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The Night Shift Update 0.4

Hey everyone,

I hope the start of the year has been treating you all well!

After a longer break over the holidays (burnout got the best of me), I’ve had some time to rest, unwind, and dive into a few games – shoutout to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for sucking me in!

I have been back into development since early February and have been working hard on this update. With the 1-year anniversary of _The Night Shift's_ Unreal release, I wanted to kick off the year with a big update full of exciting new features, alongside a ton of bug fixes.

Now, let’s dive into the new content!

[h2]Shifts[/h2]

Four new shifts to play! Three of these shifts are randomized, meaning you'll experience only two of them in a single playthrough similar to the shifts on night 2 and 3. The fourth shift? Well, it's a different kind of shift — expect some surprises!
Each shift comes with new tasks, challenges, and plenty of secrets to uncover.

I've also gone through and reviewed all notes and batteries in the game. The note achievements are now unaffected by duplicate notes, meaning that safety posters and empty papers no longer count toward the total.

As for batteries, the three shifts playable on nights 2 and 3 now feature randomly spawning batteries with an adjusted spawn rate. Previously, these batteries had fixed locations, but to ensure consistency across the rest of the game, their spawns are now randomized.

[h2]Themes[/h2]

With the success of the Christmas theme last year, I wanted to bring even more variety to the game with this update.
You can now experience different themes at any time, alongside their real-life events—or never, if you prefer. Plus, six new themed achievements are available across these new themes!

Here are the themes you can experience and their in-game dates:

  • (New) Valentine's Day - 14th February
  • (New) Anniversary - 12th March to 18th March
  • (New) April Fools - 1st April
  • (New) Easter - 6th April to 20th April
  • (New) Halloween - 17th October to 31st October
  • Christmas - 1st December to 31st December

By default, these themes will occur on the listed dates, but you’ll have the option to change this. You can enable a single theme to happen all the time, or turn them all off. The choice is yours!

[h2]Performance[/h2]

This is an area I've been focusing on consistently improving. While there have been several smaller updates, the biggest change is the addition of the ability to switch between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. Previously, the game was limited to DirectX 12.

Moving forward, I’ll continue to make performance improvements that will benefit both DirectX 11 and 12, ensuring a smoother experience across both versions.

[h2]And More...[/h2]
There’s plenty more to discover in this update, along with over 40 bug fixes! I’m excited for you all to dive in, and I hope you enjoy the new content.

As usual, most of the changes in this update affect both the Early Access and Demo builds.

Read the full changelog below.

[h3]Changes[/h3]
- Added 4 new shifts.
- Added 3 new achievements and 6 new themed achievements.
- Added 13 new notes and 9 new themed notes.
- Added 'Advanced Settings' tab in the options.
- Added ability to change between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.
- Added seasons for Valentines Day, April Fools, Halloween, Easter and The Night Shift's anniversary.
- Added more easter eggs to find.
- Added new music played on the radio.
- Added a post it note point to check the office board if it has been missed on Night 1 and 2.
- Added a theme override description in settings.
- Added SFX to physics items.
- Added a clock in the office.
- Added a set duration for each player dialogue.
- Added rain SFX to the store front.
- Added extra details throughout the store across all shifts.
- Updated phone dialogue with a phone static.
- Updated phone dialogue with player proximity.
- Updated the blue keycard to randomly spawn in one of the drawers.
- Updated notes and their placements throughout all shifts, there are no longer duplicates of the same note.
- Updated all items, achievement items and their placements throughout all shifts.
- Updated the player bumping into physics objects now affects them.
- Updated the radio starting status across all shifts.
- Updated the radio to be present in office across all shifts.
- Updated season override to theme override.
- Updated "Seasonal" season to default.
- Updated lamp with on/off audio.
- Updated the visuals of front counter and furniture sections.
- Updated the store front with various details across all shifts.
- Updated the amount of batteries that spawn to be consistent across the shifts on night 2 and night 3.
- Updated the batteries to spawn randomly during shifts on night 2 and night 3.
- Updated the amount of places batteries can be found during shifts on night 2 and night 3 to 20.
- Updated mannequin movement SFX and a variety of ambience music.
- Updated alarm attenuation of the theft sensors in electronics.
- Updated location of the office's paper ball bin in all shifts.
- Updated the lightning audio.
- Updated visuals of rain.
- Changed empty memos, workplace and keycard posters not counting towards 30 note achievement.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed the next step of the task not showing when completing the previous step.
- Fixed new tasks not showing after completing another task.
- Fixed getting blocked in certain circumstances on night 1 when calling Riley during 'Night Prep'.
- Fixed a second air conditioner showing on night 1 in the kitchen.
- Fixed a garbage bag clipping into other props on night 1.
- Fixed a mannequin clipping into other props on night 1.
- Fixed the clock off task not starting correctly on night 1.
- Fixed the sizes of the batteries on night 1.
- Fixed ability to be stuck in phone call on night 1 if triggering garbage chute dialogue at the same time.
- Fixed the phone hanging up sound playing twice on night 1 and 2.
- Fixed missing detail on night 5 shelves.
- Fixed becoming blocked on night 1 when another dialogue starts during phone call.
- Fixed seasonal music on the radio just playing static when the song is complete.
- Fixed radio to properly start on a random channel.
- Fixed vision becoming blurry if focus button was spammed.
- Fixed vision becoming blurry when zooming into specific places.
- Fixed Seasonal notice continuing to show when changing it to the current season.
- Fixed some mannequins not changing materials correctly when loading a level.
- Fixed decals showing on mannequins in certain situations.
- Fixed mannequins sometimes not being able to reach various areas.
- Fixed mannequins being able to attack more than once in rapid succession while player is moving.
- Fixed the possibility of mannequins not being able to spawn in certain situations.
- Fixed the consistency of front desks for earlier shifts to match later ones.
- Fixed text not being legible when reading notes during inspection.
- Fixed season override sometimes not showing the season on first open.
- Fixed physics objects receiving decals in certain situations.
- Fixed physics objects affecting mannequin navigation in certain situations.
- Fixed losing ability to interact after placing extinguishers in certain situations.
- Fixed being able to get out of the areas in certain situations.
- Fixed being able to collide into a small invisible barrier during the task in the change rooms.
- Fixed handles on the office drawers missing shadows.
- Fixed the TVs being on during the shift focused in the men's section.
- Fixed some boxes clipping through shelving in electronics.
- Fixed items missing on shelves in electronics.
- Fixed main menu environment to be more consistent with the rest of the game.
- Fixed various meshes clipping through various shelves.
- Fixed pullup banners not being consistent across shifts.
- Fixed distance of various held items being too close to player.
- Fixed the paper ball audio sometimes being heard when loading into a shift.
- Fixed some artifacts in images during intro sequence.
- Fixed the light from lightning not displaying correctly across all shifts.
- Fixed various sounds not being affected by audio sliders.
- Fixed various props not displaying correctly up close.
- Fixed various props not displaying correctly at a distance.
- Fixed being able to see the rain in the store in certain situations.
- Removed a couple of old notes that had been missed in previous updates.
- Removed music from credits sequence.
- Removed collision from jacket on office floor.
- Various performance and optimization improvements.

Report any bugs or issues on the Steam Discussion board, the Discord, or the website.

Chat soon!
Marty

Developer Interview with Fearzine

Hey everyone,

Earlier this year, I had the chance to sit down with Dan from Fearzine for an interview! We discussed the development of The Night Shift, the challenges of balancing work and life, and a variety of other game-related topics. Check it out!

Check out the interview here



[h3]What’s Fearzine?[/h3]
It’s an independently owned and operated magazine focused on horror games, with a special emphasis on indie studios and solo developers.

A preview of The Night Shift even snuck into Issue #02, alongside a ton of other amazing horror games that have been previewed and reviewed.

If you're a horror fan, be sure to check out the incredible lineup the Fearzine team has put together!

For more information, head to their website.

[h3]What's Next?[/h3]
Exciting times for The Night Shift! Development is progressing smoothly, and I'm thrilled to announce that the next big update is set to release this weekend. Stay tuned for more details!

Thanks for the support,
Marty

20% Off - Steam Spring Sale!

The Night Shift is now 20% off during the Steam Spring Sale!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The promotion ends with the Spring Sale on Thursday, March 20th.

Grab your copy here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2468610/The_Night_Shift/?curator_clanid=4777282

The Night Shift Update 0.3.57

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all are having a great holiday season so far! Before I get to the update notes, I want to add a little personal note.
Thank you for all the support this year, its been awesome seeing the feedback and responses throughout 2024.
Now unfortunately 2024, I had a few personal issues that delayed the development of more content a bunch of times, but I'm happy to say I am planning to drop more content early next year! I'm very excited for you to see what I have been working on, and what I have planned for The Night Shift in 2025.
This will be the last update of the year, as I will be having some downtime over the next week and a bit.
So if there are any issues you come across please reach out via the Steam Discussions or Discord, I will get to them when I'm back!

Now on to the update, I have put together a small update of fixes and updated visuals.
Most urgent thing here was the snowman present missing, making it almost impossible to get the achievement "Here's Frosty".
There are some other nice additions to the world, most notably is more Christmas decorations and the outside of the store has been given some love now.



Read the change log below.

[h3]Changes[/h3]
- Updated visuals of outside of the store.
- Added more Christmas decorations.
- Updated quality of cars on the first night.
- Updated quality of various electrical panels throughout the store.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed clipping of a Christmas decoration near the entrance of the store.
- Fixed a light in the first hallway being on before you get to the hallway on night 1.
- Fixed Snowman present not appearing - related to the "Here's Frosty!" achievement.
- Fixed a missing electrical panel in the hallway.
- Various performance and optimization improvements.

Report any bugs or issues on the Steam Discussion board, the Discord, or the website.

Follow The Night Shift on X/Twitter.

Thanks for the wild 2024, and chat to you all next year!

Cheers,
Marty

The Night Shift Update 0.3.56

Hey all,

After investigating a couple issues that were raised, I found a pretty nasty issue regarding loading saved games. When loading a saved game, events would happen that shouldn't at that time, audio wouldn't play, and a bunch of other nasty stuff.
I found the issue, and fixed it.

A new addition to The Night Shift is that it now defaults to the same language as your steam client by default, as long as it is supported by the game (you can check what languages are supported in-game or on the store page).

Amongst other things, I have added a volume slider for mannequins specifically - whether you want to turn them up twice as much, or have silent mannequins stalking you, the choice is yours!

Now I know I said I would add a seasonal toggle in the new year, but I was doing other stuff in those areas and well... I added a drop down for seasons. There are a couple options here:
- No Seasons - Disables all seasonal content throughout the game until you change the setting.
- Seasonal - Enables themed content around the real life dates of those seasons (selected by default).
- Christmas - Enables Christmas themed content all the time, and allows you to get those pesky Christmas achievements even when the Christmas event is over.

Read the changelog below.

[h3]Changes[/h3]
- On the very first launch or if no saves are found, the game will default to the same language as the player's Steam client (if the language is supported, otherwise will default to English).
- Updated the demo loading to the main menu if attempting to load a level not included in the demo.
- Added option to change seasonal theme. These take into effect when loading into the next level.
- Added a Mannequin volume slider (only effects mannequin audio).

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed some dropdown menus missing the previously saved setting when opening the settings for the first time when the game is launched.
- Fixed triggers and radio audio not triggering correctly when loading into a saved game.
- Fixed the keycard and various other items being blurry when inspecting them.
- Fixed a gap in the floor in the maintenance area and near the warehouse door.
- Fixed losing reticule if placing a fire extinguisher by hand.
- Fixed "playing" status for Steam Timeline not appearing correctly.
- Various performance and optimization improvements.

Report any bugs or issues on the Steam Discussion board, the Discord, or the website.

Follow The Night Shift on X/Twitter.

Chat soon!

Marty