Hey there,

I've been working on finding a publisher for Folk Emerging, which is going well. It's important to find a publisher that truly understands strategy games and that will support its long-term development.

This process has also led to the decision to convert the map of Folk Emerging from 3D to 2D. This gives better results for less effort, time, and money. It makes it easier to achieve the desired aesthetic (90s history textbooks), it's easier to de-bug, and is more performant.

So, I've got the game fully functional in 2D with placeholder visuals, and I'm excited to share some concept art and some work-in-progress screenshots of the rework!


A quick test piece from a 2D artist:



Here are some very early work-in-progress screenshots using placeholder elements from the test piece:






Here are some of the recent gameplay updates, addressing some feedback from the initial playtests and publisher talks:

• Diet points: now multiple species can be food sources, with bonuses at each level as diet points accumulate for each species
  
• Ecoregions: tile chunks with the same climate & terrain share a foodweb instance, and the entire ecoregion is highlighted when hovering over tiles
  
• Less frequent Food choices: choosing a food source used to happen every turn, but now it only happens when entering new ecoregion or a food source has depleted
  
• Impassable mountains: natural borders; all lowland chunks remain reachable

Here is an example of how ecoregions are partitioned:



There is a lot more in the works that is not yet ready to be shown. I'm holding off on a public demo for now, as publishers tend to want to be involved in demo releases, and I'd like to give the publishers I'm talking to a chance to participate.

I look forward to sharing more updates soon!

Cheers :)

• Added SS Rank for shape evaluation.
  
• Shapes with a compatibility rate of 99.00% (99.90%) or higher will be evaluated as SS Rank.
  
• Added SSS Rank for overall evaluation.
  
• An evaluation will be considered SSS Rank if it simultaneously meets the SS Rank for shape and S Rank for color.

• Added 3 types of achievements that accommodate the addition of game rules.

• Adjusted the evaluation criteria for jewels from C Rank to F Rank.

• Added a feature to hide the UI.
  
• Added a feature to redraw the displayed jewels.
  
• Notes:This button is displayed only when there are 13 or more jewels in the collection.

• Added inertia when rotating jewels in the collection and evaluation screens.
  
• Minor display adjustments.

Hello there! It's your friendly neighborhood community manager, Katten, here. It's been some time, but starting right now until the 8th of April, the game is Free to Play! This is also accompanied by a Massive sale that is larger than any we have had previously, both of these starting at 19:00 CET
https://store.steampowered.com/app/394360/Hearts_of_Iron_IV/


If you are a new player or a veteran looking for people to play with, tips for your games, or just want to chat about the game, then join our Discord below. If we hit 100K members this weekend, we will be giving away 500 copies of the Base Game next week!

Click the above image to join the Discord, or click here instead!


Now, what is all of this new art and logos you see everywhere? Well, from player feedback and ourselves looking over the game, we thought it would be a good time for a brand refresh, as we call it. So, Hearts of Iron IV now has a new lovely key art with an additional gentleman in the back (let me know if you know who he is!), a new logo, and a little new icon that represents the game on Steam! This is also accompanied by "Waking the Tiger," "Death or Dishonor," and "Together for Victory" now being part of the base game in all senses. If you want to see a cool new trailer, check below!

• Hearts of Iron IV 80% off

• Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 40% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 60% off

• Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 60% off

• Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 60% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 60% off
  
• Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off

I know it's been quite some time since our last War Effort patch, but we're restarting very soon with the "War Effort Roadmap"! The content will vary from patch to patch, but the size of the updates will be similar to last year's. They will also arrive monthly, with quite a few planned before the upcoming expansion about [REDACTED], which is arriving later this year.

Now for a recap of what War Effort is for those of you that might have forgotten or for any new faces that are present!

What is War Effort? It's what's in the middle of a maintenance patch and a major update. They tend to include bug fixes, small quality-of-life tweaks and changes, gameplay balance adjustments, but most excitingly, they include new gameplay perspectives and focuses for some countries with older content. Now, what that means is that we revisit older released content and give it a more modern look.

That all sounds awesome, right? But it's important to know that this does not involve large changes to major systems, feature-level implementations, or non-fix changes to key calculations (combat, production, etc.). This is partly to ensure that mod support during these small updates remains manageable. We will receive larger changes for major updates that come alongside DLCs.

Now, what you've all been waiting for. Below, you can see the new and improved Roadmap! And trust me, there's more lurking beyond the shadows.

Today's blog will explain the gameplay systems of Ascent and the new map - how does a game mode about climbing actually work? You'll be able to play from April 10th until April 30th, and earn a special Ascent medal for taking part - if you have more questions about the event itself, check out the FAQ here. For gameplay, you're already in the right place - let's get into it!

The Ascent map only has one objective - a capture point at the top of the mountain where the Austro-Hungarians have established a command post in a few snow blasted wooden huts. However, it's really more about the journey than the destination this time - there are 10 forward spawn points for the Italians scattered across the various ledges on the Marmolada cliffside, and the Austro-Hungarians have almost as many.


Combat around the command post. It doesn't look like much, but the strategic value is enormous.

A rush to the top won't work - the Italians need to advance ledge by ledge, destroying the Austro-Hungarian forward spawn points and establishing their own. The final step is getting a foothold on the top of the mountain with one or both of the two forward spawn points up there, and finally storming the command post. How hard can it be?

Scaling the mountain is the only way up for the Italians. Hand over hand, clinging to the unforgiving rock of the cliff face. There are no alternate routes or clever shortcuts.

The mechanics of climbing are not too complicated - approach the cliff and press the button to switch from regular movement to climbing. A prompt will show up when you're close enough, in the same way you get prompts for mounting heavy weapons or cutting wire.

Alpini reaching the top and preparing to assault the command post - there's a long way up before you get here though!

Once you're on the cliff, you move the same way as usual, except that forward takes you up, backwards brings you down, and left/right will trigger a sideways hop. This kind of sideways movement isn't especially quick, so it's highly recommended to plan your routes to minimize how much sideways shuffling you're doing - but sometimes it's the only way to navigate an overhang or stay out of sight.

And you will want to stay out of sight, with 16 angry Austro-Hungarians shooting or throwing rocks down at you. There's no yellow paint highlighting the best routes, so take a moment to scope out the mountainside, and experiment with different paths.

Luckily, you can improve the odds - at least for people following you. While climbing, you can place pitons into the cliff. During the First World War, pitons were actually still a relatively new technology, originally used only to aid a descent!

Pitons and ropes in-game.

In Ascent, if you place multiple pitons close enough together they will be linked by ropes. Once that's done, climbers following the same route will get a boost to their climbing speed. There's no need to attach yourself to ropes or anything like that - just stay reasonably close to the ropes and you'll move faster.

Do be careful about where you place pitons or which ropes you follow! You might be faster while following a rope, but you're a long way from being able to outclimb bullets. A lovely straight path with pitons and ropes is nothing more than a deathtrap if the Austro-Hungarians have good lines of sight to it.

Did you know that Marmolada was a key site for some of the earliest use of pitons in climbing? In 1901, expert climber Beatrice Tomasson was the first to ascend the 'South Wall of Marmolata', which was the biggest vertical wall ever climbed at the time - more than 600m/2000ft.


Beatrice Tomasson, right, alongside fellow climber Arcangelo Siorpaes, left.

It's not an April Fool's joke, the rock (not that one) will be a lethal weapon in Ascent!



Rocks fall into the category of 'easy to learn, hard to master'. The basics are: find rock pile, take rock, throw rock at enemy. If you avoid throwing it directly up above your head you'll be fine!

But once you're in battle, you'll find there's more nuance to it. Rocks are physics objects, and will bounce on their way down the mountain. You can adjust the power of your throw by holding down the fire button, to allow you to target climbers who aren't directly below you. It also means you can stay away from the edge if you want - depending on how sharp eyed the Italians below you are, it might be dangerous to silhouette yourself against the cliff edge while aiming a rifle downwards.

These piles are where you can draw new rocks from.

Ascent is inspired by the many daring climbs made during the war in the Alps - both the recorded ones and the ones done by soldiers whose names are lost to history. We also shouldn't forget that climbing itself is dangerous, all the more so back then when much modern safety gear wasn't yet invented or in widespread use. It takes bravery to scale any mountain, even if you're not actively being shot at.

Two names we do know are Ugo Vallepiana and Giuseppe Gaspard, Alpini veterans who made a series of climbs during the war. One of their most dangerous was during the Italian operation to capture the Castelletto, a strategically important piece of high ground. Vallepiana and Gaspard planned to climb past the enemy positions on the Castelletto and occupy a ledge 10s of meters above them, from which they could shoot down.

Their journey was not an easy one - a slip of his foot would have killed Gaspard, except he had the incredible luck to land in a snowbank thick enough to cushion his fall. Further along, the Austro-Hungarian occupants of the Castelletto spotted them and a sniper shot Gaspard in the arm. When that didn't stop them artillery was fired into the mountain they were climbing, sending shrapnel and rock fragments through the air around them. Somehow they still reached their ledge, and were able to haul up some heavier weaponry!

As often happens in war, their heroic achievement was sadly not as decisive as hoped, and the defenders of the Castelletto remained well dug-in. Ultimately the Alpini would dig into the rock below the Austro-Hungarians and detonate a mine - you can read about that in our previous blog!


An image from the other blog post, taken from Itinerari Della Grande Guerra. As noted there, it's included with an article about the Castelletto, but seems more likely to be an Austro-Hungarian mine at Monte Lagazuoi.

You can already wishlist our upcoming cosmetic DLC, which is full of cold weather clothing that will suit any of our colder maps, including the vertical cliff face of Marmolada in Ascent!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719540

Hey Flock! 👋 Season 3 is now out for Headbangers, which sees the arrival of our brand new gamemode: Battle of the Dancers. Ready for 1v1 rhythm battles to a selection of new tracks? Discover more by watching our Season 3 Launch Trailer below 👇

In Battle of the Dancers, the last Pigeon standing wins... or you could say it is Owl or nothing! Your aim to play the music in rhythm, without any mistakes. Hit all buttons in a row without any mistakes and you’ll begin filling up your fireball gauge. When this fills, you’ll send a devastating fireball at your opponent, which lowers their health bar. The pigeon with the most health at the end of the round is the winner and can deal the final blow!


When creating our new game mode, we have implemented changes based on community feedback since our launch in October 2023. Battle of the Dancers will include features such as voting options, expanding on the music genres and the addition of a Ranked Mode- all for Battle of the Dancers!


We are happy to introduce our new Challenge Skin for Season 3... The Painter Pigeon. Unlock this skin by completing in-game challenges and become an art icon just like the famous painters Pigecasso and Michelangelcrow!


Alongside the release of Battle of the Dancers and a new Challenge Skin for Headbangers: Rhythm Royale, Season 3 brings a refresh to the in-game shop, a fresh 30-tiered free battle pass with new cosmetic items and more!


For our Season 3 update, we have pushed out a small change to activate the Steam Cloud Saves feature. Unfortunately, we have no control over which save file will be uploaded to the Steam Cloud. We'd recommend to players who've played Headbangers: Rhythm Royale on multiple devices to play first on your device with the local save that you'd want to keep from 4 April 2024 14:00 BST onwards. This is to ensure the correct save file is uploaded to Steam Cloud.

We're excited to implement Steam Cloud Save and for progress to translate between players' multiple devices. For Multi-PC and Steam Deck users, we hope this feature helps you hit all the levels on your new Season 3 Battle Pass!

If players have any issues with Steam Cloud Saves or run into any bugs, please reach out to our Support Team via the following link: https://www.team17.com/support/


In case you missed it, we recently released our third paid cosmetics pack for Headbangers: Rhythm Royale in the Feeling Peckish Pack! This paid DLC includes 4 Full Costumes, 4 Garments, 1 Taunt, 5 Taunt Voices, 1 Neck Sound.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2333290/Headbangers__Feeling_Peckish/


We hope you enjoy Season 3 of Headbangers: Rhythm Royale! 👋
Headbangers Twitter
Headbangers Facebook
Headbangers TikTok
Team17 Discord
Team17 Twitter

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1761620/Headbangers/

Commanders!

The Year of the Pegasus continues with its third and final Season in Onslaught! This highly competitive, 7v7, rank-based, arty-less mode is back for the Season of the Jade Pegasus. Expect thrilling gameplay and lucrative rewards! You'll also find some new additions. Check them out:

From April 10 at 01:30 UTC until May 20 at 01:00 UTC

• New updates to the Ranked System, Role Skills, and Team Training.
  
• The Onslaught Shop: With every new rank, unlock a new tier of wares that you can purchase for bonds.
  
• High-rank goods include rare vehicles such as the 114 SP2, the Kampfpanzer 50 t, and the Concept 1B.
  
• Additional Maps: A new map, Siegfried Line, has been added, and the Redshire map has returned!
  
• More Onslaught-specific modifiers: Extra accuracy for everyone thanks to a halved proximity spotting range and a different base time for being spotted.
  
• The Hurricane: A unique crew has been added to this magnificent-looking tank, which you can get from Annual Rewards at the end of the Year.
  
• Team Training and Tournaments are now supported!

LEARN MORE

Enter your very own Arcade Paradise VR on April 25th! Get back to dim arcades, vintage washing machines, and 'quarter stealer' cabinets!

Travel back to 80' & 90' to run your own arcade! Manage business, do the laundry, clean the toilet, and most importantly, play 12 fully realized VR cabinets alongside 27 traditionally controlled games from the original Arcade Paradise!

Arcade Paradise VR is releasing on 25th April 2024 for Meta Quest 2 / 3 and Pro.




PS Expect more Arcade Paradise VR news this year!

A Royal Egyptian Godess is visiting town,
and Rayne wants you to stay out of the picture.
Will you oblige?



April 4th-April 8th ☥🔺🐈

Hey everyone,

It's finally here - you can now play as the fourth god, Inari (the Japanese god of rice cultivation and prosperity) in the newest update!





Alongside the launch of Inari, we've also rejigged our roadmap in a BIG way. We're super excited about the future of These Doomed Isles, and we've organised these updates so that we're putting the community first. We've listened to your feedback, and we want to make the core game experience the best it can be. Here's the upcoming changes to look forward to:




We heard you - we've sorted the issues with follower growth and the fix has gone live in this latest update. Thanks so much for flagging these bugs with us, your comments have been incredibly helpful to us. If you notice anything else, please do let us know.


Join us on Discord to take part in new challenges coming very soon. Chat with the team, share your strategy with other players, and meet new people. 😊

Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoy the new update!

Andrew