Hello everyone. This marks the first major update posted to Steam. Going forward, all MAJOR updates will be posted here. I've been somewhat quiet on social media for a while now due to a combination of job searching and some boring coding updates.

This update is going to go over a lot of the ups and downs of the last few months. I'm going to start with some of the bad news, then I'm going to get into the good things and talk about gameplay + show off some stuff.

Pictured: Elevators, Ads, and a VENDING MACHINE.

Five months ago, I was affected by layoffs at my previous game dev job. Job searching has been awful and I've had pretty bad luck this year on top of it all. Won't go too deep into that, since it doesn't relate to the game. What DOES relate to the game's development, though...

Beyond SCAVENGER ZERO, I don't know if I'll continue to make games. At least not big solo projects like this. This game's entire budget has come out of my own pocket and losing my job threw a bit of a wrench in my plans.

This doesn't mean I'll never work on a game again, but development might slow down a bit in 2026 if something doesn't change. But rest assured no matter what happens; I'm going to finish SCAVENGER ZERO.

Pictured: Burger. I know this section might come off as a bit depressing. But it's kind of par for the course with the current state of the industry, right?

The current milestone to hit is finishing a "vertical slice" build / demo of some kind. Once that's complete, I will try to pitch the game to publishers. Really, having a publisher would solve most of the problems I have with development right now.

If you're wondering what you can do to help I'm going to make one thing very clear: I'm not taking anyone's money until the game is in a solid, playable state. This could mean doing a Kickstarter with the vertical slice build, or even just releasing into Early Access.

If you want to help NOW, there are a few things you can do:

- Spread the word about the game. Word-of-mouth is a VERY strong marketing tool at this level.

- Wishlist the game if you haven't already. We're close to 100 wishlists on Steam!

- Just in general, engage with my posts. Liking and sharing helps a lot, a comment helps even more. Doesn't have to be anything super poetic; just what you think about the content in the upload. Social-wise the game is only on Bluesky, Twitter, and YouTube at the moment.

In addition; Actual, critical feedback will make SCAVENGER ZERO a better game in the long term. I've been doing my best to listen to the feedback I've received so far and I will continue to do so into the far future.

Pictured: The reception area of the hub world, "The Bridge Station."

SCAVENGER ZERO is roughly 60%~ complete as of today. I'm going to list all of the major milestones that have been hit at once. Some of these things I'll go into more detail on afterwards.

• Story Web + NPC conversations and dialogue options. Branching story paths. Two of the major characters almost have a full arc / completable quest-line.

• Reputation system, factions & game ecosystem.

• Extensive customization options. There are currently over 100 unique parts, and 7.9 million possible combinations; not including weapons!

• Two of the three planned enemy types are in-game and functional; The Automatons, and The Union.

• All planned planets for the 1.0 release have completed assets. All but one have been implemented in some form. Giving each planet unique generation & mechanics is going to be a focus point moving forwards.

• Soundtrack with about 50-60 tracks to it, including multiple vocal songs.

• Two major boss fights are nearing completion. There is a third as well, but it's a bit less polished at the moment.

Before we continue, I'm going to take a moment to explain the gameplay loop:

Pictured: A mission briefing from The Obsidian Fleet. Please ignore the "FREELANCER" text at the top, that is a bug. :(

The player selects a mission. The available missions are determined by your reputation, the current date, and some choices you've made.

Pictured: A mech staring at a cookie while standing in radioactive waste.

The player completes the mission, deploying onto a procedurally generated planet to complete whatever objective is required of them.

Pictured: The garage / customization screen.

The player returns to the hub world. They use resources collected during the mission to upgrade, talk to NPCs, and customize their build. This is also where consequences will kick in, if your reputation is too low with one faction or another.

In simple terms; Choose, Fight, and Upgrade.

Sometimes the best paying jobs in SCAVENGER ZERO are ones that will step on the toes of powerful individuals. Consequences for pissing off a faction include receiving threatening emails, increased taxes... and in the worst case scenario; pilots aligned with that faction might come to pay you a visit during your missions.

With each mission the player completes, time passes. You have 30 days until the world resets, and a run is complete. It's unlikely the player will be able to do everything in the game in a single run. This gives the player the opportunity to go back and make different choices; optimizing their decision making and how they use time.

There's also a bit more than what I just said in the game itself. But I'm going to keep some things a secret up until the day it actually releases.

During missions, the player will sometimes find items! Items are divided into a bunch of different tiers, based on rarity and the power of the item. Items can help offset the downsides of your mech build.

Too slow? Grab some speed boosting items. Too fragile? Eat a sandwich that somehow repairs your mech's hull. (Don't ask.)

You've got the usual Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary... But then a few extra tiers, for VERY special items.

Pictured: Items!

By defeating enemies you will acquire scrap metal, which can be used to upgrade the items you find. With enough upgrades, and some good item synergies you can produce some uh...

... Interesting results?

The game's dialogue system has been completed and players can now talk to NPCs that show up in the game's hub world. Talking to NPCs will give the player more information on the world as well as the character of who they are talking to.

I am not going to be giving the player direct answers to a lot of the questions they might have about the world in SCAVENGER ZERO. At least not for a good deal of time. Instead, the player will have to gather information by asking the opinions of NPCs.

They can come to their own conclusions about what is true and what is fake.

Pictured: A pilot, callsign "COWBOY", visits the player's work area and cautions them into not believing everything they see on the news.

Talking to NPCs will progress the "Story Web"; this game's version of a quest log. The story web is comprised of "leads", which give the player hints and information on the characters and world around them.

Following these leads can result in new information being uncovered and, potentially, unlocking a new route for that character or faction. Here's ONE of the webs for a certain character the player will interact with throughout the game. I've hidden some elements of the web in to prevent spoilers.

Pictured: The story web. Each node contains key information that can be obtained through dialogue, or action.

SCAVENGER ZERO's OST, composed by myself and Ruddy Fantelli, is nearing completion. There are roughly 50 tracks finished at the moment. All planet themes are complete, most of the combat themes are complete... Really, it's making good progress overall.

And speaking of OST progress: the game's album art was completed recently! There are two covers made by Emil Peyrovi (marrow_jpeg) for two sides of the OST.

Pictured: THE ALBUM ARTWORK IN QUESTION

They are WAR, and PEACE. The WAR album mainly contains the game's combat themes. Lots of heavy metal, screaming vocals, etc. The PEACE album mainly contains lo-fi and calm songs.

In-game the OST usually starts off as lo-fi and then sort of explodes into metal and fast-paced themes when combat begins.

I've prepared an "OST sample" here. It's 6 songs from the OST, 3 from each album.

Aaaaand that about does it for the August devlog. I'd like to do this monthly, but obviously... things are subject to change. I'm going to do my best to finish the vertical slice build and I will be prioritizing that above all else.

Life might be a bit hard right now but working on SCAVENGER ZERO has been a nice respite from it all. If you've read this far, thank you! Until next time. Stay tuned.

• You can now recruit units across multiple selected provinces at once, instead of managing each one individually.
  
• The system automatically distributes units based on each province’s available recruitment limit.

• Move All Armies to One Province - Instantly orders all your armies to move to a selected province.
  
• Cancel All Army Movements - Instantly stops all active army movements

• Technology points can be allocated to increase the number of movement points per turn.
  
• Technology points can be spent to reduce assimilation costs.
  
• Technology points can be spent to increase recruitable population in all provinces.
  
• More technology points can now be allocated.
  
• It is possible to see how each Civilization has allocated its technology points.

Hi billionaires,

we released a fresh update, bringing new interactions with the AI and more control over your companies.

🧠 AI Stock Offers
The AI can now make offers to buy your shares, just like you can with theirs.

💰 Improved Deal Pricing
We’ve improved how the AI evaluates and prices stock offers, making negotiations more balanced and realistic.

🏢 Change Company Name & Logo
You can now rename and rebrand companies that you control 100%. Personalize your corporate empire with custom names and logos.

Thanks for your continued feedback and support! More improvements and features are on the way, stay tuned.

• Age of Chaos is a new way to play Age of History.
  
• Every X turns, you will have to change the Civilization you control and switch to a new one.
  
• You will be given four random Civilization to choose from.
  
• Pick one and continue your journey even if it means one day fighting the empire you once ruled.

• Added map overlays to improve map visuals.

• Modernized UI.
  
• New icons
  
• Much higher resolution for all flags
  
• Larger flag frames with dynamic wave animation
  
• Improved flag visuals on the map
  
• Unique images for over 175 provinces.
  
• Over 1,700 new civilizations.
  
• Improved text scaling.
  
• More standardized button dimensions.
  
• Spark animations.
  
• Translation improvements.
  
• New supported languages.
  
• It is now possible to load your own background into the main menu UI.
  
• New info box for wars, truces, and other important messages.
  
• Ranking menu visual improvements

• A peace treaty will be accepted if a civilization loses over 75% of its provinces.
  
• New government types.
  
• Classic AoH2 map with more detailed sea-bordering province backgrounds.
  
• New wonders.
  
• New scenarios.
  
• New formable civilizations.
  
• Rebels strength can be set from 10% up to 1000%
  
• War exhaustion will grow four times slower when at war with only rebels
  
• The army's Defensive Position will not be reset if the new army differs in size by no more than 50%
  
• Added option to shorten large army numbers with a user-defined minimum value (e.g., 10K, 1M+).
  
• Players can enable or disable "Show Battle Reports" in the settings menu to control battle report display.
  
• A new "Show Combat Movement" option lets players skip the visualization of all combat movements.
  
• Added 'Skip All' button to skip showing all combat movements during a turn.

Hey villagers!

We’re excited to share fishing in Mazey Village.

After a long day exploring mazes and helping villagers rebuild, why not take a moment to relax by the water?

Here’s how fishing works:

• Cast your line into one of the many ponds.

• Wait for something to bite...

• Reel in your line before they swim away!

See how it works in the link below:

Each pond might hide different fish, from quest-related fish to rare catches. Once you’ve caught fish, you can sell them to Marlin for profit!

Would you take a break from maze adventures to enjoy a peaceful fishing session?

See you by the pond!

~ Team Slappy Inc.