Our 3.13.0 expansion, the Echoes of the Atlas, launches in less than a day! We're excited to see you completing Rituals in order to receive valuable rewards and challenging yourselves in dangerous endgame encounters with The Maven. In this news post we've gathered all the information you'll need to know about what happens on launch day .

The realm goes down and patching begins at 8am 15 January PST
The servers go live at 11am 15 January PST

The patch size for the update will be around 13GB on the Steam client.

If you're looking for some extra character slots for the launch, we're running a sale on these right now! This is also your last chance to get Twilight Mystery Boxes! It will leave the store when our next mystery box becomes available! Keep in mind that if you haven't taken advantage of it yet, it's still possible to get a free Twilight Mystery Box when you spend any amount of points in the store. NOTE: this is only possible once per account. Additional purchases do not grant additional mystery boxes. If you need some extra points, we recommend checking out the Ritual supporter packs.

By the way, we've added the full list of Atlas passives including small nodes in this news post so you can have it handy in one place.

In case you still haven't decided which build to play with, check out the Class subsections on the forum for suggestions from the community. Many of our community streamers are also providing build guides on YouTube.

For those of you who want to compete with other players in the upcoming expansion, Zizaran has organised the HC SSF Maven Kill Event which starts alongside the release of the expansion! The prize pool includes $40,000USD cash as well as microtransaction prizes. Find out more in this news post. We will update the post with an additional prize pool for console players next week.

If you're not able to play the game on launch day, be sure to check out our community streamers on Twitch! See you at launch!

Finally, we did it, Mac version of the game is playable via Steam!



Steam Overlay may not be visible yet (we work on this issue), but all the important Steam-related features (Multiplayer Matchmaking and Achievements) should work well.
Please, tell us if you encounter any problems running the game.

Good luck staying alive this winter!

🌽 Naturally growing crops:
You can now find crops such as corn, carrots and pumpkins naturally growing around the worlds of Stallion Squad. These have a 75% chance of dropping the crop and a 25% chance of dropping the seedpack.

🎆 2021 New Years Event:
Log into Stallion Squad starting the 1st of January 2021 to obtain the limited-time 2021 Glasses. This promotion will be available until the 14th of January 2021. Let's make this a good one, squad! You can read more here.
Gameplay:

• Removed stamina system.
  
• Increased respawn time on rocks from 2 to 120 seconds.

UI and UX:

• Fixed the weird light-grey color issue in the hunger bar.
  
• You can now click "escape" to close the Item Shop and similar UI's.
  
• UI will now scale accordingly to window size and on ultra-wide monitors.

Art and Music:

• Added It's Fine by Marjo to the radio.
  
• Gave sand the same roughness as dirt in procedural worlds.

• ✅ Fixed: When two events are going on at the same time their UI will overlap.
  
• ✅ Fixed: Christmas lobby music does not loop.
  
• ✅ Fixed: Hexagon scores not tracking properly and duplicates in the leaderboard.
  
• ✅ Fixed: The lobby changed back to grass when December ended.
  
• ✅ Fixed: UI does not scale properly to size.

You can track bugs and other issues on our trello board.

If you've yet to wishlist Stallion Squad on Steam; go ahead and do so!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1391070/Stallion_Squad/
Thanks for playing Stallion Squad!

System bug fix

Fixed 'Game crushed when buying Supply Box in shop' bug

Fixed 'Sometimes Item duplicated when get in inventory' bug

Fixed 'Sometimes blur effect doesn't disappear after exit the shop' bug


Other fix

Monster 'Iris's special skill icon is added

Achievement system is added

Dear Players!

Today Farm Manager 2021: Prologue has been released and is available to download for free on Steam. Follow the link:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1415410/Farm_Manager_2021_Prologue/

Patch Notes:
- New PvP, Gauntlet, and Fishing events have begun!!
- Jammie Expedition has returned!!
- Double GvG is returning soon!!
- This week we're doing a SUPER COMMONS PVP event! All common familiars are stronger in PVP only.

Did you know? You can save, transfer, and restore your game across multiple devices or platforms by linking to a Kongregate account! It is as simple as tapping the red K button in the main menu and logging into your Kongregate.com account. For more help, kon.gg/LinkBitHeroes"

Highlighted Features:
1. Reworked the main menu and entire User Interface
2. Changed Hacker Mode into an Ultimate powerup with deep progression and customization
3. Created a brand new tutorial that unlocks a free unit on completion

New Features:
1. We added a new game mode to instant action "Control"
2. Bounty System - complete tasks for credits and XP
3. Updated the game's lighting and reworked several old maps
4. We added the new disguised cheat that covers all units faces with a big nose and glasses
5. Custom Faction System - in the deck's tab you can create up to 10 custom factions
6. Each Faction received a new unit and we increased faction sizes to 8 units

New Units:
1. Fred - Unlocked by completing the new tutorial
2. Lost King - Knight
3. Blacksmith - Viking
4. Head Hunter - Dark Horde
5. Reaper - Legion
6. Rum Master - Black Flag
7. Bandit - Wild West
8. Pilot - Eagles

Zombies Mode
1. Updated the maps visual style to reflect a plagued wasteland
2. Added 3 new points of interest (Trailer Park/Warehouse/Office Buildings)
3. Fire pits can now be activated and will heal you while lit
4. Vending machines and various food and health items have been placed around the map
5. Buffed starting health to all difficulties
6. Added staring cash to Easy and Normal difficulties
7. Added quest markers for the first quest (more hints and markers coming soon)
8. Added a new security system protocol that activates if the zombies can't reach you
9. Doubled the weapon pool to an impressive 88 weapons!
10. Added new high octane mode called "DOOM"

With the new update the menus and gameflow got more streamlined. With this I can guarantee a more stable multiplayer experience. The improved netcode also allows me to easier add new features.

With the new system you do not preselect a hero before entering a game, but select them after you joined a lobby.
Creating and deleting heroes now happens in 'Manage Heroes'.



'Singleplayer' simply creates a solo offline lobby where you can pick your hero and play the game.
'Multiplayer' allows you to invite friends to the lobby. Currently the maximum player count is 8. This may increase. After the game starts joining is not possible anymore.



In the top-right is the invite code you need to share with others who want to join.



·Major rework of multiplayer netcode ( improves performance and stability )
·There is now has a proper lobby system when creating a game
·You can now drop items everywhere
·Added a new gui above the skills to show positive and negative modifiers
·Skills that apply a buff now apply them as modifiers
·Skills now show a more detailed cooldown
·Improved blacksmith UI
·Improved loading times
·Updated korean translation ( thanks to DeTK )
·Improved flow how to create and join multiplayer games
·Spawned enemies now also count towards the floor clear progress
·Changed so all players need to be alive when changing a map

·Better syncing for player position ( no more sliding )
·Various fixes

·Currently not everything is translated
·Falling into void currently does no damage
·Ranged enemies don't retreat anymore if you get to close
·Items lying around currently have a generic 3d model
·Cursor size can't be changed in settings
·Potion does not apply any buffs, only heals
·Big UI boss healthbar is currently disabled

Thank you for submitting tons of great feedback and feature suggestions for the game in the #suggestions channel on our Discord and reviews. It helps to create the game you like and anticipate. We have added the feedback to a user forum where you can vote for existing features and submit new ideas to the roadmap.

Please, vote for ideas and let us know what you want to see the most in the upcoming game updates:

https://battlearenavr.net/feedback

__________________


The tutorial has been worked on and expanded upon. The tutorial is now much easier and more fun to play. The game now requires you to have completed the tutorial which now emphasizes the main aspects of some crucial gameplay elements much better. [/h3]

There is an all-new and much more relevant single player onslaught map - Yellani station! Battle a new enemy with lots more fun in a more practical and relevant scenario for an onslaught mode map. There is also a host of new infected which was tried and tested during beta testing which is now in story mode and onslaught maps.

As an indie game with a lot of unique features and a shoestring budget. This game will receive regular patches and updates over the coming months. In this latest update, the balance and quality of the game have had some major improvements over the last few updates in 2020. We have a fun and extensive game that works great with single-player and over the coming updates we will be extending and fixing up the current multiplayer build. As an honest developer, don`t get this game at this time for multiplayer. In the months ahead, we will be moving forward and get enough testers to release some cool new multiplayer-focused content.

We have made many optimizations in the game in general and everyone will get much better FPS rates. For ATI based players, there are common Unreal engine Game problems with spikes and irregular gameplay drops. This is something we will always do what we can, but for this release, ATI users should get much better performance than before as well as fewer or no crashes. Feedback from the ATI community is vital to work on this more in the coming updates.

The start of the story mode is very dark, some maps are also very dark. With improved scopes (Aiming) there is now much better visibility and some sights see through fog such as the SMG Image Intensification sight. While others such as the battle rifle have a thermal scope with a friend or foe tagging system. The standard assault rifle now has a new sight that eliminates dark areas and highlights pickups and items of interest. Aside from the weapon lighting improvements the flares are now working great and give off much more light. Some decks now have emergency lighting which will help light the area around you while keeping the atmosphere of the game.

Improved teammate AI and also reduced damage from enemy attacks. They should now help much more and help players got to further chapters with a surviving teammate.
Enemy AI is now much better, with bug fixes, and more varied and new enemies which really help the look and feel of the game as well as huge gameplay and experience for new and current players of the game.

We have made some major improvements for multi-player such as removing the aliens, improving the weapons and sights, and making the 4 available team death match maps more fun. As not many people have the game it is best to arrange to play with a friend or group of others who have the game. Coming updates will see much more added to multiplayer including co-op survival mode.

Story mode has now been much better balanced and easier progression curve as you get through the chapters. With the new extra additional chapters, the player needs to survive with at least 1 teammate. This should now be much easier and will make you work more as you get through the story. Each new game will seem that little different with new additional random elements for encounters and flow of the game. This will be expanded on much more in our next update.



__________________________

• Fixes some muzzle flash effects on laser rifle mk5 and the Advanced assault rifle.
  
• Fixed a bug where Friend or for tracker would keep some zombies and other enemies highlighted after death.
  
• Improved all AI smoothness for animation.
  
• Fixed multiple bugs for most enemy AI which animation for hit and attack did not activate.
  
• Fixed a rare bug where some gas-masked zombies would spawn blood in the air with collision - which in turn affected player movement.
  
• Zombie navigation improvements.
  
• Zombie animation and bone improvements for better close up effects.
  
• New enemies added ( A new and official enemy update guide will be released for the community on the 18th of January 2021.
  
• Fixed up issues with the player collision in stasis on story mode.
  
• Added more items in story mode.
  
• Teammate AI damage reduced, collision improved, and additional teammate inclusion in the tutorial.
  
• Improved the flow and balancing of story mode to make the progression curve much better.
  
• Icharids now jump as well as some other enemies.
  
• More voice acting added.
  
• UI improvements and main menu enhancements for Onslaught mode.
  
• Performance optimizations for AI and in-game effects.
  
• Lots of misc. bug fixes, this is a major update.
  
• Multiplayer fixes and improvements

ATI users are best using Vulkan! Our game supports it and will really help with fps and other issues.


There is a setup launch option that gives everyone the ability to customize all the controls such as movement and on different keyboard types. Be sure to check out the config utility which is a launch option on steam before starting the game. Thanks go out to our Number 1 and everyone in the world who is keeping you safe so you can play our awesome 1st update of 2021. As we move forward, let us know how things are improving or not.

MAG Studios Team

All the best for 2021 and we look forward to seeing videos of how the game plays out for you.