- Particulars is out today! - 20 November 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/particulars-is-out-today-gt.jpg Well folks, after years of development, and countless hours of testing and feedback from you, Particulars has finally released for PC, Mac and Linux. On behalf of the developers, and all of us at Surprise Attack Games, thank you so much for your feedback and support. It's hard to believe that back in July 2013, Particulars was voted through the Steam Greenlight process and not long after, made its way to Steam Early Access. http://youtu.be/gZbWRXTu2G4 To celebrate the launch, Particulars is currently 20% off via Steam and The Humble Store. We hope you enjoy the subatomic playground we have created. See you on the forums. Steve - Community Manager
- Particulars is out today! - 20 November 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/particulars-is-out-today-gt.jpg Well folks, after years of development, and countless hours of testing and feedback from you, Particulars has finally released for PC, Mac and Linux. On behalf of the developers, and all of us at Surprise Attack Games, thank you so much for your feedback and support. It's hard to believe that back in July 2013, Particulars was voted through the Steam Greenlight process and not long after, made its way to Steam Early Access. http://youtu.be/gZbWRXTu2G4 To celebrate the launch, Particulars is currently 20% off via Steam and The Humble Store. We hope you enjoy the subatomic playground we have created. See you on the forums. Steve - Community Manager
- We have a release date! - 27 October 2014
Wow. What a journey this has been! Since launching Particulars on Steam Greenlight on the eve of PAX Australia in 2013, we've seen the game transform from a small narrative-driven subatomic puzzle game, to an ambitious adventure fueled by science. It seemed only appropriate with PAX Australia 2014 looming around the corner that we release an updated teaser trailer, and make a very important announcement. http://youtu.be/eSgq_U30vp8 That's right folks, Particulars is launching on November 19 via Steam and Humble. The full version contains over 100 levels, as you journey with Alison through the dark and sometimes mysterious corners of her life. You'll also learn a tonne of awesome science stuff thanks to our handy Particlepedia that provides information on each particle in the game, the nuances between the real world and the game world and links to other sources. Of course, you can still…
- We have a release date! - 27 October 2014
Wow. What a journey this has been! Since launching Particulars on Steam Greenlight on the eve of PAX Australia in 2013, we've seen the game transform from a small narrative-driven subatomic puzzle game, to an ambitious adventure fueled by science. It seemed only appropriate with PAX Australia 2014 looming around the corner that we release an updated teaser trailer, and make a very important announcement. http://youtu.be/eSgq_U30vp8 That's right folks, Particulars is launching on November 19 via Steam and Humble. The full version contains over 100 levels, as you journey with Alison through the dark and sometimes mysterious corners of her life. You'll also learn a tonne of awesome science stuff thanks to our handy Particlepedia that provides information on each particle in the game, the nuances between the real world and the game world and links to other sources. Of course, you can still…
- Finding yourself - Helping the player locate their particle in Particulars - 11 September 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/finding-yourself-hm.jpg A consistent problem in Particulars has been helping the player locate the particle they control. You’ll be playing the game, moving some particles around, and then BOOM!, there’s an explosion, BAM!, there’s another, and three seconds later you realise that your eye is tracking a particle that you aren’t controlling. This becomes especially problematic in the last two chapters of the game. With both the electromagnetic and strong forces turned on, particles can no longer be on their own, and neither is the player: you’re usually part of a group of two or three. If you then change your type (as allowed for by the weak force), it can get quite easy to lose yourself in the noise. Part of the problem is that the player particle isn’t just a blank player avatar, but a particle which has the same proper…
- Finding yourself - Helping the player locate their particle in Particulars - 11 September 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/finding-yourself-hm.jpg A consistent problem in Particulars has been helping the player locate the particle they control. You’ll be playing the game, moving some particles around, and then BOOM!, there’s an explosion, BAM!, there’s another, and three seconds later you realise that your eye is tracking a particle that you aren’t controlling. This becomes especially problematic in the last two chapters of the game. With both the electromagnetic and strong forces turned on, particles can no longer be on their own, and neither is the player: you’re usually part of a group of two or three. If you then change your type (as allowed for by the weak force), it can get quite easy to lose yourself in the noise. Part of the problem is that the player particle isn’t just a blank player avatar, but a particle which has the same proper…
- Difficulty Curves - How hard is too hard? Paul explains the art of balance - 3 September 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/difficulty-curves-w7.jpg Difficulty curves are, perhaps unsurprisingly, difficult. The theory is simple enough: add a mechanic, teach it, test it, combine with the existing mechanics, slowly ramp up to a climax (or ‘boss’), optionally have an easy level to celebrate the player’s success, repeat until you run out of mechanics or development time. The problem is that it never really goes that smoothly. Some mechanics are more complex than others, and should therefore need more time. Story and experience constraints (how long you want a player to play before giving them a break) can affect or dictate pacing. The number of mechanics the game needs can be dictated by considerations that aren’t the development time (such as ‘what will make the game feel complete’, and ‘there are 4 fundamental forces of physics’), and players a…
- Difficulty Curves - How hard is too hard? Paul explains the art of balance - 3 September 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/difficulty-curves-w7.jpg Difficulty curves are, perhaps unsurprisingly, difficult. The theory is simple enough: add a mechanic, teach it, test it, combine with the existing mechanics, slowly ramp up to a climax (or ‘boss’), optionally have an easy level to celebrate the player’s success, repeat until you run out of mechanics or development time. The problem is that it never really goes that smoothly. Some mechanics are more complex than others, and should therefore need more time. Story and experience constraints (how long you want a player to play before giving them a break) can affect or dictate pacing. The number of mechanics the game needs can be dictated by considerations that aren’t the development time (such as ‘what will make the game feel complete’, and ‘there are 4 fundamental forces of physics’), and players a…
- Anatomy Of A Restart - Death Is Only The Beginning - 28 August 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/anatomy-of-a-restart-zx.jpg A few weeks ago, I pushed out a new build of Particulars live - version 0.7.2.1 (we’re starting to run out of numbers before version 1!). It fixes a few bugs, updates the story/voice acting in Chapter 1 (it actually matches the text now!), disables examination mode (more about that below), and makes the win condition rings a fair bit prettier. It also shaves a few precious seconds off the all die-restart flow. We’ve known for a while that the restart time after you lose a level is too long. It’s important in a game like Particulars, where death can be brutally fast, that the level restarts quickly so you can get straight back into the game. Exactly how we’d shave off that time took a bit more time to work out. The death-restart cycle before 0.7.2 went something like this: Flash the screen red…
- Anatomy Of A Restart - Death Is Only The Beginning - 28 August 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/anatomy-of-a-restart-zx.jpg A few weeks ago, I pushed out a new build of Particulars live - version 0.7.2.1 (we’re starting to run out of numbers before version 1!). It fixes a few bugs, updates the story/voice acting in Chapter 1 (it actually matches the text now!), disables examination mode (more about that below), and makes the win condition rings a fair bit prettier. It also shaves a few precious seconds off the all die-restart flow. We’ve known for a while that the restart time after you lose a level is too long. It’s important in a game like Particulars, where death can be brutally fast, that the level restarts quickly so you can get straight back into the game. Exactly how we’d shave off that time took a bit more time to work out. The death-restart cycle before 0.7.2 went something like this: Flash the screen red…
- Update 0.7 out today! - 28 March 2014
And here we are, with version 0.7.0.0! This version brings in a whole raft of changes in two main areas: graphics and the weak force. The Weak Force, while really interesting, has been a bit of a tough nut to crack. The good news is that I think we’ve got it! The big issue was that the mechanics around the Weak Force were inherently unforgiving: it was far too easy to let important particles decay, and far too easy to get stranded without a way to finish a level. With that in mind, I made 2 basic changes: decays are longer, but triggered by explosions (allowing both time and control); and W bosons now decay into electrons and neutrinos (rather than up and down quarks, which were much more deadly). Neutrinos (which are new!) give you 2 pieces of data, meaning that it’s now possible completely recover the data from a change. The other big change you’ll notice is a bunch of graphical impro…
- Update 0.7 out today! - 28 March 2014
http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/articles/normal/particulars-updated-to-0-7-t5.jpg And here we are, with version 0.7.0.0! This version brings in a whole raft of changes in two main areas: graphics and the weak force. The Weak Force, while really interesting, has been a bit of a tough nut to crack. The good news is that I think we’ve got it! The big issue was that the mechanics around the Weak Force were inherently unforgiving: it was far too easy to let important particles decay, and far too easy to get stranded without a way to finish a level. With that in mind, I made 2 basic changes: decays are longer, but triggered by explosions (allowing both time and control); and W bosons now decay into electrons and neutrinos (rather than up and down quarks, which were much more deadly). Neutrinos (which are new!) give you 2 pieces of data, meaning that it’s now possible comple…
- A Day In The Recording Studio - 26 March 2014
It’s 5pm on a Friday, and the day’s really just beginning. Our lead voice actor, Bridie Connell, has just arrived to the SeeThrough Studios offices. Our audio engineer, Byrce Halliday, is on his way. In less than an hour, we’ll have begun the mammoth task of recording 110 lines of dialogue and 108 attribution lines with 11 different actors in a weekend. But before we can start, we have to construct the blanket fort. We chose to do the recording in our office simply due to availability - there was nowhere else where we could guarantee access over a full weekend for no cost. But the office isn’t perfect: the air conditioner is noisy, so we have to turn it off, the meeting room we use heats up astoundingly easily, and the ceiling reflects sound like a mirror… for sound (probably not the best analogy). One of our voice actors, Nick Starte. To combat this, we made a blanket fort - the blanke…
- A Day In The Recording Studio - 26 March 2014
It’s 5pm on a Friday, and the day’s really just beginning. Our lead voice actor, Bridie Connell, has just arrived to the SeeThrough Studios offices. Our audio engineer, Byrce Halliday, is on his way. In less than an hour, we’ll have begun the mammoth task of recording 110 lines of dialogue and 108 attribution lines with 11 different actors in a weekend. But before we can start, we have to construct the blanket fort. We chose to do the recording in our office simply due to availability - there was nowhere else where we could guarantee access over a full weekend for no cost. But the office isn’t perfect: the air conditioner is noisy, so we have to turn it off, the meeting room we use heats up astoundingly easily, and the ceiling reflects sound like a mirror… for sound (probably not the best analogy). http://engagementengine.s3.amazonaws.com/community/screens/normal/recording-day-1-pt.jpg…
- v0.6.1.0 – More Weak Force, More Magic - 24 February 2014
Version 0.6.1.0 has just been released on Steam! Changes are: Chapter 7! More weak force! Particles spawning on other particles no longer a problem (by magic!) In-game story for chapters 1-2 updated Small bug fixes I ended up not putting the audio changes in this build, coz we haven’t adjusted the volume settings and they sound kinda horrible. If you’re desperate to hear what it’s like, you can check out the Beta branch on Steam (just right click on the game in your library->properties->betas and choose the beta branch) Next week, we’ll (hopefully) have: Chapter 8: The Strong Force! Actual audio changes Some weak force tweaks (I’m not sure what yet, but I’m sure there’ll be some) More in-game story
- v0.6.1.0 – More Weak Force, More Magic - 24 February 2014
Version 0.6.1.0 has just been released on Steam! Changes are: Chapter 7! More weak force! Particles spawning on other particles no longer a problem (by magic!) In-game story for chapters 1-2 updated Small bug fixes I ended up not putting the audio changes in this build, coz we haven’t adjusted the volume settings and they sound kinda horrible. If you’re desperate to hear what it’s like, you can check out the Beta branch on Steam (just right click on the game in your library->properties->betas and choose the beta branch) Next week, we’ll (hopefully) have: Chapter 8: The Strong Force! Actual audio changes Some weak force tweaks (I’m not sure what yet, but I’m sure there’ll be some) More in-game story
- Version 0.6.0.0 is live! - 18 February 2014
After a longer wait than anyone really wanted, we've finally released Version 0.6.0.0! The big news is that the new version contains 2 (2!) new chapters, bringing the total to 6, out of a newly planned 10 chapters! Chapter 5 brings in Black Holes, while Chapter 6 introduces the weird and wonderful world of the Weak Force. You can see a video with some of the new features here. As always, we're really keen to get feedback on the game, especially the new chapters. Full changeset below: Upgraded particle, spawner, spawn point and data graphics Particlepedia, linked into examination mode Examination mode now triggered on Control Shorter chapters (most are 12 levels) Chapter 5! Black Holes! Chapter 6! The Weak Force begins! Level opening changed, you only have to press enter the first time UI system updated (mostly this has resulted in all the fonts being Arial) Now that we've got the UI sta…
- Version 0.6.0.0 is live! - 18 February 2014
After a longer wait than anyone really wanted, we've finally released Version 0.6.0.0! The big news is that the new version contains 2 (2!) new chapters, bringing the total to 6, out of a newly planned 10 chapters! Chapter 5 brings in Black Holes, while Chapter 6 introduces the weird and wonderful world of the Weak Force. You can see a video with some of the new features here. As always, we're really keen to get feedback on the game, especially the new chapters. Full changeset below: Upgraded particle, spawner, spawn point and data graphics Particlepedia, linked into examination mode Examination mode now triggered on Control Shorter chapters (most are 12 levels) Chapter 5! Black Holes! Chapter 6! The Weak Force begins! Level opening changed, you only have to press enter the first time UI system updated (mostly this has resulted in all the fonts being Arial) Now that we've got the UI sta…
- Demo Is Now Working - 9 January 2014
Hey guys! Just a quick announcement today - after a lot of back and forth between us, Valve, and of course you guys, we are happy to announce that the demo link on the Steam page is now working! YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES! Thanks for your patience, understanding and helping us test everything on multiple occasions. You guys are awesome! Now you can share the news and get your friends to check the game out with ease. Thanks again. We'll be back soon with another update.
- Demo Is Now Working - 9 January 2014
Hey guys! Just a quick announcement today - after a lot of back and forth between us, Valve, and of course you guys, we are happy to announce that the demo link on the Steam page is now working! YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES! Thanks for your patience, understanding and helping us test everything on multiple occasions. You guys are awesome! Now you can share the news and get your friends to check the game out with ease. Thanks again. We'll be back soon with another update.
