Survival Early-game Roadmap

A month after the release of the survival, and after an intense period of focus on bugfixes, it is time to look forward at the next steps for the game. As I had a lot of feedback and discussions with the community I now have a much better vision of what I need to do to improve the early game, everything feels connected now. Of course I have some plan for the late game too, and I will continue to address bug and improve QoL!

Ore, caves and advanced mining/refining:

Right now ore mining is a bit too samey and repetitive.

I will move cobalt to space, but gold will move underground, in caves! Caves could be a nice way to spawn some mobs, and also have the player to use a mech if they choose to (wanting to use mechs was a common feedback too).

I also want to introduce a new mining efficiency tier: the stones spawned during mining will have some ore bits on them.

Those stones could then be crushed in a brand new crusher block to yield ore bits, which could then be used to smelt additional ingots, increasing the mining efficiency.

We will have two tiers, one basic drill with low durability, and the long-lasting diamond one.

I would also give the player a mining drill for their ship!

The new Mining Drill, still wip:

Plants, carbon, food and farming.

Wood being needed for copper spool is a bit frustrating.

I will add carbon as a new required components which will feel a bit more logical compared to wood. It will be more widely available and will require plants harvesting.

This will also give me the opportunity to introduce farming and food! I will make sure to add a hydroponic block so you can farm in space.

Ultimately I would like you to collect the plants and tree you discover while exploring the galaxy to decorate your ship or station.

Wreck and research:

A common feedback was player wanting to be more rewarded to find and scrap wreck. Player also shared wanting to do research.

Why not combine the two! When scrapped a block would either provide scraps or a destroyed version of the block.

The destroyed version of the block could then be crushed in the crusher block (see, everything is connected!) and yield various ore bits or components.

Or it could be "reverse engineered" in the new research station, yielding Research Points.

The player would then spend those research points on new schematics.

For me research has a double utility in term of game design.

Yes it add some depth and reward exploration, but most importantly it is a way to let the player discover the various blocks of the game naturally over time.

Right now a newcomer might feel overwhelmed when seeing the massive list of blocks when opening the assembler for the first time.

This research station will actually be a low-key Codex/Help menu on blocks! It will also give some nice opportunity to integrate more exotic blocks for late game.

=> This will give a much stronger meaning to scrapping wrecks and exploring the world.

Finally the player backpack / equipment needs some improvements.

Right now the fact that you can theoretically reach orbit with a jetpack is a bit dumb.

So jetpack will require fuel, and you will be able to drag a fuel tank into one of the additional slots.

It will also be possible to add oxygen bottle for extended trip in space.

The backpack look will be overhauled, with the two additional slots being on the side (it will look much better for the fuel/oxygen bottle)

I want to use more "smart" addons for the head (ie giving a feature): bigger light, scanner ect.

Bridging the gap with creative: A lot of you requested being able to spawn their ship blueprint made in creative, so I will add this soon to the shipyard.

Of course spawning a ship would require resources. I also want to make a "Blueprint seller" kiosk on Npc stations: these will offer blueprint from the workshop for a low price, but spawning a blueprint would still require resources or cash. I will also add a "wireless inventory sharing" block, so you can access freely any blocks in nearby storage unit while building your ship. So the experience of building a ship will be much closer to creative, as long as you have the blocks in a storage.

A few things not mentioned here (but also considered for a bit later):

• Add more threats to the world: mobs but also potentially pirates (heavier dev)

• Add other ground structures to explore

• A better first few minutes tutorial (I want something less tutorial-ish and more organic)

• Day/night cycle. It needs some big refactor on the physics!

I feel the last few weeks have been very informative, I now have a much stronger opinion on the next steps and can't wait to jump into that. Hope to hear your feedback! Cheers Francois