Thanks for playing Zodi! <3
Occult Softworks
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Sorry Kat, I was at GDC and am just now getting back.
Yes! I believe in the build, If you open the Cheat Menu, you can use:
OccultGrantItem Tarp 1
You can use Page Up and Page Down to view the Narrative Node Progress.
And use the Cheat: OccultCompleteNarrativeNode {NodeId} to complete node progress if you need to skip around.
Sorry that you ran into that! There should be enough Tarps floating around, but it's easy to miss. Jam games can be funky!
It's cool! I just thought it was humorous, you're actually the fifth person to suggest it.
The other suggestions are good! Save-Load and Autosave are a feature I'm working on actively. It got cut at the last minute because of issues with loading into bad game states.
I think once we revamp the opening it'll fix a lot of the issues with nothing to do. We've cut it down by 3/4ths at this point.
Issues we are Aware of and Will Hopefully Fix in a Future Version of the Game
MAJOR ISSUES:
- Opening of the game needs to be revised, the walk is too long, not enough interesting content. (IN PROGRESS)
- Survival Gameplay needs further emphasis. (IN PROGRESS)
- Building and Repairing excited players, and they would like to see more. (IN PROGRESS)
- Player can outrun triggers with no fallback checks. Will require redesign of the Narrative Node system.
- Objective System needs a Rebuild. Current Version is not tenable.
- Outdoor and Indoor Segments need to be better integrated with one another. Goal would be to remove the need for Loading Screens entirely without sacrificing performance.
- Building Kit has numerous issues with Dimensions and proportions. Texture is highly repetitive. Needs additional variation.
- No Save/Load or Checkpointing is a nightmare for replaying (IN PROGRESS)
- No Settings Menu (Graphics, Controls, Sound)
- No Localization System
- No Gamepad Support (IN PROGRESS)
MINOR ISSUES:
- Player sometimes Teleports during Beats. (This is not being properly gated by the editor and needs to be resolved)
- Demented Double Laughter during Power Plant Sequence. (WTF!?)
- Cold Gauge Needle Jitters slightly as it rotates. (Probably needs a Content fix)
- Subtitles don't trigger during Cinematics (Need to convert them to use the node system)
- Subtitles are very tiny. (It's using the wrong subtitle widget in builds) (IN PROGRESS)
UNDER CONSIDERATION:
- Crafting / Consumables System (IN PROGRESS)
- More Robust Building and Repair System (IN PROGRESS)
- More Robust Survival Mechanics (Wetness, Sweating, Exhaustion) (IN PROGRESS)
- Additional Side Quests
- Additional Endings
- Better NPCs (With Lip-sync)
Hey there, Yes it should be possible to unlock the door, you should be able to connect the Radio Tower to the Gate by dragging a wire from one to the other. If that isn't working, there may be a bug, though someone just played thru and opened the door yesterday, so I'm not exactly sure what that bug is. If you'd like to experience the other ending quickly:
- Go to the old Base.
- Press "Page Down" until you see the Narrative Debug Screen.
- Press F5 to unlock the mouse
- Type 'NarrativeNode_Chapter_6_Beat_2' into the Text Box above the 'Start Narrative Node' button.
- Press the 'Start Narrative Node'
(EDIT) Of Special Note: It looks like there's a bug with connecting the Transformers. If you connect the wire from FROM the Gate Transformer TO the Radio Transformer, it does nothing. If you connect the wire FROM the Radio Transformer TO the Gate Transformer, it works. I don't know why this is happening at the moment but I'll look at fixing it ASAP
Version 3 Patch Notes:
Version 3 is a Crash and Soft lock Only Patch, and reduces the game size from 7.5gb to 3.8gb.
- Fixed a Crash when Narrative Events occured during startup of the game on slower machines.
- Fixed a Crash in the UI when you looked at the Credits.
- Fixed a Crash in the main menu if tick occured before the player pawn had fully loaded into the world on slower machines.
- Fixed a Softlock where you could outrun the Look at the Radio Tower trigger objective.
- Fixed a Softlock where players could get stuck in the world geometry around the crash site.
- Fixed a Softlock where players could get stuck in the world geometry at the beginning of the Glacier Valley.
- Fixed a Softlock where Day 1 would not fully load into the world.
- Fixed a Bug in Signs and Signposts not appearing.
- Fixed some base interior level decor not loading due to being on the wrong World Submap.
- Exposed the Narrative Debugging System for players to they can avoid too much walking if they need to restart the game.
Version 4 Patch Notes: (In Progress - See Nightly Build)
Version 4 is In Progress, these are the current features that have made it into the game as of this patch.
- Added First Pass Save-Load. A Warning: We do not currently support Cross-Version Save/Load, and likely won't until final release.
- Added Pause and Inventory Display Menu
- First Pass Partial Gamepad Support.
- Added Vodka Consumable. Currently, Vodka reduces Cold. But it is planned to instead reduce the negative effects of cold in a future version.
- Fixed the wrong Subtitle Widget being used by the engine.
- Started the first pass rebuild of the Game World, including a massive overhaul of the world geometry, and landscape materials.
- We're working on an Ingame Journal, which will be our Persistent Tutorial for the world and it's mechanics.
Hey All! So we're currently in active development, and I wanted to give you an update on where this ship is headed.
In November and December we spent our time doing some real honest-to-goodness Pre-Production, figuring out the direction the plot is going, deciding on our required systems, and evaluating all of the feedback we've gotten from people. I'll sum up some of the major decisions we're making here:
- The way we presented Dialogue was some of the best received parts of the game, people want to see more interesting choices and witty banter, and we agree! Our plan is to expand upon the success of the old system, and introduce a few points within the narrative where story branches can occur. Hopefully we can show some of this off in a future update.
- Cutting the AI Fat. We had intended on making this a game where we had a bunch of AI driven systems to provide a unique experience for each player, but right now we've decided we'd much rather focus on highly authored encounters instead, as it is eating up too much of our attention and bloating the scope of the game.
- The Story is getting totally rebuilt from the ground up. During the jam we had to compromise our vision SEVERELY and some of the cuts left the ending feeling very rushed, and very, very confusing. The premise will remain the same, but we've fleshed out the story and cut some of the more confusing elements completely. The ending(s) will be completely different. Everything is subject to change, but we plan on introducing a partner rescue diver who will be on the ship with you, and a wholly rebuilt cast of crew. We will also be rebuilding what info we imparted through Cassette Tapes, making finding them more meaningful.
- We're doubling down on Audio. Mel is going to be very busy as we move forward, one major shift is the removal of FMOD and embracing the UE4 Audio System. We're looking forward to the power this will provide us. Seeing as this is 2021, and it's the year of the Sea Shanty, you can bet we'll be doing those in the full game.
- We're taking some time to expand on our art kits, building entirely new segments. I'll throw some images in at the bottom of this thread to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. Nick is also working on an extensive set of new Shaders to drive the visual look and feel of the game.
- Revamped Level Design: The new interior level is 14x Larger than the previous interior set, with increased verticality, and multiple avenues to explore. Segments of the ship will be unlocked as the player discovers new secrets. Our dream is to make the interior and exterior scene one in the same, to allow for more interesting traversal and a more seamless experience, but this might be limited by the art budget. We also have plans for a totally rebuilt exterior scene that better shows off the grand Alaskan coastline... There's also a wholly new scene in the works, but we'll talk more about that one in a future update. =)
- More puzzles, world interactions, and animatics to add to the richness of the exploration and horror...
- And finally, the horror: We've figured out the core plot of the game, and where we want to draw from when it comes to the horror elements of the game. We want to avoid any kind of cheap jump scares where possible, and would rather tie in the various encounters you can expect to come across.
Here's an example of the environmental design changes we're making in response to the Art Feedback we received:
OLD vs NEW
More interesting Geometry, breaking up the flow of the level, and giving players nooks and crannies to explore, and new areas to navigate.
We'll touch base with more detail in the future, but as of right now, it's looking like we'll be moving forward with the project. We're still looking for funding to let us bring this to the next level. We also don't know where we're publishing yet. As of this very moment, there are no plans to support the original jam version of the game further, instead we'll be working on the new version. We hope we can release in October of 2021.
The version we currently have posted is our official 0.0.3 Release, Updated on 10/28/2020.
0.0.1 (Original Release) on 10/5/2020
0.0.2 on 10/18/2020
0.0.3 on 10/28/2020
Pending Changes for Version 0.1.0:
- Overhauled Frob System to handle a broad range of interactions and required player affordances. It also no longer goes through walls.
- Fixed the Rotation of Inspectable Objects
- Added an Examination System, that allows you to more closely look at objects. Additional gameplay and puzzle elements will use this system.
- The Horror Director is online, and is creating spoopy moments for the player.
Patch Notes for Version 0.0.3:
- Player Character now reacts to Fire. This is a soft-fix, a hard fix will require re-recording of lines from the Voice Actor.
- Additional fix to the Generator fire sound, which had multiple causes.
- Fixed a bug where the player could trigger the Radio Conversation about the power being on, without the power being on...
- Fixed the use of Tab throwing an error due to incomplete implementation of the Inventory system.
- Improved Controller Support, you can now toggle the flashlight.
- Fix for Door Opening sound playing when you enter the Interior Level.
- First Pass of a Material Overhaul for the entire project, which should improve performance, and allow faster iteration.
Patch Notes for Version 0.0.2:
- Fix for the Pause Menu appearing under the Inspection Window, causing a soft lock.
- The Generator no longer plays a mysterious Fire sound.
- Temp Fix to make the Rotations of objects slightly less obnoxious. A full fix will be included in the next major release.
- You can now no longer walk up the Book Case in Room 2A, clip through the ceiling, and enter THE SPACES BETWEEN.
- Improved Controller Support.
- You can no longer jump into the ocean in the Exterior Scenes, no matter how much as you want to go swimming... If you somehow manage it, you will return to the ship.
- Fixed the Rain not raining on a large section of the initial exterior scene around the ship. This was caused by a poorly placed collider.
- Fixed the Helicopter Sound in the endgame not playing correctly.
- Fixed the Soft Lock if you don't pick a Narrative Node when playing the Final Cassette.
So we had a bunch of things that got cut at various points through the game. This is a good listing of them:
1) "Horror Director": This system was originally designed to handle our jumpscares, horror sounds, etc. But it became a bug factory and needed to be totally cut at the 11th Hour, which eliminated a large chunk of the experience. This makes me sad, because we have a whole soundboard of Larry screaming and being upset at things...
2) Retooled Opening and Closing scenes. The outdoor scene suffers from receiving basically no developer attention, we spent literally 2% of our dev hours on it. I had hoped to come back and retool it but the rest of the game required attention. The opening Helicopter runs on a spline I was using to rough the scene out, I had intended to go back and do it as a full Animatic, but alas.
3) Level Streaming. Currently, the interior level is a performance nightmare. I was intending on breaking it up into smaller, streamable levels, but we just ran out of time.
4) There's actually a good chunk of the ship that we cut early on, including additional quarters, the bridge, and another outside segment. If we had time/a budget I'd return and retool the golden path. As is, the experience is pretty short because the retraversal is fairly limited.
5) PUZZLES! We had to ditch almost all of our puzzle mechanics because we couldn't guarantee they were totally solvable without Developer help.
Project Status: Pending Evaluation
We are in the process of submitting for an Epic Grant after the Senscape Jam, we are evaluating the changes we need to make, and seeing what we can accomplish over the next few months. There is a lot of needed work to get this to a state where it could be called ready for full release.
If you have thoughts, feel free to leave them in this thread! Thanks so much for taking the time to play our game!
KNOWN ISSUES:
- The Outdoor Sections have numerous art-quality issues. And the entire opening scene is still being driven by Splines instead of animations, leaving the Helo feeling stiff.
- Massive performance issues in the Generator Room.
- Cargo Bay is sparse and poorly populated with Decor.
- Scene Transition Fade is inconsistent.
FUTURE SOLUTIONS:
- The entire Frob system is slated for a full rebuild. Pretty much any interactable object will need to be converted to the new system, but it should make it much easier to use, and allow a broader range of actions to occur. One big thing will be moving any kind of "State Logic" off of the Frobber, and into the Frobs themselves. (0.1.0 Major Release)
- Horror Director is Offline, so Scary things never occur. (Fixed in 0.1.0)
- Level and Beat Logic are going to be reorganized into discrete units and driven by a Scene Director. (0.1.0 Major Release)
- Interior Map will be split up into sub-maps, and streamed, we have useful connection points in the Ladders, which gives us a good time to do the handoff. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Scene Fade will be handled with a Token Queue. (0.1.X Minor Release)
- Conversion of the Sound System from FMOD to UE4 Audio. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Input Filtering through the UI & Pawn into attached Components to allow for input consumption. (0.1.0 Major Release)
- Full Controller Support for Gameplay & UI. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Better Water. (0.1.X Minor Release)
- Opening Animatic Retooling with Proper Tutorialization Prompts for gameplay events. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Closing Animatic Retooling. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Rebuilt Narrative System supporting a wider range of options and gameplay effecting events, including interruptions. (0.X.0 Major Release)
- Save/Load (1.0.0 Shipping Release)
- Inventory System, Cassette Replay (0.X.0 Major Release)
FEATURES BEING EVALUATED:
- Skip Cutscenes/Animatics - I am putting thought to this now.
FEATURES WE ARE NOT PURSUING RIGHT NOW (even if we'd like to):
- VR Support: So far only one person has asked for it. It's not in our wheelhouse, and would be very expensive for us to do well.
- Linux Support: We do not have the hardware, and noone on the team has experience troubleshooting for Linux.
- Mac Support: Same as Above. We don't want to put out a crappy port we didn't test.
- Localization: Right now, we can't support localization, Text-only or otherwise. As we rebuild, we will be looking for opportunities to rectify this.
- Achievements: Unless there was budget for art, we're not sure this will ever end up anywhere but Itch.
- Full Ingame Arms and Arm Animations: Though that would be SO COOL RIGHT?! Honestly, we just don't have an animation budget to do this, and none of us are animators.
This was super interesting, I liked a lot about it. If you don't mind some feedback:
- There should be a little more forgiveness when jumping, right now you can only jump while on the platform, but it would make timing a little easier if there were a few frames of forgiveness.
- The segments where the Platform goes sideways could use a slightly wider collider. I found them a little too difficult / frustrating.
I liked what you did with the panels fading in, it gave me plenty of Forewarning.
Anyone can post ideas here. I'll be adding particularly interesting ideas here. They are not guaranteed to make it into the product and are subject to being run thru our Designer for play-testing first.
Character:
Mana Engineer: Suck up 3 Random Mana from Board (Active), Can use discharged 1 Use Buildings for 2 Mana. (Passive)
Wizard: Go back to original skill of remote building activation.
Game:
Unlockable Characters that can replace party members to gain different play experiences as you progress through the game and beat it.
Easy, Medium, Hard: Different Event Cards and Event Card Frequencies for each.
Tutorial Level can be a plot point for the game, taking place on a smaller island, using the same mechanics.
So we built it using the Unity Exporter for Linux/Max/Windows. Theoretically it should work for them but we don't have the ability to test it due to not having a Mac or Linux Machine. We had someone play an earlier build just fine on Linux so I assumed it was still working. I will see if I can get them to play it.
Noted on the Fullscreen button. I think there used to be one but it broke. Thanks for the suggestion!
A friend asked: "What stuff didn't make it in?". The Answer: A LOT! Our designer spent most of the jam creating a huge set of deep mechanics and testing them out in board game form; it looked a lot like this: Click Here to See my Messy House and the Game Board
Basic Mechanics:
We originally had a mechanic where the Scion could be passed between units, but we couldn't fit it into the time constraints.
Unit Mechanics:
The Mage originally could activate buildings remotely for 1 Mana, but this proved to be too difficult to implement in a way that was easy for the user to understand. He also was originally intended to suck up all mana in a Province as he walked.
"The Tide":
Originally we had a system of "Tides" which would fuel certain events and smash up the map from a specific direction. This ran into huge time constraints and was left out.
Buildings:
A LOT of buildings were nixed due to the time constraints, they are as follows:
"Swapper": This would swap the locations of Two other Buildings.
"Fault": This was a "Bad" Building that was the focus of a huge number of events. It has a really kickin' animation cycle too.
"Reset": This building would reset a target Province to it's original state.
"Teleporter": This building would teleport a Unit to a target location. It was low priority as the Scout already fit this role and was cut due to time constraints.
"Tide Changer": This building and everything to do with the "Tide" System was scrapped due to time constraints.
"Drain": This building would drain a target province of it's flood level. It was low priority as the Druid already fit this role and was cut due to time constraints.
The Mana Generator was intended to have a number of animations and a floating icon to indicate it's count; these files are actually in the game but never implemented.
Events:
A TON of events were nixed due to time constraints.
"Cracking Foundation": This would flood all Provinces near the Fault. Cut due to the lack of Fault.
"Fissure": This would flood all provinces in a straight line from the Fault, North-South/East-West. Cut due to lack of Fault.
"Leaking Pipes": "This would hit the Fault and the Closest building to it. It would then add 2 Mana to the Province that was hit. Cut due to lack of Fault.
"Oh, Frack": Target Building becomes a Fault. Cut due to lack of fault.
"Stormfront": The Tide is Randomly Set (North, South, East, West). Flood 1 Random Province. This was cut due to the lack of Tides.
"Dash on the Rocks": Flood 3 Random Province along the "Tide Coast". Cut due to lack of Tides.
"Great Wave": Flood Every Province along the "Tide Coast". Cut due to lack of Tides.
"Mana Wind": Remove All Mana from the Board. Randomly Re-distribute it to the Board. Flood 1 Random Province. This was cut due to a bug it introduced in the Mana Spawning algorithms but exists in the code.
"Unstable World": Swap a random unlit tower with a Random non-tower, and Flood 1 Province
"Parched Earth": Flood all Provinces without Mana. This was cut due to a bug it introduced in the Events System.
"Atlantean Interference": Player Loses up to 3 Mana. Unflood 1 Province by 1 Level. Flood a different Random Province. This actually exists in the code but was cut at the last minute due to some unpredictable behaviors it introduced.
Suggestions for the game can be posted here. There's a LOT of stuff we want to put into the game if there's a demand for us to finish it, and we'd love to hear your ideas!
We have ~8 Buildings, ~20 Event Cards to add Variety, and possibly some new character types you can choose at the beginning to create a unique party every playthru.
4/25/17 @ 9:56am:
Fixed an uncaught exception when lighting a tower in the WebGL Build caused by the audio, that stopped the game from progressing and sometimes crashed the browser.
4/26/17 @ 7:28pm:
Fixed a NullReferenceException with the context menu that could result in an unplayable game state. (Soft Lock).
Fixed a bug with the SoundLayers that resulted in WebGL crashing for some users when it attempted to play music. (Hard Crash)
Fixed a IndexOutofRangeException that resulted in the AP display not working and could result in the game becoming unplayable. (Soft Lock).
Removed Unused Files from the Game to make the download size better.
Fixed a NullReferenceException edge case where the user could become stuck in the Scout's teleport, resulting in the game becoming unplayable. (Soft Lock)
Fixed an issue where the Ship could spawn in an unreachable location, resulting in the game becoming unplayable. (Soft Lock)
4/27/17 @ 12:25am:
Fixed an issue where resizing the game would result in the GUI freezing, putting the game in an unplayable state. (Soft Lock)
5/10/2017 @ 5:41pm: "Ancient Technology" Version
Fixed the Camera Lag where Events would play and the camera wouldn't be focused on them.
Lowered the Volume of the "Sinking" Sound effect.
Fixed an issue where the Druid would not Pathfind properly when trying to navigate water tiles.
Fixed an issue where activating the fourth tower would not always call the Ship.
Fixed a Major Pathfinding Bug where characters would walk thru water at inappropriate times.
Added a new Menu to replace the functions of the Context Menu.
Fixed an issue where the AP Counter would not update after a unit interacted or used an ability.
Units now have a killer Teleport Animation
Units now have an animation for Ability Usage and Interaction.
Context Menu has been retired.
New On-Screen Ability Menu has been added.
Extensive Tooltips have been added.
Fixed a bug where using the Druid ability on the same province as a Tower would lower the tower to sinking level.
Added a Pause Menu with Control Scheme Reminders.
Fixed an issue where the Province Outline was erroneously activated upon game start.
Fixed an issue where activating a Tower on a unit's last Action Point would occasionally lead to an Unusable Game State (Soft Lock), or not properly activating the endgame.
5/15/2017 @ 8:28pm: "Rising Tides" Version
Added the "Fault" building. It exists only to bring the player woe and does not
Added a new Event Card: "Fissure", it fractures the island in a line North-South or East-West
Added a new Event Card: "Cracking Foundation", it sinks all provinces around a Fault.
Implemented the Tides System Backend.
Added a new Event Card: "Stormfront", it changes the Tide Direction, and Sinks a Random Province 1 level. This is the first of our Tidal Cards.
Added a new Event Card: "Great Wave", it hits every province in the tidal direction. This is a very bad card.
Fixed a Bug where an Erroneous Event Card that was not meant to be included could end in a Soft Lock.
Added a new Event Card: "Child's Cry": It teleports a random hero back to the Cradle, and spawns 2 Mana there, while also sinking 1 Province.
Added a new Event Card: "Last Moment". It hits all Unlit Towers, and the Cradle.
Fixed a problem with the Move and Remote Ability Use Tiles that sometimes resulted in clicks not being registered
Added a new Event Card: "Oh Frack!": It converts a building into a Fault, and hits two adjacent provinces.
Added a new Event Card: "Leaking Pipes": It Sinks the Province a Fault is on by 1 Level, Sinks the nearest building to it by 1 level, and spawns up to 2 mana on the same province as the fault.
Added a new Event Card: "Mana Wind": It sinks a single province, and redistributes all mana on the island.
Added a new Event Card: "Atlantean Interference", it sinks a province, raises a province, and removes up to 3 Mana from the player's mana pool.
Tremor now no longer takes 10 Seconds to Resolve. It has been significantly sped up as per your many requests.
Added a new Event Card: "The Bow Breaks", it sinks all provinces that have been flooded 3 times.
Added a new Event Card: "Parched Earth", it sinks all provinces that have no Mana on any tile in them. Super brutal.
Added a New Event Card: "Unstable World", it swaps the locations of an Unlit Tower, and a Random Building, and sinks a single province.
Added a new Building, the first of our Second Generation Buildings. The Tidal Generator allows you to change the direction of the Tides.
Added a new Building, the Remodeler: It allows you to swap the locations of two buildings. It can only be used once.
Added a new Building, the Teleporter: It allows you to teleport a Unit anywhere on the map to any unflooded, unoccupied tile for 1 Mana.
Added a new Building, the Temporal Generator, it resets a province to its original flood level and restores any building uses it may have had.
Added the last new Building, the Floodgates. It raises a target province by one flood level.
New Event Structure: There are only a certain number of cards in the Event Deck of each type, as if a deck of cards. When a card is drawn, that specific card will not be drawn again, though there may be copies in the deck. When the deck is drawn to 0 the game will end.
New Lose Condition: The Deck Empties.
The Wizard's ability has been changed to fit the original design document: It may now remotely activate buildings from Afar.
Fixed the Issue where the Action button would become frustratingly difficult to click.
Units may not transfer the Zion back and forth at a cost of 1AP. They may also place it back into the Citadel.
Fixed a bug where certain event cards would cause the game state to halt (Soft Lock).
Fixed a bug where certain events would crash the game. (Hard Crash).
Druids may now use their ability in flooded tiles.
Certain buildings are now more functional when on flooded tiles.
Fixed an issue with the Sound Layers not being correct: The appropriate music now phases in when appropriate.
5/16/2017 @ 6:43am
Fixed a Game Breaking Bug caused by Unity Analytics that stopped the game map from Loading.