Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 03:48:46 pm
Arcen Games is proud to announce that the Shattered Haven beta is starting today! The beta will last from today through March 18th, when the 1.0 version will be launching.
During the beta period, you can buy the game and get full access to the latest and greatest beta version for 25% off the usual $9.99 price tag.
An Environmental Puzzle Game About Family, Grit, and Survival
Grays roam the land, largely in the absence of human interference. These aren't your typical Zed -- theirs is a very different sort of apocalypse. Animals spontaneously transform into twisted, violent beings. The earth decays, collapsing into a network of abysses. The wilderness thickens.
It has been nine years since That Day when it all started. Pockets of humanity still exist, but are ignorant of one another. Within these isolated havens people try to live as best they can -- for even in a world so broken and dark, daily life must go on.
Darrell and Mary Williams were able to build such a life inside a five-acre fenced yard out in the country. They were even secure enough in their isolated compound that they had a daughter five years after the zombie-like grays appeared.
Life carried on as normally as it could, until another refugee on the run is killed during a nearby attack. Her son is saved and taken in by the Williamses -- who do not realize that this kind action will destroy their home and threaten their entire family. They find themselves caught in the midst of a struggle between two eldritch horrors, and the path to survival is anything but clear.
Features
- Solve environmental puzzles under pressure. Figure out how to use the tools, traps, and weapons in each level to clear all the Grays.
- Nearly 100 hand-crafted levels with multiple difficulty levels ranging between casual and hardcore, developed end to end by two experienced adventure level designers.
- Complete bonus objectives for higher scores and gold markers.
- Follow the story of Darrell and Mary as they try to save their family from a new and unexpected threat through in-game storytelling and painted-style cutscenes.
- Guide different members of the Williams family through branching story paths that result in one of several endings. Depending on your actions, the story may end very poorly, happily, or anywhere in between.
- Music and sound by composer Pablo Vega provides a chilling atmosphere for players to experience.
- Included level editor: The same editor used to make the main adventure will let you make your own levels, cutscenes, or even entire adventures.
- Local 2-player co-op. Using two gamepads, two players on the keyboard, or any combination of the above.
Screenshots
(More screenshots available at the link above).
Video is coming soon!
Post by: TechSY730 on March 08, 2013, 04:04:55 pm
Will be downloading the beta for this bad boy this evening.
And I see you have already gotten the mantis project started for it. (There are a lot of non-dev filed bugs, was there a limited beta period?)
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 04:09:00 pm
Oh hecks yea!
Will be downloading the beta for this bad boy this evening.
Cheers! :)
And I see you have already gotten the mantis project started for it. (There are a lot of non-dev filed bugs, was there a limited beta period?)
Those are all dev-filled, actually. Zack is the other level designer working on this other than me. Although that's not really fair to my wife, who probably did around a third of the levels initially, too. Hmm. Anyway, she hasn't worked on it since 2008, though.
All that said, we did have a private alpha that was about 10 days long or so, but those bug reports were not into mantis, but rather were via email. I think it was like 16 people in the alpha by the end.
Post by: Teal_Blue on March 08, 2013, 04:33:09 pm
-Teal
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 04:48:40 pm
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 04:51:40 pm
I'll hold off till release on purchase. Namely because I remember the steam key fiasco in AVWW1, and don't want to get caught waiting on steam to accept haven's keys.
One note: there are no keys for Shattered Haven, and the game is not confirmed for Steam. However, if the game comes to Steam then we will be offering Steam keys to anyone who buys the game during the preorder period and then asks us for one. This is our first completely DRM-free game in terms of not even having a license key (not that we ever considered that DRM, but some other parties do).
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 04:52:59 pm
Post by: Aklyon on March 08, 2013, 04:55:28 pm
Interesting choice, Chris.
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 04:57:45 pm
Post by: KingIsaacLinksr on March 08, 2013, 05:03:36 pm
It's something we're trialing with this game. It gets us in with a certain large distributor that is not Steam and that will be carrying this game at launch. :)
Hah, I know who it is. :P
Post by: Aklyon on March 08, 2013, 05:30:46 pm
Post by: Jerebaldo1 on March 08, 2013, 05:39:20 pm
Post by: Billick on March 08, 2013, 05:43:04 pm
Post by: keith.lamothe on March 08, 2013, 06:10:04 pm
Squeeee!Careful, the grays could hear you.
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 06:18:15 pm
Does the 'specialty unlock code' do anything yet? Or is it just a button in the options right now? ???
It has a function internally for Arcen, but otherwise isn't used. :)
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 06:38:59 pm
Post by: Penumbra on March 08, 2013, 06:45:53 pm
Post by: Aklyon on March 08, 2013, 07:28:35 pm
It probably shouldn't be in the front of the options menu then.Does the 'specialty unlock code' do anything yet? Or is it just a button in the options right now? ???
It has a function internally for Arcen, but otherwise isn't used. :)
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 07:35:06 pm
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 07:38:44 pm
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 07:48:00 pm
Maybe I'm missing something, but is it intentional for the playing window to be much smaller than the actual screen? Have it on full screen and everything settings wise, but still that huge border of wasted space.
If you're playing above 1024x768, then yeah you wind up with border. Please see: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Tidalis_-_Common_Technical_Support_Questions#I_set_the_screen_resolution_higher_than_1280x768.2C_and_now_I_have_black_bars
It's the same thing as with Tidalis. Scaling in code looks HORRIBLE and is really slow. So adjusting your screen resolution down is going to get you something crisper that is also small. Unlike various other 2D games, however, we don't lock your screen resolution to something tiny. Something like Lone Survivor is (I believe) locked around 640x480 or so. It works for that game's aesthetic in particular, but we like to give people the flexibility since we're doing crisp pixelart versus more impressionistic (which is NOT a slur on Lone Survivor, I though it's graphics were really effective).
Post by: TechSY730 on March 08, 2013, 07:50:50 pm
Does the 'specialty unlock code' do anything yet? Or is it just a button in the options right now? ???
It has a function internally for Arcen, but otherwise isn't used. :)
It's clearly where they put the code they use to activate their alpha dating sim mode. :P
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 07:59:52 pm
By the way, not sure if it's worth going to mantis for... but I find the check boxes a little difficult to tell if they're checked or not. The plus sign could use to be much bolder. Especially as green/red can be a common color blindness.
Post by: Misery on March 08, 2013, 08:01:01 pm
Maybe I'm missing something, but is it intentional for the playing window to be much smaller than the actual screen? Have it on full screen and everything settings wise, but still that huge border of wasted space.
If you're playing above 1024x768, then yeah you wind up with border. Please see: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Tidalis_-_Common_Technical_Support_Questions#I_set_the_screen_resolution_higher_than_1280x768.2C_and_now_I_have_black_bars
It's the same thing as with Tidalis. Scaling in code looks HORRIBLE and is really slow. So adjusting your screen resolution down is going to get you something crisper that is also small. Unlike various other 2D games, however, we don't lock your screen resolution to something tiny. Something like Lone Survivor is (I believe) locked around 640x480 or so. It works for that game's aesthetic in particular, but we like to give people the flexibility since we're doing crisp pixelart versus more impressionistic (which is NOT a slur on Lone Survivor, I though it's graphics were really effective).
I still say this one is going to be a major sticking point when it comes to alot of potential buyers..... you know how gamers can be about the visuals in a given game. The fact that you can change the resolution of the screen itself simply wont occur to many (or they might just think it's stupid).
Heck, *I* have had to limit my time with this one, as this is one of the very, very rare games that can actually cause me eye strain. To put it in perspective, no other game I currently have anywhere on this PC has that effect..... at all. And Windows gets a little STRANGE if I try to change the overall resolution (as does the stuff related to my video drivers), so normally I avoid doing this like the plague. And that's a shame, because this seriously is a really good game.
Either way though, this seems to be progressing nicely! I'll be interested to see what happens when it releases.
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 08:02:25 pm
Post by: Mick on March 08, 2013, 08:05:32 pm
It didn't really dawn on my before to lower the resolution to make it fill more of the screen with game space, I thought it was meant to have a ridiculously large border for some reason. I definitely think a lower default makes a lot of sense for a game like this.
Post by: Jerebaldo1 on March 08, 2013, 08:09:50 pm
Squeeee!Careful, the grays could hear you.
lol, then it's Home Depot time...
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 08:14:45 pm
The latest version is causing a flickering on the screen as I'm moving, and it's much more pronounced when I move the mouse cursor around.
Do you have vsync on? Turning that on should solve any flicker. And it should have been on by default.
Post by: Penumbra on March 08, 2013, 08:29:19 pm
Heck, *I* have had to limit my time with this one, as this is one of the very, very rare games that can actually cause me eye strain.
I've been using the Windowed borderless mode (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2675769) mod from the Steam forums. I double the resolution to 2048x1536 and it looks great!
(I know this isn't sanctioned or supported, and it messes up the mouse, but.... )
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 08:36:12 pm
Maybe I'm missing something, but is it intentional for the playing window to be much smaller than the actual screen? Have it on full screen and everything settings wise, but still that huge border of wasted space.
If you're playing above 1024x768, then yeah you wind up with border. Please see: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Tidalis_-_Common_Technical_Support_Questions#I_set_the_screen_resolution_higher_than_1280x768.2C_and_now_I_have_black_bars
It's the same thing as with Tidalis. Scaling in code looks HORRIBLE and is really slow. So adjusting your screen resolution down is going to get you something crisper that is also small. Unlike various other 2D games, however, we don't lock your screen resolution to something tiny. Something like Lone Survivor is (I believe) locked around 640x480 or so. It works for that game's aesthetic in particular, but we like to give people the flexibility since we're doing crisp pixelart versus more impressionistic (which is NOT a slur on Lone Survivor, I though it's graphics were really effective).
I still say this one is going to be a major sticking point when it comes to alot of potential buyers..... you know how gamers can be about the visuals in a given game. The fact that you can change the resolution of the screen itself simply wont occur to many (or they might just think it's stupid).
Heck, *I* have had to limit my time with this one, as this is one of the very, very rare games that can actually cause me eye strain. To put it in perspective, no other game I currently have anywhere on this PC has that effect..... at all. And Windows gets a little STRANGE if I try to change the overall resolution (as does the stuff related to my video drivers), so normally I avoid doing this like the plague. And that's a shame, because this seriously is a really good game.
Either way though, this seems to be progressing nicely! I'll be interested to see what happens when it releases.
Okay, this is in:
* Previously the game would default to your desktop resolution, which could easily be wildly too large, making the game tiny.
** Now the screen defaults to 1440x900 if your graphics card supports that, or 1024x768 if your graphics supports that, or whatever your smallest supported (by both the game and your GPU) resolution is. Only if unity for some reason can't detect any supported screen resolutions at all will it now use your desktop resolution.
In terms of the eyestrain thing, if you're playing at the native resolution of the game that really shouldn't be a problem. If you're playing at the native resolution of your monitor, that's really going to vary wildly. The game will now default to something much closer to its native resolution, but if you play in windowed mode that's going to give you trouble. There shouldn't be any trouble with changing the resolution when in fullscreen mode with this game, as it won't mess with your desktop resolution. If there's something odd with your drivers being broken or what have you, then either something like Penumbra was suggesting might be good, or else simply getting a different driver version that works better.
Hope that helps, anyhow -- not much that I can do beyond that, because scaling in-game just looks gratuitously awful and also is a real GPU hog. So you'd get something uglier and less-performant, not a good combo. ;)
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 08:40:16 pm
Didn't seem worth a whole blog post, but it has a number of minor things in there.
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 08:50:48 pm
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 09:01:39 pm
Is the patch live? I'm not seeing the patch link in-game, and the mac auto-updater is crashing on me.
Yep! Open the game and hit the big play button, and you should see it say 1 beta updates found on the second line item right under your quick-load button. Running that will then work. The auto-updater always crashes (on any OS, for all our games) if you run it directly.
Post by: madcow on March 08, 2013, 09:02:49 pm
Is the patch live? I'm not seeing the patch link in-game, and the mac auto-updater is crashing on me.
Yep! Open the game and hit the big play button, and you should see it say 1 beta updates found on the second line item right under your quick-load button. Running that will then work. The auto-updater always crashes (on any OS, for all our games) if you run it directly.
Aha, I was expecting it to show on the main menu. That got it.
Post by: x4000 on March 08, 2013, 09:16:46 pm
Post by: mrhanman on March 08, 2013, 10:21:11 pm
I really hope you guys can get on Steam. I know too many people who won't buy anything unless it is there.
Post by: Deekay on March 08, 2013, 10:21:58 pm
Purchased. Seen enough to know I will really enjoy this, I wish you guys all the best with the game.
Hopefully we start to see some really cool user created content emerging after the full release :)
You think you guys might create a child board on here for user content etc at some point?
Post by: Jerebaldo1 on March 09, 2013, 12:07:17 am
Post by: Teal_Blue on March 09, 2013, 12:21:49 am
Awww, play ended by the crazed meadows level, where it appears that one of the grays is stubbornly not crazy and stands in place next to the pond where the player initially spawns. Won't give me a chance to send him to the pits...
I had that happen too, :) after i cleared the whole level besides. I couldn't get him to budge, so tried again, and had another gray do the same, third time i had to catch him 'before' he, actually it as a she, but before she got to the pond. :) Then i went and got the others.
Right now i'm stuck trying to get a sledgehammer that stays in inventory when i go to the crypt level? you know the one you need the sledgehammer to get 'into'. :)
Other than that i'm having a great time, though i am sometimes over looking the tacks and scyths and things like that. I'm probably just not used to the tools. Maybe a listing in the encyclopedia before we come across them would help us to know what to keep an eye out for? Just a thought.
Really nice so far,
:)
-Teal
Post by: xoseph on March 09, 2013, 03:14:31 am
Another strange and brilliant game from Arcen!
Post by: Mick on March 09, 2013, 07:11:52 am
The latest version is causing a flickering on the screen as I'm moving, and it's much more pronounced when I move the mouse cursor around.
Do you have vsync on? Turning that on should solve any flicker. And it should have been on by default.
I do have vsync on.
The flickering is on the HUD and border, not so much in the game area itself. This is occurring in the level Switch Maze, not in the overworld.
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 07:16:07 am
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 07:31:47 am
Post by: Mick on March 09, 2013, 08:14:33 am
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 08:19:22 am
New version with 4 active inventory slots and improved deadzones: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Shattered_Haven_-_Beta_Release_Notes#Beta_.802
Enjoy!
Post by: LaughingThesaurus on March 09, 2013, 12:23:59 pm
Post by: Greywolf22 on March 09, 2013, 01:19:40 pm
Otherwise have been having a blast with it...game is fantastic..definitely worth the purchase price for those who are still on the fence about it.
*EDIT* So just went through the switch maze again, and it does flicker...and it seems to be flickering regardless of what I'm doing at the time (IE it's not in the same place each time, sometimes happens when I'm walking, sometimes when I hit the wall, etc.)
Steady 60-61 FPS...never dips, and when it flickers I still see 60-61FPS...
Again, it wasn't enough to distract me, but it's definitely there...for the record I haven't seen it anywhere else.
Reported in Mantis, just for tracking purposes.
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 01:52:30 pm
New version is now out! http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Shattered_Haven_-_Beta_Release_Notes#Beta_.803
Post by: Diazo on March 09, 2013, 02:11:04 pm
Finished the tutorial bit with the kids and got control of the parents. Rather then just running away I hopped across the water to pick the tools up (scythe, caltrops, pitch fork) and then went to the overworld.
I then made it to the farm with those tools and picked the axe up in the farm level.
I then died. :(
On restarting the level without going to the overworld, I still had the axe in my inventory, but I had lost the 3 tools I'd picked up back at the house where I got control of the parents.
Something seems odd there. I would expect inventory to reset to what I had upon entering the level or to lose everything, not loose what I had upon entering the level but keep what I picked up in the level before dying.
Otherwise, I'm having fun so far. :)
D.
edit: This is on 8.002
Post by: Telasro on March 09, 2013, 08:35:56 pm
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 09:06:07 pm
Getting an error "couldn't connect to host", which appears to be preventing me from getting updates. Tried Uninstalling and reinstalling, which didn't help. Any suggestions?
If you're getting that error, then it means that the game can't connect to Amazon. Really the only cause for that is if you don't have an active internet connection or if you have a firewall of some sort blocking access for the game. If you simply grant access to the program in your firewall settings, then it should be all set!
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 09:12:54 pm
How is inventory on death supposed to work?
Finished the tutorial bit with the kids and got control of the parents. Rather then just running away I hopped across the water to pick the tools up (scythe, caltrops, pitch fork) and then went to the overworld.
I then made it to the farm with those tools and picked the axe up in the farm level.
I then died. :(
On restarting the level without going to the overworld, I still had the axe in my inventory, but I had lost the 3 tools I'd picked up back at the house where I got control of the parents.
Something seems odd there. I would expect inventory to reset to what I had upon entering the level or to lose everything, not loose what I had upon entering the level but keep what I picked up in the level before dying.
Otherwise, I'm having fun so far. :)
D.
edit: This is on 8.002
Cheers! In terms of what you had, those were: iron tacks, bear trap, and iron sickle. All of those are consumable weapons -- aka, when you use them they are either gone for good, or the number on them counts down until they reach zero, and then they are gone for good.
When you die in the overworld or a level that uses the overworld items, all of your consumable items are indeed intended to be lost. However, non-consumable items like, for instance, the Axe, are retained. If you had had the scythe (as opposed to the iron sickle), that also would have been retained.
The main problem here is that you had these things at this point in the game. I'm putting in a fix for that in the next version, as that causes all sorts of confusion. Thanks!
Post by: x4000 on March 09, 2013, 09:16:37 pm
Post by: Winge on March 09, 2013, 09:45:55 pm
0.804 now out! http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Shattered_Haven_-_Beta_Release_Notes#Beta_.804
Glad I got my illicit weapons through The Farm level already...that way, I can find new and interesting ways to get stuck :P
Post by: mrhanman on March 09, 2013, 10:22:59 pm
Post by: x4000 on March 10, 2013, 07:46:29 am
Post by: SashaNein on March 10, 2013, 10:16:22 am
Post by: tigersfan on March 10, 2013, 10:42:06 am
I bought the beta early yesterday and still haven't received an e-mail with information on how to download/register it. Am I missing something obvious? I can send you a PM with a link to my invoice details if you need it.
First, check your spam folder, just in case. If it's not there, send me a PM with your real name and the e-mail address you used, and I'll look into it for you.
Sorry about this.
Post by: SashaNein on March 10, 2013, 10:56:40 am
I bought the beta early yesterday and still haven't received an e-mail with information on how to download/register it. Am I missing something obvious? I can send you a PM with a link to my invoice details if you need it.
First, check your spam folder, just in case. If it's not there, send me a PM with your real name and the e-mail address you used, and I'll look into it for you.
Sorry about this.
Thanks for the quick response. I've sent you a PM.
Post by: Pattoe on March 10, 2013, 11:05:28 am
Post by: tigersfan on March 10, 2013, 11:14:12 am
I bought the beta early yesterday and still haven't received an e-mail with information on how to download/register it. Am I missing something obvious? I can send you a PM with a link to my invoice details if you need it.
First, check your spam folder, just in case. If it's not there, send me a PM with your real name and the e-mail address you used, and I'll look into it for you.
Sorry about this.
Thanks for the quick response. I've sent you a PM.
No problem. Glad we got that working for you. For anyone else who might have that issue, please just let us know.