Signs of Life Update 0.9

Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2023
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Genre: Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, RPG, Early Access
Developer: Sweet Dog Studios
Release Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014

New Content


This update is intended to add some flavor to the world and make it feel a bit more lively. We’ve added several new creatures to the upper parts of the world, particularly on the surface of the far side of the planet as well as relatively shallow underground. We’ve also added some new areas to explore (and a new boss) that are related to the new creatures. You will need to generate a new world from the sandbox menu or create a new character to see much of the new content.

Here are a couple of the new creatures:



Story Content


In addition to the new creatures and related content, we added a bit of story content and changed some of the existing progression a bit. We added a new button on the Pioneer Station comm device (the device that requires the battery on the top floor) and there is a new satellite dish on top of the Pioneer station, but it seems to be missing a component…

We also changed the method of obtaining the Level 2 keycard upgrade - The upgrade device is now found in the captain’s room in the Pioneer Station barracks. This update is fairly light on the direct story content, but the next update should expand on the story and the mysteries of the planet quite a bit.

Food/Cooking Changes


We re-worked the cooking/food system quite a bit. Prior to this update only a handful of food items had buffs associated with them, but in this update we’ve added buff effects to most of the foods. All fruits, mushrooms and meats now have buffs that you can get by eating them. In previous versions, you’ve been able to cook food by using the crafting menu, but now cooking is done similar to how ore is processed. We’ve added pop-up menu when you right click the campfire, and you can both cook food and process ores in the same devices.

The campfire has just one slot for ingredients, but the brick oven and advanced smelter both have 2 slots, which allows you to combine some food items to create new recipes. For example, a Juicy Fruit will give you a heal over time and a sporepod mushroom will temporarily increase your max health. Both items will fill 1/4th of your stomach, but if you cook them together you can make a food item that will give you both buffs and still just fill 1/4th of your stomach. You can also cook a fruit with a plant fiber to make Fruit Chews, which give you longer lasting buffs that fill less of your stomach.

Other Content


Some of the new creatures can inflict a bleed status effect on you, so we added Primitive Bandages (can be made with plant fiber) and Cloth Bandages that can stop the bleeding status. In addition, you can add some medicinal herbs to the cloth bandage in order to make a Poultice Bandage that heals you.

New Cooking Recipes:




  • Glazed Mushrooms - Any mushroom + any fruit
  • Glazed Meat - Any Meat + any fruit
  • Meat with Mushrooms - Any Meat + any mushroom
  • Fruit Chews - Cook any fruit + plant fiber
  • Gleaming Syrup - Ant Bulb/Ant Ichor/Ant Chitin + Sap
  • Bitter Jelly - Jiggly Fruit + Lovely Herb
  • Strange Compote - Strange Egg + Blue Fruit
  • Pulsing Paste - Strange Egg + Jiggly Fruit
  • Cooked Steal - Raw Choice Meat
  • Zesty Mash - Bana Fruit + Grey Mushroom


New Crafting Recipes:



  • Primitive Bandage - 4x Plant Fibers
  • Cloth Bandage - 1x Cotton Bolt/Wool Bolt/Linen Bolt/Scrap of Cloth (requires scissors)
  • Poultice Bandage - 1x Cloth Bandage + 1x Lovely Herb
  • Makeshift Shiv - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
  • Makeshift Spear - 1x Makeshift Shiv + 1x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Stick + 1x Plant Fiber
  • Makeshift Blow Pipe - 3x Makeshift Scrap + 1x Wood Dowel + 2x Plant Fiber
  • Blow Dart (x6) - 1x Makeshift Scrap + 2x Bone
  • Tortoise Shell Brace - 6x Carapace + 1x Iron Ingot + 4x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding
  • Tortoise Hammer - 1x Mature Tortoise Gland + 4x Carapace + 2x Iron Ingots + 2x Logs
  • Makeshift Tribal Shield - 4x Makeshift Scrap + 3x Wool Padding/Cotton Padding + 2x
  • Leather Strap/Plated Hide Strap/Xenohide Strap
  • Iron Caltrops (x3) - 1x Iron Ingot
  • Fruit Seeds (x2) - 1x Any Fruit
  • Pumpkin Seeds (x2-x8) - 1x Pumpkin
  • Snare - 4x Makeshift Scrap
  • Sticks (x3) - 1x Log (requires saw)
  • Pumpkin Rind (x2-x6) - 1x Pumpkin


New Projects


All of these recipes are obtained by destroying matching projects that are in the world with your wrist laser.

  • Spike Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones
  • Poison Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 8x Bones
  • Snare Trap - 6x Makeshift Scrap, 3x Logs, 3x Bones



Recipe Changes



  • All gem upgrade recipes require 2 instead of 3 gems. We will probably eventually change this back once we have more sources for gems in the world.


New Status Effects


Most of these new status effects are currently attached to various food items.

  • Increased Jump Height
  • Light Aura - Generates light around the player
  • Increased Max Energy
  • Increased Max Health
  • Increased Melee Damage
  • Protection - Reduces damage from all sources
  • Resist bleed - reduces duration and severity of bleeding
  • Increased Strange Tablet Damage - Increases the damage of all abilities used through the Strange Tablet device
  • Reduced Strange Energy Requirement - Reduces required strange energy for Strange Tablet abilities
  • Improved Dodge - Dodge roll or backjump further than normal
  • Bleeding - Slow damage over time, which can be cured by using a bandage. Inflicted by blow darts.
  • Spore Poison & Vulnerability - Increases damage from all sources


Misc Fixes



  • Fixed some issues where certain sounds would play at full volume regardless of distance. Let us know if you notice any other sound fx that seem too loud.
  • Changed the projectile attack of the golems. Instead of throwing rocks, they now use some kind of sufficiently advanced technology to levitate materials out of the ground and fling them at players

  • Fixed some issues that would cause certain tooltips to not appear when they should.


Known Issues:



  • The world generator may get stuck while generating worlds. We think we've fixed all the cases where this can happen, but we can't be completely sure that there are no more lingering issues. If you run into this issue, definitely let us know.


This update adds quite a bit of new bits of content and changes, so let us know if you run into any issues and we'll fix them ASAP. As always, we encourage any feedback you folks have about the new content (or any old content). We love hearing from you, so don't be shy =)

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