🚀Patch 1.4 : 🎨The Art Update! + 🔮The Future +🌍Polish Localization!

Patch 1.4

Major patch notes:

• Every single art asset has been wonderfully remade by the very talented Navy_Raccoon. Check them out at instagram and bsky.social!
• Slight UI improvements
• Changed hitbox detection to make a certain fight easier ;3c 🐈
  
• Added Polish Localization! Smacznej kawusi życzymy! ☕

🌍Polish Localization!

• Polish -by- Abyssal Novelist

🎨Why redo the art?:

• Before patch 1.4, the game utilized post-edited placeholder GEN AI art. As the open-source team grew - and began expressing their opinions - we've collectively decided enough was enough!
• Most of us weren't even aware those assets were AI generated and wouldn't have joined a project using GEN AI to begin with, had they known. For many of us, petitioning to replace the GEN AI art has been a deeply personal endeavor. Games are an art, and our open-source contributors have been some of the most wonderful writers, musicians, and graphical artists. 🖤
• That is why we have opted to hire Navy_Raccoon! We'd rather support another human artist instead of using unethically trained image generator models.

Technical notes

• Added TAA and FXAA anti alias filters to improve image and font clarity in higher resolutions.
• Skipped MSAA anti alias because previous two are sufficient and this one is heavier.
• Workaround for texture edges from a shader (was a problem only on Web version).
• Reworked Texture nodes to display new higher resolution images properly.
• Textures (imports) now use Mipmaps to reduce pixelation at lower resolutions.

🔮Upcoming Steam Release Update!:

Our next and final step is to produce the "Steam Release Update". Our goal is to publish the main branch of "A Dark Forest" (the same one you are playing on Itch right now) on Steam as a completely free to play game!

"A Dark Forest" has been and will always remain an entirely noncommercial project 😎

That being said, we do very much appreciate every single donation! The funds are used solely to fund the further development of the project: all funds collected till now went towards the art department.

All newly collected donations will go towards recuperating the Steam Publishing Fee, which was a hefty 100USD paid out of a contributor's pockets.

What will the Steam Release Update include?:

• Publication on Steam as a F2P game!
• Steam Achievements!
  
• Possibly Steam Deck compatibility.
• Possibly controller support.
• Minor quality of life updates.
• Minor game design changes.
• Multiple different endings to the game!

Thanks for being here with us!

Heartfelt thanks to every single contributor and player alike! We never imagined this little learning project becoming this popular and successful. Thanks a ton!