Phantasmal: City of Darkness
Update 5 Now Out! (New Unity 5 enhancements)
We’re super excited about our latest changes: update 5 is now available for download!!!ːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyː
The biggest thing we’ve included is the Physically based Rendering which gives lighting a far more realistic appearance when reflecting off objects in the game. This means everything looks far, far more creepy now!
With some of the new features, performance will be slower, so expect older machines to struggle a little bit more now. We’ve tried to squeeze out higher FPS in the game at the same time and we will have a performance tuning round when we get to our refinement phase.
If possible, it’s best to run the game at Good or Great quality settings.
These are some of the highlights of the new features:
- An overhauled journal system
- Physically based rendering with Unity 5 Upgrade
- Some rudimentary events and jumpscares have been added in (more to - come in future)
- A new minimap on the top left of the UI (more work to be done on that in future)
- New junkie creatures
- Progressive levels that are smaller to begin with and then get larger as you - progress through the game
- Minor changes to lighting through the game
With the upgrade to Unity 5, a few minor bugs have been introduced into the game such as shadow defects, the highlighting system is now see-through, and a few collider issues. Also it can take a little longer for a level to generate, but it doesn’t mean the game has crashed. We are working hard to figure out what are causing these bugs.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update, we will have a lot more to come very soon!ːsteamhappyː
Update 5 Preview Video
I've put together a brief preview for the upcoming Update #5.
It will feature some of the Unity 5 upgrades with the Physically Based Rendering, as well as a significant content update (e.g. New Journal, new creature, gameplay balancing, etc).
The update will be available in approximately 2-3 weeks after testing.
[URL]https://youtu.be/3G3RKgYth94[/URL]
I'm working my towards a twitch channel as originally promised so we can do a bit of live Q&A in future! :)
Update 4 Released
Update 4 is now out, built from our new Unity 5 upgrade. There aren't too many new features in this build - it's more of a foundational build. One thing have fixed however, is the game pad support. With the upgrade, it's expected that there will be a few teething issues, but please bear with us - we will iron these out over time.
On the other hand, the upgrade to Unity 5 will mean we can start exploring better lighting and physics! More to come soon - stay tuned :)
Initial Unity 5 Upgrade Complete!
Of course there are still a few remaining issues as there always is with a major migration, but we're confident that this will mean a far better game for you in the long run!
Update 3 has been released
We’ve just released Update 3 which include a bunch of exciting changes!
1 An improved Sanity system
We’re currently building the foundation for our full Sanity system. The current implementation now has the concept of Shock and Sanity. Shock happens when you’re looking at something horrible or scary, which will instantly cause visual distortions. If you look away or turn off your torch, these effects will go away quickly.
Over time, if you are exposed to too many horrible things, your overall Sanity will begin to decrease. Your Sanity does not regenerate as your Shock attribute does. The lower your Sanity becomes, you’ll begin to experience more audio and visual hallucinations as well as other nasty side effects.
The only way to increase your Sanity is by taking medicine, and turning on light switches to calm you down.
We will be enhancing this mechanic over the course of development.
2 An improved UI with additional features
The in-game UI has been improved. In line with the Sanity system, the glow of the Elder Sign will begin to change. The greener it becomes, the less Sanity you have. If you ever do something that will decrease your Sanity, you will start to see “steam” start to pour from your Elder Sign.
3 Configurable Controls
We have now in place configurable controls. You can now bind your keys any way you like, and reset the defaults if you ever mess them up by mistake.
Note that as a result of putting this in place, gamepad controls have been broken for the current build. We will be looking to repair this in the coming builds.
4 Manual Door Opening
The door controller code has been updated so that now you can manually open doors rather than have them auto open when you go near them. In addition, spiders will no longer block doors by forcing them open or shut when you go near them.
5 Small Bug Fixes
A few minor things have been fixed:
- Sometimes volume control settings will be set to zero on pause
- Various physics objects bug fixes
- Walkable area fixes
Hope you enjoy these updates, and as always please give us any feedback you have!
Note that in the near future I’ll be running a brief twitch stream to cover some of these recent features.
Trading Cards are now Available
We're excited to have released the official Steam Trading Cards for Phantasmal. We have a whole bunch of cards, backgrounds, badges, and emoticons for you to collect. Enjoy! :)
Phantasmal makes it to E3!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXYA2kc52Gc&feature=youtu.be&t=51m45s
Hotfix Update 2.3
Hotfix Update 2.1
We found some critical issues with the sewer level with the recent update, so we've decided to temporarily remove it from the game while we fix it up.
We've also gameplay balanced most of the levels now so that it should be a little less harsh to get through :)
Let us know what you think!
Update 2 is now available!
- The Starvers and Shadows have been updated with local avoidance, which means they will no longer cluster together and overlap when attacking you. You'll notice that they will spread out and try to flank you now.
- In-game menus have been completely overhauled. There are more options and a blur has been set once menus are open.
- Some minor achievement labels have been fixed.
- Melee weapons no longer degrade or show effects if they don't hit anything.
- Shock/fear effects have been toned down
- A new notes system is now in place, which allows for pictures.