Jul 17, 2020

VirtuaCreature (Legacy Version) - Rockoria

Howdy!

We're back again to start sharing details! If you missed the announcement, I highly recommend reading our 2.0 roadmap announcement. Let's get into it!

Video Devblog

We're not sure how often we'll be doing this, but for this month we've made a video going over the details of this month's devblog, as well as showing some exclusive footage!

New Engine

The first few months of this update's development were spent transitioning the game from AS2 to AS3. Now that we're away from that very antiquated tech, we have some new core features available to us! One of these is a very requested QOL improvement, being proper in-game audio control.

Another highly requested feature is also currently in the works, that being Achievements! For now, we've just gotten a very basic Steamworks implementation finished along with a test to ensure achievements will function, so expect to see more about this closer to the update's release.

Minigame Improvements

Minigames are probably the most maligned aspect of VC, so we took some time to largely improve them and make the process of playing them more fun. You can see a lot of the minor changes in the above video, so I will instead focus here on the largest overhaul: the Race game. It's virtually unrecognizable to the previous iteration, now playing more like an endless runner. The speed of the game will increase as you score points, gradually getting tougher.

Save System Overhaul

Another benefit of the engine switch was access to proper file methods, meaning we can consistently generate our save files in the same place and use whatever names/formats we want. While this already makes features like Cloud Saves much easier to implement, we took it a step further and completely redesigned our save system to take advantage of this.

Now, all important data such as money, chests, equipment, recipes, void mine progress, etc is shared between all creatures rather than being individually separated. This should help encourage players to raise multiple creatures as you don't need to worry about large amounts of repeated grinding and can spread your resources as you choose.

To emphasize this new freedom, the previous file select menu has been removed and replaced with the new Creature Box menu! Now you can effortlessly swap between your creatures or hatch new ones, right from the homescreen.

And that's all for this month! Please stay tuned as we have lots more to cover in the near future. Sayonara!

Jul 17, 2020

development update #45

FISHERY - Undercover Cheese

Hello to all of you,

There will be a new build uploaded within the next 24 hours but if all goes well it will be tonight. We have added some nice new art content:

Rummy Nose Tetra Female:

Rummy Nose Tetra Male:

I'm sure some of you are asking, what about the male guppy from last week that was promised? I got a bit too tired of staring it and needed to reset my brain so instead I looked at the unfinished fish list in the forums and found the Rummy Nose Tetra. Quite lovely little fish and they were a lot of fun to paint. The male blue grass guppy should arrive in the game next week, hopefully it will not defeat me again.

Banana Slice:

More food has been added. It just felt so right to add into the game. It also has a dual purpose. Bananas are high in Potassium which is a valuable nutrient that plants require. Soon the code will be updated so that certain food items rich in nutrients can be used to feed fish and also provide nutrients for plants. That way players won't necessarily have to depend on the artificial fertilizer balls or the plumbing nutrient injector to help sustain their ecosystems.

Ruins:

We also added two more ruin pieces that we introduced last week. The new pieces added are the single pillar sections that are not attached to a base block. Next week we hope to finish painting some more brick like blocks of various dimensions so players can start building things with a bit more structure. You can also see a lovely array of banana slices elegantly scattered around the aquarium.

Fungi:

This is Mitrula Paludosa. It is not in the game yet but it will be next week if all goes to plan. It is a species of fungi that grows in the water. We have not found pictures of it actually submerged more than halfway underwater but that is good enough for us to put it into the game.

Fungi is new object type to the game and it will be very useful. Fungi is what is known as a "decomposer" which simply means they break down dead organic matter. Their main job in fishery will be to provide a way to manage waste levels. Players may wish to keep waste at acceptable levels using purely natural means without a plumbing filter. Fungi will get the job done and will help make things look interesting in your aquarium. We have not decided precisely what their needs will be but it will be similar to the other forms of life currently in the game. They will be sensitive to temperature, PH and saltiness and they might add nutrients and other chemicals into the water in exchange for removing waste.

Busy times indeed. When working on art content it often feels like we make more progress than when working purely on code features which is good for the morale of us and anyone who has been following us for a while. The game is really coming together nicely and if we keep going at this pace it means we could add at a minimum 4-5 new species of fish per month. On top of that we looking to add more decorations, plumbing objects, food items, plants, substrates and backgrounds. At some point we will also return to adding more features but our updates were quite feature heavy at the start of the year and we need to balance it out a little before we go deep into code again. Some of the features that have been planned and ready to be coded are the undo system, a much better help system, selection sets, marquee selection, selection filters, more complex fish behaviour and emotions, floating plants and many many many more. The to-do list is enormous but we shall prevail.

We wish you all a great weekend

The fishery Team

Jul 17, 2020

Oneons v1.1.0: Curator/Player Feedback + v2.0 Announcement

Oneons: Prisoners - NightBlade

Dear friends and curators,

I released Oneons on Steam with the plan that I would ship it and move on to my next game. But, overwhelmingly, the feedback I got back is that the game ... could be better. Could be great. But, it needs more work!

With that in mind, my plan for the next several of weeks is pretty simple but comprehensive: ship Oneons version 2.0, primarily driven by player feedback and suggestions. The first of these are in Oneons v1.1.0, which shipped earlier today.

Now Playing: Oneons v1.1.0

This new update includes the first few improvements that players suggested:

A consecutive-kill combo counter! You get a satisfying count up when you kill two or more monsters in succession.
Right-clicking an enemy now uses the psi-blast skill automatically
Pressing ESC no longer kills the game. This caused lots of frustration!
A new BGM audio track.
Enemies that poison you are now indicated in the status window when you mouse-over them.

These are small steps that make the game better and more polished. I intended to ship more changes, but preferred to ship smaller releases on a regular basis.

The Plan for Oneons v2.0

I received lots of feedback and suggestions for Oneons. Most of the feedback centered around the same few themes: too little content, too short a game. So, 2.0.0 will fix that. Right now, the plan is to at least doubling the amount of content. Not just increasing the number of floors and enemies, but adding more (interesting and varied) challenges.

While I'm still working on a concrete plan and specifics, this includes:
- Several new enemy types, with new abilities
- New skills that you can learn and use
- An expanded story
- Different, themed dungeons
- Bosses
- New gameplay mechanics
It's a lot to do, but I think it will make the game much more polished and fun overall. It comes with an obvious downside: I work alone on Oneons during my free time, so this pushes the release date back beyond August.

Let's Talk

I would like you thank you all again for playing Oneons and giving me detailed feedback. My ask to you is simple: if you're interested in seeing the game evolve, try out the new versions, and post your feedback. I'll read it all, agree with much of it, and implement whatever makes sense to me.

Also, feel free to connect with me. I'm on Discord frequently, I'm on Twitter (@nightblade99). I would love to hear from you.

Jul 17, 2020

Reconnecting and upcoming tournament!

King of the World - Mathias

Hi guys,

We're hosting a tournament next Saturday, so if you want to test your skills against some of the very best players now is the time!

The tournament rules are the following:
1 vs 1
Map pool is: Ireland & Middle east. Europe for the final
All armies and techs allowed (Except for final where each player will have 1 ban)
Matches are best of 1

Depending on the number of signups we'll also be adding a cash prize.
Signup is open for everyone and can be done through the following link: https://challonge.com/da/KOTW07

And now to today's patch notes:

-Fixed Heavy orc attack animation
-Fixed Barbarian Mage animations
-Added reconnecting
-Reconnecting and disconnecting now show in the chat
-Fixed a bug where units couldn’t patrol after attacking a unit
-Units now patrol in formation

Jul 17, 2020

Version 0.61 Update - Trees, Foliage & New Meditation!

VR Zen Garden & ASMR Playground - Tazzoman

Trees
We spent a lot of time adding dozens of trees to the forest and the mountains so the garden has a nice background view now. We also updated a lot of trees in the Eastern Area and have more planned for that area as well.

Grasses
The left garden got a bit of an upgrade with new grasses and birch trees. We are experimenting with different grasses to find the look and feel that we want.

Optimizations
We are keeping a close eye on frame-rates on the GTX 970 and trying to keep a careful balance of beauty and frame-rate. It isn't suppose to be a fast action game, but we still want it playable on lower end systems. Supporting a 5-6 year old graphics card seems to be a reasonable starting point. This will be ongoing as the project grows.

Bugs
We got rid of several more unseen errors and bugs we had along the way.

Meditations
We added a great grounding counting meditation! Its super simple to learn and great for people who get distracted easily. A grounding meditation helps your mind focus on physical and calms a racing or distracted mind. It about 9 min, but you can do it anywhere from 5-20 minutes.

Thanks for letting us journey together!

Jul 17, 2020

Join us on the Wheel of Fate Subreddit!

Wheel of Fate - Mundane Rena

Hello fateful adventurers!
We hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far and enjoying the radiance of the energetic summer sun. This week’s good fortune brings you an exciting notice for fortified community and new companionship...

We are now live on the Reddit community! Join our official subreddit for all things related to Wheel of Fate such as game news, theories, development updates, discussions, questions, fan content, memes and more!

Are you an expert redditor and fateful follower? Interested in becoming a moderator for the Wheel of Fate subreddit? Contact us on reddit u/UDXinteractive to help moderate and update the subreddit for the community.

Here at UDX interactive, we are incredibly grateful to the supportive Wheel of Fate community. Similar to the Wheel altering fate based on your in game choices, we continue to evolve the game based on the community’s voice to bring you the best gameplay experience.
Thank you for your continued contributions to the community and joining in our discussions!

Cheers!
UDX Team