Greetings surveyors!
Recently I’ve hinted that I’m focusing on the final expansion for Periphery Synthetic. I’m excited to immediately release a handful of improvements that were developed alongside it. Continue reading for exclusive screenshots and details about Side E—as well as the full patch notes.
The final expansion
Beware! The price of Periphery Synthetic will increase by $1 USD when Side E is released. It will be a free update for all existing players.
Side E introduces a challenging new world: Alpha Periphery D3. Its objective is to provide contrast to the existing worlds of Periphery Synthetic. The result is an airless moon with a defining environmental feature.
The lava labyrinth
Its dynamic lava—which oscillates in altitude like clockwork—is the focal point of its challenges. At its lowest, surveyors may descend into vertical calderas to retrieve and escape with their artifacts. Yet at its highest, only the tallest mountains peak out like islands in the lava. Between those extremes exists a timed puzzle of submerging and reemerging terrain.
Its effects are not limited to the terrain, but instead try to find a situational mechanical cohesion. When the lava is nearby, the haze of volcanic ash provides a thin atmosphere to recharge thrusters and distill materials. Yet resources are more scarce above this haze, with only a smattering of trinkets to collect and recycle. This provides an added tension of resource management not found in the other worlds.
The creation myth
My earliest concepts of Alpha Periphery D3 date back to my first handwritten notes about the EP. Two years later, I had finally built its first prototype in July 2024, but had abandoned it to focus on the Side D expansion. Revisiting this unfinished world and applying the final touches over a year later reminds me of how good it feels to finish things!
It’s also a great opportunity to explore themes of inspiration, authorship, and closure. In the Side D expansion, I introduced a new character who is the author of the Alpha Periphery system. However, they lacked a certain complexity that is now relevant to explore across fifteen new perceptions.
The simpler approach
My approach toward developing this expansion has been quite streamlined due to its more limited scope. Unlike the Side D expansion, it doesn’t aim to add new abilities or completely overhaul movement or the economy. Instead, it intends to provide closure to the EP’s existing systems.
This approach has allowed me to develop it in parallel to more regular updates. For instance, I’ve made a habit of cherry-picking everything-except-the-new-world from the expansion into the public branch as well. These include the recent additions of embryons, recycling trinkets, choosing from multiple endings—as well as everything in today’s patch.
The next steps
I’m excited to announce the title and release date for Side E soon.
In the meantime, I’ll be wrapping up its music to share in an exclusive new build for MDEV 2025. After that, my focus will shift to writing the new perceptions coming in the full release. I hope to have it ready for you by the end of the year.
Thanks for playing!
v4.1.4 changes
Added a button to recycle all trinkets to the Trinkets screen.
Prevented repeat keyboard events on the Trinkets screen.
Improved navigation between levels on the Trinkets screen.
Balanced criteria and bonuses for certain trinkets.
Used musical frequencies for trinket sounds.
Reduced the number of caches needed for the Cache Buster milestone.
Fixed a broken cache reward on Alpha Periphery D2.
Improved gain calculation and positioning of environmental sounds.
Improved consistency of sound channel routing.