We are happy to announce that the very last DLC for Concordia: Digital Edition is now released!

🌿 What can you expect from Venus?🌿

The most important feature is Teamplay Mode - with Venus you and your friend can partner up to compete with other teams in up to 6 players mode! And that's not all!

Join forces with your friends in business endeavors in ancient Rome!



🌿 Venus offers players a team variant of classic Concordia for 4 to 6 players divided into teams of two. The team partners win and lose together and are affected by each other’s actions.

That's right - the DLC contains 3 new maps!

🌿 Ionium is a map with two variants - a large 30 City map and a small 22 City map, which introduces a land bridge between the ancient cities of Brundisium and Apollonia; Land Colonists can cross it, but can not stay on that connection.



🌿 Hellas is a medium-sized map with 25 Cities and 10 Provinces and no additional rules



It was a long journey but now we are at its end! With Venus, the Season Pass is complete! We would like to thank all of you for this amazing dive into ancient Rome - no matter if you had the Season Pass from the very beginning or you just bought it today! For now, we are not planning on releasing any more DLCs for Concordia but this might change in the future. :) Is there anything you would like us to work on? Let us know in the comments!



Don't let this awesome DLC miss you! Grab your friends and play Venus together! Teamplay Mode is on!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707532/Concordia_Digital_Edition__Venus/

If you are a Season Pass owner - congratulations, you now have Venus unlocked! Go play! 🙂

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708670/Concordia_Digital_Edition__Season_Pass


As promised we keep fixing any issues that stop your trading empire in Concordia: Digital Edition from expanding! Check out what we changed this time!

[Feature] Venus has been released!

[Fix] Card's artwork is now correctly displayed in the Cards Bank.
[Fix] Personality Card description is now correctly displayed on the Player's Information screen.
[Fix] Issues with "any goods" purchases displayed have been fixed.
[Fix] Controller controls have been improved.
[Fix] Venus rules described in the Rulebook have been improved.
[Fix] Cards are now properly displayed in the Rulebook.
[Fix] Confirm button's size has been increased.
[Fix] Card details are now easier to access.
[Fix] Localization update.
[Fix] App notifications have been updated.

That's all for today! Keep expanding your Roman Trading Empire on new lands! ;)

Cheers!

Update 1.23 is now live on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, addressing various improvements, including fixes for campsites markers, audio issues, and more.

• Fixed: Stutter when looking through the scope with Hunter sense on
  
• Fixed: Levitating grass in some of Aurora Shores and Transylvania locations
  
• Fixed: Sound cues range (330 m)
  
• Fixed: Sitka deer lifecycle schedule
  
• Fixed: Aurora Shores campsites are still marked with “?“ when discovered
  
• Fixed: Looping hold breath sound
  
• Fixed (consoles): Camera moving in the opposite direction at the start of horizontal rotation
  
• Fixed (consoles): Updated vehicle controls scheme in settings
  
• Fixed (Xbox): Cut off audio resulting in a loud mix of sounds
  
• Added (PC): DirectX default version is set to DX11
  
• Added (Steam): DirectX version selection at the start of the game (DX11/DX12)

We will be grateful for any and all feedback and bug reports either in the discussion section of this post or via the THQ Nordic Redmine (when creating a ticket, please make sure that you enter the correct version).

Thank you, and good hunting!

Embark on a Cycle-long journey toward the Ancient Seals. Grow your caravan, solve World Events, and plan your route to the ultimate goal!

We're very excited to finally share with you the extensive Cycle Overhaul that we've been testing on the Experimental Branch for the past few weeks.

Here's what's new:

• New World Map System: Ancient Seals
  
• New World Map System: the Viceroy's Caravan
  
• New World Map System: World Map Events
  
• New Upgrades: Faction Trade Routes
  
• And more!

Check the recording of our recent livestream for an in-depth overview of the Cycle Overhaul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9RWojQoiA

This update marks the first step of our extensive revamp of the meta layer and lays the groundwork for exciting new things to come in the future.

Continue reading for our detailed notes and the full changelog.

IMPORTANT: Due to numerous changes to the World Map layer, your current Cycle had to be force-finished and you’ll begin a new one. You will be given a choice to climb the Seal difficulty ladder either from the bottom (Settler difficulty) or from the difficulty level matching your highest won Prestige game. If you choose the latter, you will get all the rewards that you’d get for completing lower-level Seals.

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P.S. To celebrate the launch of Nova Lands developed by our friendly developers, we entered a time-limited bundle with them on which you can save 15%:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/33131/Builders_Unite/

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Before we begin, we also have the pleasure to share that Against the Storm reached 500,000 players!



We are honored and humbled that so many of you have decided to embark on this thrilling expedition with us. From all of us at Eremite Games - thank you, Viceroys! It wouldn't be the same without you 💛

If you like the Chibi Characters Art, you can download the original art from our press kit.

As you might have noticed, over the last couple of weeks we’ve been releasing somewhat smaller updates. That’s because, in the background, we’ve been hard at work on some exciting new stuff from our recently released extended Early Access roadmap - namely the Cycles Overhaul.

But before we move on to the changelog, let us first share some more detailed design notes on this new system - why we feel that this revamp was needed, how we approached fixing some pending problems on the World Map, and what the future holds for the meta layer of Against the Storm.

When we talk about the so-called “meta layer” of the game, we essentially mean everything that is not the pure city builder gameplay loop. For example - the World Map, leveling, Citadel upgrades, difficulty progression, meta resources, etc. Over the last couple of months, we gradually improved the moment-to-moment gameplay of Against the Storm, but the meta layer has unfortunately been left behind.

With the extended roadmap, we decided to focus our efforts on this neglected aspect of the game. However, the problem is that the whole meta layer of Against the Storm is already overwhelmingly vast, even in its current state, so we needed to split it up into smaller, bite-sized chunks and work on a single one of them at a time. And what better place to start this endeavor than the very foundation - the World Map and Cycles?

In the current version of the game, Cycles lack structure, risk, and goals, and the only challenge they pose is a rather dull system of influence ranking. There are no meaningful choices, nothing to strive for or explore on the World Map, and no potential failure state. We decided to try and address that in today’s update.

The very first thing you will notice after launching the game is that the World Map is much larger and has 2 to 4 special fields on it, visible above the fog of war. These fields are the Ancient Seals - old, intricate structures built by a long-forgotten civilization, meant to hold a primeval, malevolent force at bay.



Unfortunately, the power of the Seals has gradually waned over the millennia, causing the mysterious Sealed Ones to slowly regain their hold on this world. Your goal as the Queen’s Viceroy isn’t just to establish settlements and collect resources anymore, but also to reforge these Ancient Seals and help the Crown protect the kingdom.

To reforge a Seal, you have to successfully establish a town right next to it. The Seals are surrounded by a special biome, the Sealed Forest, and are available only when a range of conditions are met:

• The Blightstorm is almost there (the Cycle is ending);
  
• A sufficient number of Seal Fragments were gathered (explained below);
  
• The Seal is within the reach of your last town.

If you meet all of the above conditions, you have one chance (during this Cycle) to embark on the map with a Seal and try to reforge it (currently, the Sealed Forest looks like the Cursed Royal Woodlands and has placeholder effects, but it will get a unique look, music, and mechanic in one of the upcoming updates). Winning that game will grant you regular rewards for a run, a Citadel Resources bonus at the end of the current Cycle, and will increase the length of the Cycle by a few years (a one-time boost for each specific type of Seal).



The first condition is quite straightforward – you can only try to reforge a Seal at the very end of the Cycle. If for any reason you can’t or fail while doing it, the chance is lost and you will have to try again at the end of the next Cycle.

The second condition is Seal Fragments. The farther a Seal lies from the Smoldering City, the more damaged it is, and the more fragments are required to reforge it. Seal Fragments are obtained by winning games and can be picked as one of three possible rewards for playing near negative modifiers. Any leftovers at the end of the Cycle will be sold back to the Crown for Citadel Resources.

The last condition is distance. You must be within the embarkation range of a Seal to start a game there. This sounds pretty obvious but it is also closely connected to the changes in a Cycle’s structure described below.

From now on, your Viceroy’s party has a physical representation on the World Map once it leaves the Smoldering City, and you can only embark from your current location (your last successful settlement). That means each Cycle is one large expedition, one you must plan carefully if you hope to reach the next Seal and progress the world.



As you make your way across the world, you will encounter a completely new type of point of interest - World Events. Their main purpose is to offer some kind of decision or challenge, as well as make the World Map feel a lot more exciting and alive. Events are closely tied to a new mechanic - caravan upgrades - and by solving them, you will be rewarded with additional embarkation goods, villagers, or temporary buffs (as well as Seal Fragments, Embarkation Points, etc.). These will be added to all your starting caravans and influence your future settlements (but only for the duration of the current Cycle).

Modifiers also got a refresh in this update. Winning a game near a negative one will now give you a new special reward - the Royal Resupply. This is a choice of one of three bonuses:

• Reserve Embarkation Points (a new pool of additional Embarkation Points for the entire Cycle, not replenishing after every game)
  
• A temporary boost to your Embarkation Range
  
• Additional Seal Fragments

There are also some smaller changes that influence your caravan’s journey through the World Map. For example, the map is now divided into difficulty rings, meaning that after reaching a certain distance, you will be required to increase the difficulty. Additionally, the modifier spawn rates have been adjusted, so that negative modifiers will appear more frequently on fields further away from the Citadel, and positive ones will have a higher chance of spawning on the first few fields from the Smoldering City. This might sound somewhat restrictive, but don't worry - the very first ring (Settler difficulty) is quite big and will have a chance of spawning all types of modifiers, so you won’t be locked out of any content.

With all these changes, we hope to create a more meaningful journey on the World Map, with things to discover and a sense of progression within a Cycle.

Our main goal with this update is to create a strong foundation and structure for future releases. With the introduction of Seals, World Events, and the Viceroy’s Caravan, there are finally multiple mechanics and systems at play we can manipulate and adjust, creating meaningful decisions and stakes. We know that this is quite a big change, so as usual - we will keep an eye on feedback and adjust if necessary. As with every update to Against the Storm - nothing here is set in stone.

From here, the next step is rather obvious – a proper Sealed Forest biome with distinct aesthetics and a set of unique mechanics to ensure the Cycle ends with a proper climax. Then, if there is still time, we have two other systems in store that should satisfy both high-prestige players looking for the ultimate challenge, and everyone thirsty for lore, characters, and closure. But that is a story for another time.
As always - thank you all for providing feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:

• Steam Discussions, Discord, Reddit - discuss the game with the community and share your impressions
  
• Feature Request Tool - suggest specific new features

May the storm be gentle on you,
Eremite Games

P.S. If you've picked up Against the Storm and have been playing it, make sure to leave a Steam review! They help a lot!

And now it's time for a little surprise!

As we mentioned, it will take some time before we'll be able to deliver the new Sealed Forest biome. However, we can already share a sneak peek of the biome's visuals. Enjoy!

Sealed Forest (work in progress)

If you're looking for even more information about the Update and the changes we made since the first Experimental Update, check out the Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: The Sealed Biome looks just like a regular biome. Is this intended?
This Update focuses solely on the Cycle overhaul (which is the foundation for any future work). We've been working on the build-up, not the climax (yet). On the journey before destination (sorry/not sorry for the blatant Brandon Sanderson reference).

The current Sealed Biome is just a placeholder and we're already in the middle of designing a proper new biome with unique visuals, music, and a potential mechanic for reforging the Seal. We expect to deliver it in late July or early August (this is, of course, subject to change).

You can see a sneak peek of the new biome above.

Q: Is there any content gated behind difficulty zones?
The World Map is divided into difficulty zones with each Seal marking the border of the particular difficulty. Playing farther away than the zone’s border will require you to play on a higher difficulty.
The aim here is to:

• Encourage players to amp up the difficulty as part of the game’s natural progression.
  
• Prevent situations when it would be optimal to play the last games in a Cycle (before attempting to close the Seal) on lower difficulties to accumulate negative modifier bonuses.

No actual content is gated behind the difficulty. You can still encounter each of the game’s Modifiers within the Settler difficulty zone.

We consider adding cosmetic rewards for completing Seals in the future. In our conversations with players, this was generally agreed on to be rewarding enough for those who complete them and not a deal-breaker for players who don’t aim to play on higher difficulties. We encourage you to share your thoughts with us too!

Q: Why is it no longer possible to embark anywhere on the map?
The main stimulus to work on the Cycle overhaul was the ever-repeated feedback that the World Map layer lacks depth and an overarching goal. We ourselves can’t agree more. There is no purpose, thrill, or stakes involved.

The journey towards the Seal is our vision for a Cycle-long mini-campaign that involves planning, decision-making, and a climax (reforging the Seal in the Sealed Forest).

On this journey, you’re growing your Caravan by engaging with World Map Events and overcoming Negative Modifiers. You’re also challenged by a geographical distance that separates you from the final goal of your quest.

We believe that a physical representation of your Caravan and an actual route on which you’re embarking not only fits thematically but also provides the much-needed depth and strategy to the World Map layer. Embarking from any point on the map (and not your Caravan position) would deprive the World Map layer of this depth.

Q: In the first Experimental Update, the Cycle was counted in games, not years. Why did you change it?
Out of the two tested approaches, we decided to keep the existing Cycle length counted in years.

The discussions about this aspect were probably the most heated ones and we wholeheartedly admit that both approaches have merits and drawbacks. We eventually decided on a Cycle counted in years as this approach adds more depth to runs and introduces new decisions and consequences. It leaves a bit more room to maneuver if things take a turn for the worse and gives you an opportunity for a comeback.

To address the needs of players who sometimes prefer to play runs for fun, the Daily Expeditions (and Training Expeditions) don't affect the Cycle in any way and nor does continuing to play after winning the game.

Q: Do you plan to make more updates to the World Map layer?
This Update is just the beginning of our planned changes to this layer of the game. Please don’t worry if some things seem a bit off and bare-bones.

We will continue to iterate the Cycle mini-campaign based on your feedback and the experiences of new players for whom this will be the first encounter with the World Map.

In the next couple of updates, we plan to implement UX improvements and unique imagery for each World Event. The number of World Events will grow as well.

And most importantly, we are now able to focus on the new Sealed Forest biome with its unique visuals, music tracks, and Seal reforging mechanic that we hope will provide a proper climax for the Cycle’s mini-campaign.

---

Number of changes: 63
Inspired by community: 41%

Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.

• ⚡ Added a new system to the World Map - Ancient Seals.
  • Ancient Seals can be found on the World Map. These intricate structures were built by a long-forgotten civilization, and it is believed that they hold a primeval, malevolent force at bay - the so-called Sealed Ones. Unfortunately, the power of the Seals has gradually waned over the millennia, causing the Sealed Ones to slowly regain their hold on this world. Your goal as the Queen’s Viceroy isn’t just to establish settlements and collect resources, but also to reforge these Ancient Seals and help the Crown protect the kingdom.
    
  • To reforge a Seal, you will have to journey towards it with your caravan, collect enough Seal Fragments on the way there (a new Cycle-specific meta resource gained by winning games and completing modifiers), and successfully settle right next to it at the very end of the Cycle. If you make it there much sooner, you can wait until the end of the Cycle by pressing the button in the lower right corner of the screen.
    
  • There are 8 types of Seals with distinct names and symbols. Each one requires more Seal Fragments and is located further away from the Smoldering City. At any given time, you can only see a maximum of four Seals on the World Map (two of the same type as the recently completed one, and two new ones). Successfully reforging a Seal will grant you additional Citadel Resources at the end of the Cycle and prolong the time between future Blightstorms by a few years.
    
  • At the end of a Cycle leftover Seal Fragments must be returned to the Crown (for an additional reward).
    
  • To attempt reforging a Seal, you have to:
    • Have enough Seal Fragments.
      
    • Be in range of the Seal.
      
    • Be at the end of the Cycle (you can skip to it now by pressing the button on the calendar).
      
    • Play at the minimum required difficulty level of the Seal (or higher).
  • Around the Seal, there is a special new biome - the Sealed Forest. It has unique effects and special resource distribution. This is meant as a “final battle” in a given Cycle.
    • For now, this biome has placeholder visuals and effects. It looks like the Cursed Royal Woodlands and has penalties to trade routes, farming, and fewer charges in nodes. All this will change in the coming weeks, with a dedicated Sealed Forest Update.
  • After winning a game in the Sealed Forest near a named Seal for the first time, the World Map will progress, spawning a new type of Seal (in addition to the previous one), and extending the Cycle duration by several years. Older Seals (below the tier of the two most recent ones) will not be spawned anymore.
    
  • If you are an experienced player who has already reached Prestige difficulties, you will get a dialogue box when launching the game for the first time after this update. There, you will be able to decide whether you want to start your Cycle progression from the beginning or skip to a Seal that matches your skills.
• Added a new system to the World Map - the Viceroy’s Caravan.
  • From now on, your caravan has a physical representation on the World Map (shown by a marker) and you can only venture from your last successful town.
    
  • As you move through the map, you will be able to collect new resources, villagers, and effects for your caravan by completing negative Modifiers and World Events.
    
  • The minimum difficulty of a settlement is now tied to the distance from the Smoldering City on the World Map. This means that after reaching a certain point, you will no longer be able to play Settler runs, as only Pioneer and higher will be allowed. But don’t worry - the difficulty ranges are pretty big, so if you prefer to stay on Settler, you will have plenty of space to explore and modifiers and events to see.
    
  • There is also a new type of Embarkation Point - Reserve Embarkation Points. These can be used across multiple games in a Cycle (instead of being specific to one game like normal Embarkation Points). You can earn Reserve Embarkation Points through Negative Modifiers and World Events. The normal Embarkation Points are now called Base Embarkation Points.
    
  • Base Embarkation Points are no longer influenced by difficulty (previously, the pool would shrink the higher the chosen difficulty). From now on, they are affected only by the distance from the Smoldering City.
• Added a new system to the World Map - World Events.
  • World Events are random encounters that can be found on the World Map.
    
  • All World Events offer some kind of decision or challenge. These can range from giving up a portion of the resources in your starting caravan in exchange for additional villagers, paying Seal Fragments for a temporary bonus, or winning a game by completing a special task for additional Embarkation Points.
    
  • Successfully completing a World Event will reward players with additional caravan goods, cycle-long effects, or shorter (one or two games) blessings.
    
  • World Events can also have negative consequences based on the player’s decision - lost caravan goods, cycle-long debuffs, or shorter (one or two games) curses.
    
  • With this update, we bring you 10 types of World Events (with more to come in the future). We won’t spoil them all in this changelog, but some notable encounters are: a Stormbird Egg, the Obsidian Loremaster, a Cloaked Wanderer, or a Hanged Viceroy.
    
  • In this update, World Events will have some repeated art assets attached to them. Our goal is to create unique illustrations for every scenario, but due to time constraints and possible changes/improvements to the system, custom encounter art for every event will arrive in the coming weeks.
• Added a new type of Citadel Upgrade to the Smoldering City - Faction Trade Routes.
  • With the introduction of the new Seal system, factions were removed from the World Map and from the upgrade tree in the Smoldering City.
  • As a replacement, and as a way to help trading in the early stages of a Cycle, we added Faction Trade Routes to the game.
    
  • Factions will now act as independent settlements you can trade with, always located in the Smoldering City. Think of them as a district belonging to a faction.
    
  • This means that after buying all 3 faction upgrades, you will have 4 towns to trade with at the start of each Cycle.
    
  • Every faction has a unique variation of desired goods. These are mostly based on what a given faction would have a hard time producing (for example, the Brass Order are great metalworkers, but terrible farmers).
    
  • There are 3 faction upgrades in the Smoldering City now. They were mostly shuffled into the existing nodes of the upgrade tree (there was room due to the removal of the previous faction upgrade and one Town Vision upgrade). There is only one completely new upgrade level for the Monastery of the Vigilant Flame (on level 17), increasing the total number of upgrades in the game to 80.
    
  • The exact list of upgrade changes can be found in the balance section of this changelog.

• ⚡ Changed the way Modifiers are spawned on the World Map.
  • Positive Modifiers will now have a higher chance of appearing near the Smoldering City, and a lower chance of spawning far away.
    
  • Negative Modifiers have a higher chance of spawning further away from the Citadel, and a lower chance of appearing close to it.
    
  • This new system is not completely rigid, however. It only affects the spawn rates, but doesn’t prevent any Modifier from spawning at any distance (for example, negative Modifiers can still appear right next to the Citadel, the chances are just lower).
    
  • The main goal with this change is to further boost the clear difficulty progression of the World Map by making the first games in a Cycle a bit easier and faster, and the later ones a tad harder.
• Adjusted starting caravans to make them more balanced and in line with the new system changes.
  • Changed the numerical spread of villagers in starting caravans. Now, the base number of villagers ranges from 6 to 8.
    
  • Changed the Embarkation Point price range for Planks - it’s now from 2 to 3 instead of a static 2.
• Reshuffled the rewards in multiple Citadel Upgrades.
  • Obsidian Archive Level 7 - removed the faction unlock, added the Citadel Resource bonus.
    
  • Obsidian Archive Level 11 - removed the Citadel Resource bonus, added the Field Kitchen essential blueprint.
    
  • Dim Square Level 7 - removed the Field Kitchen essential blueprint, added the Amber Embarkation Bonus.
    
  • Brass Forge Level 6 - removed the Parts Embarkation Bonus, added the Brass Order faction unlock.
    
  • Brass Forge Level 8 - removed the Global Carrying Capacity bonus, added the Parts Embarkation Bonus.
    
  • Brass Forge Level 9 - removed the Amber Embarkation Bonus, added the Global Carrying Capacity bonus.
    
  • Pioneers’ Gate Level 3 - removed the Embarkation Range bonus, added the bonus to starting caravan goods.
    
  • Monastery of the Vigilant Flame Level 11 - new upgrade level, with the following rewards: Scrolls and Incense Embarkation Bonuses.
    
  • First Dawn Headquarters Level 4 - removed the Herbalists’ Camp Embarkation Bonus, added the First Dawn faction unlock.
    
  • First Dawn Headquarters Level 5 - removed the bonus to starting caravan goods, added the Herbalists’ Camp Embarkation Bonus.
    
  • Vanguard Spire Level 9 - removed the Scrolls and Incense Embarkation Bonuses, added the Vanguard of the Stolen Keys faction unlock.
• Games won, lost, or abandoned before year 3 now always progress the Cycle by 3 years (to make it harder to avoid negative cycle effects by winning quick Settler games or abandoning settlements).
  • Erratum: During the livestream, we mentioned that winning the game in 1-2 years will only progress the Cycle by the said number of years, but that was a mistake. Every game will progress the Cycle at least 3 years forward. This was implemented to prevent cheesing and playing below your skill level to venture farther on the World Map.

• ⚡ Cleaned up the perk HUD and implemented a new sorting method. Overall, the perk HUD should now be much easier to read at a glance.
  • The perk HUD will now sort effects and perks based on if they’re positive or negative first. Then, effects will be ordered by rarity (from Legendary to Common).
    
  • This change also brings with it a lot of tweaks to incorrectly labeled effects all over the game (working effects, perks, Cornerstones, Forest Mysteries, Consequences, etc.).
• ⚡ Changed the wording in the Shelter description in Polish to make it easier to understand.
  
• ⚡ Slightly nerfed the Stormforged version of the Hidden Reward Cornerstone. It now gives one Ancient Tablet instead of two.
  
• Changed the World Map tutorial slightly to mention Ancient Seals. There are also contextual messages displayed when reaching the Seal for the first time to help players better understand the new system.
  
• Added a new Encyclopedia entry about Ancient Seals. It will now also appear in the “read more” panel after the World Map tutorial.
  
• Updated the Encyclopedia entry about Modifiers to now also include World Events.

• ⚡ Fixed a bug with Fertile Soil being spawned on top of ore nodes.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the Black Treasure Stag giving the player the Woodcutter’s Prayer Cornerstone as a reward.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug with the game taking away all Experience Points from completed Deeds then the level cap is increased on a profile already at max. Level.
  
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with some converted decorations (from glade events) not having removal confirmation popups when trying to destroy them.
  
• ⚡ Fixed an issue with the Hearth overlay flashing on and off when pressing a building shortcut for a house multiple times.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the logistic lines in production buildings to still be visible after closing the building panel using ESC.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a missing translation for decoration tags in Polish.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a typo in the Japanese description of the Rainpunk Engines upgrade in the Smoldering City.
  
• ⚡ Fixed a few typos and inconsistencies in French (tooltip for declining Cornerstones, trader dialogue).
  
• Fixed a stuttering animation in the Stamping Mill.
  
• Fixed an issue with some Orders not taking rebuilt Haunted Ruins into account (for “own building” and “produce goods” objectives).
  
• Fixed some incorrectly placed UI elements above decoration construction sites.

• ⚡ The World Map grid now covers the entire World Map (including the clouds).
  
• Daily Expeditions and Training Expeditions no longer progress the Cycle.

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The current version is 0.53.2.
Here are a couple of new comics with TonyShape's seal of quality:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986611537
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986611537
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2989804731
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2989804731

We're also amazed by the Villagers & Viceroy sketches:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992117374
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992117374
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986629262
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986629262
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2984789014
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2984789014
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986501846
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986501846
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986501402
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986501402
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986939789
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986939789

We encourage you to like and reward the artwork, screenshots, and helpful community replies.

For more artwork and memes, visit Steam, Discord, and Reddit.

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https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3683428365960397833
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3674419898821036919
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3725084125969993245
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1336490/view/3725082859193108251

Happy Thursday! Today we will reveal the final list of changes in the 1.3.5 update which is due to roll out on Monday June 26th (but more on that at the end!)

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Update 1.3.5 is bigger than one of our usual post-release patches, since we wanted to take this opportunity not just to fix some of the bugs you've identified but also to make some much-needed improvements to the content in Voice of the People. For those who don't own Voice of the People, there are some new high impact improvements to the base game as well.

This does mean that there may be issues with existing saves, though. Your save games should load up fine, but especially if you're playing with Voice of the People as France, some of the reworks may cause your progress in existing saves to break in hard-to-predict ways. As always you will be able to roll back to version 1.3.3 on Steam to wrap up your games in progress.

With that said, on to the updates! First up, improvements made to Voice of the People. Here we have focused our efforts on improving the content in line with the feedback we have received, as described in Dev Diary #88. As an example, here is the revised Divided Monarchy Journal Entry:



As you can see, the Journal Entry is now a proper race between three dynasties rather than a timer to install the candidate of your choosing. You will still select your preferred candidate, which gives you the option to Sway characters to support that dynasty, but that does not necessarily mean it is that dynasty who will be enthroned once the Journal Entry completes.

So what determines the rate of progress for each dynasty? Let's take a look:



The popularity of characters is one factor. This is not limited to just Interest Group leaders - the ruler, heir, generals, admirals, and agitators can all impact the rate. Furthermore, all of these can be Swayed to your cause, and the cooldown for the Sway interaction has been reduced to 2 years (from 5) to give you more opportunities to do so. Since Agitators tend to have a lot of Popularity, finding one you can invite and bribe into agitating for your candidate can help your cause a lot - or send one of those Bonapartist Generals into war to win battles for you in order to help the Bonapartist cause.

Another major factor is the Clout of Interest Groups led by people of the appropriate Ideology. This is multiplied if you can somehow maneuver the Interest Group into government.

Building levels of a particular type is a major aspect. Bonapartist gain progress from military buildings, Orleanists from industrial buildings, and Legitimists from agricultural buildings. If you feel forced to increase France's military readiness, this will favor the Bonapartist cause. I found out the hard way that this includes Conscription Centers - once your conscripts are fully raised, and for as long as the war is raging, the Bonapartists will hold a lot of sway in France.

Your government Legitimacy will also affect the dynastic dominance. For the house currently enthroned, positive Legitimacy (over 50) will increase the rate of progress while it will decrease it (to a lesser extent) for the other dynasties. This doesn't only apply to the house of Orléans necessarily, because if France were to abolish the monarchy and re-establish it, a different house may sit the throne and the Divided Monarchy Journal Entry may re-emerge.

Of course, your decisions during the events associated with the Journal Entry will also matter, which may lead to other effects on the rate of dynastic progress.

There's one very good reason to try to resolve this Journal Entry as soon as possible:



While the Divided Monarchists Journal Entry is active, a Republican Unrest modifier applies to all of France. This makes it very difficult to get Loyalists from just having a high Legitimacy, but very easy to gain Radicals from a low Legitimacy. It also makes it harder to maintain a legitimate government with an ideologically incoherent government; if your Resistance Party contains Interest Groups of several different dynasties, it's likely your Legitimacy will be hard to maintain due to infighting. Finally, the Radicalism of any Political Movements that may emerge will be higher than usual, making it more likely that political demands will result in taking up arms.

Finally, let's take a look at the failure conditions:



It is not implausible that the Divided Monarchy Journal Entry will devolve into chaos and republicanism. This will happen if there's an Interest Group in France that supports a Presidential Republic, if Turmoil in the capital is quite high, and if one of the following is true:

• France is experiencing the Springtime of the Peoples
  
• France has more than 25% Radicals
  
• A civil war is about to break out

This would impose a Provisional Government on France, changing the state to a Presidential Republic and Appointed Bureaucrats, exiling the current monarch, making the leader of an Interest Group that supports Republicanism the President, and calling an election. But of course, should France restore the Monarchy at a later time, the question of dynastic rights will re-emerge.

On the other hand, should you succeed in the Divided Monarchy Journal Entry and enthrone one of the candidates:



you will still have to prove you have the chops to rule:


No progress will be made on this Journal Entry unless you can prove Napoleon (in this case) can assure a stable government, and for as long as you retain it the Divided Monarchists Journal Entry (and its impact on France in terms of republican unrest) will remain. This also means that Divided Monarchists can still fail while Napoleon (or whoever) is cementing his reign.

In addition to the enhancements to the Divided Monarchists Journal Entry there are several other improvements made to Voice of the People, so let's go through the full changelog:

• Reworked the Divided Monarchists journal entry to improve depth and player involvement
  
• Added decision for France to purchase Luxembourg
  
• After France declares it natural borders, nations on their war path receive an event warning them of French aggression and adding a conscription modifier to relevant states
  
• Successful coups now cancel a law being enacted if they do not prefer it to the current one
  
• A socialist revolution in France will now lead to a Commune which starts as a Council Republic
  
• Adjusted the Cement the Rightful Dynasty journal entry to require maintaining legitimacy as said dynasty
  
• Lets the French player Sway any character other than rulers or heirs (including Generals, Admirals, and Agitators) to their dynastic ideology of choice
  
• Players will receive relevant information on the Garibaldi and Indochina events as they happen
  
• Enacting Monarchy as a republican France will now prompt the player to choose a historical candidate to enthrone

• Added notification when France declares its natural borders
  
• Improved usability of Divided Monarchy and Cementing the Rightful Dynasty Journal Entries
  
• Several triggers relating to Sway to French dynastic ideologies should now be much more legible
  
• All Algerian Journal Entry tooltips have been cleaned up and the requirements for The Algerian Departments Journal Entry will no longer reference Provence

• New Republican Unrest modifier on Divided Monarchy Journal Entry increases Radicals from low Legitimacy, decreases Loyalists from high Legitimacy, increases Legitimacy penalty for having mixed ideologies in government, and increases the Radicalism of Political Movements while the dynastic crisis is ongoing
  
• Increases difficulty and Approval penalties for preventing a coup by removing an Interest Group from government
  
• Reduces the Sway to dynastic Ideology cooldown from 5 years to 2 years
  
• Longer cooldowns to some events associated with Divided Monarchy

• Adjusted French AI weights for default strategies and for individual admin, diplomatic and political strategies, dependent on dynastic control of France
  
• Legitimists and Bonapartists have additional weights towards having a Protect attitude towards the Papal States if it is a theocracy (i.e., they will want to protect the Pope more)
  
• Legitimists have an additional weight to Befriend Spain if Spain is a monarchy
  
• France is more likely to demand the relevant Algerian territory in a peace deal
  
• The French AI will more consistently strive to conquer Algeria, as long as the Conquest of Algeria Journal Entry is active.
  
• France is more likely to take an appropriate diplomatic stance (conquest) towards Algerian minors

• Fixed a bug where many events from Voice of the People did not play sounds
  
• Ensures on_pulse events for Divided Monarchy won't continue while the dynasty is cementing its rule
  
• Garibaldi now becomes an agitator when exiled by event
  
• Removes the event option for Death of Charles X event that gives Legitimist progress while Cementing the Rightful Dynasty is active
  
• Fixed case where March on Versailles event can trigger twice
  
• Restrictions on french_pretenders_pulse.3 event trigger should now ensure the immediate effect always has a chance to save its scope
  
• All historical members of the d'Orleans dynasty are now properly tracked as being "orleanist_leaders" for the purpose of triggering events
  
• Removes superfluous cooldown on Death of Charles X event since it can only occur once regardless

But that is not all. We have also made a number of improvements to the base game, some of them to support the new Voice of the People content but also general improvements and important bugfixes. A few very important ones include:


You can now selectively demobilize a General, as long as at least 6 months have passed since mobilization. Doing so will immediately demobilize them and cut their goods consumption, but the budget you've allocated will be reduced gradually over the next 4 months. Nevertheless, if you find yourself in a situation where you have way too many Generals mobilized to successfully prosecute a protracted war, this may be a better option for you.

In addition, a lot of improvements have been made to Unifications, as outlined in more detail in the notes below. We have also improved the new Industry Banned Law to make it more relevant, and changed Interest Group Traits to deactivate at a different Approval level than they activate to cut down on notifications spam. In the process we have also made it possible for modders to change Interest Group Traits through events, opening a lot of possibilities for unique Interest Group Traits for different countries or cultures.

Finally I want to mention performance. Late-game performance is a big priority for both the community and us, and we are working on it continuously. Among other things we have added a Pop Consolidation game rule to let you customize the amount by which you want your small pops to merge as the game goes on. Feel free to try it out and let us know how effective it is in resolving your performance concerns. This is not the only thing we have done to improve performance and we will continue our work on it, to ensure the endgame is more pleasurable than it is currently.

The full list of improvements and fixes follows:

• New character interaction to demobilize a general while still at war. Generals must have been mobilized for at least 6 months, and their mobilization cost will remain but decay for up to 4 months after they have been ordered to demobilize.
  
• Added the starting Journal Entry 'An Odious Debt' to Haiti, as well as associated events, dealing with the Haitian indemnity/debt crisis.
  
• Moved the decision for Haiti to cancel its French indemnities into the Journal Entry
  
• Unification plays now target all countries that hold states that are relevant for the unification, and are not supporters, allies or subjects of the initiator
  
• Unification plays will no longer target disqualified Unification candidates, but can target Great Powers, so Italian unification will tend to target Austria for Lombardy/Venetia and German unification will tend to target France for Alsace-Lorraine
  
• Unification plays now spawn individual wargoals for each relevant state instead of one umbrella wargoal
  
• When a unification play is launched, all unification supporters of the initiator are now annexed by them
  
• The opposing side in a unification play now gets a 'Cut Down to Size' wargoal against the initiator
  
• Active Interest Group Traits will no longer deactivate until Approval is sufficiently different from the cutoff, to make them more sticky and prevent notification spam
  
• Petitions should no longer trigger while a law is enacted that the government already likes
  
• Added flag canton definitions for Germany, the Dutch East Indies, and the Paris Commune

• Add the Political Movement an Agitator is supporting or will start/join when invited to the character panel.
  
• Added a toast notification when an agitator appears in the player's country
  
• Exiled characters now send notification to all diplomatically relevant countries
  
• Added important action to alert when characters can be demobilized early
  
• Countries are now notified when a claim is gained in a region they have land in
  
• Make an Exiles notification group and add it to the Message Settings.
  
• Infrastructure derived from the population of a state now displays its cap properly in the tooltip
  
• Character Interactions now display their cooldown time without having to go into the tooltip
  
• Fixed an issue with revolution animations in the outliner.
  
• Added 2 missing modifier icons
  
• Low Training Rate alert at war now triggers based on actual negative training rate modifier and not the military budget level itself
  
• Add empty states in the tooltips for State Infrastructure and Usage

• Agitator Popularity now amplifies existing Support of Political Movements rather than generate Support from scratch
  
• Significantly improved the Industry Banned law. Halved tech penalties and made them exclusive to Production tech. Added 50% private construction allocation. Added 10% agriculture throughput in all states. Added -10% expected SoL for all pops
  
• Reduced army training rate to 20 per level for all PMs, except 10 for Irregular
  
• Reduced demand for Fine Art, especially by richer pops
  
• Increased demand for Services, especially by richer pops
  
• Fixes a typo in pop needs script that made Services much less substitutable for Fine Art than intended
  
• The reduced impact of the Petition Journal Entry timing out if you're already in the process of enacting the law is now scaled by how far you've gotten; no reduction if still at the initial phase, -5 Approval reduction in the second phase, and -10 Approval reduction in the third phase

• Optimization of building particle graphics
  
• Scales pop consolidation parameters by the current number of pops in the world, which could help late game performance
  
• Added a Game Rule to let you control what degree of pop consolidation you want

• Journal Entries now support modifiers, which propagate to their countries while active
  
• Adds prefers_law trigger (returns if a character or interest group prefers one law over another)
  
• Interest Groups can now be given unique Traits per country, both at startup and during play, using the set_ig_trait effect
  
• Adds currently_active_law_in_group event target link (from one law to currently active law in same group)
  
• Modifier types for Radicals/Loyalist gain at low/high Legitimacy added
  
• Added on_actions for on_mobilized_general and on_demobilized_general
  
• Added demobilize effect for character scopes
  
• Added mobilization_cost compare trigger for character scopes
  
• Journal Entry database types now have modifiers_while_active functionality to specify modifiers to automatically apply on activation
  
• New direct link ig_trait implemented

• Fixed a bug that caused newly released countries to not have any Journal Entries
  
• Fix a bug where released countries would always take the state religion of the releaser, instead of this only being the case for revolutions as intended
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented secessions that can't progress above 0% from disbanding
  
• Fixed CTD when switching the graphics settings in the main menu after returning to it from the game
  
• Liberate Country wargoals are now only mutually exclusive if they have conflicting released states
  
• Autocracies will now properly transition into single-party states
  
• Agitators exiled by AI should now always end up in the Exile pool
  
• Fixed a bug where movements could in rare cases become revolutionary without any Interest Group support
  
• Fixed hidden map objects exposing themselves after changing the graphics settings in the main menu
  
• Coups are no longer inheritable by revolutionary countries
  
• Fixed a bug in the prediction of which political movement exiles would start, causing it to incorrectly say they wouldn't start a movement.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused revolutionary political movements to stay revolutionary when their radicalism dropped. Revolutionary movements whose radicalism drops too low are now turned back into regular political movements.
  
• Springtime of the People Journal Entry is no longer inheritable by revolutionary countries
  
• Agitators now leave political movements when given roles incompatible with the agitator character role.
  
• Fixed scope error in In the Hands of the State and Agitator events
  
• The leaders of French republics will now properly be called the President
  
• Submarines and Carriers now have a per-level training rate penalty instead of unscaled
  
• Make the tooltip for Law Enactment say that there is a chance the Law will pass on the next checkpoint when on the last phase
  
• Added a check to Expand Building Tutorial to ensure the building selected can actually be expanded
  
• Head of States in Parliamentary Republics are now selected based on their Interest Group's Clout (including Voting Power) rather than raw Political Strength
  
• Fixed case where Officer and a Gentleman event could target a character who had not been sent away
  
• Fixed an edge case in government petitions which could cause error log spam
  
• Fixed an issue where exiles events would cause error log spam
  
• Error log no longer spams with [RandomizableValueFloat.GetValue] while in MP
  
• John French can now be recruited as a General starting only in the year he begun his military career, not as a tiny baby

We hope this update will address your most pressing concerns with the content in Voice of the People and the base game balance and stability.

As I alluded to in the beginning, while the plan is to release the update officially on Monday June 26, we actually have a pre-release build available right now! You can switch to Steam branch 1.3.4-livetest to try it out. We're making it available ahead of time both to give modders more of a chance to update their mods for compatibility, and to ensure there are no major flaws on rare configurations or save games. Saves made on the livetest version will be fully compatible with the public release once it comes out.

That is all for me this week, but we will be back next Thursday before we take a summer break in the dev diary schedule! Until then!

What’s in this update?
-Restructuring of some story reveals (Odhran’s backstory) and lore (Deirdre’s curse) with new interactions and conversations
-New events: hidden items, character interactions with bosses, etc.
-New weapon: Sandstorm, a wind tome exclusive to Ewatomi (She receives it during her first support with Iyabo)
-New sprite for Pol
-Miscellaneous bug fixes

With this patch’s tightening to the game’s script, Walk with the Living 2 is in its best shape yet! 💪

If you’ve been waiting to check out the game, now’s the time to give it a try! The game still needs 7 more reviews to reach the 10 that causes Steam to recommend it. If you’ve played the game, I’m really eager to hear from you!

Yours,
CB

Hi everyone,

Cédric Babouche here, artistic director at French studio Un Je Ne Sais Quoi, part of animation group Umanimation. We’re bringing you Dordogne on June 13, a charming indie creation. It is a heartfelt narrative adventure about reminiscing your childhood memories in the bucolic Dordogne region in Southern France. I’m here to tell you a bit about how we used hand-painted watercolors to create its world!

Dordogne started out as a very dear, very personal project of mine. Both the Dordogne region and the watercolor technique are important parts of my world that I wanted to share. I’ve been doing watercolor painting since I was 13 or 14 years old, so that’s 30 years spent honing this technique and defining my style. I can’t get enough of it! Dordogne is the project that allows me to put it all at work and express everything I have been developing, refining and experimenting with over my past projects in animation.



Technically, it was a lot faster for me to create the visual assets as hand-painted watercolors than to do it digitally. It would take me about two hours to paint a decor that would otherwise have taken two days to create on Photoshop. I really poured myself into it, I wanted to paint everything myself and went as close to it as I could.
I ended up painting something like 150 to 180 visuals. The rest of the team also painted a lot after doing some workshops where I would show them how to paint according to my style and technique. They painted some props as well as a few decors, and were of wonderful assistance even with their recent experience.

Creating everything in watercolor is challenging in that it’s a technique that does not allow you to erase or paint over what you’ve done. Once it’s done, you have to live with it! That means you have to be really confident, and also fine with the fact that the result is not going to be exactly the way you pictured in your mind. It does not mean it’s not good; it’s just different.

Eventually, we did not throw away any of it during the production. Almost everything is a first draft. We would work with some preliminary research on photoshop, using just three gray values to visualize shapes, as well as photos for color reference. Then I’d paint until it looks like the decor of Dordogne.



Ultimately, I think Dordogne really stands out visually for it. The watercolors recall the atmosphere of the Dordogne region, stunning and delicate at the same time, while delivering a distinctive visual experience among video games. They also bring that soft and dreamy touch that perfectly helps convey the sense of nostalgia and wonder for our story about reminiscing childhood.

I really hope you enjoy our heartfelt rendition of the idyllic surroundings of Dordogne. Dive into Dordogne's stunning watercolor world now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272840/Dordogne/

The countdown starts... https://www.slenderarrival.com/

Hello Rangers! 🤠

It's been nearly 2 months since the Early Access release now. We give you 6th update on the game.

It's important for us and especially the game itself to know what you think of our work. We try to improve as much and as fast as we can. Looking at the reviews on Steam though we don't see much of a difference. Maybe you could tell us what holds you back to look at the game positively. All in all, it's you that knows best why it's not what you've expected.

WHAT WE HAVE ADDED:

• New items for crafting - furniture
  
• Set of new feeders to craft at the table
  
• Unlocking of feeders as park rank increases
  
• Possibility to sell crafted items
  
• Price balance for crafted items

WHAT'S BEEN FIXED Patch #6

- Error with under-reading of Audio settings
- Changing the audio effects settings does not affect all effects
- Sounds when entering and exiting the Menu
- Failure to read Turkish language characters in the pop-up Menu and Quest information
- No translation of hints in the handy menu, mail, and hints in sandbox mode
- Error between German/French language
- Wood stands weld additional logs
- Flying trees to be cut down
- Bug with rubbish bags after 2-3h - bags cannot be lifted from the car - compatibility with old saves
- Minimap does not show places at the edge of the main map

Have a great time playing,
Forest Ranger Simulator team.

Hello employees! Welcome to patch version 0.4.5! Our focus for this build is based on the massive amount of feedback our team received after our launch on Steam’s Early Access platform. So let’s jump into it!

By far the biggest critical piece of feedback we received was on the missing gallery system for viewing unlocked reward scenes. Those of you with already unlocked scenes will have them ready to access the moment you boot up the new patch. The Gallery right now can only be accessed from the Main Menu of Under Contract, however, it will pull from all four save files to find which scenes have been unlocked.


This system actually took a bit of time to nail down, and we consider this our first iteration of the mechanic. Later we would like to have an individual save Gallery as well that will be accessible from the overworld map, and a degree of filtering on the scenes you have available.

The next upgrade is to the main cutscene system. Pressing the “H” key will now hide the UI during all cutscenes making it possible to view the full background or animation without anything being covered. Hitting any other button will bring the UI back. This key can also be rebound in the options menu if you’d like to use something else.


Finally, the last major improvement that compliments the new Gallery system is the notifications on unlock. If you unlock lewd reward scenes or quest items the game will now notify you of something new being available. This should help players understand the mechanics a little easier.


The first few content patches after the Early Access launch are tied directly to user feedback, what our customers judge to be the most vital components needing to be addressed and updated. We will be keeping our eyes peeled for anything new you all want to see. However, I wanted to discuss what else we will be working on before building the second gameplay area otherwise known as the “Finance Department”.

This is quite an interesting one for us, we wanted to use the current “free” nodes on the map to act as computer terminals, that the player could access to read their emails. Inside would be world-building narratives, comedy spam with hell+office related mixed jokes, and the Managers writing Richard annoying things. On top of this having coworkers send lewd selfies as you play the game with them as your active companion.

Our goal with this is to make your active companion gain exp as you beat nodes with them, doing so will unlock powers and other things with them. Not sure on the specifics of this so far and it will likely get a lot of changes based on customer feedback.

When you level up an active companion you’ll be able to go on dates with them, we will likely lock this content off until you beat the first Boss and get some of the company shares in your possession. For narrative reasons, it gives the first area a limited growth pool for companions as well. During the dates, you’ll be able to have a dialogue tree with the coworker, see them in their casual clothing, and generally do lewd things with them in unique places.

At computer terminals, we want to make them double as fast travel points. This will become very handy once we get more departments in the game, as travel times will become long if you missed content in an earlier area of the game.

A big focus for us to hit our Early Access release milestones was to make sure the cutscene and rewards system was amazing and smooth. Because of this, we left a lot of gameplay improvements and optimizations on the table for later development. We will be working on bringing those into the game going forward.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1972470/Under_Contract/

We hope you all will enjoy the new update with the Gallery content unlocked! It was an absolute pleasure to read all the feedback and suggestions you all had. Under Contract will become an amazing gem in the Adult Game scene!

Greetings Explorers!

Many thanks for the great feedback and bug reports. Here are a few initial fixes to sort the most pressing items, especially the issue with the old landing gear not deploying correctly. I took the decision to simply replace the (frankly unreliable) push lever with a button, which is now positioned beneath the landing gear indicator lights (where it actually makes sense to have the control!). The old lever has gone... but I suspect it will return with a new function later as its a nice model!

Full list of changes....

Planetary engine

• Planetary rotation implemented - you can now enjoy watching a gas giant rise over the hills!

Player (planet surface)

• Player movement speed increased
  
• Adjusted jump power

Ship environment

• Landing gear lever replaced with button
  
• Landing gear locked warning lights and buzzer implemented

Menus

• Fixed fade to black on main menu
  
• Updated menu text to replcet current alpha state and version

Notes
I am aware of a bug with the joystick preventing correct use with the left hand and am looking into it further (as it makes no sense at all!) Currently only the right hand can twist the joystick for Yaw control.

This and other requests / bugs will form part of future patches.