Unity CVE patched
Unity CVE patched. See for details.
Unity CVE patched. See https://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01 for details.
The Signal From Tölva
- Released
- Apr 10, 2017
- Platforms
- Last updated
Updates & announcements
- Developer postOriginal post
- Developer post
Sir, You Are Being Hunted: 1.5 Patch, And Announcing The Reinvented Edition (!)
Hello there. You probably saw this already, but ICYMI: Sir, You Are Being Hunted has been updated for the first time in several years, with the 1.5 patch . 64-bit Mac support is now a thing, loads of bugs have been squashed, and the servers are back online for multiplayer. Not on
Original postHello there.
You probably saw this already, but ICYMI: Sir, You Are Being Hunted has been updated for the first time in several years, with the 1.5 patch. 64-bit Mac support is now a thing, loads of bugs have been squashed, and the servers are back online for multiplayer.
Not only that but we've announced future plans for a remaster of the original game in 2022, produced by our friends at Dutch studio Den Of Thieves Games. They are long term fans of the title, and understand exactly what makes the game tick. We're excited to confirm a new, standalone game, with new gameplay options, new UI, and overhauled visuals, all developed in the charming, silly, scary spirit of the original game.
Discounts will be available for everyone who owns the classic edition of Sir, You Are Being Hunted.
If you would like to support us in this new venture, then a wishlist always goes a long way.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1743730/Sir_You_Are_Being_Hunted_Reinvented_Edition/
More soon!
-BR
- Developer post
BEHOLD: New card battler ANCIENT ENEMY is out now!
BUY IT HERE!! Go! Go! Go! TRAILER HERE! <3
Original postBUY IT HERE!!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/993790/Ancient_Enemy/
Go! Go! Go!
TRAILER HERE!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2035897519
<3
- Developer post
Hello, You! Please wishlist ANCIENT ENEMY! (Trailer, Dates, Other Stuff)
HERE'S A LAUNCH DATE ANNOUNCEMENT! ANCIENT ENEMY, the card battler by Grey Alien GMAES, (and written and art-directed by Big Robot's own creative director, Jim Rossignol) will be launching on Steam on Thursday April 9th! It's good! Check out the... SHINY NEW TRAILER! AND PLEASE D
Original post
HERE'S A LAUNCH DATE ANNOUNCEMENT!
ANCIENT ENEMY, the card battler by Grey Alien GMAES, (and written and art-directed by Big Robot's own creative director, Jim Rossignol) will be launching on Steam on Thursday April 9th!
It's good! Check out the...
SHINY NEW TRAILER!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2035897519
AND PLEASE DO WISHLIST HERE!
Seriously, it helps us loads if you do.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/993790/Ancient_Enemy/
(And in other news: we'll soon be celebrating three years of THE SIGNAL FROM TÖLVA next week! Expect a lovely sale and a big discount. Oh and stay safe, friends, it's scary out there and we love you all! - BR)
- Developer post
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE hits V1.0 and transmogrifies its way out of Early Access!
Hello, (procedurally generated) World! As the headline quoth, we are out of Early Access and on to v1.0! Here’s a trailer for you to get those v1.0 chills... For this update we’ve just pushed to Steam there are some minor gameplay tweaks, bunker layout changes, and audio fixes. W
Original postHello, (procedurally generated) World!
As the headline quoth, we are out of Early Access and on to v1.0!
Here’s a trailer for you to get those v1.0 chills...
https://youtu.be/61k1QHWn9go
For this update we’ve just pushed to Steam there are some minor gameplay tweaks, bunker layout changes, and audio fixes. We’ve gone back in and messed about with the generation templates - the menu we give the level-generation system - so that the levels produce better environments. The initial zone is unchanged, but you’ll find the others now build tweaked worlds that are slightly more challenging. (Don't forget we addressed issues with the spider-craft in an earlier update.)
There are also performance tweaks in this version, although there are still some odd generations that seem to hit performance without our profiler giving us a clear picture of why! We’ve tried to streamline shaders and such to avoid that.
BUT the main change - reflecting the template tinkering - is that there are now overall difficulty levels. You can select these on starting a new game, but also change them in current savegames, which default to normal, which gives you a difficult the same as the earlier updates. (Please note that difficulty can be changed in-game during play, so if you are having a tough time turn it down, or an easy time turn it up, etc!)
Thanks for all the support we’ve received for this, our weirdest and most atmospheric game to date - and please do leave a Steam review if you’ve enjoyed yourself so far!
We’ll have more news on Big Robot things for you soon! <3
-BR
- Developer post
ANCIENT ENEMY, Summer Sales, & The Next THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE Update Incoming!
Hello you. Just a quick update about two things, the first is that ANCIENT ENEMY, the card game that Jim has been working on with Grey Alien Games, is available for wishlist, and isn't too far off release (date TBC!) and if it's your sort of thing then we'd definitely appreciate
Original postHello you.
Just a quick update about two things, the first is that ANCIENT ENEMY, the card game that Jim has been working on with Grey Alien Games, is available for wishlist, and isn't too far off release (date TBC!) and if it's your sort of thing then we'd definitely appreciate support!
Jim has been overseeing the art direction (his first 2D game!) and wrote the story. We're hugely excited to have worked with two fabulous artists, Dan Emmerson and Jen Pattison. Jake at Grey Alien has had years of experience at this sort of thing, and we're anticipating a tremendous game a bit later this year.
Here's a teaser trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep_m4tg1HHI
And the main page for plenty more info and that all-important wishlist link:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/993790/Ancient_Enemy/
THE LIGHT STUFF
Additionally, we're speeding towards the next update for THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE, and now is absolutely the perfect time to try the game out if you've yet to dip in. If you enjoyed Sir. You Are Being Hunted but want something even more atmospheric and mysterious, then we suggest you take a look!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/853240/The_Light_Keeps_Us_Safe/
We're setting our sights on V1.0, too , and we'll have more news about the end of our Early Access period in the near future.
In the meantime, don't forget that all our games are on sale until the 9th!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/457760/The_Signal_From_Tlva/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/242880/Sir_You_Are_Being_Hunted/
Love you!
-BR - Developer post
BUT ALSO THIS: Ancient Enemy is coming soon!
Hey, Robot friends! Just a quick note to let you know that Big Robot's own Jim Rossignol has written the story for Grey Alien's ANCIENT ENEMY - an atmospheric RPG card where the baddies have already won - due out this summer. It's going to be great! You can, almost certainly shou
Original postHey, Robot friends!
Just a quick note to let you know that Big Robot's own Jim Rossignol has written the story for Grey Alien's ANCIENT ENEMY - an atmospheric RPG card where the baddies have already won - due out this summer. It's going to be great!
You can, almost certainly should, wishlist it over here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/993790/Ancient_Enemy/
Thanks! <3
-BR
- Developer post
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE - Out Now!
Hey everyone! Our brand new stealth and survival game, THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE, is now live on Steam Early Access. Here's the launch trailer. We'll be streaming it on the store page in a few minutes time. <3 -BR
Original postHey everyone!
Our brand new stealth and survival game, THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE, is now live on Steam Early Access.
We'll be streaming it on the store page in a few minutes time.
<3
-BR
- Developer post
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE - Coming Tomorrow!
Hello everyone! This is just a quick reminder that The Light Keeps Us Safe will be released at 9am PST (5pm UK) tomorrow, October 11th. If you haven't had a look at the gameplay trailer yet, then check it out over here . And, hey, we have to say the game has already moved on this
Original postHello everyone!
This is just a quick reminder that The Light Keeps Us Safe will be released at 9am PST (5pm UK) tomorrow, October 11th.
If you haven't had a look at the gameplay trailer yet, then check it out over here. And, hey, we have to say the game has already moved on this since that footage, because this Early Access and we're motoring!
Oh and just one other little thing: we put Sir, You Are Being Hunted on sale for the week. So combine that with the launch discount and you could pick up Sir and The Light Keeps Us Safe together for close to the price of a single one of our games...
Happy October! :D
-BR
- Developer post
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE - First Gameplay Trailer!
Hello, everyone! We thought you might like to take a look at our grimdark new gameplay trailer for THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE. Early Access release coming on October 11th! More soon!
Original postHello, everyone!
We thought you might like to take a look at our grimdark new gameplay trailer for THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE. Early Access release coming on October 11th!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLzmwFhvbUE
More soon!
- Developer post
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE - New Big Robot game coming in October 2018!
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE is a stealth and survival game from Big Robot Ltd, and it's coming in October 2018! Watch the trailer! The sky has flickered and gone out. Only The Light can keep us safe. You can't stay down there in the depths of the bunker. The food is gone and the powe
Original postTHE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE is a stealth and survival game from Big Robot Ltd, and it's coming in October 2018!
The sky has flickered and gone out. Only The Light can keep us safe.
You can't stay down there in the depths of the bunker. The food is gone and the power can't last much longer, either. Those things out there in the dark will only take so long to find their way in... It's time to go outside and face what's waiting for you out there. Maybe then you can go into The Light, like the others.
THE LIGHT KEEPS US SAFE is a procedurally-generated apocalypse in which only The Light can save us. Use stealth and evasion to avoid terrifying machines that patrol the desolate world, and employ the powers of Light to unpick their deadly traps.
Featuring these terrifying and entertainingly bleak things:
- Unique light-based interactions and challenges!
- A sprawling world of stealth, survival, and exploration from the makers of SIR, YOU ARE BEING HUNTED and THE SIGNAL FROM TÖLVA.
- Horrifying and aggressive alien-machine enemies!
- Fiendish traps and disturbing hostile environments.
- A procedurally-generated environment, different for each playthrough.
- A grim sense of existential threat (because we're good at that sort of thing...)
- No crafting though, because we find that a bit dull tbh. Sorry!
- A tremendous sense of satisfaction in overcoming certain doom. You want that feeling, don't you? It's a good feeling.
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
The Itch.io summer sale includes Thumper and The Signal From T lva for cheaps
Games. You want them, Itch.io sells them, and to facilitate that process it’s put 606 of the things on sale. I like that they’ve taken the polar opposite approach to Steam’s shenanigans for their own summer sale , and surrounded the discounts with absolutely zero guff. I know som
Original postGames. You want them, Itch.io sells them, and to facilitate that process it’s put 606 of the things on sale.
I like that they’ve taken the polar opposite approach to Steam’s shenanigans for their own summer sale, and surrounded the discounts with absolutely zero guff. I know some people buy into the badges and whatnot, but after years of Valve’s bombarding me with cutesy treehouse animals, those avatars have started landing on the manipulative side of corporate fun. Read on for my picks from this refreshingly minimalist sale, which include the likes of heart-squelching rhythm action-game Thumper and soul-squashing robo-shooter The Signal from T lva . (more…)
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Has The Signal from T lva been improved by its updates?
Update Night is a fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they’ve been changed for better or worse. It s grim up north, and only partly because I m being shot at by a gang of robots. The Polar Regions a new and free campaign for first-person
Original postUpdate Night is a fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they’ve been changed for better or worse.
It s grim up north, and only partly because I m being shot at by a gang of robots.
The Polar Regions a new and free campaign for first-person shooter The Signal from T lva is so named because it s set in a chilly and inhospitable wasteland, home to rusting hulks of machinery, non-Euclidean bunkers, as well as those aforementioned robots. They re not all trying to shoot at me, to be fair, but enough of them are that s causing me problems. I m back on the quietly spooky planet of T lva for a second adventure, although it s not so much back the Polar Regions campaign technically takes place six months before the events of the main game, and sets up the original T lva storyline with some light investigation work. (more…)
- Developer post
Explore The Polar Regions! A new, Free Expansion Campaign Is Here, Now
Yup. It's in your game, right now. You just need to go here... And then select this. And you get this: We're pretty pleased with it, frankly. An entirely new campaign for you to explore, for free. *And* the game is at 40% off for the next five days! If you've already purchased, p
Original postYup.
It's in your game, right now.
You just need to go here...
And then select this.
And you get this:
We're pretty pleased with it, frankly. An entirely new campaign for you to explore, for free. *And* the game is at 40% off for the next five days! If you've already purchased, please tell a friend!
Here's a brief video of Jim blathering about it.
The soundtrack can be purchased here.
As ever, if you have any issues let us know. (And maybe follow us on Twitter.)
More soon.
-BR
- Developer post
Explore The Polar Regions! A new, Free Expansion Campaign Is Here, Now
Yup. It's in your game, right now. You just need to go here... And then select this. And you get this: We're pretty pleased with it, frankly. An entirely new campaign for you to explore, for free. *And* the game is at 40% off for the next five days! If you've already purchased, p
Original postYup.
It's in your game, right now.
You just need to go here...
And then select this.
And you get this:
We're pretty pleased with it, frankly. An entirely new campaign for you to explore, for free. *And* the game is at 40% off for the next five days! If you've already purchased, please tell a friend!
Here's a brief video of Jim blathering about it.
The soundtrack can be purchased here.
As ever, if you have any issues let us know. (And maybe follow us on Twitter.)
More soon.
-BR
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
A quick peek at The Signal From T lva s frosty expansion
As influential as the STALKER series has been, Big Robot’s The Signal From T lva is one of the few shooters to properly replicate its blend of emergent open-world wandering and sci-fi spookiness. T lva was admittedly a little on the short side, but Big Robot are generous sorts, a
Original postAs influential as the STALKER series has been, Big Robot’s The Signal From T lva is one of the few shooters to properly replicate its blend of emergent open-world wandering and sci-fi spookiness. T lva was admittedly a little on the short side, but Big Robot are generous sorts, and are just about ready to roll out a major free expansion for the game.
Alice took a look at the Polar Regions expansion a while back, which promises more mysteries, laser-fights and exploration in new and colder climes, but now we’ve got a goodly chunk of gameplay footage, along with promises from Big Robot that it’s very nearly ready to be rolled out. Within, lasers glittering across ice, and plenty more robots doing robot things.
- PC Gamer
The secret to The Signal From T lva s punchy combat
The valley below me is alive with orange, pink, and green lasers. Two enemy robot factions, bandits and zealots, are battling it out, and neither has seen me yet. One bandit hangs back and fires a sniper rifle, its tracer streaking across the scene with an electronic screech that
Original postThe valley below me is alive with orange, pink, and green lasers. Two enemy robot factions, bandits and zealots, are battling it out, and neither has seen me yet. One bandit hangs back and fires a sniper rifle, its tracer streaking across the scene with an electronic screech that echoes off the hillsides. The beam smashes into the first zealot with a sound of crunching metal, and the robot crumbles. The second bandit moves forward, powering up a beam weapon, a wide red jet that distorts the air around it and crackles with energy. In response, the nearest zealot beeps into action, sounding a siren before booting up a shield with a hiss, a matrix of light extending from the front of his armor.
But that shield doesn’t last long. When it powers down with an unmistakable whoosh I pounce, alongside my two AI companions. I aim down my sight, pull the trigger, and the zealot drops, his head flying off and hitting a nearby rock with a dull thud as his now useless shell clanks limply to the ground. The bandits flee.
The Signal From Tölva’s pace is slow, but its gunplay is anything but. Chris called it "fizzing" in his review and he was spot on: its bright lights and sci-fi sound effects make its weapons come alive, and after each battle you want to head immediately to the next waypoint in search of another set of enemies to blast apart.
How did small indie studio Big Robot make combat so satisfying? I spoke to founder Jim Rossignol to find out.
Heavy gear
Until Ian McQue, formerly of Rockstar, drew the designs for the game’s robots, the team saw Tölva as a "Quake-style shooter, complete with bunny hopping and rail guns," Rossignol says. But then they fell in love with the "earthy, grounded" aesthetic of McQue’s art and decided the weapons would have to feel heavier to match. That comes across in the final game: a lot of what makes Tölva’s shooting feel great is that when you pull the trigger, the result is big and powerful.
The first thing you do in T lva is fire a weapon, and if it s got a crazy science fiction sound and a pulse-y effect then you know where you are with it.
Jim Rossignol Some games create that feeling with recoil—but given Tölva’s robots shouldn’t have any trouble keeping a gun steady, that sense of weight relies instead on both visual and sound effects. In its simplest form, that means lots of bright lights, whether that’s shining bullet tracers or laser beams. "We wanted to have big colorful lasers," Rossignol says. "[We wanted] big long trails that last quite a long time and light up the landscape. The beam weapons have an enormous fan of light sweeping across the landscape."
And a lot of the design was informed by a vision of a single scene similar to the one I described at the beginning of this article. "We like that thing where you come over a crest of a hill and you see AI duking it out. You see tracer fire between different units, and that was one of the main goals, and one of the things that I think works best in Tölva. When you see groups engaging each other in the distance you get that flicker of gunfire that allows you to see where people are firing from. That brings those battles to life."
The beam weapon, which fires out a continuous stream of energy, was specifically designed to fit this fantasy. "[It’s] a big continuous concussive beam raking across the landscape, there can’t be anything more science fiction than that, right?" Interestingly, he tells me the look of the gun comes from combining a jet engine and a leaf blower that McQue was using to clear his garden when inspiration struck. Unconventional, but you can see it if you look closely enough.
There were more subtle features to make the gunfire look great, too. Every effect in the game, whether that’s a bullet tracer or an explosion, has an "air lensing distortion", which essentially warps the world around it. "The first thing you do in Tölva is fire a weapon, and if it’s got a crazy science fiction sound and a pulse-y effect then you know where you are with it."
The guns really shine at night, when bullet tracers act as beacons for distant action. Rossignol says that during development he considered abandoning the game’s day-night cycle and just setting the game beneath the stars because of how good it looked. Plus, having the day-night cycle was a pain, he says, because it required the team to use real-time shadow casting, which is costly to develop and puts strain on players’ PCs. But in the end, the team kept the cycle. "I felt the contrast between those beautiful clear blue-sky days and the starry nights where all the weapons were flickering… it was just too much to lose."
Sound and vision
The one thing that always struck me about the game’s audio was the way that assault rifle bullets sound when they hit robots. It’s a real plink-plink of metal on metal that just sounds right. The sound effects match the aesthetic McQue created, it’s a wonderful mix of futuristic noises and the kind of beeps you’d expect from chunky, battered machines. Rossignol says a lot of the sounds are modulated versions of "the bleeps and whirrs that old-fashioned computers make when they’re switched on, or the kind of noises hard drives used to make." Those sounds help sell the combat, make it believable despite the other-worldly setting.
As you take your finger off the trigger you hear the end of your shot cut off, that just sells the behavior of the weapon more, and gives them way more life than they had.
Jim Rossignol The gun sounds are inspired by a single idea that Rossignol picked up at a talk by Introversion Software at an event years ago. "They were saying that even on the very simplest level, if you’re firing and the gunshot audio somehow matched with the video then it sold it better and made it more believable, and that’s always stuck with me." That was made possible when Michael Manning, now at Sumo Digital, came on board with Tölva. He took the team’s existing work to the next level.
"The extent of our tech was we had a version of your gunshot close up, and another version that echoed in the distance, but Mick was able to show us how to build the audio components to add near, mid-range and far versions of any particular weapon shots. And then you’ve got that stretching effect of the different frequencies being taken out as it moves away from you.
"Also, rather than having a single sound effect for when the weapons go off, we broke it down to an overall firing noise and a projectile leaving noise, so every weapon has components that make the sound better. As you take your finger off the trigger you hear the end of your shot cut off, that just sells the behavior of the weapon more, and gives them way more life than they had." The game also features a lot of echo, a simple trick that I’ve always thought adds to its atmosphere. It’s something Rossignol wishes he’d included in his previous game, Sir, You Are Being Hunted, and this was a chance to make amends.
It’s the way that these audio and visual effects fuse together that makes Tölva’s shooting standout. For example, Rossignol says the enemies’ shooting was made deliberately inaccurate because he wanted gunshots to fly past the player and thump into the environment around them, creating a sense of panic. "You want the bullets to be landing around you. One of my favorites is the noise of the rail gun hitting the terrain, and they usually miss."
Necessary sacrifices
Of course, as a small studio, Big Robot had to make sacrifices, but most of them are hidden well. Take the guns, for instance. Rossignol explains that while the guns might look and feel very different, they’re actually just one gun model with some variables tweaked and visual modules added, which helped cut development time. The robot shields are another example: the team initially set out to create shields that distorted the environment, an idea inspired by David Lynch’s Dune film. But it was "too intensive", and the solution was a simple overlay to every robot that simply switches from transparent to translucent when the robot turns a shield on.
The lack of robot variety, too, was a result of development constraints. Rossignol wanted to have robots of different sizes, but had to settle for working with a single skeleton and piecing on different bits of armor to give units their own distinct feel. "That’s a bit of a shame, but if we do multiple skeletons we start running into serious issues," he says.
Perhaps it’s something that Big Robot will put in its next game. Rossignol is currently working on an icy expansion for Tölva but is keen to push the boundaries on his next project, particularly with environment physics, which he says is the main thing he’ll look to improve upon. " more objects to blow up, more things that could be knocked around by explosions or bullets. I love it in games when you get chain reactions, you blow up a barrel and it knocks somebody out and knocks another guy over and all that good stuff.
"The size of Tölva’s world meant we couldn’t have more props. If we did a smaller environment next time, I’d love to have that pinging stuff around, I think it adds to the sense of dynamism in game combat. I’d love to do more of that kind of stuff when we move on." Big Robot has shown that it has the talent to create a great shooter in a huge, semi-open world. Reducing the world size in its next game would mean it could pay more attention to visual effects, boost enemy variety and litter the combat arena with debris. And for people like me who enjoyed Tölva’s sci-fi shooting and would love to see it repeated, that sounds like a fantasy that’s worth waiting for.
Disclosure: Jim Rossignol worked for PC Gamer up until 2010, although the author had no contact with him during that time.
- Developer post
The Signal From Linux, And A Blog Post Of Things!
Hello! The Linux version of The Signal From Tölva is now live! So that's a good thing. As ever, please report any issues you uncover and we'll try to obliterate them in a future update. Thanks! We've also talked about a few other things, good or otherwise, over at the BR blog . L
Original postHello!
The Linux version of The Signal From Tölva is now live! So that's a good thing. As ever, please report any issues you uncover and we'll try to obliterate them in a future update.
Thanks!
We've also talked about a few other things, good or otherwise, over at the BR blog.
Love you!
-BR
- Developer post
The Signal From Linux, And A Blog Post Of Things!
Hello! The Linux version of The Signal From Tölva is now live! So that's a good thing. As ever, please report any issues you uncover and we'll try to obliterate them in a future update. Thanks! We've also talked about a few other things, good or otherwise, over at the BR blog . L
Original postHello!
The Linux version of The Signal From Tölva is now live! So that's a good thing. As ever, please report any issues you uncover and we'll try to obliterate them in a future update.
Thanks!
We've also talked about a few other things, good or otherwise, over at the BR blog.
Love you!
-BR
- Developer post
Mac version now live, -50% sale on.
Hey! The Signal From Tölva is -50% off all week on Steam! Tell your chums and things. Also we've just pushed the Mac version live. We've had a quite a few issues with this, so apologies for the delay. As usual, let us know if you find any issues, particularly crash bug issues, an
Original postHey!
The Signal From Tölva is -50% off all week on Steam! Tell your chums and things.
Also we've just pushed the Mac version live. We've had a quite a few issues with this, so apologies for the delay. As usual, let us know if you find any issues, particularly crash bug issues, and we'll get on it. We've had some odd performance reports, especially with regards to input, so we'll continue tinkering.
In the meantime don't forget that we update with news regularly over on our Twitter.
Cheers!
-BR