Field Notes

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• Patch Notes·29 Aug 2026Official

  Development Update 8/28/26

  A few new features and bugfixes this time around and continuing to polish existing systems.New Features:Micro-Organism studiesCollect soil and water samples, put them under a scanning Microscope and find new types of tiny critters!Sound Detection System The Player now emits varying levels of noise while moving around. The slower you move, the less sound you make. Creatures can now detect you even if they can't see you and some are more sensitive than others.Sound Level UI elementA meter that is visible onscreen will show you how much noise you are making.Vehicle/Mount systemA hover scooter will become available to you at campsites after progressing the story. This new mode of transportation will be helpful for traversing the larger zones. Other modes of transportation are being considered.JUMP!Up until this point there has been no jumping in the game. It was an unnecessary feature and I designed the zones around not having it but.... Jumping is more fun and opens up more possibilities. So now we're jumpin'.General Changes:New gathering animationsGathering certain resources now have their own animations instead of one generic "gather" animation.Fainting Animation has been updatedNow with MORE DRAMA!Updated UI graphic elements. New story cutscenesNew Quests and dialogueVarious Bugfixes
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• Patch Notes·22 Jul 2026Official

  Development Update 7/22/26

  It's been a busy couple months getting things ready for a Demo drop later this year, and I want to thank all of you that have wishlisted the game and are keeping up with development progress so far.Lots of little fixes and a few major overhauls to get into:Major Changes:Rebuilding Mycera from scratch. The old map was too "Open world" and lacked direction. "Field Notes" is not an open world game, but does give a lot of freedom to explore a large map and make discoveries. In the new map, the goal is to have satisfying Points Of Interest, with things to do that will advance the story, overall giving a more satisfying experience. There will still be hidden things to find that offer a rewarding experience for Players that explore the nooks and crannies of each planet.Character Customization: The original goal was to have a robust customization feature in order to let players create their own unique explorers. As a solo developer, this turned out to be an incredible amount of work and had to be scaled back. Instead, a variety of hand crafted alien races will be available to choose from, and players can still customize their races skin, accent and eye colors. I am also exploring options to change skin patterns, like spots, stripes, etc..New Features:Added new "Warning" state to hostile creatures. Some animals will now warn you to back off before attackingadded vision cone to NPC detection logic, animals no longer can see behind them, unless they have eyes back there. But they may be able to detect you in other ways...A new Player noise feature is being worked on. Every step you make in the wild could alert wildlife to your presence, Players will need to sneak around to get close to the more shy or hostile organisms.Added new HUD marker, and mini map systems HUD markers will let players more easily find important NPCs and locations, and to identify NPC's that have tasks for you to do. Markers will also display info like distances to POI's The minimap was added to prevent pl...
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• Patch Notes·26 Apr 2026Official

  Update for 4/26/26

  Bug FixesScanning SFX now stops if subject moves out of range while scanningFixed a shader issue where a grass texture appeared much too dark in low lightFixed Day/night transition when loading from save.Fixed 3D viewers causing issues on ultrawideFixed Camera behavior while underwater, now correctly adapts to underwater visual effects.Feature ChangesAdded a sprint function to help escape hostile critters and travel faster on foot.Adjusted Swimming logic, works much better transitioning between walking and swimming.Added map markers and rudimentary fast travel.Added GuideBook functionality to better track tasks and discoverablesRe-added limited climbing: Stepping up small obstacles, climbing up short walls.Revamped Archaeology mini-game.Replaced old fossil cleaning mini game with new version.Fossils automatically display when donating a fossil at the station.Added mirror to player quarters. Enables players to change their Character appearance.Updated flashlight: Now has 3 modes of brightness.ControlsAdded dynamic button prompt switching for Keyboard & Mouse / ControllerButton prompts for Xbox, and PS5 controllers added.GameplayAdded several story quests and eventsAdded new NPC's with quests and dialogue to the Station and MyceraUpdated tutorials for tool useOptimizationsImplemented new LOD impostors system to dramatically increase performance.This allowed me to greatly increase object density without sacrificing frame rates or visual quality.Some pop-in and LOD swapping is still apparent in some areas, adjustments to this system is ongoing as new objects are added to the game.DLSS 4 upscaling re-introduced. Anti-aliasing only, no frame generation.No other AA types are present at this time. Will be added in the future.
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• Patch Notes·26 Feb 2026Official

  Update for 2/26/26

  Feature UpdatesAdded system to facilitate In-engine cutscenes -Players' custom character will now appear in all story related cutscenesAdded new Intro cinematic (Still in early stages, incomplete), included for testing.Added several animations to dialogue scenes.Added new Area: Players' Quarters -Re-enter your quarters through a door on the Station, will be moved in a later update. -Ability to decorate with items found planetside coming in later update. -ability to change photos on display with photos taken by the player coming in later updateAdded new Mini-Game: Archaeology -Dig up and clean found artifacts and fossils to take them with you for studyStation Elevator now functions as a Teleporter with updated animations and VFXSaving and loading game while planetside now saves Player position and Time of Day. -No longer possible to Fast travel back to camp simply by saving/loading. Best get moving. -Fast travel between outposts coming in a later updateBug FixesModels in Inspection window should no longer vanish unexpectedlyFixed an issue with the chest mounted flashlight over exposing the player modelVarious adjustments to collidersUI updates:Added "Hold to Skip" prompt for cutscenesAdded video player to tutorial promptsAdded animated button prompts to tutorialsThe Radial Menu is now the Tools Panel -Updated Visuals for Tools Panel -Updated Tutorial for Tools Panel with Video ExampleUpdated visuals for Photo Camera UI -Added Focus Ring -Added meters for Zoom, Contrast, Exposure and SaturationAdjusted positioning for on-screen Controls LegendAdjusted layout for Discoverable Attribute Window -Now fits much more information about the studied items -Changed to scrolling window for items with more attributes & longer descriptions Added Links to Official "Field Notes" Social Media pages to Main Menu Misc Visual UpdatesRe-painted many, many, many, many, old textures Painted many, many, many, many, new texturesWill continue to paint many, many, many, many, more textures.
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• Patch Notes·21 Jan 2026Official

  Update for 1/21/26

  Bug FixesFixed issue that caused multiple cameras to render simultaneously tanking frame ratesHead mesh is now correctly hidden when wearing a helmet after scene changes -Previously had to re-equip gear to fixOptimizationsDid another round of optimizing grass and other foliage shadersAs a result, I was able to reduce foliage polygon counts by about 50% with no noticeable dip in quality. Frame rates in dense vegetation vastly improved.Implemented more aggressive object culling for objects far away. Some pop-in will be present, requires more tweakingNew FeaturesAdded New plant types to Fungal ForestAdded New animals to Fungal ForestAdded animal behavior types: Passive, Aggressive, and AvoidantSome animals may become aggressive when you are present. These will chase after you and attackPassive animals will mostly ignore you, Avoidant animals will actively run from youExpanded explorable area in Fungal Forest slightlyNew UI element in base camp console to control time of day Interact with this console to wait for night or daytimeNew UI element for Stamina Stamina will act as a universal stat for taking damage from animals or weather conditionsWhen the stamina gauge is exhausted, you'll collapse and an emergency transport will get you back to the stationa small amount of RP is now awarded when discovering hidden attributes on itemsMisc ChangesAnimal behavior and navigation was re-tooled to better respond to player and environmentAdjusted environment lighting for Day/Night cycle on MyceraAdded some new NPC dialogue and revamped dialogue overall to reflect the games' tone better.
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