We wouldn't be offended if spring came a little earlier. It isn’t about the temperature, but about the weather itself - sun and snow, sometimes even rain and snow. Indeed, the weather in spring can be really unpredictable.

LIKE A STORY IN CHERNOBYLITE.

With this clever transition, let’s dive into the latest report.

Last week, we mentioned that the game has the Release Candidate status. This means that we’ve entered the final testing phase of the game. We redirected almost all work force to fixing bugs, as well as optimization for weaker PCs and consoles. Thus, we limit throwing new things into the game to the necessary minimum. With a slight difference, but more about that at the end of this report.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1016800/view/3038212890022339780

Speaking of fixes, it's worth mentioning that you report most of the smaller bugs on Steam, such as disappearing icons on maps or dialog lines that extend outside the box. But there were also bigger, much more serious ones. For example, it’s worth mentioning the optimization and corrections of building collisions on the Moscow Eye and Pripyat maps. It’s also an almost complete reconstruction of car wreckage models. The textures alone used to take up a lot of memory.




Tests and bugs fixing are also a good opportunity for serious changes. First, we are continuing the process of replacing placeholder voice overs with newly recorded ones. In addition, we’re organizing and completing the voice overs where they were missing before. If you haven't had the chance to hear the new dialogues yet, below is an excerpt from the game.



Secondly, we're tweaking some in-game sounds to make them sound as realistic as possible, and to trigger them at the right moment. In this case, we also fill in the gaps.

At this point it’s worth mentioning something, that you have been asking for a long time. Namely, all the fixes mentioned above, as well as those that we wrote about in previous reports, will be delivered to you in the form of a Mega Patch. We know that you’re waiting for it and we still need a few weeks to deliver - the simple reason for that is that we’ve started to cooperate with a big localization studio to deliver more subtitle languages than was originally planned and to achieve the best possible quality of translations. It takes a bit more time than we had on our original roadmap to finalize and check in all the localizations into the game. But...

Prepare space on your hard drives! The Mega Patch is near.

At the same time, we're working hard on the end of the game. As always, due to spoilers, we can't reveal too much. We can only say that we’re very close to the end and… it looks impressive right now. Let's put it this way: it’ll be worth the wait.

To make your appetite, below you will find small fragments of the last stages of the game, more or less censored.




Seriously, this last gif really looks like an excerpt from Doom on the SNES.

Take care, Stalkers!

When preparing new reports for you, we dig through the pile of materials. Sometimes there are graphics and sometimes also short descriptions of what we’re working on. At this stage of production, the majority of notes are "bug fixes" or "testing". This means one thing: there is so much going on that our heads start to crack.



However, a few notes caught our attention in particular. One of our colleagues left a note on which he wrote "an implementation of drinking vodka". Another one - a sound technician - wrote "complement of sounds in the animation of drinking alcohol". And someone will tell us that we don't care about details and realism in the game ;)

Before we can show this new feature, we invite you to read the latest report!

We are not exaggerating when we write a lot is happening here. About a month ago we mentioned we will be re-recording all voiceovers of all characters in the game. Well, today we can boast we recently finished doing that! The last week in particular was very intense but you will be surprised by the end result. But this is not the end of the news.

We have started the final testing phase.

This means that the game has a Release Candidate status. We are currently expanding the team of testers, looking for & fixing the identified bugs, optimizing the game for weaker PCs and consoles. At the same time, we are working on the promised new content for DLC and a lot more.

Last time we included a gameplay clip from the Chernobylite stage that is not yet available to mortal eyes. In short: it was an action scene that was heavily pixelated by us. Because, you know, spoilers.

If we could, we would show you everything. But we won't do it because
a) we like you too much and don't want to spoil the ending of the game for you,
b) we don't want the HIGHER INSTANCE to blow our heads off.

This doesn't mean we can't smuggle something in. Here’s another, small fragment of what you will be able to find in the game in just a few months. Do you recognize this character? Let us know in the comments!



Speaking of showing things for which we can lose our heads. A few weeks ago, we showed the initial draft of the monster that will be the next opponent in Chernobylite. We are currently tweaking and adding some details. You’ll see the full silhouette soon in the game. Meanwhile, we’re serving you its rich interior.



From the series "we add and improve so that it does not hurt the eyes”. We cleaned up a bit of the board in the Web of Lies. It also gained chalk drawings, as well as fragments of documents and handwritten notes written down by one of the key figures in the game.



Another thing was to check and fix a bug where the texture was sticking out of the ground and the collision wasn't working properly.

This is what it looked like:



And this is what it should look like:



And one last thing for today. Do you remember the biometric gateway that Igor had to pass through at the very beginning of the game? It looks a bit like from the previous epoch, doesn't it? Well, what if we tell you that at the end of the game you will come across a slightly modernized gateway?

Check out our comparison.




Take care, Stalkers!

Boom! February is almost behind us. It flew away quickly, even painlessly. We should celebrate it. For example, with a Chernobylite gameplay captured in a section of the game that isn’t yet available to your eyes. There is action. There are explosions. Adrenaline!



Of course, we had to censor it a bit to avoid spoilers. The effect is a bit like the Doom version for the SNES, only in worse quality.

It’s called “retro”. And it’s art.


Work on the console version of the game continues. Here's another proof of that: PlayStation 4 controler layout. The screen will tell console players which buttons are for what.



By the way, as promised, we remind you of the last big message related to the premiere of Chernobylite on PC and consoles.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1016800/view/3042715219434760154

We do this so that you DON’T HAVE TO SHAKE US EVERY SINGLE TIME!



Joking, we like you writing us 😏

We have something for the automotive fans. When optimizing all-terrain vehicles of the reliable UAZ brand, we thought it would be good to show you what these cars look like from the inside.

First, the body, where the optimization concerned mainly the roof. But also other, smaller elements.



Then we had to dismantle the UAZ car and work on the insides. Literally.



After optimization and corrections, it was a time to make a few variations - just to have more unpredictable levels. The image below shows some of the vehicles created in this way in all their glory.



And now for a change, something for railway fans. Here, too, we decided to work on optimization, which this time concerns the railroad tracks. Additionally, we put together new track models (approx. 30 km long!) in various combinations.





We haven’t forgotten about their smallest elements.



While we're on "how it's done" part, let us show you how steps are made. The occasion was perfect - we had to make some necessary corrections to one of the objects. This meant creating it almost completely from scratch.

We put the appropriate textures on the model of stairs and adjust them so that they reflect reality as closely as possible.




Then we test the stairs in a specific space and with specific surroundings. The effect is visible after a few final touches.




They look real, right? How about we show you how serious we are about the realism in the game? On the left, a photo that we took during one of our trips to Chernobyl. On the right - the interior of a cottage created thanks to 3D scanning. Looks great isn’t it? We think so too. That’s why we have tons and tons of scanned objects from the Zone, so that you can really feel as if you were actually there! If some of you visit the real Zone one day, look for the places we put in the game and see for yourself how amazing they are!



And to conclude this wonderful report, another exciting patent that we are working on: DIVERSE FIREWORKS!



Who will provide you with that much emotion if not us?

Take care, Stalkers!

On the occasion of the last report, we forgot to mention the most important event of last week! And it's not about Valentine's Day - after all, you know we love y’all <MWAH!> <3

On Thursday 11 February, we celebrated Fat Thursday in Poland. It’s the only day of the year when everyone can forget about diets and low-carb meals and buy or make their own donuts. Tons of donuts - with jelly, cream, pudding or chocolate filling - and eat as many as they can! Regardless of the calories!

We also crafted a Chernobyl donut specially for you. If you didn’t have one last week, grab one today! It’s a tradition after all ;)



If you want to give a try and taste how a traditional Polish Pączek (Donut) tastes like - try out this recipe.

Ok, enough sensitivity for this year. Here we go!

At the beginning, quite an important change. Those of you, who are just beginning their adventure with Chernobylite, will be definitely pleased. We don't want you to feel lost at the very beginning of the game. That is why, we have included numerous hints and tips in the prologue. However, we got so far with it that we forgot about the most important thing - a tutorial in the mission selection.

As you can see in the image below, we’re working on this issue. The appropriate windows will tell you, what it is for and what those specific icons mean.



We don't know why, but we have a lot of fun showing you how the Chernobylite world is made. And literally, even in the smallest pieces. We conclude from your reactions that you like such materials. So we’ve prepared another batch of graphics for you.

Something small to start with. When checking if the crafting tables are at the right height (remember the stair railings we wrote about recently?), we added a few things to them to make them REALLY LOOK like tables in a workshop. For example, mats that cover an ugly, washed-out top.



Now for something a bit more complex. We like to share graphics that show in detail the objects we are working on. Goggles, weapons, armor - it was a lot. Now it's time for something different.

If you thought it would take a lot of rusty pipes to make one, big stacked pipes, then… you’re very, very wrong. In fact, a pile of pipes is one huge asset that takes a long time to design and assemble. But it's still a better and less memory-consuming solution than creating 20 pipes and tying them together. And the final effect is even better.




Now a small sample of how we use our resources from our Chernobyl trips. You know, scanning buildings is not a piece of cake. Often there are some areas that are missing, destroyed or different than we need them to be. That is when our 3D artists step in. For example, in one of the cellars, we had to "patch up" small holes in the mesh of the cellar. On this mesh, we put textures from 3D scans of rooms that we took in Chernobyl.




In the last report, we wrote about the notes and documents that can be found in the game that tell a lot about the Chernobylite world. Of course, we didn't show them all due to spoilers. But we promise there will be plenty to read about. Plus, the notes themselves look so good!



But you will also find a lot of old photos. Some of them will contain handwritten notes about something strongly related to the plot.

Can you recognize who these men are in the photos?



And finally, a moving picture. For good reason, as we want to show you how we improved the falling raindrops on ALL levels. This is especially visible on the surface of the puddles.

Very relaxing...







Take care, Stalkers!

Screenshot in banner by Hannahnasje

The questions about the launch of Chernobylite both on PC and consoles just keep coming back. If you’re eager for information about this, we refer to the news from a few weeks ago, where we’ve laid our cards on the table and explained everything.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1016800/view/3043838585268106021

In the meantime, we invite you to read the latest report. This time, we devote a lot of space to the bug fixes you report to us on Steam and Discord, as well as the ones we found ourselves. The closer to the premiere, the more attention we will pay to them.


And that's no wonder. We emphasize many times that we want to deliver the game to you in the best possible condition - free from most of the bugs. And these can appear even in moments that are very well known to us. Here’s an example: while recording a video for the presentation of new voice-overs, at the very beginning of the game, we encountered an error that caused the Anton or Olivier dialogue window to be blocked on the screen. That window followed us on the screen until the end. And video recording had to be started again...

However, we’re focusing heavily on fixing those bugs that we find in the final stages of the game, including our mission "The Heist". Probably it won’t be a big spoiler when we say that the errors concern displayed dialogues, teleporters or save points.

And of course optimization, optimization and optimization. The main emphasis was on optimizing materials so that they won’t load unnecessary textures. As a result, they won’t take up more memory than they really should, and the game will run smoother.


And now for fans of our graphic works. We’ve improved the brightness and quality of the textures placed on various objects you can find in the trains. We were especially delighted with the mouse. Or at least we hope it's a mouse...





A little fun fact related to these items. As you know, the Chernobyl power plant employees travelled to the power plant by train on several routes, usually in the early morning hours. In these trains it was customary to "reserve" a seat. People threw random items on the seats - a glove, a hat, keys, even money! If there was anything on the seat, it meant that nobody could sit on it. You couldn’t even sit on the opposite seat! This way one person could have reserved a space normally four people would use. Look at the items that can be found on the train in the prologue - they didn’t end up there by accident.


In recent reports, we devoted a lot of attention to elements of nature. As you know, we make sure that Igor spends a lot of time in the fresh (?) air. However, the world of Chernobylite is also made of numerous buildings from the Soviet era that give the whole game its unique atmosphere. Concrete apartment blocks are one of the typical, monumental structures characteristic for those times. They already look very convincing - both from the inside and outside. But according to our philosophy, there is always room for improvement.

We looked at some photos and plans of old buildings and also took into account our experience of living in blocks of flats. Thanks to this, we were able to make a small correction of the height of the railings in the staircases.



As you can see in the photo above, the rails were originally set a bit too low - at the height of the buttocks, and they should be above the waist. In the real world, they would be inconvenient for people who need such barriers. And of course, it's easy to fall through them.

We’ve made changes to every building with stairs.



In the photo below you can see what it all looked like in the game itself before and after the changes. There are definitely differences.




At the end we left the most interesting, in our opinion, things - one of the best narrative elements of any self-respecting game. In Chernobylite you’ll find a lot of KGB notes and documents, reading which will tell you a bit about the Chernobylite world. Of course, we won’t reveal all of them (because of spoilers), only the most interesting ones in our opinion. Do you like the way they look? Are their visuals convincing to you?



Take care, Stalkers!

The first month of the new year is behind us. Work on Chernobylite is in full swing. Which means that a lot is happening here. And we're not going to slow down.

As proof, here, take this gif showing a scrap of something big that we are preparing for you in the game. Memized.



The previous report contained a huge amount of text. It is thanks to our special guest, Ian Russell, who told a lot about his job as a voice actor. Today, for the sake of balance, we have numerous pictures for you. We know from the signals we receive on our social media that you like them very much.


Before we get to the pictures, a few words about sounds. You already know that we have re-recorded all dialogues of the key Chernobylite characters. However, we are also working hard to fix the bugs you report to us on Steam and Discord. These most often concern the sounds of the character's footsteps on the ground - they are either barely audible or there is no sound at all. And some sounds don’t play where they should be.


We’re working on the effects of bullets hitting physical materials. As a result, everything will sprinkle harder and splash beautifully. It is especially visible when hitting materials such as stone, brick or metal. ✦MAJESTIC✦

Look at these effects after shooting at the wall...



…as well as other elements of the environment.




Now to the point. In today's episode of our "how it's made" series: goggles. The entire stage of their creation is presented below. From initial design ...




...by detailed modelling…




...texturing and matching to characters…



...until the end result.



Another interesting fact - in the photo below you will find a large armor cross-section. Pay attention to how many elements were used to create it. Just print, cut and glue, like models of old cars. Fun for the whole family!




In one of our previous reports, we’ve revealed that we’re working on an achievement system. You can see in the graphic below that all the magic begins with the preparation of concept art.



The next step is to take a few screenshots of key objects and characters, and then transform them into their "drawing" equivalents. Then comes the preparation of the background texture of the icons.




The effect is already stunning. Although at this point it is worth mentioning that this is just the beginning - there will be more achievements. And the ones you see above still need some corrections and polishing.


The last portion of pictures for today, but meaty. Literally. Below - Chernohost's physique.



Say what? That this one looks different than the one we showed a month ago? Oh, geez. We wonder why this happened?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


Finally, something for the laughs. We had a lot of fun creating a gif with Black Stalker. Below are examples of our joyful creativity.







That’s why we give you this template that you can use yourself. Go crazy and share your creations on your social media, tagging us, e.g. on Twitter.



Take care, Stalkers!

The end of the previous week was full of emotions. Not only we’ve miraculously delivered the Friday report on time (we deserve a medal, or at least a cake!), but we also informed you about something very important.

We’ve postponed the PC premiere of Chernobylite to a later date. Thanks to this, we’ve got more time to polish the game, translate it into more languages and add additional content, which was originally supposed to be released as DLC. Everything can be summed up by the slogan "bigger, better, stronger"!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/3043838585268106022

We hope to present you the progress of our work soon. In the meantime, you can read this report, where you can find our talk with Igor Khymynyuk, who told us about his work on the game... Wait, what?!


Recently, we were proud to unveil the news about re-recording all the dialogue lines of key Chernobylite characters. We even showed it on the gameplay we recorded. The response was largely positive, for which we thank you. It’s great to see that players like what we’re doing. In case you’ve missed it, have a look now!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/3043838585267170745

But this is not the end of surprises on our part. We decided to show you what the magic of voiceovers is all about. And who can do it better than a professional voice actor.

Meet Ian Russell - award-winning voice actor, audiobook narrator, and most importantly, British. It is his voice that accompanies us throughout the entire game of Chernobylite, because Ian plays the main role of Igor Khymynyuk.



Ian began his adventure with The Farm 51 almost two years ago. As he says, for him, it has been challenging but an enjoyable and rewarding one.
‘The horror/survival genre is one in which I have some experience (eg: Remothered-Broken Porcelain, The Haunting - yet to be released) so having been cast in Chernobylite I could tell, early on that it was going to be a wonderful project with which to attach my name. I loved the mystery, the atmosphere and the music’ says Ian.



His first contact with the game was during the early trailer in which he provided a Russian / Ukrainian accent.
‘I thought that would be my only input into the game. But as the months went by, I was asked to voice a second trailer with the Russian accent and then some early access trailers in my natural British accent. All as Igor, the main character in the game’ recalls Ian. ‘Then came the Beta work, in which I was asked to provide the game voice for Igor. I took this as a real honor. It was clear to me, following the progress of the game, that a great deal of thought, dedication and commitment had gone into the environment (mapping Chernobyl), the storyline and the characters. The scripts were also beautifully written and dramatic.

‘In the Beta, I also voiced many other characters including Tarakan (watch him - he is a bit unhinged!) and various British, Russian and American NPC’s. I think it was 23 characters in all. I wanted the voices to be sufficiently distinct that if a player is in an encounter with two or more of my characters that they would not immediately know it was the same voice actor. I feel that can become distracting and even irritating if two characters are interacting and they sound the same. As an established gaming voice, these are the challenges I relish.’



One of the most important questions we asked Ian was how he was preparing for the lead role, Igor. He admits that Igor's voice in the game is close to his natural voice.
‘This means I can focus on his personality and storyline, which have evolved through the Beta and into the final version of the game. I can’t really say what has and evolved because I don’t want to spoil, too much changed for the players that might read this!’

At this point, we are giving a very important piece of advice to anyone planning a career in voice acting: stay hydrated!
‘You can lose a lot of water during a session. My recording booth has 3-inch-thick walls and is lined inside and out with sound treatments (foam, felt and in the case of the one window quadruple glazing) It can get extremely hot! In fact, during one particularly energetic session (for Tarakan) I had to take a break to shower and change my clothes’ says Ian.



Often, actors are asked if they identify with the characters they play. We asked the same question to Ian who answered like this:
‘Igor is a unique person; he is intelligent and has some survival skills, but the characters he meets along the way can help him, or hinder him, depending on the choices he makes. It was important for me (and will be for a player) to understand his motives and his relationships with other characters in the game. I am indebted to Wojtek and Lucasz for their time and insight into the inner workings of Igor's mind. Indeed, outside of the hiring process, we connected for about an hour just to discuss and practice his voice and character’ says Ian. ‘With a large role like Igor, it’s important to ensure your performance remains consistent. Like any muscle, your voice and vocal chords get tired so we tried to spread the workload across several days and weeks and had our sessions at similar times of the day. We typically kept sessions to a maximum of 2 hours. For the final game I think we had 10-12 sessions’ he adds.

How does the voice over recording look from his perspective?
‘It was a very refreshing decision for Farm 51 to bring multiple Voice Actors into the session together, albeit remotely, allowing the dialogue to evolve organically and the characters to interact. I feel the performances will be better and more realistic for it. In most cases, Voice Actors record game characters in isolation and are therefore ‘performing’ the other person too. That will almost always be a different interpretation than the one given by the other actor, so working in pairs and threes will benefit the game experience.’



At this point, we have to pay attention to one thing - 2020 brought a global pandemic that made our work very difficult. Especially in terms of organizing recording sessions. Ian felt the effects of this as well.
‘I’ve committed a lot of time and effort to ensuring my recording environment is excellent for my clients and consequently was ahead of the curve when in early 2020 the pandemic hit’ he says. That is why it was important to organize work on your own and in the privacy of your home. ‘Suddenly game makers needed talent with home recording capabilities. I have, for several years, had a dedicated 6 'x 4' recording booth in which I work. The main impact of the Pandemic for me, has been my ability to carry on when others that needed to go to a remote studio, could not. It certainly made working with Farm 51 easier, avoiding the need to travel to a studio. That said, I do enjoy the opportunity to work in a studio where you don’t have to be concerned about recording levels and whether local Gardeners or my dog ​​might interfere with sessions.’

Of course, the work of a voice actor, like any other, involves various unexpected situations. One of them was attended by Iana's daughter herself.
‘Chernobylite has also been significant for me in a couple of other ways. In an enormously 'proud father' moment, I had a recording session with my daughter, who also plays a character in the game, and her character and Igor have a lengthy dialogue. I think performance was wonderful, and it was such a highlight to work with he’ he recalls. ‘There was one session in which we needed to record what we call 'effort sounds' Typically these will be sounds a character makes when they are hitting something, being hit, running, walking and so on. Igor had the honor of being the first character for whom I needed to record vomiting sounds. The sound engineer was delighted with my efforts describing them as 'world class' We all had a good laugh and I hope players who experience this part of the performance agree.’

At the end of the conversation, Ian has a message to you
‘I hope playing Chernobylite gives you as much pleasure as I had working on it.’



Take care, Stalkers!

Winter has come and is holding on. The climate gave way to us, so we’re trying to suggest to the team to add the snowman-building option to Chernobylite - from mud? From metal? From stones? Sky's the limit!.

Of course, we reckon with the fact that nothing will come out of it. As you know we’re currently not adding new stuff to the game, but we’re mainly focusing on polishing what is already in it. This means more or less that we are in the final phase. Plus, don't forget that we’re also preparing console versions.

A lot of work is still ahead of us, but it’s always getting us closer and closer. We hope you’ll enjoy this report thanks to which you will, traditionally, learn more about Chernobylite. By the way, at the end of it, we included a specific material about something you’ve been asking for a long time*.

Enjoy!
* no, it's not about "The Heist"

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/3043838585268106022

Speaking of the polishing mentioned at the beginning, let’s have a look at the water. For a long time we have been trying to reproduce the outside world in the Chernobylite as faithfully as possible. That's why we were a bit bothered that the water in the game was too ... cloudy.

It’s not that the water in Chernobyl is or isn’t of top quality - we didn't drink it or bathe in it, so we don't know that. It’s more about the fact that the water reflection effect did not fully meet our aesthetic expectations. It’s definitely too dark, and the water looked artificial in some places. In order to fix this, we've made some tricks in our editor thanks to which the reflections work smoothier, use less resources and, what’s important, reacts with light better.

You can see the effect on an example from Pripyat Port. Here's the water before the changes:




And here is the water after the changes:




Let's stay with the graphics. While improving collisions to map objects so that the game would work more optimally and take up less memory space, we found a few things that are worth showing to future 3D graphic designers.

This example was taken from working on a metal hatch. You can see in the picture below that it all starts with assembling the model. Maybe you can see some similarities to a game from childhood, when you cut out paper into certain shapes and assembled into a specific object (remember those sticky fingers thanks to a cheap glue?).



And here you can see the texture work. Note the differences in the appearance of the hatch before and after putting it into the game engine.



Traditionally, we fight with the significant bugs - the ones you ‘ve reported on Steam and on Discord. Thank you all for your support!

We don’t forget about small novelties that are to make the game more enjoyable. At this point, it’s worth informing that we’re finishing the work on the quick save prototype and we're also working on something nice for trophy hunters - the achievement system. :)



Of course, the picture for this achievement will change. We'll try to make sure it doesn't end up looking like the picture below.



We've been flooded with suggestions for some time now to fix this and that. A lot of these voices are about… well, voices.

You've talked about how they are a bit unnatural, stiff, maybe a bit superfluous and indistinct in places. The fact is, not all of the characters' voices sound as if we want them to. So we decided to re-record ALL lines. And not only that - we've also improved every line of dialogues in the game. The effect is satisfying... as you can see for yourself.

We’ve recently posted a video on our social media with a gameplay piece from a version of the game that is not yet available to you (but will be soon!). This way, we were able to show you how the characters' new, re-recorded lines sound like. You may notice that not only do the characters sound different, but they have also some lines changed in order to make things feel more natural.


Under normal circumstances, we would record voice-overs in a studio, as we did with Get Even. However, due to the pandemic it would be difficult and complicated to organize. So we decided to record online via Google Hangouts. Wojciech Rutkowski reveals the secrets of working in new conditions. - Our writer Łukasz was at each recording session and was responsible for leading the actors during the sessions. We recorded all dialogues between the main characters and Igor with two actors at once, so that the interactions between them in the dialogue sound natural. The actors recorded their lines in their home studios with professional microphones.

In our opinion, it turned out great! Let us know what you think!

By the way - you can see a new indicator on the linked video, which shows the direction from which the player is visible to the opponents. We wrote about him in one of the previous reports. We tried to make it more noticeable, but not too invasive at the same time.



Take care, Stalkers!

Since the Kickstarter campaign and the Early Access premiere in 2019, we’ve been constantly and openly showing you our work progress by updating the game (Mega Patches), by patching it (fixes, minor updates), by Weekly Reports and daily publications on our social media channels. The time has come to share something that deserves special attention.
Both are good, but some of you may have expected a bit of other information.

The first news is that despite the pandemics hitting the world pretty hard, we were developing the game right on the schedule (remember Roadmap?). But then again, we will have to wait for the final PC version until Q2 2021.

Why is that good news? Our plans have grown bigger. We have decided to hold the premiere and not to focus on delivering additional content AFTER the premiere - and the most crucial reason behind this decision is to be able to translate the game into more languages than we’ve previously promised. Thanks to cooperation with our publisher, All in! Games, the Chernobylite plot and interface will be additionally translated professionally into Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Besides that, all language versions were fully rewritten and polished (stylistics mostly). As for the voiceovers (English & Russian) - we’re re-recording them from scratch in a professional studio with professional voice actors.
Thanks to that, the overall experience coming from the game should become incomparably more exciting and immersive. Unfortunately, due to how big the game is (Chernobylite has multiple times more plot text lines than any of our previous titles), the process of adding and testing new translations is time-consuming and that’s the reason we won’t be able to finish and polish it in Q1 2021.
is that most of the team, which doesn’t take part in the translation “business,” will not sit idle and wait. We’ve promised you that Chernobylite will have our constant support and development, even after we leave Early Access, and we’re going to prove it again.

Moving premiere to Q2 2021, simultaneously, we’re creating new content and gameplay elements that previously were supposed to be published as DLCs. This means that the final version of Chernobylite will be bigger and filled with new content, which will enrich the experience and make playing it even more pleasurable. Among these additions, you’ll find a new location, new weapons, new enemies, extended cooperation with other in-game characters and tons of fixes in the existing mechanics and tools.

All of you who bought our game in Early Access or supported us during the Kickstarter campaign will get that new content completely free of charge and as a part of standard Chernobylite updates. The nearest MegaPatch will appear as planned (winter). Still, after it you can expect at least one additional content extension before the premiere - not to mention regular fixes and updates, which will appear whenever needed.

We’d also like to remind you that the console version of Chernobylite is under heavy development and it should be finished in the following months. The PC version premiere, which will be close to the console versions premiere, will not only allow us to make more buzz around Chernobylite and reach out to players that didn’t yet come across our game but also to continue the development of the project as after-the-premiere support (more DLCs and MegaPatches in the months following the premieres).
At the very end, we’d like to really thank you all for your support - we hear many kind words from you. We believe that you’ll understand the decision. Its goal is to provide our game with the best development possible.

Winter surprised us a lot this year. It was snowing (at least in Poland and few other countries). In mid-January! Who would have thought? ;)

Anyway, we sit in warm houses in comfortable slippers, with cups of cocoa in hand and pamper Chernobylite. As usual, you can read about the recent effects of our work in this report.

And since we talk about the weather, briefly one of the coolest solutions that will appear in the game. When you’re on any map, if there's fog, AI will see much less - meaning they’ll have a harder time noticing you. Downside? You’ll have a harder time spotting them too.

And the sound is also important while trying to find unexpected guests - if there’s rain, AI will be less aware about all the noises around. So we can say they will “hear” less things, like steps or even shooting (depending on the distance).

We want the game world to have an even greater impact on the player - that’s why we are tweaking the system. Also, it would be unfair (and not very realistic) if the opponent could boast of a falcon eye during the very limited visibility. You know, it’s not a strategy game with Fog of War which covers the map only for non-AI players.

Now that we're having such nice views, let's show you a trick. If we take three-dimensional models and transform them into two-dimensional textures, and then frame them in appropriate frames, we get some pretty cool photos. They almost resemble those taken out of a camera film.





The last major update of the Unreal Engine was a godsend for us and a great opportunity to fix this and that. For example, one of the annoyances of life was a bug causing the engine to crash when we wanted to change the name of one object in the editor. Imagine if you decided to change your dog's name, and it suddenly explodes. Annoying...

Looking at this from the player's side, we also made some adjustments. These include adding missing textures to your notes, fixing the never-ending growls after killing Borderers and Chernohosts, and fixing a bug where exploratory music was not triggering in some events. In fact, we're reworking the ENTIRE sound system in the game. We hope to show off the results soon.

Another bug was very scary, but fortunately it has been already fixed - after exiting the portal Chernohosts sometimes began to disappear, starting from the bottom! This error only occurred if Chernohost did not notice the player when exiting the portal.



Why was this happening? From the technical side, it looked like this: when exiting the portal, Chernohost gets information about the location of the portal and which direction its front is facing. Then, with the help of this information, we were able to make the part of the Chernohost behind the portal in the opposite direction to its front, transparent. This helps in "selling" the player the impression that chernohost is really exiting the portal.



The bug has been fixed and it also fixes another one - when the portal is in the building on the upper floor and the player is below it, he won't see the legs suddenly appearing from the ceiling when the monster above it exits the portal. Which was a little bit creepy too.

We also have something for the fans of the bush shown last week, as well as the rest of the vegetation in Chernobylite. We have updated our plant documentation so that Chernobylite maps can boast even more flora diversity.



Ok, now something extra for the fans of military technicalities and future (hopefully) game developers. We have added a few novelties to the game and we’ll gladly explain the functions of them and show you how the work on their creation has proceeded.

Thermovision
Thermovision was already a bit cluttered with the last mega-patch. Places where you can find weapons (which already have modifications) have been added to the game. However, some of you may have gotten into the situation where your gun had a thermal imager installed which hit the game prematurely and didn't work. Oops.

We are currently working on a solution to make the new toy distinguish enemies from the environment.



Rafał Ściblak, our junior technical and fx artist, will tell you more about it: - There is a special function in the Unreal Engine called the CustomDepth buffer to which you can assign objects. They are then rendered in a special image that includes only those objects that have been tagged. Thanks to this, it is easy to distinguish objects that interest us from the rest of the scene. Underneath is the CustomDepth buffer visualization. This buffer also contains information about the pixel depth of the object (which we will mention in a moment). The closer to the pixel the camera is, the whiter it gets.



The only thing left to do in the material is to "paint" the objects in this buffer in some color, for example yellow, and the rest of the scene with gray. Finally, add the terracture of the sight and voila - the thermal imaging effect is practically ready. Magic!

Scanner and translucent eyes/object elements
You will come across various improvements in the game, like scanners. One of them is detecting enemies through walls.

Again, Rafał will explain how they work: - To make this possible, a special material had to be created that would bypass the occlusion test in the motor. The occlusion test is used to check if an object is obstructed by another. The invisible part is then not rendered.

However, this introduces a small error, as seen in the image below - you can see soldier's eyeballs and all vertices that would not normally be displayed.



How to deal with this? The CustomDepth buffer comes to the rescue again. - This time the information about the pixel depth of the object was used. In this way, we can compare the depth of the currently visible pixel with the depth of the soldier's pixel - explains Rafał. If the soldier's pixel is deeper than the currently visible pixel, its visibility in the material is set to zero. This is how we created our own occlusion test. Problem solved!



Take care, Stalkers!