June Update

① Bigger changes
• Focus no longer automatically switches to a different unit after moving
• The planet view now shows the currently built unit in each city (if any), including the remaining turns (Ctrl+P toggles)
• Added a Finances dialog with itemized income/expense overviews, accessible from the House screen
• Added tooltips to the unit and build dialogs, explaining the effects of unit stats

② Smaller changes
• Added a fuel gauge to units that require one
• The Esc key now works in the unit view, build and message dialogs
• The City screen now automatically opens when building a new city
• Adjusted the unexplored terrain colors
• Galaxy-wide relics now work in space
• 'Select All' now correctly accounts for towed units
• Rebels no longer activate ruins before turn 50
• CTRL+G (grid) and CTRL+T (city names) toggles now work correctly
• The AI is better at handling ruins

③ Fixes
• Fixed a problem causing the production timer to go negative
• Fixed shortcuts with modifiers
• Fixed behaviour when trying to enter a city containing a naval transport
• Fixed a crash when closing a build or tech dialog with no unit selected
• Fixed transports being invulnerable in certain situations
• Fixed button clicks sometimes not registering
• Fixed retreating ministry-owned units
• Fixed a mapeditor crash when hitting Esc in the New dialog

④ Modding
• Added basic modding instructions to the MOD dir
• Unit animations can now be static images (PNG, etc)
• Ruin activation is moddable
• Blank artwork files are moddable
• Mapper CSV import no longer crashes

• Fixed issue with wired gamepads sometimes doubling up as keyboard input and confusing the game

Patch 1.1.0

Ossu!

What a ride! The game is out now and you’ve decided to visit Guntama in numbers! Thank you!

For the most part you seem to be enjoying JDM without issues, however it hasn’t been smooth sailing for everyone. Below you will find the first Patch Notes for the game - it’s just the beginning and we promise to provide equally meaningful updates and improvements in the weeks to follow.

Patch Notes:

Force Feedback

• Fixed issues where Force Feedback would not properly initiate in the game under very specific circumstances.
• Force Feedback was lightly rebalanced, especially in low FPS situations
• Fixed a few crashes, which were directly connected to Force Feedback implementation

Game Launching and Stability

• Fixed over a dozen of rare issues influencing game stability, which caused the game to crash
• Fixed issues connected to hardware and resolution testing when launching the game for the first time, which caused the game to crash.
• Fixed various issues, which may have resulted in a game crash right after launching the game.

Gameplay and Navigation Improvements

• Significantly improved the Navigation in the Ichikara city area and in-between the events
• Optimized HUD performance and display, increasing its readability and fluency
• Improved game physics - driving should feel more stable and predictable.

Steering Wheel support

• Increased the number of presets for Steering Wheels, to make it easier for new players to properly setup their input devices.

We continue to look into the issues you bring forward to us. If you encounter a problem, please send us a bug report HERE.

Thank you.

Let’s Drift
The Gaming Factory Team

The race is on!

Ossu!

You folks are awesome! Thank you for joining us on Guntama streets. It’s hard to describe the joy of seeing you all share your playthroughs and screenshots on our Discord. The discussions are lively, and there’s a lot of support coming from the community, not only for us but for all of the other members of our JDM family - seriously, you’re among the best people!

With your support, we’ve already managed to cross over 1000 reviews, and more are coming by the minute. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. We also encourage everyone to write a few words about their experience, if you haven’t done so already.

The media have also taken an interest in the project, with hours of content being published by various influencers and traditional media outlets providing their reviews. Thank you for playing JDM!

We’re being praised for the atmosphere and the authenticity of the experience, while some technical issues remain to be resolved.

"JDM: Japanese Drift Master is a hugely ambitious and earnest racer that’s very clearly in love with the art of drifting..." -- IGN

"Bursting with ideas, enthusiasm, and a solid physics model..." -- PC Gamer

"JDM: Japanese Drift Master lets you drift swiftly through a fictional, yet painstakingly detailed area of Japan like no other racing game does." -- Eurogamer

Opinions like these are pushing us even harder to make JDM: Japanese Drift Master one of the best racing experiences on the market.

As mentioned above, we didn’t avoid hiccups - some issues are still waiting to be resolved. We’re following your feedback on our Discord channels. We hear you. We’re working hard preparing fixes, and we’ve already released the first patch resolving most issues plaguing the Force Feedback implementation.

Hotfix 01

We’ve pushed another round of fixes today. Here are the patch notes:

Performance

• Improved game performance when moving through sections of the world map.
• Added a set of precompiled shaders on game launch.
• Improved performance during main story missions - stuttering should now be minimized or gone alltogether.
• Improved overal game performance during Story Events
• We're still working on a proper graphical preset for Steam Deck, however for now we've introduced small optimization changes that should provide around 5 - 15FPS gain globally.

Game Settings

• Disabled Chromatic Aberration.
• Fixed an issue where Mirror Quality Settings would reset after a game restart.

Story Events

• Fixed an issue blocking progress in Chapter 05 Mission 01.

Gameplay

• Locked the possibility to sell your last car.
• Fixed the reputation notification system, which incorrectly prompted the same notification multiple times.
• Fixed an issue where the Xbox 360 and the Xbox Elite 2 Controllers would incorrectly recognise a single press of the (A) button as a 'double tap'.
• Fixed na issue where players could not bet in the Underground Side Missions.
• Fixed an issue where the camera setting would reset to default after completing the Sushi Delivery Side Mission.

Audio

• Fixed the audio levels when launching the game in cockpit view - the sound levels will now remain at inded levels on all camera views.

More fixes are incoming, so please stay tuned.

As a reminder, if you run into any issues, please provide a bug report HERE.
This is the fastest and most efficient way to contact us.

Once again, thank you to all who bought the game and are now having fun driving through Guntama streets.

Let’s Drift
Gaming Factory Team

Hotfix

Ossu!

Yesterday’s patch has had unforeseen repercussions, which we are patching today.
Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hotfix notes:

• Fixed the money rewards for replaying certain missions
• Fixed an issue where players could unintentionally 'double buy' a car at the car dealership

We’re hard at work at resolving other issues coming from your feedback. Thank you for your patience.

In the meantime, if you ran into any issues, please drop us a support ticket at - https://jdmgame.com/drift-hub/bug-reports/

Let’s Drift
Gaming Factory Team

Patch 1.1.47.1

Ossu!

Drifters! We’re constantly working on improving the game. This patch includes, among others: some steering wheel presets fixes, audio adjustments and a sweet gift as a means of us saying thank you to all the people who believed in us and bought the game early.

Patch Notes

System

• Fixed endgame and menu credits issues with scrolling, autoscrolling and author names. The credits will now display properly;
• Fixed an issue where the game could crash in certain situations on NVIDIA GPU's;
• Added a sharpen visual setting for the game. The new slider can be found in the game's graphical options.

Wheel presets

• Fixed issues with Logicool steering wheels for the Japanese region.

Audio

• Fixed drag race events’ sound issues, when only the environmental audio would play before.

Localization

• Added a series of localization improvements across all languages based on direct community feedback. The localization adjustments include corrected automotive terminology, improved HUD and UI phrasing and various other cases connected to the story context and mission descriptions.

New Content

• Added new seats for the Alpha Moriyamo in the Tuner Shop;
• Added a new hood part including a livery for the Alpha Moriyamo.

We’re constantly working on improving the game’s experience, as well as on new content, an example of which you will find in the Tuner Shop right now.

Reminder - the launch discount will be ending soon. If you want to grab JDM: Japanese Drift Master at a lower price, this is the time to do it!

Let’s Drift
The Gaming Factory Team

Patch notes 2025-06-02 (Main branch)

Hello, everyone!

It looks like the experimental branch players really liked our new map, Hollows, and that the performance tweaks we implemented worked as intended. In that case, we’re happy to push all that - and more! - to the main branch. Enjoy!

Maps

Since Update 7 made the in-game terrain fully three-dimensional, Timberborn map makers can now overhang terrain, create caves, and use other clever tricks. Our newest addition to the map roster showcases some of these new features.

• New map: Hollows (192x192). The carved-out landscape of this medium difficulty map hides many opportunities. The eldest beavers even whisper of buried treasures.

Performance

• Significantly improved the game’s performance. Compared to Update 6, we anticipate 15-30% higher FPS. We’ve also eliminated several serious performance issues introduced with Update 7.

• Fixed a performance issue causing stuttering and degraded FPS.

Visual

• Refreshed the models for both factions' Smelters.

• Refreshed the models for both factions' Gear Workshops.

Power Shafts and Tubeways

After reviewing the recurring feedback, we realized that the modularity of Tubeways and a similar change to Power Shafts is sometimes confusing. Here’s how we’re trying to address that.

• The default model for Power Shafts and Tubeways is now always the version with all possible connections visible.

• Renamed Solid Power Shafts and Solid Tubeways to Vertical Power Shafts and Vertical Tubeways, respectively.

Quality-of-Life

• The area measurement is now enabled for all area selection tools, including cutting, planting, rubble and tree removal, and the deletion tool.

• When selecting any buildings connected to a power grid, all objects in that grid are now highlighted - this includes shafts and batteries.

Misc.

• Removed the “Too far from a district” warning and the yellow highlight when placing buildings. That warning is still displayed in the building’s panel but showing it all the time didn’t make much sense since the players would often connect the paths later.

• Status icons now work better with 3D terrain. They no longer appear too high, they don’t clip through terrain, and it is possible for them to appear under platforms and other objects.

• Demolishing single buildings now results in more smoke. Everybody loves smoke.

• The “Environment volume” slider now also controls the wind’s volume.

• Renamed the “Reset camera position” keybinding to “Reset camera” as it only resets the zoom.

• Disabled the beaver and bot throttling in the buildings’ entrances. This means they will leave the buildings earlier and react to your actions faster.

• In the preview mode, Power Shafts placed next to buildings now display the connectors.

• The blockage is now more of a cube.

• Added the creator of our Update 7 trailers and our new Discord moderator to the in-game credits. No, they are not the same person.

• The red preview is now displayed in some extra situations when it’s impossible to place a building.

Bug fixes

• Resources carried by beavers no longer disappear after saving and loading the game.

• Timberborn is not a psychological horror, so the natural resources no longer change their position after each restart and load.

• Stranded beavers no longer switch their animation for a moment after loading the game. They’ve got enough to worry about as is.

• Fixed some extra crashes related to file permissions.

• Patched up holes in the Terrain Blocks and in terrain hanging next to platforms.

• Overhangs and metal platforms no longer clip with terrain edges.

• Fixed a few visual issues with sitting beavers.

• The game no longer crashes when a mod's folder is missing.

• Fixed a crash occurring while renaming a district.

• Fixed fire and other particle effects being visible through waterfalls.

• Fixed issues with really large save lists. Like really, really large lists - we’re talking thousands of saves. We bet it’s only our programmer eMka who is mad enough to ever experience that… right?

1.1.9.0 PATCH NOTES

Bugfixes:

• Fixed the issue with overwatch tile indicator not showing if only a single-tile move is made.

Balance:

• Armored enemies have more armor points.

• Armor shredding/piercing weapon upgrades grant better bonuses on 1st level.

QoL:

• Added a map mouse drag feature by holding MMB.

• The overwatch action now does not disappear if the weapon is overheated (of course it is still unusable), and the reload action does not change its position if the weapon is overheated. This should prevent accidental overheated shooting in some cases.

• "Throw grenade" action now always correctly shows armor shredding information.

Patch 1.6.2 - Italian Job Update is Live!

Hello Dark Envoy Community,

We're pleased to announce that Dark Envoy now supports Italian localization, which is included in our latest Update 1.6.2, "Italian Job".

This extensive localization effort was made possible through the incredibly dedicated work of Mr. Rocco Pezzullo and the entire Language Pack Italia team. Their passion for bringing Dark Envoy to Italian-speaking players truly shone through every step of the process. From meticulous translation to rigorous in-game testing, their commitment ensured a high-quality and immersive experience.

We extend our sincerest gratitude for their significant contributions and collaborative spirit.

You can learn more about Language Pack Italia at their website: https://languagepack.it. You can also join their Discord community here or reach Rocco directly on Discord (his nickname is ".freemont")

Our Commitment to Italian Localization

As many of you know, our first title, Tower of Time, was also localized in Italian. Given the positive reception and our appreciation for our Italian-speaking players, it was important for us to extend the same commitment to Dark Envoy. We believe offering Italian localization enhances the game experience for a significant portion of our community.

As such, we invite our Italian fans to experience Dark Envoy in your native language. We've worked hard to ensure a quality translation. If you notice any areas for improvement or have feedback, please share it with us directly in our Discord channel: #bug-reporting.

Upcoming Improvements to Dark Envoy

We want to assure you that we are actively working on a major update to address game freezes and crashes experienced by some players. Our team is focused on resolving these technical issues to provide a stable and smooth experience. We anticipate releasing this significant update by the end of June 2025.

But that is obviously not all and you can expect some surprise. Your input, including feedback to Italian localization, is valuable as we continue to refine the game and all localizations. That final Polish to all languages is planned to be included in the June update.

This is not our final word on the game, and Dark Envoy version 2.0 is in the works.

Happy adventuring!

The Event Horizon Team

New update is live with a message from SNEG!

Hey everyone, the update for Captain Blood is here, and with it, a message from SNEG:

Ahoy, Captains!

First off, we want to send a massive thank you to our community. Your feedback, bugs reports, and support have been invaluable in helping us shape and improve Captain Blood. We’ve read your comments, checked your reports, and truly appreciate your patience as we worked on this patch. Our goal was to tackle as many issues as possible in one solid update — and now, it's here!

Here’s what’s been improved in this update:

- Fixed voice-over issues
- Corrected button glyphs
- Main menu now plays the correct music
- Resolved crashes after visiting the shop in Episodes 9 & 36
- Fixed overflow in Control Settings - Quick Attack and Strong Attack
- QTE interaction icons now properly aligned
- No more floating grass in Episode 17 QTE
- Fixed ship lighting in the prologue cutscene
- Tackled cannon control navigation issues
- Widescreen support is now fixed
- Resolved vibration issues
- UI now displays correctly for Deutsch and Magyar
- Eliminated 1px shift in controller image
- Fixed sea flickering and reflection in Episode 20
- Fixed issue with default gun firing during Execution 1
- Repaired hitting sound effect
- Checkpoints restart correctly after a missed QTE
- “Profile Saved” text no longer overflows
- Fixed double selection highlight in Character Controls settings
- Fixed crashes and freeze issues on boot-up
- Improved FPS during Bombardier’s Execution
- Fixed missing resources in Episodes 7–9
- Fixed incorrect price label for the first item in the Shop
- Pistol upgrade now works as intended
- Corrected combo info in Shop
- Fixed hair physics collisions in the main menu
- Subtitle issues resolved
- Machine gun audio glitch squashed
- Fixed overall sound effects issue
- Motion blur ghosting fixed
- High-res texture issues resolved
- No more stretched logo
- Fixed non-random loading screen hints
- Fixed mouse sensitivity
- Corrected wrong button prompts
- Fixed English-only display of "Alternative" and "Original" in Settings
- Monitor and display settings now function correctly
- Sail lighting fixed
- Resolved issues selecting disconnected displays
- Thai localization corrected
- Pause menu glitches fixed
- Sea battle progress bar now works (Ch. 6 & 18)
- Fixed missing QTE fail icon
- Upgrade descriptions in Shop menu no longer overlap
- Various shadow and miscellaneous image fixes
- Numerous small UI tweaks (menus, pause, Shop, etc.)
- Removed excess grass in Ch. 5 Ep. 17 finishing cutscene
- Updated and fixed credits video (no more crash!)
- Updated Shop videos
- Updated title screens
- Added support for multiple gamepad glyphs
- Additional vibration feedback added

Once again, thank you for sailing with us, sharing your experiences, and helping make Captain Blood a better game.

1.0.5 - The 'First Class' Update is here!

Major Update!

Hey everyone! we’re excited to announce The First Class Update is now live! This major quality-of-life update adds additional polish and some final touches, based on player feedback we've received since launch!

To celebrate, we’re offering our deepest discount yet. From 2nd - 9th June, Loco Motive is 20% off!
Tell your friends, your heirs, and any sworn adversaries!

There’s never been a better time to play, so climb aboard! You’ll be playing the most refined version of Loco Motive to date, complete with extra polish and optimisations designed to enhance your experience.

You can find a full rundown of the patch notes below, but here's a brief overview:

Update Overview

• Refined puzzle logic, for smoother gameplay across key chapters
• Improvements to UI, such as mouse wheel scrolling in the inventory!
• Numerous bugs squashed, enhancing overall stability and player experience
• Additional polish, to animations, environment visuals, and more!
• English (US) localisation introduced, alongside the existing English (UK) version
• Overhauled Autosave system, improving performance and reliability

MCV/Develop Awards

Great news, folks! We’ve been shortlisted for Visual Innovation of the Year in the upcoming 2025 MCV/DEVELOP Awards, taking place in London, UK on June 19, 2025.

The MCV/DEVELOP Awards have been around for over 20 years, and aim to recognise the successes of the UK games industry in every area that it excels. We worked on Loco Motive for close to four years, so it’s immensely cool to be recognised by our peers, and to be nominated alongside some incredible titles. Fingers crossed and best of luck to everybody!

You can check out the full shortlist here.

New Milestone Reached!

We've crunched the numbers and we're so excited to share that Loco Motive has now sold over 30,000 copies across PC and Nintendo Switch. This is a huge milestone for a small team like ours, especially with our debut title. It truly means the world to us. If you played Loco Motive at launch, told a friend about us, or even spread the word on socials, then we couldn’t have reached this point without you! Thank you so much for your continued feedback, passion, and support!

Without further ado, here’s the spoiler-free nitty gritty of this update…

1.0.5 - Full Patch Notes

Puzzle Tweaks

Publisher Office

• Herman now keeps the packing popcorn item after one use
• Added interaction when using popcorn on the board input slot
• Herman can now use the popcorn directly and indirectly to solve the puzzle.
• Herman now automatically collects the item after examining the waste basket

The Mansion

• Changed visuals for boiler flames to embers for better puzzle clarity
• Adjusted tooltip for an item in the mansion basement for puzzle clarity

The Order Of Idle Hands

• Using the correct item on Mr Masson will now automatically trigger the vote sequence
• Expanded the viable locations where Herman can locate the idol engraving clue
• Arthur now automatically reads the clue from ‘Dr Phogg’s Guide To Invis-Ability’ after obtaining it
• Changed Rosebud behaviour so Arthur drinks it automatically after obtaining it

Lady Unterwald Quarters

• Expanded the viable items that work when used on Mr Liu's clenched fist
• Added fade out before Arthur learns the handshake ‘call and response’ for the first time

The Green Room

• Expanded the viable items that can solve the 'Knifey, Stab, Stab' puzzle.

Engine Room

• Diana can now use the serum directly and indirectly during the engine room encounter

UI

• Added mouse wheel scrolling functionality for the inventory
• Added Autosave disclaimer screen on start-up
• Added UI for when the player attempts an input that is blocked by the game state
• Updated the loading screen indicator to a spinning icon
• Updated inventory scrolling label text and translations
• Fixed inventory sprites and item grid being misaligned
• Enabled inventory UI arrow indicators when using a gamepad
• Improved clarity of scrolling arrow indicators on the inventory UI

Fixes

• Fixed inventory closing during specific item interactions
• Fixed the valve in not being connected to the wall pipe in Part Six
• Fixed visual sorting issues with Diana and Philately Stamp in the test yard
• Fixed issues with the band card game background sequence waiting and idle states
• Fixed the card game background sequence state not resetting fully when it is started
• Fixed the background sequence state not resetting fully when loading a save in the green room
• Fix for existing saves affected by Arista disappearing after repairing her item
• Fixed Arista not being visible in the lounge after repairing her item
• Fixed item not being removed after successfully winning the knife game
• Fixed various text inconsistencies and issues
• Fixed Arthur commenting that an item won't open the drawer when the drawer is already open
• Fixed Herman being able to learn the band name without stealing the corresponding item
• Fixed vote cutscene being re-triggered when reusing an item after solving the puzzle
• Fixed Hirsch facing away during a cutscene in Part Four
• Fixed waiter kitchen dialogue triggering before drinking the Rosebud
• Fixed missing animation trigger on Arthur's use item chest animations
• Fixed waiter kitchen dialogue triggering before receiving the necessary item
• Fixed Herman rendering underneath the rug during a cutscene in Part Four
• Fixed typo on Publisher Frank dialogue tree option
• Fixed sorting layer issues when April and Diana leave the test yard
• Fixed the fuel canister being incorrectly marked as empty during Part Five
• Fixed Pierre blocking the shoeshine chair prop behind him in Part Three
• Fixed sunset background tree sprite sorting order in multiple carriages
• Fixed Herman not resetting properly if you use another character to solve the puzzle during the finale
• Fixed Herman facing the wrong direction after the twins stare at him in the lobby
• Fixed Noir mode being disabled if it was active at the start of Part Four
• Fixed twins idle animations erroneously playing if you interact with Hagen
• Fixed incorrectly set flag for the drawer in Lady Unterwald's room
• Fixed being able to repeatedly use an item on the papers in the engine room
• Fixed animation markers being in the wrong place for one of Diana's ‘pick up’ animations
• Fixed Diana not walking to the button when interacting with it in the test yard
• Fixed Brother Jared not resetting properly when entering the room beyond the curtain
• Fixed rendering issues when Herman wakes up in the room beyond the curtain
• Fixed duplication of an item when leaving the test yard
• Fixed issues with selecting the outside window hotspot on a gamepad during Part Six
• Fixed player walking over the oyster bag in the kitchen carriage when it is visible
• Fixed Arthur rendering issues when using an item on the locker during Part Six
• Fixed selected inventory items remaining active when combining them and using a game-pad
• Fixed navigation prompts remaining active when look at or combining items using a game-pad
• Fixed sunset environment sprites import settings being set incorrectly
• Fixed the environment being night if you go out on to the rooftop access in Part Three
• Added timeouts to various background animations to prevent potential soft-locks

Misc

• Added English [US] localisation
• Updated English [UK] localisation
• Added missing Mr. Masson idle animation during Part Six
• Added missing animations when picking up a certain item in the test yard
• Added missing animations when interacting with the pneumatic station in the test yard
• Updated train environment animations in Part Six
• Updated chapter four introduction cutscene timings
• Removed unnecessary off-screen line during the finale
• Imported updated version of Arthur device closeup sprites
• Increased Diana’s walk speed in the test yard, but disabled sprinting for this area.
• Added reading animation when Arthur obtains a specific item from the briefcase
• Updated localisation for STOVE platform

Save System

• The autosave system has been overhauled to enhance stability.
• Saving is improved with smaller file sizes and faster processing times.
• To prevent accidental data overwriting, a one-minute autosave grace period will now trigger after loading a save state

That's all for now! If you want to chat to us directly, join our community discussion on Discord! - We can also be reached via Bluesky if that's more your speed!

Let us know what you think!

- Robust Games

Fixing the Floor

Hey Warlocks!

We're back with another fix. This time we're addressing a recently reported issue where players would occasionally fall through the world and plummet into an endless abyss. This should no longer be the case.

Until next time!