Dec 1, 2020

Albion Online - iancurtismayfield

Winter has returned to Albion, and the Yuletide Challenge is back! For the entire month of December, earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests, and earn rewards like an avatar ring, new and classic furniture items, and the beloved Snow Husky mount.

Yuletide Greetings

SNOW HUSKY: You've got another chance to claim the charming Snow Husky, a handsome canine companion that will carry you through Albion's harshest terrain. Along with its strong base move speed, its Hunting Instinct spell gives a short but powerful speed burst.

AVATAR RING: Along with the Snow Husky, adventurers who reach this month's total point goal will unlock the Yuletide Challenge Ring, which gives your avatar a cheery holiday look any time of year. And remember: unclaimed Adventurer's Challenge Rings can always be traded in for Adventurer's Tokens at the Vanity Merchant!

SEASONAL SPECIALS: Unlock Yuletide Challenge chests to get a mix of holiday-themed prizes, along with goodies like Silver, Tomes of Insight, treasures and resources. Each chest has a chance to give classic Yuletide decorations like Presents and Decorated Trees as well as four brand-new items: the Yuletide Candle, Wreath, Lantern, and Candy Boot!

As always, you can earn Challenge Points by gathering, fishing, farming, and killing monsters. Points count simultaneously toward a daily bonus, a weekly unlockable chest, and the monthly mount and avatar ring reward. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these rewards while they last!

Dec 1, 2020

Blob Advent Calendar!

Ova Magica - ClaudiaTheDev

I've prepared something special for you - Each day we open a door together ♥ !

Day 25 - Ice blob
What could be better than walking through a winter wonderland? But watch out! This blob is having fun freezing things... Well, in summer he can cool your drinks.

Day 24 - Celestial blob
Stories are told that on the night of the shooting stars a blob egg will fall from the sky, carrying a miracle...
Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones!

Day 23 - Pumpkin blob
On the night of the "Spooky Moon Festival" this blob roams trough Clover Town.
I chose this blob for today for some nightmare before Christmas vibes.

Day 22 - Dragonfly blob
This blob is very rare. With luck you can find it at wild lakes. But it is shy and before you know, it is gone...

Day 21 - Flower bunny blob
This blob is stronger than it looks! Its magical blossom attacks can get even the strongest trainers in trouble...

Day 20 - Crow blob
Better put up a scarecrow! Otherwise, this blob will eat your crops...

Day 19 - Storm starter blob
At the beginning you can choose one of the three starter blobs! What type will you pick - Forest, Storm or Magma?

Day 18 - Poo blob
This blob is very kind and often tries to get close to people. However, to its surprise, people avoid it... If only they knew that its ability "Fertilizer" is very useful for growing plants

Day 17 - Bomb blob
This blob has a very high attack power. But it's not only useful in battle. With its ability "Explosion" it can help you remove barriers or gather raw materials fast.

Day 16 - Angler blob
If you like fishing, this blob is your best companion. He can attract fish with its light.

Day 15 - Bat blob
You can find this blob mainly in caves. With its special soundwaveSpeaker with three sound waves ability it can help you catch bugs by confusing them.

Day 14 - Turtle blob
Although this blob is rather slow moving, many trainers choose it for battle. Due to its hard shell, it can withstand a lot of hits!

Day 13 - Pig blob
This blob may not be the best fighter, but it has an excellent nose and can dig up delicious mushrooms.

Day 12 - Magma starter blob
At the beginning you can choose one of the three starter blobs! What type will you pick - Forest, Storm or Magma?

Day 11 - Moon cat blob
Some believe this blob came from the moon...
A tribute to the favorite childhood series of the dev.

Day 10 - Bee blob
This small blob feels most at home in flower meadows and usually lives in larger swarms. It is friendly but bravely defends its hive when it has to.

Day 9 - Hedgehog blob
Despite its spikes this blob is friendly but above all curious. It often plunders backpacks of resting hikers when they aren't looking.

Day 8 - Mushroom blob
Keep your eyes open when you go mushrooming in the forest! This little guy may not be the strongest, but you should be careful of his poisonous attacks!

Day 7 - Demon blob
Even the best trainers have difficulties to defeat this blob. Its fiery skills can wipe out your entire team with just one blow.

Day 6 - Forest starter blob
At the beginning you can choose one of the three starter blobs! What type will you pick - Forest, Storm or Magma?

Day 5 - Tiger blob
This blob is hard to train and makes a lot of mischief. If it accepts you as a trainer it is a loyal companion and a strong fighter.

Day 4 - Butterfly blob
This small and curious blob loves fragrant things! Maybe you can lure it if you plant many flowers on your farm...

Day 3 - Crab blob
It doesn't like to be disturbed. Stories are told of badly mauled treasure hunters who came too close to it on the beach...

Day 2 - Penguin blob
This friendly, but also a little clumsy blob, feels most comfortable in the winter season Frigus.

Day 1 - Cow blob
It's not very strong in battle, but it can produce fresh milk.

Dec 1, 2020

Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack coming 8 December, 2020!

Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments

Hayo Zookeepers!

Since we launched Planet Zoo over a year ago, we've visited various landscapes: we've trekked through the freezing tundra; hiked around the lush, dense jungle; journeyed across the Australian Outback, all to meet the various species in those regions and learn more about them! But, there was something we just couldn't get out of our minds, somewhere we wanted to explore further, but just weren't quite able to. Until now.

It is our absolute pleasure to announce the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack, which will be making a splash alongside free Update 1.4 on 8 December, 2020!

In the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack, you'll meet five stunning, iconic animals, including four deep swimming animals and one exhibit animal which will arrive with a new exhibit landscape! Get ready to meet the wonderful Diamondback Terrapin, charming Giant Otter, beautiful Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, brilliant Grey Seal and adventurous King Penguin. With the introduction of deep swimming, which we will be sharing more on very soon, these animals will come with their own challenges, as they have specific needs you'll need to keep in mind when building their habitats, to keep them happy and safe.

Alongside the animals, the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack will bring 170+ scenery, building and foliage assets, which will enable you to build a water wonderland your animals will thrive in. These assets in this pack have a more 'modern' look, meaning they have a lot of versatility and can be used in a wide range of zoos - something that a lot of community members shared that they were looking for!

That's not all! We're also bringing you a brand new timed scenario! You'll be travelling over to Oregon, USA, to take on the task of managing a zoo that's set around a drained riverbed. This zoo will test your abilities, thanks to its tight space restrictions, and you'll need to think outside the box of how to make the best of the space you have - but don't worry! What this zoo lacks in space, it makes up for in elevation.

Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack will be available to purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, €9.99) on Steam and the Frontier Store from 8 December. Until then, you can wishlist it on Steam to be notified as soon as it's available. Please note you will need to have the Planet Zoo base game in order to download and play this extra content.

Thank you, fellow Zookeepers, for all of your support! We're excited to bring this highly requested content to you, and we can't wait to see you play it! Keep an eye on our forums and social channels for all the news and announcements.

Dec 1, 2020

Community spotlight

Voxel Tycoon - Voxel Tycoon

Before getting you straight to beautiful shots of the heavily modded game made by our community members playing Pre-Alpha, there's a quick state of development report:

No ETA on the Steam EA yet, but we are working hard to deliver as soon as possible. A lot of things should be done right, such as a tutorial, Steam Workshop integration, and passenger transportation. We can't fail with the Steam EA launch, so we take our time.

Now, enjoy the awesome community work!

Bullet train from Japan by Fredrik Leftin

Po Valley by Fredrik Leftin

Alpine viaducts by Fredrik Leftin

Shot by fevtin

L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de la Ciotat by fevtin

Sulfur mine by Fredrik Leftin

Shot by lui

The Nevada desert by Fredrik Leftin

Canyon Valley by Fredrik Leftin

Scottish line by Fredrik Leftin

Egyptian settlement by Fredrik Leftin

Transalpine line by Fredrik Leftin

Meanwhile in Alaska... by Fredrik Leftin

Country freight yard by Fredrik Leftin

Coal mine yard by Fredrik Leftin

That's it for today!

Join our Discord Server, follow us on your favorite social media to keep up to date, and don't forget to add the game to wishlist on Steam!

Also, you can donate to Voxel Tycoon and get into the game credits!

Dec 1, 2020

Patch Notes: 1.19.0a

Spelunky 2 - [NW☆DD]

The second jump of mounts can now be shortened if the player releases the jump button
Fixed stomp's jumping speed after Vlad's cape double jump
Fixed issue where hanging on a ledge would prevent the player from correctly stomping on an enemy that was nearby
Previous grace period that prevented players from collecting gold right after using a door now only applies while on the door tile. This prevents regular-run players from constantly missing gold while giving nogold-run players still the chance to dodge it
Wooden shields no longer push stuff inside walls and will now correctly break when trying to crush things other than critters, small gold nuggets, pots, skulls, mosquitoes and leaf-like entities
Hard boss' portal bounds will now increase progressively along with the visuals
Slightly increased portal visuals' size to better match its physical range
Fixed issue where Olmec was sometimes breaking floor tiles that it was only barely scratching
Fixed previous physics fix oversight (should now make incorrect crush hopefully less common)
Quicksand will now cancel the pitcher's mitt effect on thrown entities
Fixed paste bomb's gravity when it has been thrown by the pitcher's mitt and the attached-to entity disappears
Camera can no longer flash entities that are inside pipes
Pushing the bear trap's gold nugget away (by using a shield, pushblock, etc.) now correctly detaches it from the trap
Prevented players from grabbing Excalibur from other players' hands
Reduced invulnerability frames for monsters after being damaged by firebug's fire
Fixed more cases where the player was being unfairly blamed by a shopkeeper
Player-activated robots will now enrage vendors if they explode inside a shop
Vendors will now anger if you whip out of the shop bomb bags and bomb boxes
Fixed certain crown teleport when the player is on a pipe
Prevented robots from being poisoned or cursed
Lava will now destroy floating orbs
Prevented Hoverpack from being activated when it is not equipped
Fixed hermit crab's shape on being stunned or dead while hiding or emerging (fixes issue where crab became undamageable)
Improved performance in the base camp
Slight "Low visual effects" performance improvement
Fixed Qilin state on spawning on a tight space
Prevented players from receiving fall damage after being slowed down by the water
Fixed velocity reset of equippables on desale
Dice shops will no longer reward previously rewarded items
Prevented golden keys from spawning inside shops
Fixed issue where using a certain ship could sometimes make players pick treasure up accidentally
Prevented clone gun shot from cloning leaf-like entities
Idols can now be deposited in some special world's doors
Loading the light arrow on a bow will now unlock the arrow's journal entrance
Hired Hands will now detect nearby paste bombs
Fixed Hired Hands' door usage when there was a rope in front of the door
Prevented Hired Hands from fighting crabmen
Prevented Hired Hands from performing ledge-flips if they have any held item
Hired Hands will now try to wait outside shops
Prevented Arena AI from considering some useless pickups
Prevented Arena's AI from getting stuck on picking up continuously any two different equippables
Prevented AI from trying to pick up an already equipped backpack
Brightness now only affects ingame, fixing the issue where certain UI elements were unreadable on extreme brightness values (currently shows no change on the settings menu)
Fixed lamp fire state on carrying it to the next level
Added proper rubble to the different coffin styles when they break or open
Added special player coop coffin's style to a certain theme
Fixed ice caves player coop coffin using the wrong sprite
Fixed issue where coop coffins could sometimes not appear in certain levels
Fixed level generation issue that could sometimes block a forcefield tile
Fixed sleep bubble's depth
Fixed issue where some things could still interact while the game was paused
Fixed Waddler's enragement message
Fixed bomb soot culling issue
Fixed issue where dead wet monsters would never seem to dry
Fixed weird shadow on attacking while sitting on a base camp's chair
Fixed issue where the arena music was stopping and restarting when going to Options
Angered vendor music will no longer stop when opening the options menu
Profile "last game played" stickers are now correctly filled when beating the game
Fixed some blocked paths
Removed artifacts from various images
Fixed Spanish text typo