Thanks to everyone who has played in the month or so since launch! We've been very pleased to finally be able to present the whole game, and we hope you've enjoyed it. If you haven't had a chance to play yet, then [strike]calmly explain to your family that you cannot attend Christmas dinner because you have more important business[/strike] maybe now is a good chance with holiday time off! Now that the initial flurry of bugs and feedback have been addressed (mostly, with the exception of a few improvements we'd like to make in the future), we will be taking several weeks off to recharge. Starting in February, we'll be working on ideas for more content and potentially a new game mode. We'll start some discussions in Discord to get everyone's thoughts as well. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, we'll still be reading so please drop 'em in Discord. I hope everyone has a great end to 2024, and a happy new year!

[ 2024-12-23 16:33:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fixed issue where dialog skips would sometimes not end properly. - Cleaned up some objects with broken references. - Updated some missing credits. - Arcade game music should no longer play on top of game music. Chapter 2 - Added dialog skip to factory entrance.

[ 2024-11-13 22:39:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fixed issue where game would fail to fade in properly under certain conditions. Chapter 7 - Adjusted many colliders to reduce unexpected behavior. - Fixed a case where skip dialog was locking up the game.

[ 2024-11-05 22:27:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Retractable floor holes are now more precise with their activations, fixing an issue where they could appear closed but be open. - Water coolers are no longer shown as being flammable. - Fixed issue where >5 hearts could display in non-casual modes. - Lightning animations on out of control Roambas now play smoothly. Chapter 2 - Lobby clipboard is now inspectable. - Robit has been stripped of ability to walk through couches. Chapter 7 - Fixed missing music in some places - Fixed mars bars which were impossible to collect.

[ 2024-11-04 19:01:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fixed an issue where some lines of dialog would not process properly and break game flow. - Fixed an issue where skipping dialog could process music triggers out of order. Chapter 5 - Adjusted a laser gate which was rendering incorrectly. Chapter 6 - Fixed an issue where hints were not spawning correctly. Chapter 7 - Corrected some places where characters could get permanently stuck.

[ 2024-11-04 16:28:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Updated for Release! General Fixes - Added new music for the research facility. - Updated art for character workstations. - Save file sync now respects users' cloud sync settings.

[ 2024-11-04 16:27:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

After years of development, the complete 1.0 game is now released! Whether you're a story-focused player, or whether you are hungry for some serious puzzle challenges, we're really excited for you to enjoy what we've been cooking up. If you're looking for hints, discussion, or to give us some [strike]hatemail about that one puzzle[/strike] feedback for us, pop into the Crossed Wires discord! https://discord.gg/KPqqJBYf Thanks to everyone who has supported and tested Crossed Wires!

[ 2024-11-04 16:27:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fear particles have been toned down to reduce clutter. - Removed several places where dialog was being cleared unnecessarily. - Adjusted configurations to ensure skipped dialog will be logged properly. - Improved robustness of save/load/sync and added visible warning when there are issues. - Camera should now behave more predictably when loading a checkpoint.

[ 2024-10-31 20:08:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Tractor beam button art updated to more clearly indication the direction of operation. - Remaining dialog voice lines added. - Gilbert AI updates. Chapter 6: - Added sprinkler to allow resetting boomba puzzle.

[ 2024-10-28 20:25:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fixed issue where taking damage could result in save data not being saved properly.

[ 2024-10-24 18:53:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Achievement tuning. - Options menu rearranged to be a little more sensible. - Icon modernized. Levels 6, 7, and 8 - Several configuration settings fixed to allow the level to complete properly. - Conveyor belts made less annoying.

[ 2024-10-23 18:16:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update to 0.9.19. General Fixes - Fixed issue where dialog skips could be incorrectly triggered. - The timer no longer runs during some cutscene sections. - Adjusted WASD mode physics to prevent issue where characters could get stuck. - Steam cloud sync now has more detailed error responses. Level 7 - Fixed issue where an unwinnable condition could be easily created by placing a power supply adjacent to, but not touching a power pad. Update to 0.9.18 General Fixes - Reworked main logo. - Normal speed dialog reworked. Voice lines should now much more closely follow the displayed dialog. - Numerous sound effects added to widgets throughout the game. - Steam cloud sync reworked with manual control to ensure better stability. Chapter 5 - Transition to second level reworked to simplify the logic and remove bugs. Chapter 9 - Art and dialog fleshed out. Update to 0.9.17. General Fixes - Added tooltips to bindings in the options menu to make it more clear which bindings are husk-only. - Particle effects added to Trash Chutes to make it more clear what they are doing when activated. - Fixed issue where game could be un-paused from the controller while in the options menu. - Adjusted the size of the dialog when starting a new game to better suggest that the window is resizable. - Improved dialog resizing interaction when dialog is pinned and while using the controller. - Improve the spawning of fairies in cases where both the source and the target are moving. - Adjusted health calculations on a per entity basis to make the player's overall health more clear. - Added dialog portraits for several NPCs which were missing them. - Finished achievement implementation, including artwork, additional achievements, and updated calculations for what counts as completion. Chapter 2 - Fixed issue where an unwinnable state could be created by pushing a crate off of a step switch with a power supply in an unexpected way. Chapter 3 - Fixed issue where retractable floor holes in some difficulties were not properly interactable. Chapter 9 - Added. Update to 0.9.16. General Fixes - Improved save file screenshot handling in several places which should prevent incomplete screenshots from being saved. - Turning on the lights while driving now properly disables the lights button. Chapter 1 - Fixed dialog line which was rendering unreasonably slowly. Chapter 2 - Increased hard mode difficulty with a minor adjustment. - Fixed dialog line which was rendering unreasonably slowly. Chapter 3 - Fixed issue where Robits would get stuck and become unpredictable. - Adjusted pathing to ensure Robits would walk over a step switch as intended. - Alarms in the first level now stop making noise after progressing past them.

[ 2024-10-08 21:10:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Teedyan streams regularly on twitch with a focus on retro and indie games. On Youtube, he mainly does videos about video game music. ELON is an upcoming puzzle adventure game where you play as a disembodied intelligence working to protect the Electronic Learning and Optimization Network as he navigates the world.

[ 2024-06-24 15:30:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Teedyan streams regularly on twitch with a focus on retro and indie games. On Youtube, he mainly does videos about video game music. ELON is an upcoming puzzle adventure game where you play as a disembodied intelligence working to protect the Electronic Learning and Optimization Network as he navigates the world.

[ 2024-06-18 15:02:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Homewrecker streams regularly on twitch. Check him out here. ELON is an upcoming puzzle adventure game where you play as a disembodied intelligence working to protect the Electronic Learning and Optimization Network as he navigates the world.

[ 2024-06-15 22:46:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've all been disappointed by video games getting delayed, but why has it become so common? Hear insights from developers who have been delayed more times than they can count before releasing a full-length game, and what can be done to mitigate delays in your own creative projects. [previewyoutube=abtb9DDsOTo;leftthumb][/previewyoutube] Thanks to everyone who could make it out to our panel at Momocon 2024! And thank you to Altered Confusion for covering it!

[ 2024-06-11 14:55:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Teedyan streams regularly on twitch with a focus on retro and indie games. On Youtube, he mainly does videos about video game music. ELON is an upcoming puzzle adventure game where you play as a disembodied intelligence working to protect the Electronic Learning and Optimization Network as he navigates the world.

[ 2024-06-10 19:20:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Teedyan streams regularly on twitch and youtube with a focus on retro and indie games. ELON is an upcoming puzzle adventure game where you play as a disembodied intelligence working to protect the Electronic Learning and Optimization Network as he navigates the world.

[ 2024-06-10 19:00:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Fixed issue where driving tutorial levels would not display help dialogs when requested. - Fixed issue where clicking on a cloud device while another cloud device was open would clear both of them instead of switching to the new device. Chapter 1 - Fixed issue with rendering order of the flamethrower. - Fixed issue where flamethrower placement could be interrupted, making it impossible to continue. - Fixed issue where roamba could be started at an inopportune time, resulting in unintended unavoidable damage.

[ 2024-06-09 22:41:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes - Added several differentiations for difficulty to increase the difficulty of hard and reduce the difficulty on easy. Chapter 1 - Removed unnecessary features from the TV in the hotel. - Updated tutorial in the beginning of the hotel to current art and adjusted text to be more specific. Chapter 5 - Adjusted NPC scripted to properly pay attention to ELON's speech. Chapter 8 - Fixed issue that prevented completion of the driving level.

[ 2024-06-07 01:05:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Test for Next Fest.

[ 2024-06-05 18:42:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Controller improvements - Fixed issue where controllers could not navigate to demo only levels from level selector. - Fixed issue where controllers could not summon pause menu from WASD levels. - Made demo complete buttons controller navigable. Chapter 1 - Fixed issue where ELON would be unable to complete his path but he would try anyway instead of tantruming as intended.

[ 2024-06-05 17:49:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey there! Thanks so much for trying the demo for ELON! Were confident youll have a fun experience, a few laughs, and smash no more than one, maybe two keyboards, tops. In case the urge to smash another keyboard arises, we are giving you some tips and tricks to help you out as you begin your journey to protect ELON this Next Fest! Whats with the controls? I cant make ELON move. He just stands there throwing a tantrum, or wandering like a lost puppy. We prefer the term *independent thinker*. ELON has his own ideas of what he wants to do. You are the omniscient AI, your job is to figure out how to manipulate him to reach your objectives. When you hover your cursor over an object:

• A teal outline means each time you click, you toggle that object
• Orange outline means clicking will display a pop-up menu with options
• A magnifying glass icon means you can press F to inspect it further

You can select the speed or turn on/off the unreasonably large automated cleaning device, the Giga-Roamba. You can open/close (toggle) the window, or inspect it for more information. Ive clicked everything and Im stuck. Try [strike]furiously complaining on the Steam Community page in all caps[/strike] holding F to see all objects! Maybe theres something you missed. I got through the hotel, but driving this car fills me with road rage only seen on Cops. Just take a deep breath in and we will get through this together. When youre trying to help the Edison recover some data in a sequence, consider these patterns:

• Linear progression (counting by 2s, or 5s, etc.) -- for example, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 is counting by 3s
• Squares or the result when a number is multiplied by itself for example, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49 are all squares. It is more common in higher difficulties.
• Progressing by squares , such as 10, 14, 23, 39, 64 is also possible the differences between numbers in the sequence in this example are +4, +9, +16, +25. It is more common in higher difficulties.
• Primes or numbers that can only be divided by themselves and 1! Some sequences are simply numbers that arent divisible by anything else, such as 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 Only in higher difficulties.

^ Counting by 11s! If youre taking a while to think about the answer, its ok to make a quick guess! The only penalty for a wrong answer is taking a few seconds to try again. Fighting the load balancer? Try thinking about half the difference between the loads! For example, the difference between 47 and 53 is 6. Since half of 6 is 3, try swapping two numbers that are exactly 3 apart from each other. If you cant find a solution, try randomly clicking a few processes to rearrange them. Most of the time, changing the configuration will make the solution easier to see!
^ Swap the 15 with the 12 for a quick solution! Have a little downtime between turning on the AC and stopping firmware updates? You can preemptively turn on the headlights so youll be ready for the next tunnel! Or just pound back half a bag of Cheetos like the true gamer you are, I dont care.
Tutorials are boring. Im a gamer. I know how to play video games so I skipped it, but I think I missed something important. No problem! You can look at them again any time through the options menu. Just press escape (or the start button on a controller), click Options, and under the Gameplay tab theres a button to view help dialogs. This will let you scroll through any tutorial screens for a refresher.
Thats great and all, but this post didnt answer my question. Ask (almost) anything you want in the ELON discord! https://discord.gg/hyBYWxWB Thank you so much for checking out the demo of our puzzle adventure narrative game, ELON! Like we mentioned above, please join our Discord for any further questions and to stay up to date on all future updates on our game. Now go and protect that manchild, I mean super important being, ELON!

[ 2024-05-30 17:08:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes: - Users will now be warned when starting the game if a connection to Steam can not be made. - Updated laser levels to include an indicator when large drones are off-screen. - Reduced difficulty in casual by forcing health to be at least 5 when staring a level or restarting a checkpoint. - Level timer now turns grey when current time exceeds best recorded time. - Using arrow keys to move the camera will now properly limit camera speed. - Fixed issue where smoke from explosions would improperly collide with some layers. - Added button to join discord from main menu. - Fixed issue where island background was not displaying properly. - Viewing tutorials in non-driving levels now looks cleaner. Chapter 2: - Added puzzle elements to demonstrate that power supplies are not destroyed by fire. Chapter 3: - Tweaked navigation parameters to prevent Robits from getting stuck when pathing towards attracts which they ought to be able to reach. - Alarm sounds now turn off at the completion of a level. - Fixed issue where Robits could unintentionally move magnets in certain situations. Chapter 5: - Fixed issue where ELON could sometimes not be damaged by lasers. Chapter 6: - The opening cut scene is now pausable. - Fixed issue where tutorial could display even after leaving the level. - Fixed issue where hint keybindings were not being updated in production code. - Added hint to show the player how to resize the dialog box without a mouse. - Added hint to show the player how to walk. Known Issues: - Color shifts do not properly apply to all attract elements in the game. - It may occasionally be impossible to turn the wiper puzzle on.

[ 2024-05-17 21:23:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes: - Difficulty options dropdown is now shown in a disabled state for non-game interactions. This is to make it more clear that difficulty exists but can not be set without the context of a particular save slot. - VSync option added to graphics settings in the options menu. - Sentry projectile speed now scales with difficulty (Hard is ~2x as fast). - Out of control Roambas speed now scales with difficulty. - Starting battery time should now be properly set with difficulty at the beginning of driving levels. - Dialog boxes have been resized to prevent text overflowing visible bounds in some cases. - Fixed rendering issue where player could unintentionally render on top of parts of a timer. - Fixed issue that was causing a fight for camera control when an invisible mouse cursor was near the edge of the screen with edge scrolling enabled. - Fixed issue where cursor could highlight gameobjects when after closing the pause menu when a cursor was not allowed. - Fixed issue where dialog portrait names were sometimes not displaying properly. Chapter 5: - Improved interaction between tractor beams and crates at the entrance of the research facility. Known Issues: - Color shifts do not properly apply to all attract elements in the game. - It may occasionally be impossible to turn the wiper puzzle on.

[ 2024-05-17 21:21:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

General Fixes: - Greatly improved the robustness of puddles which should prevent inconsistent behavior when spawning water. - Fixed issue where some levels names would unintentionally take up two lines on the load screen. - Dialog box should no longer interfere with laser blasts. Chapter 6: - Fixed issue that was causing errors when ELON would fall into some floor holes. Chapter 7: - Fixed issue where health calculations were targeted incorrectly. Known Issues: - Color shifts do not properly apply to all attract elements in the game. - It may occasionally be impossible to turn the wiper puzzle on. - It may be possible to clear the death dialog without selecting any of the options, leaving the game in an unplayable state.

[ 2024-05-17 21:20:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixes: - Fixed case where player was not allowed to move left when they should have been able to. - Also fixed an issue where player could not interact with a button as they should have been able to. - Hearts have been recolored in casual mode to make double hearts more clear. - Adjusted layout and pathing in unfinished areas to make it possible to reach certain content. - Fixed issue where returning from the arcade would leave the game in an unplayable state. Chapter 3: - Re-enabled physics on a laser gate that had been turned off for no particular reason. Chapter 4: - Adjusted certain carrier paths the make manipulating ELON's path a little easier. - Improved cleanup of certain areas in the driving level. - Removed pedestrians that could cause undesirable visual clipping. Chapter 5: - A certain crate now dies properly when set on fire. Chapter 6: - Fixed issue where the player could get behind a table but render on top of it. Chapter 7: - Fixed issue where player could take damage from sentries even when hiding behind a rail. Chapter 8: - Fixed issue in intro where player could not progress. - Fixed issue where ELON could not path to his final waypoint. - Fixed issue where a power blocker collider was offset for no reason. Known Issues: - Color shifts do not properly apply to all attract elements in the game. - It may occasionally be impossible to turn the wiper puzzle on. - It may be possible to clear the death dialog without selecting any of the options, leaving the game in an unplayable state. - Shooting the laser at the invisible dialog box does not fire the laser.

[ 2024-05-17 21:19:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Chapter 5: - Fixed issue where Dialog telling ELON to come back would trigger when husk runs through certain areas. - Fixed issue where lights would sometimes be unintentionally off. Chapter 6: - Fixed issue where a crate could sometimes glitch out of its intended area. Chapter 7: - Fixed issue where teleporter activated later than intended. - Fixed issue where a null reference could occur, interrupting the level transition and leaving the game in an unplayable state. Husk Mode: - Players should no longer be able to grab while taking damage.

[ 2024-05-17 21:19:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bug fixes: - Fixed several NullReferenceExceptions that could occur when a objects were destroyed. - Fixed issue where decting a new device could fail because a nullable value was not correctly resolved. Chapter 3: (Bottom) - Improved wire layout so they could not be unintentionally bridged. - Fixed Robit which attempted to spawn Robits in the wrong direction. - Cleaned up some errors that may have resulted in unexpected timer behavior. Chapter 5: - Fixed issue where ELON's AI would shut down before the end of the level, making it impossible to complete the level in some cases. - Fixed issue where a lever switch was not properly activating. - Fixed issue where ELON could safely path between floor holes. - Fixed issue where ELON's world position would be incorrectly set even though his rendered position was correct. - Convinced some puddles that they were not in fact ice and should be electrified. - The first room will now reset to a more complete state when loading last checkpoint from the second room. - A lava lamp has been placed at the transition between the first and second rooms. ELON is attracted to this lava lamp which will give the player additional time to stop him from running all the way back to the first room. Driving: - Damage cracks should now clear after choosing to replay a leven from the level complete dialog. - Fixed issue where puzzles would sometimes not trigger. Level Selection: - Scrolling while on the level selection screen now interrupts any auto-focus scrolling which should make the interface feel more responsive. Known Issues: - Color shifts do not properly apply to all attract elements in the game. - It may occasionally be impossible to turn the wiper puzzle on.

[ 2024-05-17 21:18:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an issue where save files would not be processed correctly and Robit deaths were counted the same as ELON damage, resulting in scenarios where ELON would not have any health in future levels.

[ 2024-05-17 21:17:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Adjusted the pacing of some voice lines to make them easier to follow. Fixed bug where moving the mouse to the edge of the screen would not always move the camera properly. Fixed issue where attack drones don't always do damage to ELON. Fixed issue where cursor did not display in Laser level when death or pause dialogs were displayed. Opened up additional levels for demo. - Laser Drone level - First Husk level

[ 2024-05-17 21:16:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed configuration error where some laser levels still showed the dialog box during gameplay. Improved difficulty descriptions while onboarding to make each difficulty level more clear and easier to read.

[ 2024-05-17 21:15:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bug fixes: - Steam save files were being stored in the wrong location. This has been fixed. - Cursor would sometimes get stuck on the dialog bubble. This has been reworked to prevent the issue. - Adjusting the dialog volume slider should now correctly preview the sound level. - Fixed issue where saving a file could fail because values were being modified by another thread. - Improved handling of AI that could sometimes return null values.

[ 2024-05-17 21:12:37 CET ] [ Original post ]