It’s been a little while since the last devlog. We have been working hard on optimizing the backup structure for all our projects, so it’s way easier to work on separate branches based on the same game.
There’s also some news for the upcoming period of time. First of all, Athemore has been approved for participating in the Game Development World Championship 2022.
Secondly, we’re going to begin implementing additional languages for Athemore in the near future. Likewise, we’re continuing working on the remaining tasks from last time. This involved the overall lighting and the ability to change controls.
Finally, a couple of minor bugs have been addressed. The patch notes are listed below:
Added a journal system to the game. This should help the player keep track and get a better overview of things.
Fixed a bug which didn’t make it possible to use the Blessed Dagger for the Blood Ritual (Bowl).
Fixed an issue which made it possible for the player to move while being in dialogue.
Fixed a Steam achievement which didn’t trigger as intended.
New update is out!
Patch notes:
1.2.2(19-04-2022)
Fixed an inventory UI glitch, where the undroppable items could appear as droppable items.
Fixed a bug, where the Cell keys were getting consumed after the first successful use.
Fixed a bug, where the Dagger was getting consumed after the first successful use.
Fixed a bug, where the Dagger was getting consumed after using it on the Green flame.
Fixed a bug, where the Scepter was getting consumed right after using it incorrectly.
Fixed an issue which made it impossible to finish the game after using the crown with the throne.
Fixed a smaller bug, where the map wouldn’t update when entering the first part of the kitchen
Fixed an issue where a jumpscare was being stuck on the player’s camera for way longer than intended.
Fixed a major issue, where the player couldn’t access the prison area after dying to the Warden. After respawning the Warden kept on blocking the entrance.
The Warden within the Prison area now only triggers after the first encounter with Audrey.
Disabled the automatically turning on/off the player-torch whenever the player interacts with documents.
Decreased the ghost’s grabbing distance.
Addressed the ghosts, so they can’t detect the player through walls anymore.
The ghosts now have a harder time detecting the player as well, if he doesn't use the torch.
Fixed an issue which could cause the player voice audio to become interrupted, if the player continuously were spamming interesting objects etc. The current voice line now has to be finished, before the next can be initiated.
Plans for April (2022)
Based on the feedback we have received so far, we're definitely going to improve upon the game and add additional quality of life features as well. All these improvements will be gradually implemented to the game, whenever they’re ready.
Our top priorities during April are listed below:
The game is too dark
Journal / Hint system
The inputs/controls
Player damage taken indication
The overall AI
The game is too dark Lots of players say it’s too dark and we agree. We’ll fix this eventually. We have already been trying to achieve a decent lighting setting within the scene, but Unity really makes it hard for us to work with. Everytime we try to generate the lighting it always looks awful, and it also takes a very long time for the computer to process every time.
Journal / Hint system Some players seem to get confused about what to do in certain situations. We definitely don’t want to hold the player’s hand through the game, but we are willing to offer the player some help. We are going to add a journal / hint solution to help the player keep track of everything useful intel the player might find.
The inputs/controls We are going to make it possible to change the keyboard/mouse input keys as well make it possible to select inverted mouse within the game-settings.
Player damage taken indication The player can easily die if he stands in the fire for too long. However there’s nothing that indicates he is taking damage, while standing there. Therefore we are going to add some pain voices as well as some red flashes on the screen.
The overall AI We are aware that the enemies are way too broken and unfair. They are currently able to detect and grab the player through walls and that’s definitely not intended. The NPC also has some issues whenever the NPC has to follow the player around. The NPC can easily get stuck on things. Therefore we are going to revamp the overall AI to behave more natural and fair. We are going to make the AI’s vision become based on angles. Likewise we are going to make it harder for the enemies to detect the player if the player-torch is unlit.
First Launch and Patch notes
Hello all! This is my first game ever on Steam, so I hope it will be well received.
First of all, I’m sorry for the late post. I have been busy solving a lot of issues with the game after the release and also learning my way through all the Steam tools.
The release of Athemore didn’t go as smoothly as I was hoping for. I quickly ran into issues. About a week earlier, I uploaded an older version of the game, the main reason for this was just to get Steam to verify it. This way, I could quicker overwrite it with the very recent version whenever it was ready to go. Unfortunately I messed up the whole Steam procedure about selecting the correct game to publish, because it all was very new to me. I know a few people bought and actually played the older version. Sorry about the confusion!
Below are the patch notes for the two updates on the “Steam version” of Athemore:
1.2.0(09-04-2022)
Fixed some graphical glitches
Fixed an issue with the blood bowl (Blood ritual) not showing the blood being poured.
The random sound effects are now paused while reading documents or while being in dialogue.
Fixed the compass UI, so it behaves properly in different resolutions
Added a Player Setting feature to toggle on/off the player torch model (the light still stays)
Added a Player Setting feature to toggle on/off the Player-Headbob feature
Added a text notification, everytime the player reaches a new checkpoint.
Added a small tutorial at the beginning of the game
Added an patrolling enemy into the prison area, which can spawn over time.
Audrey (NPC) has been added to the game.
Added voice acting for both Jerome and Audrey
Added a new area, called the “Vault”
Added more endings.
Added a loading screen image
Added more events, such as scares, puzzles etc.
Added Steam achievements
It’s now possible to collect multiple of identical items. A drop function has been added as well for those types of items.
Changed the usage of the inventory. It must now be used with the classic drag and drop system (Drag the item onto another item or object).
Added game menu music to the game.
Added more ingame readable documents. Small changes to parts of the existing documents as well.
Revamped the drawing of the map. (Including making North being upwards)
1.2.1(12-04-2022)
Fixed a game breaking bug caused by ghosts after grabbing the player’s camera not allowing it to reset properly.
Fixed an issue about displaced UI text in various screen-resolutions.
Added a feature for the Stepstone puzzle which highlights the correct glyphs the player is standing on.
Reduced the overall loot value, to make it more fitting with the Steam achievements.
Fixed an issue causing the player to die twice in a row after falling into the giant pit.
Added a check-point just before the large broken bridge to the West
Fixed an issue which caused the game to softlock after sitting in the throne putting on the crown.
Fixed an issue caused by using the crown on the green flame, making the crown disappear.
