It's been exactly 14 months since Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale was released. During that time (and indeed, since development began on the game), first-person adventure games have come a long way, and I've decided to drop the price of Among the Innocent by 20% (give or take, depending on your local currency) to bring it more in line with a game of its age.
In addition, for a very limited time the game is being discounted by a further 10% off the new price, so if you've been holding out, now is the time to grab your copy and experience this lovingly-crafted indie adventure game. I promise you won't be disappointed!
Take care,
- Geoff
v1.005 patch is here
I hadn't planned on issuing an update so soon, but a problem with the padlocks cropped up (which may have been a result of the previous patch) which I wanted to address as soon as possible. I also had a few other small updates and fixes in the pipe so I thought I'd include them and make this a proper patch instead of a hotfix.
Added support for UHD resolution (3840x2160). This should be considered experimental. Please note that some UI textures may appear blurry at this resolution, as the assets were never designed to be displayed at UHD*. Please let us know how it goes!
Added a master volume slider to the audio options.
Cabin: Addressed cabin padlock pickup problem. This has been retroactively fixed, which means if you are meant to have the padlock in your inventory, but don't, you now will. This failsafe has been added upon leaving the cabin.
Treehouse: Corrected the loading states of the chain ladder, padlocks, and pulley hotspots.
Boat house: Resolved a fuel hose placement issue on the cable car repair.
*An oversight, no doubt. Apologies for that!
Thanks again to everyone who reported bugs and provided feedback!
v1.004 update is up
This is a small update to improve a few quality-of-life issues that have come up repeatedly in reviews and feedback (thanks everyone!). Hopefully this will reduce frustration caused by a couple of puzzle interactions, without being too "hand-holding".
v1.003 update is now live
We've just rolled out an update which fixes a number of bugs and implements a few quality-of-life improvements when interacting with hotspots and items in the game world. A couple of puzzle clues which were, frankly, too obscure, have also been improved.
Thanks everyone who reported bugs and provided us with feedback on a number of gameplay elements!
Details as follows:
Increased size of various hotspots.
Improved visibility of some hard-to-see items.
Multiple UI improvements and bug-fixes, including confusing overlapping UI
elements, and multiple bugs associated with inventory/notebook/map usage during any puzzle close-ups.
Added missing pathing blocker in a critical location.
Added toggles for bloom and "sun shafts" under video options.
Windmill: Fixed windmill key not appearing in certain circumstances.
Cave: Reworked stone dials clue note.
Cave: Reworked wooden device nail "instructions".
Upcoming changes and fixes
Hey folks, we've had pretty consistent feedback about a number of interactions and some wonky puzzle design in the game, and will be addressing these problems as soon as possible.
Here's a spoiler-filled list of things we're going to start working on for the first major update to the game (v1.01). Some are quick fixes, others require a redesign of some not inconsiderable elements.
Spoilers below (although the worst are hidden) You have been warned!
Resolving various bugs related to world interactions.
At least one extra graphics option, to disable bloom (possibly more options).
Improving visibility on dropped items. Specifically padlocks and keys.
Improving feedback through narration or Pete about hotspot statuses in the game world (e.g.: "this thing looks like it still needs a thing"). We'll try to strike a balance between logical hints and hand-holding.
Simplifying and extending clues for the stone door puzzle.
Completely redesigning clues for wooden device puzzles.
Redesigning the use of the motorcycle battery to remove the need to always carry it with you!. This change is almost guaranteed to break existing save games but we'll do our best to ensure this doesn't happen. It's possible that we'll push this particular change to a later update as this will require a major rewrite of some significant puzzle interactions, but isn't game-breaking in itself (just a bit of an irritation).
The puzzle design changes are not going to dumb down the puzzles, but will make them more clear and hopefully more enjoyable. The last thing we want is to unnecessarily frustrate players! Finding that perfect balance is a challenge, but we're committed to striving for it.
No ETA on this update but we're placing this priority above the Mac version (sorry Mac gamers!).
That's all for now!
Hotfix 2
Another few quick fixes before we get onto the bigger stuff. Mostly aimed at smoothing out some interactions and exploration inside the cabin.
Corrected marble/binoculars closeup images.
Better indicated marble maze starting point.
More clear prompts for getting the fire started.
Improved lighting in the basement.
Hotfix 1
We just released a quick patch to take care of two issues!
Fixed disappearing padlock in cabin.
Change barn door mechanics (now click/shift instead of drag) to avoid potential audio bugs.
(Please note that this might cause a few odd issues with the barn door on existing saved games. Please let us know if you have any such trouble.)
Launch day!
The day has finally come: Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale has launched on Steam!
This marks the end of 19 months of development, but is only the beginning of the long road ahead for the Stricken Tales.
Over the next few months, we're going to work on Among the Innocent's most immediate needs, including Mac and Linux support. If things go well enough, we're looking to add translations for multiple languages, as well as English voice. There might even be a bit of extra content on the cards! We also intend to put together a Digital Deluxe edition which will include a digital comic book and game soundtrack.