Main Update 8 : Linux & Mac Support + More

(Edit: Build 1.01 is live and addresses a few bugs found over the launch weekend. The changelog can be found HERE) Linux and Mac support became the primary focus of this update cycle but there's still plenty of tweaks and updates for everyone here. A huge shout out must go to the redditors from r/linux_gaming and r/macgaming who volunteered to help out and especially to those who sent in their compatibility and bug reports. The Mac port worked flawlessly first time and although we had a few hiccups on Linux we were able to get them resolved and everything is now ship shape and looking great. Space Bob is now available on 64bit PC, Mac and Linux systems with this build! Steam post image

Build 0.85 Changelog

During the implementation of Mac and Linux support a number of small hotfix builds went live that also included a handful of other gameplay tweaks. Changes in those smaller updates are included here.

• Linux and Mac support added.

• New Antialiasing option added.

  • FXAA is now an additional option. This is not as effective as any of the regular 2x, 4x, 8x options which use the far superior MSAA. However, MSAA is hardware dependent and is not supported by many integrated graphics chips. If the MSAA options fail to work the inferior (but far better than nothing) FXAA option is now available.

• You can now write personal notes for each planet on the system map.

  • Please be aware that the contents of planets are procedurally generated so these notes are not planet specific but planet 'type' specific.

  • If you have two planets in a system that use the same base planet 'type' they will share the same notes.

  • These notes are persistent between games whether you live or die.

• Significant update to the on-screen scoring UI.

  • New animations and sound effects have been added as the player's score increases.

  • Higher score increases result in larger more impressive score animations and sound effects.

• Substantial rework of the Bonus Upgrades systems:

  • The chance for Archic Upgrade Dispensers to spawn on small planets and asteroids has been increased by 20%

  • The effect of 'temporary' upgrades has been increased significantly to make them far more useful immediately.

  • Due to the increased effect of temporary upgrades the dispensers now have a 50/50 chance to spawn temporary or permanent upgrades. (Previously 75% chance to be permanent)

  • These upgrades are now all shown in the UI as percentage based increases. Some previously used abitrary numbers that only made sense to the most experienced players.

  • Permanent upgrades are now saved immediately upon activation to prevent being lost if Bob died soon after unlocking them.

  • The Statistics Panel in Bob's main ship has been completely redesigned.

    • The data now includes a breakdown of temporary, permanent, and total values for each statistic type. The panel now includes icons for all craftable upgrades that start greyed out but activate as upgrades are crafted or discovered via Archic upgrade dispenser machines. This allows the player to view their upgrade progression in one place.

• Spider drop pod loot piece salvage materials altered.

• Destroying the lander during the tutorial now triggers the tutorial fail state.

• Carbon plant spawn rates increased on many planets and biomes.

• Crystals and illmenite have been graphically updated with highlights and shadows to match the other recent visual updates.

• Fixed a bug with the 'Max Framerate' setting on the Video panel not working on many machines.

  • The 'N/A' option has also been renamed to 'Max' to be more intuitive.

• Using the mouse to drag the camera in 'Scan' mode is now consistent across all framerates.

• Fixed an issue that caused the low clouds to appear infront of trees on one planet.

• Fixed a bug that could allow the player to see the edge of the game world when first entering Scan Mode.

• Fixed a typo on the Leaderboards UI panel.

• Fixed a glitch that happened if Bob was inside his lander when saving someone that would be a spoiler to name.

• The refinery laser now detects very small objects.

  • Small objects, that would previously fall below the height of the laser are now detected and will activate the conveyor belt.

• Fixed a bug with the permanent Fuel Optimisation bonus stat.

  • Due to this previous bug, the permanent value for this stat will be reset to zero when loading this update for the first time.

• New Audio

  • A new sound effect has been added whenever the player increases their score multiplier.

  • A new sound effect has been added when the UI displays the results of using a Bonus Upgrade Dispenser.

  • New sound effects have been added when changing guns.

• The on screen multiplier update effect now triggers whenever the player increases their score multiplier via increasing their salvage score by a multiple of 100,000 points.

• The System map activation button trigger has been tweaked.

  • When moving close to the system map on/off button, Bob empties his hand and points his finger at the button automatically. This also causes him to detach any grapples attached to his grapple gun. This can be frustrating while trying to drag grappled objects passed the system map screen. The size of the trigger that causes Bob to point his finger has been reduced and lowered. It's now much easier to jump or jetpack over the button to prevent Bob from pointing at it.

Steam post image

Development Roadmap - Leaving Early Access Soon

There's still 2-3 weeks left in the development schedule for final tweaks and updates, but this update brings us extremely close to what will be the 1.0 build. We're expecting Space Bob to leave early access near the end of September. The remaining time is scheduled for behind the scenes stuff like updating the Steam page, updating screenshots, creating new trailer/s, new gifs and marketing. It's expected that the next 2-3 weeks at least will be spent on this type of preparation work with any final game updates coming closer to the 1.0 release. Once the hubbub of the official release is out of the way I'll get back to full-time content development. My goal was always to support Space Bob with new content for at least six months after release and hopefully far longer if I'm finacially able to do so. Please let me know if you run into any issue with this build, and remind me if you think I've forgotten a previously reported issue, and as always thanks for your continued support and kind words. We're nearly there folks. Paul.