Hi everyone,

A new experimental build 0.37.00 has just been released!

This update adds more to our end-game scenario. It has always been our plan for the player to be rescued by helicopter after completing a series of objectives, but recently we thought ‘Why don’t we let the player build their own helicopter?’ …and so in this build you can now build your very own Gyrocopter in true MacGyver style!

You will need to collect all the parts to build the Gyrocopter which you can do by completing the new missions. There’s a few Gyro parts unlocked for the time being while we finish off the rest of the missions. The Gyrocopter will eventually form part of the final end-game story/event.

This update also addresses the controversial new environmental status effects. After seeing how they were playing out and listening to player feedback we realise we took a few missteps. The most obvious is that players weren’t able to manage the effects other than limiting exposure, which meant hiding under a tree or sitting next to a fire for x hours – not fun. The flu was just annoying so we’ve removed it and focused on making the sun a better and more manageable threat.

The effect of the sun on the player now correlates to a ‘UV Index’ shown on your watch. The UV Index is an indicator of harmful solar UV radiation. It ranges from Low, Medium, High, Very High and Extreme. It is affected by the time of year with the months from June-September being the most deadly. This will be tied into a game setting in the future, but just keep that in mind if you’re finding the sun too intense. There are also heatwaves which increase temperatures and the UV index. When there is a heatwave the temperature icon is replaced with a heatwave icon on the watch display. The UV index affects how quickly you burn from the sun:

11+ Extreme – 1 hour
8-10 Very High – 2 hours
6-7 High – 4 hours
3-5 Moderate – 5 hours
1-2 Low – Effectively never.

If you are exposed for the corresponding amount of time you will get Sunburn effect. This effect drains your thirst and hunger until it has worn off. The new method to remove Sunburn is to use the new plant, Aloe. You can find Aloe dotted around islands like other plants and it allows you to cure a Sunburn immediately. Aloe is also farmable. As you progress you will also be able to craft an Aloe Salve to cure and prevent Sunburn from happening. Aloe Salves will be incorporated with a new station and arm effects in a coming update. As before, you can also find shade for x game hours to remove Sunburn.

Once you have Sunburn it will deplete your thirst and hunger completely within 2 game hours. This gives you plenty of time to find shade or Aloe. Keep in mind that even when your hunger and thirst are fully depleted it still takes approx. 3 game days to deplete your health (if you have no other status effects). So you have quite a lot of time to fix your problems!

The temperature shown on your watch now displays the ‘apparent temperature’ which is how hot it actually feels based on the humidity. This temperature currently doesn’t contribute to any status effects, but we may look at restoring Heatstroke based on the apparent temperature – However, sometimes realism doesn’t equal fun!

TL/DR:
- The higher the UV index, the quicker you burn.
- The risk of sunburn time is 10am-3pm.
- Find Aloe to cure Sunburn.
- Craft Aloe Salves to prevent Sunburn.

There’s also been some large changes to the backend to support some upcoming features so we appreciate letting us know of any new bugs you find.

Have fun!

Stay Alive!
:: Beam Team
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CHANGES

- Added Sunburn status effect.
- Removed Heatstroke status effect.
- Removed Flu status effect.
- Added Vertical Swimming movement with [Jump] and [Crouch] controls.
- Removed Shark respawning.
- Removed [Jump] button cancelling vehicle operation.
- Increased Underwater Breath by 15 seconds.
- Increased Water Still refill time from 0.2 hours to 1.0 hours.

BUG FIXES

- Fixed Atmospheric and Underwater Fog drawing over transparent effects - crafting ghost, smoke, etc.
- Fixed display name repeating for empty Fire Torches.
- Fixed different sound effects for Drinking and Eating.
- Fixed Quick Crafting and Crafting menu not refreshing Hud UI on close.
- Fixed Player Status Effects not saving correct display names.
- Fixed teleporting to operating position when first operating Rafts.
- Fixed being able to place Bed Shelter in mid air.
- Fixed being able to place Farming Plot in mid air.
- Fixed terrain generating sharp edges on Shorelines.
- Fixed player Super Jump when jumping near shorelines.

NEW FEATURES

- Added new Aloe Plant to cure Sunburn.
- Added new Aloe Salve to prevent Sunburn.
- Added new UV Index display on Watch.
- Added new Heatwave display on Watch.
- Added new Gyrocopter craftable vehicle!
- Added Gyrocopter Frame mission reward!
- Added Gyrocopter Seat mission reward!
- Added Gyrocopter Motor mission reward!
- Added Gyrocopter Cockpit mission reward!
- Added Gyrocopter Rotors mission reward!

DEV NOTES

- Changed Player code structure to support multiple players in a scene in the future.
- Changed Watch to load from external bundle to support custom watches in the future.
- Optimized Buoyancy by calculating wave positions for all buoyant objects in a single batch.