Bugs and glitches

 

Hello there!

As you might have noticed, we've been updating the game regularly since the release. The latest patch released was the version 1.0.7, which finally fixes most of the inventory handling issues.

Earlier this month we also published a larger content patch, which added one new item for the main story and added quite a lot of flavor text. It also included few new inventory items to play around with. It was done with a lightning-fast speed, compared to the time which it would've normally taken to complete such a large scripting task.

We had to iron out a few bugs after the release, due to the fast pace of the patch work. But overall, I'm personally really happy with the new additions. They cover most of the stuff that we eventually wanted to put in the game, but didn't know how to implement before the initial release.

The game has now reached the state where I believe there won't be as many patches in the future. Or at least not as frequently as we've released them until now. Of course we'll still be keeping our eyes on the Steam Community of Kalaban, and we'll continue to tackle the bugs reported to us.

And we owe a lot to our lovely fans, who have reported fresh bugs with every new version. Without our fans a lot of the glitches would've gone unnoticed. Due to the random and open-ended nature of our game, a lot of the bugs are not so straightforward to find or replicate.

We did have a good group of testers before release, but we also added so much stuff up until the release, that extensive bug hunting would've been required with every version. Also, writing a good bug is a matter of skill and patience, which can be learned, but just requires some time.

When the developer can successfully replicate a bug by following the specific steps written by a tester, then it's considered to be a well-written bug. If the player just states that "the hotbar is broken", it leaves a lot of questions to the developer. How is it broken? Is it broken all the time? Is it more about the contact with the sprites, or hotbar doesn't save and load correctly, or something else?

If you've previously felt that there are still too many bugs in the game to start playing, or you tested one of the first versions, and haven't touched the game since, well now is the time to pick up the game again. Like I said in the beginning, a lot of the bigger issues have now been dealt with, and chances are that you haven't even seen the newest story additions.

There is a line in development, that has to be drawn with the fixing and patching. Especially now, that Kalaban is no longer an Early Access game, and people have already experienced the game a certain way. If we keep on changing it, we risk ruining the game for someone who really liked the original version.

We would like to hear more general feedback about the game and what you want to see from us next. We'll ultimately follow our own plans of course, but your opinions will definitely matter a great deal to us. Now that Kalaban is out and available to the world, you guys are our customers, and our audience.

Send your suggestions, wishes and feedback to our Steam Community, we read each and every one of them. Or, if you want to report some specific issues or write us a longer text, you can mail to: kalaban(at)rayhouseproductions.com

Thank you!

After the release

Hello there!

So, it's been a week from launch and things are looking pretty good! We've been really happy with the reception and feedback on the game so far.

There's lots of bug fixes and suggested patchwork under way, which we will tackle with in the future versions. Some of the bugs the players have listed will take longer time to fix, and some will affect the balance of the gameplay, and we will have to come back to those later.

Right now we're working on a larger content patch. That will include some more in-depth exploration texts and few minor story fixes. Also, player's movement model and collisions will receive a small revision.

Inside Rayhouse there's also been talk about doing a larger "Redux version" of the game, which would include some of the suggested gameplay improvements, and add some length to the story. There's no plans for its release date right now, but it would be available as a DLC type of add-on at Steam.

During development, a couple of scenes were dropped from the package, which would add to the game's length and flesh out the story a bit more. Admittedly, the game's ~3 hour length is a bit shorter than we originally planned. Although, we would rather make a game that delivers throughout its length, rather than adding some tedious and meaningless fetch quests or filler to the story.

Considering that this is our first launch on the Steam platform, let alone our first commercial release, things have gone quite smoothly. We talked about doing a postmortem piece a couple days after the launch, but I think we'll need more time to reflect on the whole process.

Instead, we could list five improvements that we would love to see in an extended Developer's Cut version ourselves. This is not a set list of features, but things that we, as developers, would like to improve on.

1) Three more playable scenes 
 Yes, the original design doc had three extra scenes to the town map. Those would've been too art heavy and time-consuming to do in our original time frame, and they would've had to be done whilst we were finishing the gameplay mechanics. And that proved to be impossible, so we decided to work on the core gameplay instead. But when the dust has settled, we could take a look at those original designs.


2) Item containers
One of the ideas that we had, which was scrapped, was to add these System Shock / Fallout style containers to the maps. They would bring up a small popup window, with your current inventory on the right side, and the container on the left. This would've required quite a lot of extra work with the inventory screen and its graphics, so it was ultimately scrapped. If we're going to return to add some extra content, these could also be added. This addition would reduce the amount of pickups the monsters drop while dying.


3) Better NPC graphics and animation
One of the things that we would've loved to see was more detailed non-playable characters. They're passable in the current version, and fit the art style, but are not as well-made as Bob or the monster selection. It would also be fun to see few generic townsfolk, who run around in panic, and react to the environment and player's actions dynamically. Bob also could use a couple of extra animations, like reloading and using the scenery.

4) Special-use enemies
Some of the scenes could use some special-use enemies. Like adding a monster which crawls in the sand on the beach, or a monster which patrols around the hardware plant. Creating special-use enemies would've taken a lot of time to develop, and we opted to put the time and effort into the standard roster. But who knows, maybe we'll get to them in the future.


5) More craftable items
You could put together guns and the axe from different parts. This would add more explorational items and stuff to collect. The existing guns could also be upgraded and enhanced with crafting. These crafting items would be rarer than the normal pickups, like food or ammo items. Adding a couple of extra weapons, like mines, would also be really exciting.

I personally have a strong opinion about maintaining the classic version of the game, instead of directly modifying the core game. Otherwise, if we end up chaning the standard package of Kalaban, we end up with this kind of Star Wars effect, where you can only find the special edition, and not the original piece. So that's why we would want to keep the "redux version" as a separate release, and not make it a patch.

We're aiming to get everything that's currently in the game to work properly, and everything that changes that core experience, is extra or stuff that goes in the redux. Thanks for tuning in!