The world of Vaporum is not only comprised of the mysterious tower somewhere in the middle of an ocean. The Arx Vaporum (the Tower) is just one part of a larger world, and various bits and hints on this world lie hidden in the tower’s depths, in the form of readable notes and audio phonodiaries, waiting to be found by the players.
In an unexplained way, we just received a scrap book filled with snippets of newspapers from that world. Maybe a teleportation system malfunction…?! There’s no explanation of that in the snippets. However, thanks to them, we can take a peek into this world. A world ruled by a strictly bureaucratic, science-powered government of the Supreme Bureau. The oldest snippet comes from almost 120 years before the events of Vaporum, from the time when the Supreme Bureau just assumed power.
Patch #13 (02-10-2018) (Linux Only)
Hey, guys!
Just a small patch for Linux only this time.
Some controllers on Linux could crash the game, as reported here. This is a Unity bug, which we can't fix ourselves, but we created a workaround. If you happen to have such a controller, the game will not crash anymore, but if you wish to use the controller, you will have to change one setting by hand.
The game should warn you about the issue on start. If so, go to the
Vaporum/Settings/GameSettings.yaml file and change the
ControllerType to either XboxOne or PS4, according to your preferences. The controller should work as expected.
In case you want to know, the valid values for the setting are:
- None: Disables the controller support.
- Autodetect: The game will try to detect what controller type you have. This is the default setting.
- XboxOne: Enables the Xbox One & Xbox 360 controller support and scheme.
- PS4: Enables the PlayStation 4 controller support and scheme.
Note: The XboxOne and PS4 settings should work fine with most other controllers.
Enjoy! :)
Vaporum 1-Year Anniversary
TLDR: - Vaporum has been out for a year!
- -40% week-long sale (starting today at 19:00 CET) here on Steam.
- We're releasing an early prototype of Vaporum from late 2014 (Windows only). Download here! - We're working on a prequel to Vaporum!
- Thank you all for the support!
One Year of Vaporum
Time flies. It's been a year since we launched the debut game of our small studio -- Vaporum. We've managed to do quite a lot during this time. The game has won several awards: Best Graphics at Game Access 2017, Best Game Design and Best Debut at Slovak Game of the Year 2017.
It's doing good in terms of ratings, with 90% here on Steam, 4.5/5 on GOG, and 78 points on Metacritics. It's been localized into 11 languages and ported to both Linux and Mac. And currently, we're working on ports for Xbox One, PS4, and Switch.
We've released 12 updates, including the extensive Accessibility Update, which was our attempt to make the game a lot more accessible to people with disabilities. One of the major parts of the update was the Stop Time Mode, mostly aimed at players who found the combat and the timed puzzles too hectic, or outright impossible due to a physical disability.
In another big update, we enhanced the RPG system with a new exo-rig and three new circuits. This greatly increased the number of possible combinations of rigs and circuits, which allowed our players to replay the game with fresh ideas on how to build the character.
We're quite proud of the game and we're very happy players receive it so well. It's a great feeling of satisfaction when the game is well received by the people for whom you're making it. The journey to releasing Vaporum was not easy, and that's why this anniversary is not only a celebration of the release, but also the path to it.
Sale & Prototype
On this occasion, we decided to run a **-40% week-long sale** (starting today at 19:00 CET) here on Steam, and also release an early game prototype that we used in our search for funding for full development. The prototype represents a single level, showing our rough vision of how the game could work, what types of gameplay situations the player was to experience, and the general atmosphere.
The prototype also served to see if the mechanics the game was built on worked or not. A small group of about 8 friends and relatives, quite spread all across the spectrum of gaming genres, focus-tested the game and gave us lots of invaluable feedback on things that weren't working, but also gave us a signal that the game had good potential.
Of course, the prototype is buggy and rough around the edges, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Multiple systems are provisional (RPG, AI, etc...), implemented only up to a state of being able to present our vision. Therefore, we don't guarantee anything; it very well may not even run on your machine. It's not a full game or a demo.
Please take the prototype as is. It's just a curiosity from the history of development of Vaporum, for you, the fans.
Next Game
It's you, our players and fans who we make games for. We'd like to thank all of you for all the support you've given us.
We'd also like to announce that we're working on a game that will bring you back into the depths of Arx Vaporum, this time with a different protagonist, new levels and toys to play with, and a few new nasty enemies. ;)
PS: Feel free to tell us what you think about Vaporum, either by writing a review on Steam, joining our Discord server, or by following us on Twitter or Facebook.
Patch #12 (31-08-2018) — Controller Support!
Hey guys, we have another update for you today!
Vaporum now natively supports controllers, so you can enjoy the game from the comfort of your couch. And we also squashed some nasty bugs still roaming the tower of Vaporum.
Patch Notes: - Added controller support.
- Fixed: When you quit to the main menu while the automap is out of order, it will remain so even when you start a new game.
- Fixed: The unique sword Lithe Blade's burning effect (DOT) does not deal damage to other nearby enemies.
- Fixed: Return damage from some shields and the Heavy Rig resets the behavior of an enemy affected by the Manipulator gadget. This is inconvenient, as sometimes the enemy resets right after you use the Manipulator on it.
- Fixed: Some specific values of FOV (graphical setting) can cause visual glitches when being pulled by a Magnet Golem.
Enjoy! :)
Patch #11 (30-07-2018) -- Mac Available Now!
Hey guys, we have a big update for you today!
Vaporum is now available on Mac! We have also added a few game tips to clarify some game mechanics and fixed quite a few bugs.
Patch Notes:
Added Mac support.
Added a few game tips to clarify some mechanics & interactions. This is also due to the upcoming controller support.
Added a "Toggle HUD" button (default: F4). You can use this to make HUD-less screenshots.
Fixed issues in Slovak, Japanese, and Chinese localization.
Fixed: While you're in the process of dying and a game tip shows up, the game crashes.
Fixed item container size.
Fixed tooltips for Fumium Capacitor, Combat Fuse, Tech Fuse, Toughness Fuse, and Cicruit Upgrade.
Fixed other minor bugs.
Enjoy! :)
Fatbot Games Discord Server
Hey guys and gals!
We have started our Discord server and you are welcome there to discuss our game Vaporum, possible future games from Fatbot Games, but also dungeon crawlers and games in general!
Vaporum Won Two Slovak Game of the Year 2017 Awards
Hey, guys!
We're excited to let you know that Vaporum won two awards at the Slovak Game of the Year 2017 event, for the Best Game Design and Best Debut Game. We want to thank all our fans, the event organizers and judges. We also hope to bring you more enjoyable games in the future!
Thank you!
Patch #10 (12-06-2018)
Hey guys!
Another small patch that fixes a major issue with the free camera look on Linux and some other minor issues on both platforms.
Have fun! :)
Patch #9 (29-05-2018)
Hey guys!
We had to roll back the controller support, as we found issues with it in the current form. We will put it back into the game when it's 100% done. We're sorry for the confusion!
Patch #8 (28-05-2018)
Hey guys! Just a miniscule patch, fixing a few minor issues and a rare crash we bumped into.
Happy gaming! :)
EDIT: By accident, this patch also includes official controller support, which we planned to add in a future patch. We did not intend to release it now, as it's not quite finished and 100% bug-free yet, but we'll let it fly. So, enjoy that too! We will update it in the future for sure.
