Hey everyone!

Hot off the back of Smalland closing out the MIX Showcase at GDC with a fresh look at gameplay, we're back to show you a little more on what we've been working on lately!

Something we've been really excited to share is antennae mode. The antennae of the Smallfolk aren't just there for show, they provide a radar vision of sorts to highlight important things in the world. The system is work-in-progress currently, but as you can see in the video below, activating this mode will give allow you to pierce the darkness and see better at night, as well as highlight nearby creatures and their state (aggressive etc, and highlight harvestable resources.



The next thing to share isn't something we can show you quite yet, but our Product Manager Ross has been hard at work on the next trailer, and what we've seen so far is awesome! We cannot wait to share the finished trailer when the time is right!

Lastly, we've been continuing work on the building system and have a small, closed test underway this week via our testing group (feel free to join the group!) to get some player feedback on the system. Below is a bit of a deeper look at a build and how you can create your own little home in Smalland.



Thanks, and we'll be back with more soon!

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/768200/SMALLAND/

Gather around kids, and let Grandpa tell you stories about Pascal programming, forcing a program to fit inside 640KB of RAM, and direct access to memory to plot pixel colors in VGA…



Or, to be more on topic, SuperPower 1 was released in North America 20 years ago this month! After the success of it, more markets opened up for us, and our then-publisher, Dreamcatcher, ended up selling about a quarter of a million copies. This was a fun time indeed. But before SuperPower became the little game that could, not many people could have predicted that it would not only be a success story, but also generate two sequels. And we couldn’t be more proud of that achievement!

It all started, now infamously for everyone who works at GolemLabs, with a 1983 movie called "WarGames". A Cold War thriller about the threat of nuclear war and mutually assured destruction did not only serve as a grave warning, but it also featured a very interesting video game. Very often, like some of us do with humor, putting horrific things in games instead of in real life can be cathartic. So in the early 1990s, Jean-René Couture started working on his version of a similar game he called "Defcon". Two of his friends, Luc and Sébastien, joined in the effort and, slowly but surely, the project started to take shape and become something interesting.

At the time, we didn’t plan on starting a company or even releasing the game to anyone. The making of "Defcon" started out as a passion project between friends, just for fun, much like many indie and mobile games today. But in the days of yore of the mid to late 1990s, the internet was booming, and everyone and their dog had a website, generating traffic and money. Sensing an opportunity to earn a living by making video games, the small team got more "professional" and set up an actual company with a plan to turn the game into a commercial product.

Then, we met Dude. And the military got involved.
Dude was (is?) a fan. He stumbled upon our website, and started chatting with us (as was the habit in the pre-era of organized trolls and death threats). Dude seemed to know stuff. And we didn't, most of the time. So he would answer our questions. How does NBC armor really work? Is there information available about this new Chinese plane? And how far exactly can a torpedo go? We would exchange ideas, pleasantries and recipes. But one day, Dude wasn't on ICQ anymore (<puts an onion on belt>). Where was he? We found out when we got a phone call from a very irritated captain of the US military. It seems that Dude had forgotten to specify that he was a Junior Analyst in a Washington think tank that had access to some classified information. And he forgot to tell his bosses that he was talking to us about that stuff. Turned out that the range of a torpedo was kinda not something we were supposed to know.

So Dude was sadly shipped far, far away, without any internet access. And we were sort of in trouble with the US military, which is not a group you want to have problems with.

We also had to explain our game to very important people. They expected it to be a traditional war game (it definitely wasn't). In these kind of games, the idea is generally to destroy the enemy units, and conquer their territories. But from the very beginning, SuperPower and its sequels have always been a geopolitical simulation. Ours is not a war game, even if military conflicts can be part of the deal.
Simply destroying everything doesn't mean you will win in the end - quite often, it makes things even more difficult because the game continues. Economic issues, diplomatic fallout, … Dealing with the consequences of your aggression can often prove extremely challenging... SuperPower was always made to reflect anti-military values. For example, in the first installment, triggering too many nuclear explosions also meant triggering the end of the game.



After SuperPower was released, we learned that it was used by the US military in some training and simulation capacity, which was scary to us. But it was also a huge departure from where we were just a few months before. The military people were the ones who pinpointed our liberal tendencies. For instance, we would reward the player for doing liberal things like expanding contributions to the International Monetary Fund. Stuff we hadn't ever considered (our own political inclinations shining through) was making the game less realistic in some cases. And we hadn’t been aware of that.
But, hey! If SuperPower was good enough for the military, it means the game couldn't be so bad. A Colonel we once met (after all these years, it still feels surreal to say something like that) even said that we probably were more knowledgeable of geopolitical issues than they were, just because we had modeled it completely. Which was scary, and quite insane, considering we were just three guys from Sherbrooke, Quebec, with absolutely no military experience at all!

SuperPower at the time was described as a "war game". Which, of course, it wasn't but that's how it was sold to the retail chains (yes, believe it or not kids: before Steam and digital sales, we had to get out of the house, go to a store and buy a box :D !). Back then, we also learned that the people from Dreamcatcher thought SuperPower was too niche to warrant extensive marketing activities. Marketing was quite limited back then. But guess what: we managed to prove even the most skeptical wrong! We are niche, but there is a really big niche for people interested in a geopolitical simulator out there. With SuperPower, everyone could model what was happening in the world, directly in the game. And our timing ever since, with making a new superpower, would always seem to follow a period of general world unrest. This is purely coincidental. But the interest was there. And still is, apparently, from all your comments! We still have to struggle with some issues (it's a geopolitical simulator, people!), but that seems to be the Groundhog Day part of our job.

The most important part, though, is that we can't believe, after 20 years, that we're still here making games, especially a SuperPower game. We're extremely thankful for you, the fans, for this community that is so passionate. It's really oxygen around the office to see you all here with us. Scary oxygen, sometimes. Some of you probably need counselling. But, hey! You're family!

Before we head into the weekend we have one more fix for you that takes care of the following issues:

• Quick menu appearing where it shouldn't
  
• A typo involving player's name
  
• Reset Progress button now correctly resets all progress

For players who had some left over progress like which texts were already read, which gallery items were unlocked, etc, from previous versions of the game, this will now clear it.
(It will not touch save games however)

Keep on reporting and please leave a review if you like the game, it's super important to reach 10 reviews asap and we're only 2 shy at the moment! :)

Before you launch Mechajammer and crash land into your adventure, you’ll need some advice from the best.

We’ve put together top tips from the most experienced players of Mechajammer to help you master playing The Refracted Update. Follow their advice and you’ll have a ride off of Calitana in no time. You can also join us on discord to get help with solving puzzles and be a part of the community!


What kind of character should I make? How deep will my decisions go? What skills should I choose? Our players have you covered.

“When creating your first character, try focusing on two main skills you want to excel at and then one secondary skill that you'll be a little skilled in. For example, Slugs and Hacking for main, Burglary for secondary.” - Rithin

“Keep in mind: If you were really this character and actually in this situation, what would you try to do?” - Yarow12

“Be yourself when you have to make a decision that may or may not impact the rest of the game choose with your guts. Don't try to play 4D chess or think you can predict the consequences of your decisions, you can't. You may as well trust your instincts and your character's moral compass.” - Gnarly Passing

You can also check out the Character Creation guide.


Mechajammer's combat is tough for two reasons. ONE! You aren’t meant to be able to take everyone and everything out; you’re only human. And TWO: it takes time to get used to the turn-based style of combat. Here’s what our players advise:

“You don't need to kill EVERYONE. When you do need to kill, think creatively. It doesn't need to be all direct combat.” - Rithin

“Nighttime is for stealth!” - Yarow12

“During fights keep moving! DO NOT stay in one place hitting your opponent, again and again, expecting to hit more than once.” - Gnarly Passing

How does Mechajammers combat work? Read our Combat Starter guide.



Actively seeking information and writing your own notes is a core part of Mechajammer's gameplay, but it’s something most people ignore.

“Make sure you have a little notebook by your computer! Quickly write your notes in it during the heat of the moment. When you go back to HQ or have a quiet moment, you should organize your notes and ideas neatly in the in-game notebook” - Gnarly Passing

“If you see any kind of code posted somewhere, write it down in your notes with a short description of where you found it. Even if you don't know what to do with it now, you'll be glad you did later on.” - Rithin

“If you’re lost and don't know where to go or what to do? Check your terminal notes. No? Check your inventory for notes that haven't been added yet. No? Then it’s time to explore.” - Yarow12

Missed a note? Ask around on the discord or Steam forums.


Don't get lost!

“You should always try to know where you are and where you're going. Try to learn the map. Otherwise you might find yourself in an endless maze of mutants and rabid dogs way above your strength.” - Gnarly Passing

“You should appreciate every quest marker you’re given and expect none. Use your map markers!” - Yarrow12

We recommend checking out Whalenought's Mechajammer guide if you need more help.

Huge thank you to our players who gave their advice and to those who help others over in the community. We hope this will provide guidance for new players of Mechajammer, you know where to find us!

— Whalenought Studios & Modern Wolf

🐀 Follow Mechajammer on Twitter
🐀 Join the community on Discord

Battle Pass Season 1 is being released 30.03.22! We are looking for the bravest, most valiant of Heroes to help us spread the word!

Not only are we giving away 5 Battle Passes, if you participate now you have a chance to win one of 5 vouchers for a 30-day veteran membership!

• 5x Season 1 Battle Passes
  
• 5x 30-day Veteran Memberships

The more tasks you complete, the better your chances are to win!**

Good luck!

* Giveaway ends March the 29th at 4PM CEST. Winners will receive their vouchers through mail on the day of release
** You are only able to win one of the two prizes, it is not possible to win both.

Hey all i know we have pushed a lot of small updates since we released the update we would like to apologize for that. We have made some improvements to this update. We took the time to spend it going from map to map fixing FPS issues as well as trying to fix monsters. We are sorry about the monsters not moving and animals we are doing our best to work this issue out thanks for your patience.

Hey there, folks! Welcome to Arcadian Updates, where we share super cool updates for Arcadian Atlas that the Twin Otter team are working on, including new maps, classes, mechanics, and much more! We'll have more to share as time goes on, so follow along and check it out!




Today, we're sharing a very first look into one of the sub-classes of Arcadian Atlas: The Sorcerer! Expect the unexpected. To be the ruler of true chaos.

The Sorcerer is an agent of chaos, taking the practice of magic to dangerous extremes and reveling in the frontlines of war and all the unpredictability that entails. Those specialized in the Wild Magic branch care nothing for their own safety, pulsing with energy so unhinged it withers their foes while risking their own lives. A Sorcerer trained in the Touch of Death branch enjoys seeing the life drain from their enemies up-close, laying on hands infused with such concussive magic it obliterates them and leaves those alive utterly debilitated.

This class is perfect for players who like to dabble in chaos. Their ability to touch death and handle wild magic makes them a great choice for those who like to get up close and personal with their foes, or channel their magic from a further distance.




On the furthest edge of Tropis, where the rocky crags meet the sea, countless sailors of old met a grisly fate within the fog surrounding Lethe Island - their ships torn to ribbons and dashed against cliff sides along the coast.

King Tirgan, very early in his reign, commissioned one of Dantalion's most capable architects to construct Ryder Lighthouse, a modern marvel still actively guiding ships from harbor to horizons over the expansive sea. Perched atop one of Tropis' most unforgiving cliff sides, this lighthouse was never intended to have tactical value amidst the war ravaged continent, and yet Vashti will find herself taking refuge amidst its light in the course of our story. What she'll least expect is the person she'll be hiding from.



Twin Otter:
Game Website
Twitter
Discord

Serenity Forge:
Website
Store Page
Twitter
Facebook
Discord

Dark Elf Girl Variations

For this week’s changelog for Iragon, we are happy to share that we added a variation of our dark female elf that’s based on our users’ feedback from Discord and from the questions players get to vote on at the end of the game. We had asked people what they think about the female elf and everyone gave us amazing feedback. If you also want to be able to give us direct feedback, feel free to join our Discord server. As always, you can find the new face and outfit variations in the Experimental Hall.

Brenda in Camp

In the camp girl gallery, where you can look back at cutscenes with Brenda, you can now also scroll through the different damaged stages of her outfits. Also the trigger to interact with her is now a button prompt instead of automatic walk-in interaction, and we have added another unlockable scene with her.

Outfits for Sex Scenes

In the Monster girl gallery, when you choose an outfit for whichever monster girl you interacted with, the outfit will be saved and she will wear it in the sex scene you have with her.

Outfit Damage Stages

Last but not least, in the Experimental hall, we added more outfit damaged stages for Jenna and April.



We all have our favorite main characters from games, shows, anime, etc. But what makes them so cool? And do you think that in games they should be more of a blank slate, so that you can more easily imagine yourself in their place?

Dark Elf Girl Variations

For this week’s changelog for Iragon, we are happy to share that we added a variation of our dark female elf that’s based on our users’ feedback from Discord and from the questions players get to vote on at the end of the game. We had asked people what they think about the female elf and everyone gave us amazing feedback. If you also want to be able to give us direct feedback, feel free to join our Discord server. As always, you can find the new face and outfit variations in the Experimental Hall.

Brenda in Camp

In the camp girl gallery, where you can look back at cutscenes with Brenda, you can now also scroll through the different damaged stages of her outfits. Also the trigger to interact with her is now a button prompt instead of automatic walk-in interaction, and we have added another unlockable scene with her.

Outfits for Sex Scenes

In the Monster girl gallery, when you choose an outfit for whichever monster girl you interacted with, the outfit will be saved and she will wear it in the sex scene you have with her.

Outfit Damage Stages

Last but not least, in the Experimental hall, we added more outfit damaged stages for Jenna and April.



We all have our favorite main characters from games, shows, anime, etc. But what makes them so cool? And do you think that in games they should be more of a blank slate, so that you can more easily imagine yourself in their place?

Notice: these patch notes are a preview for what's coming in the next potential live Early Access build.

• Minor modifications to crouch carry arm animations
  
• Added 1st person prone move animations

• Added missing UI sounds to Ship Designer
  
• Fixed repeated button hover sounds in menus

• All Furniture and Decoration Modules under "Misc." subcategory have been move to the "Furniture & Decorations" category
  
• "Misc." subcategory has been removed from the "Station Modules" category
  
• Fixed an issue where crafting from ship crates failed, if the crafted item needed at least 2 different ores and none of them were in backpack's ore slots

• Added support for filling nearby cable and pipe holograms with the Blueprint Filler
  
• Towing Beam
  
  • If Towing Beam loses power, it remains off for at least 0.3 seconds
    
  • Fixed an issue where ship moves further and further away during a tow until it is eventually detached for being too far away
    
  • Fixed an issue where pointing a Towing Beam at a ship not owned by the Towing Beam's owner causes the beam to blink between locked and not locked status
    
  • Change Towing Beam's minimum locked range from 50 to 75
    
  • Towing Beam electricity consumption raised from 3 per 1000kg to 5 per 1000kg
• Fixed an issue where building tool doesn't repair anything and stays in character's hand after it's unequipped
  
• Fixed asteroid scanning behavior change breaking material scanner scripts

• Fixed an issue where selecting an item for Easy Build Mode placement just before opening the esc menu, caused the esc menu to stop working
  
• Fixed an issue where the Easy Build Mode was unintentionally turned off
  
• Fixed an issue where some modules didn't have the fix that should prevent large gaps between them
  
• Fixed an issue where trying to snap anything requiring hard point connection to a hard point in Easy Build Mode froze the first time and dropped framerate to 1 afterwards

• Fixed an issue where player hitboxes were not working correctly
  
• Fixed an issue where dead endoskeleton's armors were turned into "default" appearance after dead player respawned
  
• Fixed an issue where Magnetic Boots caused framerate drops
  
• Fixed an issue where the game crashed if the Universal Tool was opened while seated in a pilot chair right after autosave has saved the blueprint
  
• Fixed an issue where getting killed while seated on a pilot chair with no space to exit leaves you in control of the ship
  
• Added more chat messages for different Insurance Transfer failures

• Added windows layer opacity options to settings menu
  
• Fixed an issue where containers such as propellant tanks did not show their values in edit mode
  
• Hidden layers are now properly ignored in snapping, after visiting test mode
  
• Added crafting bench upgrades
  
• Ship designer material colors adjusted to be more colorful instead of greyish

• Fixed an issue where Main Flight Computer and Flight Control Unit were not working unless there was another device in the network
  
• Fixed an issue where ship owner with "host owned ships ON" loses controls to ship if the ship is hosted by other client with "host owned ships OFF"

• Added lesWAV CLBH-1 Leporinus player-made ship
  
• Added Arkhonus Larve player-made ship
  
• Updated 16 Red Chains player-made ship
  
• Added lesWAV CLBH-1 Leporinus (spaceship_ssc_leswav_leswavclbh1) ship to Rando 4 ship shop

• Fixed an issue where extra items were not sometimes transferred to station storage when repairing ships that you do not own, but can operate
  
• Added more info on the repair terminal screen if something isn't working

• Added station permission icon for resource adjustments
  
• New look for Vokarium ore and raw ore UI icon

• Fixed a crash that occured in specific modulus operations due to integer overflow
  
• Fixed an issue where YOLOL did not catch a runtime error

• New Heat Mechanics
  
  • Heat Mechanics have been added to the PTU. For more information, see our official announcement and the heat mechanics wiki page.
• Capital Ships
  
  • Capital Ship warp frame corner and turn modules now connect properly for warp frame block count calculation
    
  • Added info about the requirement of of nozzle rings and the max amount that can be used for a single thruster to their tooltips
    
  • Capital ships station UI should now say expansion available if validity is met
    
  • Prevented creating capital ship if there are no station slots left
• Heat sinks added to power category in Ship Designer asset browser:
  
  • Heat Sink Beam
    
  • Heat Sink Cube
    
  • Heat Sink Plate
• Modules
  
  • Module changes:
    
    • Cockpit 2 Small Exposed (T1 Laborer) -> updated with heat information panels
  • New modules:
    
    • Tier 1 Generator 2 Radiator 1 heat Sink
      
    • Basic 1 Heat Sink Flat
      
    • Basic 1 Hardpoint 1 Heat Sink
• Moon
  
  • Moon bases now have anti-gravity zones equal in size to the safe zone
    
  • Moon base support modules can no longer be stacked on top of each other, as in occupying the exact same space
    
  • Trying to place objects on moon bases to a spot that a player is blocking no longer incorrectly sends the message "Object is outside the reach of a support leg."
    
  • Fixed an issue where the ore collector collects the Moon's surface Valkite even if it is not turned on
    
  • Surface mining will now collect ore through resource bridge, and will prioritize resource bridge over the player backpack
• Research tree:
  
  • Heat sinks added to "Tier 1 Generators"-node
    
  • New heat sink modules added to "Tier 1 Generators"-node
    
    • Tier 1 Generator 2 Radiator 1 heat Sink
      
    • Basic 1 Heat Sink Flat
      
    • Basic 1 Hardpoint 1 Heat Sink
  • Radiators moved to "Tier 1 Generators"-node
    
  • "Radiators"-node reneamed to "Coolant"-node
    
  • Cooling cells, related devices and modules moved to "Coolant"-node
• Ships
  
  • Laborer Module (Tutorial reward ship) updated to work with the new heat mechanics
    
  • Updated Hauler, Laborer, Laborer II, Belka (starter), Vigo (Starter), Alfrigg (Starter), Trident T1 (Starter), Worker Ant (Starter), Workmate (Starter), Rockhopper (Starter), Mara (Starter), Marmot-ST (Starter), Modulus (Starter), Momento (Starter), Moneymaker (Starter), Catbox M (Starter), Aphelios (Starter), Initium (Starter), Antares (Starter), Gofer, Hedron, Nautilus Cargo, Ocelot, Pioneer, Romulus, Vasama and Zilant spaceships to work with the new heat mechanics
    
  • Changed names and description of ships:
    
    • Gofer -> Gofer Explorer
      
    • Hedron -> Hedron Tug
      
    • Nautilus Cargo -> Nautilus Miner
      
    • Ocelot -> Ocelot Bus
      
    • Pioneer -> Pioneer Builder
      
    • Romulus -> Romulus Hauler
      
    • Zilant -> Zilant Racer
      
    • Vasama (description change only)
• Ship weapons:

Mounted Weapon electricity and heat generation sees a noticeable change. Weapons now have more distinct differences between electricity used and heat generated. In general, all mounted weapons have very effective heat transfer rate to heat sinks. Using heat sinks to store and dissipate heat is key to keep all weapons cooled. Now different weapons have three archetypes between electricity and heat resource management for ships. Autocannons generate more waste heat per shot and require less electricity while Laser Cannons and Rail cannons are more heat efficient due to their nature but require far more electricity to operate. Plasma cannon is hybrid of both, requiring balanced amount of both electricity and heat dissipation.

• Autocannon
  
  • Electricity per shot reduced from 330 to 94
    
  • Heat generated per shot increased from 45 to 125
• Laser Cannon
  
  • Electricity per shot increased from 400 to 440
    
  • Heat generated per shot increased from 60 to 80
• Plasma Cannon
  
  • Electricity per shot reduced from 2,500 to 2,000
    
  • Heat generated per shot increased from 250 to 800
• Added a new "Ship weapons" PTU directory for crafting the following new items:
  
  • 5-Tube Rocket Launcher
    
  • Fixed High Explosive Missile
    
  • Fixed High Explosive Dumbfire Torpedo