Hot-swappable between controller and mouse & keyboard
Updated Battlecrawler
Now drives on the ground
Sports two small point defense turrets and a large singularity cannon
Weak point inside cannon barrel
Updated Fumigator
Now drives on the ground
New Relic enemy: Warden Sphere
Large mini-boss enemy that spins around spewing bullets
Damage flashes now change color if the hit is critical or resisted
Alpha 13 – 5/2/2024
Added secret areas
Areas spawn off-map and are accessible by tunnel
Contain rare loot and unique weapons
Significantly upgraded the weapon carousel and surface mission UI in general
Planet graphics on the orbit and map screens have been improved significantly
Various other aesthetic enhancements
Added background stains and better gore chunks
Utility Laser got prettified
The Skitter and Roach got creepified
New utility: Enigma
Teleports the drone back to the shuttle after a charge-up period
Added a cascading effect to the fracture bomb when exploding on terrain debris
Now much more effective at clearing tunnels
Also improved audiovisuals a bit
The drone’s thruster now causes minor damage to enemies
Alpha 12 – 6/15/2023
Added new music
Dynamic music changes based on types of enemies nearby
Added a more robust damage weakness & resistance system
New weapon: Fracture Bomb
Sticks to surfaces and enemies
Triggers after a short delay
Very effective against terrain debris and carapace armor
New Relic enemy: Artillery Crawler
Moves along flat surfaces and fires upward barrages
New Xenocyte enemy: Tumbleweed
Rolls along floors, walls, and ceilings
Launches a spinning jump-attack at enemies
Added dynamic camera lean
Camera will lean toward mouse
Adjustable in settings
Made the orbit screen and map screen more pretty
Alpha 11 – 1/10/2023
Added a new “System Map” screen
The “Leave Planet” button has been replaced with “System Map”
The system map shows previous planets you visited or skipped, plus the next options
You can view the system map at any time, regardless of Sojourner’s fuel level
Implemented difficulty settings
Explorer (Easy)
Mission site swarms are rare
Hostile vessels are disabled
Sites do not increase in hazard when they are visited
Pioneer (Normal)
The “default” way to play (slightly easier than previous versions)
Vanguard (Hard)
Mission site swarms arrive sooner and are nastier
Hostile vessels trigger faster
Started on alternate ending
Added an optional Relic research project that locates special artifacts
Recover special artifacts and complete projects to start alternate path
Fabricator screen got a facelift
New Xenocyte enemy: Popper
Violently explodes on death, tries to self-destruct on you
Releases antibodies on death
Added a “Mining Node” object to mission sites
Destroying a mining node releases raw ore
TELI-7 now helps you out a bit more by pinging lootable stuff on missions
Various UI tweaks and bug fixes
Alpha 10 – 7/17/2022
Added new special mission type: Surface-To-Orbit Artillery
Sometimes spawn when the global hazard level is high
Both a xeno version and a relic version
Disabling the artillery involves destroying their power source
Will cause one damage to the Sojourner every orbit until destroyed
Added more chatter from TELI-7 to guide the player when new things are discovered
New quick-launch button to avoid going back into the shuttle bay before missions every time
You are now prevented from launching an empty shuttle
Improved gamepad functionality for flying the drone on missions (still partial support)
Introduced dialog interlude scenes for story development
Completed a first draft of an end-game arc
New end-game projects that provide extra lore background
Introduced a special final planet
Special missions on the final planet unlock the final mission
Unique final mission
Epilogue scenes
Tweaked resource costs and abundance
Improved several technical and performance issues
The save/load system is now a bit more friendly and transparent
Save files are more optimized and are version tagged
Surface mission loot distribution is now a bit more robust
Loot from prefab instances now persist correctly
Alpha 9 – 4/30/2022
Mission sites are now static
Each planet has a set number of sites
Sites can be revisited to claim missed loot
Each time a site is visited its hazard level increases
Planets increase in size as the game progresses
Larger planets have more mission sites and require more fuel to leave
Mission site terrain generation is now more varied
Minimap now starts obscured and fills in as you explore
Added more unique graphics for each planet biome
Enemy progression system added
Stronger enemies unlocked at each new planet
Added new biome-specific enemies:
Xenocyte Hydra, found on grassy planets
Attached to walls, reaches for you with sticky tentacles
Xenoctye Roach, found on rocky planets
Spawns from Roach Nests attached to walls
Emerges from destroyed debris
Xenoctye Lithocyte, found on crystalline planets
Charges the player with an armored head
Relic Fumigator, found on grassy planets
Launches gas pods that explode into damaging clouds
Relic Exterminator, found on rocky planets
Fires a burning laser
Relic Harvester, found on crystalline planets
Hurls rocks and spits shards
Assembly Node relic enemy added
Static structure with a rotating turret
Fires a spread of projectiles
Occasionally spawns support drones
Removed artifacts that give research points from the loot table
Nuclei and Manifolds now spawn in their place
Re-organized how laboratory projects are presented
Scan analysis projects are now in their own tab to reduce clutter
Changed the mothership’s name from Forerunner to Sojourner
Added a placeholder game ending
Alpha 8 – 11/26/2021
Updated Godot to 3.4
Added an enemy scanning mechanic
An early game research project unlocks the Exo Scanner utility
Drones can use the Exo Scanner like a weapon to scan targets during surface missions
Scans unlock scan analysis projects in the Laboratory that offer research points and sometimes unlock other new projects
Only one scan per enemy type is necessary
Blink Drone relic enemy added
Teleports around during combat using short-lived wormholes that dissipate quickly
Player drones, enemies, projectiles, and other objects will teleport through these wormholes as well
New unlockable equipment added:
Bastion Module drone subsystem
Generates a 4-section bubble shield around Beryl similar to the Aegis Drone’s shield
Relevant project is unlocked by analyzing an Aegis Drone scan
S-1 Injector drone subsystem
Greatly increases the thrust of a Beryl when equipped
Unlocked by Thermofluid Energy, replaces previous automatic thrust upgrade
Reactive Armor drone subsystem
Increases the durability of a Beryl when equipped
Relevant project is unlocked by analyzing a Leviathan scan
Janus Mobile Transporter deployable system
Generates a wormhole when deployed outside the shuttle on stable ground
The exit of the wormhole is always above the shuttle
Relevant project is unlocked by analyzing a Blink Drone scan
Deployable Paladin Turret now requires analysis of a Sentinel Drone scan to unlock
Particle Projection Gun now requires analysis of a Pulse Turret scan to unlock
Analyzing the Tunnel Worm scan will lead to a second upgrade for the welding laser
Project tree overhauled to accommodate scan analysis projects and new unlockable equipment
New ultimate end-game technology now available
Overall difficulty should ramp up properly throughout a session now
Base global hazard level should start higher at each successive new planet
Hostile vessel timer has been halved
Several unimplemented planet mutators have been implemented
Heavy Garrison
Light Garrison
Orbital Salvage
Fully implemented Exotic Resources (they existed in Alpha 7 but did nothing)
Manifolds drop from some defeated Relic enemies, more often from more powerful ones
Nuclei drop from some defeated Xenocyte enemies, more often from more powerful ones
Many Laboratory projects and fabrication blueprints now require a Manifold and/or a Nucleus
Resource crates of the same type in underground boss rooms now consolidate into larger crates to help avoid overwhelming piles of crates on high hazard and large missions
A “super crate” has been added to further help consolidate loot and make boss rooms more attractive
Made changes to help avoid enemies and cargo reacting strangely to the shuttle while it is landing
Enemies that touch the shuttle during landing are now killed instantly
Collision has been removed from the shuttle’s landing legs
Fixed an issue that prevented movement of deployable equipment in the shuttle bay
Fixed several issues with the behavior of crawling enemies
Crawling enemies should stop getting stuck on corners (in theory)
Support Drones should stop magically floating into the open sky
Alpha 7 – 10/4/2021
Overhauled terrain generator room connection code to be more consistent and work better with prefabs
Added trigger system for prefabs, where switches can toggle doors and whatnot
Added a proper menu button to the Orbitscape scene
Implemented a proper status effect system
Added Burning status effect, used with Flare Gun and Viper Raygun
Added Shocked status effect, used with PPG
Implemented Xeno hostile vessel missions
Added Behemoth Heart objective for Xeno vessel missions
Spruced up the visuals for hostile vessel events on the Orbitscape
Player mothership now has a proper damage counter
Implemented game over scene when player mothership is destroyed
Overhauled enemy NPC code for maintenance (lots of work, very little to show!)
Implemented new shading system for tilesets for more versatile coloring, added two new terrain tilesets
Crystalline terrain tileset
Rocky terrain tileset
Added TELI-7 assistant character with helpful popup messages (and now we know who’s doing all the work in the laboratory)
Shuttle bay received a visual makeover
Added Manifold and Nucleus loot drops for some boss enemies, but they have no use yet
Resources, research points, and faction signatures do not show up in the player stock and show as a ??? in mission information until the player discovers them
Enemies added:
Aegis Drone (with new bubble shield mechanic)
Tunnel Worm
Alpha 6 – 7/10/2021
Implemented Prefab system, hand-crafted structures that can appear on mission sites
Added two new tilesets, one Xeno themed and one Relic themed
Added special mission type, Hostile Vessel Assault
Implemented support for special mission obejctives
Added Singularity Core objective for Relic vessel missions
Added gravity shift anomaly to use with Hostile Vessel Assault missions
Created new music track for Hostile Vessel Assault missions “We Make Our Stand”
Added hostile vessel system to Orbitscape
Added better damage effects
Alpha 5 – 5/12/2021
Migrated to Godot 3.3
Overhauled cargo intake screen to present information better
Introduced Starscape scene and the ability to choose your next planet
Implemented planet mutator system
Implemented water on surface missions
Implemented mission site anomaly system
Added Brimstone rocket launcher weapon
Alpha 4 (Demo 4) – 1/9/2021
Implemented knockback for some weapons
Implemented persistent save system
Overhauled the mission loading screen
Added title scene with short introductory exposition
Created music track for title scene “The Big Drift”
Stylized the UI, added simple audio options
Drones no longer re-fuel and re-arm at the shuttle on missions
This should eliminate the compulsion to clear every mission
Balanced fuel and ammo amounts to reflect this
Added deployable equipment for player
Sherpa fuel depot
Paladin sentry turret
Added a safety net mechanic that will give the player a drone and put them in ore debt if they run out of drones and cannot afford a new one
Alpha 3 (Demo 3) – 12/22/2020
Implemented audio
Sound effects
Created music track for Orbitscape “Strange Low Orbit”
Created music track for surface missions “One Giant Leap”
Reworked loot spawn to prioritize rooms and deeper areas
Enemies added:
Leviathan
Battlecrawler
Myeloblast
Implemented knockback for some weapons
Alpha 2 (Demo 2) – 12/11/2020
Added Orbitscape, Fabricator, and Laboratory scenes
Added resource and loot system
Added project tree
Randomized surface mission spawn system
Added Hazard system
Added equipment weight
Added ability to swap drones during mission
Implemented proper loading screen for missions
Enemies added:
Pulse Turret
Antibody
Sentinel Drone
Support Drone
Skitter (replaced Crawler)
Added diggable debris system
Various graphical upgrades, including pseudo-3D terrain and parallax background
Alpha 1 (Demo 1) – 10/10/2020
Initial playable build
Planetscape, Shuttle Bay, Drone Workshop scenes added
