A new version of Magic Research, v.1.14.1, is now released on Steam! This new version contains mostly bug fixes, a few smaller UI / UX changes, and balance changes to some pieces of the post-game.



New features and changes:
- Show turned on buildings directly on the button, rather than needing to expand to see this information
- Add the ability to collapse multiple containers across the app
- Add the ability to craft 10 or 100 of an item at once
- Add warning message clarifying the reason why time is stopped and how to solve it if the game has been run on a future time
- Change the message for "Accept the Judgment" after defeating the Evil Headmaster on Temple of Darkness 3F with Darkness, to try to make it clearer that it is not the end of the game

Bug fixes:

- Fix event overlay window not being scrollable
- Fix secret boss Creator not applying the extra 3x stun resistance duration effect
- Fix creature message log not displaying the correct timestamp
- Fix rare bug that could cause crashes on startup
- Fix 2nd fight against Master of Evocation not displaying attack names correctly
- Fix Potion of Augmentation not correctly giving the same duration to all effects
- Fix certain damage-over-time status effects potentially leading to Exploration recovery never finishing until the damage-over-time effect expires
- Fix bug where incorrect cost was being deducted when buying Strengthens
- Fix formatting for very large numbers
- Fix some hotkeys not working if caps lock is on
- No longer drop Key to the Dais if there is already one in inventory
- Many text fixes

Balance changes:

- Rebalance post-game boss Alliel to be more resistant to stunlocking (Stun Protection attack duration 30s -> 60s, most "permanent" buffs will cast twice as fast so the boss cannot be stunned out of casting Stun Protection)
- Rebalance New Game + feature:
- Add extra boon to Creation: world boon levels 25 and higher begin with all school mastery Storylines unlocked, to make higher difficulty levels more feasible
- Modify difficulty multiplier: Enemy dodge +3.5% -> +3.0% / level, to make a level 100/100 run feasible (100 Difficulty has gone from +3020% Dodge to +1821% Dodge)

Hello, Captains of Fortune!

I want to try to stream MOTK for some days, so you'll be able to see its content easier and faster.

Devlog #1 – Transforming Builds into Engaging Experiences

The Quest for Purpose in Beautiful Worlds
Spatial Terminal Engine, the ultimate world-building platform, was suffering from an existential problem. Players were creating beautiful voxel worlds, but what they truly lacked was a sense of purpose. Now, as one of the talented developers behind this fantastic game engine, I was immersed in the heart of the discussion that aimed to address this issue. We put our heads together as a team, and I’m here to share with you the fascinating journey we embarked on to turn those picturesque worlds into playable games.

Sparks of Inspiration from Other Games
Like most developers, we take inspiration from other successful games. Consequently, our brainstorming sessions often revolve around comparing and analyzing the mechanics of games like Minecraft and Space Engineers. Our team’s creative genius, Yuan, suggested incorporating procedural generation in the Spatial Terminal Engine – an interesting idea that would undoubtedly have made our world-building even more vibrant.

However, Bell, our voice of reason, reminded Yuan that creating a procedural generation engine as captivating and detailed as Minecraft’s would be incredibly time-consuming. And so, we decided to do something different. Instead of following in the footsteps of existing games, we chose to empower the creators themselves. After all, who would know better than the creators when it came to designing game mechanics for their own worlds?

Learning from the Modding Community
The modding communities of various games, particularly Minecraft and Cities Skyline, played a massive role in shaping our approach to game design. These communities have demonstrated how gameplay, building, modding, and game design can seamlessly function together. Drawing inspiration from them, we decided to equip players with the ability to not only create and play but also mod and eventually design their games from scratch, if they desire.

To put our vision into action, we needed to make the Spatial Terminal Engine as accessible and user-friendly as possible. This meant eliminating the need for tutorials or coding knowledge, especially for users with no technical background. Yet, as ambitious as it sounds, my brilliant colleagues and I plan to implement advanced AI in the near future so that modding can be done by merely prompting the engine.

Incorporating Game Mechanics
Setting our grand vision into motion, we introduced our concept of “Spawnables”. These non-voxel objects allowed us to develop a Programmable Engine that enables players to attach executable scripts to Spawnables, thereby bringing game mechanics to the world.

Keeping our design simple, we fashioned flowing light walls for spawn points, giving them programmable functionalities by attaching the world-saving engine API-based scripts. The programmable has three components: a physical object, scripts (methods), and storage fields. By implementing these features, we enabled creators to customize Spawnables through our Spawnable Edit Panel, adapting them as they see fit for their game world.

Checkpoints & Endpoints: Breathing Life into Voxel Worlds
With a robust foundation in place, we started designing Checkpoints and Endpoints to turn these voxel worlds into playable games. Our elegant solution took the form of a parkour map, where checkpoints set players’ progress and endpoints unlock the Edit Mode. This allows players to add more content or modify mechanics when they reach the endpoint set by the original creator.

In this novel approach, the Endpoint acts as an incentive, making players strive to reach the desirable stage of unlocking the Edit Mode. Our team has grand hopes for the innovative system we’ve developed, and we’re excited to see the community embrace it.

Join the Community & Wishlist Us!
Our incredible journey has led us to develop a game engine that promises an unparalleled experience for both creators and players alike. As a developer, I invite you to join our passionate community, wishlist the Spatial Terminal Engine and eagerly await more updates (like our upcoming devlog).

Wishlist Us: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2261570

Join Discord: https://discord.gg/h2aZGWeQ8K


More Tutorials & New Beginner Maps

Furthermore, I wanted to share that we’re adding more instructions and an all-new parkour map in our beginner tutorial section. These exciting additions will be released in our upcoming update just next week. We cannot wait for you to experience our unique game engine, share your world with others, and embark on countless adventures.

Until next time, happy building!

This patch comes with bugfixes.

• One of Ecru's hats is now normally purchasable
  
• Paint Balloon and Wrap Paper projectiles no longer despawn when using camera actions
  
• Fixed player getting stuck in place after getting KO'd during kicking a snowman
  
• Fixed Finale not resetting life counter correctly when entered for the first time
  
• Fixed certain enemies possibly rendering the stage unwinnable when combined with falling star hazard
  
• Fixed incorrect key display in BG Viewer
  
• Possibly fixed a rare stage clear FX bug

• Added a region with a speed limit to the 3rd and 4th islands.
  
• Added 3 new background soundtracks.
  
• Added first-person view (activated by pressing the V key).
  
• Gave snakes the ability to crawl through other objects for the first few seconds after spawning.
  
• Fixed music/soundtrack volume imbalance.

Today we have a big update for Catch the Fox, with improvements based on everyone's feedback!

Now there's a new camera flyby swoop-in before you begin each level. Looks great and gives you a quick overview of the level. (Thanks Jason!)

The hang gliding physics have been improved. Your airtime speed bonus tapers off slowly after you hit the ground, rather than going to 0 instantly. This also allows you to chain jumps to get even more of a boost! It's pretty fun. (Thanks Kirk!)

The fox difficulty levels have been improved. Each time you catch a fox, it gains a lot more speed. Now the foxes can outrun you after only 2 catches instead of 6. (If you have no powerups). This makes the whole game a lot more interesting and challenging to play.

Now there's an aiming crosshair on the main menu screen, making it easier to select what you want.

With this update the foxes are now harder to catch, so the points to unlock each new level have been lowered accordingly. Now on most maps it's 25 fox catches to unlock the next map.

'The Jungle' map now has lots of cliffs and ramps and interesting unique geography to jump from. (Similar additions coming soon to all other maps!)

On 'New Growth Forest' and 'Dark Woods' maps the trees and debris has been thinned out to increase mobility, and also cleared some paths with no obstacles for going fast. (Thanks Mr. Nobody!)

This one is a gamechanger: When caught, foxes now run away very fast instead of standing still! There's now a 6 second period after getting caught where they are invulnerable and run 1.8x faster than normal, away from you. This makes the strategy of camping one fox much more difficult, and definitely makes the game more fun. (Thanks alanbork!)

Thanks to everyone for the feedback to improve the game!

Coming soon will be another update with improvements for all the maps to add cliffs and more spots to jump from!

-fixed crash related to drinking space soda
-fixed gears turning faster at low framerates

Version 5.2 is now done! Hooray!! I just sent out the pre-release version to my testers so that I can pad out a few bugs before it's released. That means that the latest version will be released next Sunday 6/11/23 to all of my patreon supporters, at the usual update time (8 P.M. EST). If any of you are still interested in being added as an NPC for this update, be sure you become a tier 4 patron by this Wednesday 6/7/23. If you are unsure where your custom NPC's location is, be sure to check the .txt file titled "level 4 patron locations" in the game's root folder. You'll find your name and location there. If you have any other concerns or questions about this perk, feel free to send me a direct message or email (crimsonveilgame@gmail.com). I usually respond pretty quick.

https://www.patreon.com/MKRUdesign[/url] [b]The public release on Steam and Itch.io will be on 6/25/23,[/b] so the cutoff to be added as an NPC in that version will be Wednesday 6/21/23. Thank you all so much for your patience during this update cycle! I hope you're all looking forward to finally returning to the vampire route next week. See you all then! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43657976/96a3c263787c770e1ec586e8c2589a283f4c50ab.png[/img

The public release on Steam and Itch.io will be on 6/25/23, so the cutoff to be added as an NPC in that version will be Wednesday 6/21/23.

Thank you all so much for your patience during this update cycle! I hope you're all looking forward to finally returning to the vampire route next week. See you all then!

Squished some multiplayer bugs. Continuing to make player experience smoother.

-Fix thermals popping out of existence with more than 2 players on multiplayer.
-Update clouds model. Clouds will be bigger, the bigger the thermal is the bigger the cloud.
-Add some 3D roads to Swiss Alps map.
-Add couple buildings to Swiss Alps map.
-Update OpenXR.
-Fix mobile shaders rendering strange in VR on Low Settings.