Fragmented City Release Date

05 Jan 2025Developer post

First Devlog of 2025

Long time, no devlog. The last third of 2024 was pretty rough over here, and the development of Fragmented City was pretty much put on pause since the second half of October - but I'd like to emphasize that I still haven't given up on this project, and will make sure to continue

Long time, no devlog. The last third of 2024 was pretty rough over here, and the development of Fragmented City was pretty much put on pause since the second half of October - but I'd like to emphasize that I still haven't given up on this project, and will make sure to continue the development in 2025!

Those who follow me on Twitter, or Discord probably know that a serious data loss happened in late April (3 months of work got completely lost) and recovering from it was the toughest work I'd ever had as a video game developer. Some minor details are still missing, and there might be some bugs, but luckily I was not only able to overcome the data loss, but continue the work further.

I still publish devlogs in the Crow Bar Discord server, but since not everyone is there, here is a list showcasing some of the more exciting features I've been working on:

The Kingfisher Valley hub has been coming together nicely. I managed to add new locations, details and polish the level geometry.

One of the new NPCs in this hub can give you different sidequests (in case your morale is low, otherwise he will send you away).

I've added a taxi driver as well who can take you to different locations (including Hawkfields). A new city hub (Sparrow Hollow) is going to be accessible via this method only.

You may remember a phone booth from the demo. I proudly announce that I've implemented a fully functional phone system with different numbers you can call. NPCs can either answer, miss, or even discard your calls - and this even dynamically changes depending on your current tasks, relations, etc.

Completely reworked the input system to support customizing the movement keys as well. I can hopefully use this new system in Through The Fragmentation later on.

Added new variables to the stats screen, so the game can account how many times you lied, stole a wallet, or rob a safe. Also, on the Settings/Interface panel, you can set whether you want to have the distance walked stat calculated in meters, or in yards.

Worked on new websites you can visit to gather information related to different side quests, or secrets. Made sure that the game can remember which pages you visited, (in case an NPC mentions a website to you during a conversation, for example), and added alternative paths as well.

I also made a special elevator for the game that functions as a teleporter between hidden areas. You need to find the codes to these areas, and sometimes even the way back to the City.

Thanks for following the development, and Happy New Year!

Original post

03 Aug 2024Developer post

Demo Page Published

The demo version of Fragmented City has its own Steam store page from now on. Which means you can drop a review there. Very much appreciated if you do so (regardless of it's a positive or a negative one).

04 Feb 2024Developer post

Demo is out!

first of all Galaxy sized thanks to the testers for taking a last look at the demo build before I released it! Although, I have a little bit mixed feelings about this release for now. The game has no trailer, and I had to cut out some cool (but buggy and unpolished) dialog option

31 Jan 2024Developer post

Demo Launch Date

This weekend. Probably/hopefully Saturday. All I can say in advance is that I hope it was worth the wait for you, and the work by me. There are a couple of stuff to polish and test till the weekend, but I'd like to think Fragmented City - even if it's just a demo - surpasses the

06 Sep 2023Developer post

An update

This is going to be a little bit longer post, but if you've been wondering whether or not I still work on the game, the short answer is: yes . The most important task is still finishing the official demo (right now I'm working on deciding which parts should be included in it), bu

This is going to be a little bit longer post, but if you've been wondering whether or not I still work on the game, the short answer is: yes.

The most important task is still finishing the official demo (right now I'm working on deciding which parts should be included in it), but since recently a good couple of prominent titles have dropped, I decided not to rush myself, it's probably better not to throw a small indie title's demo into the social media noise for a while.

But anyway, here is an illustrated list of quite some stuff I've been working on:

This time you're going to be an actual resident of the City, and the apartment you live in will reflect certain progresses made during the playthrough. Not to mention you can access a personal desktop computer from there.

Fragmented City lets you choose a custom name which certain characters will call you by, but it will be used to create your ingame email address as well.

The main story of Fragmented City partly focuses on a religious group, called the Followers of the Fragmentaton, and you'll have to do a bit of an investigation to uncover their goal - and see if you want to join them.

You'll once again have the good old player tab, but this time supplemented by a stats panel showcasing all kinds of info related to your progress. The idea came up in my mind when I was watching a friend of mine playing Quake Enchanced.

The new dialog system is finally fully realized and this time it not only has multiple choices (their main role is making the navigation less linear and more interactive), but the flow of certain conversations can be heavily altered by what tasks you are doing, which items you've collected, whom you've talked to, etc.

Watch on YouTube

The return of the Crow Bar pub is very much planned, but till then you can hang out in the local diner, or find a way to break into the owner's office and empty his safe. You can check out the soundtrack of this location in the video above.

While the inventory system got quite much streamlined, you can still interact with the environment in lots of ways. What I try to pay extra attention on is how the different characters react to your actions.

Desktop computers now have a much more interactive operating system with different apps. An email client will have an especially important role (you can activate tasks and notes by reading certain emails), but you can browse websites or play minigames too.

Just a fully interactive piano that has no business being added to the game.

Findable pendulum birds will return, but you can collect unique stickers too which appear in your apartment, on a bulletin board.

Don't expect Mariana Trench deep backstories, but I tried to do my best creating much more unique characters. Not everyone will have a lot to say, but a good handful of the characters do either give you interesting lore pieces and/or have something to do with certain side quests.

You can earn money in the game - and in quite a few ways. One of them is collecting glass bottles and reversing them at the local vending machines. And what you can do with the money? Buy food and certain items, use the local metro line, give money to beggars, bribe people, play arcade machines, etc.

I can proudly say that the localization system is fully functional and you can pretty much translate any text in the game (except which are 3D meshes). My main goal is to support custom localizations, but a friend of mine from Venezuela already helps me out with the Spanish translation, and some other people have also contacted me via Discord to do other translations - so there is a chance a couple of official localizations too will be available!

Fragmented City is still almost entirely a one man's project, but I'll try to upgrade everything I can - even the loading screens. I think I can admit it was inspired by one of my favorite games, Thief: Deadly Shadows.

I think that's all for now! Thanks for staying tuned - and let's hope next time I can finally let you know the actual publication of the official demo.

Original post

07 Mar 2023Developer post

Current state of the development

The main reason why I've been recently silent about the process is because I mostly work on code related aspects of the game. These aren't really showcaseable stuff, but I thought sharing a couple of them would be a good idea. Three aspects of the game that currently need an enor

The main reason why I've been recently silent about the process is because I mostly work on code related aspects of the game. These aren't really showcaseable stuff, but I thought sharing a couple of them would be a good idea.

Three aspects of the game that currently need an enormous attention by me are:

supporting custom localizations
ease of access features
completely text based and readable save files

Custom localizations

I've received a ton of requests for adding different translations to Through The Fragmentation. On one hand I'm glad to read these requests, good to know the game has fans from all around the globe. On the other hand the game was designed very poorly from this aspect, so adding translations would be a painful and extremely time consuming process. That is why I pay extra attention on this aspect of Fragmented City - creating localizations is going to be a pretty easy process to anyone!

Ease of access features

Here are some examples I've already added to the build I work on:

scalable UI
slider for head bob factor (it can be completely turned off)
slider for fov
toggleable settings for default moving speed, crouch, etc.
disappearable crosshair
slider for multiple v-sync options
dedicated volume sliders for the different audio channels
debug tools (no-clip, console, displaying fps)

Text based save files

One reason I aspire to implement it is to make any of the later testing sessions much easier. I remember beta testers who helped me with Through The Fragmentation were really enthusiastic, but sometimes it was obvious that re-playing certain parts of the game really tried their patience.
Also storing the data in text files prevent save files becoming unusable if I happen to update the game.

Here is how part of the new saving system looks:

As you can see everything is readable and pretty much obvious.
Testers will be able to easily skip parts, but I'll have no problem with players tinkering with their save files and cheat a bit here and there either. Also, I'm planning to include secrets which can be revealed only by modifying these save files.

Original post

Fragmented City

Updates & announcements

First Devlog of 2025

Thanks for following the development, and Happy New Year!

Demo Page Published

Demo version 0.1.7

Hotfix for the demo (version 0.1.6)

Demo version 0.1.5

Day 4 Patch (demo version 0.1.4)

Day 2 Patch (demo version 0.1.3)

Day 1 Patch

Demo is out!

Galaxy sized thanks to the testers for taking a last look at the demo build before I released it!

Demo Launch Date

An update

Current state of the development

Three aspects of the game that currently need an enormous attention by me are:

Custom localizations

Ease of access features

Text based save files