Hello! As you may notice, the time of the year is here. Knowing how good were you this year, I prepared little gifts for you!
From 21st December, an in-game event will start. You will have the possibility to unlock special character items. To unlock them, you will need to find the required amount of gifts. Each level contains a different amount of collectible gifts, and all you need to do is pick it up steamhappy

You don't need to complete the level to count the gift as collected! If you collected it, you can exit and equip the unlocked item!

I wish you all Happy Holidays, and see you in 2021!

Hello, space escapers! After a bit of silence, I'm back with a status update and news about what will happen next with Area 86! Let's start with the "silence" period. Trus me, it was not silent at all. As you would notice, Area 86 is available on Steam for Win/OSX/Linux. And as you would guess, it would be worth trying to get Area 86 on other platforms like Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. So I worked like crazy on getting Area 86 on other platforms, and must admit, it was harder than first thought. But I did it and Area 86 right now is available on Xbox One, and it will be available on Nintendo Switch on November 11th. Now that the porting to other platforms is completed I returned to the Steam version. Checked how many people have supported me ( bought ) and decided to put Area 86 on a side for now. If you ask why, the reason is simple. The player ( supporters ) amount did not reach my goal. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, and I'm very thankful for every player ( supporter ) that Area 86 received and continues to receive! Also, there is hope that one day Area 86 will reach my player goal on Steam and I will surprise you all with new content. steamhappy ( The hope comes from the data that Area 86 is on more than 4k potential player wishlist. ) With all this said, for now, I will move a bit away from Area 86 and try to create something else. Your more than welcome to give a hint/idea/input on what should or could I create next. Thank you!

Hello! I'm happy to announce that Area 86 has made it to be part of Tiny Teams Festival steamhappy
This also means that Area 86 will be on sale with 30% OFF from August 9 to August 15, 2020. And if that is not awesome enough - I made a playable demo version that is available right now! Let's spread the news so more people can try Area 86! Thank you and have a great week! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Follow SimDevs on Twitter twitter.com/simdevs Join the Discord discord.gg/DEvxfKF

Hello! Time to take a look at what's happening at Area 86. Well, this time added new features to Area 86! As a gamer, I like the possibility to customize my character. Area 86 was missing this feature, but not any longer!
So I added character customization with some basic items and the possibility to color them individually. You can check it out at the new main menu button - Customize
Another feature that was added in the latest release is leaderboards! Not sure why I did not implement them at the beginning as you already receive your time spent at level completion. The current look of the leaderboard in-game:
As levels can be completed with any %, I decided to create 2 leaderboards for each level. One for 100% fully completed users and another for any % completion. Icons that represent each leaderboard:
Also, if you don't want to be bothered with the leaderboard table, I made a switch in options to disable leaderboards if needed.
Played through all levels and set my best time for each level! If you want to challenge your skill vs developers - you can try to beat my times. ( and if you manage to beat my time - Trust me, I will come back for the challenge ) steamhappy Worked a bit on a new level, but nothing serious. The layout is almost completed and still has a lot of work to do. And yes, I will keep further levels smaller. ( Should not get bigger then Level 2 ) As the summer is hot, Area 86 has a hot deal of 50% off!!! How's the summer at your side? Till next time!

Hello! Long time nothing posted, so I thought of writing a status update! We all humans, and we need to recharge our powers! So I took time off from working on Area 86 and tried to relax. Now I'm returning and looking at what to do next! Have some changes in mind, like remove the chapters menu. The reason is that it's not needed anymore. At the beginning of the development, I had a little story in mind, but it was pointless as I'm not the right person for such a task. So I'm getting rid of it. The new levels will get added to the current level list, and everything will be fine! Maybe I could add some extra features to the level screen - hmm? I also started to work on character customization! Probably will write more about it in the next time as right now need to create more items, so it's fun to use and show off! And one more thing. Thinking of changing Area 86 price as many users point that it's too expensive for the current ~3h playthrough. Till next time!

Let's talk about the last patch.steamhappy I transferred the whole project from Unity 2018.4 to Unity 2019.3. As expected, things went south and received a decent amount of new bugs. Most of the bugs are fixed & the latest version should work better than the previous versions. And no more visual glitches while you play! ( This was the main reason why made the upgrade ) Also, the main initiator for screen glitches where ropes and tapes. I removed all of them and replaced them with a different solution. Should look and work better than before. Some buttons were missing interactions with other objects. Added missing components & now you can activate them by throwing any object at them. There were places in levels where your robot could get stuck because of static colliders. Not any more! At least, fixed the reported spots. Found and fixed a possible game start crash that was happening for some users. And finally, updated some localization values. After this big update continuing to work on new levels and probably will write in the next development blog, how's it going. Thank you for your support and feedback!

A huge thanks to you who bought Area 86 & like what I have created! It means a lot! Thank you & I hope that more people will find Area 86. So how did the release day go?
Well, I was fixing last-minute bugs before launch & the last build was uploaded 3h before release! You can guess how the testing went. Not the best way on how to prepare for launch! steamfacepalm But wait - it did not end there! I still needed to create achievement icons. The last achievement icon was uploaded 1h before release. At the moment, when all was finally in place and the only thing left was to press the release button - I was already totally exhausted! ( don't think that previous days did not spend polishing/fixing bugs ) Anyway, the release button is pressed & finally can feel more relaxed that managed to get everything together in the promised time!
Bear with me! Area 86 development does not stop here! I will add a ROADMAP in discussions with what's still in development and what will come later! Also, if you have a suggestion/question. Or get stuck in a level? Or maybe want to check how's the development going? A discord server is available for you to join: https://discord.gg/DEvxfKF Have fun playing Area 86 & if you can, please leave a review!

I hope you're doing well and staying safe! earthish Development of Area 86 has slowed down a bit in March, but I'm back and pushing forward! The release day is coming closer and closer, uhh! Not sure if ready for release, panic! But I have promised to deliver on April 15th and let's keep it that way! steamhappy So what's done for the release:

Localization

Steam Features

Levels

Press

Let's start with the most exciting news! I decided to release Area 86 on April 15th steamhappy ( no matter what will happen ) The release version is still in heavy development, and no time should be wasted! cleanhourglass Have a release todo list which looks like:

• Last level development ( where you will need to defeat a corrupted AI system )
• Localization ( some strings missing )
• Achievements
• More polishing
• Robot customization? ( 50/50 chance that will make it on release, if not will come 100% in next updates )

Wait - 2020 - already? I think time goes too fast! Anyway - the last 2-3 weeks were very productive. Nope - Level 5 is still in development. Perhaps I created it too big again. Trust me, I tried to make it smaller compared to Level 4 and it is. But still larger than Level 1,2 & 3 steamfacepalm But on the bright side - it's something different than all previous levels! So what can you expect from Level 5? It contains five rooms. Includes a maze, a robot to save, some rolling barrels, an item converter, a bit parkour, destructive items, and a timer to reach the exit. cleanfloppy If you are interested to see some visual stuff, here it comes! Storage room with various items:
( it's still gets filled up with items ) Parkour room with jumping and maneuvering:
( the actual room is behind the doors, but it contains only placeholders ) Item converter room. You can mix items together to get your desired one:
( contains only placeholder stuff, full visual incoming next time ) The Maze:
( when you activate it, walls rise up from the ground ) Barrel room:
( they will see your rollin ) And then there is the lobby, which is a mess right now! Better show you next time how it looks. As you can see and guess it's more than 50% completed. I believe the hardest parts are done. The rest should be much easier. I should get back to development! ( this and one more level for chapter completion - I can do this ) cleanhourglass Till next time!

Hello! What a month November was! Spent more time preparing then developing Area 86 2018bestcoffee Don't get me wrong, it was for the best for Area 86. Submitted Area 86 to Baltic Sea Games Award and got nominated for Best Game Design! I was super excited and thrilled for such an award and the possibility to continue to next available award - Best Baltic Sea Startup Game. ( This included a trip to Lithuania where the final is held at video gaming event GameOn + a booth with Area 86 at the event ) Captured quick moments of Area 86 booth at the expo:

I felt no pressure until arrived at the event and started to acknowledge that will need to go to the stage and talk in front of other people. ( not done it before and I'm not the person who enjoys talking steamfacepalm) So the moment came and it was time to go to the stage! How do you think it went? I would say, it was not great but not terrible also cozyrealmroyale Heres how it went: It was hard to start, almost forgot what did I create, but then something snapped and words came out! Completed speech 1st part [ pitch about Area 86 ], but had a blackout and forgot to tell about the business side which was 2nd part of the speech steamfacepalm The judges where a bit surprised, that my talk was so short, but the show must go on and they started to ask questions. Must say, I did not hear the questions what they asked, but tried to read from their lips and answer as good as possible. It was a crazy experience, but for 1st time - I'm proud of my self, even if failed steamhappy As you may notice, I did not take the grand prize. But I take it lightly because I got even more than planned! Hey, Best Game Design - that's huge !!!
Now that the expo is over and I'm back home, took a week to get everything back to normal. Work on Area 86 is continuing and plans have slightly changed! The most important part - will release in 2020 Q1 That's better for all of us - you get a non-rushed game with more polish! ( probably a Steam Demo version will come before full release, but that in next blog ) And of course - thank you all for your feedback and support! Till next time!

Happy Halloween!

Good news!

Let's start with the most important? Are you ready to escape from Area 86? You better be, because I added a deadline on my self for releasing Area 86! For now, all I can say - it's October 2019! ( A more accurate date will follow in the next blog post steamhappy ) Finally, Level 4 has hit the finish line and is in a playable state. It contains more different features than previous levels and one of the best could be with the saved robot from the previous level. ( if you released and saved it ) A new challenge awaits you with the drone that patrols his room! Will you outrun, blow in space or ride on him? Perhaps you will find another way how to deal with drones.
If you want to try something different from escaping - I got you covered! The new level includes a basketball field. Go wild and score some hidden points?
And don't you worry - there are some challenging tasks/puzzles too. Some will require your own solutions and perhaps a little bit of parkour. No matter how you do it - you got this!

But that not all! Made a huge change to the whole project by upgrading to newer game engine version! Stuff did break and was a bit painful, but you will like the end result. Better performance and more stable PHYSICS steamhappy Alright, the deadline is close and work still needs to be done. Till next time!

Improvements, polishing, bug-squashing & feature implementation! It all brings a good game together. steamhappy As last time mentioned, I reworked the item pick/throw functional. Oh, that did take more time than planned. But now - I can say it's finished and every possible item that can be picked up by our robot is converted to the new logic. No more instant item dropping on wall/obstacle/etc. touching :) Next was tutorial with controllers. The tutorial had already keyboard buttons visible, but nothing when you played with a controller. Checked top controllers from Steam stats and implemented their visual buttons for Area 86. Now we have perfect tutorial feedback for controllers and proper button visuals in settings.
Alright - what about multilanguage support? Have a plan to launch with multiple languages, but does it work? Nope - total mess - went over all possible texts and implemented proper font support for different languages. Now can say that Area 86 is multiple languages ready. [ only need to find people to translate it properly ] cleankey Did you ever notice that physics in games is a beast that can go crazy at any time? Well, Area 86 is no exception. Squashed some physics bugs thanks to streamers who encountered them! Now it's more stable than ever! [ till next shows up ] But wait! Probably you will like this. One day had an idea: why not allow you to do a flip with the robot in the air? The trick is simple, you jump and then hit jump again to do a flip in the air.
Awsome - right? steamhappy On that note, we could end this blog post and return to development. Till next time!

Spent some quality time by implementing your requested features and improved gameplay with your suggestions! Let's start with the biggest trouble maker - item dropping! It's was so easy to drop an item and get mad [ possible rage quit ] Well - made an outstanding move! I reworked from scratch our controllable robot logic including pick/hold/drop item code. It took me a while, but I'm so happy about the outcome result. [ hopefully, you will appreciate it too ] steamhappy
Don't think that it stopped all there! Now as the new item pick/hold mechanic is implemented, need to go over all possible items and update their colliders. [ not a hard task, but takes some time ] To give more joy by smashing/throwing items - I started to add items that can break apart when defined force is applied :) [ more on that next time ] The next cool feature: Throw trajectory! Such a simple line, but makes life much easier for many players. [ if you think you can live up to the challenge to not use it, you have the power to disable it in settings! ]
And of course, Level 4 visuals updates:
By size, I think this level is the hugest of all levels in chapter one! P.S. started to work on the new trailer and here is a sneak peek of first ~4 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpTM297ERb4 Share the news & till next time!

Yep - have set my goal to finish AREA 86 this year! [ earliest possible release at summer or latest at autumn ] From planed 6 levels in the 1st chapter, only 3 are completed and 4th is coming together. Functional part is completed, but the visual/audio part is way behind schedule. ( had planned to finish it till April, but will see how life goes ) Maybe it took "a bit" more time because the idea fairy did hit me with features that should be included? Check these features that did hit 4th level:

• basketball court with best ball physics ever made
• parkour room where you control the parkour elements
• stealth room with a possible getaway run
• smooth camera switch between different rooms
• explosive boxes which can be used in different combinations with the environment
• the previous level saved robot ( if saved ) visits you and helps with the tasks
• door slamming!!!
• . . . [ need to stop here ]

Welcome back in the year 2019! January is already over and did not share any work progress about Area 86 Must say, that January was a pretty progressive month! [ maybe the cold weather helps? ] Started creating a new level and added some interesting features. One of them is a flying drone!!! [ was a bit challenging but at the same time funny ] Be aware that this drone will not be your friend! Because the main goal for the drone is to keep the assigned room clean from unauthorized objects, including your robot. But don't think that you can't use it for your needs steamhappy There is always some choices - will you destroy it, will you ride on it or maybe you can outrun it?
Also made some improvements/polishing to previous levels and added some new features: - When you make the choice to save another robot, when saved, it will try help you get further in the active level. You will notice a speech bubble above the robot and it will include the required item which is required to help and proceed further!
- Added new universal "save spot" icon for robot saving. If you see this icon, you know where to transfer your saved robot!
- Added little tutorial hint on how to operate other robots and improved robot friendship/trust factor visualization! [ robots don't trust each other on the fly, you will need to gain the trust! ]
- Improved some previous puzzles by adding more visual hints and making them easier to complete! And that's it for now! P.S. Spread the word about Area 86 steamhappy

It's close! So close that this is your last chance to prepare gifts/surprises for your closest ones! Quick Math level did hit the latest update and it's time to develop to the next one. ( probably still will update it with some visual features but it's playable ) Made some visual changes to the tutorial level and smashed little bugs which did not notice before. Nothing exclusive, but each little thing makes a better whole picture steamhappy
Check this little feature: When you approach any interactable object, your robot focuses his head on it!
Looks that this is it for now featherduster Oh, one more thing: Finding and adding sound effects takes a lot of time! Take care and Happy Holidays! P.S. Updated store page screens shots + New trailer WIP!

Finally finished integrating feature: saving other robots! Was fun - so many bugs and fixes went in such a "simple" feature steambored But don't think that it will be so easy to get other robots trust! You will need to figure out how to gain the trust and build a team.

More updates were made to the current development level and it's still possible that more are incoming this month! Prepare your selves to build a possible team!

Welcome back! Hope that summer was not so hot as in my country - that hotness really impacts development [ at least on my brain ːcleanhourglassː ] Things got slowed down, but no worries - some stuff still got pushed together! Long time did not touch particles but was in need of an explosion effect. What do you think of it?
Let's take a quick look at what has been done:

• Updated game engine 3 times
• Pause menu settings button updates
• Tutorial updates ( simpler & more on the point )
• Steam Controller integration
• Created explosion effects
• Added new puzzles [ teleporting ]
• Worked on Level 3 visuals and still continuing

Another month has passed - let's see what happened! And it's my lucky day - Friday the 13th First of all - spent some time optimizing and fixing physics glitches. Who would thought that working on physics is so much "fun" Like this totally normal sign swinging with no air force:
But don't worry - I got it working! Level design continued as usual and finally, it got a shape + texturing is in progress. Also included a special side course for people who like an extra challenge or simply want to find out whats on the other side!
ːsteamhappyː But wait - we need a surprise element! So I had this idea of saving other robots while proceeding through the levels. Sounds reasonable - right? But there is a catch. I had never created my own Bot/AI. And of course, I need interaction with the environment, basic pathfinding etc. Took a while, but it's in the game now. To make it even more interesting, I made a "Trust Feature" between robots. It means, that you will need to gain others robots trust before he will accept your commands :) ːsteamboredː I get lazier in the summer period, but together we can do it! If anybody is interested in the closed beta, just ping me! Regards, The Developer!

Welcome to June! Had some progress but nothing big that would be visible to you! Only some little visual updates! Like the new main menu screen - it's now much more self-explainable:
[ probably will change someday again :D ] Most stuff did happen in the code part by adding features required for next levels and fixing/improving already implemented stuff. Level 3 was almost completed functionally [ all the tasks and secrets implemented ] But suddenly had a feeling that it needs something more! So I started to add some extra feature chunk to it and I wonder how many people will try to reach that special goal :) [ extra info at the end screen about how many people did do X and Y? Hmm ] This month planning to do some modeling for Level 3 [ finally some visual feedback for it ] If your still here, let me show you quickly how it looks now:
[ little bit messy + huge debug stuff :D ] Think that this is it for now. If you have any questions or suggestions - you're always welcome! Thanks for reading!

Game Tip

Look at that - it's already May! Is time speeding up or is it just me? Don't feel that did so much in April, but if we look back at it - it was something! One of the biggest achievements was showing off Area 86 at GameDev Days Estonia. Meet many interesting people and watched with big interest how people interact with Area 86! Here comes the summary:

• Recieved pretty positive feedback!
• One person managed to stuck so bad with the robot, that it did not want to move at all. Thanks to him - the bug is fixed now :)
• From all the players only ~3 did not like it. And the reasons was that it's too hard for them! At least they tried.
• Some people got super excited already at first steps.
• Some did pick the controller without any hope that they will like it. But after playing it for more than ~1min. They changed their opinion and where impressed!
• Feedback from players - pure gold!

• Massively improved item picking up!
• You can finally pick/throw chairs :D
• Small item throwing should be more controlled
• Fixed wall button interaction
• Fixed not jumping/stuck player bug
• Fixed glass not breaking bug
• Improved Level 2 [ lighter box top, nonbreakable window visual ]
• Improved physics stability
• Reduced robot smashing volume when hitting with max speed

A new week has welcomed us! Time to report some progress on development. Playtested latest build and some hidden bugs showed up from nowhere! What a nice surprise. Best part, this build was sent to people around the world - hope that they did not notice them! On the other hand, at least did fix those "features" and sleep should be more relaxed now. Work on Level 3 is still slow, but progress is happening. It will be the most advanced level till now, and a lot of surprises will await you! Even a possibility to meet another robot!!!
Current Level 3 Progress Some people did mention that a Throw Power bar would be nice! Took that request in mind and added this awesome feature. Now you can see how much power does your robot apply for throwing stuff around:
Must say, makes life/throwing much easier! Got my hands on little performance improvements too! Did not know that shader loading could make lag spikes - fixed now! Not sure why, but updated engine to latest version too - should be better for all of us! Have a great week!

Hello! Time to start writing news/blog posts at Steam Work on Level 3 is starting to boost up! Have finished pipe functional, gate opening and box slamming! Once again Improved item picking/throwing away! Also started to look where could translate Area 86 to different languages! ( looks that Level Up Translation offers great stuff )
P.S. If you find such box, break it!