The Night Shift News

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

Hey everyone!

Marty here! I'm very excited to announce the release date for the upcoming major update for The Night Shift, but before I get to that, let's talk about what's in store for you (I didn't even mean to do that pun!).
I have been working hard fine tuning and polishing the build, so when you all play it is a great experience for you.


This update includes the first level, but showcases all of the features that will be expanded on in the future. Here you will experience the narrative, task, inventory and inspection systems. Some, if not all, of these systems will evolve over the course of development but give an indication of the direction I am taking The Night Shift.
The biggest focus was to have more freedom with the current tasks, here you have that freedom. The ability to finish the tasks in any order you want, allows for different experiences for each playthrough. The tasks themselves are displayed by UI, but can also been seen in your inventory continuing the diegetic gameplay from the Unity version. You may need to inspect notes to get hints of where your next task can be found or additional narrative.
There are also optional tasks that can be completed, these require a bit more exploration but will reward you with a fancy new Steam Achievement.
I have been testing these for a while, but the game will include 15 Steam Achievements. These were a focus for me, as I personally love achievements, but they also add extra value and replayability to games.
The biggest thing to note, is that whilst this update only contains one level, it won't be the last - there will be much more to come (more below).


[h2]TRAILER + UPDATE RELEASE[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Well there it is, the trailer for the new update! Now for the release date of the update.
*drum roll*
15th March 2024!

[h2]PRICING[/h2]
With this update comes an update to the pricing, starting on the 15th March 2024 the price will be increasing to AUS$10 (US$6.50). I haven't made this change lightly, however, this new price will fund the future of The Night Shift. The price will not change when The Night Shift leaves Early Access.
For those that already own The Night Shift, nothing will change.

In saying that, there will be a couple of knock-on effects.
- Anyone who acquired a game for free won't receive trading cards.
- Existing reviews will no longer count toward the review score.

This change won't be immediate, so between now and the release date, the game will be free.

[h2]FEEDBACK AND COMMUNITY[/h2]
The community has been great in giving feedback, so I have been made sure to address as much as I could. If there is any feedback, bugs or suggestions please post them in either the Steam Discussions or the Discord. I plan to be more active in both, moving forward.

The community's feedback is both appreciated and invaluable, to me and the project.


[h2]THE FUTURE[/h2]
Now what's next?
There are a number of features I want to implement, and have already laid the foundation for a couple of them.

- I plan to add more shifts in a variety of areas of the store, where the player has to complete new unique tasks and is challenged with new types of mannequins.
- Flashing out the narrative is a big one too, expanding on both the immediate story and environmental storytelling, as well as giving dialogue a voice to enhance the experience.
- The ability to save and load is necessary, especially for when more levels are implemented. I have the foundation for this already, but will ned more time to get it saving the right things. When I am happy with this, I am planning on integrating Steam Cloud.
- Controller Support for a variety of controllers, including Xbox and PS4/5.
- I would like to add localisation for text, as it looks like a number of players are from non-English speaking countries. However, this will take some time.

That's it for now!
I would love to hear your thoughts, and if there are any questions you have.

Very excited for you all to get your hands on The Night Shift.
Keep up to date by joining the Discord or following the game on Twitter.

Thanks for reading, chat soon!
Marty