News flash: the Wise Leader has approved Directive №1701 called "48 happy hours"!

Beholder 2 will be 60% off Jan 17-19. Once your Beholder 2 purchase is completed, you'll receive a free copy of Beholder to your Steam Library!

Glory to the Wise Leader!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/761620/Beholder_2/

Blow the trumpets as FRIDAY has arrived, bringing along a fabulous line of levels by our amazing community! This week GR-18 explores new relationships, divine intervention, and bangs its head on the wall (sometimes you just gotta).

As always, remember to click the level names to bookmark them for later on. HERE WE GO!




In Tobvet's smashing level Missile Madness GR-18 has a new love-hate relationship. Missiles help when GR-18 meets them in the middle but one wrong step and explosions all around!




In Tim Conceivable's drop-dead awesome level Lizumi Drop, GR-18 is on the constant move to eject enemies and let them experience the thrill and horror of flying through the clouds!




GR-18 has to face the consequences of stealing a package from the FIRE GOD in the level Temple Of Fiery Soul by SleepyDoof. Getting in is easy - getting out is another matter altogether.




In Spekio's cruising level Earth Bound Delivery, GR-18 cannot take a back seat! GR-18 has to take an active role and be the master of this ship & glory.




In Freact's clever level Block Blast Bounce, GR-18 has to bang its HEAD on walls and think quickly on its feet to survive. Check out SchuhBaum's video of completing this madness.

• Paragon Popdonk Baggycool is back at reviewing levels! Check them out on his blog!
  
• Espurrator's zippy level Joyful Zipper, Shady Shrine, is all about exploration!
  
• Doesy214's peppy level Spiketron Shenanigans 2! is all about jumping and bouncing!

Hey Everyone!

Small patch coming through!

Jan 17, 2020

• Tweaked the spawn times/rates of the enemies.
  
• Increased the HP of all enemies.
  
• Lowered the Archer and Mages damage dealt.
  
• Increased the flames width of the flamethrower.
  
• Changed the clouds colour.
  
• An attempt at fixing the invulnerable bug of the Zerker class.

I'm currently working on the balancing of pretty much everything and some other minor tweaks.

• Improved bot and chip relocation. Previously, you had to long-press a bot or chip in order to enter relocation mode, but the length of this long-press was much longer than most people would try. Now, any drag action starting at a bot/chip that you own will enter relocation mode. Panning the Arena is also done by dragging, but you have to start from a blank space.
  
• Fixed a bug in Campaign Mode where winning gets you stuck in a loop.
  
• Replaced the tutorial GIF by mp4 videos. These are also much higher resolution.

It is to time to highlight our choice of music for the game. Our composer tried to highlight key features of the lore and to support visual style.
First of all Arx city is a mix of different cultures melted together into unique civilization forged by ages of isolation and war with Furos. To highlight this in music we injected a high diversity of the different instruments and music genres, including tribal vocals, classic instruments and "sci-fi"-ish sounds. On top of this, all our soundtracks have flavours of constant pressing danger, epic battles and heroism which represents the status of the last humans in the Arx.

Here is the main soundtrack of the game:


As for the soundtracks for the battle scenes, we designed a unique soundtrack for each type of the enemy, which we will share as a separate playlist soon.
Stay tuned and avoid full Moon.
- Codeheretic Team

----
場外人生的第80次更新
----
此處僅保留簡單的更新紀錄，
詳細的圖文日誌可至Devblog查看，
每天固定更新。
(っ´ω`c)
----
更新紀錄:

2020/1/16
-更新版本號為1.80.116。

-相親系統:

*新增了一套完整的相親系統，
角色現在可以自主通過相親來選擇伴侶的對象。


(花了許多時間寫出了一套新的相親系統)



(開始相親)


(相親分成兩個等級，VIP和平民，
總之讓玩家有花錢的機會)



(開始相親後系統就會依照角色的狀態產生NPC來讓玩家抽選)


(相親也依照角色狀態有失敗的機率)


(且已經有伴侶的角色是無法相親的，
避免重複伴侶的狀況)


(相親成功後就和一般的伴侶相遇一樣了)


(相遇後會顯示在人際欄位中，
沒有問題)


(程式上用到了上版新增的刪除NPC，
其實上版就應該來寫了，但總覺得麻煩，
實際寫起來還蠻順的，
總之就是暫存一些內容跟失敗或抽選時把產生的NPC給刪除，
成功時再把暫存的內容賦予而已，
測試了一陣子應該沒有bug才對，
感覺挺好)

-全軌跡紀錄:

*現在新增了進行軌跡與效果軌跡的記錄，
這樣遊戲中所有的自動進行項目都會存檔，
過程中不用急著暫停也沒有關係了。



(新增了效果軌跡跟進行軌跡，
這部分分類上有點繁複，
主要還是當初程式分成了舊版的日常跟新版的效果累積，
還有獨立的NPC跟國家進行，
其實應該寫一起才對，
不過分開來也方便查找，
程式的話找時間再來重寫吧，
下版應該會寫一個不分類的全軌跡紀錄)


(圖標按鈕都做好)



(花了一點時間把軌跡次序給整理好，
雖然還有一些空行沒辦法處理，
但至少是完成可讀了，
進行中所有內容都有記錄後，
玩起來也比較輕鬆，
不用急著一直按暫停了，
想回顧或分析角色的情況也很方便務實，
下版會再整理一下)

-新增進行中速度調整:

*現在可以在右下角的UI中擴張，
自由調整日常進行速度了。


(新增了調整進行速度的功能，
由於現在自動進行中的所有歷程都會記錄下來了，
讓玩家把速度調快些也是可以的，
另外也可以調慢，方便想在進行中慢慢閱讀的玩家，
下版考慮給加速設個分數限制，
減少第一次玩沒看清的情況)


(程式上沒特別去想，反正順手寫完能用就好，
之後右下角的UI也可以拿來調整其他東西，
可能和行動的一些內容整合吧)

-優化按鈕布局:

*對情報和行動的按鈕做了新的分類，
比起過去清楚許多。


(開始給情報跟行動的按鈕做分類)


(之前全部放在一起對新玩家來說很難吸收)


(有分類之後就清楚很多)


(也刪除了多餘的未完工按鈕)


(行動也做了排版，
減少不完整的感覺，
做完後還算滿意)

-國體選擇系統:

*現在更改國體時可以在執行前選好要更改的國體了。


(給更改國體加上了提前的抽選，
不會再出現沒辦法選擇的情況了)

-新增NPC給予幫助:

*現在角色可以主動給予NPC幫助，
來提高對方的行動值與關係，
譬如給子女幫助來增加獲得子孫的機率。


(在人際行動中新增了給予幫助和發洩兩個行動)


(角色現在可以主動給NPC行動力來幫忙他們並提高關係)


(NPC行動值高的話，有更高的機率精進培養、轉職升遷、結婚生子這類的)

-新增對NPC發洩行動:

現在角色可以藉由關係良好的NPC來恢復心情了。


(角色現在也可以對關係良好的NPC發洩)


(消耗關係來恢復心情)


(可以發洩到關係變得陌生為止)

-按鈕音量調高:

*從0.3調整為1.0。

-進行中跳過不撥放按鈕音效:

*避免了進行中跳過時重複撥放的問題，
另外時光機進行中即便跳過仍會保留音效。

-調整中學升級提示:

*略為拉高了需求，避免玩家誤以為達成條件卻無法升級的情況。

-暫停不跳過:

*現在暫停時不會再記錄之前的進度，
避免連續跳過反而看不清楚的情況。


(進行中暫停的話，
之前覺得會減慢遊戲速度所以改成會記錄進度，
但電腦上總覺得按暫停後跳過實在太快了，
所以改回暫停>繼續後會進度重來，
畢竟按暫停就是想看清楚，
如果按完立刻跳下一個就顯得混亂了)

-修正文字遺失:

*現在新版的進行系統也會在暫停後記錄了，
並且週期開始不再暫停，
避免空白事件或事件卡在進行中的情況。


(修正了新的進行系統產生的暫停後文字遺失問題，
總之不會再出現暫停後空白這種情況了)


(現在開場時會提示玩家可以暫停，
所以原本週期開始時的強制暫停也可以移除了，
避免出現事件文字卡在進行中的情況)

-勢力財報優化:

*修正了全體和一些容易使玩家誤解財報就是全部的描述，
加入了額外的提示。


(在財報中加入並修飾了更多提示)


(給財報的市場飽和度加上了在國際中查看細節的提示)


(另外這個"勢力產需總結"以前叫"全體"產需總結，
如果不特別打開國際欄位的話確實可能搞混，
以為產需就是全部了，
其他的財報提示也加上勢力兩個字，
並且給尾部的稅收加上了一個新分類)

-產需總結正負格式化:

*現在產需總結、累計進出都會格式化提示了。


(現在也會顯示正負的產需與進出貨了)

-小事件不再換行:

*現在小事件不再有多餘的換行，
方便軌跡紀錄整潔。


(刪除了小事件中多餘的換行，
讓軌跡紀錄更清楚一些)

-優化了日常開銷報告:

*生活水平加入了可調整提示，
運氣、節儉影響現在會清楚的正負提示了。


(在生活水平加入了可調整提示，
運氣、節儉影響現在會清楚的正負提示了，
以前是"折扣"，還要倒過來算，不太直觀，
現在清楚了)

-職業收入計算公式顯示:

*現在會在收支報告中顯示職業收入的計算公式了。


(在收支報告中加入了職業收入的計算公式提示，
讓玩家比較了解職業表現的影響)

-調整底邊材質:

*現在普通的材質統一為木質邊框，
減少突兀的感覺。

-人生分數評估調整:

*移除了比較負面的評估描述。


(調整了人生分數的負面描述，
現在是空白人生和虛無人生，
以前遊戲才剛開始就垃圾人生感覺不太好)

-調高頂層薪水:

*普遍調高了頂層職業的薪水，
避免好不容易升到頂卻還領杯水車薪的情況。


(調高多數職業的頂層薪水)

-調整失業率:

*基礎失業年齡從23歲調整為28歲，
並增加了額外的職業表現判定、
移除資遣費過高的隨機性，
調整就業率影響並優化了描述與成就。


(調整了失業判定，
包含年齡、就業率跟新增的職業表現影響，
算了一陣子，感覺失業率應該是下降了才對，
另外移除了過高的資遣費隨機性，
優化了描述和解鎖經歷成就)

-調整自由業效果:

*依照回饋降低了獲得行動力和經驗衰減。


(照之前的回饋把自由業的效果稍微調低了，
降低了獲得行動力和經驗衰減)

-時光機改為十年。

*時光機從100年調整為10年，降低了成本，
增加後期的可用性。


(將時光機從100年調整為10年，
降低了成本，增加後期的可用性)

-新增心境計算公式顯示:

*現在會顯示心境的計算細節了，
另外拉高了生涯心情平均的比重。


(新增了心境的計算細節提示，
讓玩家比較清楚角色的心情狀態)


(另外拉高了生涯心情的比重，
減少心情突然拉高然後明顯增加分數的情形)

-調整投資理財效果:

*降低了對基金的投資效果，
避免後期用大量資金進出洗錢的情況。


(降低了投資理財的效果，
之前可以利用超過100%的效果直接洗錢，
弄到系統壞掉這樣，
現在不論如何都不會超過100%了)

-移除調整市場進出限制:

*現在不再強制最多為9999了，
讓後期也能操作市場。

-調整投資規模上限加上現金流:

*現在後期也可以用現金來增加單次投資規模了，
另外加入了計算公式的顯示。

-調整勢力管理規模:

*現在現金流提供管理規模有了提示，
效果從2.5千萬一間改為5千萬一間，
領導力效果增加2.5倍，
管理層效果從10間改為20間，
部下從0.5間改為1間。


(調整了勢力的管理規模計算，
讓前期跟後期的投資方式平衡一些，
另外加上了領導力、現金流規模的提示)

-調整自動存檔:

*現在自動存檔的頻率會隨著年齡增加而下降，
以減少後期卡頓的情況，
另外在開場加上了記得存檔的提示。


(給自動存檔加上了隨年齡下降的機率值，
主要是現在紀錄的軌跡更長了，
存檔也會更大，
增加頻率限制後以前就有的後期卡頓問題應該會被解決一些，
至於直面人生的侷限性主要還是在死亡後無法讀檔上頭，
自動存檔仍然是隨機的，
偶爾讓玩家運氣好可以試著SL一下其實也沒那麼有關係，
另外在開場增加了記得存檔的提示)

-開場養育者選擇機率提示:

*現在有了選轉次數與命中機率的明確提示。



(給開場的選擇養育者做了明確的機率提示，
避免連續轉動沒看清楚而沒有命中時的錯愕情況)

-調整體力衰退幅:

*降低了衰減率並增加了經驗恢復，
避免後期體力太難維持的情況。


(降低了體力衰退率並增加了獲得經驗，
避免晚年體力太難維持的情況)

-加強生活模式效果:

*對比較少用到的生活模式加強了效果，
減少遊戲中的無用選項。


(普遍加強了比較少用到的生活模式效果，
減少遊戲中的無用選項)

-富人稅新等級獲得軍事權力:

*新增了五億和十億兩個額外的級距，
方便後期控制國家。


(在富人稅中增加了兩個額外的級距，
方便後期控制國家)

-印鈔調整:

*現在國家只要負債每年都會發行債券和印鈔了，
降低了態勢上升並且會顯示國庫。

-修正建設為負:

*現在國家建設不會再出現負值了，
避免負債愈來愈嚴重的情況。

-降低開場國家行動力:

*避免開場出現大量國家行動的情況。

-新增人口成長率:

*新增了計算公式與提示，
符合擴張的邏輯。


(加入了受民生、施政、支持度影響的人口變化公式與顯示，
現在人口也會波動式的成長了)

-國際系統計算詳情:

*現在國際報告中會將國家的計算細節給顯示出來了。


(給國家的運算細節加入了詳細的顯示，
現在玩家比較能了解背後的運作模式了)


(人口和自由民也有了更多細節)


(國家也會顯示該國的殖民星球數，
比較有星際時代的感覺)

-國家行動開銷用於推動提示:

*現在新增了少量開銷僅用於推動的提示，
普遍降低了開銷，
另外擴充軍備物資、招募領民也有了相應的提示。

-開場養育者財產加入收入判定:

*現在開場養育者的財產至少會有一年份的收入量了。

-現在更改國名有了勢力名稱的提示。


(在更改國名中加入了提示，
減少玩家不小心用自己的名字改國名的情況)

-現在降低了過高的戰爭物資消耗。


(降低了過高的戰爭物資消耗，下版來調低過高的變率)

-現在國際不再需要知識才能開啟了。

-現在作者的話新增了看板娘。


(看板娘)

-現在查看新聞不再需要知識了。

-現在降低了週期的事件觸發數。

-現在新增並調整了民生景氣的計算提示。


(新增並調整了民生景氣的計算提示)

-現在新增了特殊國體產生基本收入的提示。

-現在新增了普通伴侶狀態與青梅竹馬提示。

-現在新增了伴侶事件離婚分手與結婚操作的提示。


(新增了伴侶事件分手結婚提示)

-現在讀檔時遊戲速度會重置了，避免舊檔不兼容的情況。

-現在打工也會累積額外的生涯經驗了。


(給打工加上了額外的生涯經驗累積，不無小補)
----
如果需要舊版本，可以在收藏庫切回public old version，
想加入新版測試則可選擇public beta version，
我會繼續保持開發進度。
(っ´▽`)っ
----
豁懷
2020/1/18
----
Devblog:
https://huohuai.blogspot.com
----
Discord:
https://discordapp.com/invite/NmGQ88p
----
加入Steam群組:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/huohuai
----

We are excited to announce the release of our “Brain vs Zombies” demo, available on Steam ...and it’s absolutely FREE! 🎊



You wake up in a room full of zombies and you’re practically unarmed! It seems you are part of an experiment that will test if you have what it takes to overcome the zombies using your brain, not brawn. With this free demo, you’ll have access to the first five levels of the game. It’s just a taste of the clever mechanisms you’ll need to conjure in order to trigger zombie death. Can you kill them all?

The full version will be out in March!

Enjoy the demo and leave your feedback in our communities:

🔹Discord
🔹Reddit
🔹Twitter
🔹Facebook

We've been tracking down the server issues and we've got some crashes and disconnects figured out, so here's one for the weekend. There's still at least one client crash that we've found, but without proper testing we don't want to risk pushing it to Live, so expect those issues to be resolved later.

Update 0.8.5 Patch Notes

[BUGFIXES]

• Fixed deploy screen not showing up sometimes (especially on TDM),
  
• Fixed the death fade to black sometimes happening again after respawning,
  
• Fixed a crash in the challenge system,
  
• Fixed a crash in the HUD,
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred on changing cameras in vehicles,
  
• Fixed a reload widget crash that sometimes happened when reloading vehicle weapons,
  
• Fixed vehicle ammo replication bug - now the ammo count should synchronize properly,

[IMPROVEMENTS]

• Small improvements to hit replication on the character,
  
• Disabled lowering replication rate while dead (should remove unstable timer and low refresh of the deployment map among other things),

[MISCELLANEOUS]

• Removed holiday flair from the customization menu.

Today's patch includes a number of performance enhancements, a pre-compiled shader system, and a few QoL updates.

Shaders are now pre-compiled when you launch the game.
--The majority of all shaders are now generated via a database at game launch. I would say 80% of all shaders are in the d-base now and more will be added over time.
--As you play the game, if a shader is not pre-compiled it is added to the database and saved so the shader does not need to be compiled on the fly ever again.
--Certain video drivers could crash - though this was very rare - when compiling complex shaders on the fly. This patch should address that.
--In some cases, when entering an area the first time after this patch, there may be a short period of stuttering as shaders are initially linked to materials.

You can now adjust mission length when speaking with a faction agent - Short - AVG 40 Min, Medium - AVG 1-2 Hrs, Long - AVG 2-4 Hrs.

You can now browse available missions while the mission window is open by selecting the "Next" button. A new mission will be offered.

You can now double click crew equipment (shields, armor, weapons) to equip them from inventory. Mods and devices need to be placed manually.

Active status effects are now displayed below each crew member's portrait along with their active duration.

Various code optimizations for performance.

A few changes to the way the physics engine handles movement.

A few changes to the animation system.

A few animation fixes/updates.

A few changes to idle and facing blend animations so they can be interrupted when moving characters. This makes movement more responsive.

The game now generates a backup "sav_dat.xml" file that is not stored on the Steam Cloud when saving the game - just in case there is a disk write error of some kind.

A possible fix for a rare lockup when healing.

FIXED: A bug that was causing random animation and physics slowdown.
FIXED: A bug that would leave idle states running at 1.5x normal speed in certain cases.
FIXED: Autosave when leaving the Dauntless.
FIXED: A bug that would leave equipment quality color border visible when unequipping an item.
UPDATED: When grenades and medkits are enabled, a reminder message is displayed when ending your turn to deselect these items from the toolbar. I think in some cases, this was causing confusion. I'll be looking into an automated solution for this.
UPDATED: Ship collision damage reduced. Collision damage now affects shields and armor.

I'm continuing to work on a few things:
--Weapon special attacks.
--Combat pace.
--Streamlining of perks so they are available earlier in the game with more frequent updates.
--Better inventory sorting.
And more...

I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.

As we continue with areas that we are actively looking to improve in the future. There will always be places where we can do better, both working together as a studio, and each person that is a part of this experience. We fail as a studio when we can't identify where we failed.

Nobody likes bugs, least of all the developers of your favorite games. As games get more complex, bugs will express themselves in new and "exciting" ways, and the team is always looking to resolve them. We've had a few rare bugs that continue to elude us, particularly a rare turn bug, and it's been a tough one to crack.

For the non-coder type, most of the code of a game tends to interact in some way with everything else. Making changes that may seem benign will suddenly break another system. While some fixed can be straightforward with some elbow grease and focus, others are a lot more complicated, and we've built a stronger QA and unit testing process for future projects to help us identify and resolve issues early.

Consistent feedback we received from the community focused on a lack of user feedback within Emberlight. Whether this was confusion within initial menus, or a lack of direction with something as important as navigating the rooms on a level, we needed to do a better job at conveying information to our community. Efforts such as tutorials we're not enough to properly ease players into the game.

As a team, we have a major focus in the current project to ensure the user feedback is properly designed out at the start. We can't assume that a new player will simply get it, and therefore the game needs to provide appropriate direction for a player that needs it. At the same time, we cannot force a player down a lengthy tutorial, so it's a balancing act that we'll refine with the demo we're working on.

While this isn't directly related to the game development itself, getting awareness for future games is crucial to build our community and push us to continue building quality games for everyone. This was a learning experience for us, and we have new tools in the tool belt for our future projects. Particularly both how to get the game in front of more people, and to ensure that our presentation properly represents the game.

We had many great reviewers, streamers, and YouTubers play our game and provide feedback on it, and it was a humbling experience to hear everyone's views on Emberlight. From the reviews we received, we averaged around a 7 out of 10 which is average to us. Nothing less than a 10 out of 10 is good enough, and we have a blueprint on how to achieve that goal.

If you have purchased the game, please leave a review so the Steam algorithm can index our game properly.

Our final article will focus on our next project. We're super excited to finally unveil our recent work, and where we're going in 2020. Stay tuned!

Read the first article here.