Hello, gamedecs!
It's been three weeks since you can solve crimes in Virtual worlds, and well... it was intense! Thanks to your support, we've been working hard on fixing bugs that you reported for the last couple of weeks. Your feedback is vital to us, so we thank you and encourage you to continue to send us all the comments and ideas you have for the Gamedec.

The most important thing we are fixing with this patch is solving all known language issues. Besides, we have improved performance, SFX's, polished up the sounds and many many more - see the full patch notes below.



We would also like to remind you that we are still working on the development of Gamedec. We are sticking to the recently presented roadmap, so expect more patches soon.

• All known language issues should be completely fixed.
  
• Improved the quality of in-game music.
  
• Fixed the overall SFX issues.
  
• Improved the overall quality of SFX.
  
• Improved the overall performance issues and optimized the CPU/GPU usage.
  
• Fixed a bug when V-Sync could not be disabled using in-game options and still capped the FPS.
  
• Added the quick save button in the controls settings menu.
  
• Fixed numerous bugs affecting the playthrough and logic errors preventing players from proceeding.
  
• Fixed various 3D graphics bugs.
  
• Screens with key binding - fixed in all languages.
  
• Adding smooth animation for dialog entry and exit.
  
• Fixed some music issues on loading screens.
  
• Fixed missing Codex entries.
  
• Only high priority Codex entries get an exclamation mark at the beginning of the game
  
• Fixed missing dialogue options throughout the game. A number was present, but there was no line after.
  
• Fixed text scaling issues in NPC's speech balloons.
  
• Fixed the NPC occlusion on Paradise Beach.
  
• Fixed most of the issues with gender tags.
  
• Deduction scales well to different aspect ratios.
  
• Fixed crash which sometimes occured on loading screen between levels

• Exiting farm on Harvest Time won't crash the game anymore.
  
• Fixed an issue when, after talking to suspicious NPCs, meeting them at the Umbra House on Knight's Code is impossible.
  
• It's no longer possible to get inside Umbra's house without a key in Knight's Code.
  
• The tutorial appears correctly when it is turned on in the menu and no longer appears when the player turns it off.
  
• The "Rheistic Systems" counter is now counting tips correctly [Fallen Hero]
  
• Bug fixes on levels where lighting didn't work correctly.
  
• Fixed a crash during autosave while entering the theater.
  
• Fixed animation of Jester entering the portal.
  
• Fixed a blocker in interaction with Kid when Nanette appears.
  
• Gamedec won't run around with a gun after shooting Herman in Twisted & Perverted.
  
• The pistol disappears properly after your gamedec dies in Twisted & Perverted.
  
• Fixed an error when talking to Blazin' Dakota on Harvest Time that caused Akce Thomson to fall under the map.
  
• Fixed an issue with the couch that did not have the option to teleport to Harvest Time.
  
• Fixed the leveling bug on Twisted & Perverted.
  
• Fixed the bug where loading the game from a save causes items from disappearing from the HUD in Knight's Code.
  
• Poteto Gomuin in Knight's Code counts as an item and is not added to the total number of Gomuin.
  
• Collecting resources before the proper option appears no longer leads to a block in the quest in Knight's Code.
  
• Fixed the occasional significant loss of floor cardboard quality in Haggis Office.
  
• Fixed the saves thumbnails - they are no longer semi-transparent so that you won't see the question mark in the background.
  
• Fixed a bug when transforming from cat to human too close to the bridge railing caused the gamedec to fall under the map.
  
• Improved the shadow capsules quality for some of the characters.
  
• In the deduction, the Tip information box opacity was too high. Fixed.
  
• Fixed an issue when tutorial for minigame with glitches showed up when minigame hasn't started yet.
  
• Fixed dialogue with Starlett where she tells Gamedec where she took the boys. She did that twice on different occasions, which wasn't necessary.
  
• Fixed an issue with The Outlaw's favor bar. It was tilted as if we've got her trust, but we haven't.
  
• Fixed an issue when after the duel with the Sheriff and returning to the farm, Gamedec was still holding a gun in his hand.
  
• Fixed an issue in Twisted & Perverted, where the street sounds do not fade back in after the respawn.
  
• We politely asked the Unicorn from Twisted & Perverted not to spawn on the player, blocking the player's movement. You're a Unicorn, not a troll FFS.
  
• Fixed collision boundaries on Axis Mundi, a player won't cross the bridge into the nothingness and roam freely between bridges.
  
• You won't be able to talk with Wild Poppy after she disappears anymore [Harvest Time].
  
• Fixed missing dialogue lines with the Sheriff on Harvest Time
  
• The logs to the right of the bridge in Knights Code are now active.
  
• In Knight's Code - suspects should no longer return to the starting point if we have started a quest to eavesdrop on them and then skipped a cycle.
  
• Fixed an issue when a quest on Harvest time doesn't update correctly if you get the clues before going to the farm.
  
• Fixed the Apartment issue - If you saved the game after rejecting a call from Haggis, that causes him never to call Gamedec again.
  
• Fixed the UI in Knight's Code.
  
• Fixed clipping issues on Harvest Time.
  
• You can no longer click on a pumpkin on Harvest Time and then walk during a dialogue.
  
• You can no longer save/load the game to buy free strawberries.

Important notice regarding Torkil Aymore skin DLC - if you bought it and you can't make it work, please get in touch with Steam Support; they should help you. In the Steam Support tab choose the following options: Gamedec -> DLC or bonus content is missing -> DLC -> I need help installing DLC for this game -> I've checked my setting and I'm still having trouble installing my DLC -> Contact Steam support

Last but not least - we were informed that soon some spooky things might happen in Warsaw City, so remember to visit Harvest Time and collect some pumpkins. They can be helpful.

At this point, that's all. We hope that the time spent in Gamedec's shoes will be even more enjoyable now.

Take care and stay safe!
Team Gamedec

First, we want to thank you all for the feedback you are giving and the continuous support! Thanks to you, we gathered the most infuriating issues and bugs and threw them at the tour QA department [btw, we love you guys!].

Today’s patch should resolve the critical language issues we have found. We’ve uploaded the newest dialogue lines, but in case something has trouble loading, the default branch was switched from Polish to English. We do not anticipate that as something that might happen, but if somehow it would, it’s easier to go with English instead of “chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie, tu i ówdzie” 😉

That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop there, oh no. We’ve planned three major patches for 2021, with additional content set for 2022. You can see the roadmap below:

As for the 1.0.50 patch, here’s what we’ve fixed:

• Fixed a bug with a Diginet in AM.
  
• Fixed a missing NPC on Harvest Time’s cemetery.
  
• Fixed a bug with the Unicorn on Twisted & Perverted.
  
• Fixed a bug with Panisantor on Twisted & Perverted.
  
• Fixed an issue with mixed languages in the controls settings.
  
• Fixed an issue with a double barrier on Happy Hunting Grounds.
  
• Fixed an issue with mouse control when you had the controller connected.
  
• Killing an NPC to get a higher level in Twisted & Perverted won’t block out the dialogue needed to proceed.
  
• Minor fixes on Yeti’s bar.
  
• Fixed an issue with lockpicking the Knight’s Code vault.
  
• Fixed the initial CGI intro’s volume.
  
• Fixed an issue blocking progress when talking to Starlet in the Yeti’s bar.
  
• Fixed a conversation bug when talking to an NPC on Knight’s Code bridge.
  
• Resolved the codex sorting issue.
  
• When starting the game, already unlocked codex entries won’t prompt the “!” notification.
  
• The Dogman will not block the AM dialogue anymore
  
• Resolved the issue with Nanette dialogue dead-end on Harvest Time’s end-scene
  
• Fixed the unlocalized settings menu for the Simplified Chinese
  
• Fixed the interaction with Lord’s dresser in Knight’s Code
  
• Fixed the issue with resetting the clock while closing the rifts if the player decided to save the game at this point.
  
• Fixed the issue when you interrupt Tankred’s and Delia’s dialogue, resulting in no further interaction available.

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In this patch, we primarily focused on patching community-reported bugs and finally resolving language issues.

A message to our German friends - we are still testing your language version. The number of missing lines was higher than we expected, so we want to fix everything before shipping the update. The full patch is undergoing LQA testing and will be uploaded next week. If you encounter bugs, please let us know, and we'll fix them ASAP.

We understand that the premiere might be frustrating because of bugs and localization issues. Still, we're grateful for every feedback from our community. That shows us that you care about Gamedec as much as we do :)

Take care and stay safe!
Team Gamedec

Hi!

We're ready with the second hotfix, still focusing primarily on the missing translations. The batch is simply replacing the unlocalized texts, but please be aware that we're still not done yet. Some missing translations can occur, and we plan to fulfill them with the ready-to-go text by the end of the week. We are aiming for Thursday, so stay tuned for another batch of translations and additional fixes.



Additionally, Hotfix 1.0.45 is tweaking Harvest Time Deduction. We appreciate your honest feedback, and we're glad that you're supportive during those intense days. Feel free to enter the discussion on the Gamedec Discord channel or the Steam Discussions to share your feedback or report the bug. Our dev team is working hard to resolve all of them. The more precise roadmap, showing you the next steps of the development progress, will be available on Thursday. Also, we're extending the LQA service to constantly update all the bugs, missing tags, and other issues related to the text.

Best,
Team Gamedec

Hi everyone!

The Hotfix 1.0.40 is now live. Thank you so much for being so supportive throughout all the social media channels and the stores. We know that there are still unlocalized texts in the game, which is our primary task to fix. The following Hotfix covers around half of the whole missing texts. Another Hotfix will be live at the beginning of the next week, and we hope that it should cover all the missing texts. We can estimate that the total amount of the translated text exceeds 95%.




Changelog:

- Added additional localized content to the English, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Russian, French, German and Spanish languages versions.

- The German localization will be tweaked in the more significant chunk in the next update.

- Fixed a blocker on a conversation involving Nanette at the Mushroom after the Harvest Time case.

Stay tuned for more technical information right after the weekend. Our support team will be available for you during the weekend to answer your questions and gather your feedback regarding the most crucial blockers or any other bugs that will occur during the game. Feel free to enter the discussion on the Gamedec Discord channel or the Steam Discussions. A more detailed roadmap of the planned hotfixes and patches will be available next week.

Best,
Team Gamedec

Starting today, you have the incredible opportunity to see with your own eyes the project we've been working on for the last couple of years.



And now all is left for you is to explore the wide variety of virtualias and the realium, solving your cases and making your own story as Gamedec.

We want to ask you for a favor - Spread the good word about Gamedec! We want to get the word out about our launch to as many people as possible, and we want YOUR voices to get the word out.

Share screenshots, gameplay, stream, create content for Youtube and other social networks - also, share our Launch Trailer, information about the premiere today, and if you want - Give us some love!

Join us celebrating the Gamedec release!



September 16th, at 9:00 AM PT/16:00 GMT on our Twitch: https://twitch.tv/ansharstudios

We'll be making some playthroughs (with different styles, four hosts! 😮)

The Dev Team will attend to talk about the backstage of the game production. But tech talks are just one item on the agenda - above all, we'll be celebrating the release with gameplays, Q&A's, and giveaways! So... Join us if you want!

That's it for today – For the Last time – THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!

One day before Gamedec's release, we are thrilled to share the brand-new launch trailer with you. Sit at the bar, grab a drink and listen to gamedecs chatting about their job.


After that, you are welcomed to join us in celebrating the launch on the online launch party with the dev team tomorrow, September 16th, at 9:00, AM PT/17:00 GMT on https://twitch.tv/ansharstudios.

Our excitement is not the only thing that we want to share at the event - we will be giving away some gamedec-essential goods from our partners:

• Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless mouse
  
• Elgato Stream Deck v2
  
• Corsair Void RGB Elite USB Headset
  
• Corsair MM800C RGB Polaris Mousepad
  
• Displate Metal Posters
  
• MSI baseball caps and backpacks

We can hardly believe that in 24 hours we will show you the outcome of many years of our work. On such an important day, we would be honored to feel supported by our incredible community, so:

Come early, stay late.

Our Gamedec Mechanics Onboarding series ends with the #Codex - think about it as a glossary and everything you need to track.

It gathers excerpts from media, interviews, corporate e-mails, and anything that might help you better understand the world or a particular character.



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If you'd like to talk with our team members, want to ask a question to the Author of the Gamedecverse (Marcin S. Przybyłek), or chat with enthusiasts like you - join our Discord channel.

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If you'd like to talk with our team members, want to ask a question to the Author of the Gamedecverse (Marcin S. Przybyłek), or chat with enthusiasts like you - join our Discord channel.



Stay safe!

Before we start bringing our carefully crafted 3D character to life, we need to make it possible for it to move. Like an actual human, it will need some kind of skeleton. The process is a bit time-consuming and tedious because every mistake made here will affect our future work with the animation. Skeletal systems in 3d software are most often created using the hierarchy of joints, which visually look pretty similar to an actual human skeleton. We have to make sure that the joints are placed in anatomically correct places. We have to check if the joint orientation reflects the rotation that we want to work with. For anatomical correctness, of course, this rule can be bent while working on some kind of a stylized character, monster, or really anything else more cartoonish. Still, for a realistic character, it's more like a rule of thumb.





Okay, now that we have a fitting skeleton inside our character's body, the time has come to bind the skin, generating skin weights for our character. Weights are basically a black and white map representing 0 to 1 values, 0 being black and 1 being white. Those values determine the strength with which every single joint affects every vertex of the character mesh. There is also a different way to display skinning values called color ramp, which looks like a temperature gradient from dark blue to red. Still, I prefer the black and white mode because it's easier to see some misplaced influences.



There are a couple of ways you can bind the skin to the skeleton. Still, in the Gamedec pipeline, those are not really that important because we streamlined the whole skinning process using copy weight Maya script. Instead of painting the skin weights on hundreds of different characters by hand, we created a base body model and skinned it to perfection. Now we are using it as our base for all future skins. With this method, the skinning process is taken to the nearly finished state with a press of one button, all that is left to do is to look for some misplaced influences and adjusting skin weight values on different clothing, hairstyles, or any other elements that turned out to be problematic for the script. There are also cases of material difference, for example, the shoulders on the gif below. Still, the script did not know this, and it turned out too flexible. These things are being fixed at this stage too.





After the character is skinned properly, it's time to move it to the engine and see how it performs. We can test various animations to see if the skinning is well done and if the elements hold their places well. I usually use our test level to play desired animations with a press of the button on the widget. This is usually the final step before a new character is approved and can be used in the game, but some cases will need a final touch to look good. One of those cases is the long skirts of female characters inhabiting the wild west world - Harvest Time. The skeleton that we use is pretty simple because Gamedec is an isometric game. We do not need a significant amount of detail to make things look good. But sometimes, the overall low amount of bones in our skeleton and the lack of support joints for cloth turns out to be an obstacle that makes it really difficult to keep things looking smooth.

Our savior here is the built-in cloth simulation system to give us a really realistic look on those problematic skirts with low effort. The procedure itself is straightforward to use but at the same time pretty complicated given the number of variables and parameters that we can tweak to get the behavior of the fabric just right. To name a few, cloth stiffness, simulation weight, and friction are just a tiny portion of the possible tweak values. With the help of this fantastic tool, we just made our skirt look like it's straight from the real world.








Do you have your favorite piece of animator work among other games? Do you consider animations important for immersion level?

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If you'd like to talk with our team members, want to ask a question to the Author of the Gamedecverse (Marcin S. Przybyłek), or chat with enthusiasts like you - join our Discord channel.



Stay safe!

Welcome to the pre-release Gamedec Mechanics Onboarding! In this series, we will explain the basic mechanics in Gamedec, the upcoming isometric, cyberpunk RPG.

Next in line are aspects - think of them as a virtual currency used to buy professions. You can get them by interacting with the environment and talking to many NPCs.



It's time for Professions - you can unlock them using various aspects collected through gameplay. They give you even more options to interact with the environment and NPCs. They define who you really are.



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If you'd like to talk with our team members, want to ask a question to the Author of the Gamedecverse (Marcin S. Przybyłek), or chat with enthusiasts like you - join our Discord channel.