Storm Chasers
Screenshots contest
The first screenshots contest on Storm Chasers has just began! The goal of this event is to find the best 5 screenshots to add them to the loading screen showing the name of the author.
The rules are simple:
- No photoshop (the creation and modification dates of the file have to be the same - Effects or colors that are not in the game will be spotted easily too)
- The UI must be hidden (F1 key or directly from the gallery)
- Decent resolution (1920x1080 should be enough)
- Only 3 screenshots submitted by player
To submit your screenshots you only have to send an email to stormchasersvideogame@gmail.com with the subject "SCREENSHOTS CONTEST" and attaching your best screenshots (max 3!).
- Any email with more than 3 pictures attached will not enter the contest.
- Be sure to write, in the email body, the name you want to be visible if one of your screenshot is chosen.
You have 5 days to send your best pictures. After that, I will start a poll to let Storm Chasers players choose the winners.
Good luck and have fun!
Version 0.5.3 Hotfix is now available
A critical bug was affecting players since the last update and this version 0.5.3 is fixing it.
Changelog v0.5.3:
- Added a selector to toggle fuel consumption in singleplayer free roaming
- Bugfix: Mouse sensitivity was decreasing over time during gameplay
- Bugfix: Night mode of the camera wasn't enabled automatically when using the camera at night
Thank you for your patience!
Version 0.5.2 is now available
The work on the next update is now over. Version 0.5.2 is available on Steam! Here is the changelog of this update.
Changelog v0.5.2:
- Singleplayer free roaming
- Improved car physics (the ice under the wheels has melted ːsteamhappyː )
- "Cows From Hell" bug has been fixed (moooooo)
- Improved tornado physics (Debris are not flying that high when sucked by weak tornadoes)
- Game is now brighter during night time
- Show current player count playing online in network menu
- Disable the need to complete mission 4 to play online
- Better hail texture
- Probes are now giving much more points (Max score was 10pts without entering tornado and 20pts if it enters it. Now it is 20pts without entering and 100pts if it enters! )
- Reduce cloud's particles count
- Photo's distance for scoring has been greatly increased
- Online versus game duration increased to 20mn
- F12 key used to hide UI for screenshots
- Bugfix: Refueling car in mission 4 wasn't working
- Bugfix: Problems to complete both objectives in mission 2
- Bugfix: Radar wasn't showing all of the activity areas
- Bugfix: Activating a probe and pressing the pause button was inverting pause menu
- Bugfix: Focus wasn't correct on rope tornadoes
- Bugfix: Using the camera (right click) for the first time was changing the mouse sensitivity
- Bugfix: Tree throwing branches with no reason
The game was needing this update because of bugs and car handling. I hope that you will have more fun with this new version.
Thank you very much for your support!
Discord server is open
I have created a Discord server to make communication easier and to have a meeting point about the game and everything related to storm chasing.
I am very excited to chat directly with the players and to be able to answer any question that you could have.
Be sure to read the server rules to avoid any problem with other players.
We all just want to have a good time chatting about the video game or anything related to storm chasing ːsteamhappyː
Storm Chasers Discord
Well, I am waiting for you there!
Upcoming features and bug fixing
First of all, I would like to thank you all for your support and interest. It is very motivating to see that the game is followed by the gamers.
As I said in the last post, I'm working on a relatively small update to solve some issues and add simple but important features.
I think it's essential, for an Early Access game, that players can keep an eye on the evolution of development.
So, to keep you inform of the tasks I am working on, I have created a Trello board with the features and bug fixing that will be in the next update of the game and to track features that will be added later.
There are three columns that represent the state of the tasks that will be added in the next version and I have added a fourth column to list interesting features that will be added later.
In case of bug fixing, if I mark a task as Done, it could be because I have fixed it or because I can't reproduce it.
The name of the board includes the version number of the next update. I will change it anytime I upload a new update.
Storm Chasers Trello board
I have seen that many of you would like to know the exact upload date of the next update, but I can't give you more info as I am working on tasks one by one and getting an exact estimate is impossible.
I prefer to not give any date to avoid disappointments, but with this Trello board you will be well informed of the next update's progress.
That's all for today, don't doubt to post suggestions because even if I don't comment, I read every post.
Thank you so much for being here, see you in the game! ːsteamhappyː
Version 0.5.1 - Fixes and improvements
The game has been live for about 6h and it's already received (a lot of) negative reviews.
Well, I wasn't waiting for this negative tsunami, but I have to stand up and extract of all the possible fixes and improvements that the game needs.
The good thing about Early Access is that the game will never stop to evolve.
From what I've read in forums and reviews, I think that this could be a good roadmap to start:
Bugs:
- In mission 4, it seems that there is a problem to refuel the car
- In mission 2, there seems to be a problem for completing the 2 objectives for some players
- Mission 5 don't load correctly
- When you activate a probe if you press the button to pause, it freezes
- Radar doesn't show all of the activity areas
- Objective's text don't show properly in some resolutions
- Some game's crashes
Improvements:
- Add Singleplayer Free Roaming (Difficulty: 1/5)
- Add Online Free Roaming [like in GMod] (Difficulty: 4/5)
- Make the game brighter (Difficulty: 1/5)
- Remove the need to complete mission 4 to play online (Difficulty: 1/5)
- Better performance in low-end PC [less particles in clouds] (Difficulty: 2/5)
- Better car physics [better speed up and brake] (Difficulty: 2/5)
I think that those are all of the issues and suggestions that I have found in comments and reviews.
I would like to ask you to not post bad reviews until you are totally sure that the game will not fit your needs and desires, because every negative review is very harmful for the game's future.
More important, I would like to really thank you all for buying the game and playing it.
Version 0.5.1 available now!
The game is now available on Steam in Early Access.
As I always say, don't expect the best game in history as the game is far from being an AAA title but it is just an indie game made by on single person.
I just would like to thank you all for your support and help.
!!! THANK YOU !!!
ːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyːːsteamhappyː
See you in-game!
Release date and price
At last! The game has been approved by Steam after having to resend a new version because of two issues related to the Steam page and the testing (wrong translation and lack of testing support into the game).
Early Access launch
Storm Chasers will be launched in Early Access on June 28.
Early Access price
The game in Early Access will cost $12.99 USD with an additional launch discount of 15% during the first week.
I would like to thank you for all of your support and your patience with the changing release date. I really hope that you'll like the game and remember that this is an Early Access version that will evolve with your help.
See you in a week! ːsteamhappyː
EF5 Tornado Damage
I was testing destruction generated by tornadoes and I thought that I haven't write about damages done by twisters.
You can find below a gif made with two testing screenshots (with poor resolution - sorry - ) that gives you an idea of the damages done by an EF5 twister.
(Keep in mind that those houses have been added for testing purpose and will not be placed here in final version.)
[Right click and open in new tab to view in full screen]
I hope that you like those screenshots and just imagine what happens when this tornado hit the town visible in background. ːsteamhappyː
I still don't have any response from Steam but I will share any info on release state as soon as I get it.
Thank you very much for your patience and your support!
Devlog #3: Road to Early Access
After two weeks of silence, I'm back to share the current development state of the game.
I have lost a couple of days of work because of my source code repository (where I save all of my work on the game to avoid any issue in case of computer damage). The size of the game's project is getting very big and I had to find another way to save everything in a safe place.
Beside of this problem, I've also been out another couple of days for personal reasons.
Anyway, those have been the progress made during the last two weeks.
Money management
Inspired by some of your comments, I have added money management to the game.
It is the main feature I've added to the game since the last devlog. It is really a great change and it will change the way you'll play in online game mode.
At game start, all players will have the same cash quantity to spend during the whole game duration.
Currently there is no way to earn money but, maybe, I could add one later.
So... how it works: inside the gas station shop (in the center of the map) you will be able to buy new items and to upgrade other ones.
Of course, you don't have enough money to buy everything so you will have to choose wisely what you need to track tornadoes the best way.
Money will also be used to repair your car and to refuel (both in gas station too).
It is a big change as there are other players in your team, so you could create strategies to upgrade your radar while another team mate buy two or three probes and another one upgrades his photo storage to be able to take more pictures.
Of course it is only the beginning and it could become more complex during the Early Access, but I am really exited with this new feature.
Car behaviour
Another small features has been added to the driving experience.
The car engine will be off at game start or when you are refuelling.
The car will no longer explode automatically when it takes too much damages (only a powerful hit will made it explode).
When you are near a tornado, wind gusts will influence the steering.
Some screenshots
I haven't done significant changes in the graphical part of the game, but here are two screenshots taken during my last testing.
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That's all for now.
The game will be launched in june but I don't know the exact day of month.
I will not add any new feature to the game before Early Access launch. I will now focus on bug fixing and closing some legacy tasks that needs to be done before the launch.
Thank you so much for all of your kind words.
Stay tuned for more info!