Desert Stalker news & patch notes

Welcome back to 0.21!

This one is a heavier update, not only because of the file size but also because Ivy's story line is finally being continued, and the darker parts of her past are revealed.

While this is where most of the development time went, there are also a good number of small, mostly replayable scenes that have been added.

So if you are looking for a more lighthearted time, perhaps start with those ones first.

Update Highlights

Ivy, Shani, Emilia, Fairy, Kateryna, Kitty, and of course a little bit of Ain, among others. We are trying to include as many characters as possible in each update, but the way it goes, some others had to wait on the back bench this time.

In the next update (0.22), we plan to go back to some of them and focus on the simpler joys in life.

That said, Ivy has been a special character since day one. And now, she is finally getting the attention she deserves.

I hope you enjoy, and as always, thank you for your support.

Note: In case you are having trouble unlocking the new Ivy scene:The player must rescue the mutant from the brutish citizen in the night market. And of course Ivy needs to be alive.

-Zetan

Full Changelog

0.21.3 New content (~1,270 renders)

• Continuation of Ivy's questline (two parts)

• Multiple small repeatable kitchen events

  • Ain

  • Fairy

  • Kateryna

  • Emilia

• Small sparring variation with Shani

• Repeatable scene with Kitty

• Jamila in the Temple + repeatable variation

• Repeatable variation of Isra in the Temple

• Repeatable variation of Kyra & Asha threesome

• Shani solo harem scene

• Elder's secret texts in the library (Pt. 1)

• Added a secret event at the end of the elder's quest if you previously gave the relic from the ruins to the old man

Translations

• Updated the Traditional Chinese translation (credits: AHHCrazy)

• Updated the Simplified Chinese translation (credits: Wert, Aler)

• Updated the French translation (credits: Gryff)

More translations will be updated as they become available.

Technical

• Revamped the navigation UI

• Revamped the menu icons

• The game will now try and restore broken saves upon load (experimental)

Minor changes / Bugfixes:

• Fixed more than 500 instances of typos and grammar issues throughout the game (thank you to everyone for reporting them!)

• Expanded the library codex with new entries

• Added the old 0.01 to 0.04 main menus in the menu list for completeness' sake

• Lowered the change of random small interaction on waking up and visiting a room to make those events less spammy

• Changed the Zahra date conditions to become available after visiting the Queen with Shani

• Added some conditions in certain dialogue lines regarding the Queen during the date

• Fixed an issue with the new car event becoming available earlier than intended if you rescued Kyra

• Fixed a dialogue issue during the threesome with Shani & Ain

• Finally made the trailer girl sexual encounters in the settlement avoidable

• Changed the quest log to show the previous step resolution if current quest step is not yet available to reduce confusion

• Fixed an issue in Emilia's day 7 when certain choices would skip a few dialogue lines

• Fixed an issue with a small dialogue variation during Shani's bad ending

• Fixed an issue with Mutants gym where some menus were skipped if only Chili was there

• Fixed a bugged animation during Shani's bad ending

• Fixed an menu issue during Pepper's exam when Chili is present that could skip content unintentionally

• Made QTE buttons toggleable (players can now un-select a selected choice)

• Fixed an issue in the French translation that would stall progress during cutscenes in the Sapa settlement

• Re-encoded some audio tracks that appeared as having 0 duration in the music player

• Added an animation and extended the ending of the Shani & Ain threesome

• Fixed clipping in some animations

• Fixed a long-standing logical error that would allow you to continue certain Ivy & mutants events even if you didn't save the mutant in the market

• Kyra will now stay sold off and won't return to the basement again afterwards. For real this time. I hope.

• Fixed an issue where the temple intro scene could be skipped under certain circumstances

• Adjusted Kitty's available repeatable options depending on how you treated her initially

• Fixed Emilia appearing in the kitchen repeatable events if you haven't accepted her

• Now Ain leaves the basement immediately during d5g instead of spending the night there

• Added animations for the Ain basement blindfold scene

• Added missing render variations for some of the new scenes

Hey everyone, we're back with a (belated) monthly progress report.

The scenes are rendered, the animations are ready to start rendering, and we've already started putting the update together. Dialogue, music, etc. Some of the minor scenes are already close to done, which allows us to focus primarily on the meat of the update - Ivy's part. And that is a quite big part, her quest arc in this update spans over more than 700 renders across in-game events. As we've mentioned in the past, we planned to make this update focused on Ivy, and I am fairly sure no one would leave a cute elf in the hands of some nasty Decayed and miss on this stuff, right? Right?!

Now this is where it gets a little tricky. Our main editor, who's responsible for the refined dialogue and pretty much the entire writing style, will have to go on a two-week work trip soon (sometimes day jobs tend to get in the way of plans :/).

That means we unfortunately have to postpone the update arriving on Steam into early July, as it will be near impossible to have the entire text properly ready for late June with his limited availability, and then have it translated and everything.

In the meantime we will try to add some more minor content during this forced "downtime".

Mainly stuff like adding repeatable variations of existing scenes, or expanding some interaction events (like those small random things that might happen when you visit someone's room or the kitchen for instance).

So this is the current plan. We are really eager for this release!

See you on the update release, Paz.

Hey everyone, time for another quick monthly report.

Ivy's scene keeps being on full swing at the moment. Lots of different environments and situation throughout this event, although calling it an "event" is probably not doing it justice.

It is probably more on par with the big exploration chain of events and aftermath (with Shani & the Queen) a couple updates ago, as there is a lot of going on in this one. But we're fairly sure people who like Ivy will definitely enjoy this one.

In the meantime, work on other smaller stuff is in full swing from Hadham, as he keeps churning out smaller, bite-sized stuff to make the house feel more lively, much like interactions with Kateryna and Fairy as previewed below.

Currently, we expect this upcoming update to become available in June, more likely in the latter half. I will be able to give definitive target dates in the next news post early next month.

See you in the next one and thank you to everyone for your continued feedback, whether it's improvement ideas, bug reports, or simply interacting with the rest of the community.

Until next time, Paz.

Hey everyone, time for another monthly report.

For the past month, the main focus has been Ivy's upcoming scene that we mentioned in the previous article.

It's shaping up to be quite a hefty scene, but it's one we have planned for roughly 3 years now, and we're hoping it turns out exactly like how we imagined it, or at least as close as possible. When it comes to progress and numbers I would say the scene is roughly 50% done more or less. It does require a bit more attention than the average scene as it is more story focused than, say, a harem scene, but we're getting there. In the meantime, we are also working on some side content, like a bit of Kitty or small kitchen scenes to make the in-game setting feel more alive in a way.

After we're done with the Ivy scene, we will focus on any other scenes that we want to include in the update, but it's still up for debate what exactly they will be, as it also depends on our internal release schedule and how much time left we have. As we progress, we'll be able to share more specific details as to what you can expect from the update. Also, here's a couple more previews.

As a final note, thank you to everyone that took the time to participate in our previous poll about OS, as it gives us some tangible data to help us decide whether we should upgrade our in-game engine or not (since it drops support for older OSes). See you next month, Paz.

Patch 0.20.4

Translations:

• Updated the Spanish translation to 0.20.4 (credits: Darax)

• Updated the French translation to 0.20.4 (credits: Gryff)

Note: While we tried to fix most of the save-related issues, a small percentage of players might still have issues. If you are still encountering issues with your save files, please contact me on Discord or through PM here so I can try to fix them manually.

Hey everyone, we have a few things to cover in this post. First things first...

News for the upcoming update

The main focus at the moment for the upcoming update will be everyone's some people's favorite elf.

It starts with another visit to Ivy's hideout, and the last unread part of her diary from way back then, and we'll have the opportunity to learn more about her, her friend, and their past.

I’m still deciding what other content will make it into 0.21. Hadham is currently busy with extra content for Kitty for the next week or two working on some more repeatable actions. Her story, which goes a bit deeper into why she is the way she is, will come some time in the future instead. There are tons of smaller things we want to add here and there, stuff like more repeatable events in the household (kitchen events, better room visit scenes), but also outside in the wasteland (revisiting Lirah in both paths, more sex with Asha & Kyra, some more variations for the Hive queen, Ain's basement variations or her market visits... the list goes on. In addition to all of these options we have Nadia, who is going through some drastic, steamy household changes... and don't even get me started on Krait.

In short, there is no shortage of good possible sex scenes. The only question is when? My thinking is to have as much as we can in 0.21, and pause the main story for 0.22, and focus on one big, fat and meaty sex update. But that's just me thinking out loud for now. As we get further into the development of the current update, we will have more concrete details about the final content that ends up in it.

Hotfix 0.20.3.1

This hotfix is mainly aimed at fixing a few save-related issues, as well as the issue of incomplete Simplified Chinese translation.

Minor changes / Bugfixes:

• Fixed an issue with the bad end replay not setting some flags properly, making a path inaccessible

• Fixed an issue with missing Simplified Chinese translations

• Fixed an issue with toggling the game over scenes in preferences

Note #1: While we tried to fix most of the save-related issues, a small percentage of players might still have issues. If you are still encountering issues with your save files, please contact me on Discord or through PM here so I can try to fix them manually.

Note #2: Spanish & French translations are still in the works, apologies for the delay.

A quick poll about OS version

We would like to ask you to take part in a quick poll about what operating system you are playing Desert Stalker on, as this helps us decide on how to migrate to newer game engine versions.

The Steam Hardware Survey gives us a few indicators, but since it is opt-in it might not be representative or accurate for our player base.

So, if you have a minute and are willing to help us, visit this Google Forms link below for a quick poll.

Translations:

• Updated the Russian translation to 0.20 (credits: Kasatik)
• Updated the Italian translation to 0.20 (credits: Eagle1900)
• Updated the Simplified Chinese translation (credits: Aler, Wert)

Minor changes / Bugfixes:

• Added an option to toggle Game Over scenes on or off in the preferences
• Added an option to end the night early with Shani and the Queen
• Fixed an inconsistency with seeing Savanah in the market with Ain before meeting her at home
• Fixed a condition check issue where Kyra would still appear in the basement after you sold her off
• Fixed an issue with accessing the alternative 0.20 main menu
• Fixed a missing variable in d18f subdue path
• Fixed a missing variable causing variation inconsistencies in d20b bad end

0.20.2.1 Hotfix:

• This should fix being unable to load certain saves made at the end of previous content

Hey everyone! Welcome to 0.20 - it took some time, but here we are. First off, thank you for your patience! I know this update took longer than the last one. There are a few reasons for that, one of them being that creating more action-oriented or “cinematic” segments takes up a lot of time, and there are quite a few of those this time around.

Update Highlights

Content-wise, we’re continuing from the cruel cliffhanger, and you will attempt to guide the trio out of the situation they find themselves in and continue the search for the Elder's hideout.

You will also be able to visit the temple for the first time and meet a certain someone named Isra. (This and future events will be repeatable in the future). Additionally, there are three scenes with our favorite household members and one with Pepper. See the full changelog below.

On a less relevant note, we’ve been busy working on a new UI for the main menu. Other areas are also being worked on and will be updated in upcoming releases.

Regarding the release date, we initially predicted an early February release. Well, it turns out that was a very bad prediction, so I’ll be making some changes to how we communicate here in the future, starting with more regular and fixed dev logs (and previews) every month.

Please keep in mind: we always want to make sure the content is both finished and fully playable before we release it on Steam. Whatever the reason for a delay might be, whether it’s translations or missing scenes that need those few extra days, we are actively working on them. A week of delay is worth the wait from our perspective. That said, I’ll try not to miss the release prediction by that much again.

That's about it from me, thank you again for your patience and support, and I hope you enjoy your time! I always welcome feedback and criticism.

Also, there is a certain elf out there who is already very curious about 0.21... ;o

- Zetan

Full changelog

0.20.2 New content (~1,450 renders):

• Part two and conclusion of the quest started in 0.19

• Stealing Pepper

• Temple introduction & Isra

• Shani & Ain in the bedroom

• A small event of selling off Kyra instead of bringing her to Adira (d5c)

• Ain in the basement

Reworks:

• Ain's massage (d3a)

Translations:

• Updated Turkish translation to 0.20 (credits: BoxxO)

• Updated Traditional Chinese translation to 0.20 (credits: AHHCrazy)

• Updated Simplified Chinese translation to 0.20 (credits: Aler, Wert)

• Added Vietnamese translation up to 0.19 (WIP) (credits: Maple)

Technical:

• Revamped the game's UI (WIP)

Minor changes / Bugfixes:

• Added a second main menu variation for 0.20

• Fixed a softlock preventing Kateryna's quest from finishing properly if you were not interested in her

• Fixed a softlock preventing the game from progressing if you sold Kyra off

• Fixed a regression bug in d11e (visiting Igor) due to default variables

• Fixed some variation paths in d20a not showing properly under certain circumstances

• Added missing hits to the new gallery scenes

• Fixed an error in choosing certain options in the bad end replay

• Fixed a couple of variables preventing the end-of-content marker from triggering properly

• (Hopefully) Fixed being able to sell Kyra off repeatedly

• Fixed Reyna showing up in d20a even if she was killed in the Zone

• Fixed an issue with the gallery replay of d20a not being able to access a variation of the scene

• Fixed the narrator character during the flashback

• Fixed various reported grammar errors

• Fixed a small dialogue variation check in d16b

• Fixed an issue with repeating transition events when visiting Ain

• Fixed an issue with Asha reward scene not being properly blocked when sharing is disabled

• Fixed a visual issue with the quest "Pride and prejudice" not updating properly

• Fixed a wrong old image in Taliah's scene (d4d) More translations will be updated as they become available.

Hey everyone,

We're quite close to the end of the development cycle for this update, and even started internal testing on some parts of the upcoming scenes, so there's not much more left.

When is it going to be out?

Unfortunately, partly due to some RL obligations, we will have to push the Steam release of the upcoming update to the first days of February instead of the late January we have mentioned before.

I know many of you are eagerly waiting for the continuation of the story -or simply more content to go through-, but a January release ended up not being feasible with all the extra bits needed to be done (testing, translations, etc).

What will 0.20 include?

As we mentioned before, the bulk of the focus in this update is the continuation of the previous event, where the MC, Shani & the Queen went on an adventure. We're wrapping up that segment, as well as the aftermath of that scene. Apart from that, we have another scene with everyone's favorite scientist, and the MC visiting the temple to check the ladies working there and enjoy some of the offered services. And Ain is taking another quick trip the basement for... reasons. We'll also try to include some other small things given the release extension, but we'll see how that goes. Also, here's some more previews:

As always, if you have any specific questions or suggestions, or just want to hang out, feel free to join our Discord server, and I'll see you in the next post, which will be the release post.

Until next time, Paz.

Hi all,

While we are busing working on the new content, we have a small patch for the game that adds a French translation in the meantime. We're always amazed by the community support and effort into making Desert Stalker available in more languages, so thank you for that!

Update 0.19.5 Changelog

Steam Winter Sales

Hey everyone, There was a bit of radio silence from our side over here, but we were (and still are) hard at work on the next update, which will pick up from where the previous one left off. I understand many are curious about what it will include and, more importantly, when it will come so let's cut to the chase.

0.20 Content

Currently, the bulk of the content revolves around the continuation of the previous event whichhad the MC, Shani & the Queen getting captured by bandits.

We'll get to see how that situation is resolved and eventually tackle the initial goal of that mission, finding the Elder’s hideout. The only question now is whether everyone else will make it out alive - but that’s for you to see.

Deep underground, the city’s buried history may finally come to light as we get a glimpse of the past and the forming of Zeta.

We are ~500 renders & 50 animations in this scene so far, and it will hopefully soon be wrapped up so we can move to the rest of the content.

Speaking of the rest of the content, the current plans are to visit the Temple and *cough*meet*cough* some of the Revered Mothers that are tasked with bolstering the ranks of the city, and Ain will have another stroll in the basement for some fun activities.

0.20 Release date

The current plan is to have the new update out some time in January, most likely in the latter half, but we have not penned a date yet. As the new year closes nearer, we will have a better view of the expected date and we will share it with you as soon as we know. And as always, if you have any specific questions or suggestions, or just want to hang out, feel free to join our Discord server. Until next time, Paz.

Update 0.19.4 patch notes

• Updated Spanish translation to 0.19 (credits: Darax)

• Fixed an issue where the cutscene with Shani & Reyna would stall while having the dialogue in Spanish
• Fixed an issue with d18g (Krait's night scene) conditions not being evaluated properly
• Fixed multiple reported typos and grammatical errors

Update 0.19.3 patch notes

• Updated Russian translation to 0.19 (credits: Kasatik)
• Updated Simplified Chinese translation to 0.19 (credits: AHHCrazy)
• Added Turkish translation (Work in progress) (credits: BoxxO)

• Fixed an issue with Kyra's event flag for Adira not resetting properly if you told her to wait in the basement
• Fixed a bug where you could trigger Ain & Emilia's event while Ain is in the basement
• Fixed a missing variable during the threesome scene
• Fixed a small logical error in d19b

Release highlights

Full changelog

• A new big event chain where Shani & the MC go on a mission together, consisting of 6 parts
• Asha as a post-raid reward
• Shani / MC in the bathroom
• Kyra at the watchtower
• Solo Fairy living room scene (only for good / neutral path)
• Solo Kateryna living room scene
• Chili at the gym

• d5f (Decayed) first part
• d4d (Taliah)

• Updated Italian translation to 0.19 (credits: Eagle1900)
• Updated Simplified Chinese translation to 0.19 (credits: aler, Wert)

• Added one animation in d5e
• Added 2 small animations in Zahra's introduction
• Added one animation when meeting Chili for the first time in d17a
• Added render variations for Fairy / Kateryna in d18b
• Added a no-blood version for Lirah's Duty path penetration scene
• Added some render angles during the sex scene with the prostitute in the raider settlement
• Removed inactive living room options to prevent confusion
• Changed "Foreign Affairs" replay label
• Fixed Zahra's variations in Emilia intro
• Fixed a few instances of dialogue where Ain's name was hardcoded
• Fixed a replay issue in "Alley Adventures" where choosing to not do anything would exit to the main menu
• Fixed an incorrect hint for Fairy's scene in Decayed
• Fixed some variation conditions in Emilia/Fairy wake-up scene
• Fixed a missing event flag from d18f
• Fixed various renders throughout the game
• Updated the world map and the raider settlement overview to properly reflect the chosen paths
• Redesigned Savana slightly with unique traits reflecting her character and profession, making her a bit more distinct from other characters in the game
• Expanded the ending sequence of d19f
• Added two small intermediate steps in "History or Heresy" quest
• Added a marker for when Kyra asks you to get Asha back
• Fixed a long-standing bug with Lirah's quest resolution on Duty path
• Fixed a couple of instances of uninitialized variables that could cause a crash under certain occasions
• Fixed an inconsistency where Kyra would ask you to get Asha back even if you haven't offered her as a reward
• Fixed an issue with incorrectly not blocking d18g
• Fixed an issue with the QTE menus appearing when they shouldn't
• Fixed a couple renders where the Queen's collar clipped through the dress
• Fixed various reported typos and grammar issues
• Fixed some old remaining images in Fairy's bathroom scene (d5f)
• Fixed an issue where you could trigger Emilia & Shani in the library while Shani was in the Zone
• Fixed some erroneous text variation checks
• Fixed a code issue where the game would jump from Chili in the gym to the repeatable Hive Queen quest

0.19 will be available on September 10th!

Hello everyone,

It's been roughly 2 months since our latest update, and we have since been at work for the upcoming one.

Upcoming Content

In this next update, Shani & the MC are going back on the road for... reasons that we'd rather not reveal yet, and this one is going to be one big scene, that will most likely carry over to the next update after that. The way we imagine it would leave little room for other things in this update if we were to include it all at once, so we decided to split it in order to flesh out some other small parts of the game. We've taken this opportunity to add a couple more scenes in the living room, which hasn't received love in a while now, plus some small events around the house.

On the ever-important topic of "when", we do not have a definite date to share with you yet, but our aim is to have the new update out at some point within the next two months.

As we're getting closer to the end of the development cycle, we will be able to provide a more definite date, as well as any other small pieces of content we manage to squeeze in.

Steam Summer Sale

Steam Summer Sale is here, and from June 26th up to July 10th Desert Stalker will be on a 20% discount, a prime opportunity to dive in if you haven't already! Spread the word, tell your friends, family and co-workers (or maybe not, idk, I'm told I suck at giving good advice), and we'll see you soon with an article we've been wanting -and asked- to do for a while now, about what goes into the actual development of environments for the game. Until next time, Paz.

0.18.4 changelog

• Added Spanish translation (credits: Darax)
• Updated Traditional Chinese translation (credits: AHHCrazy)

Update 0.18.3 patch notes

• Fixed all animations that were choppy or incomplete due to compression
• Fixed a potential soft-lock in the music player when selecting multiple categories
• Fixed an issue where Ain's event after the market could not be unlocked in the gallery. Loading a save should retroactively unlock it if you have seen the event at least once.
• Simplified the conditions for the twins market scene (accessing it is now more consistent)
• Fixed a logical error that prevented Kateryna's quest from concluding if the player hasn't romanced her

• Added Italian translation (credits: Eagle1900)
• Updated Simplified Chinese translation (credits: aler)
• Updated Russian translation (credits: Kasatik)

Release highlights

Full changelog

• Continued Queen's quest (2 events)
• Market date with Ain
• Continued Emilia's quest (2 small events)
• Mutant bunker sleepover event
• An in-game music player (with a bit of our own twist)

• Ain market kidnapping scene (d4b)
• First Asani visit / new car (d6b)

• Updated Simplified Chinese translation to 0.18 (credits: aler)
• Updated Traditional Chinese translation 0.18 (credits: AHHCrazy)
• Updated Russian translation to 0.18 (credits: Kasatik)

• Fixed multiple instances of artifacts on Ain's torso
• Fixed a wrong event condition for d13g
• Fixed an issue in d15b where "Her Majesty" would not progress correctly if the player didn't romance Shani
• Fixed a metric ton of typos and grammar errors that have been reported throughout the game
• Fixed an issue with Kyra disappearing from the basement for some saves from 0.17.x
• Fixed a few instances of the wrong character talking
• Fixed reported grammar errors
• Changed some vague hints in gallery

• The quest "Courting the crown" might appear bugged in the quest log if players haven't romanced the queen
• Missing variations in the living room part of Ain's scene for whether Fairy / Kateryna have joined or not

Information about the upcoming update

Post-release recap

Expanding the team

Translations are back!

• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• Spanish
• Italian
• Russian

Known Issues

0.17.2 Changelog

• Added Simplified Chinese translation (by aler)
• Added Traditional Chinese translation (by AHHCrazy)
• Added Spanish translation (by Darax)
• Added Italian translation (by Eagle1900)
• Added Russian translation (by Kasatik)

• Added an animation during the thermae visit with Shani
• Fixed an issue which prevented "Pride & Prejudice" to advance during General's execution if gore was toggled off in options
• Fixed an issue when talking to Zahra about inviting Igor & Savana, where it would improperly continue to other dialogues
• Fixed an incorrect check in Shani's discussion after she's back from the Zone
• Fixed an incorrect dialogue check in Emilia's introduction
• Fixed an incorrect dialogue check with Shani after the thermae
• Fixed an incorrect pose sequence of Sair in the Zone
• Fixed an incorrect expression sequence when you prepare for Old Cairo with Shani
• Convesations with Shani in her room should not block you from interacting further with her anymore

• Fixed an issue with the gallery scenes having the same hint
• Fixed an issue with the new car event triggering too early (should also resolve the incorrect jump within the event)
• Fixed an issue with Kyra's trip to Adira being locked out if you visited her in the basement and told her to wait
• Fixed an issue with the Codex screen not being draggable on PC/Mac
• Fixed an incorrect jump in Emilia's introduction scene which would cause the game to continue to the next scene automatically.
• Fixed an incorrect flag for some dialogue variation in Emilia's introduction
• Fixed a flag not being set correctly during Nadia's market scene
• Fixed a missing blocker for Shani's repeatable sparring session
• Fixed a replay scene ("Foreign Affairs") that couldn't be unlocked in the gallery

It's finally here!

Desert stalker will become available on Steam on 13.12.2024