Hacknet's been the last three years of my life, my creativity, and most of my time outside of a day job - and I couldn't have asked for more from the response. Thanks so much to everyone in the community for being so great, and keeping the indie dream alive!
Instead of moving on to new projects, I've decided to dedicate most of this year to supporting and expanding the game.
I've been looking at all my options on what I should be focusing on next, and what the community really wants and in this post I want to give everyone an update on what my plans are, and when you can all expect new stuff. Lets get to it!
Localization and Translations
A lot of people have been requesting localized versions of Hacknet and some eager fans have even started submitting translations. Because Hacknet is such a text-heavy game and has an unusual structure, this isn’t super easy to do but I'm currently working on the technical side and will then be organizing translations for major regions soon. If you are eager to help with translating, please let me know on matt [@] hacknet-os.com!
Multiplayer
Multiplayer is another feature that many people in the community have been clamoring for, and I'm still in the process of experimenting with various models for this. I've got some pretty crazy ideas, and this is something that I will be exploring and releasing later this year as a free update.
Education And Training Versions
An unexpected set of requests started cropping up soon after release, with a number of educational establishments, training groups and security companies asking for a training version of Hacknet. Some amazing contacts in the US Department of Defence and cyber warfare groups are helping design special improvements, and mods to the game to be used in their training programs. In parallel, I'm investigating a version of Hacknet that can be deployed to students as a learning tool, and a training tool for companies. Some of this work will hopefully filter back into the main version of the game.
Mod Support
Since day one, mod support has been the number one, most requested feature. The good news is that, yes, I am working on the backbone system that will allow modders to create Hacknet stories easily, and more importantly, a way for players to download them seamlessly via Steam Workshop. Over the next few months I will be seeding these tools to game developer friends and existing Hacknet modders for testing. This will hopefully result in some great mods being available when we release official mod-support later this year as a free update.
Expansion / DLC
Overall, the thing that the community seems to want is just more Hacknet. I definitely want to make a Hacknet 2 but after more than three years working on the game, I feel like I need to work on something different before embarking on a full sequel. As a solution, I'm thinking about creating a premium expansion for Hacknet, to give you all some significant new content but at a scale I can complete this year.
I am aiming for 3-5 hours of gameplay, with a new story, some interesting new programs, tonnes of new computers, servers, contracts, and some hidden surprises along the way. I’m planning to make this a premium piece of DLC with a price of $5 USD and launch it in the back half of the year.
Before embarking on this, however, I wanted to pose the question to you, the community - is this something you would want? If so, I'll add it to the schedule and get to work on these cool ideas I've had since the release. Otherwise, I'll stuff them into a closet and will look at implementing them in a possible sequel later down the track after I've worked on some other projects I have in mind.
How does that sound to everyone? If the community is really against charging for DLC, we'll work out a new plan, but to me, this looks like the best way to get everyone some new Hacknet as soon as possible. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Timelines
Assuming that the community thinks that DLC should be developed, this is the rough timeline I’ll be aiming for:
April / May - Translated/Localized Hacknet launches all over the world. Prototype mod tools seeded to developers and community members for feedback
August/September - DLC + Mod support launch
October/November - Multiplayer Launch
Thanks again for all your support. I have some pretty crazy ideas for the additions this year - I hope you're ready.
-Matt
Hacknet FNA Update & Discount
Hacknet FNA Update & Discount
After months of retooling Hacknet to launch on Mac and Linux, last week Matt released an update that moved the PC version of the game onto a unified branch using FNA framework. Many of you would not have noticed a difference, but having the unified version means that fixes and updates can be rolled out across all platforms, and as an added bonus, a number of the issues people were experiencing should be fixed.
Now that the framework is unified, we wanted to share a few resources for those of you still having some weird issues. First of all you can view the Crash Fixes, Workarounds and Common Problem Solutions thread. If the answers that you seek do not appear there, head on over to the Bug Reports v2 thread to find out how you can report a new issue specific to your machine.
Also, you would have noticed that Hacknet was featured in a Steam Daily Deal yesterday for a 33% discount. We're also celebrating Australia day across a number of our titles, so we're continuing the Hacknet discount for another 24 hours! We also have a number of other Surprise Attack Games on sale:
Dungeon League 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/362310/
Super Mutant Alien Assault 20% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/368680/
Fort Meow - 50% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/352070/
Finally, below you will find the changelog for the new FNA update for Hacknet. Until next time.
Steve - Community Manager
Hacknet FNA Update Changelog
Added a special recovery function to V's Bit mission chain to re-join it if it was abandoned partway through.
Fixed many crash on startup and save corruption issues.
Added an XNA branch of Hacknet on Steam! If you are unable to run the base version of the game, the XNA branch may work for you. Details here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/365450/discussions/0/451850849198782888/
Fixed issues where some mission chains would incorrectly start earlier than intended.
Fixed issues where some .exe files would run the wrong program (for new saves - most mission critical programs should auto-recover for corrupted saves too).
Fixed many issues with instabilities and crashes during gameplay.
Reduced base system requirements
Added an option to disable Multisampling in the settings to improve performance
Fixed an issue where it could be impossible to hit the apply button in the settings menu.
Fixed crashes revolving around editing some files at very low resolutions
Improved UI feedback for the early game and tutorial phase
Fixed some issues that could prevent people progressing past /el
Fixed an issue with some missions not auto-completing when ready
Fixed an issue preventing progress through the Prometheus server
Fixed an issue that would crash Hacknet if the host computer was running an unusual Date format
Many other bugfixes and stability improvements. Retired old bug report thread completely!
Mac & Linux Versions Out Now!
It's finally here! Mac and Linux fans can rejoice, the first release version of Hacknet on your platforms is now available on Steam! We would like to thank everyone for their patience while waiting for these new versions - Hacknet runs on a custom engine, and getting it to behave correctly on platforms outside of the Windows architecture was no mean feat. In fact, we called in the big guns and sourced help from Ethan "flibitijibibo” Lee, utilising his FNA framework. Hacknet is actually the very first game for release under the completed FNA library, which is very exciting!
A huge shout out to all of those who have helped us beta test the Mac and Linux version of the game. It's because of your help that we were able to squash the bugs, get the game running, and now to have it in the hands of the wider community. Without you, this would have taken a whole lot longer to make it a reality.
It's also worth noting that Windows users will benefit from these two new releases also - bending the existing engine meant that we were able to get some more performance out of it, and fix some of the niggling issues that still persist for some users. Now that we have a unified build, bug fixes and tweaks will be easy to implement across all platforms.
Finally, if you do experience some bugs on Mac and Linux specifically, please throw them into this Mac & Linux Bug Report thread so we can track them specifically. For the next week this is our focus, to make sure that any issues can be dealt with once we get more people playing on these platforms with a wider range of hardware specs.
Until next time!
Steve - Community Manager
Hacknet Nominated In IGN Black Beta Select Awards, Mac & Linux Coming Soon
Hello everyone!
What a huge week it has been. Thanks to you lovely folks, we've managed to get Hacknet nominated as the third best Australian Game Of The Year on Kotaku! Thanks to everyone who put in their vote - being on that list is certainly a great honour. A big shout out to Hand of Fate and Armello, both of which are fantastic games, and I urge you all to check them out!
We need your help again. IGN Australia is hosting their annual Black Beta Select Awards, awards that celebrate the greatest games of the year, and Hacknet is a contender in both the Best Original Game and Best Aussie/NZ-Made Game awards. Voting is closing very soon, and if everyone could give us a push, that would be greatly appreciated! Go and cast your vote over here.
The last "help us take over the world request", I promise. IndieDB Game of the Year voting is open for another 5 days, and we would really appreciate the support. Don't forget that if you create an IndieDB account, your vote will count as 10, which will certainly help us skyrocket up the charts. Go cast a vote over here.
In terms of development updates, the porting to Mac and Linux is going through final testing now. We have some really dedicated members of the community helping us track down the bugs, and we're hoping to release these versions to the public very, very soon. Thanks to everyone who has helped out on this - Hacknet runs on a very unique engine, and tracking down the strange issues that come with forcing it to run on entirely new platforms is no small feat, especially when there are only two of us working on the code base. On the plus side, this is also helping us eliminate some of the more obscure issues on the PC version, which means when we released a unified version, everything will be running a little smoother for all!
Thanks again for your support - we are truly blown away by the dedication to the Hacknet community, and we can't wait to keep things moving in 2016!
Steve - Community Manager
Vote for Hacknet as Game of the Year!
Hacknet has been nominated for Game of the Year on both Indie DB and Kotaku!
We want to thank everyone who's been playing and enjoying the game.
Unfortunately we can't Hack the polls so we really need your help to win this!
You can vote HERE for Indie DB and HERE for Kotaku.
If you create an account on Indie DB the vote counts 10 times the amount as a anonymous vote.
Thanks again for the support and see you soon.
Cheers,
Steve - Community Manager
Mac/Linux Coming Soon
Pax Aus is over, and I wanted to give everyone an update on what's going on, and what's coming next.
Mac and Linux Ports
The ports are on their way - using the amazing FNA libraries and being ported by flibit himself! Hopefully this will not only make it available to more people (and playable on more computers for everyone that already owns it), but it should fix some crash on startup, fullscreen, and other issues too! We're hoping to have the port done, tested and out in a few weeks.
Alienware FX
Alienware were kind enough to provide some laptops to demo Hacknet on at Pax, and to make it look cooler, I hooked up every theme in Hacknet, and some events to their hardware lighting system. If you have an Alienware system, you should see some stuff like this:
Future
I've rolled out some small patches since the last update to fix some issues that affected some people, and i'm planning on continuing this as soon as we've moved over to the new FNA branch for the ports. I'm also working on a special education build of Hacknet to put in schools and universities - to teach students terminal and computer science basics. If you are, or know anyone that's interested in this, let me know: matt@hacknet-os.com.
I'm also looking into mod support, which is a priority, and multiplayer, which is still a fair way off. There's also big plans for translations of Hacknet, that'll come with some extra content in it too.
Today marks a very important milestone for Hacknet. Thanks to the support from you, our community, we have managed to pass over 60,000 hackers playing the game, which is no small accomplishment. Our little hacking game created by a one man development team has managed to captivate the attention of so many people across the globe, and we couldn't be happier!
To celebrate, we have worked with The Otherworld Agency to release the Hacknet Original Soundtrack - 14 killer tracks from the game including artists such as Carpenter Brut, Cinematrik and Rémi Gallego. You can purchase it as a DLC update via
http://store.steampowered.com/app/408710/,
or via Bandcamp: https://theotherworldagency.bandcamp.com/album/hacknet-ost.
Another major event is the fact that Hacknet has been launched as Steam's Midweek Madness deal. Everyone who purchases the game will save 25%! We also launched the Hacknet Deluxe Edition which bundles the soundtrack. As part of this deal, the Soundtrack is also 25% off.
What's next? Matt has been rolling out minor hotfixes to support the major stability patch that was released a few weeks ago. We are fairly certain most of the major issues have been fixed, but if you are still experiencing issues, please post here.
PAX Australia is next week, and Hacknet will be featured in the PAX Rising section as one of the chosen games by Penny Arcade. If you are heading along to the show, make sure you come and say hi to Matt, and I'll be floating around between the Hacknet booth and the Surprise Attack Games booth.
After we are sure that the game is stable and there are no major bugs, onto the Mac and Linux ports!
Thanks again for the support. Enjoy the soundtrack, and we'll report back in a few weeks after PAX Australia is done!
Steve - Community Manager
Hacknet Update - Fixes Save Game, Junebug & More!
Hello everyone,
Things haven't been slowing down for Hacknet. After a whirlwind trip to Tokyo for TGS, Matt is back in Australia and cracking into updates and fixes leading towards PAX Australia. Today, we are excited to launch the biggest update for Hacknet to date, one that should fix a bunch of those save game issues and roadblocks some of you were running against.
This patch should solve all issues with save game errors, corruptions, and the infamous Junebug issue. There are some other handy fixes here and there that should knock out a number of the bugs that were appearing on some systems.
Oh behalf of Team Fractcal Alligator and Surprise Attack Games, I wanted to thank all of you for being the best community around! I understand that these issues were frustrating for those who were experienceing them, but with such a small team and the need to find a fix that did not effect the save games of those not encountering the bug, we needed to make sure that this fix was right before pushing it live to the general public.
Next up we've got some PAX Australia plans, and then we look forward to some future content, an OST release, and of course, Mac and Linux support.
Until next time.
Steve -Community Manager
----------------------------
Hacknet Update 3.014
Dramatically reworked saves system - including a system to auto-upgrade all existing saves from the current
system to the new one, and perform some error recovery on them to fix the most common save corruption issues.
The new system is much, much more stable, and the upgrade process will try and recover all saves that it can,
including ones that may have been previously lost or unusable.
Fixed issues where deleting some specific files would cause the save to be corrupted.
Added support for directory changing with non-relative paths. (i.e: cd /log from anywhere will not put you in
the log folder)
Fixed a problem where denying Junebug, then later moving onto the bit investigation would not be adding in
resources that the player needs for those missions to the CSEC assets server.
Fixed Education Network Archives saying 'Player belongs to another faction' when reading some records.
Fixed many issues surrounding creating and loading multiple saves.
Fixed issues where Hacknet would crash if the directory path you were in was too big for your resolution.
Fixed some flow issues with the tutorial
Fixed branch save games not loading correctly in some cases
Fixed an issue where on some systems, the X-C mission could not be completed
Save Game Bug Testing - Let's Test This Fix!
Hello everyone,
Matt has been hard at work on the save game issue, and we feel that we have a reliable fix that is ready for public testing.
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAVE GAME ISSUE, PLEASE TRY THE FOLLOWING
Right Click Hacknet in your Steam Library
Select "Properties"
Click on the "Betas" tab
Enter hacknetsavetest into the text field and click on "Check Code"
Select saves_test from the drop down menu, and click close
This will download a small update. Please go ahead and see if your save game works correctly as intended.
Please provide your feedback in the following Steam thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/365450/discussions/0/517141807565463684/
IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN EFFECTED BY THE SAVE GAME ISSUE, BUT DON'T MIND RISKING YOUR SAVE FOR THE SAKE OF TESTING, PLEASE ALSO TRY THE ABOVE & PROVIDE FEEDBACK
Let's get this bug sorted once and for all!
Steve
Bug update, heading to TGS & PAX Prime wrap-up!
Hello everyone!
Today we have an update the goes into the current bugs in the game, and how you can help us squash them, a little post-PAX Prime report, and some information about Tokyo Game Show. Let's get right to it.
The Bugs
We want to thank everyone for being super understanding in regards to the bugs that have cropped up since launch. Being an extremely small team, we ran Hacknet through it's paces on as many systems as we could before launch, but when the game landed in the hands of you lovely people, some unforeseen issues cropped up. While Matt has been working tirelessly on eliminating as many of these as possible, his time has been limited due to the SimTect conference, followed by PAX Prime. Despite being away from the forums, Matt has been coding and testing around the clock, even on the plane ride to and from the US!
The big issue that we are tackling in the next 10 days in the save game issue. A number of people have lost their saves due to an error, and the reason it is taking us longer than expected to rectify the issue is that the changes we make will effect every player, and without proper testing, that could lead to everyone losing their save progress. This is something we want to avoid, so we have been trialing and testing various methods to ensure that the fix will benefit the entire community, not just those who have lost their progress to date.
In the next few days, we would like to call on those currently effected by the save game issue to help us test the solution. If you are having issues (or if you want to take a punt and just help us test this, knowing your save could be compromised), please sign up via this Google Form so we can contact you with specific instructions, and grant you access to the testing branch on Steam.
After we have tested this satisfactorally with the help from our awesome community, we will roll out the update with a Steam announcement. Matt will then continue to work his way through the list of the other bugs that have come to our attention, but as it stands, the save game issue is currently our number one priority.
Tokyo Game Show
After the 10 days of intense programming, Matt will be jumping on a plane and heading over to Tokyo Game Show - a first for him, and a first for one of our games. He will be spending one week on the ground in Tokyo, showcasing the game and meeting with various developers. You can expect some interesting photos appearing on the HacknetOS twitter account!
PAX Prime Was A Blast!
Last week we spent three days in Seattle at PAX Prime, and it was an absolute blast! It was great when some of the Hacknet fans came up to meet and chat with Matt, and we were really excited to see new fans test the game and pick up a copy to take home. To everyone who stopped by, thanks for coming and celebrating with us! We'll post up the TGS info when we get it, but otherwise our next big show will be PAX Australia.
That's about if for this update. Speak to you all soon!
