[ulukaii]

6.5: Big release update

This is by far the biggest patch update (6.5) since the release of the game last week. It takes care of the vast majority of the remaining bugs. I won’t hide that it’s been a very intense period, with a lot of work and very little sleep.

In case some of you are wondering why those bugs were there to start with, the answer is simple (besides the fact that Ghost of a Tale is quite complex under the hood): a dozen persons testing the game on and off over a period of 2 months is simply no match for having thousands of people all starting to play at the same time. That being said, it's my fault of course.

When I realized what was happening it was obviously too late to say “whoops, sorry I’ll put it back in the fridge for moment”. The fact that most sounds didn’t play in the second half of the game furthermore gave the impression that it wasn’t finished. And that sucked.

Of course, 95% of the people who play Ghost of a Tale love it and that feels great. But I’m painfully aware that early adopters (including reviewers to this day) played with builds that were just not at the technical level they should have been. Which was particularly frustrating after an excellent run in early access.

Today, exactly 11 days after release, the game is what it should have been right from the start. So let this serve as an apology to the players who felt the game was not up to their technical standards when it launched, and an invitation to those who've been waiting to come and visit the world of Ghost of a Tale!

I can say at 95% that you won’t regret it.

Fixed:
- No ambient sounds playing in the catacombs, harbor, great hall and shore.
- Abrupt transitions between ambient sounds.
- Elevators (courtyard, baskets, bells, etc…) don’t play their sounds.
- Ravik’s arrival sequence (on the bridge) doesn’t play any sounds.
- Sounds during dialogs are sometimes too loud.
- Spiders don’t play their sounds.
- No sounds when climbing ladders.
- Several reverb zones are not kicking in.
- Gallworms don’t play their sounds.
- Pressure plates don’t play their sound.
- Pinecones don’t play their sounds (collapsing worm holes, etc…).
- All ambient sounds are turned off after quitting and relaunching the game.
- The rebel mice remain visible although the skiff has left the harbor.
- An invisible wall keeps Tilo from crossing the already-opened metal gate in the harbor near the crab’s pen (coming from the elevator).
- The commander is sometimes not visible in his office.
- It is possible to sleep in the commander’s bed.
- Rolo at the forge is not hammering and talks about weird unrelated stuff.
- The camera is too close to Tilo after reloading a save.
- Cases where reloading an autosave results in the camera remaining locked on the spot.
- Cases of invisible Ravik on the bridge.
- The Gusto & Fatale’s achievement is not triggered.
- The Lore Master achievement is not getting unlocked.
- The wrong map is shown after getting to the shore via the cave.
- Some map markers for items on the maps are wrong.
- The well key can sometimes get stuck in an unreachable place.
- The HUD is not properly restored after leaving photo mode.
- The guards in the harbor can chase Tilo beyond the harbor (and disappear).
- Some French characters are not properly displayed in the books UI.
- The grid ladder in the jail tower can sometimes get stuck (after reloading multiple times).
- Problems when reloading a save while the end sequence is still playing.
- Some trees on the shore are missing their colliders.
- Rare cases where Silas is awake instead of sleeping.
- Some missing colliders in the catacombs walls.
- Tilo can sprint and sneak while wearing the armor when launching the game and loading a save with the armor upgrade skill.
- Ambient music abruptly kicks in instead of fading in.
- Guards’ knocked out timer UI remains on screen after leaving the area of the guards.
- Shutters don’t play their sounds when Tilo opens them.

Changed:
- Added an option to hide the build number (in the lower right corner).

Fixed (SPOILERS):

Although it should be fixed now, if you ever meet a framerate drop in the catacombs (just after talking to the squad leader) please call the game’s main menu, wait for 3 or 4 seconds and exit the main menu. That should fix it.

Regarding Chinese support: I’m still looking for a way to implement proper support for the font (character ranges are proving tricky). But it will happen eventually!

As always, thank you for your patience!