- Alpha 67 Update - 26 February 2026
Move to Full Licensed Engine Source Code:I have finally moved to the full licensed engine source code, moving away from UDK. This is a big step, which I have been planning/preparing for a long time. This means I can modify/compile the core engine code and unlocks huge potential and freedom for continued development.Already this change has allowed me to extend the material pipeline to allow for the new base painting system (passing params to the material system for individual instanced static meshes, previously not possible in UDK), borderless fullscreen, improved performance and much more. Many other planned features are now unblocked by this move.Your existing profile saves will auto-migrate, so you should not lose any progress.Base Painting:Players are now able to paint almost all structural wooden and metal buildables in their base.Paintbrush:Painting requires the paintbrush, which c…
- Alpha 66 Update - 26 September 2025
New Hunter Combat AI:Hunters have had an overhaul of their combat AI. Previously they used a fairly predictable pattern of move/stop/shoot. Now they can shoot while moving, will strafe while engaging, use better logic for positioning and taking cover. While also being aware of the actions of the other members of their squad.They will also use tactics like diving from cover, switch weapons less often, while choosing weapons based on the current situation. They also use smarter logic for choosing when to reload and will retreat to do so when they can.New Animation System for Humans:The male and female characters (including hunters) have had an entirely new animation tree for movement. Compared to the previous (built in a time where I was still learning the basics of bipedal animation), the new movement should look much more convincing and immersive. I'm sure I will want to continue to imp…
- Alpha 65 Update - 20 December 2024
Cable Car System: A new mode of long range transport has been added to the game. Capable of traversing difficult or impassable terrain, suspended high above the many threats posed on ground level. The cable car system will connect two separate bases (or the same base), and requires the player to construct cable car platforms at each end of the desired route. Then connect the two platforms using steel cable. Cable Car Platform: Cable car platforms can be crafted in the lathe. Bear in mind that two platforms are required to make a connecting route. The platform occupies the same space as a foundation/floor/ceiling and must be within range of a BCU or range extender to connect to the base power grid. Once placed, accessing the platform terminal will show a list of all the neighboring platforms within a 500 meter radius. Only platforms located at friendly bases will show. Here you can conne…
- Alpha 64 Update - 6 September 2024
Controller Support: As I have been promising for a long time, I've finally implemented full controller support for Subsistence. The support should cover all Xbox, PlayStation, Steam Deck, and generic controllers. You will find the in-game controls section now broken down into two sections for mouse and keyboard and controller. If a recognized controller is connected, you will see a diagram of the button mappings for your controller type. To account for the finite buttons available on controllers, the control scheme is divided into three sets: In-Game Menu Driving These sets will automatically switch based on what the player is doing in the game. You can view the various sets and their bindings by using the button in the bindings menu. The button on the left allows you to flick through the various controllers you have connected. Reconfiguring Bindings: While I recommend using the default…
- Alpha 63 Update - 27 June 2024
Base Furniture: Based on many suggestions from the community I've added a selection of home furniture. These are primarily cosmetic enhancements for builders wanting to customize and decorate their bases. Several new chair types have been added (the older sofa and armchair can still be crafted). I've also updated the build system to allow base items to be placed on top of rugs. Like the previous bed, the new beds also serve as respawn points for players (respawns need to be purchased when accessing the beds). Many of the furniture items come with storage space, although they do not offer as much capacity as the dedicated storage chests. All New Trees: All of the trees in the game (other than those in the most recent map expansion) have been completely replaced. The world will look quite visually different from how it did before the update. I created the old trees using an old version of…
- Alpha 62 Update - 20th December 2023 - 20 December 2023
Random Plane Events: Players will now experience random plane flybys during gameplay. On occasion these flights will crash-down somewhere in the world, providing players with incentive to venture out to discover the wreck and loot its cargo. The intention with these events is to incentivize players to travel/explore further from their bases, and add more unpredictability to the moment-to-moment gameplay. This also adds more value and utility to vehicles. The pilots will dynamically toggle the plane lights during day/night transitions, and the drone of the engines will alert players to incoming aircraft. Starting a new game will now begin with a drop-off plane leaving the player location (hoping to give a sense of isolation and the situation at hand). Flight Paths: Flight paths are procedurally handled and unique for every flight. Planes will enter the play space and attempt extensive fl…
- Alpha 61 Update - 2nd June 2023 - 2 June 2023
Water Tank and Pumps: Players can now craft Water Tanks to store and distribute water within their bases. Water tanks are crafted from the BCU and must be placed within a BCU radius in order to provide power for the pumps. Inflow and Outflow: The Water Tank has two connections located at the bottom of the unit. One for water inflow and one for outflow. Your water pipe networks must connect to these in order to move water in and out of the tank. The Water Tank hud will show indicators for whether pipes are connected to it's inflow and outflow, and whether the connected inflow pipes reach a water source. Pumps: Once the inflow connector is connected to a water source, the inflow pump can be toggled within the Water Tank hud. The pump will draw water in and fill the tank, while consuming a small amount of power while it is operational. While connected base items are consuming water from th…
- Alpha 60 Update - 9th December 2022 - 9 December 2022
Vehicle Construction Bay: The Vehicle Construction Bay (VCB) can now be crafted in the BCU. This placeable unit is used to construct, maintain, upgrade and manage vehicles. It must be placed within range of a BCU or Range Extender to provide power. Vehicle Construction: There is currently one vehicle type that can be constructed (the ATV). Players must construct the vehicle in stages, with each stage requiring the previous stage be complete before continuing to the next. Unlike many other powered crafting items, vehicle stages require no upfront power cost, but instead will consume power throughout each construction stage. A minimum of 500 power is required for constructing. If power levels drop below 500, it will pause. Construction can be resumed by clicking on the current stage and a resume button will show. In addition; construction can be manually paused at any time using the same…
- Alpha 60 Sneak Peek - 17 June 2022
A quick sneak peak at the upcoming Alpha 60 update 👀 https://youtu.be/bHem8wwcglo
- Alpha 59 Update - Map Expansion - 22nd April 2022 - 22 April 2022
Alpha 59 brings a large expansion to the western side of the map, opening up access to a large new lake, streams, ponds, waterfalls, forested regions and beachfront. It is important the world continues to scale in size, as I want long-haul travel and exploration to play a role leading into future features and development. Here's a link for a full 4k image of the world map. New Trees: I've implemented a new system for trees, moving away from the native SpeedTree libraries available in the engine. They support wind simulation via vertex animation (with no skeletal meshes), seasonal changes, large-scale instance meshing, etc. They are still a work in progress, but are performant and give me much more control over the code rather than working around a black-box feature set. The new area is mostly populated with new tree species using the new code. Eventually I hope to transition the old tre…
- New Official Gameplay Trailer - 18 January 2022
I just posted an updated trailer for the game. Please check it out 👀 The old trailer was showing it's age and didn't represent the game in it's current state, so this was overdue. Cheers! CG
- Alpha 58 Update - 18th December 2021 - 18 December 2021
Eagles: A new animal now flies the skies in the world. Eagles will nest in the high mountainous rocky areas. They will regularly leave their nest to scout the landscape to catch prey. They will fish in the lakes (for all fish types) and also hunt small game (rabbits and chickens). While they don't generally pose a threat to players, they are opportunistic predators and will snatch a hooked fish or small game kill from players. So keep an eye on the skies while hunting/fishing. Shooting an Eagle while it is clutching prey will cause it to drop it, allowing the player to trace it down and steal the catch for themselves. Eagle Nests: Eagle nests can be found high up on rock formations in mountainous regions. Usually too high and out of reach, players should use their climbing axes to scale the rockface to gain access to nests. Looting an nest will yield Pristine Eagle Feathers. You can loo…
- Alpha 57 Update - 28th July 2021 - 28 July 2021
Migration to 64 Bit! I have finally invested the time to migrate the game over to 64 bit. This is work I've been delaying for some time, however as the game has continued to grow, I was starting to hit the limitations of 32 bit (causing crashes for players with "Out of Memory" errors) and making development much more problematic. Essentially the 64 bit version removes memory limitations imposed under 32 bit, allowing the game to scale in size far beyond what was previously possible, while offering more stable and improved performance. This may sound less than exciting, but please know how essential this was to the growth and future of the game. Executables: Launching the game from Steam will now launch the 64 bit version. I am still shipping the 32 bit version as part of the game installation. The 32 bit executable can be found in ../Subsistence/Binaries/Win32/UDK.exe. Save file restruc…
- Alpha 56 - 1st April 2021 - 1 April 2021
Lever-Action Rifle: A new high-tier rifle can now be crafted at the workbench. The LA Rifle uses the same 7.62mm cartridges as the existing rifle, but deals slightly more damage. However, this is at the penalty of a slower fire-rate due to the lever action between each shot. So it is a more powerful and cost-effective weapon, so long as the shots are accurate. I've added stats for the LA in the player stats view: The LA Rifle can also load a new ammo type (which the basic Rifle cannot), please see later in the patch notes for details. You can checkout a short video of the LA Rifle here: https://youtu.be/5xmkOMUkf0s Moonlit Nights and Moon Cycles: I've finally taken some time to work on the night-time visuals and added a dynamic moon cycle. This isn't a total nerf to the darkness of nights. The moon moves through its own cycles (currently set to 8 days), and the light emitted is dictated…
- Alpha 55 Update (1st January 2021) - 1 January 2021
Ice Fishing: It is now possible to break through the surface ice on the frozen lakes (using an axe), allowing players to fish during the winter months. With the axe equipped, look at the ice until a progress wheel displays, then begin chopping to create the hole. This can take a toll on the axe's condition, so keep an eye on its health bar. Fishing in the ice hole does not require casting with the rod. Simply approach the hole with an equipped rod (and tackle) and an action prompt will display to start fishing. Ice Holes and Winter Cave/Water Access: Players can descend through ice holes, giving new access to water and cave locations throughout the winter. I've added a vault mechanic for pulling yourself out from an ice hole while underwater. Ice holes will eventually refreeze over. I have code in place to reduce the rate of refreezing if a hole is being actively used, but it will event…
- Alpha 54 Update: Dedicated Servers (18th September 2020) - 18 September 2020
The Alpha 54 update is primarily focused on adding official dedicated server support, improving the multiplayer client experience, and a number of other fixes and improvements. Dedicated Servers: The dedicated server files are freely available for any players who own the game. Players can choose to host their own servers, or rent them from a variety of hosting services. Please view the Server Admin Guide for players interested in hosting and admining their own server: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184 Server Browser Update The in-game server browser has had a visual and functional update, and now gives detailed info on servers currently running. Servers will show an icon indicating whether they are player-hosted or dedicated. Clicking on a server in the list will now show granular details on the games settings and current in-game state. Filters, search an…
- Alpha 53 Update (20th June 2020) - 20 June 2020
Large Cave Expansion: There is now a large new cave expansion under the south east area of the map. The new cave system can be accessed via an underwater dormant lava-tube deep in the large lake in the area. Players will need to use diving equipment to access the caves (same as the existing caves). The new caves stretch far out towards the north. They currently don't meet with the existing cave system, but I plan to link them in a future update. The new cave system is larger than the existing one, so has more than doubled the amount of subterranean space in the world. Some areas are more confined with tight tunnel systems leading deeper in. The new cave system adds a new source of crystal to the southern area of the map. However crystal spawn cooldown has been increased due to the increased supply. Wild Boar: A new animal type that roams the landscape. Boar will generally avoid players…
- Alpha 52 Update (27th March 2020) - 27 March 2020
The Alpha 52 update is primarily focused on adding substantial performance improvements, however there are also many new gameplay features and mechanics that I’ll detail first, as many may be less interested in the technical breakdown. Lathe:The Lathe is a new high-tier item that can be crafted at the BCU. It can be viewed as a high tier workbench and allows crafting of advanced mechanical base items. It is fully animated, with the tailstock sliding back and forth and physic-based sparks flying as each new item is crafted. There are currently 4 items the Lathe will craft (continue reading for details): Elevators:Elevators can now be crafted at the Lathe and used to move between floors of your base at fast speeds. The are intended as late game items and are pricey to craft. The take up the same space as a half ceiling. There is a panel on the elevator platform allowing the players to cho…
- Alpha 51 Update: Map Expansion (20th Dec 2019) - 20 December 2019
The Alpha 51 update brings a large expansion to the southern region of the world map. South of the existing maple forest now opens-up into new meadows, forests, rocky mountainous terrain, rivers, waterfalls and lakes. A new mountain valley cuts down between the two southern peaks, offering plenty of new mid-altitude terrain (and cougar hunting grounds). Down at lower altitude, a vast lake opens up stretches of beaches and deep water (now the largest body of water on the map). A new silver birch forest-type runs along the edges of much of the southern beach-front. This forest is dense with foliage and high saturated colors. Other new tree types, foliage and rock formations have been added, to give a distinct visual difference to the new zones. Cave Access?The largest of the new lakes currently doesn't give access to any underwater cave systems. This is planned for the future. So (for the…
- Alpha 50 Update - SEASONS (9th October 2019) - 9 October 2019
SEASONS: Alpha 50 finally brings seasons to the game. The world will now dynamically transition through all 4 seasons, affecting both the visual aesthetic and many gameplay mechanics. Seasonal Visual Transitions: Almost every type of foliage and tree has been hooked-up to a new system to handle smooth visual transitions through the various seasons. Spring: In early spring, grass will start to grow and sprout an assortment of flowers across the various meadows, woodland and mountain slopes. Trees that have shed their leaves will regrow their canopies. Rivers and lakes will thaw as the daily temperatures rise. Summer: During the summer months, as temperatures rise, the spring foliage recedes and much of the grass will go to seed. Fall: As fall settles in and the heat subsides, the trees and foliage will transition to autumnal shades of reds, oranges and browns. Dead leaves will blow in th…
