I've spent a terrible lot of time on the Black Cube series since the beginning of the year, but I think it was really worth it.
First of all, for the 2 years anniversary of the release of Catyph, I have recreated the game.
Please welcome Catyph: Light Edition
a kind of director's cut or remastered, with many small but interesting changes. I hope you'll like it, I've put a lot of efforts into it. The good news is it's completely free and should appear in the form of an automatic update. A new Launcher will allow you to choose between the Light or Original Editions of the game. Please be careful when you choose that your previous saves will not be compatible between the 2 versions.
I've spent a lot of time on Catyph Light Edition and have involved some good friends in testing. However it remains a game developed by a single person and beta-tested by only a very small team, and as a result there might be some remaining issues that we totally missed. The whole game works well, we could all finish it several times, but since it was entirely recreated, it's not impossible to discover a few hidden bugs. Please notify the problems so that I can try to fix them asap. Thanks!
Finally, in case you didn't notice this, a new game in the Black Cube series (ASA, Catyph...) was recently released on Steam too! Kitrinos: Inside the Cube is totally free (F2P) and will take you in a mysterious prequel to the other games for a 2~3 hours adventure in a strange scifi world. It comes with a nice DLC (OST, Piano arrangement, artbook).
Please take a look at Kitrinos, and if you like it, don't forget to leave a review and spread the word! Many thanks to all, enjoy the games and have a great Summer holiday!
Catyph: Light Edition is finished and currently in private Beta Test. If everything goes well, this modified version will be available somewhere in July.
You can still see the list of changes here:
https://adventuregamers.com/forums/viewthread/10772/
Catyph LE will be free if you already purchased the original game and should be downloaded as an automatic update as soon as it is released.
You may also be aware that we recently released a nice short game called Kitrinos: this free adventure is a prequel to the Black Cube series, and will be published on Steam around July 16th. Yes as I said it will be free! You can already check the page here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/890300/Kitrinos_Inside_the_Cube/
Last but not least, I have finally paid the submission fee for Myha: Return to the Lost Island (successful Kickstarter last year, thanks to everyone). The game makes good progress and we hope that you didn't miss the private playable demo if you had chosen this reward.
Next I plan to finish my work on Boïnihi: The K'i Codex, the next game in the series.
You can learn more about all these games on the official site of the series: www.theblackcube.fr
All existing Black Cube games will thus be available together on Steam within a few months. They are all DRM-free, and you can currently benefit of -25% on ASA and Catyph during Steam Summer sales:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/617/The_Black_Cube_series/
Thanks for your support during all these years!
Catyph: Light Edition in development (Demo available)
For the 2 years anniversary of the release of Catyph, I would like to release a 'Light Edition', available as a free update for the game owners. Please try the demo and tell me if it's a good idea or not! The future of Catyph depends on you...
The Black Cube series (Catyph) continues with RealMyha on Kickstarter! We need your help.
Hello everyone!
The Black Cube series continues to expand: after ASA, Catyph, Boïnihi (soon), Blue Moon (in development), and the Anterran comics, now I am working on another project of 1st person adventure game named RealMyha. For the first time in the series, I am not creating it on my own, and moreover it will be in full3d. Powered with Unreal Engine, RealMyha is being actively developed with Denis Martin, who was behind a beautiful game named RoonSehv (a fan sequel to Myst).
About RealMyha:
RealMyha is the complete remake of Myha, a game that was originally created in 10 days during the Myst Game Jam on itch.io in january 2016 (link).
Our team is composed of 3 people: I am working with the developer of RoonSehv with their music composer. We’re trying to take advantage of our different but complementary skills, in order to work together on this new project. I must say that it’s very exciting for me, and Denis is very motivated too.
Concretely we’ll try to mix the gameplay of RoonSehv, with the puzzles and worlds of The Black Cube series, with improved and new puzzles, with a new soundtrack (and more), all together in order to create this new game.
Gameplay:
It will be more or less the same gameplay than in RoonSehv and most 1st person adventure games (Xing, Obduction, The Witness...). Yeah, exactly: it means that you won’t have to suffer anymore of the 2d gameplay of ASA and Catyph if you didn't like it!
Story:
The main storyline of RealMyha will be the same than in Myha (the original game), but we will rework it a little bit, and additionnally we plan to add a secondary quest.
The cutscenes (opening and ending) will also be entirely remade for the occasion. Honestly, even with the same background than the original game, you will see a real difference in RealMyha!
Learn more about the project through the link below, and please consider to support us!
We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to discover our presentation. If you like it, please try to help us by spreading the word, even if you cannot afford to pledge.
We’re really counting on you to make it a reality! :)
ASA + Catyph bundle
It is now possible to purchase the Space Adventure 1+2 bundle (ASA and Catyph together) with a price drop of -10%.
You can also benefit of this offer if you already own one of the 2 games. For example if you purchased ASA on Steam in the past, you won't pay it again in this bundle, and you'll get Catyph with the small reduction applied.
Final version and Price drop
Hello everyone,
I would like to warmly thank those of you who supported my work by purchasing Catyph and/or ASA. It really, really encourages me continuously when I see day after day that there are several passionate people all around the world who still enjoy 2D Myst-like games. Thank you!! As you know I have put a lot of efforts during the 2 years of development of Catyph, trying to please both the fans of the original Myst games and the fans of ASA. I know that some of the features in Catyph may be surprising (in the wrong way I mean - such as the Blue Matter System) but it's also part of the job of a developer to try new things. We don't want all the games to be identical! Other things could have been improved (gameplay/navigation), but I think it's important not to give up at the beginning of the game. The region of Kynan (that you can try in the playable demo) is far from being the most interesting and representative place of the game. imo
Also, I have decided to write this news in order to announce and explain a price drop. The game was originally released at $19.99 and you might have noticed the new price of $14.99. First I sincerely hope that you will not be furious if you paid the higher price (at least keep in mind that it was the best way to support my work and it counts a lot).
The reason of this price drop is not related to the lack of success of the game, and it is not a marketting strategy. It is true that I didn't sell a lot of copies, but that was more or less expected with that kind of project, and my lack of exposure in the medias. Changing the price was not either a way to celebrate the end of Summer (who wants to celebrate the end of the most beautiful season? ;)
More seriously, if I chose to lower the price, it is because Catyph is now in its final version. What I mean here, is that I will not bring any new update to the game. Oh don't misunderstand me: I'd be willing to continue to fix bugs for you (happily there has not been any recent feedback reporting issues). But the truth is that it has become impossible: my backup hard drive recently died, and I lost all of my precious work data. I have found no way to recover it: both ASA and Catyph files are gone forever... It is a real pain for me and for my activity, as it will never be possible to use again the 3D models that I had created for these games.
Anyway, I am now in the incapacity to fix any new bug or issue, and to release any new update. As a result I have decided that the price couldn't stay the same, and I hope that you understand why I took this decision.
It was probably the last announcement about Catyph, and the price should now stay the same for a long while (except during special targeted events such as Steam Sales).
I wish that there will still be passionate people to get interested in these old-school games, which should continue to exist next to some more modern projects such as the recent (and very good) Obduction. That's also why we indie devs work hard: to bring diversity and different games - good or bad - but still different!
Demo, arcade minigame, challenge...
Catyph has a demo!
After a long hesitation regarding the content of the playable demo, it's been decided to let you discover the first region of the game. This demo should keep you busy between 1 and 5 hours depending on the way you play (with or without walkthrough) and we hope you will enjoy this journey.
It should help you check if the game works well on your computer, and also decide if the peculiar gameplay of this point & click adventure suits you well.
Free scoring minigame
Not fond of puzzle games? In the full version of Catyph, you have the possibility to play a minigame to gather points and unlock tips. With The Icehouse collective, we have decided to offer this minigame in a free standalone version for Summer holidays! You can download Super Blue Matter here.
Super Blue Matter puts you at the commands of a small spaceship in a retro 2D scoring game. Using the left and right arrows, you have to avoid dangerous meteorites, and gather as many balls of Blue Matter as possible.
This arcade minigame is quite tough, and you will have to retry several times to survive until the end of the 30 seconds countdown!! But don't give up too fast: everything in this game is generated randomly, so each new game is different from the previous one, sometimes easier... sometimes harder!
Summer challenge
The true challenge behind the creation of Super Blue Matter was for the developer to try to create an arcade game with the Visionaire Studio engine, which is originally designed to create point and click adventure games (a totally different approach). So that was very interesting to experiment different methods in order to program this minigame.
The developer of Catyph, Simon, has a small challenge for you too:
Post a screenshot of your Score after success, and we will consider giving a small present to the very best challenger (within a few weeks)!
Have fun!
New review and first update
Hello Earth, Catyph here!
Adventure Gamers has recently published a review of the game: http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/30652
They liked it! (4/5)
"A love letter to gamers who prefer first-person, devilishly difficult, puzzle-heavy adventures, Catyph offers tasty dollops of sci-fi and a hint of Myst."
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who wrote their own review here on Steam. Many thanks!
We have another good news: the first update is now available and brings some minor, yet recommended changes. All details in this thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/396870/discussions/0/351659704038587365/
With the recently released walkthrough and cheat code, the new update and the game in hands, you should be ready for your long journey. Good luck!
Walkthrough available
Hello dear adventurers!
I realize that Catyph is very challenging and that many of you might be stuck.
Honestly I don't know, and I must apologize for the lack of feedback and support, because I had lost my internet access for 3 weeks because of a storm. So I couldn't come here and follow the discussions, sorry...
But I'm back, and I bring good news: while I was offline, I wrote a complete walkthrough of the game!
You can find it here on Steam:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/396870/discussions/0/350533172683734130/
