We have scheduled an server maintenance on 7/26 from 7:00-8:00 UTC. The servers will go live again when maintenance is complete. Sorry for all the inconvenience and the maintenance could be postponed incase of unexpected technical issues. Thank you for your understanding and support.
For some of the unsolved issues and bugs, we will fix them in order of priority as soon as possible.
We're thrilled to announce our participation in SimFest 2024, a grand celebration of all things simulation! As part of SimFest we're giving existing Thrive fans, and those discovering us for the first time, one more chance to dive into the demo. We know some of you missed out in February, or have recently only discovered Thrive, so this is the perfect opportunity to jump in, or get back into the game ahead of our launch later this year.
Our team has been hard at work over the past six months, and have made significant performance and game improvements, alongside major systems and art overhauls. Our latest updates have brought some exciting changes to the world of Nysamor, which we detailed in our {LINK REMOVED}latest Dev Diary.
While these changes have not been reflected in the demo - please note that the demo remains the same as the one shared back in February - we’re excited for players to see these soon!
Our full focus is on the release, and we're so close! We can't wait to share more details with you in the coming months.
Enjoy the demo, and don't forget to join our Discord to stay up to date on upcoming announcements. Long may you Thrive!
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Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is available to Wishlist on Steam now!
We have released the store page for the demo following a Steam update. This allows users to post reviews for the demo. We look forward to your feedback to make many improvements in the future.
■ Procedures for dealing with errors when starting Aooni
We are currently confirming that an error message "an error has occurred, please restart the game." occurs when launching Ao Oni. Please try the following measures to improve the symptoms.
① Turn off the Steam cloud save function. Select Properties from the "Settings (gear icon)" of Aooni on Steam.
In the "General" section of the properties, turn off "Save Aooni games to Steam Cloud" in the lower section (switch to the left).
② Delete the following folders from your computer.
C:\Users\ (Windows user account name) \AppData\LocalLow\GameStudioInc_\Aooni
※ The drive name (C) may change depending on your environment. ※ The "AppData" folder is a hidden folder, so before deleting it, turn on the display of hidden folders in C:\Users\ (Windows user account name).
③ Uninstall Aooni. Then reinst Aooni.
If the error persists after you have taken the above steps, please report it to the Community Hub again.
Gloomy Juncture won the Visual Excellence Award at BitSummit in Japan!
BitSummit is Japan's industry-leading independent game development festival, held in Kyoto from July 19th to 21st, 2024. Gloomy Juncture was an official selection.
The creative journey is filled with insecurities and can be a lonesome one, so this recognition means the world to me. Also I must confess that Gloomy Juncture winning the first award in Japan—the country responsible for my passion in video games and renowned for its industry that excels in high-quality, innovative titles—is more than I could ever dream to achieve in life.
Professor and Game Designer Iida Kazutoshi from Ritsumeikan University shared these kind words about this peculiar work:
"A puzzle game in a chaotic world that calls in for your sanity. Solving puzzles is about restoring order. However, in this work, the paradoxical puzzle feeling of being drawn deeper into a person's world of madness the more puzzles you solve is very appealing.
Furthermore, the fact that it is done by a single developer drawing for the first time and using those drawings directly into the game brings a new shake-up to the somewhat stagnating indie game world, making it the most controversial work in the history of BitSummit, depicting a fascinating decadence with a sort of outsider art feel."
AWARD PRESENTATION AND ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
HAND-PICKED BY SWERY (HIDETAKA SUEHIRO)
On the second day of BitSummit, this weird game was honored to be one of five indies hand-picked by legendary game director SWERY (Hidetaka Suehiro) from the entire festival!
On stage, SWERY shared:
"It's an incredibly cool art style, isn't it? All the textures are done by a single person. The development company consists of one guy and one cat, making a new type of point & click in the first person. This is a mystery game set in a noir world with a unique style, where you experience the inside of someone’s mental state."
"Also, I tried to play during the interview, but there was a guy playing who was really concentrated. I tried to give him a hint, but it didn't work."
This recognition from the creator of Deadly Premonition is such a tremendous honor that, even a few days later, I'm still unable to process it...
SWERY SELECTION AND GLOOMY JUNCTURE INTERVIEW
FINAL THOUGHTS
People were lining up to play and, unfortunately, as happened with SWERY, not everyone had the opportunity to try the demo on site. Sorry about that, and I hope that at least you can enjoy the demo in the comfort of your home. I'm incredibly grateful for the recognition and warm welcome from the Japanese gaming community. Thank you, Japan!
To the BitSummit team and everyone who voted for Gloomy Juncture - thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your support of indie developers is invaluable. I also want to express a special thanks to you guys, the community who supports me and shares opinions with so much love.
Finally, I'd like to sincerely thank Laura Teixeira. Not only did she do an awesome job representing me in Japan, but she also provided invaluable help with the Japanese translation!
Changelog : - New Map "Grand Mosque" - New Map "Cathedral" - New Weapon "OSCAR 81" - New Weapon "Leopold 7" - New Weapon "ISR Tamar" - New Weapon "VBR Hemlock" - New Gunsmith Loadout Saving System - New Scrolling Walk Speed Adjust System - New Overhauled Blood Decal System - Added Proper Bullets In Magazine To All Weapons - Added Hold Reload To Mag Check Option - Added Toggle Sprint - Added New Keybinds - Added Weapon Icon On Interact - Added Enemy Eye Blinking - Reworked Kaliss Fennec Recoil - Paper Doll UI Now Shows Health - Increased Time For Hold Reload Keybind To Mag Check From 0.2s To 0.4s - Fixed Door Pushing Bug When Fully Locked - Fixed Countdown Shoothouse Bug Not Ending - Fixed Dealership 2nd Floor Enemy Foot Phasing Bug - Fixed Bug Being Able To Secure Hotel Hostages From Bottom Floor
Also announcing a new viewmodel animator to the dev team! that is Smoki/Swozy that has animated 3 of the weapons in this update, (ISR Tamar, VBR Hemlock & OSCAR 81)
Next up is the "Lion's Den" 0.3 update that will also bring 2 new maps to the game and also 2 new weapons, see you in the next major update!