In the last update (55.2) I fixed an issue where a follower could get stuck trying to pick up loot in a location "boxed in" by cover. Then it was reported that in fact, it wasn't fixed, but i just allowed them to teleport to the loot but they couldn't get out. Now that problem should be resolved. I also noticed that the wrong ammo icons were appearing on weapons and ammo/etc items so that is resolved.

[ 2022-06-13 12:04:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, I'm back with some more bug fixes that have been reported. Let's get right to it:

• Merchant screen "Tier" display on some items was not showing up correctly
• Combined Arms was activating after a "return fire" from an enemy on an overwatch
• During a Run n Shoot, if the character spotted an enemy, an extra action point was being granted
• Sometimes followers trying to retrieve an item that is blocked by cover were getting stuck.
• Swapping controllers during gameplay was resulting in UI input not working

One other note:

• Enemy movement is still occasionally causing a soft lock. I couldn't nail down what was causing this but i made sure that the bug reporting button was accessible (it was actually disabled during enemy turn whoops) so if anyone sees the issue, please let me know with a bug report!

[ 2022-05-19 20:58:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

HI, all, continuing the trend for Build 55, I have some more bug fixes. Here's the notes for the first update to catch you up first. In 55.1 we have:

• When zoomed out on some levels at certain resolutions, the screen would shake when moving the camera. Now the screen movement will lock in a direction that is entirely contained in the viewport, which should prevent this sort of thing.
• On the Sub capture mission, if the party gets down to one character then the mission is a failure (even when one gets revived). fixed this to not fail the mission but not allow it to be completed if you are down to one character which allows for revives to happen.
• Changing the input bindings in some cases was resulting in them not being saved. I made a change that should resolve this even though I'm not 100% sure of how the issue was happening i did have an example so i'm fairly sure this is fixed now.

I'm still working on a few things for a later 55 update, so if you see bugs, please report them using the in game tool or feel free to drop suggestions. Same disclaimer as last time in that I'm not really looking to add content that would require translations or new art.

[ 2022-04-14 12:22:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to Build 55! I'll probably do a few more updates to this build over the next month. More on that below but first here's the change log for 55.0.0

• Fixed the annoying "auto revive" soft lock issue many of you have reported. This was a tricky one to figure out but it ended up being a pretty small fix once i zeroed in on the case where the error was happening.
• Using the active skill Boost Aim in conjunction with a Grenade Launcher was not giving the anticipated bonus to damage. This has been resolved!
• Grenades were not able to do critical damage. This has also been resolved and they should now inherit the attackers critical chance (and any bonuses)

For future Build 55 updates, i am considering a few things:

• Some work on the enemy AI which i have been talking about and working on for a while but have just not made sufficient progress to result in an actual update. Will take another look at this one and see what can be done. No promises though!
• Adding controller rebindings
• Add an additional setting for HUD size and/or zoom

I'm happy to hear additional suggestions for changes for this update, but here are some things I am NOT considering:

• New map types. Partly for technical reasons and partly because I am saving any new content for the new game i am working on.
• New story/enemies/weapons/items. Mostly I don't want to have to get more stuff translated. But also the new content thing above.

[ 2022-03-27 13:35:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

An issue was reported affecting users playing in windowed mode causing delays in the turn changing.

[ 2021-10-16 19:25:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! I thought I had resolved the overlay grid disappearing issues but have gotten a few reports of another case I must have missed. I still can't reproduce it exactly but I see the error in my logs, so i did some minor refactoring to try to resolve it. We'll have to see if this does it. Full change list - Overlay grid still not appearing every once in a while so did a small refactor of the code to try to fix it - Firing on an enemy in low alert with the Wrecker's area aiming could kill the enemy without alerting the other memebers of the pod - Cancel button on the control remapping screen was not being translated - A few things on the main menu were not updating when the language was changed - Updated Icelandic and finally added Alliat to the credits for his work on translating it

[ 2021-10-04 13:49:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're still interested in bringing new languages to Depth of Extinction. Community member Alliat was kind enough to volunteer to do the Icelandic translation for the game. If you are interested in doing (or contributing to) a community translation, please join our Discord and request the translator role! Thanks so much to all our community translators for helping us expand the audience that can play Depth of Extinction. Right now we also have Japanese (thanks Kui), German (thanks Barba-Q), Spanish (thanks Emanuel) and Simplified Chinese (thanks xiaojinzhu) and we would love to add more.

New Stuff

• Added Icelandic language (thanks to our community translator Alliat)
• Added a new Raider boss for the insane missions in the Cultists area
• Default action for follower characters in defensive mode changed to Defend instead of Overwatch

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that results in a soft lock when a character with an "auto revive" skill is killed by an enemy "return fire" skill
• Fixed an issue causing the movement overlay to sometimes not appear
• Pirate enemy icons not appearing
• Missed translation on Mission Loadout "no equipment" box
• Keyboard shortcuts for Change camera zoom and end turn were not working correctly
• "Get Low" skill was triggering when movement was interrupted and second action was something other than movement

[ 2021-09-20 14:06:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

In the Localization Update, I added a "secondary enemy" faction to each area. Unfortunately, I should have tested that just a bit more because the "easy" and "medium" Cultists were a bit too hard for most players at the early stages of the game. It's certainly interesting letting you get a peek at them but I nerfed the enemy stats and weapons slightly so that it's a more realistic challenge. Also included in this update is a new music player on the music tab. That tab is now added to more screens and you can change the track that is playing by clicking/selecting the track of your choice. A second click will open a link to buy/download the track directly from the artist.

[ 2021-05-06 16:37:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all, welcome to the Localization Update (aka Build 53) of Depth of Extinction! Highlights are full translations into Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese as well as quite a few new quality of life features and lots of small balancing changes and bug fixes. This was a huge update as I had to touch every system in the game to fully localize it and the final translation size was almost 25,000 words! If you have played DOE, then you know it is a very text heavy game so this wont surprise you. I had to make a few edits to get the word count to a more reasonable size but it is very close in content to the English version.

New Features

• Added a key binding menu in the Controls tab. This should let you rebind most keyboard shortcuts in the game. Sorry, but haven't got support for gamepad/joystick remapping yet. This could be in a future update.
• When a dead character is revived they will immediately get a turn with a single action point. I expect there may be some edge cases that don't work quite right but using an item on the character to revive worked quite well in my testing.
• On Equipment lists, I removed the Tier drop down selector in favor of a toggle that will hide items that are already equipped to someone else, can't be equipped at all, or (in the case of weapons) outside of the class requirements for the character. Should help you pare down long lists of equipment in the late game.
• A Secondary enemy faction is now assigned to each area and can appear in Stronghold and Mini Boss missions
• Stat displays in various places that only showed an icon and the number value have been changed to display the text label for the stat and the value. I think this change is really overdue and should make it easier to understand the game.
• Character Stats panel is greatly improved and now allows selection in controller mode

The controller binding screen

Other Changes

• Level cap raised to 11
• Level up experience requirements after level 4 are greatly increased as characters were capping out way too early due to some miscalculations in the last update
• Increase starting health by 4 in either mode (13 is normal, 9 in hardcore) and decrease health allocated from skill point upgrades (con 4 to 3, grit 2 to 1, butcher 2 to 1)
• Encounter types were rebalanced, especially for later areas to greatly reduce or remove less interesting encounters (like hostage rescue) and increase the likelihood of boss fights and enemy strongholds (where you might see the secondary enemy faction)
• Raider Heavy Armor changed to tier 3 equipment
• The main enemy on the last area (avoiding spoilers but this is a late game enemy) was slightly nerfed by reducing their total ammo
• All AOE weapons (mostly the Wrecker weapons) were slightly nerfed by using their minimum hits value only (instead of random between min/max) on a non turn attack (i.e. overwatch, return fire, etc)
• The objective loadout screens replace character function is now more clear by showing you the character that would be replaced by a character you add
• Items currently equipped to a character could be sold at a merchant. Now an alert will pop up letting you know that the item is equipped and you wont be able to sell it.
• Itchy Trigger and Sentry were granted with an out of class weapon. Now a Deadeye equipped with an SMG (for instance) will no longer get Sentry on their turn start.
• Enemies will now prioritize targeting your team over the turrets in the area
• Turrets no longer appear on platform missions
• Continue box gets a confirmation popup when you could retry to make sure its clear you will lose characters
• The menu buttons in the top right will always display on the HUD. We had some soft locks happen on enemy turn and the buttons were hidden so the menu and bug report UIs could not be opened
• better formatting on the money displayed on the objective loadout as it didnt have commas and would line break if you got too rich

Stats are easier to read with the text label replacing the icon

Bug Fixes

• Bug causing characters to face the wrong direction while moving after a stop is fixed
• Cases causing soft locks on enemy turn fixed (it was actually a time out case but the time was set to 30s so it appeared to be a soft lock to many players)
• A bug causing some inconsistent behavior for the area aiming interaction for the Wrecker weapon is now fixed
• Removed extra items that are not unlockable from equipment counts and database
• Fixed an issue where the percentage complete displayed on the save file was incorrect and it was not possible to get it to 100%
• Frag grenade was only showing a single action use on the HUD if used on the first action when it would consume both
• If the character had return fire and a revive skill/item, the revive was not being triggered when they die
• There were reports that saving into a new slot would reset the play time. I havent been able to reproduce the exact sequence that caused this issue but i made a change that I think should keep it from happening.
• When a stunning weapon managed to get a Stun on an enemy on an overwatch shot, they were immediately losing the stunned state.
• bug allowing characters inflicted with a status (like bleeding) to then pass it on in their attacks is fixed
• A long time bug was found and fixed! the opening encounters for the enemy class objectives were not being fired.
• Another long time bug as a failed or aborted mission was able to be retried from the map by clicking on the node

More about translations

The DOE Translators really did amazing work on helping me get this update across the finish line, so I want to make sure each one is recognized!

• Spanish was done by Emanuel Osnay
• Chinese was done by xiaojinzhu
• German was done by Ingo "Barba-Q" Nlleke
• Japanese was done by Kui

We also had some smaller contributions to Japanese by Divi and to French (not yet available) by Tchey.

You can help!

Im really hoping to get the game translated into French, Italian, Korean, Portuguese and Russian in the future. If you want to help, please join the HOF Studios Discord and let me know. I can give you the translator role and let you have access to the language you want to work on. Everyone that contributes even a single translation will be given a community translator credit. Making major contributions and/or helping with testing a particular language will get you a full translator credit. If you have another language that you would like to help translate, let me know and we can investigate if it can be done!

[ 2021-04-21 14:32:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Yet another update in the ongoing Build 53 and localization project is in the beta branch! I have some exciting news in the latest update (53.9) as Spanish is now an official language. I got the first version from the translator today so please let me know if you see any issues so i can get them resolved before the official launch of Build 53 (SOON!). Another bit of news: Simplified Chinese is now confirmed as our next language. It will be about a month before we will get that in so it probably wont be available at the Build 53 launch though we will have an update with it (and whatever bugs people find). Heres the rest of the change log for 53.9

• Added re-bindings for camera movement (so you can change it from WASD)
• A long time bug was found and fixed! the opening encounters for the enemy class objectives were not being fired.
• A bug causing some inconsistent behavior for the area aiming interaction for the Wrecker weapon is now fixed
• Map shortcut on HUD was incorrect
• Any after encounter outcomes were using the simplified version in English

UPDATE 53.9.2 is now live in the beta branch. here's the changelog:

• Fixed some font and formatting issues related to Spanish
• Resolved some issues with encounter and objective details not always appearing translated in non-English

[ 2021-03-24 03:02:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another update to Depth of Extinction is live in the beta branch here on Steam! This one is mostly bug fixes but i also wanted to let everyone know we will be getting an official Spanish version to join German and Japanese! change log - bug allowing characters inflicted with a status (like bleeding) to then pass it on in their attacks is fixed - Turrets no longer appear on platform missions - Continue box gets a confirmation popup when you could retry to make sure its clear you will lose characters - bug causing main menu slowdown on title scene fixed - Some minor controller only issues fixed (inventory panel and follow mode config) - More missing translations fixed - Updated German, Japanese and Spanish (coming soon as an official language)

[ 2021-03-15 20:17:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all, We had a few bugs sneak through in the 53.7 update but had some players report one and we saw the other in the logs. Here's the full change log: - If system language was set to an unsupported language, text was set to blank values everywhere. - Some cases where maps were not generated properly due to the new secondary enemy change Please let us know if you spot other issues!

[ 2021-03-02 21:05:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another update to DOE Build 53 is now in the beta branch on steam with a few nice changes. I think the German and Japanese translations are pretty much done now but I'll be waiting a few weeks to make them live to see if anything else shakes out. The most significant other change this week is adding a "secondary" enemy faction to each area that will appear occasionally on the maps. Should force you to mix up your tactics in some battles as you'll be facing different enemies and also add some interesting challenges. Full change log:

• Secondary enemy faction can appear in Stronghold and Mini Boss map nodes
• Binding to control, shift, command and alt is now easier (previously had to hold the key for 3s)
• It's now more clear when a control binding is not editable
• Confirm and alert modals now stand out more from the backgrounds
• Machine translations are only available on itch and won't appear as options on Steam and GOG

There are still a few more changes I'm considering for Build 53 before it goes live but I think we are pretty close to completed now! If you want to get caught up on the Build 53 updates, see this thread. Original Build 53 post is here

[ 2021-02-27 20:47:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Im back with the first preview of Build 53! This is an early preview, as Build 53 will probably not be available for some time on all platforms and in fact, I havent even set the final scope for it yet. I wanted to release this first preview early because it has a really huge feature that many of you have asked for: translations in nine different languages English, German, Russian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Japanese The caveat is that because the games text is so huge (almost 2000 strings and over 10,000 words) that I had to do this first pass on the translation using Google Translate. As you can imagine, this will result in many things not making sense as context is very important in a game. I dont have the funds to invest in translating into all the languages I would like to support, so I am hoping that the community will be able to help fix problems with specific translations over the next few months before Build 53 is considered final. More details are available in the full blog post on my website for those interested in getting involved This updated build will be live only in the beta branch on Steam for now. Its possible I might make it live everywhere before the translation and build are considered final but that decision will be made in the future. To switch to beta, right click on the game title in your library and select "properties" and then open the "betas" tab. You can then choose "beta - Beta Testing" in the drop down and steam should download the update. Other Patch Notes We also have some bug fixes in this first Build 53 update, and here are some notes on them:

• Change character keyboard shortcut changed to Left Shift from N
• Items currently equipped to a character could be sold at a merchant. Now an alert will pop up letting you know that the item is equipped and you wont be able to sell it.
• Removed extra items that are not unlockable from equipment counts and database
• Fixed an issue where the percentage complete displayed on the save file was incorrect and it was not possible to get it to 100%
• Frag grenade was only showing a single action use on the HUD when if used on the first action it would consume both
• Itchy Trigger and Sentry were granted with an out of class weapon. Now a Deadeye equipped with an SMG (for instance) will no longer get Sentry on their turn start.
• The menu buttons in the top right will always display on the HUD. We had some soft locks happen on enemy turn and the buttons were hidden so the menu and bug report UIs could not be opened
• If the character had return fire and a revive skill/item, the revive was not being triggered when they die
• There were reports that saving into a new slot would reset the play time. I havent been able to reproduce the exact sequence that caused this issue but i made a change that I think should keep it from happening.

I am aware that there are still a few soft lock cases. I put in some extra logging and a few other changes that I think might solve them. I am hoping to have these totally resolved in a future build so bug reports are appreciated if you run into an issue with the turns or AI locking up.

[ 2021-01-20 16:14:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all, We've got an update that solves a lot of bugs reported over the last few months! 52.12.1 Change log:

• Added a camera zoom keyboard shortcut and listed it in the help
• Several "unable to click" on enemy targets issues resolved
• Grenade launcher hit chance was lower in some cases than what was displayed in the HUD
• Merchant inventories in some cases were too repetitive
• Hidden UI buttons could respond to mouse clicks
• Soft lock on the map if a save was triggered on an exit or entrance node
• Several encounter typos fixed
• Several encounter outcomes that made no sense were re-written
• Softlock when setting the follow mode leader to the character who entered the sub on a sub recovery mission
• Character skills that disabled after moving were broken and always being granted

[ 2020-10-01 18:14:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all. I know I said I wasn't going to make any further changes to Build 52, but DOE was part of the excellent Bundle for Racial Equality and Justice over on itch.io and we had a massive influx of new players. As usual, this shook out a lot of new bugs plus some interesting suggestions. As always, we'd love to get your feedback and bug reports. You can also join our Discord if you want to chat about the game with other players or the devs. I'll summarize what's been updated since my last post below:

New Features

• Updated Nanite item descriptions to make it more clear that they only affect the equipped character. These are like auto injectors your character would place on their arms so they can't really be used on another character.
• Blitz Nanites now will add "Quick Draw" (firing doesn't end turn) for two turns and decrease hit chance. An upgraded version is available later in the game that also adds an extra action. I was never happy with the Blitz nanites as they seemed like a throwaway item and I finally had an idea how to make them more valuable by adding Quick Draw. If your character has Quick Draw from upgrading Speed all the way, then you won't get anything from the base level nanites except the hit chance debuff.
• Added Health Nanites as a tier 1 item that heals 5 HP and has 50% regen chance. The current Health Nanites are now a "mark II" and I also added a "mark III" version with more health for later in the game.
• Added an option to pause the game when in the background on your PC. Both ways have been requested a few times so adding a setting seemed like the easiest thing to do. It's called "Run In Background" and if you don't want the game to continue when you alt tab off then make sure it is unchecked.
• Clicking an enemy or cover with the mouse (or joystick cursor) will no longer move the camera. this was causing a lot of miss clicks and is a long time issue that i should have addressed long ago.

Balancing Changes

• Updated the Cultist skills to improve their difficulty a bit. Each Cultist skill is now a "Blessing" which I think fits their faction a bit better. The big changes are that Mend (Blessing of Life) and Combined Arms (Blessing of Attack) are added on higher level Cultists. Hopefully this should make the battles a bit more tense.
• Lowered the "hit" experience for characters with a multi shot weapon to balance down the Wildcat and Wrecker advantage (especially in early game)
• Shortened the objective length (number of maps) by 1 everywhere except the final area.
• Raised level up thresholds slightly for higher levels

Bug Fixes

• Removed the manual camera option because it was causing major lag during the turns. This will potentially be added back in a future update.
• Camera movements reduced and slowed down just slightly
• Enemies were not taking overwatch shots if they were not visible and also not firing on turrets if they were not visible
• Center Camera shortcut (C key) was not working
• Encounter options sometimes displaying as locked when you had the class on your team
• When retrying a hostage mission after adding the hostage to your team, they could only be targeted as an enemy
• Grenade launcher and any weapon with Piercing Ammo could fire through walls
• It was possible to interrupt an encounter when you were out of fuel by triggering the out of fuel beacon with the controller shortcut
• if aborting during a "final" mission in an objective it was always marking it failed on subsequent attempts so it was not possible to complete the objective
• Sometimes the game would soft lock during an enemy turn (you would see the movement arrow but enemy would never finish the movement). Its a fairly rare bug but i think this is the fix.
• Clicking the close button on game mode selector while creating a new game would create a broken save
• Selection circles on loot were not animating
• Poison Grenade not applying Poisoned status effect
• Some issues with animated enemy selection
• Enemies tab on menu was not changing if you loaded a new save after viewing it
• Updated Double Barrel skill description to better fit the in game behavior.
• Changed filled health dots to orange in color blind mode
• Changes to better handle corrupted saves (still not clear on what may be causing save corruption)
• Sub damage that occurs on a merchant encounter will now happen after you close the merchant

I'm still trying to decide how to handle the AI updates I mentioned in the last post. I've not really been able to dig in on those just yet but I'll post again if I have an update there. It might need to be held for a future "Build 53" if that happens.

[ 2020-06-15 21:27:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've made a lot of updates to DOE over the last month since the Definitive Edition launched. These are all a part of Build 52.10 which I've been posting about in the forums so some of this you may have seen before. I'm also excited to announce that the console edition of Depth of Extinction is coming soon! I'm a first time console developer with the crazy idea of trying to launch the game on all of those platforms at once. This would not have been possible without the help of my friends over at Finite Reflection taking the reins on the XBOX and PS4 version (check out their amazing game TwinCop). Here's the launch schedule for console and links if you are interested. June 3 - XBox One June 4 - Nintendo Switch June 11 - PlayStation 4 - TBA As promised, here's the change log for Build 52.10:

• The player team can now spawn on the south side of the "over sea platforms" missions
• State now saves at the encounter display and the mission loadout
• A bug that was keeping the sub and experimental weapon achievements from popping is resolved (should repair when you load the save)
• Updated the icons on the encounters to better represent the kind of encounter to help you plan your route
• Sometimes the Plasma Weapon objectives didn't grant the weapon.
• Cultist objective difficulty was raised
• Fixed some bugs with enemy visibility that caused pods in other rooms to sometimes alert when they should not
• Auto equip was not equipping the best weapon in some cases
• Followers sometimes not going after loot or going after loot that alerted an enemy pod
• "Two square" cover was still granting the cover bonus when both characters were on the corners
• Overwatch was not checking Line of Sight properly resulting in firing through walls
• Escape key opens the main menu and Backspace key cancels an action (used to be Escape)
• The cell room on the platform missions was spawning too much cover
• If two characters could overwatch an enemy and the first one killed him, the second player lost their overwatch without firing
• Added an overwatch sound effect
• Follow mode paused when spotting enemies but didnt resume when they went invisible
• Improve encounter UI layout
• Update selection circles so only the active character's circle is animated
• If character has a "Boost" status like War Cry or Cutter, that is displayed on the large HUD elements
• Reduce size of tactical maps, especially the "activate/deactivate node" missions. Final objective missions are still a bit larger
• Bug with Class Unlock objectives not ending properly and unlocking the class. You can just load the save to resolve this one.
• Overwatch firing during an ambush was ignoring cover
• Fixed grenade misses. if you have missed with a grenade then you probably know what I am talking about here haha.
• Edited down some class options in encounters that seem to show up way too often.
• Added some Saboteur class options.
• Nerfed the Wrecker scrap blast slightly (destroyed cover does 2 damage instead of 3)
• Nerfed the credits dropped by higher level enemies. May not fix the in game economy but i think it will help.

The only additional change I am considering at the moment is to make some improvements to the enemy AI. I'm seeing them do annoying things at times and feel like i could possibly solve some of that with a small update. Will be working on that for the next few days so we'll see what happens. Hope you are enjoying the Definitive Edition! Please consider leaving us some feedback or a review. Both really help!

[ 2020-05-22 13:23:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've spent the last six months almost completely overhauling the game, so much so that we are proud to say this is the "definitive" version of Depth of Extinction. There are several new enemies, a new character class, some new mechanics, lots of UI and tactical polish and we've squashed all of the annoying bugs (that we knew about at least). If you only ever played the launch version (or maybe never played) then I think you will be pleasantly surprised by all the changes made since then.

Key Features

Removed the initiative system completely Moved to the more familiar player/enemy turns with free switching between characters. This was not the original vision for the game but the feedback suggested this was what players preferred. Added Stealth and Ambushes Enemies now have a lower visible range to allow for positioning your troops before waking up a pod. Any characters on overwatch when the pod wakes up (if you fire on them or move into their visible range) should take shots at the enemies. If they take a shot, then they won't get to move until after the enemies make their move so it's another tactical decision to make.
Saboteur Class Their primary skill is Sneak Attack which does extra damage if alert level is low. They are fun to play with if stealth is interesting to you.
More Mechs They appear in the final area with different weapons and stats. There is a pretty good difficulty jump in the final area as well.
Shortened The Game You could easily finish the 5 main story objectives in around 10 hrs. This used to be more like 20. The "top level" map where you navigated between the mission maps has been removed in favor of a more linear system. There are also many optional objectives to complete so the total play time is probably now around 30 hours.

Other Changes

The encounters on the map now show more details about what type of encounter it may be so you can better plan your route through the area. We also added many new encounter scripts.
When in Follow Mode, the followers will by default teleport to their location rather than having to walk
Completely rebuilt the tutorial to better reflect the actual game. It's no longer on rails but you have to finish each room to unlock the next one. Very large overhaul to balancing and difficulty Stop movement and refund actions if an enemy spotted even if on first ("green") action (previously only on second "orange" action) Damaging a character in Overwatch will cancel the Overwatch Added an "Enemy Detail" panel to the HUD when you are targeting an enemy or select one of your characters that shows their class, health and equipment - including remaining ammo and grenade uses. Added a "Best Equipment" button to the inventory boxes to automatically equip the character with the best available weapons, armor and items. Nice to have if your team gets wiped or you want to quickly equip a rookie. Sub damage and repair how has a sound effect and animation

What's Next?

The team has already begun work on another game and certainly many of the systems used in DOE will be re-used there and likely upgraded. A console version of the game is also in the final stages of approvals there so I expect we will be announcing a release date soon.

[ 2020-04-02 17:01:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all, sorry for the delay but i have the first Build 52 beta build up for anyone who is interested in taking a look. There are a LOT of changes in this one, some even to the core elements of the game. It's all around feedback that I've been given on Steam and other stores, plus what's come from alpha testers I have let play it over the last few months. I'll warn you that it will work best to start a new game right now. Before i make it live, I'll clean up a few of the details that make an old save have some minor issues. Your old save should play fine if you want but any active objective might be a little flaky. I'll get another post out with a complete list of changes and gifs showing things in action but for now I'll just list out the major changes and bug fixes that are in Build 52: Major changes:

• Added a Stealth mechanic to the game . Enemies have a lower visible range to allow for positioning your troops before waking up a pod. Any characters on overwatch should take shots at dispersing enemies.
• Added the Saboteur class. Their primary skill is Sneak Attack which does extra damage if alert level is low. They are fun to play with if stealth is interesting to you.
• You can freely switch between characters and in most cases, the character should have their turns together.
• The encounters on the map now show more details about what type of encounter it may be so you can better plan your route through the area. We also added many new encounter scripts.
• When in Follow Mode, the followers will by default teleport to their location rather than having to walk
• Completely rebuilt the tutorial to better reflect the actual game. It's no longer on rails but you have to finish each room to unlock the next one.
• Very large overhaul to balancing and difficulty. I'll be making a few more changes before i make it live to everyone.
• The game is much shorter. I thinking you could easily finish the 5 main story objectives in around 10 hrs. This used to be more like 20. The maps are linear (so you have less choices) and a lot smaller (especially in late game) so it takes less time to get to the objective destinations.
• Stop movement and refund actions if an enemy spotted even if on first ("green") action (previously only on second "orange" action)
• Many other small details and polish have been added

Bug fixes

• Soft lock if choosing a dead team member to be the point
• Save slot edge cases resulting in objectives not loading when you try to save an unsaved game in a new slot
• Sometimes an inventory item would disappear when you clicked on it
• Enemies wouldn't always use doors
• Enemies occasionally would try to move to the same space as a player character and just walk in place for a few seconds
• Last player was not saying their lines in a cutscene if you had more than 3 characters on the team
• multiple wall tilesets would display on "final" mission for objective
• Bypass module is using up ammo but not doubling damage
• Could get extra characters on a sub by choosing a transport sub, adding characters and then changing to a lower capacity sub
• Weird "bonus actions" you would sometimes get when walking have been fixed
• Health dots on character display in map UI not lit at beginning in standard/casual mode
• Could not defend if using a sniper rifle out of class and had moved
• Boost Aim (or other no action skills) were counting as moves for sniper rifle out of class
• Sometimes smoke or stun grenades would not throw but would be marked as used

Hopefully we should have another announcement sharing the final date for Build 52 and also will have another big announcement then as well!

[ 2020-02-21 03:25:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've fixed a few more issues that have been reported over the last few weeks with Build 51. Thanks so much for all the Bug Reports in game and posts on the forum. I'm very appreciative of the help in finding these issues and glad I could get them fixed. Please let me know if you find more!

Build 51.5.1 patch notes

• Black screen appearing on mission retry
• Blind characters couldn't reload or fire at all in spite of the hit details saying they had a small chance to hit
• Character switching UI element appearing on enemy turn if before a player character
• Characters constantly popping up and down when in cover
• Could not pass through door into hostage room
• Other possible door issues resolved
• Put Out Fire button enabled when on "extra" action (like Hit and Run, etc)
• When sub moves, map node flags should disappear
• Only display the item filters on a merchant if you have more than 8 items
• On mission loadout, while the confirm box is open if the next character (shoulder) button is pressed, the box stays open but loses focus

[ 2019-09-30 21:39:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Build 51 is here and is focused around bug fixes and small improvements. I had planned a few major changes to the game but ultimately decided there wasn't time to test and balance them so I decided to de-scope them for now. There were just too many bug fixes that needed to get in for me to want to take more time to finish a more significant update before releasing this one. There was some progress made on those improvements, so they may still be added in the future. Please let me know about bugs you run into while playing as I plan to push out 1-2 more bug fix builds this week to resolve any lingering problems.

Build 51 release notes

• Performance boost to battle scenes
• Can open menu and pause during cinematics
• One button "defer to next character" shortcut and UI element
• Saving icon when data is saved
• Small improvements to menus
• Mini Map on HUD opens larger
• Redid loading screen and added missing difficulty
• Added current music name/artist to menu

Controller Updates

• Added Rumble
• Shoulder buttons immediately defer to next character (if possible)
• Changed the DPAD left/right to moving through the in game interactions
• Changed the DPAD up to mini map
• Changed the DPAD down to follow mode toggle
• On Objective loadout, "next character" auto selected
• When something is "selected" holding the left stick for a short time will deselect and start the path drawing again

Bug fixes

• Enemy and loot spotted getting cut off
• Out of fuel encounters would sometimes want you to buy fuel when you didn't have enough credits
• Crashes when fighting mechs
• Can now replace a character in the sub on the Objective Loadout

[ 2019-09-16 17:55:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thanks to all of you that have played Build 50 and I really appreciate all the bug reports and feedback I have received about this update. This was a really big "behind the scenes" change and so there were a number of bugs that had to be fixed. I thought I might list everything out here so if you had an issue, you can see if it has been resolved. Please let me know if you see anything I missed. If i didn't fix something you reported already, then i might not have been able to reproduce it yet or will get to it this week, Build 50.8 (current) - WASD not moving camera - weapon type icon obscuring tier number on mission loadout current item - "new game" on save showing up in wrong place and obscuring text - stat mouse overs on in game HUD not working - objective loadout screen breaking if you added characters and then went back and chose objective again - revive and heal on HUD didn't work with controller properly - follow mode shortcut will only open the UI the first time you use it (or if the leader dies) and then after that just toggles follow mode on and off - out of fuel encounter giving characters XP - Can't close the map in the tutorial by clicking the X button Build 50.7.3 - fix to tutorial soft lock - fix to enemy intros disappearing too quickly - possible fix to enemy intros sometimes focusing on wrong enemy - fix to controller bugs on out of fuel encounters - fix to unable to delete first save file on title scene - soft lock during enemy turn vs feral androids due to a missing weapon on one enemy (thanks for the user reports!) - increased the size of the controller button icons on the in game HUD Build 50.6.1 - Soft lock happening on turn - Enemy sightings not showing correctly - unable to aim grenades - New airlock walls didn't display minimaps - Team tab in main menu shows character when selection changes - possible fix to tutorial box modal issue

[ 2019-06-08 20:54:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Build 50 took me longer than I expected, but that was mainly because in addition to the controller support, I wanted to get in as much content and address as much feedback as possible. As usual, I'll post the entire DevLog over on itch.io with a summarized version here. If you want to read the entire thing, please visit this link. https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/84471/update-controller-support-enemies-and-effects

Controller Support

This is the big one for Build 50. Its a huge change and affected every menu in the game to some degree. If you have played DOE, then you know it has a lot of menus so that was no small task. The other goal was to not lose any functionality for mouse and keyboard PC players. Id love to hear if you think I missed something!

Enemies Updated

The next big thing was addressing the feedback that the enemies were too similar. I went through almost every enemy in the game and made major changes to their sprites and armor to try to make them more distinctive.

Effects Updated

Another big effort went into adding more in game effects. I touched four main areas: enemy death animations, weapon impact animations, new weapons (and a few updates to existing weapons) and new weapon effects.

Map Updates

I was only able to get one small update into the maps. On the later open maps, the sub docking area is now always enclosed. Having this open lead to some scenarios where enemies spawned close enough to the player characters to immediately trigger. In later missions, this could result in starting with half your characters already significantly damaged. Now you will always have a chance to get ready before opening doors and potentially revealing enemies.

Whats Next?

Subs - remove health and add a different damage penalty Character Injuries Map Updates Sounds effects - more, more, more Music - improve the loops Read the entire DevLog https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/84471/update-controller-support-enemies-and-effects

[ 2019-06-05 21:24:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

A small update has just been released with a few changes:

• Added an accessibility option to the settings for Color Blind Mode which changes the color schemes for the tactical UI elements
• Fixed some error conditions that could result in the game stalling and the player unable to make a move
• Fixed an issue with the bug reporting form being used when a save file had nt yet been generated
• Added some extra time after a shot to make it easier to visually process the results

Please let me know if you see other problems and of course suggestions are also welcome.

[ 2019-02-11 20:55:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

I didnt expect to be making another build so soon, but I wanted to do a small update based on the Build 48 feedback and then it gradually morphed into a pretty big update. Here are the highlights:

• Optimization to reduce lag
• Encounter outcomes that dont result in a tactical battle but do have a positive outcome result in experience gained for each character on the team.
• Team Editor screen will allow you to choose the team member to return to base rather than always sending back the hostage.
• expected damage will now appear on a character or cover UI flag by turning the health dots red that would be damaged in a successful attack of max damage (in the case of multi shot weapons)
• Dodge chance added to the enemy UI flag
• Abort, evac and exit mission buttons larger
• Sniper range penalty is now fixed to 4 squares rather than 50% of the weapon range
• Incompatible items now labeled as such in the equipment UI.
• Bug reporting can be done in game so you don't have to track down saves and logs

The Full Post with many more details is on itch.io https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/66516/build-49-is-now-live-with-major-optimizations-and-a-few-other-changes

Whats Next?

Controller support is the next highest priority. Beyond that, I do have plans to add more content to DOE in the future. I have a few classes that were cut at the end and I plan to finish them. Id also like to add more mission variations and more maps. Many other requests have been made and I will definitely take a look at those as well. You may also notice that we reduced the price recently. Hopefully the new price will help ensure that the game continues to sell in the long term and allow me to keep going with (at least) quarterly updates.

[ 2019-02-04 15:39:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

The long awaited Build 48 is finally ready! Ive put some thought into how I think people might react to this update but am looking forward to hearing more detailed feedback on the changes and if you think they have improved on the games shortcomings without compromising what you liked about it.

• If you didnt like the game at all when it launched or you were turned off on it for some other reason, then this update is probably not changing your mind.
• If you were on the fence about the game and just thought thought it was repetitive or imbalanced or too easy, then maybe you could give it another try. Ive worked on addressing this feedback and even though I dont think the game is perfect, i do think it has improved from launch.

If you are one of those people who would prefer to get the high level summary of the update or see the visuals, then this video is for you. For more details, please read on! https://youtu.be/Qy-8fVMVZSo The first thing to mention are the New Maps we have added to the game. There are three new ones that each add slightly different dimensions and are introduced as you progress through the game.
Ive also added some new level tilesets that youll see in later areas. They are the Cultist Temple and the Android Citadel and they definitely have a different look that the current tilesets. I dont have a significant amount of new cover or environment items added to the game yet though. Look for that in a future update.
Ive also completely removed the Zone Chooser from the game in favor of just listing the currently available objectives for you to choose from across zones. Only one objective of a type will be available at a time from now on, so you wont see more than one Find Sub at a time, for instance. The concept of choosing the objective based on difficulty is also gone from the game. This has been replaced by difficulty that scales with the current team. Objectives will have a difficulty floor however, so it is possible to undertake an objective that is too hard but not one that is too easy. Enemies will scale up to roughly match your level. To make the game more accessible to new players, we have added a casual mode. The first time you play the new version of DOE, you will be asked which difficulty mode you want: Casual or Classic. Classic will be basically the current version of the game (with the other changes in Build 48) while Casual will have a few differences:

• You will have the option to retry any mission where you failed (team wiped out), aborted or even lost a character.
• Characters will have a higher base health value than the enemies, allowing you to take a few more hits.
• The difficulty will ramp up just a little more slowly

Casual mode is primarily aimed at players who want to experience a slightly easier version of the game and not have to deal with permadeath (unless they want to). The speed of the game has also been greatly increased. I have gone through each aspect of the tactical component of the game to remove any extra delays and reduce the time things take to execute (like changing the turn and firing). I also have completely revamped the character movement system so that the movement speed can be tuned by the player in the settings. The default speed is significantly higher than the previous defaults. The cinematic system also had a setting added to let players control how long the camera delays over items of interest last. Hopefully this solves a lot of the battle pacing issues. These changes are complete rewrites to the character movement system, so I wont be surprised to hear about a few bugs. Ill be posting a patch soon with bug fixes, so please let me know if you see anything weird. Videos appreciated. Another big change: enemy pods are now triggered based on their visible range from player characters. This means that instead of enemy pods activating as soon as you see them, they will only activate when you either attack them, move into their visible range or fire at another enemy within their visible range. Enemies in rooms are also activated by overwatching or reloading at a door.
Since you can see enemies before their pod gets activated and attacks you, I have also added a new HUD element to represent the enemys visual range. As long as you stay outside that area you wont activate the pod. I feel like this is pretty experimental so I am definitely interested in feedback. In addition to activating by seeing one of your characters, enemies can also activate if they hear you open a door, reload or fire your weapon, or if an enemy in a different pod is activated close by. Enemies can activate if one of these things happens within their audible range, even from another room, so be careful! Later enemies, like androids, have more advanced hearing and so have a larger audible range. Weve also beefed up the story with additional cutscenes and banter between characters. There are three more standalone cutscenes and several banter situations during the final mission of each story objective. This should flesh out the story a bit more. The encounter system has been significantly upgraded, with the main change being new task encounters that charge the player with disarming bombs, hacking terminals or disabling a failing reactor as you travel across the maps. These mission types were available previously only as final missions on some side quests. A lot of players found them fun so we wanted to make them happen a bit more often! I also worked with the writers on reducing the number of repeating encounters and outcomes that made it look like things were duplicating. Some smaller changes to encounters:

• Class options have a color coding
• Fewer sub battles
• Go in loud generally sets the alert level to high

One thing that did NOT change is the skill cool downs. I talked in the previous post about changing the cooldowns to Uses to give you a fixed number of skill uses per mission. This was actually implemented in a test branch and I did some playtesting with it but ultimately it seemed to negatively impact the initial difficulty and seemed kind of arbitrary. I settled for increasing some of the skill cooldowns and many of the new maps that are introduced later in the game dont have the rooms breaking up the action any more so you cant just spam end turn to reset them in many cases. Other changes

• Status effects (fire, poison, regen, etc) damage and healing are triggered at the end of the turn rather than the beginning so you cant spam end turn to fill health with regen, for instance.
• Constitution skill at 5 points is Mend rather than Regen
• Flip the Field multiplies movement by 1.5x rather than 2x
• Assault skill Close Combat only gives you 1 free shot per turn
• Boost Aim damage is split up amongst shots for multi shot weapons
• Higher tier items cost more and resell for less
• Max Dodge chance greatly reduced overall
• Trap missions (starting the mission in Evacuate Facility) and High Alert missions happen more often
• Hostages no longer have to be led back to the exit when the level is empty
• Reduce the frequency of voice barks
• Inventory filters by tier on equip screen and tier and type on merchant
• Evac notification no longer pops up but appears permanently on the side of the HUD
• Mechs cant use cover

Whats next? My goal is to try to deliver quarterly updates to the game throughout 2019. I am thinking some new objective types, classes, content and possibly even a new main quest? I am honestly not sure yet but all of this is being considered and when or if these things are available will probably depend on a variety of factors. All I can say for sure is that the next update will include controller support. Let me know what else you want and I can definitely consider it.

[ 2018-12-19 21:04:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thanks so much for all the feedback we have received through reviews, forum posts and on our Discord (https://discord.gg/ThN65yS) over the last few days since DOE launched on Steam/GOG/Humble/itch.io. We went (pre-release) from having about 100 people play the launch build and about 15 give us detailed feedback to having thousands play it and hundreds giving feedback. Of course, that means a lot of stuff we just missed prior to launch. This includes major balancing problems and lots of bugs (big and small). With a super small team (only 1 full time developer and a few part timers) we probably can’t get everything fixed as quickly as you would like, but we are committed to making the game a fun and enjoyable experience. Clearly we don’t have this right yet, since many reviewers are not happy with the game, but we are going to keep working on it. For Build 48, the goal is to address as many of these problems as we can. Luckily, I don’t think the game is that far off from being a more balanced experience and there is now a plan.

Active Skill Adjustments

This is one of the main imbalanced parts of the game. Many people have found some over powered skill combos and while these are kind of cool to find, they make the game less of a fun experience for many late game players. So, starting in Build 48, Active Skills (that you enable) will now have a “uses” stat, meaning they can only be used a finite number of times during a mission. So your skills will be another resource to manage and you’ll have to be careful about how you employ them. We’ll also make some other adjustments to specific skills: - Boost Aim damage will be split up amongst the shots fired. So for a Wildcat that means getting only +1 per hit for instance. - Close Combat (Assault skill) will only grant a free shot within two tiles once per turn. - Flip the field will multiply movement by 1.5 times rather than 2.

Additional Map Types

Another feedback I have seen quite a lot is a lack of variety to the battle maps. I understand that this is a problem and I had two more map types hat were almost ready at launch but just ran out of time to polish them and get them ready to ship. One of them will be added in Build 48 that is a hybrid between “interior rooms” and the more open “platform” maps. These will have some small rooms but also larger more open areas. Here's an example of one, and though this is not a finished product yet I think you can get an idea about how this might add a lot of combat scenarios. ​

Additional Story Cutscenes

DOE has a nice cutscene system in place (used in the prologue) and a writer who already put together some great scenes to use throughout the game. I just ran out of time to get them all implemented prior to launch, and of course the story totally suffers as a result. I’ll try to get these all in the game as soon as we can in Build 48.​

Other Changes

A “turn start” marker will be established to ensure that status effects (like burning and regen) don’t trigger continuously when using Defer. A new panel will be added to the character modal in battle to show all current effects the characters (including enemies) have so you can better plan your attacks. Hostages won’t need to be led back to the evac zone when the level is empty anymore. Expected damage will be displayed in the action area to make it clear how much damage will be done if you fire. This is mostly to address the issues with the shotgun damage falloff not being clear but i think this will help players in general. Adjust the voice overs. I’m not sure exactly what will be done yet as I am getting a bit of mixed feedback here. Yes, some of the voices are poor quality but it seems like the voice feedback is very helpful for knowing when a character is low on health or ammo for instance. Most likely, the number of voice clips will be reduced and disabled completely during follow mode. The critical ones will stay in and trigger each time as the goal will be to keep the usefulness of the voices but lower the annoyance factor. I will look into getting some additional voices recorded but probably there will not be time to get that organized for Build 48.

A few more smaller items

- Filters in the merchant inventory (type/tier) - Set Swashbuckler weapons to not be drop only (so the merchants will stock them) And some Quality of Life settings - Enable/Disable the moving lines on the map screens - Enable/Disable the text barks - Cinematic time (enemy spotted, loot spotted, etc) I know there are a lot of other requests that many of you have mentioned, and I am sorry if the thing you want is not on the list. With the size of our team (only 1 full time developer), choices had to be made for Build 48 that would impact the most players. Rest assured that all requests have been heard and logged and I will try to make all reasonable adjustments eventually. The plan (at the moment) is to do at least 2 more builds (49 and 50) to add in even more content and address more concerns. I will share more details on them after we completely deliver Build 48.

Implementation Plan

I will be pushing builds to the beta branch on Steam and GOG very soon (possibly this weekend) with fixes as we make them. How those builds will be integrated into the "default" Steam/GOG/itch versions is to be determined. I will need to make the sure the changes are ready by having players try them out and give feedback, and I will try to get some of my internal testers to spend time on them at some point. The goal would be to completely deliver Build 48 by early November. I'll have more updates on this as we get closer.

[ 2018-10-03 14:38:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

So we have been monitoring the bug report form, the Steam forum and our Discord server, and have fixes for a number of issues in the Beta branch now. Once we see that everything is looking good, we'll promote it to the main branch. If you are having any of these issues then feel free to use the beta. Here's what we fixed: Tutorial: - Close button on tutorial dialog not working - Character with minigun going first breaks the tutorial - Scroll wheel wasn't zooming in and out on tutorial - Loot collected box could not be closed in the tutorial Skills and Items - Any "passive" skill buffs were not being applied (item Master being the most visible one early in the game) - Character select buttons for med kit, trauma kit, blood transfusion were hard to see so we added a background and outline to make them stand out Other stuff: - The mouse sometimes had to be wiggled a little bit in order to get the movement line drawing or make it clickable - Enemies walking through doors without opening them - Made the evacuation prompt that will kill everyone outside the evac zone have a double confirm with RED text - Made current area node on map screen white - Made current mission node on map screen white - Soundtrack was missing some songs and meta data meaning it did not show up together. Now appears in music player as "Depth of Extinction OST" Feel free to join our Discord https://discord.gg/Y6taVrh or submit a bug report https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0_s559TRWC7ADgDSiWComBVwSzVB7WXMP1zTY9ITpNAOB0w/viewform?usp=sf_link

[ 2018-09-29 02:41:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

We’re excited to announce that Depth of Extinction is now available on Steam, GOG and itch.io! It’s been a long road to get to this point and we are excited to see what everyone thinks of the “final” version of the game. Of course, many of you on itch have played the game previously, but at various stages of development. We've introduced a few new things in the last 2 builds before launch in addition to the slew of bug fixes. One of the coolest is the new Equipment Database! Track all the remaining items to find in DOE!
Full DevLog covering Build 46/47 https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/49951/launch-day-and-build-4647-details

[ 2018-09-27 22:46:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Depth of Extinction – HOF Studios’ sharp turn-based strategy game with roguelike elements – is launching Thursday, September 27 on Steam, GOG, itch.io, and the Humble Store. Inspired by genre stalwarts XCOM: Enemy Unknown and FTL: Faster Than Light, the game allows you to handpick fighters from a roster of hardened operatives to join your squad – then battle vicious factions and killer machines in defense of mankind. Venture into a terrifying underwater world rife with violence in this complex, addictive strategy game with real permadeath and superb pixel art. Pricing & Availability Depth of Extinction will be available on Steam (PC, Mac, and Linux) Thursday, September 27 for $17.99 – a 10% discount. The game will return to its original price of $19.99 on October 4. Depth of Extinction will also be available on itch.io, GOG, and the Humble Store. Launch Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1YXKKOUes

[ 2018-09-22 12:40:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

We skipped an update for Build 44 but are going to cover that build plus 45 in this extra special “last” blog post before the final stretch run to release the game onto Steam, GOG and itch.io! We will have an announcement regarding the launch date later this week. Before we get to the new stuff, take a second to check out our launch trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1YXKKOUes
The biggest new feature we have added is "Follow Mode" that lets you choose a leader and then puts the other troops under AI control! They will stay close to you (offensive) or stay in cover (defensive) while stopping to pick up loot and auto reloading after battle! Other New features: Enemy Dispersal Refinements to enemy spawning Sub Unlock Objectives and much more! Full DevLog: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/48942/build-4445-almost-ready-for-launch

[ 2018-09-18 12:36:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Build 43 is now available on Itch and Steam! We've got all the details on Build 43 in our latest DevLog, including the new scenarios, objectives and character portraits. We also have a sneak peak at all the enemies in the game! Read the full DevLog on itch.io: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/44896/build-43-portraits-scenarios-and-new-objectives?utm_source=steam

[ 2018-08-15 14:41:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Our latest DevLog has lots of great details on the updated Encounter system coming in Build 43. We also cover the updates made to the overall UI and give a status on the next few Builds plus the updated release date info. Read the full DevLog here: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/42633/build-43-status-update?utm_source=steam

[ 2018-07-28 21:28:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some news:

• DRM free platforms announced
• We've hired a writer to help with story!
• Updated release/beta schedule

Excerpt about Objectives: Objectives all have different “final” missions that are more in line with the narrative and provide a more interesting payoff as a result. A few examples:

• Hostage Situation - rescue a hostage from a locked room and escort them safely out of the facility
• Terrorists Strike - disarm a bomb placed in a facility by raider
• Rogue AI - hack terminal to weaken the AI so you can then disable their primary server. The AI won’t go down easily and will leverage facility defenses to repel you.

We’ve got a lot more scenarios that also will feature unique missions. Hopefully this will address the “more variety” feedback that I’ve seen from a few of you. Read the Full Post on our DevLog: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/39186/build-43-preview?utm_source=steam

[ 2018-06-29 23:02:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

First Access on itch was a great experience, but now we are turning our attention to the launch of the game on Steam, which means that it's time to officially end the First Access program! The Steam launch is looking like mid-August now! We've had a few delays, but are committed to putting out the best possible product, not hitting a date. We will continue selling First Access keys on itch.io (at https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe ) through the end of the month of June, at which time we will disable updates to the itch.io version of the game. In July, we will begin distributing the free beta Steam keys to First Access buyers and all updates will be done there. Read the Full Blog Post https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/36806/the-end-of-first-access

[ 2018-06-12 19:58:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

The HUD has been redesigned a few times already but we had some new ideas. This delayed Build 42 by a few days but I think the change was worth it as the presentation is much cleaner overall. This will still be a work in progress so love to hear feedback or criticism!
We're excited to introduce the latest classes in the turn-based tactical RPG Depth of Extinction: the Wrecker and the Warden. The Wrecker wreaks havoc with his AOE minigun while the Warden is a defensive focused character who lays down covering fire to any enemy who fires on an ally. We also introduced many new items and did a complete rebalance. Read the Full DevLog on itch.io

[ 2018-05-22 03:16:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're pretty excited about Build 42 as it introduces a few new classes (and removes another), completely revamps the items, introduces walls as cover and rebalances the game. The coolest thing in Build 42 is the Wrecker class. Wreckers excel at clearing out cover and working in tight spaces. Their primary weapons are MiniGuns, which do Area Of Effect (AOE) damage. Read more on our latest DevLog!

[ 2018-05-09 21:17:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

There's a lot to talk about in this DevLog! We've also posted the release roadmap, our estimated release date and a link to view known bugs in the game. As usual, we are excited to get your feedback so please check out the game. Here's the highlights:

• Tutorial Overhaul
• New Movement Path and Control Scheme Updated
• Custom Cursors
• More Loot in the Levels
• More Music and transitions when enemy are spotted
• And by popular demand: Character Customization is back!

Read all the details on our latest DevLog on itch.io!

[ 2018-04-19 19:22:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! We're opening up the hood so everyone interested in the project can see the final release plan and check out open bugs in the project! We'll try to keep this post updated on our itch.io message board so that everyone can see what the final direction looks like. It's probably worth mentioning that to see the current state of the game (and have the release plan make sense) you'll have to try the game out in our First Access! Check out the release plan: https://itch.io/t/212145/release-plan-and-open-bugs Buy a First Access Key: (includes Steam key that will be sent out about a month before launch! We're only selling a limited quantity) https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe

[ 2018-04-01 21:48:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm back from GDC and wanted to get this build out to you quickly with a few bug fixes that we introduced in Build 40 and also talk about what you can expect to see in Build 41.

• Procedural Level Generation will be a primary focus. The goal is to have more variety to the missions and less square shaped levels.
• We're going to take a shot at cleaning up some cover issues and introduce a "Step out and fire" mechanic when behind a wall.
• Ambient Sound Work.
• New Grenade Sprites and icons

As always, you can read the entire post on our DevLog on itch.io: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/28855/build-41-preview-and-bug-fixes-for-build-40

[ 2018-03-28 20:30:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is our last build before GDC and we wanted to get as much in as possible for people we might show it to this week. And we certainly got a lot into this one. For starters, we have new interior facility layouts that are closed in and more complex. We also separated the facility into rooms and added doors into the picture. To open a door, just position a character next to it and click on it. Opening a door doesn’t use an action. Enemies will also open doors if they are pursuing you! Read more on our latest DevLog: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/27693/build-40-level-layouts-doors-and-dialog

[ 2018-03-20 19:52:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

We get asked a lot of questions about Depth of Extinction, both here on Steam as well as on itch.io. We've put together some of the best ones we've received over the last few months for your reading pleasure. Read more at https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/26615/frequently-asked-questions We're also talking about the latest changes coming in Build 40: We've completely revamped the combat mission maps so that all levels are broken down into rooms and there are doors separating each one. We also have some all new themes for each facility. They used to be kind of generic but now we also have Medical/Hospital, Reactor/Power generation and Farm/Food Production facilities. Each one has different set pieces and and is very themed to the facility type.
https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/26615/frequently-asked-questions

[ 2018-03-08 03:30:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

We’re finally getting closer to seeing what Depth of Extinction will be at launch with the world map and objective chooser in build 39. The goal is to provide player choice and exploration plus give a bit of risk to deciding how to outfit your team to tackle the objective. For all the details, check out our latest DevLog on itch.io where you can still purchase a First Access copy of the game (that includes a Steam key) https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/25031/build-39-world-map-base-and-objectives
The Objective Loadout UI
Zooming is back in the game!

[ 2018-02-22 19:48:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Almost from the beginning of development of Depth of Extinction, I’ve envisioned the game as an open world RPG where you can explore and find interesting and unexpected things spread out in this crazy undersea world. For the past few months, a lot of effort has gone into thinking about the right way to bring that open world aspect back to the game. Here’s the basic outline of what we plan to implement over the next several builds to bring the game into its final state.
Read more on our DevLog on itch.io! https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/23475/the-world-opens-up-build-39-preview

[ 2018-02-07 22:59:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

It’s been in the works for a few months now, but the Character Class update is finally here! Read all about it on our DevLog and check out these GIFs of the classes in action:
https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/22631/build-38-character-classes-ui-and-balancing The Assault class really knows how to clear out a room.
The Saboteur can use Low Profile to avoid damage when in cover
The Deadeye strikes before you even see them

[ 2018-01-31 20:53:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

We’ve been planning to totally rework the classes in Depth of Extinction for a while now, and Build 38 is where you finally get to see all that work in the game. No word yet on when that will be available in First Access, but it should be soon.
So what’s changing?

• Five base classes
• Six unlockable classes (four from enemy factions)
• Weapons are reorganized and categorized into Weapon Classes (a few new ones added)
• Character Classes are specialists with particular Weapon Classes (most with just one, but a few with multiple)
• Weapons can be freely equipped, but there will be penalties for using a “non-class” weapon
• Less skills unlocked via stat point upgrades
• Class points now affect a particular stat within the game.

Read more on our DevLog on itch.io https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/21239/so-about-those-character-classes

[ 2018-01-17 16:10:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Finally! Build 37 is here! The biggest (and maybe most interesting change) are the new “Platform” environments but we've also added a new faction: Pirates! Plus new boss missions, camera controls, environment tweaks and much more! Read all about it on our latest DevLog on itch.io where you can buy a First Access copy
What’s coming next in Build 38? We’ll make a blog post next weekabout the major Character Class Refactoring we have been planning for a few months now. We’ll be working on another set of new maps and some more Facility types to keep things interesting. Another big change will be that the text encounter outcomes will start affecting the missions. We will also be looking for some volunteers to help us test out new Steam specific stuff like Achievements and Cloud saves. Keep an eye out for an email!

[ 2018-01-10 22:18:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've just released Build 36 to our First Access customers on itch.io. If you are interested in finding out more of buying a key (we still have some available!) then head over to our DevLog and get all the details! https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/16311/build-36-new-ai-weapon-effects-and-tactical-polish Features:

• New Enemy AI
• Updated weapon effects and explosions
• More work on loot drops
• Enemy spotted movement interruption
• Alert Level indicator
• Blood on environment and walls
• Removing Androids as playable characters
• Lots of bug fixes and UX improvements

Plasma Grenade Effect

[ 2017-11-25 21:04:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey DoE fans! We've released an update to our First Access and added 100 more available keys! Read more on our DevLog: https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe/devlog/12453/build-35-updated-visuals-and-polish Second, we are happy to announce we received the Best Design award at SIEGE last weekend!
Third, hopefully this is not too much of a shock, but we've decided to move our planned release date from early November to February of next year. There were several reasons for this but the main one is the lack of visibility we would have by releasing in a prime AAA launch window and competing with the Steam winter sale. We'll also be able to achieve even more of our vision for the final game and ensure that the quality is there for launch.

[ 2017-10-14 16:42:25 CET ] [ Original post ]