​Hey everyone!

I've enjoyed watching a number of you out there stream your adventures (and misadventures) across The Deadlands on YouTube, Twitch, etc., and have continued to take note of minor (and major) bugs which have popped up. Even more, I have noted over time certain complaints / concerns as well as general balancing issues that I have noted in how players tend to gravitate towards or away from certain things in the game. All of this has been incredibly helpful, and will hopefully help to inform my work when I eventually finish school in December (fingers crossed!) and am able to start devoting more time to the VoltAge universe once again.

That being said, while I do not have a set "finish" date yet, I just wanted to announce :

I AM WORKING ON ANOTHER UPDATE TO VOLTAGE:GENESIS!​

I do not yet have enough to present you all with official dev notes, but here's a brief list of the things I am addressing (or hoping to address) with this update...nothing here is promised just yet, but it should at least help give an idea of where I am focusing my efforts.

Encounter Rates
Enough people have complained about the encounter rates being too high (despite the presence of both purchasable items and a hidden accessory which turn off random encounters) that I am looking at decreasing the encounter rate in some (if not all) areas of the game. The progression of quest availability was heavily linked to the player's anticipated progression based on the existing encounter rate, so the more I reduce the encounter rate, the more you should expect to have to "grind" (my least favorite thing ever) to access higher level challenges later in the game.

Quest Log
Several people have pointed out that modern games tend to have a means of tracking active quests, and while I A) come from a generation where a good memory or the ability to keep notes was required, and B) designed the game to provide organic distractions along the main path, rather than to create a massive checklist of tasks to be done, I also acknowledge that people have fun in different ways and sometimes struggle with memory and/or comprehension when dealing with a game of this scope. SO, I am looking at some possible solutions that maintain the feel I was going for while also allowing the player a way to track what tasks they have agreed to take on over time. Temper your expectations with this one, because the likelihood that I will be able to implement an automatically updating journal consistent with what you see in modern triple A games is low (especially given the fact there are well over a hundred quests and things can sometimes be done out of order).

​World Map
There's a LOT of places to explore in Marema, and another common request has been the inclusion of a map (mini or otherwise) in the game. While I am still working out how to actually implement an in-game map item in a way which is A) useful, and B) doesn't crash the game, as a show of good faith I have created a map of Marema with major towns and geographic locations which are referenced in the game's dialogue; check out the image file included with this post. If nothing else, this map will at least be included in the .readme file and made available on Steam moving forward.

Major Bugs / Glitches
While a dev can only check the walkability of bloodstains and pieces of paper on the wall so many times, I have been made aware of a couple of issues which can cause the player to have to reset their game as well as a few "dev artifacts" left lying around...I've addressed those and will continue to fix things which are reported to me up until the update releases...so if you had an issue, tell me! ​ALSO​, I am happy to report that I figured out the incredibly simple reason why the "victory" music loops when you win a fight, and have fixed the issue for the next update.

Controller Compatibility Issues
A couple players have reported issues where buttons map in strange ways when using certain third-party controllers. I will try to find a way to implement a config menu for controllers as I did with keyboards in the past, but make no promises. If it helps, I can tell you from experience that official XBOX360 / XBOXOne, PS4, and Switch controllers have all worked for me in the past :D

Steam Achievements

I had actually started working on implementing Steam Achievements into the game awhile ago and ran into issues on the backend that I didn't have the patience for at the time...that being said, I am thinking I am ready to take another stab at getting them up and running. Currently, there are a total of 77 achievements planned, based around recruiting party members, finding rare / hidden items, defeating optional bosses, and completing quest "sets" (i.e., getting all the Lore Coins or completing every Bounty Board quest). If we can get them up and running, I am hoping a lot of returning players will instantly get credit for past achievements they have earned (I did get that much done, at least :D) but no promises.

Hope this gives you something to look forward to, and in the meantime, be careful out there...The Deadlands are a dangerous place, after all.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           - Zach