Sep 7, 2022

ELYON - jim.l

Greetings,

There is an important announcement we have to make today in regards to the future of Elyon in the European and North American regions. It has almost been a year since Elyon first launched back in late October of 2021, and over the months we have had the opportunity to meet and engage with some exceptionally passionate players. We couldn’t be more grateful for the continued support you have shown us.

We know that many of you are excited for the new class “Soulbringer” that is available as of today - nonetheless, we would like to set the correct expectations and bring you the unfortunate news upfront.

Kakao Games Europe, following lengthy discussions with the game developer Bluehole Studio Inc., has made the difficult decision to terminate the live service of Elyon in Europe and North America due to the unsustainability of key performance indicators. The very low retention rate from incoming new players in combination with a declining amount of active users has made most content difficult to clear, leading us to the conclusion that we are no longer able to offer you the MMORPG experience we are striving for. For this, we deeply apologize.

The final day of service will be December 7, up until the regular weekly maintenance.

We commit to making this process as transparent as possible, and will try to answer all of your questions in a satisfactory manner.

Can I get a refund?

In accordance with Clause 10.2 of our Terms of Use, you are eligible for a refund for unexchanged KCoin purchases made within the period of July 1, 2022 - September 7, 2022. Please note that this does not apply to KCoin that has been converted into Rubies.

If you have made your purchase through the Kakao Games website, please reach out to our Customer Support to request a refund. Requests will be accepted starting today, until January 31, 2023.

If you have made your purchase through Steam, please reach out to Steam’s Customer Support instead, as we will be unable to process your refund request. Steam’s refund policies may differ from those of Kakao Games.

How long will KCoins be available for?

Purchasing KCoins will no longer be possible as of this announcement. Existing KCoins you have in your account’s balance will remain available until the end of service. KCoins you refund will be subtracted from your account’s balance.

What happens to the Ruby Shop?

The in-game Ruby Shop will remain available until the end of service, along with all your yet unused Rubies.

What’s going to happen to my account?

Your personal information stored in the Elyon databases will be permanently deleted on February 28, 2023, but your Kakao Games platform account will remain accessible as usual.

If you wish to delete your Kakao Games account, for the purpose of clearing your online footprint or otherwise, please visit your Account page and refer to the “Delete my account” segment at the bottom of the “MY INFORMATION” tab.

Transferring your in-game data to a different region is not possible.

Can I play in a different region?

Like Kakao Games Europe, publishers of Elyon in other regions have also implemented IP blocks based on their respective licensing agreements. If you eventually find yourself part of a different publisher’s Territory of Service, you are more than welcome to play. Keep in mind that your EUNA in-game data will not be available in other regions, and you will have to start with a fresh account.

Can I get stuff for free?

We will not be providing items on an individual basis, but we are planning to carry out some fun events leading up to the service’s closure - some will even be in the form of item showers for everyone.

Will there be any more updates to the game?

The September 7 patch is the last content update that will be added in the EUNA version of Elyon. In the case a critical issue occurs, additional hotfix patches will be prepared to ensure the game is in a working state.

Sep 7, 2022

A Design For Life: Dome Keeper's Design Inspirations!

Dome Keeper - Micki

As a thank you for all your support, over the next few weeks we'll be sharing behind-the-scenes peeks at how Dome Keeper is made. This week, we explore the influences and inspirations behind Dome Keeper's key design choices.

The idea for Dome Keeper – or Dome Romantik, as it was called once upon a time – came via the three-day Game Jam Ludum Dare 48 and the theme "Deeper and Deeper". Just three days later, Dome Keeper was born!

While it made sense to pick a mining game for the theme, it was important to us that the mining had a purpose, too. We also didn't want mining to be the only thing you did, either…

Product of our own design

Every game we've ever played shapes the way we think about game design, but we were particularly inspired by Kingdom (yes, the same Kingdom published by our publisher, Raw Fury!).

It was its minimal control – you could only move left and right and collect and drop coins – and lack of handholding that impressed us most. Every gamer is different, sure, but we've never been a big fan of tutorials, and would much rather figure out how to do things on our own.

Older games were like that, weren't they? They trusted you. And so do we. That's why Dome Keeper gives you the chance to figure some things out on your own. Letting players make their own discoveries and not hand-feeding them every answer is something Edmund McMillen (Super Meat Boy) has been vocal about, and we agree!

The original Legend of Zelda is a good example of that kind of game design. Its world was open and mysterious, and you learned through exploration and experimentation. There was beauty in that discovery that's harder to find these days, as newer games try to give more instructions in order to improve accessibility.

Justin Ma (Into the Breach) and Lucas Pope (Papers, Please) were also influential. Both designers only add something to the game if it's significantly different to what's already there. That's why when we add things to Dome Keeper, we make sure it's never just making boring variations of the same old gameplay.

Monstrous design

Take a look at this Walker. It comes in (very) fast and starts beating on your Dome. But it's pretty straightforward, right?

So when it comes to creating other monsters… well, we could've just made a bigger Walker. Maybe one that's a little bit slower, but a little bit stronger. But honestly? That just doesn't appeal to us. What's the point of taking on the same kind of enemy with the same kind of strategy?

It's not about giving you different monsters as much as it's about giving you varying challenges.

That's why Dome Keeper has a whole menagerie of creatures to keep you on your toes! Look at this flying monster: you can't tackle it by using the same strategy as the Walker because it shoots projectiles and even has an invincible phase. The Walker can be tackled at any time. You can choose not to engage the flyer, especially if it's on the other side. But if you're tackling a Walker at the same time one of these bad boys swoops in, you have a decision to make; can you make it over there in time, or will you mess it up? Do you keep fighting the Walker or tackle the flying enemies? What you decide next may be a matter of life or death!

What happens when this pesky divebombing enemy comes in, does a tonne of damage to your dome, and flies off? If you don't deal with it immediately, it can do a lot of damage, but as it retreats, it can be safely ignored until it loops back again. What happens when the burrowing worm beast arrives? Or the Shifter, which teleports around and shoots a very strong projectile. Which monster do you need to fight first to minimize the damage they cause?

All of Dome Keeper's combat is about assessing the threat and working out how much time you have to fight with the weapons you have at your disposal. And as the game progresses, the monsters you meet in the early game may not be as threatening later on, so – eventually – a variant of that enemy may arrive and change things up even more…

Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord and tell us all about your favorite monster designs. And don't forget: Dome Keeper is out on September 27, 2022.

Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!

Sep 7, 2022

2022 Season 4 Initial Release [2022.09.06.02]

iRacing - OverdriveAlex

2022 Season 4 Release Notes [2022.09.06.02]
The green flag is waving for iRacing 2022 Season 4! This season includes the release of iRacing’s first fully electric race car, the Porsche Mission R, a pair of new European Road Courses, Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and Rudskogen Motorsenter, and a new Dirt Oval, Lucas Oil Speedway. We’ve added Indianapolis Motor Speedway - IndyCar Oval using our 2022 laser scan data, and have rebuilt all of the artwork for both the ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala and Lotus 79 from scratch. A host of quality upgrades have also been completed, including a substantial change to the New Damage Model so that now damage builds up in areas on your car with repeated strikes which could eventually cause breakage, a rewrite and significant upgrade to the Low-Frequency Effects audio system, and the addition of Driving Aid Pit Lines for all Road Courses. For the iRacing UI, the veteran-favorite Race Guide is now available, as well as Custom Car Classes for AI Racing, and a few new Guided Tours. With our seasonal AI update, we have gone back to our Grand Prix Legends roots with the release of the Lotus 49 along with the much anticipated release of the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen cars and 18 other new pieces of content. Buckle-up and drive full-throttle into iRacing 2022 Season 4!

Season highlights include:

Porsche Mission R - Our first all electric vehicle!
Lucas Oil Speedway - Dirt Oval
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben - Road Course (4 configs)
Rudskogen Motorsenter - Road Course (FREE!)
iRacing UI Enhancements:
- - Race Guide
- - Custom Car Classes for AI Racing
- - New UI Guided Tours (Up Next, Hosted Sessions, and Time Attack)
ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala and Lotus 79 - Bumper-to-Bumper Artwork Updates
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - IndyCar Oval 2022 Laser Scan Update
New Energy-Based Damage System Update
Low-Frequency Effects Extensive Updates
Qualification Scrutiny System Update
Road Course Driving Aid Pit Lines
New Damage Model for the Porsche Mission R
AI Racing for 9 Cars (All 5 GTE Class Cars, the Lotus 49, and all 3 NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen Class Cars)
AI Racing at 13 Track Configurations (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, both Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans configs, Indianapolis Motor Speedway - IndyCar Oval, all four Motorsport Arena Oschersleben configs, 3 new Nürburgring Combined configs (24h, Short w/out Arena, and VLN), Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke - BES/WEC, and Rudskogen Motorsenter)
694 professionally crafted vehicle setups

Visit our 2022 Season 4 features page here: https://www.iracing.com/seasons/2022-s4/

Full 2022 Season 4 Release details can be found on the iRacing Members Forums here:
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/28418/2022-season-4-release-notes-2022-09-06-02#latest

Sep 7, 2022

Zero Hour | Operation Thunder

Zero Hour - M7™

Zero Hour’s Operation Thunder consists of a new map, the addition of CO-OP third person perspective, hostage gameplay improvements, improved loading times & more. This update focuses on content updates and quality improvements.

Addition of a New Map

Prison Break

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
Only the co-op mission will have the top floor and the underground parking accessible. In PvP this map will be slightly smaller.

MS-Unit just received a call of a raid at the Danshiri Police Station. Since the Terrorist leader, Ahmed Al Zoori is held captive inside this station, we assume the terrorist’s motive is to break him out. MS-Unit are tasked to stop Ahmed Al Zoori from escaping and to eliminate all suspects.

Addition of Co-op TPP

This will only be accessible in co-op mode as an option. We wanted to bring a new perspective and experience for players and the game's mechanics. Of course, this won't change any fundamentals of the game.

New SWAT Character Models

The Swat Character models have been remodeled to achieve a more realistic look. In addition to that, animations have also been altered to have the character models look more smooth and organized instead of looking slightly unwary.

Residential House Reworked

In our process of reworking the previous maps to make them look more inline with our newer work, we have attempted to smoothen the edges of Residential House and bump up the texture quality to improve the overall believability and immersion. We tried not changing the spaces and layouts of the original map to ensure it does not disrupt the already fun gameplay. Next map to receive a re-work is Terror House.

Hotel Trouble Lighting Reworked

At the time of developing Hotel Trouble we did not have the proper tools and knowledge to bring the lighting we wanted. With time and effort we have found ways to get closer to that vision and so the ambient lights and GI have finally been implemented to the map.

Addition of Molotov

A new addition to the defender's utility collection, the molotov will help players threaten opponents from entering the room and buy them few more seconds to decide their next move.

Co-Op Suspect Suicide Vest

We have added Suicide vests as an option for suspects in various bomb appropriate missions. You will now see some suspects wearing bomb vests roaming in the map. These suspects will run towards you when you are spotted. You can still make them surrender by shooting their hand, however killing the suspect will initiate the count down to detonating their vest.

Hostage Gameplay Improvements

The hostage game mode was untouched for a long while and we are looking to focus on improving it based on user feedback. Hostages now stick very closely to the player to remove the tediousness of having to wait for them to move closer and disrupting overall gameplay. Along with them sticking close to you, the hostage icon will no longer appear when being interacted; meaning defenders will no longer be able to see the hostage location when attackers are extracting. These are just our initial attempts at fixing the issues, we plan on adding further improvements very soon.

Material Based Footsteps

While we have made several attempts in the past to get material based footsteps into the game due to not being able to find a bandwidth friendly way of making this feature work. The feature is finally in the game but with a limited pool of surface types that we plan to expand with time.

Improved Loading Time even further

We reworked the internal data system to improve loading times. According to our tests, it has cut down the loading time further more than the previous update. This has fixed prolonged issues such as crashing, resulting in heavy memory usage or CPU heating.

Conclusion

We are trying to get up to speed again to provide content sooner like we used to in the past. We always hope to progress through smaller patches until the next major update. Thanks to the private testers team for testing out the builds with every internal update to ensure a more polished experience for the public release of the update.

We really appreciate and thank the community for the unconditional support and love for the game.

Update Logs

ADDED

New Playable Map "Prison Break"
New New MS Unit character model
New Defender side utility Molotov [ Iteration 1 ]
Material based footsteps [ Iteration 1 ]
Ahmed Al Zoori prison version as suspect
Co-op Suicide Bomb vest for suspects [ Iteration 1 ]
Co-op Third person View option [ Iteration 1 ]
Hostage PvP extraction point to Bank Heist rooftop
Tactical Helmet IR Strobe light
GI lighting to MV Meghna map

FIXED

Match Points Back up not retrieving properly when steam fails to fetch data
Defender using Smoke causes backend errors
P10c missing mag in SFX for mag check animation
Rats Den missing surface type property
Texture corruption due to memory leakage

IMPROVED

Hostage movement control (Co-op & PvP)
Hostage PvP gameplay, Hostage icon will not be displayed when the hostage is either running away or following a player
First person camera movement
Player movement input feel
Main Menu loading time
Weapon short stocking
Weapon holstering positions
Suspect AI behavior to do suppressing fire
Player movement animation flow chart
Optimized door functionalities
Breaker Switch interaction sounds
Optimized Residential House
Optimized Main Menu functionalities

CHANGES

Added Acog Sight option for MK12
Increased Stamina slightly in PvP & Co-op
Reworked Residential House map
Reworked Hotel Trouble lighting
Reduced Co-op cutscene Sound volume

Thank you for your patience, please make sure to report Toxicity, feedback & suggestions in our Discord server using the following links.
Discord Global Community : Zero Hour Official
Discord French Community : Zero Hour France