Chernobylite Complete Edition News

[h3]Hello stalkers![/h3]
Last week our Creative Director summed up some of our recent activities and wrote about what’s happening right now, what will in the nearest future. If you missed that Report, read it here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2907595185816845243

[h3]Remodelling dialogue system[/h3]
So do you remember how some of the players told us that the dialogue system could be either better or even completely different? Well, we’ve got to say that we really took your opinions into consideration, so here is a work-in-progress screenshot of a new version of that system:



As always, please note that these images may not show the final version, as we’re still thinking about how to make it even better. Here’s another screenshot showing bit more of “behind the scenes”:



[h3]New missions and stealth[/h3]
That’s just a really small teaser, but we wanted to share that two new missions are getting ready (almost finished, actually) to be implemented in Chernobylite. You know well when that kind of updates happens, so you better pay a lot more attention to our announcements in the nearest future.



From other news, we’re reworking the stealth system to be more balanced, but also more demanding too. We’re testing how the stealth system should work, how it is working when rebalanced, but this isn’t limited to Igor alone. His adversaries will be impacted by these changes too - in example, we’re looking into their “sight” (how far they can see, how well), but also their actions.

[h3]Community content[/h3]
We’re still working on the huge Q&A which we held recently, but this time we want to encourage you to share you Chernobylite content with us!

Here are some examples of our great community work:
Jack1_1Hammer

svid.vp

ChrisinSession

This can include your videos, streams, virtual photos, funny screenshots, etc. So if you want us to, reach out to us! Of course, we can’t promise that we will publish every single image or video we will get, but nonetheless, we will be happy to see how much fun you have with the game!

Here are links to our social media - we would love to feature selected content that you create:
Facebook fanpage (link)
Twitter account (link)
Instagram account (link)
YouTube channel (link)
Discord server (link)

[h3]So that’s all for this today[/h3]
Take care, stalkers!

Hello, stalkers!

It’s only one week until the anniversary of our Early Access launch. We’ll summarize and celebrate it a bit later this month with the delivery of our last Mega Patch, which will be the conclusion of new content pushed to Steam before the final game release.

For now, let’s just pretend that we’re working as always (what’s not necessarily true, because some of us already entered the finalization-craziness-mode where you know, that it’s the last moment to add something to the game before the beta testing starts and the producer tells you “no more changes until new patches”). And this is why the Weekly Report is being written on Saturday because believe me, even chernobylite-driven creatures like we, need to sleep for a few hours per week.

Then what happened last week?

[h3]Chernobylite blaster almost done[/h3]
Yes, soon you’ll be able to shoot the chernobylite-driven energy projectiles into your opponents. As you may see, the gun utilizes the original parts of the Portal Gun that Igor is using constantly throughout his journey. But what are all these crafting workshops for, if you couldn’t turn the portal-opening device into the monster-smashing armament? This is just one of our tributes to classic hard sci-fi books and movies of the 80s, where crazy scientists build the nuclear-powered tools to fight for their salvation. And Igor seems to be a bit crazy, right? Well, that’s not that simple, but you’ll figure this out after you finish playing the main storyline. And most likely you won’t finish it without using this terrific device.



[h3]The Heist mission under construction[/h3]
Believe me, I’m 20 years in the video game development and I have never been working on something so complex as this part of the game. I’m not saying this is the most complicated thing ever designed for a video game. But for sure, with the non-linearity and branching of the previous game sequences, comparing the Heist mission with our previous projects, it’s likely 20 times more sophisticated in design than the whole gameplay loop of Painkiller, 10 times more difficult than the plot of Deadfall Adventures, and at least 5 times more difficult than the design of Get Even endings.



Is it worth all these efforts? We’re very strongly convinced that it is. But it’ll still take quite a time and hard work before we polish it enough to let you enjoy it with the final release of Chernobylite. And before it happens, let’s just focus on facts that we can share without spoiling the juicy story twists.
First of all, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant location is growing every day to let you explore it on your way to the truth. We’ve added many sections of both outdoor and indoor environments, and at top of it, we’ve improved the look of existing objects and added a lot of details to the previously presented Power Plant buildings. Famous Golden Corridors are now having new rooms and windows, letting you see outside of the building, the underground sections are way bigger and more detailed, and many new sub-locations are places all around. To not let you get lost, we’ve taken care of giving you better blueprints of the Power Plant.



[h3]No more “no name/no face” stalkers in the Zone[/h3]
When you were playing the Early Access versions of Chernobylite, for sure you’ve noticed that most of the characters you meet in the Zone look basically the same, differing only in the colors of a jacket or texture of pants. Unless it’s the Star Wars franchise, the existence of the army of clones is never good for the immersive story, but from the game development process point of view, it’s reasonable to use so-called “placeholder” models as long as you have your story designed and you precisely know what kind of character you want to present here or there. However, Chernobylite above all is a story about human beings and their fight for survival and redemption. Our intentions were always the opposite of this cloning frenzy - we wanted to give EVERY character in the game the specific personality, backstory and emotions. And now, getting close to the design and writing conclusion, we could define all the visual qualities of each character, to let you finally know if Anton is more handsome than Olivier, if Little Stalker is cute or if Semonov has any charm in his eyes. Our 3D department is working to deliver all secondary character models and at the same time, our scanning and photo artists work on the depiction of characters faces presented in the game during dialogues. Just yesterday we’ve made the photo shooting sessions to prepare the final material for this.



[h3]Last but not least - optimizations, improvements, balancing[/h3]
But it would be absolutely not fair to say that we’re happily building the remainings of the new content and enjoy the creative process. Most of the team is pushing for countless changes and adjustments to all aspects of design, balance, environments, sounds, optimization, and bug-fixing. Usually, it’s much harder to show here such a spectacular picture as the new weapon or new character renders, but just imagine that every day we’re making literally hundreds of alterations to textures, sound files, animation setups, dialogue lines, and tiny straw of grass placements on the locations. As for examples: last week we’ve done very strong optimization of the audio system, quality improvements for dozens of environmental objects, proofreading of text for more than a thousand dialogue lines, fixing the interface issues, and fine-tuned some of the weapons reload animations. High five for all members of the team doing this!




And that’s all for today. Take care, stalkers, and wait for the cool stuff coming next weeks.

Wojciech Pazdur,
Creative Director

[h3]Hello stalkers![/h3]
You’re often asking us about upgrading some aspects of the game. Of course, some of the most important things are models! Especially a lot of them were scanned by us in the Zone, so we pay a lot of attention to how precise they look.

We’ll also tell you a bit about a new effect and new level that we’re working on right now!

If you’re interested in the recent Reports, take a look here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2792752124088934742
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896334282667241398
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896333730298683249

Let’s start!



[h3]New models[/h3]
This section of the Report will be a short one. We just wanted to show you how the Portal Gun is changing. Just let’s take a look and enjoy the view! Any idea why the Portal Gun is changing this way? New functionalities, new possibilities to use it not only for opening the portals... Or?

Did you know that Chernobylite is the most radioactive substance in the universe and it’s also the source of power for this device?



But here're some other screenshots of work-in-progress!


[h3]The Heist[/h3]
We’re still making new things that will find their way into the world of Chernobylite. One of those things is a level. Or should we say “THE level”.



Final mission, called The Heist, is closer to be implemented in the game every day, so we wanted to share our joy of how it’s getting done. Take a look at these screenshots, but remember - that’s still not finished!


[h3]Working on the new stuff[/h3]

Also, we’re working on new feature. We thought adding this small thing can increase the immersion of the game. This little thing is simple: shooting the window will have an impact, it will leave some marks on the glass.

Take a look at that short GIF how it looks now, but again - it’s just a sneak peek, as we don’t consider it finished.


[h3]So that’s all for this today.[/h3]
We hope you’ve enjoyed the news and the assets we’ve shown you!
Take care, stalkers!

Today we want to answer your questions - those which appeared on our Facebook fanpage (link) and our Twitter account (link). But we want to expand this Q&A, so if you want to ask us anything about the game - feel free to do so in the comments section!

If you’re interested in the recent Reports, take a look here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896334282667241398
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896333730298683249

So, here we go!


[h3]The one always asked[/h3]
Do you know what this question may be about? Yeah, you’re right: consoles. We have a lot of inquiries about other versions of Chernobylite, so we just need to address that. However we are focused on finishing the PC development of Chernobylite, it doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about other versions. Believe us, we do!

Since the beginning, we’re designing and developing the game toward both PC and console experience, and the first console builds of the game have been tested more than a year ago. But still, we’re a small team and it’s impossible for us to work full-time on several versions at the same time. Especially when there are two generations of consoles in scope and even 5 platforms being considered as a target for releases.

So the answer here is simple: we have the PC premiere just around the corner. After that, we want to appear on consoles as soon as possible. And we hope to be able to share the details about the upcoming console versions by the end of this year.


[h3]Will the placeholder voices be replaced?[/h3]
Yes!
As this word suggests, they’re just holding the place for the proper voiceovers. They will be all gone not later than when the premiere arrives.

As you know, we are still in the development stage, so we had to close the planned content. “Closing” means we have the core content designed and getting ready to be implemented in the game. Before that, some of it could’ve changed, especially we always take your ideas into consideration.

So we used placeholder voiceovers as… well, placeholders in order to fill the gaps until we were sure we have all we need. And now we work on the proper ones that will be the real sound of the Zone.


[h3]Will the game have multiplayer or co-op mode?[/h3]
Possible.
We rather won’t be able to introduce a multiplayer mode, but we’re thinking about co-op really hard. Remember Chernobylite was designed as a single-player experience, all the mechanics, technical aspects and the story, of course!

Adding co-op mode would need an enormous amount of work as we would have to redesign a huge part of the game. That could mean a delay in the development process, quite significant actually. So, don’t expect co-op mode for the premiere - we can’t do that. But whatever happens later, depends on how popular the game will be on the finish of Early Access.


[h3]Game is running slowly, so optimization maybe?[/h3]
Yes!
If you played a few months ago and now got back to Chernobylite, you’ve definitely noticed a lot of improvements. We could say a lot about how optimization is done, but we’ve recently written a report explaining exactly that:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/2896334282667241398

Long story short: we’re constantly working on making the game run better, more smoothly and using the proper amount of your PC resources. Every day (really) there are changes being done to improve this.


[h3]What weapons are currently available in Chernobylite?[/h3]
Currently, we have 3 weapons available to find or craft, BUT…

There’re many options for customization. Every one of them impacts the gameplay, the weapons itself, not just the visuals. You can modify your shotgun to be extremely effective on a short-range by changing the tube, you can add new sight.



On the other hand, you can make your revolver to be perfect to use on a medium-range by using a custom trigger and specific sight. Also, you can change your AK into a sniper rifle by placing different optics and modifying the mechanism not to shoot a burst, but a single round.

Check out our YouTube video precisely on that subject:
https://youtu.be/t2N57t0rjqw

We are still working on more customization options, so there will be dozens (if not hundreds) of possible weapon builds.

[h3]Ask your own questions![/h3]
We’re preparing a huge Q&A by using the questions that we were asked on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. So if you want to add any question to our already big list - feel free to do so!

We will prepare some nice video, infographic or a full set of images related to the questions, so stay tuned!

[h3]Remember to join our streams![/h3]
Here’s the link to the transmissions, it’ll always be the same one: https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198887982618

So that’s all for this today.
Take care, stalkers!

General:

• We fixed the infinite loading screen problem on Tarakan’s Hideout, Kozlov event and after dying in specific condition. We hope that's all...
  

If the problem persists, please contact us - preferably via the steam forum. Remember to give us as much detail as possible. Thanks once again to everyone who helped solve this problem.