Hello there!
Thank you all for your support! BloodLight has surpassed the galactic 20,000 wishlists mark. That's great and we'll be working hard on the game in the last few days before release to pleasantly surprise you all. Thank you all!

BloodLight will be released in just 3 days! Don't miss it!

• Join our Galactic Discord Server!
  
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- Team Galactic Games

It’s been a bit over a week since we’ve announced Tears of Metal at the Summer Game Fest! First off, we wanted to let you know that we are really excited about the reception and your support. Thank you! We can’t wait to be able to share more with you! Don’t hesitate to reach out and exchange with us, may it be on here or on our Discord.


In the near future, we will announce playtest opportunities here on our Steam community page. And if you want to be one step ahead for these kinds of announcements, please join our Discord!

Add Tears of Metal to your wishlist to get notified when it comes out and stay tuned for future announcements!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1913120/Tears_of_Metal/

Hi guys!

Raise the volume on your puzzle experience with the newly released Music DLC! This melodious addition features 30 puzzles, each capturing the vibrant essence of music through stunning photos of instruments, tools, concert scenes, and more!

From the delicate strings of a violin to the booming presence of a drum set, and the electrifying atmosphere of live concerts, each puzzle is a celebration of the musical world! Whether you're a musician, a music lover or a puzzle enthusiast looking for a new challenge, the Music DLC offers a symphony of visual delights that will engage and inspire you!

And of course there is a free puzzle too!




https://store.steampowered.com/app/2831130/Super_Jigsaw_Puzzle_Generations__Music/

New position for female-female, female-shemale, male-male and male-shemale couples

• More concepts art for Tutorial map: first stage!

• Renewed all first stage of Tutorial map!

• Added colliders on map Paradaice to avoid traspass limits.

• Added Killer Tracking System. Important to make every death in-game counts.
  
• Fixed situations where bots cannot avoid commit suicide around cliffs.
  
• Renewed navigation system for bots on large maps.
  
• Fixed gameplay input bugs playing with joystick.
  
• Added new cutscenes manager.

• Added system to trigger world events
  
• Added new camera vfxs

• Added new text system for narrative purposes.

• Improved music system: added layers integration for dynamic music.

All of the things we've had to keep under wraps have finally been unveiled to the public, so we thought it'd be a great opportunity to catch folks up on the workings of our studio for the past couple of years!

A "State of the Studio" sounded too grim, so we're calling it a State of the Union instead, which still works, because we're just the two of us, and are married and spend all of our time making our games anyways.

Link: https://medium.com/p/51a84536d604

A TL;DR if you don't want to read a 4,000 word essay on running an indie studio (though you shouuuuuld)

• We wrapped our full time work on Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut about a month ago, meaning we've been back at it for Scarlet Hollow for a little while now, but we've also been juggling that with unpacking at a new place and planning an actual wedding to make up for the one we had to do in our tiny apartment for covid reasons! A lot of life events had to be put on hold to make room for the 80 hour work weeks that were needed to keep the lights on for our studio. But everything is finally starting to stabilize!
  
  
• Prior to Slay the Princess being announced, Scarlet Hollow's funding was in a precarious spot (we were each making $5 an hour and that was going down every month). But now with Slay the Princess' success, we're able to comfortably self-fund the entire rest of Scarlet Hollow's development, meaning we get to stick to our original vision without publisher interference and without running the risk of having funding pulled. I'm not sure how much folks have been following studio closures in the game's industry this past year, but they've been absolutely merciless. While it was a struggle to stabilize without outside support, we're now in a much better position to make the games we want to make moving forward, which means we won't have to pull any punches with Scarlet Hollow's final acts ^^
  
  
• We'll be getting out the first alpha builds for Episode 5 to testers later this year, probably mid-fall.
  
  
• Episode 5 will come out some time in 2025, but we don't want to pin down any specifics until we're confident about our timing.
  
  
• Expect more regular updates as we move into July and August — right now there's still a lot of script to go, which isn't very exciting from a sharing perspective (Episode 5 is multiple fantasy novels in length.)

I know how frustrating it can be for something you can care about to take longer to finish than you'd like it to—we've also felt a lot of that pain over the past few years—but it's important for us to do our work the right way and free from any external compromise. And thanks to all of your patience and support, now we can do that!

So from the bottom of our hearts thank you all so much. You mean the world to us, and we're so excited to give you the best possible version of Scarlet Hollow!

~Tony and Abby

Hello all!

Today I'm posting a small status update to share some of the stuff I expect to make its way into version 0.6!

Since releasing version 0.5, most of my time has been spent working on one really big change/new feature instead of several smaller new features. Because of this I may have to delay the update a week or two just to make sure I get it wrapped up and ready to ship first (I normally aim for the first Monday of every other month for major update releases). Normally I wouldn't delay an update like this under my new release schedule, and would just release it with whatever is ready, however if I do that for 0.6 before finishing this stuff, it will be a pretty small update.

So what is the big change I've been working on? The (tentatively named) Pit Stop!



Now, between levels/attempts, you can visit The Pit Stop to shop, go on field trips when they are available and manage items with the new storage locker (More on that below). I have future plans for another big, brand new feature here as well, but until I've tested it and determined that it's actually a good idea it will remain top secret!



Johnny's store is now a room that maintains the style and functionality of the shop you're familiar with. Since it's an actual room now, it will also be able to appear in levels! I mainly intend to spawn it in endless mode so that you'll have somewhere to spend YTPs, however I'm also going to experiment with having the store appear in Hide & Seek levels.



Field trips will take place here now as well! After considering the changes I already had planned for field trips alongside feedback regarding how they currently work, I came to the conclusion that they would work better in The Pit Stop than in the middle of levels, since they break the pacing of Hide & Seek too much.



Unfortunately I don't think the new field trips will be ready in time for 0.6, so it will not have any. I removed the current camping minigame to clear the way for the new field trip system, so if you want to keep a version of the game that has that minigame now's the time to make a backup copy of the current version! My plan is to have field trips return in 0.7. Here's a teaser for that!



Then there's the storage locker! This big green locker appears in The Pit Stop and is also guaranteed to appear somewhere in every level. You can place items inside to store them for later, and the contents will carry over from level to level so you can stow away the best items for when you need them most. As with your inventory, the contents of the locker are saved every time you start a level, and will revert to the saved state whenever a life is lost.



Lastly, there's an exit which you can use to save and quit, replacing the save and quit button in the elevator.

Aside from the pit stop and related changes, I've worked on a handful of smaller things, like some improvements to the HUD and optimizations to the lighting system which will finally allow lighting to respond to changes in the level layout (Meaning light will now pass through portal posters for example). There's also a new structure I'd like to work on soon! If I have time I'll try squeezing it in, but it's one of those things that could take a few hours to several days to finish.

I think that's all I want to share right now! I'll let you all know when I've pinned down a solid release date for 0.6 and its pre-release. Until then I'll be busy getting this update ready to go!

It has been very silent on the EmptyEpsilon Steam front. Life has caused me to focus on other things, but it is not all bad.

While the previous steam release that was reported did not happen yet. The reason for this was that steam requires you to publish a trailer with the game, and that has been a bit of a drag. Where perfection gets the better of me. And then other things in life happened causing me to lose track of this plan for a while.
So the plan now is, instead of trying to make a really good trailer, I will just make a short 20-30 second trailer and release on steam with that.

During the past year and a half, I've slowly been engineering at the major engine update. And I am finally at the point where I can happily say that most things are working again. This is a major overhaul of the engine. While the core gameplay is the same, it allows for untold customisation. As someone recently mentioned on discord:

A steerable black hole might be really awesome

And, with the ECS version of the engine, this is actually possible.

Now, this version of the engine is not done yet. As mentioned, most main gameplay works, but the following bits are still broken or unfinished:
* GameMaster screen tweaking
* DMX512 Hardware control
* Remote HTTP server API
* Not all script bindings are implemented yet

Also, a lot of code is not properly tested yet. So the plan is to get this out to people in the next few months to actually start testing and fixing all the bugs that arise.

Here are the latest patch notes.

• We've eliminated most of the crashes reported prior to the patch. Most of the ones remaining are related to known issues with Unreal Engine and Nvidia drivers that both Nvidia and Epic are aware of and affect many other running the engine. More details on bugs and fixes below.
  
• Our Anticheat systems (all three layers) have been fully activated with all features and we are in the process of tweaking paraments to exclude any false-positives.
  
• We understand that being kicked out of the game for no reason sucks, but we are making sure that we eliminate those false-positives are cleared out while also keeping cheaters at bay.
  
• The personal Homebase meta gameplay is close to being ready to be launched. More information on this later.
  
• Full Missions journal has been enabled in game, which allows you to take on multiple missions, track progress and so on.
  
• Gun skins painting kits have been added as part of the loot in the world. That means you will be able to unlock gun skins from items found in game.
  
• Added new vendors and made changes to the way you unlock them. We have also added more items for them to sell and to barter.
  
• You can now access the Black market vendor ZOTOV, who will exclusively trade with G. Coins. G. Coins are an exclusive ingame currency that you can acquire by finding them in the world, completing missions for Zotov or selling items to Zotov.
  
• You can also now skip Marauder Expedition Cooldown using the G. Coin currency.

• Added a map selection screen. It shows all the maps we have currently planned for releases in 2024-2025.
  
• Some of these maps are connected to each other, which will allow players to navigate freely between them without requiring an extraction or loading into the Social Hub from the Prologue map when they are released. This intend to bring in a bigger Open-World feeling to the game.

• Unlocked more floors in the Ozersk-3 City Hall.
  
• A new area will soon replace the "Construction Yard", adding a Close-Quarters Battle maze to a half-finished office building.

Added more extraction points to the map. More will continue to come, with random locations.
Every extraction point is now clearly marked on the map along information on them, including requirements and if they are unlocked/available or not.
Some of the afore mentioned Extraction Points will require an extraction fee in Dollars or G. Coins or specific item(s).

• You can now see an estimated value of the items looted in the popup description (hover your mouse over the item icon). This aims to help you figure out which items you should extract with or not.
  
  
• Added extra statistics to the inventory and the Health Stats screen. You will be able to see immediate effect on your movement speed, hearing, stamina, etc from consumable items like meds, stimulants, food/drinks and equipped gear.
  
• When hovring over a weapon in the inventory screen, ammo from your backpack/inventory will be highlighted on your screen. That should speed up the process of gearing up and choosing which items to abandon in a raid.
  
  
• Added a "Unload everything" option to the inventory screen. This allows you quickly transfer all items from your backpack to your Global Vault.
  
• Added a "Sell to Vendor" button to the context menu (right-click on the item icon).
  
  
• Ammo now clearly shows what level of armor it penetrates for an easier and faster understanding.
  
• Added a visual display on how many repair kits will be needed/used when dragging them over the item you need to repair.
  
• Added a quick heal button that automatically selects and applies meds to heal the first ailment in a list (This one is a bit confusing. Needs to be cleared out).
  
• Added a quick selection for grenades to equip or meds to use (default hotkeys are G and V, respectively)
  
• Consuming meds or food/drinks now closes your inventory and lets you see your surroundings better (decreased the blur effect there).

Please continue giving your feedback on the feedback channel on Discord.

Here's a list of soime of the bug fixes for this patch. Please continue reporting them to the bug-reports channel on Discord.

• General Environment improvements (lighting, bush/leaves density, etc...)
  
• Improved performance (or loss of) when zooming in with a scope or binoculars.
  
• Added a visual effect on the timer when the raid is close to ending.
  
• Adjusted the volume of ambient sounds. Please let us know how they feel now.
  
• Added collisions around apartments to prevent players from climbing the roofs they shouldn't be accessing.
  
• Fixed a bug where players were able to use more slots than the limit of the container.
  
• Fixed a bug where players would see a double notification when using a key.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could drop secure containers. Now you are only able to move the container to your stash or container slots.
  
• Fixed a bug that made long descriptions cause issues in the UI
  
• Fixed a bug where NPCs could shoot you without reloading.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the MP9 to show the wrong caliber after being equipped to the weapon slot
  
• Fixed a bug where knocking down your friends would count as a player kill
  
• Fixed a bug where Experience was being granted when you killed your mercenaries.
  
• Fixed a bug where you weren't able to loot bodies that touched water
  
• Fixed a bug with the Rifle Flashlight and Laser being turned off when switching guns. They will remain at the state they previously were.
  
• Fixed a bug on the FAL Socom where leaning or aiming was not working properly.
  
• Fixed several issues related to the Anticheat which caused players to receive a False-positive Cheat Detected Message
  
• Fixed cliffs that didn't have proper collisions.
  
• Fixed several localization issues where names were not showing properly.
  
• Fixed a bug where the name of the caliber for the weapon was not showing
  
• Fixed a bug where players could be damaged after being extracted
  
• Fixed a bug where mission items were not being removed after abandoning a mission.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Rifle Flashlight was attached incorrectly
  
• Fixed a bug where the item requirement on the UI were displayed incorrectly.
  
• Fixed a bug where the extraction point was showing the incorrect position on the minimap
  
• Fixed a bug where multiple faceshields used the same vision (this is not clear)
  
• Fixed a bug where marauder runs proceeded into weekly missions
  
• Fixed a bug where your weapon would get stuck in the reload animation
  
• Fixed a bug that caused you to be unable to hire mercenaries
  
• Fixed a bug where ammo wouldn't stack after unloading
  
• Fixed a bug where player were unable to activate mission objects
  
• Fixed a bug where picking up an item did not count for the misison goal
  
• Fixed a bug causing GPU hang when opening inventory
  
• Fixed a bug where item icons were not being generated properly
  
• Fixed a bug where item price was inconsistent in vendor window
  
• Fixed a bug where loot was not generated properly for crates
  
• Fixed a bug where ALT key was stuck on game focus change
  
• Fixed a bug where marketplace items were showing the incorrect prices
  
• Fixed an incorrect sound played on session ending warning
  
• Fixed a bug where weapon attachment would be moved to the backpack but not the global vault
  
• Fixed a bug where vendor discount was miscalculated
  
• Fixed a bug where players were not able to sell some items to vendor
  
• Fixed a bug where some buffs did not affect player state correct
  
• Fixed a bug where attachments lock were incorrect in the weapon attachment window
  
• Fixed a bug where lumen settings were incorrect with sniper optics
  
• Fixed a bug where mission requirement counted incorrect
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented you from reviving a team member if they were under water
  
• Fixed an issue that caused players not to hear their own footsteps while turning around
  
• Fixed an issue that caused players to be teleported into a closed apartment if they were revived elsewhere in the building
  
• Fixed an issue that may have been causing AI Characters to be spawning in with no weapons
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Mercs not to revive a player for the second time
  
• Added a penatly for killing faction members (while playing as Marauder)
  
• Added an idle animation
  
• Added an outline to objects you can interact with

Happy summer, Urists!

It's been a few weeks since we've updated, so here we are with some progress. For context, Tarn is figuring out the details of a fairly major life change right now (moving to a new country), but the worst of the documentation is behind him, and Adventure Mode is humming along.

Today we put up an Adventure Mode patch (on the beta branch, no password needed) with:

• Abilities menu! Raise the dead if you learn the secrets, pet animals, spit, breathe fire and use other special powers in mods or as an arena-controlled creature/undead
  
• Left click to move to distant tiles
  
• Interaction-given syndrome tracking/timing improved
  
• NPCs should run and sleep again

I heard animalpeople are getting animalbodies, so keep an eye out for those soonTM...



Also, we're collaborating with Ludeon Studios on a new Steam bundle deal. If you have any friends who play RimWorld but DON'T yet own Dwarf Fortress, now's a great time to get them to dip their toe in, since DF is 10% off PLUS they'll get an extra 10% off for owning RimWorld. Alternately, as a Dwarf Fortress owner, now is a great time to buy RimWorld! The bundle will only be up now and then (a week or so this time), so don't wait!

Finally, if you're looking for new ideas for fun to have in Adventure Mode, this reddit thread is pure gold. Bards, beastmen, and cults oh my!

We'll be back with more patches as soon as we can!
Tanya on behalf of Kitfox & Bay 12

P.S.
If you were curious what Tarn was consulting on, Kitfox announced Streets of Fortuna last weekend, and continues to answer questions about that. But that's the last we'll mention it until there's more concrete news. Thanks to those who watched the PC Gaming Showcase!