Take On Mars - Update 2 "Mars Builder" released!

[dram 14]

Hello everyone!

Together with the announcement of the October plans for Take On Mars, today we released a major update. Landing a complete integration of Steam Workshop, several new side-missions, the Workbench suite for mod-makers, alongside various other improvements and fixes, the 'Mars Builder' update expands the game’s universe and adds new dimensions for players to explore.

The addition of Steam Workshop to Take On Mars enables players to upload, play and share a wide range of player-created content – including new terrains, models, and scenarios created with the in-game 3D editor. To kick things off, our team created and shared an example mod pack, which includes a new crater location, a 4WD Buggy vehicle, plus a few options for customizing the Buggy with alternative sounds, configurations, equipment (turrets), and textures.

The Take On Mars team is also proud to announce the upcoming Deimos update. Available on October 3rd, this free update includes two brand new locations for you to explore, and a vehicle designed for zero gravity environments, the Zero-G Probe. Furthermore, the update brings along several new features, such as ‘Dynamic Mission Generation’, which dynamically creates photo, exploration and analysis tasks around the player’s location. Another feature is the overhauled ‘Part Failure System’, which makes part failures much more reactive to the weather conditions and player’s actions. Related to weather conditions, sandstorms, strong winds, and dust devils will also be making their debut in Take On Mars with the planned October update.

The free Deimos update will be made available through an automatic Steam update on October 3, 2013. After this date, the price of Take On Mars will be also increased to 13.99 EUR/ 17.99 USD/ 11.99 GBP. The game is currently available on Steam (Early Access) and Store.bistudio.com for 9.99 EUR/ 12.99 USD/ 8.99 GBP.

Change Log:

[color=#000000][font=Arial]
9th September 2013:
[/font][/color]- Fixed globe zoom issue in the main menu
- Fixed shadow issue of Crater models on Deimos
- Improved shadowing by sun on Deimos


6th September 2013:
- Added the external Workbench editing suite
- Added instrument info (power generation, range, etc)
- Updated instrument descriptions in the Rover Lab


4th September 2013:
- Added instrument descriptions to the Rover Lab (no longer WIP)
- Increased resolution scale of Terrain Imager cameras


3rd September 2013:
- Added support for custom content via addons, including locations, vehicles and so on
- Added night time lighting to the Mars Yard
- Removed several obsolete files


2nd September 2013:
- Added WIP Deimos location
- Added WIP Zero-G Probe


30th August 2013:
- Fixed science target in Victoria Crater mission ref. 5540     0000300
- Fixed APXS bounding box in mission Ancient River Bed    0000288
- Adjusted the science target priorities and task order in Kaiser Crater mission ref. 6983


29th August 2013:
- Fixed gripping to floor while trying to thrust in Lander
- Fixed EAS flashing READY while in use


28th August 2013:
- Added Flight Mode activation for Landers, enabling the player to move a landed Lander
- Adjusted analyze target in Victoria Crater mission ref. 1967    0000270


26th August 2013:
- Added more rocks to Victoria Crater


23th August 2013:
- Fixed analyze target in Victoria Crater mission ref. 5871    0000286
- Adjusted analyze target in Victoria Crater mission ref. 6275     0000285
- Added more rocks to Victoria Crater


22th August 2013:
- Fixed photo target in Kaiser Crater mission ref. 2824     0000281
- Victoria Crater campaign adjusted
- New mission added to Victoria Crater campaign
- Added more stones on Victoria Crater map


21th August 2013:
- Fixed noticeable texture repeating on Kaiser Crater dark dune, adjusted corresponding mission     0000069


20th August 2013:
- Added 4 large Tech 9+ side mission to Kaiser Crater campaign


19th August 2013:
- Added Picture-In-Picture update rate setting to options menu
- Increased max vehicles per location from 32 to 64
- Increased max locations from 128 to 256
- Removed old part failure system
- Fixed snap-to-place free-fly cam issue when leaving a vehicle
- Fixed Picture-In-Picture camera 1 not disabling when broken
- Fixed Picture-In-Picture resolutions not being scaled by camera type
- Fixed noise-grain effect related out-of-memory freeze on very low-end systems


19th August 2013:
- Increased thruster strength for small lander
- Fixed APXS science target in Kaiser Crater side mission 6983        0000225
- Fixed analyze targets in Vicotria Crater mission ref. 7123        0000221
- Fixed floating stones in Victoria Crater
- Added more stones to Victoria Crater


17th August 2013:
- Fixed E3 Gale Crater scenario problem where the Sky Crane had no fuel


16th August 2013:
- Added limited fuel to landing systems (Lander thrusters, Retro Stage thrusters, Sky Crane thrusters)        0000046
- Added fuel tank level indicators to the landing HUD
- Added indication of emergency landing mode to landing HUD
- Added hint to Gravon overlay for its menu (P)
- Fixed Invert Vertical Axis toggle in options menu        0000172
- Fixed issue where HUD grid showed up in 3rd person view during landing
- Fixed APXS and Drill targets in Large rover mission on Victoria Crater        0000227
- Fixed APXS target in mission Group of impact craters on Victoria Crater        0000253
- Fixed APXS target in mission Two impact craters on Victoria Crater        0000018
- Fixed Drill target in mission Three depressions on Gale Crater        0000244
- Fixed photo target in Kaiser Crater mission 3, Dark Dunes 06        0000266
- Changed default thrust button to left shift


15th August 2013:
- Added uploading of photos to Steam via the vehicle's photo viewer on the map
- Reduced opacity of landing HUD grid
- Removed HUD modes from the Radial Menu (to be used for dynamic actions)


14th August 2013:
- Added manual landing of vehicles (Landers and Rovers)        0000070
- Added T5 Small rover
- Adjusted descent cam rotation by 90 degrees
- Adjusted landers thrusters to keep straight while thrusting
- Adjusted priorities etc in several Kaiser Crater missions


13th August 2013:
- Fixed DAN science target in mission 4681        0000248
- Fixed Floating rocks near Kaiser Crater        0000250
- Fixed floating/clipped rock near ancient river in Kaiser Crater        0000243
- Fixed floating rock in Kaiser Crater map        0000140


12th August 2013:
- Added map zoom to cursor instead of center        0000050
- Fixed non-scanable rocks in Kaiser Crater misson 5044        0000213
- Fixed photograph rock bug in Kraiser Crater plateu        0000214
- Fixed photo targets in 2nd mission on Kaiser Crater
- Adjusted cameras on T5 Large lander (NAV cam replaced by TELE)
- Optimized calling of sky preset change


9th August 2013:
- Added WIP landing HUD to Landers, currently not fully functional
- Added more rocks to Victoria Crater
- Removed noise in 3rd person cam, even if no cams are present
- Fixed Gale Crater Impact Crater mission photo targets        0000198
- Fixed issue where turning off GUI elements did not work for landing HUD
- Fixed Landers not switching between landing and ground HUD


8th August 2013:
- Added versioning/synching of objects such as static objects to allow addition of more objects to locations
- Added clearing of duplicate ID objects, such as rocks and static objects
- Added more rocks to Victoria Crater
- Increased range for APXS slightly, making it easier to reach targets
- Reduced random part failure to make landings less error-prone
- Fixed an analyze target in Kaiser Crater not being completable
- Fixed duplicate IDs on 2 science targets in Kaiser, causing hell
- Fixed several side missions where the material was set to STONE, not ATMOSPHERE
- Fixed problem with Gravon not being unpacked on the Steam build, causing a crash        0000143


7th August 2013:
- Added versioning/synching of Space Program Science Targets to allow addition of more missions to locations
- Added more small side missions to Victoria Crater
- Fixed the further issues with Gravon
- Fixed the issues with the photo targets in Kaiser Crater        0000087
- Fixed several levitating rocks in Victoria Crater
- Changed one of the scientists in the lab to be kneeling


6th August 2013:
- Added TextListboxWidget functionality to script to edit contents of each column using SetItem()
- Added Feedback Tracker ID to issues in the Change Log
- Added more people to the Mission Control room
- Added scientists in white overalls to the Rover Lab
- Added several small side missions to Victoria Crater
- Fixed the issue where the variable Hotspot_CurHi could go below 0, causing a crash
- Fixed the issue where airbags deflated while still bouncing, damaging the rover        0000138
- Fixed the physics detail issue where small or medium rovers would not land        0000035
- Fixed the issue where switching from Space Program to Editor left you with a static camera        0000009
- Fixed a crash in the CTR tab when pressing SELECT and no items were present        0000016
- Fixed the terrain not meeting up with the rock walls in Gale Crater        0000023
- Fixed several levitating rocks in Gale Crater
- Optimized several shaders


5th August 2013:
- Added the Change Log viewer to the main menu
- Added 'Never freeze on alt+tab' launch parameter to Steam
- Fixed an issue with the Night Owl achievement, where an Editor-spawned vehicle could not complete it
- Fixed several issues with the Gravon arcade console
- Fixed the issue where the low resolution camera effect was carried over to the main menu        0000019
- Fixed an issue with the main and menu renders not filtering on resolution scales of greater than 1x
- Fixed levitating rocks in Kaiser Crater


2nd August 2013:
- Enabled the Gravon game console in the Mission Control room
- Fixed a crash with Index out of range (-4 >= 256) in scripts/Entities/VehicleWidgetHandler.h:108        0000029
- Hid 3 achievements by default


1st August 2013:
- EARLY ACCESS RELEASED

Edited September 10, 2013 by Dram

[felthat 1]

thats a great news

i was surprised that buggy has a booster, so i launched race scenario and strange bug happened, i couldnt start, i mean i cannot drive (bug added in last patch or something on my side?)

[dram 14]

thats a great news

i was surprised that buggy has a booster, so i launched race scenario and strange bug happened, i couldnt start, i mean i cannot drive (bug added in last patch or something on my side?)

Yeah that was a temporary bug before a new version was built. You can try it again now with the latest version, should work fine :)

[felthat 1]

hmm thats strange, even after update i had old version, i couldnt drive it and it didnt have booster. Finally after i unsubscribed it, removed from hdd and redownloaded it works

jet buggy is awesome :cool:

edit: those Z thrusters, holy smoke, it turns buggy into some beast vehicle from Brutal Legend

You have to change ramp at the entrance of crater to be more round like, now buggy on boost just crashes into it- its like givin poisoned lolipop to kid :D very cruel BIS, shame on you Dram

Edited September 10, 2013 by FeltHat

[dram 14]

hmm thats strange, even after update i had old version, i couldnt drive it and it didnt have booster. Finally after i unsubscribed it, removed from hdd and redownloaded it works

jet buggy is awesome :cool:

edit: those Z thrusters, holy smoke, it turns buggy into some beast vehicle from Brutal Legend

You have to change ramp at the entrance of crater to be more round like, now buggy on boost just crashes into it- its like givin poisoned lolipop to kid :D very cruel BIS, shame on you Dram

:D You may have a point hehe

Couldn't resist making a quick video for the racer buggy:

[thecanadianvending 24]

Is there any update fixing the camera bug?

[felthat 1]

hey, after last point in race scenario i crashed, my buggy restarted mid air as always my got stuck mid air, roll 90deg. and restart again and again and again

first time happened

edit: flying race buggy in zero-g is awesome :cool: reminds me lunar flight

btw any news on fixin that takin screenshots via steam bug? there are massive amount of material for good screenies but i dont want to play in windowed mode

Edited September 10, 2013 by FeltHat

[foffy 58]

Pretty nice on the updates, and I do have a question. I hope it does not offend but seeing as the price is going to be bumped in October, is that when the game 'officially' releases and is no longer part of the Early Access program? I know some things are still not completed by being in the program, but that's why I haven't touched the Space Program campaign. I likes me some tutorials. :P

[trainphreak 10]

Pretty nice on the updates, and I do have a question. I hope it does not offend but seeing as the price is going to be bumped in October, is that when the game 'officially' releases and is no longer part of the Early Access program? I know some things are still not completed by being in the program, but that's why I haven't touched the Space Program campaign. I likes me some tutorials. :P

I would guess the price is going up because the game will be "more complete" at that point, similar to how Minecraft (and other alpha/beta access games whose names elude me right now) started with a very low price in alpha and the price went up as more was added.

[dram 14]

Is there any update fixing the camera bug?

I'm sorry I don't recall exactly, could you please tell me which camera bug again?

hey, after last point in race scenario i crashed, my buggy restarted mid air as always my got stuck mid air, roll 90deg. and restart again and again and again

first time happened

Hmm, tried it and you're right, it occasionally gets into a never ending spin, arg. Will fix.

edit: flying race buggy in zero-g is awesome :cool: reminds me lunar flight

btw any news on fixin that takin screenshots via steam bug? there are massive amount of material for good screenies but i dont want to play in windowed mode

Well the strange thing is that the steam screenshots should be working fine. It appears that they work for most but not for some. Without steps to reproduce the issue it is very hard to track down. Also a nasty thing, this morning my steam is not loading... stuck at "Connecting account". Either way, I'll try and have a look at these major issues as soon as possible.

Pretty nice on the updates, and I do have a question. I hope it does not offend but seeing as the price is going to be bumped in October, is that when the game 'officially' releases and is no longer part of the Early Access program? I know some things are still not completed by being in the program, but that's why I haven't touched the Space Program campaign. I likes me some tutorials. :P

No, it is still part of the Early Access program afterwards. There is more content planned thereafter.

[brad.inggs 10]

quick question on the price bump, do we have to pay the new amount on top of the already purchased early-access or is it just increased for those that didn't get in early? This was my first early-access steam purchase so a little unsure what happens when it gets to release. Please excuse my lack of knowledge there :)

[felthat 1]

yes, we have to pay everytime dev wants to bump the price, if you wont u wll have the game unable to play

srlysy man, u bought this game, use your brain

and how about games where price drops over time? they give you money back?

"Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves up and through 'release'."

Edited September 11, 2013 by FeltHat

[trainphreak 10]

EDIT: Never mind.

Edited September 11, 2013 by trainphreak
Retraction

[thecanadianvending 24]

The bug which the camera spazzes out whenever you right click and move it.

[brad.inggs 10]

yes, we have to pay everytime dev wants to bump the price, if you wont u wll have the game unable to play

srlysy man, u bought this game, use your brain

and how about games where price drops over time? they give you money back?

"Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves up and through 'release'."

I'll ignore that rant but thanks for the last constructive bit.

Next time just answer a question without being a rude kiddie.

Edited September 12, 2013 by brad.inggs
gave credit where it was due.

[dram 14]

Guys, please keep it civil, let's not make this into a flame-fest.

quick question on the price bump, do we have to pay the new amount on top of the already purchased early-access or is it just increased for those that didn't get in early? This was my first early-access steam purchase so a little unsure what happens when it gets to release. Please excuse my lack of knowledge there :)

No, those who bought the game early are supporting us in development, hence they got it for the lower price. Up until the price change, anyone can get it for the lower amount, thereafter new buyers will pay the higher price. :)

The bug which the camera spazzes out whenever you right click and move it.

Hmm, that bug is not typical for players, so there must be something specific. Do you have a joystick, pedals, or wheel plugged in? If so, try unplugging them and loading up the game again, see if it helps. Let me know please, cheers.

[brad.inggs 10]

Many thanks for answering my question clearly Dram, it is the first time I've purchased from early-access Steam and just wanted to ask you about that. You guys will see my purchase again when it releases complete. As mentioned before, keep up the excellent work.

[trainphreak 10]

Many thanks for answering my question clearly Dram, it is the first time I've purchased from early-access Steam and just wanted to ask you about that. You guys will see my purchase again when it releases complete. As mentioned before, keep up the excellent work.

Nope, you still missed a bit. By buying it in Early Access, you get access to the game starting as soon as you hit "Checkout", and that access continues all the way through release. You don't need to buy the full game in addition to alpha access because the Early Access program gives you development AND final release copies.

[brad.inggs 10]

Thank you trainphreak! You made my evening!

Have an awesome weekend.