Several weeks have passed since the Seamoth Update, and Subnautica development continues at full speed. Major updates are arriving on a roughly monthly basis at the moment. While it will be a few more weeks until the next update, now is a great time to take a peek at some of the sweet underwater gameplay being worked on behind the scenes.

Not everything you read about in this post will make it into Subnautica. Throughout the development process, ideas come and go, concepts are favoured then discarded, and gameplay mechanics iterated upon. Some of what is on show here may end up in an update some time in the next few months, and some might never be seen again!

When playing Subnautica in Survival Mode, managing a supply of fresh water is a big deal. There is not currently a way to produce fresh water on a large scale. This new concept for a water filtration machine could change that:

Along with fresh water, sea-bases might soon be able to serve as production facilities for food. The subsistence of a lone explorer on an alien world is a contemporary theme: Many of us on the team have read the Martian, and will be going to watch the cinema adaptation over the coming weeks. Charlie has been in a super-creative headspace thinking up potential underwater farming gameplay.  Here is a concept of what aquaponic facilities might look like in Subnautica:

Why stop at cultivating plants inside a sea-base? Here are some of Cory’s notes on what a large sea-base aquarium might look like, capable of containing larger ocean critters:

Scott has been putting together an animation set for a creature called the ‘Sea Treader’ – A large, tripedal life form that can… poop!

Artwork for a sinister, unique biome called ‘Lost River’ is starting to pop up. This concept shows off the vibe, in the centre of which lies a massive alien skeleton:

Lost River could feature new flora and fauna, as variations of existing life-forms.

The creature skeleton at the centre of Lost River might end up being so large that a vehicle will fit inside. Here are some notes from Cory on a work-in-progress model of the skull:

The PDA has been receiving some TLC from Slava. A new messaging system will allow the PDA to deliver narrative messages crafted by Tom. It might also be able to display images captured while exploring the ocean. Which is to say, we are basically re-inventing the iPad in waterproof form.

To see more of what is being added, tweaked, and changed in Subnautica go to the production Trello board. Keep up with every individual change by visiting the checkin and changes list. Get notified when a new Subnautica update is available by subscribing to the development mailing list!

– Hugh

We’ve got some Shocking news – A new update is available for Subnautica Early Access! It’s called ‘Shocking,’ and it will download automatically to your Steam library. Some say that combining amps with seawater is dangerous. We say it’s a recipe for having lots of fun! Fun as in… being electrocuted. By a giant sea snake.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyAhPYCyoRU

Shockers can be found in Koosh Zones and Blood Kelp forests.

That’s right, Blood Kelp forests. These creepy deep-ocean arboretums are as friendly as they look – But they do contain some sweet, juicy blood-sac loot. Good luck in there!

The Seaglide has always felt like it was missing something. Ever since release, the round thingamajig on its dorsal panel looked like a big blue piece of unfinished business. Now, it has been upgraded to realise its true potential! A 3D map of the surrounding sea-floor will appear hovering above your personal water craft.

What is a Seaglide adventure without happy snaps? Find some sweet glowing cave system? Pics or it didn’t happen. Press F11 to take photos in game, and then review and organise them in the new PDA photo gallery.

Photos you take in game can be uploaded to Steam. That’s nice, but sharing photos with real people is nowhere near as good as using them as decorations for your underwater home. The new Picture Frame can be built inside Seabases, and will display images from your PDA photo gallery.

Simon’s sound work is pretty… ‘Sy1k.’ Despite that sy1kness, it is sometimes nice to lower music and sound effect volumes. Until now that hasn’t been possible in Subnautica because Early Access. The Shocking Update brings volume controls to the in-game pause menu!

It’s now possible to review story points inside the PDA. Jump into the new Log section, and hear messages predicting imminent cascading dark matter quantum flux core meltdown disaster explosions!

Constructing that perfect underwater habitat just got a little bit easier: Ladders can now be placed in multiple positions around large compartments.

That’s not all the new goodies in the Shocking Update. There are all sorts of goodies peppered throughout this latest Early Access iteration. For example, new animation sets for the Lifepod and a terrifying new friend lurking in Jellyshroom Caves. To see absolutely everything that went into the Shocking Update, check out the checkin and changes list, and development Trello board. Subscribe to the Subnautica Mailing List to receive a newsletter when the next Subnautica Early Access update is released!

– Hugh

You might notice Subnautica development slows a little this week (9 – 13 November). For example, you will see fewer checkin messages. Experimental branch won’t evolve as rapidly as usual, and might not change at all.

We are a distributed team that works all over the world: Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Russia, Ukraine, Thailand, the United States and more. This means we won’t get the chance to see each other in person very often.

This week, the whole Subnautica team is taking a ‘retreat,’ where we all come together in one place to get to know each other better. This face to face time makes us better at working together. Mainly by eating and consuming wholesome, nutritious ‘beverages.’

It also means that we aren’t directly working on the game during the retreat. Never fear – What time we lose this week, we will gain by being a more effective team. We’ll come back next week faster and better!

– Hugh

How #uwecon begins: With @Flayra preaching the precious wifi to his attendant disciples pic.twitter.com/DYgmxjzQNv

— Hugh Jeremy (@hugh_jeremy) November 7, 2015

The ocean on Subnautica’s underwater world sure is pretty, but is isn’t potable. Constantly scavenging for water to drink can be tiring. Enter the Water Filtration Machine: A habitat component that will constantly filter the ocean for you!

The Water Filtration Machine can be built against bulkheads in large rooms. Give it power, and it will happily hum along producing water. But wait, there’s more! The machine will also produce salt, which has culinary and medical applications.

Every so often, a water bottle and pile of salt will appear at the dispenser. The Water Filtration Machine is now available in the default Early Access branch on Steam. That means you don’t have to do anything to get it, it’s available right now. It’s not necessary to switch to Experimental branch to play with it.

– Hugh

When the Aurora explodes, where do all the chunks of debris go? What is inside them? You can now find out. An explorable wreck is now available in Subnautica Early Access!

Use the new Laser Cutter to gain access to blocked off compartments, and discover what useful things were inside the Aurora when it was lost. Look out: Along with epic loot, you might find less useful things among the twisted metal. Like creatures trying to eat you……

We got wrecked, and a giant piece of explorable Aurora wreckage is now available in Subnautica Early Access. At the same time, you may have noticed that you have lost the ability to build water filtration machines. A bug? A nefarious plot by Unknown Worlds to cause you all to run out of water?

Not quite! We are steadily introducing ‘progression’ into the Subnautica ‘tech tree.’ For example, by introducing new base building elements over the course of the game, rather than offering them all up front for free. This will ideally ease learning for new players, and adds a sense of ongoing accomplishment throughout the game.

Water filtration machine blueprints now require a fragment found inside the new piece of Aurora wreckage. To make this work, we had to make some technical changes under the hood: We removed the ability to build water filtration machines from any existing saved games.

As we progress through Early Access, and add more progression to the Subnautica tech tree, you might notice other previously-free items requiring new fragments and blueprints. If it’s ever unclear why an item has disappeared from your build list, pester us and we’ll be sure to explain.

– Hugh

Here is the water you have always wanted! The H2.O update completely overhauls the graphics in Subnautica Early Access: new surface water, longer draw distances, richer colors, pitch black night-time, even solar eclipses! See it in action on the H2.O Update Website. The entire ocean has received a makeover. H2.O is not just a set of tweaks: Max has rebuilt whole chunks of Subnautica’s graphics rendering system. Almost everywhere you swim, you will find a new look inviting you to explore.

Subnautica’s day night / cycle is now vastly more striking. Multiple moons interact with a bright star in different ways throughout the day. Here is the ocean surface at sunrise:

H2.O is not just a pretty face. The new Scanner can provide information about technology fragments, and organisms in the ocean environment. The Scanner will record its findings into the PDA. Refer to the PDA Data Bank for information about flora and fauna you find throughout the ocean.

The Fabricator will no longer spit out a bunch of cubes, no matter what you tell it to build. A large variety of items now have proper 3D models, making fabrication a much more fun (and less confusing!) experience.

Story voiceovers are now displayed via text on the HUD, making it easier to catch dialogue you may have missed, or play the game with no sound*.

*Don’t do this, Simon will cry.

Charlie has added the ability to turn Seamoth headlights on and off. This is surely the most overdue feature in the history of video games. Ever.

During H2.O, we tracked over two hundred ‘pieces of work’ on our development team Trello board. A huge number of changes have been made to Subnautica. This update is probably our biggest since ‘Seabases’ back in early 2015. Head on over to the Trello board and look at the ‘H2.O Done’ column to see what we did.

The H2.O update also ties together two features that were released during its development: The Water Filtration Machine and Aurora Wrecks. To learn more about the H2.O update, visit the H2.O website, created by Andrew. To get notified about future Subnautica updates, subscribe to the development mailing list.

Happy diving!

– Hugh

Hi everyone! A few days ago, we released the H2.O update. As usual, we aimed to release an update with zero bugs and perfect stability. Just like all other game developers do. Unfortunately, we fell a little short. H2.O had a few problems. For example, certain AMD Radeon graphics cards have been experiencing crashes. Some players have been… spinning uncontrollably.

Today we have released a small update that addresses some of these issues:

• Fixed uncontrollable spinning.
• Fixed blurry PDA icons.
• Fixed a crash on certain Radeon cards.
• Fixed flare FX when picked up.
• Toggle-able lights now save state
• Improved translations

The update will download automatically via Steam.

We will continue to work to improve the H2.O update, and Subnautica Early Access in general. If you are running into problems, check out the Subnautica Troubleshooting Guide. Running through the steps therein just might get you swimming again!

Hugh

Some Subnautica updates are flashy, fancy, and full of fantastic features. Some of them are a little more low key, delivering subtle changes and improvements. Today, we’ve released an update of the latter kind. There is one new feature: the Flood Light. Otherwise, it’s chock full of dead bugs.

The Flood Light is a new craft-able item, added by Andi. When placed, it will illuminate a large area. You might find it particularly useful for illuminating work areas around Seabases at night. After the Aurora explodes, search for a Flood Light fragment in amongst the wreckage that flies out and lands on the sea floor.

Max has made a significant graphical improvement. Previously, lots of objects in the game were reflecting a Safe Shallows environment, no matter what biome they were actually in. Now, scenes appear more cohesive. He are two examples. First, a Seamoth in a Kelp Forest:

And second, a Seabase in a Grand Reef:

The full list of bugs squashed in this update is far too long to post here. There are over fifty of them, and you can see them all on the Subnautica Playtesting Trello board. Go there, and then scroll to the ‘Fixed & Tested Jan Patches’ list. Feast your eyes on the bug gore!

The Playtesting board is a great place to keep up to date on what issues are known, and being worked on. If you spot a problem not listed on the board, please let us know about it! Then, we can sink it in a future Subnautica Early Access update.

Happy diving!

– Hugh

A brand new Subnautica update is available on Steam! This is the Farming Update, and it allows you to build underwater farms. To see what’s inside, check out the Farming Update site.
 

New “Grow Boxes” can be used inside or outside sea bases. Over twenty-five different seed types can be placed in these boxes. Flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees, and even some plants that will try to kill you…

Seeds can also be planted in a variety of pots – Both on the floor of bases, and on the walls. Using pots, you can decorate sea bases with all sorts of greenery. Compartments can also be decorated with ‘Living Walls’ – lush green panels.

LED Lightsticks are a great new way to light up areas while exploring. While held, a Lighstick illuminates the area around you. When placed on the seabed, the Lighstick can light up wide areas.

Night time can now be made a little less scary – Near your base, at least. Use Floodlights and Spotlights to illuminate areas around bases. Don’t forget to replace floodlight batteries!

Spotlights will automatically track nearby predators. This is a great way to avoid being ambushed by Stalkers at night!

The Farming Update introduces abandoned bases. These relics of unknown earlier explorers can be found scattered around the world. Explore abandoned bases and scan their contents to discover new technology!

Lots of creatures and plants can be stored in new Large Aquariums. These giant modules take up almost an entire large compartment. If you build them inside two stacked compartments, they will act as a glass floor for the upper level. Enter a Large Aquarium by building a hatch on the glass. Once inside, you can plant seeds and release captive creatures.

Want to be notified next time Subnautica receives a big update? Sign up to the Subnautica Mailing List! You can also follow development on Subnautica’s Trello Board. Leave us feedback by pressing F8 in game, and by posting comments below. Thanks for playing, and happy diving!

Subnautica Early Access has always featured the Life Pod – An escape capsule ejected from the crashed Aurora Starship. How did it come to rest on the ocean surface? What happened on the way down? This small update answers that question. See details about what is included in the update on the Crash Sequence site.

The Crash Sequence starts with ejection from the stricken Aurora. To experience it, start a new game of Subnautica. The game used to start with a simple fade up from black. You will find that now, the opening is a little more intense!

…

Hi everyone! We’ve just released a small patch that addresses some issues with the Crash Sequence Update. Here’s what it does:

• Stops the user interface becoming garbled in some cases
• Fixes a problem with the information displayed on the loading screen
• Stops a levitating props appearing in new games
• Ensures background videos properly show up in the main menu
• Fixes a graphical glitch where black props would appear in some biomes

We hope you are enjoying the Crash Sequence Update and are sorry that many of you have been experiencing these problems. Now, they are vanquished! To be notified when the next major Subnautica update is released, sign up to the Subnautica mailing list.

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Subnautica is coming to XBox One’s ‘Preview Program’ on April 1st, 2016. If you have an XBox and are interested in diving into the Subnautica ocean, this will be your first opportunity! To receive XBox-specific news updates, follow the new Subnautica Xbox One Twitter feed.

More information about the Xbox One Preview Program is available on the XBox website.

Here is a new video showing off some Subnautica Early Access gameplay. What do think of it?

This video will probably be used on the Steam, Xbox Preview Program, and Oculus storefronts. Because of this, we filmed it on medium graphics settings and at 1280 x 720 resolution. That way, we won’t oversell Subnautica’s graphics on other platforms.

The soundtrack to this video is called ‘Abandon Ship,’ and was written by Simon. You can listen to it on Soundcloud:

We’re hard at work on building the next Subnautica update. To be notified when it is released, sign up to the development mailing list.

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Subnautica is now available on the Oculus Home storefront. This is the native store for the newly released Oculus Rift. Subnautica is one of five Early Access titles on the Oculus Home Store. This is very exciting for the development team, as it is the first time Unknown Worlds has released a launch title on a platform.

Got an Oculus Rift? You can now fire up the Oculus Home Store and buy Subnautica in there. If you already own Subnautica on Steam, you can also play your Steam version of Subnautica with the Oculus Rift. Because of some Reasons(TM), it will be a few days before the Steam version of Subnautica is working properly on Oculus, but we are working on it!

Subnautica is now available on Oculus Home, but the Steam version has stopped working with Oculus VR. Don’t worry, this is only temporary. Here’s an explanation from Max as to why it has happened, and how it will start working again:

“The Steam version of Subnautica is currently only compatible with the pre-1.0 Rift SDK.  Once players have the shipping Rift or upgrade the firmware on their DK2s they will not be able to play on that version. I’m pretty sure that it won’t even recognize that you have a Rift and it will just run in 2D mode.”

We currently have an internal version of Subnautica that runs on the new Rift SDK. Once it has completed essential testing, we will release it publicly and you will be able to play Subnautica on Steam with an Oculus Rift.

Here’s some further Q&A with Max about what’s going on with Subnautica VR:

Q: Why can’t I play on Steam with my Rift?

A: We’ll be releasing a patch to Steam soon that enables Steam players to use the Rift. We have a lot of players on Steam and we need to make sure releasing VR support doesn’t negatively affect their desktop experience.

Q: Why is there no intro sequence in the Rift version?

A: The intro sequence in the game automatically moves the player around the scene. When experienced in VR this makes players feel ill. We’re working on ways to make the intro available in VR as well, but this will take some time since it requires a different approach.

Q: I found a bug. How do I report it?

A: Subnanutica is still in early access so there are bound to be a lot of bugs, especially with the initial release of new features like VR and controller support. Our forums are a great place to report issues and get help.

Q: Will Subnautica support <some other VR device>?

A: We may support other VR devices in the future. Right now the Rift is the only device available to players so that’s our focus.

Q: Will Subnautica support hand tracking with the Touch controllers?

A: When the Touch controllers are available we’ll investigate how they might be used in the VR experience.

A new Subnautica update is available on Steam! The Oculus Update brings support for Oculus Rift SDK 1.3, which is a nerdy way of saying: You can play Subnautica on your Oculus Rift right now! If you already own Subnautica on Steam, it is not necessary to buy again on Oculus Home. You can use your Steam copy to play with the Oculus Rift.

The Oculus Update is not just about the Oculus. There are also a bunch of new features available to everyone. First up: The main menu now has a fancy new water background. Who doesn’t like some ambient water visuals to start their game off right?

Power is now required for Seabase Oxygen, which applies to not just Seabases, but also the Seamoth and Cyclops. If any of the three are underpowered, they will stop producing enough. Oxygen for survival. It is now crucial to ensure everything is properly powered.

You can now sit! You’ve been hard at work on your feet since the beginning, it’s high time you take a load off and enjoy sitting in your base. In short, you can now interact with chairs. Even better, you can access your PDA while sitting. This is particularly useful as it allows you to browse your PDA without worrying about Food or Water depleting.

Reaper Leviathan, Reefback, Stalker, Bone Shark and Bladderfish are all ready for their close ups. We’ve done a lot of work on the animation of these creatures to make them move throughout the world much more nicely. Next time you see one, go in for a closer look. Well, as much as you dare.

Last but not least, fragments will now spawn mostly within wrecks. Sometimes, they can be found elsewhere but the best place to hunt them down will be within wrecks.

To be notified when the next major Subnautica update is released, sign up to the Subnautica mailing list.

Subnautica will release on Xbox One some time around mid 2016. That is our best guess right now. We can’t be 100% sure about the exact date right now. To find out when we have an exact date, follow @SubnauticaXbox on Twitter and Subnautica Xbox on Facebook.

Both these pages will announce a release date as soon as we have it!

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A new update is available on Steam for Subnautica. Check out the Machinery Update site for more.

The latest and greatest technology in the world of Subnautica is the Map Scanner room. These rooms can be built on to existing habitats, or can stand alone. Map Scanner rooms will scan nearby seafloor, searching for a select array of resources. Additionally, there are two exterior cameras that can be piloted remotely. Upgrades bring additional benefits.

The Cyclops gets a massive technology overhaul. Improvements include better proximity sensors, a hull camera, deeper dives, functioning lockers, and more.

Bio Reactors and Nuclear Reactors are officially an option. Bio Reactors require plant matter to function, Nuclear Reactors require Reactor Rods. Both must be places in a Multi-Purpose Room.

Thermal Reactors have been around for a while, but now they look the part. The Machinery Update brings a model to this useful piece of tech.

The Blood Kelp biome grows with the addition of the Blood Kelp 2 zone. Both Blood Kelp areas will serve as entrances to the Lost River Biome, still in development. In Blood Kelp 2 you will also find a new critter, the Crabsquid. Be careful not to touch, as it can deliver a nasty attack.

The floating storage container now functions! Build it and fill it with all your favorite things.

Creatures will now respawn after being killed by another creature or the player. This feature was in high demand by you, the players! Thank you for your continued feedback to support the development of Subnautica.

Want to be notified next time Subnautica receives a big update? Sign up to the Subnautica Mailing List! You can also follow development on Subnautica’s Trello Board. Leave us feedback by pressing F8 in game, and by posting comments below. Thanks for playing, and happy diving!

We’ve left it until the last minute to tell you, because we wanted to be absolutely sure it will happen: Subnautica is releasing on Xbox on the 17th of May, at 12am your local time.

Subnautica is available on Xbox as a ‘Game Preview’ – This is a way of saying ‘This game is in the early stages of development.’ It’s not finished. In fact, the Xbox version is (for now) a little way behind the Steam version.

Just like the Steam version, we will update Subnautica on Xbox regularly. Our first task is to add the Farming & Machinery updates. To receive Xbox specific development updates, follow the Subnautica Xbox Twitter and Subnautica Xbox Facebook pages.…