Greetings, players!

We’re thrilled to introduce version 1.1.0—a major update we’ve been working on over the past two months. Your feedback has been invaluable, and we’ve poured our hearts into making this the best version of the game yet. Here’s everything you need to know about the update!

We’ve expanded the language options! Simplified Chinese and Russian are now available, joining Spanish, English, German, French, Portuguese, and Catalan.

• Run in Background: You can now enable this option in the Graphics Settings, allowing the game to continue running in the background, even when you’re not actively playing. Perfect for streamers or anyone looking to multitask.
  
• Progress Tracker: We’ve completely overhauled the progress tracker based on your feedback! The original system was confusing for many players, so we redesigned it to be more intuitive and clear. Check out the new screenshots below!

We’ve upgraded the Unity engine to version 2023.2.20f1, bringing better performance, improved stability, and fixes for several known Unity bugs.

Fixed an issue with texture flickering caused by Spine.

• Reduced unnecessary dialogue to keep things engaging and on-point.
  
• Smoothed pacing across various sequences to ensure the story flows seamlessly.
  
• Introduced more skippable points, allowing for smoother and faster gameplay.
  
• Reworked long sequences to maintain immersion and enhance the overall experience.

Thank you for your ongoing support and feedback. We hope you enjoy the improvements, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts!


Happy gaming!

For those who have already finished the game, you don’t need to replay it—the epilogue is now accessible from the main menu under Collectibles → Epilogue. However, if you haven’t completed the game yet, the epilogue will unlock once you reach the end.

Further adjustments have been made to improve dialogue flow and overall pacing.

• Fixed a bug causing the epilogue not to render correctly in non-16:9 aspect ratios.
  
• Minor voiceover audio bug fixes.
  
• Minor audio FX bug fixes.
  
• Minor animation bug fixes.

We’ve been listening to your feedback and have made some exciting changes to improve your overall gameplay experience. Check out the latest updates below.


Many of you have asked for more closure for the characters, and we’re happy to introduce a more satisfying conclusion to the story in the form of an epilogue. For now, the Epilogue is accessible only after completing the main-story ending, but we’re working on making it available from the menu in a future update.

A new submenu has been added to the main menu under "Collectibles," which now includes Awards (Steam Achievements), Endings, and Credits. For anyone who wants to rewatch the credits, you can now easily access them from here.

We've added a new Endings section to the Collectibles submenu. This section features 5 badges, each representing one of the game's main endings. Once you reach an ending, its corresponding badge will light up, giving you a visual track of which endings you’ve unlocked.

• Superfluous dialogue nodes removed to improve pacing and flow.
  
• Animation bug fixes.
  
• Audio bug fixes.

We’ve temporarily disabled the progress tracker as we work on improving the feature. A new and improved version will be rolled out in our next major update.

• We fixed the issue where the German translation ("Beenden") caused the confirmation button text to break onto a new line.
  
• We have revised and trimmed dialogues in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 based on player feedback to improve the pacing and overall flow.

• We are working on improving the endings of the game to provide more satisfying conclusions for all characters. Expect more detailed and complete endings in a future update.
  
• Continued dialogue revisions to ensure a smoother narrative flow.

You can now start collecting, trading, and crafting badges with 3 Minutes to Midnight Steam Trading Cards!

We’ve made some important updates to improve your overall gameplay experience, including new features and fixes that enhance both usability and the in-game flow.


Exit Confirmation Pop-Up: A confirmation pop-up has been added when you click "Quit Game" from in-game to prevent accidental exits.
New Auto-Save Points: Additional auto-save points have been added to improve progress-saving during your playthrough.

Language Adjustments: Small language fixes have been implemented for better clarity and consistency.
Dialogue Edits in Chapter 3: We’ve edited and refined the dialogue in Chapter 3 to improve pacing and narrative flow.

We've listened to your feedback and are excited to introduce a new feature designed to enhance your gameplay—Highlight Key Dialogue! This setting allows you to focus on the most important conversations, perfect for those who prefer a quicker, more streamlined experience. In addition to this new feature, we've made numerous bug fixes and improvements to make your game experience even better.



Highlight Key Dialogue: A new setting that highlights essential dialogue in the game, helping players who want to focus on the key story moments without getting bogged down by too much text. You can enable this in the game settings.


Video Format Update: All in-game cinematics have been optimized, with a particular focus on providing a smoother experience on Steam Deck.

Localization Fixes: We've corrected some minor Spanish typos.


Adjusted the volume for various sound effects and characters to ensure better audio balance.
Updated the sound effects for certain actions, like the telephone dial, to improve their clarity.


Controls: Fixed an issue where the tutorial's directional pad controls weren't working correctly.
Visuals: Corrected several visual bugs, including layering issues, missing animations, and lighting problems with certain objects.
Text: Resolved issues with moving text bubbles and improved the positioning of text during certain events.
Music & Sound: Fixed the timing of music silences and adjusted various sound effects to play at the correct times.
Character Animations: Several character animations have been fixed, ensuring they display correctly.


Alongside this update, we’re also working on improvements based on your feedback regarding the game's dialogue length and the usability of the progress tracker. We know some of you have found certain parts of the game’s dialogue too lengthy. To address this, our team is carefully reviewing the entire script to trim unnecessary dialogue. These changes, along with a redesigned progress tracker for better usability, are planned for upcoming updates.

Hey folks,

We’re down to the final hours of the launch offer for 3 Minutes to Midnight! If you’ve been thinking about grabbing it, now’s the time! Appreciate all the love so far. 💛

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/832500/3_Minutes_to_Midnight__A_Comedy_Graphic_Adventure/


Have a wonderful day!

Scarecrow Team

We’ll keep this one short because you’ve waited long enough!

📅 Release Date: Mark your calendars—3 Minutes to Midnight drops on August 22!

Enjoy our brand-new trailer!

Dear 3 Minutes to Midnight followers!

It's been a while since our last update, and we have some exciting news to share with you. Our team has been working tirelessly to bring 3 Minutes to Midnight to life, and we have some exciting news to share.


The game will be released between the 5th and the 16th of August 2024. The official release date will be announced soon together with our launch trailer.


We are also happy to announce that we have secured additional funding, allowing us to expand language support. In addition to Spanish, German, and English, the game will also feature subtitles in French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Catalan. Russian and other languages will be added in one of the post-release updates.


Our dedication to optimizing the game has paid off. 3 Minutes to Midnight will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One S and One X, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch, and on Steam for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Steam Deck. The game runs exceptionally well across all these platforms, ensuring a smooth and immersive experience.


We have also focused on accessibility features, adding visual enhancements for people with color blindness, a slow-reader mode for text, an option to revisit past dialogues, a feature to disable controller vibration, and compatibility with any controller. Additionally, we have included an option to change the text size to ensure a comfortable reading experience for everyone. To further support all players, we have added a function to bypass certain puzzles that may be difficult due to accessibility concerns.


We’ve also added a new feature to help you keep track of your progress in the game. Inspired by the movie Jumanji, our tracker provides subtle clues to keep you on track without spoiling the fun.


We have updated the game build to the latest Long-Term Support (LTS) version of Unity, specifically Unity 2023. This update ensures that the game benefits from the most up-to-date features, optimizations, and security enhancements provided by Unity.


Over the past two years, we have conducted extensive testing to ensure a polished and enjoyable experience for all players. Our testing phase involved 175 human testers participating in comprehensive lab sessions. These dedicated testers provided invaluable feedback, identifying script inconsistencies, areas lacking sufficient clues, excessive walking sections, and difficulties in understanding what needed to be done in various parts of the game.

We received hundreds of suggestions, which we carefully filtered and analyzed to determine shared concerns. We were committed to not only fixing technical, visual, and functionality bugs but also enhancing the overall gameplay experience. Everything that was unclear, overly difficult, or confusing for players was improved. We implemented numerous features to address these issues, integrating them into an already complex gameplay system.

In total, we identified and fixed over 15,000 bugs, ranging from minor visual glitches to major functionality issues. Our rigorous testing and feedback incorporation have ensured that the game delivers a smooth, engaging, and rewarding experience for all players.

We are thrilled to share with you a sneak peek of 3 Minutes to Midnight in action!