Hi everyone!!

Update 8 is now released!

First, I wanted to thanks everyone for their wonderful support during this Early Access, it's a really great thing and such a good motivation for me and everyone in the team!

So U8 is now out and you can play right now! It's a major milestone for B&S as the game now feature all the main combat mechanics planned : spells and armors, allowing us to work on the next steps for the game, player progression and dungeon!

But, our focus should still be on U8 during the next coming weeks as we plan to work on minor updates to implement some missing features as well as working on bug fixing.
We are aware that there is some performance issues on U8 and we advise everyone having problem with this to roll back to U7 (using the steam beta tab) while this is being investigated. We really want the game to run as smoothly as possible on different configuration and we will do our best in the next coming days to better optimize this.

Below you will find the full changelog with some gif of the new U8 features :)

- New spells: Fire and Gravity


- New map: Citadel- New characters design- Added armors support to NPC- Added hit material detection on characters, allowing different behavior and protection for flesh/clothes, leather, chainmail and plate- Replaced models and textures of bow, quiver, arrows and large shield- Added magic staves- Lightning spell rework for consistency with other spells, improved vfx and audio- Added the possibility to select a spell and imbue the closest blade while holding a weapon (enabled for bow and wrist blade)


- Wrist stats and spell menu overhaul- NPC are now able to throw fireballs and use gravity to push their opponents- New cast and throw animation for NPC- Spell merging and staff shockwave only work with Gravity (other spells will come later)- Added the possibility to deflect a fireball with some weapons- Spells sound effects overhaul- GPU painted blood decals on bodies- Player fall damage (can be disabled from the debug menu)- Blood decals overhaul- Added motion blur option to spectator mode- Game can now run without any headset (spectator mode only)- Added new console commands: "SpawnCreature", "SpawnCreatureTable", "GetCreatureTable", "SetPlayerFaction", "ToggleBookMenu" and "SetTimeScale" (type "help" in the console for more details)- Added 4K screenshot support to spectator mode- Updated Unity to 2019.3.14f (LWRP is now URP)

- Physic materials and collision system overhaul- New effect system for sounds, VFX, particles, decals and painting, improved performance- New slow motion sound effects- Lightning bolts performance enhancements- Added more physic props to environments- Improved Market map- Changed stereo rendering mode from single pass to single pass instanced (better performance)- Added damage relative to penetration depth- Added penetration using pressure- Improved hit detection- Improved accuracy of penetration position- Flesh is now easier to penetrate with a blade- Improved item throwing flying rotation- Improved player body hips position- Added Early Access text to spectator mode- Reworked knockout logic- Increased player view distance- Misc performance optimizations

- Fixed collision detection inconsistencies- Fixed light probes not working correctly- Fixed lights flickering in some situations- Fixed bow not shooting arrows in a straight line- Fixed arrow rotation when nocked- Fixed spectator camera not changing from first person view to third person- Fixed spectator click after loading a level- Opening console locks keyboard spectator commands

- Gladiator armor (for the arena)- New blood decals- New/cleaner dismemberment- Spell menu animations- Spell sub menus (more than 10 spells, for modding)

I met Jonathan's work on the internet and it was love at first sight or… listened. His music is perfect for all the situations I had written for Order from Caos. He is extremely talented and is an essential part of the game for me. His music creates another layer over what I wrote and made. So, I talked briefly with him and I hope you enjoy our conversation.


JONATHAN SHAW: “A Tale of Water” is a free track from my “RPG Orchestral Essentials” music library, intended mainly as an introspective, reflective piece of ambient music. I suspect (or, well, hope) it will be largely used for peaceful and calm scenarios. The running water (or in the other version, swirling wind) is meditative – a relaxed element that flows throughout – and it is accompanied by intervallic chord pulsations that should hopefully stimulate serene thoughts. I often like to find ways to integrate my field recordings into music, and hopefully you will agree that the addition of the flowing water here was an effective example!


JONATHAN SHAW: Of course, there are similarities and differences, but fundamentally the role of music goes unchanged: to complement the film/videogame by stimulating relevant emotions or reflecting narrative actions.

It also largely depends on the director/developer and how they treat the music: do they want the music to go unheard – to merge with the film/videogame and become an ambient background? Or do they want it to be at the forefront – on par with, or exceeding the visuals – for dramatic, emotional effect that sticks with the viewer/player?

If you are writing for the concert hall, then obviously there is no other medium for the music to complement (usually!), in which case the music becomes the most important element.

As for composing itself, there is quite a substantial difference when writing for live performers in a concert hall, versus virtual instruments accompanying a screen.

If you know you will have live performers playing your music, then you must take care to ensure what you are writing is idiomatic (crucially, that it is playable – typical of that instrument). Whereas these limitations are heavily relaxed when working in a digital environment with virtual samples (I’m looking at you, chromatic harp and timpani!)

Further, something I’ve recently begun considering is the amount of available aural “space” when writing for live versus sampled. With writing for live performers in a concert hall, the amount of space is effectively infinite; you can combine any instrument together to create an infinite palette of colours, playing as loud as possible or as quiet as possible, and never worry about breaching the limit of that “space” (well, so long as you orchestrate it effectively!)

But in a digital environment – working with 1s and 0s – that “space” has a more tangible limit. You have to take extra care when considering, say, whether an instrument should double another (i.e. play the same melody) – will it muddy the mix? Take up too much room of a tight frequency band? Drown out another instrument competing for the same space? These considerations are augmented tenfold in a digital environment than when writing purely for the acoustic concert hall.



JONATHAN SHAW: Once upon a time, there was a young boy who dreamed of music … Okay, fairy tales aside, my first experiments in composition began in 2010, though it was not until 2012 when it started to take off.

I had a rather traditional upbringing – self-taught by studying Baroque and Classical music with J.S.Bach, Mozart and all the classic cohort – which, on looking back, gave me a solid foundation for melody and harmony through the study of counterpoint and the good old “rules” of composition.

Later, I expanded to more modern musics and decided to become more pluralist as a composer, with the influential works of Stravinsky, Holst, Vaughan-Williams, and several others, which gave me more grounding in orchestral music. And from there, on to contemporary classical composers such as Steve Reich, John Adams, and of course, video game composers, notably Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, Hiroki Morishita, Motoi Sakuraba, Keiichi Okabe, among others.

And so, in 2019 I started creating and releasing the video game music library – “RPG Orchestral Essentials” – to try my hand at creating some RPG orchestral music and to offer free MP3 downloads for developers to use in their games.

And recently, that has led to my first full video game scoring project that I’m quite proud of – an upcoming indie tactics game – so watch this space!



JONATHAN SHAW: How could I not play RPG games – I was born and raised with them!

My very first adventure was through playing the original “Golden Sun” games, which Motoi Sakuraba scored. As such, the “Golden Sun” soundtrack holds a very special place in my heart, being one of the first I had experienced, and I owe a lot to it (which is why I have been making some orchestral arrangements of it!)

But of course, there are so many other video game scores I absolutely adore (and wildly flail my arms to conduct when alone):

“Monster Hunter” has some exceptionally adventurous orchestral tracks and memorable themes in each iteration;
“Fire Emblem” has wonderfully successful fusions of orchestral and EDM elements, and it’s crossfading of battle tracks is genius;
“Octopath Traveler” satisfied my need for some nostalgic and rustic JRPG themes with a modern, orchestral aesthetic;
“NieR: Automata” blew me away with its use of sound design in meticulously produced tracks and multiple variations thereof which change dynamically to the players’ actions;
“Xenoblade Chronicles” knocks it out of the park with every theme delivering an ecstasy of emotions with an excellent combination of orchestral and band instruments;


JONATHAN SHAW: I am always open for commissions and collaborations, whether it be for video games, film, or even contemporary classical works. Feel free to check out my website for other examples and contact info: https://www.jshaw.co.uk/

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If you liked our conversation, you can find Jonathan Shaw's work in a lot of places. Make sure to follow him.

• https://www.jshaw.co.uk/
  
• https://www.youtube.com/TandA-Music
  
• https://www.facebook.com/JonathanShawComposer/
  
• https://www.patreon.com/JonathanShaw

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1332540/Last_Battle_Order_from_Caos/

Thank you so much for your feedback, it is very valuable to our continued development of CNDL. In v1.1.1 we have fixed a few bugs that have been brought up by users, and improved the render pipeline.

New Features:

• Fixed Issue where installing CNDL on some non C: drives would cause render to not show
  
• Improved render speed significantly

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Patch 0.2.28a has been pushed, patch notes below

===Bosses====

===Artifacts/Crafting===

===Talents/Skills===

==QoL==

==Bug Fixes===
- Fixed sometimes augmentation and sockets will not show up visually

==Miscellaneous==

Many of you may wonder what makes this game different or special from many other grand strategy games out there? Specially compare to big and famous titles? Well, we are proud to declare we do have something really special! And it is unit craft. Not just upgrades but actual customization. Let’s look briefly on units in TCWE2 generally to understand how it works.



There are three main components in unit production – blue prints, a model and actual unit. Unit customization is situated right between blue prints and a model. You will need to research blue prints and customize your unit model based on them. When model is ready you can start production of it. You have to spend funds of science to research blue prints and private/nationalized sectors to produce units.



Unlike in many other strategy games you do not research blue prints of an actual unit in TCWE2. You research different components. Components are required to combine it together to have your model.

There are four main components – body, weapon, electronics and reliability. Each component provide to your model specific setting ( we will discuss it in more details in next diaries ).

Body – is actual look of unit model. The size of the body is very important for the load capacity. As bigger load capacity as more components can be installed onto model.



Electronics – is operation system of unit.



Reliability – is what makes this unit move around



Weapon – is what makes this unit deadly in combat.



Each component is not tied to specific model. It means, once you have researched J47 engine you can mount it on different air body models, not just F 86. This kind of unit customization opens great amount of possibilities to make different models based on the same body for different battle tactics and war strategy.



DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW THIS PAGE to read new diaries.

P.S. We are small indie team of three people. Please, support us by providing the link to our games in your Steam activity log or Social Medias. If you are bored while waiting you can also support us by playing our games! By playing our games you will speed up our work time on TCWE2! Thank you

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/10404/The_Cold_War_Era_Bundle/

Hello fellow survivors!

Here is concept art of the inventory system we will be implementing into Down2Die.

Patch 0.2.28 has been pushed, patch notes below

===Bosses====
- All bosses' health increased slightly
- All guardians' health decreased slightly
- All guardians' damage and spellpower increased slightly
- Lom's Puppet Master II effect spellpower power bonus decreased
- Lom's Puppet Master III effect spellpower power bonus increased
- Izki's Noxious Gust now contains a little more hint
- Clint and Glint now restores 4% of Aurdon's health when killed instead of 2%
- Clint and Glint now gains more health per revival
- Lowmore and Abyss exp increased

===Artifacts/Crafting===
- The following divine artifacts have been added
- Divine Thor - Lowmore
- Divine Malice - Lowmore
- Divine Windforce - Lowmore
- Divine Bolster - Lowmore
- Divine Adaptation - Abyss
- Divine Fortune of the Wild - Abyss
- A new artifact, Thundercloud, has been added to Insane Grunzar
- A new artifact, Divine Thundercloud, has been added to the Abyss
- Runeword Precision reworked
- Malice reworked
- Venom reworked
- Apprentice's Compendium no longer gives shield effect and mana regen
- Bolster's duration increased from 10 to 13 seconds
- Bolster and Divine Bolster now works with Lesser Heal and Flash Heal instead of Lesser Heal and Radiant Heal
- Divine Sculptor of the Sun Lesser Heal damage increase from 2000 to 3500
- Divine Sculptor of the Sun Lesser Heal damage increase duration from 5 seconds to 8 seconds
- The Growing Thoughts Tank damage per level decreased from 3 to 2
- Gump's eye is now an unique item
- Ashwood burn duration increased from 5 to 7 seconds
- Divine Ashwood burn duration increased from 7 to 10 seconds
- Divine Ashwood maximum burn stacks increased from 3 to 5 stacks
- Tribute of the Queen/Divine Tribute of the Queen now increases Lightning damage based on attacker/caster instead of just Berzerker
- Inevitable Fate no longer increases all elemental resists
- Inevitable Fate now comes with a -40% critical heal multiplier
- Divine Netherlight damage ratio increased from 130% to 200%
- Orra/Mevor/Edwin crafting material requirement decreased
- +Shield Effect and +Critical Heal multiplier attribute scaling decreased
- Stone of the Maker drop chance increased slightly
- Jewels and low tier runes drop chance decreased slightly

===Talents/Skills===
- Lesser Heal healpower scaling per level increased from 0.7% to 1%
- Spirit Orb base healpower increased from 23% to 24%
- Spirit Orb healpower scaling per level increased from 0.7% to 0.8%

==QoL==
- Tutorial for Stats and Info screen updated to include the atlas
- Artifact Atlas now shows if an artifact only drops when the boss is chaotic
- Artifact Atlas now allows quick travel to the zone that drops the item
- Dice of Greed now allows you to choose between rolling all Weapons, Armors, or Accessories
- You can now purchase hints from the Rune Atlas

==Bug Fixes===
- Fixed sometimes the lock on the augmentation text will have a wrong order
- Fixed sometimes resetting mastery will not properly deduct gold
- Fixed Izki's follower having too much health on Normal
- Fixed Protection Aura sometimes not reducing maximum mana properly
- Fixed Intervention health reduction minimum penalty is smaller than maximum penalty
- Fixed Mercy healing reduction minimum penalty is smaller than maximum penalty
- Fixed The Ominous One Chaos Strike damage reduction minimum penalty greater than maximum penalty
- Fixed Divine Ashwood proc rate being too little
- Fixed talent mastery requirement text not cleared when viewing talent sacrifice
- Fixed diced artifacts sometimes not properly having less stats with sockets
- Fixed sometimes toggling the divine version info in item atlas will not work
- Fixed various copies/texts

==Miscellaneous==
- Orra/Mevor/Edwin crafting now shows up to 1 decimal

This update is fixing a bug I found within the game regarding saving for a specific unit and crashing the game.

Greetings fellow Thiefs and Assassins :)

We're finally entering the "Close Alpha" testing phase for Unknightly's much awaited and desired "Village Update".

Notice this phase is "Closed" meaning access to the content will be restricted to invites only.
If you wish participate and receive an invite please post here, or better yet send me a PM on Steam and we'll take it from there.
We're happy to accept any passionate participant who'd like to help us improve the Unknightly experience :)

The "Closed Alpha" phase will span a short period over which we will be regularly releasing content updates for our alpha-participants to try out and provide feedback.
With every update will will send out a notification to all alpha participants including details on what has been added, changed or fixed.

The 1st update will launched this Sunday, June 7th, and will the following contain:

• Two completely new Village levels !!
  Note this version will not contain any of the pre-existing "Dungeon" levels as these are currently being re-worked.
  
• Realistic Audio Occlusion (!!) based on Oculus' "Spatial Audio" system providing a huge value to both game-play and immersion.
  
• Story and objective system which provide context and meaning to game-play.
  
• Graphical improvements including a massive performance improvements, sharper image quality, new available graphics settings and more.
  
• New "Player Hub" area with it's own new "Mission Selection" experience.
  
• Reworked tutorial experience based on one of the new "Village" levels.
  
• Other valuable improvements including dramatically reduced loading times, arrows attaching to wood surfaces, various bug fixes and much more.

Content that is definitely being added includes all three of the existing "Dungeon" levels which are currently being reworked and will be gradually added over the coming updates.
Every reworked level has been extended with focus on adding additional spaces and paths for reaching different parts of the map, making for a more interesting and less linear experience.
Additionally we've layered the new objective system on top of each level in order to tie it in with the overarching story.
Lighting and guard patrol routes have also been changed and/or improved upon.
We've also got tentative plans for adding features which could add a ton of replay value including stealth score, more interesting and diverse in-game achievements etc. but these are not yet definitive at this point.

Hope to see you join us extending and improving what is already a fun and engaging VR Stealth experience <3 !