Apr 18, 2023

Forts Pro League Season 1 Playoffs Winners! SPOILERS!!!

Forts - Romerolagus

G’day, Forts fans!

Congratulations to Speckfanatiker for winning the inaugural season of the official Forts Pro League!

Capping off a day of drama, tension, and even a touch of controversy, Der Benzinpreisvergleicher and Naomi emerge as champions of the first season of the FPL and take the winner's medals. The Playoffs began with the relegation match between FPL team YES (Flinnshadow + Taichu) defeating FAL team Clockwork Titans (Hallrassy + Schuka) to retain their spot in the FPL roster for next season. Then the top 4 FPL teams faced off to determine the ultimate winner.

Amburulo of Danke Merkel delivered the standout individual performance of the tournament against Eagle Die. After losing their teammate Finn at cannon o'clock and being pummeled by warheads they battled back 1v2 in a match lasting nearly 20 minutes. This earned them the MVP nod from the judges and casters, but would not be enough to hold off Speckfanatiker in the Grand Final.

Challengermode Bracket

Playoffs

In one of most baffling moments of the competition, and perhaps the most controversial, a member of team Eagle Die missclicked in the opening seconds of their match vs Speckfanatiker and inadvertently collapsed their base. It happened so quickly that the cause was initially assumed to be a malfunction of some sort. After an examination of the replay showed it to have been accidental, the ruling was made for the match to continue with Eagle Die down a player.

1st Place - $100 in Steam Gift cards

Speckfanatiker

Der Benzinpreisvergleicher
Naomi

2nd Place - $50 in Steam Gift cards

Danke Merkel

Amburulo
Finn

3rd Place - $20 in Steam Gift cards

Pro Aim

Helicopter
mcc72k

Replays & VODs

Replays from the FPL group stage and Playoffs will be made available in the Featured tab of the Replays menu in-game and viewable until next update

Full English Cast with Incursus and Noze
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2p1BMT_MfQ

Full German Casts with Salzwerk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJKcdAbZ84

and DerGoldjunge
DerGoldjunge

Relegation match from Salzwerk and DerGoldjunge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y01kE8Jsc1c

Cheers,
EWG

Apr 18, 2023

2023.4.18 v0.8.17 Shift

Eruption 爆发 - 签客骚人

V 0.8.17 Theme version update "Shift"

Foreword: This is a version with the theme of major gameplay. Generally speaking, the control of the battle can be enhanced and provided more tactical choices, and there are more and stronger challenges.

The new mechanism "Skull Crash" and boosted fighting pace

The "Skull Crash" attack is the attack that hit the head. This is relatively accurate in space, not randomly triggered.
The effect of crash attack is to cause 50% independent damage bonus, which will cause longer recovery time than hitting other parts.
Precisely, the overall recovery time is lowered due to that caused by non-crashing attack is only 50% time long.
Some tips about triggering Skull Crash:
1. Get close to the target.
2. Use longer weapons.
3. Use the attack action from top to bottom or specific attack action, such as sprint attack.
4. To have the high ground.
The mechanism will be further extended in the subsequent version.

Reimagined the poise system

In the previous version, the poise exists from the beginning of the attack action until the attack is completed or the action is over. During this period, if the poise is not emptied(by attack), the interruption of the attack will only last for a moment, and the character can recover quickly. Only by attacking that empties the poise can make the victim completely into full time recovery. This mechanism may bring players some wrong impression of "randomization of recovery time", and then weaken the trust in the combat system’s roubustness.
The new version of the poise system has the principle of "All or No" (which does not include variation by Skull Crash). As long as the poise is not emptied, the action will not be interrupted. Otherwise, the victim will enter the recovery with duration according to the attacker's weapon and the action.
Considering the enhancement of the effect of poise, to prevent the abusing of the brutal attack that completely ignores the risk of interruption, the coverage time of the poise has been reduced in general, and the basic coverage is during the period of attack damage checking. At the same time, the enhancement of the character attribute, that is, Strength, will put it in advance 1% for every STR point (100% starting from the attack action). This is basically in line with the impression that "The stronger the man is, the harder to be interrupted".

New Dodge System

Re -produced a more flexible and more effective dodge system.
The most important thing is that the direction of the character dodge is all free now. The character performs to the direction from the perspective. If there is no direction input, the default dodge is to retreat. The dodge collision effect is still retained, but the triggering rule is adjusted. The impact will only take effect during the victim’s attack is in the damaging check period. In addition, in all other occasions, the effect is equivalent to hitting the wall, which will make the player retreat. The collision of the character is called "Dodge-Counter". It is more time restricted, but more directionaly controllalble than kick.

Bringing greater challenges to kicking

In the previous version, the kick action has almost no restrictions. The current kick can cause the same effect only when the target is attacking (more loose than the Dodge-Counter). Otherwise, the kicker still has to bear the long post-recovery-time, also the recovery time of the victim is extremely short, and there is almost no retreat.

The stamina cost increasing to emphasize the pace of confrontation

Generally , the stamina consumption is increased to highlight itself and to prevent tedious long combos.
The stamina bar will become orange when it is not enough for the minimum cost of the attack (light attack) to warn.

Balanced adjustment of legendary weapons

The effect of the legendary weapons obtained in the museum needs to be activated after war roar, and it continues until the user being attacked or kicked. The one-time attack reinforcement effect of war roar has therefore become a common skill for legendary weapons.
The recovery time of the war roar was greatly shortened.
The legendary weapons with elemental effects have exclusive visual effects.

Optimization for the Controller

The custom buttons now include LT and RT.
Add the reset button.
"Souls-like" is no longer an toggle but a preset layout.
If the controller is abnormal after updated, reset it will just work.

Others

Perfume using recovery is shortened.
Templar’s model is reworked and rigged by new standard skeleton. It contains the clue for the next update.
New engine version promises a generally performance boost.
New implement of character shadows that optimzed the performance.
When the render scale is set to below 1.0, the FXAA will take place of SMAA. The performance is greatly boosted.
Tweaked the performance mode’s presets ot HBAO to gain a better performance.
Fixed the issue that cursor can’t be hidden after resuming from pausing.
Fixed the issue that the target is invisible in the level 9.
The structure of weapon data is optimzed that promises higher efficiency of developing.
Re-implemented the framelocking function. Now V-Sync can be enabled to prevent tearing when framing caping is enabled.
Fixed the issue that frame capturing is forced on after tweak the scroll.
Optimzed bloom performance.
Optimized the sound effect system to shorten loading time.
Fixed a wrong reaction direction during the one-hand combo.
Augmented the compatibilty of the controller in the menus with text inputs.
The Begin Button now turns Blue and Red when the cursor hovers on and selected in the Level selecting menu.
The fps displayer is smaller.
The mirror reflection in the WC is optimized and gains performance.

Apr 18, 2023

Chinese Frontiers: DevLog #3

Chinese Frontiers - SolidGames

Hello! My name is Iza, and I'm a 3D Graphic Designer for Chinese Frontiers. In today's devlog, you will learn a bit about the process of modelling the buildings (workshops) that you will soon be able to construct on your own in our upcoming game!

Research and sketching

Like almost everyone on our team, I am an architect - and thanks to this, when designing buildings, I paid attention to historical accuracy with traditional Chinese constructions. Before the actual modeling, I spent a lot of time on research. I used old sketches, books and films to better understand the whole process. It was definitely a very interesting stage of my job. 😃

After the research, it was time for design. Work on each building started with a sketch of the functional plan - so that its final form would be derived from the function it is intended to serve. During that time I also made a lot of loose sketches, as a way of thinking about possible forms.

2D to 3D transformation

The next, and really important step, was gradual transition from 2D to 3D. I created a lot of simple block models for each buildings - different alternatives - so that, even in 3D, before the final modeling, the scale, proportion, and arrangement of each building could be better sensed.

As a result, each of the buildings gained a blocky, simple form for further work.

Traditional Chinese wooden constructions often utilize intricate wood joinery techniques, where wooden pieces are interconnected without the use of nails or screws. Instead, interlocking joints are carefully crafted to create stable and durable structures. In Chinese Frontiers, you’ll be able to construct five different workshops, each of them has a different structure, tailored to the scale of the object and the function it is intended to serve.

Texturing

Final step was detailed modelling and texturing. Here is a comparison between the initial sketch version of the building and its final form:

Upgrade your workshop

One of the key features of the game is the development of buildings. As you progress in your skills, gain new technology and gather the necessary materials, you will be able to upgrade some of your workshops - from a primitive structure made of field stones and clay, to a more advanced and visually appealing one.

This is just a small portion of the objects that you will be able to build in Chinese Frontiers. Next time, I will tell you more about other assets that I have prepared for the game - as well as take a closer look inside the workshops to examine the crafting stations.

There is so much to discover ahead of you! 🤗

Follow us also here:
👉 Discord
👉 Twitter
👉 Facebook
👉 YouTube

👉 👉👉 Add Chinese Frontiers to Wishlist & Follow the community (not to miss next updates & DevLogs!)

Apr 18, 2023

2.2.2 Patch

Hydroneer - grandmaMax

2.2.2 Patch
18 April 2023

--- Fixes
- Tasks will no longer display with a 0 weight requirement.
- 'Masterworkin'' Steam Achievement will now unlock as intended.
- Walking past a Logic Gem Compressor no longer will pull the item out of your hand if you move too close to it.
- Crafted items passed through the Logic Saw Hook will no longer make them disappear.
- Collision issue at Icehelm Entrance now fixed.
- Purchasing a Hydro Mole now comes with a full tank of gas! (What a bargain!)
- Dirt no longer bounces out of the T3 harvester
in rare occasions.
- Fixed issue where logic keypad sometimes disappears if clicked too fast.
- Sometimes items stored in the back of truck no longer impact the trucks movement behaviour.
- Sleeping in a bed in split screen while another player is sleeping no longer soft-locks the first player into an endless sleep.
- Fixed resource duplication glitch.
- Fixed issue where some store items would not disappear from stores if not purchased when loading save file.
- Tokens no longer are inside female NPC hands.
- When a lantern lands in the water while on, it no longer players its extinguish sound globally.
- VFX when chopping vegetables with the cooking knife will no longer play twice.
- Stairs in the harbour no longer have weird collisions.
- Built items no longer appear as their red/blue placement colour when placed down.
- Player icon in the main menu now updates the image properly.
- 'For The King!' Task notes no longer are miscoloured.
- Stock Market in Ironil now display the new models for weapons.
- Optimisations for T2 drill.
- Misc. translation fixes.
- Other minor fixes.

--- Changes
- Massively decreased the sound of the logic saw hook.
- Rate of crucible/bars heating up increased.
- Maximum size of boot decreased.
- Area for Anvils to accept bars/gems now slightly increased.
- Plinths can now store coins and tokens.
- Scales now show the total weight of crafted items by their contents.
- Crucible description updated.

Apr 18, 2023

Version 0.9.0 - Wee Tanks makeover

Wee Tanks! - King Chook IV

Wee Tanks got a makeover!

We have changed some visual elements of the game, such as letting players choose their own player colors and new arena designs.

Change the colors of all players

Set custom models for your custom tanks

Check the modding guide on how to mod your own custom tank models

More map editor settings

Multiplayer

We are still working on multiplayer, which we expect to go live next month!
Stay tuned for that.

Changelog:
- HUGE improvements in performance in Tankey Town, and all boss arenas
- (!) Big changes in some styles and graphics
- You can now toggle on/off if you want the auto save system to overwrite the base save file
- Added letterblocks
- Changed the countdown style
- Added modding option for changing tank colors
- You can now select if you want to test with companions
- You can now turn on experimental mode, which removes all boundaries for placing props
- Less tanks are dropped by commandos on toddler, and more on adult and grandpa
- WHAM! text effect are a bit higher so they dont clip with the floor
- Death X are same color as player
- Tankey town always on kid difficulty
- You can now freely resize the game window
- Custom props now copy the previous team color
- Can make the barrel have opacity of 0
- Ability to change the invisibility type of custom tanks
- Ability to disabled tank tracks of custom tanks
- White tanks are now fully invisible again on adult + grandpa
- Player tank has black poof when trying to boost and its not available
- Fixed pathfinding not working anymore for all tanks + companions
- Some bullets don't lose their trail anymore upon deletion
- King tank mines shoot out energy bullets again
- Custom tanks bunch of new bullets
- AI companions now get armour plates when going into king tank arena
- All bullet skins now have Xray behind walls
- Electro tanks are teleporting way more aggressive on grandpa
- Added Steamworks updated libsteam_api.dylib, which will fix some MacOS issues (Thanks to aehmttw)
- Converted all classic campaign missions to the new save method, so the classic campaign might load FASTER now
- Fixed tiles + conveyor belts not being removed
- You can now use commands to add missions from one campaign to the other
- Boss tanks fight factory-produced tanks now
- You can now set your own custom MOTD in the mod_settings
- You can now use commands to add missions from one campaign to the other (/addmission)
- And I added secret party easter egg somewhere on the main menu....

Apr 18, 2023

CAPTAIN’S LOG: On Puzzles

Bilkins' Folly - CathArmor

I’ve always enjoyed puzzles and brain teasers. I think it’s something that stems back to my days when I was still teaching. Quite often at the end of a lesson, I’d put up a brainteaser on the board and challenge the students to solve it before the bell went.

Sometimes though, I’d take things a bit further…

Back in the days when I was teaching grade six in a country school, it fell to each class to fundraise so that they’d have money for excursions. When it came to our turn, we decided (with a bit of prompting from me) to run a pirate day for the school. Students were encouraged to dress and run around speaking like pirates for the day, which, being an Aussie country school, wasn’t too far removed from pirate speak anyway!

As a special activity just for my class, I brought in a locked treasure chest and sat it at the front of the classroom, telling my students they could have whatever treasure was locked inside if they found the key.

What followed was a series of tasks that the kids had to do to gather four pieces of a treasure map. These ranged from getting enough points in a pirate-styled math game I’d prepared to beating the other grade six class at pirate dodgeball and stealing their piece of the map.

By the end of the day, the students had the map (which was a drawing of our school) and were able to use the hints written on the back to find the location of the key. With five minutes left in the day, they found the key and came sprinting back to class, popping with excitement as they fumbled with the lock. Even to this day, I can recall one girl cheering, “This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me!” as the class cracked open the chest to reveal their prize…

…a bag of carrots!

Bracing myself for an expected wave of vitriol, I was surprised instead when one of the bigger boys held the prize up and shouted victoriously, tearing the bag apart and handing out the booty to the waiting crew. As they wandered off to the bus, munching away like rabbits, I was struck by how fun a day that was.

On reflection, it really served as the seed for the Bilkins’ Folly style of puzzle solving. Having said that, players who complete Bilkins will be rewarded with more than just a bag of carrots. I promise. ;)

Now get outta here and wishlist my game, ya damn scurvy rabbit!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526370/Bilkins_Folly/