First Update in a While!

We're still working hard on the next major update, but for now we're soft-launching the new biome, the caves.

So without further ado, the patch notes:

Big additions

• Added the cave level. It's not entirely done yet - we haven't implemented any obstacles or enemies. But you're able to sail around, gather treasure and explore. Please let us know what you think!

  • Because of this, it is no longer random which biome you load into when you dive deeper.

• Added clams to the shallows. Steal their pearls for profit :>

• Reworked how the periscope works

  • The periscope used to be able to see everything in the level. Now it is both dependent on where your cursor is, and it has a max range. This was done to encourage exploration, since we felt it got kind of boring when you had all the information from the start.

  • To help you get an idea of where you're going, the periscope now has a "scan" ability, which reveals every waypoint in a longer range for a limited time. This ability has a fairly long cooldown, so we still encourage you to look for stuff on your own :)

  • We've also added text to periscope waypoints. We realized some of our icons were kinda hard to understand

Smaller additions

• You can now throw money at other players with "G"

• Wrenches now have different swing and hit sounds based on the equipped cosmetic

• Each biome now has different ambient sounds.

• Actually, there were so many sound updates to this game, I definitely missed some

• Added a bunch of new eyebrows (which is great if you're a brunette - sorry, we're working on being able to change hair and skin colors but it's not quite ready yet!)

• Added eyepatch options

• Boltcrabs can now pick up your items and run away with them. It's both really cute and really annoying :D

• Animated the boltcrabs

• One of our programmers wrote that he added birds to the shipyard but I cannot for the life of me find them. Let me know if you actually see them because I do not

• Added new foliage to the shallows, and improved materials in the biome.

• Added a "game over" screen

• Movement now changes when you're underwater

• Added a red zone to the fuel meter to make it more obvious when you're about to run out

• Updated the wardrobe UI - you can now also spin the character

Fixes

• The item importer sound has been remade from the ground up. It is now 1000% less annoying

• Changed the order of tutorial to teach the player how to move without fuel first. Hopefully this means less people get stuck on the tutorial...

• Moved interaction prompts for various situations (such as placing/throwing items and firing the harpoon) next to the crosshair. They also provide improved feedback based on your inputs.

• Also changed the coffee mug inputs to work as you would expect.

• Updated the logo on the main menu to be the current, actual logo

• Dialogue now requires you to hold a button to advance

• Fixed replication issues that caused other people to show up as if wearing nothing

• Removed another stuck spot or two in the shipyard

• Fixed an issue where sunlight would make blurry halos in shadowed areas

• Made Zip's collision bigger so you can actually look her in the eyes when you talk to her

• Improved the default sorting of upgrades in the shop

• Removed the unimplemented "cargo" upgrade on the submarine

• Fixed a bug where the submarine had disappeared when loading an old save

• Made throw less likely to clip through things

• Players are now teleported inside if they got out of the submarine while the doors were closing. We don't condone leaving your friends behind!

• Improved lighting in the medium submarine

• Crank can now be used while docked

• Changed a lot of interaction keybinds around to make sure it is always possible to use what's in your hands. This was done in preparation for future content :>

• Oxygen is now refilled while docking at Zip

• Replaced the placeholder buildings in the shipyard with less gaudy placeholder buildings (not final art)

• Sell prices are now divided by the number of players (+10% for each additional player). This does not affect cosmetic currency. This was done in preparation for the currency and progression rebalance :>

Performance

• Reduced build size by over 70%. Yes, you read that right. No, I won't elaborate :D

• Disabled shadow casting on foliage in the shallows

• Reduced performance impact of pufferfish

• Reduced the lighting complexity of the shipyard

Known issues:

• The startup screen flickers a lot

• Sometimes shadows turn weirdly pixel-y

• Oxygen drains in loading screen

• The captain cannot drown

As always, if you run into issues, remember to report them using the feedback form (F1 in-game). If you have trouble launching the game, let us know on discord! And if you crash, we will be eternally grateful if you share the crash files with us :)

• The What'Sub team