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Patch 13 is now available

9/15/2022

 
​Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye Patch 13 is now available! This is our final planned major patch, so we’ve filled it with lots of polish, bug fixes, and some new features on all platforms. Any future patches will be smaller and focused on specific areas, features, or major bugs. 
Patch 1.1.13 Changes:
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Gameplay​
  • Significant changes to Starlit Cove level design
  • Playing Echoes of the Eye no longer requires a photographic memory
  • Numerous revisions to visual clues and ship log entries pertaining to "the bottleneck" in Echoes of the Eye
  • Echoes of the Eye's conclusion now significantly less subtle
  • Added a distracting way to exit a certain cove after it's filled with water
  • Moderate revisions to Shrouded Woodlands level design
  • Added a wine cellar to the Endless Canyon
  • Improved public transit between two islands beneath a starry sky
  • Buffed reaction times during certain dark sequences
  • Changes and bug fixes to certain behaviors in the Starlit Cove
  • Fixed a softlock caused by jumping out of a grave
  • Player character no longer gets stuck when walking slowly up or down stairs
  • Ship autopilot now obeys the first law of thermodynamics
  • Cracked down on two violations of the Rule of Quantum Imaging
  • Meditation is now a valid path to quantum enlightenment
  • Improved logic for “Rigidbody,” "Sleep Wake Repeat," and “You'll Never Take Me Alive!” achievements
  • Various fixes for collision meshes hindering player movement
  • Various minor sfx/audio fixes
  • Various minor UI fixes
  • Various minor gameplay fixes

Art & Visuals
  • Improved depiction of a flight trajectory in Echoes of the Eye
  • Added a new mural to a burned building in Echoes of the Eye
  • Removed a mural and added a rug in the Cinder Isles Tower (it really ties the room together)
  • Added and improved narrative-related art to support design changes
  • Improved water traversal VFX in Echoes of the Eye
  • Improved shader and meshes for a technology found in Echoes of the Eye
  • New stair climbing animations in Echoes of the Eye
  • The Party House loft now gets more popular over time
  • An important quantum corpse can no longer be seen changing states
  • Swapped the material on certain plant pots for historical accuracy
  • Improved the presentation of a rooftop easter egg
  • Texture fixes to Hearthian sky shutter satellite
  • Slight lighting improvement on certain types of crystals, ice, and glass across the game
  • Fixes for gaps and seams
  • Rock fixes
  • Various minor visual bug fixes

Tech
  • Added alternative method to reset input bindings, see our Support Page for details
  • Added a calibration screen for the Gamma setting
  • Disable Screen Prompts settings now behaves more as expected
  • Fixes pausing the game catapulting you into the options menu under certain circumstances
  • Fixes HUD markers showing up in the wrong location at less common aspect ratios and resolutions
  • The player should no longer be able to steal an important artifact (it does not, in fact, belong in a museum)
  • Distant versions of planetary bodies should behave more as expected
  • The player should no longer unexpectedly encounter rogue Brittle Hollow fragments
  • Fixes the player getting jostled mid-transit when recalling a ship from a moon
  • Fixes the player waking up in strange places in certain circumstances
  • The player can no longer be seized in conditions that didn’t make sense
  • Extensive input fixes
  • Various UI fixes
  • Minor optimizations across the solar system

Text & Localization
  • Improvements to readability in some languages
  • Fixed text color inconsistencies with certain messages
  • Updates to the credits
  • An easter egg now loads better in some languages
  • Fix for some missing characters in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean
  • Minor text fixes
  • Minor fixes to localizations

PC Only Changes
  • Updated default PS4 controller mappings
  • Added a indicator for unsupported controllers
  • Added a default file for secret settings
  • On the Windows Store version, save files no longer get wiped when switching from Game Pass Windows PC to Cloud-supported platforms (Xbox, etc)
That’s the End of This Update
Thank you all for your bug reports and kind messages! We have updated our support page with solutions and workarounds to some remaining issues. As always, you can reach us via email to report any issues.

Thanks for your support and keep exploring! 
Mobius

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Outer Wilds lands on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S!

9/15/2022

 
​Outer Wilds is now available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S! These ports use next-gen powers to allow spacefaring at 4k 60fps. Note that the release may roll out unevenly, so there might be slight delays getting the download onto your console. 
​These ports are technically upgrades. We’ll dive into some common questions about what that means below. 
FAQ’s: 
Wasn’t Outer Wilds already out on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S? 
  • Previously, next-gen consoles emulated the PS4 and Xbox One X versions of Outer Wilds. Playing these was not recommended because players could run into sections that weren’t optimized for the next-gen consoles, and encounter other backwards compatibility issues such as controller input lag. The new ports are custom built for next-gen consoles to solve these issues and take performance further than before.
Is upgrading from the old version to the new version free? 
  • Yes! 
Is the upgrade available through PlayStation Plus and Game Pass? 
  • Yes! The free upgrade should be available through Game Pass, PS+, PS+ Extra, and PS+ Premium.
Does the disc version get the free upgrade? 
  • Yes! 
How do I upgrade if I have the Archaeologist Edition? 
  • Players with the Archaeologist Edition will need to upgrade the base game and Echoes of the Eye separately on their respective store pages. 
Can I keep my previous save? 
  • Yes, if you have a save file linked to your account you’ll get a one-time prompt to switch it over. Make sure you’re online and logged into the account containing your old save. 
Can I keep my trophies?
  • Unfortunately, trophies will need to be earned again. 
How to update the game on PS5: 
If you have the PS4 version of Outer Wilds already downloaded on PS5: 
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1. Navigate to Outer Wilds in your Games Library. Select the three dots next to “Play Game.” Choose “Select Version” in the dropdown.
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2. Choose the PS5 version.
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3. Select “Download.”​
If you own Outer Wilds but the PS4 version isn’t downloaded on your PS5: 
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​1. Navigate to Outer Wilds in your Games Library.
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2. Select PS5 on the “Which version do you want to view?” screen.
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3. Select "Download."
That’s the End of This Update
Whether you’ve been around the solar system or have yet to lift off, we hope you enjoy exploring on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S! Though these consoles are new and shiny, we promise the ship is still held together with good old duct tape and tree sap. 

As always, you can reach us via email to report any issues. 

Thanks for your support and keep exploring! 
Mobius

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A wild Fan Content Policy appears!

5/19/2022

 
We are constantly amazed by all the wild and wonderful fan art made by the Outer Wilds community. However, we’ve also been struggling to keep up with requests to review or give permission for use of Mobius Digital IP. In response, we decided that we too should become a cool, hip game studio with a fan art policy.

We want this policy to enable you all to continue to make Outer Wilds and other Mobius Digital related fan works. We spent a lot of time crafting it, reviewing other studio policies, and incorporating feedback from our legal team. However, we want to make sure this policy and FAQ are clear and answer the most common questions, so if you have questions or feedback, please let us know! Either by commenting on this blog post or emailing us at support@mobiusdigitalgames.com. We’re a small team, so won’t be able to respond to every message, but we’ll do our best!

Read our Fan Content Policy here.

Thank you again – from the bottom of our hearts – for being such a great community of creative, curious, and wonderful people. 

Cheers,
Mobius

THE INTENTIONALITY OF WANDERING

8/18/2016

 
We chat with creative director Alex Beachum about how design is being adjusted now that we're so deep into production!

SO WE’RE NEARING THE POINT WHERE ALL THE LOCATIONS IN THE GAME HAVE BEEN DESIGNED. HOW DO YOU FEEL THE DESIGN OF THE GAME STANDS CURRENTLY?

Alex: We just kind of did a high level reassessment a little while ago, level-design style-wise, and we realized that we really wanted to take a new pass on pathing. Because the game is kind of all of these nodes with content in them with either paths between the nodes or no paths because it’s just on the surface of the planet, and when it’s easy to see the node it works fine, because you see an object and you think, “Oh, I’m supposed to investigate this.” But we realized a lot of the paths…
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You’d be in a place with a node with paths leading to different places away from it and players would kind of choose which one to go down randomly, and you wouldn’t have any real idea of what you’d find on the other side...which isn’t bad, per se, but the whole point of the game is having your choices motivated by your curiosity. So we decided to telegraph where paths lead. Ideally this happens visually, so you think, “Oh this path leads to a tower in the distance, I’m going to follow it.” But underground this doesn’t work as well so we’re trying to add trailmarkers and some things more cryptic so you have a little bit of information to go on when choosing instead of just flipping a coin.
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Example of forking path where more information is required

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Post Cards From the Outer Wilds Ventures!

8/18/2016

 
Our amazingly talented artist, Alice Li, has been creating all the backer rewards headed your way when production ends! Here are the postcard sketches: hope y'all enjoy! We think they're a pretty good tour of the solar system...at least the known solar system!
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Meet The Team: Welsey Martin!

12/10/2015

 
Our awesome & talented Art Director, Wesley Martin, discusses what he does on Outer Wilds and how he got his job. This is #2 in the Meet the Team series: hope y'all enjoy!
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So you're the Art Director on Outer Wilds: What does that mean you do on a day-to-day basis?

On a day to day basis, being the Art Director on Outer Wilds involves jumping back and forth between a bunch of different processes. For the first few months I focused on setting a visual style through research, concept art, and the creation of all of our initial 3D assets and pipeline. Once the direction was established to the satisfaction of the team, my role shifted towards art asset production and technical art. On the technical side, most of my work is in tandem with Logan, our technical art programmer. He and I work together on shaders and materials, particle effects, and techniques for making the game visually spectacular that often involve a lot of trial and error as well as unusual visual magic. On the art side, I spend most of my time making copious amounts of planetary terrain, as well as putting together the final scenes in unity - doing prop placement, setting up lighting, and getting rid of any art-related bugs we encounter. I have been training our concept artist Alice in 3D modeling, and she is already cranking out props to help fill out our worlds with visual detail. We also just hired Lara, who is a generalist like myself, so that she can help fill out the game with terrain, props, and characters. For those who aren't familiar with the game development process, my job is somewhere in between a painter, a sculptor, a landscape architect, an interior decorator, and an animator.

How long have you been working on Outer Wilds?

I started work on Outer Wilds in pre-production this past July, and my initial role was to make the vertical slice that we used to design our art direction and pitch the game on Fig. Though I have only been working on the game for six months, as soon as I played the alpha demo I felt like I had been preparing to work on this game my whole life. I have always been obsessed with space exploration and I grew up on the grounds of a summer camp, so this job fit me like a glove!

What’s the most fun part of being a Art Director?

My favorite part of being an art director is being able to fill any role as needed to make sure the art gets done to specification. I get to be the first one to jump in and try to solve a problem, and I am usually the last one sticking around to get that last bit of visual polish into the build. I love jumping back and forth between different roles and doing whatever is necessary to make the game look great! I also love working with the whole team - design, programming, production, and art, to make sure that everyone is on the same page and contributing everything we need to get the game done.

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Outer Wilds Launches New Crowdfunding Platform, Fig!

8/18/2015

 
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT OUTER WILDS' FIG CAMPAIGN!
We here at Mobius Digital are very proud to be the launch title on the revolutionary new crowdfunding platform, Fig. Fig is a crowdfunding platform made by gamemakers for gamemakers and gamers alike that's designed to create a better platform tailored specifically for games.

And, even better, they're curating what titles can be on their platform so you know the games on Fig will definitely be finished. Fig was created by the heads of such legendary indie studios as Double Fine, Obisidian, and inXile, and we are super honored that they chose  our 2015 IGF Grand Prize Winner as their first title.

We've been very humbled that super busy, talented guys like Brian Fargo and Tim Schafer have taken the time to participate in our campaign videos, play our games, give us advice, and provide resources throughout our production because they believe in our game and our studio.
We are very excited to be a part of a platform like Fig that is revolutionizing the way games are being made and making sure unique creators are getting the budgets they need to bring amazing, wonderful games to the people who care about the most.

If you agree with us, please take time to support Outer Wilds. We need your support! This award-winning game is now getting the full time, full team commitment it deserves, but we can't do it without you.
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Wallpaper, Concept Art, GIFs

8/11/2015

 
Greetings from Outer Wilds Ventures!
Intrepid travelers, we have been delayed in our announcement of our industrious expedition for another week. Whether you're in front of a fire pit or in orbit, stay close to your news sources next Tuesday, August 18th, for an important Outer Wilds bulletin!

Until that moment, we leave you with wallpaper, concept art, our new logo, and a GIF of the new art direction. Enjoy!
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Changing The Outer Wilds Art Style

8/5/2015

 
Greetings from Outer Wilds Ventures! A new traveler has arrived from deep in the forests of Timber Hearth, and he brings with him a new discovery that will change our solar system at its very foundation...his name is Wesley Martin, and he joins the Ventures as our Art Director!

When I first played the alpha of Outer Wilds, I was immediately drawn into a lovingly hand-crafted world that sparked my imagination at every turn. Now that I'm working on Outer Wilds, I am excited to bring the same level of lovingly hand-crafted goodness to the visuals of the game. There's a lot of work to do in the art department, so let's roll up our sleeves and get started!


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Alpha image of one of the Travelers
The art in the Outer Wilds alpha is mostly designer art designed to test out the feel of the game without spending too much time worrying about the details. The more polished parts of the visuals come from student work, so even at its best the alpha has a long way to go. That said, there is a certain charm to the simplicity present in the current art, which often leaves the details to the player's imagination, lending the game a level of abstraction that improves the overall immersion.

The goal for the new art direction is to preserve that abstraction, but bring in a more refined aesthetic so that the game encourages the player's imagination rather than relying upon it.

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Art Test!

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Demaking Outer Wilds

7/30/2015

 
Hey traveler! Alex here, transmitting live from our Story Simulation Center on the moon (the low gravity is great for tossing around weighty narrative concepts). Most of the work we do up here is still under wraps, but today we're going to take a small peek into how we build and test the underlying mysteries of  Outer Wilds.

Archaeology In Space

It might have all the trappings of a space game, but I like to think of Outer Wilds as a narrative adventure game that just happens to take place inside a (miniature) astrophysics simulation. As players explore each planet, they discover pieces of embedded narrative that reveal the history of the solar system and the ancient race that used to inhabit it. These pieces also act as clues that point to each other and to special hidden locations, or "Curiosities", where players can find answers to the game's biggest questions (i.e. what's really going on).

Considering the scope and complexity of our narrative structure, it's pretty important that we test whether or not players can understand the clues, find the Curiosities, and piece everything together into a coherent story. Which brings us back to the bit about all of this taking place inside an astrophysics simulation. Testing for narrative comprehension is extraordinarily time-consuming when players can't even access most of your content without (among other things) learning to fly a spaceship. We needed a way for players to test the game's entire narrative structure in a fraction of the time it would take during a normal playthrough.

"It's Only A Model"

Our solution was to make a paper prototype that completely abstracted away the space travel and focused on what we wanted to test: the underlying narrative structure.
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Brittle Hollow as depicted on a bunch of cut-up note cards. I'll admit that is not my best black hole.
Major locations on each planet were represented by note cards, and players were given a limited number of turns to move between them each round (if you've played the alpha you can probably guess why). Players could also spend a turn to explore a location, which occasionally meant flipping over the card to reveal hidden information, and more often involved me just describing what they found there.

Overall the prototype worked surprisingly well. It gave us valuable insight into how players were interpreting the clues and understanding the story, and by essentially DMing each session I had a lot of flexibility to adjust content on the fly. We noticed that all of our playtesters quickly resorted to jotting down their discoveries on a notepad, which pretty much confirms that the onboard ship computer should keep track of your discoveries.

From Paper to Processing

The next step, which was both totally unnecessary and absolutely worth it, was to recreate the paper prototype in an open source Java library called Processing.
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This is now a thing that exists.
In addition to the basic structure of the paper prototype, the digital version added simple probe, telescope, and ship computer mechanics, essentially making it a feature-complete demake of Outer Wilds.

One of the most surprising results was that the telescope mechanic worked better here than it does in the actual game. Whereas players tend to forget the telescope exists in the real game, players used it quite often to hunt down signals in the text adventure. As a result, we're actually going to modify the telescope in the real game based on the design of the text adventure!
Somewhat ironically, the biggest problem with both prototypes is that they were too effective at concentrating the game's narrative content. The story in Outer Wilds is designed to be experienced piecemeal over a long period of time, not devoured in one sitting. Several players were overwhelmed by the barrage of information learned at each new location. Of course these same locations are far more spaced out in the real game by, you know, space. Still, it's good to know that a bit of downtime is actually necessary to give players a chance to digest new information.
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The solar system in glorious 2D vector graphics!
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A hint of things to come...
Between these two narrative prototypes we now have a much better idea of what the game feels like when all of the pieces are put together. Our next big challenge is to translate the descriptions from the text adventure into fully realized 3D spaces. We've got a lot of content to make, but it's nice to know that all of it is  probably going to make sense.

Onwards!
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