Blog

Until Next Time...

The Past

House of the Dying Sun has been fully released for three weeks! That seems like a lifetime ago. There is a patch in the works to fix some small issues but the game is very close to getting frozen in carbonite for good. We have no plans to create any DLC.

This is bittersweet. House was a huge source of excitement, worry, frustration, and pride in our daily lives. It was also our first project on our own and we earned a ton of experience that will carry forward into future adventures.

Thanks to everyone that helped the game in some way, whether you contributed your time to create your art for it, test it, review it, or simply play it! It was a success thanks to you!

The Future

We are still looking at ports to consoles, but nothing is solid yet. We should know more about this in the new year.

The future is bright, and full of possibility. We are finally going to take that vacation and maybe start helping friends with some of their projects. Research has also begun on a mythical Marauder Interactive Game #2 which will likely be a huge departure from House of the Dying Sun. We won't be talking about that for a long time (if ever), and many things can change, but we hope you'll join us for whatever is in store.

Thanks, and good hunting!

Challenge Mode Is Live

You fight an endless battle —
Permutations of equipment and tactics
of enemies and objectives.
Scenarios repeat.
Ships shatter.
Worlds burn.

And all of it sharpens you.

Challenge Mode

Live on the main branch is a new scenario, Last Stand at Ol's Shelter, previously known only as "wave clear." Each day (at 17:00 PST), a new battlefield is created. Each day, and a new roster of enemies is summoned. Each day, you will die.

The rules are simple:

  • You will fight randomly-generated fleets until you lose your fighters or your Host Termination Timer is up
  • Each fleet is led by one or more traitor lords with a random set of upgrades
  • Eliminating these leaders fends off death by adding time your Host Termination Timer
  • Bonuses may be earned by eliminating civilian vessels
  • Your furthest wave and time is put on display using Steam Leaderboards

Challenge Mode is extremely challenging and is recommended for veteran players. Upgrades earned in the campaign will be available in this scenario.

This mode also represents one of the major feature milestones on the road to leaving Early Access. We're not quite there yet, as there is still work we want to do across the game. Thanks for your support and patience!

Patch Notes

This update also includes the following fixes (among many others):

  • CONTROLS: ArmA-style mouselook is implemented (defaults to LEFT-ALT)
  • CONTROLS: Joystick axis freelook is implemented
  • FIGHTER AI: Major improvements to things like weapon selection and attack run positioning
  • DRONE AI: Healing Drone AI has better prioritization, will top off nearby allies
  • GAP DRIVE: Fixed cases where AI would kill themselves
  • PERFORMANCE: A ton of minor performance fixes went in, hopefully adding up to a better VR experience for many

We'll keep tweaking Challenge Mode until 1.0 arrives, so leave feedback in the Steam Forums! Your feedback has been invaluable so far. Thanks for taking the time to write it!