Endless Dark News

So, March has come and gone, and with it, our hopes to release 1.0 around the one year in EA mark. Unfortunately, today's update is not 1.0. And we feel that requires a bit of explanation.

As our credits page hopefully makes clear, Endless Dark has a number of lovely contributors and lots of wonderful talent behind it, but the core team is exactly two people: Soulmata, and myself (Coolguy).

Soul and I work together very tightly and complement one another in very fundamental ways. It is what has allowed us to keep up with development despite both of us having full-time jobs and heavy family obligations. It's a fantastic cooperative dynamic that I really treasure. This makes it especially painful when one of us gets knocked out.

Unfortunately, starting in late January, Soul had:
1) COVID
2) Bronchitis
3) Flu
4) Pneumonia

One after another, in that order.

I kept trying to push the game's development forward for a while by redoubling my own efforts. However, after it became clear that this was a very serious illness, I came to the conclusion that the only humane and sane thing to do was to was to just STOP and let the process happen.

In hindsight, that was the correct thing to do. It has been an absolute nightmare watching my friend of over 20 years struggle with a series of serious infections, any one of which could have easily taken a turn for the worst. I don't pretend to be able to contemplate the nightmare Soul went through actually living it.

I was generally unwilling to come out with details of this story until it was behind us for a couple of reasons, but first and foremost was that the matter was very stressful for both Soul and I. Discussing the matter required energy that he was better off spending on healing. And considering we lost almost three months to this battery of infections, I am further convinced that was the correct thing to do. If we were a larger studio, there would have been more considerations, but with the size of the team as it is, I strongly feel it was the correct call to prioritize health over everything else.

The good news is that the team is now healthy again, and we intend to prove it by releasing today's patch! This patch is not large, but it does fix a large fistful of bugs that we've seen from various streamer friends showing off the game the last few months, and bugs we have identified from our own playthroughs on Twitch. This version of the game has almost 40 hours played publicly with zero observed bugs, even minor ones. There's definitely still number of balance and design issues we want to work out, but this version of the game is as rock solid stable as it has ever been.

[h2]So what now?[/h2]
Now, we are back to work. The scope and ambition for 1.0 - the completion of the story of the Custodians, the fulfillment of our functional promises for modding and content, and the fleshing out of all the little systems and pieces we have built around the mythos of the ship - all of it remains unchanged. We are fired up and excited to get it to you as soon as we are able. Only the schedule has been pushed back.

After the immense run of terrible luck that cost us pretty much the entire first quarter of this year, I have learned my lesson about making commitments on exactly when. For now, I only ask that everyone bear with us just a little longer. The game will be done as soon as it is practical - which is different from the kiss-of-death "when it's done". We know exactly what done looks like, and we are both capable of getting there, and eager to get there fast.

The only question that remains is how fast the universe will allow us to get there.

Each and every one of you are deeply appreciated for your love and support along this odyssey we've shared together.

See you soon, Custodians.

It has been an extremely busy 30 days here. As we are getting to the finish line and finding we know precisely what to do to make Endless Dark the best game it can be, that is spurring a huge burst of creativity that is all going into the game. There's a ton to go over, so let's take it at the heading level. That'll hopefully keep it together better.

[h2]Usability[/h2]
We've gone through a lot of trouble this patch to make the game generally easier to look at and work with. Firstly, there's the task list. In builds past, every leak, every door, every almost-identical task would generate its own entry on the list, which could make for quite a teetering list, very quickly. Now, tasks will be fairly aggressively grouped up, like so:


You can still end up with a staggering list pretty fast, but you will no longer have a list shooting off the bottom of the screen because you slept on some leaks.

The weather list has also seen a couple huge upgrades:


In addition to the symbols simply being made larger, we have designed and are now using unicons that distinctly identify each hazard. No longer will you have to remember which color is which; a cloud is always dust, a magnet is always EMP, a rad marker is always a radiation belt, and a black hole is always a grav zone. This also moves the weather markers away from the bottom ribbon. Hey, while we're on the topic, let's talk about that bottom ribbon!



The bottom ribbon is now only for systems, and they are always displayed. Highlighting them still pulls up a summary of their status, even if that status is simply "on". The usual accessibility-tested color palate is in use for various states, be it damaged, glitched, disabled, or more.

Also, as you likely already noticed, some of the systems also got their own unicons! The default unicons we've had for a long time have always been a little confusing, so we went back and designed our own for the systems where that was important. Navigation now looks like a compass, shields now looks like a shield, and observation, surprise surprise, appears to be an eye! The UI's fidelity got a giant upgrade from these changes, and we're really happy to have them.

Toasts have also gotten a huge upgrade. They were always nice to have, but sometimes, it would give you an alert without a clear idea as to why something happened. Now, toasts will report a reason in close to every case.

This is especially useful when you are seeing you badly-needed overclocks sputter out, and don't understand why. It's helpful to see if it's something you could have avoided with Memories or not.

And hey, what's that last thing we have always made a big deal, but never actually shown you? That's right, the power supply.


Snuggled up next to the bot UI is a power bar, showing you exactly how much power you are generating, how it is being used, and how much you have in reserve. You can also select it to get a full report!



But is that all, no wait, there's more! You know those Decaying Ship faults that act as spoilers for your run? Wouldn't it be cool if you could see them coming?

Now you can. You can even cancel them. Though not without cost:


But we'll get into the specifics of that when we start talking about Doability.


The final Usability note is one everyone can get behind: Pure, raw, frames. We did a lot of tightening up on the game over the last month, and the collective performance increase has been A full 100% over our last release per our benchmarks, even with the other upgrades we've put in. We have also massively improved the way the game handles garbage collection, so the occasional stutters that sometimes happened when the game was cleaning itself up have been almost completely eliminated.

If you were having any trouble at all running the game, please try again. We've worked really hard to get you a lot of extra frames.

[h2]Viewability[/h2]
In addition to everything above, the game has gotten the first wave of the art facelift we promised in our road to 1.0 post. There is the usual outlay of upgraded doodads, floors, and a few walls. Most notably, though, consoles have been redone to fit the rest of the art. They also now incorporate the new sigils to make their screen match up with the system tray:

Oh, and also, they have some particle effects when you smash 'em up:


Consoles also have alternate screens for when they have alternate effects on them, that they will cycle between. So you will now be able to tell, by looking at a console, if it is Glitched, Disabled, Locked, or Hardened. Hardened? Well, we'll get to that with Doability.

Speaking of particle effects, we've added a fair number of them to the game. Certain leaks, in particular, will now kick off stanky fumes that obscure the screen and force you to go digging for the source:



The title screen also got a bit of an upgrade - nothing major, but enough to show you that it's doing something when you load. A few people have said that the stillness unnerves them, so now, the title will print itself out and keep a flashing cursor going.



It also persistently answers the question of what we made the game with. :D

Much more is scheduled for prettying the game up as we march to 1.0, but you can get a good look at where our plans are with the new update.

[h2]Doability[/h2]
All this is great, but this game is fundamentally about doing things. About interacting and working. What can you actually DO in this new update?

Well... a lot, and it mostly works into things you already know.

First, everyone's favorite, psychosis tasks. More of the insane tasks that show up in your list can now properly be completed. Swap places with a passenger? Turn a pod into an aquarium? Huff xenon fumes? Sure, why not, we'll do that!

Wait, xenon fumes?



The individual thrusters in the engine bay can now both malfunction, and be sabotaged. Each busted thruster reduces your speed by 5% - so a few thrusters are probably ignorable for some turns, but a lot of them on the fritz is crippling. This is a new minor repair that can happen instead of leaks, breaker surges, etc. And also:


It's an opportunity to get high. Or try to. Robots don't actually breathe, silly. Have you checked your neural net recently?

Next up, the Custodians' personalities now matter when you are making event choices. The loose descriptors in the bot selection screen have been swapped with functional tags. So while Annie is Implosive and Pragmatic, FRANK is Explosive and Selfish. These actually matter in game:



When doing things your Custodian agrees with, the benefits of the decision are increased, while any penalties are reduced. In addition, you keep a personality score that will get you perks:

Naturally, there are plenty of things your Custodian will DISLIKE, as well. FRANK, as ever, is not really into the whole "extra work" thing:

Doing things your Custodian disagrees with will earn you more fatigue, stress, and psychosis for the choice, or reduce the healing that happens. Also, it's just as easy to get harmful perks if you keep dissociating with your personality!

Nextly, let's get around to talking about those ship faults.



For increasing amounts of Fatigue, you can reveal an upcoming Fault. This will tell you what the fault is, when you can expect it to hit, and also OFFER TO LET YOU COUNTER IT.



These costs are randomized, and generally quite harsh, but it now gives you some agency against these chronic, game-altering events.

Also, there are also now Dilemmas that occur in the final act of the game.



If you've ever felt yourself struggling in the final act, or cruising, this is where you sell out, or cash in. As you limp toward the finish line, you will be offered a choice to screw over Future You in order to finish what you started, or to make the next Custodian's job easier, for a sacrifice now. It is also the first major adjustment to the score that we've added for quite some time. Tired of seeing negative scores? Now you don't have to.

Ah yes, and let's not forget - the Hardened point we mentioned earlier.

You have everything set up the way you want, with overclocks just so, and even had good rolls on the duration? Four turns of overclocked engines! Amazing! Finally going to get caught up to the tension wall!

Next turn, it is practically guaranteed that damage to the engine, or a power failure elsewhere, will rob you of that, right?

Now, there is! You can Harden it!



Hardening takes some Fatigue, and 2 parts. Also, a Hardened system consumes +1 power. But in return, it is immune to most glitches, and is last in line to be shut off due to power shortages for 4-6 turns. As a bonus, a Hardened system, if damaged, will simply become nominal. What does all this mean? It means a Hardened system isn't going to lose Overclocked unless something dire happens, and it'll be even harder to take offline!

Finally - a crunchy Lore update.

Every time you have started a game, you are greeted with a reference to the infamous MC.419. But what are these MCs? And are there really that many of them?

Answer: YES.



This update includes encodings of roughly 300 of the 419 MCs, which will be displayed to you when the ship believes you are in violation of some (rightly or not), or repeated as mantras by your Custodian to hold onto the fraying edges of their sanity. While many seem innocuous, many more give hints to the larger story - the one that came long before you awoke on Contingency.


That, at long last, is all for this update. Please review the game, it TRULY helps. We welcome all bug reports and chat on the forums or in Discord, and if you know a content creator who might be interested in showing off what we've got, please reach out. :)

Now - back to work on 1.0!

This update is relatively small in terms of lines of change, but it includes two new features that have profoundly impactful changes on the game, so we wanted to put a few more words into this update.

The two most chronic antagonists in this game are doors, and the weather. Today's update actually gives you tools to deal with both.

[h3]Weather[/h3]
The weather has been something we have been wrestling with for a while. It is critical to the overall challenge and flavor of the game, but also, there are too many edge cases where it is simply too punishing and frustrating to deal with.

After a fistful of design discussions, we came to a deceptively simple solution: Course changes.



Instead of 1 line with guaranteed weather, the ship may now be diverted to one of three allowable courses that you can steer to at Navigation. This lets you pilot around hazards that you don't want to deal with - or steered into the one you hate least. Navigation now also gives you an estimated progress marker when shifting courses. Note it is not ENTIRELY accurate, as the dust weather will slow you down as you enter the area. But it's mostly accurate.

Note that:
1) Navigation still needs to be functional to change course
2) You still will lose the forecast if Navigation is nonfunctional
3) You still can NOT see gravitational anomalies (which will disable Navigation)

There is a hefty Fatigue cost to adjust course, but this can be negated by taking the Solar Sailor memory - in addition to +2 distance traveled at start.

[h3]Doors[/h3]
Doors.

There are so many problems with doors. They get in your way. They get stuck by the breakers. They cause so much insanity. Heck, one of those insanities killed a streamer on camera recently as the afraid-of-doors insanity procced too many times in a row and caused a stress break the streamer couldn't handle.

Why can you not take your well-earned vengeance on the hateful things?

Well, now you can.



While very expensive in terms of fatigue and stress, sometimes it's not about what's optimal. Sometimes it's about sending a message. "Destroy Door" does exactly what it says on the tin. If you do it, the door you use it on will be permanently removed from that run. Nobody will miss it, most likely.

In addition, doors can now be forced open, even if they are locked by a closed or broken breaker. This is, again, quite an expensive procedure, but perhaps less expensive than the looming disaster that this one stupid door is about to let happen. But what happens when you force open a door? Well, that too isn't for certain.

Most commonly, it will simply open, to close again about 30 seconds later, when the breaker re-establishes control. However, it can also become wedged open, permanently. Also, obviously, failure is always an option. You can simply jam the door shut.

While not worthy of a major release tag, this update nonetheless brings a huge amount of power to the player. We hope you enjoy it.

This update includes a few new insanities, a new nightmare, and a small fistful of bugfixes revealed on a stream.

- Added more sound to new game screen
- Clarified in tooltips that FRANK loses stress for allowing passengers to die, rather than only when killing them.
- Made overclocked systems immune to glitch - certain glitches could rob a system of overclocked, so this should make it easier to keep engines and/or nav OC'd to catch up to the tension wall
- Chatty memory now gives extra machine parts if you would already start with the Chatbot
- Stopped other modules from showing up on the memory core aug slot
- Fixed progress not being erased if you removed the memory core
- Tracking Failure will no longer allow you to prematurely escape nightmares
- Player robot will now lose coolant when panicking (as per certain insanities)
- Added labyrinth nightmare
- Added 4 new insanities - Cruise Control, Automysophobia, Sciophobia, and Flipped Bits
- Fixed Robbie's emergency repair bonuses not applying to emergency repair on the pods, even though the tooltip claimed they were
- Fixed paperdoll scaling
- Fixed the game timer not setting itself to 0 when a new game is started
- Various tooltip and event fixes

Shoutouts to TheLastRoboKy for revealing a lot of the bugs fixed in this patch.

This update includes a ton of customization options and an overhauled new game page, letting you tweak your game in dozens of ways to suit your desired experience. Chief among them is REAL-TIME MODE, which completely changes the dynamic of the game in many ways. This also includes a lot of the meta progression content we want to include, such as ship persistence across games, and more. A lot of these details will be detailed in later updates as we aren't yet done working out how their mechanics will work, but the existing tooltips are all accurate.

* Real-time mode added
* Mono audio mode added in Options menu for those having rare no-audio issues
* 22 customization options for each game are now available
* Overhauled new game page will show you in great detail exactly what your starting position will be