Black Forest Games

Senior Lead 3D Artist (m/f/d)

scavoleau — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:50:49 +0000

Black Forest Games GmbH, Offenburg, Germany
– Member of the THQ Nordic family –

Black Forest Games is part of the fastest growing publisher in Europe, Embracer Group, and the biggest studio of THQ Nordic Vienna. Here in the south of Germany, directly at the French border, we combine the creative freedom and culture of an independent studio with the financial security of a big publisher.

We are an international team and we foster diversity. Sharing this mindset is a must for us. We are happy about every candidate that contributes to the diversity of our team.

We are currently looking for a Lead 3D Artist to work on our upcoming high quality projects with Unreal Engine. He will lead a team of 3D artists and two outsourcing managers who are managing external teams. The candidate would be part of our art team, reporting directly to our technical art director.

Important for this key role is always having an understanding of the vision for the whole game and the capability to communicate it and control the execution.

Responsibilities:

Manage 3D asset production from our internal team (props/vehicles/weapons/buildings…), giving visual feedback and validating also technical aspects.
Manage outsourcing managers taking care of work done by external studios, and make sure that style/quality/technical requirements are on par with the work done internally.
Communicate/coordinate with other department leads, define priorities and make sure that dependencies with other departments are considered.
You must have a good and clear vision of all the work which needs to be achieved in the 3d department for the whole game, and plan and prioritize accordingly, not only think about daily feedback sessions with your team.
Maintain and improve assets creation workflow by always researching new tools/technologies/ways of working having the potential of increasing quality and efficiency.

Reporting Lines:

Reporting directly to the technical art director

Requirements:

Shipped at least 1 title as a lead 3d artist + shipped 3 or more games as 3d artist.
5+ years’ experience at a game studio working as a senior 3d artist.
Team management experience, able to give feedbacks on respect of style/quality and technical constraints.
Able to work on different visual styles, from realistic to stylized.
Strong knowledge of technical constraints related to 3d real time engines.
Strong hard surface modeling, ability to create hard surface props.
Strong ability to sculpt organic shapes.
Proficient in the high poly, low poly baking workflow
Proficient in creating efficient Mapping, minimizing seams and distortion
Proficient in Zbrush, 3DS Max, Substance Painter, Photoshop.
Self-motivated, technical problem solver.

Pluses:

Experience with Substance designer, World machine, Marvelous designer, Speedtree.
Experience with Unreal Engine 4.
Having notions of lighting.
Having worked on Xbox and PlayStation games before, not only PC.

We would like to see your portfolio (assessment).

What else do we offer ?

Flexible working hours
28 days of holiday
Competitive salary
Green office
Stability of a successful publisher paired with creative freedom of an independent studio

And the chance to work with a great team in an open culture where your opinion and input is welcome and considered, beyond your dedicated task.

Why join Black Forest Games ?

We are a team with a long history of looking for long-term companions – we are hiring for the studio, not for the project. This is an important part of our company philosophy. Talent is always welcome, no matter where you are from. We offer a family friendly work-life balance and a lot of flexibility.

Here you can work on IPs known worldwide and help to shape them.

As a bonus, Black Forest Games is located in one of the most beautiful and wealthiest areas in South of Germany, located closely to Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Basel. Getting here is easy, because of excellent traffic conditions – 3 airports about 30 minutes away, the Autobahn and the ICE station right around the corner. All of this in a region where kids still play in the nature and drive to school by bike.

You love everything about us but you don’t want to live in Germany? No problem, lots of our developers are living cross the border in Strasbourg, France and get here easily by train or car. Strasbourg is one of the biggest cities in France with 500.000 citizens.

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VFX Artist

scavoleau — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 08:42:24 +0000

We are currently looking for a VFX Artist to work on our upcoming projects with Unreal Engine. He will breathe life into our games through rich, vibrant effects: weather effects, blasting explosions, magic spells, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff. The work will be done using Unreal4, also our in-house toolset and a collection of licensed tools (Max, Photoshop, effects plugins like fumefx, Afterburn and similar). The ideal candidate has a unique ability to create awesome looking effects with just a handful of assets, animated textures and some simple yet inventive methods. Experience with shaders is a plus.

Responsibilities:

Visual effects creation using Unreal 4 and also in-house tools and technology (particle- and mesh-based effects)
Work on the textures for these effects using 3d party licensed tools: 3DS Max, Photoshop, Afterburn, FumeFX, Aftereffects.
Modeling and texturing of meshes for the VFX assets
Work together with Technical Art Director to ensure the highest quality and the best performance for effects
R&D for the effect pipeline – new tricks and techniques
Work on further improvements and customization of our existing effects toolset

Reporting Lines:

Reporting directly to the technical art director.

Requirements:

2+ years experience as VFX artist in a studio
Experience with in-game effects creation (particles and screen effects)
Inquisitive mindset and creative approach to work: capable to create effects in a constrained environment (project specific performance requirements, amount of emitters and particles, etc.)
Being capable of 3D asset creation using Max, Photoshop, Mudbox/zBrush
Strong understanding of in-game lighting techniques and the impact they have on the VFX
Experience with Unreal 4.
Excellent communication skills & proven ability to work within a team.

Pluses:

Experience with video visual effects software particles e.g. Adobe After Effects
Keen interest in in CGI effects production
Basic programming skills (to be able to work on shaders or implement engine side effect calls)
Passion for new effect types e.g. meatball, fluid simulation, morphing effects, etc.
Willingness to invest into tools design and further development (sending your requests to Tools code team)
General CG artistic skills, such as animation, camera work, hand drawing skills.

We would like to see your portfolio and reel

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Fade To Silence – One Year Anniversary

scavoleau — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 16:17:50 +0000

One year ago we released Fade To Silence into Early Access on Steam – exactly one week after we revealed it at the 2017 Game Awards. After the reveal trailer was played, our Development Director Onurhan went on stage with Geoff Keighley to talk about our game which, up until then, no one had even heard about. Today, let’s take a look at the road that laid ahead of us.

Early Access Release
In one year, much has happened in the game. We introduced six additional followers to the camp. Some of those you can find by exploring the frozen wasteland. Some will appear at the gate of your refuge once you meet certain requirements. We added four regions to explore, and new monsters to face. Playing the first release of Fade To Silence definitely is a whole different experience from playing it now.

After the initial release, we released our planned “Hope” update in Fade To Silence. It addressed the engagingly discussed “six lives” feature in the game. By introducing our “bonus shards” we started the first feature to mitigate the effects of the permadeath situation after you lost all six lives. It also included a major overhaul of the weather system.
Link: Full Change-Log

Unity united Ash with his daughter Alice and introduced Ryme, who approached your camp once you gather some followers around you. We also opened up a new area, The Wreck, where you could explore the massive freight ship that sits on top of a mountain ridge and is visible from your refuge.
To mitigate some of the issues we had when we updated the Unreal engine, the next content update was postponed, and we released a patch that focused on fixing bugs and improving performance.
Link: Full Change-Log

Fear let you expand your expeditions into The Pits. A long canyon area where you explore, and cleanse, the central POI, a massive refinery. Gani and Ezra could join your camp for the first time. And our designers changed the refuge upkeep system. Since The Fear update, your followers were affected by the amount of resources in your refuge stash.
Link: Full Change-Log

The Guilt update finally introduced the last region in Fade To Silence. The Glare is a maze-like area with ice tunnels and gorges. Your goal there is the ominous Space Shuttle, which is also a hint that your endgame begins. Unfortunately, it is being guarded by the newly introduced Feeder, the “Big Brother” of the Crusher. To help you out with that, we introduced Issa, the sniper.
Link: Full Change-Log

One of the most voiced requests by the community was a way to play Fade To Silence with a friend. The Hunger update introduced just that – a two player co-op mode. It also saw the first nightly raids that tested the defenses of your camp. Hunger also contained the next iteration of the resource management system, as well as another highly wanted for feature: The crafting queue.
Link: Full Change-Log

With the promise update, you finally had access to all buildings, and building options, in your camp. Tua the tank can now join your camp. And with the Circle of Torment, our approach to a skill tree, the final piece to easen the effects of perma-death was in place.
Link: Full Change-Log

Light
As we head into the new year, our focus is on further polishing the game, improving the performance and fixing bugs. With the final update – Light – in sight, we continue to work hard on Fade To Silence to give you the best experience we can deliver. We really can’t wait to give you the full experience of the game.
Thanks for joining us in this journey, for all your feedback, and for your patience.

The post Fade To Silence – One Year Anniversary appeared first on Black Forest Games.

LEVEL DESIGNER

scavoleau — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:35:17 +0000

We are currently looking for a Level Designer to work on our upcoming projects with Unreal Engine. You will be responsible for all aspects of world and content creation, from the initial design phase, white boxing and first playable, through to the final polish phase. This role will have frequent communication and interaction with the lead level designer, lead game designer, environment artists, and gameplay programmers.

Responsibilities:

Preparing paper macro and micro level design and mission document drafts.
Designing, prototyping, iterating on and polishing the in-game part of the open world including missions, enemy encounters, and other gameplay elements, using the Unreal Engine 4 tools and blueprint system.
Collaborating with game designers to ensure that the level design contributes to and enhances the gameplay.
Collaborating with environment artists on crafting spaces where gameplay flow and visual composition form memorable experiences.
Collaborating with narrative designers to provide unique and immersive gaming experiences
Conducting play-testing sessions and gathering feedback and action points to refine the levels and gameplay. Taking part in other play-testing sessions, providing feedback and suggestions to help fine-tune and improve the game.

Requirements:

2+ years’ experience at a game studio working as a level designer or mission designer.
Experience with 3D engine game editors.
Experience with open world games.
Ability to create map layouts at all stages – from simple drawings to fully functional world locations in at least one of the existing game engines.
Ability to design missions – from the concept phase to polish and debug – through an iterative process based on playtests feedback
Excellent communication skills & proven ability to work within a team.

Not required, but a huge plus:

Experience with Unreal 4 tools and blueprint system.
Shipped at least 1 title as a level designer.

Reporting Lines:

In this role, you will report directly to the lead level designer

Please include examples of previous work done in your application.

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TECH PROGRAMMER

scavoleau — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:34:39 +0000

We are looking for an experienced senior technology/engine guru to work with the industry leading Unreal 4 engine. For those looking to sink their teeth into every aspect of engine development you will also have the opportunity for delve into optimization and improvements on all relevant platforms (PC/Xbox One/PS4). We offer the opportunity to work with the most exciting cutting-edge hardware and development kits available today. A necessary part of being fluent with all core technology will be a lead role entailing communication with the largest technology providers through networking and conferences. Handling the relationship between us and the most current hardware and software providers is key.

Responsibilities:

Work on the low level core engine technology (rendering, streaming, streaming, audio, physics, animation)
Take our engine forward into the next console generation and upcoming handled devices
Provide and maintain modifications to Unreal 4
Further optimize our technology for high performance and memory efficiency
Develop cutting edge eye-candy rendering features
Research new technology over a wide field of disciplines

Requirements:

3 years in games-development
At least one PS4/Xbox One game shipped, involved during entire development cycle
Deep understanding of 3D rendering pipelines and lighting systems (forward & deferred rendering shading experience)
Working knowledge of assembly languages (Intel, PowerPC, SIMD: SSE, MMX), HLSL, Cg, GLSL, CUDA
Passion for mathematics and complex algorithms
Good understanding and practical experience of optimization
Fluent English

Not required, but a huge plus:

Extensive SPU and threading experience
Substantial DX11, GX2, GCM or X360 API experience
Familiarity with a wide range of graphical rendering techniques
Console experience on multiple major platforms
Extensive optimization experience with Razor, GPAD, PIX and Spark (and any other relevant profilers)
Have one of the ShaderX books on your nightstand
Unreal 4 experience

Assessment:

CV
Skype interview (if needed)
Test-Task (ca. 8 hours, can be spread on two/three days, we will look more at the approach than at the result)*
Ideally on-site interview if possible, otherwise second Skype

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SENIOR UI PROGRAMMER

scavoleau — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:32:08 +0000

We are currently looking for a multi-talented UI Programmer to implement rich, interactive user interfaces, menus and heads-up displays for our upcoming high-quality projects with Unreal Engine. The right candidate needs to be proficient with user experience flows, good interface practices, and UMG implementation with clean code.

Responsibilities:

Implement UI related functionality: in-game menus, start screens, interactive and animated HUD elements, leaderboards and the like
Work closely with Creative Directors, Game Designers, and UI Artists, make sure interfaces are matching the established game style, ensure high standards of ergonomics and user-friendliness for our interfaces with clean, maintainable and scalable code
Make the player experience as comfortable and intuitive as possible, and work with other stakeholders to react to feedback from QA, designers, focus-test groups and usability studies
Work on game responsiveness optimization and the minimization of delays of any kind

Requirements:

3 – 5 years of experience as an interface programmer in the games industry
BSc in Computer Science or related discipline or equivalent industry experience
Shipped at least 1 PC / Console title from conception to completion
Solid understanding of UMG workflow, including console platform flow
C++ knowledge and the ability to implement engine-side UI functionality/external calls
Knowledge of the modern games UI design approaches, including console titles
Familiarity with standard art tools like Photoshop and Illustrator
Self-sufficient starter mentality and ownership of the UI features
Creative and flexible mindset to improve processes and to overcome constraints
Fluent in English

Not required, but a huge plus:

Scaleform knowledge: basic scripting, calls to external targets, etc.
Ability to draft UX flows and implement 2D Art for interfaces
C#, Lua or any other industry standard scripting languages
Experience with interface design in a general sense, being able to provide input on controller layout, modality issues, accordance between input and actions on screen
Understanding of a screen layout, screen readability, screen estate, a good feel for typography and iconography
Good knowledge of the color theory and graphic design principles
Knowledge of TRC and XR requirements
Experience with Openworld-games

Assessment:

CV
Skype interview (case-by-case)
Test-Task (ca. 8 hours, can be spread on two/three days, we will look more at the approach than at the result)*
Ideally on-site interview if possible + presentation of previous work

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LEAD PROGRAMMER

scavoleau — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:31:40 +0000

We are looking for an experienced Tech-Lead to join our team. The person in this position will be responsible for organizing and overseeing a team of talented programmers in our current and future projects. He should have the ability to shape a technical vision and work with the programmers to turn it into reality. He should also be as good of a programmer as a communicator, have superior management skills and a very solid coding background. The Tech Lead will directly help to define the course of development during all its stages.

Responsibilities:

Guiding and overseeing our programmers as well as mentoring them
Coordinating tasks and creating guidelines, including expansive documentation
Establishing quality benchmarks and demonstrating knowledge
Remain hands-on with the code
Playing an active part in the recruitment of new candidates
Responsible for tools that go along with features; ensure they are useable and appropriate for artists, games, and the engine
Be forward thinking – able to keep up-to-date on current techniques, research, graphics data, hardware, etc. and integrate them into development

Requirements:

Min. 5 years in games-development
Exceptional C++ programming skills and experience with multi-threaded programming techniques
At least two PS4/Xbox One/WiiU/PS3/X360 games shipped, at least one while being involved during the entire development cycle
Passion for mathematics and complex algorithms
Good understanding and practical experience of optimization
Experience managing and leading a team of programmers with various experience levels
Outstanding verbal and written interpersonal communication skills
Fluent English

Not required, but a huge plus:

Additional management qualifications
Extensive SPU and threading experience
Substantial DX11, DX12, GNM or Vulkan experience
Familiarity with a wide range of graphical rendering techniques
Experience working on all aspects for gameplay programming
Console experience on multiple major platforms
Extensive optimization experience with Razor, GPAD, PIX and Spark (and any other relevant profilers)
Unreal 4 experience

Reporting Lines:

You will directly report to our Technical Director
Regular communication with our producers

Assessment:

CV
Skype interview (case-by-case)
Test-Task (ca. 8 hours, can be spread on two/three days, we will look more at the approach than at the result)*
Ideally on-site interview if possible + presentation of previous work

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SENIOR GAME DESIGNER

scavoleau — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:30:27 +0000

We are looking for a Senior Game Designer with a focus on player experience and narrative to complement our systems designers and level designers. The person will be part of the team defining and driving the gameplay vision in our projects while providing benchmarks for quality expectation, creative designs focused on usability and originality, and work as a communicator towards other disciplines and teams.

Responsibilities:

Helping shape and own the design vision with the Creative Director and the team
Prototyping, developing and driving a strong design vision for game systems from conception to completion
Guiding and mentoring junior designers
Building and maintaining collaborative relationships with all development functions to ensure a clearly effective design process and team environment
Creating design documents
Championing the needs of the game from a design perspective to other stakeholders
Establishing clear quality and expectation benchmarks
Directing the tone of the project with an eye towards deep & immersive gameplay, constantly engaging single- and multiplayer-usability
Analyzing players behavior and data to optimize gameplay and the player experience
Balancing, calculating and setting up gameplay data, testing and polishing the results

Requirements:

Motivated and motivating, the ideal candidate must show passion and willingness to be involved in every part of the project to some extent
Minimum 5 years in game development in a design capacity
Strong ability to pitch design ideas, and game concepts to all levels of management and leadership verbally and in documents
Able to communicate feature requests based on design goals in a timely manner
A good grasp of different genres’ core design mechanics and intended dynamics
Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, ability to manage conflicts
Working knowledge of industry standard game engines, design toolsets, and pipelines
Proactively remaining up-to-date with current design trends and player expectations
Flexible and adaptive mindset
Being part of at least 1 AA game project from conception to market
Fluency in English

Not required, but a huge plus:

Good understanding of screen layout, and readability
Experience in leading and helping prepare Focus Tests
Unreal Engine 4 experience
Good understanding of player retention mechanisms in premium games
Deep knowledge of how players and influencers nowadays interact via social media, games communities/hubs
Understanding of how to make the above part of the gameplay and which tools/channels are needed to be implemented
AAA game experience

Reporting Lines:

You will directly report to our Creative Director
You will support and be supported by our Producers
You will be part of a larger team of game system, level, narrative, and audio designers

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Fade To Silence – Promise Change-Log

scavoleau — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 17:45:46 +0000

New Content

Tua

Tua the Warrior is now available as a follower. If you do not shy away from encounters with the monsters and are victorious over them, he will and ask for admission in your refuge at the Veil.

New Difficulty Levels:

“Exploration”: A low-pressure way to immerse yourself in the world and brave the wilds for Fade to Silence. Very forgiving with infinite lives and resources and much stronger survivors. Achievements and the Circle of Torment are disabled in Exploration mode.

“Survival”: A grueling struggle for survival against dwindling resources, merciless weather and deadly monstrosities. You will die, pick up the pieces and claw your way to victory. Planning is rewarded, carelessness punished. Limited lives, but the Circle of Torment will give you an edge against the ravages of permadeath. Achievements can be obtained in this mode, and this is the way Fade to Silence is meant to be played.

New, buildings, items & recipes

This update adds the final batch of recipes and items into the game including new fire and explosive arrow types that can even damage the Crusher, or the Stalker’s Heart to craft stealth gear. The world will also have Flames of Hope you can craft or find after grueling challenges. The big bads like the Feeder and Stalker will now drop valuable new loot for these recipes.

New buildings as well as the final tier of Armors are also now availible.

Social Events III

This update adds the final batch of the social events and leadership choices among your followers. There will be times when your followers will open their darkest secrets to you and as they trust you more, they will be more useful for your refuge. Easter eggs? There will be tough choices to make to survive in the unforgiving cold – and some will have to brave the harsh winter for the sake of others.

Circle of Torment

Circle of Torment is the completion of our catch-up mechanics: Every time you run out of lives, the Circle will give you and let you keep the Boons from your previous lives. It gets easier every time you die.

Changes & Fixes

The player camera has been heavily reworked, to allow proper movement and view during combat, and in tight spaces.
UI has been polished and reworked across the board to prevent a bigger range of potential issues.
Performance, stability, memory usage has been optimized across the board.
Localization and text spacing in the menus have been improved across the board, though there may still be a few words here and there defaulting back to English. We also added new music and sfx to the game.
Monsters have received AI, animation, and behavior improvements as well as difficulty fine-tuning across the board.
Followers have received fixes and improvements to their navigation and combat AIs.
Controls have been improved for better accessibility and modality – check the OPTIONS for the new defaults.

Known Issues:

Guest player may show falling animation after joining a co-op session if the host is already engaged in a camp follower event. After the event is done, gameplay resumes normally.
Follower morale points are shown when assigning a follower to construct a building.
Guest player can access the available workers menu from any of the constructed buildings in the host’s camp.
In rare cases in the Glare, the 6-wolves-sled may fall through frozen lake.
If the player is caught in a tornado in the sled, the kill cam will go under the ground, and the player will not be visible in the kill cam. However, upon completion of the kill cam, gameplay will resume normally.
Guest player is unable to open radial menu or in game whilst riding on the sled with the host. Gameplay resumes normally once the host & guest disembark the sled
The sled’s “Replace” (“RB” or “R1” on gamepads) button has no functionality at the Sledding Kennel. Either “A” or “Cross” on gamepads and “E” (default “Use” button”) work as normally.
Finisher & counter camera for the Ripper and variants are slightly off-center following player camera reworks. Gameplay resumes normal upon completion of the animation.
Constructed buildings within the campsite have no collision after they have been destroyed, and sometimes display different parts of the building as whole.
In Co-op, if the Host was using Inner Vision and highlighted the guest’s character, upon joining, the guest will be highlighted throughout the gameplay. This effect will be removed when the guest uses Inner Vision.
If the player spams ESC during loading screens, the prompt to dismiss the Circle of Torment will spam by the same amount it was spammed during loading screen. After this amount is zero, players can access the Circle of Torment tree, and use their Boons.
In rare cases, followers may not follow direct orders for manual assignment. You can work around this by manually assigning the follower to an expedition and then disbanding the expedition, and try to manually assign a task again.

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Giana Sisters Switch

scavoleau — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 08:44:59 +0000

If you don’t have a Nintendo Switch yet, here is one more reason to get one… Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Owltimate Edition. The critically-acclaimed platformer will be available in a new edition for Nintendo’s entertainment system with a ton of content on September 25, 2018. SRP is 29,99 € / 29,99 $ / 29,99 £.

The Owltimate Edtion contains the original Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams as well as all existing DLC, including Rise Of The Owlverlord. But that’s not all! Five brand-new levels and beautiful new story cutscenes between each level make this the best Giana Sisters outing ever. Also, renowned German video game music composer Chris Huelsbeck and Swedish band Machinae Supremacy have created new tracks for the game.

Developed by THQ Nordic’s studio Black Forest Games, GSTDOE will be published by HandyGames, the latest family member of the THQ Nordic network. HandyGames will act as an independent publisher, focusing on small and mid-sized projects or third-party indie games.

About Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Owltimate Edition
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams offers classic 2D platforming fun in meticulously detailed 3D environments. Players can turn cute Giana into a punk version of herself at the press of a button, transforming the game’s star, the soundtrack and even the world. This overhaul isn’t merely cosmetic: Giana’s punk persona is a critical to overcoming obstacles and solving particularly tricky situations. In her sweet incarnation, Giana whirls gracefully over obstacles and opponents, but when ‘punked up’ she smashes through stone blocks with mighty dashes and can master her environment by bouncing off walls.

Key Features:

Impressive abilities: Negotiate tricky level design by wall-running, vaulting and smashing your way through the world, ignoring gravity in the process
Intuitive and precise controls: Giana’s powers are numerous, but slick controls enable you to master her skills and pull off expert-level manoeuvres with ease
Jaw-dropping worlds: Fantastical, transforming 2D worlds drawn in sumptuous 3D come to life on Nintendo Switch
Explore and discover: Pick apart 40 thrilling, secret-filled levels brimming with challenges and surprises
Innovative gadgets: Navigate evolving landscapes by utilizing everything around you – fly with bubble gum bubbles, bounce on springs and supercharge your sprints via conveyor belts
Epic boss battles: Push yourself to the limits as you battle gigantic creatures from the depths of Giana’s worst nightmares

THQ

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HUNGER UPDATE

scavoleau — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 09:03:44 +0000

New Features

Two players multiplayer co-op
You asked. We considered. We delivered. The Hunger update includes the first pass of our multiplayer feature in Fade To Silence. This first pass is not the final implementation. We can’t stress that enough. And we know that this feature still needs some work. Our aim is to test the co-op gameplay, session stability, and performance of the network connection, and impact on system performance besides other issues or edge-cases. It also gives us time and insights which we can use to further balance the game.

Our humble request for this: You would help us A LOT if you would turn on our telemetry tool in the Options menu. It won’t send any personal data, we are NOT interested in your installed software or your system specs or even your player ID. Our data collecting tool only records your play session: Where you went, what you gathered, where you killed monsters and which, and where you died. It also tells us if and when your game crashed.

To start Co-op, you need to have at least 1 follower already recruited in your refuge as your friend will join and pick one of your followers to possess during his or her visit to your world. We will incrementally implement features that will make sure the guest player is also properly incentivized to join your adventure, using mechanics like persistent shard pickups, and others like each follower having different stats. Right now, if you as the host player craft a non-consumable item, such as the Scrap Sword, you will automatically craft two, one for you and one for your friend. If, as the host, one of your followers crafts a non-consumable item via a crafting station, your follower will put two of that item in your refuge stash.
Unlike your followers, your co-op partner is able to revive you on the spot you died for a cost on his or her deprivation, allowing you to progress further as a team in your world.
The two players are leashed to one another as well. If one player strays far from the other, they will be teleported next to each other following a warning.

Nightly Raids
You may have asked yourself why you should beef up your defenses in your camp. Although your camp was under attack occasionally, it was nothing to really worry about. You could deflect those attacks alone if need be.
Well… that changes now. With the Hunger update, we improve the Nightly Raids. Think hordes of Rippers and Spitters approaching your palisade walls in the late game. Of course, the raids start lightweight, but gradually the monsters will increase in numbers, and eventually, they will be tearing down the wood piece by piece, screeching and howling.
If you haven’t done so in the past, now is the time to invest in Spitter Mortars and Ballistae.
The monsters will have won by destroying your crystal, but thankfully with the supernatural powers imbued within, the crystal will send out pulsing waves that will damage the monsters as well.
Crafting Queue
Your feedback paved the way to a great feature: We implemented a crafting queue to streamline follower management and crafting in the camp. Now your followers will work on the crafting queue you define, take automatic rests and keep on working without you holding their hands – you can now set up a crafting queue, and explore the wilderness while your followers work. What they craft will end up in your refuge stash for you to pick up whenever you need – or for your other followers to use in other crafting recipes.

Changes

Access to New Resources and Recipes
With the Hunger update, we implemented the late-game resources into the game. Now you can craft late game gear, and have your followers scavenge for imbued wood and similar advanced resources. The new gear will use existing visuals, but your armor and cold protection will be upgraded regardless.
With the new Carver’s Corner and Butcher’s Corner, your followers can process Tainted resources into useable food, firewood and crafting materials, giving you big boosts if you use hunters or woodcutters at these stations in your refuge. Now that these followers can also improve their skills… Wait, more on it below.
New Social Events
There are more events included now that simulate the connections between camp residents and shed light on their personalities. These events will always take place in your refuge and almost always will require a decision to make which will have an impact on your individual follower as well as the group morale. High morale will bring your followers to trust you and they will be more invested in your group and over time will become proficient in their craft, and consequently craft better gear for you and your camp. However low morale may even result in them leaving your camp forever – be wary of the dialogues you have with them, as they will hint about whom they dislike and why, sometimes in passing, sometimes in bigger quarrels you have to arbitrate.
Balanced Resource Management
Our Game Designers have now implemented a new balancing pass to the resource allocation throughout the world. Scarcity now is more prominent problem to solve, and resource management now provides a challenge as intended with the harsh eternal winter conditions. Decisions regarding how to plan your progress best using the followers you have will be more meaningful. Many followers mean diversity in talents – BUT keep in mind that it will also mean more mouths to feed and people to warm.

HUNGER will make you rethink your strategy. Even if you considered yourself an experienced player.

BUG FIXES coming with this update:

Equipping armor doesn’t give you damage reduction
The guardian from the Peaks Outpost is not displayed during the finisher attack animation
The completed “Cleanse the Crystal” objective will not be saved if the character teleports with the crystal prior to the cut-scene
The character is able to chop trees while under a finisher attack
A character can fall off the map after canceling the resting at a campfire while being oriented to assets
The projectiles of the Impaler do not have a proper collision with the character
The camera is improperly displayed after ending a sprinting action while the camera is in a re-aligning motion
The character might remain stuck inside the ice structure after crashing the sled into it
The blizzard effects are permanently received after being defeated by a tornado
The character remain stuck if is defeated by deprivation in between the dialogue cut-scenes with Vic during her recruitment event
A character is resurrected under the map if is defeated during the resurrection of a follower while the cut-scene of an Outpost overlaps the process
The character might fall under the map upon resting at the barrel from the Flats’ Outpost immediately after teleporting
The character is stuck running when damaged while sprinting by a corruption bulb with the bow equipped
The playable character can get stuck inside buildings under construction
The character remains stuck inside the train tracks after crashing the sled into the Crusher monster
The character is not able to interact with Gani after her shelter was automatically dismantled after 8 in-game hours
The monsters from Vic’s recruitment quest are multiplied after restarting the game during the event
Woodcutting hotspots disappear when approached
The items from the inventory disappear when dropped if the character is facing environmental assets
An invisible collision wall can be placed at the palisade gates
The Copper and Iron ore items are not stacking in the inventory and loot containers sections
Spitters from raids may be partially positioned beneath the ground’s level
The Rippers from Jin’s recruitment event are unresponsive if the character arrives at the location with the sled
A crash occurs during combat with the hellvines from Rhys’ recruitment event
The game crashes during the combat with the Ripper monsters from Vic’s recruitment event
The game might crash after cleansing the crystal from the tutorial when the Alice cutscene is triggered
The game crashes after approximately one minute from looting a hunted deer while exploring the environment
The game crashes upon attempting to access the map after shooting a deer in the first hunting area
A crash occurs on a new game after reaching the Game Over screen while the overview tab is open
A crash might occur upon selecting the production of hunting bow within the crafting shack
Jin’s model is incorrectly displayed after selecting the “Take Care” option during his recruitment quest
The camp overview and Alice cutscenes are incorrectly displayed with an overexposed graphical effect
The HP bar of all monsters is missing while locking on them
Followers are flagged as “Resting” when the building they construct is unstreamed
The hunting bow’s name is incorrectly written in the description from inventory
Construction – Medicine Hut – Controller becomes unresponsive in the radial menu
Dead follower cleansing process was in an endless loop
Cleansing fx residue is left on the player after he respawns in the Crypt

KNOWN ISSUES:

The woodcutting areas’ icons from the map are displayed as partially consumed without looting a tree
Co-op: Ash’s portrait is displayed blank in the guest’s HUD
Co-op: In rare cases, there may be an issue with the defensive gates being spawned twice for both the guest and the host
There are no HUD notifications for a follower leveling up in his/her proficiency. Follower overview UI displays this information correctly
Co-op: If both characters die due to a tornado, neither player is able to review one another and the resurrection sequence doesn’t finish properly.
Followers display the slowed walk animation in the refuge under a blizzard
Reverse finishers can misbehave (fall through the world etc.) in rare cases where the player was pressing other buttons
Co-op: The corrupted ground from nests and outposts remain displayed for the guest after restarting the game
Co-op: Cleansing visual effect may be missing for the guest in outposts
The notification “Follower is resting.” is spammed after the character defeats the enemy raid
In rare cases, it is possible to get stuck on a sled below a bridge
Co-Op: Using “Esc” button in order to cancel the placement of a Campfire or a Makeshift shelter will also open the in-game pause menu
The player cannot destroy an upgraded Hut or Palisade
Followers may behave strangely if they die by deprivation while resting at a campfire
In rare cases, followers may not listen to the crafting queue commands for another tick. Canceling and re-ordering a few times fixes the issue if needed.
If the player hard quits the game via ALT-F4 in between dialogs during events, last visible event state will not be saved. Always see the saving icon before quitting.
The game crashes in RX 480 OC video card machines, especially using older drivers. After updating the drivers, the crash is 10% likely to happen.

The post HUNGER UPDATE appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Extension? – BFG Unlocked

scavoleau — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 11:20:05 +0000

Episode 20: The Crash

During every project you eventually reach a point where problems are piling up, motivation is going south, and it’s hard to see the solution. In German, we call this “Der Tiefpunkt.” And right now, we seem to have reached this point.

The documentary

Over the span of two years, Black Forest Games worked, in secret, on a new breed of survival game.

Announced at one of the most prominent gaming events in 2017, followed by an immediate release on Steam Early Access, the final development phase was decided to be carried out as close to the public as possible. The only valid release date available? Right in the middle of blockbuster season, before Christmas, in between two significant steam sales.

It was a challenge, even if everything would have worked out according to plan. Which, of course, it didn’t.

Based on the true story of Fade To Silence’ development, BFG Unlocked provides a new, unique look behind the scenes of the creation of a blockbuster video game.

The post Extension? – BFG Unlocked appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Lessons in Survival #12

scavoleau — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 11:10:45 +0000

Lesson #12: The Spitter Vol.III
We changed the way, how the Spitter’s spits are targeting you. Apart from dodging and blocking, a simple change of direction, or pace, is sufficient to avoid the harmful Spikes.

The post Lessons in Survival #12 appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Lessons in Survival #11

scavoleau — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:08:34 +0000

Lesson #11: Evade the Feeder’s tongue!
The Feeder’s best and most effective weapon is his darting tongue. It’s quick and long ranged and has the ability to lock itself on its target.

The damage of this is minimal. But once it grabs you, it pulls you towards the monster, placing you into the optimal position for a devastating hammer attack from this biggies rock arms!

The post Lessons in Survival #11 appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Fade to Silence-GUILT UPDATE

scavoleau — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 08:00:20 +0000

Not much intro necessary today. Because the release notes for the GUILT update mainly speak for themselves. Apart from new content, we finally introduced the mighty Feeder into the wilds, we gave you Issa the Sniper as support, opened a whole new region – The Glare – for you to explore. And there’s more. But, before we shut up and let you read the important parts, we would like to apologize.

We did announce the missing translations for the GUILT update. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to import them in time. We will deliver them in a hotfix, very soon!

New Content and Features

The Glare and Shuttle

The new region, featuring an icy ravine leading up to a broken dam is now open for exploration. You can reach it via The Pit.

Introducing „The Feeder” – the bigger brother of the Crusher!

Vicious, slow and deadly. The Feeder has a tongue that darts out of the maw in its underbelly. On impact, it drags you back to the feeder – into the perfect position for its devastating attack.

Introducing Issa – The Sniper – new follower

Always armed and ready to hunt, Issa enjoys the thrill of the chase. She doesn’t give up until she gets what she wants. Issa only makes an enemy if she knows it will gain her a valuable friend…or lover. Issa laughs easily, but her smile rarely reaches her eyes. She is likelier to join if you have other people with you as tracks of your other followers may lead her to your camp.

Game-Over Cutscene

You lost all your precious lives? Now we show you what happens to Ash once The Inner Voice eventually claims him.

Reverse Finishers II

Dying is now more fun. Because the new finisher animations for all the monsters are now in. Go ahead. Try it. It’s fun.

Social Events & Leadership

The first batch of social events that occur in your camp and force you to make tough decisions. As your followers’ worldviews warped by the eternal winter clash, you must manage the intricate relationships for the sake of your camp. Each decision you’ll be forced to make will have an outcome and impact the overall morale of your followers. Do you dare to choose between them? Keep in mind that not doing anything is the worst you could do but if a follower decides to leave… That’s a burden on your camp, but a blessing on your resources?

Base management

The “Feast” hut upgrade has been implemented. This upgrade has a significant upfront cost and will raise the morale of your followers every hour for 24 hours, as well as keep them warm and fed for free for the duration.

Changes

New Claiming mechanic:

We have changed the way gathering areas work: Once you approach a new resource area, the game will tell you that you have discovered it. From that moment on, it will show on your map. Depending on the type, the game will also tell you the necessary tasks to claim it (such as „hitting a deer with an arrow“). Once you claimed the resource, followers can be assigned to it by using the map, the overview screen, or by using the radial menu option within the gathering area.

Your followers will continue to gather resources until an area is depleted. In these cases, they will return to camp for rest. Once rested, they will be auto-assigned a task, or you can assign them their new job.

In your map & compass, an area that is not claimed will be displayed by a yellow star under the resource type icon. Once claimed, the icon is a blue diamond. If the area has no more resources left, the icon is transparent, and the area is no longer available for resource gathering to you or your followers.

This has no adverse effect in your existing games, as areas you have already visited will now be auto-claimed.

Combat Improvements

Following your feedback, we have done the following changes and fixes to the combat mechanics and the Spitters:

We have decreased the Stamina required to perform a dodge/roll. You can roll four times in a row now and have a smaller delay before Stamina regeneration starts.
The player will now get up faster after being knocked down to avoid follow-up attacks that would hit him otherwise. In the same vein, player control over the character during the get-up animation is also given tot he player earlier.
Fixed multiple issues where dodging while locked on a monster would make the player roll towards another monster.
Fixed and revised the conditions such as max and min range where auto-lock could engage and disengage.
Fixed the orientation of the player when auto-locked and after disengaging from an enemy.
Revised monsters‘ leash distances to the way they should be such as suiciding Spitters following you longer and larger monsters breaking their leashes sooner.
Spitters now have a better telegraph and shorter invulnerability period when engaging their suicide mode, making them easier to avoid. This makes the Spitter less deadly by allowing a single attack in a chain to go through before detonating them on a hit. This way, you can react more efficiently with a dodge or a counter.
Spitters projectiles are no longer homing to the player characters, their hitboxes and damage rates have been rebalanced.
We implemented an audio cue to warn the player that he is out of Stamina in addition to the visual effects.
Revised monster placement in the world for a better balance between challenge and reward.
Fixed issues where players using the mouse and keyboard would suffer from artificial lags resulting in weird camera and/or character movement making fights harder.
Revised Armor benefits provided crafted armor for players and followers to make them more resilient

Optimized Physics code and other optimizations

We implemented new physics code in addition to other optimizations to bring up the overall game performance. Optimizations will be ongoing targeting the best possible balance between gameplay and visual quality, prioritizing gameplay. With the new physics code, there is less strain on the CPU for calculations, and it helps avoid most „getting stuck“ issues on the player character.
We have also optimized to use the GPU resources more efficiently. Multiple areas of the visual side of the game such as lighting, models, etc. have received optimizations.

BUG FIXES and Minor changes:

Fixed various issues where weather conditions and game mood weren’t reset appropriately in different cases of deaths.
Fixed multiple crash issues.
We have fixed various bugs regarding in our UI for better usability and polish.
We have updated some UI icons for better legibility.
Overall quality and stability pass on game events.
Many points of interests have been re-balanced in regards to location, loot, and stability.
The Inner Vision feature received multiple stability fixes, such as destroying the outlines properly, a range rebalancing, color-coding review, etc.
Saving checkpoints have received stability fixes.
Polished and revised navigation paths for followers in event locations.
Fixed many instances of invisible monsters.
Fixed many cases of hero or followers clipping or falling through the world.
Fixed many cases in which hero could get stuck between objects.
Fixed many instances of wrong sled placement.
Revised the tutorial fight difficulty by lowering exploding corruption bulb radius, damage, and the aggressiveness of the first monster.
Fixed multiple instances of HUD messages displaying too fast in order.
Fixed many instances in the UI where the mouse or the gamepad would lose focus.
Fixed issues with the tornado physics, and other various bugs in relation tot he player dying in a tornado.
Fixed many instances where calling the sled would result in erratic behavior.

KNOWN ISSUE:

In rare cases, Rhys may glitch. If you see his corpse in your camp’s social area, resurrect him. He will display some erratic behavior, and may not correctly join your expedition when told to do so. You can work around this issue by sending him off to work manually by assigning a gathering task to him via the Overview menu. Once you dismiss him and add him in your expedition, he should behave normally.
The game crashes after changing the Playback Devices settings while the game is running in the background.
The character may remain stuck inside the train tracks after crashing the sled into the Crusher.
Monsters from Jin’s recruitment event may be missing in the Forestland Resort but does not prevent the event from being completed.
In rare cases where the character may fall in front of the sled, the character can be placed outside of the playable area when crashing the sled against the tunnel walls in rare cases.
A crash occurs on a new game after reaching the Game Over screen while overview tab is open
The player character is misaligned during the (blue) Ice Crusher finisher.
In particular hardware configurations, having too many buildings may cause an FPS drop.
In rare cases, the game may crash after the Wolf recruitment scene in the Flats outpost.
In rare cases, a lens flare may remain after the hero dies during totem cleansing.
If the player hard quits the game via ALT-F4 in between dialogs during events, last visible event state will not be saved. Always see the saving icon before quitting.
The game crashes in RX 480 OC video card machines, especially using older drivers. After updating the drivers, the crash is 10% likely to happen.

The post Fade to Silence-GUILT UPDATE appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Lessons in Survival #9

scavoleau — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:59:52 +0000

Lesson #9: Hide or engage?
We are curious. Are you the type of player who hides from monsters and tries to evade them? Or are you the gung-ho type who charges into action as soon as you see them?

The post Lessons in Survival #9 appeared first on Black Forest Games.

THE CRASH – BFG Unlocked

scavoleau — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 11:17:05 +0000

BFG Unlocked takes you behind the scenes of the German game development studio “Black Forest Games”.

Episode 19: THEY PLAY DIRTY

The documentary

Over the span of two years, Black Forest Games worked, in secret, on a new breed of survival game.

It was a challenge, even if everything would have worked out according to plan. Which, of course, it didn’t.

Based on the true story of Fade To Silence’ development, BFG Unlocked provides a new, unique look behind the scenes of the creation of a blockbuster video game.

The post THE CRASH – BFG Unlocked appeared first on Black Forest Games.

THEY PLAY DIRTY -BFG Unlocked

scavoleau — Wed, 30 May 2018 11:14:15 +0000

BFG Unlocked takes you behind the scenes of the German game development studio “Black Forest Games”.

Episode 18: THEY PLAY DIRTY

The documentary

Over the span of two years, Black Forest Games worked, in secret, on a new breed of survival game.

It was a challenge, even if everything would have worked out according to plan. Which, of course, it didn’t.

Based on the true story of Fade To Silence’ development, BFG Unlocked provides a new, unique look behind the scenes of the creation of a blockbuster video game.

The post THEY PLAY DIRTY -BFG Unlocked appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Lessons in Survival #8

scavoleau — Tue, 29 May 2018 09:55:34 +0000

Lesson #8: Kamikaze Spitter Vol.2
Out of curiosity – did you know this is possible?

The post Lessons in Survival #8 appeared first on Black Forest Games.

Moving On – BFG Unlocked

scavoleau — Fri, 11 May 2018 09:59:31 +0000

BFG Unlocked takes you behind the scenes of the German game development studio “Black Forest Games”.

Episode 17: Moving on

The documentary

Over the span of two years, Black Forest Games worked, in secret, on a new breed of survival game.

It was a challenge, even if everything would have worked out according to plan. Which, of course, it didn’t.

Based on the true story of Fade To Silence’ development, BFG Unlocked provides a new, unique look behind the scenes of the creation of a blockbuster video game.

The post Moving On – BFG Unlocked appeared first on Black Forest Games.