Hello everyone,

Today, I’d like to announce that the newest update is finally online! This is a major update to version 0.35. Overall, it took much longer than expected and I sincerely apologize for the delay.
It was definitely a lot of work but I am happy that this leg of our journey together has finished! I can now focus on creating new content and keep on polishing. In case you haven’t read the previous announcement, I said that many parts of the project will be reworked and others will be started anew.

I am happy with the results and I hope you are too! Colonies looks, sounds, and feels better than before and there is now more incentive to advance further in the game. However, Colonies is still not completely out of the development stage yet. There are more maps, more unit types, and more mech construction options still to come!

The following is a log to all the changes made to version 0.35:

• Reworked textures of all units and buildings
  
• Reworked maps and its textures
  
• Added a new map: Ice Planet
  
• New and improved AI behavior: AI will defend his harvesters when possible, it will also focus harvesters on single resources instead of spreading all over the map, and units shouldn’t stack anymore and will choose a free position instead
  
• Units will now have a rectangular formation when moving them as a group
  
• New Camera Control: You can now rotate the camera by 360° and camera movement will be smoother
  
• New animations and models for buildings under construction
  
• Improved performance thanks to optimized scripts
  
• Changed game-play: Player will no longer have a base in the middle of the map and will now have a maximum of one enemy NPC faction
  
• Added more sound effects and changed a few of the existing ones: Mech Walking, industrial sounds, and UI sounds
  
• New user interface
  
• Buildings can now be built with a different rotation
  
• Housing buildings have been replaced with 2 new models, one for each faction
  
• Cannon Tank and Laser Tank models have been reworked
  
• Repair unit model has been replaced by a repair drone
  
• New Unit: Mobile Artillery, deals damage to buildings over large distances
  
• Altered Game Mechanics: Outposts can be built anywhere on the map so science spots have been omitted and Science Outposts can now be built within an Outpost.
  
  Unfortunately, a few things could not be implemented as of yet, but the next updates I will reintroduce and provide overall improvements to the following:
  
• Fog of War is currently disabled
  
• The radar tower, the recon buggy, missile launchers/missile towers, and tutorial are currently not available
  
• Buildings currently don’t have a damage effect but it is something I’d like to improve upon

I hope you enjoy this new version of Colonies and I very much appreciate your continued support! Thank you all and Happy Holidays!

Hey everyone,

I apologize that you haven't heard from me sooner.

In case you are wondering what's going on with the Early Access title, here are some points I'd like to share.

The work has already begun for the next update and it will be, compared to the previous updates, a rather large one.

The project will be ported to the latest version of Unity. Also, large parts of
the code had to be rewritten. Rewriting, as well as reorganizing the project’s structure, takes, honestly, a little longer as expected.

However, you'll be happy to know that, with the changes, you'll have improved performance and gameplay. This also makes it possible to expedite future development changes thanks to a better and more efficient project organization.

What this means for you:

• Improved unit navigation: units will now check whether another unit is already occupying a position and, if so, search for a free one; preferably in formation. Units will no longer stack unnecessarily and end up on top of each other
  
• You will be able to form groups and let units stand in a line or rectangular formation
  
• Constructing buildings will have better animations
  
• New map: Ice map with a crater
  
• New mission menu

Just a small example of how units get automatically into an attack position

The above mentioned features will be available in the upcoming update. There are also a few more changes planned for later updates.

• New Unit: Mobile Artillery, will be able to bombard an area instead of only focusing on a single target
  
• Survival mode: Survive enemy waves of either the other faction or alien bugs
  
• More order options for units such as hold fire, defend only, hold position, patrol, and waypoints

You may expect version 0.30 to be published around the end of October. I appreciate your patience as I implement these coming changes.

Do you have any suggestions for future updates or changes you'd like to see? Did you find any bugs that should be addressed? Please, don't hesitate to let me know here or using the community hub. I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you very much!