The Zone: Stalker Stories News

The party piece of this update is something people have long asked for -- enemies that are visible on the exploration map. Some will follow a set patrol path. Others will spot you and chase you all over the map if you give them the chance! Mixed varieties will be coming in a future update. No matter which kind, once fought, they will remain dead as doornails.







Random encounters are still a thing, but who knows what the future may hold?

Other than that we've got a host of important fixes, reworked features, and some new content as well. My current priority is to complete more biomes to explore (and thereby advancing the main quest), and perhaps I can find some time to squeeze in another side quest too.

Much love continues to go into development, no matter how long it takes. Thanks to all you brave Stalkers for your continued support!

Changelog:

• Added patrolling enemies to some areas
  
• Added homing enemies to some areas
  
• Wharf is now properly accessible in Chapter 2
  
• Reduced size on disk by 20%
  
• Fixed more crashes when loading
  
• Fixed crash when travelling between certain areas
  
• Fixed multiple potential crashes when interacting with Wharf crane
  
• Fixed occasional crashes when starting an encounter right after combat
  
• Game now properly saves after ending VN segments
  
• Fixed error with opening options menu during combat encounter warning
  
• Items now stay identified when loading
  
• Fixed potential crash when starting Chapter 3
  
• Fixed potential crash in Extermination side quest
  
• Duplicate quests can no longer be added to the quest log
  
• Fixed Helping a Friend and Bearer of Bad News quests not completing properly
  
• Reworked enemy intent tooltips for clarity
  
• Rewrote Points of Interest system to be more reliable
  
• Some new card art
  
• Some new items & cards
  

A small patch with a few important fixes:

• Wharf is now properly accessible in Chapter 2
  
• Fixed more crashes when loading
  
• Fixed crash when travelling between certain areas
  
• Duplicate quests can no longer be added to the quest log
  
• Fixed Helping a Friend and Bearer of Bad News quests not completing properly
  
• Items now stay identified when loading
  

Hail and well met!

January has been a slow period for Zone, as I've been dreadfully preoccupied with job hunting (starvation holds very little appeal for me) -- but even so, we're still making important progress.

v0.6.7.3 features a few crucial fixes, and paves the way for better pathfinding, particularly for enemies. A frequent complaint I hear is about the combat being based largely on sudden random encounters, so one of my current goals is to make more encounters visible and predictable on the exploration map.

In less good news, controller support is clearly broken on many levels, so I've removed it from our store page until I can find time to completely reimplement it.

I've also been paying for some of the shortcuts I took early on in the shift to Godot. A number of hours have had to go towards tidying up and re-testing things I should've done differently in the first place... But it ultimately results in a better, cleaner codebase, so it's by no means a waste of time.

As always, I'm excited to keep rolling into the next update. Until then!


Changelog:

• Fixed crash on game load when using Crackling Eyepatch/Antenna
  
• Fixed bug when defeating sinkhole side job boss
  
• Fixed hospital endboss story/encounter
  
• Added flee option for hospital endboss encounter
  
• Combat can no longer immediately re-trigger on load or after death
  
• Fixed softlock on Cyn's Favour quest
  
• Fixed cards getting disabled when cancelling flee menu
  
• Text speed and volume settings are now properly applied after loading
  
• Added (almost) all missing boss sounds in Hospital biome
  
• Improved combat loading
  
• Fixed issue with player lighting in combat
  

It's that time of year, and what do we find in our stockings? Another update for Zone!

Thanks to several crucial bug reports, I've managed to fix a lot of persistent issues that really needed squashing, in amongst the new stuff. Work continues on the new environment, the Greenery, as we're in the process of finding a new artist to handle this.

An early sneak preview of the work in progress:



Writing-wise, I'm on the cusp of starting the explosive main event of Chapter 3, which will feature a serious crisis for you and all the survivors of Esper...

Stay tuned for partial excitement!


Changelog:

• Fixed softlock in Special Request quest
  
• Fixed potential crashes in Discretion Required quest
  
• Fixed card Drain targeting issues
  
• Fixed end-of-turn buffs not triggering properly
  
• Buff/debuff readouts now update correctly
  
• Added missing Chapter 2 story trigger
  
• Fixed crash when fleeing side job combats
  
• Accessing inventory during side jobs no longer boots the player back to Esper
  
• Fixed wrong Stamina assignment in side jobs
  
• Fixed several other side job issues
  
• Duplicate story events should no longer happen
  
• Fixed unintended music/ambient audio resets during story segments
  
• Fixed rain particle positioning in Wharf
  
• Added missing brittle star stunned pose
  
• Added missing Wharf loot stash
  
• Updated, corrected and expanded several quick ref/tutorials
  
• New boss encounter in Hospital
  
• Improved lighting in Hospital
  
• Added more radiation spots
  
• Saved games now track radiation buildup
  
• Expanded some dialogue options
  
• New battle backgrounds
  
• Reworked battle background loading
  
• Improved load times between stage transitions
  
• Added visual readout for Stamina above 100
  
• Tweaked other combat readouts for clarity
  
• Increased controller cursor speed
  

Hard to believe another month has passed us by! The biggest change is, I suddenly have a new computer. After several weeks of having my time wasted by repair shops, my old computer was officially pronounced dead. You can imagine how this might present some life difficulties.

The new one was bought on a very tight budget, but it has just enough oomph to allow me to continue developing Zone.

On the bright side, what was lost in coding/testing time was made up for in writing. I have been doing a lot of it, and as a result, the goal I set last month was hit: a completed Act 2! There is much escalation, culminating in a choice that changes everything... And even more sidequesty action.



In the next update I hope to have a new environment to show off, and see us well underway into the excitement of Act 3.

Finally, I wanted to say thanks for the support you've given us. The comments, reviews, and even the bug reports are what keep me going.

We're standing at 8 reviews at the moment, just two shy of the all-important 10. So if you haven't yet posted a review, or if you know someone who could, please please do -- it makes a massive difference to us tiny indies who don't have any external support!

v0.6.6.4 Changelog:

• Finished Chapter 2
  
• Two new story-based side quests in Chapter 2 or higher
  
• Fixed crashes after loading saved games
  
• Fixed buffs not triggering on their final turn
  
• Major overhaul of saving/loading
  
• Improved Confusion card handling
  
• Fixed some broken normal maps
  
• Fixed ship encounter not disabling after finishing
  
• Combat buffs now provide detailed breakdowns on mouseover
  
• Fleshed out combat encounters in Wharf biome
  
• Added extra flee option during train yard boss encounter
  
• Added sanity checks for some side quests
  
• Tweaked item drop rates
  
• Extended functionality for story triggers
  
• New item passive abilities
  
• Replaced more temp art
  
• Visual improvements on some NPCs