Everspace Steam Forum Posts Dev Tracker Guide

Overview

This guide highlights informative postings by Everspace developer ROCKFish Games at the Steam Everspace forum here. I’ve quoted each post here, and each post ‘headline’ links to the referenced discussion thread. Look to the right side for the Guide Index to jump to dev posts under certain categories. Subject to change, these are: Development Updates Upcoming New Features Features Considered (no promises)Player-Suggested FeaturesSetting Game OptionsWorkaround/TroubleshootingGameplay TipsI hope this will be useful for players who want to view informative developer posts from the forums and don’t want to sift through discussion threads. It’s a work in progress as of Oct. 12, 2016. Dev posts are by “rockfish_andi” and “hck.”This dev tracker guide will never be “done,” as long as the devs keep posting. 🙂 If you saw an informative Rockfish Games’ forum post I haven’t highlighted here yet, please post a comment with a link to the thread with the dev posting.P.S. Thanks to Shaitan for formatting suggestions and advice. 🙂

Development Updates

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/21/16:

We’re making progress, but there still remain a few issues that make the current version “unreleasable”. It turned out a lot harder to port the game than we originally thought, so I can’t give a serious estimate when it will be finished, but rest assured that we are still working on the port.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/6/16:

We can’t promise anything but we’re aiming towards the end of the month [Oct. 2016] for the next update.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/28/16:

Pausing the game in the wheel menus has also been on our list and has now already been implemented. It will be live with the next update.

(to repair your ship)

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/29/16:

There will be a Nano Injector consumable in the next update. You can craft it with nanobots and a small amount of other resources to have an “instant-heal” consumable ready.

(stickied, so maybe redundant; I just wanted to underline some key improvements/changes)

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/23/16:

We’ve just uploaded a new patch. Here are the patch notes. Have fun!

New Features

• Added energy regeneration bonus when standing still
• Added option to adjust FOV (PC / Mac)
  
• Added option to unlock crosshair from screen center when using gamepad
• Added new device: Teleporter (icon still placeholder)
• Added new device: Missile Defense System (icon still placeholder)
• Added new weapon: Coil Gun (basically what Shock Rifle II was before, icons are still placeholders)
• Added new perk: Bonus resources
• Added option to not use system mouse position in-game (PC / Mac) (thus disabling mouse acceleration and having different speeds in-game and in menus)
  
• Added mouse sensitivity option on Mac
• Added functionality to make screenshots with F9 (PC / Mac)

Tweaks

• Improved gamepad controls
  
• Improved readability of dialog subtitles
• Ramp-up time progress of weapons are now displayed on the crosshair
• Secure containers now have special HUD markers
• Added list of completed challenges to stats
• Interceptor countdown no longer decreases with sector progression
• Changed “Bonus gear” perk unlock requirements
• Floodlight challenge: Reduced required amount to 30
• Increased asteroid field variance
• Increased Thermo Gun homing agility and energy consumption
• Increased Flak Cannon II damage
• Reworked Shock Rifle II to behave more like the base version
• Reduced Time Extender cooldown and energy consumption
• Reduced Cloak duration and cooldown
• Added ramp-up time of 0.5s to ARC 9000 so you don’t accidentally fire it
• Shield Booster, Damage Limiter and Damage Booster effects are no longer stackable
• Pickups that are dropped inside the event horizon of black holes are now removed
• Fuel and resources bought from trader are now directly given to the player while in trading screen
• Nano Kits can no longer be used if no ship component is damaged
• Increased damage tolerance of Colonial Fighter, Light Fighter and Collector Drone for becoming hostile
• Reduced beam laser camera shake
• Increased Okkar Corvette loot quality
• Increased hacking radius for jump suppressor and comm hub

Bugfixes

• Fixed some wrong buttons being shown during tutorial instructions
• Fixed removal of two access keys when opening a secure container
• Fixed neutrals not getting hostile when using plasma mines
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to get inifinite rerolls of bonus equipment offers

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/22/16:

As we are currently just 3 coders and we’re always losing quite some time having to coordinate everything, stop development, test the game and prepare updates, the frequency for bigger updates will be approximately every 4-6 weeks. It’s not ruled out that smaller updates can pop-up in-between, though, especially when there are crucial bugs to fix, we’re actually currently preparing a smaller update, which will hopefully be ready “soon”

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/22/16:

We still want to add A LOT of things. More enemies, more structures, more equipment, more different locations, more perks, a whole story with different characters, cutscenes, hardcore mode, etc.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

We’ll probably post something more detailed soon, but generally:
– We’ll add the two additonal player ship in the next 3 months
– We’ll add the codex soon
– We’ll add more structures, enemies, equipment soon
– We’re already working on the story elements, but I guess it makes sense to add them in one batch, so I don’t think we’ll put them in before the end of the year
– We’re continuously collecting feedback, fixing bugs and adding smaller features
– Hopefully all is done by the end of Q1 2017

Upcoming New Features

Originally posted by “hck” on 10/11/16:

Already done. Will be live with the next patch.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/5/16:

There will be a centered crosshair option in the next update. Ship will then only rotate while the mouse is moved like in an FPS shooter.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/30/16:

More sectors are currently not planned, but we’ll add more enemies, points of interest, etc. and there will also be some sort of new game+ once the story is added and you’ve finished a run. A different “endless” game mode could be cool, we’re considering it, but it is rather something that could be added after full release.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/29/16:

Maybe I misunderstood you: We don’t plan to have a mode where you can watch the AI fight battles. Instead we plan to bring you some sort of game mode where you can select some mutators and goals and then get right into the action.

But as always: Just because it’s on our list, it doesn’t mean that it will find the way into the game.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/29/16:

We see that in the end the game may become a bit easy. We are constantly trying to improve the balancing, so expect changes in many areas, be it time limits or scanning probes. Also, additional enemy types and mechanics that require more resources are planned.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/26/16:

Reading this I must assume that you are not familiar with multiplayer programming or programming at all. It requires A LOT of effort, especially if the game was not designed for multiplayer in the first place. We were not able to afford making a multiplayer game and now we cannot simply “add” it. We would love to but it’s not gonna happen. Maybe in a successor.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/26/16:

The turrets and drones are actually not supposed to be Okkar. We’ll fix that, soon. And once the story is in you’ll get an explanation why you’re being hunted by colonial warships.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/26/16:

Please don’t expect any translations until all text is final and we are close to full release. So it won’t be happening before some time in Q1 2017

(I suggested this, and hck kindly answered)

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/23/16:

We will add companions for some story missions. We are also thinking about making them jump in occasionally to help you.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/22/16:

Full VR support is months away.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/15/16:

Both new ships will be playable before the year ends, maybe earlier.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

Hi, the gunship will have the specialty of coming with a turret.

I believe it’s this one that shows up as a large black outline in the current Everspace build.
[link]

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

We’ll definitely have them in the full release, but they don’t make much sense now, as the game is work in progress and so many things can change. Achievements are often the last feature to be added.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/21/16:

We don’t know exactly, but you will get some perks somehow (especially more slots). Either they will be fixed, random, or you can spend some cash. We also have plans for some different rules and “run mutators”. But it’s a bit early to go into more details.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/14/16:

Not in the early access version, no. Will have Spanisch and French in the final release sometime Q1 2017

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/16/16:

Yes, a colorblind mode is on the list of things to do.

(note: this is really vague, and I don’t consider it THAT much of a spoiler but wanted to put the warning in all caps anyway -BlackjackGT)

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/2016:

It’s not the final ending, just a placeholder. In the final version there will be a similar kind of level + a boss + a NG+ feature.

Features Considered (no promises)

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/7/16:

I’m not sure when or if we find the time, but we thought about having some sort of wanted level akin GTA which will increase when attacking G&B and maybe cool down after a while. If we don’t find the time I guess we’ll at least let them remember your attacks for a few jumps in hard difficulty or in hardcore mode.

Originally posted by “hck” on 10/5/16:

You may be able to turn them off in the planned hardcore mode but right now it is not possible to turn the dampeners off. One of the two other player ships (the gunship) will most likely have more inertia to play with.

Originally posted by “hck” on 10/5/16:

We want to add that feature but this will not be possible via perk. Stay tuned…

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/21/16:

At this point I can’t really predict when we are going to have a working joystick implementation, it is a tough task as unreal engine does not support it natively. Hopefully we’ll find some time to take a closer look at the implementation in the next few months.

Originally posted by “rockfishandi” on 9/19/16:

Has been requested a couple of times in our forum, maybe we’ll do it, but we can’t promise, yet.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/19/16:

It’s likely we’ll add more customization options add a later stage, but it’s currently not on the top of our list.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/22/16:

The look of the ship changes when you do certain perk upgrades (max speed, boost speed, energy capacity, sensor range, shield capacity). But this is rather subtle. We may add some more customization options like different skins / colors / decals. But I can’t promise if and when since we have too much other stuff to do at the moment.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

We like mods, but we’ll have to see if we can find the time and budget to make the game more moddable, so no promises here. As for DLC, quite likely, but let us finish the game, first 😉

Player-Suggested Features

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/26/16:

Hi! Thanks for your feedback, duly noted, here are some thoughts on your impressions

1. We need the fuel so you’re encouraged to fight and explore so you don’t just immediately jump to the end. Did you know that there is a perk that increases your fuel capacity, when maxed out you can make 6 jumps instead of 4. Also there is a perk that reveals locations of service stations on the map. If you visit these and lay down some cash you will almost never run into fuel problems. There’s also a perk which increases your lucky jump chance. If all else fails you can always be sneaky and blow up one or two fuel tanks before leaving an orbit (when you were about to leave anyway)

2. Agree that the marker visibilty should be improved, it’s escpecially bad for red markers on reddish backgrounds. Did you notice that the markers on the off-screen ellipsoid radar are bigger when they are closer and smaller when farther away?

3. Maybe we’ll increase the general sensor range so it’s easier to pick up containers. But in general we don’t want the player having to rely on scanning probes all th

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/19/16:

Unfortunately Multiplayer is very very very unlikely, would require a whole lot of time, effort, refactoring and would not really fit the game too well, I think. We should rather invest our time and money in adding more content and single-player features.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/23/16:

Again: We would love to have multiplayer in the game. But we are only three people on the coding side, two of which also do game design, QA and community management.

We started the game as a single player game because that was our goal and we knew that we can make it with the limited time and resources. Now, we cannot just “add” multiplayer to it. We would have to start the game from scratch.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/20/16:

Yes, sounds great. But would you install this item early in the run and then hope for a cloud location to appear? Or would you even build it while in a cloud location just for one or two occasions in a run?

Originally posted by “rockfishandi” on 9/20/16:

You can’t leave the cockpit and it’s not planned at all.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/20/16:

Thanks for your input.

– Salvaging equipment for blueprints is also on our list of things to try.
– Sensor range for containers could be a little higher, but you will most likely have a better sensor range with one of the other ships when they are implemented. Also, there is a perk that increases sensor range.

– Hangar-UI: I don’t think we will change that simply because we don’t have the time and it works fine as it is now.
– Previous ships: They exploded so why should they be in the hangar? Also: Since the visual upgrades are only minimal it would not be worth the effort.
Additional Hardpoints: Probably not. We will rather balance the damage output with different ships, devices, weapons and mods.
– Recharge rate: The energy core only regenerates when there are no systems draining from it.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/16/16:

Maybe the voices will change for the final release but a female voice is not planned.

(epic in length, sitll think this is worth highlighting-blackjackGT)

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/16/16:

Thanks for your feedback!

1 : Sectors need more meaningful choices

Planning your route will get more important in later sectors and when you fully upgraded your sector scanner and Retrieval perk. But yes, we would love to bring choices in. The more features we add, the more things should be eligible to show on the map.

2 : If intra-sector choices are made meaningful, so do inter-sector choices need to be more interesting.
We want to add more “themed” locations, that differ a lot from the current “standard location”. This could then also be displayed on the map. But it is not planned to also give a choice of sectors when you jump. We rather let you decide where to go IN a sector instead of applying a dominating theme to a whole sector.

3: Blueprints for “important” items need to appear more often, so do drops

Yes, some items could appear more often, others less, especially in the beginning as you mentioned. We are still working on that. Blueprints drop in a good rate, I think. The harder enemies drop them more often. But we are also thinking about an alternative blueprint system where you have to salvage things over and over to eventually get a blueprint out of it.

4: Making talents require “Multiple levels of investment” before they go up is hideous

Some perks have sub-levels because we want to allow players to make progress in upgrading a perk although they don’t have enough money to buy a whole level. Some perks only have a few levels and are quite valuable. If they had no sub-levels you would have to pay like 10.000 credits for a level and could only afford that perk when you played a while. These perk prices are for late game runs. So we think it makes a lot of sense the way it is now.

5 : Percentage perks are not fun. Low percentage increment perks are REALLY not fun

Of course they are not fun. Not every perk can be fun. But we need enough of them to give you choices and money sinks. Implementing more “fun” perks that not only change numbers is pretty high on our list of things to do though, so there will be more to come.

6 : Inform the player before you apply “Rocks fall, everyone dies”
We give you a warning: “Interceptors inbound”. If you still want to mess with the Interceptors you will have to live with the possibility of the Warships arriving soon. It’s not always insta-death either: You can quickly hide behind things, use the energized boost to get away while strafing and rolling and most effective: Use a cloak.

7 : Place containers and tech containers in more logical locations

Agreed. Though we want to have some occasions where you are attacked in open space. But basically: agreed.

8 : There needs to be more ways to interact with the world than “Shoot at it” and equally, more points of interest

Yes, that’s what we are working on.

9 : There needs to be loadout options as well as the perk screen once you have enough blueprints.

Yes, something like that is on our list, too: Use the blueprints you gathered to modify your starting equipment. Also, the other two ships come with different start equipment.

Setting Game Options

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/19/16:

Go to Options -> Controls -> Controller -> Select Control Scheme and choose scheme B

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

With keyboard and mouse controls you by default can roll with Q and E. When using a controller the auto-roll option is on per default, but it can be turned off and you can roll with the right stick (x-axis) while pressing down the right stick button (r3)

Workarounds/Troubleshooting/Bugs

Originally posted by “hck” on 10/11/16:

Should be fixed in the next update. Until then you can try to delete the GameUserSettings.ini from your C:UsersUSERNAMElAppDataLocalRSGSavedConfigWindowsNoEditor directory to reset the binding.

Originally posted by “hck” on 10/10/16:

This is a problem that seems to be common for some Unreal Engine 4 games. Open the taskbar (details), right click on the process “RSG-Win64-Shipping.exe”, then define affinity, uncheck CPU 3. This seemed to work for most people.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/5/16:

Thanks we’re aware of this an will hopefully find the time to fix it soon.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/5/16:

I can confirm that there is an invisible drone in there and that this is a bug. Unfortunately we weren’t able to find it, yet (pun intended). Best thing you can do at the moment when something invisible hits you with a gatling gun is to leave the danger zone.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/4/16:

Hi, we received the same report from someone using a french layout. Hopefully we’ll find a way to fix this, soon.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/29/16:

On Windows, screenshots made with F9 will go to your savegame directory:

C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalRSGSavedScreenshots

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/23/16:

Sorry, rebinding keys does not always seem to work well. Try delete the binding for rolling. Apply. Then try to rebind rolling to something like , and -, then apply and rebind again to the keys you want to.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/19/16:

Hi! Yes, there is still a bug in the remapping of axis events. Have you tried deleting the Hover keys, then assigning them to anything that was not used before (e.g. comma and period), then save, then delete them again and assign them to the keys of your choice. Let me know if that works for you.

(i.e., if you have a VR system, but would prefer to play the game conventionally on your PC monitor)

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/19/16:

Hi! You can disable this behaviour in your SteamVR settings by unchecking “Start SteamVR when an application starts”.
We hope to fix the VR problems soon.

Gameplay Tips

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 10/5/16:

Sensor ranges are different for different objects. Container range is the smallest in order to make it harder to find them. When upgrading the perk each of these ranges get increased by a certain percentage.

Originally posted by “hck” on 9/20/16:

If you don’t have enough fuel:

– Upgrade the fuel capacity perk
– Upgrade your sector scanner perk so that service stations are revealed
– Look for fuel asteroids in locations that have pillar asteroids
– Shoot down enemies
– Shoot fuel tanks

With that in mind you should be fine. Running out of fuel in the beginning of the game is intended. And later on you should always look for fuel, not only when your tank is almost empty.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/19/16:

The interceptors are really an indicator that you’ve overstayed your welcome. You should leave immediately unless you’re in desperate need of fuel, in which case you could try to take them down (they might drop fuel). But in any case: Don’t keep fighting them for too long as the warships will jump in soon.

Originally posted by “rockfish_andi” on 9/16/16:

Elite ships have a high chance of dropping them.