Hey everyone,

Just letting you know that keybinds have been added to the game, as well as controller support. You can now rebind all the major inputs from the pause/options menu! It's a little janky in places at the moment, sometimes it'll change the wrong inputs-- I'm going to be working on smoothing out the experience, but I'd like to start adding some actual content to the game first.

You should be able to fully play the game with a controller, including navigating any UI/menus. There are some prompts that haven't been changed yet, and the cursor is a little stiff to control at the moment, but again, this will be worked on after I've managed to push out some content updates.

This week I'm going to get to work on the big list of upgrades to be added to the game, so keep your eyes peeled for an update regarding that. There's also going to be a major change to the way elemental effects work in the game.

Going forward, you can expect the new playable character to be ready early September. I'm currently calling this character "Glitch", and they're equipped with a VERY fun dash ability. I can't wait for you to try it out.

Best,
Spargit

Added heartbeats to apartment level
Added narrated money when you open the level selection

Greetings Commanders,
Today we release a highly significant update to Crossfire: Legion which introduces the much anticipated Map Maker as well as new air units, Campaign Act III, a payload map and multiplayer changes.






The Map Maker is a massive tool that allows you to create fully functional multiplayer and skirmish maps and publish them on our Steam Workshop. Build any manner of battlefield to test your strategies and tactics, then share them with your fellow commanders.
It’s all contained in-game, creating your own map doesn't require any additional tools or special skills,
The only limit is your imagination. For example, you can toy with:

• Map size
  
• Playable area, buildable and pathable areas
  
• Camera bounds
  
• Map themes and lighting
  
• Ramps and levels
  
• Many many decals
  
• Unit stats
  
• Resource nodes
  
• Power-up drop locations
  
• Player spawn-point locations
  
• Buildings
  
• Fog and Wind
  
• Audio cues
  
• Abysses
  
• And too many other things to list….

Before you get stuck in, we highly recommend reading through the User Manual here for all the details.
Share your creations by uploading directly to our Steam Workshop, which can be done directly in the tool.


Sounds good? Well to celebrate all this new content during our Early Access period, Crossfire: Legion will be on sale for -34% starting today at 19:00 CEST until August 29th. There hasn’t been a better time to enter the fray. Continue reading to see what else arrives in todays update.



Three more aircraft are now here to help you refine your aerial strategy and swoop in on your foes. These are sure to bolster your mid-late game strategies and here is the intel on how they fit into your roster.

Broadsword (Global Risk): A gunship that can launch effective attacks against stationary targets. When upgraded Broadsword gets a temporary speed boost for hit-and-run attacks.

Locust (Black List): An unmanned drone that seeks aerial targets, Locust self-destructs on impact. It's capable of bringing down groups of heavy aircraft within explosion radius.

Griffin (New Horizon): A light aircraft specializing in air-to-air combat, Griffin's attacks deal high damage to a single target but suffer from a low rate of fire. Upgraded, Griffin's weapon range increases.




Here at Blackbird Interactive we have a rich history when it comes to creating engaging single-player campaigns as well as loving this more multiplayer-focused game. We're therefore excited to add the next layer to the narrative-driven campaign with the release of Campaign Act III.

It consists of four missions (approx. 3 hours in total) that focus on New Horizon's role in the ongoing conflict between Global Risk and Black List. As well as casting light on the mysterious New Horizon faction, and its commanders, these missions will help you refine your battlefield skills.

Combining each New Horizon commander’s AI-augmented abilities with their durable weaponry, you can adapt your tactics and strategies for methodically storming and clearing enemy positions, even when heavily outnumbered.

Using land and aerial assets to their full potential while under time pressure, you'll find Act III to be a true test of your offensive and defensive capabilities as you explore new battlefronts <spoiler> for example on deck of a naval fleet.



There's a new map area that will bring extra volatility to your custom games and skirmishes in Payload mode. In Refinery, players fight to secure each payload amongst the hazards of a fuel refinery — using the strategic high ground is key in this explosive environment.


As always, we’ve been closely monitoring your feedback since the last update and based on it we are pleased to make the following changes and improvements:

• Players can share replay files and load them in their own game client.
  
• Internal tool upgrade for performance & stability improvement

• Fixed an issue preventing players to rebuild units if they salvaged them in Battle Lines.
  
• Fixed an issue in Payload mode where the payload could be teleported via Ghost Recall.
  
• The Black List Workshop is now available at Tier 1 Corebase, similar to other factions.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Crocodile range was reverted to 30 after the Scorch upgrade.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Imperator were double dipping in damage when in Artillery mode.
  
• Removed the EMP ability from the Prion unit card.
  
• The Typhoon map now has a description and a dedicated loading screen.
  
• Fixed multiple truncations/overlaps in all menus in the localized clients.

We also have a Fan Kit available with artwork, unit cards, logos and all your content creators need here: https://static.kochmedia.com/yac_sites/crossfire/cfl_fankit.zip

And for Streamers there is all the tools you need here:
https://landingpages.deepsilver.com/crossfirelegion/cfl_influencer_pack.7z

As always, make sure you get the latest intel by following us here:

• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Discord
  
• Instagram
  
• Twitch
  
• Reddit

The possibilities are endless and we’re excited to see what you do with these tools and the maps you’ll create. We’ll be watching closely and starting to put together next month's update. Stay tuned weekly as we give more details of what's to come. Until then, happy gaming!
- Your Crossfire: Legion team

Hello Dispatchers!

It's summertime for most of the development team, and we're off enjoying some free time with our families - but that doesn't mean that we're not working hard preparing the next free content update for Rail Route!

We were really happy with the great reception to Update 7, and it's given us a clear direction for our future updates. With Update 7, we wanted to see whether we could deliver important changes and new content in a short amount of time - just under a month of development time. We're happy to say that we were successful.

But we'd like to dig into a different topic this time. We've added a lot of new content to Rail Route during the first year of Early Access, including a new game mode called Rush Hour. That particular update made our menu screen cramped, exacerbating a problem with the main menu that we'd had for some time already. So, it's main menu redesign time!



Our problems with the main menu are not exclusively about Rail Route's game modes taking up space (and the potential future game modes that will take up even more) - there are an abundance of issues with our current menu design, and we want to target those too. We want to create a menu that will be easy to use with a controller, that will work well on smaller devices like tablets or mobiles (you guessed it!), and gives our players a much easier time choosing which great map they'd like to play next!

Before we can dive into what we'd like to change about the menu, let's examine what our players use the main menu for. As you can see, the two most common actions are continuing with the most recent save (LoadCurrent) or starting a new map (NewOther). We'll have this in mind in our new design. And we think our current menu does a decent job of these already - so we've got to make sure we don't accidentally hinder that!



In Update 7, we improved saving and loading times drastically by using different techniques under the hood. We are currently working on further performance optimizations. We'd like to be able to load a save as soon as the game opens. This would mean the game loads directly into your last save, but in the same time it takes to load into the menu currently. That would mean that we wouldn't need a separate menu - the menu would be integrated into the game pause screen. Whenever you hit ESC (or click the top right button), the main menu will open. This would also make changing a map during the game will much faster - we'd remove the middle man, the main menu.


Check out our current prototype.






What do you think? We'd love to hear YOUR ideas!
Share your ideas and tips in the comments, I'll read them all.

It's your turn to have a say in our QoL updates.

🚂🚆🚉🌅🌄🌻
Happy Dispatching,
Angel

Hello everyone!

The latest update brings a variety of smaller fixes all documented below:

Bugfixes

• Fixed player choice window sometimes overlapping dialogue window
  
• Don't allow skipping through multiple messages by keeping enter pressed.
  
• Chapter 2, Fixed bug in Phaladar where nighttime would reset to daytime when entering specific rooms
  
• Various passability fixes

I've been pretty busy with working on Numina Part 2, so feature updates that affect the entire game have been a bit delayed in favor of getting Part 2 as soon as possible to the Alpha stage :)

Thanks to all who joined the v1.9 beta. It's now fully live.

v1.9 introduces an explosive new branch plus many new spells and abilities. A huge number of small tweaks and improvements have been included.

• New branch GREAT HALL: tons of goblins and explosions
  
• Three new spells: VORTEX, FETTER, and QUILLS
  
• Six new abilities: AURA, SHRED, WRING, GUZZLE, ASSASSINATE, and FRENZY
  
• Abilities now take 0 turns and can be chosen out of 3 options
  
• Changes to Officer, Apothecary, Assassin, Commander, and Challenger disguises
  
• UMBRA has been properly nerfed
  
• Improvements to BLINK, TEMPEST, WARD, LEVITATE, and BLAST
  
• Options menu reworked. Custom input delay option added to fix numerous control issues.
  
• Tons of bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, and UI improvements
  
• Noise system revisited and now shown on UI
  
• Secrets?!?

Full changelog:

New Content

• New branch GREAT HALL: tons of goblins and explosions
  
• New monster Goblin Hurler: throws bomb
  
• New monster Balaur Hatchling: an early game version of the Balaur but this one is completely blind.
  
• New spell VORTEX: pulls monsters in and around you and damages flying/floating monsters
  
• New spell FETTER: binds a monster in magical chains that cause levitation and prevent movement
  
• New spell QUILLS: gives you a magical shield based on your missing health that reflects melee attack damage
  
• Vampire abilities now take 0 turns and can be chosen out of 3 options just like spells
  
• New ability AURA: a rapidly shrinking aura of immunity that can be used to shield yourself or allies
  
• New ability SHRED: damages monsters near you and adds Bleeding
  
• New ability WRING: causes non-bleeders to become bleeders
  
• New ability GUZZLE: collects all nearby blood
  
• New ability ASSASSINATE: teleport next to the closest enemy and give them stunned and vulnerable statuses for 1 turn
  
• New ability FRENZY: sets your HP to 1 and gives you a quills shield equal to your missing health
  
• New Legendary Grimoire that gives more spell options or more mana
  
• New MALLEABLE MODE. All spells, abilities, stat upgrades, etc. are chosen for you.
  
• Added 4 new entrances to the hotel
  
• New item Hunter's Lens: improves your critical hit chances

Graphics changes

• The explosion animation has been redrawn to look a lot better
  
• Chests now explode their items onto the surrounding tiles instead of just being a menu
  
• One turn illumination from spells now draws instantly
  
• Bats added to the title screen
  
• Added fadeouts to a few spell animations like FIRESTORM
  
• Primers have been colored blue to more clearly distinguish them from grimoires
  
• Now drawing blood behind torches... it looked really weird before
  
• New chair obstacle with 4 direction sprites
  
• Camera zooms in when talking to friendlies

Gameplay & UI

• Noise is now displayed on the main UI. Many actions that were missing noise now have them and the system has been rebalanced.
  
• Commander now starts with AURA, Assassin with FADE, and Alchemist with WRING
  
• Apothecary given another extra poison resist level
  
• Officer now gets a full HP/MP heal on level up
  
• Challenger now starts with an ability when starting as vampire
  
• Significantly buffed weekly challenge archenemies (they were real pushovers before)
  
• Raised the chance for Challenger to start as vampire to 50:50
  
• UMBRA has been nerfed. It should still be a great spell but not so good it trivializes the game.
  
• UMBRA minions are sped up but weaker, so you don't have to wait on them so much.
  
• No more UMBRA healing on Revenant
  
• Hotel stairs can now collapse. Collapsed stairs require an extra turn to climb.
  
• Allied vampires no longer steal your blood unless they need it and you don't
  
• Stun and frozen moment now reduce evasion to 0
  
• Fixed a bug with Vulnerable inadvertently reducing Defense. With this change, Vulnerable should cause slightly less extra damage.
  
• Critical chance is shown on the character sheet
  
• Werewolves have been reworked: They now have a huge crit chance and heal/satiate on crit
  
• SWAP has been folded into BLINK (if a monster is in that direction, you swap)
  
• TEMPEST is now a lot more consistent
  
• BLINK has been made more accurate with further guaranteed distance
  
• WARD cost reduced
  
• BLAST can now destroy walls starting at level 2
  
• QUAKE damage now requires line of sight
  
• LEVITATE speed up increased by 1
  
• Big sludge XP cut in half (because you also get XP for the spawned sludges)
  
• Ice House monsters are now immune to cold so they won't die in the icy water
  
• Spiridus has been made flying
  
• Demon Blood potions are again guaranteed in every run
  
• Bleeding now does 1 damage in Easy, 3 in Despair
  
• Monsters will now stay in the same relative position when climbing stairs with you if possible
  
• Reduced Magma Golem chance per turn to create magma
  
• Bounty Potion payout is now purely based on turn count which should be way more consistent
  
• Tooltips added to small disguise buttons
  
• Message added if user tries and fails to use diagonal movement for various reasons
  
• Moroi and Samca are now vulnerable to moonlight
  
• Hunter gets QUILLS now instead of ENRAGE, which wasn't really something you could play around
  
• Added the times when you changed form to the morgue
  
• Goblin Anarchist now only combusts with a 1 tile radius regardless of if they blow up before or after death

Options & Controls

• The option menu has been reworked: options are now grouped by subheaders
  
• All options now have detailed descriptions
  
• Added visible values to slider options
  
• Added a custom input repeat option that fixes a slew of horrible control issues for some people (this includes accidentally flying across the map if you hold down a movement key or shooting the revolver 10 times in a split second and ruining the tutorial)
  
• Added the ability to bind some arbitrary keys that were not supported before (e.g. Alt)
  
• Option added to disable xp sound
  
• Added a button to open the minimap
  
• Added a button to open the hotel map
  
• The "center" controller button is now mappable
  
• Added playstation controller icons
  
• Ability direction selection has been improved
  
• Right click now works for examine in keyboard examine mode
  
• The player can no longer "shoot themselves" which previously did nothing but wasted a bullet

UI

• Spell and ability names are greyed out when unusable
  
• Broken windows are highlighted on the minimap
  
• Hunger status is now shown for non-human forms like bat form
  
• Low level human spell casters now show all possible spells on description so you don't have to examine each one
  
• Resistance tooltips now have precise detail
  
• Shadow Form description now shows total values instead of per level values
  
• Added success rate chance to CHARM failure messages
  
• Next Page indicator on books
  
• Added a death tip about examine
  
• Added a death tip if you die with Vulnerable
  
• Death tips now have red highlighting on important words
  
• Added a note on fountain descriptions to say they might identify the associated potion

Bug fixes & Tweaks

• Fixed several display issues with the player or monsters falling in pits
  
• FINALLY fixed the generation of ugly doors, I think
  
• Fixed some display issues with the health bar
  
• Fixed a bug with Samca and frozen moment
  
• Fixed a weird display message involving Holy Water
  
• Fixed some dash bugs
  
• Fixed river portal sprite
  
• Fixed several ASCII display issues
  
• Fixed a display issue with commander and firefly
  
• Fixed a bug with pushing Samcas through sunlight while vulnerable
  
• Fixed some bugs with shadow minions dying to sunlight
  
• Fixed an issue with Goblin Anarchist allies hurting you, which was annoying
  
• Fixed some staircases not spawning far enough from boss
  
• Fixed a double death message from Goblin Anarchist
  
• Fixed a bug with talking to bats, which you can now properly do
  
• Fixed a bug with allies refusing to swap with you if near water
  
• Clarity reworded, for clarity
  
• Fixed a bug with tooltips overlapping hotel map and other menus
  
• Fixed some issues with low screenshake values overriding higher ones
  
• More clarity on staying in the SHADOWS in the tutorial

Online multiplayer is now available, so you can play Spirit Island digital with your friends no matter where they are! Access the new mode from the Main Menu and learn more from the How to Play screen.

Multiplayer is fully cross-platform, so you can play with your friends on iOS and Android devices.



This update also adds fine-grained Spirit Phase undo. Growth and other actions in the Spirit Phase can be undone using the buttons directly on their interfaces. You may undo back to before the Spirit Phase (or to when new information was revealed) using the main undo button. As part of this feature, you can independently undo Spirit Phase actions when playing with multiple Spirits. Also, you may use Presence track abilities (e.g. Reclaim One) at any time during the Spirit Phase.



To help develop your strategy (and communicate with others in multiplayer), you can now add a marker to any land indicating your plans. Right click or use Spirit Foresight to set a planning marker on a land.



The Ward the Shores and Rituals of the Destroying Flame scenarios have been updated to use a new button on your Spirit summary panel. Use this button to play a Power card face-down as a Warding Pattern or to add a Flame Marker at the appropriate times.



We'll be monitoring the status of online multiplayer and look forward to your feedback in order to prioritize improvements. If you have any problems or have a suggestion, use the Help & Feedback button in-game to send us a message.

We are looking forward to the possibility of adapting more Spirit Island content in the future. Stay tuned for news about Jagged Earth and other expansions.

• Update the first chapter plot to add new content
  
• Optimize the plot that appears in the Science and Technology Building
  
• Optimized to trigger the plot at the entrance of the abandoned college

In two days it will be time to show the whole Gamescom 2022 Batora: Lost Haven! We look forward to meeting you at the Hall 10.2 | Stand F010g - E011g!

You will have the chance to try the new build of our game that the press has been talking about in the last few days! Here are some teasers of the preview.



https://www.eurogamer.it/batora-lost-haven-provato-anteprima - "Batora: Lost Haven wanted to favor the narrative without adding the usual riot of secondary missions that can often lead the player to neglect it. It is a choice that we have greatly appreciated and that has allowed us to fully experience this new adventure. A simple graphic sector intervenes to bow the package, but with an extremely and pleasant color palette a great vastness of settings, above all decidedly engaging. Batora manages to remind us of some great classics, yet it is a novelty that should be paid close attention"

https://it.ign.com/batora-lost-haven/195545/preview/batora-lost-haven-provato-il-promettente-action-rpg-di-stormind-games - "As seen so far, Batora: Lost Haven is a game that has all the credentials to impress. The mechanics are immediate, the character development very simple while allowing different builds, and the story, with its not so obvious ramifications, promises just as well".



Indie Game Culture – “The player choice presented felt impactful and meaningful. This added to the richness and depth of the overall story, whether or not the consequences were extreme. The combat was super smooth, and the puzzles were intriguing (and not rage-inducing). And that’s not even mentioning what the art and music add to the game’s atmosphere”.

https://multiplayer.it/articoli/batora-lost-haven-provato-demo.html – “Batora Lost Haven is an interesting project, with a solid base: the combat system is fast and dynamic, while the plot could be intriguing, although we will have to understand how varied the multiple endings will be and whether the different choices will increase the replay value”.

Tom’s Hardware – “Batora: Lost Haven could be a great proof of love for a genre that needs great innovation and new stimuli. During our test we can assure you that Batora: Lost Haven looks like a video game that could reach its purpose but also beyond, offering the video game scene a respectable Italian presence.”

It looks like Batora: Lost Haven liked it, didn't it? Remember that to try the demo you just need to subscribe to our newsletter!

If you are not at Gamescom, sign up here to redeem a key: {LINK REMOVED}https://bit.ly/BLH-nl-st

To our Four Kings players,

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Players will have from now until September 12th to buy chips at their current price before the new pricing structure takes effect. On average, there will be a 10% increase for all chip packages available from the Cashier. All other in-game purchases will maintain their current prices, including clothing items and Emporium store items. VIP levels will continue to grant extra bonus chips from purchases based on your VIP level, up to 15% additional chips for VIP 3 players.

Thank you for your continued support.