Hello Everyone! Welcome to June’s Ether Devlog No. 7! This time, I’ve finally gotten to remaking the ship controller. But wait, there’s more! This month was brought to you by our Patrons Walpar, Pitti, Kyle and Vaipu.

New Ship!

I have remade the controls, added (faked) buoyancy, added sonar, and made a new model. It’s a major improvement over the last version’s ship system, and I feel pretty confident about it going forward! I still need to finish the textures, though.

Computer OS Improvements

• Play testing indicated the sat clouds were boring. So, I have done a few modifications and improved the shader to feel much more dynamic and lively!

• The Radio can be a bit quiet/loud at times, so I introduce: The Volume Slider! (Yippee). The Radio can also now be tuned using the middle mouse button for ease of use.

• Emails were a bit hard to navigate. Important story emails are now marked with an “Important” label.

• More upgrades were introduced. You can now upgrade the ship too.

Ambiance Changes

The game now features a dynamic ambiance system which changes background music depending on where and when you are. This really helps accentuate the mood when exploring.

Map Changes

• The mountain on the base island is taller.
• A few exterior areas were improved.
• A few new models were added (such as the PDC tape storage module in the base; I love watching those things spin!).

Night Rendering Improvement

Night lighting was improved. Night is now less dark, and moonlight feels more movie-ish.

Smaller Changes:

• Fix computer status not loading properly.
• Email text now has a proper scrollbar.
• Pagination for reading paper pages.
• BMWES Radar Model.
• Fix: Add RC3 Player for File Manager.
• Fix: Notification popup now shows message titles.
• Fix: Email file labels overflow.
• Add System Sounds.
• Add sound feedback upon buying items and receiving credits to drive fun value!
• Main Menu update.
• Add Settings for Volumetric Fog.
• Add working clock to PC and PDA.
• Add sound when a beacon is found (Radar).
• Beacon timeout can now be upgraded.
• UI QOL: Keep freq bar fixed.
• Fix: Radio not being quieter when far away.
• Time of day ambiance music system.
• Fix: Boat not working on some builds.
• Getting Lost in Fog (on sea) (Player only).
• Boat polish (Yippee!).

To-Do:

• Implement some of the threats and story events.
• Make dynamic fog alongside weather events.
• Improve Fog lost event (for now, only applies to player and not ship/ship items).