We’ll be releasing our 1.11 branch directly to stable today. A lot has gone into 1.11 and we want to get it tested by as many people as possible right off the bat, so here you have it. There are quite a few new additions to the world and to gameplay. We’ll go over those below and include the full changelog right here in the update.
We will be wiping servers and suggest all private servers owners do so also. As you know, we try to avoid wipes as often as possible. A lot of changes have gone into 1.11, items have been renamed and recipes adjusted among other factors like home setting, etc. It's best to have a nice clean start with major updates.
Self Defense and PvP Improvements
The PVP system has needed some love and it’s getting attention now. The introduction of the sleeping bag and home claiming system introduced a few issues and we’ll be addressing them in 1.11
Self Defense We have wanted to work out some kind of a who shot first system for quite some time now. The next version will introduce a basic self defense system. Players will have a set amount of time (currently 2 minutes) to return fire without penalty. This obviously only works if you’ve been hit first. This system also changes when taking home status into effect as explained below.
Structure Defense The initial reason for this change was to stop players placing sleeping bags and using them to grief other players. There’s a need for a more advanced system but this is a great base to work from and should solve many of the initial issues.
It is now possible for players to protect their own home under any circumstance (without mental health impact) providing the player is inside their home. Homes are now considered to ‘age out’ meaning any home that has been set for more than 12 in game hours. A long standing home was extra right over a home that has just been placed. In the event a placed home is new and not older than 12 hours, that player will face a cool down to respawn.
This isn’t a fail safe solution by any means. Should an attacker age out of a home, placing a bag and making it 12 hours without it being destroyed they will be able to respawn and attack without negative effect. This could basically create a PVP free-for-all if you’re both in your houses shooting across the gardens. This, of course, would only work if you were both in your structures once outside the system reverts to the who shot first system above.
Example of the System Player 1 is in their home and protecting their aged base (their real home that’s been there for a while). Player 2 places a home near player 1’s base and intends to use it to exploit by attacking player 1 over and over. Previously player 1’s mental health would deteriorate as player 2 could just keep respawning at their home and attacking player 1. This effectively left player 1 helpless, not able to protect their base without suffering from negative mental health effects and eventually committing suicide. With the new system, providing player 1's base is aged out, they have the right to kill on sight anyone attacking them (regardless of who fires the first shot) without consequence. In the event player 2 gets killed by player 1, they are placed on timeout to spawn at home, in the event their home is close to player 1’s. If player 2’s home isn’t close then they are allowed to spawn at home as per normal gameplay.
Waypoint System
The vibe of Survive the Nights is really starting to come into its own. 1.11 will feature a totally revamped spawn system. As mentioned in the last devblog, the new system will randomly spawn players in structures around the world. This really makes every life and experience unique. Spawning in houses in towns vs spawning in a country house creates a wide variety of gameplay experiences. Along with the new spawning system, James has spent some time improving and expanding on the quick guides’ abilities and features. New players have a far more task oriented start. The game really is starting to feel like a game with these recent changes. The original ‘hunker down’ vibe is coming back into its own and guiding the player from the start is a big part of our intended gameplay style. The waypoint system and new help system is meant to gently guide new players in the right direction. It can be fully disabled for returning players and is automatically disabled even for returning players after completion.
Waypoint directing the player towards a wood harvest
Item Highlighting Improvements
Item and harvest highlighting has recently been introduced and James has made some improvements to the system. Current highlighting on harvest machines stays even after you’ve harvested the times from it even if it’s ‘empty’.. The updated system will now remove the glowing effect from empty harvest machines making it far easier to distinguish what you have and haven’t harvested. We'll have some more info in next week's devblog.
Friends on Map and Compass
We’ve always wanted Survive the Nights to be a co-op experience. Surviving with friends is a totally different experience than surviving on your own. We introduced the home system in 1.10 allowing players to set their homes. This feature itself allows for a more cooperative experience. We’ve taken it a step further with the 1.11 update by adding the much requested ability to see your friends on the map. In 1.11, players will be able to see any of their Steam friends on the map. This should work without the need for you to do anything in game so long as you’re Steam friends. In addition to seeing your friends when you bring up the map, they will also be visible when you inspect your player and bring up the compass UI.
Friend locations on the map
Friend locations on the compass
Structure Variant (Car Lots)
A vehicle makes survival a lot easier and we would like to get players driving around sooner rather than later. We will be making some adjustments to the guide systems including the task to get a vehicle started. This task will now waypoint players to the new car lot additions on the island. These car lots as mentioned above are spread across the map and there are currently 6 variants although you might not notice much difference initially. We will expand on structure design later, our prefab system allows us to swap out any structure in the game or just make general improvements and changes without issue for the most part.
Black Island Impound Lot
New Impound/Dealership Locations
Patch Notes - Alpha 1.11
Quality of Life (QoL)
Vehicles will now be more common and start with slightly more parts
Increased the size of the cooking surface on the hearth
Sleeping bag recipe now only requires 2 cloth.
Player now start a new life after respawning when not having a home set.
Searched wood/metal/cloth items now indicate that they cannot be searched again.
It’s now possible to equip while in the UI for other machines/looking at cooking surfaces.
Fixed issue that was stopping stewing working correctly.
Increased visible distance of various large/important pickups so that they don't pop on right in front of the player.
Fixed scenarios where machines continued to run after the player left the area.
Optimisations to vegetation rendering.
Pre-warm assets system disabled to fix possible crash issues on startup and improve performance when entering menus/game
Canteens no longer spawn.
New Players
Now spawn inside a structure
Guide order tweaked to work better with new spawn locations.
Solo/Hosting
Solo play now has a disclaimer explaining additional RAM requirements.
Fixed issues that stopped certain player getting into game on solo play.
Added a button to test port status on host tab.
Added warning to host tab that lets players know ports are still closed.
Fixed issues that stopped solo/host servers launching.
Waypoints
Added dynamic waypoint system that guides the player to their next objective.
Self Defense
Added self defense system that allows you to kill a player in the event that they initiate combat.
It’s now possible to destroy other players sleeping bags.
It’s now possible to kill other players while defending home without mental health impact.
There is now a cool down on home respawning in circumstances considered to be exploiting.
Animation
Fixed various scenarios where it was possibly to see extra hands while consuming.
Design
Town sign achievements now work.
Fixed flickering snow on and off when moving around the world
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 13 on the north east corner of the map.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 43 on the north east corner of the map.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 42 north of sage creek
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 15 west of Oldtown.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 45 north of airport.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 62 south of Addersfield.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 53 west of Addersfield.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 56 west side of Black Rock.
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 52 north Addersfield
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 57 on the north east corner of the map.
Added a dealership to terrain tile 28
Added a dealership to terrain tile 26
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 10 north of Union Point
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 35 west of Sage Creek
Added Car Dealership to terrain tile 55 north of Black Rock
Added Car Impound Lot to terrain tile 59 north of Addersfield
Improved water materials on ponds
Added car dealership and variants.
Lighting
Adjusted nighttime lighting for easier navigation
Increased lights from fires indoors
Decreased light from club when it’s on fire
Disabled running animation when flashlight is enabled on a gun
Disabled LED flashlights + windup flashlight
Increased brightness and range of normal flashlights
Removed weird grill shadow from fixed campfire
Fix for flashlight colour not updating when removing flashlight attachment
Fix for weapon not going back to passive carry position when headlamp is enabled
UI
Updated pre-alpha warning message and reduced skip time
Reworded new life UI to better reflect new spawn locations.
Tweaked wording for fire elements of guide.
Added friend position on map and compass within a close proximity
Sniper scopes now render behind other UI so that it doesn't hide other important information.
Added indicator if zombies are nearby to logoff menu.
Item thats just been crafted now selects in the inventory.
PvP Exploit Improvements
Health clamp to 1 system made more lenient so that it doesn’t affect PvP as much.
No longer possible to place sleeping bags in POI’s.
Thank you for the continued support :) We’re working on issues you’re finding so please keep reporting any bugs and sharing your suggestions with us. If you'd like to follow a bit closer, please consider joining our Discord. We're here, we're listening!
Heroes, It's time to raise your swords! Or knives! Or forks! (and if you don't have any of them, a banana will do as well) CountryBalls Heroes is coming to you on Steam on November 16, 2021! Expect to see them at your gate around 6 AM PST! ( 2 PM GMT +1 ) (You've been warned!)
However, remember that you must gather your party before venturing forth. Prepare your vodka supplies and accept our gratitude for staying with us and supporting the game! You're the greatest community our game could have! We took this additional time (provided by Steam's prolonged review process) to improve the game and add some more stuff for you to enjoy.
Prepare yourselves for the battle of the greatest memes in the world. Let the memest one win! CountryBalls Heroes team
Since we announced our game on steam, we've been working to get an initial working version ready for alpha testing. This will be a very bare-bones version of the game, including only a small part of the functionality we eventually want to offer, but will be playable, and will allow us to gather feedback from our alpha testers on the gameplay and the way players are going to produce events in Festivals - Headliners.
Simulation Date / Time & Production Phases!
The first thing we’re focusing on is the concept of Date and Time when producing an event. Each event goes through a number of so-called Production Phases, where various things are happening on the event site, in preparation for, during, and after the event. An event will start paused in Pre-Production, from where you progress to Load-In, where what you’ve designed during pre-production will be built, the actual Show where your join, visitors will join in the party and your artists will perform, through to LoadOut and PostProduction. Right now, most phases except Show offer similar gameplay, this will definitely change as we continue work on our game.
Navigation
The second thing we’ve made quite some progress on is navigation for all characters which populate the event, visitors of course, but also various types of crew and your booked artists and performers. We’ve got our initial navigation solution working pretty well, and are now working on the simulation which determines where these characters should move to in the first place. More on that later.
Preparing for ALPHA TESTING
The third thing we’ve been working on is setting up everything for the initial alpha testing. We’ve set up our development workflow so we can easily push new versions / builds to Steam, and are working on methods to gather feedback from our testers. If you’re interested in testing Festivals - Headliners, please let us know using this form.
Next Up: Performances
As we prepare to start beta testing, there is still one (well many, but at least this one) big thing missing from the game at this point - PERFORMANCES! In the coming weeks we’ll be working on Stages, Performances and Artists, so there’s something for your guests to enjoy while they’re at your event. Though the initial version we’ll be working on in the coming weeks will be very simple, we aim to allow our players to create entirely own performances, which can be shared through the Steam Workshop, before we fully release.
That’s it for now, we'll be back in about a month with another awesome update!
The ups and downs of running an indie game studio, and the challenge of Work for Hire vs working on your own IP project. We’re all desperate to finish Archmage Rises!
This Sunday, 07/11/2021, there will be the battle for the Sky Sanctuary castle on the fourth zone of Ayvondil. All guilds of level 6 and higher, get ready!
Only 60 members of each guild will be able to participate in the battle for the Sky Sanctuary, so don't be late!
The guild that manages to capture it, will own it for the next 5 weeks.
Schedule: US-Sapphire - 20:00 PDT (next day) EU-Emerald - 16:00 CET SEA-Pearl - 14:00 CET BR-Tourmaline - 01:00 CET (next day) RU-Amber - 19:00 CET RU-Topaz - 17:00 CET RU-Ruby - 18:00 CET
It's nearing that time again! With Update 3 nearing completion, I am now able to give everyone a more accurate date of when U3 can be expected to hit the experimental branch, as well as exactly what can be expected to be present in both the experimental phase and early access phase.
I am also excited to share a new feature not previously talked about coming post update 3 that will arguably be Vectorio's most ambitious feature to date.
Update 3 - Release Date
Although there's still some work left to be done with engineering, I can say with almost 100% certainty that Update 3 will be out on November 20th. I know I've been bad with release dates in the past, but I am confident that I can have the early access build ready by that time.
In the case there are any unexpected delays, I will make sure to let everyone know as soon as possible. But I don't see the update being postponed any longer then 24 hours at most.
Update 3 - Experimental vs. Early Access
With the release date out of the way, I can now talk about what's going to be and what's not going to be in the experimental phase of Update 3. For your convenience, I've put them in a list format below. Please keep in mind that some of the features may not be fully implemented at first, and will be expanded on throughout Update 3 with help and feedback from the community.
Experimental Features - Engineering (turret modification) - Creative mode (refactor branch) - New research system (essence pumping) - Fixer drones and new drone options - New phantom guardian, The Atlas - Two new enemies and three new turrets - Balance changes to heat and power - Possibly early version of Multiplayer - and More!
Early Access Features - Multiplayer (via Steam) - More new buildings / turrets - Hub super weapon (border growth) - All experimental features - and More!
IMPORTANT: Please keep in mind that Update 3 is running on an entirely new setup. I basically scrapped almost the entirety of Update 2's core mechanics, and redid them. So expect the game to feel a bit "different" at first, as it's basically been redone from the ground up.
Turret Labs
Earlier this week, I released a sneak peek of the in-game menu for Update 3. For those of you that have not yet seen it, here's a picture of it below.
Some people spotted out that the modding tab has been replaced with Labs, and so I think now is a good time to talk about what labs is, and how it's gonna be the most ambitious and arguably most important feature Vectorio will have moving forward.
Essentially, Turret Labs (at it's core) is an in-game modding tool. It allows you to create your own buildings using an extensive in-game editor, and then easily add them to the game to create your own unique Vectorio experience. Here's a VERY early screenshot of it below.
At first, the tool will only support creating turrets, but the plan is to eventually expand it to allow for the creation of new buildings, enemies, and guardians. The goal is to allow for anyone to create their own version of the game without any sort of programming knowledge, and share it with others to play. All of this will be done through the Steam workshop with just a few clicks!
Vectorio Pricing Update
So with all that out of the way, I wanted to loop back around to the very frequently asked question, "What is the game going to cost after Early Access?". This is probably the toughest question to answer as I'm still unsure of it myself, but I think I've come to a decision that best suits the game...
The game will remain free post early access, with Turret Labs being a paid DLC. The reason I think this is the best decision moving forward is it allows anyone to experience the full game for free. None of the main content will be locked behind any sort of paywall, and you can invite your friends to play with you whenever you want without worrying about them not being able to afford it.
For those that really enjoy the main game and want more, however, can purchase Turret Labs and get access to all of it's features, which is essentially just unlimited content fueled by the community.
This decision still isn't final, but it is the one I'm leaning towards. Let me know what you think below!
That's it for now! As per usual, I strongly encourage anyone not in our Discord to come and join it. If you're a fan of the game and want to get more of a glimpse on what's going on behind the scenes, our server is the best place to find all that.
