Mar 2, 2018

Alpha 02 - Save system, Inventory fixes, tweaks ...

Escape The Pacific - Gamers4Gamers Team

Hi there,

the new Escape the Pacific version 'Alpha 02' is now available.

The top issue we were addressing is the temporarily disabled Save function. As we have almost completed the new Save system and because only a small bit as of now is missing we provide you as soon as possible - and as promised - with the save feature. What is still on our agenda is including the map, rafts, buildings on rafts and object placed on them in save data as making this come to life requires additional code for the new save functionalities.

Other major issues about weight and inventory issues we could also address. Many of them are fixed in this version, the ones remaining are a matter of ongoing bugfixing.

Besides that placing camp fires appropriately now works out well. For those who want the fire burning longer we have increased the value to 240 ingame minutes. Please note that this length value is applied to the Big Campfire only and there slighty reduced for the smaller tier fires (Small Campfire, Medium Campfire). For tools we have implemented durability dropping when crafting, building or hitting in general. Once durability drops to zero the item will break.

Changelog:

Save System:

01. Changed: Enabled "Save" button in Ingame Pause menu
02. Added: Added "Save Game" dialog
03. Changed: Enabled "Continue" button in SinglePlayer menu
04. Added: Added "Continue Game" dialog
05. Changed: "Load" button in SinglePlayer menu is hidden for now, with more save slots later reactivated
06. Changed: Enabled save for Player properties
07. Changed: Enabled save for Weather
08. Changed: Enabled save for touched/dropped items
09. Changed: Enabled save for crafted items
10. Changed: Enabled save for Buildings
11. Added: Save for Crates
12. Added: Save for Inventory Backpack
13. Added: Save for Inventory SideBag
14. Added: Save for Inventory ToolBelt
15. Added: Save for Pockets
16. Added: Save for Shells, Crabs (Dead and Alive), Bananas
17. Added: Save for Hints
18. Added: Save For Skills
19. Added: Save for CampFire
20. Added: Save for Banana Palms

Inventory:

01. Fixed: Correct weight calculation when dropping an item directly from the Inventory while holding another item in hands
02. Fixed: Fixed item disappearing when moving identical items to one slot with storage almost full
03. Fixed: Inventory overall Weight is now directly cleared to ensure there isn't any remaining not-zero-value
04. Fixed: Item disappearance from hand when the player moved other item to the hand slot
05. Fixed: Overall Weight displaying error
06. Fixed: Correct dropping items from the Toolbelt when in Inventory

General:

01. Fixed: CampFire blueprint is correctly placed (not turning over)
02. Fixed: Don't place blueprint while clicking Hint Screen
03. Fixed: Equipping Oysters while swimming does not make player go airborne
04. Fixed: Fire-Saw has correct weight and volume
05. Fixed: Thick Branch has correct weight and volume
06. Fixed: Green and Brown Coconuts on Palms have correct weight and volume
07. Fixed: All Shards (Hammer, Axe, Knife) have correct volume
08. Fixed: Hammer, Axe and Knife have correct weight and volume
09. Added: What's new Menu button is highlighted when new information is unread
10. Tweak: The "Swim with Weight" Hint screens show up before the player starts to swim
11. Added: "Hit" sound for Primitive Knife and for all Shards (Hammer, Axe, Knife)
12. Added: Tools now break when Durability reaches 0 because of Hit activity
13. Added: Tools now break when Durability reaches 0 because of Crafting activity
14. Tweak: Durability of the Primitive Hammer and Primitive Axe was set to 1000 (hits)
15. Tweak: Burning time of the complete campfire now set to 4 ingame hours

To also accomplish implementing missing save functionality we are going to continue to work hard and won't miss to also keep you updated about inventory/weight issues. Further along we are also going look at the issues attaching and detaching raft bases. Minor issues are going to be fixed right off the bat once we are aware of those as far as our time allows us to.

Thank you for your understanding, your patience and all of the constructive feedback you provide us with in order to resolve the issues as soon as absolutely possible.

G4GTeam.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to ask us. We will try to answer your questions in detail.

http://gamers4gamersteam.com

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Mar 2, 2018

Alpha 02 - Save system, Inventory fixes, tweaks ...

Escape The Pacific - Gamers4Gamers Team

http://gamers4gamersteam.com

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Facebook
Youtube

Mar 2, 2018

Update Details (2nd March 2018) - Glass structures and more!

Subsistence - ColdGames

New glass building pieces:

Hi guys. It’s been a while since any new base construction options were added. Today’s update introduces an assortment of new glass building pieces, which are now crafted from the default player crafting menu. These pieces will snap onto other wood and metal building pieces.

The glass is fairly tough and will withstand a fair amount of damage. However, just as with all structures, will require repairs to maintain. I’ve added damage skins (cracks) to indicate the health of any piece. The strength sits between that of wood and armor-plated.

I’ve added a subtle distortion to the glass material and a very slight tint. This is to give the sense of enclosure when inside your base looking out. Let me know if you think the effect is too much.

My hope is these new building pieces will open up a ton of possibilities for creative base designs, as well as adding further depth to later-game building. Looking forward to seeing some creations.

The game is configured to understand light passing through the new panels, meaning that glass rooms can be constructed to act as protective greenhouses for plantbeds.

Sandstone ore nodes and glass fragments:

It’s now possible to find sandstone ore nodes beneath the water in the various lakes. They can be harvested with the pickaxe (or axe for less yield) and refined down into glass fragments in the refinery.

The glass fragments can then be crafted down in the workbench to glass panels, which in turn can be used to craft building pieces. Note: Raw glass fragments are required for repairing glass structures.

Animated glass windows and door:

It’s always bothered me that windows were just empty holes. This lead to otherwise cosy and secure bases to feel cold and exposed.

Players can now craft glass windows for both the flat and curved windowed-wall variants. The new windows are fully animated, allowing for player to quickly open/close them while defending against attacks.

While working on the window animations, I also finally added a animation for the door (which was long overdue).

New underwater graphics:

I’ve never been overly happy with the underwater visuals. The water surface would become opaque once submerged (meaning players were unable to spot potential dangers when surfacing) and the image was fairly static.

I’ve added a ripple/distortion post-process effect and updated the water surface material to handle translucency when submerged. I think it looks way better and more immersive when swimming, but let me know what you think.

Getting started tasks/tips:

New players starting out are offered little guidance on how to make progress, often leading to frustration and repeated deaths. I’ve added some basic ‘getting-started’ tasks to better inform new players during the early game.

For experienced players (or those that want to figure things out on their own), these task lists can be disabled in the options under gameplay.

While building this feature, I implemented a substantial system to track detailed stats on player activities (stats are only stored locally in profile saves). I plan to expose these stats for players to view in a future update.

Quick item use:

Having to always right-click on an item to open it’s actions, and then click on the use action can be annoying (especially when in combat or in a hurry). I’ve added a quick-use function that allows players to simply hover the mouse over an item and click their ‘use’ key.

It will attempt to perform the primary ‘use’ action for said item (if the item has one). This will improve and quicken player inventory management.

Hunter base update and loot drops:

I’ve updated the hunter bases to incorporate the new glass buildables. I’ve also updated the loot drops in their bases to include many of the new items that were added in the last few updates.

Hunter loot drops, and locked crates have also been updated to include the new items (including a chance of fish oil on hunters).

Potassium used as fertilizer:

Finally potassium can be used as a rich fertilizer for plantbeds. This should ease the fertilizer demands for players that choose to refine the ore down.

Few notable misc changes:

Fixed exploit that allowed empty canteens to be pre-heated and then sterilize water when filled.
Fixed exploit that allowed players to build in hunter bases.
Fixed delay on items disappearing from inventory when dropped for clients of co-op games.
Added sound and blood-spurts effect for hitting dead animals/humans with melee weapons.

A personal note:

As many of you know, Subsistence has always been a passion project I work on by myself in my spare time, alongside my full-time job. I’ve finally made the decision to leave my employment to focus on the game full-time. I’ve never worked on such a challenging, creative and enjoyable project, and i’m so excited to dedicate myself to its continued development.

It’s been a tough journey to reach this point, and I wouldn’t have got this far without the support and encouragement from such an awesome community, of which I’m deeply grateful. There’s still a long road ahead and tons of work needed, and I’m looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend, and please let me know about any issues with the update.
CG

Mar 2, 2018

Update Details (2nd March 2018) - Glass structures and more!

Subsistence - ColdGames

New glass building pieces:

My hope is these new building pieces will open up a ton of possibilities for creative base designs, as well as adding further depth to later-game building. Looking forward to seeing some creations.

The game is configured to understand light passing through the new panels, meaning that glass rooms can be constructed to act as protective greenhouses for plantbeds.

Sandstone ore nodes and glass fragments:

Animated glass windows and door:

It’s always bothered me that windows were just empty holes. This lead to otherwise cosy and secure bases to feel cold and exposed.

While working on the window animations, I also finally added a animation for the door (which was long overdue).

New underwater graphics:

Getting started tasks/tips:

For experienced players (or those that want to figure things out on their own), these task lists can be disabled in the options under gameplay.

Quick item use:

It will attempt to perform the primary ‘use’ action for said item (if the item has one). This will improve and quicken player inventory management.

Hunter base update and loot drops:

I’ve updated the hunter bases to incorporate the new glass buildables. I’ve also updated the loot drops in their bases to include many of the new items that were added in the last few updates.

Hunter loot drops, and locked crates have also been updated to include the new items (including a chance of fish oil on hunters).

Potassium used as fertilizer:

Finally potassium can be used as a rich fertilizer for plantbeds. This should ease the fertilizer demands for players that choose to refine the ore down.

Few notable misc changes:

Fixed exploit that allowed empty canteens to be pre-heated and then sterilize water when filled.
Fixed exploit that allowed players to build in hunter bases.
Fixed delay on items disappearing from inventory when dropped for clients of co-op games.
Added sound and blood-spurts effect for hitting dead animals/humans with melee weapons.

A personal note:

Mar 2, 2018

Version 1.3.0 Patch Notes

Scrap Attack VR - AslanSilva

Our 3rd patch for Scrap Attack is now live! We're glad to see the updates are getting a positive response. The major new addition this update is a new enemy, The Jericho! This unit will launch clusters of missiles at you while it flies around the heights of the cave. Try shooting its missiles before they split up and become more of a problem!

ADDITIONS:
• The Jericho - a new flying enemy, designed to barrage the players with missiles to encourage movement.
• A method for exiting the game has been added to the level select area.

CHANGES:
• We've moved the teleport ability to the grip button, allowing players to move around more easily and never stop dual-wielding.
• Overhauled tutorial.
• Easy, Medium and Hard levels have received balance tweaks, a mixture of custom and randomised waves.
• Victory condition - we've changed the game to end at round 20 in each of the levels.
• Power-up consumption speeds have been tweaked - mainly allowing the SMG to last longer.
• Larger player projectiles active during the increased damage power-up.
• Power-up capsule models have been changed.

FIXES:
• Enemies no longer pass through the player in melee skirmishes.
• Enemies should no longer occasionally get stuck on each other in choke points.

COMING SOON from the Scrap Attack Team:
• We're continuing development on a collectable that will allow players to heal the crystal.
• A new weapon is reaching the end of its prototyping phase. We hope you like shotguns!

As always, thanks for your support of Scrap Attack! Let us know what you think of the game and the updates. If you're feeling it, maybe drop us a review! This will help us and the continued development of the game massively.

Until next time, we'll continue to improve the Scrap Attack experience.

Aslan and the Scrap Attack Team
VISR VR Games

Mar 2, 2018

Version 1.3.0 Patch Notes

Scrap Attack VR - AslanSilva

Mar 2, 2018

Wolcen Team interview: Atropos, Game Writer

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem - calistaen

[German version]
[French version]

Hello everyone !

Atropos joined the Wolcen team in December 2017 and worked since then on the lore and storyline for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. Today, I would like to introduce him and his work so you can know a little more about him and have a little preview of what's coming for the storyline of the game.

Hello Atropos! What can you tell us about yourself ?

My name is Eric, 30, and I’m the Game Writer for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. I previously worked on video games, and I’ve also tried book writing and cinema which allowed me to learn the specificity of each media. The video game media is my favourite, especially in a small structure where you can truly find creative freedom: big enough to be ambitious, and small enough to be free from the shackles of big structures. The fact that we are a human-sized studio also allows me to exploit my game and level design skills to coordinate with the different developers.
Also, I love cheese. Very very much. Except in my stories 😊

Why “Atropos” ?

Atropos is one of the three Moirai, in charge of cutting the thread of life. Since I have to choose the characters fates, it seemed to fit well!

How did you come to work for Wolcen Studio ?

I worked in Lille for a cool 2D MMO called Dead Maze, but I needed to explore new horizons, start a new adventure, so I applied at Wolcen Studio. I passed a test and voilà ! Here I am. I’m glad I was able to join this project to shape a very promising new Intellectual Property.

What is a classic day for you at Wolcen Studio ?

“Hello” to everyone of course! Then I alternate between my stationary and my mobile work. My stationary work starts with choosing the emotional/epic/movie music that will stimulate my imagination. Then I check what lore aspects I have to provide to each department, I work on the staging, the dialogues, and the quest design. My mobile work consists on ensuring the global understanding of the narrative content by other production aspects throughout the company.

What are the tasks you’re focused on for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem ?

Presently I’m working on the lore to provide material for the Concept department including the environments, characters, factions. I’m also working on the dialogues’ tone.

What has been determined on the storyline so far ?

All 5 acts are defined, all environments, the story, the creatures, the characters and the cutscenes. All we have to do now is bring all these elements to life and fill the boxes.

Aiming low wasn’t part of the instructions I was given. And boy, what a ride it’s going to be. It’s action packed, unforgiving, brutal and in its own special way : heartwarming. It’s both familiar to what you may have experienced in other hack’n’slash, and way more character-centric than what this game-genre have explored so far. The story is carried by and for the characters and they will not be soulless quest givers waiting for you to do the job. You will succeed together or fail together: but you will rely on them as much as they rely on you. No messiah syndrome in Wolcen.

What was the most challenging or unforeseen difficulty you had to face during your time at Wolcen Studio?

Actually, it’s more of a global problematic whenever you’re working on lore and scenarios. The challenge is always the same: establish rules and “no-noes” then convince artistic minds to follow them and conceptualize inside that perimeter rather than in free space. When a cool idea is shared, I have to ensure that it fits in the Wolcen universe, if not, I try to find a way to make this possible and “lore friendly”.

Do you have a special pride on something you’ve worked on for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem ?

The emotional climax around the story of Wolcen. I’m really eager to see the feedback of the community about this.

Can you give some advice to people who would want to follow your path ?

Be curious about everything, anything can be a source of inspiration. Don’t be afraid of criticism, write dialogs and make them read by other people. If you face your own shortcomings and learn from them, you will do better and better until one day, you can tell yourself “I know how to write dialogues”. Same applies for every skill : Game design ? You will make boring games and learn why. Narrative design ? You will make a story structure without flow and pacing, and learn as well. Always get back on the battlefield until you win the war for your skills!

Also be prepared to explain and share your vision with other people around a project. This requires quite a good knowledge of the human nature and training in public-speaking and presentation.
Oh and portfolio guys. Your first breakthrough in the industry will almost entirely rely on that. Make it short, to the point, and professional looking.

Do you play any games ?

I do! I play on a Neverwinter Nights RP server called “Arelith”. It’s an English server so I can practice the language, it’s a very immersive community and… it’s cool! I also play Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Witcher 3, Fallout, Dead Maze, and many more.
In a game I’m globally looking for challenge, I like the rewarding feeling when you overcome a difficulty.

Finally, can you give our community some preview on what's to come in the scenario ?

I can share some of my intentions.
One thing I regret is that some recent licenses and movies define heroism as having a big sword, be ‘the boss’ from the get go, and slash big creatures easy-peasy. To me, it doesn’t work that way. Heroism is earned, not given. Felt, not told. I see heroism as continuing the right fight despite suffering, despair or defeat.
I also regret when major adversaries and creatures seem trivial and I want to ensure a certain respect for them. Take demons for instance. Slaying huge packs of demons reduces their individual value and weakens the idea that a demon should be a scary foe. To avoid this, even in a hack’n’slash, steps can be taken to make sure the player respects the greater foes thrown at him.
Finally, Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem will provide an experience allowing the player to live a unique adventure with his companions, with quality interactions between the characters.

To resume, there will be inspirations from Lord of the Rings exotic journey feeling, Constantine's characters and overall treatment/themes, Madmax:fury road's chase, action and epicness, The Witcher 3 character depths and relations (or at least trying), and Dunkirk's tension and harassment.

____________

And that's all folks :) Thank you for reading this interview. I know you all wait for the next update as well so I'll give you some ETA: we're finalizing it and it will be applied in the second half of the month.

As always, thank you all for your support !

Useful links :
Wolcen's Roadmap
Wolcen's Bug tracker
Wolcen's Community Suggestions
Wolcen's Official Website
Wolcen's Official Facebook Page
Wolcen's Twitter page
Wolcen's Instagram Page
Wolcen's Official Discord server
Wolcen's FAQ
Help us fix crashes here

Community websites:
German Fan Site : http://www.wolcen-game.de/
French Fan Site : Wolcen France