Hi everyone! Another small update for you this week!

There are two main things coming this week. First I've updated the visuals so that unit's have better silhouettes against each other / the background. Before the update it looked like this:



Notice how the yellow units lose their edge pixels against the wall behind them. This is fixed and now looks like this:



Hopefully this visual update will make things look clearer.

The second thing in this week's update is an AI change. In response to the military being added to the game and a problem with simulations getting to a slow stalemate after a long time I've ramped up the zombie aggression by giving them a new "Spreading" ability:



Zombies will now detect when they are adjacent to areas that are clear of zombies (marked in blue on the Toggle Overlay) and will be nudged as a group in that direction to help them be more aggressive. From my tests this has turned the tide against the humans massively because a lot of zombies will all move at once and even a formation of cops / military can be overwhelmed.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your feedback on the update!

Hi everyone and thank you for the awesome response to the last EA24 update!

As some of you may already know, Ravenfield is now on it's 4th year in Early Access. Originally I intended to finish the game within 1-2 years, but since then the game has grown quite a bit in scope with additional features like new maps, more vehicle types and improved modding support using scripting. Your overwhelming support and the creativity of the modding community has well exceeded my expectations as the game is played by thousands of people every day. It is genuinely a fun project to work on, even after 5 years in development.

We're now at a point in development where the base gameplay works nicely, even if there still are a bunch of bugs and issues I still need to iron out. That is, I feel like the instant action part of the game works well. The part that still needs major improvement is Conquest mode, and I have spent some time thinking about how to improve it and integrate it better with Ravenfield's core design of approachability and customizability.


Problems with Conquest Mode

The Conquest mode was originally designed to combine a strategical world-map layer with story/dialog elements to provide a background and stakes to the Eagle/Raven war. At the moment, almost none of the story elements are available in Conquest as this turned out to be really difficult to get working in a fun way without being too intrusive on the strategy elements.

Another issue with Conquest is that the same central maps are being fought over repeatedly, with others being ignored almost entirely. This was resolved by adding an Auto-Complete battle feature, but skipping a battle simply isn't very fun and feels like wasted opportunity. Also, the current version of Conquest would be very difficult to mod, and require very complicated external tools to edit or extend. This also seems like wasted opportunity and goes against Ravenfield's core of easily being able to configure your experience like you can in Instant Action mode.

To solve these problems, I've decided that the best direction to take is to split the current conquest into two separate modes, a Story Campaign and a new, streamlined Conquest Mode.


Story Campaign

The Story Campaign centers on the war as seen from the eyes of the Advisor and the special forces group TALON she commands. You have already gotten a glimpse of this group through the updated Spec Ops game mode, but there is still much to discover about TALON and the characters around the group who aid and manage its operation.



I'm working together with long-time community member Starstrafe to bring these wacky characters to life through illustrations which will appear in dialog sequences throughout the campaign. The Story Campaign will be split into 3 acts where each act features one or two story missions along with spiced-up battles and story elements.

I have set a goal to create a story that should take around 2-3 hours to complete on your first playthrough. Going for a short length should prevent the campaign updates being released over an endless number of updates (I actually want to get this done), and help ensure quality over quantity. I also want to keep the Campaign progress highly transparent and available to you all, so on top of the Act 1/2/3 updates I also plan on pushing intermediate updates featuring standalone campaign missions. These missions will eventually be integrated into the campaign story.

I have already started work on the story campaign, and I want to release the first story mission in the EA26 update for you to try out (which will be out after my summer break). If I get enough progress done in time for this summer's EA25 update, I will include an early sneak-peek version of the mission.


Conquest Mode version 2.0

While I'm still figuring out the details of this mode, I want to make a streamlined version of the current conquest mode. This mode will not feature any story details (for example, the war room scene of the current conquest mode and the tech tree will be removed). Instead the new mode focuses 100% on an "arcady" approach to playing Conquest where you purchase upgrades to your army and try to conquer all enemy-controlled levels. The plan is to let the player decide what weapons/vehicles/levels they want to appear on the strategy map and generate a conquest scenario from that. This would also support custom content such as weapons, vehicles and maps. The main goal for the new conquest mode is being able to set up custom conquest scenarios from within the game itself (no need for modding tools!).

I'm still figuring out the design this mode, and it will not be available for some time as I want to focus my efforts on the story campaign for now.


Modding: Scripted Missions and Custom Game Modes

While scripted story missions are an integral part of the story campaign, I also want to make scripted missions available to modders. Scripted missions could either be a story mission that plays on a specific map, or even a custom game mode selectable in Instant Action that can be played on any map.

As I create the story missions for the official campaign, I want to design a simple-to-use system that is reusable for modders. This system would be used with or without Ravenscript (Ravenfield's lua-based scripting framework), depending on the complexity of what you want to achieve. I intend to make it possible to set up simpler story missions without having to write a single line of Ravenscript code.

Finally, modders will be able to create custom scripted campaigns which can, for example, include a sequence of story missions. Custom campaigns will be driven by Ravenscript to make them highly customizable. It will not be possible to create custom campaigns without the use of Ravenscript.

For more information how these changes will influence modding, please see this modding document.

End of Early Access

When the Story Campaign, new Conquest mode and scripted campaigns/missions are available in the game I intend to finish the early access period of Ravenfield and release the 1.0 version. I want to keep supporting the game after the 1.0 release with bugfixes, general improvements and localization.

I hope this new direction for the game makes as much sense for both players and modders as it does for me. I really want to start taking major strides towards finishing the game and nailing down exactly what constitutes Ravenfield 1.0.


In Summary


Feel free to let me know what you think about this in the comments to this post or on the Ravenfield Discord server at https://discord.gg/ravenfield. Please note that I won't be able to answer any comments directly, but I will certainly read them and take them into account!

/Johan (SteelRaven7)

Please Note: All details in this post are work-in-progress and are still subject to change. I tried to make this post as comprehensive as possible, but game development is difficult and things might need some tweaking! :)

We’ve shared a lot with you over the last few weeks about all of the exciting additions and revisions coming to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened with the release of the Epsiode 1 update. It’s been a blast showing off our two new heroes, the Warden and the Rogue, along with introducing new maps and our new inventory and stats system on our Twitch dev stream each week. For this week, we shared some more goodies that will add to Defenders’ experiences.

After our last update where we reduced the number of enemies across the board to boost game performance, the experiences in Rifted mode were impacted more than we (and Defenders) wanted. Rifted was designed to challenge the most dedicated Defenders, but as the enemy counts reduced, this mode kind of felt like a punishment rather than an exciting challenge. The longer runs that resulted weren't an intentional design choice and we’re fixing that to make Rifted all it was meant to be.

How are we doing this? Rifted will no longer spawn any normal enemies! Only Rifted enemies will show up when you choose Rifted mode. The Rifted enemy counts, attack damage, and HP are staying exactly the same as they are now. You just won’t need to bat off the normies anymore. This means fewer enemies overall with the increased challenge from Rifted enemies, achieving our goal of having Rifted require more skill but less time out of Defenders.

For all of you who feel reaching Level 100 wasn’t difficult enough, we’re increasing the level cap for all heroes with the Episode 1 release to 105. The best items in Episode 1 require level 105 to equip, meaning you’ll need to conquer many foes on your journey to utilize the strongest gear available!

If you’ve been keeping up with our news, we’ve spilled a lot of beans over the last month. We’ve been paying attention to your feedback and can’t wait to show off all of our hard work to our GLORIOUS Defenders. We haven’t announced a release date for Episode 1 yet, but know that we’re working hard to get the awesome and exciting updates into your games as soon as possible. We promise we’re as giddy as you are to see and try out these changes!

Another important topic to Defenders is updates on console development. We want to reassure you all that DDA ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 AND PlayStation 5 are still very much under way. We’re working hard to get Nintendo Switch through the Lot Check process, while fixing bugs and prepping it to be live for you all while also knocking out Episode 1. The Switch version will be completed and released before PlayStation, and we are aiming to have DDA on all consoles by the end of the year.

Finally, we’re also working on an update for Dungeon Defenders II. We’ve got so much going on at Chromatic Games and we are making sure this stuff is ready to go before we ship it out, but we promise it’s on its way!

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Chromatic Games and the Dungeon Defenders franchise, follow us on all our social channels:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• YouTube
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

For Etheria!
Chromatic Games

This update has several improvements to prepare for the Project: Vantage Village and other nice things!

There is now an option to see a "height grid" overlay when placing items in the world. This will help you place items based on the current terrain surrounding you. It is "on" for crafting items placement like large buildings (hovels, wigwams, etc..) and "off" for small item placement. However you can toggle between "on", "off", and "overlay" modes with the numpad 7 (default key).

Keep in mind, however that the terrain grid does not prevent you from placing/crafting the item in a position aside from the previous limitations. It is only a guide. You can raise/lower the terrain for your structure before or after building it, and see exactly how much extra work you may need to do :)

Animals now correctly run away from large buildings, fires and torches. You should no longer see a bear waiting for you in your hovel :)

Several other small updates to prepare for the next phase of development. I will talk about this soon!

Enjoy!

Bring the snacks and get comfy – it's time for a virtual board game night!

Team up with other players and descend into the dungeons together in quickplay or by joining our Discord server and meeting up in #looking-for-game.

If the timing doesn't work for you, there are two options for this day - 7 pm CEST or 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.

Bring the snacks and get comfy – it's time for a virtual board game night!

Team up with other players and descend into the dungeons together in quickplay or by joining our Discord server and meeting up in #looking-for-game.

If the timing doesn't work for you, there are two options for this day - 7 pm CEST or 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.

v0.2.5

• New Level: Genesis II Station
  
  • Explore the only safe area in the Nova Genesis system
    
  • Meet Lt. Anwar, staff officer of the station
    
  • Begin to discover the universe of Solar Purge by talking with the crew in the Command Center
    
  • Learn about the dangers of the planet Titus below and activate the Training Simulator in the Archives
    
  • View your ship in the Hanger
• Lockjaw Prison
  
  • Added character voiceover for the Lockjaw Prison Attendant
    
  • Streamlined art and visual effects throughout the level
    
  • Adjusted geometry on the edges of the mining floor to prevent players getting stuck between the large shipping containers and the fencing
    
  • Updated objectives to better guide the player through the second half of the level
    
  • Fixed several cases where the Assassin could Warp Dash off the edge of the map or into crevasses between level geometry where it was impossible to escape
    
  • Solved an issue where all player characters could fall off the map in the Military Warehouse in Cell Blocks
    
  • Fixed an issue where minimap sector names were not updating properly when jumping off of short ledges
    
  • Improved flying enemy navigation
    
  • Added more falling debris during the middle stages of the Cell Blocks
• Training Room
  
  • Integrated into the Space Station campaign level (it is also still available as a selection in the Main Menu)
    
  • Updated the Armory rooms to include all available in-game weapon types
    
  • Simulation Library now contains the updated Security Drone as seen in-game
    
  • Added Respawn Points to both Armories, the Explosive Training Course, the Boss Zone, and the Basic Training mission select hub
    
  • Made small cosmetic updates to level geometry to prevent the player disappearing from view behind tall walls

• Players in the Asteroid Mines boss room should no longer get caught on the raised, angled floor tiles
  
• Adjusted wall spawning logic in Asteroid Mines HC
  
• Desert Caverns HC uses a new lighting scenario and minor scenery updates
  
• Reduced the total number of enemies that spawn during the Master Sentry boss encounter in the Caldera Platforms HC
  
• Adjusted the boss encounter enemy spawn list in Jungle Ruins HC
  
• Standardized descriptive text and font size on all Holochamber settings in the Main Menu
  
• Reduced the spawn rate of enemies in boss encounters from 10 seconds to 15 seconds
  
• Players now have the option to restart a HC level without returning to Main Menu

• New Character: Lt. Anwar
  
  • Staff officer of the Genesis II Station
    
  • Located in the central Command Core
    
  • Third in command, and the player's main contact point between planetary missions
• Engineer Class
  
  • Spider Bots Skill
    
    • This change aims to reduce the Spider Bots' uptime while retaining their level of lethality
      
    • Tier 1 (Base)
      
      • Bot count: 3 bots
        
      • Damage: 1000 per hit
        
      • Duration: 20 seconds
        
      • Cooldown (starts on skill cast): 50 seconds
    • Tier 2
      
      • Bot count: 3 -> 5
        
      • Damage: 1500 per hit
    • Tier 3
      
      • Cooldown: 50 -> 40 seconds
        
      • Bots damage enemies upon expiration (explosion damage: 1750)
  • Healing Drone Skill
    
    • This change aims to make the Healing Drone a stand-out skill that is worth investing in and gives an immediate, noticeable effect
      
    • Reduce healing drone movement lag
      
    • Tier 1 (Base)
      
      • Initial HP regen: 35% max HP
        
      • HP regen rate (every 0.5 seconds): 6%
        
      • Duration: 10 seconds
        
      • Cooldown (starts on skill expiration): 20 seconds
    • Tier 2
      
      • HP regen rate: 6% -> 9%
        
      • Revives defeated players within the Area of Effect (once per player, per skill duration)
    • Tier 3
      
      • HP regen rate: 9% -> 12%
        
      • Grants invulnerability to affected players for 5 seconds (once per player, per skill duration)
        
      • Removed enemy damage effect
• Stryker Class
  
  • Remote Charge Skill
    
    • Fixed an issue where Stryker’s Remote Charge skill would deal significantly more damage than expected

[/list]

• Updated player character icons
  
• Updated character icons for Prison Attendant and Skorlac Pirate
  
• Added character icon frame to dialogue box

• New sound fx for Skorlac blaster weapon
  
• Fixed logic preventing enemy pain animations
  
• Fixed enemy nav / collision issue on Observation Walkway before Atmospheric Control
  
• Fixed bug preventing NPCs from opening doors
  
• Fixed interactive console minimap marker off-screen indicator bug
  
• Reduced sound fx during door opening and closing animations
  
• If for whatever reason players fall off the edge of a level map, the player character will now die and then respawn at the most recent checkpoint

Welcome to the second 'Entering The Loop' article for Lemnis Gate, Operatives!

In this week's post we will be diving deeper into the core mechanics of Lemnis Gate and illustrate some of the ways you can turn time into a weapon.

As we discussed in our last article, Lemnis Gate is a turn-based combat strategy first-person shooter with a unique twist. Each player will take turns adding operatives into a 25 second time loop to create a set of actions. Once you've completed your turn, your opponent will have their chance to execute their own plans. As the matches unfold, each turn will loop and be layered on top of the ones that came before, letting you really flex your creative thinking. Bullets fired in round one will be fired again and again in subsequent rounds,  exactly the same, unless you're able to affect the timeline, of course.
Strategic thinking and tactical planning is key to winning. Execute plays that disrupt the timeline and run circles around your opponent and leave them in the dust. Try to anticipate their moves before they happen and perform actions that could be advantageous in subsequent rounds. A well-placed grenade in an open doorway in round one might funnel enemy operatives to a different area, for example. If you then use the subsequent rounds to set up firing corridors where you've led them, you should easily be able to take out several enemies at once. Fourth dimensional thinking is key to victory in Lemnis Gate, but so is choosing the correct operative for the situation at hand. We'll get more into that next.



There are several operatives available to choose from at the beginning of each round, but with only 5 rounds in a match you will need to plan ahead and pick strategically. Each comes equipped with a unique weapon and ability that make them highly useful in combat. These abilities range from purely offensive or defensive, to traversal abilities or other ways to give you an advantage. We've already discussed Kapitan's frag grenades and KARL's Protection Orb, and there's more to share in the coming months.

It's important to assess the situation at hand, the map, and your strategy when choosing which operative to send into battle. In one situation you may find sending KARL or Toxin out early to be beneficial as they can create defensive positions or traps to use later on in the in the match. However you may also find that picking an operative with the goal of making early claims on an objective works better instead! Every opponent and match will be different; it's important to be adaptable when your best laid plans potential get diverted!



Your strategy also needs to account for the fact that death is not the end when you're fighting in the fourth dimension! If one of your operatives falls to an enemy attack they're not out of the match thanks to Ghost Mode. You can finish out your operative's turn and record potential actions for future turns. If you then take out the enemy who killed your operative, said operative will come back and play out their turn as you recorded it in Ghost Mode. This can cause a cascade effect further down the timeline and potentially disrupt further plays. 

Let's illustrate it further with an example. Player A sends out Toxin in their first round and blankets several areas in toxic material. On their own turn, Player B sends out Kapitan and manages to take out Toxin halfway through the round. Toxin's remaining actions have been erased from the timeline. They will continue to play out in Ghost Mode, but won't affect the battlefield. In response, Player A sends out their own Kapitan. They are able to kill Player B's operative before they take out Toxin, restoring Toxin to the timeline. Her actions will then play out as they did in round one, and the battle has turned in Player A's favour! This is just one of several ways that the fourth dimension comes into play in Lemnis Gate.



Between turns you can use a special Reconnaissance Drone to observe everything happening on the map, and use that information to further plan or adapt your strategies. The Drone is highly maneuverable, letting you check all corners and angles of a given map. All actions from previous rounds will play out in front of you, including Ghost Mode actions, so use this opportunity to consider your strategy or try and predict your opponent's future plays. A smart player is always ready to adapt their strategy to new developments.

We are incredibly excited to see how players use the 25 second time loop, Ghost Mode, and the Reconnaissance Drone to their advantage. Will you dominate from round one, or play the long game and turn the tide in your favour in the final round? Are there any strategies already coming to mind? Sound off in the comments and let us hear them!

There's more to come from Lemnis Gate in the next few weeks and months. We will be diving into the game's lore and backstory (It involves humanity's potential extinction), and you will also get to hear more about the different Game Modes and Match Types that you can play. 

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, or join our Discord server to chat with the community and get exclusive reveals. Finally, don't forget to add Lemnis Gate to your wishlist on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/950180/Lemnis_Gate/

Our team is facing a really difficult challenge and only you can help us!

Today, we present to you two characters that you will be able to direct in Mythos. Unfortunately, they are not given names yet! We will thank you for your suggestions!

What would you call the heroes? :)
We are also very curious what Slavic names do you know? :)

Hope you are all doing fine! After a strange chaotic year with hard lockdowns and working from home, things are slowly returning (a bit) to normal in our country. We are still hard at work on the new Security update 0.1.2. Last time we shared some information about the new lockpicking system. The largest changes we are making for this new update are on the detection system and the Guards/SWAT AI. We can’t wait to share more about these game-changing reworks, but I'm afraid it still needs some time in the oven. It is going to be worth it tho!

So we have some other cool stuff to share in the meantime. Once again it is time to tell you about a rework we did on an existing system. It is one of my personal favorites so far and it will have a big impact on how the game plays out: the new Health system!

PLEASE NOTE: The content in this blog is a preview of what is to come, and can not be found in the live version of the game just yet. It will be added when the next update (0.1.2) is released.






Before we begin, let's bring up how the current/old system works. There was always a health present system in the game, but it was not so obviously present. The player had a set amount of health (which was not visible to the player) and could receive damage from guards and SWAT. The old system worked with regeneration. If you did not receive any damage for a set amount of time, your health would regenerate to full. While it worked in the beginning, it felt very easy to get into a fight. It made it more appealing to start a fight than to sneak past a guard. You would only die if you would get hit in quick succession, and even after you won the firefight, it had not any big impact on the rest of your game, since you automatically heal up to full. This method basically gave you unlimited health.

The new system fully changes how your health works. The player still has a set amount of health, but it will not automatically regenerate over time. Every time the player takes damage, it will stay until the player heals themselves at a certain point. This also means that we will be adding different methods for the player to heal. This new health system will greatly change the way you need to play the game. Your health is now limited for each heist, so every time you get hit will have consequences for the rest of your mission. Every time you get into a combat situation, you now need to keep an eye on both your health and ammo.

We will share more about the upcoming Guards and SWAT rework in the following dev posts, but we can already share that, in the 0.1.2 update, it will be possible to lose sight during a fight. This means that you will be able to rehide again from guards and Swat once the alarm has been raised. This will give the player a big window of opportunity to restock on ammo and health and to get ready for the next possible flight.

Panther VR is at its core a stealth-focused game, and we think that giving the player a more limited amount of health, with a combination of healing, increases the motivation to focus more on a stealthy approach. The amount of health and healing the player receives will be more than enough to support the firefights after getting spotted, and it will always give the option to use a more violent approach, but hiding becomes way more powerful.

With the new health system comes also a better visualization of your health. The player will have their watch back which includes information about their health. You can find this information located on the wrist. It currently shows 2 bars. The top one is your current health, and the second one is your available healing. Your health bar will be green if you are at and near full health. It will turn orange if you are wounded, and red if you are critical/near death.






One of the different ways you can heal yourself is with the use of a syringe. The syringe is always part of your basic kit and has its own new slot located on your arm with the watch. You can grab the syringe with an empty hand. Once held you can stab the syringe in your other hand or straight up in your body/chest to heal yourself.

So how does healing work with the syringe? The syringe holds charges that the player can use to heal themselves. Each charge contains enough to heal the player to full. And the amount of charge that is not used, will remain there for later use. In the example video, the syringe only contains one charge. In this case, if the player has only 60% health, and 100% charge, you will only use up 40% charge to heal you up to full.

Once the syringe is used you can release it to return it to your arm. Keep in mind that once the syringe has been used, it will need to recharge for several seconds before it can be used again. So you have to pick the right moment to choose






Besides using the syringe, there are also other ways to heal yourself. One of these methods is to look for a Healing Station. These stations will randomly spawn across the heist locations. They are fully unlocked and accessible to the player and will open automatically once in range. The Station contains one full healing charge. You can start the healing process by grabbing the lever inside of the machine. The machine will start healing you over time until it's empty.

You can stop the process at any time, and you will be even able to use your other hand to shoot guards while healing up. The station will display your personal stats in combination with its own charge level. Once the healing station is empty it will automatically close and can not be used again.






We are also adding a new loot item. The First aid can be found around the level, and will instantly heal the player for 25%. So search around in drawers and lockers for a nice health bonus. For now, we start with only the first aid kit. But more items can/will be added in future updates.







If you take some damage and use up your syringe, there comes a point that you might be running out of healing. This is where overheal comes into play. When your syringe is not fully stocked you can refill its charges with the healing station and first aid kits. For now, this will only happen if you are fully healed. All excess healing will fill up your syringe for later use. With this feature, you can restock at the healing station or save the first aid kits for later use.



We are really looking forward to your reactions to this new health System. Our goal is to make stealth more valuable while also making the combat more tactical. We've already played heist with the new system, and it already feels like you are going to need a whole new approach to the game. We can't wait to test it out!

- Jesse



For more information about upcoming content, updates, and latest fixes and features, you can check out our roadmap.




If you haven't already, don't forget to join the Panther VR Discord! Share your comments and suggestion with us and the community!



For more information about current and future updates, from Panther VR and other Wolfdog Interactive games, follow our Socials!

• Wolfdog Twitter
  
• Wolfdog Facebook
  
• Wolfdog Instagram

Check out and follow our Steam Developer page for more news on our VR Titles. Wolfdog Interactive Developer Page.

Thanks for all the support and feedback from our amazing community. This update is made possible by you guys!