The upcoming Airship map, consoles, and what's next š
Hellllo Crewmates (...and Impostors...)!
Whew, itās been awhile since our last dev log huh? Happy 2021! Hereās a giant dev log update, a wrap up, and mini roadmap for the time ahead. All strapped in? Then letās goooo!
Big updates
New map coming early 2021 ā watch the trailer here. As we revealed at the Game Awards on Dec 10th, the new Airship map will be dropping in early 2021! Inspired by our other game The Henry Stickmin Collection, this will be a huge map with all new tasks and rooms to explore. Choose which room you start in, run around in new costumes, and even climb up and down ladders?! Crewmate technology has advanced so much, wow. And yes ā the update will be free!
[previewyoutube="ixfokUG711U;full"]
Thank you!
The Game Awards. We walked away with the Best Multiplayer and Best Mobile awards?! Thank you SO much for all of the support... never in a million years did we expect this, but you crewmates made it all happen! So surreal. Weāre dedicated to making the game better and better for you!
1 million! We hit 1 million followers on both Twitter and TikTok?? Dang, thatās a lot of beans!
Whatās next?
2021 roadmap. Now that we've wrapped up a lot of stuff for the holidays, we're looking to be more transparent about what we're launching and the expected order by making a public roadmap. It won't have dates until we know we can hit them, but it'll be a place to find out what to look forward to first! More on that soon.
Hiring? Weāve heard all the questions ā why donāt you just hire more people so development can go faster? We wish it were that easy! Adding more people doesnāt automatically make development go faster ā it slows it down and can cause a ton of issues if we donāt do it properly (and in the worst cases, when finances arenāt handled properly, it can actually end up closing a studio completely. Many indie studios have faced this problem, sadly.) Hiring, training, onboarding, possible interpersonal disputes, artistic differences, code legibility, legal/privacy concerns, and an infinite number of other problems can arise. We never expected all of this to happen (thank you!!!), so weāre taking it slow and steady to make sure we can keep sending good things your way. But we have things in the works!
Accounts. We wanted to launch this earlier, and we're close, but we want to make sure it isnāt half-baked before implementing. (Trust me - you do not want a bad reporting system with no accountability behind it.) The first update for this is primarily focused on moderation - as stated in the previous dev log - and weāre hoping to get this out ASAP. This is a small step towards ensuring everyone playing the game has a safe and welcoming experience! Donāt worry, weāve heard all your requests for things like a friend system, saved stats, and so on, but for now this will be the first thing available.
Why is everything taking so long?
Among Us gained incredible traction pretty late into 2020 that we werenāt expecting, and that meant A LOT of change for us. Not to dive into too much organizational stuff, but not only did we need to switch back to working on Among Us after thinking it was done, but we also needed to set ourselves up more sustainably to work on the game. We had to spend 2 months just restructuring, figuring out new processes, and getting external partners to help us manage on board. Originally it was just 3 friends working together (and now I'm here to make 4, hi), but if we wanted this to work long term and hire up, we needed to streamline things. Itās all behind the scenes work, and while it meant time away from the game, itāll make it easier for current and future us to develop the game better. Not to mention additional platforms (like Nintendo Switch and Xbox) means more support, certifications to go through, and whatnot. We have help from our porting partners for that, but it still means we need to make sure future things we do are supported on those platforms. Thereās a ton of other things out of our control (legal issues, meetings, planning), so sometimes these things take longer as well.
Thank you SO much for the patience as you wait for the next big update! We want to do more for you to show you how grateful we are, but without sacrificing on the quality and values we had before this blew up.
2020 was a rough year for everyone, but thank you for surprising and delighting us in spite of it all.
Seeing all the fan art and messages about how Among Us has helped you connect with your friends and family (or helped you make new ones) is something we donāt take for granted. Weāre happy to have you be a part of our community.
Canāt wait for you to see what we have planned for 2021!
- Victoria & the Innersloth team
Fixes and a peek at the new map šŗļø
Hey all, Victoria here! As a quick introduction, Iām the new Community Director at Innersloth (bringing us to a grand total of 4 people on the team), which means youāll probably be hearing from me a lot more from now on.
December is shaping up to be an extremely busy month getting a bunch of things to you. So letās dive right into the dev log for v2020.11.17!
Fun news
Awards. Weāre nominated for TWO awards for The Game Awards ā Best Multiplayer and Best Mobile Game. Weāre seriously all blown away by everyone who has gathered around our game and are honored to even be nominated. You can vote for us to win here.
New map peek. We launched an official Among Us Twitter with a sneak peek at the new map! Give it a follow if you want to hear the latest, but weāll be sure to keep our community updated wherever they are.
Merch. The official Among Us merch store has launched! Now you can sabotagāer, I mean, fix spaceships in true crewmate style.
Balance changes
Comms sabotage hides task arrows
Comms red light no longer immediately responds to the correct position
Bug fixes
Fixed camera flinging on security cams
Fixed inaccurate admin table on Polus
Fixed Polus panels reachable through walls
Fix solo-complete reactor/seismic exploit
Fix align engine exploit and softlock
Whatās coming up?
Accounts. One of our biggest priorities has been to get our account system nailed down and in line with privacy policies. The first focus for accounts will be to get reporting and moderation integrated ASAP. We want our game and communities to be welcoming, respectful places, so this will be a first step in tackling the toxicity and hacking. Thank you for being excellent to each other in the meantime! If you have any issues, you can send reports to support@innersloth.com.
Languages. Weāve been getting the game localized so Among Us can be enjoyed anywhere! Currently, the plan will be to get these languages in: French, Italian, German, Spanish EU and LA, Dutch, Russian, BR and EU Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino (Bisaya). There will be more to come, but as we said, accounts first!
Whew, did you read all that? Good, because youāll be tested on it in the next dev log (joking). Thereās going to be quite a bit of news in December, so make sure you keep an eye out on our Twitter or Discord!
And, as always, thank you for all of the support.
- Victoria
Small Patch and Small Roadmap
Hello! Itās been pretty crazy for us here at Innersloth. Lots of things happening behind the scenes. Weāve got a small update here for you all.
Firstly, we want to be sure to talk about the cheating and hacking going on. It was pretty bad there for a bit, so Forte pushed out server changes really fast. They seemed to help a lot, but some cheats still work and now there are bugs too. There will be more server updates to fix all of this, but rushing anti-hacks is what caused the bugs, so cleaning things up is a slower process. Also rest assured that any threats made in the game are false and your devices and data are safe. If you see a hacker, ban them or find a different room.
Here's what this update contains:
- Added Anonymous Voting option
All votes appear as grey
- Added Task Bar Modes
Always mode works like normal
Meeting mode only updates the bar during meetings
Invisible mode removes the task bar entirely
- MIRA: Comms sabotage clears the security logs
-Added symbols to fix wires task
-Added cosmetics to meeting screen
-Various bug fixes
We have lots of things planned, but no real official roadmap. We play things pretty loose so we can tackle what we think the game needs most. We also donāt want to promise anything and then not provide it so itās a scary thing to share. Here are some of the big things we are planning:
-Accounts. Weāre hoping to get accounts into the game by December. This will allow players to report accounts that are toxic and/or hacking. They may be a bit barebones at first but things like friendslists will also come at a later date after launch.
-New Map. Weāre hard at work on a new map (Itās Henry Stickmin themed!). This map is currently looking bigger than Polus! The map will contain plenty of new tasks and will be available for free to all players!
-Translations/Localization. The game is currently only translated into a few languages (and some of those translations are a bit rough). Weāre planning on getting professional translations into multiple languages (More than we currently have, not ready to share quite which languages yet). To all the people offering to translate, thanks for reaching out, but weāve got it under control!
-Colorblind support. This patch contains a first pass on colorblind support. Weāll continue monitoring it to see how it performs.
Mind you this isnāt the full extent of our plans. Weāve got lots of things weāre planning that weāre not quite ready to share yet! Thanks for sticking with us and enjoying the game! Weāre going through some growing pains right now, but I am very excited for the future of Among Us!
The Future of Among Us
Hey everyone, PuffballsUnited here! Itās been a very exciting time for us the past few months! Weāve absolutely loved seeing everyone enjoying Among Us! Forte has been working hard to get the servers adjusted to deal with the huge influx of players. Thank you so much for bearing with us through these growing pains. Hopefully we can get started on new content soon! Speaking of new contentā¦
Us devs have had several long discussions about what we want to do with the game. When do we stop working on Among Us 1? What content goes into Among Us 2? The main reason we are shooting for a sequel is because the codebase of Among Us 1 is so outdated and not built to support adding so much new content. However, seeing how many people are enjoying Among Us 1 really makes us want to be able to support the game and take it to the next level. We have decided to cancel Among Us 2 and instead put all our focus into improving Among Us 1. All of the content we had planned for Among Us 2 will instead go into Among Us 1. This is probably the more difficult choice because it means going deep into the core code of the game and reworking several parts of it. We have lots of things planned and weāre excited to bring new content to everyone as you continue to enjoy playing!
Hereās some things that are coming on the horizon:
* Servers. Forte is still working very hard to figure out our server issues. We donāt have an ETA but things should hopefully be getting better and better. This is taking up all development time on his end.
* Colorblind support. Itās something weāve put off for way too longā¦ We plan on adding other identifiers for players as well as certain color focused tasks (Like wires). This should also open the potential for more colors. In the past we couldnāt add more colors because it became too difficult to tell players apart.
* Friends/Account System. This is something weāve wanted to do for a long time but just havenāt been able to tackle. For the health of the game going forward weāre going to sink our teeth in and figure it out! This one will definitely take some time.
* A new stage! It is still very early and we have only just begun designing the layout. The theme has been settled on though! The next stage in Among Us is going to be a Henry Stickmin themed location!
We have LOTS of other things planned too, we just need to prioritize and organize all our plans. Stay tuned!
Innersloth Merch is Live!
https://store.innersloth.com
Among Us 2
Hi everyone! Time for a big post!
First of all, thanks so much for playing and enjoying Among Us. It's been crazy to see how much more popular Among Us could be than we ever imagined.
Second of all, yes. We're confirming Among Us 2. This post is all about what that means and why we're doing it.
First and Most Important
Among Us 1 servers will stay alive for as long as it has enough players to start games. When we first started, we found that players couldn't really play when the servers had fewer than 30 - 50 players per hour. But lately we have 70,000 - 110,000 per hour. We'd be crazy to shut off the servers on you in 2021! And even if Among Us 2 gets lots of players, we'll just run both at the same time. If Among Us 1 servers shut down, I will open source the code so players can run servers instead.
But why a sequel?
Among Us 1 has been out over two years. It started as a tiny local-multiplayer-only game and has grown and grown and grown. Online multiplayer took 2 months and a total rework to make happen, then 6 months per extra map, and horrible server growing pains along the way. It really was not created to be this big. Because of this, it's extremely hard to add more things without breaking existing things. Frankly, it's terrifying to add in more things because the game is so fragile. Fixing this would require recreating core sections of Among Us, then making sure everything else still works on top. It's actually even harder than just making a new game.
So the first goal of Among Us 2 is to be made to withstand growth. We want to add to it at least as long as Among Us, but with fewer bugs along the way.
What will be in Among Us 2?
Well, first, we plan to basically include Among Us 1 in some capacity. Don't expect us to drag and drop all three maps directly over, but we think it's important to keep the simple play of Among Us with crewmates and impostors. But do expect some new options and balance tweaks. For example, we know very well that 3 impostor needs more than 10 players to be balanced, so 12-15 player games is a goal.
Second, we know that hide and seek is a very popular mode, but it is tough to find or exclude those games. Expect matchmaking to work very differently to better support custom modes and skill levels.
Also, we know that forming groups and making friends is tough. Accounts and friends will be in Among Us 2 straight out of the gate.
Better moderation: We know that hacking, bad behaviour, and toxic language is a problem in Among Us 1 and we definitely don't like it. But we never had the tools to really combat it effectively as a three person team, so expect Among Us 2 to launch with fewer hacks, a report button, moderators, etc.
But we've always known that the thing that would really make Among Us 2 unique from Among Us 1 is more roles. We aren't far enough in the design to confirm any roles or how they will work, but the primary addition for Among Us 2 is more complexity than just Crewmate vs Impostor. This should add a lot more replayability to the game and we're excited to see how we can shake things up for more advanced players.
We have a lot of other things we know players want to see, and a lot of surprises in store as well. So we definitely think Among Us 2 will be worthy sequel. That said, we want to get people playing it quickly, so we will probably start small in Early Access so we can grow Among Us 2 with player feedback. But the above is some of the key bare minimums before we launch at all.
Will it cost extra?
Yes, but.
We know a lot of players just started playing Among Us 1 which makes it look like we're quickly moving to a sequel, so we're going to try carry over some stuff from Among Us 1. We haven't confirmed that we can do any of this yet, but we might:
Launch with a discount coupon for Among Us 1 owners on Steam.
Keep Among Us 2 Mobile free but with (removable) ads.
Have free big content updates like maps and game modes. We're not making that mistake again.
Have in-game currency so we can break up big cosmetic bundles and let people buy/earn just the things they want.
When will it come out?
We really do not know at all. We just started planning. There is no art, programming or sound done at all. For the record Among Us took about 6 months to enter open beta (early access) and 6 more months to leave open beta. Among Us 2 will probably take at least as long to enter open beta, and will probably spend longer there.
Unlike Among Us 1, we expect to make Among Us 2 for PC first, then port to mobile. This will let us focus on making a great game faster because updates can come out in minutes on PC, where mobile can take hours or even days.
So basically
We're super hype to start Among Us 2. It'll take a while, but we'll make sure it's worth it. We hope you'll stick around to see what we can do.
Oh, also, we're launching merch on Friday August 21 at 12 PM (Noon, PST). Everything is on pre-order, but there will be shirts and a plush crewmate. The best places to hear when it launches are on Discord and our mailing list, but we'll do our best to get the word out.
All Maps Free and Among Us Merch!
Hey Everyone! Apologies for the radio silence! We are sure you all know a lot is going on in the world, so we hope all of you are well and safe.
The day has finally come where our Among Us DLC maps MIRA HQ and Polus are free! That means anyone and everyone can host on all three maps! The hats and skins associated with the maps were difficult to remove (āfunā behind-the-scenes with Steam and Mobile platforms is really whatās up) so weāve made them purchasable as normal skin DLCs! We also added a bunch more free hats for players to choose from! As well an update to the Crewmate Pet DLCs with the addition of a Crewmate Hat! Thatās it for now, weāre still doing what we can for bug fixes. We hope you enjoy this update!
Hope you all are excited for a merchandise update as well! Whoot whoot! Merchandise was delayed for several months but is slowly but surely getting back on track! Our first merchandise release will consist of tshirts, a tote bag, and a Crewmate plushie! A lot of the merch will be Among Us focused, though there will be a Henry Stickmin shirt! We have many ideas for future merchandise releases but we want to play it extra safe with this first launch!
We plan on doing a pre-order for sizes on six T-Shirt designs with one of them having four t-shirt color choices. We will have a very limited stock on the totes and the plushies to gauge peopleās interests. We know with all that is going on, we want to reassure you there is no pressure to buy these products if you canāt! None of the products are limited edition and we plan on restocking in the future, so stay tuned for future restocks! If the Crewmate plushie sells out, we plan on reordering more and possibly ordering in a new color or two!
Currently weāre aiming for the end of June or early July to launch merchandise! Weāre super excited and hope you are too!
MIRA now easier to play and more hack-resistant!
Hey all!
Sorry it's been so long since our last update, we've been really hard at work on Polus which is coming out in one week! Check out the trailer for that, if you missed it. Just before that, we wanted to get out one more little release. We hope you really like version 2019.11.5!
Online players can now join MIRA games for free! We've been hearing about players buying MIRA, but not having enough players to enjoy it, so we decided to give everyone the benefits that local players have. To host a game, you must own the MIRA map. But in version 2019.11.5 and newer, you can now find and join MIRA games without owning it.
How does this affect Polus? It doesn't. For now, we are planning to launch Polus the same way we launched MIRA. Online players will need to own the map to play unless it is a free weekend. Local players will only need a host that owns the map.
Did you fix other stuff? Yep! There's plenty of bug fixes for Skeld and MIRA, and this version should be significantly harder for players to hack. Enjoy!
As always, let us know if you see bugs or have other thoughts and feelings. We can't respond to all of them, but we do read a lot of them. You can also follow us on Twitter or join our Discord to stay up to date. Thanks for playing!
New Map Trailer: Polus
Hey all!
We just released a new trailer!
[previewyoutube="rx1IIEwwX_g;full"]
āPolus releases on November 12 and will cost $4. It'll have new tasks and sabotages as well as a ton of new fixes and improved anti-hacks.
Hope you're as excited as we are!
MIRA HQ Launched!
Hey all!
MIRA is ready to play! We created a new trailer to show it off!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHhk0dDJwBM
Features
A tightly packed headquarters roughly the size of The Skeld.
8 new tasks!
A unique type of security system!
A new sabotage!
New door and vent mechanics!
It will cost 4 USD on Android, iOS and Steam, but there will be occasional free weekends on a schedule to be determined. Players in local mode can play the new map as long as the host owns it, while each player needs to purchase it separately to join or create games in online or freeplay modes.
Special Note:
If you purchase the map in Steam outside of the in-game store, you'll need to open the in-game store to "recover" the purchase. Otherwise the game doesn't know you've purchased the map!
Also in this version
<*> Partial Portuguese and Spanish translations!
They're pretty complete, but we know we've missed some spots. If something looks wrong or isn't translated, let us know!
<*> Buff: Impostors can now fix their own sabotages!
<*> Lots of fixes and improved connectivity!
That's all! This is a huge update for us and we really hope you like it!
