"In Brancrug Village, they tell of Thirza Blake's boast that she crossed an ocean in the Bounds by clinging to a broom of lignum vitae after a shipwreck. The pedant Strathcoyne points out that lignum vitae sinks in water. 'An ocean of mercury,' Thirza replies, and then, to provide a suitable punchline, clouts him on the head with her broom."

See, BOOK OF HOURS is a *fun* game. People hit each other over the head with cleaning accessories! And we named this sprint after Joan the Wad ('wad' being Cornish slang for 'torch'), who's the Cornish pixie queen and a sort of chaotic-good pagan version of Saint Christopher. Depending on who you ask, either Joan looks after those who carry her talisman as they make their journeys or she, er, leads them into a bog. Whatever the truth, researching it taught me that her husband is Jack o' the Lantern, of Halloween pumpkin fame, and it's nice to think of the Piskie king and queen being in some way included in light-heartedly spooky celebrations each year even if nobody knows they're there.

But while piskies play, game devs work. I've been focused on two big art tasks since we last blogged: seasonal art and the skybox, which (as those of you in the beta will know) was until recently a vast blinding square of blue. It's a bit of a cliché for a British couple to get excited about the weather, but BoH's weather is inspired by paper-theatre and I kind of love it!


(A few more examples on the blog.)

There are a few mechanical changes that take place during different weathers (different resources and opportunities), and this only gets deeper with seasons. You'll be able to harvest Lenten Rose from the Scent Garden in spring, for example, but Fragrant Chalice from the same plot in summer. There'll be stickily bountiful bees in the Kitchen Gardens when it's warm, and cornucopic vegetables in the autumn. Most importantly, of course, there'll be a CHARMING CHRISTMASSY ATMOSPHERE when Brancrug Village is coated in snow in wintertime - and I may even add Christmassy bunting up the Grand Ascent. Let's just see how quickly I finish my other art tasks!

Numa is the outlier here. Capricious as fog, it's the season of mists and silence and gently foreboding stars, and it occurs only once every nine seasons, never at quite the same time as before. It has the power to reshape the world you've come to know...

"The smithy fire still glows, but through the window I see a gaunt, eyeless shape working the bellows. There is no sign of Denzil, and I know better than to interrupt this visitor..."

...and offers unique opportunities not available at other times.

"Afterwards I don't remember what work I performed, except in scents and sensations - leaf-mould, a rhythmic musical clicking like melodious castanets, soft blue flame like antique gaslight. And cold; I remember that where we went, it was cold."

So, you know. Pour libations to the Velvet when it comes, enjoy its spooky bounty, and don't spend too long outside.

AK, meanwhile, went on a writer's retreat last week (read: AirBnB'd a pared-back ex-Coastguard lookout and asked me to change his Netflix password).  He powered through a terrifying amount of item descriptions - over 500 of them, I believe - except it wasn't 500 descriptions he had to write. Every object in BOOK OF HOURS needs at least two descriptions, one for when you're casually engaged with them and one when you're really considering them, so he wrote over 1,000 loreful snippets about candlesticks, armoires, buckets of seawater, and a weird fern that looks like it has a face. He ended up with a spreadsheet that looks like this:



And I've seen him cross-referencing everything with various lore docs, artwork, Unity notes and aspects. It's TERRIFYING - sort of like a nice granny sewing an anatomically perfect but Cubist interpretation of a kitten in cross-stitch, listening the entire time to AC/DC played backwards.

He's also been writing room descriptions (which, er, also need two versions). You'll see the first description when you initially discover the room by unlocking one just next to it: this one explains the problem you need to resolve before you can enter it. You'll see the second when the room is unlocked and restored to its former glory, giving you a toothsome morsel of lore. The closest analogue to the effect is the expedition mechanic in Cultist Simulator, where you'll find out a little about the specific vault you're exploring ('The ascent to the cave through the high passes will be dangerous. Whatever waits in the darkness below is probably more dangerous still') and have an opportunity to supply Followers and resources to overcome those obstacles. You'll need help from specialists in BOOK OF HOURS - you're a librarian, not the A Team, Jim - but once you've found the appropriate item or helpful assistant, you're in.

"A thick and freezing murk, like a clinging black mist, roils at floor level. Not theoplasma exactly - the ragged remnants of some chilly Wood-thing? Or a good old-fashioned ghost, decayed to half-elemental energies? Some local will probably know."

We've also been sprucing up the Wisdom Tree (more on that later) and drawing more card art, so I just want to share with you  the truly horrible image for 'Wormwood Dream':



Didn't wanna sleep anyway.


Beta opens again next week with the SOLAR build, including for the first time the ecclesiastical complex dedicated to the Church of the Unconquered Sun, and also the melancholy Gullscry Tower rooms - look out for at least one new friend here. SOLAR will run from Thurs 25th May to Friday 9th June, and will be available for testing for the first time via GOG as well as Steam. Existing beta players will regain access, and we'll send a number of new keys out to new people over the two weeks the beta is live.

We should also have some exciting news for you - particularly people who really want to play the game, but haven't been sent beta keys yet - next week. More on that later. 🤫


We get asked a lot about localisation. The short answers in rough order of importance are: we'd love to do it; it's expensive and difficult; it has to happen post-launch. We haven't yet decided what languages to translate the game into (candidly, this decision depends on how well BOOK OF HOURS does when we release it!) but we have some starting ideas, and I'd love to get some localised store pages live before release to let people know we're thinking of them. So if anyone reading this is fluent in any of the following languages...

• French
  
• Italian
  
• German
  
• Spanish
  
• Russian
  
• Simplified Chinese
  
• Japanese
  
• Brazilian Portuguese

...and is willing to translate about a side of A4 for us, please email lottie@weatherfactory.biz to let me know! We will be extremely grateful and include you in our prayers to the Sun-in-Rags. 🙏

Hi folks,

if you played the Demo, you know that we chose English as the main language for "The Darkest Files" despite its setting in Germany and having German voice actors. That was actually a conscious decision and here's why! 🕵️‍♀️

Number one, Accessibility: English is one of the most widely spoken languages globally, making the game accessible to a larger audience. By using English as the main language, we can appeal to international players, allowing people from different backgrounds and cultures to engage with the game and create a more inclusive gaming experience. 🧡

Secondly, The Paintbucket Team: Even though our studio is based in Berlin, we have an international team that brings together diverse talents from various countries! English serves as our common language of communication, to make sure that we‘re always on the same page. 📰

But worry not, dear German reader! We will have German subtitles! We understand the importance of fully understanding the dialogues and the story and want to include our German fans who may prefer playing in their native language. 🔍


By embracing English as the primary language, we aim to create a captivating and accessible experience for players worldwide while staying true to our roots!

Btw: You can also find us on Twitter, Instagram & Co.!
Twitter | Instagram | Tiktok | YouTube | Join our Discord!

Hey Beekeepers!

It's World Bee Day tomorrow, which means it's APICO's birthday too!
To celebrate, there'll be a Daily Deal from 20th May - 27th May for APICO + the OSTs (50% off!)
There'll also be some free key giveaways over on the APICO Twitter account throughout the day <3

---

3 years ago I was stuck in lockdown, and drew the first sketch that would become APICO - I had no idea where it would end up...


2 years ago I rewrote the first demo (written in HTML + vanilla Javascript!) into GameMaker and released it properly to the world, and was shocked to find so many other people loved this silly bee game!


1 year ago on May 20th the full game released, and it's wild to think how far it's come and I'm forever grateful for all the people who've played APICO and sent me such lovely messages about how much it meant to them. I never expected it to be much more than a fun side project but it's opened a door to letting me keep making silly games and expand APICO in ways I'd never thought I'd have been able to!


Tomorrow I've been lucky enough to get a Daily Deal with Steam, and APICO (along with Moth's wonderful OSTs!) will be 50% off for a whole week!! If you or your friends have been waiting for a big discount, this is the one! (This would also bee the perfect time for a nice review if you haven't got round to it, as a little birthday gift for your fav bee game wink wink nudge nudge :D)


Thanks again so much to all of you, whether you've beeen here since the janky alpha days, or only recently stumbled upon the game through the butterfly update! There's still lot's more for us all to look forward to in the world of APICO and I appreciate all of you for beeing on this journey - I can't wait to see where it takes us all! <3

~ Ell

1. Added function: Added task target points on the mini map
2. Correction: Reduced the beginner guidance level process and advanced the small tasks for controlling the new soldiers of the Intelligent Iron Tribe .
3. Add function: The mini map can be clicked, and then the camera switches to the clicked position
4. Correction: Bug with incorrect card position when dragging cards in challenge mode at high resolution
5. Add function: in the third person, press F1, F2, F3 to control the movement of teammates
6. Add function: let AI follow you in third person
7. Add function: Once the plot level has been completed, open a new archive, and you can directly complete the process of receiving rewards
8. Additional features: Eating a big meal in a tavern to replenish health
9. Revised content: Direction of impactor skills

Hi, travelers in the desert,

Recently, we shared some news about the new DLC and today we want to further discuss our thoughts after reviewing our work and officially share a preview of the new DLC, "The Ember Saga", with you.


After releasing two DLCs earlier this year, we went through a two-month period of frequent updates and fixes. Through six versions, we supplemented and optimized the skill configurations, rewards, and effects of the DLCs. We also fixed bugs including abnormal passive skill effects for heroes, save function errors, and errors in tournament rewards settlements.

After addressing these issues, we did not forget the issue of game crashing. However, the causes of crashes are diverse and complex, making it difficult to thoroughly solve them with one or two updates. Luckily, after several attempts and communication with enthusiastic players who reported problems, we have made some progress in reducing game crashes during startup on some devices and systems.

As the game was initially focused on open-ended support during development, this has led to many potential issues involving fundamental modifications that cannot be resolved all at once. However, we will continue to devote effort to maintaining these tasks.

Therefore, in the near future, we will on one hand prepare for the final stages of the new DLC and testing, and on the other hand, focus on memory optimization (as well as crashes and freezes caused by memory issues) by debugging the underlying code to make the game more stable when loading more content simultaneously or for a longer period of time.

We will continue to fix remaining small bugs and issues (such as issues with the ESC key on the DLC details page) with each update and continue the communication with players. If you have any good suggestions, please feel free to contact us directly through the Discord .


The inspiration for this new DLC primarily comes from the discussions of "Desert Life" on our community. The contents of "The Ember Saga" will be divided into three independent parts: "Ember Workshop", "Child Rearing", and the new playable character "Among Legends".

💎 Making Gems More Useful - “Ember Workshop”

Those familiar with the storyline may find the name "Ember Workshop" very familiar. It was founded by the leader of the Nasir Tribe, Husnu, from the technical school in the Redstone Keep area. They worship technology and use jewel to drive various machines, greatly improving production and combat efficiency.

The Ember Tribe is skilled in mining various ores. For them, "decomposing*" the gems that travelers have already identified, or "refining" the initial low-level gems, is their specialty. At the same time, they can also "synthesize*" any extra gems travelers have on hand, allowing previously neglected low-level gems to play a role.



In addition to gem-related features, the master of the Ember Workshop, Ember Ocher, will also make her debut, and travelers can travel with her. She is skilled in archery and can pose a great threat to buildings. Behind her, there are also some secrets about the "Vitalus Vitara" and the past waiting for travelers to discover.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Passing On Martial Arts - “Child Rearing”

In the community, travelers often discuss stories after confessing to their crush, and the concept of nurturing offspring and passing on martial arts gives us inspiration. After all, even in such a turbulent era as the Battle of the Black Sun, new heroes will emerge constantly in the desert. Therefore, based on the current character relationship system, we have designed new content for [Child Cultivation*] and [Child Inheritance*].

In the new DLC, after successfully confessing to the tavern girl, travelers can further develop their relationship with her, and may receive the “gift of love” after a period of time. We have designed many cultivation events for travelers' offspring, ranging from pregnancy to adulthood. According to travelers' choices, the inheritance of offspring attributes and skills will undergo corresponding changes.



In addition, during the growth process, the children can also fight alongside the travelers, and even have ultimate skills launched together with the protagonist. If you want to pass on your peerless martial arts, investing your energy in raising children will naturally become a new challenge to face.



🗡 Jianghu Grudges Reappear in the Desert - Among Legends

The power conflicts in the desert are complex, gathering many extraordinary people with their own agendas, as well as outsiders who have been wandering here. One playable character added this time is one of the protagonists from Among Legends.

Originally wandering in the martial world, he was forced to take on a caravan escort mission due to a series of unexpected events. And the destination of this escort mission happens to be the barren Desert of Salzaar. In order to make enough money to return home, he starts exploring this desert, embarking on an unconventional "journey home"...

Compared to the rough and simple martial arts used by the tribes living in the desert, the new character, who comes from the martial world, has a series of martial arts techniques called "Mount Tai Ultimate Skills*" - by combining Mount-Tai Swordsmanship* and Mount-Tai Heart Method*, no matter how fierce the attack is, it can be resolved one by one through powerful counterattacks. As one of the special characters in the desert, his gameplay and controls will undoubtedly bring you a different experience.

Tips: Words marked with * are not final

There is still some time before the DLC is officially released in June. We will continue to work on finishing touches and testing preparations.
If you have any further ideas or suggestions, please feel free to join our Discord channels and contact us.

Hey everyone,

Today’s brief is another big one, diving further into some of the additional improvements coming with Update 14. We’ll be sharing a final changelog with everyone on the 25th of May, where you’ll be able to find a complete list of changes and bug fixes!


Offering unique gameplay through player-driven experiences, Hell Let Loose is often defined as a hardcore WWII first-person shooter, with a steeper learning curve and a strong emphasis on communication. Platoons are only successful when knowledge is shared and comms are open, and with Update 14, we have begun to facilitate better onboarding for both new and existing players alike.


In our roadmap reveal, we announced that non-verbal communication tools would be implemented to help support players who may not have access to a microphone or are able to use one.

Radial Menu

While this new tool is not designed to be used by Squad Leaders or Commanders, it does offer other players a new way to supplement communication - a radial wheel that categorizes the four most essential comms:

• Requests
  
• Responses
  
• Information
  
• Actions

Designed to support gameplay, these simplified communications aim to help players make quick calls on the battlefield. On PC, you’ll be able to hold the scroll wheel down in order to bring up the radial menu which will allow players to select an option. These responses are then seen only by the members of that player’s squad. Similarly, console players will be able to use the left d-pad to bring up the menu.



With an option selected, the corresponding text will appear in the text chat and the relevant marker will appear above your character’s head, allowing members of the same unit to see who has made the request. For Actions, markers will be placed wherever the player is pointing, other than Defending, which is placed at the player’s current location.

We hope that these non-verbal communications will allow players to quickly and efficiently deliver information when voice comms are not available.

Point-and-Ping

Update 14 will also be further developing the existing ping feature by introducing a new point-and-ping system, where players will be able to highlight the location of ammo, explosive ammo, and supply boxes to other players in their platoon.

To use this new system, players must be within 5m of the item, using either the middle mouse button or the left d-pad on a controller, for a marker to appear above the item, while also calling it out in the text chat.



With these extended non-verbal communication tools, we hope players will be able to fully enjoy the Hell Let Loose experience and boost the communication of all players.


Update 14 will also see an initial improvement of the XP screen by now providing a breakdown of your awarded XP. With this feedback, players will be able to better understand how to alter their play style to maximize the XP they’re awarded.

Console players will soon be able to Vote to Kick those who are purposefully disrupting gameplay. Arriving with Update 14, functionality for a Vote to Kick system is being implemented, mirroring the one available on PC, where twenty votes are required to successfully kick a player.

From the lobby menu, players will be able to select one of the following options to start the vote:

• Abuse
  
• Cheating
  
• Team Killing

With each update, we’re continuing to improve gameplay mechanics, including player locomotion; creating realistic movement that more accurately reflects a soldier’s capability in the field.

Dive to Prone
Highly anticipated, U14 will see dive to prone finally implemented - allowing sprinting players to hold the prone button to seamlessly move into prone and avoid conflict or discovery.


Dive to prone in the third-person perspective.


Dive to prone in the first-person perspective.

Step Height Improvements
These improvements have now introduced individual step heights for each position of Standing, Crouching, and Prone. Crouch step height has been decreased while slightly increasing the Standing step height, allowing players to traverse through maps more smoothly while remaining realistic.

Run & Sprint Updates
Sprinting and running in both Crouch and Standing have been adjusted to feel more natural and realistic.

Improvements to the Rifle Animation Set
New jog animations, as well as pose animations for the Rifle movement set, have been implemented, along with new aim poses, creating more natural movement and poses.
Alongside this, improvements to the base idles and transitions for Rifles have been implemented.


The existing Field Manual has been updated for U14 so that it will now reflect the new non-verbal communication wheel, as well as include a first iteration of video tutorials - short gif-style videos that help to illustrate certain in-game actions.



We have also added further details for the following:

• Dive to Prone
  
• Defensive Building
  
• Engine Damage

While we continue to work on plans for our new tutorial system coming in a future update, we hope that the initial expansion of the Field Manual will help players locate the correct information to support them on the frontline.


A game the size of Hell Let Loose will always be difficult to fully test at scale, with some bugs only occurring when several key factors align - including the implementation of new features introducing bugs not present during QA or regular testing.

Update 14 will be evolving on the initial implementation of the game analytics introduced with U13.5, allowing us to better identify issues that players run into, effectively design new features, and support the fixing of the harder-to-reproduce bugs. With a much quicker release schedule planned, and more internal resources for testing, including the game analytics, we will no longer be relying on public testing ahead of new updates in the current PTE format.

We’re reviewing new processes to support early access for our partners, moderators, and creators. The new studio has recently brought on a dedicated resource to help support early access for future updates and we’ll be sharing more on this in the coming months.


Available with Update 14, players can download the Jericho Cap – a new version of the Budyonovka hat – a pinnacle of the Communist uniforms during the Russian Civil War. When the temperature drops, the flaps come down to shield the crews’ ears and neck from the harshest weather.

This free DLC is available to the Soviet Commander, Infantry, Armor, and Recon units.

Worn at the beginning of WWII during the bleak winter weather, the Jericho Cap worked to keep the Soviet soldiers warm so they could continue the fight.


Alongside the free DLC, players can also keep their soldiers warm with the Cavalry Coat DLC – worn by the Soviet tank crews throughout the war. Available for the Soviet Tank Commander and Crewman.


Stained by the grease and grime from the heavy machinery, its well-insulated mix of suede and sheep’s wool protected the crew from the cold.


Battling through the most severe weather, the new Soviet coat reminds the tanker of the relentless winter and the measures taken to survive.

Hey everyone, Wombat here! I wanted to share a few updates on just some of the bugs currently being investigated, as well as catch up on the results of the map refresh poll.

Loadout & Grenade Bugs
I have been continuing to share your experiences with these persistent bugs, and while they are still incredibly difficult to reproduce, the team are keen to resolve them with future development. Both require further testing and verification to help pinpoint the cause.

Reload Animation Bug
The reload animation bug has now been successfully fixed for U14!

Server Performance
Update 14 will also be bringing further performance improvements to a range of maps, with more HLOD fixes to address transition issues, as well as a pass over meshes to remove excessive triangle counts and additional UV sets.

A Map to Refresh
Thank you to everyone who voted in the map refresh poll! While it started out close, Purple Heart Lane took the win by securing 50% of all votes. So, what happens now? We’ll be taking a look at the feedback on the post to see which improvement requests we can begin to plan for, and will share further details in a future developer brief. If you haven’t yet shared your ideas, make sure to leave a comment here.

Players Crashing on Joining T17 Friend
The team have attempted to reproduce this console-specific bug, and have so far been unsuccessful. To help us investigate it further, please continue to report this issue either using this form, or in the Discord and provide as much information as possible, including:

• Time of Crash (include your timezone)
  
• The platform you were using
  
• The number of friends in your T17 friend list
  
• Username / Gamertag ID

Battle Scarred DLC Now Available for Spotter & Sniper
Update 14 will now show the Battle Scarred DLC as available for the Spotter and Sniper roles!

Weapon Reload Audio
The team are currently working on fixes for a range of weapons missing audio on console and aim to deploy these with Update 15. The M1 Garand reload audio has been fixed for Update 14.

Barracks Lighting
Based on feedback from Update 13.5, the team have now increased the exposure of the Barracks, brightening the screen. Players will be able to see this change with Update 14.

Tank Shell Penetration
This issue is continuing to be looked at as part of a wider investigation into reported issues of inconsistent hit registration.

Floating Pistols
Further amendments are required before the team are able to release a fix for some instances of pistols floating on menu screens.

Flamethrower Clipping Radio
The team will be submitting a fix in U14 for a bug where German Support players wearing the Battle Scarred DLC would see the Flammenwerfer loadout clip a radio box.



As a studio, we’ve been so thrilled to see your excitement and anticipation for the future of Hell Let Loose. Going forward we’ll continue to grow and optimize the game and further develop the Hell Let Loose identity as the title takes on an incredible next chapter.

Starting today, the next evolution of the Hell Let Loose logo will be going live across all of our channels. The Hell Let Loose trident has remained a community symbol since the start, and this next iteration will allow you, the community, to continue to express your own identities alongside it. We’ll be sharing details on how you can access the logos and our brand guidelines, in a future announcement.


New Horizontal Hell Let Loose Logo Lockup.

New Hell Let Loose Icon Logo.


We would also like to let everyone know of an upcoming change in our pricing structure. As we continue to bring new content and improvements to the well-loved title, the base price of Hell Let Loose will be increasing to reflect the new updates and future content planned.

In your respective currency, you can expect to see Hell Let Loose increase by 5 units, shortly after Update 14 releases, so now is the perfect time to enlist your friends and prepare them to take on all the new battles arriving soon!

Our journey together has only just begun, and as these updates and changes take effect, we’re glad to have you by our side.

We look forward to joining you all on the frontline next week!



Join the Discord here https://discord.gg/hellletloose

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HellLetLoose/

Twitter https://twitter.com/hell_let_loose

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/HellLetLoose

Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/HellLetLoose/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hellletlooseofficial/

Steam http://steamcommunity.com/groups/HellLetLoose

Zerouno Games has updated Retro Golden Age - Operation Alexandra to version 1.0.2 with a fix for unresponsive and synchronised achievements in the game.

Hello everyone,

We have uploaded our 80th game update to steam and it comes with some nice new content and a nice new feature.

I can now reveal the identity of the mystery fish that was present in the last update post:

Dory.... I mean the Blue Tang, or Palette Surgeonfish or any of the other eight-ish names it has.
I suppose thanks to pixar if we do not have this fish in our game it is not worth playing. Much like making a dinosaur game that does not include a T.rex or a velociraptor. Anyway it has been on our list for some time and we try to add saltwater fish whenever possible to get a better balance of fresh and saltwater fish in the game.

Crystal Red Shrimp:

Another nice shrimp to add to everyone's collection and there are still more to come.

Giant Duckweed:

Another highly requested plant that we have had on our list for a long time.


We changed how algae works and in so doing also figured out a very nice way to solve another problem.
Players have asked for a way to paint algae in their aquariums. The problem is that the common method of doing this would affect performance quite a lot due all the data that has to be read, computed and then written. It would also quite drastically increase the size of the aquarium files that players save and load. So we came up with a way to do it that requires none of that but instead allows players to use simple spherical volumes to determine where algae is placed.



This gives players a lot of power to quickly experiment with where they place algae as well as how much is placed. You can have up to 32 of these volumes placed in the aquarium at one time which should be enough to make things very interesting and complex. Algae volumes can be found in the Utilities section of the shop/inventory. They can also be hidden via the overlay UI panel in the bottom right of the screen.


This does mean that algae is no longer a simulated thing in the game. It was another one of those features that was not very satisfying and more than a few players expressed a desire to control it in a more decorative sense. We do favour art direction over simulation in a lot of cases because it allows for more creativity and more things to do in the game.

Some of you may also be thinking that we could use the exact same technique for applying different substrate materials to the terrain and you would be correct. This pretty much solves a lot of the problems we have had with having more than one substrate material. We have been working on more advanced ways to sculpt and change the shape of the substrate but we encounter a lot of problems when we factor in substrate painting features on top of them. They just have different requirements and they clash which would require us to do some very complicated and ugly things that slow everything down in order to get it work.

So essentially the technique for having more than one substrate material painted onto the substrate model is solved and we hope to have that ready for the next update we do. This now allows us to get even more creative with our new substrate sculpting/generation tools because the systems are independent of each other and we can focus on making them good.

I did promise that we would have a new decoration this update but I woke up with the idea of how to do these algae volumes and therefore how to solve the substrate painting problem and I had to just code it and put it into the game because I was just too excited. But I promise the next update will include more decorations.

The next game update we do will probably be towards the middle-ish of June. We are adding another much requested feature into the game and we want to get it right. We also want to focus on adding more coral, decorations, substrate materials etc. into the next update. They always get pushed back when we are under time constraints so this time I want to make sure we don't delay them further.

We will of course show you all sneak peaks in the weeks to come ;)

And with that we wish you all a very happy Friday and a lovely weekend.

The Fishery Team.

🌟 Version 0.20230519.1: Bullet Hell Upgrades, Gold Galore, and More! 🌟

Hello once again, brave Keepers! We've been tinkering behind the scenes and we're thrilled to share our latest improvements in version 0.20230519.1:

🔹 Bullet Hell Level Up: Bullet Hell now maxes out at level 2. But wait, there's more! At maximum level, bullets split into 3 after every hit. Triple the fun, triple the chaos! 💥
🔹 Gold in Hand: Several Modifier PUs - namely Blood Money, Cold Steel, The Blight, Savage, and On It - now grant gold directly instead of affecting Gold Value/Rate. It's instant gratification at its finest! 💰
🔹 New Passive Buff - Projectile Pierce: Our bullets just got a whole lot smarter! They can now pierce through multiple enemies. The more, the merrier! 🎯
🔹 Soak 'em Longer: We're making a splash with our Drenched Spell - the duration has been extended by 5 seconds! That's 5 more seconds of your foes dripping in defeat. 🌊

We're always striving to make your journey more exciting and enjoyable. We hope you like these changes as much as we loved making them. Remember, we're all ears for your suggestions and feedback. Keep them coming, and let's continue the adventure! 🎮🕹️

Hello everyone,

The update will start at 10pm UK time on 26th May and shouldn't take longer than 1 hour. The game server will be unavailable during the update installation. Once the server is updated, the new game version will be available for download here on Steam.

The new version will bring some important fixes as well as some new features, upgrades of existing features and balancing adjustments, some of which are based on the feedback from the players! More details on the upcoming update will be published during the next week in the patch notes board on this forum.

The update is actually coming 3 months later than planned due to my health issues and other personal stuff, including finding and moving to another house. My health is back to normal now and all other stuff is also sorted out now, so I am focusing on catching up with the development roadmap I published on the official game forum earlier this year.

Thank you for your understanding and allow me to once more apologise for the late delivery of the update and lack of communication from my side.

Regards,
Lukas Tokar


- NEW FEATURES:

+ implemented new mission type -> wreck collecting, regardless of what the wreck contains (although no such mission is available yet in the game)
+ new player to player direct trade feature ->
* players can now directly trade with another player while in open space.
* players can trade with Courons and up to 4 items.
* players put the Courons and items in their part of the trade window (left side), then confirm via a button that everything from their side is Ok. Confirmation is automatically cancelled if either side changes their offers.
* once both players mark their offers as confirmed, the trade happens and both the Courons and the offered items are moved from each player to the other player.
* trade can only be activated if both players are not docked (not landed on a station / planet / ship hangar), both players are alive and close to each other. The trade is cancelled automatically at any time if any of the mentioned requirements are not met anymore.
+ added Property screen in faction section in Station Interior where faction members can see faction owned stations and their details (exact position in the galaxy, station name, station type, courons stored on that station, safety points amount, safe zone status and current HP).

- UPGRADES:

+ Game Settings window -> improved keyboard settings layout
+ HUD chat window -> chat channel is automatically switched to Squadron channel upon joining a squadron
+ HUD chat window -> script simplified for better overall performance
+ HUD chat window -> upon entering the game, the chat window will add a prompt to the global channel about using chat command '/help' to see available chat commands.
+ HUD targeting popup window -> now has 2 option buttons if a player is selected: to invite the targeted player to a squadron or to offer a trade with the targeted player. Player to Player trade can only be offered this way for now.
+ HUD mission window -> when the selected mission slot doesn't have an active mission, the window now tells the player to land on a space station to accept a new mission
+ HUD mission window -> if the active mission has a condition for completing the tasks in order or if only certain amount of tasks done are required to finish the mission, the message with such condition is now placed at the top of the active mission description
+ HUD invitations window -> reprogrammed for better performance and usage

- BALANCING:

+ medium sized repair robots now repair higher amount of HP
+ medium sized ships now have more HP
+ ranged weapons now deal less damage but have increased fire rate (to properly compensate for the long weapon range)
+ standard energy and projectile weapon types (neither ranged or heavy weapons) now deal more damage and have decreased fire rate (to properly balance this type of weapon between ranged and heavy weapons)
+ standard explosive weapons (neither ranged or heavy weapons) have increased fire rate (to properly balance this type of weapon between ranged and heavy explosive weapons)
+ small sized repair combat droid qualities now repair higher amount of HP to actually have the effect of the higher item quality

- FIXES:

+ big radar fix -> a typo caused radar being unable to differ between NPC and player ships which might have resulted in the radar not working properly, including wrong colour change to red for the nameplates of the players without a faction
+ big squadron fix -> a typo caused squadron members not being updated properly (squadron membership, squadron member positions, etc.)


- WORTH MENTIONING:

+ some time was spent on creating new tools for the game development, which include game map data editor, game map background editor and missions editor -> all tools were made to simplify the development of the game, making it a lot faster and more enjoyable for us developers.
+ big sized ships and equipment are now part of the game, although inaccessible yet -> will come with the next game update.
+ beginner system 1-1 will receive an NPC shop in the next game update -> the decision was made based on feedback from the players being unable to get another piece of equipment for a way too long period of time. This NPC shop will belong to the RFPE (allied) NPC race and will have a limited amount of each equipment available to each player. The shop will be expensive, but this shop will include all ships and equipment in the standard quality only, making every player able to get another equipment he wants and needs.
+ preparations are being done to introduce 2 new NPC races, one of which will be present in a couple of systems of the sector 1-1.
+ preparations are being done to introduce medium and big sized ships for NPC race Rebels and RFPE, to provide some challenge for players with stronger and bigger sized ships.