Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Adventure, Indie
Sunless Sea
Zubmariner News for May
Hello and welcome to your update for May! We’re working on a new zee-beast, looking at the different ways the environment will help or hinder you beneath the Zee, and offering a taste of the Zumbarine acquisition story. Plus, if you’re in London, come and meet team FBG at MCM Comic Con!
Text resizing will be introduced for Zubmariner (and in Sunless Sea)
If you’ve been following Sunless Sea, you’ll know that we had some real trouble working with text in Unity 4. We’ve been beavering away behind the scenes to move Sunless Sea into Unity 5, which has enabled us to work on a new user interface.
This new UI, which will be applied to both the base game and the Zubmariner expansion, will allow you to resize both the text itself and the Gazetteer. You won’t need to own Zubmariner to get the update, it’ll apply to Sunless Sea too.
An Agreement About Nothing Of Consequence
London, the Presbyterate, the Khanate, Khan's Shadow, the New Sequence and even the Iron Republic have all concluded that there's nothing of any importance under the Zee, and they've all agreed to leave it well alone. That means the places below the waves are off limits to you, too.
A benefactor approaches you with an urgent request to help her find something she’s lost. She has the resources to help you build a Zubmarine shell in secret, if you can find the parts.
There is nothing of any importance under the Zee, says The Agreement. If that’s true, why is it enforced so vigorously? Could it hurt to find out for yourself?
Breathe any easier?
Oxygen is precious, under the Zee. You’ll have a limited supply, but passing over an oasis will halt the depletion, and give you some supplies.
If you’re planning to come to MCM Comic Con London at the end of the month, some of Failbetter will be there in the indie game area, showing the iOS version of Fallen London and giving away event-exclusive goodies (badges, t-shirts and playing cards!).
Zubmariner will be released in Autumn 2016!
Hello, delicious friends!
Zubmariner will be released in Autumn 2016
We presented our progress on Zubmariner to a delightful crowd at EGX Rezzed last weekend!
Mac and Lottie introduced some new elements of Zubmariner, including underwater currents, a first look at Zubmarine transformations and some details about new ports and zee-beasts.
We're doing an AMA on 19th April
Fallen London is more than your home port: it's also the name of our first game, the text adventure which spawned Sunless Sea. We're releasing it as an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch on the 19th April.
To celebrate, we're doing an AMA on Reddit at 4:30pm GMT/12:30pm EST. Drop by and ask us anything!
New music from the Fallen London universe!
Alongside the app, we're also releasing a soundtrack for Fallen London, made by the same composer who created the beautiful soundtrack for Sunless Sea.
We'll be back with another update on Zubmariner's progress in a few weeks. Until then, happy zailing!
Your next Zubmariner update will be live on YouTube!
On Saturday at 1pm GMT, we'll be presenting a Zubmariner update live from EGX Rezzed in London.
Developer Liam McDonald (aka Mac, who you've heard on our YouTube videos!) and Producer Lottie Bevan will be revealing more about the stories, zee-beasts and development journey of Sunless Sea and the upcoming underwater expansion, Zubmariner.
Then at 4pm GMT, Chris Gardiner, Head Writer will be discussing narrative games on a panel with Inkle (80 Days).
All this will be live on the EGX YouTube channel! You can also check out the other developer sessions in advance, and set reminders if you don't want to miss anything.
We'll hopefully have some Failbetters in the YouTube chat too, so see you on Saturday!
Zubmariner Update: The Zee-Floor
If you've just joined us: welcome! We're working on the first DLC for Sunless Sea, the underwater expansion Zubmariner, in which your captain will truly find a sea more sunless.
We’ve now got ocean-wide currents in place, with some updated artwork and sound effects. Zubmarines are also now outfitted with Sonar, giving sailors a brief glimpse at what lies in the dark.
We’re presenting a look at the latest version of Zubmariner and a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Sunless Sea on 9th April at EGX Rezzed in London. It’ll also be live streamed on the EGX Twitch channel at 1pm. Details about tickets are on the official EGX site.
We’d love to answer your questions in the presentation, so leave us a comment with your Qs about Sunless Sea or Zubmariner and we’ll try to cover what we can!
Sunless Sea is now on Linux!
Hooray and hurrah and sound the trumpets, Sunless Sea is available on Linux! Welcome, Linux zailors. This is a big step for us, and just part of the technical updates we’re making to the core game as we prepare for Zubmariner.
Sunless Sea: Free weekend and new content
Hello to those of you who've joined us for the free weekend! And welcome, returning zailors - we have some treats for you.
Oh the Londoners flock to see the Unterzee...
The immensely talented Dan Bull has created a rap about Sunless Sea, and the video has just been released. Complete with zailor costumes. It's amazing. Watch it here!
New in Sunless Sea: The Rose-Market
Collectors and eccentrics gather on Roser's Wharf, eager to buy curiosities from returning zee-captains. Can you navigate the market's archaic customs and turn a profit?
The Rose-Market appears irregularly in London, and offers an unpredictable opportunity to earn a good price for many less-used items.
In addition, after your captain has some zeefaring experience, new options will open on ten islands, allowing you to explore some of the stranger customs of the unterzee and exchange lesser items for more valuable ones. The items you can earn are - coincidentally! - popular among Rose-Market collectors.
Steam trading cards and badges
By popular demand, Sunless Sea now has Steam trading cards and badges! Scholars of the Correspondence will be very interested to discover the badges, as each is a sigil with a corresponding definition. We look forward to seeing you all discover them together!
Developer Mac talks through your zubmarine, and the look and feel of the zee floor.
We've also released some new merchandise in the Fallen London store including a Sunless Sea poster and Dawn Machine hoodies and t-shirts!
With Sunless Sea's first birthday coming up, we have a few more things in the pipeline which we hope will amuse you.
Until then,
Your friends,
Failbetter Games
Merry Christmas from Team Failbetter!
And welcome to the thousands of new zailors who've joined us from the Steam Winter Sale!
Support for Sunless Sea is reduced over Christmas, but if you experience any issues please email sunlesssea@failbettergames.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
The discussion forums here are also full of wonderful long-term players who can no doubt help you if you get stuck! Our heartfelt thanks to the community for supporting new players this year.
We'll be back to full power on 4 January, and can't wait to bring you more news about Zubmariner, the first piece of DLC for Sunless Sea.
All shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well!
Your friends,
Failbetter Games
A new story in Sunless Sea: Christmastide
A presence dominates your Lodgings. Its fur-trimmed robe is the red of blood on snow.
Every year, Mr Sacks calls upon Londoners, demanding offerings for its terrible sack. And Londoners give; anything to make it leave.
Now it has a commission for you. Three dark deliveries to places far and wide, across the Zee.
Captains who have submitted a port report for Avid Horizon are warned to expect a red-clad visitor at their Lodgings. This story is best attempted when your captain is well-traveled.
This free story by Richard Cobbett comes with our most delicious wishes, to all of our players, for a merry winterval!
Our humble thanks to you for playing Sunless Sea, for sharing and reviewing it, and making this year an unprecedented triumph for our team. We’ll see you again in 2016.
Zubmariner update: Unknown Depths
Hello, delicious zailors!
We present a further look into the depths of the Unterzee!
Zubmariner will be the first major piece of DLC for Sunless Sea. Equip a zubmersible add-on to your ship of choice, and explore the profound darkness beneath the Sunless Sea.
Unterzee living
We're continuing work on concepts for cities and terrain on the Zee floor.
Diving beneath the surface will never be safe, and you will never be certain what you will find down there. However, the rewards could be great...
One of the core concepts in Sunless Sea is venturing into unfamiliar waters. Closer to home, the locations are more fixed. Further out, you can’t be sure if that island you stopped off at to pick up much-needed supplies will be there. And out in the wilds, you can never be sure what you are going to find.
In Zubmariner far more of the layout will be unknown to you.
To achieve this, we’re using procedural generation to populate the areas beneath the surface. Whenever you start a captain with a new map, the game will furnish the seabed with random rocks, coral outcroppings, fissures and debris.
Each area of the Unterzee will have unique types of terrain that can appear within it, and the density of the terrain will vary from location to location.
We’re working on tools to help tweak these density values and ensure the right amount of coverage for all the different areas of the game. This will be coupled with a method for ensuring that terrain isn’t accidentally placed too close together, so we can be certain that players (and predators) can navigate down in the depths. You might end up with a nice, clear path to your destination, or have to tackle a network of subsurface obstacles.
In addition to the terrain, there will also be randomized enemies to fight, threats to avoid and treasures to retrieve down on the ocean floor.
We’re implementing new spawning methods to ensure we have toothsome opportunities waiting for you each time you dive. A Favorable current might speed you on your way or the skeletal remains of an extinct species may have been exposed, ready for you to examine it and bring your findings back to London.
Journeying on the surface is a fairly consistent experience once you have learned the routes between ports, but there’s never any certainty in what you will encounter on the Unterzee floor.
Pre-orders now open for Sunless Sea prints!
Ahoy, captains!
Demaeux's Navigational Chart of the Known Unterzee is now available as an A2 giclee print from our friends at Gamer's Edition!
Pre-orders are open until 9 November at midnight GMT.
Gamer's Edition will post all prints in time for Christmas. We won't be doing another print run of these for the foreseeable future, so now's your chance!
