Hey Everyone,

After a long wait again, GemCraft Frostborn Wrath has finally got a new major update!

The Iron mode, known from the previous GemCraft too, is now added, giving veteran wizards a new flavor of playthrough with the rules tuned for challenge.
All previously missing trial fields have also arrived for Frostborn and Chilling game modes.

Iron Mode features:

• Beam skill is given at start
  
• More waves, tougher monsters await you on every field
  
• 3 skill points are given for the first win on each field
  
• You have to open iron, bronze and brass stashes to get more skill points and unlock skills
  
• No xp, leveling, talisman, traits, shadow core, endurance mode, trial mode
  
• Achievements don't give skill points

A great bunch of bug fixes and QoL updates are included too:

• Added fields A5 and A6
  
• Added all the missing trial fields
  
• Modified 20+ fields, mostly trials
  
• New option: hide monsters when time is frozen (hot key: comma)
  
• Fixed showing wrong orblet mana gain multiplier in trial mode
  
• Fixed giving the Z1 field token for any opened token-giving stash, when loading a saved game
  
• Fixed paths being unbuildable on field B4 with a flipping mod activated
  
• The Gatekeeper is shown destroyed at the beginning of A4E and A4T now
  
• Fixed pressing up/down keys while dragging a gem crashing the game
  
• Pylon range can be adjusted with the up/down keys now
  
• The 'Enough frozen time trickery' achi is checked now when the shadow reaches 0 hp instead of the end of the dying swirl anim
  
• Fixed falsely giving some traits-related achis for playing trial fields with hidden active trait settings
  
• Fixed the traits xp multiplier sometimes being more than 1 in trial mode
  
• Wasp stings dealt to wizhunters, swarm queens and wallbreakers are properly counted as stings to creatures now
  
• Fixed mana leech beam getting 3x less mana when on faster speed
  
• Yellow gem wasps can have crit hits now
  
• Fixed the orblets mana gain multiplier giving added twice to the constant mana replenish
  
• Fixed a range bug affecting amped and beam enhanced gems with reduced range ratio being placed in an other tower
  
• The 'reset achievements' button now properly lights up at 300 achievements reached
  
• Fixed how the orb banishment cost reductions from amps and bombs are shown
  
• Fixed combined gems not increasing the 'mana spent on gems' stat properly
  
• Fixed a bug involving bleeding monsters and lanterns with 'least affected by specials' priority
  
• Bleeding timer on non-monsters can be reset now with consecutive bleeding shots of the same strength
  
• Made the xp field wider to show more than 9 digits properly
  
• Fixed some typos as always

Keep staying safe and have a great time playing!

Bug fixes:

- Lucy and few quests contained typos
- Apprentice Training could be learned prior to it's purpose, then caused Tutorial overlap
- fixed Lucy overlap texts
- opening Options in-game caused time to flow
- fixed bug where player could open another menu while in Load menu, caused a permanent overlap
- fixed an animation bug where if Hammer got hit by Anvil right when the night came and character disappeared, multiple particles and sounds ocured in split second
- saving game caused player to not be able to open Production window or go to World Map
- leaving Terrick un-recruited sometimes caused him stuck in standing animation

Improvements:

- Anvil now gets tooltip 'Craft' when hovered over, Blacksmith character too (wanted to put it over Workshop as well, but found it really annoying over short time)
- SKIP button now properly skips after all employees go to sleep
- exiting menu in-game is now automatically un-paused
- saving game now closes automatically menu and un-pauses the game
- added 2 new quests during the beginning to slow down the game pace as it's still rushing the player (also gives him bit more gold)
- added new feature, when ordering materials from mines, top left panel is now displayed tracing it's progress till the end. After wheel cart finishes delivery, player can re-order last quantity by just one-click for a defined amount of time
- Back to Feet quest where player has to earn up to 3 gold early game got re-worked and is now set to Craft and Sell 5 items instead, which gives player better understanding of the sales

Because it's alpha and gameplay can get modified, NEW GAME might be necessary if you come up to some issues with older version saves.

Friends,

A small patch to fix a few minor issues:

- Steam VR no longer loads for desktop version
- Achievements should unlock correctly now

Thanks,
Krish.

Dear Captains,

Today, March 10th, we have started to provide compensation for

• Crashes in port battles on the War server in the beginning of February
  
• Crashes in general battles on the War server in the beginning of February
  
• Technical issues on the Peace server on 15th and 19th February
  
• Five battles that have been rescheduled two times due to peace declarations.

Please note: Due to number of players, the compensation process will take place throughout the week. Please do not worry if you did not receive a compensation today or tomorrow and wait until Friday, March 12th.

Compensations and rewards must be redeemed within a month (4 weeks) since March 10th, on April 7th items will be automatically deleted and you will no longer be able to redeem compensation and rewards.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your support and patience!
Game Labs Team.

Hello all,

Small update today aimed at increasing the game's stability concerning a specific crash...

• Possible fix for an infrequent hard crash of the game. Modified the camera's occlusion culling layers in an attempt to prevent an error when building shadow culling masks. This may incur a slight performance penalty, as the camera isn't culling as much now as it was before, but at least there was no more crashing on my test machine. Will keep an eye on this.

Thanks,
Henry Kucab

• Fixed sound not playing for intro cutscene after accidentally breaking it again. Whoops!

I spent a lot of time this week working on the new "Hamster Ball" power up, and a level that properly showcases it. The level ended up being one of the most complex levels I've made, but I think it turned out really well. I don't want to spoil it so I won't be saying too much about it, but I hope you like it when you finally get to play it.

Other than that I'm continuing to fix bugs and add polish to the game in preparation for the Early Access launch. Functionally I think the game is actually pretty solid. It has a bunch of features that Early Access games rarely have at launch: a replay system, leaderboards, achievements, etc. Just a few more things (like music!) and I think it'll be ready.

• Achievements added to Steam.
  
• Added a way to export Achievement information to json for easy uploading to FeedbackBot.
  
• Update some Achievement names.
  
• Implemented a way to track the number of flips a player has done.
  
• Added achievement based on # of total flips.
  
• Added flip count to Stats menu.
  
• Prototyped a bowling level (and decided it was bad).
  
• Added new level Jackpot, (probably the most complicated level yet)
  
• Fix bug where Hamster Ball powerup was misplaced in replays.
  
• Fix issue with stats where rolling in a Hamster Ball counted as being in the air.
  
• Don't count flips while inside Hamster Ball.
  
• Conditional Goal Zones are now always activated in replays.
  
• Fix bug where Hamster Ball power up was not properly reset in replays.
  
• Fix non-convex colliders in Jackpot level.
  
• Add SFX to Achievements menu.
  
• Adjust game launch popup to reference "Early Access" instead of "pre-alpha".
  
• Implement various safeguards to deal with trying to load levels that don't exists from the level select menu.
  
• Add logic to level select menu to prevent players from going past the last available level.
  
• Add a scene to "End of Levels" level that has a message thanking players and asking them to review the game on Steam and join the Discord.

The Patch 5.4 series presents a plethora of new challenges to our players, and in the hope that would-be adventurers can experience all that FFXIV has to offer, we are pleased to announce the latest Free Login Campaign!

Eligibility

• Users who have previously purchased and registered FINAL FANTASY XIV.
  
• All registered service accounts must be set as inactive during the campaign period.
  
• Registered service account must have been inactive for at least thirty days.

* Details of service accounts can be confirmed via the FINAL FANTASY XIV: Mog Station.

Campaign Schedule

From Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) / 8:00 (GMT)
to Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 7:59 a.m. (PDT) / 14:59 (GMT) / 15:59 (BST)

* Please note that a subscription to FFXIV is required to continue playing after the event period.

Free Login Period

Four days including the day on which users first log in. This period ends on the fourth day at 11:59 p.m. (local time).

* Please note that this campaign is based on the GMT time zone. The campaign passes automatically to the next day at 00:00 (GMT) / 1:00 (BST) / 2:00 (CEST).

Game Download

If you need to re-install the game, please visit your Steam Library or the Store page here.

Notes Regarding the Free Login Campaign

• The free login period begins after logging in via the game launcher using your Square Enix ID and password.
  
• Once activated, the free login period will end once it reaches the allotted free play duration regardless of whether you actually play the game.
  
• Players with multiple service accounts registered to a single Square Enix account cannot participate if at least one of the accounts is currently active.
  
• Service accounts that have been canceled or suspended due to a violation of the service agreement cannot participate.
  
• Players who purchase a subscription during their free login period will forfeit the remaining duration of said period.
  
• Players cannot log in using a platform on which their service accounts have not been registered.
  
• Players can log in using all platforms on which their service account has been registered.
  
• When attempting to participate in the free login campaign using a Square Enix account with multiple service accounts, the free login period will be valid only for the first service account selected upon logging in. Please note that you may be unable to participate in the free login campaign with more than one service account at a time. If you cannot log in using a second service account even after meeting all other requirements, we ask that you wait for the free login period to expire on your first service account and try again.
  
• Server maintenance may be carried out during the free login period. Please note that you will be unable to log in to the game during maintenance.

Before talking about the new patch, I would like to thank all the people who joined me in Rogue Glitch during the Early Access. Your support during these early days was a huge help, especially all the feedback provided here and on the Discord channel. Life as a solo developer has never felt so connected as it does now.



One of the biggest changes arriving with today's launch is that the Singleplayer mode is going Free 2 Play. I've been working on this game for a couple years now and I'd like to give everyone the opportunity to try it. The multiplayer functionality will now be available as a DLC extra for those who have enjoyed their experience and want to share it with friends online.

Of course all current owners of Rogue Glitch from the Early Access period will retain multiplayer functionality. It should automatically be enabled for you but let me know if you have any problems.



The latest patch has also come online bringing new content:
-The final Glitchworld "The Creator's Domain" where you'll meet Malfecto, God of Glitches for the last time... Or is it?
-13 new item unlocks (Missile Boots, Explosive Pooper, Health Shield, Multithreading)
-QOL tweaks including more forgiving stomps and balance changes to zone 4
-Win Streaks for beating the game with increased difficulty each time (up to 5)




Meet Glitch Pixel rewarded for the first 6-zone completion of the game. Starting the game with just 1-HP, Glitch Pixel is a glass cannon with +50% increase DMG and Firerate.



Meet Luna! To find out how to unlock this little chum, head over to the Rogue Glitch Discord.

I hope you all very much enjoy your time in Rogue Glitch's launch build. I will still be watching for your feedback so please share your suggestions and findings.

Goodluck in the Glitchworld - You'll need it! <3

-Lino

Check out this amazing new art by Smoked Ham (@smokedKun on Twitter!) I'm so pumped! I think it really captures the spirit of this game, both mechanically and narratively. YAY!

So yeah the other really big thing that's upcoming is the CARAVAN, which is a new rather huge feature coming to CAMPAIGN MODE. Basically, I think that Campaign Mode has been missing a basic "RPG loop" that's pretty important to these sorts of Rogue-lite / X-Com style campaigns in games. I think the Caravan will make each new mission more compelling, and also give each run through a lot more of its own identity.

From the Campaign Hub, you now have a new button called CARAVAN which opens a whole new screen. This screen has a bunch of your Items - basically, the blessings that already exist in the game. But now, there's a bunch more of them (at least five new ones will be added, more coming later), and they can be freely equipped and unequipped to anyone, anytime you want. Not only that but they can also be sold, for GOLD.

(That's right: a videogame has a gold resource in it. Can you believe it?)


Above: a VERY early screenshot of the caravan mode, just to give you a sense.

During missions, there are treasure chests around the map, and once in awhile a unit, upon dying, drops a treasure chest. You can pick them up by walking over them. After the battle, your CARAVAN inventory will show all the treasure chests you picked up. Inside the treasure chests could be:

- A random blessing
- Gold
- A random unit
- Any combination of these
- (later on) other stuff?

From there you can equip or sell blessings as you please to units in your squad. There will be a new little icon on units that have a blessing so you can easily see who has what.

But that's not all! There is also an UPGRADES menu, featuring four permanent upgrades that you can unlock for this campaign: Beds (oh I forgot to mention, units now only heal a little bit between missions. But beds mean units that don't go on missions heal to FULL), Surgery (one random unit who dies on a mission actually survives with 5 health), Gem Lab (Start each mission with extra gems) and Training (units not brought on a mission increase in level, capped at level 3). These each cost a decent chunk of Gold so it's a bit of a longer term power curve.

I'm really excited for this mode and looking forward to getting more feedback on it. I'm hoping to have it ready sometime around this coming weekend, but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks so much for checking out this update!