[This post was exclusively available ahead of time to my Patrons Vaipu, Walpar and Kyle]

Heloooooo Patrons!! Its that time of the month again! This month was quite an eventful one for Ether. I made a bunch of both graphical and gameplay improvements. Lets go one by one.

Bunker

The bunker has received a major lighting redo and some layout updates to better serve gameplay. The player now needs to go into a bigger control room to use the computer and fancy instruments. The re-lighting allows for a very cinematic look when interacting with the OS.

There is also additional panel added on the side of the table. It will show basic status reports from various components across the site. The mechanics arent quite there yet so I am leaving this for the future devlogs.

Computer

The base computer now possesses some handy additional abilities. The file management system has received a major update, allowing you to rename, delete, preview and open files with registered apps on the computer (while also not breaking the save system, so the files persist even after game restart).

The OS of the computer also now supports popup windows, allowing for alerts, dialogue windows etc. It is now already used for renaming and showing a “busy” banner.

The Composite Sat map now has a new mode: “EMF”. ElectroMagnetic Field view allows you to monitor magnetic interference throughout the map, sometimes showing things which otherwise couldnt be seen by the naked eye. (This EMF visualization system is made in a way so that its relatively easy for me to put it to a portable camera the player can carry around so there is definitely going to be some gameplay around that, sounds like a next devlog material.)

Weather

There is now a powerful weather system outside the base which allows for quite a range of dynamic effects including rain, storms, nights and foggy weather. If the weather system proves itself in future testing, then it is there to stay and will be integrated more tightly into the gameplay.

Trello

A Trello board was created to keep track of development. My Patrons will have exclusive access to it, allowing them to see development move and update as it goes. If I figure out how, they might even get the ability to directly vote or comment on features!

And this concludes todays devlog. Quite alot of progress was made but there is still some more to go:

• Shop system upgradeables

• Better boat controls

• Hunger related mechanics + lack of sleep debuff

• Extreme weather events + effects + Ability to see weather on SatView

• Enemies and story events (I keep that for last)

• Random Signals spawning to farm some credits?

• Theres always room for general polish