The Wild Bug-Hunt – A Surprising Story of How One Comma Broke Quantum Physics.
[p]Quantum science tells us that small things can make a big difference - and that’s exactly what happened when one tiny comma turned Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar on its tail. [/p][p]
For those of you who are not familiar with Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar, the game focuses around the quantum premise that Mittens can split into two quantum superpositions to solve puzzles and cause chaos. In accordance with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, when one of her positions is observed - the other becomes ‘theoretical’, giving her the ability to pass through doors (that theoretically could have opened) or evade security.[/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p][/p][p]
In the game, being ‘observed’ is usually stepping straight into view of a security camera, triggering the conversion from two plausible positions, to separate ‘known’ and ‘theoretical’ positions.[/p][p][/p][p]
But for some players, it didn’t work.[/p][p][/p][p]
Players would meander into full view of the camera, but the game wouldn’t make the cats change state. More confusing still, the dev team had never had this happen and none of our playtesters had seen it either. So, like true scientists, we aimed to explore the variables. [/p][p][/p][p]
We dived into the data. Hardware, resolution, system settings. We found some correlation - all the players seemed to be using AMD CPUs… was this the issue? We explored further but found others using the exact same hardware who couldn’t replicate the issue. The CPU track was a red herring. We then started to notice something stranger still. Some players reported that if they sat in view of the camera for a long period, minutes at a time, eventually it would suddenly ‘see’ Mittens and trigger the switch. We checked it with the other sufferers and sure enough, this was replicated across the board. Why were each of these players experiencing such a delay?[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]
We’ve had our fair share of bugs during development, as every studio does! Fortunately we’ve been able to find and resolve each of them in turn, and will be conducting some scrupulous QA in the run up to launch. That hasn’t stopped us from enjoying some of the more hilarious glitches that have popped up throughout our journey. Here are a few of our favourites! [/p][p]
[/p][h3]Chair Launcher[/h3][p]Thanks to PGComai[/p][h3]![]()
[/h3][p]
[/p][h3]Surprised Mittens[/h3][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][h3]No Skin? No Problem![/h3][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][h3]WE NEED TO GO WIDER[/h3][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]
So back to our lazy camera glitch! What on earth could be causing such strange behavior? When we noticed how each player was experiencing the same delay, it became apparent that the issue was a matter of timing, rather than activation itself. From the feedback we gathered with each of the players, we noted another common thread - everyone was based in Europe.[/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][p]This screenshot is from our ‘settingsOptions’ file and shows how frequently cameras update their raycasts. It was built years ago in case players ever needed to reduce the frequency if they were playing on slower systems. Notice the highlighted line. This tells the camera to check again every 0.0333 seconds. [/p][p]
[/p][p]So with all the information at hand, can you figure out this particular puzzle? It certainly took us some time.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Unlike the rest of the world, Europe typically uses a comma to indicate a decimal point, rather than a full-stop/period. When reading this file, European computers were checking to see if there was a cat in front of the camera every three-hundred and thirty-three seconds (five and a half minutes), not every third of a second, as intended!!![/p][p]
[/p][p]To fix the problem, and avoid these sorts of sneaky glitches from popping up again, we set in place a ‘Culture.InvariantCulture’ checkpoint - basically a fancy way to say the game seeks to ignore local preferences and run the game without them. Lesson learned. More European playtesters, please! [/p][p]
[/p][p]Want to be a Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar playtester? Register your interest on our Discord.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]So What Else Have We Been Working On? [/h2][p]We had a grand time at PAX Australia in Melbourne and Supanova in Brisbane! Did you get the chance to come see us at either show? Attendees went hands-on with a never-before-seen special demo that borrows from the early-game.[/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The team at PAX in Melbourne! [/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Watch the PAX Demo Dev Deep Dive on YouTube[/p][p]
[/p][p]We’ve been super busy firming up the art and running a final pass over the story. Just a little more to go there. Tom’s been busy with character portraits. Who is this motley lot?![/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][h2]And What’s Next? [/h2][p]It’s going to be a busy period![/p][p]Tomorrow, we’re appearing in Pirate Software’s INDIE’cember Games Show. You can watch the stream at 03:00 PST / 11:00 GMT / 21:00 AEST over at:
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]They will be playing the Steam demo and then running a QA with lead developer, Martin.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Aside from the stream, Martin will be hard at work refining gameplay flow and making minor story tweaks over the coming weeks. We’re aiming to finalise our script soon so we have the final version aligned with all story sequences and cutscenes. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Ziggy will be getting in touch with his creative side, art-passing all the levels that haven’t yet had his magic touch. What do you think of these visuals? [/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]
[/p][p]And as for the wider team, Jas will be producing art props for a few of the lore-focused characters in the story. Much more on this soon! Our producer Mei-Li is helping with UI improvements and Tom will be revising our key art. Oli will be finishing up the last few bits of music, Supertonic will be working on more game audio, Emily will be running QA across the full game, and I (George) will be writing more blogposts like this one and creating more gameplay videos which you can go watch over on Instagram and TikTok! [/p][p]
If you haven’t already, please wishlist the game on Steam and remember - tell a friend! Just like that, one wishlist becomes two. It’s quantum magic![/p][p]
[/p][p]![]()
[/p]
For those of you who are not familiar with Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar, the game focuses around the quantum premise that Mittens can split into two quantum superpositions to solve puzzles and cause chaos. In accordance with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, when one of her positions is observed - the other becomes ‘theoretical’, giving her the ability to pass through doors (that theoretically could have opened) or evade security.[/p][p]
[/p][p]
In the game, being ‘observed’ is usually stepping straight into view of a security camera, triggering the conversion from two plausible positions, to separate ‘known’ and ‘theoretical’ positions.[/p][p][/p][p]
But for some players, it didn’t work.[/p][p][/p][p]
Players would meander into full view of the camera, but the game wouldn’t make the cats change state. More confusing still, the dev team had never had this happen and none of our playtesters had seen it either. So, like true scientists, we aimed to explore the variables. [/p][p][/p][p]
We dived into the data. Hardware, resolution, system settings. We found some correlation - all the players seemed to be using AMD CPUs… was this the issue? We explored further but found others using the exact same hardware who couldn’t replicate the issue. The CPU track was a red herring. We then started to notice something stranger still. Some players reported that if they sat in view of the camera for a long period, minutes at a time, eventually it would suddenly ‘see’ Mittens and trigger the switch. We checked it with the other sufferers and sure enough, this was replicated across the board. Why were each of these players experiencing such a delay?[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]
We’ve had our fair share of bugs during development, as every studio does! Fortunately we’ve been able to find and resolve each of them in turn, and will be conducting some scrupulous QA in the run up to launch. That hasn’t stopped us from enjoying some of the more hilarious glitches that have popped up throughout our journey. Here are a few of our favourites! [/p][p]
[/p][h3]Chair Launcher[/h3][p]Thanks to PGComai[/p][h3]
[/p][h3]Surprised Mittens[/h3][p]
[/p][h3]No Skin? No Problem![/h3][p]
[/p][h3]WE NEED TO GO WIDER[/h3][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]
So back to our lazy camera glitch! What on earth could be causing such strange behavior? When we noticed how each player was experiencing the same delay, it became apparent that the issue was a matter of timing, rather than activation itself. From the feedback we gathered with each of the players, we noted another common thread - everyone was based in Europe.[/p][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][p]This screenshot is from our ‘settingsOptions’ file and shows how frequently cameras update their raycasts. It was built years ago in case players ever needed to reduce the frequency if they were playing on slower systems. Notice the highlighted line. This tells the camera to check again every 0.0333 seconds. [/p][p]
[/p][p]So with all the information at hand, can you figure out this particular puzzle? It certainly took us some time.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Unlike the rest of the world, Europe typically uses a comma to indicate a decimal point, rather than a full-stop/period. When reading this file, European computers were checking to see if there was a cat in front of the camera every three-hundred and thirty-three seconds (five and a half minutes), not every third of a second, as intended!!![/p][p]
[/p][p]To fix the problem, and avoid these sorts of sneaky glitches from popping up again, we set in place a ‘Culture.InvariantCulture’ checkpoint - basically a fancy way to say the game seeks to ignore local preferences and run the game without them. Lesson learned. More European playtesters, please! [/p][p]
[/p][p]Want to be a Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar playtester? Register your interest on our Discord.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]So What Else Have We Been Working On? [/h2][p]We had a grand time at PAX Australia in Melbourne and Supanova in Brisbane! Did you get the chance to come see us at either show? Attendees went hands-on with a never-before-seen special demo that borrows from the early-game.[/p][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][p]We’ve been super busy firming up the art and running a final pass over the story. Just a little more to go there. Tom’s been busy with character portraits. Who is this motley lot?![/p][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][h2]And What’s Next? [/h2][p]It’s going to be a busy period![/p][p]Tomorrow, we’re appearing in Pirate Software’s INDIE’cember Games Show. You can watch the stream at 03:00 PST / 11:00 GMT / 21:00 AEST over at:
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]They will be playing the Steam demo and then running a QA with lead developer, Martin.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Aside from the stream, Martin will be hard at work refining gameplay flow and making minor story tweaks over the coming weeks. We’re aiming to finalise our script soon so we have the final version aligned with all story sequences and cutscenes. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Ziggy will be getting in touch with his creative side, art-passing all the levels that haven’t yet had his magic touch. What do you think of these visuals? [/p][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][p]And as for the wider team, Jas will be producing art props for a few of the lore-focused characters in the story. Much more on this soon! Our producer Mei-Li is helping with UI improvements and Tom will be revising our key art. Oli will be finishing up the last few bits of music, Supertonic will be working on more game audio, Emily will be running QA across the full game, and I (George) will be writing more blogposts like this one and creating more gameplay videos which you can go watch over on Instagram and TikTok! [/p][p]
If you haven’t already, please wishlist the game on Steam and remember - tell a friend! Just like that, one wishlist becomes two. It’s quantum magic![/p][p]
[/p][p]
