First of all, thank you to everyone who has downloaded, played, streamed, and shared feedback on the Forensics: Crime Scene Detective demo during Steam Next Fest so far. Seeing so many people jump into the game and take the time to tell us about their experience has been great.
One of the main reasons we participate in events like Steam Next Fest is simple: watching players interact with our game teaches us things that no internal playtest ever could.
Since the demo of Forensics Crime Scene Detective became available , we have received a lot of valuable feedback.
One topic came up again and again in your comments, videos, and discussions: the desoldering station.
The good news? Most players didn't dislike the mechanic itself.
The objective was clear: carefully remove a chip from a damaged phone and secure it as evidence. The challenge was understanding exactly what was happening while doing it.
The process was relatively straightforward. You place a damaged phone into the workstation. Then apply hot air to the chip. A thermal camera view in the top left corner displays the chip temperature. Messages on the left side of the screen inform when the chip has become detached or when it has been destroyed.
Once detached, you select the vacuum tool and place the chip into the evidence container. On paper, all required information was available. In practice, many players struggled with the process.
After reviewing gameplay footage, comments, and direct feedback, several recurring issues became apparent.
Many players found it difficult to judge the chip's temperature, see exactly where the hot air was being applied, or understand when the chip was getting close to being damaged. Some also felt that the chip overheated too quickly.
What all of this feedback had in common was communication. The mechanic itself was working as intended, but the game wasn't providing enough clear visual feedback to help players understand what was happening.
Our first goal was to make temperature easier to understand at a glance.
We introduced a new thermal color scale:
Blue tones now clearly indicate that the chip is still too cold
Red shows the ideal temperature range for an extraction
Orange, yellow, and white tones warn that the chip is becoming dangerously hot
A new LED indicator on the hot air tool makes it much easier to see exactly where you're aiming.
To make temperature management more forgiving, we adjusted the cooling behavior. Very hot chips now cool down faster than before, allowing you to recover more easily from overheating situations.
We also reduced the heating area of the hot air tool, making it easier to target specific components with precision. Finally, we expanded the successful extraction window. You now have a larger margin in which a chip can be safely removed after reaching the correct temperature.
The desoldering station is a perfect example of why public demos are so valuable. As developers, it is easy to become familiar with systems we have worked on for months. What feels obvious to us is often not obvious to someone experiencing the mechanic for the very first time.
Player feedback helps us identify these blind spots. The goal is not simply to react to every suggestion. It is to understand the underlying problem and improve the experience in a way that benefits everyone.
In this case, the feedback was not really about temperature values or destruction timers. It was about communication. And thanks to the players who tried the demo and shared their experiences, the desoldering station is already significantly better than it was yesterday.
We’re looking forward to hearing more from you during Steam Next Fest. Happy investigating!