Death Trash News

Welcome.

This is the roadmap for the final phase of the Death Trash Early Access.

We have avoided communicating concrete dates in the past. Working as a small team on a complicated game has been notoriously difficult, especially in regards to timely estimations. The Early Access took longer than we initially anticipated. For that we are sorry.

But during the Early Access we have improved the game and, equally important, our tools, workflows and knowledge. We are more confident now about handling the rest of the game and what time we’ll need for that.

Note: These dates might still change. If one of the milestones takes longer than anticipated, all the later dates will be influenced by that, too, of course. And at the end of the day we won't call it final (1.0) if we are not happy with the state of the game and will instead put more work in. But the important thing here is, I hope, to see and to know that the end is actually in sight.



[h3]Steam Input implementation[/h3]
Current target: soon on the beta branch

[h3]The Perished City[/h3]
Current target: mid-2024 on the beta branch
New locations and quests.



[h3]Improving item economy[/h3]
Current target: fall 2024
This is about the range of items available in the game, inventory size, item balancing etc.

[h3]Northern Wasteland[/h3]
Current target: end of 2024
New locations and quests.



[h3]Improving existing locations and gameplay[/h3]
Current target: spring to mid 2025
This is in general about adding more depth to the game, both to the narrative parts as well as to the gameplay.

[h3]The Machine and the Watcher[/h3]
Current target: mid- to late 2025
Final locations and quests.



[h3]Full release[/h3]
Current target: mid- to late 2025

[h3]Post release[/h3]
We will continue to support the game, of course. And as this game is very dear to us, this will probably happen for a long time. We haven’t decided yet if the next project after this will be more directly connected to Death Trash or be a different take.

[h3]Console versions[/h3]
Current target: end of 2025
We have no final decision on whether we follow through with publishing these ourselves or partnering up for that. Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo Switch versions are playable already but need more work.

[h3]Localization[/h3]
Current target: unknown
We still don't know how much budget we'll have for additional languages. Production-wise it might make sense to have the localization added later than the 1.0 release so they can be done from a finished game instead of a still changing one. (If we had more experience we might try to have it all ready at once for the 1.0 release, but since our experience and resources are limited, we might rather approach this step by step.)

[h3]Level Editor[/h3]
Current target: unknown
Mainly intended for users to create their own standalone adventures with the Death Trash gameplay and art assets. We might extend the functionality later on.



[h3]Extended mind item gameplay[/h3]
Current target: might not happen
We have more gameplay ideas for Death Trash. But, realistically, we can’t tackle all of them and have to shelve some of them for later. Enhancing the gameplay around the mind items might be one of these cases. We will revisit these ideas in the future.

[h2]Thank you[/h2]

Thank you so much for your feedback and support so far. Death Trash has already become a much better game during Early Access and we couldn’t have done that without you.

- Stephan

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

[h3]Combat improvements[/h3]

- added some of the new melee weapons (see last update) to game locations
- updated handling of player hitting enemy with melee: will always lead to mini hit stun and interruption now (formerly first hit lead to hit stun, but then NPC resisted further stuns for some duration)
- decreased hit stun duration for NPCs
- some NPCs might try to circle back a bit after a stun (to evade stun lock)
- boosted damage for all melee weapons
- updated range on some weapons
- added eventual weak and tired melee attack when consecutively melee attacking (depending on weapon)
- introduced different melee attack speeds for different humanoid and mutant tiers
- humanoid ranged enemies don't shoot 100% accurately anymore
- adjusted humanoid enemy stats, mainly boosting health for higher tiers
- replaced a few later mutant enemies with stronger variants
- slight decrease of player health
- changed rocket launcher and similar weapons to high tech skill (and therefore excluding from some weapon modifications)
- fixed multi-bullet guns benefiting disproportionately from damage modifications

[h3]Other gameplay improvements[/h3]

- stealth skill influences energy consumption while moving
- allow Flashbang grenade usage during pacifist challenge runs
- added more info to weapon tooltips about damage improvements via modifications and skills
- added more info to skill tooltips
- minor content fixes

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

- fixed dialogue text being affected by fullscreen FX
- fixed one issue where weapon from dying enemy would get thrown behind collider
- fixed one constellation where item would get duplicated on looting
- fixed items not getting visibly removed on corpses when looting them (regression)
- improved popup handling regarding unintended input, e.g. via double clicking item in inventory
- fixed some issues with ranged weapon missing warning while having block ability equipped
- fixed issue with random range varation for weapons
- fixed some pathfinding issues
- additional bug fixes and improvements

[h3]Technical changes and improvements[/h3]

- improved performance on world map
- minor global performance improvements
- framework: replaced all dialogue variables with new system (hopefully not breaking anything)
- lots of improvements to the underlying framework and tools

[h3]Hotfix 0.12.1[/h3]
- co-op: fixed a crash on the world map (introduced in last update)
- fixed issue with converting dialogue states from older savegames

[h2]Current state of things[/h2]

[h3]1. Combat feedback[/h3]

The changes listed above hopefully make the combat more fun to play and more consistent. They do also influence the balancing of the combat and might, in some cases, remove some of the challenge. For these cases I would really appreciate some feedback, via F1 in-game or a Steam forum topic for example, so that we can look at the individual situations in more detail and continue improving the combat experience for everyone.

[h3]2. Beta branch[/h3]

We have a beta branch where we update the game more frequently.

You'll find more info about the beta branch and about testing in general over here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/941460/discussions/0/3427823001996731965/


[h3]3. Sale[/h3]

Death Trash will be part of the Steam Winter Sale from December 21st to January 4th with a 20% discount.

[h3]4. Next Update and beyond[/h3]

The next update (0.13) should be ready in January. (Edit: Update will take longer.)
We are currently working on new content (continuing the main story through the city) as well as adding more depth (narrative and gameplay) to the existing game.
We are also taking a look at a few of the remaining design issues, for example the item economy.

I am aware that the progress we make isn't always very tangible, but I can also see all the improvements we have made so far and the foundation we are building, and now, having more and more time to focus on the content and gameplay, I am looking forward to see Death Trash grow and prosper.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate your interest in Death Trash as well as your patience.

- Stephan

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

[h3]Additions[/h3]

- added new melee weapon variants (for now only via Shift+F10 -> Playtest -> Combat)

[h3]Improvements and changes[/h3]

- improved some dialogue
- experimental: added experience points progress bar above health when in inventory etc.
- improved pathfinding through multiple rooms and fixed some other pathfinding issues
- autosave when closing merchant screen and having bought or sold something
- tutorial area: make combat puppets destructable
- a few other minor level design improvements
- lots of underlying framework changes and additions

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

- fixed rare issue of character visuals flickering while standing still
- fixed some pathfinding issues
- fixed rare issues with point and click commands on loot container
- fixed not being able to loot item partially at least on almost full inventory
- fixed being able to replace locked equipped item via drag and drop
- fixed missing text in quest descriptions
- fixed Titans missing from map overview tracking
- tower location: fixed potential multiple master keys
- additional bug fixes and improvements

[h2]Current state of things[/h2]

[h3]1. Development[/h3]

Work continues behind the scenes on the remaining parts of the game as well as improving the existing parts, the underlying framework of the game and the tools we are using.

It's only in hindsight that I realize what a huge amount of work any kind of game really is, and the RPG genre in particular, and (I'm biased here) this game especially.
This amount of work is a bit of a downer sometimes. What's encouraging though is that our knowledge, our workflows and tools are improving, month by month.

Some random development bits from this month:

• We improved the pixelart animation import into the game engine. When working on the animations (in a separate app) I can press 'Save' over there now and the animations in the currently running game get updated automatically. Much easier to iterate when I can see the immediate results on a second screen in a live game environment.
  
• We are currently trying to find ways to increase the visual variety of indoor scenes, especially for the upcoming city levels. I am in general very happy with the visuals of the game, but the gridlike pattern we use for many indoor scenes could use a few breaks or alternatives here and there.
  
• We have had a testbot implemented for a while now for continously and automatically testing the game so we get immediately aware when we accidentally break stuff. We improved and expanded this bot now so it covers most of the current Early Access content.
  
• With this update we fixed some longstanding pathfinding issues. This wasn't really a priority per se, but for once it also feels good to improve a part of the game so far that it probably won't require any more work in the future and is ready for 1.0 and beyond.
  

Equally encouraging is the continuous feedback we are getting from you, the current or (hopefully) future players. Thank you for every F1 feedback report, for every shared thought via Forum, Discord, email, for every Steam review. You are helping us make this a much better game, and you are also heartening us by letting us know that there are people interested in Death Trash and that there are people out there who care about the work we do.

[h3]2. Beta branch[/h3]

We have a beta branch where we update the game more frequently.

You'll find more info about the beta branch and about testing in general over here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/941460/discussions/0/3427823001996731965/


[h3]3. Sale[/h3]

Death Trash will be part of the Steam autumn sale from November 21th to 28th.

[h3]4. Next Update[/h3]

The next update (0.12) will be ready in December in advance of the Steam winter sale.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

We are currently working on new content (continuing the main story through the city) as well as adding more depth (narrative and gameplay) to the existing game, but I am not sure yet how much of that will surface in the December update already.

Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate your interest in Death Trash as well as your patience.

- Stephan

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

[h3]Additions[/h3]

- added test level with new combat enemies (Shift+F10 -> Playtest -> NewEnemies)

[h3]Improvements and changes[/h3]

- increased default speed on world map
- map overview: added some NPCs to the map after having spoken to them
- made equipping weapon and armor slots take a bit of time
- improved UI while equipping weapons and armor and fixed a few usability issues related to that
- scroll wheel selection of weapons: added short delay before actually equipping (due to new equipment durations)
- updated NPC look directions: patrolling characters will turn around for a moment before beginning to walk in other direction
- updated some mutant animations
- updated some weapons

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

- fixed healing over time getting discarded when leaving location
- fixed a few quest tasks not showing the relevant location name
- fixed PS4 Controller showing Xbox icons by default
- Steam Deck Co-op: fixed some UI issues
- fixed some UI issues with action selection
- fixed a few UI bugs related to equipment and inventory
- fixed a few issues with the German localization
- additional framework changes, bug fixes and improvements

[h3]Hotfix 0.10.1[/h3]
- fixed "Combat mode is not available yet" message being stuck after using scroll wheel in tutorial area
- fixed UI issues with localization
- improved error handling for loading mods

[h2]Current state of things[/h2]

[h3]1. Feedback wanted on new combat enemies[/h3]

For the upcoming content we are also working on new combat enemies, of course. This update contains a test level with some of them, and we would appreciate some feedback now. (Are they fun to play against? Are they fair to play against? Etc.)

You can find the test level via the debug console. (There are, by the way, other playtest entries, too.)
Use Shift + F10 to open the debug console, then type and choose “Playtest”, then “NewEnemies”. (Controller: hold left thumbstick + hold left shoulder button + press Menu/Start button)
For writing feedback use F1 inside the game (Controller: hold left thumbstick + press Menu/Start button) or reply to this post or create a topic in the Steam Forum.



[h3]2. Version numbers[/h3]

Since we changed this recently, I'll mention this again: We'll continue numbering our updates as 0.10, 0.11, and so on until we leave Early Access and the game becomes 1.0. The reason from going away from the previous numbering scheme like 0.8.7.10 was that these numbers were interpreted as percentage of completion, but they were not supposed to represent percentages.

[h3]3. Beta branch[/h3]

We have a beta branch where we update the game more frequently.

You'll find more info about the beta branch and about testing in general over here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/941460/discussions/0/3427823001996731965/


[h3]4. Sale[/h3]

Death Trash will be part of the Halloween sale on Steam, beginning October 26th.

[h3]5. Next Update[/h3]

The next update (0.11) will be ready on November 20th.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

We are currently working on new content (continuing the main story through the city) as well as adding more depth (narrative and gameplay) to the existing game, but I am not sure yet how much of that will arrive in the November as well as in the December update this year.

Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate your interest in Death Trash as well as your patience.

- Stephan

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

[h3]Improvements and changes[/h3]

- improved quest handling and dialogue of priest quests around New Delphi
- updated mutant runner behavior: two charges instead of three, added cooldown, prevent multiple charging runners
- set shotgun and automatic weapon bullet speeds to the same value as rifle bullets
- quest inventory has unlimited space now (and added UI for handling this)
- improved perma-death mode: on death directly restart at gameplay start of game, keeping original character creation decisions
- make 'Usable Parts' stackable

[h3]Usability improvements[/h3]

- overview map: mouse click on exit will lead to character using that exit after having walked over
- overview map: allow click to walk commands also for control schemes using keyboard movement exclusively
- improved handling of point and click commands in combat
- fixed point and click commands with some destructible objects
- keyboard input only: fixed usage of charge up weapons
- keyboard input only: fixed abilities using mouse cursor for direction
- co-op: fixed issues on mouse / controller combination while having multiple controller connected
- fixed default button prompts for DualSense controller
- fixed player character stopping movement when drag and drop equipping
- fixed comparison tooltip being cut off at screen border
- disabled character looking towards hovered combat target when using direct movement
- deassigned default ranged and melee selection keys (used in manual mouse input mode) due to conflicts; updated related tutorial messages

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

- fixed issues with infection and puking in non-physical worlds
- fixed issue with blocking
- fixed animation issue with flying robots
- fixed turrets salvo visuals and actual shooting direction diverging
- fixed mutants being able to open door in some situations
- fixed some other issues with NPCs investigating doors
- fixed some NPC behavior issues
- fixes UI and other feedback issues with weapons like Flamethrower and Automatic Rifle
- fixed "Lock Mouse Cursor" setting not getting applied
- fixed potential issues in Titans Heart
- fixed some animation issues
- fixed NPC wait command (which fixes a few issues with NPC behaviors)
- fixed NPC potentially getting pushed through walls from explosions
- fixed a few potential crashes with mod loading
- fixed rare crash on NPC investigating something
- fixed a rare crash that would happen when loading save games
- fixed more rare crashes
- minor text changes

[h3]Technical improvements and changes[/h3]

- improved loading times
- updated spawning NPCs: prefer level design values over values in savegame
- added "combat" playtest entry
- added missing font support for some community translations on some systems
- additional minor bug fixes, improvements and framework additions

[h2]Current state of things[/h2]

[h3]1. Version numbers[/h3]

Since years we followed a certain pattern of versioning the game: 0.7 being the first demo release, 0.8 the Early Access release, and 0.9 would be the feature complete version shortly before the final release, and 1.0 would be the finished game leaving Early Access.
That means that Early Access updates so far followed a scheme of being something like 0.8.?.?.

I witnessed often enough now people measuring Early Access development progress by these numbers. But these numbers don't signify any kind of percentage of completion.
Version numbers are just there to differentiate different game versions. And in some cases to differentiate a hotfix from a previous regular update. That's their only purpose. No percentage indicator.

To avoid this confusion we will from now on simplify these numbers and set our updates version numbers from 0.9 (this one) to 0.10, to 0.11, then 0.12, and so on. Until, someday, there's a 1.0, when the game leaves Early Access. (And there's probably be 1.1, but that is a different story.)
Hotfixes following the updates will have minor number increases, for example 0.9.1.

[h3]2. Unity[/h3]

Death Trash is made with the Unity engine. A few days ago Unity announced a future runtime fee that got heavily criticized (rightfully so) and in the follow-up days the exact details of it are still not clear. Some people were interested how this might affect the development of Death Trash, so here are a few thoughts about the topic:

For now at least there's no impact on the development of Death Trash. If the runtime fee will be established there might be a financial impact in the future which would impact sustainability and the budget of future projects. But it would not stop this game from getting finished.

What's really damaged though is our trust in the future and the makers of this game engine.
We'll be keeping an eye on how this develops and won't be making any decisions right now, but longterm we'll be looking at a range of game engine options for our next game.

[h3]3. Beta branch[/h3]

I would like to mention again that we have a beta branch where we update the game more frequently.
This is how it works: We update the game on the beta branch on average once per week and after a few updates when we see that all is working out fine, that last version is pushed as an official update.
You'll find more info about the beta branch and about testing in general over here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/941460/discussions/0/3427823001996731965/


[h3]4. Next Update[/h3]

The next update will be ready on October 24th.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate your interest and patience.

- Stephan