Hey Miners,

looks like an Achievement ID problem prevented Steam Achievements from working properly, and that caused other issues too.
Just wanted you to know that everything works fine now! You'll see that progressive achievements (i.e. dig 100 blocks) can be horribly slow to update, but they actually works.
Thanks for your patience and understanding!

- Luca

Hey Miners,

as promised, The Chasm 3.0 is here just in time for Halloween!

The game just got a lot of small improvements and retouching, but the main thing, as I anticipated, is the Level 2 of the game: it got completely reworked and now offers, as it should be, a unique challenge. I'm happy I received criticism for the fact that Level 2 and Level 1 were too similar - I feel like I really enhanced The Chasm's quality with this rework.

I'm now confident that new players won't be pushed away or erroneously persuaded that the game consists of the same level over and over.

Since we're talking about new players, don't forget to check out The Chasm's Wiki at:
https://the-chasm.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chasm_Wiki
It'll be extremely useful if you're getting stuck somewhere. It contains all you need and I'm updating it right now, so you'll also find info about the new Level 2.

Hope you're gonna enjoy the new version of the game. Don't forget that you can send me your feedback (or issues) at this e-mail account: lucafoxgamesfeedback@gmail.com

Have fun, Miners!
- Luca

Hey Miners,

Hope you're all getting ready for Halloween! Yes, I know, I said there was going to be an update just in time for the end of the month, but I lied - I admit it. There will be two!
Why? Simply because I want The Chasm to be the best, funniest experience it can be. And I got some feedback (from a user called AmyGeddon) that I think is very important.

Short story is: the first two levels of the game are pretty much the same - the difficulty and anxiety rise up because in the second level, there is a new type of monster and there are a lot more enemies.
It was pointed out that, if you played just a little for the first time, the idea that you got would be that all levels are exactly the same. This is bad, very, very bad. I was silly enough to not notice it.

So what now? Well, I see only one solution:
- Level 2 will be redesigned completely
- New achievements
- Another round of making sure that the code is clean and optimized as it can be

Everything will be ready for this Sunday, natural disasters permitting. Can't wait!

- Luca

What about YOU? What do YOU think should be changed/implemented? You can share your feedback at any moment with me at lucafoxgamesfeedback@gmail.com - what are you waiting for!?

I had a bunch of refunds. Being the game cheap, the trailer honest and the experience bugless, I couldn't understand why. Is people really hating The Chasm so much? Isn't it worth the cost of a cheap fast food meal?
I started to get desperate. I had some cool updates for Halloween, and great projects for the future. But at this rate, I would never be able to even repay Steam's application fee.
I also had, recently, a YouTuber (Neco the Sergal) doing a gameplay on The Chasm and contacting me. Apparently, he got stuck at level 3. He couldn't pick up the Chief's Key.
I started banging my head on the desk. Why? How? I damn checked every room of every floor and played the game one hundred times! And never, ever encountered a bug! Not a game-breaking one, at least!
That's when my "Cursed Key" update came out. I was quite happy with it, actually. Now the key was more visible, and you could interact with stuff from a better distance - before, people had to smash their faces in generators to activate them (because I thought it was more realistic, dumb f*** me), so hey, I thought that the game got a nice improvement.
Refunds didn't stop. I started to consider taking the game off the shop, especially because you don't get to change the game's price soon after you released it. I couldn't even discount it.
Then, few hours ago, it happened again. Neco the Sergal contacted me, in frustration - he just lost AGAIN the time to record a video and play The Chasm - just to get stuck at level 3, because yep, the Key still wasn't possible to pick up.
I really wanted to throw myself from the third floor of a building. I was like, "That's it.". I would take the damn game off the Steam market. I questioned my life choices. What the hell was I doing? A stupid guy, in his small bedroom, programming and developing 15 hours a day to realize his dreams of game development - and I couldn't fix the stupidest bug on Earth. What was I thinking? I'm no real programmer after all, I thought. I'll never be able to do crap, I thought.
I started asking for hardware specifics. What Windows OS are you using? Which graphic card? 64 or 32bit?
At this point I wasn't taking it off the Steam Store only because some people bought it and didn't refund it - I wasn't taking people money and then telling them "Hey, thanks for your cash, and oh, btw, you can't play the game anymore. Bye!".
I was trying to replicate the bug desperately, wanting to fix it at all costs. I built the game with every possible combination of options known to man and beyond.

Then, some kind of divine wisdom struck me. I checked immediately if it was the case that I got right what the problem was.
I did.
That made me want to throw myself off a building again.

I couldn't understand what was going wrong because obviously, having to test the game on my own, I did it on the editor. You don't play the compiled game from scratch waiting to find the right random room on level 3 to find out a bug that may have unknown dependecies. That would be beyond insane. I always quickly check if the game is running smoothly and isn't getting any crashes once built, but that's about it.

The problem, turns out, was that I recently started building the game with an optimization technique that made the game faster. The Chasm is a procedural game, so I thought it would be good. Turns out, it breaks stuff. For example, you can't pick the Chief's Key up - a bug that I never encountered, not even when the game was still Alpha, and that was frustrating people to death, pushing them to refund.

I don't know what the morale of this story is, so don't ask for one - the only thing I know, is that I won't stop banging my head against the desk any sooner.

The game now works flawlessly.

With a tragic smile,
- Luca

Hey Miners,

guess what? The Chasm v2.0 is coming in time for Halloween!
I've listened to every single piece of feedback I received, and I see where I did wrong as a first-game solo developer. But luckily, I'm a good learner! So here's the most urgent things, that will be implemented in time for the 31th of October:

- Steam Achievements
- Graphics improvements
- New handmade rooms
- Alternative finale
- Better optimization & Code cleaning

I have a handful of other changes I'd like to make - but they're coming later this year, almost for sure during November. Don't forget I'm always here to listen to you, ready to hotfix any bug and to solve any problem.
Making a game nobody likes makes no sense to me. I love to make games because I love people to have a good time and have fun.
See you in the Mine!

- Luca

What about YOU? What do YOU think should be changed/implemented? You can share your feedback at any moment with me at lucafoxgameshelp@gmail.com - what are you waiting for!?

Hey Miners,

Just wanted you to know that today's small update not only fixed a couple of minor graphic glitches, but that basically it was the base on which to build the new update coming for Halloween.

More on the topic soon, enjoy!

- Luca

Hey Miners,

Have you ever encountered the dreary, legendary, abominable "Unpickable Key"? Legends tell the tale of a cursed Chief's Key, on the third floor of the Mine, which no one could pick...
Well, I couldn't allow this. So I put on my sefety helmet, grabbed my pickaxe, turned on my torch and delved in the dark depths I wished I could never return to... and when I found the dreaded Key, I slapped it so hard that the curse ran away screaming!
No, don't thank me for my heroism... just, next time you descend into the Mine, remember of the courageous Miners that faced such Cosmic Horrors so that nobody else would have to!

An hour ago, I was warned of a game-breaking bug present on the third floor. Apparently, there was one specific room where the Chief's Key couldn't be picked. I made a couple of adjustments and uploaded the new build.

- All the Chief's Keys can now be picked up normally
- Interaction distance has been improved and is now easier to reach active objects such as buttons, switches and the Key

The dreaded Key with its bloody, disgusting keyring. EeeK!

Hey Miners,

I've worked to have a Wiki available for all of you hardcore-butt gamers in no time.
Aaand here it is!

Link: https://the-chasm.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chasm_Wiki

Want to expand your gaming knowledge or simply to get a little help to beat this annoying lovecraftian creatures? This Wiki is here for you!

- Luca