Shadows of Doubt DevBlog #40: Writing Claw of the Fathoms
For this blog post we have a few words from our talented writer, Stark Holborn, in which they explore the process behind one of the more unique parts of the project: The fan-favourite in-game tv crime noir show! Without further ado, I'll hand you right over...
Whenever anyone asks me what my favourite part of working on Shadows has been, my answer is always: all of the things we didn’t have to do, but did. To be clear, I mean that in the loosest sense: things that wouldn’t make the game fall over if we took them away, but which – I believe – have a huge impact on the game’s atmosphere as a whole.
One of these is the screenplay for Claw of the Fathoms, the noir film that can be heard playing on TVs throughout the world. A bit of background: from an early stage, Cole wanted the televisions in the world to be interactable: there’s something so atmospheric about hearing the sound of someone’s TV through the wall, or the switching on a black and white set in a dark room in the middle of the night. In early internal builds, we used audio from a Public Domain movie called The Big Combo. That had the right tone, but didn’t necessarily fit the alt-history 1970s dystopian world we were developing for Shadows.
The solution? A totally ridiculous one in some ways. We’d write our own.
It’s something some developers or publishers might have dismissed as too extra; too much work for something that has no direct impact on gameplay. But not Cole or the Shadows team. Which is good because the script for Claw of the Fathoms remains one of my favourite examples of worldbuilding in the game, and is one of the best writing jobs I’ve ever had.
When it came to a starting point, I’d already developed a range of crime noir novels (with synopses) that can be found on bookshelves throughout the game: the Decka Gill mysteries by Madagan Fitch. So I took the basic building blocks of noir tropes – a jaded, world-weary PI, a gruff cop, a psychopathic gangster, some stolen art, a snitch – and Shadows-ified them. In-keeping with the diversity of the world, I gender-flipped the traditional private eye role, and made the central conflict one that revolved around the Fathoms/Echelons social division within the city.
For all those interested, here’s the cast list I ended up with:
Decka Gill: Private Eye
Leonid “Lennie” Blaise: Police Detective
Angel Harris: Crime Boss
Samuel Delaney: Crooked Art Dealer
Gruff Man: Mysterious Informant
Trent Franklin: Low-life Hood and Snitch
Then it came to writing the script. Obviously, I would have loved to write the entire screenplay for Claw but that was a bit much, even for us. We decided we needed around fifteen minutes of run-time.
I wanted the scenes to have that organic, just-switched-on-in-the-middle-of-a-movie feel to them. Which meant that each scene had to be a discrete chunk that would make sense in almost any order, while simultaneously establishing the tone and characters. I ended up with seven scenes, ranging from the interior of a police station to a bar, an antique shop, an interview room and a docks warehouse.
I’m a fan of film noir in any case (some of my favourites being Night and the City by Jules Dassin, High and Low by Kurosawa and The Hitchhiker by Ida Lupino), but to get the right vibe I watched a whole load of examples, aiming for a classic back-and-forth patter typical to 1940s/1950s crime noir films. Then I threw a noir slang glossary at the writing. Case in point:
DECKA GILL: Lieutenant.
LIEUTENANT BLAISE: What you doing here, Gill?
GILL: Same thing as you.
LIEUTENANT BLAISE: Now look here–
GILL: Look where? Down at that Alderman you're carrying these days?
LIEUTENANT BLAISE: I should send you to booking.
GILL: Oh, on what charge?
LIEUTENANT BLAISE: On whatever the hell charge I please.
Part of the joy of this whole task was the license to go hog-wild and be as noir-ish as I wanted. There’s a commissioner, bullets, rye and bodies piling up. But at the same time, this couldn’t be a noir written in our world, it had to be one written in the Shadows world. And that meant weaving as much lore into the script as possible.
In Decka Gill’s city, people light up Holy Smokes and are paid in Crows and suffer from Mustard Sickness. John Does are Jacques Does – thanks to the enduring influence of the Bourbon Empire. The scene with the most Shadows detail is probably the interrogation between Gill and Franklin, where she reels off all the things he stands to lose if he doesn’t talk:
GILL: Oh, I know all about you, Mr Franklin. I know you've made a deposit on a plot out in The Fields; just two payments left and it's yours. Far away from here, a patch of grass, four wall to call your own...
FRANKLIN: I said shut up!
GILL I'm afraid you have to kiss it goodbye, Mr Franklin. 'Cos you know what happens to that nice family of yours if you go down? They starve. They wind up in the Fathoms, living on trash and bleeding-heart funds, and all because you wanted to protect a rat like Angel Harris...
The character of Angel Harris – incidentally – is based on some of Richard Widmark’s classic villains. His monologue to Gill about Rossini is one of my favourite bits of the whole script. (Second only to the immortal: BON VOYAGEEEEEEE HOOOHOOO HAA HA HA HA, which Allen Enlow, the actor who plays Angel, ad-libbed on the day, so I can take no credit for).
Which brings us to voice casting. This all happened during one of the Covid-19 lockdowns, so there was no way we could record in-person. Luckily, there are many, many talented voice artists with home studios out there. We put out a call for the roles and found our dream cast: Sheree Wichard as Decka Gill, Allen Enlow as Angel Harris, Amir Yussof as Gruff Man/Franklin and Ben Britton as Lennie.
We were almost there. We had our script, our voice-acted scenes, but we still had to make them sound like a noir film. Step in Nick Dymond (aka monomoon), Shadows’ resident composer, sound and game designer and audio wizard. Using an extensive sound library, home-recorded foley, processing and mixing, he transformed the raw VO files into something that not only sounded, but felt like a movie.
I still get a kick out of hearing the scenes from Claw of the Fathoms in the game. The city’s citizens never seem to get tired of it, either, which is good as it’s the only film available for them to watch. (They do have sports games to break things up now too – but that’s a subject for another post…).
Even after hearing it hundreds of times, I’ll still pause to listen to Angel Harris’s insane cackle before the screen fades to static. Hopefully it’s a sign that – by going the extra mile – we created something truly unique and worthwhile.
Shadows of Doubt V 38.06 Experimental Branch Patch Notes
Hey folks, we have a brand new experimental patch up and ready for you all with a host of new fixes!
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).
More memory footprint optimizations
City data and save game size reduction*
Guest passes will grant you access to echelon zones
Investigating a stolen item on an echelon floor will grant you with a guest pass, enabling you to legally explore the floor’s communal area.
Some tweaks to red-level trespassing zones
You can now navigate the menu with the gamepad stick
New skip control prompt for cut scenes
Empty input fields for save games, cases etc are now not allowed
Fixed: The game saved cities with the wrong file name if you renamed them from within the map editor*
Fixed: Possibility of a basement area for a building contained a power room area which was too small to spawn a telephone router*
Fixed: Some alignment/scale errors for keyboard control glyphs
Fixed: Sometimes when the player took photos within air ducts, the ducts weren’t visible
Fixed: (At least one) occurrence of citizens floating through the air
Fixed: Commercial coffee machine was spawning in weird places*
Fixed: Citizens floating while sleeping on bedrolls
Fixed: Citizens didn't sleep in the correct position when sleeping on the right side of a double bed
Fixed: Top of wooden fence featured an missing mesh face
Fixed: Some very small inconsistencies when generating two cities from the same seed
Fixed: Opening the player’s character in an evidence window would cause an internal error
Fixed: Text in popup messages could appear too small
Fixed: Selecting a new perpetrator from your evidence board would not update the arrest resolve question properly
Fixed: Certain murder resolve questions not working properly when loading a save game
Fixed: Some first person model animation oddities
Fixed: Telephone door’s glass did not move properly with the door frame
Fixed: CCTV tower no longer can spawn backing onto another street objects (preventing access to its terminal)*
Fixed: Street names no longer being overwritten when customizing streets in the city editor. (Thanks to the patience of one discord user. 🙌)
Fixed: Fixed some sympathetic bugs caused by city editor UI not updating properly when clearing existing city data.
Fixed: AI pathing edge-case prevents citizens from spawning at their saved position and being unable to move.
Fixed: Edge cases of having way too many blood spatter objects spawned
Fixed: Repeating or confused objectives when you had multiple jobs open on different stages
Fixed: A very rare RNG bug that could freeze the city generation process
Fixed: The player now will get crushed if they are pressed against the top of an elevator shaft by the elevator
Fixed: Upon loading a game, the décor edit button was only displayed if you left and re-entered a relevant address
Fixed: String display issues on cruncher apps when language is not set to English
Fixed: Removed some instances of ‘DNT’ appearing in non-English languages
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Investigations #14: Controller Support and a Kola Addiction
Detectives, today we have some cool news for you all in regards to console release and 1.0 optimizations and of course, more fun and exciting content brought to you by the amazing detectives in this community. Also check out the new update that's just dropped - full details here!
We have had a lot of detectives wondering about if there will be better support for controllers with the 1.0 launch + console release around the corner…YES. The team has been hard at work testing and optimising support for full controller use. On top of that, the controller support for consoles is also translating nicely into the Steam Deck as well!
Art contest winners are still on track to have their in-game art creations added to the game this Summer and we are excited to be able to bring the community in closer to creating this neo-noir world with content like this. Stay tuned for future competitions over in the Discord here
We’ve been seeing alot of really awesome and interesting bullet trajectory analysis since the sharpshooter assassins have made their way into the cities. Check this one out by Discord Detective Rhoko. This one got their victim through a wall on the toilet!
We always love seeing where you detectives sit and go through all of your evidence and crack your cases. Here’s a very cozy looking study from Steam Detective Sheber
To wrap this one up, we’d like to remind all detectives that if you are suffering from an acute Starch Kola addiction, there are resources to help you. Please get in contact with your local Starch representative and tell them Eden Kruger sent you. We see you out there, Discord Detective Nyi_List
See you in August detectives! Lots of exciting things to investigate before we head into the Fall season so don’t forget to join the Discord and follow us on X for the latest cases, updates and other great content.
Shadows of Doubt V 38.05 Patch Notes
After some time to check out the fixes all work on experimental we are ready to push this update live on the default branch now. Enjoy!
New: Bas Boule television show! Dynamically driven and will be different each time.
New: 15 new collectable Bas Boule cards scattered throughout the city*
New: Camera now has a working flash (can turn on/off)
New: Screen space reflection toggle graphics option
New: In-game poster art (including those by our competition winners)
Improved controller support (simplified controls, virtual cursor, onscreen keyboard etc.)
Memory footprint optimizations
Memory leak fixes
Updated object icons
Updated furniture icons
Price revisions for some furniture and items
Localization update
New page-based contents for décor editing as opposed to scrolling list for easier & faster navigation
Improvements to cruncher V-mail legibility
Various small UI Tweaks
Improvements to auto travel navigation
Improved distant citizen LOD model with correct scale
Improved ball & grenade throwing physics
Player can now log in on their own purchased cruncher
Fixed: Lots of bugs in v-mail sender/receiver logic, tweaked spawning parameters
Fixed: Added some missing junk item descriptions
Fixed: Cruncher cursor now properly controlled with ‘Primary’ or ‘Select’ button action
Fixed: Control glyph was broken for the escape key
Fixed: Extra dialog option visible in dialog choice menu when in high resolutions (4k+)
Fixed: In ‘Dead of Night’ it was possible for the flophouse owner to live on an echelon floor and be very difficult to access.
Fixed: Room contents now updates properly when moving between rooms in the décor menu
Fixed: Some ‘null’ furniture could be displayed within the décor menu’s current room furniture list
Fixed: Hanging basket placement position in décor edit mode was wrong
Fixed: It was possible to ‘resume game’ when there was no game loaded, resulting in a blank world loaded, if you spammed a button during the game’s initial load screen.
Fixed: An issue where the player was unable to get crushed by an elevator
Fixed: Turning a camera off and back on again within the security app would cause the camera itself to appear in captures
Fixed: If visible but far away, citizen photo images could appear blank when loading a game or looking at CCTV captures.
Fixed: In some languages with some items the object name text when looking at them was not displayed.
Fixed: Security system breaker box bugs
Fixed: Using the in-game text input search fields could result in them keeping focus after the case board was closed, resulting in loss of input.
Fixed: Wooden fence geometry & UV
Fixed: UI time text could overlap other parts of the UI on certain non-ENG languages
Fixed: Security disabled states were not saved properly
Fixed: Elevator controls UI can no longer overlap the containing window
Fixed: Physics objects could disappear if thrown too high while in certain areas
Fixed: When starting a new game in sandbox mode and setting 0 starting lockpicks, the game displayed ‘99’ lockpicks in the UI.
Fixed: Player unable to purchase lockpick kit when inventory was full even though it does not take up an inventory space.
Fixed: Being able to turn in side jobs multiple times
Audio: Proper can impacts for wall and floor
Audio: Echelon barrier now emits sound
Audio: Sea splashes for chucking different sized things in the sea
Audio: Minifridge now has its own sounds
Audio: New music tracks added
Audio: Grenades now momentarily affect player hearing
Audio: Flash bomb causes temporary ringing at close range
Audio: Player bullet impact sound fixed and improved
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Investigations #13: Vandalism by Milk and Physical Releases!
Good day, detectives. We hope you’ve been staying cool on the case during these July investigations. Speaking of “cool”, we've got some news for you and let's check out all of the interesting things you’ve all been up to this past month on Shadows Of Doubt!
Shadows of Doubt is getting a physical release!
That's right, we are doing a physical release of Shadows of Doubt so those of you with consoles or who enjoy collecting physical versions of games can buy a hard copy as well. Keep your eyes posted as you should be able to pre-order it fairly soon!
Before we jump in - be sure to check out the experimental branch update that launched today with improved controller support, new tv content, written content (like emails and conversations) and a host of bug fixes!
Now for what you have all been up to! Discord user “Ecks”, an aspiring voxel artist. Their recreation of a sniper assassin nest has a cozy yet ominous vibe that reminds you that the city is never safe.Check out the full thread here
We recently commented on some of the crazy, messy caseboards we’ve seen lately over on X . Here's a SUPER clean one with all the bells and whistles using notes, thread colors, cross outs and organisation done by Steam user Axeleration
To wrap things up, we would like to add that if you receive a vandalism request from a citizen, add a little sparkle to the job with some paint or even synth milk. Discord Detective “Gone Postal”s new technique is sure to turn heads and get the job done. Bonus points for living up to your user name as well!
Stay tuned for our next July blog where we touch on a couple things upcoming to the 1.0 + console release. Don’t forget to join the Discord and stay up to date on all the latest news over on X as well!
Shadows of Doubt V 38.05 Patch Notes
Hello detectives! A new experimental patch appears! It's been a while since our last patch so we have an extra big one for you hitting experimental today. This one is packed with features and even some new content. For details, see the list below.
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).
# 38.05
- New: Bas Boule television show! Dynamically driven and will be different each time. - New: 15 new collectable Bas Boule cards scattered throughout the city* - New: Camera now has a working flash (can turn on/off) - New: Citizen conversations, notes, v-mails & evidence - New: Screen space reflection toggle graphics option - New: In-game poster art (including those by our competition winners) - Improved controller support (simplified controls, virtual cursor, onscreen keyboard etc.) - Memory footprint optimizations - Memory leak fixes - Updated object icons - Updated furniture icons - Price revisions for some furniture and items - Localization update - New page-based contents for décor editing as opposed to scrolling list for easier & faster navigation - Improvements to cruncher V-mail legibility - Various small UI Tweaks - Improvements to auto travel navigation - Improved distant citizen LOD model with correct scale - Improved ball & grenade throwing physics - Player can now log in on their own purchased cruncher - Fixed: Lots of bugs in v-mail sender/receiver logic, tweaked spawning parameters - Fixed: Added some missing junk item descriptions - Fixed: Cruncher cursor now properly controlled with ‘Primary’ or ‘Select’ button action - Fixed: Control glyph was broken for the escape key - Fixed: Extra dialog option visible in dialog choice menu when in high resolutions (4k+) - Fixed: In ‘Dead of Night’ it was possible for the flophouse owner to live on an echelon floor and be very difficult to access. - Fixed: Room contents now updates properly when moving between rooms in the décor menu - Fixed: Some ‘null’ furniture could be displayed within the décor menu’s current room furniture list - Fixed: Hanging basket placement position in décor edit mode was wrong - Fixed: It was possible to ‘resume game’ when there was no game loaded, resulting in a blank world loaded, if you spammed a button during the game’s initial load screen. - Fixed: An issue where the player was unable to get crushed by an elevator - Fixed: Turning a camera off and back on again within the security app would cause the camera itself to appear in captures - Fixed: If visible but far away, citizen photo images could appear blank when loading a game or looking at CCTV captures. - Fixed: In some languages with some items the object name text when looking at them was not displayed. - Fixed: Security system breaker box bugs - Fixed: Using the in-game text input search fields could result in them keeping focus after the case board was closed, resulting in loss of input. - Fixed: Wooden fence geometry & UV - Fixed: UI time text could overlap other parts of the UI on certain non-ENG languages - Fixed: Security disabled states were not saved properly - Fixed: Elevator controls UI can no longer overlap the containing window - Fixed: Physics objects could disappear if thrown too high while in certain areas - Fixed: When starting a new game in sandbox mode and setting 0 starting lockpicks, the game displayed ‘99’ lockpicks in the UI. - Fixed: Player unable to purchase lockpick kit when inventory was full even though it does not take up an inventory space. - Audio: Proper can impacts for wall and floor - Audio: Echelon barrier now emits sound - Audio: Sea splashes for chucking different sized things in the sea - Audio: Minifridge now has its own sounds - Audio: New music tracks added - Audio: Grenades now momentarily affect player hearing - Audio: Flash bomb causes temporary ringing at close range - Audio: Hyperacusis filter option added (Audio Settings) - Audio: Bass reduction filter option added (Audio Settings) - Audio: Retirement sequence music cue added - Audio: Pick-up object foley added - Audio: Wristwatch and fists foley added - Audio: Player bullet impact sound fixed and improved
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Investigations #12: June Roundup, Straight out of Candor.
Good day, Detectives. We’ve got a news bulletin from the city straight out of the Candor Newsroom for you to investigate!
First, a notice for detectives currently investigating crime scenes. While similar in look, there IS a definitive difference between Ruby Choice, Ketchup and blood splatter. Make sure you thoroughly inspect your crime scene to ensure proper evidence collecting.
Recent reports state that Synth Beef is approved for consumption across all food boards informing its customers that it is indeed safe to eat raw and it is “Just like the real thing”. This comes amidst citizens reportedly having bouts of nausea and vomiting after consumption.
We are also sending out a BOLO for a potential lead on what the surrounding cities are calling “The Bad Poet” killer. We ask that you report any evidence of this poetry to your local enforcers division.
There has been a surge of black market arms dealers setting up shop in the fathoms, city wide. Anyone discovered to be in possession of one of these rifles should be place on a watch list following an ongoing operation to clean up the streets of illegal weapons and potential sharpshooter assassins.
This has been your June Candor News update!
CANDOR NEWS: WHEN WE TALK, PEOPLE LISTEN.
Investigations #11: May Roundup and Case Boards
Greetings, detectives and happy June. Later this month marks the start of Summer and we want to check out some of your investigations as things begin to heat up and get closer to 1.0 release!
Youtuber ThatBoyWags has been on the case with Shadows Of Doubt for some time, His most recent investigation takes you into a street sniper investigation. Check it out here
As rare as it can be, sometimes a detective can just be in the right place at the right time. Have you witnessed a murder in person yet? Discord detective “Octo” spotted the killer in action while passing some time on a bench outside. Check out the murder here
None of these cases could be solved without the trusty case board and some good old fashioned thread. These two detectives have very different styles when it comes to solving their cases. Check out these boards and see if you can connect the dots.
Detective DuzzleMauzow:
Detective Wandocht:
That’s it for this investigation, gumshoes. If you have been on the case, we want to know about it. The more detectives on the beat, the quicker we solve these! Stay sharp, private eyes.
Investigations #10: Secret Rooms + Shadows of Doubt Inspired Comics!
Hey there, detectives. Welcome to another community showcase blog where we look into some of your great moments, creations and investigations!
Kicking off the case with a fantastic apartment creation by Discord Detective tDartt. This flat features a secret room accessible by using a bed to “phase” through a wall to the other side…Wonder what it’s used for…For a full tour check this link
In other news, Candor reports state a deadly shootout has occurred between citizens in front of the “Hornet Novelist” Diner. Detective West Wind is one of the first on scene ready to investigate:
Following up on our last blog asking for details on your own detectives, Detective Lyer Emedor finds out what happens when you mis-click holding a coffee during Shadows Of Doubt in this fun little comic strip!
We leave you this week with a notice to be on the lookout for stalkers around the city. Investigating journals and V-mail accounts are great ways to track them down.
Shadows of Doubt V 36.09 Patch Notes
Hey detectives, a host of new fixes have been cleared after going through testing on the experimental branch:
Fixed: Vandalism side jobs could choose apartments with no or not enough windows
Fixed: The correct passwords to black market dealers were not being accepted some of the time
Fixed: On some occasions innocent citizens were admitting to murders they didn’t commit (!)
Fixed: The game could not generate a city info txt file from compressed city data
Fixed: Errors in Dead of Night when killer’s home building did not feature a telephone router
Fixed: Disabled closing case for retirement
Fixed: Small chance of a pile of clothes blocking access to a low drawer*
Fixed: Head bob was broken in Dead of Night and certain other situations
Fixed: Sentry gun turrets did not unfold properly when alarm triggered if they weren’t visibly rendered.
Fixed: Rare error when loading in certain player apartments (no door appearing, rendering errors, audio errors)
Fixed: Some issues solves when buying/placing light switches in décor edit mode
Fixed: Restrictions put on cruncher use depending on position (for when positioned in inaccessible positions via decor edit mode; could otherwise result in clipping/teleporting of the player)
Fixed: Potential fix for sniper excessive shooting scenario
Fixed: Sitting in a chair after physics were recently active caused it to glitch out as it interacted with the player collider
Fixed: You can no longer sit on a chair unless it’s upright
Fixed: Player wasn’t able to sit in a chair if they had moved it away from its starting position
Better randomization of success/fail results with dialog
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
