetary-scale factories, you'll be building thousands of pets, but where will they go? Pet shops, of course! There are cities on-planet, which will be able to sell all the pets you throw at them. Have a variety available in a particular town, and you'll be able to sell them for a higher price. You'll need all that cash, because land is expensive. Especially in the areas with new biomes, like the deep forest and overgrown mushroom lands. Thousands and thousands of pets are hard to transport, and not all of them can be moved around by space elevator. Factories next to a city can sell directly to that city, but ones further away will need a pipeline to move those pets towards the people.

Orbital Design, New Pets and Balancing

The code for those features above is currently in-game and tested, but the balance and art does not exist yet. There are a lot more design parameters which need setting now, and it's been difficult figuring out the overall pacing. The last thing I want is to push this update and have people feel like they're just sitting and waiting for pets to be sold in order to purchase the next upgrade.

How long until the new update?

The beta should be Soon. This is mostly a one-man studio, and design development like this can be hard to predict. The goal is to have the ugly but functional prototype of this be available on a beta branch once I have the first few hours of the new design balanced.

Are old saves going to be supported?

Things are changing enough that older saves won't be supported. I'll be creating a steam branch for people who still want to play the older version of the game. Start a game now, and practice your factory building! The core gameplay of finding pets and building pet factories isn't changing very much, so all those skills will still be useful.

What about that VR update?

Right now, the VR movement redesign is working! Per-joystick movement options, along with some other requested features. The redesign also was an opportunity to clean up some of the code, which has currently broken the non-VR game. I need to do some cleanup on that, and then I'll be shipping it out. Today's thumbnail is an image of some typical development windows: art definitions for areas, a database entry for a new pet, a list of passing unit tests.
TL;DR Update is still coming, work is slow, feeling good about the update.

[ 2021-06-25 21:16:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Everyone! It's been a year since the release of Industrial Petting, and we're on sale until the 24th! If you looked at the last post, you'll see I've been working on a big update for everyone, which will take a month or two (or longer!) before it's ready for the general public. I spent yesterday drawing progression trees and figuring out item prices and new balance numbers. The pet assemblers now need to be working at 4x the speed they are in the current game. In the meantime, I'm going to be making a quick update this week which fixes a whole bunch of the VR issues in the game, and make it a more pleasant experience for everyone with a screen strapped to their face. It turns out I'm the only one who likes doom-style movement and weird teleportation! I'm going to be fixing those and a whole bunch of other issues. I know I've been neglecting my VR players, and I'm hoping to fix the most egregious problems! Here's a picture of the cards for what's planned:
You may notice that the first two have a discord symbol next to them. Suggestions put in the discord are added directly to my project tracking. If you have ideas for what should be in the game, hop into the discord and share them with everyone! Also, if you or a loved one has experienced an uncomfortable VR experience in Industrial Petting, leave a comment below. I'm hoping to fix as many of these as I can right now!

[ 2021-03-21 22:09:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixes pets sleeping/awake during the wrong hours. (Cuddlers during the day and bugs at night)

[ 2021-03-17 16:12:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello [Insert Robot ID Here]! We're close to the one year anniversary for you know what. The Early Access release of Industrial Petting! The next big update isn't here yet, but I would like to give a preview of what's coming, and make it clear why it's been taking a little bit longer. First, a background on the current problems with the game.

The Game Right Now

Industrial Petting is a fun game about making little creatures happy, and building automated facilities to construct more of them. The moment-to-moment gameplay of finding new creatures, figuring out how to please them, and then determining how to automate that process is colorful and enjoyable. What isn't working well are the story and longer-term gameplay loops. There's no explanation for what you are doing, and the only goals are to see more pets and experience more gameplay mechanics. It's also hard to to scale up production. There aren't good reasons to build more than a few factories for each pet type, and if you do, the game isn't optimized enough to handle very large collections of pets. The story doesn't exist right now. You have a tutorial bot occasionally talk to you, and the title screen suggests something about multiple space elevators, but beyond that it's a mystery.

The Game Coming Soon

The current update is tentatively titled The Orbital Drop, and I'm hoping to begin fixing the story and longer-term gameplay issues all at once. You'll still be building factories, finding pets in the forest and mushroom plains, but your larger factory is going to be quite different. Your home base is now a ship in orbit and you'll be building larger, dedicated factories over the surface of the planet, building thousands instead of tens of cuddlers. If that sounds like a lot, there are going to be some new mechanics to make it manageable. On top of that, you'll be talking to new characters in order to sell the pets you're building for cash, buy new land, new parts, and access to new contacts who might help you in the production. Progression will no longer be arbitrary checklists in a long list of unlockable items, there will be a definite sense of purpose to all the factory-building and petting.

Where Are We Now?

The screenshot above is the whitebox, no-art, test mothership. You can see a board showing newly arriving space elevator packages, the orbital drop pod navigator, and a new market to buy/sell things and talk to the locals. They might be hideous right now, but code for all of these is in-game and working! I'm designing and testing out the early game in this new progression system, and once I'm ready for feedback, there will be a very janky beta available. This is a large project, but I believe that the payoff will be more than worth it. An actual storyline and clear goals are a huge step towards the full release. Industrial Petting will turn into a game where your factories are building hundreds of thousands of creatures over the face of an entire planet, and maybe more in the future... If you're interested in talking about this, join the discord!

[ 2021-03-12 00:41:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Petters! A Happy 2021 to everyone. Here in the development quarantine hole, I'm hard at work on the next big update for Industrial Petting.

What's being added?

In the first year of early access I've built ground-level features to the game: new pets, new buildings, new food and a new biome. It's been fun adding these in and fleshing out how the game feels at a moment-to-moment level. Even with the updates, the game has been missing some big items. There's barely any narrative, and a lack of progression and goals beyond the simple research tree. The next big update will start building these, and get us one step closer to leaving early access! We're expanding the story, creating a late game, and making it easier to add new content in the future. The original prototypes five years ago had many of these features, and now it's time to put them back in.

• The beginnings of a narrative.
• Petting will be no longer be a local enterprise: you'll be building your factories at a planetary scale.
• A home base spaceship to plan that construction.
• Per-player upgrades for movement, construction, and petting.
• Factories are no longer in a single area, and those of you who can build layouts quickly or find more pets in the forest will be rewarded.
• Automating building production and food production will be core mechanics.
• Upgrades to make collecting pets in the forest more viable.
• Rebalancing the game so that multiple players helps immensely.

These changes will also make adding new pets and pet areas much easier. For the Crystal Update, I needed to choose how and where to position the new area, as well as make some tools to lead people to the new biome. This new system will allow me to create new areas and new pets with far less overhead, and less of a chance of breaking people's save games. It also means less time wandering back and forth from the mushroom/crystal lands, and more time building pet factories and gathering new creatures.

How far is development?

In the last few weeks, I've accomplished the scary technical challenge. Teleporting between your orbiting ship and different areas on the ground is working, even in multiplayer. The goal in the upcoming weeks is to figure out the specifics of the metagame being introduced, and rebalance the game so that the average player can have an enjoyable time with the current content in 5-8 hours. For more committed players, the new design allows for a longer gameplay tail, and potentially more interesting reasons to start up a new save.

What about currently broken things?

There are some broken or awkward items being worked on, but may not be fixed until after the big update.

• Gatherbots and farming These are hard to use, inconsistent in their output, and not very fun. They're going to be replaced with an older gathering system which was in the beta, but that won't be until after the big update.
• VR movement The teleport movement and controls for smooth movement are awkward right now, and may be fixed before the big update. This has been the number one complaint from VR players, and I haven't forgotten about you!
• Various bugs Game-breaking bugs are going to be fixed and pushed as needed. Cuddlers sleeping during the day, for example.

When do I get to see it?

I'm adding in the new gameplay first, so there won't be any new art for a while. However, I will be inviting people to look at the gameplay with temporary art assets sometime in the next few weeks. If you're interested in playing a janky, broken version join the discord! I'll be posting the information for joining the new feature branch there once it's ready for public play testing. In the meantime, go pet your real pets, and leave any suggestions for the update here or on the discord!

[ 2021-02-02 22:46:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Off in the distance, the gentle glow of crystalline formations hint why this world is so packed full of creatures. The Crystal Update is here! Find a new area and pack it full of new creatures. Also, for the first time since release, Industrial Petting is on sale! If you're looking to join the game, now is the perfect time to jump in or get another copy for a friend. Some news on the development side: this update has been a test of how quickly I can implement new content on a deadline without adding new features in code. This crystal area was built in two weeks of work, including all the art. Im (mostly) happy with the custom tools I currently have to build new pets and biomes. On top of that, I've added a whole bunch of unit tests to identify design issues and help reduce my playtesting burden. Ill be taking some time off for the holiday, but the next few updates are going to start fleshing out the story for the game, and add some clearer long-term goals for players. I was hoping to add a power system for this update; that's being pushed to next year while I try and figure out the specifics of the design. Im very excited for whats coming soon, so keep an eye out! If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

0.2.0

Features

• New Crystal Area!

Changes

• Vsync is now default until I can figure out how to change it in the newer Unity graphics system
• "Simple" quality mode now works better for lower-end hardware

Fixes

• Fix a mac-only graphics bug that sometimes lead to a crash

[ 2020-12-22 19:40:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix release! Fix clients being unable to join multiplayer games.

[ 2020-12-11 04:35:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

The performance update is here! Less power usage, faster framerates, and speedier load times. For those of you playing on lower-end systems, in VR, or on battery-powered devices, this will be a huge win. All the game logic has been locked to 20hz and put on a seperate thread, along with the networking code and client updates. On the development machine here, I'm seeing 2x framerate in VR, and much less CPU usage in non-VR. No more reprojection! There's always the potential for issues, though. I'll be watching carefully this next week, and you can help by reporting any bugs you see! Keep an eye out for a major content update coming soon, too. If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

v0.1.16

Fixes

• Can now select Tree Beds
• Fixed infinite Tetar spawning bug
• Fixed incorrect time played numbers
• Pumpkins now drop pumpkin seeds
• Fix player-placed vegetables dropping seeds after save reload
• Hungry pets no longer need one more food than listed
• Fix single-frame delay on pet inspection
• VR destruction tool no longer highlights all objects
• Opening VR menu while in-game no longer breaks hand interactions

Changes

• Backend changes for multithreading
• World update no longer tied to framerate

Features

• Game logic, networking, spawning code now on seperate thread

[ 2020-12-07 19:19:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Give your pets a place to sleep in this week's update! Pet beds are now constructable, along with some fixes for the Industrial Petters. In the background, I'm still working on the big performance update, and talking to the composer about changing the music system to be a lot less repetitive. If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

v0.1.15

New

• Industrial Petter range visible on placement
• Pet Beds!

Fixes

• Petters no longer only pet fences
• Petter art matches rest of game

[ 2020-11-14 23:16:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Look in the dark, and you can see something glowing in the forest. Something big, soft, and comforting to children across the galaxy. Hop in the game and make some Glowers! Feed them so new plants in the forest, and throw some pumpkins on their heads! Along with these nighttime creatures, our daytiime pets need a break. Some pets now fall asleep at night; get ready for pet beds coming soon. Looking ahead, theres a big performance update coming. It should literally double the framerate for a bunch of people, especially VR players. It will also help with loading times, multiplayer lag, etc If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

v0.1.14

New

• Glowers!
• Glowbulbs in the forest
• Cuddlers fall asleep at night
• Pumpkins in the forest

Fixes

• Fix game not saving if loading a new game after trying to load a corrupted or missing save file
• VR players can type in new save names again
• Various save fixes for old saves
• Amanita hats purchasable
• Fix server timeout on player tools
• Fix terrain mesh LoD registration

[ 2020-10-25 23:52:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.13a - Fix some players not being able to save - Fix being unable to load very old saves with items that no longer exist - Fix not all saves showing when extremely corrupt or non-save files exist in steam cloud

[ 2020-09-30 03:49:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

For those of you who just got the game and can't make a new save, this has been fixed in the most recent update.

[ 2020-09-04 23:34:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

To all the pet builders, get ready, because the darkness has descended! The update has been split into two parts, because I wanted to get all these bug fixes into the hands of everyone sooner rather than later. I'll be introducing some new bugs in the next update, but those will be more intentional. For now, enjoy the darkness, I think it looks great, especially in VR!

Changelog

v0.1.13

New

• Nighttime!
• Developer console (if you use this, expect things to break, unexpectedly)
• Item / Research notification popups for VR players

Balance

• Pipe Towers now built in pairs 1 Wood Plank -> 2 Towers

Fixes/Optimizations

• Players can wear hats again
• Fix player doubleclick to double build
• "Cancel" button on controllers now goes to previous menu on main menu
• Object highlights now clear when not looking at something
• Fix delete button deleting wrong file
• Fix VR menu pointer hanging in air after menu tool destroyed
• Fix VR player being able to see chat characters in-world
• Fix VR placing tool having ghosts stuck on hand
• Fix VR placing tool building items when letting go of tool
• Fix VR destruction tool playing audio when highlighting objects
• Fix VR tools staying in air when not fully synced with server
• Fix VR menu box stalking player on start
• Fix controller selection breaking on Join Lobby ui
• Fix not being able to select log in filter box
• Fix filter box showing cuddlers when nothing selected
• Fix fossil pit stages not showing icon or correct name
• Fix item selection menu clipping at bottom
• Fix ambient effects not following player in VR
• Fix debug UI showing without debug info, now only shows when developer console is enabled
• Pets with no elevator nearby no longer check every frame
• Removed unnecessary chunk of physics processing

[ 2020-09-01 23:24:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Unlocked a bunch of hats and don't know what to do with them? Put them on your pets! This week's update is just a small feature and a chunk of bugfixes. I took a look at the tech needed for a big future update, and a lot of the systems can be changed one at a time. Some of the more visible ones will be skybox changing, dynamic music, and teleporting. If you have feedback/ideas for what to add in the future, join the discord!

Changelog

v0.1.12

New

• Hats on Pets!
• Superior Sploofers now in-game

Changes

• Can now place Fossil Research Lab more easily
• Inspector antennas rotate
• Fossil research now gives wood gears as constructable
• Add descriptions for Fossil research, Superior Sploofers, and Sizeable Sploofers

Bugfixes

• Fix some pipes not showing up and some showing up in the wrong place when built too quickly
• Fix harvesters not aligning to fossil deposits

[ 2020-08-02 22:13:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've discovered evidence of giant prehistoric pets on this planet, with large clusters of bones scattered through the forest. The bones seem to all be pointed in the same direction. We need to study these further to find out why, and potentially use them...
The fossil update is here! This is the first step towards later-game content, and an overarching story/goal. With the tech created in this update, some of the future ones should be easier to make. This is a very industry-focused update, the next one will be more petting-related, for those of you who aren't as interested in the construction side of things. Fixed! [strike]Notice: if you have an older save, you may not be able to load the game. This is currently being fixed, will probably be live in less than an hour.[/strike]

Changelog

v0.1.11

New

• New Fossil Area in the woods
  • Comes with new buildings and items to discover
• More tutorial chats and explanations
• Add mushrooms in the forest pointing towards mushroom areas

Changes

• All happy pets will now follow players
  • For now this just changes Nibblers and Gardeners
• Change junction recipe to 1 wood -> 2 junctions
• Change slimecuddler recipe to use green goo instead of slime

Fixes

• Updated to Unity 2019.4
• Greatly reduced per-frame allocations, should help with occasional frame drops
• More bugfixes, UI fixes, small changes

[ 2020-07-23 22:08:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! I'd like to let people know that the next update is still coming, and it should be a good one. I received a lot of feedback after launch that the game has a lot of potential, but is missing what we would consider midgame and endgame content. There are technologies to unlock, but nothing to actually use those technologies with. The new update adds the foundations of longer-term goals and later-game goals. I'm excited to see how people respond to new pets and buildings. Some of you may remember the timeline I posted shortly after launch, and are wondering where their new factory layouts and giant view distances are. If you can't guess, I've delayed/cancelled a few of those features. After sitting down and doing some more in-depth time estimations, I realized that those features are much more expensive to build than I thought, and don't make a huge difference to the end game. My time is better spent adding more pets and more areas, and filling out later game content. It's easy as a developer to mix up "fun to play" and "fun to make". Those features on the timeline would be fun to make, but don't make the game much more enjoyable to play. As always, follow the game on Steam to make sure you don't miss the update!

[ 2020-07-09 23:42:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, new update! With the new sorting boxes, mixed-item pipelines are now viable. Simply add a sorter box in the middle and tell it what you want to filter out through the top. Also added some signs to make marking up the factory easier.

Current plans

The next two big content updates were designed and planned this last week. The first one is going to be a longer-term non-research goal, using most of the same mechanics that already exist. People have been asking for overarching goals in the game, and I'm hoping this next update will be a good start. The second update is going to be the next new biome. There are plans for new pets with new interactions and desires, and new mechanics for making them. The goal is to add more intuitive and interesting pet mechanics without complicating the game too much.

v0.1.10 Changelog

New

• Sorting Boxes! Build these to sort a pipeline
• Icon Signs

Changes

• Change \"Water\" to \"Watered Plants\" for Gardener inspection

Fixes

• Fed pets will no longer eat
• Potential fix for fence placement in VR

As always, join the discord!

[ 2020-05-04 19:10:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Smoothing out the difficulty

Nibblers used to be an early game pain point. They are relatively inexpensive to make and easy to automate, but end up eating a ton of food which can't be automated until much later in the game. This led to people having pens full of hungry nibblers and no easy way to deal with them. These new berry bushes help with that early game pain. They are a reliable source of food without setting up a carrot farming chain. They don't give nearly as much as a proper farm, but keep things moving early on. Also, nibblers no longer need to be petted, they are happy as long as they eat something.

What's coming next?

This update was slow, but development is back on track again! I just moved this last week, but boxes are now unpacked and the development server is online. The big May update has some initial designs, and I'm excited to see how people react to it. I'll have another bugfix/quality of life update before then, though. There are still some VR/controller control issues that really need to be sorted.

v0.1.9 Changelog

New

• Tetar berries
• Some colossal stumps in the forest
• Add vegetation density video option. Changing this should help people with GPU-limited machines. Doesn't affect gameplay, but increase/decreases density of grass, rocks, and little mushrooms
• Add fast pipe texture

Balance

• Nibblers no longer need to be petted
• Fence contract no longer needs slimecuddlers
• Double booster box connection maximum length
• Launchers now constructed with gardeners again

Changes

• Show all future contracts in contract menu
• Show error when unable to connect to Steam
• More consistent menu button coloration
• Increase scroll sensitivity in menus
• Reduce UI click volume
• Add acceleration to controller menu movement
• Slightly lower audio pitch of slime and goo cuddlers
• Remove looping navigation in Library/Help windows

Fixes

• Gatherbots can gather spores
• Construction Cannon shows correct controls
• Construction Cannon works correctly on slopes
• Move Gardener and Goocuddler heart positions
• GooCuddlers no longer give scarecrow research
• Remove player inventory counts from factory recipe picker
• Fix stuck audio loops when deconstructing
• Add missing control mapping names
• Fix some stray lines in the main menu
• Fix fence placement with a controller
• Fix building inspection with controller
• Hide pet counters when contract complete
• All cuddler faces use same shader
• Space elevator launch now respects volume settings
• Prevent objects from generating too close to elevator
• Fix vegetation displacement

[ 2020-04-26 18:03:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Mind Readers are here! Using these, it should be much easier to see what's going on. Simply point one at a pet and it will tell you what they need to be happy, and what they're missing. In VR, it's already integrated into the inspection tool. On flatscreen, the interact button will now pull up the tool if you're not pointing it at anything. This is the start of a new tool system, and an integration of the VR and non-VR. Moving forwards, I should only need to make one version of each tool, and it will work in both modes!

What's Next?

Today marks three weeks since the early access release! The current development pace is going well, with a week of bugfixing, a week of playing half life and doom, and a week working on the mind reading. The next update is going to add a separate tutorial area. Even if you already know how to play the game, it will have some dialog and worldbuilding to help you figure out why you're doing all this! Also some great music.

Patch Notes

v0.1.8

New

• Pet Brain Scanner
• Figure out what they want and what they need
• Press 'F' when not looking at anything in 2D, part of the inspection tool in VR
• New FPS destruction tool

Changes

• Motion blur disabled, doesn't work with objects attached to the player
• Gardeners now much easier to please
• Redesigned hunger system
• Better client prediction for destruction
• More gardener sounds
• New elevator launch sound
• Petting pets now auto-locks to pet

[ 2020-04-08 19:31:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

A few fixes/changes, and a new suggested feature that seemed fun. I'm hoping to have the capacity to do small features like this between larger updates as development moves along.

New

• Bored pets will now follow arrow signs

Changes

• Pets no longer need to see an elevator to run into it. This should make pet behavior near elevators much more consistent. Previously, if they weren't facing the elevator, they couldn't see it and wouldn't go in.

Fixes

• Fix game not booting back to menu when server connection fails
• Potential fix for saves dissappearing when over 1 MbB
• Pets no longer stuck in place when they have nothing to do

[ 2020-03-25 01:21:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.6 | 3/21/2020 This update changes some of the AI behavior backend. It may have some unintended consequences, so be sure to report odd behavior using the bug reporter or in the forums!

Changes

• Pets following you will now get bored after some time
• Hungry pets will stop following you to go eat
• Change Construction Cannon recipe to use Sploofers instead of Gardeners
• Reduce Gardener happiness requirements
• Increase SlimeCuddler generation probability

Fixes

• Actually change oculus default controls (fingers crossed)
• Player can no longer look down to see arms
• Replace missing Gatherbot Garage output mesh
• Change name of "Shop" button to "Contracts"
• Text boxes now show correct glyphs when using a controller
• Turning on VR turning will turn off VR strafing, and vice versa

[ 2020-03-22 02:08:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

If youre wondering what the current plans are for Industrial Petting, wonder no longer!
The first new piece of content will be a device players can use to better understand what pets are thinking. Along with some more tutorials and changes to AI behavior, it should make the game more playable and more understandable for more people! After that, there are already designs for a new pet area with new resources, new pets, and some new behavior. Looking further out, the factory update should make the non-petting side of the game more interesting. The Factory Pocket Dimensions are currently planned to work similar to the factorrisimo mod for factorio. These are going to be little subfactories you can enter that have more space inside than they do outside. No pets allowed. The exploration update is not going to have much in pets or factories, but its going to have much better reasons to make them. The goal is to add interesting objectives other than make a bigger factory, and have a world generation rewrite that allows for people to see much further than currently, and have more interesting large-scale geography. This may be split into two updates, but for right now well pretend it will be one. These dates are current estimates, they may get moved around depending on how development moves along. Its been an exciting launch week here, and these next few months will see a lot added to Industrial Petting!

[ 2020-03-21 03:46:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

FIxes

• VR Control window opens correctly

[ 2020-03-20 01:01:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.4 Fixes: - Fix auto save wiping pipe contents. This should fix long pipelines losing items - Add placement hologram for Industrial Petter - Add UI hologram for Industrial Petter - Fix crash when Industrial Petter is destroyed

[ 2020-03-19 04:55:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.3 Fixes: - Set VR snap turning as default - Fix backend culling bug - Fix broken UI for cannon - Fix being unable to place objects on flatscreen

[ 2020-03-18 22:51:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.2 Fixes: - Fix VR not launching

[ 2020-03-17 18:48:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.1.1 Fixes: - Prevent crash on machines without compute shader support

[ 2020-03-17 16:16:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

After years of prototyping and building, Industrial Petting has finally reached Early Access! These first few weeks will be spent fixing all the new bugs that get found. After that, we will be moving forward onto new gameplay, new areas, and new pets! I'm excited to be finally be sharing this game with everyone, and to bring everyone along to see where we will be taking it in the future!

Some notes for the moment

• Oculus Support: The game is nearly working with touch controllers, I just need to fix some control bindings. This should be working soon, I just need to do some final verification.
• Linux Support: My internal linux tester hasn't been working for a few months. I'm going to set up linux builds again sometime this month, and I'd like some help testing them. I'll be posting info here soon.

And finally, a changelog for the release build

v0.1.0

Changes

• Prevent invalid pipe flips
• Quit buttons moved to seperate tab
• Online management moved to seperate tab
• Add teleport movement
• Reduce sploofer spore output
• Goocuddlers now require eyeballs
• Slime renamed to Slimeball

Fixes

• Gardeners have correct icon in library
• Controllers work with empty research menu
• Empty research menu now has some text
• VR building placement rotates with tool correctly
• Fix formatting issues in VR wrist info
• Fix formatting issues in VR item selection
• Spores picked up mid air no longer last forever
• Major performance increase in mushroom area

[ 2020-03-17 13:53:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Added some inventory manipulation! You can now directly take/add items from factories and the space elevator.

Features

• New Inventory manipulation
• New space elevator ui
• New UI for current contract in HUD

Changes

• Pipe slide changed to pipe tower
• Has single input at lower and upper levels
• New model
• Construction pop-up UI redesigned for better controller interaction

Fixes

• Another chunk of controller interaction fixes
• Can now enter save name with controller when launched from Big Picture mode
• VR pointer now comes out of finger tip in title screen
• Fix audio on player construction queueing
• Fix broken highlight on one of the trees
• Correct sprite for booster box
• Add audio for miner back in
• Fix missing elevator line in VR
• Fix missing construction UI ghosts in 2D
• Elevator line more visible at lower resolutions
• Recipe picker goes back to previous tab used
• Blinking grass fixed
• Can now rotate buildings with controller

[ 2020-03-07 21:14:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.0.187 | 2/29/2020

Fixes

• Gatherbots now usable! Can set item to pick up, driving buttons correct, missing renderers added
• Pets no longer beam into full elevators
• Space elevator animation no longer gets stuck on start
• Hidden items no longer buildable
• Grass generates correctly on first connection to server

[ 2020-03-01 01:42:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

v0.0.186 | 2/25/2020

Changes

• Sploofers no longer need green goo

Fixes

• Remove coin counts from pets in library
• Fix carrot hat position
• Can now buy Gatherbots
• Can now buy Long distance Pipes
• Can now buy Industrial Petters

[ 2020-02-25 21:11:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Big update which adds a mushroom biome and changes how the research system works! Additionally, VR is now working for those with headsets! At the moment, you'll need one with full 360 tracking. Adding controls for turning is currently on the to-do list.

New

• Mushroom biome
• VR completely functional
• All research now costs individual pets instead of coin currency
• Most buildings now require a pet to construct
• Space Elevator no longer takes pets directly
• "Join Game" menu on title screen
• Post processing per-area
• Big mushrooms in mushroom area
• Different plants and rocks in different biomes
• Hats unlocks for all the sploofers

Fixes

• Pets no longer get stuck trying to lick things
• Pets don't get stuck licking the same thing over and over
• Pets following you now will go into elevators more consistently
• Nibblers and Gobblers easier to feed and make happy
• Sploofers now animated
• Puffs no longer wiggling in air
• Happiness indicator on sploofers
• Fix GPU instancing
• Potential fix for mac crashes
• No longer requires two clicks to place miner
• Fix stuck elevator animation
• More multiplayer stability fixes
• So many more

[ 2020-02-24 02:48:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Quick bug fix patch now live! Focused on player interactions and getting better data about corrupt saves. Also should improve backend and multiplayer stability. v0.0.180 | 2/1/2020 Changes:

• Goo pile buff: now have 10x the goo and 2x the mining speed

Fixes:

• Grass working again
• More unit tests on networking code
• More error reporting on corrupt saves
• Pets wander again
• Pets no longer start off happy
• Change debug key from F12 to F10
• Fix mouse sensitivity slider not usable with mouse
• Fix pipe connection raycast issues
• Add missing gatherbot garage model
• Make camera look at gatherbot when manually driving

[ 2020-02-02 23:03:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Industrial Petting will now launch with full SteamVR support. The whole game will be playable either on a flat screen or in a headset! VR Players will be able to play multiplayer with other VR players, or with flat screen players as well! This has been exciting to work on, and the game has been designed with virtual reality in mind since the very beginning. For those with access to the beta, here's a list of this last update's bug fixes:

• Bugfixes:
• Change "Pet makers" to "Pet Assemblers" in tutorial chat
• Using controller seleciton on menus after options screen made
• Back button no longer visible in initial item library
• Add key prompt for build button
• When pets are exported, coin notification now has text
• Current coin text now glows red when unable to purchase item
• Fix navigation and visible objects in Research purchase window
• Change spacing in recipe picker to support longer names
• Fix movement between tabs and recipes in recipe picker
• Switch slice carrot research description to the item description
• Can now delete corrupt saves
• Enbiggen collider on goo pile
• Update TMPro to fix selection bug
• Coin icon added into library pet information
• Remove Stack Trace logging
• Grass greeble texture no longer blue
• Disable Apply/Discard button in graphics options when not applicable
• Added highlight color to patch note scrollbar
• Hide Quit to Menu, Quit to Desktop,
• Bug Report buttons on title screen
• Full upgrade to 2019.3, no longer has garbage from render pipeline
• Control options menu now controller-friendly
• Add Pipe Slide sprite
• Reduce LoD distance on trees imposters, seriously improved performance
• Improve visuals in graphics options
• Fix imposter shadow rendering bug with imposter package update
• Filter post process volumes from selection raycasts
• Superior/Sizeable sploofers now have correct research set up
• Nibbler no longer underground, nibbler emotions in correct position
• Fix double construction bug
• Added mushroom ambient track
• ShroomieL1 rigged and animations.
• Spore prefab, name, and art in-game
• Fixed off-by-one error in optionsmanager resolution selection
• Players actually scarier when moving
• Pause menu closer to camera
• Fix for missing start game button
• Changed project settings to more closely match standard LWRP project
• New arrow-down texture
• Players are now scarier when sprinting
• Added support for fear modifiers when friends are nearby
• Fixed bug where all player animators were disabled and stayed disabled
• Greeble materials set to full metallic as workaround for rendering bug
• Mushroom area ground texture added
• Per-biome ground texturing supported now
• Added deep mushroom area
• Research for all sploofers now in-game
• Mushroom generation added
• Added mushroom biome chunk art
• Per-biome particle/post-fx rendering now working
• Chunk loader class written and tested
• Added a particle option to biomes, looking towards the future
• Basic item setup for sizeable, superior sploofers
• Non-animated sploofer prefab added
• Smelt pair for shroom1
• Beginning of shroom1 and spore items
• Some hunger tests
• Added Sploofers

[ 2020-01-14 02:19:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

-Fixed bug where players could not start multiplayer game -Fixed bug where menus, player, and screen elements wouldn't properly animate. Still working on the next update, but getting this out there so testers can play multiplayer again!

[ 2019-07-31 00:24:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! A small update this week: some refined world generation and fixing broken pet behavior. The world is no longer an uninterrupted forest, there are now some open patches, and different pets in those open areas. This tech is to help the next update, which will have a completely different area to explore. The last update broke pets, they just sat around and looked at you. That's been fixed, and there's currently some work being done to make it clearer what they're thinking and why they do things. Features - New world generation! Bugfixes - Pets no longer get less hungry as time goes on - Pets wander correctly again - Pets no longer have exclamation points over their head in the distance - Edges of terrain better connected further away - Controllers working again - Audio settings now loading up correctly on start Optimizations - Reduced animator overhead

[ 2019-07-03 15:20:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Gardeners are now in-game! These little bushes will take care of and water your plants for you, giving huge farming boosts! On the development side, weve added a new concept artist to help with the art, so future posts should have some shiny concepts to look at! A large chunk of the last month has also been updating the game to the new version of Unity. Ive added a bunch of optimizations with the new ecs system and burst compiler, along with a switch to their new lightweight renderer. This should help performance for most people, and things will only get faster in the future. This does mean that there may be some visual bugs that cropped up in the port, be sure to send emails to support if you see anything. As always, join the discussion in Discord, and be sure to wishlist and/or follow the game on Steam! Features: - Can now manually control builders - Added Industrial Petters! - Added some more pets in the forest - Added third person mode Changes: - Added tip and reference to explain how to rotate objects - Added tip and reference explaining what miners do - Removed FPS counter - Upgraded to Unity 2019 - Switched to new unity LWRP renderer - Moved off of obsolete network serializer - Greebles now much more efficient - Removed greebles checkbox - Added some postprocessing Bugfixes: - Fixed bug when flipping pipe directions - Research window titles no longer overlap text - Opening up options menu no longer switches resolution to 480p at random - Players can go underneath pet builders again - Countless tiny fixes

[ 2019-06-20 22:20:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Nibblers are now in-game!

This last week has seen some internal changes to make adding new pets easier, which should help speed up development. More importantly, some artists are being hired to make adding new buildings and pets much quicker. Features

• Trunks added!
• Added Nibbler!

Changes

• Gatherbots now search for objects they''re gathering
• Rearranged research tree
• Junctions can only hold 3 items now
• Can poke things now
• Can reverse pipes now

Bugfixes

• Fixed oe missing character in french
• Pets should go through fences much less often now
• Chunks of various bugfixes'

[ 2019-03-14 20:05:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Features

• Added the Gatherbot!
• French language support!
• Added music to the title screen

Changes

• Bunch of new sound effects
• Autobuilder renamed to Construction Cannon
• Slimecuddle renamed to Slimecuddler
• Distance Box renamed to Booster Box
• Box renamed to Junction
• Added error popup for corrupt save, server shutdown, can''t connect to server...

Bugfixes

• Honestly, too many to count

[ 2019-03-02 07:35:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Upgraded to Unity 2018.3
• Added control remapping

[ 2019-02-02 22:17:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Backend localization keys cleaned up
• Carrot hat spring more springy
• Caught errors now reported properly

Bugfixes

• Loading screens match
• Can access save name box with controller
• Back button on menu goes back to title menu
• Resolution dropdown no longer unclipped
• Rogue goo cuddler no longer in space
• Fixed backend audio bugs

[ 2019-01-31 19:18:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hats hats hats Added

• Slime hat
• Goo hat
• Carrot hat
• Some new SFX

[ 2019-01-21 19:33:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Features

• Added hats!

Changes

• Options now categorized

Bugfixes

• - Controllers still work after opening menu with all research purchased
• - Carrot pie now has correct image in database
• - Fixed instant carrot growing exploit

[ 2019-01-13 23:57:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Added Input/Output arrows

Bugfixes

• Fixed pipes hooked up to inputs on factories being set up backwards
• Potential fix to flying pet bug

[ 2019-01-03 02:26:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

New stuff

• Added carrot pie art

Changes

• Added vsync to options
• Added scrollbar to title screen save selection
• Pets will give up sooner if they can't get into an elevator
• Pets will now go into the closest elevator they can see

Bugfixes

• Replaced missing sprites in title screen options menu

[ 2019-01-02 00:18:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bugfixes

• Replaced some missing sprites
• Fixed invisible text in bug reporter

[ 2019-01-01 22:33:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 0.0.131 Bugfixes

• Removed Unbuilder
• Carrot pies can now be picked up
• Fixed crash when selecting objects in library on certain machines

[ 2018-12-31 21:54:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Release is coming soon, and we need testers to try and find bugs before release! I'll be sending out keys on this mailing list, and responding to people in the discord. Multiplayer is hard to get right, so I need people to try and break everything.

[ 2018-12-28 18:20:03 CET ] [ Original post ]