- Some video games that are like Bandersnatch, but better - 9 January 2019
If you ve choosed-and-adventured through Bandersnatch, the recent Black Mirror thing on Netflix, and aren t already a fan of experimental interactive fiction: I envy you. It means you re able to play actually good examples of interactive fiction for the first time. Sure, Bandersnatch has funny lines, surprises and scene stealing performances from Will Poulter doing a pretty much exactly how I, the writer, talk in real life voice. But as a whole, video games have been iterating deeper on the main themes of control, authenticity, forced choice, meta-recursion and non-linearity for years, without also including an unhelpful portrayal of paranoid schizophrenia. When you love enough people who hear voices and suffer from castigatory delusions, maybe you become less enthused about media which depicts sufferers committing murders or throwing themselves off buildings. Fix it, Brooker. The same…
- Magic Circle devs announce co-op horror Blackout Club - 28 February 2018
The immersive sim supergroup at Question, the studio behind The Magic Circle , have announced their next game. The Blackout Club is a cooperative multiplayer game starring teens who discover a secret nighttime society of sleepwalking adults meeting in tunnels beneath their small town, then set about spying on them, recording evidence, and trying to find their missing friend. It sounds like some sort of surveillance-focused multiplayer immersive sim, which is wild. Here, watch the announcement trailer: (more…)
- Update With A Small Fix - 6 September 2016
This update is just a small fix for a location in the intro level where it was possible to get stuck in the geometry if you were really testing the edges of the game. Since we actively try to encourage this in players, we wanted to address it even though it is a pretty rare occurrence. We are grateful to everyone who has given The Magic Circle a chance, and welcome to the new players who found us during the daily deal! Hope you enjoy the game. -Question
- Update With A Small Fix - 6 September 2016
This update is just a small fix for a location in the intro level where it was possible to get stuck in the geometry if you were really testing the edges of the game. Since we actively try to encourage this in players, we wanted to address it even though it is a pretty rare occurrence. We are grateful to everyone who has given The Magic Circle a chance, and welcome to the new players who found us during the daily deal! Hope you enjoy the game. -Question
- Daily Deal - The Magic Circle, 50% Off - 4 September 2016
Today's Deal: Save 50% on The Magic Circle !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Tuesday at 10AM Pacific Time
- Update With Some Bugfixes - 23 August 2016
Today we are updating with an important (if very rare) bugfix. There was an issue where *spoilers ahead* damage done by the parasite ability did not properly send life back into the crack system. This could be made into a spiral of fail (by a truly dedicated player) that might create an impossible to recover from resource situation. We have a fix, as well as an attempt to correct the problem in save files of affected players. Special thanks to Jetz on the forums, who spent a lot of time isolating the problem and sent us incredibly useful save files and repro steps. The bug was rare enough that no one else has ever reported it, but Jetz pushed the system as far as it would go and uncovered the issue. As always, we are super grateful to our awesome players. Thanks for checking out the game and hope you have enjoyed it! -Question
- Update With Some Bugfixes - 23 August 2016
Today we are updating with an important (if very rare) bugfix. There was an issue where *spoilers ahead* damage done by the parasite ability did not properly send life back into the crack system. This could be made into a spiral of fail (by a truly dedicated player) that might create an impossible to recover from resource situation. We have a fix, as well as an attempt to correct the problem in save files of affected players. Special thanks to Jetz on the forums, who spent a lot of time isolating the problem and sent us incredibly useful save files and repro steps. The bug was rare enough that no one else has ever reported it, but Jetz pushed the system as far as it would go and uncovered the issue. As always, we are super grateful to our awesome players. Thanks for checking out the game and hope you have enjoyed it! -Question
- Daily Deal - The Magic Circle, 50% Off - 16 June 2016
Today's Deal: Save 50% on The Magic Circle !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time
- June Update with a Number of Tweaks and Fixes - 14 June 2016
This update focuses on a few technical issues that could have affected framerate in certain conditions, some usability and training improvements, a fix for overlays on creatures not updating properly in certain cases, and a number of other minor tweaks and stability improvements. For the full list of changes check out the tech support forum. Thanks to everyone who has been playing and those who brought issues to our attention in the forums. We are super grateful and hope you have enjoyed your time with The Magic Circle. -Question
- June Update with a Number of Tweaks and Fixes - 14 June 2016
This update focuses on a few technical issues that could have affected framerate in certain conditions, some usability and training improvements, a fix for overlays on creatures not updating properly in certain cases, and a number of other minor tweaks and stability improvements. For the full list of changes check out the tech support forum. Thanks to everyone who has been playing and those who brought issues to our attention in the forums. We are super grateful and hope you have enjoyed your time with The Magic Circle. -Question
- Small Update With A Puzzle Tweak and Small Fix - 18 April 2016
This update has a fix for a rare problem that could occur if you crash or quit out of the game during a certain level transition. It also has a small visual tweak to one of the puzzles to try and better communicate why certain strategies won't work. The detailed change list can be seen on the forums as always. Thanks to everyone who bought the game during the recent sale, we hope you have a great time with it! -Question
- Small Update With A Puzzle Tweak and Small Fix - 18 April 2016
This update has a fix for a rare problem that could occur if you crash or quit out of the game during a certain level transition. It also has a small visual tweak to one of the puzzles to try and better communicate why certain strategies won't work. The detailed change list can be seen on the forums as always. Thanks to everyone who bought the game during the recent sale, we hope you have a great time with it! -Question
- Humble Monthly Update: Welcome New Players! - 3 April 2016
We are pleased to have a new update to welcome all the new players that have found us via the Humble Monthly program. This update features a significant balance tweak to some of the creatures in the game, numerous small bug fixes, as well as some localization corrections. As always you can find the full list of changes in the Tech Support forum. We are very happy to have so many more people checking out the game and we really hope you enjoy it! Thanks again to everyone who has given The Magic Circle a shot, it means a lot to us. -Question
- Humble Monthly Update: Welcome New Players! - 3 April 2016
We are pleased to have a new update to welcome all the new players that have found us via the Humble Monthly program. This update features a significant balance tweak to some of the creatures in the game, numerous small bug fixes, as well as some localization corrections. As always you can find the full list of changes in the Tech Support forum. We are very happy to have so many more people checking out the game and we really hope you enjoy it! Thanks again to everyone who has given The Magic Circle a shot, it means a lot to us. -Question
- Ides of March Update, IGF Nomination, and SXSW! - 15 March 2016
This update has a bunch of miscellaneous tweaks and fixes to various systems as well as some usability improvements. Some of the highlights include improvements in the way music is delivered, D-Pad support in all parts of mindspace (for our gamepad players), some AI improvements, and some unobtrusive control reminders if we detect you have been away from the game for a while. The full list can be seen in the Tech Support forum. In addition, The Magic Circle is up for an Excellence in Narrative award at this year's IGF! If you are at GDC come say hi to rujuro and Nullspeak in the IGF area, if not you can still watch the awards live on twitch the evening of March 16th. And there's still more! KainAsylum will be showing the game at SXSW in Austin, TX where we are up for the Gamer's Voice Award. If you are going to be there stop by, say hi, and maybe vote for us if it's the kind of thing yo…
- Ides of March Update, IGF Nomination, and SXSW! - 15 March 2016
This update has a bunch of miscellaneous tweaks and fixes to various systems as well as some usability improvements. Some of the highlights include improvements in the way music is delivered, D-Pad support in all parts of mindspace (for our gamepad players), some AI improvements, and some unobtrusive control reminders if we detect you have been away from the game for a while. The full list can be seen in the Tech Support forum. In addition, The Magic Circle is up for an Excellence in Narrative award at this year's IGF! If you are at GDC come say hi to rujuro and Nullspeak in the IGF area, if not you can still watch the awards live on twitch the evening of March 16th. And there's still more! KainAsylum will be showing the game at SXSW in Austin, TX where we are up for the Gamer's Voice Award. If you are going to be there stop by, say hi, and maybe vote for us if it's the kind of thing yo…
- Update With Numerous Small Fixes and Tweaks - 24 February 2016
The biggest change in this update is some significant work on pathfinding to make it smoother and more predictable, especially in the endgame sequence. What was there before worked fine, but we were never completely happy with it, so we took this opportunity to make it better. There are also a number of small geometry and texture tweaks, as well as some fixes to how the player behaves in certain collision situations. Please let us know if you see anything bizarre! As always the full change list can be seen in the Tech Support Forum. Thanks again to all the players who have given The Magic Circle a chance, we appreciate it and hope you enjoyed the game! -Question
- Update With Numerous Small Fixes and Tweaks - 24 February 2016
The biggest change in this update is some significant work on pathfinding to make it smoother and more predictable, especially in the endgame sequence. What was there before worked fine, but we were never completely happy with it, so we took this opportunity to make it better. There are also a number of small geometry and texture tweaks, as well as some fixes to how the player behaves in certain collision situations. Please let us know if you see anything bizarre! As always the full change list can be seen in the Tech Support Forum. Thanks again to all the players who have given The Magic Circle a chance, we appreciate it and hope you enjoyed the game! -Question
- Fix For Rare Endgame Bug and Some Tweaks - 11 February 2016
This update is to address a rare pathfinding bug that could affect the endgame. In addition it includes some tweaks to make movement feel smoother on very high framerate machines, some geometry fixes, and a few other small tweaks. The full list of changes can be found on the forums. As always, thanks to all the players who have given the game a chance and enjoyed it! -Question
- Fix For Rare Endgame Bug and Some Tweaks - 11 February 2016
This update is to address a rare pathfinding bug that could affect the endgame. In addition it includes some tweaks to make movement feel smoother on very high framerate machines, some geometry fixes, and a few other small tweaks. The full list of changes can be found on the forums. As always, thanks to all the players who have given the game a chance and enjoyed it! -Question
