Oct 10, 2024

October update Week 2 - New area, improvements to weapons and more

Rise of the Village Hero - Luduspaxstudios

Hey everyone!

Here are the details of October’s first update.

New Enemy Weapons: In this update, I’ve focused on enhancing the variety of weapons enemies wield. For the first chapter, orcs now have an expanded arsenal. In addition to their clubs and bows, they can be seen using two different types of daggers as well as a sword. This adds a fresh sense of variety to combat, which I think will be fun to experience.
Some of these new weapons have also been made available for the player and can be randomly dropped by enemies, depending on your luck and the random generation system.
New animations added for all daggers in the game for the player so this adds again a variety to combat.
I’ve also added new weapons for the Pig Chef of the trolls, along with a couple of weapon variations for the trolls themselves. I plan to continue adding more to ensure each enemy feels a little more unique.

New Area: A new area has been added for players to explore—the blacksmith shop in Warlington, owned by Rickon, the tutorial NPC. Without giving away too much, Rickon has changed his mind about something, and you’ll get to find out what when you talk to him there. Be sure to explore the shop—it contains a few goodies worth discovering!

New Ability: Whirlwind Pirouette (Level 1): Rickon now offers a special reward if you complete his first quest—he will teach you the game's first ability, Whirlwind Pirouette (Level 1). This ability is well worth unlocking, as it ads variety to the combat. While regular attacks still require small amount of stamina (1 point currently though this may change with testing), the majority is now used for abilities. If you’re out of stamina, though, you won’t be able to attack—so manage it wisely.
The Whirlwind Pirouette is an area-of-effect attack that damages enemies within a 2-meter radius. If there are no enemies nearby, or they aren’t within that range, the ability won’t activate. You’ll see a circular indicator showing the attack’s range, so it’s best to engage an enemy first before using the ability to maximize its effect. This ability is particularly useful when surrounded by enemies, allowing you to hit multiple foes at once.
I’m excited to introduce this mechanic into the game and look forward to adding more abilities soon! This should add a much needed variety to combat.

Bug Fixes:
Fixed a graphical glitch that occasionally occurred when loading a new game.
Added a longer fade to the title loading screen for a smoother transition.

Testing and Balancing: With the addition of new weapons and the abilities, I’ll be running more tests to ensure the gameplay remains balanced. I may need to adjust enemy levels accordingly, but so far, the early tests look promising!

Demo Updated: The demo has been updated to include the new blacksmith area, the ability from Rickon’s quest, and all the new weapons mentioned earlier. However, the new weapons won’t be available for purchase in the demo version—you’ll be able to buy/sell them in the early access version game, starting in the Dungeon level.

Thank you very much for your support and see you at the next update!

Silviu

Oct 10, 2024

Playtest Wrap-Up: October 2024

Seekers of Skyveil Playtest - bananaband1t

Hey y’all, and welcome to the Playtest Pulse! It’s been a minute since we’ve done one of these, so to recap–this is where we talk about the feedback we’ve seen in the latest playtests, what we’re thinking, and what comes next.

Playtest Pulse is less of a laundry list of changes to come–we’ve got patch notes for that!–and more of a chance to continue the feedback conversation with you all. With that, let’s jump into the things we’ve heard since the last patch and leading into closed beta.

Major themes

Gear power and competition

Let’s start with a juicy one… We’ve heard gear power feels like it has too much of an impact on teamfights and overall power. We agree and are making changes right away.

Notably, we’re doing the Great Gear Squish this patch, which basically cuts the total power you can get from gear in roughly half. This means if you’re fully kitted out, your overall power level will be ~50% of what it was before. This power squish is evenly divided between all gear levels, so greens are half as strong as before, blues are half as strong, etc.

For now, your challenge rating will look the same as before, but the amount of power you have will be lower. 📣 PSA: There’s an issue with how CR is calculated this patch, which is resulting in bigger numbers than intended. In other words, a set of blues will look stronger, but that number is artificially inflated and half as powerful as before. This should be fixed in the following patch.

(Remember, your CR also includes the power you receive from leveling within a match. You can expect some changes with how leveling impacts CR in the future. We’re also looking at bigger changes with leveling, with the goal of providing more choices and expression with your Seeker's gameplay.)

Finally, we’re adding a temporary gear score limit to the Ancient Veil for the foreseeable future. It can be daunting as a new player to queue up for Ancient Veil and see players with 750+ CR. Some of this hesitation is well-founded (see above), and we hope the reduction in overall gear power helps games feel more competitive than before.

That said, we don’t have a lot of levers to pull to give new players more space in Ancient Veil (e.g. matchmaking newbies together), so we’re adding a temporary gear score cap of 500 CR. We expect this number to change during closed beta, and eventually we’ll go back to having a completely uncapped experience.

To all the veterans–thanks for being patient as we invite new people to help grow the game 🙌 And we hope we have more for you to chase in the future too (see the item section below).

A note on fairness

We’ve noticed more conversation around what feels fair in Seekers–such as gear score differentials not feeling fair–and we want to take a quick moment to talk about how we’re thinking about fairness versus competition.

One of the things that makes the extraction genre different from MOBAs or hero shooters is that you can come in with an advantage over your opponents. Finding and theorycrafting your build is a type of skill expression extraction games, but it also means everyone is coming with a different starting set-up. If “fair” means that all things are equal in a match, we’ll never be able to make a fair game because it’s inherently at odds with the genre.

That said, we do want to create a game that’s competitive. To us, that means even if a team comes in with a stronger gear set, your team can still come out victorious. If you stack the odds in your favor with a strategic team engagement, well-played fight, or clever gear set, winning should be within your grasp. And even though the fight may not have been totally even-footed, it should still feel competitive (hell yeah underdogs).

Itemization

Extraction games are all about getting in, collecting good stuff, and getting out. In order for that loop to feel engaging–whether you’re a first-time player or a veteran–it needs to feel exciting and motivating to make progress in your journey.

To that, we’re working on some item system changes, with the foundations coming out this week and more to come in upcoming patches. Here are the goals we’re striving for…

Items should matter. You care about the items you bring into the match and finding (or crafting) the next item in your build.
Items should give you choices. You have opportunities to customize your build to support exactly how you want to play.
Items should let you express mastery. The system gives you autonomy and has enough depth for you to express your expertise through your builds.
Items should be a mark of achievement and pride. Like, yeah, that’s MY shit. And I worked hard on it.

With those goals in mind, here are some changes we’re working on.

Base items provide fewer and more consistent stats
We’re shifting power away from base items and moving it into areas you can more directly customize, such as gear sets and gems.

Basic items will have fewer stats and the same kinds of stats, e.g. common and uncommon gear pieces will only ever grant a single primary core stat (like Defense if it’s a body piece) and nothing more. Rares and epics will grant bonus secondary stats. Legendaries follow their own rules.

Gems and passives
Passive effects on gems are fun and bring more ways for you to play your favorite Seekers, so we’re looking to get those online earlier. This includes gem passives, but also new additions like gear sets and on-hit effects on weapons. We’ll also be revamping our socket mechanics to base it on item rarity instead of a (ludicrously expensive) gold sink.

Gear sets
Wearing two and/or four items in a set will give you unique passive effects

Hypothetical example: You’re collecting the “Lurker” set. When you wear two pieces, you no longer generate footprints. When you wear four pieces, you accumate stacks of “Ambush” while sitting in a bush, which amplifies your next attack by x%.

On-hit effects on weapons
Weapons will have unique passives granted by gear sets, Legendaries, or passive gems, such as DoT from “burn” or move speed debuffs from “freezing.” Default weapons will have their own small passives too.

Gear salvaging
A major part of the new system will be gear salvaging, as breaking down gear will be essential in crafting the gear, stats, and gems you want.

Crafting 2.0
Crafting will become the ultimate form of progression because it lets you craft exactly the item you want. You can craft items within a set, craft the secondary stats you want, gems you want to socket… All with the right crafting pieces, of course ;)

Keep an eye on the patch notes in the coming weeks as we start rolling these changes out!

Metaprogression, or why do I keep playing?

We think the upcoming changes to the item system are important when it comes to the all important question of, “Why do I wanna queue up again?” The answer to this should often be to improve your build in some way, or maybe just to vibe with friends–which is great! But we know there’s more to it than that.

So far, we’ve focused most of our development time on “moment-to-moment gameplay,” which is basically what you experience during a match. All of the trappings that go around the game, allowing you to make progress across matches (aka metaprogrssion) have taken a backseat, but as we move through closed beta and eventually towards early access, these systems will need to be ready to go too.

We’ll talk more about our thoughts about cross-match progression in next month’s roadmap, including our plans for expanding Seeker Mastery, plus adding things like account leveling and vendor progression. We’ve got lots of hopes and dreams here!

The solo experience

There’s two different (but related) types of feedback when it comes to playing Seekers solo. One is from players who are down to queue with random teammates, but are running into some “feels bad” moments right now. The other is from players who want to rat with no teammates and no enemy teams–just all singletons. Let’s talk about that group first.

We know ratting (or just not wanting to deal with people) is a legitimate motivation for playing, and we’ve seen players make this a viable strategy. We want to maintain and encourage that, with things like individual extractors, expedited experience gains as solos, etc.

We’ve concepted and built Seekers as a team game (partially because that’s how we like to play games), so a true solo queue experience isn’t on the list right now. That said, if we keep hearing that solo queue is something many people want as we get further in development, we’re open to the conversation. It’s just not a priority for us right now. And if we did build a solo queue experience, we’d want to take the time and energy to balance it. We know some players would expect that of an officially supported mode, and we would too.

As for the players who are down to team up with new teammates but are running into hurdles, we want to tear those hurdles down. Here are some things we’re hearing and thinking about.

People want to hoard all the gear. For better or worse, this issue isn’t unique to Seekers–it’s something basically all team extraction games face. People want good stuff, so people take good stuff. That said, we think there’s some things we can do to help.

In the near future, you’ll see all the gear you and your teammates pick up in chat. Hopefully this opens the window to ask for a piece you could use, or at least gives you the peace of mind when you see they’ve only grabbed three gray heavy helmets when you’re Neri.

This doesn’t make people share, so we’re also exploring things like loot rolling to encourage a more equal opportunity for loot.
People are toxic. We’ll be adding tools to mute and report players before the end of closed beta. (Low-key I wish we could say, “we’ll solve toxicity!” but if it was that easy, the AAAs would’ve solved it by now.)
The lack of voice comms puts us at a disadvantage. We’re planning to add voice comms in the future. (See the above note, about adding muting and reporting tools too.)
Me and my teammates don’t have the same goals. Because there’s multiple ways to “win” a match, we’d love to explore a party finding system where you can find players who are looking to do the same things as you, e.g. gear up to the nines and go boss hunting, or barely gear at all and rat it out (and anything in between).

Smaller topics

PvE and bosses

We’ve been hearing that y’all would like more skill expression and variety when it comes to fighting bosses, named creatures, and enemies in general. We’d like that too, and it’s something we’ll take another pass at eventually. For now, we think we can have a bigger impact by focusing elsewhere.

Related to this–gone are the days of the naked Boop Snoot runs. Starting this patch, all enemies will do a “gear check” to emphasize that you do need to make progress with your gear in order to take on harder enemies (and thus get better stuff). If you don’t pass the test, you’ll do one damage per hit, and they’ll wallop you to bits. You can see the minimum CR required on the creature tooltips on the mini map.

Not a teaser, just development art!

Tunnel extractor event

This event is a (contentious) mixed bag. In the best scenarios, it creates heart-pumping, hands-sweating endings to matches. In the worst scenarios, it feels like an auto-lose because a mega-geared team is guarding the extractor.

We think the item changes and Great Gear Squish should lessen some of the painful side of this event, as will the temporary CR cap in Ancient Veil. But we’ve got our eye on it, and we might make additional changes in the future.

Lobby chat and friends lists

You want lobby chat. We want lobby chat. WE’RE MAKING LOBBY CHAT! This week brings a first pass at a whole host of social features, including a friends list, DMs, and lobby chat.

Extractor changes

We want a timely and well-executed extraction to take skill and coordination with your team. It shouldn’t be a stroll in the park, nor should it feel like an unwinnable uphill battle. We’ve made some changes to help strike this balance, and we’ve got more stuff cooking too.

As for the recent changes… We’ve heard generally positive feedback on the solo extractors we brought back last patch, although we think a lack of clarity is causing some people to unwittingly take a one-way solo pass out of the match. We’re working on some clarity improvements, including adding tooltips for extractors to the map.

It sounds like y’all like thwarting opponents trying to make a getaway on team extractors (you devious humans, you). So this patch, we’re introducing phase two of the team extractor changes, where you’ll be able to completely cancel extractors by destroying the three extractor cores. If you do, the extractor will cancel and anyone can channel it again, making a clean escape… if you can protect the cores.

What about gear wipes?

There’s been some interesting and nuanced conversations happening in Discord about the pros and cons of gear wipes in extraction games. To oversimplify… On the pro side, wipes can feel like a great reentry point at the start of a new season. On the con side, they can feel like the perfect time to churn when your progress is reset.

It’s a tough nut to crack, and we don’t think any extraction game has fully figured it out.

Seekers is pretty far away from moving into a long-term plan for gear wipes, but we are thinking about it. Our aspiration is to make a system that lets you opt into resetting your stash in favor of progression, such as unique cosmetics or account prestige. Combined with natural sources of gear drain and competitive play across gear levels, we dream of an economy that takes care of itself. It’ll be a minute before we’re ready to commit to anything, but we wanted to share our thoughts too!

WHAT COMES NEXT?!

First, we want to call out that we've heard LOTS more than what’s covered here, but uh, this post is already hella long. For example, we’re also looking at things like UX/UI improvements, changing the GLA (pre-match) experience, consumable tuning, and more.

You’ll start to see some changes addressing what we covered here this week, with more to come. And keep your eye out for more regular Playtest Pulses so we can keep the conversation going. Also roadmap next month.

With that… We’d love to hear your thoughts! Anything here you’re excited by? Did we miss something? Drop us a message in Discord and let’s keep the conversation going.

Oct 10, 2024

New Patterns - Update 1.27

Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition - PikPok Official

Welcome to the latest update for Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition!

We’re back with a fresh round of update notes, packed with all the latest details. This time around, we’ve made some exciting tweaks to the horse creator as well as introduced a whole bunch of new coats. Let’s dive in!

A New and improved Horse Creator!

This desktop-exclusive feature has received a makeover, making it easier than ever to create the perfect horse.

No more endless scrolling to find that one specific colour with the right dilution—everything is now neatly organized with separate sections for Coat Colour, Dilution, and Dilution Type, making horse creation a breeze for both new and seasoned players.

But that’s not all.

We have also made tweaks to the pattern tab. It now separates the coat by Gene Group and Patterns in those groups, making finding that dream pattern that much easier. If you know the specific pattern you are looking for you can try using the new search function.

Coats coats coats!

We’ve added 31 eye-catching new horse coats to Rival Stars Horse Racing that are sure to turn heads! Be sure to check out the Market, Stud Farm, and Horse Creator to discover a fresh batch of coat patterns and give your horses that extra flair!

The new patterns include:

Powder Appaloosa
Roaning Appaloosa
Flowing Leopard
Brindled Leopard
Clustered Peacock
Lilypad Peacock
Heavy Blanket
Chunky Appaloosa
Belted Blanket
Snowflake Blanket
Swirling Brindle
Hind Brindle
Twilight Dapples
Frosted Dapples
Snowstorm Dapples
Speckled Fleabitten
Patched Overo
Majestic Frame
Circle Pintaloosa
Half Pinto
Gradient Pinto
Lightning Roan
Fading Pinto
Splash Dip
Saddle Splash
Dappled Splash
Tobiano Strike
Jagged Tobiano
Scattered Tobiano
Neckline Tobiano
Speckled Tobiano

That’s it for now! With 31 new coats and a smoother Horse Creator experience, we can’t wait to see the gorgeous horses you design. Make sure to share your most stunning combinations with us—we love seeing your creativity in action!

Don't forget to stay tuned to the community for the latest news and competitions. Until next time, happy racing/riding, everyone!

Change Notes

Revamped the Horse Creator to improve ease of use
- Introduced separate sections for Coat Colour, Dilution, and Dilution Type for better organisation.
- Filtered pattern options by Gene Group to make finding the perfect coat pattern faster
- Added a search function for specific coat patterns.
Added 31 New Patterns

Fixed:

Quarter Horses were missing blue eyes.
Certain horse coat colors caused pixelation issues.
Training sometimes resulted in invisible horses, which could cause game crashes.
The second jump in the Steeplechase tutorial occasionally froze the screen..
The Steeplechase winner from last season was not displaying correctly.
Lifetime earnings were being counted as double in Steeplechase races.
In Foal Photo Mode, the mare’s hair floated if the mare was disabled by the user.

Optimized

Improved the generation of horse roundel pictures.
Improved tail and mane rendering.

Oct 10, 2024

Playtest Wrap-Up: October 2024

Seekers of Skyveil - bananaband1t

Major themes

Gear power and competition

A note on fairness

Itemization

Items should matter. You care about the items you bring into the match and finding (or crafting) the next item in your build.
Items should give you choices. You have opportunities to customize your build to support exactly how you want to play.
Items should let you express mastery. The system gives you autonomy and has enough depth for you to express your expertise through your builds.
Items should be a mark of achievement and pride. Like, yeah, that’s MY shit. And I worked hard on it.

Basic items will have fewer stats and the same kinds of stats, e.g. common and uncommon gear pieces will only ever grant a single primary core stat (like Defense if it’s a body piece) and nothing more. Rares and epics will grant bonus secondary stats. Legendaries follow their own rules.

Hypothetical example: You’re collecting the “Lurker” set. When you wear two pieces, you no longer generate footprints. When you wear four pieces, you accumate stacks of “Ambush” while sitting in a bush, which amplifies your next attack by x%.

Metaprogression, or why do I keep playing?

The solo experience

As for the players who are down to team up with new teammates but are running into hurdles, we want to tear those hurdles down. Here are some things we’re hearing and thinking about.

People want to hoard all the gear. For better or worse, this issue isn’t unique to Seekers–it’s something basically all team extraction games face. People want good stuff, so people take good stuff. That said, we think there’s some things we can do to help.

In the near future, you’ll see all the gear you and your teammates pick up in chat. Hopefully this opens the window to ask for a piece you could use, or at least gives you the peace of mind when you see they’ve only grabbed three gray heavy helmets when you’re Neri.

This doesn’t make people share, so we’re also exploring things like loot rolling to encourage a more equal opportunity for loot.
People are toxic. We’ll be adding tools to mute and report players before the end of closed beta. (Low-key I wish we could say, “we’ll solve toxicity!” but if it was that easy, the AAAs would’ve solved it by now.)
The lack of voice comms puts us at a disadvantage. We’re planning to add voice comms in the future. (See the above note, about adding muting and reporting tools too.)
Me and my teammates don’t have the same goals. Because there’s multiple ways to “win” a match, we’d love to explore a party finding system where you can find players who are looking to do the same things as you, e.g. gear up to the nines and go boss hunting, or barely gear at all and rat it out (and anything in between).

Smaller topics

PvE and bosses

Not a teaser, just development art!

Tunnel extractor event

Lobby chat and friends lists

You want lobby chat. We want lobby chat. WE’RE MAKING LOBBY CHAT! This week brings a first pass at a whole host of social features, including a friends list, DMs, and lobby chat.

Extractor changes

What about gear wipes?

WHAT COMES NEXT?!