• Added new items and vehicles for the hybrid path.
  
• Added new quests and a new NPC.
  
• Added a new area to explore.
  
• Added a new ending to the game, that does not require defeating the final boss.
  
• Added the Bombardment Shield, for players that hate the bombardment. You can even set it up after the Bombardment starts, and the NPCs will leave their bunkers before the end of the game!
  
• Added a new official translation - German!
  

• Added a Backer NPC and cameo. All players can find and talk to these NPCs, and there’s even a new quest. Hint for finding them: check divider island and CaptAIn’s colony.
  
• Thanks to the generosity of our Backers, some of the Backer exclusive weapons are now available for everyone (Boomerang, Laser Sword and Leech). Backer weapons also work now in Multiplayer even if some players are Backers and others are not.
  
• Fin modifiers now lower the use cost of all Equipment (stamina, power, etc).
  
• When you enter a Colosseum Arena, the difficulty is set to Normal while you are in that Arena (it will return to normal when you leave). This is because the Arenas were balanced with Normal difficulty in mind, and some of them are impossible in 1hko. You can still change difficulty while inside the Arena if you want an extra (perhaps impossible) challenge.
  
• PvP combat is now possible in multiplayer with a dev console command. Because the game is not cheat proof and is not balanced for PvP, I am not making this a publicly available option, but I added it for modders to play with, and for adventurous non-modders. Join our Discord if you want to learn more: https://discord.gg/Aground
  

• The Owl familiar, when equipped, now zooms out the game (like when you are riding a spaceship). This lets you see further, and gives you the option to always be zoomed out if the normal zoom level is too pixelated for your tastes.
  
• Hotkeys will no longer unequip equipment. Some players like hitting an equipment hotkey multiple times to make sure it’s set, and before this would unequip what they wanted to equip. Equipment will still swap back and forth unless you uncheck “Switch Equipment Hotkeys” in gameplay options.
  
• Other bugfixes and minor tweaks/improvements.
  

• Added three new bosses to the arena.
• Added the ability to repair colony ships postgame (after the ending).

• Added difficulty settings to the options menu.
• Can export and delete saves right from the saves menu.
• Added a hammer item that builds blueprints.
• Added sound effects to familiars so they will occasionally make noise when idling (i.e., a cat will meow).
• Holding the shift key now reduces your speed to the starting value (walking). This is useful if you’re zipping by with too many upgrades and need some precision, and can also be used with flying equipment.
• Many other minor improvements and bugfixes.

• Some vehicles can now move and attack at the same time.
  
• Drone control can now be used while riding the mobile lab.
  
• Talon Copse can now modify most equipment.
  
• Cables and rails can now be placed on the same tile.
  
• Added a mini planet - Mercury. This is the last solar system planet that I plan to add before the full launch (gas giants have nowhere to land, and Venus is very dangerous).
  

• The starting quests now let you place the structures where you want to, and give you a blueprint for them when complete so you can re-arrange your base.
  
• Most vehicles and bots can now be packed up and deployed.
  
• Docks can now summon nearby boats.
  
• Trader will ship items from one island to another for a fee (pre bombardment/endings).
  
• Dragons can now land on water and never die by running out of fuel now.
  
• Mouse buttons can now be set in controls - this allows you to attack by clicking (but clicking on a GUI element will interact with it as normal).
  
• Surgery lab can now install vanity equipment.
  
• Crops can now be re-arranged in farms.
  
• Chests can be given labels.
  
• Hotkeys are now sensitive to parameters/modifiers.
  

I don’t want to spoil much - but after beating the final boss, try talking to all the NPCs - almost all of them have dialogue changes. You can also choose a homeworld if you talk to the CaptAIn.

At this point, the questlines for magic and science path is more or less how it will be at the final launch, but we have the two backer planets, some additional post game content, the quality of life update (general improvements) and multiplayer still to come!

If you haven’t heard, Aground is now on the Discord Store as well! Definitely drop by our discord, we’re very active there if you want to chat - and you can now see announcements and buy the game directly from our discord server!

Update 1.8.2 Includes the Following:

• Endgame dialogue/cutscenes for all NPCs.
• You can now choose a homeworld.
• Added a third tier hut upgrade for post-game science.
• Added more destroyed versions of structures for bombardment.
• Added one of the two post-game secret areas (the key to unlock it was added to the golemech factory, if you know where that is).
• Added 4 new bosses to the arena.
• The Exo Mech can now have a shield or light installed.
• Changed collision detection - it should now lag less with large moving objects (like in fleet battles).
• The equipment window now shows all status bars as numbers (scaling them down if necessary).
• Added new SFX.
• Many bug-fixes, tweaks and minor changes!

Enjoy, and as always, don’t be shy if you have any questions or feedback - we are always happy to hear from our players. And don’t forget to join the social channels below if you haven’t already:

Discord
Reddit
Twitter
Facebook

Since then, we’ve added spacefaring and end game science path quests and items. And with the update we released today - 1.8.0 - we’ve finally finished end tier magic path quests and items. The journey isn't over yet, but we’ve come a long way and the end is in sight.

The Full Launch is still on schedule for early next year alongside the console ports. Between now and then we’ll be working on:

• Endings - Right now, you beat the final boss and it rolls to credits, and if you continue your game nothing changes. This update will have the aftermath, conclusion, resolution and some post game content (along with editing all the NPC dialogue).
  
• Backer Planets & Characters - There are 2 side-quest planets and some NPCs designed by kickstarter backers that will be added to the game. These planets will be available to all players.
  
• Quality of Life Update - There’s a growing list of suggested improvements, tweaks and minor changes that we want to do before the full launch.
  
• Co-op Multiplayer - Play with your friends & work together to complete quests (no PvP by default, but if you’re okay with cheating and broken mods, you can enable it)!
  
• Console Ports - Aground will be released on the Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and XBox One.
  
• Translations - We will be translating Aground to several languages for the full launch, once the dialogue/text is more or less finalized.

And of course, the full launch isn’t necessarily the end! We have many ideas for post-launch updates, including the Hybrid/Combined Path!



Update 1.8.0 Includes the Following:

• Added New NPCs - And the quests necessary for you to reach the final boss on the magic path.
  
• Added Spirit World - A strange new place where the elemental spirits come from. 
   
• Added Mars - Why is Mars a new planet for the magic path? Only one way to find out!
  
• Book of Translation - A new spellbook that lets you talk with dragon ships, steal their secrets (and ships) to use against them!
  
• Tier 3 Spellbooks - You can now cast meteors like shown in this sneak peek gif:
  
• Added new enemies.
  
• Added endgame magic path equipment.
  
• Added new spaceships and vehicles.
  
• Many new cutscenes and the story up to (but not including) the magic path ending.
  
• Living vehicles can now have their modifier changed at the vine copse.
  
• There is now a coral farm that you get at the same place as the coral pen that can harvest all wyrm pens and coral pens.
  
• Added new SFX.
  
• Familiar efficiency now boosts the farming speed of that familiar when in pens.
  
• The book of shielding now costs less stamina the higher your spellcasting stat, and blocks all attacks (including spirit attacks).
  
• Many bug-fixes, tweaks and minor changes!

Thank you for supporting us throughout this year in Early Access, and I hope you’re looking forward to all the future updates, the full launch, and beyond!

Enjoy, and as always, don’t be shy if you have any questions or feedback - we are always happy to hear from our players. And don’t forget to join the social channels below if you haven’t already:

Discord

Reddit

Twitter

Facebook

The early access version of Aground is now available on Steam and Itch.io! Join us on Discord, Reddit, Facebook or Twitter today for some launch day festivities!

It has been a wild ride getting to this point - from the initial prototype over a year ago, an underwhelming reception to the early versions, to an incredibly enthusiastic response to the browser version, an amazing crowdfunding campaign, and update after update of new content and improvements.

And - hopefully - this is just the beginning of Aground’s story!

The early access version includes new quests, vehicles, enemies and areas not in the demo version. And we still have a ton of exciting content left to add before the game is complete.

As we mentioned before, Aground now also has support for mods with the help of mod.io! While we haven’t written a guide yet, there are already a few mods uploaded, so feel free to subscribe to them or join the #modding channel on Discord for help making your own!

We are also pleased to share that a new member has been added to the Aground team! Megan has joined us to help out with social media and marketing. Together we’re working hard to spread the word about the game!

Update 1.4.0 is now Live!

This update includes lots of new content for the early access version (see above), but we also included an update to the free version too! This update includes swimming and many small improvements and tweaks to the game. As a big thank you to Armor Games, Kongregate and Newgrounds who helped us get to this point, we also added a few secrets and specials on those sites - can you find them all?

I hope you enjoy the early access version and demo updates! And if you played the game, help show your support by writing a review or posting a screenshot! I hope you’re looking forward to the magic path update, which will include the magic path between the demo and outer space!

• Added a new star system and planet on the Science Path where you can meet other human survivors.
  
• Added the Enemy Headquarters, where you can fight the final boss!
  
• Added many new enemies to go with the new planets.
  
• Added fleet battles - where NPC spaceships can fight alongside you!
  
• Added endgame science path equipment - both cyborg and regular.
  
• Added new spaceships and vehicles.
  
• Many new cutscenes and the story up to (but not including) the science path ending.
  
• Many bug-fixes, tweaks and minor changes!
  

• Added a new star system + major planet to the game! This also includes a new music track!
  
  
• Added drones, a new kind of vehicle that can be piloted remotely.
  
  
• Added a whole new spaceship… and it’s a big one (no spoilers, it should be obvious if you do all the new quests).
• Added new quests, NPCs, items, crafting, structures and a research lab. No spoilers, but… I will tell you a com device helps.
• Teleportals can now be renamed, and are sorted by name. You can organize them by using special characters/numbers before the name, and use this to make a note about important parts of islands. Teleportals are now also locked to the star system they were built in, so the list will only show teleportals in that star system.
• Added an FTL jump animation for vehicles.
  
  
• Placing items in vehicle interiors (workbenches, furnaces, etc) can now take items directly from the vehicle’s storage.

• When you discover an item for the first time, the game now tells you! It doesn’t know about items you already discovered in old saves that aren’t in your storehouse or inventory, so it might come up a lot when you first continue an old save, but eventually it will work as intended.
• Crops and pens can now function without a barn (and be placed without a barn). The barn structure is now just a convenience, where you can harvest them all at once.
• Added many new sound effects, both to the demo and the full version. We’ll be adding more in the next few updates, fleshing out the sounds for all the attacks, enemies and items.
• Added a gameplay option to make steel walkways un-mineable (so you don’t mine them by accident). Just toggle the option to make them mineable again when you want to change/move/collect them.
• Added a gameplay option to hide blueprints from the “All” tab in your inventory. A lot of people complained that blueprints cluttered the inventory and could not be removed - well now they can be hidden, unless you intentionally go to the blueprints tab.
• For people playing on the keyboard, shift+Z now moves the current object/vehicle to the back. This is useful if you have two large vehicles on top of each other.
• Many bug-fixes, tweaks and minor changes!

• Added Orbit and the ability to travel between planets.
  
  
• Added a new planet.
  
• You can now build space stations in orbit.
  
  
• Added underground structures (and an event that will make them very useful).
  
  
• Added ladders and walkways for stacking surface structures.
  
  
• Added several new songs! Here's a really cool video of Chase composing one of them:
  

• Cables and rails can now be placed vertically.
  
• Structures now operate even when away from the island.
  
• Blueprint error guides (they visually show you what is blocking the structure from being built).
  
• Combat update! I tweaked how combat works yet again - it is now easier to defeat enemies without taking any damage (by dodging), but also more dangerous to blindly mash the attack key as they will knock you back out of range.
  
• 4 more hotkeys have been added by popular demand.
  
• Miner now gives a quest about minecarts.
  
• Builder will explain sticky items when you build the storehouse, and sticky items now are placed above others in the inventory.
  

• Added a new magic island with new bosses, enemies, NPCs, sub-areas and structures. Rest in the purple hut after defeating the Old One to start these quests (and check out the place the Old One was defeated).
  
• Added many new familiars and new types of nets to catch them.
  
• Added spellbooks and a spellcasting skill.
  
• Added a magic spaceship equivalent, and the quests to get it.
  
• You can now mine the second layer of magic island (although we are still planning on adding caves there later).
  

• Added an indicator when the smelter/kitchen/pen/farm have items ready.
  
• Allowed some weapons/items to work underwater.
  
• Added spider familiar.
  
• Some magic structures can now be uprooted and moved.
  
• You can now collect items while riding the dragon (like helium sacs)
  
• You can now aim dragonfire manually while riding a dragon by using up/down while holding attack.
  
• Many smaller fixes and improvements, including color changes to the background art.
  

• Added < loadAfter > tag to the mod metadata. This works just like (forcing the labelled mod to load first), but won’t cause the mod to fail to load if the labelled mod is missing.
  
• Added the evalXml function. This parses the passed argument string as xml and then runs it after the current action block completes. Useful for dynamic xml generation.
  
• Added setGlobal and getGlobal, to manage global variables that can be used between saves and in different scopes. These are not saved, and clear when the game is restarted (or you set them to null).
  
• Added setPlayer and changePlayer functions. setPlayer changes the player to an already created player object, and changePlayer changes the player to a new object with the passed id. These are dangerous functions.
  

Next Week: Sound Bytes (Chase)

Part Two - Pixel Perfect