It’s taken longer than originally planned, but the test build for Alpha 0.11 is now available to check out on Steam. There have been various changes under and above the hood so this test build could be a bumpy ride. I’ll need your help to ensure everything works, and feels, right.

Robot charge pads and robot construction are the biggest new features, but there has been various changes and re-balancing across the board.

If you’re interested in helping test the latest, greatest, and possibly buggiest, version of the game then head on over to Steam and check it out.

I wanted to post a quick update regarding the progress so far on the next update. Alpha 0.11 is coming along very nicely, but is taking a bit longer than originally planned. Quite a bit of new content is being pushed in to this update including new items, recovery projects, object and even a new robot. Robot construction has taken more time as I had to figure out how much player customization goes in to building robots.

Robot Construction

The main focus of customization is the robot starting values for Smarts, Muscles and Athletics. I bounced around various ideas on how to implement and balance this and, in the end, decided to allow for direct distribution of points in to these attributes.

When using the new Robot Assembler players will have a certain amount of points that can be put in to the three core attributes. How many points you have available is determined by new data recovery projects. More points spent will also directly affect the final material requirements, which are different for each attribute. Robot construction will take a good deal of time and require an engineer to operate the Robot Assembler.

Deep Driller Bot

As mentioned in the previous developer log, a new robot is coming called the Deep Driller. The deep driller will only have one available job and that’s to mine the floor tiles that contain ore. This is a great way to get extra resources as well as convert that floor ore to dirt.

As with previous updates, Alpha 0.11 will be coming to the testing branch first. This should happen soon so, for those interested, keep an eye out for more information to follow. A big thanks to everyone who has provided feedback so far.

This week I’ve been working on various aspects of the game for the next content update and I wanted to report on the progress so far. Robots are currently free labor as they can’t die and don’t have any needs to fulfill. It has always been the plan to have more requirements for robots as well as the ability for robot construction.

Robot Recharging

Robots requiring power is currently being worked on for the 0.11 update. Robots will need to be recharged at charging pads, similar to how colonists need to sleep. If a robot get’s below 5% power it will get a speed reduction and no longer perform any job actions. Charge pads will be another branch of data recovery and the plan is to add one charge pad to the facility at world generation.

Robot Construction

The Robot Assembler is being added which will allow colonists to construct new robot workers. I’m still tinkering on the details on what control the player has over the quality of the robot output. This may be something that is added more simply at first and built on to over time. I am also working on a new type of robot which will allow players to mine floor tiles for additional resources.

Notice Icons

There is also more work going to into reporting information to the player and in that vein I’m adding in hovering notification/warning icons. These hover icons will show on top of objects to notify the player to issues such as an object having no power, no water, not enabled and more. This is a great way to see the status of objects at a glance.

The next update is shaping up very nicely and will have some great new content. What are your thoughts on some of the new features?