Citizen!

We're working hard on getting Chapter 5 out the door. It shouldn't be too far off now. More and more post-its are getting checked off each day. No dates yet. In the meantime, we've released an update to the game. It's fairly meaty. A lot of the changes will only affect Chapter 5, but we also replayed all the earlier chapters and corrected any problem we encountered.

Here's the full list of changes:

• Engine: Tweaked proximity trigger object
• Engine: Tweaked step trigger object
• Engine: Optimized drag manager
• Engine: Tweaked 'Face' task command
• Game: Improved performance while on game menus
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked gas machine graphics
• Chapter 1: Fixed Victor's depth sorting issue during breakfast
• Chapter 1: Fixed telephone's obstacle issue
• Chapter 1, 2, 3 & 4: Added auto save points
• Chapter 2: Changed tentacle sounds
• Chapter 2: Fixed problem with putting on the helmets in the machine room
• Chapter 2: Tweaked Morton's conversation
• Chapter 2: Tweaked ink pad puzzle
• Chapter 2: Tweaked palm print door behaviour
• Chapter 2: Fixed minor safe behaviour bug
• Chapter 3: Fixed bartender's depth sorting issue
• Chapter 3: Reduced bartender's interactive area
• Chapter 3: Swapped graphics for dumb waiter contents
• Chapter 3: Fixed cabin 1 door's depth sorting issue
• Chapter 3: Tweaked minor graphical issues
• Chapter 4: Disabled ghostly jitter if Animation Effects have been turned off
• Chapter 4: Fixed game freeze that occured after speaking to "ghosts"
• Chapter 4: Fixed typo

As always, we hope you like what you read. And should you encounter any problems with the game - don't be afraid to sound off. Preferably in the comments below.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

We're working hard on getting Chapter 5 out the door. It shouldn't be too far off now. More and more post-its are getting checked off each day. No dates yet. In the meantime, we've released an update to the game. It's fairly meaty. A lot of the changes will only affect Chapter 5, but we also replayed all the earlier chapters and corrected any problem we encountered.

Here's the full list of changes:

• Engine: Tweaked proximity trigger object
• Engine: Tweaked step trigger object
• Engine: Optimized drag manager
• Engine: Tweaked 'Face' task command
• Game: Improved performance while on game menus
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked gas machine graphics
• Chapter 1: Fixed Victor's depth sorting issue during breakfast
• Chapter 1: Fixed telephone's obstacle issue
• Chapter 1, 2, 3 & 4: Added auto save points
• Chapter 2: Changed tentacle sounds
• Chapter 2: Fixed problem with putting on the helmets in the machine room
• Chapter 2: Tweaked Morton's conversation
• Chapter 2: Tweaked ink pad puzzle
• Chapter 2: Tweaked palm print door behaviour
• Chapter 2: Fixed minor safe behaviour bug
• Chapter 3: Fixed bartender's depth sorting issue
• Chapter 3: Reduced bartender's interactive area
• Chapter 3: Swapped graphics for dumb waiter contents
• Chapter 3: Fixed cabin 1 door's depth sorting issue
• Chapter 3: Tweaked minor graphical issues
• Chapter 4: Disabled ghostly jitter if Animation Effects have been turned off
• Chapter 4: Fixed game freeze that occured after speaking to "ghosts"
• Chapter 4: Fixed typo

As always, we hope you like what you read. And should you encounter any problems with the game - don't be afraid to sound off. Preferably in the comments below.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

Earlier this week we solicited questions on our Facebook page . We received quite a lot of replies, so we'll do this as a three parter. And who knows, if you like this we might do more down the line.

So without further ado, here comes the first volley of questions...

***

What is the development status on Chapter 5?

I’m glad you ask, darling. Things are going pretty well. We hoped to have a content complete version before the onset of August, but it slipped a bit. There’s still some things left to design and implement., so it’s still too early to start handing out dates. And since it’s such an extensive chapter, we expect testing to take a little bit longer than usual.

***

How are the sets built?

We’re not lying when we say that everything is built by hand. Erik has a little garage studio, where he builds, rigs, lights and shoots. Most of the game is made out of clay and cardboard, but lately we’ve gone in more of a found-object direction. For Chapter 5 we wanted to build a pretty extensive forest, so Erik when out and foraged. Painstakingly building trees out of clay and cardboard would've been a fools errand. There are plenty of branches just lying around, so why not use them? You can't beat what nature creates. There are also some environments that are a bit more stark and abstract. The parts for those where hand built, and then tweaked in Photoshop to achieve a scale that would be hard to accomplish in a garage.

***

Who's your favourite Swedish opera singer?

I’ll have to go with Jussi Björling on that one. I don’t have any strong opinions on the matter. It’s mostly for nostalgic reasons. I remember my father playing a lot of Björling at home.

***

What's your views on software piracy? I haven't seen The Dream Machine on any torrent sites (I haven't looked for it either) but for some reason this game is one of those games that you choose to pay for even if it's available for "free". If you agree, why do you think that is?

You can find Chapter 1-3 on Pirate Bay. That happened instantaneously once we released the game on Steam. We saw it as a weird honour of sorts, but it bugs me that the files are so old. We constantly update the game, so knowing that some poor sod is playing an old version feels unfortunate.

When it comes to torrent piracy in general, I see it as a lending library. No more, no less. I think it benefits mankind in general, so I don’t have any problem with it. If you don’t have the money to buy and still want to play, I don’t have any problems if you pirate it. Buy me a beer and we’ll call it even.

That being said, it does really bug me that somebody pulled the MP3 sound files from the sound folder and is calling that the ”soundtrack” for the game. That’s just misleading. It’s like if you take random screen dumps, slap them into a PDF and then upload that as the ”art book” for the game.

***

Are you going to keep creating point & click games after The Dream Machine is finished?

I honestly don’t know. It won’t be a pure point & click game, is all I can say. I feel a bit sick of the confines of the genre, and would want to explore something else for a while. Some kind of hybrid, sounds likely.

***

Do people really like lutfisk?

Yup. It’s considered a delicacy here – although a very divisive one. It’s an acquired taste to say the least. The few times I’ve tried it, it didn’t do much for me. Gelatinous and bland. But it is still quite popular during Christmas. As with Surströmming, it’s all about the trimmings. If you lathered melted butter and and a generous helping of horseradish over it, I suspect it could be quite good.

Lutfisk, for those who don’t know, is a very traditional Nordic dish were you take dried white-fish (normally cod) and reconstitute it in a water and lye solution. During this process the fat in the fish becomes really gelatinous and funky. That strange, soapy texture is one of the reasons people have problems eating it.

Why on earth would you want lye anywhere close to foodstuff, I hear you ask? Well, as with most cuisines, this tradition has it’s origins in preservation methods. People needed food during the cold, dark winters and drying and soaking in lye solutions was a way of keeping bacteria at bay.

***

Which would you rather have: a delicious cake or a nice selection of biscuits?

Cake. I didn’t even read the end of the question. How could I ever want anything more than cake?

***

If you come up with questions we haven't answered here, don't hesitate putting them in the comment section, and we'll try to include them in the next volley.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

Earlier this week we solicited questions on our Facebook page . We received quite a lot of replies, so we'll do this as a three parter. And who knows, if you like this we might do more down the line.

So without further ado, here comes the first volley of questions...

***

What is the development status on Chapter 5?

I’m glad you ask, darling. Things are going pretty well. We hoped to have a content complete version before the onset of August, but it slipped a bit. There’s still some things left to design and implement., so it’s still too early to start handing out dates. And since it’s such an extensive chapter, we expect testing to take a little bit longer than usual.

***

How are the sets built?

We’re not lying when we say that everything is built by hand. Erik has a little garage studio, where he builds, rigs, lights and shoots. Most of the game is made out of clay and cardboard, but lately we’ve gone in more of a found-object direction. For Chapter 5 we wanted to build a pretty extensive forest, so Erik when out and foraged. Painstakingly building trees out of clay and cardboard would've been a fools errand. There are plenty of branches just lying around, so why not use them? You can't beat what nature creates. There are also some environments that are a bit more stark and abstract. The parts for those where hand built, and then tweaked in Photoshop to achieve a scale that would be hard to accomplish in a garage.

***

Who's your favourite Swedish opera singer?

I’ll have to go with Jussi Björling on that one. I don’t have any strong opinions on the matter. It’s mostly for nostalgic reasons. I remember my father playing a lot of Björling at home.

***

What's your views on software piracy? I haven't seen The Dream Machine on any torrent sites (I haven't looked for it either) but for some reason this game is one of those games that you choose to pay for even if it's available for "free". If you agree, why do you think that is?

You can find Chapter 1-3 on Pirate Bay. That happened instantaneously once we released the game on Steam. We saw it as a weird honour of sorts, but it bugs me that the files are so old. We constantly update the game, so knowing that some poor sod is playing an old version feels unfortunate.

When it comes to torrent piracy in general, I see it as a lending library. No more, no less. I think it benefits mankind in general, so I don’t have any problem with it. If you don’t have the money to buy and still want to play, I don’t have any problems if you pirate it. Buy me a beer and we’ll call it even.

That being said, it does really bug me that somebody pulled the MP3 sound files from the sound folder and is calling that the ”soundtrack” for the game. That’s just misleading. It’s like if you take random screen dumps, slap them into a PDF and then upload that as the ”art book” for the game.

***

Are you going to keep creating point & click games after The Dream Machine is finished?

I honestly don’t know. It won’t be a pure point & click game, is all I can say. I feel a bit sick of the confines of the genre, and would want to explore something else for a while. Some kind of hybrid, sounds likely.

***

Do people really like lutfisk?

Yup. It’s considered a delicacy here – although a very divisive one. It’s an acquired taste to say the least. The few times I’ve tried it, it didn’t do much for me. Gelatinous and bland. But it is still quite popular during Christmas. As with Surströmming, it’s all about the trimmings. If you lathered melted butter and and a generous helping of horseradish over it, I suspect it could be quite good.

Lutfisk, for those who don’t know, is a very traditional Nordic dish were you take dried white-fish (normally cod) and reconstitute it in a water and lye solution. During this process the fat in the fish becomes really gelatinous and funky. That strange, soapy texture is one of the reasons people have problems eating it.

Why on earth would you want lye anywhere close to foodstuff, I hear you ask? Well, as with most cuisines, this tradition has it’s origins in preservation methods. People needed food during the cold, dark winters and drying and soaking in lye solutions was a way of keeping bacteria at bay.

***

Which would you rather have: a delicious cake or a nice selection of biscuits?

Cake. I didn’t even read the end of the question. How could I ever want anything more than cake?

***

If you come up with questions we haven't answered here, don't hesitate putting them in the comment section, and we'll try to include them in the next volley.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

As some of you might already have noticed, we just pushed an update live. It mainly adresses some stability and performance issues some of you have been having. If you find that the frame rate drops significantly during Edie's dream (for example), turning the Animation Effects off will now help quite a lot.

Check this out, you maverick renegades:

• Engine: Added proximity trigger object
• Engine: Added 'Dialogue option' task command
• Game: Improved performance while on game menus
• Steam: Fixed so Chapter 3 shows up in DLC listing [Mac]
• Chapter 2, 3 & 4: Upgraded graphical assets to high-res ditos
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked gramophone puzzle
• Chapter 2 & 4: Improved performance in TV room
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked perspective on third floor
• Chapter 2 & 4: Swapped tea party graphics in monitor 4
• Chapter 4: Removed ghostly jitter if Animation FX is off
• Chapter 4: Removed screen shake if Animation FX is off
• Chapter 2 & 4: Removed TV scanlines if Animation FX is off

Other than that, we hope you're enjoying summer, if you're on the northern hemisphere, or winter, if you're on the southern.

As always, don't be shy if you find something off about the game.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

As some of you might already have noticed, we just pushed an update live. It mainly adresses some stability and performance issues some of you have been having. If you find that the frame rate drops significantly during Edie's dream (for example), turning the Animation Effects off will now help quite a lot.

Check this out, you maverick renegades:

• Engine: Added proximity trigger object
• Engine: Added 'Dialogue option' task command
• Game: Improved performance while on game menus
• Steam: Fixed so Chapter 3 shows up in DLC listing [Mac]
• Chapter 2, 3 & 4: Upgraded graphical assets to high-res ditos
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked gramophone puzzle
• Chapter 2 & 4: Improved performance in TV room
• Chapter 2 & 4: Tweaked perspective on third floor
• Chapter 2 & 4: Swapped tea party graphics in monitor 4
• Chapter 4: Removed ghostly jitter if Animation FX is off
• Chapter 4: Removed screen shake if Animation FX is off
• Chapter 2 & 4: Removed TV scanlines if Animation FX is off

Other than that, we hope you're enjoying summer, if you're on the northern hemisphere, or winter, if you're on the southern.

As always, don't be shy if you find something off about the game.

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

It's been a while since I posted one of these, so I figured I might as well do another one. Progress on Chapter 5 has been pretty strong lately, although a lot of work remains. It's by far the largest chapter in the game. It's hard to go into detail without spoiling the content, so we'll opt for the slightly cryptic approach in stead.

Find more information here: Progress update

Hope you'll like it!

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

It's been a while since I posted one of these, so I figured I might as well do another one. Progress on Chapter 5 has been pretty strong lately, although a lot of work remains. It's by far the largest chapter in the game. It's hard to go into detail without spoiling the content, so we'll opt for the slightly cryptic approach in stead.

Find more information here: Progress update

Hope you'll like it!

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

We've just released an update that improves the game in several ways. It's mostly tweaks, though. So don't get too excited.

If you're into Steam Trading Cards, you'll be happy to note that we've just released a set of 6 collectible cards. They're pretty sweet, and we hope you'll enjoy them.

Here's the full change-list for easy perusal:

• Steam: Added trading cards
• Game: Consolidated intros
• Game: Stopped blur from clearing during exit to menu
• Chapter 2 & 4: Added electronic buzz to monitor room
• Chapter 1 & 2: Tweaked hand-off music for better continuity
• Chapter 3: Fixed mouth alignment bug

As always, don't be shy if you encounter a bug in the game.

Now go collect those cards!

Cheers,

- a

Citizen!

We've just released an update that improves the game in several ways. It's mostly tweaks, though. So don't get too excited.

If you're into Steam Trading Cards, you'll be happy to note that we've just released a set of 6 collectible cards. They're pretty sweet, and we hope you'll enjoy them.

Here's the full change-list for easy perusal:

• Steam: Added trading cards
• Game: Consolidated intros
• Game: Stopped blur from clearing during exit to menu
• Chapter 2 & 4: Added electronic buzz to monitor room
• Chapter 1 & 2: Tweaked hand-off music for better continuity
• Chapter 3: Fixed mouth alignment bug

As always, don't be shy if you encounter a bug in the game.

Now go collect those cards!

Cheers,

- a