Hi everyone!
It's been a while, but I'm extremely excited to announce this new build of Cryspace. This build contains many quality-of-life updates, many of which have been requested in the Steam Community Forums. If you haven't already been posting there, and if you do have any additional feedback from the game moving forward, please consider posting a thread there! Otherwise, please see the most recent patch notes below:
New Themes and Theme Updates!
Today's update brings the addition of new themes - Gold, Mint, and Pink. In addition, theme selection is now available from the Main Menu, making it easy to select your favorite theme prior to jumping in to the game and story itself.
Features for Speedrunners/Replayers/Streamers
As a much requested feature, I'm happy to announce it is now much easier to replay the game multiple times. Simply go to the "Settings" section on either the Main Menu, and find the brand-new "Immersion Speed" setting. This setting will change the pace in which characters respond to your messages, so whether you prefer a slower pace, giving you more time to read character's messages, or whether you want to breeze through them at double the speed, you now have the freedom to make that choice. Indeed, I've noticed talk about characters taking a while to respond to messages in the "web view" of the game, so whether you're rushing through the story, or if you simply want to control the pacing of it, you may do so in whichever way you please via this setting.
In addition, there is now a new feature in the "Scene View" sections of the game (ie. going out on dates, hanging out with friends, etc.). This feature allows you to skip all dialogue until it is time for you to make a decision. While I wouldn't recommend first-time players to mess around too much with this, I think it'll be helpful for those of you who are repeating the story, and want to get straight to the point. With a click of a button, you will be immediately skipped to the next decision in the game, and depending on your use, you won't have to re-read parts of the story you've been through previously. Please note this feature is experimental, and may result in unintended behavior. While every possible effort has been made to test it, bugs may occur. Report these on the Steam Community Forums!
New Debug/Backup Tool
A small group of players have reported bugs within certain parts of the story, and it has been hard for me to find the root cause of them without having access to their saved data. As a result of this, a new debug tool has been created, allowing you to easily put all of your saved files in a ZIP archive, and either use them for your own purposes, or send them to me to allow for easy debugging. I am committed to the quality of this game, and any time someone reports a bug, I am equally committed to fixing it promptly.
The debug tool appears in a console application (as seen below), and by simply typing "export", you can archive all of your current saved data into a convenient ZIP package. Depending on the nature of your use, you can now easily send any buggy files over to me, or, you can simply have a backup of your current saved data. This tool also shows you which path on your computer the saved data is stored in, so you can easily extract the archive there, and restore any data you wish to preserve. This tool is extremely useful for bug reporting/easily creating a snapshot of that data for your use. You will find this as an additional launch option when opening the game.
Bug Fixes
There were a few (major/minor?) bugs that were haunting the game, such as text being jumbled when you make a decision too quickly, and issues where changing your theme wouldn't always change everything accordingly. These issues have been squashed entirely. If you run into any further issues, please use the aforementioned debug tool, and contact me at [email protected], and I'd be happy to look into it for you.
Steam Autumn Sale
As a result of the Steam Autumn Sale, Cryspace's Full Story is now 20% off! If you don't already own the Full Story, you may click here to learn more about it, and purchase it as this discount lasts!
What about Workshop/Other Love Interests?
You may notice references to the Workshop feature and other love interests have been hidden from the game. This is due to confusion caused by players who may have purchased the Full Game DLC or completed a full story playthrough with Sam, and being unsure as to why these features were not yet available. These features may make a debut at a later date, but for now, I removed all references to them to avoid any confusion these unimplemented features may stir up.
Conclusion
In this update, you will find many quality-of-life changes that make replaying the game easier, give you more options to tailor your own experience, and ultimately, provide a better experience overall. As such, it only felt appropriate to release the game out of Early Access into Full Release. Does this mean that updates are going away? No! Keep talking about the game or providing feedback in the Steam Community Forums, and I'd be happy to engage with you further. I love this community, the feedback I've acquired over the past few months, and I am fully committed to providing a great experience. I hope you enjoy this update, and for those committed Cryspace players out there, I hope it allows you to replay the game in a much easier, streamlined way. Please enjoy this free update, and let me know if you have any questions/concerns. Thank you!