Welcome to the June 2024 Valko dev blog. This dev will mainly focus on the development of CRYO, though we do want to share a quick update on Labyrinthine first.
Labyrinthine
First up, a massive thank you to all the people leaving reviews recently. As many of you know, we had dipped quite heavily in our reviews scores at the start of the year, mainly due to the announcement of Labyrinthine winning the VR Game of the Year award. We’ve since returned back to the 80%+ range which is where we have sat since release, so again thank you!
As well as the above, we’re happy to see the summer event has been well received and players are enjoying the hunt once again. It’s been great to see players have returned to sharing their cosmetic finds and hunting for each others cosmetics on the discord as was the case with prior events. Just a reminder, as of writing, there are 37 days left of the summer event, so get hunting for those missing cosmetics!
People keep talking about DLC, will it happen?
We mentioned a couple dev blogs ago that DLC is a very real possibility. While nothing will happen before CRYO is released, we have had a couple of chances to work on some assets that would be used in one of the tentatively planned DLCs.
WARNING: Spoilers for CRYO ahead
Also, be aware that once again, these are development screenshots, not final.
What is CRYO? What is the story?
We wanted to share a little more about the background for the game in this dev blog.
CRYO will center around a company called ANGENEX, a multi-billion dollar international genetics company researching the latest in cryostasis, cryogenics and gene alteration. The company had found success previously, after researching the effects of cryostasis on biological organisms in Antarctica for several space agencies. During the expansion of one of their research bases, they inadvertently stumbled upon a vast cave system hidden below the icy surface where, to everyone’s surprise, they found a semi-dormant species of ancient fungus. The fungus displayed a staggering ability to rapidly adapt to environmental changes through accelerated evolution. Seeing the potential for a vast amount of applications, from medical to military, ANGENEX had ramped up their operations in the region, building several specialised bases and linking them via an underground shuttle for quick access in all weather. They have continued to observe and experiment with the fungus.
In the present day, a large storm has hit the continent, resulting in limited communication and difficult travel conditions. While most of the bases have remained in contact, a handful are showing as OFFLINE on the internal ANGENEX network, including Base Delta-7, where the original cave entrance was discovered.
This is where you, the player, come into the game. As part of the ANGENEX maintenance crew, you have been dispatched via the shuttle to investigate and repair the source of the disconnection. While the company assumes a minor fault relating to the storm is to blame, you will already know, this isn’t going to be a routine inspection…
How will it play?
I’m sure many of you will be wondering what the actual gameplay will be like. Unlike Labyrinthine, CRYO will be much more focused on a short but fun and memorable experience. It’s the sort of game you pick up for relatively cheap to have some scares and laughs on a rainy saturday night, and our gameplay aims to cater to that; simple enough to understand yet still challenging.
CRYO as it stands is very much a blend of survival horror, stealth horror and roguelites. You will have to complete objectives while being constantly hunted by various creatures, each with their own personality. We’re taking inspiration from our most memorable horror game experiences, from Alien Isolation to Monstrum.
Roguelite? You guys said in the last blog it won't be procedural!
While not a roguelike, the game will be roguelite, featuring randomised item spawns, environmental hazards and locked doors. We’re looking to bring enough randomised elements to the game that each run feels different from the last, without changing up the layout of the maps.
Running away from monsters sounds a lot like labyrinthine...
Labyrinthine used much simpler AI which often resulted in predictable behaviour. In CRYO, the AI will be much more aware of it’s surroundings, using various methods of detection. We’ve been hard at work adding various components to the AI to create that feeling of being hunted. Rather than Labyrinthine’s “go to random points, see a player, chase until you get to a safehouse” (with a few mechanics in between), the AI in CRYO will actively search for players, can interact with the environment and can detect using a range of player actions, such as sound, ‘smell’, light usage and more.
What can we expect from the initial release of CRYO?
If you read the last dev blog, you probably saw that we wanted to get two maps out by release. This is unlikely now due to the time constraints we’re under. We want to ensure each map feels unique and varied enough to justify its release. We currently have 3 separate monsters as of right now and we’re hoping to get the second in before the game comes out. They will behave quite differently, with one taking a more bullish approach and the other being much more sneaky and stealthy.
The initial release of the game will likely feature two monsters available on the Delta-7 map. As part of the roguelite nature of the game, the monster you receive will be randomised each game. The Delta-7 map will have verticality, featuring both an underground lab section and an above-ground base.
You talked about improving from Labyrinthine, what can we expect from CRYO?
As mentioned in the last blog, CRYO is being used to solidify our workflows and try some new options that just weren’t available so far into Labyrinthine’s development. You can expect the following:
- Vastly improved graphics. CRYO will be heavily improved upon over Labyrinthine with a much more consistent level of quality, better use of lighting and higher quality assets.
- Vastly improved animation quality and quantity. In Labyrinthine, you interacted with something by pressing E and hearing a sound. In CRYO, many interactions have fully animated interactions. Thanks to the work of our in-house animator, Fabio Dias, we have much better rigs than those used in Labyrinthine, resulting in more crisp and accurate animations.
- Vastly improved sounds and effects. Again, in Labyrinthine, most of the sounds of the level were built into the background track for each map. In CRYO, Fabio Modica has been hard at work making sounds for everything feasibly possible. From wall clocks, to individual item drop noises, all the way to the soft hum of refrigerators. We’ve also spent time making scarier noises for the monsters as well as tension tracks to further build the suspense of being hunted.
- A more intuative inventory system. Unlike Labyrinthine, you will be able to pick up and drop your items, know exactly what you’re looking at and share your items between friends.
- And much more. More items for interacting with, new pieces of equipment and better flashlights!
Finally, how are things coming along?
As you can expect, progress has been good, we’re getting ever closer to completion of Delta-7 and the second monster is soon due to be worked on. Some of the active members of discord may have noticed we have also created a separate category for CRYO to give users a place to discuss the game.
We have started to have frequent internal tests for all devs, these have yielded some amusing moments and monster 1 has continued to give us some scares!
This wraps up the dev blog for July, I will leave you with some screenshots from our tests!
“Graphics and quality upgrade” My PC can hardly run Labyrinthine as it is. Bring it on CRYO!
can we get the official ghost as a glow stick this Halloween?!
I love it. Is there any realse date?
No release date yet! 🙂 We try not to set release dates too early in case something goes wrong that causes a delay. It’s something we learned pretty early on with Labyrinthine, as it leads to some disappointed players. It’s coming along nicely though!
You gotta at least have a rough year estimate, can we expect 2025 or more like 2028!!