Consortium: THE TOWER Alpha v1.13

We’re back with another 21 day update!

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Consortium: THE TOWER now has an EXPANDED DEMO, which includes the entirety of Act 1.

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Consortium: THE TOWER is officially in “Development Hell”. This means that for a variety of reasons, development is currently paused. The project is NOT cancelled. If you wish to support development of Consortium: THE TOWER, the best way is to wish-list the game, buy any of our other games and/or support us via Patreon.

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The absolute latest version of THE TOWER shares the Unreal Engine 4.27 code-base that represents the completed and released CONSORTIUM VR/Remastered(PC/Meta Quest). This means that all features and improvements found in that title will be coming to THE TOWER in a future “Alpha 2.0” release, including full VR support.

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Our 2016 crowdfunding Fig campaign made the existence of this game possible. All funds raised were used for development of THE TOWER. We simply cannot stress this enough: without the campaign, there would be no Consortium: THE TOWER game whatsoever. HOWEVER, we wholly acknowledge that we owe all backers, investors and buyers of THE TOWER (you folks!) a finished game, and we remain steadfastly determined to make that happen. No matter how long it takes.

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We have amended the "Why Early Access" section of the Steam store page to make it very clear that we don't want anyone else buying the game at this time, and that everyone should instead play the free EXPANDED DEMO of THE TOWER Alpha 1.13.

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WHAT'S NEXT

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We realize that we have lost many of you folks who bought our game years ago (all of the Steam "reviews" telling folks the project is dead/abandoned/etc kind of gave it away...). Many of you rightfully feel like we've let you down. We truly do deeply apologize for this. This is a brutal time in the game industry, and to be perfectly honest, right now, we are mostly focusing on projects that are helping us survive this industry nightmare.

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We find it interesting that despite technically how old Consortium: THE TOWER Alpha may be now, there is still no other experience quite like it. It is for this reason that we remain resolute that the completed game will be worth the wait!

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We're gonna get Alpha 2.0 done and out to you all as soon as we can bring Consortium: THE TOWER out of "Development Hell". From now on, the Expanded Demo will be updated along with the main game, and will always include the entirety of Act 1.  

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In the meantime…

We have other irons in the fire, including and especially....the interactive novel prequel to both Consortium games:  WHISPERS FROM THE RIFT. Whispers is being given a final coat of polish by Steve right now, and we will FINALLY be officially announcing the release date very shortly...

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v1.13 Release Notes

As much as we could given the limitations of the old stream and engine, we have performed an “iDGi-1 accuracy” pass.  Meaning that Act 1 is now generally more accurately matches the Churchill Tower on the other side of the rift. iDGi-1 has even mapped out more of the very lowest sections of the building, but these sections remain very inaccurate and unfinished, be warned.

Spoilers follow:

-More preview areas of Act 2 have been unlocked - it is technically possible to get deep under The Churchill Tower, now.

-Demo now includes the entirety of a modified Act 1 of Consortium: THE TOWER. 

-Demo now supports importing saved games from CONSORTIUM Remastered/VR.

-Was forced to disable the “Universe Log” system entirely for this build - it was too rotten, unfinished and not particularly useful anyways. This will make a return in Alpha 2.0 using CONSORTIUM VR/Remastered’s implementation.

-General optimizations made to reduce “draw calls” in many areas - game will perform better in certain areas on lower end machines.

-The automated missile hot-slot device can now be found…

-”Frank McFrankie” encounter on the roof - now has a significantly improved voice. Casting is still not final. 

-The “loot stash” on the roof has more stuff in it.

-There is now an entirely new and secret way to go directly from the roof to the hotel park

-There are now many turrets defending the hotel helicopter pad entrance to the hotel park.

-Removed turret inside vent maze that is just after the “Malcolm trap”

-More resources can now be found all over the place. (recyclables, ammo, weapons and armor).

-The Hotel Park layout has been significantly modified to help “funnel” players towards an encounter with “The Voice”. 

-The Hotel room floors (in-between the Hotel Lobby and Park) are now only directly accessible with the key found on the roof. The area can still be accessed via the Water Tunnels, however. 

-The “Water Tunnels” access spot in the Hotel Rooms has been cleared out significantly, making it significantly easier to find.

-The encounter with Frank McFrankie that could be discovered in the Water tunnels is no longer accessible at this time.

-The connection between the “Water Tunnels” and the industrial Churchill Tower “side vents” is now fully accessible in Act 1 and has been given a significant “environmental accuracy” pass

-The Hotel Lobby has been given a major “environmental accuracy” pass - the entire main lobby interior has been cleared of erreoneous geometry and is now opened up, effectively making encountering Preben Skogan much easier/faster to accomplish.

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KNOWN ISSUES:

-This build is still old and definitely has problems, including major A.I related bugs and issues. This patch does NOT fix all known issues. However, it should be very stable.

-The early prototype version of V.O.I.C.E. is in this build, but it definitely has issues and may not work correctly anymore. Alpha 2.0 will use V.O.I.C.E v1.0 that is used for CONSORTIUM Remastered/VR.

-The Information Console found in this stream is very inaccurate and incomplete. We instead recommend using the FREE information console app that can be downloaded via itch.io:  ( https://idgi.itch.io/consortium-info-console )

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With grace, sincerity and love for each and every one of you who have enjoyed our experiences over the years...

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Namaste,

- iDGi

"Every man's foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never-recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, and be it even the greatest, has already achieved." ~ Martin Buber

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