finally, we got to a point where we are able to share with you what we have been working on for the last few months, albeit on the newly created public Beta branch (join at your own risk!) to allow the bravest of our vagri to take what’s coming for a spin.
Here's how you can join:
So what’s new on that public beta branch? Basically, everything we have added for hand-held porting and controller support, as well as screen optimization and accessibility features. A more detailed rundown of these can be found in our previous devlog here.
Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.
Patch 1.1.30.0126J - FIRST OF ITS KIND PUBLIC BETA
Content changes
Knowledge victory questline: Increased the drop rate for Pristine Crystals in the Crystal Archives
Slightly better price for Spice in Larnak, should you bring some from Tectum Carvos
New/Updated User Interface Features :shiny:
Revamped Bug reporting screen (and backend integration on our side)
A new, Full UI Zoom feature can be activated in the Video Settings. It makes the game’s content easier to read and manage on smaller screens.
Tutorial windows are resized and repositioned when the UI zoom is active.
Players can zoom into an active UI window using the UI Zone Zooming feature also found in the Video Settings. UI Zone Zooming has 3 modes: Pinch, Double Tap, and Direct Button.
A button has been added to check the location info of newly acquired Rumors.
Bug Fixes :bug:
The game no longer freezes on the Throw-out pane after a Mount-up + Dismount outrider combo
Fixed a bug where Movement Points were not refreshed on a new day after inventory overflow
A number of tooltips that were disappearing are now fixed
Predicted Authority can no longer go over 6
Fixed a bug where Event texts were chopped off on resolutions higher than 1080p (Full HD)
Fixed a bug where the Heat Shielding Crystal was not working in some cases
Some UI inconsistencies in ‘Pilgrims of the Wasteland’ were fixed
Reenabled shadow effect on Load Game/Save Game screens
Fixed a bug that caused certain Companion Combat preparation animation phases to be missing
Fixed a bug where the decals of DOT Skills were missing
The name field of the description in Companion Combat is now empty when there’s no character to show the description of
Fixed a bug where sometimes the combat background was black if Companion Combat was triggered in a settlement
Finndurarth’s missing Skill SFX was added
Known Issues:
There are still some inconsistencies with UI zooming and the new tutorial windows
Sometimes escort/rescue Tasks do not work correctly
The character sheet pictures are sometimes not correct in Companion Combat
Sometimes Gear is shown to be still used by a Companion who has already left the comitatus
Coming Up Next
Controller support /'beta'/ refinements (e.g.: campaign map movement)
Deal with the slaves option at the end of Crew Combat
Obstacles in Companion Combat
Stay tuned and conquer the wasteland! - The Lost Pilgrims Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!
We hope all of you had a great holiday season, feel recharged, and are looking forward to the New Year. After a much-needed break on our side, we are ready to start the year now, reinvigorated to bring Vagrus to more devices and deliver a new DLC this year.
On the development side, we have been working on implementing small screen and controller support to enable playing Vagrus on Steam Deck (and eventually, other handheld devices, too). We did expect that tackling these additions would be a daunting task, though truth be told, it has proven even more difficult than we had hoped. Nevertheless, we are nearing a point where our progress may be worth sharing on a public beta branch so more folks with Steam Decks and controllers could chime in. We are implementing a new version of the in-game reporting tool. Not just to make it easier on the eyes but to improve their classification and automate part of the process on our end, thereby helping us not to lose track of anything important. Stay tuned for these changes.
Important Notice - Price Changes Coming
We published a thread on our discussion forum back in November about this but we would like to draw everyone’s attention to the upcoming price changes again. Especially, as the currently running discount cycle (Jan 12-16, 2023) is the last sale during which Vagrus can be bought at its current price.
As you may have read in the news, Steam has updated (and is said to be doing so more frequently) its regional pricing tables to better reflect the turbulence of current exchange rates, and we are following suit. In some currencies, the game will actually become cheaper, while in others the price will remain the same or increase slightly.
Some background on this: in our view, regional pricing is a great thing, allowing players who live in regions where their purchasing power is much less to buy games via Steam at a reduced price. Steam's system requires developers to set a fixed price for those regions which, as the exchange rates move, becomes outdated. We can also see that countries with the lowest prices account for a disproportionate amount of copies sold, which indicates that despite Steam's region-lock efforts, these currencies are also being used for resales.
We understand that no one likes price increases. We live in a country with 50%+ inflation on food, so we get it. We also have to pay for said food, so sadly, we do not exactly have the luxury to ignore these changes. We want to stay afloat and keep enriching the world of Vagrus. We hope everyone can appreciate this.
Currencies with no price change: USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, RMB, JPY, IDR, PHP, VND, CLP, COP, ZAR, SAR, AED, and ILS.
Currencies with the price decreasing: MYR, SGD, THB, MXN, TWD, PEN, KWD, and CRC.
In any other currencies, the price will increase (including the CIS regional USD price).
Skittering in the darkness
Last but not least, a bit of a shameless teaser; something is brewing in our kitchens at Lost Pilgrims, and it’s not just coffee. We simply wish to present you with an image, of a land whose denizens and inhabitants have been exterminated, but not by the Calamity… What could have happened? You will be able to find out, in time.
Also, in our next lore update, you will be able to read about the most dangerous ruins of the continent.
With all that out of the way, stay tuned and conquer the wasteland! - The Lost Pilgrims Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!
Oh, it’s that time of the year: jingles and laughter. Not in the Riven Realms or at the Lost Pilgrims office, though. 😈 We close this year by preparing with new dangers, difficult decisions, and harsh consequences for our upcoming DLC. It’s gonna take quite a while still but we hope that it’ll be worth the wait.
Meanwhile, on the development side, we have been working on implementing small screen and controller support to enable playing Vagrus on Steam Deck (and eventually, other handheld devices, too). We expected tackling those to be a daunting task but truth be told, it has been going even slower than we had hoped so, despite our best efforts, we are not able to share it before the holidays. It would be just too risky to release it before it’s thoroughly tested by enough people.
And with that, we are closing the books on this year. We will also be taking a little time off to recharge our batteries. As for the greeting card above, we did hold a photoshoot in the office for it but we worked so much on Vagrus that our images turned into in-game characters in the end.
To anyone who doesn’t have Vagrus or its DLCs yet, we would like to wish you Happy Holidays with some pretty neat discounts, too.
Stay tuned and conquer the wasteland! - The Lost Pilgrims Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!
Our friends at MuHa Games (Thea I-II.) and Slitherine have just released their amazing game here on Steam.
Imagine yourself looking into an arcane mirror and finding the other side calling out to you, promising great power and knowledge. You step through…
Imagine you see before you a realm where all the mirrors connect, where the very essence of Magic resides. The twin worlds of Arcanus and Myrror, ripe for the taking…
Whatever power and status you might have had before, here you must start anew. You will need to re-learn your magic and prove your worth to your new subjects.
Imagine leading your new subjects to conquest, carving a mighty empire, one that can fuel your thirst for knowledge and power.
In time, you would meet other Wizards, each rising from equally humble beginnings, each striving for the same prize - the ultimate power promised by the whispers from the mirror.
They will be your rivals. You might ally with them, for a time… but war is inevitable. Crush their armies, conquer their cities, and take their spellbooks.
For, In the end, there can be only one Master of Magic…
Master of Magic is developed in partnership between Slitherine and our friends from MuHa Games. It is the reimagining of the timeless classic released in the 90s: the original Master of Magic can be considered a milestone in the fantasy strategy genre, inspiring a whole range of titles. The new Master of Magic stays faithful to the original, with an updated game experience and in-depth content.
Fight and conquer the two parallel dimensional planes of Arcanus and Myrror, forge alliances, expand your dominion or dominate the world, every spell counts on the way to rule the world.
Lead 14 fantastic armies of otherworldly creatures, from orcs to elves and draconians for a total of more than 200 unique types of units. Use powerful spells based on a complex system of 5 schools of magic and 18 customizable wizard traits.
Research over 200 spells, and use over 60 special abilities and 250 unique items, to become the Master of Magic.
As some of you may remember, roughly one and a half years ago we started the initiative known as #TurnBasedThursday. At the time, the goal was to bring together other game developers and allow them to show off their games on inclusive Twitter threads. At first, the threads were small, the engagement scarce, but these soon grew along with the developers involved with them. The developers integral to the efforts included the likes of Terra Randoma, Trese Brothers Games, Hugging Dragons (responsible for Wicked Lands), and, at the time Strateture.
After much hard work and collaboration, with a number of new devs joining the effort, we worked hard alongside these other creative indie devs, growing #TurnBasedThursday to such an extent that we felt it warranted its own event and sale on Steam. Thus, through petitioning Valve, Turn-based Fest was born. Now, we are thrilled to announce that the festival we and others worked hard to create is finally here – starting on the 8th of December and continuing through until the 12th. Naturally, it involves large discounts on a plethora of great titles, including Vagrus. You can find all the details on the Steam sale page or on the Turn-based Fest website.
More than 300 titles participate, including RPGs, sims, grand strategy, deck builders, roguelikes, city builders, and much, much more.
With all that said and done, it’s come time for us to take a look at those awesome deals ourselves, so, on that note – stay vigilant, stay safe, and conquer the wasteland!
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
Steam has just launched its Autumn Sale as well, filled with huge discounts! This is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of an amazing deal and stock up on hundreds of hours of the splendid SRPG experience that Vagrus has to offer for the coming rainy, cold, and dark days.
In other related news, the Steam Awards nominations are now open! Allow us to ask for a little assistance here. If you feel like nominating Vagrus for the Labor of Love Award, please do so here! We have been working on Vagrus for over a year since its initial release, which has been made possible by the unwavering support of our players. Moving forward we will keep pushing to make our beloved game better, to create more content, and bring it to more people. We owe you a debt of gratitude for keeping us going; your support and encouragement is indispensable.
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
This week we’re proud to reveal a little more about what our best and brightest pilgrims have been working on here at Lost Pilgrims Studio. The first major change is something we foreshadowed in a Steam post a while back – porting. We will also be covering the integration of controller support across platforms later in this post, so read on if you’d like to know more about that.
For now, back to porting. Included under that heading is the optimization of Vagrus for all mobile devices, tablets, and, of course, the recently released Steam Deck. Naturally, the main goal of these projects has been to bring the game to a larger audience; an audience that can play on the move, which certainly suits turn-based games such as our own. So, without further ado, let’s examine what we’ve been able to achieve so far, starting as so many players do with Agos – the enigmatic vagabond who introduces players to the Pilgrims of the Wasteland scenario.
Another key aspect it has allowed us to address is accessibility. Players have, at times, expressed concerns about the font size in Vagrus, and with us focusing on porting, we have also been able to implement a zoom feature for the PC client. We are still in the process of fine-tuning and fully integrating the feature, but we are confident that in doing so we will improve user experiences across the board.
As you can see above, we’ve optimized the formatting of the text to be legible on handheld devices. But what about in-game? Is it possible to read all the wonderful prose that players have come to expect from the Riven Realms? Absolutely! Just double-tap to zoom in, as shown below.
For the sake of following up, we’ve also included another screenshot of a closer view – after the player has used the double-tap feature, of course! Check it out below.
Luckily, that’s not all. Because we want to make sure that players’ user experience does not suffer even slightly while using a small screen, players will also be able to scroll or swipe to navigate the UI, as captured below with the journal.
And since we’ve set a precedent of following up, here’s the subsequent result of the player swiping left…
Multi-platform Controller Support
We are working on full controller support for standard controllers and gamepad layouts including PCs, mobile devices, and – at some point – we hope we can get things working on hand-held and desktop console ports as well.
It is important to note that all this is still very much work-in-progress, most of what you are about to see and read is subject to change, and the implementation is quite time-intensive, so please bear with us. That said, PC players are likely to be the first ones to enjoy controller support.
We have created a modern navigation system on UI and for all functions from scratch, specifically for controllers. In other words, it isn’t simply the existing cursor-based system repurposed for controllers.
Direct buttons will be assigned for specific functions to make things easier.
Selecting and switching between UI elements during gameplay will also be comfortable.
What about analog stick use? We’ve come up with a radial menu to best tackle that issue.
We are also working on an easy drag & drop system to be implemented at various points of gameplay.
We are simplifying Perk selection and trading functions in settlements, too.
Though they are deep in the pipeline currently, we hope that when released these changes will help improve player experiences across all platforms. In the coming months, we will be able to share more and more of what we’ve been working on and intend to release.
Vagrus is also currently taking part in Steam's Autumn Sale, so if you or a friend is looking to pick the game up for a discount, the time is now, pilgrims!
As always, stay safe – stay tuned – and conquer the wasteland!
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
Good news, everyone: Lost Pilgrims Studio will once again be participating in Adventure X’s Narrative Convention. For those not in the know, the event is held annually in London and its primary goal is to bring together devs and gamers passionate about interactive storytelling. As it stands, AdventureX is the UK’s only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming, which is why we attended in 2019, and are ecstatic about being a part of it again, if only online this time. Aside from the in-person event, there will also be a live stream that you can check out here, and if you’d like to follow updates from the organizers, you can do so via their Twitter account here.
Perhaps most importantly, this also means that we’ll be running a sale as part of the event, so if you have got a friend who is a little on the fence about purchasing any narrative games, now is the time!
For those interested in a little trip down memory lane, you can also find some pictures of our attendance in 2019, with the first featuring a wonderful snap of our creative director and world builder, Geri:
The second shot below shows our amazingly talented graphic artist – clearly deep in an explanation – Szonja:
That’s all for today. Be sure to check the convention out, and of course – stay safe, stay sane, and conquer the wasteland!
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
This one is going to be an update on localization. A while back, we cited the game’s complexity, size, and it being a niche game that resulted in a relatively low sales volume as factors that made any kind of localization unlikely. Despite that, we have been encouraging players to still wishlist the game and let us know what languages they would like to see it translated into in a dedicated localization thread and promised to reassess the situation after a while to see what is desired and viable and what is not. A year has passed since, and it is time for us to do just that, which led to a good and bad news kind of situation. The bad news is that sales figures and declining wishlists in non-English-speaking regions made the prospect of official translations not viable.
BUT the good news is that we have been – and still are – eager to reach people to show them the world of the Riven Realms. We would like to ensure that even those whose level of English proficiency represents a language barrier can have a chance at adequately understanding and enjoying the game. Thus, we have already started working on things that would help them. Sadly, the way we built the game and stored data were unconducive for effective localization. We had to restructure our Event Editor tool and change several things in Unity, etc. This was quite tiresome and the process has been ongoing for months now. However, we’ve been gladly dedicating working hours to pave the way to localize larger chunks of text. Smaller things in the UI, however, are very tedious work, so we cannot promise to make it work for every little detail. Admittedly, our focus lies in making the story and the most used elements translatable.
Since the base game and the DLCs combined contain about 1.3 million words’ worth of text, volunteer translators are unlikely to pop up. As a result, our approach was to subscribe to a machine translation tool called DeepL and generate localization files in various languages that will be made accessible and editable in order to facilitate fan translations through polishing said files. We are still not entirely sure as to the demand for such an endeavor or if the underlying technical facilities are indeed there. In case it could work and it garners sufficient interest, we are planning to allow fan translation groups to add their own translations and improved machine translations through Steam Workshop. Signups for such groups will be open for whoever wishes to undertake translations. This is all still subject to deliberation along with the exact details and the way of going about the entire process. A reason for this approach is that we are not planning to actually incorporate the fan-translated texts into the game proper, merely to facilitate translation for community translator groups who would be actually working on them and under whose banner their respective addons will run.
As a result of all that outlined above, we still don’t know how much interest this project will generate and how enthusiastic our players will be, so we are not expecting quick developments in the matter. Naturally, the quality of machine translations is very far from the level of an official translation, making them rather unfit to create the kind of atmosphere and immersion we believe is needed to fully enjoy the game. Thus we cannot in good conscience recommend using them as the main language, of course. In short, these machine translations are more likely to be a sort of an aid for those who, from time to time, wish to look at raw translations in their native tongue. The player will first have to acknowledge a disclaimer stating that what is to follow is machine translated and not intended to be taken as a full-fledged official translation for the game. Once that is out of the way, the player will be able to set a primary and a secondary language through the UI. All events and codex entries will be displayed in the primary language and the secondary language texts will assist in understanding the primary language texts.
The machine translation tool DeepL has its limitations and so we go as far as the subscription options go. Thus, initially, only some supported languages will be covered. We aim to create this localization model in a way that will allow contributors to set up files that match the structure. The game itself will then be able to manage these files and make new languages selectable as primary and secondary languages in-game. Due to versioning, every non-translated text will automatically be displayed in English.
That said, we are looking for community translation coordinators for each language.
Since we are not going to have adequate capacity or competence to review translations, we welcome volunteer groups to form and start working together, but we cannot take on the role of an arbitrator either. Eventually, if enough progress is made and the files become available through Steam Workshop, they can be submitted and maintained by said volunteers as well. Coordinators will receive beta branch access to the game to cooperate with us to set up this localization file system. During the selection of coordinators, prior participation in such projects and credentials will play important roles to make sure they are reliable and competent, as they will be responsible for the translations and reviews. In order to improve translations based on machine learning, compiling a dictionary of specific words and expressions for the machine would go a long way, so that the AI does not come up with its own strange translations. Teams working on such a dictionary will also be encouraged.
Last, but not least, we are overjoyed to have been able to afford long development hours to lay down the groundwork for the localization environment and for the whole thing to even be able to kick off. The whole venture, however, will be tons of effort and consist of countless iterations, so we kindly ask for your patience.
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
Today we celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the full release of Vagrus – The Riven Realms. We are happy to have reached this point, and perhaps most importantly, we couldn’t have done it without the help of our backers, supporters, and players along the way. So here’s to you, vagri, for all your encouragement, assistance, feedback, and goodwill! In this post, we’ll be taking a little bit of a trip down memory lane, from the beginning and creation of the game to its release exactly one year ago. We’ll finish up with a small glimpse into the future of Vagrus and what players can expect moving forward.
We first imparted our vision for Vagrus back in 2017, establishing Lost Pilgrims, with a small team of just four developers. We had and still have a love of games, strategy, and tabletop roleplaying, but when it all started, we might say that we were a little naive. Not because releasing a game we could all be proud of was impossible – indeed, where we stand now makes it more apparent than ever that it wasn’t. However, we were naive in that we did not fully comprehend the gargantuan task in front of us, nor the intensity with which we would have to work to create the game we wanted and promised to our backers. We’ve always said that the game is a labor of love, and that’s exactly what we needed to cross the finish line: love. Oh, and a lot of hard work, naturally!
Nevertheless, in July 2020 we released our first public build – an Early Access version of the game already featuring a ton of content. We continued to plod forward before eventually dropping a full release of the game on October 5, 2021. We were blown away by some of the critical reception to the game’s launch, some of the highlights (like being included in IndieDB’s PlayersChoice top ten), having the game covered by numerous high-profile media outlets, along with receiving a plethora of awards and nominations, most of which can be found on our Steam page for those interested.
All in all, we were greatly honored by the critical reception of the game, and by the wealth of positivity about it from many independent content creators on YouTube, such as SplatterCatGaming, who covers indie games extensively (and covered ours here). After the success of the game’s full release, we immediately set ourselves to the task of finding a new office, and to recruiting additional Lost Pilgrims. The process began with Ákos, a graphic and UX/UI designer. Then, in February, we took on Viktor and Beni as coders and programmers, and finally, in April, we welcomed James and Zeli to the team as new writers to be able to keep adding content in the long run.
We were also able to create various merch for the game provided to those who backed us on higher tiers or who purchased the Emperor’s Edition. While we were certainly elated to see what we had worked on brought to life in physical form, the process was far more daunting and difficult than we had anticipated. Regardless, you can take a look at merch here, and we’d also like to say that there are those who have still not claimed their goodies because we do not have their addresses; if that’s you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and we will send it along.
Moving forward now, let’s focus on what has happened since release. We have continued to improve the game, adding a slew of quality-of-life features such as custom notes, map movement UI reworks, a slew of Companion Combat improvements, and a complete overhaul of Scouting – as requested by the community on many occasions.
On the content side, we started out with Kingpins of the Realms: a sizable patch introducing new questlines for the Loaders’ and Carpenters’ guilds, then releasing our first free DLC with the new companion Vorax in May. More recently (last week) we released Seekers of Knowledge, our second free DLC and major content addition, which has further expanded the ways players can achieve victory in the game by acquiring Codex entries and working towards the Knowledge Ambition’s fulfillment. It is our hope that these pieces of content will pave the way for our next big DLC – a paid piece of content that we have just begun working on, and that will open up an entirely new region for vagri eager to continue or resume their journey in the Riven Realms! Provided that everything goes swimmingly when we can release this content next year, we have many more ideas for future additions to the game moving forward.
We hope you have enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, and a short glimpse into the future. We have a great deal more to speak about in the coming weeks, so – until then – stay tuned, stay safe and conquer the wasteland!
Stay tuned and conquer the wasteland! - The Lost Pilgrims Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!