This is it. The peak.

Submachine: Legacy was released. Thank You everyone for reading! See you next year!

Jokes aside, let’s take a closer look at what happened in 2023.

Submachine Legacy. Finishing and releasing the game on Steam. Please remember that finishing all in-game puzzles is not the end of development. After that comes entire late-development phase, which includes adding all notes (yeah, I still haven’t decided how to display those, that’s why it’s pushed back to the later stage of development), creating intro, outro, cinematics between chapters, also let’s not forget entire sound design that I have to do with ThumpMonks on board. So there is still a lot of work to do. Be patient. I know you are. Be more patient. It will be worth it. I can’t wait either.

The thing that wasn’t listed above is the Shattered Quadrant, an entire new chapter in the Submachine saga derived from already existing Subnet locations, few room designs I created randomly live while streaming and few completely new locations. I wanted to use literally EVERY SINGLE room design I ever created for Submachine in this remaster. This information was kept from the players before game release because I wanted it to be a surprise for returning players. I wanted to make sure that even if you played all Submachines ten times before the remaster, you’d still find something new and never seen before in this game. The game was released in October, on Friday the 13th nonetheless.

Submachine Card Game. Plan minimum here is creating Kickstarter campaign and seeing what comes of it. Then plan and execute accordingly. I know, all I’m saying here is  sweet nothings, but hey. I’m neck deep in the Legacy and don’t think about this project that much. Some progress will be made here. Maybe.

Yeah, nah. The word “maybe” turned out to be the operative here. Let me explain. I forgot about something. I forgot that after releasing a brand new game on Steam you spend approximately an entire month still working on the game, fixing all bugs found by players, correcting typos in notes, adding stuff you forgot, creating new builds of the game daily. I have to change my approach to this in the future. No matter the amount of testing I do myself, there’s no way to catch it all. So I spent entire next month fixing things. There was just no time left in 2023 to do this. This caused the Kickstarter campaign to remain in dormant form, because, not sure why, but I feel making a campaign right before holiday season in December is not that good of an idea. Maybe I’m wrong here, but hey.

Blaki 5. Yes, a comic book. Would you believe it. I want to at least try to come back to the idea of drawing a comic book. Try to remember how to do it, at least begin painting that new album. At least try. You know, this entire album is already written and sketched out. All I have to do is draw and paint it. That’s all. So little, yet so much. Just try to begin. You can do this. One page. Maybe just one, single page for the new album. Is that too much? Let’s wait and see.

Sure, a comic book that I’ll create in 2024. I did try to begin, I looked through all those scripts, ideas and story beats I already have, I kind of prepared mentally to sort it into proper  sequence to fit a comic book album, but I haven’t drawn a single page yet. I can’t rush this process. But I drew TWO unrelated comic book pages! One is the end of year Santa comic (this counts, right?), and the other one is a project that’s still top secret and I can’t really talk about it. More info coming soon probably.

 >> Speaking of things that were done but weren’t on the to-do list >>

Daymare Stray. In march I took a short break from submachining and dusted off old flash engine skills and remastered Where is 2010? into lore-friendly Daymare Stray. To be remastered again in the main Daymare remaster.

Daymare Cat 10-year Anniversary edition. These decades are flying by quicker and quicker. This is scary. Anyway, this game needed a bit of love, I changed some animations, especially main character running. I added a bitmap background testing waters for the future Daymare Town remaster. You guys seemed to like it, so now entirety of DMT will look like this and it’s all your fault. Read more.

Slice of Sea major update and overhaul to version 2.0. After releasing Submachine: Legacy I immediately wanted to update the older game with new UI stuff I created for the remaster. And this is how Slice of Sea got full controller support, new cursor showing hotspot regions where an inventory item can be used and update to entire code, rework and refactor of all mechanics in the game, making them more robust and unbreakable, just like in Submachine: Legacy. Read more.

Daymare Town remaster. Well, this one needs a bit more explanation. You see, I work alone, you know that. Of course, ThumpMonks are making music and sounds, but the rest is me. When you release a game (Submachine remaster in this case), your brain is working on 150% of it’s capacity. Before the release you have to oversee literally EVERYTHING (and more) concerning the release process, and after that there’s this forementioned month of fixing the game on the spot daily. During this process you’re fully enlightened and completely in the zone, you know everything there is to know about your code, how you wrote it, the architecture, design and so on. This knowledge fades in time once you step away from the game. Once you turn the oven off, it’ll take some time to reheat. So, the best thing to do is just to NOT step away, but pivot into new project and keep running, never stopping.

This is how Daymare Town remaster enters the fray. I wanted to transfer everything I still remembered about creating a good point and click mechanics into this new game while I still had all that knowledge in my head. This process also leads to even further improvement of the point and click code engine, previously thought to be bulletproof, but now reaching new heights of coding prowess. I’m pretty sure I’m on the tippity top of my abilities and I’m only half way up. Been that way since 2005 really. That’s so fascinating about writing code actually. You can only draw or paint as good as you trained yourself to, but coding? Sky’s the limit. There’s always something new to discover to make all your previous work obsolete. I love it.

So December was spent creating a Daymare Town prototype, available over at Patreon. It has all major mechanics lifted from Submachine, it even has entirety of Daymare Town 1 backgrounds added to it. I never even intended this project to start this year, I remember saying something about taking time off, like a vacation or something (funny, I know), but here we are, already ankle deep in the next remaster.

Since I already started talking about future projects,  let’s take a closer look at 2024 – the year of the return of multi-project multi-tasking. There’s this saying about too many cooks in one kitchen – how about one cook in two or more kitchens?

Plan A

Daymare Town remaster. Also known as THE LAST remaster. I don’t want to remaster anything else after this game, I want to get back to creating completely new games. So this remaster requires expanding all remaining backgrounds and adding shop and stash mechanics. That’s the minimum for 2024. We’ll see how far I’ll be able to go with puzzle design this year. Looking back at the Submachine remaster, recreating all puzzles was the most misjudged milestone time-wise of the entire process. It’s entirely possible that I’ll switch to remastering small platform Daymare games to add them into this project as well, mainly Daymare Cat, Stray, Invaders and kite. Having said that,  I don’t think I’ll be able to finish and publish this remaster in 2024, but we’ll see. There is a Steam Store Page already live, go wishlist it today if you haven’t already.

Blaki 5. Yes, I’m coming back to comic books. This year for real. Starting with this book, because this series has a nice round anniversary coming up this year, as it’ll be a full round decade since the previous entry in the series, which, yes, I can’t believe it either, was published back in 2014. Which is insane. Luckily I have lots of story bits for this book already written. Now it’s a matter of putting them all in the right order and painting it all.

Plan B

Submachine: the Engine. This one will take few years to finish, so don’t get your hopes up just yet. This is also why I’m making the last remaster now, I’ll just combine the repetitive work of remastering with creative work of designing a completely new game. In 2024 I want to at least write a part of the story of this game, the how, the why, the where, maybe create sketches of some locations, maybe do some puzzle design. I already have few ideas on my mind, however this is not something I can hurry up. This process will take a long time to finish. Luckily we’re not in a hurry.

Submachine Card Game. I’m in the middle of preparing Kickstarter campaign. All other plans for this project are depending on the outcome of this campaign, so there’s nothing much more to say at this point. The minimum plan would be to have a successfully funded campaign, print as many decks as to satisfy all backers and that’s it.

Plan C

Streaming on Youtube. Two things that can and will be streamed: DMT remaster process – at least the first phase of resizing and redrawing all backgrounds to 1920×1080 format. (Original games are in square ratio). The second one is painting the Blaki comic book album.

Daymare Morphs eBook. This is a collection of 46 short stories on over 250 pages written by Nikodem Skrodzki and put to paper by me. Just to clarify here, Daymare Morphs were a Patreon milestone back in 2016. Now I’m just putting them all together into one eBook for easy access to my free patrons, since that’s a thing on Patreon now and I want to give those people an incentive to maybe become paid patrons of mine. This eBook will be free of any charge.

Revolutions eBooks. At some point I want to have my entire Revolutions series in eBook format in English available online. I feel you guys are missing a large chunk of the expanded Skutnikverse without these books. They will be sold in my shop and also offered as free perks for my patrons.

~~

There’s so much to do this year. Or maybe I’m just getting old, because 10 years ago this entire list would probably be done in half a year. There were years with brand new Submachine, new Daymare Town and a full size comic book in one year. You know, the good old times. Oh well.

Let’s get to it.

See you next year.

Nov 1st 2023 timestamp:
561 reviews
558 positive / 3 negative
99% positive

[ms comment: Is this my very first AI generated review?… :D.
I’m not sure why, but this gives me non-human vibes…
Keeping it as a curiosity].

Introduction
Submachine: Legacy is a captivating point-and-click adventure game that will keep players engaged for hours. With its immersive storyline and challenging puzzles, it offers a unique gaming experience for PC users.

Overview of Submachine: Legacy (PC) game
Submachine: Legacy takes players on a thrilling journey through a series of interconnected rooms and puzzles. The goal is to explore the mysterious world of the Submachine and uncover its secrets. The game features stunning visuals and atmospheric music that will draw players into its enigmatic world. As players progress, they will encounter mind-bending puzzles that require careful observation and problem-solving skills to solve. With its seamless gameplay and intricate level design, Submachine: Legacy offers a truly immersive gaming experience.

History and popularity of the Submachine series
The Submachine series, created by Mateusz Skutnik, has gained a cult following since its inception in 2005. Known for its intricate puzzles and cryptic storytelling, the series has captivated players around the world. Submachine: Legacy is the fifth installment in the series and continues to build upon the immersive gameplay and intriguing narrative of its predecessors. With its dedicated fan base and critical acclaim, the Submachine series has solidified its place in the adventure game genre.

Whether you are a fan of the series or new to the world of Submachine, Submachine: Legacy is a must-play game that will challenge your intellect and immerse you in an unforgettable gaming experience.

Gameplay and Mechanics
Exploring the immersive world of Submachine: Legacy
Submachine: Legacy is a captivating PC game that offers players an immersive and mind-bending experience. The game takes place in a complex and mysterious world filled with interconnected rooms and hidden secrets. Players are tasked with exploring this vast environment, solving puzzles, and uncovering the truth behind the Submachine.

From the moment you start the game, you’ll be drawn into its mesmerizing atmosphere. The detailed graphics and atmospheric sound design create a sense of intrigue and wonder. Each room is meticulously designed, and the attention to detail is commendable.

Puzzles, challenges, and interactive gameplay
Submachine: Legacy is not just a visual feast; it also provides a challenging gameplay experience. As you navigate through the rooms, you’ll encounter a variety of puzzles that test your problem-solving skills. These puzzles range from logic-based challenges to cleverly hidden clues that require keen observation.

What sets Submachine: Legacy apart is its interactive gameplay mechanics. Players can manipulate objects in the environment, uncover hidden passages, and unlock new areas to explore. The game encourages experimentation and rewards players for their curiosity.

Overall, Submachine: Legacy is a must-play for fans of atmospheric puzzle games. Its immersive world, thought-provoking puzzles, and interactive gameplay make it a standout title in the genre. So, if you’re ready to embark on a captivating journey, dive into the world of Submachine: Legacy and prepare to be amazed.

Graphics and Visuals
Visual design and atmosphere of Submachine: Legacy
Submachine: Legacy is a visually captivating game that immerses players in a mysterious and atmospheric world. The visual design is top-notch, with detailed landscapes, intricate architecture, and an overall sense of foreboding.

The game creates a dark and eerie atmosphere that keeps players engaged and on their toes. From the dimly lit corridors to the haunting soundtrack, Submachine: Legacy effectively sets the stage for a thrilling adventure.

Use of colors, details, and special effects
The use of colors in Submachine: Legacy is exceptional. Each location is meticulously designed with a specific color palette that enhances the overall mood and ambiance. The details in the game are also impressive, with intricate puzzles, hidden clues, and interactive elements that add depth to the gameplay.

Special effects, such as lighting, shadows, and particle effects, further enhance the immersion and make the game feel more realistic. Whether it’s the flickering lights in a dark room or the shimmering particles in a magical portal, the special effects add a touch of visual flair to the game.

Overall, the graphics and visuals in Submachine: Legacy are outstanding and play a crucial role in delivering a captivating and immersive gameplay experience.

Storyline and Narrative
Submachine: Legacy is an immersive point-and-click adventure game that captivates players with its engaging storyline and intriguing plot twists. As players progress through the game, they unravel the mysteries of the Submachine, a complex network of interconnected rooms and mechanisms.

Engaging storyline and plot twists in Submachine: Legacy
The game presents a rich narrative that keeps players hooked from start to finish. With each room unlocking new clues and puzzles, players delve deeper into the captivating storyline. The plot twists and unexpected turns make for an exhilarating gaming experience, ensuring players are constantly surprised and intrigued.

Character development and world-building
Submachine: Legacy doesn’t just focus on its storyline but also puts a strong emphasis on character development and world-building. The game introduces players to a vast and immersive world filled with interesting characters and intricate details. As players explore the Submachine, they uncover secrets and learn more about the characters and their motivations, deepening their emotional engagement with the game.

Overall, Submachine: Legacy is a must-play for adventure game enthusiasts who appreciate a well-crafted storyline and immersive world-building. Its engaging narrative and plot twists will keep players entertained and guessing until the very end.

Pros and Cons
Strengths and weaknesses of Submachine: Legacy
Submachine: Legacy is a popular PC game with a loyal fanbase. Here are some of its strengths and weaknesses:

Pros:

Intriguing storyline: The game immerses players in an engaging and mysterious world, keeping them hooked until the end.
Challenging puzzles: Submachine: Legacy offers a variety of brain-teasing puzzles that require logic and problem-solving skills to solve.
Exploration: The game allows players to explore different environments and uncover hidden secrets, adding to the overall sense of discovery.
Atmospheric visuals and sound: The game’s haunting visuals and ambient sound design create a captivating atmosphere that enhances the gaming experience.
Replayability: With multiple endings and hidden secrets, Submachine: Legacy encourages players to replay the game and unravel its full potential.

Cons:

Steep learning curve: Some players may find the game’s puzzles and mechanics initially difficult to grasp, requiring patience and perseverance.
Limited action: Submachine: Legacy focuses more on exploration and puzzle-solving than fast-paced action, which may not appeal to players seeking intense gameplay.
Short duration: The game can be completed in a relatively short time, which some players may find disappointing if they prefer longer gaming experiences.
Player feedback and reviews
Player feedback for Submachine: Legacy has been largely positive. Gamers appreciate the game’s immersive storyline, challenging puzzles, and atmospheric visuals. Many commend the game for its thought-provoking puzzles that require players to think outside the box. However, some players have mentioned that the learning curve can be steep, and the game’s duration is relatively short. Overall, Submachine: Legacy offers a unique and captivating gaming experience for puzzle and adventure enthusiasts.

Conclusion
Submachine: Legacy is a captivating PC game that offers an immersive and intriguing gameplay experience. From its stunning visuals to its challenging puzzles, this game keeps players engaged and entertained throughout.

Final thoughts on Submachine: Legacy
With its unique blend of adventure, mystery, and puzzle-solving, Submachine: Legacy is a must-play for fans of the genre. The game’s atmospheric setting and intricate storyline keep players hooked from start to finish. Additionally, the intuitive controls and user-friendly interface make it accessible to both experienced gamers and newcomers alike.

Recommendation and overall rating
For those looking for a thought-provoking and immersive gaming experience, Submachine: Legacy is highly recommended. Its blend of challenging puzzles, captivating storyline, and impressive visuals make it a standout title in the PC gaming world. Overall, this game deserves a solid rating of [insert rating here] out of 10.

Entire game got full refactor and logic upgrade. This includes:

• Full controller support, now you can play entire game using your controller. This functionality was added in preparation for Steam Deck compatibility re-review, which means that while the game is not officially supported on Steam Deck, you can still play it on Steam Deck without any additional key and buttons remapping. You can check out key / gamepad bindings on new, restructured controls options screen.
• Updated entire code of the game, based on new Submachine: Legacy logic. With each subsequent game my code is getting better and more robust, therefore after releasing Submachine: Legacy I decided to go back to Slice of Sea and rewrite it to match better version of my code architecture.
• Added new cursor icon showing hotspot regions where an inventory item can be used. When you hover over an area where game expects you to use some inventory item, the cursor change will indicate that.
• Aristocrat and Collector achievements now trigger in-game, not in outro. As you collect final item needed for those achievements, they will trigger instantly.
• Reworked Tibet Drums availability to spin. Now you can spin them without finding drum order notes first. You still can’t solve this puzzle without finding all needed notes first, but you can at least spin them and see the structure of the puzzle.
• There’s a new achievement to unlock. It’s seasonal, which means it will be available only for two weeks around Halloween. Hunt them pumpkins.
• Unfortunately, Mac version doesn’t work anymore after latest macOS update, so I can’t have that version still available to buy. Note, that this is not fault of the game itself, it was working fine, nothing changed in the code, it was fulfilling Apple’s long list of demands to be playable on macOS, it was checked, approved, notarized, paid for etc. And then it stopped working. Subsequently, Mac version is not updated. I would like to come back to this subject in the future, but I’m not sure if it’s sustainable at this point. If they expect me to try making the game playable after each system update, then I’m sorry, I’m not sure I want to handle that.

This Flash puzzle games collection is holding a strong 99% positive review on Steam.

Adobe Flash is, of course, dead. It was deprecated back in 2021, putting a scruffy little bow on this particular niche of PC gaming. Line Rider, Happy Wheels, and Bloons all started their careers via Flash, and while some of these games do make a return every so often, as the upcoming Alien Hominid remaster, they’ve certainly fallen out of favour with the younger crowd.

Now, even though Newgrounds continues to exist, the legendary Adobe Flash content repository is not nearly as culturally relevant today as it once used to be. That is not to say, however, that Flash games have been totally taken out of the equation. Notably, Flash developer Mateusz Skutnik – whose name may ring a bell for the older folks – has just released an all-new entry in his Submachine puzzle series. This is, of course, a big deal for Flash fans all on its own, but even more interesting is the fact that Submachine: Legacy has already got a 99% positive rating on Steam.

Submachine: Legacy enjoys a remarkably high review score.
Skutnik’s Submachine titles weren’t quite as incredibly popular as some of the games mentioned in the previous section. They were, however, a mainstay for point ‘n’ click fans due to their satisfying puzzles and a mysterious vibe. All of that seems to have made the transition into Submachine: Legacy, which is basically a collection of 12 previous Submachine releases.

Now fully updated and tied into a single experience, all of Skutnik’s previous work on the Submachine series has been enjoying praise on Steam, with fans being positively thrilled with this new release. “Thank you Mr. Skutnik,” said one reviewer. “Been playing your games since 2005.”

Another compared Submachine: Legacy to Dwarf Fortress in an unexpectedly wholesome way: “You remember when Dwarf Fortress hit Steam and there was a post saying “have you people all been waiting 20 years to give the devs money?” This is a little bit like that. Cheers, M, this is superlative.”

Good stuff all around, then. Submachine: Legacy seems to be a must-have for Adobe Flash veterans, and may even be a sign of things to come for Skutnik himself. Fans may remember, after all, that the mysterious Submachine: The Engine was a thing.

Posted 17 October 2023 by Filip Galekovic

One of PC’s best and spookiest puzzle games has returned from the abyss.

Rage against the submachine.

We talk about retro and throwback game releases being a “blast from the past”, but in this case, it’s more like you’re strolling down a sunny path amid soothing birdsong, and then one particular, innocent-looking paving stone swivels underfoot with a rustle of gears, dropping you into a dingy, yellow-panelled room. There are vacuum tubes mounted on one wall, doors to either side, and a ladder leading further down into darkness.

You click one of the doors and the perspective switches over slide-projector style to a second room with identical proportions. There are pipes emerging from the floor, here, and some kind of antique radio on a pedastel in the centre. Hang on, I know this place. I know this formless sense of dread. I know these machinations. The last time I set foot here, it was 2009 and I was running a Flash game blog, writing up choice submissions to sites like Kongregate. This is Submachine, a 14-part escape puzzle series from Mateusz Skutnik, which Skutnik has now compiled, polished-up and re-released as Submachine: Legacy.

Submachine is one of the highlights – or perhaps that should be lowlights – of the Flash gaming era. It’s clever, compact and menacing, a world of terrible contraptions that must be operated, fixed or broken, from relatively everyday clumps of pistons to eerie, pseudo-magical tech that calls to mind the Amnesia series. There’s a story to follow, too, for those of you who find “pure” puzzles too dry. While deciphering each nugget of ominous gadgetry, you can gather up dropped journal entries that recount the exploits of an unfortunate lighthouse keeper.

The puzzles come and go in terms of consistency and satisfaction, but each Submachine chapter is a wonderful mood piece, and it’s lovely to see them pieced together into a “complete” game. This isn’t just a compilation of Flash ports, mind you: the visuals have been spruced up, new mechanics have been added, and the chapters have been re-interpreted as pieces of a much larger machine. And then there’s Submachine: Universe, which I never played, but which is apparently a Submachine project consisting of over a thousand rooms, with each room containing clues as to the coordinates for the next.

If you’re halfway interested in point-and-click puzzling and good old-fashioned eeriness, I can’t recommend this enough. It’s available on Steam or Itch. If you need a taster, you can still play the very first Submachine game on Kongregate.

by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell, News Editor
Published on Oct. 16, 2023