đ¨ Attention, Commanders! Reports from across the globe indicate that the Aliens have a new powerful secret weapon at their disposal! We need to plan for the worst and expect the Aliens to use this new weapon as they enhance their efforts to seize control of our New Earth.
Rally together once again and defend your region from this primal invader. This event will be active from now until Monday, 6th March at 7 AM (UTC)! Have a great weekend. â¨
Howdy and welcome to the second Above Snakes devlog of 2023! As usual, we are very transparent about our progress and we aim to continue doing exactly that. With that said, we are thrilled to say that we've finished the game feature-wise and entered the stage of final polish and bug fixing. Make sure to stay tuned and read the whole devlog, because we will talk about next steps and the release!
Announcing the Above Snakes: Prologue
This month, we will launch the Above Snakes: Prologue on Steam! The prologue covers about the first hour of Above Snakes gameplay and is meant for people to be introduced to the game for free and to provide any feedback regarding basic mechanics before release. Feel free to play it and share your feedback so we know where to improve.
We intentionally planned for there to be some time in between the Above Snakes: Prologue and the release of the full game. This will allow us time to consider any last minute feedback so that you can enjoy the game to its fullest! We encourage you to wishlist the Above Snakes: Prologue so you don't miss out on the launch! By the way, the save file will carry over to the full game, so you can continue where you left off.
As stated in the intro, we are happy to announce that we finished the game! You can now play through the whole main story from the first intro quest up until the credits! That means that we've closed our development process for any new features or ideas and are now focusing on polishing the game and making it the best version of itself as possible. Next to fixing lots of bugs, we are also revisiting UI/UX, lighting, effects, and the overall performance of the game. Here is a recent example of improvements we've made to lighting:
Character Model
The feedback we received after Devlog #5 regarding the low-poly, more blocky character model has certainly not been forgotten. As promised, we worked on it and are happy to share the improvements we were able to make. In our last update, we revealed the release art work with Aiyana's updated clothing and props. We incorporated those into the in-game character model. We also took time working on her face and making it much more detailed and less blocky.
Stone Buildings
We also added another building style towards the ending of the game: stone buildings. Upgrade and fortify your beautiful cabin with sturdy stone walls and rain-proof shingle roofs.
Will the Beta Be Updated?
We have been asked this question a couple of times and want to give an "official" reply. Short answer - no. We won't update the Beta anymore. The reasoning for this is to avoid spoilers prior to the game's release. Just to give an idea, the full game contains about the final third (33%) of content when compared to the Beta, including Corpse Creek and the main story ending.
The Game is Finished. Now What?
As we mentioned, we are working hard on polishing Above Snakes. We are true believers in the idea that it's better to release a stronger game than launching it prematurely. We're taking our time with this and will do it right. We want people to enjoy the game from the first day on (and hopefully avoid any critical day 1 patch). We are also very happy that we're able to confirm that we stuck to our initial roadmap that had been shared during the Kickstarter!
We have internally decided on a release date and will communicate it to you all with the next update.
Closed Play Test
We will conduct a final closed play test before release! We have not yet decided on a final timing and sizing of the test. If you want to be a part of it, make sure you're subscribed to our e-mail list to receive an invitation.
PAX East
Weâre incredibly excited to participate in PAX East on March 23rd - March 26th in Boston! You will be able to play a demo of Above Snakes at the Crytivo booth! If you are there, make sure to say "hi" to our publisher, Crytivo!
That's it for this update! We sincerely hope that you're happy with the progress we've made and hope that you're looking forward to the release of Above Snakes. Since we recently finished the game, we think that this is a good opportunity to thank everybody involved, especially our community that has supported us on this incredible journey.
- new languages: Korean and Czech (Arabic is on the way) - 9 fonts to choose from (but not for all languages), including dyslexia-friendly fonts - options to change text and background color - option to unlock all trivia after finishing the game - Autoplay (text and voiceovers can be played automatically) - build size reduced by 25%
The excitement is almost at its peak! Hotel Renovator is about to be released in just a few days, and youâre all probably wondering what comes after. Even before we released the Hotel Renovator demo, our ambition was to create a community-driven video game that keeps growing with its player base.
The design possibilities of Hotel Renovator allow each of you to create your very own unique style and inspire others to do the same. To make things a little bit easier and bring everyone together, we created a live show to talk about all things Hotel Renovator, chat with interesting special guests, and answer your questions.
Do you want to become the next Top Designer? Post your best designs on social media with #hotelrenovator, and we will choose some of them for each episode to fight for the best spot!
But thatâs not all! We will reward your participation with the Top Designer badge and some extra game keys! The voting for the best design will be carried out with your help. Our team will be choosing their favourites on stream while you cast your vote on our Discord server at the same time. Remember, your voice can turn the tides of the competition!
Hereâs a small preview of what you can expect from our new series. Enjoy the teaser, and make sure to join our Discord community server, where youâll meet a lot of like-minded renovators like yourself!
Pre-purchase Hotel Renovator and get the Palace Furniture Set DLC for free!
As a âthank-youâ for supporting the game during Early Access, the next time you open the game you will receive an exclusive Unicorn Onesie cosmetic for Voltaire!
Added a new menu prompt where all new content will be displayed every patch (where you will find and collect your brand new Unicorn Onesie costume!)
A new Portal indicator has been added and will display whenever your uncles are ready to take you to a new biome
A Music Volume slider has been added to the sound options
Discord & Twitter buttons have been added to the main menu
BUGFIXES
Fixed an issue that could result in the player being able to cast an infinite amount of permanent traps
Fixed an issue with the skill âGravity Wellâ that could cause traps not to visually disappear upon activation
Fixed an issue that could cause the âFashionistaâ achievement (unlock 4 cosmetics) to not be awarded when it should
Fixed an issue that could cause the Bugbug boss to get stuck in flight mode and never land, becoming impossible to defeat
Fixed an issue when feeding Câthul that could cause it to not reward the player when hitting the purple or smaller blue stripe in the minigame
Fixed the way UI and HUD scaling works in ultrawide resolutions to prevent the vertical clipping of some elements in high resolutions
Fixed a couple of tutorial videos not properly displaying on Steam Deck
Fixed a couple of textual typos reported by players
Fixed several instances of sound artifacting
BALANCE
All defensive plants will now dry up if not watered after 1 day instead of 3
Skully will now spawn minions slightly slower
Yeetusâ base health points have been increased
The total experience points necessary to reach level 20 have been slightly increased
Soulstone Flowers will now gain a +1HP buff when planted next to each other instead of a double-dropping buff
WHATâS NEXT?
We have been taking notes of all your feedback and will continue to do so for as long as it takes to make Voltaire the best game it can be.
This has been an amazing launch week and we feel great about the future of the game, especially thanks to all the awesomely supportive comments and heartwarming reviews you have been writing (thank you!), so weâre ecstatic to see that a small but wholesome community is already forming around our floaty vampire.
Our immediate plans are to tackle the most pressing bugfixes and adjustments you have been commenting on first, along with a steady stream of new content for you to enjoy every week during this upcoming month.
The great news is that, overall, you are reporting that the game is very stable and no major gamebreaking issues are happening very often, if at all. This means that we can safely focus on adding onto this base right away, tackling both new content and quality of life improvements all at once.
We have noticed a prevalent comment about the extent of our tutorial dialogues, as well as the fact that players often learn things by themselves way before uncles Frank and Stein ask them to perform those tasks for the first time.
With that in mind, we will be making adjustments to ensure our tutorials become more reactive to what the player has already done, as well as trimming down on superfluous texts where we feel like it is not adding to the humorous nature of the experience or containing essential information, which is also something we will try to keep in mind in future dialogues and textual information.
Besides this tutorial review, weâre also aware that you are craving for more variety (of every form!) so we will start by introducing new veggies, new defensive plants and new enemy critters that perform more complex roles, especially when it comes to making combat more dynamic.
Along with these smaller updates, we will also be focusing on introducing more constructible elements and random-chance encounters that will allow you to spend your materials and overflowing veggies in a meaningful way, which is something we will expand a lot further on in upcoming DevLogs.
Besides all of this, we will continue to cook-up larger patches that contain new activities, characters and game modes that break the mold of what you have already experienced, as well as constantly improving on balance and game feel along with your help and feedback.
We feel that this is a good recipe to begin our Early Access journey with, and we sincerely hope that you will tag along as we create, transform, and improve this adventure full of veggies, compassion, and spooky, heart-warming fun.
A former engineer from the Australian outback. Captain Ed Hayes fills the role of heavy infantry, carrying both GDFâs Networking technology and a heavy anti-vehicle laser cannon.
Fixed gift-giving window & related windows not working.
Spiders can use non-spider abilities again.
Fixed the "sometimes while my horn is equipped my skill bar changes to stringed instruments" bug.
Player Work Orders will no longer immediately expire.
Creature levels now display at anatomy level 5 instead of 50. (This is a temporary hack -- we have other ideas on how to display level disparity in the future)
Certain First-Aid abilities are now exceptions to the new rule that you must keep the ability on your bar to maintain a buff. Affected abilities are: "Soberize", "Emergency Alcohol Treatment", and "Field Prophylactic".
Fixed bug preventing humanoids from playing music.
Saving settings will no longer cause nameplates to get stuck on the screen.
Fixed bug causing nameplates to multiply infinitely.
"Use New Selection UI" setting should be properly respected when restarting the game.
Cursors on linux should no longer be gigantic.
There is a new setting for disabling cursor changes when hovering over things: Settings > GUI > Mouse Selection > Change Cursor on Hover
Fixed bug where Animal Handling pets couldn't follow your commands because they had -1 Power
added Shock Dust to level 20 powders loot table (it is also in the level 30 and 40 powder tables)
reset version of Drunkenness effects (which may help users suffering from infinite drunkenness)
Thanks for your reports! We're still investigating some issues with the XP curve (seems slower than intended), as well as working to repro a few minor bugs. But if you're experiencing a new BIG bug and it wasn't fixed here, please let us know ASAP!
Major Update 5 will be released on 17th March 2023 at 5pm UTC!
We are calling this major update the "Carrier Fleet Update" (multiple player controlled carriers per team!) but there is actually much more, actually several new big features! Please read more below...
Allied Carriers
Multiplayer games will support multiple carriers per team, allowing players to cooperate and coordinate between crews, and teams can have many times more fire power. Team communication is greatly improved with the new text chat option, including team and global channels.
HOTAS Support
We have made some big improvements to our controller support and bindings, and added support for HOTAS controllers. This is something that players have been asking about for a long time, and provides some very immersive piloting simulation gameplay!
Gimballed Air Support Cannon
We are adding a new cannon for aircraft... mounted on a gimbal! You can now provide rounds from the air from winged and rotor aircraft, in a similar way to the cannon on a real world helicopter gunship such as the Apache or Hind. Again, this has been a very popular player request and we are really excited to add it.
Gameplay Improvements
We are also implementing several other smaller player requested changes such as air-boss controls to hold take offs (to assist take offs during heavy waves), changes to torpedo behaviour, etc.
This major update will be launching on Friday 17th March so please do join us for the launch then!
We also have minor updates including fixes and improvements in the works and due for release soon.
