Fractal Space News

We are happy to write to you again :) We hope you're alright. We're back here to write about the current progress and state of the game :)



As mentioned in the previous development update, we have a PC Pre-Alpha build ready for anybody to play and test, if you are willing to play an early version in order to provide useful feedback and opinion on the game and find out bugs!

Current pre-alpha testers are currently finding a lot of nice glitches, bugs and other issues, but also provide interesting ideas for current and next chapters of the game. If you're interested in helping us improve the game, you can simply request a Steam key for the PC Pre-Alpha build of the game by sending an email to [email protected]

The Pre-Alpha Steam build is updated about 1-3 times / week to fix all bugs which are encountered by players and test new experimental features.

Special thanks go to Peter and Kjus! They have both found many bugs and created videos for them! Peters also helps with Hungarian localization! Thanks very much to both of you!

We are focusing on fixing all bugs and polishing the first 2 chapters of the game, mostly because we want a good playable build for... Reboot Develop!



We are happy to announce that Haze Games is going be present at the indie games event Reboot Develop in Dubrovnik, Croatia!

We are thus working actively on a fully working build of the first 2 Chapters of the game on PC, for the people on-site to play! We are getting some very useful feedback, bug reports and comments from Pre-Alpha players that have requested a Steam Key. Thanks to them, we hope to achieve a bug-free and fully playable demo build :)

This also means we have to work on Posters, Flyers and Business cards for the game; a different, time-consuming type of work, but also very important.

We hope to have a few players at our booth - if you live in the area, please feel free to come and see us, we would be very happy to meet you!




We have reworked all tutorials to be fully compatible with display of keyboard/mouse icons and Xbox One / Xbox 360 controllers! Now, we're sure everything can be understood easily, and those controllers are now fully supported:



Note: Later on, we'll add support for the Steam Controller and various others.

Using a gamepad, the Jump/Jetpack buttons are now either    OR   .   The player can use either of these 2 buttons at anytime to Jump/Activate Jetpack.

In most circumstances, using   to jump is fine. However, using   button to use the Jetpack forces you to remove your right thumb from the right joystick... This is bad, since you cannot look around or change direction without interrupting jetpack thrust.

Instead, you can now use    for Jump/Jetpack, and keep both your thumbs on the gamepad's joysticks while using the jetpack. This makes it much easier to control!


We have been working on an interesting feature for Fractal Space on PC: The Upgrade System from Upgrade Terminals. These Upgrade Terminals allow the player to, for example, improve Taser capacity, movement speed, Jetpack duration, maximum Health, or unlock new abilities:



You can only select one type of upgrade out of 2 to 4 choices every time you encounter an Upgrade Terminal. They are not always easy to find (or reach). Upgrades being persistent from a playthrough to another we hope it improves replay value for a New Game+. As soon as an upgrade has been selected, the Upgrade Terminal is not longer available, you'll need to search for the other ones throughout the station if you want to upgrade more!


We will be adding the Sprint Ability to unlock from Upgrade Terminals very soon to the Pre-Alpha for current alpha players to test. This allows you to run much faster. We've been making sure it works nicely, both with and without controller.


The Focus Abilitiy is not yet ready for testing and will be introduced in Chapter 3, when it is ready for pre-alpha testers to play with. However, further work has been done on this feature to make sure it works well while in Zero-Gravity, and a few new rooms exploiting it have been created.


We are also working in parallel on the third chapter of the game, which will mainly exploit Zero-Gravity and introduce the Focus Abiltiy described above!

Here are a few screenshots of some of the new rooms of Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 Work In Progress!











We hope you enjoyed reading us today, and we'll be back next month for more news! Have a great day, and happy gaming!

Charles and Amélie, from Haze Games

We have been working on the PC version of Fractal Space this month, and we are happy to announce that we have a first Pre-Alpha PC Press build available!

We have worked a lot on the visual effects and sound effects to make the game more immersive. We will make them better in the polish stage, but it's already sounding much better than it was last month :)

We also have updated the video of the Steam Store page with new footage and gameplay of the PC version!


We have completed the re-work of the game on PC for the first two Chapters of the game! Meaning that we are now sending Steam keys to everyone who requested one! You can request one by sending an email to [email protected].

This Pre-Alpha Steam build lets you try the new features and reworked graphics exclusive to PC, Mac and Linux platforms!

Important notes:

• This pre-alpha build only includes the first 2 chapters of the game
  
• Voice-over are temporary, and will be recorded with actors for release
  
• Some rooms are currently silent - dialogs still require writing and recording
  
• You may see blinking/disappearing 3D objects at a distance - this will be fixed later
  

Another nice PC-exclusive feature we are working on is Zero-Gravity rooms with their associated puzzles!

This requires a lot of re-work of the controls and physics handling for movement, jump, jetpack and objects. Handling player collisions has been painful. It's still an unstable system, that's at its early stage - we need to build more rooms exploiting this feature, and fix issues & bugs as we go along.

However, it's starting to work pretty well, and we hope you'll enjoy it on the PC Pre-Alpha build!




That's also new for the Desktop version of Fractal Space: We are using Destructible Walls to place some of the hidden recordings, and some rooms require you to break its structure in order to solve their associated puzzles:





Beware, you may also find yourself lead into a trap, hidden behind what seemed to be a secret reward behind the wall ;)


For the PC version, we have reworked most 3D assets to look better, be more visible, and show more instant feedback to the player:






Thanks for reading! We are now working actively on Chapter 3, and all the new rooms and new features this room involves. We have something new about Time Manipulation... But we will talk more about it when we have something to show :)

We will release a new Development Update when Chapter 3 is completed, within 1 or 2 months! Thank you all, see you next time, and Happy Gaming!

Charles from Haze Games

We have been very busy the last few weeks, focusing on the Steam version of the game. This is why there hasn't been any update of the Pocket Edition on iOS and Android - yet.

The Pre-Alpha PC Press Build is soon to be ready for Press and Youtubers to enjoy! It was supposed to be ready within the next few days, but we have taken the decision to delay it a bit more.

For the next development update, during October, the Pre-Alpha PC Press Build will be ready.




Instead of releasing the Pre-Alpha PC Press Build in the next few days, we took a hard decision:

Player movement and controls on PC were working OK. But they weren't perfect. And that was the issue. After a lot of hard work and time spent fixing issues, tweaking and trying to make them perfect with the current system, we finally decided that it would be best for our players to actually completely rework the movement, jump, gravity, jetpack and moving platforms system.

What does this mean?

Well, as we were adding features and perfecting the player experience, the current system proved to have flaws. Flaws that couldn't be fixed. There would still be situations where we'd be unhappy with the result. That comes from the fact that this game was first started a long time ago, and was not ready to support the new features we have added since.

This means that the entire controls and movement system has been restarted from scratch. It's a long process, and a lot of work, yes, but it had do be done at some point.

The reason behind this decision is that it was too hard to achieve a smooth, reactive and completely bug-free experience with all 3 input systems: touch controls, keyboard & mouse combo and gamepad. We want YouTubers and Beta-Testers to have the best experience possible for the early PC build.

After this huge rework, the result will be:

• Global movement feel and experience will be the same regardless of input system: touch, gamepad or keyboard & mouse
  
• Acceleration and deceleration of the character will feel much more natural on all platforms
  
• Jump will be smoother
  
• Additional PC-exclusive features will feel more polished
  
• Bugs regarding moving platforms will be fixed
  
• Moving platforms will now give velocity to the player and objects placed on them
  
• Objects will now have momentum and will be thrown with player's current velocity
  
• Falling from a platform or ground will result in a smoother fall trajectory
  
• Jetpack will feel more smooth and gravity applied while using the jetpack will feel more realistic
  
• We will have the same experience with all 3 input models
  

This development update is mostly about telling you what we are working on; it's something that cannot be seen or explained easily, but will be felt as you play the game.

However, below are some new screenshots of improvements and levels for the PC version, and a few new features announcement!


Another nice PC-exclusive feature we are working on is Zero-Gravity rooms with their associated puzzles!







This requires a lot of re-work of the controls and physics handling for movement, jump, jetpack and objects. Handling player collisions has been painful. This is also one of the reasons why we chose to rework the movement system; it makes it easier to support this features.



It's starting to work pretty well, and we hope you'll enjoy it on the PC Pre-Alpha Press Build!



We have reworked most 3D assets to look better, be more visible, and show more instant feedback to the player. For example, cubes, switches, cameras, ammo packs and health packs are more visible in dark areas, and their current state is more understandable using more visible color changes:














We are super happy to say that we have finally reached over 100 000 Downloads of the Pocket Edition on Android!

This is great news for us, because we wanted to achieve that. Considering we have zero budget in advertising and marketing, we are very moved and very happy to have reached this number only by having people play the game and talk about it to their friends.

We would like to say "Thank You" to everyone, every single 100 000 of you who have downloaded and played the game.

We are extremely grateful to each of you who have taken the time to rate and / or comment our big project that we love :)


We will release a new Development Update when the Pre-Alpha PC Press Build is ready. Once we have reached this point, we'll then move back to the Pocket Edition to update it with bug fixes, the new systems discussed here and enhancements.



Once this Pocket Edition update is rolling out, we'll return to working the PC version, completing the rework of Chapter 3, 4 and 5 and fixing the bugs the Press players and beta-testers will have discovered ;)

Thank you all, see you next month and Happy Gaming!

Charles from Haze Games

Hello, dear Fractal Space players, fans and readers!

We are writing this post to update you on the progress made on the PC version these past few weeks. We have been very busy with:

• Working for other studios, on different games :)
  
• Moving from London to Kosice, Slovakia (pfew!)
  
• Finishing the first chapter of the PC version
  
• Adding new rooms to the second chapter of the PC version and reworking lighting
  
• Adding cool new PC-exclusive features
  
• Answering to many Google Play comments from our players
  
• Adding localization options (German, Russian & Spanish) to the Android & iOS (Pocket Edition) of the game
  
• Fixing a few bugs reported by our Android players (thank you very much!)
  

Some of you have asked why the game isn't released on PC yet. Others even wondered if we're still working on it.

The initial plan was to release in May 2016.

However, the recent gameplay and level additions that will drastically improve the game experience have taken more time than expected.

Why is that?

The main reason is that I am the only one working on the game development, while Amélie writes the story and dialogs.

Building a game takes time. Building a good game takes even more time. That's what we are trying to do.

If we were working full time on the game, it would already have been released. However, we are both working full time in the games industry for other companies. We have recently been completing other projects, and we are now moving from the United Kingdom to Slovakia to work on a new project!



Fractal Space is our side project. It is very important for us - I work on game building most evenings and over weekends. Amélie thinks about the story as often as I think about new rooms, situations and features: every day.

In parallel of of building the new Steam version, I have also worked on bug fixes for the Pocket Edition. We will release an update for mobile platforms within a month or 2 to fix all known issues, and add German & Spanish localization.

Simple version: we are never going to stop working on the game until it's properly released, but we are creating out of passion - meaning that we do not have as much time as we would like to. The current goal is to release before the end of 2016. It is currently hard for us to be more precise than this.



I would like to thank all Android players that have generously donated. Some of you have donated $7, which is awesome; and it gives us hope that it's possible to release a game for free and still get a a little reward for it! Thanks again ;)

Now, let's talk about the PC development update!

If you have not yet read the first PC Development Update we published in August, we recommend you have a quick look before scrolling down!




We are very pleased; we have received a large number of CD Keys requests for press and Let's Play videos for YouTubers.

We can now say that we will very soon be ready to send a preview build including the first two chapters of the game! We will release a new development update on this blog for the occasion, so keep your eyes open on our Twitter, Facebook or Google+ account ;)






As we did for the first chapter, we have reworked the lighting of the second chapter of the game. That's a big part, so we're happy to have completed this :)


 





We have added a few new rooms and challenges these past few weeks. They focus mainly on using the Jetpack and avoiding trap-enabling cameras.



Cameras can usually be disabled for a few seconds using your taser-gun. However, some of them might be equipped with a force field, making your beloved taser-gun useless against them!







We are adding the Room Control feature, which allows the player to control certain security modules of the room!



A map of the current room is displayed. You can use it to enable or disable security modules to help get past challenges that are apparently impossible.

If you feel like it - or you're afraid of the dark - you can also switch on the lights ;)






In the previous development news, we talked about cameras. These cameras will set deadly traps once if they detect you.

Beware! You will now also encounter laser-equipped cameras, and these will try to kill you on sight!





If you move quickly and swiftly, you might successfully avoid the camera's laser projectiles and get to cover behind a crate. Or not...



That's if for the development update! We hope you liked this post and screenshots, we'll keep you posted about Chapter 3 within the next two months. You can expect a new development update when we release the press test builds around the end of July or beginning of August, hopefully ;)

Cheers, and Happy Gaming!

Charles & Amélie from Haze Games.

Since we have released the Pocket Edition of the game around a month ago on Android & iOS, we have delivered a few game updates that you can check out here.

By the way, we just had a great review from PocketMeta :)

These past few weeks, we have mainly been working on the PC version of the game.

We do not want to deliver a simple PC port of the Pocket Edition on Steam - we want to create the best experience possible, considering our small team of 2 with only 1 developer. This is the reason why it takes so long.

Some of you might think:

"Fractal Space on PC will just be a simple mobile port. It's basically the same game with keyboard and mouse!"

We would like to prove you wrong.

First of all, the graphics are much better than the mobile version. The levels will be more surprising, even for a huge fan of the Pocket Edition, who may have completed it more than once.

What we mean by "surprising" is that levels are longer, more challenging, and make use of exclusive new features that we could not implement on mobile devices.

The goal of this post is to show you a bit of the new stuff!



Here are a few new screenshots of some simple elements that simply look nicer than the mobile version. Please note that all images in this post are Work in Progress. Final quality might change and look better after polish phases:











The space station will now be crawling with ventilation shafts (oh, I see what you did here).





You will need to crouch through them to discover where they lead you. Let's hope they don't lead you straight into a whole new trap!

Of course, you'll also need to crouch under nasty lasers and other mean things... ;)



We have been working a lot with lighting in the PC version of Fractal Space. You now have a flashlight attached to your Taser Gun, allowing you to see - even in the darkest corners of the space station:





This flashlight will come in handy in many situations; lighting in the station might be unstable, and sometimes you might need to cut the power in order to get past some deadly traps.

Beware! Your flashlight intensity depends on the charge of your Taser Gun, so don't go around shooting anything that moves, or you'll discover how dark the station can be ;)



One of the new elements of the PC version is the Power Cores. These little guys are portable batteries, allowing your to power-up systems by inserting them inside Power Stations.





They will thankfully turn on lights in the room, allowing you to walk around without your flashlight. They will also activate lifts and moving platforms, helping you reach the exit. However, they might activate those lasers, who seemed to be useless until then!

 



We wanted to add a little bit of life within the walls of the space station. We have added static and moving cameras. Indeed, life couldn't be added without a bit of a new challenge too :)



Upon detection of an intruder (hm... yes, that might just be... you), these cameras will enable set the room in lockdown, preventing you from getting out. Since locking you up in isn't enough, they will - on some occasions - enable traps to make your survival harder.

You will sometimes need to shoot cameras with your Taser Gun to stun them while you slip through.

When you do that, please be careful; after a strange stun coming out from nowhere, these cameras enter a warning state, in which they will thoroughly search the room for intruders. You'd better be far away when it comes back to "consciousness" again!

Some cameras have force fields, shielding them from any kind of attack. In this case, your best shot is to stay hidden until things calm down.



Oh, important note: all of these cameras aren't just about containing you. Some are equipped with a laser-gun (uh-oh...). You'd better be extra careful while slipping through their line of sight!

At the time I am writing this post, we are quite close to completing the first level of the PC version. We still have to re-work all the next levels of the game, create new rooms, and add new cool PC-exclusive features like the above for you guys.

We'll keep you posted within the next few weeks about more things we'll be adding to the game! We hope you enjoyed having a little news :)

Cheers & Happy Gaming!