Major Demo Update v0.3.4 for InterfaceX26

Demo v0.3.4 is now live!

A major demo update has hit the store for the start of the week-long InterfaceX26 Showcase! Explore 150+ Fake OS game deals and reveals over at https://store.steampowered.com/sale/interfacex26 and check out the...

Changelog

✨ What's new?

HUD:

• TUTORIALS:

  • The game's mechanics are now introduced by an animated meta UI layer (reeeeealllly chonky wiggly rectangles) accompanied by helpful text

  • Tutorials can be turned on or off via the Settings menu

• NOTIFICATIONS:

  • An animated red circle appears in the corner of your Objectives and Open Chat buttons as well as on the Chat Tabs when there's something unread

  • Objective notifications are now queued and display sequentially if multiple objectives have been started or completed at roughly the same time

RADIO:

• Major visual overhaul!

• The interface is now split between INCOMING and OUTGOING communications, with blinking activity LEDs and log screens for each

• Pinging all the channels now outputs a log message

COMPUTER:

• Updated map background image and road layout

• Added closing browser windows with ESC

• Cameras now have a timeline with thumbnails the player can click through to bring up (historical and current) footage

• The rover icon now flashes and changes to indicate when it expects the player to set its drive destination

• Added network status indicator

• Added "Network Troubleshooting" helper text file

• Image Download Bandwidth Allocation:

  • The surveillance cameras now have 3 action points that must be allocated every turn when the network status degrades

STORY & CONTENT:

• An entire new investigation branch that will have you digging through the surveillance cams in search of the culprit!

• The demo now hard cuts off at the end of Day 1, so be swift and try to not miss out on any content that you might be able to optimize your ticks for!

• The entire storm sequence has been reordered and simplified (only one device is now left online on the map) so players cannot miss the location of instructions files

• Days are now 24 ticks long (yes, ticks and hours are pretty much the same now 😉)

MUSIC:

• Added a new custom music track to Day 1

• Previous Day 1 track now plays during the storm

📻 Improvements

HUD:

• Planned actions label now lists how many images were queued for download, instead of dumping internal camera IDs from the code

RADIO:

• Channel selector buttons are now visually linked the selected channel screen

DIALOGUES:

• Added a dialogue queuing system (in the backend) allowing the player to explore the game asynchronously

• Added more dialogue lines for characters trying to sway the player one way or another upon the discovery of the convoy disaster

GAMEPLAY:

• Players can now interact with devices in the level while going through sidebar dialogues

COMPUTER:

• The thumbnails of camera footage queued up for download now also flash

COMMS ROOM (level):

• You can now zoom on the family picture on the wall

🪲 Fixes

COMPUTER:

• Hid stamp buttons bar from the map, as this was confusing to players. It will return in the future but better integrated into gameplay!

RADIO:

• LEDs no longer blink if a message has passed through there but is no longer present when the player opens the channel

About InterfaceX26

Let me share a few things from behind the scenes of this showcase, cause honestly... We've been incredibly lucky to land into this community of like-minded and extremely helpful developers. Its Discord server has been buzzing for weeks in preparation and anticipation, and really remarkable things have come out!

Some highlights for our game:

• Added to this awesome bundle:[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/72133/Dystopian_Fake_OS_MEGA_Bundle/"]together with Execute, CorpoNation: The Sorting Process, Null State, Gas Station, HOMEPAGE, Plobania 47/B and Department of Missing Persons - you can't see it now but Deep Fog Signals will be in there at release!

• Added to a super sparkly Webring organized by the devs of Murder Meet Cute, check out all the games at https://symmetrybreak.com/en/deep-fog-signals/

• Added to the Interface Drama Master List at https://illuminesce.net/interface-drama

• Added to the Itch.io Collection at https://itch.io/c/7033480/interfacex-virtual-expo

• Another horror fake OS bundle is in the works 😁

• AddedAn article about fake OS gamesWitness The Birth Of A New Gaming Genre This Week

Shoutout to Cobalt Lane, Jumpy Bit, Grey Alien Games and Muscle Cat for bringing us all together, getting Christian Radke, Samantha Greer and DISASTERPEACE for the visuals, video and music, GameSpot for doing the live showcase next Saturday, and overall working magick!

Thanks for reading our update! Please go check out the games in the showcase, if you like Deep Fog Signals you'll find SO many others right up your alley! And go tag all the games in the showcase as Fake OS on Steam using this handy tool: https://interfacex.net/tag/

See you in the next one 🌫️