- 0.3.3 - 17 March 2020
Small hotfix to correctly enable the "Options" action for configuring chips when in puzzle edit mode.
- 0.3.2 - 28 January 2020
First update in a long time! Still need to ramp back up into working on this semi-regularly again, so this one is bit small: Patch Notes:Started migration to SteamVR's newer input systemSome minor bug fixes for game startup/init issuesPartial index controller support - will function pretty similar to Oculus Touch controls (no finger tracking yet)Made the final stage explosive device available in edit mode In progress/Coming soon:Interaction updates/polishFull finger tracking for Index controllers (with updated hand models!)
- v0.3.1 - 17 May 2019
Patch Notes Hotfix for bug causing the game to not launch correctly for some new users.
- 0.3.0 - 16 May 2019
Update 0.3.0 is live! I decided it would be better to let people start playing around with creating content and sharing it sooner rather than later, so this update has enabled Steam Workshop support for everybody. The editor and workshop are both pretty rough still, so there's very little in the way of validation or error checking for user generated content. I expect this will lead to people breaking things in spectacular fashions, which I'm actually hoping will be quite useful in the long run. I also can't make any promises as to the life expectancy of anything in the workshop, so don't be too dismayed if your lovingly crafted puzzles vanish or become incompatible with future versions. If that doesn't scare you off then you can check out the workshop page and get to creating, sharing, and playing custom levels directly from in the game. Downloading Custom Content You can find all the w…
- DGC @ PCConnects Seattle - 9 May 2019
The Technician will be at PCConnects Seattle on May 13th and 14th; if you’re at the show then feel free to come say hi! I’ll presumably be in a booth somewhere, but beyond that you know about as much as I do.
- 0.2.7 - 15 March 2019
As I mentioned in a previous post, this month's update is fairly light since I'm tangled up in a bunch of other life activity at the moment. However, I did manage to put together a couple of things to push out: Fixed a bug with Elevator Lock handles flipping out in some specific circumstances. New component, the potentiometer: a dial that can be adjusted to modify incoming data values from 0% to 100% of their original value. New puzzle: 'Dialing It In' Increased hand touch radius in some areas to aid in grabbing while pointing. Tweaked baseline audio levels. Added sound effects and music volume control options.Next month should be the last small update before things (hopefully) calm down enough for me to fall back into a regular, albeit reduced, cadence.
- 0.2.6 - 22 January 2019
0.2.5 just got pushed last week, but it's already time for 0.2.6! Since the goal of this update is to improve the overall control experience of selecting and grabbing objects, I decided to get it out as soon as possible so I could see how it does and iterate on it more in the next update if necessary. Always Be Pointing Making grabbing and selection more precise involved a number of changes. First, and most noticeable, is that the technician's hands now default to the "pointing" state. This seems like a pretty obvious change in retrospect, as the open-handed state never actually had any specific use. Players on Vive would constantly be pressing the trigger to stay in pointing mode anyhow, and Oculus Touch users had to remember to lift their finger from the touch trigger all the time. (Oculus controls now also use the trigger press instead of just the touch state to change pointing mode)…
- 0.2.5 - 14 January 2019
The v0.2.5 update is now live in the preview branch! Assuming all goes well, this update will make its way out to the public branch in a couple days. 0.2.5's major focus was smoothing some of the rough edges off the editor experience so that it could make it out to the rest of the player base, but it also includes a handful of smaller fixes from some fo the Early Access feedback I've received thus far. You'll find more details on the editor below, as well as notes on the rest of the changes in 0.2.5 and some info on what I'm focusing on for the next update. The Editor and Custom Content The editor was listed in the original set of features for the game but didn't make it into the first Early Access release last month, so getting the editor ready to go and putting it out there has been my main focus for the last several weeks. The editor still rough in plenty of areas, but it's now avail…
- Early Access Tomorrow! - 10 December 2018
The Technician's Early Access release date is tomorrow! I'm excited to see what people think of the game, and anxious to see how I can make it better. A few things I want to cover about the state of the game, what to expect, and where I'm planning to go from here: Price is $15 USD This is an early alpha, so content is limited to around 20 levels, about half tutorials and half challenges. The in-game editor won't be ready quite in time for launch, but it is in a final round of testing to make sure it's at least passably functional so it'll be along shortly! If you want to help out by being an early tester for it, see the details at the end of this post. The primary goal right now is to get player feedback, so please let me know what you think by sending an email to [email protected] or by starting a thread on the discussions page. Seriously, send it; I can't make a great game with…
- Development Update: Tools - 16 October 2018
I missed my September post since I was a bit busy with PAX and working on getting some demos out to a small external audience, so let's go ahead and use October to cover what I wanted to talk about next: the technician's tools.Tools have been a key part of the game concept pretty much since the beginning, but have gotten nowhere near enough development or design time as they've needed. Since I'm still aiming on getting The Technician ready for an Early Access release by the end of 2018, it's time to play catchup on that front and bring a few of the tool designs into the game proper. As usual though, let me start with some general spitballing and summarizing of my current thoughts on how tools should work, what gameplay concepts I'm attempting to drive with them, and how I'm either succeeding or failing (spoilers: it's mostly the latter) at doing so currently. The Big PictureFrantic puzz…
- Development Update: Leveling Up - 16 August 2018
This is the second in a series of development updates that I'm going to be posting roughly monthly to keep everyone apprised on the game's progress, talk openly about how I'm trying to solve game design problems as a first time game designer, and hopefully elicit some feedback and excitement for things to come. This second entry covers my current work on level design. If you've seen the trailer for The Technician, you may have seen a couple environments: one relatively plain/empty "Tutorial Room," and one more detailed "Server Room" location. The Tutorial Room is relatively straightforward and was easy enough to make (and may not even appear in the final game), so I won't bother talking about it too much here, but I do want to talk about my thought process behind the Server Room and how things have evolved since then. The Server Room My goal for The Technician has always been for it to…
- Development Update: Simplifying Circuitry - 5 July 2018
This is the first in a series of development updates that I'm going to be posting roughly monthly to keep everyone apprised on the game's progress, talk openly about how I'm trying to solve game design problems as a first time game designer, and hopefully elicit some feedback and excitement for things to come. For this first entry, I want to talk about some new circuit components I've added to not only expand the types of puzzles in the game, but also to make the puzzles more interactive, more accessible, and simpler to design - without sacrificing challenge. I'm also going to talk about circuits and logic on a more rudimentary level in this post in the hopes that it will help people (who might be unfamiliar with things like logic circuits) understand and feel comfortable with The Technician's gameplay. (This post also available with higher quality images over at the DGC website)) The B…
- Release announcement! - 28 May 2018
I quit my job over a year ago out of sheer boredom and decided to spend some time learning how to make video games instead of web services. It's been... interesting... so far, and now I get to announce this learning project of mine as an Actual Game! Not so "Actual" that you can *play* it, mind you, but still... I'll hopefully be posting updates here and over at https://dumbgame.company a little more regularly now that this is announced, so make sure to keep checking in and letting me know what you think about how things are shaping up. It's been just me working in a bubble for the last year, so external feedback will be greatly appreciated! Thanks for following, -Ken
