- Support Widescreen resolutions (21:9)
- Prevent the game to start in unsupported resolutions.
- Graphical and layout improvements of many scenes
- Drag & Drop: the mouse cursor sometimes didn’t reappear after dropping elements
- Epilogue: the last part of the epilogue is now also shown after the outro
- Member Events: fixed bugs with several conditions and follow ups
- Newspapers: replaced the German chapter newspapers from 1936 on with underground or smuggled foreign newspapers or flyers dropped by the allied forces - it is now more understandable that the weekly news are not Nazi propaganda or displayed in Nazi-Germany
- Disruptions: enforcing now increases the chance of all outcomes except fail, instead of only increasing the chance to be seen
- Disruptions: fixed bug which generally doubled the chance to be seen instead of other outcomes
- Epilogue: Fixed an issue where the epilogue for characters could include historical inaccuracies
- Added new Character parts
- Testimony missions aren't limited to three weeks anymore
- Heat reducing missions grant less morale
- Resistance Mode: normal contacts, buying regular items, collecting money and regular gain supporter missions grant less morale
- All Modes: free partner and free member missions grant less morale
- Districts: fixed issue with persisting thread levels between chapters
- Epilogues: fixed several issues in German and English texts
- Books: ‘Smuggle Books’ grants more books, ‘Distribute Books’ needs less
- Build Fire Device: now only needs two gasoline tanks
- Replaced & added new location pictures
Through the Darkest of Times
Patch 1.0.3 released
Patch 1.02 released
- Fixed an issue where choice option texts become invisible when changing the game resolution while they’re visible.
- Fixed an issue where you could open the mission lifetime tooltip through other UI elements
- Fixed an issue where missions are not locked properly when switching chapters
- Fixed an issue where a contact could be marked as "usable" even though the conditions are not met anymore after using a different contact
- Chapter 2 headquarter - fixed an issue that name tags are half covered in headquarter member events
- Now updating “settings.json” after using auto save to autosave the user settings.
- Fixed an issue where the player got wrong epilogue texts when he was imprisoned too often
Patch 1.01 released
- Polished bombing scene: fixed sorting issues and fixed & added animations (bike animation takes longer now, boy’s head wiggles now and he is blinking now), edited and replaced the airraid boy’s head, fixed Peter’s head in explosion scene
- Replaced the old cafe background with a new one and fixed overlap issue
- Fixed an Issue, where when deleting Save Games, going into the folder view of a Story Save Game and then closing it again lead into some Save Games not being displayed in the Load Save Game Menu until the player re enters it again
- German: flipped delete save confirm texts
- Fixed historical error in the prologue of Chapter 3, where the text said the UK declared war on Germany after France was occupied, when in fact UK declared war on Germany after Poland was attacked
- Fixed getting coal instead of losing it in FATHER without Food event in Chapter 4
- Fixed missing sentence in historical event The Camp
- Fixed an issue where selecting "Offer 50 marks.." would not remove any money during the Member Event: Got Fired Because Communist in Chapter 1
- Fixed an issue where the tutorial deactivate toggle inside the tutorial screen is not getting updated properly when reenabling the tutorials inside the option menu.
- Moved member’s head in cafe scene, so the body does not lay over their head.
- Fixed 2 Mission markers in Chapter 4 which shouldn’t be visible without the corresponding member event happening before.
- Fixed an issue in the English localisation, where in the epilogue some sentences started with a lowercase he or she
- Option Screen now shows current Version’s Number
First small patch
• Japanese: fixed token in news of 19. April 1933
• Audio Settings are now Stored in the Settings.json, and will be synced with SteamCloud
• Fix an issue where no Settings.json will be created when Cloud Settings are disabled
• Simplified Chinese: rebuild font atlas to include missing symbols from historical event Neighbors
• Fixed macros in free spouse of member action tooltips
• fixed chinese neighbors scene being in Japanese
• fixed typo in Credits Scene founded > funded
E3 2019 Wrap Up
What a week it was for „Through the Darkest of Times“ at the E3 2019 in Los Angeles. We are so grateful for the amount of positive feedback and coverage our game received. It was simply amazing.
Click the thumbnail above and check out Gamespot's own Lucy James and Mike Mahardy as they spend a full segment covering how Through the Darkest of Times takes a Stance in an interview with our PR Manager. He talks about the motivation to create a game such as this and how it can be turned into a game that is not only educational but also emotionally gripping as well as entertaining.
Also, representatives from, VentureBeat, Polygon, Hardcore Gamer, Shack News, and ArsTechnica and many more got some hands-on playing time and wrote very nice articles about their experience with Through the Darkest of Times. Click the links to read the articles and see for yourselves what stood out to them.
London's calling! Meet us at EGX Rezzed
Just back from New England, we're setting sails to Old England's glorious capital London. We will present Through the Darkest of Times at the Tobacco Dock from April 4th - April 6th.
You can find us in the great gallery, we're happy to chat about the game and let you play and experience Through the Darkest of Times for yourself.
If you want to know more about the convention, check out the official website:
https://www.egx.net/rezzed
See you in London!
Through the Darkest of Times is playable at PAX East 2019!
PAX East is one of the finest gaming events in the world! Thousands of players will celebrate together in Boston, MA, from March 28th till March 31st.
And Through the Darkest of Times is part of it. Pass by and visit us at booth #18007 and play the game. We will show the latest version of the game there and you can make your stand against the regime in the demo.
We're happy to say "Hi!" and talk about the game. We are eager to learn what you think, what you like and dislike.
Looking forward to meeting you at PAX East!
Through the Darkest of Times to be published by HandyGames
Quickly, they started to harass, imprison and even murder anyone who stood against them or minorities that did not fit into their disturbed view of the world. While there were millions cheering for the Nazis, there were also a few people who felt the need to resist this monstrosity. Can you imagine how dangerous, how frightening this thought must have been? Facing a whole nation on your own? A government that formed the laws as it saw fit, controlled by no one, bound by no moral compass? Judges, Prosecutors, Police – all under the rule of the Party.
This is the mood of Through the Darkest of Times from Paintbucket Games. The player becomes the leader of a small resistance group in 1933’s Berlin, that wants to oppose The Third Reich. It’s not a natural thing for them – they are not trained resistance fighters. They are ordinary people, maybe of Jewish Faith or Catholics, followers of the communist party or just patriots, who don’t want to see their country run by criminals.
The group aims to deliver small blows to the regime – dropping leaflets to let people know what the Nazis are really up to, painting messages on walls, sabotaging, gathering information, recruting more followers. And all of that while staying secret – once the regime’s forces learn about your group, the life of each member is in grave danger.
The new publishing deal allows Paintbucket Games to increase the scope of Through the Darkest of Times. „The cooperation with HandyGames allowed us to add more depth to the game: more resistance-stories, more content, more endings. And we have a partner who will make sure, the game reaches many players all over the world.“ says Jörg Friedich, Founder of Paintbucket Games.
„We think it’s crucial to have a game like Through the Darkest of Times made in Germany. It’s not about teaching a lesson about the Third Reich like a serious game – it puts the player in the dire situation of these dark days. We are proud to publish such an important game.“ adds Markus Kassulke, CEO HandyGames.
Through the Darkest of Times is developed by Berlin-based Studio Paintbucket Games and will be published by HandyGames, a THQ Nordic family-member. The game will be released for PC and MAC in 2019.
Through the Darkest of Times, A German Game That's Allowed To Use Swastikas
Through the Darkest of Times is being made by a small German studio, and has you playing as a resistance member working against the Nazi party’s rise following Hitler’s election victory in 1933.
The developer’s long fight to be able to use important historic symbols is detailed in this Gamasutra post, which is definitely worth a read for the detail it goes into on the background behind the constitution’s prohibition.
The trailer below, released in April, obviously doesn’t feature any symbols, seeing as it came before the decision, but a version of the game submitted to the USK just ahead of GamesCom this week did and passed, meaning Through the Darkest of Times will be allowed to show everything from Nazi salutes to the swastika when it’s released.
Source: Kotaku
Ex-Spec Ops devs are making a strategy game about the Nazi resistance
The game covers Hitler’s reign as Chancellor, from 1933 to his suicide and Germany’s surrender in 1945. Players will lead a resistance group against the Nazi Regime, and must balance the morale of members, scavenge for resources, and evade the Gestapo. The group is comprised of procedurally generated characters who have different personalities, abilities and views. Real historical events will also have to be handled, which will affect your options and your team.
The developers are Joerg Friedrich and Sebastian Schulz, lead level designer and lead artist on Spec Ops, respectively. They have been working on triple-A games for ten years, and had this to say about why they chose to create a more serious strategy game during this terrifying period of history:
“Civil resistance in Third Reich Germany is such a fascinating and relevant topic, and it is source of so many interesting stories of true human heroism in a truly horrible time, that we think it’s a shame there is no game about this yet. We are also convinced, that most games still tackle this period of history poorly and leave out the important parts. Nazi Germany is too often just shown as another faction and its aesthetics are used without commentary or context. Games are a narrative medium just like film or books, they can do better than that – we hope that Through the Darkest of Times will help to move the medium forward and encourages more developers to go there.”
Source: PCGamesN