Ambient Channels news & patch notes

Hi All, We apologize for the long delay since the last update or news. Our other game we're in the middle of releasing, Figurine Scene Simulator fell behind schedule and we had to focus everything on finishing its first early access release. Once we release Figurine Scene Simulator, we will be finishing our big update for Ambient Channels. Core Game Updates Include:

• Faster Game Loading - Reduces the initial game load time by around 75%.
• Modular DLC - Currently all of our game content is packaged in the core download which is challenging to scale, the Modular DLC update will move the download process to allow you to choose which episodes you want to download through the UI.
• New Scenes - we have about a dozen new episodes with camera fly throughs to add.
• Figurine Scene Simulator Integration - If you have Figurine Scene Simulator (FSS) installed, you'll be able to import your characters to put on pre-determined waypoint paths. While moving on the paths, your FSS characters can playback animations you saved to them.
• Media Capture Features - Figurine Scene Simulator includes several new media features, including setting LUTs, picture frames, gif recording, and more. We will be bringing those features to Ambient Channels.

Editor DLC Update

• Waypoint editor - The first feature available for players with the Editor DLC will allow them to place waypoint paths for FSS characters. The full feature will include the ability to package multiple waypoint paths in an episode as well as pre-select FSS characters to use for those paths to create themes (such as zombies roaming the parking garage) and then the episode packages can be uploaded to the workshop to share with others.

We will communicate soon on what our release strategy will be for all these features. Thanks for your patience! Arcade Player '99

Hi All, We're looking at making a fairly big pricing structure change and wanted to provide an opportunity for anyone who'd like to comment. (At the least, we'd like to be transparent.) We're currently considering making 90% of episodes free for the different ambiance modes. The 10% that wouldn't be free would usually be due to mature content such as violence/gore or a specific artist spotlight where we're splitting revenue with that episode's artists. We would add a new fairly-low priced DLC that would provide the game modes to any episodes you'd have access to, so in this case, most people would spend the same on this DLC as purchasing 3-4 episodes and have access to the 90% of the content without paying anything else to be able to play all the current and future game modes including the multiplayer ones. There would also a new moderately priced DLC that would unlock a new editing mode we're putting on our near-term roadmap. This editing mode will allow you to load a set of assets from one of the episodes you have access to and build an episode from scratch or start from an existing episode's scene and make changes to it. (The editing mode roadmap includes being able to setup your own hidden object games, camera fly throughs and sharing scenes through the workshop so you can share your scenes with others and be able to play the multiplayer experiences in your custom designed scenes.) There will continue to be the few rotating episodes available like now with the ability to play all of their game modes and multiplayer functionality. We want to make this change because we're looking at making the editor mode an important aspect of Ambient Channels and we want to come up with a pricing model that allows a wide amount of the audience to have access to the custom content created by others. --- If you like the concept, please thumbs up this announcement, or add to the discussion if you have more to say. (Notes: Not all scenes are modular, but when you can't edit the entirety of a scene, you'll usually be able to move/place props within the scene. At the time of making these changes, we're going to work with Steam to have them give the new game mode DLC to anyone who's purchased any of the 90% of episodes which will now be free to access.) Thanks for your time! -Simulated Entertainment

Hi All, We're currently working on a large platform update that will also include new episodes. The update will include some new features that should make episodes more enjoyable and fixes to issues like the duration initial game loading time. We're aiming for late summer/early fall. In the meantime, we've made all current episodes available in the game. Thanks for your attention! Simulated Entertainment

We've been working to re-imagine the game modes to make them more engaging and take into consideration some of the feedback. In this update, we've overhauled our existing 2 game modes and added a new one. Hidden Objects Previously in Hidden Objects, you find items in the scene and click on them to add them to your found Hidden Objects set until you have found all the items which completes the chapter. The hidden objects for the chapter were displayed in a list and you'd go about the episode and when an item hadn't been picked up, it would show a blue outline when you moved the view target over it. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/01fde4aad0c24f86f0560f4739bbb2f035e5b6f2.jpg After the update, the general idea is the same, but now you now look through the episode for obscured objects and then fill in the real item by clicking on the obscured one. This allows you to see which items have already been placed from a greater distance without having to hover over them. It also allows you to clean up the obscured scene to restore it to a completed state. We're hoping this is more fun in spirit and requires less backtracking over previously found items. Secret Items We added a "Hot/Cold" feature where the secret item icon will materialize when you start to approach the next one. We also show the name of the item to find. We're expecting that this will make some levels very easy and some of the levels that are nearly impossible, difficult but possible. (This update shows the materializing icon only for the next item to find, but you can still find other items at the same time.) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/ee69cfc2a9268186eb2fc69e95f10782cc9c829c.jpg Scavenger Hunt In Scavenger Hunt, you have a list of items and have to find one or more instances of each one. There are usually more items available to find than you have to in order to complete the list but items become unavailable for periods of time so you may have to wait for the item to become available again or find another one of that item to complete the list. (This also makes it a bit of a memory game because you can see items you can pick up later, when they become available again) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/e056d76604603c3d72deb2c134f3a3316e3d898e.jpg New Episode - Winter Mountains Introducing our other January Free to play episode "Winter Mountains". In Winter Mountains, you'll find a snowy mountain top covered in trees. The rail and warp cameras will take you with a bird's eye view over the landscape during the day. In its Hidden Objects & Scavenger Hunt games, you'll find 100 items placed over an area of the landscape in an ancient mystic motif at night time. For Secret Items, search and discover the primary site and to uncover its 3 items. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/4986d8a723ab3e857eac33d9e05a687559b4edb7.jpg ("Winter Mountains" will rotating into the current free spot for the Graveyard episode.)

Well, it turns out that our plans for the January release were a bit ambitious for our little development studio ːsteamhappyː We had a vision of delivering the Zanfium Tower - Lounge episode in January with multiplayer+voice support and a new casual VR mode that lets people create and consume food to enjoy the environment with a friend or two (along with 2 other planned episodes), but it turned out that we should have released interactive mode and then multiplayer as releases over 2 months. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy this release and what we're able to build off of it going forward in our drive to hit our release feature set.

Multiplayer

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/85acf59c598b930fe1f414321c1033a983d387ed.png We've introduced the first set of multiplayer features for a single game mode in a single episode, Zanfium Tower - Lounge. We're calling it our "soft open" for Multiplayer because we can't significantly test multiplayer across a large number of devices and environments so it's seems likely people will have some issues and we'd like to address them before expanding supported episodes. Please let us know of any problems you have in discussions and we'll work on addressing them asap. Multiplayer includes voice support by default, if you want to mute the room, just hit escape and click the button on the top left. (Soon, we will be adding the second part of our multiplayer features which will include playing the modes like secret items or hidden objects in co-op and pvp and creating private lobbies that you invite other steam users to.)

Characters

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/8d23a35db2589ab4b7828465011a592588794528.png We've added characters to replace the crash dummy we had before. You can select your character in the home scene. (We'll be adding more characters in a future update). We currently only have movement animations including crouching and jumping, we'll be adding additional abilities like sitting so you can sit and chat with someone soon.

Interactive Engine / 'Zanfium' Mode

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/f15f986506bc87de7e316dfea9b74da5d37f8e51.png We've built a new interaction engine to power the new 'Zanfium' Mode. Previously, we had a limited amount of prop behaviors such as the highlight and object examinations we used for the core game modes like hidden objects; in the new engine, each behavior can be individually applied to each prop and we can add any number of new behaviors to add additional game experiences. In the 'Zanfium' mode, we use the behaviors in different configurations for things like the kitchen food spawning appliances, switching between holographic entertainment modes and the consume behavior when 'eating' a popsicle or a plate of cookies. We'll blend some of these other behaviors into episodes over time to create more interactive experiences in different modes.

Zanfium Tower - Lounge Episode

We've added a 6th rotating free slot for Zanfium Tower episodes. We will continue to add functionality to Zanfium mode to do things like allow you to spawn items you find in other episodes, etc.

We're currently working to finish our January release but are running a few days behind. The release includes new Multiplayer with voice support for our first interactive episode and a Winter Mountains episode which includes a large scavenger hunt game. We're currently fixing bugs and adding the interactive objects and plan to release it in the first week of February. (Our next multiplayer update will add multiplayer support to a few more episodes and support for co-op and vs modes for Hidden Objects and Secret Items games.)

In Ambient Channels, each month, 3 episodes are released, 2 episodes are rotated through free status and 1 episode is added which is DLC purchase only. (Free episodes stay available for 2-3 months before being rotated out of free status) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/df5d7eaf27f85a7f7817086abd07895836a76a1d.png Ambient Channels: Collector's Pass 2020/2021 Grab the Ambient Channels: Collector's Pass 2020-2021 and receive the episodes which get rotated through for free released in 2020 and 2021 permanently added to your 'owned' collection. (24 episodes are slated to rotate through for free in 2021) In addition, you'll also have access to all the DLC only episodes in the Ambient Channels catalog for all of 2021. 2020 Episodes: All 7 episodes which were rotated for free in 2020 will be instantly added to your owned collection. Downtown - Marina Apartments Dreamscapes - Fantasy Camp Dreamscapes - Graveyard Phreakerz - Black Room Desolate Space - Contaminated Vessel Downtown - Parkland Condos Dreamscapes - Christmas In Victoria {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/a704a9bf7a21db27942dfe4f704077953f43781f.png Ambient Channels: Collector's Expansion 2020/2021 If you'd like to purchase the DLC Purchase Only episodes to complete your 2020/2021 collection, we're also releasing a DLC package which includes all the 2020/2021 DLC purchase only episodes. (This pack includes the 12 DLC only episodes from 2021 and the 3 DLC only episodes from 2020.) 2020 Episodes Abandoned Town - Farmhouse Terror Forest - Hell House American Retro - Cozy Cafe After Hours

Ambiance Machine {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/dc325feaa3a5e60c138503e9d42460420101d7b9.png In the spirit of using Ambient Channels to help create focus or relaxation time, we previously added a media companion application 'Ambiance Machine'; a combination of simple themed Screensavers, such as a beach scene, a rainy city scene, etc, plus an Event Scheduler. The Event scheduler allows you to setup dated or daily/weekly events which will popup a reminder for you to start the event and then run the selected Episode or screensaver w/music playlist for the duration you specify. When the duration expires, an alarm will go off to tell you the timer is up. Internet Radio {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/45a9f9ccb1ae9c79b7f58711d6e9331118fc47ba.png In this update, we've added Internet Radio with 300 starting stations across a number of genres. You can open up Infinity Jukebox (F5) from any Ambient Channel episode and switch from a music playlist to a radio station and then hit F5 to close the jukebox and return to your episode. Ambiance Machine Event Scheduler You can also use Internet Radio with Ambiance Machine's Event Scheduler. If there's a radio program you like, you can use the Event Scheduler to select that radio station and setup the time you want the event to go off at, set the event to Auto Start, and Ambiance Machine will load the event's episode/screensaver + the Internet Radio station at the desired time. (If there's interest, we'll add the ability to add your own radio stations, please let us know in the discussions) Auto Start Event We've also added a new option in Ambiance Machine events, Auto Start. Is there a radio program you want to start at the same time every day? Or maybe you want to create a playlist that starts different Ambient Channels episodes in a row to play for a specific duration. Create events to start at the time you want for the duration you want and check the Auto Start checkbox; have Ambient Channels open and they'll load at the time specified. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/a34d0a28e21e22c31922e2d229cbb095d4b1766b.png --- December Episodes We've added 3 new episodes for December. We rotated out of free mode the 'Graveyard' and 'Marina Apartments' and added in to free mode 'Christmas in Victoria' and 'Parkland Condos'. Christmas in Victoria {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/15e442413693d0494dbf2a090d83dc5f7ef1356e.png A stylized European town covered in snow with Christmas trees and presents to find throughout in our Hidden Objects game. Cozy Café After Hours {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/3207243fef6f1581ae51a3b4d29a8ad3abf39d14.png Visit this classic diner after hours and search for secret items. Parkland Condos {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38853401/80cbba032c79415fb76780c986fa3d58d09918c5.png Check out this beautiful family friendly condo. ---- Expanded Hidden Objects / Secret Items modes In the last update, we added 3 Secret Items chapters to all of the episodes, including episodes with Hidden Objects chapters. In this update, the Secret Items mode for new episodes that don't have Hidden Objects games, eg, Cozy Café After Hours and Parkland Condos have 9 Secret Items each, all with their own achievements. Christmas In Victoria's Hidden Objects chapter contains 100+ items to find plus its 3 Secret Items chapter. Happy Hunting! ---- Ambient Channels Collector's Pass 2021 We are going to release our 2021 All Episodes Pass DLC In the next 2 weeks. It provides a way to buy all the episodes rotated through for free in 2021 for a single price. You also get access to every episode in the Ambient Channels catalog for all of 2021. As a bonus, the Collector's Pass for 2021 will also include 7 episodes from 2020. Please see the store page for details: Ambient Channels: Collector's Pass 2020-2021