Nov 13, 2020

Chernobylite Complete Edition - apocalipticm

Hello stalkers!

We know it’s 2020 AND Friday the 13th. But nonetheless, we’ve got something interesting for you! And let’s just agree that the last few weeks have been extremely exciting, both for us and (we hope) for you. Two weeks ago, we released the Mega Patch with loads of new content and fixes. By the way, thank you for being on our streams & streaming yourselves after the release of “The Woman in the Red Dress”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwMsc7zhpM

In addition, not so long ago we’ve announced that Chernobylite will appear on current and next-gen consoles! That’s a huge step for us, but we're not slowing down! Here's what we have prepared for you this time.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2937997018931496466
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2935744583752568383

Another version of the interface[/h3]
If you follow our reports and/or played after the recent Mega Patch, you’ve probably seen the changes we’ve made in User Interface (UI). Right now it’s more readable, especially after we’ve redesigned how it looks, not only how it works.

We know that having a limited space in a backpack and trying to manage space in your base can be a challenge. Learning additional skills on how to properly pack your gear can be helpful, but you’ll also need the necessary skill points to train with your comrades.

That’s why we are thinking about how to allow you to manage your equipment better. On the screenshot below you can see an important element that you asked for - the possibility to split the stacks.

A new, better indicator

Not much, but also a very important change that you asked for. We are working on a new visibility indicator (or more specifically, “threat meter”). If you’ve played after recent changes, you may recognize the question & exclamation marks that tell you the enemy is either alarmed (yellow question mark sign) or aware of your presence (red exclamation mark sign).

But you have also suggested that the current indicator (this yellow / red curved line above the enemy’s head) can be improved. After the changes, it will be adapted to your needs more, the effects of which can be seen in the gif below. You can see that it looks more dynamic and draws attention even better.

Mud!

Another thing we are very proud of. We are constantly improving the environment's appearance and trying to create it in the most realistic way possible. All this to make the game fun to play, but also to make it pleasing to the eye. You can find an example of our work on the screenshots below. They clearly show how the light behaves when it hits an uneven surface such as mud on the ground.

Of course, please remember that these are only work-in-progress screenshots and the final effects can be very different!

New faces

If you haven’t seen the recent Reports, we wanted to tell you a bit about our models. We have recently taken some pictures for the avatars of the various characters you will meet in the game (you may already see them in the game).

In those screenshots below you can see Wojtek, our Creative Director, who lent his face, which we scanned in the studio using our technology. 3D scans have been lightly processed and then converted into in-game models (as we made more than just one). We have done similar sessions at the Farm before but we thought it’s something you can be interested in!

By the way, here’re photos from our 3D scanning space, where all the magic happens. These’re old photos, taken over a year ago, but we still use the same technology (though improved, of course). Thanks to it, we were able to accurately photograph the Zona, and then reproduce the appearance of the area with the accuracy of individual blades of grass. You can already admire the final effects in Chernobylite.

That’s all for today

Take care, stalkers!

Nov 7, 2020

Rev 33898 Hotfix - Lots of stuff

Chernobylite Complete Edition - Legileg

Usually we try to name people who helped us find and solve given problems. This time, however, you were flooding us with various bugs - on steam, on discord, even in private messages. It would be really hard to name all of you, so we'd like to thank the whole community instead. You make the game better! Now let's move on to fixes:

General:

Fixed a bug that caused a modified weapon to disappear from the quickuse menu
Fixed a bug where weapons found sometimes had upgrades that should not be available yet. You will get a thermal sight and an automatic shotgun system, but not yet ;)
Attachments found with new weapons are now properly unlocked for the entire archetype. So you can easily move the sight from the newly found shotgun to the one we use.
Fixed a bug that caused characters on the timeline to appear poorer in "ultra" settings than in "medium"
One of the rifles was broken and did not appear correctly in inventory. After the number of reports I have the impression that everyone found it ;) We fixed it.
Sometimes a door closed with a lockpick had ... A second door locked with a lockpick. We fixed it.
On some computers there could be a problem with the sharpeing that greatly degraded the graphics quality. We have fixed it, or at least limited it.
Problems with physical materials meant that soldiers were sometimes able to shoot through tires or sandbags. We fixed it.
Fixed a rare bug where soldiers would start firing at the player instead of starting a conversation with them.
Fixed a bug where soldiers killed with silenced weapons would not interrupt their custom animations.
Fixed an issue where one of the crystals on Fractal Timeline remained red and blocked the passage.

Item management:

Fixed issue with item duplication if half stack was once swapped with full stack and player tabbed out of inventory.
Fixed issue with item disappearing if its grabbed and player tabbed out of inventory when there is no more room for it (it should drop on the ground now).
Fixed issue with disappearing upgrades from weapons when its swapped with different item.
Fixed issue with disappearing upgrades if item was grabbed but player tabbed out of inventory.
When you held a weapon in your hand and then threw it out of the inventory or disassembled it, it still remained in the hand. We fixed it.

Base:

Fixed a rare softblock that was triggered by trying to harvest vegetables
Fixed a bug that allows you to get infinite resources by interrupting the Recycler work
Fixed a rare bug that blocked progression when you accidentally trigger the build system while sleeping.

Nov 6, 2020

Weekly Report #46

Chernobylite Complete Edition - apocalipticm

Hello stalkers!

So, we’ve got an intense week behind us, right? New Mega Patch, which introduced many new features, tweaks & improvements, but also something REALLY BIG! We mean consoles. Finally, we were able to officially announce that Chernobylite will appear on the current generation and the next-gen!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2935744583752568383
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2935744583749181154

So, what has been going with our work lately?

Working with a publisher

What does it mean for us? And more importantly, what does it mean for you?

We are an indie studio, based in Poland. Our Chernobylite team consists of around 30 people, so though we are not a tiny team, we are still quite a small group. This means we have to plan really carefully our steps during the development process, as many studios in the history of game dev overcalculated their workflow potential and stuck with more than could handle or even ditched the project.

That’s not going to happen with us, as we may be small, but we definitely have the necessary experience. That’s why you sometimes hear from us words like “to be confirmed” or “we’re not sure yet”. If we know we can make something happen (like the co-op mode), we would definitely tell you that. We have to be really careful not to promise you any feature we can’t deliver.

On the other hand, if you have followed our work for a longer period of time, you probably see that we’re adding much more to the game than previously promised. This is the outcome of two things: your feedback, which is extremely important to us, and our own ideas which we found possible to realise during the development process of Chernobylite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwMsc7zhpM

So for you to know - our goal is not only to deliver what we have promised but to make the game as good as possible, even if that will mean more work. Sometimes it just takes more time!

After this long “intro”, let’s talk about the publisher. All in! Games will help us with several things. The most important one is the console versions of Chernobylite. We will definitely use their help to deliver our game into as many consoles, as we can. Of course, right now we’ve only promised the current generation and the next-gen, but we don’t want to cut off other possibilities. It’s just a matter of “can we do it right?” and “can we do it now?”

As for your questions that will probably arise: no, we don’t have any dates yet (we’re working on a timetable right now), but we do know it will be 2021, as soon as possible. No, we didn’t determine any pricing yet, that kind of detail needs a lot of attention and more time. We also don't specify which consoles will be included and which won't. Never say never, we just don’t have anything to say about other possible versions yet.

Okay, but here we are, talking to you via Steam about console versions of Chernobylite. Seems weird, right? Not exactly, as one of the outcomes of our cooperation with All in! Games will be bigger opportunities regarding the localizations. So most probably, our game will be translated into more languages than we have previously aimed for. This includes Italian, Japanese, Chinese (simplified) and Portuguese (Brazilian). We got a lot of questions about those languages, so we’re happy to meet your expectations!

Have you tried our new weapons?

With the last Mega Patch number 7, called “The Woman in the Red Dress”, the weapon arsenal was extended. Now you will be able to create a new gun and a flare.

This gun is Big Fu… oh, wait, no. That’s Chernobylite Blaster! If you’ll get your hand on that one, you’ll definitely feel the power of science! At least that sort of science which is focused on destruction. Let’s just say Igor is really happy about it and we hope you are too!

Remember the Blaster takes time to charge, the projectile moves kind of slowly, so think carefully when and how will you use this powerful weapon

The second one is a tricky weapon. It’s throwable and can be used to get access to new areas around the Zone. Anti-Chernobylite Burner won’t be easy to craft, but it’ll open multiple new opportunities for your character to both find some goodies during his missions, but also to just have more fun of exploration!

One way is to throw the flare on the obstacle...

And other is to just press “use” button when close to the obstacle

Thank you for your support!

We couldn’t stay indifferent to your recent positive reviews. Thanks so much! Of course, we understand & respect all your feedback, even that negative, but we want to assure you that the game will only get better. And we’ve already said multiple times that we are in the final stage of the development process.

But if you enjoyed the game so far, we want to ask for your support - please write the review or update your previous one, especially if you wrote it months ago (the game has really changed for the better since then). We welcome all feedback, all opinions.. Really, every one of them matters to us!

That’s all for today

Take care, stalkers!

Oct 30, 2020

Mega Report #45

Chernobylite Complete Edition - apocalipticm

Hello, Stalkers!

We are only a few steps away from the most important day for Chernobylite - the premiere. Although the time is short, we are still working intensively to bring you new content and improvements to the game, while hunting bugs and glitches detected (a lot of them by you). All this so that you can have as much fun as possible.

Speaking of which, we have no choice but to present you another Mega Patch, this time number 7. New stuff, new improvements, and new fixes. See for yourself what we have prepared for you this time, but first let us sum up almost a year of development. We wanted to show you how the game was and is changing, especially some of you may remember the older versions. We’re really proud how we’ve managed to make Chernobylite better. But, of course, this definitely doesn’t mean there won’t be any new changes in the nearest future!

Let’s get started, this will be a really big and important Report for us!

New trailer

First of all, take a look at our newest trailer. We consider it a showcase not only for our current players, but also for new ones.

https://youtu.be/xUwMsc7zhpM

You may see the name of the trailer, so… yes! We are officially announcing the console versions. This generation and the next-gen! Hope you’re as happy with this as we are!

And remember that’s the last time before the premiere you can get a discount. It’s now -30% on Steam!

Over a year of development

In the last 12 months, we were working on the game without any stop. So far, we’re bringing every piece of content as we promised you, but also expanding it. Do you remember the map called Lenin Square we were talking about what locations will be in the game?

1: One of the first & oldest test versions of the Pripyat Center map
2: How the Pripyat Central map looks now

3: Again, one of the oldest test versions of Pripyat Center map
4: How the Pripyat Central map looks now

If you do, you probably can’t see it in the game right now. Why? Because we joined it with another one, expanded and gave you an even bigger map than those previous concepts would be together. And now it’s called Pripyat Center.

The screenshots above are examples of how we managed to get to the current version almost from a scratch. And we would lie if we said that we’re not very proud of our work. But we would also lie if we said that we don’t see how we can improve it even more. So yes, if you still see something that can be done better, we are probably working on it for weeks now - it’s just tough sometimes to fix or improve something fast. First we have to make sure that these changes won’t break anything else. And that’s a real challenge!

5: one of the first versions of the iconic Ferris Wheel
6: current looks of the same place - it looks differently, right?

Not only the maps are changing, but the possibilities too! We’ve incredibly increased the number of objects that can be crafted both inside the base (furniture, workstations, other stuff) and during missions.

Some of the ideas were welcomed by you in a better way than we expected (mines, yay!) while some were considered not so interesting (e.g. building covers while on mission). We’ve changed a lot of mechanics during this last year not only because we wanted to improve them, but also because we’re listening to your insight, your reviews, ideas & feedback.

We know that you’re looking forward to having a great crafting system, so we’re happy that we’re delivering more and more content, which impacts the gameplay, not only visuals. For example, creating one of the new stations allows you to make yourself an armour. The more you upgrade your base, the better equipment you can have.

Same goes for personal protection, as there are 3 types or armour right now. Also improving weapons were brought to a higher level, as we added new possible modifications. The looks of the workstations and how they work was changed too!

10: how the pistol calibration tools looked like looong time ago
11: how it looks now

One of the recent examples is crafting in the base, which was expanded again - you’ll be able to create another new stuff for your in-game homes! We had really huge fun finally adding two new statistics to the overall “base experience”, like air quality and radiation security.

12: some of the stuff you can create using gathered chernobylite
13: one of the winning photos from our basebuilding contest

This will have an impact on your gameplay and will require you to plan what to build next more carefully. Most of the stuff you can create is NOT necessary, but will help you to face the dangers of the Zone easier. Like constructing armour, modifying your weapons, taking care of your companions’ needs for them to be more successful during their own missions.

We’ve also “cleared” another level of the base, so if you remember that flooded space… it is no more. We understand that having this much to craft will need more places to do so.

Another example of changes are our NPCs, like Black Stalker. He hasn’t changed THAT much, especially you could’ve not noticed that we worked on really small details. Actually most of the models were improved. Meaning not only visually, but also technically (to use less resources while looking better at the same time).

15: working on new NPC models
16: improving masks models
17: one of the first models of Black Stalker’s mask

Some of the NPCs were introduced recently, some a long time ago. But even those fairly new weren’t left alone. We’re still improving how they look, how they act, how they move or talk. Here’s how Major Kozlov, who you can meet during selected missions, looked as a first-gen model and how he looks now:

Even having in mind that we are working a lot on our own scans of the buildings and objects from the Zone, one of the most challenging improvements are not only models. We’re testing a lot of new mechanics, assembling piece by piece what we’ve designed a long time ago. This includes e.g. AI of the enemies. NAR soldiers, of course, but also monsters and how they interact together.

But these changes don’t limit only to NAR - we know that the fight with Black Stalker was quite “not enough”. So we’ve made it a lot tougher! Also, we tweaked the enemy drops, so after killing one of them, you can expect more diverse and interesting loot.

20: NAR soldiers taking cover after being shot at
21: Chernohosts attack a group of NAR soldiers

During the course of these last 12 months you could experience new enemies. The Chernohost mentioned before is one of them. You probably encountered Chernobylite Monster (this skinny thing with long arms and legs), but they were originally meant to be found in particular places - inside the buildings, narrow corridors. So outside the buildings they kind of kept place for other adversaries: Chernohost and Duster.

22: one of the first full models of Chernohost
23: Duster’s concept art
24: Duster attacking the player

Did we limit ourselves solely to the new monsters? Nope. We also introduced a new NAR enemy, who is especially tough and creates situations which need a totally different approach. Armored Soldier is, well, armoured pretty heavily, but he’s also able to aim at you properly to deal significant damage.

Doesn’t sound too scary? Maybe if he’s alone, but if you’ll meet him when he’s assisted by regular soldiers… that can mean the death of Igor. Imagine trying to fight him while being shot at by three or four other soldiers, hiding behind some covers and surrounding you.

Would it be enough? Not at all. Making models look great is one thing, but then you have to think about animations and how they will perform while being in motion. One of the examples is a ghost you’ve probably encountered at least once if you played Chernobylite more than an hour.

He and his similar looking friends are disappearing if you come too close to them. So we worked on this dissolve effect a lot:

Other old effects are always constantly looked into to see if they need to be improved. A great example is lightning, which also has changed. Not only itself, but also what it’s leaving after the strike (so this greenish flames).

UI is improving too. We know how important it is to have a readable and easily understandable interface. That’s why we have made changes on how it looks and works. A while ago we added a new effect which will show when you use a first aid kit, for example. But then again, some of the mechanics also work differently and that’s connected to how we plan the balance of the gameplay. Like e.g. using a first aid kit now requires a few seconds to have an effect, but on the other hand you can assign it to one of the quick menu buttons.

30: changes in the UI
31: changes in the UI

Last but not least, we’re still working hard on the final mission, which will introduce a whole new area - the Power Plant. You’ve seen a part of it, but in The Heist there will be much more of that.

Of course, these are only some selected examples. If you haven’t played Chernobylite for a few months, we can say that there’s a very high probability that you’ll find our game totally different (in a good way).

So now let’s talk about the most recent changes - Mega Patch number 7, “The Woman in the Red Dress”.

New missions and characters!

We have added two new missions, Hard Truth and Black Stalker, thanks to which you will be able to learn more about the story of two key characters and discover some deeply buried secrets.

And while speaking about characters, we've introduced three new ones to the game: Konstanty, Locksmith, and Semyon. Well, actually that’s not their debut in Chernobylite, but definitely the first time they have their own models.

The new additions are also levels, which will have a great impact on how you will understand the whole plot and what you will choose in the future. These are “Stealing Ariadna’s technology” and “The Woman in the Red Dress”.

Ariadna is a technology that allows Igor to conclude the investigations. These are terribly important for you to understand what happened to Tatiana and (maybe) choose a different option while you’ll decide about Igor’s future.

So we can say that the new Fractal World, which is possible to access after gathering enough intelligence (clues, notes, etc.), is inevitably connected to this technology. And the new Fractal is exactly a conclusion of the new investigation called “The Woman in the Red Dress”. If you played enough, you surely know that the woman is Tatiana (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler).

New weapons and spots!

If you thought that the weapons arsenal in Chernobylite could not be expanded anymore, we have a message for you: it is possible and we even did. The Chernobylite Blaster and Anti-Chernobylite Burner have joined the set of weapons that players will be able to use. See for yourself what they can do.

Because we’re adding more not only on the new maps, but also on the ones you already know, we’ve planned to make some of them inaccessible. Okay, maybe not inaccessible - they will just require you to have something to unlock them.

Sometimes it’s a completely new room that has been locked - and you can now create lockpicks since one of the previous Mega Patches - while other times it’s chernobylite blocking the way. How to deal with that, you may ask? Not so simple as it may look, as it will require you to upgrade your base and thus to be able to create an Anti-Chernobylite Burner.

It looks like an ordinary flare, but it’s not - it is used exactly how the name suggests, so to clear some space from chernobylite.

Changes, changes

In addition to the new content, we've also made some requested improvements to make your life easier while playing Chernobylite. One of them is the ability to load the game save from the last checkpoint during a pause from the menu. Thanks to this solution, you will be able to avoid any unpleasantness during the game...

In line with your suggestions, we've added the ability to disable both the entire interface and its individual elements. Of course, we will continue to improve this feature.

In Mega Patch, we also managed to completely rebuild the looting system (what the opponents leave behind has more value and is better suited to the current game), enlarge the map available at a later stage of the game with an area that was previously flooded, and balance opponents' view range and the way how they react to the sounds made by the player (now stealth should be more difficult, but more honest).

Read more about the changes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2935744583749181154

That’s it for today!

We hope you had a really good time reading this over-a-year summary of our work and also a conclusion of what the new Mega Patch brings to the game.
Remember to join our streams, we’re planning to have some contests in which you may win additional keys for Chernobylite and digital versions of our artbook, but maybe also some physical goodies!

Take care, stalkers!
See ya next week!

Oct 29, 2020

Mega Patch #7 - “The Woman in the Red Dress”

Chernobylite Complete Edition - Legileg

Please note that below you will only find a list of "important stuff" changes. Additionally, in the patch you will find over 500 tweaks, fixes and quality of life improvements that are impossible to list.

We are entering the final phase of the project, expanding the testing team and digging up old topics (also resulting from your feedback) that we have not been able to deal with before. The game gets better every day.

Some of the most important new stuff will be the missions! We have added two new ones, Hard Truth and Black Stalker, thanks to which you will be able to learn more about the story of two key characters and discover some deeply buried secrets.

If you thought that the weapons arsenal in Chernobylite could not be expanded anymore, we have a message for you: it is possible and we even did. The Chernobylite Blaster and Anti-Chernobylite Burner will expand your possibilities in the Zone. How? You will have to see for yourselves!

The new additions are also levels, which will have a great impact on how you will understand the whole plot and what you will choose in the future. These are “Stealing Ariadna’s technology” and “The Woman in the Red Dress”.

Besides mentioned above, we've also made some requested improvements to make your life easier while playing Chernobylite. One of them is the ability to load the game save from the last checkpoint during a pause from the menu. Thanks to this solution, you will be able to avoid any unpleasantness during the game...

In line with your suggestions, we've added the ability to disable both the entire interface and its individual elements. Of course, we will continue to improve this feature.

So, here's the list

Changelog:

Content Additions:

New quest: Hard Truth (part of Olivier's chain)
New quest: Black Stalker (part of Olga's chain)
New weapon: Chernobylite Blaster (surprise!)
New throwing weapon: Anti-Chernobylite Burner (another surprise!)
New level: Fractal World “The Woman in the Red Dress”. It is the conclusion of a new investigation on the board.
New level: Stealing Adrianna's technology (not a big deal, but many of you have asked how exactly Igor got the VR helmet, so we decided to expand this thread)
New story character: Konstanty (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
New story character: Locksmith (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
New story character: Semyon (earlier character mesh was just a placeholder)
All levels have been filled with lots of new events. There are over 40 of them in total.
All levels have been extended with additional locations that you can access using Anti-Chernobylite Burner
We have added the ability to upgrade magazines for all weapons. Each change has a huge impact on the operation of the weapon and the animations. We've also added few other minor upgrades.

Technology improvements:

You can now load the last checkpoint from the pause menu. Thanks to this, some bugs should stop being so terrible anymore…
We greatly optimized the sound in the game. People with weak CPUs should experience a significant increase in FPS

Improvements/Additions:

We've greatly improved how soldiers behave when patrolling and searching for a player.
Black Stalker's AI has been finalized and balanced. Now, fighting him is a real challenge.
We improved the dialogue system and added character portraits to it. You can adjust it to your preferences through the game options.
Now enemies are marked on the compass when we hit them or are hit by them.
We improved the indicators that appear during the fight - some of them were given a more immersive form, and some were visually adapted to the rest of the UI.
We improved the weapon upgrade system. Now it should be more interesting and dynamic. The whole thing has also been carefully balanced and should have an even wider and more visible impact on the game.
We improved the tab UI with Igor's skills.
All tab UIs should be comfortable and intuitive to use with the mouse.
We've revised all the in-game tutorials to be clearer and take into account all the mechanics we've introduced over the past months.

Redesign, balance and feedback:

In accordance with your numerous requests, we have added the ability to disable both the entire UI and its specific elements. We will continue to refine these functions to give you even more freedom.
You said that in the later stages of the game, the size of the base makes it practically impossible to expand it. So we enlarged it with an area that was previously flooded with water.
We have completely rebuilt the looting system. Now, what your opponents drop should be interesting and better suited to the challenge.
We have balanced the view ranges of the opponents and how they react to the sounds made by the player. Now stealth should be more difficult, but also more honest.
How the fractal timeline works was not entirely clear to you, especially when you came across it before completing any story mission. Now you can see not only events that have already happened, but also those that may happen.
You don't really like the possibility of building covers while exploring the zone. So we replaced it with the possibility of building machines that have a global impact on the zone.
Following your request, we've added the ability to toggle aim and crouch, as well as an alternative way to use the Dodge.

General:

The problem with Xinput1_4.dll should no longer occur on Windows 7
We've toned down the amount of radiation that appears on levels over time
Music should now turn down properly in the game options.

Oct 23, 2020

Weekly Report #44

Chernobylite Complete Edition - apocalipticm

Hello stalkers!

What are you going to say about the next Mega Patch? Yes! It’s right around the corner!
There will be new story characters, new missions (of course), but also with new events which will let you feel even more that the Zone is alive.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/5290000119105789746
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2907595185816845243

That will be the 7th Mega Patch, so there will be only one left to have all the content we’ve promised when we were starting Early Access. And a lot more, as we never limited ourselves to just make what we had on our list - we have made a lot of both large and small changes to the first ideas or mechanics.

Quickly reminder of the last Mega Patch:
https://youtu.be/Xrv1AlrkELI

Today we will talk about two missions that will find their way into the game really soon and also we will answer one of your questions from the recent Q&A. Let’s start!

Hard truth

One of the missions we’ve teased you with last week is “Hard truth”. We can’t call it conclusive for the plot, but it’s really important for further Igor’s decisions (or should we say: your decisions).

The action takes place in the Red Forest, where Igor meets major Kozlov - you may remember him because of some other missions. He’s kind of hard to analyze, as Igor doesn’t know his motives or goals, but this time he may be able to help.

In the Red Forest, Igor can find information about people who are close to him now… or were in the past. Not only this, maybe he’ll learn more about his adversaries, about chernobylite, about the whole purpose of being in the Zone.

But then again, nobody says it will be something he would like to find out. Will the revealed secrets help our main character or will them complicate everything even more? You will have to wait until the new Mega Patch to find out.

Black Stalker

This one will also be available in the Red Forest. What Igor can find about Kozlov and NAR is one thing, but this mission will be really important to him because he will learn more about Black Stalker. So we can say “his worst enemy”.

We can’t spoil you exactly what Igor will encounter, but it will have a lot to do with several aspects of the game. First of all, he’ll discover some additional information about the compound he’s using in his portal gun, chernobylite. It may bring him closer to the truth which he craves to reveal.

Olga will help him a bit, as the mission is a part of her mission chain. She’ll guide him in the right direction, but what will happen after he reaches the goal? You’ll see for yourselves, but let’s just say that even your worst nightmare can have a “human face”.

About that scanner...

You asked why we made the refresh time of the scanner longer. The answer is simple.

Since the premiere, there were many voices that the environment scanner is too powerful and discourages players that feel less joy from exploring. We thought that it was a matter of gameplay balance, which would be impossible to set up reasonably without looking at it in a wider perspective.

When we have a system of experience gathering which works correctly, when the companions can “offer” Igor to teach him all perks, when we’ve changed a bit the balance of crafting by giving you access to the recycler and making the findings in the Zone more plentiful… well, now was the right time to finally work on the scanner’s performance.

Community content

Remember we’re eager to see your crafts! Screenshots, videos, virtual photos - everything that has a connection to our game! Here are links to our social media - we would love to feature selected content that you create:

Facebook fanpage (link)
Twitter account (link)
Instagram account (link)
YouTube channel (link)
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So that’s all for this today
We hope you’ve enjoyed the news and the assets we’ve shown you!
Take care, stalkers!

Oct 10, 2020

Weekly Report #42

Chernobylite Complete Edition - Sadocommando

Hello, stalkers!

It’s only one week until the anniversary of our Early Access launch. We’ll summarize and celebrate it a bit later this month with the delivery of our last Mega Patch, which will be the conclusion of new content pushed to Steam before the final game release.

For now, let’s just pretend that we’re working as always (what’s not necessarily true, because some of us already entered the finalization-craziness-mode where you know, that it’s the last moment to add something to the game before the beta testing starts and the producer tells you “no more changes until new patches”). And this is why the Weekly Report is being written on Saturday because believe me, even chernobylite-driven creatures like we, need to sleep for a few hours per week.

Then what happened last week?

Chernobylite blaster almost done

Yes, soon you’ll be able to shoot the chernobylite-driven energy projectiles into your opponents. As you may see, the gun utilizes the original parts of the Portal Gun that Igor is using constantly throughout his journey. But what are all these crafting workshops for, if you couldn’t turn the portal-opening device into the monster-smashing armament? This is just one of our tributes to classic hard sci-fi books and movies of the 80s, where crazy scientists build the nuclear-powered tools to fight for their salvation. And Igor seems to be a bit crazy, right? Well, that’s not that simple, but you’ll figure this out after you finish playing the main storyline. And most likely you won’t finish it without using this terrific device.

The Heist mission under construction

Believe me, I’m 20 years in the video game development and I have never been working on something so complex as this part of the game. I’m not saying this is the most complicated thing ever designed for a video game. But for sure, with the non-linearity and branching of the previous game sequences, comparing the Heist mission with our previous projects, it’s likely 20 times more sophisticated in design than the whole gameplay loop of Painkiller, 10 times more difficult than the plot of Deadfall Adventures, and at least 5 times more difficult than the design of Get Even endings.

Is it worth all these efforts? We’re very strongly convinced that it is. But it’ll still take quite a time and hard work before we polish it enough to let you enjoy it with the final release of Chernobylite. And before it happens, let’s just focus on facts that we can share without spoiling the juicy story twists.
First of all, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant location is growing every day to let you explore it on your way to the truth. We’ve added many sections of both outdoor and indoor environments, and at top of it, we’ve improved the look of existing objects and added a lot of details to the previously presented Power Plant buildings. Famous Golden Corridors are now having new rooms and windows, letting you see outside of the building, the underground sections are way bigger and more detailed, and many new sub-locations are places all around. To not let you get lost, we’ve taken care of giving you better blueprints of the Power Plant.

No more “no name/no face” stalkers in the Zone

When you were playing the Early Access versions of Chernobylite, for sure you’ve noticed that most of the characters you meet in the Zone look basically the same, differing only in the colors of a jacket or texture of pants. Unless it’s the Star Wars franchise, the existence of the army of clones is never good for the immersive story, but from the game development process point of view, it’s reasonable to use so-called “placeholder” models as long as you have your story designed and you precisely know what kind of character you want to present here or there. However, Chernobylite above all is a story about human beings and their fight for survival and redemption. Our intentions were always the opposite of this cloning frenzy - we wanted to give EVERY character in the game the specific personality, backstory and emotions. And now, getting close to the design and writing conclusion, we could define all the visual qualities of each character, to let you finally know if Anton is more handsome than Olivier, if Little Stalker is cute or if Semonov has any charm in his eyes. Our 3D department is working to deliver all secondary character models and at the same time, our scanning and photo artists work on the depiction of characters faces presented in the game during dialogues. Just yesterday we’ve made the photo shooting sessions to prepare the final material for this.

Last but not least - optimizations, improvements, balancing

But it would be absolutely not fair to say that we’re happily building the remainings of the new content and enjoy the creative process. Most of the team is pushing for countless changes and adjustments to all aspects of design, balance, environments, sounds, optimization, and bug-fixing. Usually, it’s much harder to show here such a spectacular picture as the new weapon or new character renders, but just imagine that every day we’re making literally hundreds of alterations to textures, sound files, animation setups, dialogue lines, and tiny straw of grass placements on the locations. As for examples: last week we’ve done very strong optimization of the audio system, quality improvements for dozens of environmental objects, proofreading of text for more than a thousand dialogue lines, fixing the interface issues, and fine-tuned some of the weapons reload animations. High five for all members of the team doing this!

And that’s all for today. Take care, stalkers, and wait for the cool stuff coming next weeks.

Wojciech Pazdur,
Creative Director