Hi everyone!

Pre-alpha build 8 is a smaller update that focuses on improving the behaviour and available activities of the Wellies, Wastrels and special NPCs inside Wellington Wells. It also comes with some quality of life updates, that should help out a great deal with inventory management.

The more detailed changelist is:

Environment

• The world has been reverted to its 5 island scheme.
  
• The Joy Detector has been updated with new sounds to help indicate its current state.
  
• Added new animations and behaviours for Wellies, including:
  
  • Wellies now actually watch mounted TVs during Uncle Jack broadcasts.
    
  • Wellies now ride the toy car and Vespa in the park. (And you can too!)
    
  • Wellies play patty cake. Finally!
• Encounters should now spawn in the right biomes
  
  • (No more Wastrel dinner parties going unnoticed in the Village!)

Gameplay

• AIs have remembered how to open doors.
  
• Added personal safes ("stash") to shelters:
  
  • The stash is a new special container whose contents are shared across all shelters.
    
  • Crafting materials in the stash will be taken into account and spent while crafting items.
• Water storage: Canteens and bottles have been reworked to be more logical, as have recipes previously involving these items
  
• Two new random encounters:
  
  • Bobby Investigation: Bobbies inspecting a sordid crime scene.
    
  • Welly Barbecue: Wellies frolicking in the sun!
• The Multi-Tool and Advanced Electro-Lock Shocker have been upgraded to be reusable on any door/safe/locker.
  
• Sleeping now affects stats, depleting hunger and thirst as well as restoring a small amount of health.
  
• Joy pill dosages have been changed
  
• Fall damage is now based on distance travelled instead of velocity.
  
• Changed AI perception range and hostility persistence.
  
• AI dodge chance now depends on distance from the attacker as well as the type of weapon wielded.
  
• Raw meat and salt have been removed from the game.

Audio

• Added lots of new lines and responses for the playable character.
  
• Added additional Wellie and Wastrel greetings.
  
• Added various new gameplay sounds and several ambient sounds.
  
• Added ocean ambient sounds audible based on the distance of the player to the edge of the map.

UI

• In-combat inventory restrictions implemented:
  
  • Prevent using unequipped items while in combat.
    
  • Prevent changing equipment while in combat.
    
  • Prevent crafting items while in combat.
• Added setting to change controller or mouse sensitivity.
  
• Save games from older versions are now detected and present a warning when loaded that they might not work properly.
  
• Changed the container loot grid to be displayed on the right hand side, taking over the equipment slots.
  
• Crafting will no longer attempt to use currently equipped items.
  
• Added keybinds for sprint toggle and walk toggle.
  
• Added keybinds for quick loot actions "Loot All" and "Dismiss Loot".
  
• Allow controller to split stacks when dragging items (hold RT/LT to split one or half before dropping item).
  
• Properly detect controllers beyond the first (indicated by quadrants 2-4 on Xbox 360 controllers).

Miscellaneous

• Fixed multiple crashes. Hurray!
  
• Fixed the crash reporter for Windows 10.
  
• Minor revision of world generation algorithm - should see a slight improvement in performance in-game.
  
• The game now pauses while the world is generating. Hurray! Everyone starts at the same time.

Hi everyone!

Pre-alpha build 8 is a smaller update that focuses on improving the behaviour and available activities of the Wellies, Wastrels and special NPCs inside Wellington Wells. It also comes with some quality of life updates, that should help out a great deal with inventory management.

The more detailed changelist is:

Environment

• The world has been reverted to its 5 island scheme.
  
• The Joy Detector has been updated with new sounds to help indicate its current state.
  
• Added new animations and behaviours for Wellies, including:
  
  • Wellies now actually watch mounted TVs during Uncle Jack broadcasts.
    
  • Wellies now ride the toy car and Vespa in the park. (And you can too!)
    
  • Wellies play patty cake. Finally!
• Encounters should now spawn in the right biomes
  
  • (No more Wastrel dinner parties going unnoticed in the Village!)

Gameplay

• AIs have remembered how to open doors.
  
• Added personal safes ("stash") to shelters:
  
  • The stash is a new special container whose contents are shared across all shelters.
    
  • Crafting materials in the stash will be taken into account and spent while crafting items.
• Water storage: Canteens and bottles have been reworked to be more logical, as have recipes previously involving these items
  
• Two new random encounters:
  
  • Bobby Investigation: Bobbies inspecting a sordid crime scene.
    
  • Welly Barbecue: Wellies frolicking in the sun!
• The Multi-Tool and Advanced Electro-Lock Shocker have been upgraded to be reusable on any door/safe/locker.
  
• Sleeping now affects stats, depleting hunger and thirst as well as restoring a small amount of health.
  
• Joy pill dosages have been changed
  
• Fall damage is now based on distance travelled instead of velocity.
  
• Changed AI perception range and hostility persistence.
  
• AI dodge chance now depends on distance from the attacker as well as the type of weapon wielded.
  
• Raw meat and salt have been removed from the game.

Audio

• Added lots of new lines and responses for the playable character.
  
• Added additional Wellie and Wastrel greetings.
  
• Added various new gameplay sounds and several ambient sounds.
  
• Added ocean ambient sounds audible based on the distance of the player to the edge of the map.

UI

• In-combat inventory restrictions implemented:
  
  • Prevent using unequipped items while in combat.
    
  • Prevent changing equipment while in combat.
    
  • Prevent crafting items while in combat.
• Added setting to change controller or mouse sensitivity.
  
• Save games from older versions are now detected and present a warning when loaded that they might not work properly.
  
• Changed the container loot grid to be displayed on the right hand side, taking over the equipment slots.
  
• Crafting will no longer attempt to use currently equipped items.
  
• Added keybinds for sprint toggle and walk toggle.
  
• Added keybinds for quick loot actions "Loot All" and "Dismiss Loot".
  
• Allow controller to split stacks when dragging items (hold RT/LT to split one or half before dropping item).
  
• Properly detect controllers beyond the first (indicated by quadrants 2-4 on Xbox 360 controllers).

Miscellaneous

• Fixed multiple crashes. Hurray!
  
• Fixed the crash reporter for Windows 10.
  
• Minor revision of world generation algorithm - should see a slight improvement in performance in-game.
  
• The game now pauses while the world is generating. Hurray! Everyone starts at the same time.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! This update 6.2 addresses a large number of crashes and bugs reported by the community over the past few days. It also adds a number of requested options and performance optimizations. As always, we welcome all positive and negative feedback on the forums.

New features / changes

- Audio options menu implemented: you may now separately customize the volume of dialogue, sound effects and music
- Graphical options menu now includes the ability to customize the graphical quality, and a gamma slider
- Game now autodetects which resolutions your monitor supports
- New look for on/off buttons, boxes and sliders
- “Save Game” removed from menu
- There is now a “Resume” option in the menu

Crash fixes

- Fix crash occurring when repeatedly attempting to use a quick slot item while recoiling from a hit
- Fix crash occurring when pressing the text for the Resolution menu entry
- Fix crash occurring after taking power cells from certain security capacitors
- Fix crash occurring when unequipping certain outfits after using the heal cheat code (you cheeky buggers)
- Reworked the broadcasting functionality, fixing a few crashes and more minor bugs
- Fixed crashes occurring when you are interrupted while taking an action

Bug fixes

- Fixed melee collision detection at low framerates
- Reduced the number of ragdolls falling through the floor/walls
- Reduced the max velocity of ragdolls, hopefully won’t fly into the sky too much any more
- Goodbye darkness my old friend (fixed lighting in shelters when on low settings, hopefully no more black screens of death)
- Moved places of interest on chairs so that AIs no longer sit inside armchairs
- Fixed memory leak in world builder, which was causing the game to use more and more ram on subsequent saved games
- The main screen menu controls have been disabled while inside the console

Performance Optimizations

- Re-enabled eye adaptation on low visual quality settings
- Reduced overhead of audio systems


For those of you on the forums, there are a few issues that are not yet fixed. The fullscreen/minimization issues a couple of you have been experiencing are not yet fixed, as the solution is fairly complex (until then we recommend using the -windowed workaround). Likewise, AMD cpu machines are likely to experience an increase in framerate in this update, but some more underlying issues need to wait until we integrate Unreal Engine 4.8 (until then, we suggest waiting until the Navmesh Generation is complete - keep an eye on the bottom left hand side of the screen).

So, we'll be working on more optimizations and performance improvements for the next patch, but as the major issues should be fixed, we are going to get back to work on the game itself in preparation for update 7. In the meantime, have fun in Wellington Wells!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! This update 6.2 addresses a large number of crashes and bugs reported by the community over the past few days. It also adds a number of requested options and performance optimizations. As always, we welcome all positive and negative feedback on the forums.

New features / changes

- Audio options menu implemented: you may now separately customize the volume of dialogue, sound effects and music
- Graphical options menu now includes the ability to customize the graphical quality, and a gamma slider
- Game now autodetects which resolutions your monitor supports
- New look for on/off buttons, boxes and sliders
- “Save Game” removed from menu
- There is now a “Resume” option in the menu

Crash fixes

- Fix crash occurring when repeatedly attempting to use a quick slot item while recoiling from a hit
- Fix crash occurring when pressing the text for the Resolution menu entry
- Fix crash occurring after taking power cells from certain security capacitors
- Fix crash occurring when unequipping certain outfits after using the heal cheat code (you cheeky buggers)
- Reworked the broadcasting functionality, fixing a few crashes and more minor bugs
- Fixed crashes occurring when you are interrupted while taking an action

Bug fixes

- Fixed melee collision detection at low framerates
- Reduced the number of ragdolls falling through the floor/walls
- Reduced the max velocity of ragdolls, hopefully won’t fly into the sky too much any more
- Goodbye darkness my old friend (fixed lighting in shelters when on low settings, hopefully no more black screens of death)
- Moved places of interest on chairs so that AIs no longer sit inside armchairs
- Fixed memory leak in world builder, which was causing the game to use more and more ram on subsequent saved games
- The main screen menu controls have been disabled while inside the console

Performance Optimizations

- Re-enabled eye adaptation on low visual quality settings
- Reduced overhead of audio systems


For those of you on the forums, there are a few issues that are not yet fixed. The fullscreen/minimization issues a couple of you have been experiencing are not yet fixed, as the solution is fairly complex (until then we recommend using the -windowed workaround). Likewise, AMD cpu machines are likely to experience an increase in framerate in this update, but some more underlying issues need to wait until we integrate Unreal Engine 4.8 (until then, we suggest waiting until the Navmesh Generation is complete - keep an eye on the bottom left hand side of the screen).

So, we'll be working on more optimizations and performance improvements for the next patch, but as the major issues should be fixed, we are going to get back to work on the game itself in preparation for update 7. In the meantime, have fun in Wellington Wells!

Greetings everyone! It IS a lovely day for it.

First of all, welcome to our Kickstarter pre-alpha backers! It’s great to have you on board and running around the streets of Wellington Wells. If you have not done so yet, please sign up on our forums so you can let us know all the positive, negative and “wtf” feedback you have.

Update 6.1 is a small update that focuses predominantly on technical improvements, rather than content/gameplay updates. In no particular order, here is this week’s changelist:

The new main menu is in! Specifically:

• We have a shiny new main menu. No more will you suffer the stock Unreal menu with all of its click-related annoyances. Some of you may recognise that background scene from somewhere…
  
• Thanks to this, we have a range of new options for you to play with. We will be adding more over time.
  
• Rebindable controls are in! For those of you with different control scheme preferences, we would love to hear your experience with this system.
  
• Better loading screen.
  
• Please be aware that we have not implemented full main menu support for controllers. In-game a controller still works a-okay, but you may need a mouse/keyboard to get started. Yes, we will fix this later.

Saved games are implemented! Some notes:

• You can now save your game! This means you can quit the game and return later to where you left off.
  
• This is the first public pass of our saved game implementation, and it is definitely not fully bug-free. We want to hear about any issues you have with this system.

Automatic crash reporting:

• We now have an automatic crash reporting system, which will run if the game crashes while you are playing. It will give you the option to upload to us a bunch of data about the crash, which will help us figure out a solution. It would help us greatly if you could click Yes if and when you crash but, of course, there is no obligation to do so.
  
• This won’t include any personal information about you, but it may include some technical information about your PC.

Audio:

• New suspicion and combat music! We wanted to make sure this music was a little bit more sinister and more appropriate for the time period, so you’ll hear electronic instruments from the 1960s and a darker, creepier edge to the melodies/harmonies.
  
• New Wastrel barks! The Wastrels now talk as they always should have, and don’t just repeat random Wellie sayings.

Art:

• We have updated the art in the Garden District with slightly improved buildings, props and signage.
  
• We have added height variation to the Garden District - so things should be a little less flat.

Performance improvements:

• We have spent a good amount of time improving the performance profile/framerate for users on the “low” quality setting. If you are having trouble running the build at a decent framerate, please try adjusting these quality settings. We are still interested in hearing about how the game is running on various PCs, so if you’d like to help us out, please post this feedback on our forums.
  
• We have done some work on improving the load times when the build is generating.
  
• A vast array of technical fixes have been implemented.

And, as always, there are probably a few other changes that we have missed. We hope you enjoy the improvements!

Greetings everyone! It IS a lovely day for it.

First of all, welcome to our Kickstarter pre-alpha backers! It’s great to have you on board and running around the streets of Wellington Wells. If you have not done so yet, please sign up on our forums so you can let us know all the positive, negative and “wtf” feedback you have.

Update 6.1 is a small update that focuses predominantly on technical improvements, rather than content/gameplay updates. In no particular order, here is this week’s changelist:

The new main menu is in! Specifically:

• We have a shiny new main menu. No more will you suffer the stock Unreal menu with all of its click-related annoyances. Some of you may recognise that background scene from somewhere…
  
• Thanks to this, we have a range of new options for you to play with. We will be adding more over time.
  
• Rebindable controls are in! For those of you with different control scheme preferences, we would love to hear your experience with this system.
  
• Better loading screen.
  
• Please be aware that we have not implemented full main menu support for controllers. In-game a controller still works a-okay, but you may need a mouse/keyboard to get started. Yes, we will fix this later.

Saved games are implemented! Some notes:

• You can now save your game! This means you can quit the game and return later to where you left off.
  
• This is the first public pass of our saved game implementation, and it is definitely not fully bug-free. We want to hear about any issues you have with this system.

Automatic crash reporting:

• We now have an automatic crash reporting system, which will run if the game crashes while you are playing. It will give you the option to upload to us a bunch of data about the crash, which will help us figure out a solution. It would help us greatly if you could click Yes if and when you crash but, of course, there is no obligation to do so.
  
• This won’t include any personal information about you, but it may include some technical information about your PC.

Audio:

• New suspicion and combat music! We wanted to make sure this music was a little bit more sinister and more appropriate for the time period, so you’ll hear electronic instruments from the 1960s and a darker, creepier edge to the melodies/harmonies.
  
• New Wastrel barks! The Wastrels now talk as they always should have, and don’t just repeat random Wellie sayings.

Art:

• We have updated the art in the Garden District with slightly improved buildings, props and signage.
  
• We have added height variation to the Garden District - so things should be a little less flat.

Performance improvements:

• We have spent a good amount of time improving the performance profile/framerate for users on the “low” quality setting. If you are having trouble running the build at a decent framerate, please try adjusting these quality settings. We are still interested in hearing about how the game is running on various PCs, so if you’d like to help us out, please post this feedback on our forums.
  
• We have done some work on improving the load times when the build is generating.
  
• A vast array of technical fixes have been implemented.

And, as always, there are probably a few other changes that we have missed. We hope you enjoy the improvements!

Greetings fellow Downers,

We are very proud to announce that we have reached our goal on Kickstarter, with the help of the great community of Wellington Wells! Thank you for helping spread the word, in all the ways, forms, and sizes that you did.

In the background, we’ve been working on this Pre-Alpha Update #6, which adds stealth mechanics, a vastly improved Garden District, and a number of new random encounters (and maybe even a cheeky scenario or two). It also adds something many of you have been asking for: a glorious, mostly functioning, map!

However, bear in mind that generating the world takes a fair amount of time right now - we’ll be addressing this over the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, we suggest you make a cup of tea while the world generates.

Without further ado, here is a more detailed changelist:

UI

• New map! You now know where you are in Wellington Wells. Of course, you just can’t remember where anything is. Left click to scroll, mousewheel to zoom.
  
• Your health has moved. It’s in the top left corner now.
  
• New Wellie awareness icons. No longer must you suffer basic yellow/red/white icons.
  
• New suspicion indicator. Now you’ll get better feedback on what’s suspicious and what isn’t in the various parts of Wellington Wells. This is the picture to the left of your health bar.
  
• New stealth icon. Now you’ll know if you’re spotted or not. Crouch to activate.
  
• You can now see controls in the main menu by pressing escaping and clicking on “Show Controls”. Rebindable controls coming soon, but are not in yet.
  
• Items now contain information on how effective (or ineffective) they are at certain things.
  
• Item descriptions have been rewritten.

World Generation

• Male Wastrel model is added! (Previous one was just a temporarily retextured Welly.)
  
• Garden District: New street textures, and footpaths! No longer will you have to stick your fancy shoes in the mud.
  
• Garden District: House variety increased by a factor of 5.
  
• Garden District: Appropriate art/content added to existing house.
  
• New random encounters may now be found throughout the world. For example, the “Broken TV”. In this, you will find a bunch of Wastrels who like Uncle Jack a bit more than is healthy.
  
• Flowers, flowers everywhere.
  
• Several new shelters have been added, so you no longer start in the same place.
  
• New newspaper, with terribly unfunny anecdotes to read.
  
• Healthy plants spawn less frequently.
  
• New chemical crafting station.
  
• New scenarios! In the Garden District, you can now find a couple of new scenarios, that tell you more about the world of Wellington Wells.

Gameplay

• Wellies now spawn a bit more frequently.
  
• Stealth now properly in-game. Crouch to stealth.
  
• Different terrain gives more/less visibility.
  
• Stealth takedowns are implemented! Sneak up behind a Wellie to give them a not-so-pleasant hug.
  
• You can now hide in certain cunning locations.
  
• New items implemented! You now have something to wear for all occasions. For example, you start with a “Simple Suit”, which does a little bit of everything, but nothing very well.
  
• New bridge encounters.
  
• NPCs can now fall and land hard.
  
• Throwing a corpse onto an AI knocks the AI back. Because, you know.

Under the Hood

• Vastly increased the amount of time it takes to generate the world, as we’re now generating a more complicated world. Sorry about this! We’ll be working on streamlining this in the next couple of weeks.
  
• Various crash fixes (including a tentative fix for the media streaming crash) and many bug fixes.

As always, there are a heap of other changes that went on behind the scenes. Feel free to come and discuss these on our forums!

Love, Team Compulsion

Greetings fellow Downers,

We are very proud to announce that we have reached our goal on Kickstarter, with the help of the great community of Wellington Wells! Thank you for helping spread the word, in all the ways, forms, and sizes that you did.

In the background, we’ve been working on this Pre-Alpha Update #6, which adds stealth mechanics, a vastly improved Garden District, and a number of new random encounters (and maybe even a cheeky scenario or two). It also adds something many of you have been asking for: a glorious, mostly functioning, map!

However, bear in mind that generating the world takes a fair amount of time right now - we’ll be addressing this over the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, we suggest you make a cup of tea while the world generates.

Without further ado, here is a more detailed changelist:

UI

• New map! You now know where you are in Wellington Wells. Of course, you just can’t remember where anything is. Left click to scroll, mousewheel to zoom.
  
• Your health has moved. It’s in the top left corner now.
  
• New Wellie awareness icons. No longer must you suffer basic yellow/red/white icons.
  
• New suspicion indicator. Now you’ll get better feedback on what’s suspicious and what isn’t in the various parts of Wellington Wells. This is the picture to the left of your health bar.
  
• New stealth icon. Now you’ll know if you’re spotted or not. Crouch to activate.
  
• You can now see controls in the main menu by pressing escaping and clicking on “Show Controls”. Rebindable controls coming soon, but are not in yet.
  
• Items now contain information on how effective (or ineffective) they are at certain things.
  
• Item descriptions have been rewritten.

World Generation

• Male Wastrel model is added! (Previous one was just a temporarily retextured Welly.)
  
• Garden District: New street textures, and footpaths! No longer will you have to stick your fancy shoes in the mud.
  
• Garden District: House variety increased by a factor of 5.
  
• Garden District: Appropriate art/content added to existing house.
  
• New random encounters may now be found throughout the world. For example, the “Broken TV”. In this, you will find a bunch of Wastrels who like Uncle Jack a bit more than is healthy.
  
• Flowers, flowers everywhere.
  
• Several new shelters have been added, so you no longer start in the same place.
  
• New newspaper, with terribly unfunny anecdotes to read.
  
• Healthy plants spawn less frequently.
  
• New chemical crafting station.
  
• New scenarios! In the Garden District, you can now find a couple of new scenarios, that tell you more about the world of Wellington Wells.

Gameplay

• Wellies now spawn a bit more frequently.
  
• Stealth now properly in-game. Crouch to stealth.
  
• Different terrain gives more/less visibility.
  
• Stealth takedowns are implemented! Sneak up behind a Wellie to give them a not-so-pleasant hug.
  
• You can now hide in certain cunning locations.
  
• New items implemented! You now have something to wear for all occasions. For example, you start with a “Simple Suit”, which does a little bit of everything, but nothing very well.
  
• New bridge encounters.
  
• NPCs can now fall and land hard.
  
• Throwing a corpse onto an AI knocks the AI back. Because, you know.

Under the Hood

• Vastly increased the amount of time it takes to generate the world, as we’re now generating a more complicated world. Sorry about this! We’ll be working on streamlining this in the next couple of weeks.
  
• Various crash fixes (including a tentative fix for the media streaming crash) and many bug fixes.

As always, there are a heap of other changes that went on behind the scenes. Feel free to come and discuss these on our forums!

Love, Team Compulsion

Hi guys

We've just pushed live update 5.02. This includes a number of fixes and updates to the build, the most important of which is that AMD machines should no longer hang on generation! Great news.

Here's a more detailed list:
- AMD machines not being able to load the game (this will teach us for not having amd machines in the build).
- Campfires can be looted.
- Reduce the number of water pumps in the wastes.
- Wastrel camp fire: warm up hands by fire.
- Wastrel sit down by camp fire holding their heads animation.
- Reduced wastrels health to 70%.
- Bench will now correctly defuse suspicion similarly to interacting with NPCs.
- Variation for unarmed combat (straight & uppercut).
- Joy Detector: Fixed missing collision after player went through it.
- Use syringe animation.
- More combat movement fixes.
- New signs added.
- More loot.
- Added pink smoke particle effect for the Joy Maze bridge map.
- Should have no more roads sinking into the water.
- Unarmed combat slightly more tuned, with additional animation.
- Updated OD animation.

As always, please let us know what you think on the forums.

- Sam

Hi guys

We've just pushed live update 5.02. This includes a number of fixes and updates to the build, the most important of which is that AMD machines should no longer hang on generation! Great news.

Here's a more detailed list:
- AMD machines not being able to load the game (this will teach us for not having amd machines in the build).
- Campfires can be looted.
- Reduce the number of water pumps in the wastes.
- Wastrel camp fire: warm up hands by fire.
- Wastrel sit down by camp fire holding their heads animation.
- Reduced wastrels health to 70%.
- Bench will now correctly defuse suspicion similarly to interacting with NPCs.
- Variation for unarmed combat (straight & uppercut).
- Joy Detector: Fixed missing collision after player went through it.
- Use syringe animation.
- More combat movement fixes.
- New signs added.
- More loot.
- Added pink smoke particle effect for the Joy Maze bridge map.
- Should have no more roads sinking into the water.
- Unarmed combat slightly more tuned, with additional animation.
- Updated OD animation.

As always, please let us know what you think on the forums.

- Sam