• Fixed being unable to eat meat chunks.
  
• Fixed hitboxes on all game characters.

Hey everyone!

This update comes mostly with feedback improvements.

Here is what's new:

• When choosing a perk you're now able to check future upgrades of said perk.
  
• On the pause screen, it is now possible to see all levels and descriptions of acquired perks.
  
• More info added to the character stats panel.
  
• You can check your Angel & Devil abilities on the pause screen.
  
• Added a timer when under the catnip power up effect.
  
• Added a text showing the amount of gold you earned when leveling past the max level.
  
• Added a bonus of 500 coins when completing a stage.
  
• Added an area of effect feedback to the bomber goblin enemy, to show it's exploding range.
  
• Added feedback to Ice King's boss dash. You can now see the direction and distance that he will dash to.
  
• Added names to main menu buttons when hovered over.
  
• Added button sound effects and animations.
  
• You can now choose Angel & Devil abilities using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from unlocking the "Too Easy" Achievement.

That's all for today, I hope you have a great week ahead!
Angelo

Hey Hunters!

Celebrate the upcoming Closed Beta with some TWITCH DROPS!

Watch any stream in the http://urltodirectory from July 20th at 10 a.m. UTC, until July 24th 10 a.m. UTC (during the Closed Beta!), and you can earn the Bubble DucK.O. Bubble and the stylish Snail Hat Cosmetic (exclusive to the main character, Seven)!



In order to get this sweet, sweet loot, you must link your Twitch and SHiFT accounts on the SHiFT website.


Start Time: July 20th at 10 a.m. UTC

End Time: July 24th at 10 a.m. UTC

For the Bubble DucK.O. emoji watch at least 30 minutes of Relic Hunters Legend content while this Twitch Drop is active on any channel to earn the ability to use this bubble to communicate with other Hunters.

Watch at least 1 hour of Relic Hunters Legend content while this Twitch Drop is active on any channel to earn the Snail Hat Seven Cosmetic and become one of the most stylish hunters in all the Galaxy!



Q. How do I link my SHiFT and Twitch account?
A. Linking your SHiFT Account and Twitch account is super simple!
1. Login or Sign Up for a SHiFT account at SHiFT.gearboxsoftware.com
2. Visit the “Connections” page and Select Twitch
3. Sign into your Twitch account.
Your items will be waiting for you the next time you play Relic Hunters Legend

Q. What devices can I use to earn and claim drops?
A. You can earn and claim drops using your PC/Mac web browser or on the Twitch app for Android or iOS. Twitch apps on game consoles, smart TVs, and other TV apps do not support drops.

Q. Do I need to watch the same channel the entire time to earn my drops?
A. You can earn progress towards a drop on any eligible channel in the Relic Hunters Legend Directory on Twitch.

Q. Will I receive my drop rewards in-game automatically?
A. To receive your rewards, you must claim the drop on the channel you’re watching or in the Drops Inventory menu on Twitch.

Q. Do Twitch Drop rewards expire?
A. Earned Twitch Drop rewards will expire 7 days after

Q. As a streamer, how do I get Twitch Drops on my channel?
A. Connect your SHiFT and Twitch accounts in the method above. The Closed Beta drops are enabled for all streamers playing Relic Hunters Legend. Read more and view Twitch’s Creator FAQ on Drops here

Lead Developer Programancer breaks down how he went about designing the layouts of some of Prison City’s levels.



When it comes to seeing the results, Programancer was content that Rooftops turned out as he intended.

Programancer: Rooftops by design is meant to be very entry level, and I put a lot of “first level” inspiration into it– the boss being a reflection of the first boss in Journey to Silius, the stage being inspired by a lot of Power Blade’s levels where you can see a platform or area in a screen you can’t reach without navigating above or below (the starting room requiring you to go up and around, and the contact room requiring you to go below and climb up).


Programancer: The first room is inspired by the bat skip in Castlevania, with the intention that speedrunners can coyote slide into a bullet to damage boost onto the platform and cut some time.




Programancer: Freeway was a bit difficult because I had to put in a lengthy stretch into a non-linear game- so I thought about ways to do that. Initially, it was just going to be a long freeway you walk along (boring), and then I thought about Mega Man 5’s Wave Man water bike segment and how cool it would be to have something like to start the level out with.


Programancer: And once that was set up, I thought it would be cool to do something different for the part after that, as well, so I took inspiration from Mega Man X’s intro stage with the freeway chunks dropping down after beating an enemy.



When it came to Cold Storage, like Rooftops, this level also turned out to be what Programancer intended.


Programancer: Cold Storage’s premise was just “ a level themed around a giant central area that you have to vertically climb,” and then the grinders were a good fit for the auxiliary rooms leading up.


Programancer: The grinders on this level were an idea from Retroware’s president, and I implemented them into the route pretty early in the design.


Be on the lookout for more updates very soon! We have more in store to share as we get closer to Prison City’s launch!

Wishlist Prison City and play the free demo available NOW!

Hello to all the inhabitants of the Zone! While you are fighting in the Arena, the designers of the combat system have prepared an article about the new Artificial Intelligence and further plans for its development.

Many of you have already noticed that at the end of May the behavior of NPCs and mutants underwent changes. That's when a new AI for NPCs and navigation tools (NAVmesh) for NPCs and mutants were added to the game.

We purposely did not write about it in the patch, as the increased attention to the update would have distorted the analytics data and we needed to look at the natural reaction of players to the changes.

In this article we will finally tell you about the features and tasks of the new systems, as well as share our plans for their further development.

---

The new AI includes two architectures - "finite automata" and "behavior trees". The life cycle of an NPC is based on "finite automata", where it moves from one state to another depending on circumstances. For example, from patrolling to combat (and back again).



• An example of an NPC lifecycle based on "finite automata".

The second architecture, "behavior trees", shapes and defines these states and makes up the bulk of the NPC's intelligence.



• On the right we see the "behavior tree" of the standard NPC.

---

• Combat behavior logic based on behavior trees.

During the development process, we looked at game industry standards and chose an AI architecture called "behavior trees". They allow us to detach the logic of the "agent" from the code and create a separate system that is available for work by a wider range of developers, including the technical game design department.

Whereas before, every change in the logic of mob behavior required the attention of programmers, now technical game designers will suffice.

"Behavior Trees" is an effective tool for implementing "agent" behavior patterns for specific game situations. The example below illustrates how the Crow Arena boss launches and completes his special attack.


• A video demonstrating how the "behavior tree" works.

Artificial intelligence was made while we were still working on the second part of the story. The first NPCs with new "brains" were Cyber Giant and Morgue with extras in the storyline quests.

After the second story line was released, the AI development department was given a new task - to convert the brains of ALL NPCs to "behavior trees", recreating the previous AI as accurately as possible using the new tool. It just so happened that as we worked on this task, it became closely related to the NAVmesh tool.

---

NavMesh or "navigation mesh" is a separate structure for orienting entities in the world, invisible to players. Thanks to it, both NPCs and mutants have learned to better find their way around obstacles.



• Navmesh visualization is exactly how NPCs and mutants see the world.

Why did we need this tool?

Mutants unable to walk through doorways, NPCs getting stuck in barrels, and... blind dogs spinning on the first space between parking garages.

We use various cubes, hillsides, various decorations and it all forms a complex geometry of the world. It's quite difficult for an entity to adhere to established behavior when it starts to occasionally "go dumb" when passing obstacles.

If we were to just improve the wayfinding system without additional layers of navigation, we'd have to pay the price in server load. At the same time, the situation in the world can change rapidly and require a high speed of reaction down to fractions of a second.

Based on these considerations, we decided to implement a navigation grid:

1. it exists separately from the geometry of the world, but is created on its basis. Thus, only "agents" can interact with it;
   
2. The system's work on pathfinding on the navmesh can be optimized relative to the previous implementation.

---

The new AI and navmesh showed themselves well on the game servers - at least there were no surprises! Although the changes are not too obvious for players, we have done the most important thing - we have built a strong foundation for future features related to the behavior of entities. Plus game designers are no longer limited by programmers' time and are free to create without any restrictions.

What we're currently working on:

• Fixes, improvements and optimization of the new AI. Returning the mutants' ability to jump on objects, NPC's ability to jump down and other numerous edits.
  
• Transition of mutant "brains" to "behavior trees" - now they use the old AI.
  
• Development of combat in the game to improve the PvE experience - teach NPCs to hide behind cover, throw grenades, introduce various behavioral scenarios.

This concludes the article about artificial intelligence and navigation grid, those who have read to the end get the achievement "Artificial Intelligence Connoisseur"! Stay tuned for more updates.

---

С give @player [respect],
Artificial Intelligence development department at EXBO.

It's really here, everyone! Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore is now available on Steam Early Access! We're so thankful to our growing community and how welcoming everyone has been! We hope you enjoy your time in Tormentosia. Our first area is Ambros, home of the Hedonists.

Enjoy your time creating towns, defending towns, befriending people, fighting adversaries, gathering, crafting, and more! Make sure to stop in the hub of Coreheim to trade with other players. Or just to socialize (keep it clean!) For more information about what's to come, please make sure to check our roadmap - which is always updating.

Also, while you're here, please make sure to take advantage of our Coreborn Supporter Pack! The Supporter Pack I currently includes:

• 6 Ambient Soundtracks (all Soundtracks playing on the Ambros Map)
  
• 10 Desktop and Mobile Wallpapers
  
• The official Tabletop Adventure "Bandits of Pipers Whistle"
  
• The official Coreborn Comic (Creation of the Ultracore)

Thank you again for supporting us!
- Blankhans Team

Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since the last update!



There are a ton of new updates to share with you all. We had a great first half of 2023 and development is going smoothly! We are still on track to release later this year.

First of all, we launched a new trailer in March for the Kickstarter as well as for PAX East 2023. You can watch the trailer here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgf_tQfnIfM

Hope you enjoy it! We, unfortunately, had to cancel the Kickstarter campaign after encountering some hiccups but rest assured that we are working hard to still get the game in your hands later this year.



Secondly, The Golden Eyed Ghosts was part of Steam Next Fest in June 2023 with a brand new demo! We had a ton of people play the game and give very valuable feedback. We also live-streamed the demo during Next Fest, and the stream is still currently playing so if you missed out on the demo, you can still see gameplay from the Forest area and the boss!



In terms of development, we’re at the content complete milestone now, which means the game is fully playable from start to finish, with all mechanics, enemies, bosses and side-quests in-engine. There’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of making the game feel good to play, making quality of life improvements, balancing and polishing. Stay tuned for more updates!


If you want more updates, make sure to follow us on Twitter!
As always, see you next time!



Signed,
The dev team

The game is now on sale for this week until 7/24! Now is the perfect time to buy it if it has been on your wishlist!

Hello friends! Due to the fact that many people had to stay at home in isolation due to COVID-19, we decided to add another Let's Play Together competition in the middle of the week, just for fun-with different crazy levels and (alas!) no prizes. We think it is clear by now this extra LPT is a permanent addition too :)

The rules are the same: log in to our Discord server, keep it running, play a competitive level, complete it with 5 stars and have fun!
Visit our Discord server (#lets-play-together channel) to learn more.

This week's level is

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2972882729

Just open the game - there's a link right on the main menu screen.

Good luck everyone!

In an alternate early 20th century, the revelation of new sources of energy allowed humans to achieve remarkable progress in space exploration. Initiated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, conquests of other planets—and their valuable resources—became real.

The enigma of an ecological catastrophe befell a mineral-rich planet Sophie; its inhabitants were forced to leave. Now, the most courageous representatives of the empire and destitute souls venture to Sophie. In these deadly lands of sand and wind, they seek one thing and one thing only: treasures that can change one's life forever. And if blood has to be spilled along the way—so be it.