Alpha 52 - Open World, Build module degrade/repair, Stick packs and more news - Escape the Pacific

Hi everyone,

the wait is over! We finally managed to re-enable the Open World functionality and added the Build Module degrade/repair mechanic as well. The Seagull Flocks are helping to navigate the player between Island Clusters on the Global Map. The Bed and Drier can be attached to the Raft modules and there are also new Stick, Branch and Palm Frond Packs, Reworked spoil system, Multi-equip system, separated config data and more.

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.

The build module Degrade mechanic moves the game play to a more realistic level. The system calculates the Wind direction, wind speed and based on whether the build module is hit by direct wind or is shielded by some other module with Storm property it degrades the build module quality accordingly. The Degrade system actually does simple one point simulations and takes into consideration only the Wind, but in future updates the mechanic will use more precise simulations and will calculate also the Rain and Sun impact.

The damaged modules can now be repaired by Hammer. Doing that the player can ensure he gets the protection the module is offering based on its Wind/Rain/Sun properties. The better built and the higher quality the Hammer is the faster the repair process will be. The process of repairing increases the players Repair skill which is affecting the repairing process itself. There is a new Repair achievement too.

The newly introduced Storm property indicates the Build modules capability to withstand the environmental effects. The higher the Storm property is the more time it takes to completely degrade the Build module.

Another new feature is the universal Stick/Branch Pack. It is a big help in transportation of Sticks/Branches that aren't fitting in the Backpack. They are universal, because after crafting them from fixed amount of sticks it is possible to expand them to an extent by adding additional sticks or get sticks from them until the pack is gone.

Coconut Fronds and the Banana Palm Leafs have gotten their respective Packs too in their Small and Big form.

In case it is not possible to craft any Stick Pack the player can take into his hands multiple Sticks or Branches and help himself to ease the transportation.

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 Spoil system was reworked and it changes the way the player used to survive in earlier versions. The more spoiled the consumed liquid or meal is the more damage it does to the players health. The spoiled liquid or meal don't lose its thirst or hunger values completely so it is not needed to drink 30 litre of half spoiled water to ease the thirst.

The ability to Open/Close door/window when Equipped makes the gameplay more comfortable and the additional saved data in case of attaching an object to a raft ensures more stable attaching after load.

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.

There are a couple of other internal engine changes that are laying a good base for future mechanics and features, for example the aging info for all objects and custom hand animations for equip/drop … etc.

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
10. Added: Storm property for Build modules
11. Added: Quality affecting Rain/Sun/Wind properties of Buildings
12. Added: Repair damaged building modules
13. Added: Usage of Repair Skill
14. Added: Repair Achievements
15. Added: Stick/Branch pack
16. Added: Multiple Equip functionality
17. Added: Support for Custom Hit and Hold Animations

General:

1. Changed: Save System divided into Data and Config
2. Added: Save system divided into Experimental and Standard data
3. Added: Possibility to Open/Close the Doors/Windows when something is equipped
4. Added: Saving more attach data when attaching objects to Raft
5. Added: Spoiled liquid/meal causes Health damage
6. Changed: Spoiled liquid/meal still have some amount of thirst/hunger values
7. Added: Support for Material Aging mechanic
8. Added: Hit Damage based on tool Quality
9. Added: Save game Backward compatibility checks improved
10. Changed: Old Iron Axe damage and HP set to bigger values
11. Changed: Old Wood Hammer damage and HP set to bigger values
12. Changed: Old Knife damage and HP set to bigger values
13. Changed: Primitive Hammer damage set to bigger value
14. Changed: Tweaked Sail force to speed up the Rafts of any size (mainly the bigger ones)
15. Added: More 3d-ish Coconut Palm Frond model
16. Added: More 3d-ish Banana leaf model
17. Changed: "Customize" button in New Game screen renamed to "Next"
18. Added: Custom hold animation for all tankards
19. Added: Custom hold animation for all goblets
20. Added: Custom hold animation for all bottles

Fixes:

01. Fixed: Alpha Screen text always in English
02. Fixed: Not displaying of Detach hotkey in ActionBar when Aiming Door/Window with Hammer in hand
03. Fixed: Doors/Windows was possible to equip in hands (not intended)
04. Fixed: Not effecting Rainwater in WaterHolders after they had oil or something before water
05. Fixed: Not lowering thirst when drinking rainwater
06. Fixed: Incorrect Spoiled Energy values for all Liquids
07. Fixed: Sometimes incorrect spoil- and dry-up-times for all WaterHolder objects
08. Fixed: Incorrect HitPoint data loaded for sailing objects (rudder, sail, mast, ...)
09. Fixed: Incorrect HitPoint data loaded for for floatable objects (canoe, raft , ...)
10. Fixed: Sometimes disappearing items transported and dropped on remote islands
11. Fixed: Invalid Raft weight - solves impossible/very slow Sailing after save/load
12. Fixed: Invalid Drag Force values - solves impossible/very slow Sailing after save/load
13. Fixed: Not functioning Sails and Rudders after save/load after something was detached from the Raft
14. Fixed: Incorrect saving of starting values for Latitude and Longitude
15. Fixed: Disappeared/Relocated Canoes left on remote islands
16. Fixed: Disappeared/Relocated Rafts left on remote islands
17. Fixed: Sometimes failed Canoe creation after save/load
18. Fixed: Some Forest Trees not protecting from the Sun
19. Fixed: Some Forest Trees not protecting from Rain
20. Fixed: Not completed Drop animation/messed up object in hand when dropping object from hand when the nearest island is not visible/far away
21. Fixed: Not able to "Look" in detail to Pocket Watch when holding it
22. Fixed: Not able to "Look" in detail to Paper pieces when holding them
23. Fixed: Sometimes internal error and halting the game at re-initialization (after clicking "Regenerate" or loading a game)
24. Fixed: Equipped/Look animation for old Pocket Watch is broken
25. Fixed: Sticks and Branches have frozen position after save/load
26. Fixed: Not turned off Air/Health bars after Sit on Canoe ("Use") when swimming
27. Fixed: Broken Main Menu loading when Survivor Died sitting on Raft/Ground
28. Fixed: Broken Main Menu loading when Survivor Died during paddling
29. 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.