August Announcement #2

JCB Pioneer: Mars

JCB Pioneer: Mars drops you onto the surface of The Red Planet. Your mission: To survive and prepare Mars for future human colonization.

Hello Pioneers, [h1] VERSION 2.0 BETA TEST CHANGE/UPDATE NOTES [/h1] Some of you are already aware, but we now have the Beta build of version 2.0 available to test. Over the last week, we've been adding those who've asked to be part of the Beta testing and will be doing so for those who've yet to be added but have signed up for it. We already thank most of you for your feedback and on-going support you have given us. We're planning to make the beta test build available for everyone soon and after that make Version 2.0 the official version. As requested and promised we're providing update/change notes that have been made for Version 2.0. We appreciate your patience in waiting for these notes as we collate the changes and tick off which changes are available for testing in the beta test build. As a quick reminder for those who have been testing the build if you have any issues please use the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/536660/discussions/5/] Version 2/0 BETA Test -Bugs & Issues Reports [/url] thread, where we are continuing to make announcements and give information regarding the BETA and any mini updates that we make. [h1] Version 2.0 Changes [/h1] [list] [*] [b]GENERAL GAME PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS[/b] - We've improved, fixed and implemented new and vast amounts of code throughout the game; improving optimisation, fixing bugs and general issues, the game will now have a faster framerate and shorter loading times. [*] [b]VEHICLE PHYSICS UPDATE[/b] – Underlying physics implementation for the vehicles have been changed and updated. Wheels on the vehicle should feel “round” and respond to the terrain correctly. [list] [*] Pitspade has had a wheelbase changed to make it easier to drive and control. (Currently not available yet for the beta test, we're holding back this vehicle to test the new wheelbase) [*] Also with the general performance updates to the game we can add more physics objects in the world. Items that the player/vehicle drops will physically be interactable in the game world. We're planning on adding more of these in the future such as fully destructable objects in the game world. [/list] [*][b]SAVE SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT[/b] - Improved flexibility of the save system and management, allowing you to save/load anywhere depending on the difficulty. [*][b]GENERAL GAME DAMAGE[/b] – Changed and updated the damage applied to various objects in the game. [list] [*]The player now receives fall damage. On large impact velocities, the player will actually crumple to the ground. (Ragdoll state) [/list] [*][b]NEW TOOLS MENU[/b] – Added a pop-up menu to the game to manage new tools in the game. This is where the Repair Gun is stored and subsequent tools/guns available to the player. Tools menu is toggled with the default “C” key, and your tools/guns can be equipped/unequipped from this menu. [list] [*]New Hand-mining tool available as a craftable item. Blueprint of this gun is currently made available at the Crafting Station in the Hab right now but will be unlockable by a mission on later updates. [/list] [*][b]GUN AMMO CHANGE[/b] – Guns such as the Repair gun and the new Hand-Mining gun has been updated to use ammo automatically from your inventory. Each ammo has a certain charge until it's expended. [*][b]UI UPDATES AND IMPROVEMENTS[/b] – A large chunk of the UI has been updated and improved with better readability, access and ease of use. This has been done for every UI screen that the players will come across. The importance was to minimise the amount of UI on the main game screen while retaining its use and improving the interaction between the player and the game. [list] [*]In-game menu is now a separate menu screen (accessible via the default “R” key) where you can access the map and in-game related information such as log files, research, and accept missions from the Trade Post. [*]Options menu is now a separate menu screen (accessible via the default “Escape” key) where you have access to Save/Load and the game options screen. [*]Added some minor updates to the map screen, and relaxed some of the movement constraints that existed in the previous version. [/list] [*][b]UPDATED MODEL DETAILS[/b] – A number of building models have been updated and have had their details increased. [*][b]DIG ANYWHERE[/b] – Vehicle digging arm tool can be used anywhere in the game other than the resource pools. Currently, the world is being updated to allow areas to have resources available to dig so that digging on ice or on muddy areas will give other resources. This also applies to the Mining Gun. Right now only Scraps are given. [*][b]COLONY PLAN VIEWER[/b] – A number of updates made to the CPV including how you connect buildings together. [*][b]SERVER/CLIENT ERRORS[/b] - We have removed the Server and Client architecture of the game, players should see a dramatic reduction of client/server errors that force the game to close. [/list] Thank you. Atomicom Team.