It certainly has been a long delay because of the Covid crisis. I don´t know how you have been handling it, but we have been on a full-on quarantine for around four months, which has been, well, devastating to our productivity. But let´s not focus on that, let´s go straight to what is important.
The fully voice-acted campaign is here! As promised, we are releasing a branch of the game in which you can enjoy the main story of Element: Space with full voice acting. There are also some additional features we will give you, although it´s important to remind you that those are still a work-in-progress. Still, we´d rather let you have a peak on a functional-yet-unfinished feature rather than keep it to ourselves. You want to know why? Because if this crisis has taught us anything is this: we don´t know what will happen tomorrow, and we will rather give you as much as we can instead of lamenting it after.
Now, before going over the features, I want to make a quick recommendation: a lot of the people that have been playing the game have faced different bugs and performance issues. Not to say that there aren´t any bugs, of course there are (much less now on this update though, it´s running almost crystal-clean), but we have received many reports and complaints when actually some of those users do not have the minimum requirements for running the game optimally. I cannot recommend this enough, but before buying and playing the game, I strongly suggest you to visit https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri to check if you actually meet the minimum requirements and you can have a go at the game. The page will ask you to download a file and I think you might also need Java installed, but do yourself a favor and use it. In any case, if the game runs on your machine, that is fantastic and I hope you enjoy it. In the case the game does not run on your machine, I SERIOUSLY recommend that you don´t try to make it run, since chances are high that the game will crash or perform like crap for you. Ok, with that out of the way, let´s go into the features:
This new release includes:
-A fully voice acted main story of Element: Space. Yes, try it all, play every mission and see how different it feels. We are glad we can give this product that final touch it deserved.
-Challenge Level Selection: This on-working feature let´s you try an entire mission with a different squad and against different level of difficult enemies. We seriously recommend you don´t try this feature before ending the campaign, since without the equipment and the characters with high level, it can be kind of merciless (unless you are using a fully upgraded squad against Rank 1 enemies, jezz that is a cakewalk).
-Level Selection (yeah, we will change the name later): Grab your squad, equipment and abilities and try them out against all unlocked combats and missions in the game, individually. We also recommend that you don´t try this feature before ending the campaign, because of the same reason of the previous feature, BUT difficulty will always be higher, so be careful.
-A lot less bugs: I mean, we have tried almost every possibility and we feel the game is working as we expected. Will there be new bugs? Maybe yes, but please don´t hesitate to report them.
Well, that is it for now. We will continue to work on the additional features but we really hope you can enjoy the campaign with the voice actors! Enjoy the game and have the best life you can have, Covid notwithstanding.
Cheers everyone,
Javier.
Element Space is out on PS4 and X1, and soon will be out on PC...
Hello everyone!
Element Space has finally released on PS4 and X1, and we couldn´t be happier about it. Our partners at Blowfish Studios have done an awesome job and will keep on at it as strongly as they have so far.
In the meantime, our team is dedicated to finishing the last touches and fixes to bring you an updated and voice-acted PC version, but I have to tell you that we are facing a slight delay on this.
Feels like living on space station!
The quarantine we are living in (which is full-on in our country) has affected the lives of every member of the team (covid-19 even made an appearance, so imagine that...) and it had an impact in our work schedule that was stronger than first expected.
With everyone working from homes and our server working a-ok, we still keep on advancing to bring you what was promised. It will take longer than a week, but we´ll keep you posted as we move forward to bring you the game you guys deserve. Like the steel-willed people of the Slavic Union, we will power through!
Thanks for you comprehension, hope you guys are staying at home and keep those Hit Points up!
Cheers.
Element Space hits PS4 and X1. So for PC: Voice Acting and debugged re-release!
Hello everyone!
My name is Javier, I am the creator of Element Space, and it is great to finally address you all. This has been a long time coming... but the time is finally here.
First, I want to personally apologize for the delay on getting the game back on track, To be absolutely honest, we had some internal problems a few months after the game was released (both inside our studio and in our home country, Argentina) which led to us to stop focus on updating the game and get as much outsourcing work as possible to keep the studio running. I don´t want to sound like I´m making up excuses, but I hope you can be open-minded about it. When a crisis hits and you have to survive, it´s important to understand that sometimes in life you have to concede a lot of time to reach a goal in the long haul.
We had to make a choice. With our reduced numbers we either could fix a few bugs at a time or full-on work on the additional features, ports and a stronger QA, and we decided for the later. It took a long time, but at this stage, we feel we made the right call.
During this time we started working with the fantastic people at Blowfish Studios (Blowfish´s website). They approached us with an interest to port and publish Element Space to consoles (starting with Playstation 4 and Xbox One). They also invested and worked a lot in the game, helping us bring it to a higher standard of quality and adding additional content. They have been a driving force in the upcoming release, helping us refocus our effort and we are enormously thankful for all their hard work!
The game feels a lot better and runs much smoother than before, but why leave it to just my opinion? You will be able to try it very very soon: our target is to release the console version with Blowfish Studios as publishers on the 24 th of March!
[previewyoutube="G683IMyGJo0;rightthumb"]
Not long after that, after we do some small tweeks, we will release a PC version with most of the new features working! We mean a couple weeks later, tops! We will try to bring all features to come out together, but we might do a few updates and just keep pumping them out (they are done, but we do need to QA them when integrating them on PC).
We are calling it a re-release, because we feel that now, Element Space runs, looks and sounds as we want it to finally feel. I do seriously recommend you to re-start the game, so you can see what I mean when I say: the game is at the level it deserves!
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So let´s jump straight to the list of new features that the game will re-release with:
-Full Voice Acting: Yes, you read it. All characters now have a voice. This was a lot of work but we felt that the game needed to add that level of immersion. We recommend restarting the campaign as to feel how this makes ES into a whole new experience!
-Easy Mode: We took a big leap of faith when we came out with the game with it´s hardcore difficulty, but the voices have been heard! If ES feels unbeatable to you, try the new mode of play! You will be able to enjoy the entire experience and learn for a second go at the campaign on a different difficulty ;)
-Strong Debugging: Indeed, we took note of every single complain, and fixed it! Of course, doing QA for the new features was key, but we also addressed previous reported bugs (and will aim our focus on fixing new ones, if they appear).
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Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to read this and to play the game. We do hope you enjoy the update and that we can finally give you the quality product that you as players deserve! That is also why there are some concept images on this post as well ;)
Cheers everyone, I leave you with some digital faces of Zero!
Javi.
Patch Notes | Update 1.0.21 Version
Fixes:
Fixed softlock when casting Maria's share the pain skill on the historian
Fixed CSAC Story Aux Lab door remaining unlocked if starting from checkpoint 4
Fixed softlock at Maria third ship conversation
Fixed missing text at combat stat window if combat rating was "Excellent"
Patch Notes | Update 1.0.16 Version
Hi all!
The team worked this week fixing the following bugs that were reported by you.
Fixes:
Fixed "Return to Ship" button of the pause menu
Fixed rare "black screen" Softlock when loading levels
Fixed Softlock when attacking, caused by a very specific combination of reviving a character, entering cover and attacking with that character
Fixed Overwatch reticle null reference if destroyed while hiding
Improved some performance hiccups when attacking
Fixed Popup windows animations, the background did not fill the entire screen
Set Bug report window timeout to 1 minute
Fixed health bar info popup animations
Fixed Party hud portraits downed animation, the portraits where colored after having revived the characters
Many of these bugs were reported through the Bug Report Feature ingame ( CRTL+F1).
This is actually really helpful for bug fixing as it is faster for us to trace down the bug.
So, we encourage you to use this new feature that will speed things up for us and for you to keep on enjoying Element Space.
Thank you again for all your help. As always, it means a lot to us!
Patch Notes | Update 1.0.14 Version
Changes:
Implemented a Bug Report window to optimize the communication and resolution of problems, it can be opened anywhere in the game by pressing Ctrl + F1, or from a button on the Pause and Main Menus.
Replaced the arrow on the dialog UI for a Return Key icon to better indicate how to skip dialog text.
Fixes:
Fixed Tier 3 weapon achievement being raised when finishing a secondary mission.
Fixed exception when checking for the unlock weapon achievement on missions that reward no weapons.
Fixed text overflow at option menu tab button "Gameplay" for spanish language.
HotFix Update | Version 1.0.14
Changes:
Implemented a Bug Report window to optimize the communication and resolution of problems, it can be opened anywhere in the game by pressing Ctrl + F1, or from a button on the Pause and Main Menus.
Replaced the arrow on the dialog UI for a Return Key icon to better indicate how to skip dialog text.
Fixes:
Fixed Tier 3 weapon achievement being raised when finishing a secondary mission.
Fixed exception when checking for the unlock weapon achievement on missions that reward no weapons.
Fixed text overflow at option menu tab button "Gameplay" for spanish language
HotFix Update | Version 1.0.11
Fixes:
[Hotfix] Fixed bug at Mid Boss mission causing the party to be composed only by the captain
[Hotfix] Fixed "Welcome to the gun show" achievement not correctly tracking unlocked weapons
HotFix Update | Version 1.0.10
Fixes:
[Hotfix] Fixed posible lock when reloading from checkpoint after finished the third combat of the tutorial
[Hotfix] Fixed Audio listener position causing some sounds to not be audible
Patch Notes | Version 1.0.9
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to the Element Space Update 1.0.9!
In this update, we focused on adding some "Quality of Life" improvements to the game hoping to address some of the feedback we gathered from the community and ultimately make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
Quality of Life Improvements
No penalties for bailing on a mission.
As many of you have requested, missions can be abandoned to try another party setup without any penalties in Normal Mode. Extinction Mode remains as always, so if you are up for that challenge make sure to plan ahead!
New achievements
We added new Achievements: one for each level finished with all combats on Perfect score, and one for having unlocked all the Perfect Level achievements.
Character Previews
Whenever you gain a character for your squad and add it for the first time to the party, you will be shown a short video preview of what this new character can do. Also, this video can be triggered anytime from the Skill & Perks screen pressing the newly added button "Review" next to the character portrait.
Character re-specs
Not happy with how you spent your perk points? You can now reset them and try a new build as many times as you want. We added a new "Reset" button to the Skill & Perks screen to allow this.
Feedback Improvements
Added Icons with tooltips for passive enemy effects and special abilities to their nameplates. This should help avoid nasty surprises.
Savefiles are now properly sorted by last played. In addition, we added the name of the mission in which the game was saved.
Added feedback on dialogue choices to showcase how it impacted your standings.
Removed continue button from the main menu. You can now select your saved games or start a new game inside a single menu.
Revised the difficulty for problematic missions. I'm looking at you, Maria...
Improved the spawn of enemy waves so they don't appear and attack in the same turn, allowing the player to react and run for cover.
Added on-screen notifications when the Ideology alignment or relation with a faction/companion changed
Tweaks:
MSRM Story mission, last combat: added two more turns to get perfect.
CSAC Story mission: Changed the flamethrower specialist for a grunt at the last combat.
CSAC Story mission: Changed Maria's AI to allow her to avoid grenades and better target her skills.
CSAC Story mission: Removed Maria's shield and added more HP.
Historian Loyalty mission: tweaked waves spawn conditions to avoid the waves to be triggered during the player's turn.
CSAC scientists are now unaffected by the CSAC faction perk.
Fixed A LOT OF cover positions to avoid line of sight problems on the following missions: Tutorial, MSRM Story, MSRM Resources, CSAC Story, CSAC Resources, FNAS Resources, Arthur Loyalty, Jack Loyalty, EBD Resources and Mid Boss.
Fixes:
Fixed lock at ES story mission triggered by a certain combination of responses on the last cutscene.
Fixed lock on the after mission debriefing screen when missions were played in a very specific order.
Fixed enemies affected with Soul Possession not unspawning when the phase changes to the Final Combat.
Fixed tutorial "Click to move/attack" text not being localized to Chinese.
Fixed savegame names not being localized.
Fixed Area abilities message "Target an Area" not being localized.
Fixed "Sprint" popup text not being localized.
Fixed character clipping to a wall at the EBD Story mission.
Fixed Controls menu in the Options screen not being localized to Chinese.
Fixed some popup windows not blocking input on the background.
Fixed savegames accumulating trash data.
Fixed achievement "Welcome to the Gun Show" triggering before time.
Fixed Jun's skirt physics bug.
Known Issues
We found a possible bug in the dynamic font of Unity causing the rendering of mistaken characters for the Russian language
Once again, a big Thank You to all the community for being so active and sending us so many great ideas, suggestions, and bug reports to improve Element: Space. We are truly happy to see you guys enjoying the game and we'll give our best to keep making it even better ːsteamhappyː
