Oxygen Not Included - space colony sim from Klei

[Nostaljaded]

Oxymoron Space Colony will go early access on May 18th.

Grab now for USD20 before it goes for USD24.99.
Klei is 1 of the few western developers worth keeping an eye on.

 

[cvv]

Klei is 1 of the few western developers worth keeping an eye on.

Agreed, thing is if Oxygen is anything like Don't Starve it'll take at least a year before it gets from barebones and humdrum to rich and fantastic. By which time it'll be permanently 50% off.

 

[Mozg]

I've watched people LP this and I don't see how they'll ever get the simulated flows of gasses, temperature, and materials stress (as in, the mechanics of wall/floor/ceiling cave-ins) to be up to snuff, yet they've made the sim critically dependent on them. It's the kind of things that're hard as hell to sim properly and Klei doesn't seem like the outfit that could surprise me with programming efficiency (see: Factorio).

 

[Emily]

Like what? We had thread about complex games, and surprisingly we come with only few. Like DF.

As far as survival games go, you can't go wrong with Unreal World.

25 years of active development, boyz.

It is more like a sims.game. survival is trivial in it.

 

[Metro]

Wondering how 'deep' it is -- I'd actually prefer something fairly light compared to Dwarf Fortress or similar games.

 

[Mozg]

Well, it has the pretense of modelling heat/gas/fluid dynamics and phase transitions. Except it's extremely hard to model that stuff convincingly (try to find a sim game that can make a siphon work...) and Klei is not even close at this point.

 

[cvv]

Well, it has the pretense of modelling heat/gas/fluid dynamics and phase transitions. Except it's extremely hard to model that stuff convincingly (try to find a sim game that can make a siphon work...) and Klei is not even close at this point.

They're not close and they won't ever be coz uber-realistic simulation is not the point. Fun is. In OnI gasses don't mix, temperature doesn't cause expansion/contraction and your dudes are more resilient than Scott's alien. Plus ofc they do all the work with their "omnitool".

The main problem of this game is not that it doesn't simulate reality down to the molecular level but rather the opposite - it's too complex. Even though the heat/gas/fluid mechanics are quite simplified compared to reality and even though the game hast just entered EA and is a long way from feature complete managing all the moving parts is already a massive headache. I fear if Klei continues to add features at the current rate it'll quickly get out of hand and you'll need a theoretical physics doctorate to play the game successfuly.

 

[Mozg]

Yeah, I'm not saying that stuff is necessary or w/e, but it does constitute the "deeper level" of ONI with semi-subtle things to understand and generating interesting problems leading to creative projects. And the sim doesn't work very well on that level, never mind realism.

 

[cvv]

I fear if Klei continues to add features at the current rate it'll quickly get out of hand and you'll need a theoretical physics doctorate to play the game successfuly.

I think that isn't the right attitude to take with the dorflike genre of game, where the enjoyment comes from things spinning out of control, either gradually or wildly, and unexpected+bad things happening to your dorfs. The more complexity, the more features, the more systems interacting... The more unexpectedness. If it's just a game where you spin plates and keep on spinning, it'll get boring quickly. What I want from ONI is that it should be in principle possible to play successfully but not telegraph to me exactly how to do it and let me experiment on my own. Obviously this has the result of constant repeated failure and possibly ending up in a realization that the game is broken somehow and "unwinnable" except with a gamebreaking/metagamey sort of autism, but DF is kind of like that in many ways.

Good point but you CAN overdo it with the complexity. Ofc we all have our own threshold of what is manageable, maybe I'm just too dumb. But aiming at lightly above-average IQ in these games isn't a bad strategy, I posit. Then again there's nothing inherently wrong with making a game exclusively for programmers and autists either.

Btw right now it's comfortably possible to spin the plates in OnI, short and even medium-term. You just build a small, cozy base and keep refusing to take in more people. Then you can go on for tens of hours until you run out of water (providing you haven't started with a severe shortage of it). But judging from Don't Starve, where the devs introduced disasters like hounds, floods and bosses later in the EA to shake up your reverie, I fully expect them to do it here too. They may even prevent you from refusing more people. When that happens it'll be total mayhem because unlike so many other sims the ecosystems here are so fragile and any disruption will quickly spin out of control. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Space Satan]

New automation update is up.
Anyway. Game is treacherously easy at first glance. For example:
When you start you have abdurance of oxygen and food, plus water supply nearby. But it is all temporary. Oxygen will run out and carbon dioxyde will slowly fill your rooms. Food will run out unless you research farming. Water will run out unless you will start recycling. As a builder game naturally forces you to make a sustainable colony, you have to start farming, which is easy, then secure stable sources of oxyen and water, which is not.
You can get water in very few ways - from steam geyser and by purification of polluted water(and polluted water from various sources, as a product of natural gas generator etc.). And oxygen from aglae distilizer and electrolyzers. problems is that aglae is a finite resource and water too until you fing geysers. No to say that to pump water you will need power.
Then it gets harder. Geyser water is very hot, and by pumping it to your base you will make all your base hot in turn, and then your plants will wither as most of them cannot tolerate high temps. So you have to seek ways to cool down water, oxygen etc. Then to seek manerials and watch for germ infections. Now infections are somewhat tolerable but severity of infection and effects could go up as that is very popular EA forum demand. Overall, complexity raises significantly as game progresses and you muct monitor heat, plumbing, gasses on your base constantly or entire colony will die.

 

[Space Satan]

Tubular update preview. now dealing with transportation

 

[Destroid]

I have just tried this out, 10 hours or so in game is really great fun. I always knew mashing space station 13 into dwarf fortress would be fun, I didn't think Klei would be the people to do it.

 

[Space Satan]

• New Jobs System
  • New job assignments to cover all aspects of colony life
  • Many jobs have new or updated abilities
  • Revised Food and Decor expectations
  • Redeveloped Jobs screen
  • Hats
• Food and Crop rebalance
• Ore Transport System
  • Conveyor Rails
  • Conveyor Inbox and Outbox
• Ore Transfer Arm
• Hats
• Smart Battery
• Smart Storage Locker
• Improved Fridge to Smart Fridge
• Disease Logic Sensor
• Steam Turbine generator
• Farm Station
• Power Control Station
• Massage table revision
• A wide variety of bug fixes
• Hats

Check the patch notes for the most up-to-date changes!

 

[cvv]

This game development is just like Don't Starve - shit in the beginning, moderately entertaining at release and absolutely fanfuckingtastic with all the DLCs and mods. Too bad it'll be a few more years until it's settled in the final stage, if Don't Starve is anything to go by.

 

[Turisas]

This game development is just like Don't Starve - shit in the beginning, moderately entertaining at release and absolutely fanfuckingtastic with all the DLCs and mods. Too bad it'll be a few more years until it's settled in the final stage, if Don't Starve is anything to go by.

Yeah, definitely better off waiting for 1.0 at least with this one.

 

[Space Satan]

Food is now much harder to get because dupes will get stress like crazy on shitty food. So now you have to farm berries and to farm berries you need water. Not simple water but cooled down water because berries require 5-30 degrees and geyser water is boiling. Colonies are no longer could be easily locked to stability

 

[cvv]

This game development is just like Don't Starve - shit in the beginning, moderately entertaining at release and absolutely fanfuckingtastic with all the DLCs and mods. Too bad it'll be a few more years until it's settled in the final stage, if Don't Starve is anything to go by.

Any stories to share? I haven't played for months and have no idea what is going on with the game lately

Nope, decided to wait. With Don't Starve I was disappointed with the beta and almost gave up on the game. Luckily I've tried it again after the Reign of Giants DLC and now it's one of my favourite games of the new millenium. Don't wanna make the same mistake with ONI.

 

[Space Satan]

Farming is now in

• New Ranching Gameplay
  • New Rancher job
  • Critter wrangling
  • Critter needs and conditions
  • Critter reproduction (Eggs!)
  • Critter Feeders
  • Grooming Stations
  • Incubators
  • Critter relocation buildings now lower tech
• Info Database screen
  • Extended descriptions for many entries
• Errand Priorities screen
  • Added more controls for job prioritization
  • Renamed errand priority "Urgency" to distinguish from individual Duplicant priorities
  • Added optional auto-prioritization for job-related errands
• New geyser types
  • More geysers in each new world
  • Variable outputs and dormancy cycles

Check the patch notes for the most up-to-date changes!

 

[cvv]

Is it ever gonna be ready?

 

[Space Satan]

Well, game s ALREADY addictive.

 

[Hellraiser]

I'll wait 2 to 4 more updates before replaying again. I wish they added more reasons to explore the map, more things that can murder your colony (ideally literally) and toned-down stress vomiting. Currently it boils down to avoiding stress-vomiting and preventing your base/crops from overheating.

Out of all computer game villains, thermodynamics from this game is by far the most terrifying. You can't kill it, only contain it.

 

[cvv]

I wish they added more reasons to explore the map

A game like this obviously can't work without some periodical/random disasters otherwise you'd be just camping your base and playing with your dick. In Don't Starve it was hounds and bosses, they have to thrown in a disaster addon here too.

 

[Darth Roxor]

New geyser types

• Variable outputs and dormancy cycles

Shieeet, guess that means I'm gonna have to actually manage water somehow from now on instead of just making a pipeline to the nearest water geyser.

 

[Space Satan]

Right now this update rendered water geysers useles, they lie dormant for 100 or so cycles. A HUNDRED CYCLES.

 

[Darth Roxor]

fugg