Ad Exitum
Price Drop
We are pleased to announce that we just reduced the price of Ad Exitum permanently to 4.99 EUR. Although we believe, that the VR-Experience of the game justifies the previous price, we now hope to straighten out the price-performance ratio for non VR-Players by a price reduction of more than 65%.
We wish you all a good start into the week.
Update 1.06 - Patch Notes
Update 1.06 is out, including the brandnew „Raise-Lamp“ Action, more Balancing, and BugFixes.
New Feature:
Raise Lamp
- added the ability to raise the right arm/lamp
- the firesoul amplifies its light output, while it is bound to the lamp, and the lamp is raised
- in VR Mode, the positioning of the raised lamp is detached from camera rotation
- all interactions (collect bloodstones, bat slapping,...) can be mixed with the Raise-Lamp-Action
- Send & Call Firesoul Action is blocked, while the Lamp is raised
- the player can't raise his right arm, as long as the lamp isn't equipped
Keyboard & Mouse Input-Mapping for Raise-Lamp-Action:
Hold Right Mouse Button or Left Ctrl
Gamepad Input-Mapping for Raise-Arm-Action:
Hold Right Shoulder or Face Button Right
Balancing:
Firesoul
- added firesoul track particle to its helix movement in tutorial for hopefully attract player perception
- firesoul track particle will no longer get destroyed, if the firesoul reaches the lamp
- firesoul track particle will now get destroyed, whenever the player releases the firesoul from the lamp
- decreased the lifetime of each firesoul track particle to 10 seconds
Player
- decreased the stamina consumption to increase the max. duration for sprinting to 10 seconds
- increased the stamina regeneration to decrease the time that is needed to fully regenerate stamina to 5 seconds
Sound:
- improved Bat Swarm Sound for Nightmare Tree Event
- improved the volume for all three heartbeat panic levels
- improved the fade between different heartbeat panic levels
- improved attenuation radius for minion ambient sounds
- improved attenuation radius for enemy ambient sounds
- implemented new SoundDesign for firesoul whispering
Others:
- changed last event text in the tutorial from „Event Completed“ to „Tutorial Completed“
- new Light-SetUp in the Main Menu to give the player a more precicelly impression of the ingame darkness for choosing the optimal brightness setting
updated all lightmaps
- improved the ocean shader for more visibility
- updated the Input-Mapping graphics in options
- decreased default audio music volume from 100% to 35%
- added new hints to main menu Hint-Loop
- improved opened gate collision
BugFixes:
- the option interface closing will no longer stall, if the player presses „Apply“ while VR-Mode is set to true in the options
- fixed a bug with main menu button shader
- fixed a bug that prevented the VR-Character-Rig from behaving as intended
- fixed a bug with enemy footstep sounds in Hunting-Mode, that caused a massive frame drop
- fixed a bug that prevented the Pause Menu text in VR Mode from removing
- fixed a bug with player camera in Credits Level for VR-Mode
Update 1.05 - Patch Notes
- tweaked enemy footstep sound for hunting-mode
Others:
- tweaked foliage culling
- changed font for „Press V to turn off VR Mode“ message to our own font
- „Press V to turn off VR Mode“ message will be displayed as long as the player stayes in the main menu and VR option is set to true
- „Press V to turn off VR Mode“ message will be set to hidden, 5 seconds after player left the main menu
- polished main menu area
- new light setup for main menu area
- created new light builds
BugFixes:
- fixed a bug with enemy footstep Sound in hunting-Mode that sometimes caused a huge frame drop
- fixed a bug with „Press V to turn off VR Mode“ message
Update 1.04 - Patch Notes
Enemy
- decreased radius for player sense
- tweaked movement speed in Approaching-Mode
- tweaked movement speed in Hunting-Mode
Minion
- decreased radius for player sense
- tweaked movement speed in Approaching-Mode
// Comment
Those balance changes are directly related to the balance change we made last time, that at least one minion is automatically approaching the player, as long as the firesoul isn't near to the player.
Sound:
- added sound to the secret wall opening animation
- tweaked minion scream
- tweaked enemy scream
- balanced lamp swing sound volume
- balanced torch sound volume
- balanced firesoul whispering atmo sound volume
- balanced heartbeat sounds volume
- assigned missing sounds to the sound sliders in the options
Others:
- added new hints to the loop, displayed in the main menu while „Hints“ option is set to true
- improved the method that is used for bending the gras when the player touches it
BugFixes:
- fixed a bug with foliage culling
- fixed a bug with gras foliage scaling
Update 1.03 - Patch Notes
along other things, our main focus with this update was mainly to improve the shadow arm mechanic. So far, the light was the only way to free yourself from the arms. From now on, the player has the additional ability to free himself by sprinting for a given duration of time. We also have modified the mechanic so that a physical impulse is no longer necessary. That should soothe the stomach, especially in the Virtual Reality.
AI:
- at least one minion will be switching into approaching-mode, as long as the firesoul isn't near to the player
Enemy:
- deactivated bizarre upperbody-animation in hunting-mode
Shadow Arms:
- improved rig
- tweaked possible spawn height
- improved FadeIn and FadeOut
- reworked the hold mechanic to work without physics impulse
- added sprinting as second option to break free
Others:
- it is no longer possible to start the main game without having played the tutorial at least once
- added a „X-Symbol“ to start button, to signalize it's deactivated state
- changed „Hints“ option as default to true
BugFixes:
- Event Volumes will no longer block Enemy AI
- Event Volumes will no longer block Minion AI
- Event Volumes will no longer block Firesoul AI
- fixed a bug with random idle animations in tutorial, while lantern is not equipped
- fixed a bug that sometimes prevented shadow arms from beeing rendered correctly
After Release - First Status Update
- AI Balancing
- Shadow Arm Mechanic:
--> sprinting as a second option to get rid of the shadow arms
--> significant balancing to the physics impulse
- Sound Improvements/Balancing
Bugs:
- Sometimes shadow arms don't show up correctly
- Enemy can't kill player, while he is catched from shadow arms
- Sometimes Minion burn effect doesn't show up
- Enemy stucks in random idle animation while in Hunting-Mode
- Sometimes Render Targets for Portal Doors in Secret Areas don't work as inteded
If you experience any problem, that is not on this list, please let us know. For that we have created a bug report discussion:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/444990/discussions/0/364041517011451711/
You can expect this the next game update early next week.
We wish you a nice weekend.
HOTFIX 01
- fixed a gamebreaking bug whith interaction, where interaction could be stuck
Ad Exitum Released
Thanks for your trust in us and thank you for supporting us with your purchase of our first official game: Ad Exitum
We wish you a nice and spooky weekend.
If you have any problems or feedback, please let us know, we will look into it as soon as we can.
Since Idea Games
Update 1.02 - Patch Notes
Firesoul:
- improved method how firesoul calculates its speed
Shadow Arm:
- tweaked grab radius
- shadow arm only grabs player, if it is completely faded in
- tweaked shadow arm spawn method
Animation:
- improved the animation blend between enemy jumping out of the hole and scream
- tweaked enemy scream animation
Options:
- added new video option for „VSync“
- added new options section for Audio Control (yet WORK IN PROGRESS)
added new option slider „Master Volume“
→ controls all sounds
added new option slider „Music“
→ controls music
added new option slider „Sound Effects“
→ controls gameplay/feedback relevant sounds
added new option slider „Ambient Sounds“
→ controls gameplay irrelevant sounds
- changed Brightness Reference Texture
- tweaked recommended brightness
- changed standard Unreal Font in options to our own font
Sound:
- balanced several sounds
- assigned sounds to corresponding sound option slider
- added music to credits
- tweaked enemy scream sound
- added sounds to gate
- implemented heart beat manager
Virtual Reality:
- improved HTC Vive (Steam VR) Support
- improved Oculus Rift Support
Others:
- font material for tutorial event texts is now animated
- font material for main menu buttons is now animated
- font material for hints in main menu is now animated
- improved collision for several objects
- firesoul cursor in main menu is now clamped to viewport
- improved Shadow Arm Material
- implemented Shadow Arm fade in animation
- implemented Shadow Arm fade out animation
- implemented new textures for altar
BugFixes:
- fixed a bug with firesoul getting stucked
- fixed a bug with interaction while player also wants to control firesoul
- fixed a bug with firesoul control, while player wants to do an other interaction
- fixed a bug with Arm IKs, used for Interaction Animation Blends
- fiexed a bug with barriers material plopping
- fixed a bug with secret area entry glow
- fixed a bug with shadow arm fade
Update 1.01 - Patch Notes
AI:
More AI Balancing can be expected with the next update.
Enemy
- increased speed in Approaching-Mode
- increased speed in Hunting-Mode
- increased range in which it can perceive player
Minion
- increased speed in Approaching-Mode
- increased speed in Hunting-Mode
- increased range, in which it can perceive player
- increased range, in which it get's burned from firesoul
- increased the chance for turning into Approaching-Mode, if there is no firesoul around player
Animation:
- added new additional animation for Enemy_Upperbody while in Hunting-Mode
Options:
Sound control can be expected in one of the next updates.
- added new video option called "Resolution Scale"
--> Massive impact on game performance. Can help with bad performance.
- added new gameplay option called "Hints" (Work in Progress)
--> Set true for getting gameplay hints displayed in Main Menu
- added new gameplay option called "Easy Mode"
--> If true, the firesoul will guide the player back to the gate, if he has collected all blood stones
- added Text-Input Boxes to several options for easier control
- added descriptions to several options
- exchanged standard Unreal Font to our own Ad Exitum Font
- added a transparent, gray background to option widget
- added new input mapping overview to options widget
Sound:
The main balancing for sound can be expected in the next update.
- tweaked Enemy Scream Sound
- tweaked Enemy Ambient Sounds
- tweaked Minion Ambient Sounds
- tweaked Bat Sounds
Virtual Reality:
- added HTC Vive (Steam VR) Support
- improved Oculus Rift Support
Others:
- added a new glow effect to the secret areas, so that there is a chance for the player, to recognize them
- increased lamp-glowing to indicate that firesoul is on its way back to the player for improved player feedback
- increased the Shadow-Arms range for grabbing the player
- added additional key-bindings for controller
- added additional key-bindings for keyboard
- added additional key-bindings for mouse
BugFixes:
- fixed a bug with secret area collision
- fixed a bug with firesoul getting stucked
- fixed a bug with Gate Animation