The Night Shift News

Hey everyone!

Martyn here! These past few months have been full on, but now the time is here. The new update is has dropped and I really hope you enjoy it! Read all about it down below.



[h2]Shifts[/h2]
There are five shifts in total, four of these are new, however in a single playthrough you will only play through four of them. Whys that? I hear you ask. Well, the goal of The Night Shift is to have a unique experience each time you play. This is just the first implementation of randomized shifts, but I will be expanding on this in the future - which I am super excited for.
Each of these five shifts will take you to existing and new areas of the department store. These areas have unique tasks and thrilling moments that can only be experienced in those areas. These areas also contain some randomization with horror elements but given these are the 'earlier' levels of the game, expect an increase in horror in future levels.
These new areas take you across the store from one side to the other. You will navigate your way through the store's electronics, furniture, women's clothing, and men's clothing sections as well as the back hallways, bathrooms, and parking area.

[h2]Saving[/h2]
Now as I have previously mentioned, a proper Save and Load isn't implemented in this update. In saying that, there is a little bit of save and load going on - nothing that would carry across sessions I'm afraid.
Now your inventory carries across shifts, so all those batteries you have collected are no longer lost to a void, forcing you to start your battery collection over again. Alongside your inventory, any unfinished tasks will now follow you across to the next shift.

[h2]Achievements[/h2]
For those achievement enthusiasts, I have reviewed all of the existing achievements and updated a handful of requirements and icons, as well as fixing a couple of existing achievements from being unobtainable.
On top of this, I have added five new achievements to unlock!

[h2]Misc[/h2]
Just a couple smaller things to note, you can now disable motion blur from the gameplay settings page. On top of this, I have made minor performance and optimization improvements and fixed various issues and performance issues that were brought to my attention, this is really helpful - so if you do run into any issues, please raise them on the Discord or Steam Discussions.



[h3]Full Change List[/h3]
- Added new shifts.
- Added new tasks.
- Added certain shifts that are loaded randomly.
- Added a new task screen to check in on current tasks.
- Added minimalistic tutorial (still a WIP).
- Added 5 new Steam achievements.
- Added the option to enable and disable motion blur.
- Added painkillers in case you get hurt.
- Inventory is now kept across shifts.
- Unfinished tasks now carry across shifts.
- Adjusted the narrative and tasks for Night 1.
- Various items in the world can now be inspected.
- Decreased number of mannequins in the final section of Night 1.
- Updated existing areas with extra detail.
- Updated lockers in the hallway to now have interactable doors.
- Updated lockers in office to be the same type as the hallway lockers.
- Updated various models.
- Updated some mannequins can spawn randomly now.
- Updated the sound mannequins made.
- Updated some Steam achievement requirements and descriptions.
- Updated how many batteries are accessible each shift.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed shadow artefacts on office chairs.
- Disabled physics of the office chairs - these were causing some weird issues.
- Fixed when placing shoeboxes, inventory does not show immediately.
- Fixed when placing a shoebox, the correct one is placed.
- Fixed the picking up keys sound playing when picking up certain items.
- Fixed ceiling in store front not casting shadow correctly.
- Fixed being able to open and close the main menu with the same button.
- Fixed being able to see through a line in the mesh of the hallway doors.
- Fixed not being able to get the No Smoking achievement.
- Fixed various collisions of objects not working.
- Fixed scaling of decals in the office.
- Fixed opening the menu during gameplay now pauses the game
- Fixed being unable to clearly see when zooming in at a fence.
- Fixed being unable to clearly see when zooming through windows.
- Fixed 'show fps' checkbox icon showing a square when toggling.
- Fixed some UI being cut off in specific resolutions.
- Fixed inventory items sometimes not having the correct icon.
- Performance and optimization improvements.

Join the community on Discord.
Follow The Night Shift on X/Twitter and TikTok.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2468610/The_Night_Shift/

As always, if you have any questions, issues, or suggestions please let me know!

Cheers,
Marty

Hey everyone!

It's almost time for the next update, it's looking like you will be able to get your hands on it before the planned update in July. I'd like to run through a couple of things that you can expect from this update, and what I have had to delay... slightly.



[h2]Shifts[/h2]
First things first, shifts. While currently there is only one level, which showcases the new direction on the Unreal engine, I had always planned to create more levels. I have been working on four levels, that will be included in this next update. These levels, take you into new areas of the department store - each with their own unique tasks and scares.
The upcoming update will also introduce a new system - branching shifts. This system allows random shifts to load after completing specific nights. Once this update drops, playthroughs will always be different from the last. As there are now multiple shifts, your inventory now carries across shifts. Picked up a bunch of batteries that you haven't used? You can now use them in your next shift.

[h2]Tasks[/h2]
Not only will there be new and unique tasks in each of these shifts, but now certain tasks will also carry over from Shift to Shift. Certain tasks won't be able to be completed in one shift, so you will be able to complete side tasks later in the shifts rather than having to complete them in a single shift.
With tasks now carrying over shifts, and the potential to have two or more at a time, you may want to review what tasks you have. Now you can! I have added a task journal (name pending) where you can see your current tasks and your goal for a specific task.



[h2]What Else[/h2]
You can expect a couple more Steam achievements, as well as polish to existing achievements. Looking at you, 'No Smoking' achievement. I have now spread achievements across all shifts, so they aren't all on the one level.
Not a fan of motion blur? I have added an option to disable it. Alongside other requests, there will be multiple fixes and performance optimisations included in the next update.

[h2]What Not To Expect[/h2]
I wanted to get save and load into this update, however, life happened and I have been unable to get it to a point that will be ready for July. I really wanted to get some new content to you, so once this update drops, I am planning to spend some time to get save and load in. In saying that, the game does save and load your settings and inventory/tasks between shifts.



You can expect the update before July, the exact date depends on how quick I can get some polish done.

Join the community on Discord.
Follow The Night Shift on X/Twitter and TikTok.

As always, if you have any questions, issues, or suggestions please let me know!

Cheers,
Marty

Hey everyone,

It's been two weeks since the new engine update and so far, the response has been great. I am appreciative of all the support and feedback you have given.
I hope you have enjoyed the experience that is currently out, this post is to let you know that I am working hard on the next update.
I want to tell you everything I have planned for The Night Shift, but where is the fun in that?

Instead, here is a little teaser of what the future holds.



Expect more levels, different areas, more story, and most importantly more Mannequins.
But what would you like to see? Anything specific? Let me know your thoughts!

Just a reminder that The Night Shift is 20% off until April 2!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2468610/The_Night_Shift/

Join the community on Discord.
Follow The Night Shift on X/Twitter and TikTok.

Chat soon,
Marty

So there it is! The plan for this year, now you may want to dive a little deeper into what each feature may include.

[h2]Shifts[/h2]
Let's talk about the new shifts, now whilst I don't want to dive into too much detail (A. spoilers, B. still figuring things out), I would like to expand on what I mean by more shifts.
These shifts will be taking you all around the store, from storage, to HR, to the store front. Room names pending. New shifts will include new areas to navigate, new items to pick up and/or interact with, and new mannequins to be afraid of (there are some really scary ones in the pipeline). There will be new tasks to complete, and new side tasks that you can choose to complete as well.

[h2]Story[/h2]
The story is still developing, but I plan to inject new story with each shift. The story might change over the course of development, however if story beats change in a level that has been released I will make sure to give notice - incase you don't want to miss anything. The story will also branch at certain points, giving access to items, areas and tasks. This will mean that no two playthroughs will be the same - how exciting!

[h2]Other[/h2]
- Save and Load Progress currently only your settings save. But I understand how annoying it is to get so far in to a shift, lose right at the end, and having to restart it. As mentioned a few weeks ago, save and load is partially implemented so is planned for the first Major Update in July.
- Steam Cloud is planned to be implemented when you can effectively save and load your progress
- More Steam Achievements
- Controller Support
- Localisation
- and more...

If you have any questions or feedback about the roadmap and/or the current state of the game, please reach out on either Discord or Steam Discussions.

Thanks for all your support so far.

Chat soon,
Marty

Hey all!

Marty here. The Night Shift is now available in Unreal!

Since my last announcement, I have polished a lot of areas, squashed a bunch of bugs and tweaked a bunch of things based on play testers feedback.
This update brings a bunch of changes, more than I can count, so let's chat about a couple of them.

You can find more world building and more detail than before, utilising Unreal Engine 5, The Night Shift is an entirely new game. You will immediately notice the difference in visual fidelity, from the walls to chairs to even smaller items like notes and batteries to ray tracing. These new visuals allow for a more immersive world, and more frightening.



Gameplay has changed drastically. You are no longer confined to just walking (or sprinting for 2 seconds) on the ground. Starting from now, as you play The Night Shift you will have more ways to interact and navigate the environment. You can jump as much as you want, run for as long as you want, and you can even focus/zoom in to look at finer details of things. You can pick items up, inspect them, and add them to your inventory. Picking up and inspecting notes and items can give you useful information to assist you in furthering your progress or point you in the right direction of secrets.

The change to Unreal brings a lot of benefits to performance of The Night Shift. It's no secret that the previous version was poorly optimised for how it looked. In saying that, performance was something that was a main focus through the development of the Unreal update. If you find the performance is a little choppy, try changing the video settings (they actually work now). Talking about the settings, you can now change video settings whenever! From the main menu, and *drum roll* in game.



Before I wrap this up, I want to just raise that with the price changing from free to paid there are a couple things to note.
- If you had The Night Shift linked to your Steam account while it was free, it will remain on your account and you will be able to play it throughout Early Access to Release and beyond.
- Any reviews that were given to The Night Shift while it was free, won't count to the review score moving forward (They still appear)
- If you had The Night Shift linked to your Steam account while it was free, you will not be eligible to earn Trading Cards while playing The Night Shift.

Regarding that last one, The Night Shift doesn't have any trading card support so this won't affect anyone. If this changes, there will be an announcement.

As usual, please post any questions, concerns, suggestions or just plain ol' feedback, to the Steam Discussions or on the Discord. All of which helps better the future experience of The Night Shift.
Anyway, that's it from me. I can't wait for you to play and experience the new update.

Thanks and have fun,
Marty