The Skills update


Hello everyone!

After being sidetracked from the project for several months, I've decided to spin up this ol' wheel once again. Therefore I wanted to get this update out as quickly as possible after the summer holidays!

Firstly I need to address that the other developers have dropped off for different reasons. This isn't unexpected, and won't influence development, as I was always the largest part of that. But on to the update:

Skills (and the lack thereof) are the spotlight of this update. That means more chaos!

Mechanics electrocuting themselves and cooks burning down the whole station crew are just two of the 7 ways crew can mess up their tasks. On the flip side, higher skill levels will also mean faster work. This makes the crews work routines feel less static, and differentiates between them.

This is all influenced by a new skill screen of your crew, with a total of 19 different skills and 3 attributes at the top, with more to be added. 

That also means crew have different ages, influencing their starting skills and attributes. Additionally, these can be gained by working enough, but they can also decay if left unused. That means the only way of learning how to cook is by doing it, and messing up multiple times in the process.

Skill decay is a two-step process, where a crew member first becomes rusty over time of leaving the skill unattended.

This is shown through a "Rusty" or "Very rusty"-label, but also by the bar becoming visually rusty.
Rusty skills are regained much quicker than new ones. But if skills completely rust, their level will start decreasing until they're merely Adequate; still left with some experience that won't disappear.

Along with this update are as always a bunch of bug-fixes, many related to the still young save system.

There are undoubtedly still some bugs left, as well as a few more related features that could be added. But I felt it was good enough to close off here, so I can focus on more important things for the next update. One of the included bugs are mechanics electrocuting themselves on non-electric objects such as beds!

I purposefully left that bug in there, which may be a hint for what I'll be looking at in the next update. I'll be having a closer look at the core gameplay with some fresh ideas, but that's all I'm gonna say about it.

Saving isn't completely bug-free yet. If you can't save a game, try waiting until currently worked on tasks are complete. Do keep in mind however, that saves may not work with later updates. Settings have also been reset due to a name-change.

Full changelog:

+ Added traits
    + Trait rustiness
    + Trait decay
    + Added 3 attributes
    + Added 19 skills
        + Added 7 ways crew can fail at tasks
            + Doctors wasting supplies
            + Engineers/mechanics failing construction
            + Mechanics electrocuting themselves
            + Miners spinning themselves into space
            + Cooks burning food or starting kitchen fires
                + Added cooking visuals
                + Added burnt food
+ Added age
    + Influences starting skills
+ Added sound effects
    + Task failures
    + Construction
    + Object building
    + Melee combat
    + Fire
    * Changed drill sound
+ Added station visuals for main menu background
+ Added a menu to view all current tasks
+ Added combat dodging
+ Added object construction & deconstruction visuals
+ Added tasks to object, item and blueprint inspection
+ Added placeholder save name text
* Decreased save file size by ~40%
* Adjusted camera movement values to be more dependent on zoom
* Made mouse panning equal on all resolutions
* Made meals fulfill less hunger need
* Made load menu be closed with ESC
* Made windows in the main menu be closed with ESC
* Made audio in space more noticeable
* Fixed idle crew getting stuck in airlocks getting oxygen
* Fixed crew selection outline colors depending on skin color
* Fixed carried multisprite item visuals
* Fixed entity visual paths being drawn beneath pipes
* Fixed some cases of buttons staying highlighted when closing interfaces
* Fixed pause menu being opened when loading a save
* Fixed credits being behind the update log
* Fixed load menu not closing when loading a save
* Fixed indicators related to jobs when loading or starting a new game
* Fixed pause menu not working after exiting to main menu
* Fixed input fields moving the camera
* Fixed deletion and overwriting messing up the order of save files
* Fixed linked tasks duplicating self to save files
* Fixed linked global tasks being serialized & deserialized twice
* Fixed roster screen not displaying jobs of loaded crew
* Fixed need tasks creating duplicates and not saving
* Fixed bug when task completes on same tick as entity started performing it
* Fixed tooltip staying open when closing UI
* Fixed time controls being enabled in pause menu
* Fixed mood value displaying inverted
* Fixed mood descriptions overlapping


Get Station Overseer

Download NowName your own price

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.