I’m shiftBacktick, the developer of Periphery Synthetic EP. Here you may ask me anything about the project or myself. Cheers!
I have a question that has burning at the back of my metaphorical soul ever since I found your games. I hope you don’t mind me asking :-). But considering you said ask you anything, and this shouldn’t be a rude or offensive question… Here goes:
Is your name, “shift back tick”, significantly different than the simple character ~ or the name “tilde”, beside just being a longer form? I.E. if I were to talk about tilde’s games, would it make any since at all.
-Michael.
:-)} All in fun.
Excellent question! 😹
The handle is a reference to the tilde. On a US English keyboard, that’s what I press to type that character.
My first major encounter with the tilde was in college while learning Max/MSP in a few music classes. I liked how its meaning changed in the software to represent a sine wave, or the foundation of everything we hear.
For a few years I’ve had a tiny tilde tattooed on my wrist, when making this sort of electronic music was still just a daydream. It’s funny how that’s materialized into this hobby!
That’s all to say, that you could refer to these things by tilde, when the context is right.
Hi! Thank you for sharing your frustrations with me.
This is a difficult choice for me, because I understand how a clearly defined path would be helpful. This game is intended to be explored nonlinearly, at your own pace, in a way that the story unfolds organically as you perform certain actions or encounter randomly-generated things.
I don’t want to add features that would take away any sense of discovery, by telling folks what to do (or not do) as they play. However, I am always considering improvements to the core game systems and upgrades, to help empower folks in their discovery.
I’m assuming that you might be stuck at collecting all the artifacts. Their locations are random. Currently, the best way to find them is to pick a direction and drive.
In a future update, this could be improved with an upgrade for the scanning system. For example, it might call out the direction of the nearest artifact or cache when used. This is possible but not currently on the roadmap.
That’s correct! Each site has an associated fast travel location and artifact to collect. After a while you’ll find all the artifacts, and additional sites you discover will give you a Simplex instead. This is generally how all the worlds will work. In the upcoming new world there are mountains to climb, in the following there will be caves to explore, and so on. Doing so will progress the story and offer rewards.
By the way, I reflected on your question, and made some changes in today’s update based on your feedback. The structures now have a unique sound in scan results. And collecting the artifacts will automatically discover them. There is still more work to do, but I hope these changes help.
Cheers!
Hey! I wanted to let you know that I’ve changed my mind on this. The release next week will make the scanner point in the direction of the nearest destination, discovered or not. I needed a development tool to help me capture interesting videos and screenshots, and then realized that it really improved the experience. I’m sorry for not understanding that sooner. I hope it’s a step in the right direction. Cheers!
I just claimed the Steam key to see the differences in the game on steam. I'm on Steam for Linux, and currently, my PS5 controller does not work while playing the game in Steam. If I play the stand-alone Linux version it works great. I have tested other games in Steam and controller support is there for them, so I think I found a bug. The hard part is determining if it is a Steam bug or a periphery bug.
I know I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. This game totally rocks!
Heya there from a happy surveyer! I too can confirm what stormdragon2976 said, the Linux native version works fine, the Steam version works on keyboard but not by controller. Other then how much this game rocks! although quite nice and mellowly... "is that a word/" Thanks muchee again for all your wonderful games. Peace be with ya!... Cheereo!
Wow, thanks a lot for the latest fixes. I'm not sure if you saw my post or not because of this warning I have on my account for what ever reason, but it's so easier to find the void ends now. I figured out that there were indeed ends about fifteen minutes after my first post (you know, because that's how it always works), but still, I wanted to thank you for listening. Regardless if you see this or not, not many devs would. Can't wait for the next world, looking forward especially to the new flight system and gliding. Any hints :) ?
Hello! Thanks for reaching out about the latest changes. My apologies for not seeing your last message for whatever reason. I’m thrilled to hear that the caves are more navigable with the changes to the obstacle avoidance sound and collectable filtering! I understand that there is more work to be done inside them, with some specific things that I still want to revisit myself, so please reach out if you have any more feedback. Cheers!
Hint, sort of: The core aerodynamics subsystem is being spun off into its own unlockable system. It has two entirely new subsystems: one for increasing the maximum flight velocity, and one for changing direction while falling without using the thrusters. You’ll need to invest into reducing drag again, because the unlock costs have changed. You’ll find gliding very useful on all worlds, especially the two new ones coming in Side D. The entire expansion is a literal game changer that I wish could have been included upon release!
Hi Michael,
My apologies for not responding to folks’ specific messages. I’m aware of the issue, but I don’t have any updates at this time. After the holiday I should have some capacity to purchase the necessary equipment to troubleshoot issues with Linux, Steam Input, and controllers such as the DualShock 4 and DualSense. I can only support Xbox and Xbox-like controllers right now.
Thanks for understanding. Cheers!
This thread has gone off-topic so I’m hiding it. You may still reply if needed. Please start a new thread or join the Discord to contact me for support-related items.
Hi, do the voids in the water world have an end? The all show up as unexamined, but no matter how far I go, I eventually get blocked to what it seams like the end. But the scanner says there's still ways to go, so is that a bug, or is there really not an end? If there is, is there a non brute force way to get passed the blockage?