We hope you all are having a great summer! We're excited to bring you another update into the latest developments on your favorite detective RPG, Pixel Noir. Let's dive in!

The Pub Crawl

As we navigate around launch territory, we want to be transparent about our ongoing pursuit of a publishing partner. While we've had exploratory conversations with a number of publishers, we haven't aligned on a deal that we're comfortable with. One common theme we're seeing is that our Early Access launch on Steam has presented a unique challenge that cause most publishers to back away from proposing a deal. We released Early Access to gather feedback from you all, as well as to get the game out to everyone while we finished the rest of the development. However, it was launched with minimal marketing support from our previous publisher. In essence, the Early Access launch has made Pixel Noir appear as if it has officially launched when, in reality, it hasn't. Publishers care about this sort of thing because of the Steam search algorithm prioritizes unreleased games, which effectively means you can market to more people. To be clear, from a development standpoint, Pixel Noir is complete and now we're using this unforeseen (and semi-unwelcomed) extra time to refine many aspects of the game. The team is committed to continue delivering a great experience by meticulously polishing to perfection and we're determined to find the right launch strategy for the full game.

Early Access Updates

While the publisher situation is frustrating, don't think for a minute that we don't have any goodies in store for you! We've been working on addressing Steam feedback to make the game even better. We patched the Pixel Noir Early Access. Here's a list of what you'll generally find in the new build:

• Enjoy an even more engaging experiences with improved story events, skills, audio, and user interface interactions
• Experience more difficulty balanced battles, ensuring satisfying gameplay
• Discover exciting item effects like Lunar Redeye that boosts your adrenaline, Chili Pepper causing Enrage, and Dive Poster as valuable quest items
• Adding to the city atmosphere as police cars now patrol Pinnacle City, making the environment feel alive with the occasional siren passing by
• More dynamic gameplay with custom damage events and environmental hazards that create new challenges.
• Have more fun playing CRDTech with smoother and more enjoyable card game mechanics
• Test your stealth skills as enemies now have a cone of vision.
• Enjoy a smoother experience as we introduce refined dungeon mechanics in critical areas.
• Enhance your combat strategy with the new "Pistol Whip" skill, giving you more ways to approach battles.
• Jump into the game faster with optimized backend data that minimizes load times for better seamless gameplay.

Known Issues

Here are the known issues for the latest Pixel Noir Eary Access build version 9/12/23.

• Initial load times in selecting New Game or loading saved game data from the title screen clocked in at ~90 seconds. However after loading a game, load times are significantly shorter.
• Saved data from previous build versions will be bugged in this version, It's advised to start a New Game from the title screen.
• Soft lock in battle with combo tutorial event in ch3 (rare)
• Random battles can take place if already in a cinematic which can cause soft-locks or even freezing (very rare)
• Premature fade out to enemies in Armory when in mid-room transition (in some instances)
• Getting hit by cars next to a roadblock at the end of the street can push the player outside of the environment colliders
• Minor issues with graphical asset layering (very rare and can be brief)
• Achievements may not be accurate because of a mismatch between old/new build versions
• Door SFX can play when failing to fully go through room transition areas
• In Ch2: Chapel as a following NPC can step through objects at times
• Causing paralysis status while a character (enemy or ally) in battle is going to attack will still allow the character to take their turn. Paralysis status takes effect after the inflicted character's preceding action.
• In CRDTech: Using Kato Sheng cards ability on Deuce's card, causing the use of Deuce cards ability to back out by pressing Shift (or B / cancel) soft-locks the game
• In CRDTech: Kato Sheng card placed last can cause a soft-lock
• In CRDTech: Bai Hu card doesnt use its ability when placed
• In CRDTech: Using Meeks cards ability can cause an opponent to take two turns

More Goodies For The Full Game

Since our previous Kickstarter update we've been putting in all kinds of polish. Hazards: We've added damage causing environmental hazards as well as functionality within story events, allowing us to improve immersion both inside and outside story events.
Watch your step!
Sometimes reality hurts. More Skills: We've even added a few skills such as Pistol Whip and some more "summon" discoveries for Shade, our masked vigilante, which should allow players to expand battle strategies.
Smack!
Epic discoveries to behold!
Hair of the Dog? Skill Point Usage: We added skill point costs for skill upgrade levels AND we added cost discounts for using skills depending on the gear you have equipped.
More points to upgrades means MORE POWER... random Home Improvement reference.
Skill Bonuses mean skills cost less in battles!

Sweet Jams

Finally, we couldn't let this update pass without debuting a new track from renown producer, musician, and all-around-great-guy, Mustin!!!! A while back we asked him to help with some of the music production on the game. He's the reason why the OST sounds extra-polished, why the audio in the game is all balanced now, and why you're going to have fun listening to the Pixel Noir Arrange Album! This latest track from him is featured in the game and is called "Four on the Floor". It's played at a popular club in Uptown filled with a DJ and lots of EDM fans. And no, it's not cool that you spilled your beer on me, bro. Alright? [url=https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/35093567/bf6bbbeeaac4da652a27eccfa24c16b6d15c5a30.gif]

That's A Wrap For This Update!

We're excited about the progress we've made in these last few months and can't wait for you to experience these improvements firsthand. As always, thank your support fuels our passion in delivering a game that lives up to your expectations! Stay tuned for more updates and announcements in the coming months as we figure out how to get this game out to all of you. If you're excited about Pixel Noir, here are three steps you can take to make sure you're in the know:

• Let a publisher know about us! Whenever you find a publisher you believe would be an excellent fit for Pixel Noir, tag us in a social media post/email mentioning the publisher. We made it easy on you guys--click on the links below to go with a pre-drafted message (or feel free to create your own): 1. X (formerly Twitter) Template, 2. Email Template
• Join our SWDTech Games Discord server for a constant stream of screenshots, and granular development updates. You can even chat with the development team!
• Follow our daily progress on our official X bot (formerly Twitter bot).
• Our next official update will be Feb 8th (unless we have some breaking news before then). We welcome all feedback and thoughts! Please enjoy the updated Early Access build!

//Team SWDTech