You guys have been a phenomenal help during Early Access. You've given us some great insight into what we should be doing, improvements you'd like us to make, and features you want to see. And it's helped us craft a brilliant vision of what V1 of Phantom Halls should look like when we hit Halloween 2018.
We have the resources to get our original vision wrapped up by that time, but we want to make Phantom Halls even better than that. We're perfectionists. And so, we're asking for a little help. We're trying to raise an extra £30,000 so that V1.0 of Phantom Halls is truly awesome.
If you'd like to help us out, head over to the Kickstarter page and get pledging. We know many of you reading this will already own a copy of the game, but there are plenty of other exclusive goodies to be had, and you'll always get a key to give to a friend.
And if you just wanna help spread the word, that's awesome too!
Thanks again to everyone who's supported us so far, and here's to the next chapter in Phantom Halls!
'Til next time,
RIP folks!
Phantom Halls is coming to Kickstarter next week!
Greetings, slayers!
Phantom Halls has now been in Early Access for almost a year, and we're dead pleased with what we've managed to achieve in that time. The game available today is almost unrecognisable from the bare-bones game loop we unleashed onto Steam on March 13th last year - and so much of that is down to you guys, for all your feedback and suggestions. Thanks so much!
We've always been aiming for a Halloween 2018 V1 release, and that's still the case - we're on-track to achieve that. And we believe we could release something pretty good by that time too. But we're perfectionists. We think you deserve better than 'pretty good'.
That's why, to mark our one-year Early Access anniversary next week, we're going to be launching a Kickstarter campaign - to try to raise a little bit of extra cash to go that extra mile, and make the game as good as it possibly can be.
It's going to be a bit different to most Kickstarters. We're not asking people to buy into a concept or an idea: Phantom Halls exists, it's out, you can play it now, many of you are playing it now. And we don't need the money to finish the game. We could do it. But we want Phantom Halls to be properly brilliant, and there are loads of little finishing touches we'd love to be able to do, but can't quite stretch to as things stand. That's where we hope you lovely lot come in.
We'd love for you to help us spread the word. Tell your mates about our upcoming Kickstarter. Get them excited. Show them Phantom Halls and tell 'em why you love it. And if, when the Kickstarter launches, you'd like to back it yourself - even if you already own the game - you'll get an extra key to give to a friend and try out the co-op mode together!
We'll post again when the Kickstarter goes live on 13 March. 'Til then... RIP folks!
Patch Notes! v0.52 - We need guns... lots of guns!
Greetings slayers! For those of you out there who take your zombie hunting more seriously than the average meddling kids and are looking for a military grade assault solution, this is the update for you!
- Added Tactical SMG, which boasts a fire rate of fire, but no knockback abilities compared to the regular SMG.
- Added the Pump Shotgun, a shotgun with higher accuracy, but lower rate of fire than the regular shotgun
- Added the Magnum, a handgun that sacrifices fire rate for a much higher knockback rate.
- Added the Frying Pan, a flimsy melee weapon that's excellent for deflecting attacks.
- Added the Bent Pipe, a durable melee weapon that's a bit unwieldy.
- Added the Assault Rifle, a powerful rifle that fires rifle rounds in three round bursts.
- Added the Guitar as the melee weapon that the Metalhead starts with by default! \m/ >.< \m/
- Added the Crossbow, which silently fires bolts that can pin enemies down, reducing their movement speed.
- Added the Sniper Rifle, a cumbersome rifle that fires rounds that penetrate multiple targets.
- Increased the fire rate of the Shotgun, reducing its accuracy to compensate.
- Slightly reduced the damage and increased the reload time of the Rifle.
- Ash now has a modified animation set, so that he no longer uses his chainsaw hand to help aim weapons.
- Fixed a typo in "Decease and Desist" that incorrectly told players to escape the graveyard instead of the mansion.
- Revised some text on the quests "A Wild Goose Chase", "DIY Hard", and "Read By Dawn."
- Replaced the Machine Pistol model with a higher quality one.
- Adjusted character model rotation so that they more accurately face the direction they're moving in.
- Reworked how character damage animations are played so that characters "step back" when they're knocked back instead of sliding along the floor.
- Added new sound effects for metallic blunt weapons, such as the Crowbar.
- Added new sound effects to the Clown enemy.
Happy hunting!
RIP
Patch Notes! v0.518 We're back in business ;)
Alright alright, I know it's been a little quiet around here over the holidays but we had a pretty nasty zombie outbreak and it's taken weeks to torch all the surfaces and eliminate the T-virus contamination...
Fortunately the whole team made it out unscathed, so we've got a few minor bug fixes for you today along with new quests to fuel the skill tree rewards system. New weapons & characters will also be coming down the pipe in the coming months, and having kept a few vials of the zombie virus for study (what could go wrong?!) we've been messing around with the ability to turn player characters into enemies, so we can look forward to player character zombification in the near future too!
For now, here's the patch list and we'll be back with more soon:
- Added the Machine Pistol, a rare, automatic submachine gun that fires pistol rounds at a high rate.
- Ash's model now properly holds items in the free, left hand as opposed to somehow holding weapons in his chainsaw arm.
- Added the Hillbilly quest "Bathed in Moonshine"
- Added the Cheerleader quest "Gimme a Z!"
- Added the Cheerleader quest "Playthings"
- Fixed a minor issue where returning to the title screen from the Character Select after returning from a quest would briefly show the mansion's doorway before fading out to the title screen.
RIP!
Patch Notes v0.5 - Player progression and character customization!
Seasons screamings, Slayers! (Sorry...)
As fall finally comes to a close and the streets are chillingly littered with the dead (leaves, that is), we're happy to present the long awaited Progression update, just in time for Thanksgiving!
With this update, you'll notice some of the characters that were previously unlocked to start have mysteriously disappeared from the character selection screen. But worry not! They'll soon be fighting by your side again should you be able to survive the horrors the Phantom Halls have to offer!
The Progression update finally adds persistent save data to the game (with full Steam Cloud support!), allowing you to earn skill points by completing missions and to spend them in order to unlock abilities to give you the upper hand against the horde! As the game continues to grow, we'll be introducing new abilities into the characters' skill trees, eventually allowing you to swap out and specialize the characters' special abilities!
This update also adds the ability to charge melee attacks, granting you bonus damage or knockback depending on the weapon type. Savvy Slayers can use the melee charge state, which locks characters in place, to allow a character to bravely face the horde while the rest of the party falls back.
Speaking of which, as different members of your squad attack a single enemy in quick succession, their attacks will grant a small "Combo Attack" damage bonus, culminating in a 30% damage bonus after all three characters have contributed to a combo. Kill an enemy with a combo attack, and, well, you'll see ;)
Lastly, we've begun work on adding elemental effects which we'll be expanding on in future versions. Bodies of water can now be encountered during your quests, water-logged basements, and small creeks in the forests, which drench your characters (and enemies too!) putting out any fire-based conditions that might be affecting them. In the future, we'll be introducing more of these environmental conditions and coming up with creative ways of exploiting the elements to dispatch your enemies in unexpected ways.
The update's also stuffed to the gills with other bug fixes and improvements ranging from Dualshock 4 support, to an improved level generation strategy, and even a player-requested controller detection toggle. (We're listening, folks!)
Thank you again for continuing to support the game, and we're excited to hear your feedback on these new features on our game's discussion boards!
Until next time, RIP!
Implemented the in-game progression system. By undertaking quests, you can now earn skill points, which can be used to customize your characters via a skill-tree. Quests can also award unique bonuses, like character unlocks, additional quests, and more!
Added combo attacks, which are triggered automatically when different characters attack the same enemy within a short period of time. Each stack of the combo grants +10% damage bonus, up to 3 stacks, after which the combo is reset.
Added the ability to charge melee weapons by holding down the attack button. Generally, bladed weapons will grant additional damage when charged, while blunt weapons will grant additional knockback chance.
Added the ability to delay throwing items by holding the attack button down, similarly to charging a melee attack.
Added the ability to fire the SMG full-auto by holding down the attack button.
Added the ability to hit some projectiles back. For instance, skeleton bones can be hit back with blunt weapons.
Added a chance that basement areas will be waterlogged. Water also now appears in the Forest area, and grants the "Wet" condition, which can be used to extinguish burning enemies.
Improved player character ragdolling.
Added support for Dual Shock 4 controllers.
Added a toggle for the dynamic control switching, allowing players to force Keyboard or Joystick controls, or to automatically switch between the two like in previous versions of the game.
Added the ability to cancel out of most game menus with Escape or the controller's cancel button.
Fixed an issue in the inventory screen where swapping an equipped item into a different position with an item would unequip it.
Adjusted the behavior for quest-related room placement in certain quests, and generally improved the level generation so that floor transitions are spaced more reasonably.
Fixed triggers being broken in the DIY Hard quest, preventing the Hillbilly's dialogue from playing.
Fixed an issue with looting quest conditions sometimes causing a level generation failure.
Adjusted Gargoyle so that it is slightly easier to approach.
Clowns now throw three balloons at once and cooldown for a longer period of time so that they don't end up running right alongside them.
Adjusted rotation of melee weapons so that they fit better in characters' hands.
Resized the Tape Reel in Cabin missions.
Added basements floors to certain quests.
Adjusted lights on Basement and Conservatory areas.
Added failsafe if a character is falling for more than 5 seconds, which could potentially happen if barricades were spawned in certain positions.
When quitting the game during gameplay, you're now returned to the character select screen instead of the title screen.
Patch Notes! v0.4 - Break down the doors and barricade the halls!
Major game play overhaul for all you slayers out there!
Added the ability to push furniture over to create barricades that can be used as a buffer against hordes of enemies. Barricades can also be climbed, allowing your party to pop off shots from a higher vantage point.
Added the ability to force doors open by attacking them, stunning anyone caught behind them. You can also see one room ahead of you, so that you can use this new ability to gain the upper hand at the start of a fight.
Improved the enemy AI so that they seek out noises made by the character if they aren't in combat. Running around, firing guns, and slamming doors open will attract enemy attention. Enemies now display their current alert status, emoting an ? when they've noticed something suspicious, and an ! when they've sighted an enemy and are engaging in combat.
Added sneak attacks, which are triggered if an enemy is attacked on the back while they aren't engaged in combat. Sneak attacks deal 1.5x damage and don't reduce melee weapon durability.
Added the Molotov Cocktail, which can be hurled to engulf a small area in flames which grant an damage-over-time effect that slowly burns characters and igniting characters they touch as well. Flares and Torches also grant the burning effect, so take care to keep your distance when attacking enemies with these weapons.
Overhauled the Gargoyle enemy, giving it the ability to fly around and launch powerful fireballs at its foes.
Overhauled the Evil Doll enemy, giving it the ability to demonically levitate and hurl itself at its foes.
Overhauled the Clown enemy, giving it the ability to toss a deadly red balloon.
You can now peek left/right while hiding in a closet, allowing you to check to see if the coast is clear before you exit.
Revised the aim controls on the joypad so that they crosshair is anchored to the lead character in your party, and allowing quicker adjustments to aim. The old crosshair functionality can be used by holding the Left Trigger, and optionally, the old crosshair functionality can be toggled as the default in the Options screen.
Added an option to adjust joypad aim sensitivity while using the old aim controls.
Added the ability to start a quest with less than the maximum party size for a quest.
Added an adjustable screenshake to punctuate certain ingame actions.
Added a new slow motion effect, which is triggered at certain ingame events.
Character control now shifts to second character if the first is busy.
Fixed Character slots in the Inventory screen not properly updating when an item that was equipped on a character was equipped onto someone else.
Added various new lootable containers, such as ammo boxes and medical kits, that contain specific sets of items.
Enemies now spawn on the same floor as you during the mansion escape.
Added visual and audio cue for when a shot has killed an enemy.
Zombie's Undead buff now only applies to ranged, projectile based attacks, allowing them to be hurt by special attacks and conditions.
Fixed a bug where flying characters still had a small bit of gravity applied to them, causing ghosts to appear to spawn very far underground.
Using the Flashlight now calls out the Illuminated buff add.
Extended the Jock's Defensive Line animation to correspond to the increased duration of the ability.
Added extra distance to Flying Beetle's fly move.
Adjusted ragdoll rules to make them more dynamic.
Ghost ragdolls now float.
Revised visuals on flares.
RIP folks!
Halloween Hot Fix! v0.31.666
Get ready to hide and seek ;)
Added the Ash quest "A Wild Goose Chase"
Renamed the Metalhead quest "Vampire Hunter" to "Decease and Desist" and added dialogue to the quest.
Interactions now show an onscreen indicator showing progress.
Interactions can now be canceled by pressing a character's action buttons.
Added visual flourishes to dialogue boxes and combat text, and implemented functionality to keep dialogue boxes visible onscreen.
Added minimap icons for unlooted lootable containers.
Adjusted lootable containers so that bigger containers contain more items than smaller ones.
Added a default config file, which gets loaded if no previous config file is available.
Fixed an issue where characters who left the party would occasionally not remove buffs they granted.
Fixed an issue where Conditions were not properly being deleted, potentially causing a buildup as gameplay goes on.
Changed Context Up to Reload without a character button held. There is now only one toggle character button, but it will be easier to reload the leader character.
Fixed Deer Head trap not firing.
Guaranteed items always show up on the last loot roll for a container so that they're the last thing the player sees.
Changed the behavior of large closets. Rather than being lootable, they are now used to hide your party.
Fixed an issue where hitting the right shoulder of a humanoid would cause no damage to occur.
Fixed a rare issue where damage wasn't being reported properly.
Fixed priorities on some quest dialogue triggers.
Fixed deer head trap hitbox.
Improved melee attack hit detection accuracy.
Reduced looting time.
RIP
Halloween Update & Co-op Prototype Out Now!
Greetings, slayers!
Just a few days to go until Halloween, and that can only mean one thing: it's time for an update to Phantom Halls!
As you may have seen from the patch notes we posted earlier, we've added - among loads of things - a host of new Halloween-themed environments, enemies and traps. But they're not just there for one week only. They'll remain in Phantom Halls forever more - watching, waiting, lurking...
And it's not just Halloween content we're excited to announce today. There's something else...
A very early prototype of multiplayer is here!
Since we released Phantom Halls on Steam Early Access back in March, by far the most requested feature has been multiplayer. We've known for some time that we wanted to do it, and we've been working away in the background, trying out and testing ideas.
Our original plan was to wait until we had something we were really pleased with to show you all. But then, the whole reason we're in Early Access has been to get feedback - and the whole idea of a multiplayer component spawned from feedback from you wonderful folks.
That's why we've included a very early co-op prototype in the new update. It's by no means the finished article - expect it to be rough, ready, buggy, and not especially great yet - but we wanted to give you the chance to check it out and ask you what you think. You can access it via the in-game pause menu by selecting 'Drop In'.
And there's more...
We've also added a mini-map to the UI so that players can quickly identify the locations of floor transitions as well as unexplored rooms - and we've also reworked the inventory a little, making swapping weapons a bit easier.
There are a whole host of other updates to the interface and controls, which hopefully make the game weel a little smoother to play.
Are we going in the right direction with all these changes? Have we completely misunderstood what you wanted? Let us know in the comments!
Until next time, RIP folks!
Halloween Pumpkin Patch! v0.31 mega update - CoOp & More!
I'll just leave this here...
Added basic local co-op functionality. This can be accessed through the ingame pause menu by selecting "Drop In." At this time, only XBox 360 controllers are supported.
Added the ability to select multiple characters at the start of a quest. Certain quests can restrict how many characters can be selected at the start, in addition to which specific characters can/cannot be brought into them.
Added a minimap to the UI so that players can quickly identify the locations of floor transitions, as well as unexplored rooms.
Added a character context menu, which is shown by holding down the character's corresponding action key (1, 2, 3 by default). You can now freely reload characters' ammo, switch weapons, and swap to characters on the fly without interrupting gameplay.
Added the ability to sprint, which is bound to left shift by default.
Adjusted character grouping schema so that characters now travel in a tight knit pack, allowing followers to use melee attacks more effectively.
Character indicators now group up when characters are close enough, maintaining a clearer left-to-right read order.
Melee attacks now nudge characters forward slightly.
Added the Goth and Nerd quest "Gourd Goring."
Added an early version of the Metalhead quest "Vampire Hunter." The dialogue for this quest will be added in an upcoming patch.
Added Vampire and Pumpkin King bosses.
Added Pumpkin and Pumpkin Traps that can be encountered in the "Gourd Goring" quest.
Integrated more room layouts for the Cemetery area.
Reworked inventory logic so that equipped items remain in the inventory, simplifying the "Next Usable Weapon" functionality and allowing the proper implementation of a "Previous Usable Weapon" button.
Added the ability to swap out characters if trying to recruit characters past the maximum party size. This feature is currently not accessible ingame as the level generator only places as many characters as the maximum party size, but this will change in the near future.
Game configurations are now stored as a flat file, allowing users to manually modify settings outside of the game.
Enemy projectiles can now be destroyed by attacking them.
Completely overhauled in-game character indicators to give a much better overview of your character's current status and abilities.
Revised overall controller-based UI interactions, so that options are properly selected and deselected when menus are opened and closed.
Revised switching between Controller and KB+M based inputs, properly selecting the default option on the interface when a switch occurs.
Revised the Options screen, and adjusted the available options to better reflect the settings they affect.
Increased the amount of inventory slots granted by each character in the party from 6 to 10.
Increased starting ammo counts for player characters and increased the amount of ammo looted per item drop.
Added the ability to control music and sound effects volumes independently, as well as a master volume control for modifying overall game volume.
Improved the accuracy of the hitbox that displays tooltips, fixing an issue where tooltips wouldn't display if you were hovering over the head of a character.
Integrated a comprehensive overhaul on enemy sound effects.
Updated the model for Ash's car.
Fixed an issue where boss characters would occasionally be spawned as regular enemies (fixes a bug where the Necronomicon appeared as a standard enemy in the quest Read By Dawn)
Fixed the "Third Character" trigger being improperly set on controllers as a negative button by default, effectively preventing the third character from being used unless the buttons were rebound.
Revised bullet tracer particle effect.
Reduced bullet range.
Enemies now won't try to attack characters who are busy interacting.
Fixed certain projectiles being ignored by characters due to characters overlapping them at the start of a frame.
Implemented floor "caps", so that impassable locked doors don't occur anymore.
Improved how enemy AI's select targets.
Revised grub animations.
Replaced Cockroach with Flying Beetle.
Slightly increased unarmed damage range.
All Chandeliers can now be attacked to drop them.
Fixed an issue with the cockroach that would make it occasionally spawn on the ceiling.
Fixed an issue where the Goth's active ability triggered the Cheerleader's dialogue.
Adjusted the interaction prompt, so that the button prompt no longer covers the icon of the object you're interacting with.
Fixed issues with the level exit being placed incorrectly in the Cabin levels.
Fixed an issue where recruitable characters would sometimes spawn inside of props.
Added whizz-by sound effects for bullet based weapons.
Fixed visual effects on dying ghost corpses.
Fixed visual effects on dying insect corpses.
Unlikely allies and new recruits added in select missions
Tis the season ;)
RIP!
Pumpkins, scarecrows... and multiplayer!
Greetings, slayers!
It's October, which can only mean one thing: it's almost Halloween! Of course, that means we're hard at work on some new content for the game to coincide with the spookiest of seasons.
We'll be bringing out our Halloween finest with the usual helping of bats, spiders, zombies, ghosts and graveyards - but we'll also be bringing some new ghouls to the party. Think scarecrows, vampires, a pumpkin king, new traps, and hopefully a few more tricks and treats thrown in for good measure!
We'll keep you posted when we have more information. But for now, there's something else we want to talk about, too...
Since we launched on Steam Early Access way back in March, you've all been invaluable in providing detailed feedback that has directly contributed to improving the game.
But there's one thing in particular that has been requested more than anything else - on Steam, via email, and at the shows we've attended.
That's why we're very pleased to announce that we've started working on a full multiplayer component for Phantom Halls!
There's not much to show or talk about yet - it's very much a work-in-progress, though we do have a working prototype - but we can say we're hoping to build toward full online and local op-op and PvP modes over the next 12 months. In fact, we're hoping to have an early playable version to show you some time before the end of 2017, so be sure to follow us on Twitter to get the latest news - twitter.com/phantomhalls
We'll let you know more in due course, but until next time...
Greetings, slayers!
