Greetings detectives, unlike the cold weather we are beginning to get for the holiday season, the cases remain hot with our community sleuths on the job! Let’s take a look at what you all have been up to recently:
Speaking of hot cases, check out this monster case board from Reddit u/DankSpiritCase. Complete with an accompanying rundown of the investigation and we are happy to hear there is another killer off the streets!
Our detective modders never cease to amaze with some of the things they create. Welcome to “Rexton City”. With a sprawling 5x7, 887 population city like this, we can imagine how endless exploring it all can feel. Let alone solving cases here! Details along with a link to download provided in the above hyperlink.
Secret El-Gen technology, prosthetics or years of training…We aren’t sure but whatever it is, this citizen is taking blows from katana wielding Reddit u/Izikpavlyuk like nothing. How many of you consider yourselves swashbuckling-detectives?
Does anyone else here keep track of all their past victims and killers? Detective Trier is with some added sketch artist flare
That about does it for this investigation, detectives. We leave you with a fun little assignment brought to you by Discord Detective Aaron Assiduous. Aaron has created an OC template for you to use to create your very own detective profile card. Don’t forget to share it with your fellow sleuths and we will see you on the next case later this month!
Make sure to follow us on X and join the Discord to stay up to date on all of our investigations and the latest news!
Investigations #17: Community Stories + The Cola Monster
Hey detectives! We hope you’ve been enjoying the cooler weather and spooky season so far this October.
Our team is still hard at work squashing bugs and we want to thank everyone who has been so patient and excited to be on this investigation with us. It’s been a huge technical endeavour for us as such a small team and your reports have been an amazing help in our public bug list. We aren’t done yet!
That being said, let’s celebrate some of the awesome + spooky content we’ve seen from the community recently🎃
Discord Detective Thog has got a voice any criminal wouldn’t mind copping to during an interrogation. Check out his latest detective narration outlining his time living in the city solving cases.
Surely you’ve seen your fair share of film posters and advertisements plastered all over the neon cities, but have you seen the Starch Kola monster? Born from our community created lore, is this the abomination the result of too much Starch consumption or perhaps an Elliot Genetics experiment gone wrong…In any case, ‘tis the season to plaster up one of these creepy posters in your very own detective apartment! Available in your apartment decor tab menu.
Reports are coming in of detectives helping killers hide and dispose of bodies by stuffing them in small places, throwing them over the docks or out windows across the city. Why did they decide to help them? Well, the city does something to you over time…and crows aren’t always easy to come by. Have you been hiding bodies lately? Don’t worry, we won’t tell. Discord Detective “The Man In The Hat” has presented us with “The Man In The Cupboard”.
To wrap things up, here is some horror trivia for you detectives to solve…Do you know where the inspiration for this carpet design comes from and have you noticed a matching achievement title to go along with it? Let us know your findings down below 👍
See you next month, when we investigate…Synth Turkey? 🦃
Shadows of Doubt V 39.10 Patch Notes
Hey detectives, we've got a new patch for you all with a host of fixes that should improve your playing experience! Cole and the small team here have been hard at work trying to squash those hard to find and replicate bugs. As always you can see the existing bug list and what Cole is working on here
Fixed: Loading screen getting stuck at ‘Simulating Past Events’ on Casablanca Quarter (it was possible this was affecting other cities too)
Fixed: Route plotting issues where the route would not appear for the player under certain circumstances
Fixed: Switching to clear text mode on an evidence window would result in link locations in the text not updating, and the page controls disappearing
Fixed: Case of laboratory room not generating (creating an empty void). This space should be a bathroom in future cities; in previous ones the door is now a wall.
Fixed: Citizen hats and glasses would glitch out when their wearers were ragdolls. Glasses do now not fly off citizen’s heads when rag-dolled (less theatrical but probably for the better!)
Fixed: Player could no longer interact properly with physics objects that citizens had moved back to their original positions
Fixed: If the player saved while a citizen was repositioning a physics object, the object would not spawn when the game was loaded
Fixed: Fix for citizens holding items they should have gotten rid of
Fixed: Citizen animations are now paused properly when the game is paused
Fixed: Blood pool Y positioning fixed and should also now appear over rugs
Fixed: Raised newspaper hiding status would remain active if you switched items with it active
Fixed: A fairly rare error that caused non-expiring buffs and unresolving cases
Fixed: Issue with some sounds cutting out on consoles
Fixed: Some tweaks to the amount of trash a citizen can carry/drop
Fixed: Some cases of missing window panes within the ‘mixed industrial’ building*
Fixed: Small possible performance boost at crime scenes due to extra blood decals that were not visible to the player
Fixed: Error when player threw a citizen into the sea
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Shadows of Doubt V 39.09 Patch Notes
Hey detectives, we are pushing the most recent experimental build live on the main branch now. We are hard at work on another patch that we should have ready for you early next week. You can check what Cole is working on with the public bug list here: https://shadowsofdoubt.notion.site/0053dddf306643eea972c6595ac897d2?v=25d97977c0ad43b5811787d11ee27987
Fixed: Cover-Up calls and a couple of other instances would list details of past murders instead of the immediate one
Fixed: Cover-up calls could happen constantly after the first occurrence, and now you also have an option to refuse after the first choice
Fixed: Kidnap cases could stall if the player saved & loaded the game while the kidnapper and victim were meeting
Fixed: Newspapers could report a kidnapping case too early
Fixed: Issues with notebook history/search section removing the wrong entries when it hits the max number of 40 world objects.
Fixed: At least one cause of murders not triggering (due to the black market trader not having enough staff to cover open hours, resulting in the killer waiting a very very long time for it to be open so they could buy the murder weapon)
Fixed: Camera occasionally not capturing citizens in clear view
Fixed: Some cases of furniture blocking citizen/player paths*
Fixed: Text being displayed too small on some in-game popup messages
Fixed: Some odd UI selection for street renaming list buttons when playing with a controller in the city editor
Fixed: On PC, some control glyphs were missing and displayed text code
Fixed: Popup tooltips should clamp onscreen correctly
Fixed: Movement control rebinding was missing from PC build
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Shadows of Doubt V 39.09 Experimental Branch Patch Notes
Hey folks, we have another new experimental patch for you all. Cole and the team are hard at work cracking through the most pressing issues but also the issues that are addressable to try and improve the playing experience for as many as possible as quickly as possible. We hope that some of these fixes will be a step in the right direction on this front!
Please do see the public bug list with comments from Cole about what is being worked on at the moment here: https://shadowsofdoubt.notion.site/0053dddf306643eea972c6595ac897d2?v=25d97977c0ad43b5811787d11ee27987
Fixed: Cover-Up calls and a couple of other instances would list details of past murders instead of the immediate one
Fixed: Cover-up calls could happen constantly after the first occurrence, and now you also have an option to refuse after the first choice
Fixed: Kidnap cases could stall if the player saved & loaded the game while the kidnapper and victim were meeting
Fixed: Newspapers could report a kidnapping case too early
Fixed: Issues with notebook history/search section removing the wrong entries when it hits the max number of 40 world objects.
Fixed: At least one cause of murders not triggering (due to the black market trader not having enough staff to cover open hours, resulting in the killer waiting a very very long time for it to be open so they could buy the murder weapon)
Fixed: Camera occasionally not capturing citizens in clear view
Fixed: Some cases of furniture blocking citizen/player paths*
Fixed: Text being displayed too small on some in-game popup messages
Fixed: Some odd UI selection for street renaming list buttons when playing with a controller in the city editor
Fixed: On PC, some control glyphs were missing and displayed text code
Fixed: Popup tooltips should clamp onscreen correctly
Fixed: Movement control rebinding was missing from PC build
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Shadows of Doubt V 39.08 Patch Notes
Hey folks, just pushing the most recent experimental build live to default now after checking for any additional issues there. We are hard at work on another patch that we should have ready for you early next week. You can check what Cole is working on with the public bug list here: https://shadowsofdoubt.notion.site/0053dddf306643eea972c6595ac897d2?v=25d97977c0ad43b5811787d11ee27987
Patch Notes:
Elevator controls interaction changed to primary action button
To avoid input focus issues you can now only have one of the following open at once; map, upgrades, inventory
Fixed: Some transparency issue for control glyphs present in objectives
Fixed: Tutorial hint prompt to open the notebook was displaying even if no shortcut key was assigned for it
Fixed: GoG progress based stat achievements should now trigger properly
Fixed: Dialog option to give the password for illegal businesses was missing
Fixed: Map now closes when you open inventory/upgrades and vice versa
Fixed: Case board and window interaction should now be properly disabled when in upgrades or inventory screen
Fixed: Improved virtual cursor focus for when map and case board are simultaneously active
Fixed: Pinned items on the case board are now clamped to the board area
Fixed: The intro music would only play the first time you entered a game
Fixed: Alterations to interaction hitboxes for ash tray to avoid some unreachable object cases
Fixed: Faulty collider on room service trolley stopped items on top of it from being picked up
Fixed: Keys could not be picked up from the floor if a footprint was present below them
Fixed: Some missing door mats upon generation, mostly in the high rise office building*
Fixed: Objects marked as trash won’t get deleted as quickly if the player has interacted with them recently (may be a fix for some vanish object reports)
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Shadows of Doubt V 39.08 Experimental Branch Patch Notes
Hey folks, we have a new patch with some quick fixes we have been working on over the weekend. We are just pushing this to experimental for now but if no issues get flagged with it then we will be able to push it to default later this week. In the meantime we are cracking on with the next patch and will continue to do so for the forseeable to keep on making this game as bug free as is possible. Please do see the public bug list with comments from Cole about what is being worked on at the moment here: https://shadowsofdoubt.notion.site/0053dddf306643eea972c6595ac897d2?v=25d97977c0ad43b5811787d11ee27987
Experimental Branch:
These builds are only found on our ‘experimental’ steam branch. You can access this by right clicking the game in your steam library, choosing ‘properties’, then the ‘betas’ tab. The experimental build should be in the dropdown list. Experimental builds may be less tested than the default branch builds. Most experimental branch patches will make their way to the default branch after a week or two (barring any issues discovered).
Patch Notes:
Elevator controls interaction changed to primary action button
To avoid input focus issues you can now only have one of the following open at once; map, upgrades, inventory
Fixed: Some transparency issue for control glyphs present in objectives
Fixed: Tutorial hint prompt to open the notebook was displaying even if no shortcut key was assigned for it
Fixed: GoG progress based stat achievements should now trigger properly
Fixed: Dialog option to give the password for illegal businesses was missing
Fixed: Map now closes when you open inventory/upgrades and vice versa
Fixed: Case board and window interaction should now be properly disabled when in upgrades or inventory screen
Fixed: Improved virtual cursor focus for when map and case board are simultaneously active
Fixed: Pinned items on the case board are now clamped to the board area
Fixed: The intro music would only play the first time you entered a game
Fixed: Alterations to interaction hitboxes for ash tray to avoid some unreachable object cases
Fixed: Faulty collider on room service trolley stopped items on top of it from being picked up
Fixed: Keys could not be picked up from the floor if a footprint was present below them
Fixed: Some missing door mats upon generation, mostly in the high rise office building*
Fixed: Objects marked as trash won’t get deleted as quickly if the player has interacted with them recently (may be a fix for some vanish object reports)
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Devlog #41: 1.0 is now live!
It's launch day detectives! Today marks our official transition out of early access and into, 1.0. I'm immensely pleased with what the team has put together over the last 8 years (!) Or so. You can view our 1.0 changelog here, which arrives as by far our biggest one yet. We can now also welcome console players to the fray on and PS5.
What does this mean practically? We've finished making the content we wanted to include in the final game. I'm very pleased with the amount of content we've been able to include, and this release version features the latest additions of kidnapping cases, cover-up side missions and even a much-requested umbrella to keep your busy heads dry in the rain. It's not the 'end' of the project though, we will continue patching and polishing, just as we have done in the past with the 30+ patches throughout early access. It's such a massive project for any team, let alone a small one, so we'll continue working hard behind the scenes to sort out any issues we didn't manage to solve before launch. To aid this, as well as improve the communication on the status of issues, we're also launching a new bug report system.
We're also putting out a standalone Soundtrack, so if you want to listen to the awesome music Monomoon has created outside the game, you can. In addition to that we're also releasing an 80-page digital Art Book written by myself and Miles (the voxel artist on the project). This features both a look back through the development history of the game (featuring my various blog posts but with new commentary added from the present), as well as a detailed look at the process Miles used to create a lot of the awesome voxel props you see in the game.
In the future, you can still expect small bits of content to arrive in patches, as we just love adding details. A couple of things we have in mind are new pre-made cities, some more in-game assets (eg. more cruncher apps), and we’re also looking at putting in support for Steam Workshop. We're not going to have a roadmap for these, as we're going to be employing a 'when it's done' approach; our main priority will be on solving any remaining issues reported.
Thank you so much to all the detectives who took on the investigation throughout Early Access. Your feedback has been so important to the development of the game, and we're so excited for you to check out the 1.0 version today along with new players joining the case. I hope you enjoy the world we've created!
Be sure to join the investigation over on Discord and follow @detectivesim for the latest in Shadows Of Doubt news!
Shadows of Doubt V39.07 (1.0 Release) Patch Notes
New: Cover-ups! A new late game optional twist; the killer may contact you and ask you to dispose of bodies in exchange for large sums of cash.
New: Kidnapping cases! Instead of a being killed, you have a chance to find the kidnapper’s den and save the victim.
New: Draggable ragdoll bodies
New: Laboratory company type with new items and furniture*
New: Working Umbrella!
New: 2 additional included cities; Casablanca Quarter and New Lilly-Crofte
Citizens can spawn with a more varied amount of stuff in their inventory*
Tweaks to some object physics
Citizens will now investigate thrown coins and most other objects in public places unless they can see the person who threw it
Merged cadaver ‘take fingerprint’ action with ‘search/analyse’ action for simplicity
Fixed: More fixes and tweaks for more reliable AI behaviour
Fixed: Citizens more reliably open doors once they are knocked on
Fixed: It was possible to queue up a jump while in dialog mode
Fixed: Further memory leaks
Fixed: Some internal audio handling issues
Fixed: Bug that gave some citizens unlikely choices of starting items and weapons*
Fixed: Some issues with certain objects not shattering when thrown
Fixed: Citizens hold bats in the correct position
Fixed: You can now operate light switches with most gadgets/items drawn
Fixed: A note from a building supervisor could appear written by the wrong person
Fixed: Chosen colour not set when player places a Snack Machine (and certain other objects) in décor mode.
Fixed: Chosen colours not set when player re-places certain objects in décor mode.
Fixed: The red glowing ‘invalid placement’ was not showing when attempting to place some objects in décor mode.
Fixed: In décor mode, the dirt slider did not load the correct initial value for some objects
Fixed: In décor mode, if a music player or television was removed from the room while switched on it’s sound would continue to play
Fixed: In décor mode added/removed/replaced light switches are now saved properly
Fixed: In décor mode, desk lamp did not stand upright when placed
Fixed: In décor mode, colour channels are applied properly to ‘Modern Corner Desk’
Fixed: In décor mode, the filter buttons now work properly in the item shop section
Fixed: You can now place curtains properly in décor mode.
Fixed: Green hue to certain desk lamps
Fixed: The watch could display the wrong time when setting the alarm
Fixed: Some issues with bathroom stall doors not opening/closing properly for citizens
Fixed: Player is now able to buy items from street vendors
Fixed: Sometimes the ‘I know the password’ dialog option was available when it shouldn’t be
Fixed: Pathing fix to stop citizens from cutting through the chemical plant and various other rooms (where they would often trigger an alarm)
Fixed: Items now get removed or are replaced with their ‘trash’ version once the player has consumed them
Fixed: Citizen animations are now sped up properly when in ‘passing time’ mode
Fixed: Attacking a citizen in an orange-level trespassing zone now initiates a proper reaction from the citizen and security systems.
Fixed: Citizens should no longer sit against a wall under a bathroom hand dryer*
Fixed: Internal issues with navigating CCTV captures that would result in a free roaming camera
Fixed: While using a controller, the evidence context menus would not work as intended
Fixed: While using a controller, the incorrect control glyph for closing an evidence window was shown
Fixed: While using a controller, creating a custom string connection did not work properly
Fixed: While using a controller, at least one case of the virtual cursor remaining onscreen when it shouldn’t
Fixed: Issues with sync disks upgrades being unavailable even if player has upgrade vials
Fixed: Controller issues resulting in 2 sync disk upgrades being used per single selection
Fixed: Scrolling was disabled with a controller on the sync disks screen
Fixed: Selection issue on popup message when using a controller
Fixed: Eating tinned food had no effect on player hunger
Fixed: Neon diner sign had no collision
Fixed: NPCs were much less likely to hit the player with a shot if they were leaning
Fixed: Player can no longer sleep in hospital beds (without being a patient)
Fixed: If an NPC opens a door while the player is peeking under it, the peek action will now be cancelled
Fixed: After loading into a game twice, then going to generate a new city, a missing city name and seed would be displayed in the menu
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
The Launch Countdown
Hey Detectives,
So Shadows of Doubt is launching in around 24 hours now. The countdown is on and what an incredibly milestone for our small team. This post will outline some key information ahead of the release so please do give it a read!
Launch time on the 26th of September on PC & PlayStation
9am PST
12pm EST
4pm UTC
5pm BST
6pm CEST
27th @ 2am AEST
New community bug tracking system
We are going to be moving to a new Bug Reporting System that will give you all visibility of what is being worked on. The idea is that you can submit any bugs you find, then Cole will be able to prioritise issues and then curate a public list of what he is working on. You can find this here
This will be going live properly on launch day and we will look to update it roughly every week so you can see what the most pressing issues are and what the small team here is working on. At the moment on the Bug Status List you can see an example of how this will look.
More Launch News
We recommend you start new cities to make the most of all the fixes.
We will be posting the full patch notes at launch which will contain not only the new content but a whole host of bug fixes as well
We are also uploading the game's soundtrack to Steam composed lovingly by Monomoon so if you enjoy the soundtrack and want to show your support you will be able to purchase it for $5.99
Finally, we will also release a digital artbook detailing how the visual world of Shadows of Doubt was made by Miles, the voxel artist, and with contributions from Cole as well. If you have enjoy
We have also compiled a new FAQ that you can find here. This is also pinned to the FAQ channel in our Discord where it will be maintained more frequently so for the most up to date news and any additional questions please do jump in there
Right, that wraps up this post. We hope you are excited for the launch and the new content that comes with it!
