Alpha 52.E2 Experimental - Open World, Island Clusters, Global Map news - Escape the Pacific

Hi everyone,

for this experimental build we were mainly focusing on finally adding the Open World, Island Clusters and the Global Map. Seagull flocks are indicating the nearest Island cluster and the Bed and Dryer can be attached to Rafts. There are more multipack types and it is possible to hold more palm leafs at once too.

To switch between stable and experimental game builds make sure game properties in your Steam client are set to either "Experimental" or "None" (which is the stable branch).

The Open World is finally here. The game offers around 6000 x 6000 km area with about ~12000 Island Clusters which takes place in the area between latitudes 30N - 30S and 130E - 170W longitudes. The weather (rainy days, temperature, wind average direction and speed) was modeled based on real Pacific data from that area too. This system offers many unique mechanics and gameplay elements which will be implemented continually.

The travel time between Island Clusters can last a couple of days so it is advised to pile up a good amount of food and water beforehand. Another good idea is to lower the sails/slower the raft when strong winds blow. Before trying to find the first cluster the player should search for a clue about its location on one of the starting cluster's islands (the one where the Captains ship is sunken).

To make the search for island clusters more realistic watching for Seagulls can be useful - during mornings they leave the nearest island cluster to catch fish and in the evenings they are flying back towards the nearest island cluster to sleep.

Beds and the Meal Dryer are now able to be Attach to Raft modules to make traveling and living on the Open Ocean more comfortable. Traveling time can be shortened a lot by using the Beds and sleep as much as it is possible - of course besides Sitting on the Raft base and Waiting which also speeds-up the time.

Coconut Fronds and the Banana Palm Leafs have gotten their respective Packs too in their Small and Big form. Besides the Small Sticks it is now possible to also multi-equip Fire Sticks, Long Sticks, Thick Branches and the Coconut Fronds and Banana Palm Leafs.

The collectible Old Iron Axe, Old Wood Hammer and Old Knife have got correct/much bigger damage and duration values. Forest trees were fixed regarding their shading mechanics so now they can provide the much needed chilling shade in hot days. The Canoes/Rafts left on remote islands shore aren't missing and relocated once revisiting them.

Changelog: (* needs new game)

New features:

1. Added: Open World*
2. Added: Multi Cluster system*
3. Added: Skeleton with Small chest with Info about nearest Island Cluster*
4. Added: Seagull Flocks above ocean*
5. Added: Attaching Beds to Raft modules
6. Added: Attaching Meal Dryer to Raft modules
7. Added: Coconut Frond and Banana Leaves Packs
8. Added: Multi-equip of Fire Sticks, Long Sticks, Thick Branches
9. Added: Multi-equip of Coconut Fronds and Banana leafs

General:

1. Changed: Old Iron Axe damage and HP set to bigger values
2. Changed: Old Wood Hammer damage and HP set to bigger values
3. Changed: Old Knife damage and HP set to bigger values
4. Changed: Primitive Hammer damage set to bigger value
5. Changed: Tweaked Sail force to speed up the Rafts of any size (mainly the bigger ones)
6. Added: More 3d-ish Coconut Palm Frond model
7. Added: More 3d-ish Banana leaf model
8. Changed: "Customize" button in New Game screen renamed to "Next"
9. Added: Custom hold animation for all tankards
10. Added: Custom hold animation for all goblets
11. Added: Custom hold animation for all bottles

Fixes:

1. Fixed: Sometimes disappearing items transported and dropped on remote islands
2. Fixed: Invalid Raft weight - solves impossible/very slow Sailing after save/load
3. Fixed: Invalid Drag Force values - solves impossible/very slow Sailing after save/load
4. Fixed: Not functioning Sails and Rudders after save/load after something was detached from the Raft
5. Fixed: Incorrect saving of starting values for Latitude and Longitude
6. Fixed: Disappeared/Relocated Canoes left on remote islands
7. Fixed: Disappeared/Relocated Rafts left on remote islands
8. Fixed: Sometimes failed Canoe creation after save/load
9. Fixed: Some Forest Trees not protecting from the Sun
10. Fixed: Some Forest Trees not protecting from Rain
11. Fixed: Not completed Drop animation/messed up object in hand when dropping object from hand when the nearest island is not visible/far away
12. Fixed: Not able to "Look" in detail to Pocket Watch when holding it
13. Fixed: Not able to "Look" in detail to Paper pieces when holding them
14. Fixed: Sometimes internal error and halting the game at re-initialization (after clicking "Regenerate" or loading a game)
15. Fixed: Equipped/Look animation for old Pocket Watch is broken
16. Fixed: Sticks and Branches have frozen position after save/load
17. Fixed: Not turned off Air/Health bars after Sit on Canoe ("Use") when swimming
18. Fixed: Broken Main Menu loading when Survivor Died sitting on Raft/Ground
19. Fixed: Broken Main Menu loading when Survivor Died during paddling
20. Fixed: Unable to add material aiming to the sides of the blueprint during crafting a Floor Campfire

For the next update we plan to work on some new features of the Open Ocean and Multi Cluster system. The additional plans include also the Old Telescope, Fog Catcher, Plank Build modules, Spear, Smoker, Dolphins, Simple Quests, Building modules aging … We will work also on solving the new issues and we will recheck some older issues too. Other new features will be added as implementing the planned features and fixing issues will allow us to.

Thank you for your patience and for your constructive feedbacks helping us to get rid of the issues as fast as is possible.

Do you like our game and want to help even more during development? We look forward to every positive review posted on our Steam page and thank everyone who decides to support us along the way!

Please be aware that during early access phase game code could change as much as affecting gameplay when loading/saving savegames from earlier versions. To always be on the safe side make sure to start a new game with each update. Thank you!

G4GTeam.