Howdy!
Usually the marketing team writes weekly reports. They describe you the most important and interesting things that are going on not only in the game itself, but also around the development. However this time, as the Game Director I decided to write this report myself.
Why? Because soon there will be many changes in the world of Chernobylite...
We have reached a point where you have to stop for a while, look at Chernobylite and ask yourself a question: is finishing all mechanics, adding promised content and some final polishing enough to make this game truly good? We listen to your opinions, read all reviews, and track every single discussion on Steam and Discord. You point out a lot of bugs and mistakes and we cannot be indifferent towards them. Time has come to fix it.
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!
Don’t read if you don’t have deep in-game experience!
Behold, the Fractal Timeline
Chernobylite was supposed to connect a deeply narrative game with roguelike permadeath. Judging by your opinions - it didn’t work out. Players who died, often were forced to replay the same elements, listen to the same dialogues and play the same missions. Doesn’t sound very fascinating, does it? On the other hand, we didn’t want to throw out the exciting idea of entrapping the player in a nightmarish time loop. So how can we join these elements together and still make it exciting?
We came up with the Fractal Timeline - an oneiric place where you go after death. A place in which you can see all your decision and the consequences of your actions. You can change or even erase them. Now death won’t force you to start from the scratch (unless you want to of course), but it will allow you to change the world you live in, without being forced to actually repeat every mission. It won’t happen for free though. Changing your memories will require Chernobylite, which you can gather by killing monsters.
More branching & tougher decisions
Decision making is very important in our game, but after all your feedback we can tell that it does not have so much impact on you as we would like it to. So we decided to polish and improve this element.
In Chernobylite, there will be new branching possibilities and new consequences of Igor’s actions. Every choice you make will influence your companions. They have their own preferences so making the right choices can earn their loyalty which will be very useful when you’ll eventually start the final mission.
New Level Selector
The Level Selector is the heart of the game, a place where you can see the whole game’s world and plan what to do the next day. The heart that pushes away many of you at the very first contact - which you clearly told us in your feedback.
Unfortunately, the Level Selector has been changing a lot which in return influenced its clarity and intuitiveness to such extent we didn’t want to. It was supposed to be simple: choose the right mission for you and your team. We have reduced the amount of information to a minimum (though leaving more detailed info within reach) and we simplified it. Now you only have to select the mission and the character you wish to accomplish it.
And now the cherry on top!
All these things I’m writing about are not just some vague ideas for distant future. What I described above will be handed over to you… next week!
Awesome, isn’t it?
Artur, Game Director