Update 0.12.00



Update 0.12.00 is an update for Stranded Deep released on May 3, 2016.

There are a few new visual elements in this update. There are new Volumetric Clouds for DX11 users which really add to the atmosphere of the game. All atmospheric elements have had tweaks and improvements so the visuals are improved not only for DX11 but for DX9 and OpenGL users as well. The new volumetric clouds can be quite heavy so we don’t recommend them for laptop or lower end systems. There are also some new terrain textures. Over the coming updates, the overall design of the islands will start to come together as we work on new textures and foliage assets.

We introduced the concept of color associations in the 0.10 build. From 0.10 onwards, the color yellow is associated with things that are safe to eat. You’ll notice that things like crabs, coconuts, and fruit are all yellow. Poisonous things will have a color associated with them too. A color association is a very effective visual tool allowing for quick readability. With this update, we’re introducing new Climbable objects that will be Orange. Generally, anything that is orange will be climbable in one way or another. There are new ladders, pipes and ledges so check out the patch notes for more details.

There are two new animals in this update, the Bat, and Seagull! They are purely atmospheric at the moment, but in the next build, you will be able to hunt and kill them. The bird system is a work in progress and will be expanded on with more behaviors soon.

There is also a small but important change - The game now defaults to DX9 instead of DX11. If you have DX11 capable hardware, please select this option when playing. This is something we probably should have done sooner and should help users who have trouble with the game starting in DX11 mode on DX9 systems.

Changes

 * Changed Raft ladders. Rafts do not function like ladders anymore. Hold [Jump] key to climb up.*
 * Added quality settings for Volumetric Clouds.
 * Added Jumping from ladders and trees. You can now jump in the direction you’re facing.
 * Improved Player item animations.
 * Improved Ladders to snap the player to align with the ladder.
 * Improved Player to now climb up and over the top of a ladder.
 * Improved Player jumping physics now behaves more realistic.
 * Improved Player bone animation quality, which reduced animation error.
 * Improved and reduced Camera jitter from player movement animations
 * Improved quality of Sun rendering.
 * Improved quality of Sky atmospheric scattering.
 * Improved quality of nighttime Sky.
 * Improved Lighting overall.

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed Inventory items being dropped on zone changes.
 * Fixed Water Still not collecting water when away from the zone.
 * Fixed Player occasionally snapping to the top of a tree while climbing.
 * Fixed Player getting stuck on some surfaces such as Camp Fires, rocks, logs, etc.
 * Fixed Player getting stuck to ceilings while jumping.
 * Fixed Player Watch and added better view clamping.
 * Fixed Footstep audio playing incorrectly
 * Fixed an error in Shark waypoint calculations.
 * Fixed a visual error in Ocean shader texture lookup.
 * Fixed a visual error in atmospheric Fog scattering texture lookup.
 * Fixed broken “Display Ocean” toggle in Map Editor.

New Content

 * Added new Climbing mechanics!
 * Added new climbable ledges, ladders, and pipes. Climbable objects and ledges are now identified by the color Orange. Hold the [Jump] key when prompted to climb up a ledge. Tricky gaps between ledges can be jumped to if you hold the [Jump] key down to grab the opposing ledge. You can now also jump from one climbable object to another.
 * Added new Bat Animal!
 * Added new Seagull Animal!
 * Added new Volumetric Clouds!
 * Added new Terrain Textures!

Dev Notes

 * Temporarily removed Weather.
 * Updated Unity to 5.3.4.
 * Update to latest Steam SDK 1.36.
 * Updated Ceto to the latest version.