Dear friends!

You can finally wishlist GRAVELORD! The Steam page is up and running.

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1823990

Thank you!

Hi, fellow dungeon crawlers!

We've been silent for a long time, but it's about to change! We will finally announce a new game soon!

If you want to follow our road to the announcement, building up to the release, the best way is to subscribe to our NEWSLETTER![subscribepage.io]

You will get access to newest posts about gameplay and other juicy stuff one week early before they go public.

Check the posts we've posted so far:
- Comic Book Part 1[fatbot-games.com]
- Comic Book Part 2[fatbot-games.com]
- FPS Movement[fatbot-games.com]
- Combat Preview[fatbot-games.com]

Thank you!

What's next for Fatbot Games?


On behalf of the whole team, let me wish you all good health and stability in this unstable and dangerous time. We highly appreciate the effort and sacrifice of the people fighting the virus, and we also feel for those whose health and/or living have been compromised by the pandemic.

The situation in the last few months has been very serious, including in our own country which is in the top 10 most deaths per capita in the world among countries with a population of over a million people, and so we are very grateful that no one in the team nor any close relative of ours has fallen ill. Thanks to that, we could work more or less undisturbed and release our second game in September of last year (2020).


Vaporum: Lockdown, released on September 15, 2020 on Steam, GOG[www.gog.com], and Humble[www.humblebundle.com] (Windows, Mac, Linux), is the second game of our small indie studio. Much like the first Vaporum, Lockdown is also enjoying positive reception in the community. We have received a great response in the form of forum feedback, reviews, and also direct personal correspondence. We are very humbled and thankful for all that!

Matej and I, trying to come up with cool RPG mechanics.

Both games are a labor of love and so we really appreciate any kind of feedback — be it praise or constructive critique. We have learned a lot in making both games, and apart from being able to make ends meet doing what you love, the experience itself is the most valuable thing we have gained.

Lockdown also released on Switch[www.nintendo.com] on March 22, 2021, and we are happy to say that the port has turned out well! Our decision to port the game ourselves proved to be correct. We had to overcome heaps of issues in the obstacle-ridden publishing process of Nintendo, but it paid off!

When designing levels for Vaporum: Lockdown, we built upon what we had learned in Vaporum, using the best parts and avoiding the mistakes. At least that was the plan.

We had full control over every aspect of the port the whole time and were able to pack in more quality than before (when previously using a 3rd party to do the job). Apart from the obvious font size increase, there are plenty of quality-of-life improvements in the port, most notably a heavily streamlined control scheme. The game is a breeze to play on Switch now, and we all enjoy it even more than on PC, which is a big claim for us “PC dinosaurs”. (Well, one member still prefers playing on PC, but he's a “PC protomolecule”, so that doesn't really count.)

We were able to improve the performance significantly, which allowed us to get more high-end effects & visuals into the port for those eye-candy treats.

We are thankful for any feedback you give us on Vaporum: Lockdown, be it the desktop or the Switch version. Whether it's a praise-talk or an earful, be sure to give it to us on any of our social channels or e-mail. We know all too well it sounds like cliche, but those of you who have had direct contact with us know that we actually do take your feedback into account.


"The Age of Vaporum", as I like to call it, was a time filled with hardship and trials, but also of some success. You could call the founding of the studio itself a success, which would not have been possible without our investors, today close friends, Richard and Oto, who never doubted the abilities of the team. The way we got to know each other is pretty curious and I tend to mention it in every interview about the studio.

Our game was even played at the North Pole! Mateusz Mandat, our friend stationed at the tip of the world, sent this unique photo to us.

Although the journey was often hard and tricky, we always treated all the slip-ups and failures with introspection, even though sometimes we had no control over the situation. Today, we see ourselves at the start line, naive dreamers who, on the one hand, had some skill, willing to learn and adapt, and on the other hand, had a lot of luck above all. Thanks to this luck, our failures didn't cost us our heads, and we are still here.

Game dev is demanding, especially indie game dev. We were always hard at work, and it drained us quite a lot – especially during holidays.

We set out on this indie-dev adventure thinking we knew what we were doing, but there was soooo much still to learn. Since all the ups and downs and experiences are so numerous, we might rather share them in a separate series of blog posts someday.


Now, we have to consider our future with sober eyes. Sure, we could just keep making dungeon crawlers for the small group of hardcore fans of the genre, and port the games to all the platforms, but unfortunately, that is not sustainable. Our beloved DC genre is too niche and we would be too reliant on the “buying discipline” of the fans, which would still not ensure paying for the costs of the production — trust me, we learned our lesson with both games on this.

The production of Vaporum, with all the goals we had set for it, was a Herculean feat. The number of things that interact and affect each other in a game like that is simply too large to tackle in such a small team without cutting a lot of edges and thus lowering the final quality.

This is what indie gamedev is to us. No fancy offices or buffet three times a day; it's just hard work, but in a team we wouldn't trade for anything!

Still, to fans it might seem that despite the miniscule team, the result was pretty good in the end. Maybe, but at what cost… Vaporum cost us a lot of overtime, mainly for level makers and level designers. Every part of the game was more demanding than our team was able to handle in an optimal and timely fashion. We went into an oxygen debt, not only in the amount of overtime, but also in the extra resources that it took. And of course, every debt has to be paid off. But we did not. Was it not for Richard and Oto, our more than fair and amiable investors, we would not be here today.

It was high time to change the course. We dusted off an old idea that had lingered around since the early days. The idea crystallized into a concrete concept in 2019. In the form of a video and pitch deck, we confirmed the viability of the project by pitching it to various parties at various events. Since the feedback was 100% positive, it was pretty clear what the next major project of our studio was going to be.

Right after releasing Lockdown in September, while still making patches for it and doing post-release PR, we started working on the prototype. Along actively porting Lockdown to Switch, we were able to create a final prototype in early March, and then we put it to the test — the focus-test.

These days are all about important decisions. In what form will we release the game, how will we finance it, and when is the best time to officially announce it… All this amid working on the remaining ports of Lockdown (PS4 & 5 and Xbox) and shifting our full production to the new game.

It's a very strange time. And very exciting! We can't wait to announce the game to the public and see the reaction from you, our fans! We will appreciate any kind of support, sharing, commenting, or even just liking the post.

As a small hint, the name of the protagonist of our upcoming project is hinted at in the super secret room in Vaporum: Lockdown. Can you find it? 🙂

Thank you!

Tibor Repta
TeamLead@FatbotGames

Hey, guys and gals!

While Patch #4 is smaller in terms of changes and fixes, it's actually a big deal -- the game is now released on Mac & Linux!

Work on the Switch port is well underway already, so that's to come in the nearest future, too.

Here are patch notes as usual:

- Support for Mac & Linux added.
- Tweaked the blackouts in the psychedelic part of the Hive to happen at specific points rather than triggering at random times during the whole ordeal.
- Fixed: Continuous damage received from enemies does not scale with the difficulty level.

(You can always find the patch notes in the installation folder in PatchNotes.txt.)

Share, comment, and enjoy! :)

Hey, guys and gals!

After two quick ninja patches in the previous days, we have a bigger patch for you today. Apart from many smaller fixes, the major one is that the game should now work on Windows 7 without a hitch!

Here are the patch notes as usual:

- Fixed: The game crashes on Windows 7.
- Fixed: In L09, you can get locked out by pushable crates.
- Fixed: Total damage dealt and taken doesn't always work correctly.
- Fixed: (SPOILER) Energy weapons don't knock on doors.
- Fixed: Use the Switcher gadget on mangles and fans crashes the game.
- Fixed: The Repeater pistol never triggers its special effect.
- Fixed: Exclusive fullscreen doesn't work.
- Fixed: When the automap is disabled, objectives don't show up.
- Fixed: Text in lore notes disappears.
- Fixed: When the game loses focus during the intro or outro, the comic skips.
- Fixed: Locked edge doors don't show the tooltip when playing with a controller.
- Fixed: Items on cursor may get lost when moving between levels.
- Fixed: You may get locked in the main valve room in L08.

(You can find the patch notes for older patches in the installation folder in PatchNotes.txt.)

The next step for us is to release the game on Mac & Linux.

Thank you and enjoy! :)

Vaporum: Lockdown, prequel to critically acclaimed Vaporum, is out now!

Get it here on Steam and also be sure to check out the Vaporum Loyalty Bundle!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1161880/Vaporum_Lockdown/

For a tiny indie team such as ours, it’s a great privilege to be able to release our second game. We’re super grateful for all of you, the fans who supported us throughout the development of this game. We hope you will enjoy this labor of sweat & tears, but also much love!

What started as an idea for a datadisk that would bring a few new levels and maybe 1 or 2 new minor features, has grown into a fully fledged standalone game that is as big as the original game, if not bigger.

Lockdown brings many improvements on almost everything that made Vaporum good, plus a host of new features and quality of life upgrades.

Just to name a few:

• New storyline following a female protagonist, Ellie Teller.
  
• Brand new levels.
  
• New enemy types with unconvential attack patterns that will challenge your wits & reflexes.
  
• New weapon & armor types for even more build options.
  
• Lots of synergies to find. We created many new unique weapons & armor pieces and a few new circuits, all with synergy-building in mind.
  
• A host of new puzzles and a special optional level with extra-tough puzzles to challenge your brainpower.
  
• More voice-overs and a deeper look into the lore and story of the world of Vaporum.
  
• Much streamlined controls (including much improved controller support).

Even though the game takes place in the same tower, the storyline is completely new. Follow a new protagonist and find out what happened before the events in Vaporum. Ellie Teller, a teleporter scientist, must face her own past and find a way to escape the place.

As a side note, we came up with the final name of the game mere weeks before the global pandemic broke out. It also hit us hard, where we had to work from home for several weeks, so you can say that Lockdown was being made during a lockdown. 🙂

Thankfully, none of us got infected. We would also like to thank all the people on the frontline who have been working to keep us safe!

Share, comment, and enjoy the game!

Hey guys!

We are super excited to be finally able to announce the launch date of Vaporum: Lockdown.

The game is coming out on September 15 on Windows (Steam, GOG, Humble Store/Widget), shortly followed by Mac & Linux.

Vaporum: Lockdown, prequel to critically acclaimed Vaporum, expands on everything that made the original game good.

Follow the story of Ellie Teller, a scientist who is a part of a mysterious research project in the middle of an ocean. After disastrous events, she struggles to survive and escape the tower of Arx Vaporum.

Dates & Platforms

• Windows (Steam, GOG, Humble Store/Widget): September 15, 2020
  
• Mac & Linux (Steam, GOG, Humble Store/Widget): following shortly after the Windows release
  
• Nintendo Switch: Q4 2020 - specific date to be announced later
  
• PS4/XB1: 2021

Features

• Old-school grid-based dungeon crawler with modern audiovisuals and controls.
  
• First-person real-time combat with deadly foes with varied abilities and behaviors.
  
• Stop time mode where time only passes when you act, giving you unlimited time to reason about your next best move.
  
• Intriguing story following a fully voiced female protagonist.
  
• Unique gadget-based RPG system with tons of customization, tons of loot, and tons of synergies to find.
  
• Mind-bending puzzles and hazards.
  
• Immersive steampunk setting.
  
• Full controller support.
  
• Localized in 8 languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Japanese, and Chinese.

Developer

• Fatbot Games, s. r. o.
  
• Based in Bratislava - Slovakia, Central Europe.
  
• Core team consisting of 5 ex-AAA gamedev veterans.
  
• 50+ years of combined experience.
  
• Focused on polished games with engaging storylines and high production values.

Website: https://fatbot-games.com/

Hey, guys and gals!

We'd like to apologize for the radio silence in the past weeks. We've spent all that time working hard to finish the game. Right now, we're polishing the levels, adding last-minute details, balancing combat, and doing a lot of playtesting. As they say, the last 10% of the development takes 90% of the time. But we're getting there!

We'll be able to announce the release date in the coming weeks. We're very careful with picking the best date to avoid releasing the game on or between days shadowed by much bigger mainstream titles, which have moved their dates to September. For such a small studio and such a niche game, it's critical to choose the optimal release date for media coverage.

To whet your appetite, here's a short alpha video showing small snippets of what you can expect in the game:

For those of you speaking German, here's another video of an interview which we did for GameStar, including alpha gameplay footage:

We're also considering doing a commented stream of the game where we would answer your questions. So if you'd like to ask questions, please get in touch with us via Discord or other social media!

Thank you for all the support you give us, whether it's the messages on our Discord server or other social media, or sharing our videos and posts.

Wishlist the game now on Steam!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1161880

Cheers!
Tibor

Hey, fellow crawlers!

We are sorry to inform you that we have to delay the release of Vaporum: Lockdown. This is nothing too special with what's going on in the world, but still, we feel you deserve more than a dry announcement.

Although nobody in our team has been affected by the disease directly, working from home has had a significant impact on the project. It's been a big challenge organization-wise. During this finish-line phase, the remaining tasks tend to be small but many. Which requires more communication than actual work, and that's difficult, as we can't deal with things face to face. No matter, our 5-member team is pushing through the issues as best as we can; it simply takes more time.

To be specific: we're in the last phase of environmental work on levels, scripting / balancing the last few remaining puzzles, tweaking enemy animations & timings, and working on the game's boss fight (which we are very excited about!). Also, some of the nice things like intro & outro cinematics are coming together.

The release day is drawing near, slowly coming out of the mist, the more we work on the game. Our current estimate is that we will be able to announce a specific release date for the PC (Steam, GOG, etc.) roughly within a month, and that it will be released during the Summer of 2020. Consoles will follow shortly after, beginning with the Nintendo Switch (being tested along with the PC version), and then XB1 and PS4.

It's mostly because there are a lot of onboarding steps for each platform, and we can only do so much with such a small team. Originally, we wanted to avoid a staggered release like this, but at least we'll do our best to release on each platform in the shortest possible time. We're not happy with it, but in a team with only 2 programmers, it's virtually impossible to work on the base PC version and all the ports at once, and release the game everywhere on the same day. Such an approach would also cause a significant delay of the PC release, and we don't think that would be fair to our players either.

One of the good things is that the game will be localized in all the languages as in Vaporum - but from day one (of course still allowing you guys to write your own translations).

You can trust that we're doing our very best to make the game a worthy prequel to Vaporum, with all the new features working towards a much better player experience.

Thank you for your understanding! We just can't wait till you lay your hands on the game! :)

Stay strong & healthy!