As I've mentioned before, I was holding out on an update until some issues with the program I use were fixed. A new version came out this week and I could fix most bugs and give better support for OSX/Linux users.
Here's a changelog for version 1.2:
Fixed most menu/item bugs/crashes
Fixed bug where talking to certain NPCs would lock Sarah in place
Fixed music related bugs when using the pill
Fixed statistics timer
Fixed some sounds not being played at the right volume
Fixed fish related bugs
Fixed bartender bug
Fixed bug where using the magnifying glass and entering the mansion would make Sarah disappear
(Linux) - fixed fullscreen mode
(OSX) - fixed crash with red text when loading game
Please keep in mind that some other bugs still may occur. Let me know in the bug thread and I'll take a look! Also, as I've mentioned before, I don't actually own a Mac and I don't use Linux a lot, but I've managed to test the game on a Virtual Machine to at least make sure it would open up and work. If you find out anything wrong with these versions, let me know.
Once again, I cannot thank enough for all your help when reporting bugs. Everyone who reported anything they could find helped me a LOT.
Thanks!!!! ːsarah6ː
About the OSX and Linux versions
Hi everyone,
As some of you know and I've mentioned in the bug report thread, I'm having a lot of trouble updating the game. I decided to explain it better in an announcement.
Basically, Dreaming Sarah is made using a program called Construct 2. It's a game making program that works much like RPG Maker if you have ever used that, but in my opinion it's a little more robust.
This program mainly builds your game in HTML5. This means that the only native way that you can get your game working is by running it on a browser, like Chrome of Firefox.
So, to make my game run on Windows/OSX/Linux platforms, I had to rely on a tool called NW.js. This tool takes a HTML5 game and wraps it in a executable for these OS's.
When I first released Dreaming Sarah, it worked great for all platforms. I had a rough time testing it (since I only have a Windows PC that isn't even that good) but after a lot of help from some friends and days and nights installing Hackintosh and Ubuntu on my PC, I did test all of it and everything worked.
So what's the problem? Well, after release more bugs were found, so I decided to fix them. After fixing a few I found out that the newest version of NW.js, which is a tool I need to run the game on Windows/OSX/Linux, has become imcompatible with OSX, and broken on Linux. It also will not work with Steamworks, so if I update the game, there's no way to add achievements or anything like that anymore.
On top of that, the old version of the OSX build that was up on Steam stopped working and I'm not even sure why. My guess is that there was some kind of update on OSX that's breaking my game, since it's using an old version of NW.js. The linux version also seems to be incompatible with SteamOS for now, for various reasons. And the option to make the game fullscreen won't work unless you manually modify a file inside of it, which really sucks.
So, because of these problems, I've decided to pull the OSX/Linux versions from the store temporarily. If you already bought the game and play on these platforms and it did work, rest assured that you can still play it! This will only stop other users from buying the game, since I can't directly support it right now. When I've got this problems sorted out, I'll update the entire game with all the bugs listed on the bugs thread fixed.
Once again, I'm really sorry and thanks for your patience.
New album by Anthony Septim
Hi everyone,
A new album by Dreaming Sarah's composer Anthony Septim is out!
It's called Lavander and you can check it at his Bandcamp.
If you like it, be sure to let him know in his Twitter.
Thank you!! :sarah:
v1.1
Hi everyone!
v1.1 is out, here's a short changelog:
- Fixed music overlap bug
- Fixed bug where bus stop wouldn't show
- Fixed -0- bug
- Fixed french language bug (wouldn't load)
- Fixed bug where Sarah would reset the animation while being a fish if she changed screens
- Changed the way the save works (read more about it below)
- Added different saves for different steam accounts (read more below)
- Fixed OSX and Linux versions
- Updated language files and compiled them together with the game
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About the save:
Unfortunately the bug the game was having where it couldn't load the language files properly was related to the save. After much testing I had to find another way to save the game, so now instead of using the "save.json" file the save goes to a totally different directory. The directory varies from OS to OS:
Because of this, old version saves will not work with this new version. I really hate that it had to be like this, but I had no other choice... at least the game works properly now. And about the Cloud support - I'm looking into it. The change of folder's should not affect the cloud support. I'm trying to get Linux running right now so I can set up all the 3 OSes Cloud saves together.
Keep in mind that there are still a few non-game-breaking bugs around that I will still look into (like a chinese character missing, the settings file not properly saving and the statistics sometimes showing wrong info), so if you find anything else other than these ones, please let me know! The dreaded -0- bug should be fixed now so if you're still having it, also please let me know (but be sure to be on version 1.1 first, just look at the window's title and you can check if it is).
Once again, sorry about your saves and thanks for the support!
About the OSX and Linux versions
Hi everyone!
I'm making this announcement to make something clear - currently the OSX and Linux versions are not working properly. This is due to some problems I'm having with Node-Webkit.
Rest assured I'm trying my best to fix them right now, and hopefully I will be able to soon enough. In the meantime, I've turned off showing that the game works on OSX/Linux in the store to avoid people buying it and not being able to play right away. I will turn them on again when I'm able to fix these bugs.
Once again, I'm truly sorry about this. After I fix this then I'll proceed to update some language files and fix more bugs (like the music one).
Thanks once again for your patience and support!
v1.0 fix
Hey everyone!
Something went bad with the version I released yesterday, so I sat through the whole day today trying to fix it. Apparently this happened more to people who had played the early access version, and because of a mix of the Steam Cloud, the old settings and bad luck, the game would not load the language files and would just show up a -0-.
I'm really really REALLY sorry about that. I just fixed it and tested it over and over, changed the place the save files would be, and turned off Steam cloud. Unfortunately this will create a NEW save data, but you can still use your old save data if you want - you just have to:
1. Open the game's folder
2. Go to the DATA folder
3. Copy save.json
4. Save it on the game's folder (with all the other language files).
Do NOT copy "newsettings.json" out of the folder or try using it, though.
Once again sorry about the inconvenience! The game still has some bugs that I'm trying to fix, but first I have to fix the OSX and Linux versions who wouldn't work (due to a new version of Node-Webkit refusing to cooperate). After I'm done with this (hopefully in about a few hours if I'm lucky), I'll start ironing out the music bugs, along with the other you've mentioned.
Thanks again for all the support and sorry about all this!
Cheers!
v1.0 is out!
Here we are! It's not yet midnight but I decided to release the game a bit early. I've also added more languages thanks to users who helped out! The languages are:
Chinese - Made by Aran
Spanish - Made by Raúl (Tchangla)
German - Made by JawsDark
Italian - Made by Riccardo Laglia
French - Made by Alexandre (Antilifero)
I honeslty would never have thought that so many people would want to translate my game! I'm really thankful!
If anyone finds any more bugs, please let me know and I'll take a look as soon as I can. I keep fixing them but they keep showing up so I'm never sure if I'm 100% done with them.
Once again, thanks for all the support!
edit:
I forgot to mention, due to the launch and tomorrow being a Friday 13th, the game is now on a sale for the next week!
Enjoy!
Release Candidate 2
Hi again!
This evening I uploaded the RC2 version with chinese and italian support added (thanks to Aran and Riccardo)!
If anyone else is still interested in translating the game, please let me know. So far the following languages are in the process of being supported - italian, chinese, french and spanish. If you want to test out your translation, here are a few tips:
1. If you need any special characters not listed in this image - - please let me know and I'll add them ASAP.
2. If you have special characters not showing up, please check if the format you saved as is UTF-8, not ANSI. On the regular notepad you can check it in the save window, at the bottom.
3. Be really careful with the [ ] and || - if you even space them out too much or change their position it probably won't work.
4. If you put too much words on a single line, the game won't be able to show them all. Try to spread the whole sentence through the lines of the characters, or just change what they're saying to something simpler if you want! There's no problem in that.
5. If you're not sure about something, you can always contact me at andre@asteristic.com. This week I'll be working on the game non-stop so I'll probably reply fast, too!
The last update I did still had a few issues with the italian language, so I'm uploading a new version to correct that.
Thanks for all the help!
Release Candidate 1
Hello everyone!
I just finished the RC1 of the game. I decided to not release it out in the open yet because I'm not sure if there's any bugs I left behind. With that being said, the game is now complete!
:::: To enable this version, right-click the game in Steam, choose properties, go to the Betas tab and click "rc_test" in the dropdown menu! ::::
Here's a short changelog of the latest version:
Added new areas and characters.
Added custom language support (keep on reading the announcement to know more!).
Added Watch item.
Added The Pill item.
Added Statistics option on menu.
Added different "voices" to each character.
Added the ending.
Fixed menu bug where options didn't work as intended.
Fixed various fish-related bugs.
Change - You can now advance dialogue by pressing A or X.
Change - Screen stopped zooming when talking to someone.
Change - Sarah can now swim faster while being a fish
I don't want to spoil much so... that' it!
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How to translate the game:
I've received a lot of requests from people asking to translate the game, so I decided to make it open for anyone who wants to.
I've added 3 new files on the game's folder: langUS, langPTBR and langTEST. These are language files that contain the whole game text - menus, lines from characters, items descriptions, everything.
To translate the game, follow these steps:
1. Make a copy of the langUS file
2. Change the langUS file name to "langUS-backup"
3. Open the original langUS file and translate it
4. Run the game!
5. Select the english language in options.
It's easy as that. After that, if you want me to put your translation in the game and give you the credits, send it in an email to andre@asteristic.com. I'll take a look, then add you when the final version comes out!
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Once again, thanks for all the support I've had so far. I've been working on Dreaming Sarah for about 2 years and a half now, and I never thought I'd make it this far with such a simple game.
I've scheduled the release to MARCH 13. If you finish your translation before that, please contact me so I can add it to the final version before the big launch!
Thanks again, see ya!
:sarahhat:
Almost there!
Thanks to the Finish a Game Jam I was able to do a LOT of work in a week. But there are still a few things left before the final version is released.
Good news is that, right now, every item is in the game and working. Including the bus pass, which many of you went insane looking for.
Right now I'm working on the final area of the game (a hospital) and it should be done by next weekend (hopefully). I've also added a bunch of new areas but I'd rather not spoil it.
The next version will also have more languages support - every sentence from the game will be in a .txt file so people who wanted to translate it will be able to!
