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THE OMEGA REACH v1.1.0

Post-jam expansion

Greetings curators!

I’m excited to share a large vertical slice of features, enhancements, and fixes for THE OMEGA REACH. This update adds a new room and expands every aspect of the conservatory—from the cellar to new guest interactions. While it may complete the existing experience, it also opens new avenues to explore in future updates. Continue reading for a summary of its key features, the possibility of a Steam release, and the full patch notes.

Key features

  • The stockroom. Where does the shopkeeper keep their excess wares? Enjoy a new minigame which tests your efficiency. When the shopkeeper opens the cellar, they also leave open their inventory. Is there any harm in taking a peek? appraising? or perhaps stealing?
  • Cellar expansion. Is sanity just a health mechanic? Enjoy four unique areas which are beyond set pieces—they change how you experiment and treat sanity as a time resource. Behind the scenes, the cellar received support for multiple floors, which could be explored in future updates.
  • Guest interactions. Would you like to tell a tale, dodge a jumpscare, or discuss the merits of pineapple on pizza? Enjoy three new branching conversations with visitors of the conservatory, which explore its lore and your own agency.
  • New worlds. The universe is full of possibility! Explore two new terrestrial planets and moons to reveal. Now with lava planets and water moons, might the setting of Periphery Synthetic be a fun future easter egg? Beware that this may change some of your existing discoveries.
  • New settings. Customize your play with twice the number of settings. Most importantly, a toggle was added to omit the tutorial text—in my humble opinion, this is the intended experience. To accommodate all of the new settings, they were grouped under a submenu with separate screens for audio, gameplay, input, and video.

Next steps

With the jam and its feedback now behind me, I’m now considering a Steam release for THE OMEGA REACH. The two possibilities hinge on the scope of the project. Was it perfectly scoped, and it simply needs more updates in this vein? Or does it have more potential, which warrants a rewrite to shed its most limiting constraints?

I love this project for its restraint, but I can see its potential as a grander game. That’s why I think its next step should be preparing it for the upcoming Steam Next Fest in October. I’ll share the store page if and when it’s ready. Please reach out if you have any feedback about how to price the project—or anything it’s urgently missing. The opinions of a larger audience should be telling?

Thanks for playing!

v1.1.0 changes

  • Added the stockroom.
  • Added two new planet and moon types.
  • Added three new visitor encounters.
  • Added four unique tiles to the cellar.
  • Split settings into multiple screens.
  • Added a slider for interaction difficulty.
  • Added a slider for interface scaling.
  • Added a slider for music volume.
  • Added a slider for particle density.
  • Added a toggle for reverb.
  • Added a prompt and toggle for tutorials.
  • Added a slider for voice limit.
  • Autosaved whenever the atrium is entered.
  • Added small consequences to existing dialog choices.
  • Opened the world sooner when tutorials are off.
  • Increased the habitability of the universe.
  • Added more terrain generators to terrestrial worlds.
  • Increased the maximum gold sink at the shop.
  • Paused the shop timer when dialogs are open.
  • Added a tutorial prompt for sanity in the cellar.
  • Added sounds to actions that affect sanity in the cellar.
  • Increased the maximum sanity for the cellar.
  • Reduced the donations earned from the cellar.
  • Adjusted anomaly rarities in the cellar.
  • Revealed cellar music more gradually.
  • Reset run if in the cellar in v1.0.0 save.
  • Tracked number of deaths in the cellar.
  • Tracked number of donations collected.
  • Used full galaxy names for instruments.
  • Read aloud object types when first revealed.
  • Scaled unrevealed objects visually based on type.
  • Highlighted bracketed text in non-diegetic dialogs.
  • Applied a lowpass filter to the overall mix.
  • Tweaked various aspects of the mix for clarity.
  • Reduced sensitivity of navigating the UI with analog sticks.
  • Made live regions more assertive.
  • Updated the manual accordingly.
  • Updated desktop builds to Electron 41.