The Zone: Stalker Stories News

I've been getting a lot done, not least of which is completely ripping out several janky old systems and replacing them with ones that actually work... and even more importantly, a significant push on the main plot.

The downside is it's so big that I can't get it all done in time for a September update. So instead of releasing half an update with a lot of the good stuff cut out 'cause it's not ready, I've decided to push the whole thing back by 1 week, give or take a few days.

Thanks for your patience, everybody. See you in October!

Quick fix for some critical issues as well as a few smaller ones:

• Fixed crash in Chapter 2 ending
  
• Fixed crash in Power Plant exterior after defeating Wharf and Power Plant bosses
  
• Fixed Power Plant exterior Fog of War not covering whole area
  
• Fixed crashes on area transitions/freeing up memory
  
• Fixed Spray Can not appearing in Power Plant
  
• Fixed Irradiated debuff turning victims too bright
  
• Fixed Rufus's Lifeline quest triggering inappropriately
  
• Fixed music not playing on load in certain areas
  
• Fixed rabbit hole pop-up behaviour
  

Plenty of progress this month, particularly in the realm of bugfixing. Many issues were uncovered and solved with this patch.

Of course I haven't been slacking on new content either! For existing saves already in Chapter 2, you'll soon find your way into a new side quest involving Rufus the trader -- with permanent consequences based on your performance and your decisions. New quests, new art, new enemies, new polish.

Lastly, a fair bit of work has gone into better tutorials, as well as extending controller support. The Jobs board now has custom controls, and the cursor is much more accurate on screens which still use it. Custom controls will be forthcoming on the rest of the side job UI too.

Next update I'm hoping to show off a new and improved Train Yard without the constant level transitions imposed by the old system. Tweaked art is taking a while and I'm struggling with the camera, but soon...

There are a few other non-critical issues left on my TODO list, but once they're sorted, I'll be able to get cracking on more weird and wonderful things for you to experience out in the Zone...

Please remember to report any issues you encounter on the discussions board! I will fix them if you do.

Changelog:

• Power Plant boss final art & animation completed
  
• New enemies and enemy distribution in Power Plant
  
• New controller interface for Jobs board
  
• Finished Hunter's Bequest side quest and alternate path
  
• Finished Rufus's Lifeline side quest and alternate path
  
• Much more accurate controller cursor
  
• Fixed story crashes in Chapter 2-3 & side quests
  
• Fixed dialogue options appearing at inappropriate times
  
• Improved story stability all round
  
• Fixed crash during radiation sickness alert
  
• Fixed crash during battle repositioning
  
• Fixed crash when finishing certain quests
  
• Fixed crash in quest log when viewing certain quests
  
• Fixed many potential memory leaks
  
• Fixed radiation sickness ailments being applied improperly
  
• Fixed some problems with animations looping
  
• Enemy HP bars & other UI are no longer recoloured on certain battle backgrounds
  
• Improved Esper event behaviour
  
• Added sounds for card dragging & targeting
  
• Renamed Points of Interest to Opportunities
  
• Refactored Opportunity item pickup behaviour
  
• Fixed item stash sprite not appearing
  
• Made item stashes more visible
  
• Updated & clarified Side Jobs tutorial
  
• Better colours on Jobs board
  
• Refactored enemy battler code
  
• Fixed some Hospital anomalies
  

After last month's massive update, this one needs to be a touch more humble... but still features some major news.

The biggest change is, we're introducing a shiny Fog of War system. From now on you'll need to properly explore and uncover areas, and you can see your progress as you go -- progress which will be stored in your saved games.



This also makes the scanner more useful as it will help to keep you pointed you in the right directions.

Other highlights include new hand-crafted art and animations for the Power Plant boss, and a much more comprehensive battle tutorial. This tutorial will go into detail about important mechanics of which even veteran players might not be fully aware.

Lastly, we're raising the price of the game by $1 in consideration of all the new content. There's a lot more game now than there was, and I believe the price should reflect the year of hard work we've put in.

For the next update I intend to focus on introducing several new enemies and, particularly, writing -- two half-implemented side quests need to be finished up, and there is progress to be made on the main quest as well.

As always, please report any issues you come across, and I shall fix them ASAP!

PS. If you happen to know anyone who might be interested in helping with art, game design, or marketing/promotion, do tell them to get in touch. It would make a big difference.


Changelog:

• New interactive battle tutorial
  
• Persistent Fog of War on exploration map
  
• New art & mechanics for Power Plant boss
  
• Engine update to Godot 3.6 RC1
  
• Added visible numbers when gaining Shield, damaging Shield, and healing
  
• New backgrounds and replaced temp backgrounds for some battles
  
• Reworked area transition system
  
• Reworked combat positioning, with new abilities for some enemies
  
• Added Falloff card property
  
• Added TTS to research screens
  
• Fixed crash on Power Plant boss attack
  
• Fixed rare softlock when loading
  
• Fixed problems with Scanner & improved performance
  
• Some general fixes to card tips
  
• Some intro rewrites for brevity
  
• Fixed buff durations showing in the wrong place on some cards
  
• Removed unreliable item encountered mechanic
  
• Fixed player buffs not showing on combat start
  
• Fixed Slimed and other cards not respecting Unchanging property
  
• Fixed some shader issues in Power Plant boss room
  
• Fixed some audio issues in Power Plant boss room
  
• Fixed erroneous voice ticks in PoIs
  
• Fixed occasional problems with Stamina readout
  
• Fixed superfluous damage numbers showing on rare occasions
  
• Visual improvements to some Power Plant rooms
  
• Inventory now properly defaults to Storage if no Pack equipped
  
• Various new, clearer icons
  
• Better normal map loading for some battle backgrounds
  
• Added controller version of area transition hint
  

Quick fix for a couple of critical issues:

• Fixed Story intro gang fight not triggering
  
• Items now properly unequip when starting new Story
  
• Fixed broken PoI on defeated Core