Key Features

• 58 predator species
  Lionfish, stonefish, fangtooth blennies, reef scorpionfish, blue-ringed octopus, and dozens more—each with custom art, stats, and animations.

As previously announced, ZomB Battlegrounds - Supporter Edition is now available as a free download due to the online services for the game shutting down today. All players of the game now have access to the Supporter Edition exclusive features such as the Tutorial Video and Steam Achievements, however you will now be unable to access features that rely on external servers, such as the Server Browser and playing online. It is still possible to play the game offline in single player against bots, or in multiplayer over a LAN connection. There have been no changes to the game itself other than the online services shutting down.

Starting today, I have also released the very first Steam build of the game (Version 3.0.0) under the "OldVersion" beta branch on Steam. This version of the game should have an easier time running on lower end hardware, so if your computer is having trouble running the latest version of the game, I'd recommend giving that version a try. Just know that version 3.0.0 is almost 6 years old at this point, so as a result it is missing a lot of the content and fixes present in the newest version of the game, and you will not be able to earn any achievements.

I would like to thank all of you for supporting the game, I never expected it to last as long as it did, and I definitely never expected to keep updating it for as long as I did, and it only happened thanks to support from you!

• Fixed an issue preventing players from reaching max level
  
• Normalized the time that it takes for the xp bar to fill up visually each level
  
• Fixed many (hopefully all) unintended edge cases involving the "Uplifting" ability
  
• Added an text indicator to show how likely burning sushi is each time a sushi card is refried at the tempura pot

Fixed an issue where the Capture Gif button would hide the cursor indefinitely for some players

Support adventurers have finally been added.
Thank you so much for your patience 💦

You can add up to 3 support adventurers as the inn is upgraded.
They automatically return to dungeons once their health is fully restored,
helping you gather resources faster.

They use the same stats and tactics as your adventurer,
but are slightly weaker in attack and defense.

I also made a few changes to how damage is calculated in battle.
Instead of always dealing fixed damage, values now vary randomly within a set range.
Enemy monsters also received very slight adjustments to damage and defense.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback — I’ve learned a lot from you.
I’ll keep doing my best to make a better game.
Your feedback is always welcome.
Thank you 😊

If any bugs show up, I’ll fix those first.
If everything looks stable, the next update will likely be Hard Mode dungeons.
I’ll work hard to make it happen soon 🙂

The public beta is now available! Players who have the game can opt in to access the 1.0 update early, and help us in this last stretch before the official launch!

Side note for content creators: I’ll drop you an email about this with more details by the end of this week! To clarify - this is pretty close to the build I’ll be sharing with the you, but I’d like to take a few more days to check that everything is as smooth as possible, with the help of this beta~

• Backups are highly recommended before you start on the beta version! The game will automatically create a backup of all saves when you launch it, but to be extra safe, please have a backup copy of your Research Story folder in case of any unforeseen circumstances. You don't need to do this if it's the first time you're launching the game:
  
  1. Open Run app (Windows + R key) and copy %LOCALAPPDATA%\ to the field. Press Ok.
     
  2. Find and copy+paste the ResearchStory folder to a safe location, such as your Desktop.
• Any saves that are started or saved in the public beta build will be incompatible with any earlier versions of the game (i.e. if you go back to the Early Access version, the save will become unstable).
  
• The saves will be compatible with future versions of the game (i.e. You’ll get to continue these saves in the official 1.0 launch and beyond).
  
• This build has gone through some internal testing, but since it’s the first time we’re sharing it with a wider audience, you may experience some new bugs / instability. Any and all reports would be very helpful and I’ll fix any major bugs as soon as possible!

• The public beta includes the full 1.0 content.
  
• There will be bugs, and things I've missed - I plan to use the remaining two weeks before official launch to polish and fix as much as possible!
  
• Patches will be made often (likely daily to every few days, all the way up to release day).
  
• As of beta v1, localisation for Simplified Chinese (简体中文) has not been updated. We're still working on finalising the localisation, and will add it to the beta as soon as possible.

There’s the 1.0 content, but also tons of smaller QOL and balancing changes as part of this update. Find the latest update notes/changelog (Spoiler warning!) here.

1) Click "Library" in Steam.
2) Find Research Story. Right click -> Properties
3) Under Betas -> Beta Participation -> click the dropdown box and select public-beta. No access code is required.
4) In the same menu, go to Installed Files -> Verify integrity of game files to get the update immediately.


You can report them using the "Report a bug" button in the game's Main Menu, or you can reach me on Discord! I'll be creating a channel for the public beta specifically so we can have a consolidated place for feedback and reports where I'll check regularly.



Thank you! If you have any questions, let me know!
Miki

🐞 Bug Fixes:

+Fixed a crash issue that occurred when navigating the options menu using a controller.

You call it "friendship"; at Discounty, we call it Customer Relations.

In the latest episode of our Employee Training Video Series, we talk about the tangible benefits of maintaining relationships with your customers.

Learn to see every personal interaction as a chance to improve your bottom line!


(Video narrated by Payton's Corner)


As we wrote last week, we've been making a few tweaks to the game in response to player feedback from our demo. We noticed a lot of players didn't realize that it's possible to skip time ahead to the beginning of your shift by interacting with the computer in the back of the store. We wanted to find a couple ways to make this clearer and give players more control over how they spend their time.

Most notably, we've added a new open/closed sign to the front of the store so that you can jump right into the action, without even having to walk to the back of the store. And we've added a new tutorial for using the sign in the full game. Check out the cute new sign:



Here's your regularly scheduled reminder that you can still play our demo:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3731830/
xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games

performance optimization

A feature update primarily with a couple of bug fixes.

This update adds the PACS system which stands for Prophecies and Cataclysms.

You'll be randomly assigned a Birthstone (Prophecy) when you enter the Elder Forest for the second time. Old players simply go back to the Elder Forest after loading the update, new players do nothing and you'll eventually trigger it.

Later on you'll run into the Sayer NPC and will get a Cataclysm assigned to your character.

Also includes:

• Adjusted the baked on text feature, so the newbie tips will indeed go away at level 2 as expected. Seems like they were sticking till level 3 instead.

• You now also have a Birthstone power bar, when this reaches full (which happens from combat) it will auto-trigger a new special power unique to that Birthstone.

• Fleeing monsters now show a fright speech bubble before they run.

• Fixed an issue with some shadows on objects on the map not showing up correctly due to the image not being cached correctly while the shadow is loading.

• Changing outfits now has a little more fancy effect, such as a sound and some visual changes.

• Kinsman's Camp map has had a tweak to the background imagery.

• Fixed an issue with some ambient sound effects not stopping correctly.

As part of your Birthstone (patch v1.05) you'll get a new power up bar below your energy bar in the top left corner.

The POWER UP bar fills up as you deal damage in combat, when it reaches 100% it automatically triggers providing a unique effect specific to your birthstone.

• Diamond, a magical protection shield.

• Ruby, refills your health.

• Amethyst, refills your energy.

• Emerald, a 50 second boost to speed.

• Opal, refill your flying timer.

• Bloodstone, a 50 second boost to combat damage.