Volume
Subsurface Circular out now!
Our new game, Subsurface Circular, just launched, by surprise. If you liked Volume, we think you might dig this one too.. check it out..
http://store.steampowered.com/app/676820/Subsurface_Circular/
It's getting good reviews (Polygon 9/10, Videogamer 8/10, GamesRadar 8/10) and, like, people seem to be liking it.
Thanks, and see you on the Subsurface Circular.
- Mike
Update: Server switchover
Very simple update this, to get the game moved over to our new server. Unfortunately necessary due to Facebook closing down Parse (our previous provider)... there should be no noticeable difference for players, and all UGC and leaderboards should be just as you left them.
If you notice any issues with online content, please ensure you've updated the game to this version. If problems persist, please throw us a comment and we'll look into it for you
Thanks, especially to those who've created the user generated maps which make our servers so important to the game, you're all brilliant.
Mike
Update! Japanese support
Thanks for your ongoing support of Volume, and do please let us know if you spot any new bugs in the game after updating!
Cheers,
Mike
Volume Holiday Level Competition
The tree is up. The candles are lit. Die Hard has been hilariously and ironically put into the DVD player. But there’s a problem. Volume, Volume is not christmassy. Sure, it’s got red and green in it. And a man, strangely fixated with redistributing presents, but it’s not right, is it?
We’d like to fix that.
I’d like to announce the first (and possibly last) Volume Holiday Level Competition, or as we’re calling it in the office, VHLC. That doesn’t work.
You’ve got til Tuesday 22nd December, 5pm UK time, to submit a festive piece of sneaky fun. I’ll pick my favourite three, and give 10 VOLUME STEAM KEYS to their creators (the perfect christmas present). Winners will be announced 5pm UK time on Wednesday 23rd.
Imagine it. Giving the gift of stealth this Christmas, and being able to arrogantly point out the level you made in Staff Picks. It’s what Christmas is all about.
To Enter:
- Make a level in the ‘edit simulation’ mode on PC or console
- Name it ‘XMAS_’ followed by a suitable and charming name e.g ‘XMAS_NakatomiPlaza’
- Upload it to our servers!
- Follow @volumegame on twitter, and tweet our AI the name of your level (so we can give you your prize if you win)
- Enjoy a delicious hot chocolate by the fire
Happy level building,
Mike
Our first sale! (33% off)
It felt like it was time to inflate the community, so today, we're doing a sale. I'm excited to see how the game's audience grows, and to play some of the amazing levels these new folks are going to make for us to experience. We have some exciting stuff coming up, and it's going to be cool to share that.
Today, if you'd like to help, tell a friend about the game, or post a review, preferably a nice one. Cheers :D
Have a great time!
Mike
An update on updates
I'm writing this, because it occurred to me that we've been silent on here for over a week, and that might be a bit worrying to folks. While the blog on volumegame.net, and our twittery stuff has been chatting away, we've not been posting here.. and that's a bit of an oversight on my part.
The game's going great. We seem to have cleared the vast majority of major bugs, we're selling far better than the last game (Thomas Was Alone) did, and we're excited about a bunch of Volume related stuff that's on its way.
On a code level, we've had to take a week off of patching, to move some resources across to the Vita build. That's going live soonish, and we want to make sure it hits at the quality (and the framerate) that the audience on there deserves. That of course matters very little to a PC gamer, but it's an explanation of why you've not seen a mini bug fix patch in the last week, those should start up again this week.. as we continue to patch little issues that bother us (and the forum ;D).
We're in preproduction on a couple of new feature updates, which improve the experience and open up new options, think on a similar scale to the checkpoints one. The artists are just making stuff for that as we speak, expect word on that in a couple of weeks :) down the line, we have some exciting new gameplay additions to announce and add, but those will be more in the 'couple of months' category.
So yeah, a big thanks, basically. It's nearly at the T+1 month stage, and we're all incredibly excited by how things have gone so far, and eager to keep making cool stuff for you all to enjoy with the game. Tell a friend. Tell two friends. Don't tell any of your enemies, they don't deserve it ;)
Oh, and a specific thanks to the folks playing with UGC and making stuff.. Staff Picks section is now at 63 maps of loveliness. It's exciting to me that in a month, our game has grown by over 50% with great content made by you. Planning to use some of those levels in an upcoming trailer.
Cheers everyone
Mike (and the team, who he presumes to speak for)
Patch 1.1.04 Notes
Still, a few bug fixes which should make everyone happy. Also, 13 new staff picks added (whoop, 58 in there now, thanks so much to the talented folks who made those.
- Fix to Q achievement not unlocking (will also retroactively unlock)
- Fix to dialogue playing in the menu
- Fix to gadget sounds spilling over into menu
- Customisable characters are now loading properly between sessions (player choice and colours)
- Exploit to post impossible leaderboard times blocked
- Completion marker now appears right away for online maps
Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend.
Update! 1.1.00 - Checkpoint modes!
Volume has been out for a little over a week and reaction from the press, YouTubers and streamers has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you so much for your continued feedback and support as we update Volume.
I’ve mentioned in the past that when I made Thomas Was Alone I didn’t set out to make a great narrative. I never thought that the story of Thomas would become the thing people cared about. With Volume I underestimated the number of approaches you’d take, and your desire for each playstyle to be recognized and rewarded. All future updates will focus on providing more content so players can experience the Volume in the way they feel is “right.”
THE CHECKPOINTS UPDATE provides three different ways to play Volume, each with its own leaderboard. Checkpoint selection occurs in the "Basic Settings" screen, which means the checkpoint style choice will apply to both core and user generated maps.
- Freedom - This is the current version, which will retain the present leaderboards. Checkpoints are always on, and a player can always get to them, even when under attack. Speedrunners have shown a knack for it, but stealth-focused players feel it’s easy to “cheese.”
- Lockdown - This is the new default setting for the game with a whole new leaderboard. Checkpoints are unavailable (they disappear) when any enemy is actively pursuing the player. This prevents players from being able to use checkpoints to progress without stealth.
- Execution - A new mode, which also features a new leaderboard. In this mode there simply are no checkpoints at all when loading a level. The ultimate challenge for those who desire it.
Oh, and one more thing…
THE CHECKPOINTS UPDATE IS AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW ON STEAM!
Cheers!
Mike
Patch 1.0.18b Notes
If you're a native Polish or Russian speaker, and you notice any font rendering issues, please do let us know so we can get those fixed.
So yeah, let's see how this patch goes, and bear with us while we get the checkpoint update finalised for release later this week :)
- End of level rating is now done with left-thumbstick
- Can no longer control back-menu when discarding settings in Basic Settings
- Back button now bound to Esc key for easier keyboard navigation on menus
- If you hold RB/LB in editor it no longer auto-moves.
- Fix to player able to get into some collision objects (the table bug.. now fixed.. yippee!)
- Start button text now localised
- Added Polish and Russian
- Improvements to Latin character rendering
- Fixed controller icon appearing on Save Confirmation prompt in editor, if no controller is plugged in
So many cool maps to play through and add to staff picks, to the person who's SpyParty map I just played.. I salute you ;)
Cheers,
Mike
Patch 1.0.15 Notes
Couple of days on this one, largely because of the surprising amount of work checking the servers for cool levels to add to staff picks turned out to be (jeez guys, you made some cool stuff, article on that here: http://www.volumegame.net/blog/2015/8/21/volumefriday-issue-1 ) .. so that's 20 hand picked bits of cool level to work through with the newly fixed build.
Fixes in this patch:
- no gameplay sound plays during cutscenes anymore.
- controllers are now rebindable on the controls setting screen, which should help those with non standard controllers (or standard controllers through different drivers to ours). This stuff is new, so please report any weird bugs you find in it. (on the mac, there's currently a couple of bugs with the rebind screen, please bear with us, fix coming tomorrow, but we wanted to get all these other problems solved for everyone, to start the weekend)
- frame rate cap now available in settings (default is still uncapped), for those who want to run the game efficiently on lower spec / overheating machines.
- achievement bugs fixed. We believe in most cases, this will retroactively award missing achievements, although it is possible that some players will need to redo the necessary unlock steps. Apologies.
- a mask icon now shows whenever the game is saving data
- LT and RT on menus have been swapped out for the correct LB and RB prompts.
So yeah, a decent sized list of issues solved. Next on my radar are language bugs, and getting in Polish and Russian stuff. I also want to personally solve the table collision bug, because while it's not the end of the world, it is bloody embarrassing ;)
Oh, and we are kicking off work on the first feature patch, adding toggle-able changes to checkpointing logic (and new leaderboards for new modes) and a 'no story, just missions' character option for those who like their stealth pure and uninterrupted.
We will be working over the weekend, but probably safe to assume the next bug fix patch will not arrive til early next week. Have a great weekend, and tell a few friends about this weird little stealth game that gets bug fix patches regularly ;)