Rescue Mode! Bring me home!

Takeoff in 3, 2, 1.0 !

We are officially out of early access with the release of Tin Can 1.0 !
It is said that in space, nobody can hear you scream, and if you are seeking the
ultimate thrill we encourage you to check out all our new content!
This has been quite an adventure and we are happy to have worked alongside you all. We hope you will enjoy this version of the game as much as we enjoyed making it.
As usual do not hesitate to leave us your feedback, reviews and other comments!

Since the early access release, we’ve added the following content:

– Second Pod (Relay Station)
– New Event
– Fire and Leaks
– Storage
– Rescue Mode
– Improved Soundtrack
– Scenario Editor
– Revamped Medusa Pod
– New Physical Interactions
– Improved Graphics
– Tutorials (4 improved tutorials, now)
– Challenges
– New Achievements
– A Few Easter Eggs 😉
– Re-balancing
– Lots of Debug and Various Small Improvements
– VR is Underway and Available in Alpha

We have a lot more in store if things go well so keep an eye open for future announcements!

As discussed previously, we are working on Tin Can’s VR mode and it will be released as a free DLC in the next few months. You can still play the old VR alpha version through the launch options.
We’ll be looking for beta testers so do not hesitate to join our Discord for more information about that!

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Oxygen O2 !

When I first started thinking about how the air would work in the escape pod, I thought it would be relatively easy to make.

I was visualising it as a simple percentage of oxygen, 100% being perfect and 0% being death. Of course I wanted players to experience the effects of the lack of oxygen, and not just losing health and dying when the oxygen would get too low.

So after a bit or research I discovered that it was called hypoxia, and I found out it started when below 17% of oxygen at a pressure of one bar (normal pressure at sea level).

This also lead me to the discovery of hyperoxia, meaning an excess of oxygen in the blood.

Both lead to certain symptoms and eventually to death and I thought it would be extremely interesting to implement these symptoms into the game.

Unless monitoring the oxygen levels with the instruments inside the pod the player would not have any indication on them and would be unaware of anything wrong until the first symptoms would appear. Dizziness (unstable camera and controls), slower movements, visions issues, all of them getting worse over time until the player would fall unconscious and eventually die.

The idea

I really liked the idea, so I started looking for the percentage that would lead to the different symptoms and how fast they would kill a human being.

This is when I realised it was much more complex than I anticipated, but also a lot more interesting.

So for example hypoxia is a lack of oxygen in our blood, but the level of oxygen in the air that leads to hypoxia depends on pressure levels. This means that if 20% of oxygen under 1 bar would be ideal, 20% of Oxygen/O2 under a lower pressure would lead to hypoxia. In the same way, a 100% of oxygen under 1 bar would lead to hyperoxia and eventually death, but 100% under a lower pressure could be sustainable, and that was actually commonly done in space flights to allow for a lighter and simpler atmosphere. Of course, with a 100% oxygen atmosphere, even at a lower pressure, fire becomes a much bigger issue. Terrible? Yes. Interesting? Damn yes! Who wouldn’t want to play a game where a bad oxygen mix would burn you alive with any spark?

Realistism

So to be able to have a kind of realistic system I needed to add a pressure variable to the game and find a way to link it to the percentage of oxygen to determine if the air is breathable.

At first I thought it would be relatively easy. I would just have to find the simple linear formula that links pressure to oxygen percentage and voilà!

But, alas, I found out that the formula I would need was not only complex but not linear at all. It looked more like a weird curve than a nice smooth line. Much harder to implement properly as you might imagine.

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This is Not a Drill

This is Not a Drill !

You are adrift and fighting to survive with your dwindling resources for a while now. You have already sacrificed the artificial gravity for spare parts for the vital systems. Currently floating around your pod, along with a bunch of nuts, access panels and garbage, making your movements slower and more complex.

You don’t have anything to eat anymore. Your stomach makes awful noises and your visions is troubled.

Suddenly, an alarm starts ringing. You realize that it is the main generator alarm. You are about to get to put your hands on the insides of that system when you realize that you took it’s alarm about ten minutes ago to replace the broken one from the oxygen generator. This is the system that is now ringing. You get close to it and are horrified to find out that it’s screen is only showing an incomprehensible error code. It can only mean one thing : The main computer is offline and cannot translate errors for you. You grab the escape pod operation manual floating nearby and look for the code.

And now?

The answer to your question is right in front of you, and it is scary. The oxygen generator is not being supplied with water anymore. You check its pump but nothing seems to be wrong with it. The alarm has now been ringing for about ten minutes and is driving you mad. You disconnect it for a bit of tranquility and you go toward the water distribution system. You open its panel with your wrench and smoke is suddenly released from behind it. The system is not being cooled down anymore and is overheating ! You don’t have the time to fix anything when it suddenly catches fire and ignites a pack of rations that was floating nearby. The pod is now filled with flames and many alarms start ringing. The fire extinguishers do not start, you took components from them a while ago.

You run towards the airlock and open it. The air starts escaping the pod, the flames are quickly gone. It isn’t such a stupid idea, but you loose consciousness and die because of the cold and lack of oxygen. This is Not a Drill !

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