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Update on Team Allgraf (Darkout) Developments
Generally we're now posting updates about the development of all titles on www.allgraf.com but for this update we're still posting on here to inform everyone on whats going on.
In future we'll post a short link to the full story on www.allgraf.com.
Full story below.
Update on Developments
April 30, 2015 | Posted in Darkout, News, Project Darklings | No comments
http://www.allgraf.com
State of the Game:
We’ve been pretty busy over the last few months and in that time I’ve seen a few posts asking on progress and new players asking on the current state of the game, etc. So I thought I would just take some time out and update everyone on where we are and what is happening with Darkout. This will include: where it will go, and when. If you don’t feel like reading everything there is a brief summarized version at the bottom.
As most of you know we had a pretty rocky release on Steam but we got most of those issues sorted out within the first couple weeks. We changed the interface a little and tweaked some stuff that was bugging players in general. That was Stage One.
Since Stage One’s release we have added and changed a ton of content which you can see in the patch notes on either:
•Steam Community Patch Notes
•Darkout Forums Patch Notes
If we hadn’t decided to move the game to Unity then every subsequent stage would have seen a complete corruption of current player worlds due to how the code was implemented in Torque.
Stage Two:
The game is basically there, there are only a few things we still wanted to add before going to Stage 2, beyond what was added in the patches since launch. What are they you may ask? Well…
•An extra Biome (We’re limited by current code set which would corrupt all player worlds)
•Next chapter in the story (Biome dependant)
•New enemy (Requires new Biome)
Hard Times:
Yes, we have been hit with some hard times, and even though we have earned a ridiculously low amount of income from this for the efforts we put in, we’ve persevered for more than a year after launch of stage One.
We need every cent to keep working, but unfortunately most purchases have come in while the game has been on sale, which unfortunately keeps the funds down to a trickle. Don’t get me wrong, we’re extremely grateful to everyone that have supported us this far but unfortunately ‘sales only’ can’t fund any game’s development.
Funding:
There have been suggestions on multiple occasions that we should start a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to finish the project, and we’ve actually thought about doing something like that for a long time. What holds us back is the fact that we don’t want to just ask for more money for Darkout, which you already own and paid for, and we don’t have any marketing budget at all to help spread the word beyond our current fanbase. We know some of you would not hesitate to help out, and that thought alone reminds us why we started Darkout in the first place. It was never about making a lot of money, rather, it was an effort to bring a game we are fiercely passionate about to a wide audience, improving and refining it along the way.
We had to think about this problem for a while and have come up with a few solutions, one or two of which that make sense and we plan on executing.
Step 1) Stages 2-4 will be paid DLC.
Initially we had planned to increase the games price with each new stage, with those who bought in early getting them for free, however now we have decided that with the requirement for more funds to complete the game we will need to release Stages Two – Four as paid DLC. Obviously, Stage Two will include the full Unity port of the game and then Staged Three – Four will expand and complete the story mode of the game.
Step 2) Something New
We’ve been faced with dwindling man power and a very extended development cycle on Darkout’s Unity port. This has been alongside the process of updating the original Torque version of the game over the last 13 months, which, we know is a requirement but if we’re honest it’s also a bit of a backpedal. Faced with the fact that we have been receiving most of our funding through the severely discounted sales periods and bundles we took a step back and thought about how we could generate more funds to eventually finish Darkout and not disband before that.
Solution = New game with short development cycle!
So, for the last few months we’ve brainstormed over some ideas and formulated ways to pull them off with the limited team and resources we have, and we started working on a new project currently codenamed: ‘Darklings’, official name TBA.
The game is set in the Darkout universe, but with completely different gameplay. It is still a 2D game but this time we are telling things from the side of the Shadow Creatures. We’ll reveal more about Project Darklings as development progresses. We are leveraging many existing assets in order to do this, ensuring we do not disrupt the necessary changes for Darkout and the best part: we’re building it using Unity!
Here are a few screenshots:
http://www.allgraf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Press_release_0.png
http://www.allgraf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Press_release_1.png
http://www.allgraf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Press_release_5.png
http://www.allgraf.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Press_release_3.png
Community:
We know that those of you who have stuck with us this long really believe in Darkout and what we still want to do with it,and we are hoping that we can count on your support in order for us to deliver the game as we have always envisioned it to be.
We aim to be more open with development starting with this press release, as well as posting more frequent weekly updates on our web and social media sites. Previously, our quiet has been a reflection of putting our effort towards finding real-world solutions to our complex situation and while this may not be the best answer, it’s the most honest one.
We don’t have the resources to put into a Kickstarter via marketing funds, ad placement, etc, and will be creating a donation link with a counter on our main website for anyone who wishes to support us early and get the game and future DLC at significantly reduced price.
Thank you for your time and we greatly appreciate your continued support and patience.
Allgraf
Summary/TL:DR:
We’re still making changes to Darkout and our recent radio silence has been a result of investigating funding options to get there. We’ve decided that the best course of action is to create a companion game, currently codenamed: Darklings.
This will be a game where you take control of the Shadow Creatures from Darkout. It will require a much shorter production cycle and we will be building it using Unity to improve the distribution.
Funding received through the sales of this new game will help us finish Darkout. However, we’ve decided that regardless of this that Phase Two through Four will be paid DLC.
We’re incredibly grateful to all the fans that have stuck with us over the years. Thank you for your support and know that we’re doing our best to get you the game you deserve. There will be a donation button on the website soon if you want to contribute to the cause and receive early-access to the new game.
Patch 1.3.1 is Public!
Yup you heard us, 1.3.1 is now public. Thanks to everyone who helped test beta version 1.3 we were able to not only test the content planned for release, but add some additional items as well as tweak more of the existing bugs that came out of the proverbial woodwork during testing.
Below is an extensive list of what has been done to improve the overall Darkout experience, enjoy! :)
1. New Content:
Storage
- Storage Vault, holds 100 items
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312631443
GPS
- New item and blueprint
- With GPS in inventory press "G" to get current position.
- Equip the GPS to get continuous position updates.
Beacons
- place beacon and add description to mark a location or resource.
- Description in new PDM tab with Teleporters.
- Beacons within a certain range are marked on the radar.
Teleporter
- You can now place Teleporters
- Player invulnerable while still invisible during teleporting.
- There is a minimum and maximum range for teleporting of 400/800 blocks.
- You have to wait 2min before you can teleport again.
- Teleporter uses Player energy during teleportation
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312107395
Mining (Toggle = M Key)
- Tunnel - dig a horizontal tunnel 4 blocks high.
- Mine 4 tiles at a time, in a vertical line, all 4 tiles must be accessible.
- Can be any mix of tiles.
- Tool effectiveness is determined by how many tiles are the wrong type for the tool and how many are too high a level.
- Resources dropped per tile.
Turrets
- Turrets to defend your base
- Sign on turret if out of ammo
- Turrets use bullets or laser modules
- When destroyed drop any ammo still in magazine
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312630934
Enemies
- Attack lights and turrets
- Target search sequence - Turret, Player, Lights
- 20% chance enemy killed by turret will drop loot
- Enemies take some damage when they melee attack lights.
- Fixed problem where enemies did not change target when current target is destroyed.
- Jellies do not attack turrets.
(in future this will be expanded to enemies attacking blocks and other devices)
Energy Gun
- Added the Energy Gun ( or RFBG for some of you) the big brother of the Grenade Launcher.
- Added blueprint for the Energy gun, you will have to find a data module first.
- Added blueprint for the Energy Laser Modulator - the Energy Gun ammo.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=356056145&fileuploadsuccess=1
Flares and Lights
- Flares and glowsticks do physical damage when they hit an enemy.
- You now stop running to throw all grenade type weapons, and throw only 1 at a time.
- Enemies attack and destroy flares and glowsticks.
- Added damage points to lights.
General
- Arrow drops to ground when it reaches range limit.
- Added Health Points for all Lights.
- New PDM tab - Radar shows Teleporters & Beacons close to the player position. Also lists all placed Teleporters and Beacons, left click on name in list to edit description.
2. Current Content
General fixes and tweaks
- Mining drop increase not applied to placed tiles.
- Quest - If tech level too low for next log will now display hint.
- Fixed a problem that may cause crashes when you kill an enemy.
- Check when craft item for the first time if it is a group item.
- Fixed the story audio not pausing when game pause. It will also keep playing now when you TAB within the PDM Menu. You have to manually stop it or wait for it to complete.
- Fixed error where last message on Tooltip was not cleared when you hover over the Auto Slot after hovering over adjacent slot.
- Added tooltip on Story PDM for Play and Stop buttons.
- Made some cosmetic changes to borders on Items Tooltip and the Info Pop-up
- Check if using the correct container when you collect liquid from barrels etc.
- Fix for Restore World to only show worlds for the selected character mode.
- Fixed small bug, it did not move after spawned.
- Oxygen no longer reset when mining under water
- Drop depleted battery/antimatter/laser module/energy module if inventory is full
Crafting
- Increased the range within which the combinator will search through containers for parts needed in crafting or research
- Changed some stack quantities to be multiples of craft quantity
- Added Tier level separator in the Research menu
- Fix to show quantity select in multiples of the craft quantities in the Crafting menu
- Fix to pass color when items are used out of a barrel or tank
- Fix to unlock items when the prerequisite is a resource and it have been mined or harvested.
Camps and Chests
- Placement rework - makes containers more visible with lights and removes the shrubs around it.
Datacube
- Will only drop from chests when you need it for a quest.
- In Skylands there is a 20% chance the Wraith will drop a Datacube.
- Datacube will not be corrupted when you try to decode it and there are no more quests.
Quest
- You should not get any more hints when all quests have been completed.
- Changed message you receive if there are no logs or blueprints to decode
- If tech level too low for next log will now display hint.
Relic gates
- Check all inventory slots to get total for item in inventory, and go thru all stacks to update total used.
- When purifying a gate, enemies spawn thru gate and not all over anymore
Big lab cabinet
- Increased size in world
- Increased inventory size to 30.
- You will have to research the new cabinet before you can craft it.
NOTE: When you pick up any existing Big Lab Cabinets they will convert to the new size when you place them again.
Achievements
- cleaned up data errors caused by old bugs.
- Added icon for graves under Player
- Added count for Relic gates found and purified under Player list
Inventory and Containers
- Replaced Male Exo Suit3 icons, they were the wrong color.
- SHIFT+CLICK now move items between any two open containers. If inventory is open it counts as one of the containers.
- Changed message to "Container full" instead of "Inventory full".
- Implement auto split for inventory items when quantities are less than 4.
- Exclude Equipment and Suit slots from the mass move option.
- Fixed potential duplication when only part stack gets moved with the mass move function.
- fix to update default tools when any tool is moved to another container or to trash.
- You cannot trash or drop relic gate tablet or pieces.
Weapon damage
- Tweak and balance damage for shadow and standard states.
We want to thank everyone who helped us test the beta version, we could not have done it without you and appreciate your efforts immensely!
Thanks to everyone for your continued support!
Team Darkout
Darkout Patch 1.3 in Open Beta!
The testing phase is almost over on the latest patch but we need your help to make sure it is as solid as possible. Due to our limited resources we thought what better way to get the patch tested than in an open beta on Steam.
If you would like to get access to the latest content and don’t mind reporting any bugs and balancing issues found then simply follow the steps below and you will have instant access to patch 1.3 Beta.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make a backup of any and all Character and World files before applying the patch below as any corruptions cause due to unforeseen bugs may well be irreversible.
PATCH INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Launch Steam
2. Navigate to your Games Library
3. Right-Click on Darkout and select Properties
4. Select the BETA Tab
5. In the drop down list select patch_open_beta
6. Wait for it to update and you will be ready to play!
BUG REPORTING
We've created a category to report bugs for the patch beta on our forums and on Steam. Please use them in order for us to keep the current public version and the beta version reports in order and things will progress much smoother with fixing them :)
Darkout Forums:
Darkout Forums Patch 1.3 Bug Reporting
And now on to the patch!
New Content!
You read that right! We’re very excited to announce the upcoming arrival of the newest and perhaps the most game changing patch in Darkout history!
Check out the details and images below (we aren’t including everything, because… well… sometimes it’s fun to find new content on your own, isn’t it?):
1. New Content:
Storage
- Storage Vault, holds 100 items
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312631443
GPS
- New item and blueprint
- With GPS in inventory press "G" to get current position.
- Equip the GPS to get continuous position updates.
Beacons
- place beacon and add description to mark a location or resource.
- Description in new PDM tab with Teleporters.
- Beacons within a certain range are marked on the radar.
Teleporter
- You can now place Teleporters
- Player invulnerable while still invisible during teleporting.
- There is a minimum and maximum range for teleporting.
- You have to wait 2min before you can teleport again.
- Teleporter uses Player energy during teleportation
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312107395
Turrets
- Turrets to defend your base
- Sign on turret if out of ammo
- Turrets use bullets or laser modules
- When destroyed drop any ammo still in magazine
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=312630934
Enemies
- Attack lights and turrets
- Target search sequence - Turret, Player, Lights
- 20% chance enemy killed by turret will drop loot
(in future this will be expanded to enemies attacking blocks and other devices)
General
- Arrow drops to ground when it reaches range limit.
- Added Health Points for all Lights.
- New PDM tab - Radar shows Teleporters & Beacons close to the player position. Also lists all placed Teleporters and Beacons, left click on name in list to edit description.
2. Current Content
General fixes and tweaks
- Mining drop increase not applied to placed tiles.
- Quest - If tech level too low for next log will now display hint.
- Fixed a problem that may cause crashes when you kill an enemy.
- Check when craft item for the first time if it is a group item.
Crafting
- Increased the range combinator will search containers for parts needed for crafting or research
- Changed some stack quantities to be multiples of craft quantity
- Added Tier level separator in the Research menu
- Fix to show quantity select in multiples of the craft quantities in the Crafting menu
Camps and Chests
- Placement rework - make containers more visible with lights and also remove the shrubs around it.
Relic gates
- Check all inventory slots to get total for item in inventory, and go thru all stacks to update total used.
- When purifying a gate, enemies spawn thru gate and not all over anymore
Big lab cabinet
- Increased size in world
- Increased inventory size to 30.
- You will have to research the new cabinet before you can craft it.
NOTE: When you pick up any existing Big Lab Cabinets they will convert to the new size when you place them again.
Achievements
- cleaned up data errors caused by old bugs.
- Added icon for graves under Player
- Added count for Relic gates found and purified under Player list
We look forward to hearing back from those who opt in and help test the beta, with your help we hope to make sure we deliver as stable a patch as possible.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support!
Team Darkout
Darkout Patch 1.2.9 - Easy mode is here!
Through your continued support and feedback we are able to bring yet another patch, so check out the latest patch for Darkout containing what we know quite a few have been waiting for, Easy Mode!
Game Easy Mode
- Day/Night = 65% / 35%
- Health + 50%
- Fall without injury distance + 30%
- Oxygen capacity + 20%
- Energy usage - 20%
- Weapon damage + 20%
- Harvest drops + 50%
- Mining drops + 50%
- Random item drop chance + 10%`
- Chests and crate drop items + 1
- Do not drop suits or equipment on death.
- Escape pod inventory different - will still be finalized - for now just increased bullets and torches
- Drops when harvest pod + 20%
Story quest line
- better detect if distress beacon placed so cubes do not decode as corrupted.
Elevator
- more tweaks to stop killer elevator
Enjoy!
Team Allgraf
Darkout Patch 1.2.8 is out with a few minor tweaks and fixes to the game!
Enjoy!
Crafting and Research
- Fixed so new Copper Ore and Iron Ore from Dirt blueprints gets added for old players.
- Fixed to make sure empty fuel can gets returned when using fuel in crafting or research.
- Part selection popup is now only used for color selection.
- When Color Selection Menu is open, the Item Tooltip window will not show.
Elevator
- Fixed some issues where you fall through the elevator.
- Fixed bug where you sometimes get stuck in jump animation when you land on the elevator.
Elevator rails
- Fixed rails to be correct design size, can now be placed in 3 blocks wide shaft.
NOTE - Currently placed rails can still be used without a problem but you will not be able to extend the track as the rails will not align. If you do not want to pickup and place rails again, you can always build a transfer station and place another elevator on the new rail.
Journal -
- changed elevator size.
- fixed some spelling errors (coppper > copper, pannel > panel).
General
- Fixed problem with recycling placeable items.
- Added missing description for new Magnesium recipe.
- Fixed open & close button for info window not staying with the window when you have a wide screen resolution.
- Fixed bug where units left on an item was reset to max when moving with Shift+click.
Keybinds
- You no longer have to remove a key-bind before you can assign it to another action. The old bind will now be cleared automatically, but if it was on a first bind, you will have to assign another key bind to the action, before you can leave the menu.
Darkout Patch 1.2.7 Released!
As it’s been some time since we’ve had our last proper announcement – A fault we are taking strides to eradicate as we move forward – we’re still very much alive and working our hardest to continue development of Darkout (we aren’t giving up on this!).
So we have had quite a bit of feedback from the community since we shared the current state of development with everyone and I want to thank all those who have stated their support and are spurring us along to get the project done.
Here is a snippet of what’s in the latest patch. Just to note, this patch will focus on bug fixing and balancing. The next one will add some more content as well.
As always you can check out the forums for full details on the patch!
Changes
- New Blueprint for copper ore from dirt
- New Blueprint for iron ore from dirt
- New Blueprint for coal from logs
- New Blueprint for platinum ore from stone
- New Blueprint for platinum bar from platinum ore
- New Blueprint for magnesium from stone
- New Blueprint for fuel can
- Change Blueprints so fuel now also needs a fuel can
- Can now get 4 sulphur from 1 tar
- Can now harvest spore from trees in outlands (same as fire flies)
- can place spore jars
- when using fuel will get empty fuel can back
- Coral regrows like plants
- when all gas from a plant has been collected it will start producing gas again after 3 game days
- moved a couple of logs to improve story flow
- Increased chance to 90% that a datamodule or datacube will drop when needed to continue quest, if the source can drop it.
- Datacubes only drop when you need them for a quest
- added tooltip note if item can be recycled
- added empty battery as recyclable
- added suits as recyclables
Fixes
- Tooltips fit better on screen
- stop footsteps sound when falling
- fixed "You looted your first #1"
- when you add fuel to a tank you will get fuel can back
- when you add lightGoo to a tank you will get jar back (also when used in crafting)
- Fixed bug where crafting system allowed research points to go into negative
- Elevator speed increased x3
- Elevator can be called even when not in a loaded sector
- can run past bottom of Elevator without colliding
- can jump / fly up to elevator from directly below and will not collide with elevator
- fix bug where elevator did not stop when it hit an obstruction
- Booster boots do not use energy anymore
- fixed bug where energy usage increased as game progressed. Usage now update correctly as you equip/un equip/use items
We want to thank everyone for your continued support and hope you enjoy the patch!
Team Darkout