A familiar air sweeps across the Far, Far Range, bringing with it a distant, twinkly glow and the sound of musical chimes across the furthest reaches of the world. There is a special warmth that can be felt in the hearts of all the Range’s inhabitants, and it can only mean one thing: the return of Wiggly Wonderland!

Welcome to Wiggly Wonderland Winter Holiday Event, 2021. Every day starting December 18, Ranchers can set out in search of the rare Twinkle Slime, surrounded by a trail of whimsical chimes that, when touched, create a unique musical experience. Run across a chime trail to play a fantastic tune. Collect them and rearrange them to create your own! By bursting the Twinkle Slime and collecting chimes, you can unlock 9 special instruments that can be programmed at your ranch to customize your melodies.

Take advantage of this event while it lasts, though: the Twinkle Slime only appears once a year and will be gone after December 30!


This month also brings Ranchers together in Discord (http://discord.gg/slimerancher) for our annual Slime Rancher Holiday Party! ⛄

We’re very excited to announce that we will be hosting a small digital community event on December 18th at 12 PM PST/ 2 PM CST/ 3 PM EST/ 8 PM GMT/ 9 PM CET right in Discord! 🎉🥳

Join us around the fireplace and share some holiday cheer with cozy music (and a wiggly fire slime!) If you didn’t get a chance to see or take part in one of our previous Yule Log streams, you can cozy up and get in the holiday spirit any time on your own here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3OQnuV57cw&ab_channel=MonomiPark

We’ll be enjoying one another’s company and gathering for about an hour in the voice channel before we get started with some community games. We’ll also play some Slime Rancher Trivia and then vote on the Most Wonderful Slime of the Year and Secret Style of the Year, so bring your Slime Rancher knowledge (no Googling answers!)

If you want to spend time mingling with Ranchers but aren’t comfortable playing games, we'll also be hosting a draw-along stream while we’re playing some games together 🥰


We’ll kick off the voting for Slime of the Year NOW at this link!:
Form

In order to celebrate one another's Ranches, we will take a walk around the neighborhood with a holiday Ranch Safari! Take and share 1-4 screenshots showcasing how you’ve decorated your Ranch for the holidays and talk us through it in VC!

Please sign up to show off your Ranch here:
Submit Here


Remember to review the Discord rules on appropriate behavior so you feel confident when mixing and mingling with fellow Ranchers.

So, TL;DR, here’s what you can expect on the 18th of December:
🟢 The beginning of Wiggly Wonderland!!!
🟢 A cozy Yule log stream
🟢 Winner announcements for the most Wonderful Slime of the Year and Secret Style of the Year 🏆
🟢 Trivia 📝
🟢 Checking out everyone’s decorated Ranch
🟢 Gartic Phone ☎
🟢 Fun 🎈
🟢 Art 🎨
🟢 Holiday Spirit 👻
🟢 Slimes!

We’re excited to see you there! ♥

Stay Wiggly,
Monomi Park

Small Update: Various bugs fixed: Scrambled audio, ending user interface, script

Hey Nukerz,

Happy Holidays to all - from your friends at Blue Wizard, and our virtual omnipresent overlord - A.R.B.I. We hope you have a nuke-tacular holiday season!

Progress has been frenetic on Nuke Zone this past month. We’ve polished up a lot more of the core loop, with a large number of improvements, enemy tweaks and general bug fixes. Making it much more enjoyable to complete objectives, fight through to defeat the boss and exit through the portal to loop again. But, we have a bunch of cool new toys to show off too...



Barrels of Boom; Throughout the test level we now have classic explosive barrels set up with shooting physics and explosive AOE damage - allowing you to push or shoot them towards the enemies for big time, no-look-back splash-damage. This also applies to the destroyable objectives, such as fuel silos, allowing you to take out nearby enemies. Plus, we have overhauled the damage system to allow for new damage types. Firstly in the form of Corruption, which applies a status-effect-style damage-over-time to the player or enemies caught within the cloud. Eventually this will be expanded to status resistances, status buffs, weapon corruption damage and even corrupted enemies!

Clusters of Currency; The primary tank upgrade currency in Nuke Zone is Nukonium - the pretty-in-pink radioactive material is now harvestable from natural clusters scattered throughout the test level - as well as shootable barrels of nukonium. Nukonium will eventually be spent to upgrade the core systems of the tank to boost stats, unlock perks and overlock your gear.



Canyon Carryin-On; Making good progress on the new canyon level, laying out the technology-based assets, creating more boss arenas, and lockdown points - which creates more tense gameplay as you will be locked in a zone until you complete the objective and/or defeat the nearby enemies to get your loot rewards. These levels are quite large, to accommodate the tank speed, but will come in a number of variations, with open/closed off zones - blockaded by highly dangerous radioactive corruption clouds. In combination with the environmental color shifting, set dressing changes with rocks, plants, nukonium, tech assets, randomized objectives and variation in quantity of available zones - a level should feel pretty damn different every time you play ;)



So, with Christmas coming, there will be some downtime and much deserved developer holidays - despite what ARBI says and how hard he cracks the digital whip! But we do have some good features coming; the first being an enemy overhaul, with AI improvements, some initial setup for loot spawning (more to be revealed on the loot system in January), and some further enemy encounter improvements and combat balancing. So stay tuned for all that!

Thank you to everyone who has supported and wishlisted Nuke Zone this year. We look forward to showing off our progress in the new year as we work towards an exclusive public beta - we will announce that date once we’re a bit further along!

As always, we'd love to hear your feedback in the ⭐Steam Community Forum⭐or on Discord and don't forget to Wishlist Nuke Zone, and sign up for the Newsletter to stay up to date!

Thank you!

☕ Andy + Nuke Zone Dev Team 🧙

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.


You know those levels in many platformers where you hop your way up a bunch of platforms, desperately avoiding the lava rising beneath you? It's time for that terror to come to Kid Hallow!


The good news is, as you saw in the video, Goo isn't actually immediately dangerous. It's just the same as water. But you still need to act fast because of course you can't stay in it for long without drowning. Unless you're the Penguin, then this is all just good fun.

You can Monster Flip Goo Valves if you want the level to begin with them open (and it will also start filled with goo up to the level of your highest pre-opened valve, so you don't have to start with an empty level).



The bonus for the ranger was a pretty obvious choice that probably took me much too long to realize: a quiver full of trick arrows! I DID create this ability (but not this video!) before the Hawkeye series came out. You get:

Rocket Arrows: Replacing your normal arrows, these work the same, but if you tap any direction during their flight, they instantly rocket in that direction (once). Their other feature is that they light stuff on fire when they hit. Fire is a new Sci-Fi Pack feature that several things use. As you might expect, it can spread (just a little though - we didn't want it to get insane), and it does damage over time. It also creates light, and if a burning enemy dies, the fire is left behind for the rest of its duration, so you aren't cheated out of your light (or the potential to ignite other enemies). And you may notice in this video that it can even burn up Crates! Very handy trick (unless you need the Crate, then it's not great). It can also burn up all those nasty tree enemies that have always been invincible.

Zipline Arrows: They create a zipline from where you fire them to where they hit. It's just a handy way to cross wide gaps. And of course you can only go downhill on them, so while you can fire the zipline upward, you'll have to get up to that higher point in order to ride the line back down.

Sonic Arrows: They reveal everything in an area for a little while. The coolest trick with them is that they will stick in enemies, so you can make an enemy carry your vision somewhere you can't reach! They're also supposed to confuse bats, but I haven't implemented that yet. In fact, I had forgotten about it until right now, so I'm making a note.

Decoy Arrows: These just create an astonishingly accurate model of the Ranger to distract enemies. They won't prefer it to you, but they will attack whichever one is closer. While making this video I was quickly realizing that decoys do not survive enough damage! I think I'll be raising their health. Their best use is probably just holding down pressure pads for you, as using them as actual decoys is pretty difficult.

You only get 3 of each arrow type (other than Rocket), but you can refill them at a Medbay, or you gain one of each type for each Candy Corn/Cane you collect. Use them wisely!

There was a library that would load at runtime. Now the game should fully work offline. This is specially important for Chinese players who had part of the game blocked by the great firewall of China.

The first hotfix is now available for Update 3. Do note there is still some issues with desyncs in multiplayer, and some minor issues with labs. If you experience either of these, simply reload or restart your game until I have a fix out for them!

ADDITIONS:
- Added more in-depth tutorial sequence for automating resources
- Added back default hotbar slots, turret, collector, storage, and droneport

BALANCE CHANGES:
- Changed flamethrower damage from 45 to 55
- Changed Pulser unlock "Accumulate 5,000 heat" to "Destroy a dropship"
- Changed Purifier unlock from "Place 5x Radiators" to "Place a Radiator"
- Changed Radiator unlock from "Destroy 100x triangles" to "Accumulate 25,000 heat"
- Changed Sprayer unlock from "Place 10x Reclaimers" to "Accumulate 5,000 heat"

BUG FIXES:
- Possible fix to disconnect issues. Need help testing.
- Fixed unlock notifications not appearing properly
- Fixed Guardian button not showing consistently
- Fixed essence extraction not having a resource pump value
- Fixed hologram being rendered under resource layer
- Fixed Gremlin unlock taking 10k iridium, not 1k
- Fixed Gremlin bullets being rendered under resource layer
- Fixed Atlas trail being rendered under resource layer
- Fixed purifiers being rendered on experimental map view
- Fixed Reclaimer showing 5000 heat instead of 500 heat
- Reclaimer area of effect now shows on experimental map view
- Hub super weapon laser now shows on experimental map view

• Added new limited-time arena, Winter Holiday.

Hiló Vikings!

With the launch of Season 2, we're excited to introduce crossplay between Steam and the Epic Games Store!

Step 1 - Link your Steam and Epic Games accounts:

Please follow these instructions to link your accounts together.

Step 2 - Invite friends from the EGS:

In Tribes of Midgard, crossplay between Steam and EGS is enabled by default. But to allow crossplay invites, Steam users have to enable Epic Games Connection from the in-game Settings, as shown below.



Clicking on the “Enable” button will open a permission box in a web browser, as shown below.



Once allowed, return to the Main Menu and click on the “Invite” button to see both your Steam and EGS friends. Yellow dots indicate players online while green dots indicate players in Tribes of Midgard.

That’s it! We hope you enjoy playing with your friends across both Steam and the EGS.

Skál!

Patch 0.81g has been pushed, patch notes below

**===Bosses====**

**===Artifacts/Crafting===**

**==Skills/Talents===**

**==QoL===**
- Clicking on the backdrop during haven UI will not automatically close it
- Added a new filter into armory
- Added a new section into the Wisdom Tone

**==Bug Fixes===**
- Fixed an UI overlap bugs during battle

**==Miscellaneous=**
- Astral Shift now has a different colored icon between effects
- Block and dodge chance in stats view now show up to 1 decimal instead of 2

**===🗼 Airene Tower Related 🗼===**

**===Bosses====**

**===Scrolls/Blessings/Artifacts/Crafting===**

**===Talents/Skills===**

**==QoL===**

**==Bug Fixes===**

**==Miscellaneous=**

Hey, everyone! Steve here, and it’s December. Here in Texas, it’s not really cold yet, but we’re still busy with moving full speed ahead in getting Alliance ready for release! Since it’s been a little while since I posted an update, I wanted to tell you in our own words what we’re working on, the state of the team, and some of the new game systems to look forward to upon release!

First of all, we are delaying the game until Q1 2022. I know that seems to be a common thing nowadays, but I can assure you that we’re doing it for the right reasons. Now that we have a complete team of seven working on the game essentially full-time, we’ve made more progress in the last 3 or 4 months than we have since the end of 2020, and we’re moving faster every week! The game is fully playable and at this point quite stable (I routinely play 40-50 turn games every evening now as a quality check to check longer-term trends and systems) and much of what we’re doing involves things like optimizing the graphics and the UI (a major area where Unity has really helped us), adding some amazing universe art, balancing out the economy and costs of things, and especially the tooltips/help system, and we are completely rewriting the tutorial to just have a tutorial campaign that utilizes very little ‘hand hold’ as our previous version, and uses a guided campaign with goals, subgoals, and an overarching plot to keep players interested while they learn by doing- rather than by watching! Basically – we want to get the game right on release, and it is our full intention to do so!

If you'd like to signup for the playtest we will be holding in January, you can do so here: https://allianceofthesacredsuns.com/alliance-of-the-sacred-suns-playtest/

So with that said, I wanted to talk a little bit about 2 major systems that are coming to the game – the oratory system, and the full Emperor system. Currently, when you talk to a character, and they decline to do what you want/need them to do, that’s the end of the story. Now, we have a fully integrated oratory battle system, complete with unique skills, a full strategy and move tree that you can unlock as you develop your Emperor (more on that later), and an expansion of character’s personalities and their relationships with you! Now, you will engage in back-and forth conversation based on moves that you pick from strategies that may or may not work, depending on their personality and your ability to say the right thing at the right time! Highly persuasive moves use Focus, which you can recharge by using a pause action, but each turn that you fail to persuade the other character lowers their Patience, and if it reaches 0… not only do you lose the argument, but depending on the power difference between you and the other Character, you may lose Power and an additional AP!

You don’t have to enter the oratory combat, but if a character refuses you’ll have to find some other way to change their mind or improve your relationship so that they will do what you ask the next time you ask!

The other major update is to the Emperor system as a whole. We have introduced the concept of your life expectancy – once you reach this point, your chances of dying (and thus ending the game) go a whole lot higher! Fortunately, you can affect this over time – staying healthy, making friends, keeping your Spirit high, and not using every last AP each turn (i.e. don’t overwork yourself) will gradually increase this over time, while doing the opposite will lower it. A big part of Alliance is deciding how you will spend your limited time – do you take care of yourself, your relationships, or the Empire? That’s the triangle of time that you will have to decide each turn, depending on the needs of the moment.

We have also expanded the Skills tree, now called Epiphanies, while streamlining it as well. You will pick from several high-level Epiphany groups, such as Habitus, Openness, and Predictability, and within those groups you will have to choose categories that often mutually wall each other off – you can’t be both closed and open personality, for example; nor can you be a diligent person (studious and theological) while also being robust (athletic and war-minded). You will have to choose your path, but the top-level skills lead to subskills that round out your character, and affect everything in the game from your relationships to your stats to your health to how well your Events end up!

Next, we have expanded the Scales system to actually give you a public perception of your personality, and for that perception of your humanity, honor, and piety to affect how your people and your Houses view you. You will gain traits based on where you fall on these scales, and dedicating development points to your Force of Personality in a specific scale will give you more powerful traits – but be aware, there is always a positive and a negative effect for each trait, whether you’re a despotic, lawless tyrant or a benevolent, honorable ruler!

Finally, we have greatly expanded the number of Actions that are unique to the Emperor. The initial version had 3 Actions; the release version will have over 25. They are divided into personal Actions (actions that affect only you) Governance (effect how well you do your duty as the head administrator of the Empire), Character (actions that affect a specific Character) and Special (unique and powerful Actions that can change your reign if utilized properly!)

You earn Personal Development Points by interacting with Characters and through Events, so if you don’t focus on your people, you won’t develop as a person. You have to learn how to become an Emperor by doing, not by reading books. The more you do things, the more quickly you will develop and grow your talents and skills, and the more Actions you will have access to!

There’s a lot more coming, including more Province Projects, greatly expanded House AI, greatly optimized UI for the Nexii such as the Stellar Nexus and Character Nexus, the ability to assign new governors and viceroys from a new global assignment screen, and much more! We’ll talk about those soon enough, but for now…

…thanks for your time, and Long Live the Celestial Empire!

Steve Hawkins

Lead Developer, Alliance of the Sacred Suns