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In the previous update, I introduced a scenario editor to Solar Nations which allows you to customize the existing scenarios or create your own to play with. This time, I have sought to expand this feature with new functionality which should expand the horizons of what can be created within Solar Nations exponentially. Introducing the Defines Editor, an in game mod builder which allows you to customize the more basic aspects of the game and create all sorts of new stuff!
Using the defines editor, you can create new ship classes, buildings, upgrades, and eventually, events and decisions (that is what I'm currently working on) which allows for an unprecedented level of customizability without any programming knowledge necessary! Furthermore, it streamlines the process for myself on the back-end, which should make it easier for me to create content for new updates like this one.
The defines editor is modular, in a way, which allows it to be easily adapted to different data types which represent the objects and systems found within Solar Nations. As a result, new types of functionality, once added, will also be integrated into the defines editor which should give aspiring modders plenty of tools to work with, considering the engine I am using is rather unfriendly when it comes to mods.
Unfortunately, that is all I have for now, as most of the work that has been done over the last week has been mostly back end stuff, but I have been working on a great simplification to the event logic which should allow for both a drastic increase in the number of events but also make them intuitive enough to be opened up for modifications using this interface!
-Fixed an issue where the Dragon Plate Shield was considered a body slot not a shield slot -Fixed an issue with Ramona's side quest when Axel gives you equipment the game not displaying it correctly -Fixed an issue with the coffin key not breaking on use as it should -Fixed an issue with Frozen Swords not targeting all enemies as should -Minor armor adjustments and balances -Legendary Mobs now have a small chance of dropping a strong item
Happy Monday, tactics fans! I've been continuing to work very hard on Together in Battle, adding more content, improving balance, and fixing bugs. This update came together a bit slower than I wanted due to real-life stuff (and also because I took the time to push three rounds of hotfixes to the last update)--but now that it's here, I'm pleased as punch to tell you everything new!
First and most significantly, the next main plot event is now in the game! I won't say anything here about what it is, but it occurs on the day after the Festival of the Ascendant Lights. (If you have a playthrough where a match is already scheduled for that day, just be aware that you won't be able to trigger the event--but the game will avoid scheduling fights on that day for subsequent playthroughs.)
In addition to this, there's a new Axefighter skill and new items can appear in the shop. I also made a few more balance tweaks and fixed a whole bunch of bugs. Without further ado, here are all the changes:
- throwing a character onto a space occupied by an object with "flying" passability now produces a context-dependent effect: if the character is an ally, they are thrown on top of the object as normal; but if the character is not an ally, they will now be thrown into the object instead for collision damage (and--if the object is spiked--additional piercing spike damage).
- new skill: Grappler Stance. Places a hold on one adjacent space, keeping enemies from moving away from (or through) it. This skill is learned by axefighters.
- skills which creates Holds can now be targeted on spaces occupied by other characters.
- helms can now get modifiers as part of the procedural generation process! Modifiers currently supported include Stylish (+1 morale), Beautiful (+2 morale), Gorgeous (+4 morale), Visored (immunity to Blinded status), and Calming (+1 energy regen).
- item quality in the shop now automatically increases upon getting into Snow Leopard League and upon successfully completing the Nihal's Bandits side quest.
- new accessory worn on the head: Bifocals. +10% Accuracy, can be equipped by anyone.
- added bifocals and torches to the shop's pool of "miscellaneous" items; reduced the odds of runner's cleats showing up in stock to 5%.
- toned down the photokineticist's Dazzle skill: it now applies Blinded only once with a base 100% chance (removing the additional 50% chance to apply it a second time) with a 50% chance to apply Distracted once (instead of one to three times).
- changed the way the game handles thieves in arena fights: instead of allying them with the enemy team, thieves now have ignore tags for both armies and a target value of 0. This should keep the enemy team from seeing healing or buffing thieves as a good move.
- pay for hiring out now scales more slowly with strength and caps out at 75 aura per character instead of 90.
- characters now only give a friendly fire reaction when allied skills with the element "Falling" (e.g. Kinetic Gust, Shove, Throw) deal more than 5 damage to them.
- rewrote religious attack, deployment, and victory barks to bring them more in line with the particular doctrines of each given character's religion.
- the info bar in the top-left of the screen now auto-updates food consumption and payroll info as soon as you dismiss a character.
- updated the trainer's dialogue a bit to explain that characters undergoing paradigm training will keep their old skills and masteries, but will learn new ones exclusively in their new class going forwards.
- boosted the amplitude of the song "Conspiracy" to better match the amplitude levels on other tracks.
- fixed: Golem and Spirits could be selected for the Sick Parent event in camp, which would result in the game freezing when it came time for them to talk about their parents (since spirits and golems do not have parents).
- fixed: when an enemy applied a status effect under fog of war, the game would not load the associated status effect icon for the targeted character at all. This would then cause a range error when the affected character came into view and the game tried to display the nonexistent (but expected) status effect icon, in turn causing a cascade of other issues like fog of wars tiles no longer being removed.
- fixed: ranged attackers could sometimes counterattack after being shoved into water or lava.
- fixed: surrendering in the Monkey League Qualifier would not send the player back to the qualifier scheduling scene as intended.
- fixed: characters ending a battle while swimming would have their movement type appear as swimming during deployment for the next battle.
- fixed: the cavalier and mantis knight sprite animations for Mega Charge were wrapping up about 4 frames too early.
- fixed: the special Day 1 daytime text in Kalkerapur ("The tournament begins tomorrow and you need a team. Time to go recruit some fighters!") was no longer appearing.
- fixed: the arena manager was not saying the day of the month that league matches were scheduled for due to a formatting error.
- fixed: characters could sometimes ignore orders given during one-on-ones due to leftover ForceNextCampActivity tags from previous one-on-ones or random events.
- fixed: the RemoveTag script action was not splitting up tag parameters, leading to situations where it was failing to remove specified tags (most notably, ForceNextCampActivity tags).
- fixed: you could mess up the ordering of nighttime camp events if you happened to click the background during the 1/100th of a second delay before character dialogue appeared onscreen.
- fixed: skills, masteries, and other things learned at specific levels (such as Book of Power mastery or the Assassin's Leap skill) would get reintroduced into a character's skill progression upon promotion, leading to that character learning a duplicate of that thing upon reaching level 2 of their promoted class.
- fixed: the upper UI buttons in recruitment had become unusable when a character was selected during recruitment.
- fixed: even if slain before turn 5, the Monkey League Qualifier team leader would still issue a taunt.
- fixed: losing fights or winning league qualifiers would modify golem morale.
- fixed: characters' steps taken would be reset to 0 upon promoting mid-turn in battle.
- fixed: if the skills bar was set to a character's second page of skills and they were thrown into water or lava, the game would still display their second (now blank) page of skills upon selecting them, making it impossible to command them to swim.
- fixed: the game was not recognizing player-placed Caltrops as traps for purposes of warning the player about moving their own units into them.
- fixed: when fire was spawned in front of elevated terrain, its smoke particles would aggressively clip through the terrain.
- fixed a formatting error in the character dialogue responding to a player's decision not to reclass a character in camp.
- fixed: the logger was not saving the version number in log files.
- fixed: status effect immunity popup text was misformatted.
For the campaign creation suite, we have a few improvements:
- the map editor now supports loading and saving a discrete defeatScene attribute for battles, allowing you to easily set a next scene dependent on the player's defeat without using conditions.
- new script action: SetDefeatScene. Sets the defeatScene attribute to a different scene for the current battle.
- new script action: AddStock. Programmatically adds stock to an existing shop in the scene. Lasts until the scene ends.
- new tag supported: Immunity. Grants status effect immunity to the tagged unit.
- new tag supported: AreaPreference. Alters the AI's calculated value for moves in which the tagged character ends their move in the named Area. You can use to nudge particular AI characters toward choosing moves that place them in specific areas of the battlefield; or alternatively, to dissuade them from pursuing moves in certain areas.
- new usable skill icon: Grappler Stance.
- new usable item icon: Bifocals.
- fixed: the character creator could roll up generic units with morale above zero (i.e. neutral).
And finally, we have some progress on gamepad support. (Gamepads aren't officially supported in-game as of yet, but hey--progress is progress):
- rather than duplicating the left trigger's zoom function, the right trigger is now mapped as an automatic "End Turn" button.
- the game now automatically repositions the gamepad cursor when auto-panning the camera during in-battle dialogue.
- fixed: gamepad controls were not functioning properly in the shop tutorial.
- fixed: the gamepad would sometimes be locked out of movement during deployment due to an internal failure to clear dialogue triggered at the start of turn 0.
Reviews!
TIB is already garnering some great reactions from content creators less than a month out from its early-access launch, including this one-two punch of positive launch review and even-more-positive follow-up vid from delightful SRPG channel 89 Games:
There have been some very nice reviews from players as well--today I'll highlight this one, which I really loved:
If you haven't done so yet and you're enjoying the game, please consider leaving a review of your own. Positive player reviews like this make a world of difference (as do gentle nudges to your favorite content creators to check out the game, *wink* *wink*).
Anyway, that's all I have for this update, but there is much more to come. Thanks for your support--I'll see you in the next one! 😉
v1.1.1 is already under development and slotted for May 20th! This update will bring a couple notable new features (like flares for better team communication), a handful of new content, and many bug fixes. Keep an eye out for it!
Console Updates
Once v1.1.1 has dropped on Steam, we're going to switch our focus to bringing the latest version of the game to both Xbox and PlayStation versions. These versions are currently still on v1.0. There are a few hoops to jump through to release an update on console platforms, so this step might take some time.
Nintendo Switch
We've been exploring the possibility of bringing the game to Nintendo Switch and think it would be a great fit for the platform.
ShellShot Arena
We recently announced ShellShot Arena, a fast-paced, top-down, online multiplayer game from the 'ShellShock Live' universe. Master a massive arsenal of upgradable weapons to be the last tank standing in Team, Free-For-All, and Battle Royale matches. Wishlist it on Steam here.
Removed normal mobs ability to spam their range/special attacks. They will now choose one out of their arsenal to use before their range goes on cooldown. Archers also got nerfed. The bleed they applied did way too much damage late game, it deals 60% less damage and base damage from their arrows are down 20%. There was something causing a crash every now and again. Hopefully I addressed it. ːsteamthumbsupː
This one is a quick one as we are fully focused on the upcoming update and in a small company every second counts. The next update both game and written will be on 16 June or even 16 July. If you feel the need to ask if we are still alive - join us on Discord, we are there almost every day.
Reasons why it will take longer, to deliver all this great things we talked about last month.
1. Co-op
Maybe best on an example. For every day of work for the single player, there are 6 days of work for co-op. I think I don't need to say more.
If we would first make a single player game, then add co-op to it. Not only half of you would be mad. But also we would go bankrupt, because adding co-op later is even more work consuming.
We are also working on removing host tethering completely. So brace up. It is worth the wait.
New game
We don't want to deliver a simple update but a completely new experience. So we are taking care also about every detail that was neglected so far. Like icons, sounds, UI, language bugs etc., etc.
Chain of fixes
We got to a point. Where adding or fixing one thing makes no sense without adding another one. So for example we started to make premade buildings with NPCs working in them, this NPCs of course have needs like warm, drinking, food. So we realized that you have no chance of feeding them without animals. And you have no chance of feeding the animals without fields. And I could write about 100s of chains like this.
Finish
We work hard to get the game to a point. Where we don't have to do more forced wipes. And where making a "walkthrough" or "how to" will make sense, because the game will get new stuff, not rework the old things.
Have a great month. And I hope to hear again from you in July, when we will celebrate our 1st birthday.
Battle Bands: Rock & Roll Deckbuilder - Theodore Roosevelt
Regardless of whether or not you've ever had to knock on wood, you're now listening to Riff Radio!
This patch includes a brand new Reign and is also a follow up maintenance patch for Patch #25, so it includes bug and balance fixes as well.
Mighty Mighty Good Boys:
They are the Best Boys and now they reign over Riff City! Build up your protection as Rude boys spill into the streets and wreck all your defense to get even more hype in this dog filled reign.
11 New Gear to dig up.
4 New Moments to chew on.
5 New Player Cards to scratch that itch.
Balance Changes:
"Goo Fighters" card "Oozing Lick" now gives 2 more protection and 1 fewer hype.
"Goo Fighters" now start with a few "Goobling" card in all tour levels.
"Bardbarians" card "Rage Released" no longer ends opposing bands song section.
"Freetos Four Piece" Tour Level 1 no longer has "Snackrifical Sharing" Tour Level 5 has 1 fewer energy.
"Destiny Lick" now has all bandmembers draw 2 of seven.
"Waking Beat" weights shifted to make it less likely for bots to harm their own band.
"Leading Kick Drum" Weights shifted to work better.
"Mimicking Hook" and similar Weights shifted to work better.
"Groovin' With The Beat" and similar cards Weights shifted to work better.
"Reckless Prep" and "Reverbing Lick" Weights shifted to work better.
"Well Thrown Sticks" weights adjusted.
"Nice Note From Mum" weights adjusted.
Some Bummers now are more likely to be played by bots when winning.
"Play Harder" now more likely to be played by bots when the band is winning.
"Well Forgotten Lick" now gives no hype and 2 protection on play.
"Deeply Forgotten Lick" now gives no hype and 2 protection on play.
"Interpretive Interlude" gives + 2 more protection and 3 less hype on complete. "Speedy" upgrade replaced with "Burning"
"Happy Melody" no longer gives hype, now gives +2 protection.
"Expecting Taps" no longer gives hype, now +1 more protection.
"Sacrificial" Upgrade added (+3 protection on Sweep) to "Acquaintance" "Buddy" "Production Manager" and "Loyal Heckler"
"Loyal Heckler" no longer has "Enthusiastic" upgrade.
"Acquaintance" no longer has "Losing It" upgrade.
"Soothing Melody" and "Peaceful Interlude" upgrade "Happy" replaced with "Safe"
"Wary" Upgraded added to "Quick Beat" adds +1 protection on muck.
"Quick Beat" upgrades "Mean" and "Heavy" replaced with "Fierce" and "Wary"
Bug and Quality of Life Fixes:
No longer defaults to guitarists hand on reload.
Yellow Submarine moment issues fixed.
Issues with a single bot and three human players fixed.
"Shake It Off" discard hype now displays properly.
Final Arena Props now load properly.
Added Unlock levels to more advanced Reign specific cards.
Added Highlighting of bandmates before selecting them to see their hands.
Fixed an issue related to bots getting stuck waiting for players to play something or give energy.
Giving energy no longer automatically switches players hand view to that of the bandmate they gave energy to.
Tutorial issue with new quick riff fixes.
And that's it for today's Riff Radio news update! Shuffle on over to our Discord and let us know the impression that you get from Mighty Mighty Good Boys! Now get out on that dance floor and as always- thanks for listening!
Fixed rare issue where players would see a black screen upon starting up a new game (you can now bypass it via Escape). We are looking into the rare video issues for some users now.
Keybinding no longer causes the game to crash.
Fixed some overlapping audio issues.
Fixed some recipe names staying on the End of Day screen in Moraine.
You can always roll back to the previous version via the beta branches if you experience any issues. Thank you for all the support!