Darkest greetings Underlord,

Nearly two months have passed since we unleashed the very first expansion to War for the Overworld, Heart of Gold, alongside the staggeringly massive patch 1.4. But there was no rest for the evil, as we released hotfixes around the clock to ensure the biggest issues that cropped up were fixed as quickly as possible. We topped that off with patch 1.4.1!

Overall the reception to Heart of Gold and patch 1.4 has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re pleased that our hard work has resulted in the latest version of the game being something we can all be incredibly proud of. In this recap we’re going to take a quick look into the reception so far.

We’ve also got a nice downloadable extra for you, as well as a link to the opening cinematic of Heart of Gold, so you can easily watch it again. Read on, Underlord!


We’ve seen an incredible response to Heart of Gold, but perhaps that’s a little too underwhelming. To truly understand how staggeringly positive the feedback we’re receiving is, here are a few numbers from our Steam user review scores:

• Overall score: 77.02% (Compared to 72.95% during the release of Patch 1.0, showing continued improvement)
  
• Score since patch 1.4: 89.18% (up from 79.05% during patch 1.3)
  
• Heart of Gold overall score: 92%

These numbers show a massive increase in how many positive reviews we’ve received, and this reflects just how much effort we’ve poured into WFTO since release last year.

But numbers are only half the story. Here are some choice extracts from a few of your reviews:

“Took a while but this is like the only Kickstarter game I backed that is actually worth playing now.”“I encourage anyone who was turned off by the initial mess to give War for the Overworld another shot. It’s now a wonderful game in and of itself, but more than that the devs should be congratulated and rewarded for never giving up on their vision.”“[…] thanks to dedicated work by the developers (which continues to this day, I might add) this one has blossomed into a wonderful strategy title.”“The team at Brightrock Games further improve their craft with this carefully designed DLC, which I might add was free for backers and early adopters, though I would have paid money on day one for it anyway.”

We’re pleased to see that our efforts have driven such a positive response from our community, and we can’t wait to see how our upcoming content performs.


During the run-up to Heart of Gold’s release we teased you with a series of short stories that revolved around a particularly stalwart dwarf and the heroes of Phaestus, during the events of the new campaign. We enjoyed having the opportunity to expand the lore of War for the Overworld, and tell a portion of the story from a different perspective.

If you missed out on these the first time around then we have a treat for you: we’ve compiled them into a single, collected volume, gussied them up in the style of the upcoming Dungeoneer’s Guide, and uploaded them for your reading pleasure!



As you can see they’ve turned out rather well! You can view and download the collected volume here.

In addition we will be adding this compilation to the Underlord Edition of the game at the same time we add the Dungeoneer’s Guide. We hope you’re looking forward to that!


In case you missed the announcement a few weeks ago, we recently released the first minor patch for War for the Overworld. This included a number of changes to both the visual stylings of the game, and mechanics such as unit spawning.

We also rolled out dozens of bug fixes and made some improvements to other areas. You can read the full release notes for patch 1.4.1 here.

This isn’t it for support in the wake of patch 1.4. Patch 1.4.2 is due out in the coming days so please keep your eyes open for it!


For Heart of Gold we looked to deliver a more solid and compelling story, and part of that was setting the scene for the war spilling over into the dukedom of Phaestus. We developed the opening cinematic to set the scene, and we’ve had a great response from it. As such we’ve opted to upload the full video to YouTube for your enjoyment!

https://youtu.be/WweV4MdD0zI


Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Nearly two months have passed since we unleashed the very first expansion to War for the Overworld, Heart of Gold, alongside the staggeringly massive patch 1.4. But there was no rest for the evil, as we released hotfixes around the clock to ensure the biggest issues that cropped up were fixed as quickly as possible. We topped that off with patch 1.4.1!

Overall the reception to Heart of Gold and patch 1.4 has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re pleased that our hard work has resulted in the latest version of the game being something we can all be incredibly proud of. In this recap we’re going to take a quick look into the reception so far.

We’ve also got a nice downloadable extra for you, as well as a link to the opening cinematic of Heart of Gold, so you can easily watch it again. Read on, Underlord!


We’ve seen an incredible response to Heart of Gold, but perhaps that’s a little too underwhelming. To truly understand how staggeringly positive the feedback we’re receiving is, here are a few numbers from our Steam user review scores:

• Overall score: 77.02% (Compared to 72.95% during the release of Patch 1.0, showing continued improvement)
  
• Score since patch 1.4: 89.18% (up from 79.05% during patch 1.3)
  
• Heart of Gold overall score: 92%

These numbers show a massive increase in how many positive reviews we’ve received, and this reflects just how much effort we’ve poured into WFTO since release last year.

But numbers are only half the story. Here are some choice extracts from a few of your reviews:

“Took a while but this is like the only Kickstarter game I backed that is actually worth playing now.”“I encourage anyone who was turned off by the initial mess to give War for the Overworld another shot. It’s now a wonderful game in and of itself, but more than that the devs should be congratulated and rewarded for never giving up on their vision.”“[…] thanks to dedicated work by the developers (which continues to this day, I might add) this one has blossomed into a wonderful strategy title.”“The team at Brightrock Games further improve their craft with this carefully designed DLC, which I might add was free for backers and early adopters, though I would have paid money on day one for it anyway.”

We’re pleased to see that our efforts have driven such a positive response from our community, and we can’t wait to see how our upcoming content performs.


During the run-up to Heart of Gold’s release we teased you with a series of short stories that revolved around a particularly stalwart dwarf and the heroes of Phaestus, during the events of the new campaign. We enjoyed having the opportunity to expand the lore of War for the Overworld, and tell a portion of the story from a different perspective.

If you missed out on these the first time around then we have a treat for you: we’ve compiled them into a single, collected volume, gussied them up in the style of the upcoming Dungeoneer’s Guide, and uploaded them for your reading pleasure!



As you can see they’ve turned out rather well! You can view and download the collected volume here.

In addition we will be adding this compilation to the Underlord Edition of the game at the same time we add the Dungeoneer’s Guide. We hope you’re looking forward to that!


In case you missed the announcement a few weeks ago, we recently released the first minor patch for War for the Overworld. This included a number of changes to both the visual stylings of the game, and mechanics such as unit spawning.

We also rolled out dozens of bug fixes and made some improvements to other areas. You can read the full release notes for patch 1.4.1 here.

This isn’t it for support in the wake of patch 1.4. Patch 1.4.2 is due out in the coming days so please keep your eyes open for it!


For Heart of Gold we looked to deliver a more solid and compelling story, and part of that was setting the scene for the war spilling over into the dukedom of Phaestus. We developed the opening cinematic to set the scene, and we’ve had a great response from it. As such we’ve opted to upload the full video to YouTube for your enjoyment!

https://youtu.be/WweV4MdD0zI


Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

The team here at Brightrock Games is always looking for ways to make everyone’s lives just a little bit easier. To that end we’ve taken the User Echo bug tracker, we launched a few months ago, and given it a complete overhaul. We’re calling it User Echo 2.0!



Our goal is to make it so that the process of reporting a bug and keeping track of it is simple and clear to all of our fans. We’ve also taken all the information that was previously strewn across our forums and compiled it into a pair of incredibly useful knowledge bases - one for War for the Overworld and one for our other services.

Click here to discover User Echo 2.0.

Here’s a full list of changes:

• Introduced a new landing page so we can support multiple services and expand in the future
  
• Added two knowledge bases, one for War for the Overworld and one for other services - these will contain answers to common issues
  
• Overhauled the statuses and processes behind bug tickets to make them clearer to reporters and thus easier to track
  
• Changed “Needs more information” to “Pending customer” - because there’s more than one reason we might be waiting for you
  
• Added “Completed - Next Patch” - All tickets will automatically be marked as this when completed internally, and will change to complete when a patch is rolled out
  
• Added “Pending Third Party” - If we can’t fix your issue we might need to approach a third party (such as Unity or Coherent UI), so we will set tickets to this while we await their response/fix
  
• Rejigged colours - because the colours needed a new jig
  
• Moved “General help and support” from the community forum to User Echo
  
• Added links to various other services such as the community forum and Discord
  
• Tidied up all the text and images - we’re sure you’ll notice the improvement!

It’s our aim to deliver excellent turnaround times on bug reports to ensure you get the best experience from our game. We’re gradually getting better at it too! To underline that here are some stats on User Echo’s first six and a bit months of use:

• 295 users registered
  
• 390 reports opened
  
• 8,149 unique visits; 31,420 page views; 2,137 comments
  
• Average time until first reply: 25.5 hours (6.2 hours since UE 2.0)
  
• Average time until issue completed: 15.7 days (2 Days since UE 2.0)
  
• 86% user satisfaction rating overall

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

The team here at Brightrock Games is always looking for ways to make everyone’s lives just a little bit easier. To that end we’ve taken the User Echo bug tracker, we launched a few months ago, and given it a complete overhaul. We’re calling it User Echo 2.0!



Our goal is to make it so that the process of reporting a bug and keeping track of it is simple and clear to all of our fans. We’ve also taken all the information that was previously strewn across our forums and compiled it into a pair of incredibly useful knowledge bases - one for War for the Overworld and one for our other services.

Click here to discover User Echo 2.0.

Here’s a full list of changes:

• Introduced a new landing page so we can support multiple services and expand in the future
  
• Added two knowledge bases, one for War for the Overworld and one for other services - these will contain answers to common issues
  
• Overhauled the statuses and processes behind bug tickets to make them clearer to reporters and thus easier to track
  
• Changed “Needs more information” to “Pending customer” - because there’s more than one reason we might be waiting for you
  
• Added “Completed - Next Patch” - All tickets will automatically be marked as this when completed internally, and will change to complete when a patch is rolled out
  
• Added “Pending Third Party” - If we can’t fix your issue we might need to approach a third party (such as Unity or Coherent UI), so we will set tickets to this while we await their response/fix
  
• Rejigged colours - because the colours needed a new jig
  
• Moved “General help and support” from the community forum to User Echo
  
• Added links to various other services such as the community forum and Discord
  
• Tidied up all the text and images - we’re sure you’ll notice the improvement!

It’s our aim to deliver excellent turnaround times on bug reports to ensure you get the best experience from our game. We’re gradually getting better at it too! To underline that here are some stats on User Echo’s first six and a bit months of use:

• 295 users registered
  
• 390 reports opened
  
• 8,149 unique visits; 31,420 page views; 2,137 comments
  
• Average time until first reply: 25.5 hours (6.2 hours since UE 2.0)
  
• Average time until issue completed: 15.7 days (2 Days since UE 2.0)
  
• 86% user satisfaction rating overall

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Brightest greetings Underlord!

While you’ve been tunnelling your way through the molten dukedom of Phaestus, summer has arrived (though barely if you live in the UK). Now you step forth onto the northern shores of the world, witnessing golden sands and turquoise seas, flush from the heat of Mount Phaestus!

Your Workers haven’t seen the sun in aeons, and while most skulk away from the light and back away into your dungeon, Aloha Worker is unpacking his suitcase - bucket and spade? Check! Flip-flops? Check! Hawaiian shirt? Most certainly, check!



Though judging by his skin tone, he might have forgotten to pack the sunscreen ... Anyway, you’ll need to be careful, Underlord - if this craze catches on the next thing you know you’ll have an entire dungeon full of flowery-coloured minions, more dazzling even than Kasita’s Home Realm!

https://youtu.be/pgGa0gqsl1g

Unpack your Aloha Worker skin on Steam and receive a special summer discount for a limited time - then bask with him in Skirmish, Sandbox, Scenario, and Multiplayer modes!

Priced at just £0.79 / $0.99 / 0.99€, the Aloha Worker is waiting for you on the Steam store.

You can also pick up all our current Worker Skins as part of a single bundle for a small discount!

In addition, backers of our original Kickstarter campaign using the Steam version of the game will receive this skin for free!

Have a lovely summer, Underlord ... And don’t forget the sunscreen.

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Brightest greetings Underlord!

While you’ve been tunnelling your way through the molten dukedom of Phaestus, summer has arrived (though barely if you live in the UK). Now you step forth onto the northern shores of the world, witnessing golden sands and turquoise seas, flush from the heat of Mount Phaestus!

Your Workers haven’t seen the sun in aeons, and while most skulk away from the light and back away into your dungeon, Aloha Worker is unpacking his suitcase - bucket and spade? Check! Flip-flops? Check! Hawaiian shirt? Most certainly, check!



Though judging by his skin tone, he might have forgotten to pack the sunscreen ... Anyway, you’ll need to be careful, Underlord - if this craze catches on the next thing you know you’ll have an entire dungeon full of flowery-coloured minions, more dazzling even than Kasita’s Home Realm!

https://youtu.be/pgGa0gqsl1g

Unpack your Aloha Worker skin on Steam and receive a special summer discount for a limited time - then bask with him in Skirmish, Sandbox, Scenario, and Multiplayer modes!

Priced at just £0.79 / $0.99 / 0.99€, the Aloha Worker is waiting for you on the Steam store.

You can also pick up all our current Worker Skins as part of a single bundle for a small discount!

In addition, backers of our original Kickstarter campaign using the Steam version of the game will receive this skin for free!

Have a lovely summer, Underlord ... And don’t forget the sunscreen.

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest Greetings Underlord,

Reception to Heart of Gold and patch 1.4 has been absolutely fantastic, we’re pleased to see so many of you enjoying the latest iteration of War for the Overworld. As we promised yesterday we have a new minor but not insubstantial patch for you today, chocked full of features and fixes based off community feedback.

It’s also a good day to be a DRM-Free player as we’re finally updating the build from v1.2.3 to this very patch. That means you can finally put the map editor to use and experience all the improvements we delivered in Patch 1.4.

We’re sure you’re eager to see what’s changed so without further ado read on Underlord!

• The DRM-Free build of War for the Overworld has been updated to v1.4.1, if you own the DRM-Free version you can download it via Humble
  
• Achievements & Unlockables have been added to the DRM-Free version
  
• Be aware Heart of Gold, Steam Workshop, and several other features are not present in the DRM-Free build as they rely on the Steamworks API (see the DRM-Free FAQ)

• Revealed areas that are not actively part of current gameplay (such as the top of neutral terrain) are now darkened
  
• Important gameplay elements such as gold and claimed territory remain lit
  
• This causes these elements of the game pop more compared to the background and helps to reinforce a darker atmosphere while allowing lighting to shine
  
• https://youtu.be/GSFm0pTdf5Y

• We’ve normalized the unit spawning values so you can more reliably figure out how large a room needs to be to attract a certain number of units.
  
• 1 Prop per unit:
  
  • Sanctuary - Cultist or Priestess
    
  • Archive - Cultist or Priestess
    
  • Foundry - Chunder or Warden
    
  • Barracks - Gnarling or Templar
• 1.5 Props per unit:
  
  • Spirit Chamber - Witch Doctor
    
  • Alchemy Lab - Crackpot or Firebreather
    
  • Torture Chamber - Succubus or Inquisitor
    
  • Crypt - Necromancer or Matriarch
• 2 Props per unit
  
  • Garrison - Augre or Juggernaut
• 4 Props per unit
  
  • Arena - Beastmaster or Huntress (Every flat edge tile counts as a ‘prop’)
• Room tooltips have been updated to display this information.

• Added a glow effect to active rally flags, making it clear which flags are currently active
  
• Warbands are now automatically expanded when active, displaying the cancel button
  
• Improved look of the ability selection in possession UI and added a little number above each ability to show their associated hotkey
  
• Room tooltips now show how many units the room has attracted versus how many units it can possibly attract at its current size
  
• It is now possible to switch abilities in Possession with the scrollwheel
  
• Improved accuracy of the “Zoom To” function eg. when a unit portrait or any other button is right clicked.

• The “Heart of Gold Now Available” and “Access Heart of Gold” arrows can now be dismissed permanently by clicking a small X button
  
• Updated the descriptions of several Skirmish maps

• Construction Ritual will now explain that it cannot construct Outposts on certain maps
  
• Upgraded Barracks Tooltip now correctly accounts for training support slots which can be used by Gnarlings to support other minions

• Unidentified artefacts are now random by default, if no weight is set for any effect (previously these would always identify as gold artefacts)
  
• Neutral defences can no longer be placed (they were not fully supported and resulted in various issues)
  
• Existing Neutral defences on custom maps will self-destruct upon map start

• Removed a sequence in Level 11 where the player was forced to view the introduction of a summoning stone

• Delayed the initial rush by Underlord Draven by an additional 4 minutes. Allowing the player more time to prepare

• Resolved an issue that prevented roaming parties of heroes from attacking your dungeon and providing a steady source of bodies to turn to gold...

• Reduced the level and number of units that attack the player as they defeat enemy bosses

• Sentinels and Stone Knights can now be dismissed by throwing them into a Gateway
  
• It is now possible to transform critters (micropiglets and rats) into golden statues with the Blood Money spell

• Improved the memory and processor footprint of critters (micropiglets and rats)

• Added sounds to Lava, Lava Falls and Water

• “You have found a neutral minion” alert now correctly plays only when a unit joints your side rather than when it is just visible to any player
  
• Fixed Taverns in Seastead II and Flood
  
• Fixed HoG outro narrator line could play too fast if user was had game speed set to 150%
  
• HoG2 - Empire forces no longer scream when leaving the combat zone peacefully… how disappointing...
  
• Disabled one of the Matriarch’s abilities in the Arena to prevent incorrect behaviour
  
• Sappers no longer require sleep, enhancing their performance in several campaign levels. The same cannot be said for coders.
  
• Fixed a repeating voice line on level 2
  
• Fixed level 13 waves being blocked by the main siege door
  
• Fixed an issue with the Glacial door which could occur upon loading a saved game
  
• While chatting in multiplayer games the spacebar won’t skip our beloved narrator’s lines
  
• Beds are once again correctly removed in multiplayer games
  
• Clients in multiplayer games will now see units XP correctly
  
• Clients in multiplayer games will now correctly see units training in Barracks
  
• Titan Stone spawning VFX will now disappear if the stone is destroyed early
  
• All clients in multiplayer are now correctly informed if a titan has been slain
  
• Fixed the Spirit Chamber flooring issue under the prop
  
• Fixed an issue which caused barracks to produce noise even when concealed by fog of war
  
• Fixed an issue where Stone Knights would not use the full range of available attack animations
  
• Beds are now correctly only shown if their tile is visible
  
• Fixed an odd case where a spirit could survive when dropped onto a Spirit Chamber prop
  
• Fixed a visual glitch that occured when viewing allied Sanctuaries
  
• Fixed a deserialization process in MightyQuest (Which impacted quite a small portion of campaign players)
  
• Fixed Survival not finishing on Core death
  
• Fixed a rare case where a Unit could still damage another while in Hand or outside Arena
  
• Adjusted win condition on C9 to prevent occurrences where it was not possible to win, despite achieving objectives
  
• Fixed and issue where the Bonechiller VFX could remain after the bonechiller is destroyed
  
• Fixed an issue where unit shields could get left behind if the unit was teleported away and then revived
  
• “Unit lost” alerts no longer play when Blood Money is cast on a minion
  
• Fixed an issue where Rituals were greyed out, when new Rituals were started and canceled, while a current Ritual was active
  
• Fixed an issue where doors would close automatically while a worker is fortifying an adjacent wall from inside the door, which pushed the worker, causing them to restart the task and thereby trapping them in a never ending circle of fortifying hell
  
• Fixed an issue where Constructs placed on higher terrain than ground zero (eg. Volcanic bridge) could never be sold
  
• Fixed an issue where the barracks in older saved games only had one training slot and only attracted half the correct amount of Gnarlings
  
• Fixed an issue where flying units fruitlessly tried to fly on the top of walls, causing no visible issues but a few background errors which in turn lead to lag
  
• The Sin Orb will now correctly flash when Mendechaus reminds the player they have a sin available
  
• Clients in multiplayer can now correctly see the units current activity in tooltip, unit panel and warband detail panels
  
• Fixed an issue where clients in multiplayer were unable to add units to the peace band/group
  
• Fixed an issue which didn’t inform the UI for clients in multiplayer about an active rally flag, preventing the rally flag cancel button from being correctly highlighted
  
• Fixed several issues found in user logs which may resolve some unreported bugs or lag issues
  
• Fixed an issue where loading an original campaign level while playing heart of gold or vice versa would cause the player to load with an incorrect Underlord colour
  
• Fixed an issue where enemies killed in the arena would take an extended period of time (to rot and disappear) before their fight slot was once again made available. Enemies slain in the arena now disappear after 3 seconds (down from 120)
  
• Fixed an issue on Heart of Gold level 4 where the work slot of a prop could be moved outside of map bounds, making minions unable to find them
  
• Fixed an issue where minions that are immune to lava damage were still taking damage from lava if dropped directly onto it from the Underlord’s hand.

That covers this patch for now. Rest assured we’ll be keeping our eyes on your feedback and there’s plenty more to come in the oncoming weeks and months.

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest Greetings Underlord,

Reception to Heart of Gold and patch 1.4 has been absolutely fantastic, we’re pleased to see so many of you enjoying the latest iteration of War for the Overworld. As we promised yesterday we have a new minor but not insubstantial patch for you today, chocked full of features and fixes based off community feedback.

It’s also a good day to be a DRM-Free player as we’re finally updating the build from v1.2.3 to this very patch. That means you can finally put the map editor to use and experience all the improvements we delivered in Patch 1.4.

We’re sure you’re eager to see what’s changed so without further ado read on Underlord!

• The DRM-Free build of War for the Overworld has been updated to v1.4.1, if you own the DRM-Free version you can download it via Humble
  
• Achievements & Unlockables have been added to the DRM-Free version
  
• Be aware Heart of Gold, Steam Workshop, and several other features are not present in the DRM-Free build as they rely on the Steamworks API (see the DRM-Free FAQ)

• Revealed areas that are not actively part of current gameplay (such as the top of neutral terrain) are now darkened
  
• Important gameplay elements such as gold and claimed territory remain lit
  
• This causes these elements of the game pop more compared to the background and helps to reinforce a darker atmosphere while allowing lighting to shine
  
• https://youtu.be/GSFm0pTdf5Y

• We’ve normalized the unit spawning values so you can more reliably figure out how large a room needs to be to attract a certain number of units.
  
• 1 Prop per unit:
  
  • Sanctuary - Cultist or Priestess
    
  • Archive - Cultist or Priestess
    
  • Foundry - Chunder or Warden
    
  • Barracks - Gnarling or Templar
• 1.5 Props per unit:
  
  • Spirit Chamber - Witch Doctor
    
  • Alchemy Lab - Crackpot or Firebreather
    
  • Torture Chamber - Succubus or Inquisitor
    
  • Crypt - Necromancer or Matriarch
• 2 Props per unit
  
  • Garrison - Augre or Juggernaut
• 4 Props per unit
  
  • Arena - Beastmaster or Huntress (Every flat edge tile counts as a ‘prop’)
• Room tooltips have been updated to display this information.

• Added a glow effect to active rally flags, making it clear which flags are currently active
  
• Warbands are now automatically expanded when active, displaying the cancel button
  
• Improved look of the ability selection in possession UI and added a little number above each ability to show their associated hotkey
  
• Room tooltips now show how many units the room has attracted versus how many units it can possibly attract at its current size
  
• It is now possible to switch abilities in Possession with the scrollwheel
  
• Improved accuracy of the “Zoom To” function eg. when a unit portrait or any other button is right clicked.

• The “Heart of Gold Now Available” and “Access Heart of Gold” arrows can now be dismissed permanently by clicking a small X button
  
• Updated the descriptions of several Skirmish maps

• Construction Ritual will now explain that it cannot construct Outposts on certain maps
  
• Upgraded Barracks Tooltip now correctly accounts for training support slots which can be used by Gnarlings to support other minions

• Unidentified artefacts are now random by default, if no weight is set for any effect (previously these would always identify as gold artefacts)
  
• Neutral defences can no longer be placed (they were not fully supported and resulted in various issues)
  
• Existing Neutral defences on custom maps will self-destruct upon map start

• Removed a sequence in Level 11 where the player was forced to view the introduction of a summoning stone

• Delayed the initial rush by Underlord Draven by an additional 4 minutes. Allowing the player more time to prepare

• Resolved an issue that prevented roaming parties of heroes from attacking your dungeon and providing a steady source of bodies to turn to gold...

• Reduced the level and number of units that attack the player as they defeat enemy bosses

• Sentinels and Stone Knights can now be dismissed by throwing them into a Gateway
  
• It is now possible to transform critters (micropiglets and rats) into golden statues with the Blood Money spell

• Improved the memory and processor footprint of critters (micropiglets and rats)

• Added sounds to Lava, Lava Falls and Water

• “You have found a neutral minion” alert now correctly plays only when a unit joints your side rather than when it is just visible to any player
  
• Fixed Taverns in Seastead II and Flood
  
• Fixed HoG outro narrator line could play too fast if user was had game speed set to 150%
  
• HoG2 - Empire forces no longer scream when leaving the combat zone peacefully… how disappointing...
  
• Disabled one of the Matriarch’s abilities in the Arena to prevent incorrect behaviour
  
• Sappers no longer require sleep, enhancing their performance in several campaign levels. The same cannot be said for coders.
  
• Fixed a repeating voice line on level 2
  
• Fixed level 13 waves being blocked by the main siege door
  
• Fixed an issue with the Glacial door which could occur upon loading a saved game
  
• While chatting in multiplayer games the spacebar won’t skip our beloved narrator’s lines
  
• Beds are once again correctly removed in multiplayer games
  
• Clients in multiplayer games will now see units XP correctly
  
• Clients in multiplayer games will now correctly see units training in Barracks
  
• Titan Stone spawning VFX will now disappear if the stone is destroyed early
  
• All clients in multiplayer are now correctly informed if a titan has been slain
  
• Fixed the Spirit Chamber flooring issue under the prop
  
• Fixed an issue which caused barracks to produce noise even when concealed by fog of war
  
• Fixed an issue where Stone Knights would not use the full range of available attack animations
  
• Beds are now correctly only shown if their tile is visible
  
• Fixed an odd case where a spirit could survive when dropped onto a Spirit Chamber prop
  
• Fixed a visual glitch that occured when viewing allied Sanctuaries
  
• Fixed a deserialization process in MightyQuest (Which impacted quite a small portion of campaign players)
  
• Fixed Survival not finishing on Core death
  
• Fixed a rare case where a Unit could still damage another while in Hand or outside Arena
  
• Adjusted win condition on C9 to prevent occurrences where it was not possible to win, despite achieving objectives
  
• Fixed and issue where the Bonechiller VFX could remain after the bonechiller is destroyed
  
• Fixed an issue where unit shields could get left behind if the unit was teleported away and then revived
  
• “Unit lost” alerts no longer play when Blood Money is cast on a minion
  
• Fixed an issue where Rituals were greyed out, when new Rituals were started and canceled, while a current Ritual was active
  
• Fixed an issue where doors would close automatically while a worker is fortifying an adjacent wall from inside the door, which pushed the worker, causing them to restart the task and thereby trapping them in a never ending circle of fortifying hell
  
• Fixed an issue where Constructs placed on higher terrain than ground zero (eg. Volcanic bridge) could never be sold
  
• Fixed an issue where the barracks in older saved games only had one training slot and only attracted half the correct amount of Gnarlings
  
• Fixed an issue where flying units fruitlessly tried to fly on the top of walls, causing no visible issues but a few background errors which in turn lead to lag
  
• The Sin Orb will now correctly flash when Mendechaus reminds the player they have a sin available
  
• Clients in multiplayer can now correctly see the units current activity in tooltip, unit panel and warband detail panels
  
• Fixed an issue where clients in multiplayer were unable to add units to the peace band/group
  
• Fixed an issue which didn’t inform the UI for clients in multiplayer about an active rally flag, preventing the rally flag cancel button from being correctly highlighted
  
• Fixed several issues found in user logs which may resolve some unreported bugs or lag issues
  
• Fixed an issue where loading an original campaign level while playing heart of gold or vice versa would cause the player to load with an incorrect Underlord colour
  
• Fixed an issue where enemies killed in the arena would take an extended period of time (to rot and disappear) before their fight slot was once again made available. Enemies slain in the arena now disappear after 3 seconds (down from 120)
  
• Fixed an issue on Heart of Gold level 4 where the work slot of a prop could be moved outside of map bounds, making minions unable to find them
  
• Fixed an issue where minions that are immune to lava damage were still taking damage from lava if dropped directly onto it from the Underlord’s hand.

That covers this patch for now. Rest assured we’ll be keeping our eyes on your feedback and there’s plenty more to come in the oncoming weeks and months.

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

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Darkest Greetings Underlord,

On the 31st of May we undertook our third ever Reddit AMA. We invited all members of our community to participate by asking us anything that came to mind, and we have to say we were incredibly impressed with the turnout.

For those who missed it you can read the whole thing here. Otherwise sit back whilst we regale you with some of the highlights.


Dr Kersh kicked us off with the big questions

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Q: Do you regret releasing the game in a beta state and getting not so good reviews vs what would you get now?

Do you have plans to re-release it as a goty edition to try to get new reviews?
How many more big DLC have you planed for the game?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Most definitely. It has been the single biggest failure in our short history so far. Even today if you search for our game on YouTube you'll find TotalBiscuit's harsh but completely fair preview of the release version as the top result. There is no doubt that kind of initial reception hurts us even today, over a year later.

Those are the cards we played. We're on the other side of it now and pushing our hardest to recover from it. This latest release goes a long way from the games' perspective, but possibly more importantly I think it has improved our relationship with our fans - We're not here to make a quick buck and run. We want to build a reputation for a quality dev house.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

1. Yes and no. Yes because, well, it was pretty awful all around. There's no denying that and no excusing it. But we simply had no other choice other than not releasing the game at all - the entire team had gone several months without pay and various other things were already in motion, the boxed release being one.

2. We attempted to do that when releasing this DLC and get very little traction with the press, both traditional and enthusiast. A 'complete' edition later after all planned content is released may be something else we try, but that's still a while away!

3. Can't say for sure right now. We've got some free content already in the works though - more info in this answer.

Shazzam606060 looks for some advise on how to kickstarter his career as a voice actor.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

How did you do the voice work for the game? I was/am looking to get into doing some voice acting, specifically for video games, and frankly it seems that the barrier to entry is quite daunting, so any tips or advice for someone to either get into game design or VO would be amazing.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

For VA, we worked with an arseload of incredibly talented people. Richard Ridings, Lani Minella, Stephen Fitts, Lauren Synger to name a few. They made bringing these characters to life an absolute pleasure.

I got into acting on an amateur level back in 2009. I don't think I actually recorded anything that didn't make me cringe until this time last year.

As with most things, it's really about practice, and hurling yourself at the work for as long as it takes to hone your craft. A couple of general things:

You don't need an extravagant mic to record something worth listening to.
Listen to yourself. If it makes your testicles shrivel back up inside your body, get used to it. Being good is on the other side of that wall, and the only way is through.

Dick around. Experiment with voices. Learn accents. Go psychotic on car rides. Mastering the vocal apparatus is an extended learning process, and one of the best ways is to play with it. Have fun with performance, it'll keep you going.

As for penetrating the industry: send demos to people! Take a look around subreddits like /r/gamedevclassifieds or /r/recordthis, the indieDB boards, the TES/Fallout mod communities, whatever it takes to get practice in while making connections. If you're good, you enjoy it, and you try, you'll inevitably find something.

I wish you the best of luck. It's a riot.

Arscortica takes an interest in the artisitc side of development and Pat’s all too happy to answer.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Q: As far as visual design goes:

Was it your intention to have WftO appear a little bit darker/mature than the original DK games? I.e., in the design of design of the torture chamber (and the actual pained screams coming from it), the blood-filled sanctuary, and the spirit chamber?

I'm curious about the visual design ideas behind the Beastmaster and the Behemoth. For the former, most people probably would have expected some kind of minotaur rather than a micropiglet of unusual size. Meanwhile, the Behemoth with its enormous tusks sorta reminds me of a mix between the Demon of Doom Classic and a (very large) zergling from Starcraft 1.

Just in how far was the Huntress inspired by the Demon Hunter class from Diablo three? Or was it more of a case of convergent evolution?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Both the tone and the lighting have been intentionally made darker to push the flavour of our vision for this game. It’s been challenging balancing these aspects to a level we were happy with, making sure we kept in mind both our audience and the performance of the game. Making sure the atmosphere we intended to create worked in conjunction with the readability of all the units and rooms, was something that also took multiple iterations and much consideration.

It’s been really interesting gauging the suitable balance between gore and humour across the whole game. It was important for us to pay homage to this genre of game whilst pushing it out further with our ideas. Certainly the characters are indicative of this mixture of classic designs and more unique ones. The Behemoth is a personal favourite of mine, developed by our concept artist, Bobby. I can see the aspects it draws from different designs which make it feel very suited in the War for the Overworld setting, but it has a freshness which makes it really different from the traditional dungeon creatures.

I like the likeness in your description of the Behemoth. I see it more as the lovechild between a cat and a mutated dinosaur. I think a convergent evolution has been common in the process of most designs since we wanted to mix familiarity and recognisability with our own style.

Meanwhile Dante asks all the questions you needed to know about Richard Ridings.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Does Richard Ridings have a firm handshake? Is he as awesome as he seems? How did he get to be so big and strong?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Richard Ridings handshake is as firm as a steel girder.

He is even more awesome than he seems, so awesome that his voice will melt you if you're exposed outside of protective gear.

He became strong by voicing the Mountain in Game of Thrones and eating Peppered pigs.

There’s so many more questions that we answered; many about the state of the game, upcoming content or even a little on future projects. Be sure to drop by and read it all!

For now we’ll be leaving you with news that Patch 1.4.1 will be releasing tomorrow! There’s a few small features requested by the community included as well as dozens of fixes and other tweaks, we hope you’re looking forward to it!

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest Greetings Underlord,

On the 31st of May we undertook our third ever Reddit AMA. We invited all members of our community to participate by asking us anything that came to mind, and we have to say we were incredibly impressed with the turnout.

For those who missed it you can read the whole thing here. Otherwise sit back whilst we regale you with some of the highlights.


Dr Kersh kicked us off with the big questions

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Q: Do you regret releasing the game in a beta state and getting not so good reviews vs what would you get now?

Do you have plans to re-release it as a goty edition to try to get new reviews?
How many more big DLC have you planed for the game?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Most definitely. It has been the single biggest failure in our short history so far. Even today if you search for our game on YouTube you'll find TotalBiscuit's harsh but completely fair preview of the release version as the top result. There is no doubt that kind of initial reception hurts us even today, over a year later.

Those are the cards we played. We're on the other side of it now and pushing our hardest to recover from it. This latest release goes a long way from the games' perspective, but possibly more importantly I think it has improved our relationship with our fans - We're not here to make a quick buck and run. We want to build a reputation for a quality dev house.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

1. Yes and no. Yes because, well, it was pretty awful all around. There's no denying that and no excusing it. But we simply had no other choice other than not releasing the game at all - the entire team had gone several months without pay and various other things were already in motion, the boxed release being one.

2. We attempted to do that when releasing this DLC and get very little traction with the press, both traditional and enthusiast. A 'complete' edition later after all planned content is released may be something else we try, but that's still a while away!

3. Can't say for sure right now. We've got some free content already in the works though - more info in this answer.

Shazzam606060 looks for some advise on how to kickstarter his career as a voice actor.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

How did you do the voice work for the game? I was/am looking to get into doing some voice acting, specifically for video games, and frankly it seems that the barrier to entry is quite daunting, so any tips or advice for someone to either get into game design or VO would be amazing.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

For VA, we worked with an arseload of incredibly talented people. Richard Ridings, Lani Minella, Stephen Fitts, Lauren Synger to name a few. They made bringing these characters to life an absolute pleasure.

I got into acting on an amateur level back in 2009. I don't think I actually recorded anything that didn't make me cringe until this time last year.

As with most things, it's really about practice, and hurling yourself at the work for as long as it takes to hone your craft. A couple of general things:

You don't need an extravagant mic to record something worth listening to.
Listen to yourself. If it makes your testicles shrivel back up inside your body, get used to it. Being good is on the other side of that wall, and the only way is through.

Dick around. Experiment with voices. Learn accents. Go psychotic on car rides. Mastering the vocal apparatus is an extended learning process, and one of the best ways is to play with it. Have fun with performance, it'll keep you going.

As for penetrating the industry: send demos to people! Take a look around subreddits like /r/gamedevclassifieds or /r/recordthis, the indieDB boards, the TES/Fallout mod communities, whatever it takes to get practice in while making connections. If you're good, you enjoy it, and you try, you'll inevitably find something.

I wish you the best of luck. It's a riot.

Arscortica takes an interest in the artisitc side of development and Pat’s all too happy to answer.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Q: As far as visual design goes:

Was it your intention to have WftO appear a little bit darker/mature than the original DK games? I.e., in the design of design of the torture chamber (and the actual pained screams coming from it), the blood-filled sanctuary, and the spirit chamber?

I'm curious about the visual design ideas behind the Beastmaster and the Behemoth. For the former, most people probably would have expected some kind of minotaur rather than a micropiglet of unusual size. Meanwhile, the Behemoth with its enormous tusks sorta reminds me of a mix between the Demon of Doom Classic and a (very large) zergling from Starcraft 1.

Just in how far was the Huntress inspired by the Demon Hunter class from Diablo three? Or was it more of a case of convergent evolution?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Both the tone and the lighting have been intentionally made darker to push the flavour of our vision for this game. It’s been challenging balancing these aspects to a level we were happy with, making sure we kept in mind both our audience and the performance of the game. Making sure the atmosphere we intended to create worked in conjunction with the readability of all the units and rooms, was something that also took multiple iterations and much consideration.

It’s been really interesting gauging the suitable balance between gore and humour across the whole game. It was important for us to pay homage to this genre of game whilst pushing it out further with our ideas. Certainly the characters are indicative of this mixture of classic designs and more unique ones. The Behemoth is a personal favourite of mine, developed by our concept artist, Bobby. I can see the aspects it draws from different designs which make it feel very suited in the War for the Overworld setting, but it has a freshness which makes it really different from the traditional dungeon creatures.

I like the likeness in your description of the Behemoth. I see it more as the lovechild between a cat and a mutated dinosaur. I think a convergent evolution has been common in the process of most designs since we wanted to mix familiarity and recognisability with our own style.

Meanwhile Dante asks all the questions you needed to know about Richard Ridings.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Does Richard Ridings have a firm handshake? Is he as awesome as he seems? How did he get to be so big and strong?

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Richard Ridings handshake is as firm as a steel girder.

He is even more awesome than he seems, so awesome that his voice will melt you if you're exposed outside of protective gear.

He became strong by voicing the Mountain in Game of Thrones and eating Peppered pigs.

There’s so many more questions that we answered; many about the state of the game, upcoming content or even a little on future projects. Be sure to drop by and read it all!

For now we’ll be leaving you with news that Patch 1.4.1 will be releasing tomorrow! There’s a few small features requested by the community included as well as dozens of fixes and other tweaks, we hope you’re looking forward to it!

Cheers!

– Brightrock Games Team

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!