download to play (PC / Mac / Linux) | watch video from the location
Visit Trstenik, Croatia and find 10 gnomes hidden around the location. Find clickable areas, navigate through the locations and zoom into every nook and cranny to find those little bastards.
Revisited, 5 years later. (shot in 2016, revisited in 2021)
772 games were submitted between July 14th 2017 at 6:00 AM and July 17th 2017 at 8:00 AM. 3,702 ratings were cast by those who entered to 617 of the entries (79.9%) between July 17th 2017 at 8:00 AM and Today at 5:59 AM. The average number of ratings per game was 4.8 and the median was 3.
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What’s the most interesting urbex-related thing you’ve found that you couldn’t fit into Submachine?
Anything bigger than a simple room. That includes big shipyard halls for example, large steam engines etc
Why use hindu and buddhist theming? Karma portals, Shiva…is it just for flavor?
It’s not only hindu and buddhist. If you look closely you’ll find a lot more religions in submachine. The point is it all blends together in the post-industrial era of submachine.
If you could redo any section of any game in the series, which would it be and why?
No, I’m not the type to dwell on past mistakes or missteps. I just do another game. However, once I’ll be putting out steam version of submachine I’m sure there will be changes made to locations and puzzles.
What is the exact chain of events and circumstances behind the Submachine(s), how did everything happen, why did they happen, what are the Submachine(s), and what was actually going on throughout the games?
So you want me to completely strip down the mystery of submachine. Why would I do that?
If you could go back and change one thing about each Submachine game, what would it be (if there are any)?
Again, nothing. I don’t imagine myself going back and changing things in finished projects.
Did your vision on what was going on and what you planned to have happen change over the course of creating the games?
It was created on the game-to-game basis. Each chapter was written after previous one was released.
Is there a conventional Earth like the one that we know, or has humanity in the Submachine series been living adrift in these strange, floating worlds of the submachines forever?
Yes, there is. After all, these machines are submerged. This is a world with most of physics similar to our world.
Did you ever sketch official character art for some of the characters like Mur and Elizabeth?
No. There was no need for it.
Did the submachines exist before humans? If so, then were the submachines ever meant for a different non-human civilization?
No. The first submachine was created by an architect.
What are some things that most people don’t know about your game series or haven’t noticed yet? Any plot details or design decisions would be cool to know.
People know much more about the series than I do. Maybe they don’t know that the series will return with new episodes in the future on steam (if they accept it).
Why is Murtaugh so mean? Leaving people to die doesn’t seem like a very nice thing to do.
It’s all explained within the games themselves.
Who are the people who worshipped Murtaugh and placed him in a sarcophagus? Is Liz pissed about being buried next to him?
That’s a mystery. How can you be pissed once you’re dead?
What is up with Einstein the cat?
What do you mean?… It’s a trans-dimensional cat, like all of them. He can move between layers at will.
Also what do you think the scariest detail you have put in your game is? For me, it is the part about how submachine can loop itself ‘vertically’.
Yeah, the idea of a loop is quite scary. So can be the location clusters in the subnet. It is possible to get stuck between two locations.
Now that old puzzles from previous Submachine games are being re-purposed, I’m ready to ask: For how long was it planned to have the final Submachine game reprise the series’s iconic locations? How many of these puzzles were designed for Sub10 and how many were extra ideas that couldn’t be fit into the previous games?
Not until writing submachine 10. I had an idea for it and then looked up previous games which part of them would fit that narrative.
I realize this is a stupid question, but I’m still trying to figure out how you bury a lighthouse while leaving it structurally intact. The Kent Lighthouse was a regular lighthouse, wasn’t it? Or is that an assumption too far?
it is. You bury a lighthouse by bringing together two layers, one of which is turned 90 degrees in relation to the other and then you let the sand slip from one to the other. You can transport entire desert that way.
Who were the Fourth Dynasty, and what happened to them? Their Winter Palace in the core of the Submachine had the same architect as the Kent Lighthouse, apparently outside of the Submachine — what was that guy doing, anyway? How were people apparently naturally living in the Submachine?
these are good questions, perhaps for more chapters of the game.
How far in advance did you plan the games? I imagine at some point there must have been some serious planning done considering items from Sub1 become useful in Sub10.
No. They were retrofitted to appear in submachine 10. As I said before, there was no series-planning up until like sub8 when I started thinking about how to finish this series.
Why was Mur buried in the lighthouse? This note “It’s no wonder they wanted to bury this whole lighthouse with him still inside. The collapse death toll was growing exponentionally. L” makes it seem like it was done to stop him from destroying more of the Submachine with his karma portals, but that doesn’t make sense to me as he was buried in it before he ever entered the Submachine (as far as I can tell). Is Liz just saying that she understands why people would want to bury him in the lighthouse even if that wasn’t the direct reason, or does the Submachine’s time distortion affect even the outside?
Murtaugh most definitely entered submachine before they buried him. That’s kind of a staple of the whole story.
Do you have a favorite fan theory about the submachine? For instance a way to look at it you never even considered yourself?
No. I try not to read too much into them, I don’t want to copy ideas from them, even semi-consciously.
Is the Submachine real?
Of course. We established that 10 years ago.
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This one is an odd one. You see, I decided to take part in the very first Game Maker’s Toolkit game jam. Because why not. The theme of the jam was – dual purpose mechanics. Yeah, I know. And this is what I came up with after… uhm… about 24 hours of thinking about it. The jam was already well on the way when I came up with this idea. That left me roughly 36 hours to create this game. From scratch. Since they were very strict about rules and everything had to be done on the fly as I went – that’s how I did it. All code, graphics, ideas, sounds and everything was created during that 36-hour period on one weekend. When I count the hours I think I did it in about 32 hours, since I finished about 4 am, four hours before the deadline. It’s as good as it gets I guess. I found out that it’s really easier to take part in a comics 24-hour project than in 48-hour game design project.
Anyway.
Here it is. Enjoy.
And here we are. The most controversial and unexpected release of this year. Submachine Universe HD for free. This project started as an online exploration experience back in 2010, and now, almost seven years later transformed into a proper HD sort-of game. And it’s also twice as big as the initial release. And it’s still an open project with more expansions on the horizon. It is the last and only project in Adobe Flash that is still active in my workshop. You can enjoy it for free before it’s inevitable recreation in more current technology. So take a long stroll along empty corridors of the Submachine and try to find all locations, all secrets, read all theories and discover all red herrings. Though it doesn’t look like much, there’s a lot to do here. But most importantly: enjoy!
This article is a follow up to >this one<, in which I expressed moral and technical problems that emerged while creating a HD version of Submachine Universe. Go read that one if you haven’t, it’ll make this one more cohesive.
First of all – thank you guys for all your comments, opinions and suggestions on what I should do in this situation. You really helped me to see the way. That’s why I’m doing this the way I am. I don’t want to keep you in suspense, so here’s what will happen and I’ll delve into the details afterwards.
I’ll be releasing Submachine Universe HD for free, as a downloadable game for PC and Mac OS X. It’ll be available to download just as my newer games, created in Game Maker on my website.
– From that point on, the Subnet will be updated regularly with new content on that free HD, downloadable version. These expansions will also remain free of any charge.
– Current small-windowed, online browser version therefore becomes obsolete and will be removed. You lose ability to play it in the browser, but you gain so much more, believe me.
– If you still want to pay for it, then please hold on to your money and spend it once my Big Game hits Steam. That will be exponentially more valuable than buying the Subnet right now.
Ok, Mateusz, that’s all great, but… WHY?!
I hear you ask, and just hold on for a minute, I’ll explain everything. Well, maybe not everything, like the meaning of life (32), but I’ll try to shed some light on why am I going with a solution that wasn’t even on the table in that previous article.
– Firstly and most importantly the Subnet was created for fans and in part by fans. As much as I hate the word “fan” as it doesn’t apply most of the times, here it actually kind of does. I’m talking about people who like Submachine so much, that they spend time writing theories about it, draw their own machines, locations etc. Some of them even created 3D renderings and real life models of parts of Submachine. As I said before, I can’t imagine this project stripped of that user-generated content. It would be like ripping the heart out of it, and without it the Subnet is nothing more than bunch of empty rooms. All those people were making their contributions to the free version, and the only way to honor that is for the Subnet to remain free. As long as it is community-enhanced project, it has to stay free. So that settles the money issue right there.
– Secondly this move gets rid of the version multiplication problem. This one is more technical, but equally important to me. This solution allows me to keep the Subnet in just one version. No need for separate free, HD, enhanced, patreon-only or legacy builds. All reverted to the one and only free HD.
– Thirdly (thirdly?… Is there such a word?…) – let’s go back to your comments and suggestions. Most of you opted for the Steam solution, meaning recreating entire project in Game Maker and publishing it on Steam in due time. And I will, but that due time is probably several years from now, as I want to release my Big Game on Steam first, and then maybe go back to porting old stuff to it. And Steam version of Subnet will be drastically different from what we have now. That Steam version will have a price on it, so it probably will become a normal game, a large one, but stripped of user-generated content, rearranged and basically – completely new. But that’s ok, this current version of Subnet will remain free even then.
– Moreover, Steam version would mean abandoning current, Flash HD version. Which would be kind of sad, as I worked hard so it looks good. I just can’t toss it aside without sharing it with you. So once again, while selling it to you would be shady, I can share it for free without any problems. I know some of you have been waiting for that HD version for a long time, and now postponing it another couple years when it is actually ready to be released seems kind of heartbreaking.
So…When’s the release date?
So here it is. A clean solution to all problems. Seems too good to be true, right? But you guys deserve this to be free as, in part, you’re responsible for it as well. I’ll be releasing the HD Subnet right after I finish two more locations for you to discover, which are kind of half-done.
You can wait a bit longer, right?
Cool.
See you later then.
Here’s the deal.
The Submachine Universe HD is actually ready and I’d be able to put it up in my shop even tomorrow. However, there are several non-development related problems with the idea of selling it.
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Problem 1: Creation of parallel versions of the Submachine Universe.
The first and biggest hurdle is that such a release would create a net of parallel universes of Submachine. You see – all previous games I released were all done and finished. This one is not. It’s an open project, and I don’t mean it’s unfinished. It’s just open for future expansions, it always has been, it’s being expanded since 2010 up until this day. Yes, I changed something today in it. In it’s HD version, that is. The one that actually resides on my hard drive. I added main menu and in-game menu. You can control music, sound effects, window mode and so on. That’s because it’s fit to act like a standalone application. And here’s the issue. By releasing the HD version I’d be splitting the Subnet existence into two identities – the free online version, and the HD, paid version. Since I stepped away from flash, Subnet remains my only project that I still go back to in flash. I moved all other game design to Game Maker last year. This project is the only living reminiscence of previous era. But I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to maintain two different versions of it at once. You see, the online version differs from the HD version. Releasing the HD would have to mean abandonment of the free online. I’m not sure that’s what you guys would want.
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Problem 2: Inevitable Steam version in the future.
Moreover, I feel that in time all Submachines will have to end up on Steam, which means they will have to be recreated in Game Maker (or some other, non-flash engine I’ll be sporting by then). That means a third version of it would be created. And by then, previous, flash versions of Subnet would have to be abandoned as well. You see where I’m going with this? Releasing the HD version now creates more problems down the way and also renders the free online version obsolete. The problem really is with it’s ability to expand. If it was jut a simple game – no problem there. I’d just create a legacy build of a finished game, release it and move on. But here, things are different. Creating new version means future expansions will be created on that new version, previous ones are obsolete. I feel, I’m repeating myself here, but that’s the most important issue I’m tackling here, that the online version would have to be abandoned.
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Problem 3: Simultaneous selling and giving out for free doesn’t make sense.
Adding to that, I’d also have to leave behind my terrible, terrible politics of trying to sell you something, and at the same time giving it you for free. I explained that before, I felt like you guys deserved free versions of all Submachines from main story line up until the end of main series, just because that’s the way the series started. As free online. However, during those 10 years monetisation profile changed several times, but this philosophy haven’t. Up until Submachine 10, you can play all these games free online, even as that model doesn’t generate any income for me anymore whatsoever. But now? It would be completely idiotic for me to try to sell you Submachine Universe with all it’s free upcoming updates that can go on forever, and at the same time give it for free. Again, we’re back to the subject of it being an expandable project. I can’t give it for free anymore. Therefore, releasing the HD version would mean the end of free online. So I ask once again – are you guys ready for this? I’m not sure I am.
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Problem 4: User generated content.
There’s also another problem. Submachine Universe utilizes content created not by me, but by fans of Submachine. I’m not sure whether they would find it fine for me to sell this project.
First and foremost I’m talking about Submachine theories, all written by players trying to get the hold of this whole Submachine mess. Besides theories, the project also has fans’ drawings, photographs, maps, schematics, 3D renderings and so on. So the question is: should I be allowed to sell all of this as a part of my game, or not? Should I remove all user-created content from it and replace with something I’ve written myself? That would be like ripping the heart out. Again, I’m torn on this. Need your opinion.
And here it is. All issues related to the release of Submachine Universe. There are several paths I can take from here, I’d like you to chime in and tell me what’s your thoughts on all of this.
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Solutions:
What can I do:
And that’s all. As you can see the problem is a bit more complicated than one might think.
On the other hand, I might be overthinking all of this.
What do you think?
Let me know, the future of the Universe depends on it!
I’m replaying Daymare Town 4, and I came across this dude. :D
Wonder if he’s ready to be a main character of a big game.
What’s you opinion? pic.twitter.com/AXsWL9OZja— Mateusz Skutnik (@MateuszSkutnik) January 16, 2017
Ok people, let’s do this. I know it’s a bit late this year but there’s an explanation. Hear me out. For no particular reason I decided to fight Apple tooth and nail in order to create legal and legit Mac OS X builds of my games from 2016 by becoming a certified Apple developer and I also decided to do it right after New Years. Why not. After banging my head against the wall for next few days I finally managed to do it, with help from much more skilled friend (thanks, Mike). Skilled, as in: more apt in deciphering what exactly it is that Apple wants you to do now: pay up, jump the hoop or roll over. Now that it’s done, and it’s a REAL milestone in my book, the only regret I have is that I can’t put it on my to-do list for 2017. Because… it’s already done. Oh well.
Let’s look back at 2016.
Hey Mac OSX users! Finally some good news from me!
I managed to become a certified Mac Developer, which means I can bring you totally legit and legal versions of my games created in 2016. In other words: Happy New Year!
Before I let you go, there’s one important thing I have to say:
If you are on Mac OSX Sierra (the newest one) and these games are not working for you, there’s a simple solution. Just move those game files from Downloads to Applications. That fixes the problem and everything works fine.
Also: 10 Gnomes is a big file (all those photographs, you know), please give it some 5 seconds to load properly before deciding it’s not working at all…
Than You for your time and, well, here are all four .zip files for you:
