The Zone: Stalker Stories News

Why is this month's update so late, you ask? Because it's bloody massive, that's why. Zone's Early Access release is 1 year old this month, and I wanted to make it something special.

All 25(!) rooms of the Power Plant are now in, most with their own unique encounters, including a special challenging boss room. Add to that whole slew of new features, items, cards and all sorts.





Some of the art assets are temp and still need brushing up as our artists couldn't get them done in time for June -- but that shouldn't take much away from the experience.

It's been a hell of a year. Didn't make as much progress as I wanted to, but then, when does an indie dev ever? What I do know is I'm still here plugging away and will continue to do so until this game is finished.

As always, if you find anything broken, please report it and I'll take care of it immediately.

Enjoy a big new chunk of the Zone!

Changelog:

• 20+ new areas in Power Plant
  
• New PoIs, items, cards, ailments and abilities
  
• New debuffs and radiation effects
  
• New research options for radiation
  
• Fixed crash when opening card view outside combat
  
• Top right bar now opens and closes reliably
  
• Fixed issues with acquiring Ailments
  
• Fixed Ailments not saving/loading properly
  
• Fixed timers not resuming after opening Options
  
• Fixed various intermittent bugs
  
• Fixed radiation being added while gameplay is paused
  
• Fixed combat tooltips not showing buff amounts/durations
  
• Added voice beep to explore encounters
  
• Ambient audio now pauses while Options menu is open
  
• Screen no longer jumps when transitioning between exploration areas
  
• Better shader overlay for Power Plant
  
• Fixed potential crash when leaving Points of Interest
  
• Fixed several problems with item stashes
  
• Rewrote Points of Interest handler code
  
• Added Options slider to customise audio balancing
  
• Fixed audio balancing for TTS SAM in Options menu
  
• TTS audio balancing is now faster
  
• TTS SAM now obeys voice volume settings
  
• Fixed TTS setting changes not saving/loading properly
  
• Fixed several audio sources not obeying volume settings
  
• Fixed Amethyst Ring equipping to wrong location
  
• Card buttons now show at proper size in research UI
  
• Fixed visual layering issues with several Burner anomalies
  

I tell you, I hate level design -- but I'm so damn dedicated to this game that I'm doing it anyway. In fact 'level design' describes most of what I've been up to this past month.

The interior of the Power Plant is taking shape, and you'll be able to explore the first few rooms in this update (highlighted in yellow in this little preview):



That should give you an idea of the content avalanche that's on the way, and even this preview doesn't show the full extent of the Power Plant's size or its mysteries!

Other new features include fresh functionality added to the TTS engine, new music, some UI improvements, and more...

As usual, the new stuff is accompanied by a slew of fixes big and small, including some important steps forward for general stability. Please keep reporting any bugs you find so that I may fix them.

Until the next update... Stay safe out there, Stalkers!

Changelog:

• New accessible areas in Power Plant (more to come)
  
• New NPC in Power Plant: the Hermit
  
• New soundtrack for Power Plant biome
  
• Added TTS support for Points of Interest
  
• Added audio balancing during TTS
  
• Fixed crash when approaching item stashes
  
• Fixed major bug causing intermittent errors
  
• Fixed inventory crashes
  
• Fixed player HP being reset to max on load
  
• Reworked combat enemy behaviour, hopefully fixing many issues
  
• Fixed click navigation walking to wrong coordinates
  
• Stat upgrades are now correctly applied when starting a new game
  
• Fixed I key not opening inventory
  
• Disabled manual saving during story segments for stability
  
• Fixed player not showing up correctly behind obstructions in some areas
  
• Fixed wrong damage resistance behaviour on Spit card
  
• Fixed controller cursor misbehaving when out of bounds
  
• Fixed some animation positioning on Knife Swarm enemy
  
• Better voice options on game start
  
• Added correct portrait for Battle Drone enemy
  
• Added unique footstep sounds for Power Plant
  
• Fixed Burner anomaly audio
  

This month we've got not just one big milestone, but two!

First up is a complete rewrite of controller support, which now behaves much more reliably during combat and in cursor mode. Quick refs have been updated to reflect the changes and are now launched by default on some screens.

Second is the integration of the Festvox text-to-speech engine. It includes a number of different voices for the player to choose from (changeable at any time in the options menu), as well as unique NPC voices. It sounds robotic, of course, but if you're not fond of reading then this should be a good solution until such time as voice acting becomes available.

In less huge news, many bugs have been fixed, and work continues on the Power Plant biome for which we've been drawing a brand-new isometric tileset.



This is shaping up to be our biggest isometric level by far, which is exciting and should hopefully offer even more variety in the gameplay!

Check below for the customary list of changes, and as always, please report any issues you come across so I can fix them.

Until the next update... Happy Stalking!


Changelog:

• Completely rewrote controller support (please give feedback/suggestions for improvements)
  
• Integrated text-to-speech engine with multiple voices
  
• Fixed potential crash when starting new game
  
• Fixed shop being empty in certain situations
  
• Fixed potential crash in inventory after equipping new containers
  
• Fixed inventory refusing to close in some circumstances
  
• Fixed crashes when opening Market/Lab UI
  
• Fixed enemy AoE Defend behaviour
  
• Quick start no longer wipes worn equipment
  
• Various visual improvements in Power Plant biome
  
• Various visual improvements in Hospital biome
  
• Corrected Knife Swarm enemy positioning
  
• Fixed & improved Options menu
  
• Fixed potential issues with larger or smaller screen resolutions
  
• Fixed battle controls quick-reference
  
• Fixed visual error on Louis
  
• Improved shop behaviour
  
• Two-handed items can no longer be dual-wielded
  
• Added support for dialogue skipping to remainder of Chapter 1
  
• Many back-end changes to combat deck viewing
  
• Stronger tutorial/quick-ref behaviour
  
• Added random combat portraits for new enemies
  
• Improved card name display
  
• Added limiters on some combat buttons to prevent multiple clicks
  

Just a quick patch with some important fixes.

Changelog:

• Fixed inventory getting wiped in some situations
  
• Fixed item conversion not giving Science
  
• Train yard rain anomaly no longer gives infinite Science
  
• Fixed Power Plant being accessible before Chapter 2
  
• Fixed potential crash when encountering points of interest in areas with item stashes
  
• Fleeing non-random combats is no longer treated as a win
  
• Added emergency travel key (F9) in case of getting stuck
  
• Animated same-area teleports
  
• Corrected some sprite layering in Power Plant exterior
  
• Tidied animations and added better sounds for Knife Swarm & Elemental enemies
  

This update should've come out a few days ago, but it's been a month for fighting with the game's engine. I've had to completely redo several things from scratch at the last minute when it turned out they just don't look or behave the same way in-game as they do in the editor. You can see some of it in this example, featuring one of our brand new enemies:



The flagship change of this update is the first area of a new biome to explore, the Power Plant, featuring several new unique enemies and a bunch of new anomalies and wrinkles to explore. (Including enemies who will chase you for a bit, but eventually return to their original patrol path.)



It's still a work in progress, with plans to add even more content, but I'm pleased to show all the work that's gone in so far. The next area in this biome will be the actual interior of the Power Plant -- a dangerous place indeed...

Happy Stalking, and see you in the next update!

Changelog:

• First area of new Power Plant biome now available in Chapter 2
  
• New points of interest
  
• Several new enemies
  
• Fixed inventory wipe when opening jobs board
  
• Fixed crash when playing cards in quick succession
  
• Fixed crash when playing cards that discard other cards (Turn, etc.)
  
• Fixed crash when delivering story quest items in Chapter 2
  
• Removed Stalker option from main menu for stability
  
• Fixed potential crash when knocking back rearmost enemy
  
• Fixed quest log not properly tracking delivered items
  
• Game now saves after every Point of Interest encounter
  
• Fixed rations getting consumed while game paused
  
• Finished quests are now properly removed from the quest log
  
• Choosing City Hall questline now properly fails Escape questline
  
• Changed Juliet's Necklace card loadout
  
• Fixed Cyn's Favour quest triggers and ending
  
• Removed unintended hidden Stun immunity from some enemies
  
• Fixed Seagull enemy behaviour errors
  
• Fixed sprite problems on Cyn & Louis
  
• Added support for AoE enemy abilities & mid-combat enemy spawns