Hey guys, we've been a bit quiet lately, but that's only because we've been keeping our heads down and working hard on the last chunk of content for the game - the Deep Caverns. There's still a lot to do before we can show it in its full glory, but here's a little teaser screenshot below.

Also, we implemented player housing. Players will now get an old ruined apartment in Core City which they can fix up and furnish to their liking. Most of the stuff you can get for the house is just for show, but there is some useful equipment as well.





In other news:

• UI
  
  • Added Oddity catalog window that will show all the oddities you've collected and also how many oddity types you're still to find
    
  • You can now open system menu during the NPC turn (to load or exit the game or configure options)
• Psi
  
  • Added the remaining nine psi abilities, three for each psionic school.
    
  • Psychokinesis
    
    • Electrokinetic Imprint - Places a hidden electrokinetic imprint on the ground that deals electrical damage and stuns the first creature to step on it. Only one imprint can be active in an area at a time.
      
    • Disruptive Field - Creates a disruptive field around the target that reduces their chance to hit with ranged and thrown weapons.
      
    • Implosion - Deals mechanical damage equal to a percentage of target's current health. This attack bypasses damage threshold and shields.
  • Thought Control
    
    • Psi-cognitive Interruption - Burns target's psi points, dealing damage equal to a percentage of psi burned and also applies psi inhibition which prevents the target from invoking psi abilities or regenerating psi
    • points.
      
    • Mirror Image Pseudo-spatial Projection - Projects additional copies of yourself in the immediate vicinity that travel with you. Each time you are attacked by a weapon or unarmed attack there's a chance that the attack will hit a copy instead, removing it. Machines and true-sighted attackers cannot be fooled by this mind trick.
      
    • Neurovisual Disruption - You disappear from the sight of the target, removing its ability to detect for 1 turn, and immediately enter stealth. Target also has its perception reduced by 5 and detection by 50% for 5 turns. Likewise, does not work on machines or true-sighted enemies.
  • Metathermics
    
    • Cryokinetic Orb - You launch a large frozen orb which shatters on impact, sending ice shards flying in all directions. Each shard deals cold and mechanical damage and chills the target. Due to shards fanning out, targets closer to the place of impact may be hit with up to multiple shards, while those farther away might not be hit at all. Each shard has 50% chance to inflict a bleeding wound that does additional 100% of the original mechanical damage done.
      
    • Exothermic Aura - Makes you immune to heat damage and generates flames around you and in your wake. Flame generation stops one turn before the aura expires, giving you the opportunity to flee your inferno.
      
    • Cryo-shield - Creates a number of frozen shards around the invoker. Each time the character suffers a melee attack, there's 50% chance that one of the shards will block some mechanical damage and be destroyed in the process.
• Tweaks
  
  • 95% damage cap now only applies to mechanical resistance
    
  • Damage from flames reduced (includes firebombs and other sources of environmental fire)
    
  • Crawler AI improved
    
  • Destructable rocks can now also be destroyed with a jackhammer
• Bugs
  
  • Flat dodge and evasion bonuses are now always reduced by armor penalty
    
  • Suppressive fire will now count as a slow for purposes of opportunistic attack
    
  • Inanimate objects no longer appear scared of fire
    
  • Mental Breakdown duration can now be lessened through resolve
    
  • Gun Rush status effect now has proper icon
    
  • You can no longer skin Azif
    
  • Rapid Fire feat description now correctly notes the cooldown
    
  • Metal strider boots will now also have stealth penalty like the leather ones
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused character to lost health from attacks that deal no damage when using items/feats that grant health bonuses
    
  • You will no longer sound like a tin man after dismounting the Dreadnought
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused auto-trade option to trade money for money
    
  • Burst attack will no longer consume an extra bullet

That's all for now folks. We still have work ahead of us with new content, some gameplay balancing and tweaking, and then finally polishing the game, especially the old areas. I know some of you are really impatient to get your hands on the final release, but please don't ask me for the release date. I don't know and I don't even particularly care at this point. All I can say is it will be out this year definitively! One thing that we do know is exactly what needs to be done, by each of us in the team, for the game to be all it's meant to be at the release, and every day we hammer away at it. So stay patient, dudes.

We'll drop the next dev log when we have more of Deep Caverns to show.

Hey guys, we've been a bit quiet lately, but that's only because we've been keeping our heads down and working hard on the last chunk of content for the game - the Deep Caverns. There's still a lot to do before we can show it in its full glory, but here's a little teaser screenshot below.

Also, we implemented player housing. Players will now get an old ruined apartment in Core City which they can fix up and furnish to their liking. Most of the stuff you can get for the house is just for show, but there is some useful equipment as well.





In other news:

• UI
  
  • Added Oddity catalog window that will show all the oddities you've collected and also how many oddity types you're still to find
    
  • You can now open system menu during the NPC turn (to load or exit the game or configure options)
• Psi
  
  • Added the remaining nine psi abilities, three for each psionic school.
    
  • Psychokinesis
    
    • Electrokinetic Imprint - Places a hidden electrokinetic imprint on the ground that deals electrical damage and stuns the first creature to step on it. Only one imprint can be active in an area at a time.
      
    • Disruptive Field - Creates a disruptive field around the target that reduces their chance to hit with ranged and thrown weapons.
      
    • Implosion - Deals mechanical damage equal to a percentage of target's current health. This attack bypasses damage threshold and shields.
  • Thought Control
    
    • Psi-cognitive Interruption - Burns target's psi points, dealing damage equal to a percentage of psi burned and also applies psi inhibition which prevents the target from invoking psi abilities or regenerating psi
    • points.
      
    • Mirror Image Pseudo-spatial Projection - Projects additional copies of yourself in the immediate vicinity that travel with you. Each time you are attacked by a weapon or unarmed attack there's a chance that the attack will hit a copy instead, removing it. Machines and true-sighted attackers cannot be fooled by this mind trick.
      
    • Neurovisual Disruption - You disappear from the sight of the target, removing its ability to detect for 1 turn, and immediately enter stealth. Target also has its perception reduced by 5 and detection by 50% for 5 turns. Likewise, does not work on machines or true-sighted enemies.
  • Metathermics
    
    • Cryokinetic Orb - You launch a large frozen orb which shatters on impact, sending ice shards flying in all directions. Each shard deals cold and mechanical damage and chills the target. Due to shards fanning out, targets closer to the place of impact may be hit with up to multiple shards, while those farther away might not be hit at all. Each shard has 50% chance to inflict a bleeding wound that does additional 100% of the original mechanical damage done.
      
    • Exothermic Aura - Makes you immune to heat damage and generates flames around you and in your wake. Flame generation stops one turn before the aura expires, giving you the opportunity to flee your inferno.
      
    • Cryo-shield - Creates a number of frozen shards around the invoker. Each time the character suffers a melee attack, there's 50% chance that one of the shards will block some mechanical damage and be destroyed in the process.
• Tweaks
  
  • 95% damage cap now only applies to mechanical resistance
    
  • Damage from flames reduced (includes firebombs and other sources of environmental fire)
    
  • Crawler AI improved
    
  • Destructable rocks can now also be destroyed with a jackhammer
• Bugs
  
  • Flat dodge and evasion bonuses are now always reduced by armor penalty
    
  • Suppressive fire will now count as a slow for purposes of opportunistic attack
    
  • Inanimate objects no longer appear scared of fire
    
  • Mental Breakdown duration can now be lessened through resolve
    
  • Gun Rush status effect now has proper icon
    
  • You can no longer skin Azif
    
  • Rapid Fire feat description now correctly notes the cooldown
    
  • Metal strider boots will now also have stealth penalty like the leather ones
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused character to lost health from attacks that deal no damage when using items/feats that grant health bonuses
    
  • You will no longer sound like a tin man after dismounting the Dreadnought
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused auto-trade option to trade money for money
    
  • Burst attack will no longer consume an extra bullet

That's all for now folks. We still have work ahead of us with new content, some gameplay balancing and tweaking, and then finally polishing the game, especially the old areas. I know some of you are really impatient to get your hands on the final release, but please don't ask me for the release date. I don't know and I don't even particularly care at this point. All I can say is it will be out this year definitively! One thing that we do know is exactly what needs to be done, by each of us in the team, for the game to be all it's meant to be at the release, and every day we hammer away at it. So stay patient, dudes.

We'll drop the next dev log when we have more of Deep Caverns to show.

Dev Log #38: Version 0.1.14.0 released

Hey guys, the last Early Access/alpha version is here. It's available on Steam now and, as before, it will be available on other platforms as soon as we stabilize it. We are proud to present to you the Institute of Tchort in all its glory, the final urban area of the game. If you want to know more about what's left on our development roadmap, check out the previous dev log.



Speaking of changes, we made quite a bit of them, some of which are quite significant for certain play-styles, so we're looking forward to hearing the feedback on those. Of course, we also added lots of new stuff in terms of items and feats. Anyway here's the list (partial list, the other half is in the previous dev log):

• Items
  
  • Added Flashbang blueprint
    
  • Added EMP grenades Mk II and Mk III
    
  • Rathound Regalia mechanical damage reduction changed to 20% (down from 25%) and all heat damage taken while wearing it increased by 100%
    
  • Burrower Burger, Eel Sandwich and Cave Hopper Steak now grant 1 point in their respective stats (down from 2)
    
  • Mushroom Brew no longe affects agility and preception and dexterity penalties changed to -2 (don from -3)
    
  • Consuming Mushroom Brew will now give you an empty bottle
    
  • Shock and incendiary bolts and acid blob traps mk III should no longer appear in shops or as random loot and mk II should now be quite rare
    
  • Healing from regenerative vests buffed; regenerative armors can no longer be recharged during combat
    
  • Finding psionic headband with an enhancement is now rare and you can no longer find one with two enhancements (you'll have to craft it)
    
  • Regular tactical vest visual model updated
• Creatures
  
  • Added cats
• Tweaks
  
  • Max player character level increased to 25
    
  • Base classic kill XP per target level increased slightly
    
  • Crafting requirements for components scaling with quality lowered to 80% of the original value
    
  • Removed composition difficulty from many optional component slots
    
  • Reduced the cost of firing energy pistols (not retroactive, just for new ones)
    
  • NPCs now use EMP grenades; you've been warned
    
  • Increased the range and max range of assault rifles; this will indirectly reduce burst imprecision (not retroactive)
    
  • Warhogs have been buffed
    
  • Dirty Rags now require 10 tailoring (down from 25)
    
  • Recycling stuff made of fabric will now also produce dirty rags
    
  • Pack hunting now also increases attack skill in addition to damage, so rathounds in groups will hit you more easily
    
  • NPCs will no longer attempt to disarm traps that are too hard for them
    
  • NPC suspicion bar now degrades very slowly over time (updated when you re-enter the area)
    
  • Explosive barrel damage increased
    
  • Slightly reduced the number of mutated dogs in Depot A
    
  • Muties and regular dogs no longer respawn in Depot A
    
  • Forcefield cooldown changed to 8 turns (down from 12)
    
  • Plasma Sentry no longer loses the rest of its turn when it switches back into mobile form
    
  • Crawler poison can no longer be refreshed, so having it applied multiple times will no longer delay the stuff
    
  • Reduced the fatigue effect duration after adrenaline expires to adrenaline duration + 1 turn
    
  • Bear trap weight halved
    
  • Toxic Gas grenades now apply “Contaminated” debuff which increases all damage taken
• Feats
  
  • Requirements for various feats re-balanced
    
  • Shroomhead - feat disabled, pending redesign
    
  • Taste for Blood - now also grants a stack whenever you deal a killing blow regardless of whether the target had bleeding wounds or not
    
  • Power Management - changed to now always provide 35% extra energy capacity
    
  • Uncanny Dodge - You now dodge 2 + 1 extra attack per 30 dodge; cooldown changed to 6 turns (up from 3)
    
  • Spec Ops - now correctly only works with SMGs
    
  • Opportunist - now works with throwing knives as well
    
  • Added 31 new feats
• UI
  
  • Items will no longer get equipped when you double click them while holding ALT or CTRL (so you can rapidly alt-click transfer stuff now)
    
  • Interface will no longer register single clicks as double clicks if they are fired rapidly after a double click
    
  • Fixed the slowdown that occurred when opening quest notes once you've got a lot of notes in there; also fixed weird spacing issues in that window
    
  • Added scroll bar to crafted item view
• Bugs
  
  • Game will no longer crash when you return to the secret hideout of a secret organization in a certain place
    
  • The electro room in the Gauntlet crash fixed
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the level up to cancel without allowing you to restart it when pressing ESC when confirmation dialog appears and then again after that
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the respawning creatures not to respawn when loading an autosave
    
  • TNT charges will now trigger explosive traps and other similar objects in their blast radius
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused melee special attacks to have their visual and sound effects trigger at the beginning of the animation instead of at the moment of impact
    
  • Arena enemies will no longer turn their shields off before combat like idiots
    
  • Fixed the bug that sometimes caused bandaging to abort if you were right on the minimal health limit
    
  • You can no longer drop things into a standard container without opening it
    
  • You can no longer burst people who are not in the same area. For example, using burst while fighting in arena and bursting people below it, thus being branded a witch and sentenced to death
    
  • Fix the bug that caused Telekinetic Proxy to not clone your abilities if it was positioned just to the side of the target
    
  • Guard at Epione Lab will no attack you after letting you pass in certain situations
    
  • You will now always be able to exit Holloway's dialog
    
  • Other various quest and dialog bugs

That's all for now folks. Enjoy the last alpha update and let us know how you like the new stuff, as well as the gameplay changes we made. We're off now to work at the last bit of the game and, hopefully, come summer, we'll have the full release ready.

Cheers!

Dev Log #38: Version 0.1.14.0 released

Hey guys, the last Early Access/alpha version is here. It's available on Steam now and, as before, it will be available on other platforms as soon as we stabilize it. We are proud to present to you the Institute of Tchort in all its glory, the final urban area of the game. If you want to know more about what's left on our development roadmap, check out the previous dev log.



Speaking of changes, we made quite a bit of them, some of which are quite significant for certain play-styles, so we're looking forward to hearing the feedback on those. Of course, we also added lots of new stuff in terms of items and feats. Anyway here's the list (partial list, the other half is in the previous dev log):

• Items
  
  • Added Flashbang blueprint
    
  • Added EMP grenades Mk II and Mk III
    
  • Rathound Regalia mechanical damage reduction changed to 20% (down from 25%) and all heat damage taken while wearing it increased by 100%
    
  • Burrower Burger, Eel Sandwich and Cave Hopper Steak now grant 1 point in their respective stats (down from 2)
    
  • Mushroom Brew no longe affects agility and preception and dexterity penalties changed to -2 (don from -3)
    
  • Consuming Mushroom Brew will now give you an empty bottle
    
  • Shock and incendiary bolts and acid blob traps mk III should no longer appear in shops or as random loot and mk II should now be quite rare
    
  • Healing from regenerative vests buffed; regenerative armors can no longer be recharged during combat
    
  • Finding psionic headband with an enhancement is now rare and you can no longer find one with two enhancements (you'll have to craft it)
    
  • Regular tactical vest visual model updated
• Creatures
  
  • Added cats
• Tweaks
  
  • Max player character level increased to 25
    
  • Base classic kill XP per target level increased slightly
    
  • Crafting requirements for components scaling with quality lowered to 80% of the original value
    
  • Removed composition difficulty from many optional component slots
    
  • Reduced the cost of firing energy pistols (not retroactive, just for new ones)
    
  • NPCs now use EMP grenades; you've been warned
    
  • Increased the range and max range of assault rifles; this will indirectly reduce burst imprecision (not retroactive)
    
  • Warhogs have been buffed
    
  • Dirty Rags now require 10 tailoring (down from 25)
    
  • Recycling stuff made of fabric will now also produce dirty rags
    
  • Pack hunting now also increases attack skill in addition to damage, so rathounds in groups will hit you more easily
    
  • NPCs will no longer attempt to disarm traps that are too hard for them
    
  • NPC suspicion bar now degrades very slowly over time (updated when you re-enter the area)
    
  • Explosive barrel damage increased
    
  • Slightly reduced the number of mutated dogs in Depot A
    
  • Muties and regular dogs no longer respawn in Depot A
    
  • Forcefield cooldown changed to 8 turns (down from 12)
    
  • Plasma Sentry no longer loses the rest of its turn when it switches back into mobile form
    
  • Crawler poison can no longer be refreshed, so having it applied multiple times will no longer delay the stuff
    
  • Reduced the fatigue effect duration after adrenaline expires to adrenaline duration + 1 turn
    
  • Bear trap weight halved
    
  • Toxic Gas grenades now apply “Contaminated” debuff which increases all damage taken
• Feats
  
  • Requirements for various feats re-balanced
    
  • Shroomhead - feat disabled, pending redesign
    
  • Taste for Blood - now also grants a stack whenever you deal a killing blow regardless of whether the target had bleeding wounds or not
    
  • Power Management - changed to now always provide 35% extra energy capacity
    
  • Uncanny Dodge - You now dodge 2 + 1 extra attack per 30 dodge; cooldown changed to 6 turns (up from 3)
    
  • Spec Ops - now correctly only works with SMGs
    
  • Opportunist - now works with throwing knives as well
    
  • Added 31 new feats
• UI
  
  • Items will no longer get equipped when you double click them while holding ALT or CTRL (so you can rapidly alt-click transfer stuff now)
    
  • Interface will no longer register single clicks as double clicks if they are fired rapidly after a double click
    
  • Fixed the slowdown that occurred when opening quest notes once you've got a lot of notes in there; also fixed weird spacing issues in that window
    
  • Added scroll bar to crafted item view
• Bugs
  
  • Game will no longer crash when you return to the secret hideout of a secret organization in a certain place
    
  • The electro room in the Gauntlet crash fixed
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the level up to cancel without allowing you to restart it when pressing ESC when confirmation dialog appears and then again after that
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the respawning creatures not to respawn when loading an autosave
    
  • TNT charges will now trigger explosive traps and other similar objects in their blast radius
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused melee special attacks to have their visual and sound effects trigger at the beginning of the animation instead of at the moment of impact
    
  • Arena enemies will no longer turn their shields off before combat like idiots
    
  • Fixed the bug that sometimes caused bandaging to abort if you were right on the minimal health limit
    
  • You can no longer drop things into a standard container without opening it
    
  • You can no longer burst people who are not in the same area. For example, using burst while fighting in arena and bursting people below it, thus being branded a witch and sentenced to death
    
  • Fix the bug that caused Telekinetic Proxy to not clone your abilities if it was positioned just to the side of the target
    
  • Guard at Epione Lab will no attack you after letting you pass in certain situations
    
  • You will now always be able to exit Holloway's dialog
    
  • Other various quest and dialog bugs

That's all for now folks. Enjoy the last alpha update and let us know how you like the new stuff, as well as the gameplay changes we made. We're off now to work at the last bit of the game and, hopefully, come summer, we'll have the full release ready.

Cheers!

Hey guys. The team's working hard on the new areas and quests which are all related to the next step in the main story line - the Institute of Tchort. Here are some teaser screenshots:























One major mechanical change I made since the last update is concerning the psi pool. Instead of functioning like a "mana" resource, the psi was changed to more of pre-alpha state when it functioned like an "energy" resource. Every character with Psi Empathy feat now has 100 psi points and regenerates 20 points per turn (or per 5 seconds in real time). Psi boosters now instantly restore 75 psi.

These changes were done for two reasons which tie into the same problem. One - they were meant to make the psi cost more relevant when choosing what to invoke. The cost of the psi abilities have been re-balanced accordingly - those abilities that were meant to be used as primary attacks, such as neural overload, cryokinesis and electrokinesis, have a low cost and can be spammed without running out of psi. However, those high impact abilities, such as bilocation and cryostasis can run you out of psi quickly.

The second reason, which is related to the first one, is to curb the multi-disciplined psi build. As it stands in the release version, builds that go for full psi can generally invest into all three schools of psi without much trouble because they all rely on the same base stat and also share a number of beneficial feats. This grants the player access to a large amount of crowd-control and AoE abilities that they can invoke in short 1-2 turn burst which makes most encounters a breeze. Now, however, the limited psi pool will keep that in check. You will still be able to spec in all the schools if you wish, but you won't be able to bring down the full power of all of them at the same time.

Another happy consequence of this change is that the psi builds will have easier time in early game because they won't have to worry about psi boosters as much. Now keep in mind that the numbers stated above are not set in stone. We haven't still done any extensive testing of this change so tweaks are likely to happen. Also, I'll probably introduce a couple of feats in the future that will allow the player to slightly expand the psi pool or increase the psi regeneration.

In other news, I've been working on various things related to crafting. Most of the planned components have been added to the standard blueprints. While I'll be adding more components before the game is released as well as some utility and consumable blueprints, there are no plans to add more general blueprints, such as those for a new type of weapon or armor. Keep in in mind that all the crafting stuff added here is crafting-only; that is - it does not appear in randomly generated loot. Also, most of these changes are not retroactive, so already obtained items in running games will be mostly unchanged. Anyway, here's the list:

• Items
  
  • Added components for creating a cryoliquid blob pistol
    
  • Added components for creating an incendiary blob pistol
    
  • Added components for creating a cryoliquid blob trap
    
  • Added components for creating an incendiary blob trap
    
  • Added new firearm enhancements
    
  • Added blueprints for special bullet type for each caliber
    
  • Added shaded visor component that can craft metal helmet that make you immune to blinding effects (flashbang)
    
  • Added two new types of padding foam
    
  • Added infused variants of all leathers which can be obtained in acertain way and can get to very high quality; these leathers all grant various bonuses when used in crafting; the bonuses also vary from blueprint to blueprint
    
  • Added two new fabric types
    
  • Added two new carrier vests
    
  • Added one new ballistic armor plate
    
  • Added one new ballistic panel
    
  • Added one new special metal type
• Tweaks
  
  • You now always fire 2 extra shots with Full Auto feat
    
  • Bipod precision bonus changed to 10% (up from 5%)
    
  • You now have 30% chance to receive the bullet case after firing a bullet (you can use these for crafting)
    
  • Tweaked some on-hit effects so they can now be appropriately mitigated when the damage of the attack that causes them is fully resisted/shielded
    
  • Aluminized cloth now grants immunity to burning when used in armor suit crafting
    
  • Increased the amount of stealth penalty applied by aluminized cloth
    
  • Regenerative vest no longer appears as a component of generated items
    
  • Metal helmets now provide slightly more damage resistance and also provide damage threshold proportionally
    
  • Metal boots now also provide damage threshold proportionally and grant immunity to caltrops
    
  • Stuff made from ancient rathound leather now also grants 5% mechanical damage taken reduction
    
  • High-density padding foam melee protection bonus now scales with component quality
    
  • Tabi boots now increase the chance to get critically hit on the toes
    
  • Super string will no longer appear on generated crossbows
    
  • Leather armors will no longer be generated from leathers better than those naturally occurring
    
  • Mechanical resistance and threshold lowered for certain leather armors
• Feats
  
  • Disassemble - Grants you a blueprint that allows you retrieve some or all components from a disassemble-able items (such as weapons, armors, etc). This works both on the items you made and those you've just found. Existing items in running games will not be dis-assemblable.
• Bugs
  
  • Visual effects will no longer appear on the invisible imported character during the opening cutscene
    
  • Fixed the problem with the final Arena fight not starting properly
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused some traps to not properly trigger faction hostilities in controlled areas
    
  • You should no longer be able to invoke psi abilities if you're... not human
    
  • You can no longer use Locus of Control while driving, it's just not safe
    
  • Quick Tinkering will now properly mitigate the AP cost of setting traps in combat
    
  • Armor modifiers (such as bonus vs bullets/melee) will now only apply to resistance values of the item with those modifiers instead of globally
    
  • 0% negative armor penalty fixed for realz now (maybe)
    
  • Armor penalty is now correctly called that (instead of 'encumbrance') in combat stats window
    
  • Corrected the bug that caused passive things like cameras to de-stealth you when you perform transgressions in their vicinity
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the hostilities in Foundry prison to escalate to the entire city even if you killed all the witnesses and erased the footage
    
  • Fixed various minor quest and map bugs

That's all for now. Let us know how you like the changes and if you like the looks of the new areas.

Cheers.

Hey guys. The team's working hard on the new areas and quests which are all related to the next step in the main story line - the Institute of Tchort. Here are some teaser screenshots:























One major mechanical change I made since the last update is concerning the psi pool. Instead of functioning like a "mana" resource, the psi was changed to more of pre-alpha state when it functioned like an "energy" resource. Every character with Psi Empathy feat now has 100 psi points and regenerates 20 points per turn (or per 5 seconds in real time). Psi boosters now instantly restore 75 psi.

These changes were done for two reasons which tie into the same problem. One - they were meant to make the psi cost more relevant when choosing what to invoke. The cost of the psi abilities have been re-balanced accordingly - those abilities that were meant to be used as primary attacks, such as neural overload, cryokinesis and electrokinesis, have a low cost and can be spammed without running out of psi. However, those high impact abilities, such as bilocation and cryostasis can run you out of psi quickly.

The second reason, which is related to the first one, is to curb the multi-disciplined psi build. As it stands in the release version, builds that go for full psi can generally invest into all three schools of psi without much trouble because they all rely on the same base stat and also share a number of beneficial feats. This grants the player access to a large amount of crowd-control and AoE abilities that they can invoke in short 1-2 turn burst which makes most encounters a breeze. Now, however, the limited psi pool will keep that in check. You will still be able to spec in all the schools if you wish, but you won't be able to bring down the full power of all of them at the same time.

Another happy consequence of this change is that the psi builds will have easier time in early game because they won't have to worry about psi boosters as much. Now keep in mind that the numbers stated above are not set in stone. We haven't still done any extensive testing of this change so tweaks are likely to happen. Also, I'll probably introduce a couple of feats in the future that will allow the player to slightly expand the psi pool or increase the psi regeneration.

In other news, I've been working on various things related to crafting. Most of the planned components have been added to the standard blueprints. While I'll be adding more components before the game is released as well as some utility and consumable blueprints, there are no plans to add more general blueprints, such as those for a new type of weapon or armor. Keep in in mind that all the crafting stuff added here is crafting-only; that is - it does not appear in randomly generated loot. Also, most of these changes are not retroactive, so already obtained items in running games will be mostly unchanged. Anyway, here's the list:

• Items
  
  • Added components for creating a cryoliquid blob pistol
    
  • Added components for creating an incendiary blob pistol
    
  • Added components for creating a cryoliquid blob trap
    
  • Added components for creating an incendiary blob trap
    
  • Added new firearm enhancements
    
  • Added blueprints for special bullet type for each caliber
    
  • Added shaded visor component that can craft metal helmet that make you immune to blinding effects (flashbang)
    
  • Added two new types of padding foam
    
  • Added infused variants of all leathers which can be obtained in acertain way and can get to very high quality; these leathers all grant various bonuses when used in crafting; the bonuses also vary from blueprint to blueprint
    
  • Added two new fabric types
    
  • Added two new carrier vests
    
  • Added one new ballistic armor plate
    
  • Added one new ballistic panel
    
  • Added one new special metal type
• Tweaks
  
  • You now always fire 2 extra shots with Full Auto feat
    
  • Bipod precision bonus changed to 10% (up from 5%)
    
  • You now have 30% chance to receive the bullet case after firing a bullet (you can use these for crafting)
    
  • Tweaked some on-hit effects so they can now be appropriately mitigated when the damage of the attack that causes them is fully resisted/shielded
    
  • Aluminized cloth now grants immunity to burning when used in armor suit crafting
    
  • Increased the amount of stealth penalty applied by aluminized cloth
    
  • Regenerative vest no longer appears as a component of generated items
    
  • Metal helmets now provide slightly more damage resistance and also provide damage threshold proportionally
    
  • Metal boots now also provide damage threshold proportionally and grant immunity to caltrops
    
  • Stuff made from ancient rathound leather now also grants 5% mechanical damage taken reduction
    
  • High-density padding foam melee protection bonus now scales with component quality
    
  • Tabi boots now increase the chance to get critically hit on the toes
    
  • Super string will no longer appear on generated crossbows
    
  • Leather armors will no longer be generated from leathers better than those naturally occurring
    
  • Mechanical resistance and threshold lowered for certain leather armors
• Feats
  
  • Disassemble - Grants you a blueprint that allows you retrieve some or all components from a disassemble-able items (such as weapons, armors, etc). This works both on the items you made and those you've just found. Existing items in running games will not be dis-assemblable.
• Bugs
  
  • Visual effects will no longer appear on the invisible imported character during the opening cutscene
    
  • Fixed the problem with the final Arena fight not starting properly
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused some traps to not properly trigger faction hostilities in controlled areas
    
  • You should no longer be able to invoke psi abilities if you're... not human
    
  • You can no longer use Locus of Control while driving, it's just not safe
    
  • Quick Tinkering will now properly mitigate the AP cost of setting traps in combat
    
  • Armor modifiers (such as bonus vs bullets/melee) will now only apply to resistance values of the item with those modifiers instead of globally
    
  • 0% negative armor penalty fixed for realz now (maybe)
    
  • Armor penalty is now correctly called that (instead of 'encumbrance') in combat stats window
    
  • Corrected the bug that caused passive things like cameras to de-stealth you when you perform transgressions in their vicinity
    
  • Fixed the bug that caused the hostilities in Foundry prison to escalate to the entire city even if you killed all the witnesses and erased the footage
    
  • Fixed various minor quest and map bugs

That's all for now. Let us know how you like the changes and if you like the looks of the new areas.

Cheers.

Hey guys, the new version is available on Steam now and, as before, it will be available on other platforms as soon as we stabilize it.

In this update we added new factions with their optional questlines, namely - Free Drones, Protectorate and the super secret one. We added most of the remaining areas that we planned for the game, which include Upper Underrail and Lower Underrail passages, so speaking geographically most of the game is complete. If you want the full list of what's new, check out the previous two dev logs before reading further.

One thing to note, however, is that if you want to experience the new questlines you'll probably have to start a new game, unfortunately, since we had to make some changes to existing areas and quests in order to fit them in.

Before I insert the obligatory list of miscellaneous changes, here's a little sneak peak at some of the new areas, focusing primarily on the mighty Protectorate war machine.



Screenshot unworthy stuff:

• Bugs
  
  • Creatures immune to fear are no longer immune to Engrage (unless they are immune to all mind-affecting effects)
• Tweaks
  
  • Eviscerate bonus damage per bleeding would changed to 50% (down from 100%)
    
  • Taste For Blood now stacks 10 times (down from 20)
    
  • Damage resistance provided by laminated fabric ballistic panel now scales with quality (though it's still weaker than the other one) and the damage threshold is increased; these changes will not apply to stuff that has already been generated in ongoing playthroughs
    
  • Melee resistance bonus of riot gear armor changed to 75% (up from 50%); also not retroactive
    
  • Maximum number of oddity XP required for leveling now caps at 25 (up from 15)
    
  • Maximum number of studies and/or amount of XP per studying reduced (or rebalanced) for a number of oddities; overall, less experience is available through some oddities now
    
  • Classic XP required to level changed to 1250 (up from 1000) * level
    
  • Base classic kill XP bonus per target level reduced
    
  • XP from a number of quests reduced
    
  • Lockpicking/hacking XP per required skill reduced

The leveling/XP changes introduced here are just the first step. I'll be tweaking leveling speed and level cap stuff further in the next update. From those that start a new playthrough with a new character in this version I would appreciate any feedback that they can provide on the leveling speed, time they hit level cap, and just general leveling experience (of both classical and oddity systems).

* * * * *

Now I want to talk a bit about the future development plans. I won't be giving you a release date, though I can safely say it won't be this year as I initially hoped. However, know that the end is in sight.
When it comes to mechanical stuff, there are still stuff like components, items, feats, abilities, etc to be added. However, there are currently no plans to add any more major mechanics (gas and fire should be the last). From the content side there are two parts of the main quest left that, as it happens, take part in two locations that are yet to be added - Institute of Tchort and Deep Caverns.

So here's what going to happen.

The next content update that we release will feature Institute of Tchort part of the main questline. This will be the last Early Access release. Afterwards, only the Deep Caverns are left before the game is complete. When we finish those, we will take extra time to polish up the game (we won't release Deep Caverns right away), especially the older areas which are no longer up to par with the new stuff. We will also take extra time to test the game to stomp out as many bugs as possible. Then we will release the game in full, make lots of money, retire to a tropical island and live happily ever after. That's the plan at least.

How long will this take? As long as it needs to. It would be pointless for me to give you a release date estimate, since I will gladly ignore it for the sake of the game as I did before. The quality of the game is my primary concern and in the long run that is best for everyone. We're nearing the end, though, so stay patient, dudes.

Hey guys, the new version is available on Steam now and, as before, it will be available on other platforms as soon as we stabilize it.

In this update we added new factions with their optional questlines, namely - Free Drones, Protectorate and the super secret one. We added most of the remaining areas that we planned for the game, which include Upper Underrail and Lower Underrail passages, so speaking geographically most of the game is complete. If you want the full list of what's new, check out the previous two dev logs before reading further.

One thing to note, however, is that if you want to experience the new questlines you'll probably have to start a new game, unfortunately, since we had to make some changes to existing areas and quests in order to fit them in.

Before I insert the obligatory list of miscellaneous changes, here's a little sneak peak at some of the new areas, focusing primarily on the mighty Protectorate war machine.



Screenshot unworthy stuff:

• Bugs
  
  • Creatures immune to fear are no longer immune to Engrage (unless they are immune to all mind-affecting effects)
• Tweaks
  
  • Eviscerate bonus damage per bleeding would changed to 50% (down from 100%)
    
  • Taste For Blood now stacks 10 times (down from 20)
    
  • Damage resistance provided by laminated fabric ballistic panel now scales with quality (though it's still weaker than the other one) and the damage threshold is increased; these changes will not apply to stuff that has already been generated in ongoing playthroughs
    
  • Melee resistance bonus of riot gear armor changed to 75% (up from 50%); also not retroactive
    
  • Maximum number of oddity XP required for leveling now caps at 25 (up from 15)
    
  • Maximum number of studies and/or amount of XP per studying reduced (or rebalanced) for a number of oddities; overall, less experience is available through some oddities now
    
  • Classic XP required to level changed to 1250 (up from 1000) * level
    
  • Base classic kill XP bonus per target level reduced
    
  • XP from a number of quests reduced
    
  • Lockpicking/hacking XP per required skill reduced

The leveling/XP changes introduced here are just the first step. I'll be tweaking leveling speed and level cap stuff further in the next update. From those that start a new playthrough with a new character in this version I would appreciate any feedback that they can provide on the leveling speed, time they hit level cap, and just general leveling experience (of both classical and oddity systems).

* * * * *

Now I want to talk a bit about the future development plans. I won't be giving you a release date, though I can safely say it won't be this year as I initially hoped. However, know that the end is in sight.
When it comes to mechanical stuff, there are still stuff like components, items, feats, abilities, etc to be added. However, there are currently no plans to add any more major mechanics (gas and fire should be the last). From the content side there are two parts of the main quest left that, as it happens, take part in two locations that are yet to be added - Institute of Tchort and Deep Caverns.

So here's what going to happen.

The next content update that we release will feature Institute of Tchort part of the main questline. This will be the last Early Access release. Afterwards, only the Deep Caverns are left before the game is complete. When we finish those, we will take extra time to polish up the game (we won't release Deep Caverns right away), especially the older areas which are no longer up to par with the new stuff. We will also take extra time to test the game to stomp out as many bugs as possible. Then we will release the game in full, make lots of money, retire to a tropical island and live happily ever after. That's the plan at least.

How long will this take? As long as it needs to. It would be pointless for me to give you a release date estimate, since I will gladly ignore it for the sake of the game as I did before. The quality of the game is my primary concern and in the long run that is best for everyone. We're nearing the end, though, so stay patient, dudes.

Hey guys. I've put the game mechanics aside for now and we're all focused on churning out content for the following update.

In this update we will be rounding up almost entire game world outside of Church of Tchort and Deep Caverns. Player will be able to learn more about the Protectorate and Free Drones and the conflict between them. Optionally, player can decide to throw in their lot with either the freedom loving partisans or the imperialistic lawbringers. There's also another secret faction offerring more opportunity for those observant enough.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG_vK7-svWs

In other news, I finally took the time to fill some long outstanding holes in the presentation department.

Firstly, I hired an artist to do the portraits. There's lots of them to be drawn so don't expect them all to be finished in the next update. In the screenshot above you can see the portraits are lit in the same manner as the characters on the map. I find that this adds to the atmosphere, but this can be disabled in the options for those who disagree. Players can also make their own custom portraits and the game will offer them on character creation if they have been placed in the appropriate folder and are of appropriate format.

Secondly, it was time to expand the musical repertoire. With only four tracks covering the numerous and diverse locations of Underrail, the music tended to get quite repetitive. As with the portraits, don't expect us to be able to cover the entire game with new music immediately. The sample above is the music for the Foundry. Enjoy.

* * * * *

Finally, here's the obligatory list of minor stuff:

• Nice things
  
  • Enemies will now threaten and taunt you in combat. Currently all have the same collection of phrases, but we plan to customize these in the future for different characters/factions/locations. We'll be looking for feedback on these - do the taunts occur too frequently/rarely, is there some particular taunt that is repeated too often, etc. Of course, for those who don't like this sort of stuff, it can be disabled in the options.
• Fixes
  
  • Electrobolts will no longer jump to passive objects that are completely immune to them (e.g. destructible rocks)
    
  • You can no longer load individual bullets during combat as stated by the tooltip
    
  • Removed various leathers that were way too high quality for their type from certain stores
    
  • Burst fire will no longer trigger hostilities against secondary targets caught in the burst cone unless they actually take damage
    
  • Arena commentator will no longer order everyone in Core City to kill you if you happen to aim your burst in his general direction
• Tweaks
  
  • Crawlers buffed and their AI has been slightly tweaked

Let me know what you thought of the new stuff, guys. Cheers.

Hey guys. I've put the game mechanics aside for now and we're all focused on churning out content for the following update.

In this update we will be rounding up almost entire game world outside of Church of Tchort and Deep Caverns. Player will be able to learn more about the Protectorate and Free Drones and the conflict between them. Optionally, player can decide to throw in their lot with either the freedom loving partisans or the imperialistic lawbringers. There's also another secret faction offerring more opportunity for those observant enough.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG_vK7-svWs

In other news, I finally took the time to fill some long outstanding holes in the presentation department.

Firstly, I hired an artist to do the portraits. There's lots of them to be drawn so don't expect them all to be finished in the next update. In the screenshot above you can see the portraits are lit in the same manner as the characters on the map. I find that this adds to the atmosphere, but this can be disabled in the options for those who disagree. Players can also make their own custom portraits and the game will offer them on character creation if they have been placed in the appropriate folder and are of appropriate format.

Secondly, it was time to expand the musical repertoire. With only four tracks covering the numerous and diverse locations of Underrail, the music tended to get quite repetitive. As with the portraits, don't expect us to be able to cover the entire game with new music immediately. The sample above is the music for the Foundry. Enjoy.

* * * * *

Finally, here's the obligatory list of minor stuff:

• Nice things
  
  • Enemies will now threaten and taunt you in combat. Currently all have the same collection of phrases, but we plan to customize these in the future for different characters/factions/locations. We'll be looking for feedback on these - do the taunts occur too frequently/rarely, is there some particular taunt that is repeated too often, etc. Of course, for those who don't like this sort of stuff, it can be disabled in the options.
• Fixes
  
  • Electrobolts will no longer jump to passive objects that are completely immune to them (e.g. destructible rocks)
    
  • You can no longer load individual bullets during combat as stated by the tooltip
    
  • Removed various leathers that were way too high quality for their type from certain stores
    
  • Burst fire will no longer trigger hostilities against secondary targets caught in the burst cone unless they actually take damage
    
  • Arena commentator will no longer order everyone in Core City to kill you if you happen to aim your burst in his general direction
• Tweaks
  
  • Crawlers buffed and their AI has been slightly tweaked

Let me know what you thought of the new stuff, guys. Cheers.