We at DoubleBear want to thank all who bought the Early Access version of Dead State for your support. It’s been a crazy week for us. While we haven’t been able to respond to everyone’s feedback, we want to let you know that we have been reading it and collecting info on issues you’ve been having. We’re working on fixes for some of the biggest technical issues and crash bugs and we hope to have a patch for those up soon.

We hope to expand the demo features over time, and we’re working on a few key additions to help flesh out the Early Access build. Here’s a list of some of the features we are finishing and testing for an upcoming update:

Soft Lock/Crash Issues – We’ve been tracking down crashes happening during combat.

Save/Load Issues – We’ve been looking for ways save/load breaks the game and patching them.

Save on Menu – We will be adding a “Save” option on the menu.

Random Encounters – Random Encounter groups and maps will be added to the build.

Harvesting – Harvest areas will be added, found based on Survival skill.

And to be added in future updates:

Character Creation – We will be adding a basic character creation system to the build.

Goals – Achieving goals will give the player skill points.

Barks – Combat/Ambient barks added to make the NPCs seem more alive.

Loot Highlighting – We will add in a system to better highlight loot containers.

Roof Issues – We will fix issues with sight/targeting enemies hidden by roofs.

AI Improvements – Better AI, less chance to “cheat” or “trick” AI in battles.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, some of these updates may be slightly delayed. Three members of our team are in the Ukraine – if you’re not familiar with what’s happening there, please read up on the latest news. In the short-term, their schedules have been impacted by the events unfolding there right now, so please be patient with us. They are still working on the game, but sometimes they have bigger concerns to attend to. We have a pretty small team for an RPG (about 12 people!) so we definitely feel it any time a team member has to take time off for personal reasons.

If you have feedback or need help with the game, please feel free to stop by our forums and ask us there. We appreciate your thoughts and participation and we look forward to bringing you more updates and news about the final release in the future.

We at DoubleBear want to thank all who bought the Early Access version of Dead State for your support. It’s been a crazy week for us. While we haven’t been able to respond to everyone’s feedback, we want to let you know that we have been reading it and collecting info on issues you’ve been having. We’re working on fixes for some of the biggest technical issues and crash bugs and we hope to have a patch for those up soon.

We hope to expand the demo features over time, and we’re working on a few key additions to help flesh out the Early Access build. Here’s a list of some of the features we are finishing and testing for an upcoming update:

Soft Lock/Crash Issues – We’ve been tracking down crashes happening during combat.

Save/Load Issues – We’ve been looking for ways save/load breaks the game and patching them.

Save on Menu – We will be adding a “Save” option on the menu.

Random Encounters – Random Encounter groups and maps will be added to the build.

Harvesting – Harvest areas will be added, found based on Survival skill.

And to be added in future updates:

Character Creation – We will be adding a basic character creation system to the build.

Goals – Achieving goals will give the player skill points.

Barks – Combat/Ambient barks added to make the NPCs seem more alive.

Loot Highlighting – We will add in a system to better highlight loot containers.

Roof Issues – We will fix issues with sight/targeting enemies hidden by roofs.

AI Improvements – Better AI, less chance to “cheat” or “trick” AI in battles.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, some of these updates may be slightly delayed. Three members of our team are in the Ukraine – if you’re not familiar with what’s happening there, please read up on the latest news. In the short-term, their schedules have been impacted by the events unfolding there right now, so please be patient with us. They are still working on the game, but sometimes they have bigger concerns to attend to. We have a pretty small team for an RPG (about 12 people!) so we definitely feel it any time a team member has to take time off for personal reasons.

If you have feedback or need help with the game, please feel free to stop by our forums and ask us there. We appreciate your thoughts and participation and we look forward to bringing you more updates and news about the final release in the future.

After another round of testing the Early Access build, we ran into one new crash that affected a frequent weapon effect in combat, and another that affected the attack menu GUI at a common resolution. We needed to fix these and re-test the build – that was done, and now the build needs to be packed up and uploaded to Steam. Then we need to test the Steam build from a fresh install and make sure there are no new issues from a clean install.

Unfortunately, this build probably won’t get up in time to be put up tonight.
But here’s the thing – we could have put the build up last week or even today. The reason we held off was to polish our work as much as possible and make the EA build feel like a complete game. Yes, it’s still an Early Access game, but we didn’t think crashes or other major progression issues would make for a good experience for our backers and everyone else who bought the game early.

The first time we delayed the EA build was for save/load functionality, which needed extensive testing since there is a time component to our game and many variables to track. This week’s work has improved the game even more, and closed out a ton of bugs and playability issues. As of right now, most of us are working on a few hours of sleep a night. We’ve been playtesting the game and fixing issues as they occur, getting our codes generated and ready to be sent out, and making sure we have our forums and testing info ready to go.

Tomorrow, the game will be released. In the meantime, stop by our forums if you’re new to the game and need answers or check out the manual we posted here:

http://store.steampowered.com

One more night, guys – that’s it.

Always remember – no one wants the game out more than us.

After another round of testing the Early Access build, we ran into one new crash that affected a frequent weapon effect in combat, and another that affected the attack menu GUI at a common resolution. We needed to fix these and re-test the build – that was done, and now the build needs to be packed up and uploaded to Steam. Then we need to test the Steam build from a fresh install and make sure there are no new issues from a clean install.

Unfortunately, this build probably won’t get up in time to be put up tonight.
But here’s the thing – we could have put the build up last week or even today. The reason we held off was to polish our work as much as possible and make the EA build feel like a complete game. Yes, it’s still an Early Access game, but we didn’t think crashes or other major progression issues would make for a good experience for our backers and everyone else who bought the game early.

The first time we delayed the EA build was for save/load functionality, which needed extensive testing since there is a time component to our game and many variables to track. This week’s work has improved the game even more, and closed out a ton of bugs and playability issues. As of right now, most of us are working on a few hours of sleep a night. We’ve been playtesting the game and fixing issues as they occur, getting our codes generated and ready to be sent out, and making sure we have our forums and testing info ready to go.

Tomorrow, the game will be released. In the meantime, stop by our forums if you’re new to the game and need answers or check out the manual we posted here:

http://store.steampowered.com

One more night, guys – that’s it.

Always remember – no one wants the game out more than us.

Hi everyone,

Many of you have astutely noticed that Dead State: The First Seven Days, our Early Access demo of Dead State, is slated to be released tomorrow. Right now, this is still our plan, although we may be forced to delay a day or two if any unforeseen obstacles arise. Either way, we want to clarify how we anticipate the launch process will work in advance of the demo release.

We have a large backlog of backers and pre-purchasers who are our first priority for generating and sending keys. We're going to do this as fast as we can, but we cannot guarantee everyone will get their copy right away tomorrow (especially since it can take up to a day to receive approval for a new batch of keys to be generated through Steamworks). Since this is our studio's first time ever releasing a game on Steam and generating/distributing keys, the process could be a little rocky. We really appreciate you all bearing with us while we get everything sorted out, and you give us through Friday to get keys out to everyone. If by Friday you still don't have a key and you haven't heard an update from us about our progress, then feel free to reach out to us here on the Steam group discussion board here or our own forums.

We will shortly post the Early Access version of the game manual in both places so you can begin reading up on the gameplay in advance. We hope you'll all take the time to read through it or reference it as you play - we do not currently have tutorial text in-game, so the manual is invaluable to learning about all the features and functionality of the demo.

We will also have Bug Reporting and Feedback threads on both forums, with a sticky note describing known issues. As this is an unfinished product in a roughly pre-beta state, there are a number of quirks and small bugs and also a few missing features. You should look over the sticky note before reporting a bug. You may also post your thoughts and suggestions about the demo in that forum, but we ask that you try to keep it all in one post and edit that post when you come up with more ideas - this way it's easier for us to navigate through and track everyone's feedback.


Thanks for your patience and support over the next couple of days while we work to get the demo into your hands!

Hi everyone,

Many of you have astutely noticed that Dead State: The First Seven Days, our Early Access demo of Dead State, is slated to be released tomorrow. Right now, this is still our plan, although we may be forced to delay a day or two if any unforeseen obstacles arise. Either way, we want to clarify how we anticipate the launch process will work in advance of the demo release.

We have a large backlog of backers and pre-purchasers who are our first priority for generating and sending keys. We're going to do this as fast as we can, but we cannot guarantee everyone will get their copy right away tomorrow (especially since it can take up to a day to receive approval for a new batch of keys to be generated through Steamworks). Since this is our studio's first time ever releasing a game on Steam and generating/distributing keys, the process could be a little rocky. We really appreciate you all bearing with us while we get everything sorted out, and you give us through Friday to get keys out to everyone. If by Friday you still don't have a key and you haven't heard an update from us about our progress, then feel free to reach out to us here on the Steam group discussion board here or our own forums.

We will shortly post the Early Access version of the game manual in both places so you can begin reading up on the gameplay in advance. We hope you'll all take the time to read through it or reference it as you play - we do not currently have tutorial text in-game, so the manual is invaluable to learning about all the features and functionality of the demo.

We will also have Bug Reporting and Feedback threads on both forums, with a sticky note describing known issues. As this is an unfinished product in a roughly pre-beta state, there are a number of quirks and small bugs and also a few missing features. You should look over the sticky note before reporting a bug. You may also post your thoughts and suggestions about the demo in that forum, but we ask that you try to keep it all in one post and edit that post when you come up with more ideas - this way it's easier for us to navigate through and track everyone's feedback.


Thanks for your patience and support over the next couple of days while we work to get the demo into your hands!