Colony 37 v0.52

Hi everyone!

This is a small update in terms of content, but it is still necessary to have its own post. Mainly, this update brings quite a lot of bug fixes and balance changes, although it is also introducing some additions to push the project forward. I'm trying to take a closer look at your suggestions and add them in small amounts with each patch (the next one will have more additions of this kind). I'm releasing new features in small batches because I'm a bit afraid that new stuff will create more problems than it will solve.

Changelog

Steamworks

• Implemented Steamworks.NET.

• Added a global leaderboard that displays the most profitable miners.

It was a complete pain in one place for a person who actually never did this, so it is an extremely work-in-progress addition. BUT! Now the game properly connects to Steam every time it launches, which means that such things as achievements and leaderboards (and other Steam-related stuff) are now possible. Just as a small addition, I've added a global leaderboard that displays the top 25 people who collected the most cash. Like I said, it is a work in progress; it should also display your current place even if you're not in the top 25. And I'll implement the "Hide your name in a leaderboard" feature asap for people who might not want to show their nickname (in other words, it is just a shell of what I'm planning to add).

Random Resource Size

• Resources now have a random size (cost) between 50% and 150% of their original value.

• Added 4 items that increase acquired resource's size (3 in the shop and 1 in the chest).

This is an experimental feature that hopefully adds a tiny bit more randomness into the game. Technically you can get lucky and gather a bigger chunk of a resource that costs more or... a smaller one. On average it literally does not change the amount of credits you can get, but it gives me more leeway to operate with the individual cost of each collected resource.

Slight Early Game Rebalance

• Default oxygen changed from 100 seconds to 120 seconds.

• Default movement speed changed from 3.4 to 3.5.

• Default maximum health changed from 30 to 35.

• Reworked first quest and intro dialogue. Now you receive a pickaxe almost immediately (less confusing for new players to get into gameplay right away).

One of the primary concerns that I have with the game is that the start is WAY too slow. It needs a bit of juice. Those changes are just a tiny thing to push the early game in that direction. I'm still planning on adding more features and balance changes to make the early game a bit more fast-paced. Just saying that it is "on my radar".

Other additions and balance changes

• Added FOV slider.

• Cost of all items increased more depending on the tier. The second tier should be 1.5 times as expensive, while the high-tech tier is 3x as expensive. (This was needed to rebalance higher tiers, considering the fact that in the mid-game it was way too easy to farm 5k gold). I'll tweak the costs more in the upcoming patches because, in places, it might be a bit too rough.

• Auto-sell no longer works if the resource was converted into experience.

• Active Buff icon now displays what the buff does upon hovering the cursor over it.

• Default experience required to level up changed from 65 to 110.

• Dialogue text now aligned to the left side of the box (in order to improve readability while text is showing).

• Item recovery from corpse chance increased from 25% to 50%.

• Scroll panel is more visible in the dialogue panel.

• Added scroll bar to the extractor panel (in case the player collected a lot of different resources).

• World save happens in the death screen rather than right away (makes lag spike a lot less visible when player dies).

• "Sapphire Shielding" bonus radiation absorption changed from 5 to 3.

• Double jump perk basic cost increased from 1 to 4.

• "Our Guy" perk auto-sell chance is reduced from 14% to 7%.

• Injector's basic energy consumption changed to 100 across the board. (It is still possible to do this op build, just a bit harder).

• Added LOD to player corpses.

• "Track Quest" button is now slightly more visible and has a tooltip.

• Added "Remove corpses" option in the "World Settings" menu. (Huge sorry for that bug with thousands of corpses).

• You're no longer available to buy information about USB from a guard if you have fewer than the required amount of credits (no more debts at the start of the game).

• " Bashing Hammer " stats updated.

• " Hypersledge " stats updated.

Bugfixes

• Fixed and improved extractor "sell" animation. Now it properly drops resources on to the conveyor belt. (Let me know if I should add boxes back).

• Fixed "Fractional Charge" item missing a translation.

• Fixed "Death Foliant" behavior; now it properly works. (Hopefully that fixed that "corpse" issue).

• Fixed "Black Stone" behavior; now it properly stops destroying resources when unequipped and gives experience.

• Fixed the "Satellites" typo (Seriously, I am really upset about this one).

• Fixed "Credits Counter" not updating the credit amount in the panels.

• Fixed "Rusty Damage Accelerator" cost from 800 to 250.

• Fixed "Rusty Shovel" damage type.

• Fixed Discord link.

Let me know if you have any suggestions; I'm trying to read all of them and implement them bit by bit, so huge thanks for your feedback!