DON'T SCREAM News

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Hello, Screamers!



Major Update #3 is now live! As promised in our development roadmap, we're continuing to overhaul the environments. This update includes new locations, structures, and let's just say... some strange things! Once we're satisfied with the environmental additions, we'll focus on enhancing the finer details. Our goal is to make the forest and everything in it look realistic, weathered, and deteriorated. We want players to wonder, "Wait, what happened here?" and to keep you constantly on edge, always questioning your surroundings.

Before diving into the changelog, I want to address the current quality of scares. We know they aren’t where we want them to be just yet. Please remember, we're a small team of indie developers, and DON’T SCREAM is still in early access. By purchasing our game, you're not just buying into something early; you’re actively helping us refine it before the full release. Rest assured, all aspects of our scares—including models, animations, effects, and sounds—will be significantly enhanced or reworked. We’re taking a methodical approach to our updates, with upcoming ones set to focus more on improving these scares.

DON'T SCREAM is now 20% off as part of Steam's Daily Deal. Spread the word to your friends!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2497900/DONT_SCREAM/

Encountered bugs or have feedback? Connect with us on our Steam Forums or Discord. Thank you!

Here’s a recap of what’s planned in our development roadmap:

[h3]DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP[/h3]

• Continue improving performance for smoother gameplay, especially optimizing for medium and high graphic settings.
  
• Significantly enhance scares, focusing on models, animations, effects, and sounds, and improving the tension and buildup of each scare.
  
• Introduce new objectives and more incentives to encourage exploration.
  
• Add new enemies that pose a real threat to the player—soon, your own scream won’t be the only thing to fear!
  
• Refine the user interface to make it more intuitive and immersive.
  
• Completely redesign the sound for a more immersive auditory experience.
  
• Further improve microphone calibration and implementation.
  
• Enhance environmental storytelling.
  
• Introduce environmental dangers.
  

With all that said, we hope you appreciate the direction we’re taking DON’T SCREAM. What started as a UE5 horror experiment is evolving into a richer game experience, thanks to your support. Now, without further ado, here are the patch notes!

PATCH NOTES
[h3]MAJOR CHANGES[/h3]

• Added Church environment and leading pathways
  
• Added Sanatorium with extended road to Old Farm House
  
• Added Cornfield behind Old Farm House
  
• Added Junkyard with pathways from the Main Road and Abandoned Shack
  
• Added details to Powerplant
  
• Added Strange Doors in the forest that now have a purpose
  
• Added many new details to the enviroments and key locations
  
• Added fog and more improved lighting to many areas
  
  
• Modified lighting and fog in Minimart
  
• Modified lighting and fog in Cemetery
  
• Modified Oil Freighter Wreckage scenery
  
• Modified water and fog in Swamp
  
• Modified Lighting in Old Farm House
  
  
• Added retro-reflective trail markers to help players find their way to key locations
  
• Added on-screen compass and location to help in finding specific locations
  
• Added new battery system to force players to keep moving and exploring areas, batteries found at many key locations in the forest
  
• Added new audio system to allow better control and optimisation of sounds in the world
  
• Added a few new scares and improved audio on many pre-existing ones
  
  
• Improved overall game performance, especially at higher screen resolutions
  
• Improved collisions of many world props and environment areas to prevent player getting stuck
  

To prevent players from cheating by simply running in circles until the timer runs out, we've introduced batteries to the game. Now, you must find them before your battery completely depletes. We're eager to hear what you think about this!

Why is the Junkyard full of so much trash? What made this specific area a dumping ground?

The Oil Freighter has turned into a complete wreckage. Something terrible happened here. Was it human error, or something far more sinister?

Why is there a Sanatorium hidden deep in this forest?

Yes, we've added a cornfield—because what’s scarier than a cornfield? And who knows, maybe you’ll find a scarecrow lurking somewhere?

We’ve also introduced a church to the environment. Considering the number of people who have vanished or died in this forest, this old church raises some haunting questions.

Those spooky free-standing doors? They now mysteriously teleport the player to different areas of the forest.

These are just a few of the major additions in our latest update. We've also made numerous smaller tweaks, changes, and fixes. For instance, take a look at any of the updated gifs, and you’ll notice we’ve added an on-screen compass and location markers to help players navigate to specific spots. Additionally, we’ve significantly enhanced the audio quality. Ulrich Gollick, our audio engineer and game designer, explains more about these improvements:

"For this update, we've also focussed on establishing the framework for a richer, more immersive soundscape system. This entails ensuring that the audio levels accurately match what is depicted on screen and that players feel deeply immersed in the game world. For example, when entering a house, the soundscape seamlessly transitions from the outdoor ambience to the sounds of wind and outdoor noises filtering in through windows and doors. Additionally, we've incorporated appropriate reverb effects based on the size of each room. If players choose to close the doors, the sound is appropriately muffled or attenuated, enhancing the realism of the experience.

In each area of the game, unique sound elements, which we call 'nuggets,' are implemented. These nuggets are intricately designed to convey a narrative, offering insights into past events or leaving room for further speculation"

Keep an eye out for future announcements, and thanks for your ongoing support!

Have a wonderful start to your week! - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries

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Welcome, Screamers!

I'm excited to announce our next major update; Environment Overhaul - Part 1! We're making great progress on our development roadmap (see below), and right now, we're concentrating on a complete overhaul of the environments. This means we're putting even more focus on environmental storytelling. To explain our goals in more detail, here's our very own Josh Lennen, who leads the art design for DON'T SCREAM, to share his insights:

Josh Lennen: In this environment update we wanted to focus on giving players more opportunity to explore. Instead of players simply getting lost in the woods, we've added more paths and environmental guides to the existing landscape. More landmarks will be coming in a future update to guide the player, but we've also added entirely new regions, and expanded upon existing regions of the map so they are easy to find. Our aim is to draw players into each environmental region where we plan to develop future scares, all focused around exploring the storytelling of each region. This is just the start of the process for us in our small dev team, and with our planned roadmap for future updates, there will be more detail and new regions added to take the player deeper into the experience of Don't Scream.

Thanks, Josh! Just to build on what Josh mentioned, I want to highlight that we've really focused on the finer details to enhance the game's realism. Take the plane crash site as an example, it now represents more closely what you'd typically expect from a crash scene. We've added damaged terrain, shattered trees, and much more to enhance the experience. Our aim is to increase your curiosity about what happened in this forest!

We're excited to keep improving the game and hearing what you think, this is only just the start! It's a step-by-step process – we'll try things out, see what fits and what doesn't, and keep refining. Our goal is to offer you an even more complete horror experience. I also want to note that we haven't updated the scares yet. The next few major updates will heavily focus on the environment. As we hit each milestone on our development roadmap, we'll then shift focus to other elements of the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2497900/DONT_SCREAM/

If you come across any bugs, please report them on our Steam Forums or Discord if you encounter any bugs. Thank you!





Check out these new screenshots of the new and improved (work-in-progress) environments you can now explore in Major Update #2!























Keep an eye out for future announcements, and thanks for your ongoing support!

Have a wonderful rest of your week! - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries

Socials
Twitter | Discord

Hello, Screamers!

Firstly, thank you for your incredible support for "DON'T SCREAM". This journey has been beyond our wildest expectations. When we launched this game as a short UE5 horror experience, we never imagined it would capture your attention the way it has. Your enthusiasm and ideas have not only been inspiring but have also highlighted the potential for even greater depth in the game.

As much as we've achieved, Joure and I are aware of the limits of what we can accomplish alone, particularly regarding content and technical enhancements. We're proud of the improvements we've made so far, yet we recognize that there's a broader scope for development. This was a challenging realization, especially as our initial vision was for a short, engaging horror experience built-in UE5.

After careful consideration, and with the above in mind, Joure and I have decided to pursue different paths to best utilize our individual talents and visions. Joure will be moving on to new projects, beginning his own adventure in the indie dev scene. I wholeheartedly support him and thank him for his dedication and remarkable contributions to DON'T SCREAM. You can continue to support and follow his future endeavours on his Discord and Patreon platforms. Thank you, Joure!

As for me, I will remain actively involved with DON'T SCREAM, now with additional help. I'm excited to announce a collaboration with Digital Cybercherries. They will come on board to help develop and publish the game. This partnership marks a new chapter in the game's journey, promising to improve and expand the gameplay experience, overcoming the technical limitations that once hindered us. So, it's time to talk about the first major update and the future of DON'T SCREAM.

Please let us know on our Steam Forums or Discord if you encounter any bugs. Thank you!
[h3]WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR DON'T SCREAM[/h3]
Over the past two months since the launch of DON'T SCREAM, we've learned that you all really love the concept of the game. However, you've told us that its execution could be better. We've spent these months analyzing your feedback and identifying the most common points of interest. The most common feedback focused on performance, better microphone calibration, an improved user interface, and more subtle, tension-based scares instead of too many abrupt jump scares. There was also a desire for more backstory and lore, explaining why you're exploring the forest and understanding your purpose there. Many comments also suggested adding other dangers in the forest, which can kill the player if not cautiously avoided. Additionally, we noticed requests for objectives to motivate players to delve deeper into the forest's mysteries.

With this in mind, and with the assistance of Digital Cybercherries, we're now confident that we can implement the following improvements and content throughout 2024, each with more significant polish:

Here's our development roadmap for the enhancements and additions we plan to make in 2024, based on your ongoing feedback: (click the image to enlarge).

If the image won't open, here's a text version:

DON'T SCREAM DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP 2024

[h3]OPTIMIZATION[/h3]

• Vastly improve performance for lower-end systems to ensure smoother gameplay, while further optimizing medium and high graphics settings.
  
• Ensure consistent performance across all platforms, potentially including VR and consoles.
  
• Optimize 3D models and textures to enhance performance without sacrificing detail.
  And more...

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]

• A more user-friendly and intuitive user interface.
  
• Scarier scares with a focus on tension and buildup of atmosphere. Less “in your face” jump scares, more creative ones.
  
• Redesign of the entire sound for more immersive sound experience
  
• Improved microphone calibration and implementation.
  And more...

[h3]STORY / OBJECTIVES[/h3]

• Enhanced environmental storytelling.
  
• Introduction of objectives. Not only is the main goal to last 18 minutes without screaming, but soon you must also complete objectives to beat the game.
  
• A deeper focus on lore and background story.
  
• We're considering adding new threats to the game, like enemies that can chase, stalk, and kill the player if not carefully avoided. These enhancements aim to increase the game's suspense and challenge.
  And more...

[h3]WHAT’S NEW IN MAJOR UPDATE #1?[/h3]
We are thrilled to announce our first major update, developed with the expertise of Digital Cybercherries. The update significantly enhances performance on lower-end systems, making 'DON’T SCREAM' more accessible to players with less powerful PCs. This is a crucial step in our ongoing efforts to optimize the game. Key improvements include:

Enhanced Performance for Low-End Systems:
Players with lower-spec PCs can now enjoy a smoother gaming experience. This update marks our commitment to making the game more accessible and enjoyable for a broader audience.

Progress in Optimization:
While the game is better optimized for medium and high settings, we are still refining these aspects. The most noticeable performance upgrades in this update are on low-graphics settings.

Reduced Loading Times and Cleaner Assets:
We've significantly cut down loading times and streamlined game assets and textures. This results in a cleaner, more efficient gaming experience.

Players Can Now Run Much Faster with "Sprint":
We have significantly increased the sprint movement speed. This speed is not final, as we are testing to find the optimal balance for gameplay.

As we continue our journey toward full release, we are excited to further improve, optimize, and add more content to the game, thanks to your feedback.

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for your continued support! Have a wonderful festive season ahead! - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries

Socials
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(part 2)

Yesterday we rolled out the the first iteration of the re-designed Settings menu. It included the revamped main settings page and the new Video Settings and Microphone Settings page as well.



Today we've added proper key-binding functionality to the game (sorry AZERTY Players). As stated before, we didn't have the time to implement these before the Early Access launch but doing our best to make up for that!



Next up will be proper audio support and will be released once it's done. Before we can go back to working on the actual game itself, we'll be focusing on bugs and other technical issues which we'll try to address as soon as possible.

That's it for this update!
If you have any problems or questions feel free to drop by in our Discord Channel And we'll do what we can to help or answer, or if you want to just hang out and chat, we're usually around!

Again, thank you all for supporting! There's still a lot more to come!
Joure

DON'T SCREAM has gotten a settings / setup overhaul.

With this update you'll be able to:

- Change resolution
- Set a windowed mode
- Toggle VSync
- Cap the game's FPS
- And a new "medium" quality option has been added

There's now also a better Microphone settings page where you can change the default mic and set the value. It also detects if it's muted and you can un-tick it from there too.

With that said we will keep improving the settings and will be adding Audio options and a proper key-binding function soon!

We also identified the issue where your mic isn't picked up (Microphone privacy). It's a bit of an elusive issue that spans across Windows 10 and 11 users. We'll do our best to provide a solution once we can!