Today we are releasing update 0.16, an intermediate patch similar to those we plan to publish between the major milestones of the roadmap.
This update is based on feedback shared by players. It also includes new features, adjustments, accessibility improvements, and bug fixes. Thank you to all the players who reported these needs on the studio’s Discord or on the Steam Hub.
Additions
2 new Category 1 weapons in the shop menu. Replace your basic pistol with a TMP (submachine gun) or a Revolver. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so choose carefully.
Category 1 weapon improvements: these 3 weapons can now be upgraded in the upgrades menu to increase magazine size and improve certain attributes (damage, fire rate, accuracy).
Changes
Offer to equip tool or weapon right after purchase
Changed french translation of SMG
Fixes
Added security to fix pause menu staying stuck over the screen indefinitely
Fixed layout jump + controller focus lost when opening Pause menu during mission (host only)
Fixed X-ray overlay could stay visible after using Tab + Esc keys
Fixed incoherent text layout on screens if language changed during the game
Known Issues
The current voice chat system has several limitations and may sometimes malfunction when multiple microphones are detected on the PC. Known issues include:
your microphone does not work
you cannot hear anyone in game
voices have a strange pitch (very low or very high)
→ Check our Known Issues and Solutions page to try some workarounds while we replace this system entirely (this replacement system is currently in development but not yet robust enough to be deployed).
Development Log
With this update, I would also like to share a few discussions and photos taken during development. Many of you are interested in the technical and human side of the studio’s daily work, so it feels natural to share some of it here. And it’s a pleasure to do so.
The approach behind adding the new weapons
Update 0.16 introduces new weapons. The development process is quite comprehensive in the sense that almost everyone on the team has a role to play, and these additions also push us to revisit certain parts of the game’s architecture.
In this photo, Nico (Game Director) is validating the intentions for the menus and the UX/UI implementation. Nico also worked earlier on the weapon game design and their implementation. This weapon design work was initiated during the previous sprint so they could be integrated during this one. During this sprint, Nico focused on other features that will be delivered later.
A sprint is the term we use for a development period. Each sprint is associated with a defined list of development tasks.
In this photo, Lohan (Game Developer) and Guilhem (Game & UX/UI Designer) are working together on implementing the weapon purchase and upgrade menus in the game.
For Guilhem, the main point of attention on this type of task is the potential accumulation of graphical debt. As new elements are added, it is important to ensure that the menus remain readable and sustainable over time. Guilhem mainly works with Figma for mockups and Unreal Engine for their integration.
Barth (Level Designer & QA), who is particularly involved in testing new features, discusses a case encountered during testing with Lohan.
Here, Barth (Level Designer & QA) is testing the new weapons.
Why use Epic Online Services (EOS)?
Following the communication published earlier this week indicating that Epic Online Services (EOS) maintenance would temporarily impact multiplayer services this morning, several of you asked why we use an Epic service even though the game is available on Steam and not on the Epic Games Store.
Here are a few explanations that may interest you.
In Species: Unknown, there are no dedicated multiplayer servers. Your multiplayer sessions are P2P, which means that one of the players hosts the game for their friends.
Epic Online Services (EOS) is a set of online services provided by Epic Games that studios can use, independently of the store or distribution platform, to manage features such as multiplayer, player accounts, matchmaking, or other online infrastructure.
Even though the game is not available on the Epic Games Store, we still use EOS for certain online features, such as multiplayer services in Species: Unknown, as many other games do.
This is why when EOS performs maintenance, these features can be temporarily affected regardless of the platform you are playing on. We shared this information in advance so players would not be surprised if multiplayer availability was impacted.
While other solutions exist, we have already used EOS on other cross-platform games in the past, so we prefer using tools we already know rather than starting from scratch. Using EOS also makes a potential future move to cross-platform easier.
Jérémy and Benoît (Lead Developers) are our specialists when it comes to server infrastructure and multiplayer services.
In this photo, Jérémy (Lead Developer), who is currently spending a large portion of his time improving the voice chat system. As you know, we are working on implementing proximity chat. That is why Jérémy has several PCs and microphones/headsets in front of him. This allows him to test his implementations autonomously. In the foreground of the photo, you can see Nola focused on her production and project management tasks.
...and still no news about the burglar who stole our pack of Skittles
Many of you reacted when we shared that the studio had been burglarized during the night. Especially when we mentioned that the burglar took a pack of Skittles along with a few computers. You managed to make us laugh despite the situation.
Thank you for your support and engagement around the studio’s devlogs
Sharing, even modestly, the daily life behind the game’s development seems to resonate with many of you, and we are very happy about that. If you would like to see more photos during the upcoming stages of development, let us know in the comments what you would like to discover from behind the scenes. I would be happy to add taking photos of different development steps to my routine.
Thank you for your suggestions
Your feedback on Discord is extremely valuable. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to write to us, report issues, share screenshots, or suggest improvements. Even if we cannot reply to everything, we read absolutely everything, and we move forward as quickly as possible with the team we have.
If you have not had the chance to leave your Steam review yet, this might be a good time to do so. By leaving a review, you help the game gain visibility among players who have not yet discovered our work.
You can leave your review directly on the game’s Steam page below.
Thank you again for your support, your patience, and your trust. We will keep moving forward, step by step.
Au revoir,
The Species: Unknown team at WanadevStudio.