Hey everyone, we wanted to share a positive milestone today!

More than 50,000$ (or 200,000 zlotys, for our fellow Poles out there) collected for charity

We debuted Dagon in 2021 as a narrative experiment and our first non-comissioned game. It became a significant success, and as of the latest transfer, together with you - players from all over the world - we have collected over PLN 200,000 / 50,000$ for charity (organisations such as the Polish Red Cross, Polish Humanitarian Action, Save the Children, or Voices Of Children)! Thank you!

We've also crossed 1,700,000 downloads, which is kinda crazy.

All DLCs on sale

All Dagon DLCs are currently discounted, so if you'd like to join our charity endeavours, you can grab them on sale (100% of net proceeds are donated to charity):

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27591/

One more thing...

We're also working on a free DLC for Dagon to thank our community for supporting our studio since 2021.

No release date yet, updates will drop as we're closer to release, so make sure to follow us on X/Twitter to stay up-to-date:

https://twitter.com/bit_golem


Until next time!

The "Solaris Lights" event will start on July 5 at 10:00 UTC, and it will only last for 1 week!

At Club Solaris, the party never stops. An upscale restaurant during the day, it transforms into a playground of sin at night. And while the club turns a blind eye to many pervasions of its members, murder of a big shot patron is a little harder to hide. It's now up to you to figure out who out of your three charming suspects is the murderer.

Commanders, in this event, you'll get to enjoy the company of three wonderful mercenaries: O-Rinn, Scarlett, and Ariane!

Complete quests, collect tokens, and use roulettes to get mercenaries and precious rewards!
But beware, after the end of the event, all tokens will disappear. Make the most of them while the event is on!

Fix for resting spiders causing issues for the pathfinder (most noticeable in the endgame).
Fix for tabbing through buildings ignoring which team the buildings belonged to.

Independence Day is a widely popular and one of the most important federal holidays in the United States. On this day, when most citizens are relaxing with family and friends, stores hold big sales. We’ve also prepared discounts for you.

Discounts are available from July 4th to July 8th (13:00 UTC).

• 30% discount on the following premium squads for Gold:
  
  • 37th Tank Battalion with the M4A3E2 Jumbo heavy tank
    
  • 19th Fighter Squadron with the FP-5 fighter aircraft
    
  • 68th Armor Regiment with the M24 light tank
    
  • 65th Engineer Battalion with Winchester G30M
    
  • 99th Fighter Squadron with P-51C-10
    
  • 147th Infantry Regiment with M55 Reising

• 30% discount on selected premium squads for the USA in the Gaijin.Net store.

Don’t miss out!

Go to the store!

This week the developers at Kokku will tell you more about how it started for them and how they work. You will also get more in-depth information in the accompanying dev diary below the video, enjoy!


As you heard in the Dev Diary video, we work in sprints, but what is that? In the following text, we will explain what a sprint is, what we have focused on during these past weeks, and what the upcoming focus will be.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the process we go through when making a game. Generally speaking within the gaming industry, developers work agile in something called sprints which is part of a framework called SCRUM. These sprints can be different in length and what content should be included depending on what studio you are working with, working this way is also very common within IT. With Prison Architect 2 specifically, we work with sprints that span across 2 weeks.

A sprint is usually focused on one main goal which is then split into tasks by discipline, art, programming, design, and so forth. The devs then set out to complete these tasks and once they’ve done so, it’s time to evaluate the work. When doing this you go through all your tasks, was there something that you were unable to finish due to something missing from another discipline? Was there something that you finished but realized needed more attention? This is the time to bring it up in your retrospect which then helps plan the next sprint. This way of working is essential to make sure to always evaluate the work as you go but it is also for developers to take some time to appreciate their work, do some game tests of the new fixes, or features they’ve worked on, and also a way to make sure we always improve our workflow and work methods.

Let’s have a closer look at the different aspects of the SCRUM framework using a visualization of it and some definitions to explain the different areas.


The backlog is where you store all of the game’s unfinished tasks. When you plan a sprint you can either withdraw a task from the backlog and put it into your current sprint. You can also add tasks to your backlog that you discover are unfinished or not being able to be completed at this time during your Sprint Review.

This is when you plan out what tasks your team will be working on during a sprint. You define a goal and put fitting tasks in the sprint drawn from the backlog or you create new tasks that suit the goal and game’s needs at the time to fulfill the sprint’s goal which you have defined.

The Scrum team is your developers, your product owner, and your scrum master! In the shortest of definitions, the devs are the ones making sure tasks exist and get done, the product owner is making sure the game’s goals are being met and also that the backlog is up to date and well used by the devs during their sprints, finally the scrum master is leading and coaching devs and product owner through the scrum framework, making sure to get the best use out of it as possible!

Daily Scrum is a short daily meeting where the team makes sure they’re on track to reach the Sprint Goal but also a time to raise awareness of potential issues that may need adjusting in order to stay on track.

An increment is a collection of tasks that the team have defined as done during the sprint. You can have multiple increments during a sprint and they are then presented during the Sprint Review.

During this stage, the team presents their sprint results, what tasks are done, and which are not. There’s also a discussion if the sprint goal was reached, essentially you review your sprint! :D

This is the stage to improve your workflow. The team reviews their workflow and work practices rather than their results as they do in the sprint review and tries to find ways to improve their quality and effectiveness. It’s used as a way to always evaluate your workflow to not get stuck in unhealthy or unproductive ways of working.



Our Dev Diaries will, as previously mentioned, cover the progress of our latest finished sprints, and any additional information that we see value in including, so let’s get right into it!

This week it’s our two latest sprints we’ll be sharing some takeaways from with you all. During these past weeks, the focus has been steered towards an overhauling memory investigation (yes, developing games can occasionally include some detective work 🕵️) by our engineering team and preparations for bug and performance fixes for the next upcoming build.

Let’s get into a little bit more detail:

Some of the main focus points for our engineering team have been on stability, performance, and optimization. On the performance side of things, the engineering team has focused on improving memory allocation and memory leaks, so that the game performs well across all platforms and on different configurations. The team split up into task forces to cover different areas of the game and get a better overview, this way they could cover all aspects of Prison Architect 2. The focus was on identifying problems - sometimes they hide very well, providing evidence of the occurrence of these problems - laying out all the facts, and raising possible solutions - brainstorming is the way to go!

While some investigations are still in progress and will carry over to the next sprint, there are already plans set in motion being worked on during this sprint to address some of the things found in the Memory Investigation.


We took a closer look at the game’s tutorials, and even though they were good to go, we wanted to enhance the player experience further in both the tutorials and in the scenarios you find within the Career Mode.

After the balance changes that we made in the Career Mode during our last sprint (read more about this in the previous Dev Diary), we also had to update the Scenarios to reflect the new balance changes. In game development, fixing something in one feature will in most cases affect something in another feature. Everything is connected which means that balance changes in one area often lead to having to balance something in a different area as well, however, this is something we were ready for.

At first glance, before the balance changes were made, the mechanics taught in the Main Scenarios were harder to follow and execute for new players. To battle this we initiated an investigation to determine if it was only balance changes that had to be made, or if there were other aspects we had to add or remove to make the scenarios more approachable for all players, while also providing a challenge as you progress. Within this investigation, the conclusion was not only that there was a need for the balance changes, but there are now also additional Challenge levels that are added to the Main Scenarios within the Career Mode, added for the player to explore the mechanics presented more in-depth which will result in our new architects, and more experienced ones, becoming even better at building their penitentiaries!

Additional balance adjustments have been made since the last Dev Diary. As our testers continued to play Prison Architect 2, some parts of the game were experienced as extra punishing to new players, and experienced players also commented on these aspects.


The prisoners took too long to recover from wounds when their needs were not met. This made the hospital beds ineffective, as they didn’t provide enough positive stats for the prisoners before they left the infirmary, creating a loop of being constantly sick or misbehaving just after being healed. To solve this, the infirmary efficiency has been increased.


The mindfulness class inmates can enroll in only needed one successful course to give the prisoner the mindful trait.
If an inmate got this trait, it removed 50% of the frustration increase. Feedback given regarding this was that the game felt too easy if played this way, to the point of it starting to be boring. To fix this we added some more difficulty to increase the fun. With our new balance adjustment, the prisoners now need 3 successes to gain the trait, and it was nerfed to grant only a 20% reduction of the frustration increase.


For the upcoming sprints, we will focus on:

• Memory improvements taken from the Memory Investigation.
  
• Bullet trails.
  
• Ponds and lakes.
  
• Over-all optimization.

As we continue our work ahead, we look forward to sharing more of our progress with you and receiving your feedback. Please continue to share your thoughts and feedback with us!
Prison Architect Dev Team


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257610/[/url]

Depending on the location, the player's task is to collect equipment, i.e., items necessary for solving puzzles (e.g., finding a key to unlock a padlock). These items, once selected with the cursor, are placed in the inventory. They can be used or even combined to e.g. explore the location or create new objects; it all depends on their original purpose and the related symbols. Some of the cards will show a closer perspective of a certain location or object so that it’ll be easier to solve the puzzle, seeing all the details included in this particular area or thing.



In the digital version of the game, the items take the form of old Polaroids, with a visual representation of each item as a photograph. This supports the narrative of the entire game, enhances the overall visual reception, and makes managing resources easier. 📸
In the first location (which can be seen in the teaser trailer and in the first dev diary), there will be cards connected strongly with the basement, in which the player starts the game as the main character. While exploring this location, players might encounter objects such as tools, chalk, and candles. Why? We can’t tell. You will see when the time comes… 😏



To increase readability, where possible, items were placed on a uniform background, allowing the content of a given card to be quickly read. This does not overwhelm the players, but rather allows them to focus all their energy on… solving puzzles and enjoying the gameplay. 🧩
The symbols on the cards were directly taken from the paper version of the game, but they have gained a new attribute: they become highlighted if there is a dependency between the cards in the inventory. This should provide the player with a more readable and comfortable experience while interacting with the inventory. 🔦



Animations related to displaying the cards were designed to emphasize the fluidity of the entire gameplay - photos appear, disappear, and change their position smoothly, pleasing to the eye. There are no unnecessary special effects here, so as not to distract the player from the game area. 😌
All these processes contribute to a visually pleasing and comfortable inventory for gameplay, which is not only an important visual element of the screen, but also an essential element for gameplay.




Thanks for taking this trip among the cards with us! Hopefully now you feel more engaged in the gameplay and prepared for the surprise that will be revealed next week… 👀 Stay tuned for more info!

Bluekey Games Team


PS
In the meantime, don’t forget to Add the game to your Wishlist and Follow it to stay up to date. 😏




Please note that what you see in the Dev Diaries present the work in progress,
not the final game!

Don't forget to check us out:

• 💬【𝙳𝙸𝚂𝙲𝙾𝚁𝙳】https://discord.gg/RW2GYxB2dM
  
• 📰【𝙵𝙰𝙲𝙴𝙱𝙾𝙾𝙺】https://www.facebook.com/bluekeygamesstudio
  
• 🐤【𝚃𝚆𝙸𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁】https://www.twitter.com/Bluekey_Games
  
• 🎞️【𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚃𝚄𝙱𝙴】https://www.youtube.com/@BluekeyGamesStudio
  
• 📷【𝙸𝙽𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙼】https://www.instagram.com/bluekeygamesstudio

Hey guys!

We’re aware of the issues with the weekly challenges and we apologize for the lack of communication around the situation.

We have now been able to identify the issue preventing the weekly challenges from working as it should. We have been able to implement a fix for the bug, but a patch can only be expected after it has passed some mandatory steps on all platforms before it can go live.

While that may take up to a few weeks, we’ve made the decision to use the waiting time to simultaneously implement some pending fixes the community has been asking for recently. These fixes will be aimed at improving Nenukil’s damage scalability in the early game when using a build focused on fast charges and several new options with Wrench or Feint.

While we are unable to confirm a date for the patch at the moment, it can be expected within the upcoming weeks and we will be sure to keep you posted.

We appreciate your patience and hope that you will enjoy the additional improvements to Nenukil and the new weekly challenge when the patch goes live.

Hello again!


We’re working hard at getting the final piece of the relationship system in place for our next upload – the event system. Our next update will be a big one: gifts will be enabled for residents and you’ll be able to start making friends with everyone! We’d like to hold off on romance until we have both the dating marriage systems implemented, so look out for that in future updates.

Once we’ve finished the event system, the game will go into testing mode for a few weeks while we move on to crafting and building. Lots of exciting additions to come in the next few months and we can’t wait to get them out.

We’ll be posting more updates and previews when we can, but we’ll be focusing on getting new game versions out as quickly as possible.



Thanks for reading and a happy 4th of July weekend to those of you in the U.S.!

Luck is a skill, too. Or is it? Richard Lioncock might change his mind
when he meets a sexy good luck fairy from the enchanted forest.



July 4th-8th 🍀🦋✨

Sharen uses Camouflage and can close the distance to her enemies whenever she desires and ambush them.
Play as Sharen in The First Descendant, if you enjoy a close-range dealer.
PLAY FREE NOW: https://tfd.nexon.com/