Aug 3, 2023

Arcane Revolt - Moonflake

Hello rebels!

Our third devlog video is live on Youtube. We talked about guild meeting scene, new map, music and sound effects.

Guild Meeting Scene

In Arcane Revolt, we want our players to be able to make choices on the storyline and see their consequences. One of the best ways to achieve this is through the dialogues of our character and the dialog options. The main character of our story, mage "Eldoragius", yes he has a name now, is one of the most powerful mages of a mage guild, and throughout our story he will try to overthrow the tyrants with his guild, reclaim the resources they have taken away from the people. In this process, we will also experience ideological conflicts, intellectual clash with corrupt mages in the guild. For this reason, guild meetings will occupy an important place in the game. At certain points of the story, we will have scenes where the six mages gather to make collective decisions, and there will be plenty of dialogue options.

Combat

We got rid of boring slime enemies which you know from our previous videos. Now, all our enemies have their own unique sprites. Our melee enemies are now waiting at a certain point, if we get close enugh, they follow us , and if we leave their following range, they return to their original points, our shooting enemies now have very cool looking sprites, enemies who damage us on contact have turned into creatures with sharp spikes. Check out our boss. Now rather than a fat slime, he's become a pretty cool demonic beast.

Shooting Traps

One of the features that will add variety to the gameplay is traps. There are traps that shoots fireballs constantly in a certain direction and require you to use the shield or dash skill if you don't want to be damaged.

We have another trap type that is triggered by a button you press. Combining these shooting traps with different ground surfaces which we updated their appearance is also one of the elements that diversify and complicate the gameplay.

New Map

We created an orange and brown heaviness world that reflects the state of the devastated and miserable people. The evil ones really need to be stopped. The people are trying to live in these ruined houses, among forests full of dry and scary trees and skeletons.

Attacking Feel

Our game is still very far away from being juicy enough but we worked on the attacking feel a bit. Our character and enemies now flash red when they take damage and splash blood particles. I can not tell you how much such a small changes have an impact on gameplay. Now it is much more enjoyable to throw fireballs at our enemies.

Music and Sound Effects

Unfortunately, we don't have a friend working in the field of sound and music. We have added Leohpaz's amazing sound effects and music from various free music packs to our game.

Menus

We added simple main menu and pause menu. For now, they are only there to implement the basic mechanics and they need a lot of improvement. In our main menu and pause menus, we can adjust the volume of sound effects and music.

New Logo

We designed a logo that highlights our mage's main skill, getting rid of this ugly thing that is just a plain color behind the Arcane Revolt text written with a pixel font. I worked on this type of logo for the first time, and I would love to hear what you think and get some advice. I have already started using our new logo in our Steam visuals but I can always make changes based on your comments.

Future Changes

These were the most important features we added, and besides that, we dealt with a lot of small changes and bug fixing. The game expo we mentioned in the previous video has been postponed to September, giving us more time to bring our game to a level that will satisfy us before we showcase it to players. By a level that will satisfy us, we also mean that there will be a few significant changes in the game. For now, I can't say much about it, but I recommend you to wait for our next devlog.

Don't forget to wishlist Arcane Revolt

Please consider wishlisting Arcane Revolt if you are interested in what you see and want to help passionate students in their indie game dev journey.

Aug 3, 2023

Three Minutes To Eight - DevLog

Three Minutes To Eight - Assemble_Tim

TMTE – DEVLOG

Early August 2023

It’s hard to write a DevLog, considering I’m not really used to it. In the past, I updated my followers through Kickstarter, since I’ve developed all three of my previous games thanks to crowdfunding. But “Three Minutes To Eight” is the first game I’m developing without the support of a Kickstarter campaign, and due to the mysterious nature of the game, I kept the development very secret, until the announcement we made in early June.

Glitched Three Minutes To Eight teaser

So now it’s about time to tell you more about this project, and its particular nature. I had the original idea in late 2021, I can’t remember exactly the month, but it was cold. It was during the moment before you fall asleep when your brain is a bit foggy, and you can’t really distinguish dreams from reality. Usually, I forget the morning after what I thought before falling asleep, and most of those ideas are trash anyway. But I was lucky enough to write a few notes on my phone, right before closing my eyes. And when I woke up the morning after I was pleasantly surprised. So much so that I decided to keep using that method for the first part of the game development process, which is working on the idea, concept, and gameplay.

I’m not writing about this because I think I’m cool or anything like that. But because it’s exactly what happened and how this game was created initially. I’m not even sure if this will do any good to the final product, but I hope at least it’ll make the game experience a bit original.
For about a month during that time in late 2021, I kept writing notes on my phone or on a notebook with a pen, forcing myself to stay awake even if I was super tired and my eyes were half closed. Once I had put all those ideas and concepts on paper, I started the actual development of the game, during normal working hours.

I first hired a few pixel artists (Andrea, Yasin and Normal Neighbor), to start designing and animating the characters then I brainstormed my ideas with a writer, Irina, to better define the multiple narratives that co-exist in this mind-bending game. In the meantime, I also started designing the environments where the game is set, which are created in voxel art. At a later stage, since I was too busy with coding, I also hired a voxel artist, Ksenia, to complete the rest of the scenes. While for the dialogue, I asked for help from another writer, Peter.

Talking about the visual style of “Three Minutes To Eight”, it’s a mix of 2D pixel art for the characters and 3D voxel art for the environments. Everything keeps more or less the same scale, so the player has the feeling of being inside a 3D pixel world. The characters and their animations are made in a truly traditional way, frame by frame. Furthermore, having the whole environment created in 3D allows us to use sophisticated lighting and create an appealing look that is modern and classic at the same time.

The gameplay has its roots in the classic point-and-click games which, thanks to the new Monkey Island, gained worldwide attention lately despite the fact that they never disappeared and they always had a pretty strong niche. However, since the game is also releasing on consoles, it supports a gamepad controller. So rather than “pointing and clicking”, players can move the protagonist directly and interact with the environment without moving a cursor. Also, the game is mostly a 2D side-scroller and somehow works even better with a controller than with a mouse.

But what makes “Three Minutes To Eight” truly original, is its gameplay. Contrary to what happens to most adventure games out there (especially the classic LucasArts ones), in this game, the player will die. To be precise it will always die at 19:57 (hence the title). But after the Game Over death screen, the player can choose to “wake up again”, and restart the game, with enhanced elements (I can’t reveal much to avoid spoilers), which will help players to understand more and more about what’s going on.

The protagonist is locked in a loop, where he always dies at 19:57, and players must find a way to escape death, choosing (or finding themselves) in one of the ten different narratives, which lead to different endings and yet co-exist at the same time. Each run is unique, with randomized elements or pre-arranged ones, which change all the time. The more you play the game the more things you’ll discover while bizarre things will start to happen. Therefore it’s a game with a high level of replayability.

I don’t want to spoil much about the storyline(s), but overall the game is set in the near future, 20 years from now, in a city close to the player’s current location.

In terms of the technical aspects, besides the already mentioned mix of pixelart and voxelart, I can say that it’s developed with Unity engine and it uses, as a bare core, the Adventure Creator asset and Dialogue System by Pixel Crusher, but more than a hundred custom scripts have been written by myself to handle the intricate amount of variables and extraordinary events that happen in the game.

Sounds are done by Anecoia Collective, and the music is by Yann Latour, who also wrote the acclaimed soundtrack of ENCODYA, my previous game. “Three Minutes To Eight” is also entirely voiced in English, by a group of professional and highly skilled voice actors.

We are now at the final stages of development. The release is planned for a few months from now. “Three Minutes To Eight” is developed multiplatform, for PC (Windows, Linux, MacOS, Steam Deck), Consoles (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series), and even Mobile (iOS, Android), in eleven languages (English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese), and at this stage we are testing that everything is working nicely for all the languages and all the platforms, polishing the last details.

I’m truly looking forward to releasing the game and getting players’ feedback!

I wish you all the best,
Nicola

Aug 3, 2023

eteeConnect 2023.08.03 major update

eteeConnect - pilar

Basic Information

This update includes several features that have passed the beta phase and are now available in the stable release. The focus was on controller firmware and onboarding new features into the device to simplify data flow.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
A BIG THANK YOU
Thanks to everyone who participated in the betas and shared their feedback. We were able to identify bugs and iterate through versions because of your support.

For more information on the betas, check these Release Patch Notes:
First Beta, Second Beta, Third Beta.

List of changes

etee firmware

New version available: 1.3.7.stable.0

Changes to firmware:

Dynamic baselines: Should eliminate the need for quick calibration (i.e. double-click power button). Note: feature still available if needed.
Input filtering: Embedded input filters into the devices, resulting in less input mis-triggering.
Stability improvement:
- Removed light sleep feature. After 5 minutes of inactivity, the controllers will directly turn off, instead of entering the previous light sleep mode.
- Reduced confusing LED status from eteeControllers where when the controller is disconnected from a dongle, it would try to mimic the LED status of the eteeTracker.
- Resolved controller freezing and not turning ON due to an edge-case when the device is critically low in battery.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
INSTRUCTION TO UPDATE DEVICE FIRMWARE
Run the eteeConnect app.
Navigate to: "eteeConnect > Options".
Under "Update > eteeControllers Firmware", click on the drop-down menu and select version: 1.3.7.stable.0. Click "Update".
Follow the instructions to update controllers firmware.
To check if the firmware was updated successfully, navigate again to "Options > Update > eteeControllers Firmware" and click on the refresh icon. Your version should have changed to 1.3.7.stable.0.

etee driver for SteamVR

New release version available: etee driver for SteamVR - v1.4.1.

Developed a release version compatible with the new firmware.
Binding Autoremapping: Implemented autoremapping feature released by SteamVR. This should resolve automatically create a template binding for the etee controllers when no game bindings are available.

Known Issues

We've identified a few issues and we're working towards fixing them. In the meantime, please, use the following quick solutions:

Controller not picked up by SteamVR: if the controllers are connected to the dongle (dongle LED flashes pink twice) but not to SteamVR, try unplugging and re-plugging the controller.
Controller not picked up by dongle: if the controllers are not connecting to the dongle (dongle LED flashes pink only once or zero times), try unplugging and re-plugging the controller.
Slider double-click issues: if you're finding it difficult to perform slider double-click in a game, please perform a quick calibration (double-click power/system button).
Wrist offsets in VRChat: work in progress.

Aug 3, 2023

It's Party Time: Baldur's Gate 3 is Out Now

Baldur's Gate 3 - Molly @ Larian

Six years in the making and more than twenty years in the waiting, we can finally say this:

Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on PC!

It's time to gather your party and venture forth. Make sure you're sufficiently prepared with our tips for ensuring a smooth transition from Early Access to release. If you have questions or run into issues, check the FAQ below or contact our support team.

Look for more updates from us in the coming days, but for now, here's a message from our founder & creative director, Swen Vincke.

It’s hard to express how much love went into creating Baldur’s Gate 3. For over six years, more than 400 of us poured our hearts and souls into making this, helped by over 2.5 million Early Access players who spent countless hours giving us feedback.

The result is a beautiful, rich universe where you can escape from your daily worries, experience adventure and wonder, and have many many cool and exciting encounters. It’s a place where your identity and choices matter, where surprise lies around every corner, and where your agency is truly rewarded.

I’m super proud of what our team accomplished and I hope you will have an incredible amount of fun exploring what we prepared for you.

-- Swen Vincke

Frequently Asked Questions

For the full FAQ, check the FAQ post on our Steam forums.

What is Baldur’s Gate 3?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons where your choices shape a tale of fellowship & betrayal, survival & sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power.

Do I need to have played Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 to be able to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a new adventure set in the Forgotten Realms and focuses on new characters. You’ll see some familiar places and faces if you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, but you don’t need to have played them to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3.

What platforms can I play the game on?
Baldur's Gate 3 is currently released on PC, via Steam, GOG and Nvidia GeForce NOW.

Baldur’s Gate 3 will release on September 6th on PS5 (September 3rd for owners of the Digital Deluxe Edition). We’re also targeting September 6 for Mac (via Steam, GOG, GeForce NOW) — to be confirmed. Additional platforms TBD.

What other platforms is the game coming to? Will it release on Xbox?
Our goal is to bring our games to as many platforms as possible. We’re optimistic about Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Xbox Series X, but in order to announce and release the game on Xbox, we need to ensure that the game is performing without compromise across the entire Xbox X|S ecosystem in multiplayer and with split-screen. We’ve already put a lot of effort into making it work and will continue to do so. Like with the PS5 version, we’ll release it when it’s ready.

I have an issue, where can I get help?
Make sure you check out our Frequently Asked Questions page over at https://larian.com/support/
To get help and report any issues you have encountered you can email supportbg3@larian.com

Can I use a controller?
Baldur’s Gate 3 has full controller support on PC.

What languages is BG3 available in? What are the minimum system requirements?
Check our Steam store page for more information.

How do I play Baldur’s Gate 3 through GeForce NOW?
You can now experience Baldur’s Gate 3 across more devices with GeForce NOW, from underpowered PCs to unsupported devices. All you have to do is head to NVidia’s website and follow their steps to create a membership (you will need to own the game in your Steam library): https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce-now/memberships/

You can find more information on NVidia’s GeForce NOW FAQ: https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce-now/faq

What's the difference between DX11 and Vulkan mode?
Vulkan presents a potential performance increase over DX11 in most cases, though may be slightly less stable for now. Baldur’s Gate 3 defaults to DX11.

Please note that Vulkan is driver-sensitive, and might need some experimentation to find which driver runs best.

What game engine is being used?
Baldur’s Gate 3 has been built using the new in-house Divinity 4.0 engine.

GAME CONTENT INFORMATION

What is an Origin character?
Origins are playable heroes, each with their own stories, desires, and attitudes towards the world around you. Whether you choose to experience the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 through an Origin’s perspective or recruit them to journey alongside you as companions, your choices as a player have a huge impact on the way their stories unfold.

If recruited as companions, their previous experiences and attitudes will influence their opinion about what you should do and how you should behave. Everything that you do or say might influence the course of your relationship with them, and determine whether you'll become friends, lovers, rivals, or bitter enemies.

What Origin Characters are available to play/recruit?
The Origin Characters are: Astarion, Gale, Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Karlach, Wyll and The Dark Urge.

Unlike Baldur’s Gate 3’s other playable protagonists, the Dark Urge is a fully customisable character: from your class and species, to your gender and overall appearance, and even your name. The Dark Urge will not be recruitable when not played.

Can I change the class of the Origin characters when I recruit them?
Yes! In Baldur’s Gate 3, you have the freedom to respec not only your chosen protagonist’s class but also that of your playable companions and pre-authored Origin characters.

Bear in mind that some characters' class is closely intertwined with their story, and respeccing them will not change this.

Can I create a custom character?
Yes, you can create a custom character.

If you create a custom character, you’ll have the freedom to define your race, class and appearance, and you'll still find yourself embedded in the story of Baldur's Gate 3 through personal connections to the events that unfold.

What is the final level cap in the game?
Level 12.

What difficulty options are available?
As well as the default Balanced mode, you will be able to play the game in Explorer Mode and Tactician Mode;

In Explorer mode, combat has been made more forgiving so players can fully immerse themselves in the narrative layer of this adventure. In this mode, friendly NPCs are harder to kill, trader prices are at a 20 percent discount, and you'll begin the game with a +2 starting proficiency bonus.

Tactician mode, then, is where to test your mettle. In this mode, enemy lethality is cranked up to Brutal, ensuring that enemy AI are stronger, will prioritise squishier targets with low AC, and will seize opportunities to go in for the kill. Additionally, many adjustments have been made to the fights themselves specifically for Tactician mode, with certain enemies receiving additional support through reinforcements, spells, or consumable items.

Will there be modding support?
Modding will be supported sometime after launch. We loved what our modding community did with DOS2, and we’re excited to see what they’ll do with BG3.

Can I Pet The Dog?
There are multiple dogs in the game and you will be able to pet some of them!

MULTIPLAYER CONTENT INFORMATION

Is there multiplayer?
Yes, there is 4 player online multiplayer. In 4 player online multiplayer, players can either start a multiplayer journey together and both create their own custom character or join a friend’s single player game during the adventure. In this case, they will take over a companion.

Is there Cross Play?
Baldur’s Gate 3 currently supports cross-play between Steam and GOG on PC.

Is there split-screen co-op?
Yes.

Is it the sequel of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2?
Yes. The story takes place 100 years after the events in Baldur’s Gate 2 and shortly after the events of Descent into Avernus. We don’t want to spoil anything about the story, but it will be connected to the previous games in meaningful ways.

How is the storyline linked to D&D?
Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place right after the events of Descent into Avernus. The holy city of Elturel disappeared from the Forgotten Realms and descended into Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. In our canon, it was saved by a party of heroes. The game is based on the 5th edition ruleset of D&D and was created closely together with Wizards of the Coast.

Is your party permanent or can you change members out throughout the adventure?
Recruited companions will be at camp when not in the adventuring party, and can be swapped in and out at camp.

USEFUL LINKS
Game website: https://baldursgate3.game/
Larian Studios website: http://larian.com/
Larian Studios Support: https://larian.com/support/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/larianstudios/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/baldursgate3/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LarianStudios/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaldursGate3/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/larianstudios/
Larian Forums: http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

Aug 3, 2023

Jupiter Hell 1.7 - Creation!

Jupiter Hell - slizgi

Took a bit longer than usual as we're busy with bringing JH to other devices, but the big feature of 1.7 is now ready - Steam Worshop support (and modding in general) is live!

== Modding ==

NEW #0012 - Modding/Steam Workshop support!
NEW #1803 - modmode has been added for modding purposes

Head to Steam Workshop now, as there are already a few mods waiting to be tried out, including Hellpedia, several challenges and a new class to boot!

To those interested in trying their hand themselves, we're slowly building up documentation [here - https://github.com/chaosforgeorg/jh-mods/wiki/] (also serves as a repo for the sample mods) and the best place to ask questions is (as usual) the Jupiter Hell Discord ( https://discord.gg/jupiterhell ).

== Early Game ==

NEW #1391 - early game - 4 exotic weapons, 1 consumable, 1 armor
NEW #1756 - flavor e-mails with branch mechanics spoilers
CHANGE #1799 - EXPT'L - enemies deal 60% damage on EASY (but full acc)

We're constantly trying to improve the early game experience, adding new content and variety. This time we have new early game exotic weapons, a nova device and a new exotic armor. We also introduced new flavor e-mails (gray) in each moon branch that give hints to the nature of the branch mechanics.

Finally, a bit experimentally, we changed how EASY difficulty works - instead of reducing enemy accurancy, we instead reduced enemy damage. The reason behind this change is that being hit is the most important feedback you get in terms of whether you play properly, so EASY was not a great teacher to get to higher difficulties. Feedback on this change is very welcome!

== Tier 2 and 3 Stations ==

NEW #1804 - tech and med stations have tier 2 and 3 variants

Medical and technical stations come in Tier 2 and Tier 3 varieties. There's quite a few never before seen options in those stations so be on the lookout! Mostly they can appear in mini-levels and vaults.

== Quality of Life ==

NEW #1794 - all post mortems are archived in morgue subfolder
NEW #1795 - post mortems can be viewed from highscore screen
CHANGE #1776 - charge based terminals return to last option after use
CHANGE #1793 - backup of score.dat and player.dat if > 1024b
CHANGE #1798 - in Purgatory only the glyph room blocks save and quit

Post mortems got a bit of upgrades. From now on they're all archived in a subfolder of the games folder. You can also view them from the score screen for mortems created from now on. We also added a backup system for score and player dat files. If you accidentaly lose one of them, be sure to quickly recover them from a .backup file. These will not be overwritten immedately, only after a game or two, so you have time!

== Balance ==

CHANGE #1799 - buffed damage of all shotguns
CHANGE #1789 - all rotaries got a damage buff and -25% crit damage
CHANGE #1789 - drum launcher and grenade launcher damage nerf
CHANGE #1789 - Gun Kata - crit damage from lev 1, +100% at lev 3
CHANGE #1783 - most ancient items got significant buffs
CHANGE #1799 - JoviSec armor crit chance 25% -> 15%
CHANGE #1804 - Sysop L3 extra charges 3->4
CHANGE #1391 - higher level infestations (Endless) will be more varied
CHANGE #1391 - medusa infestations added

As usual, here's the new meta :P. On a more serious note - only the grenade launchers were seriously overperforming (especially looking at you, drum launcher) so a nerf was inevitable. JoviSec armor was a bit to strong, taking away variety in Callisto branch choice and often locking the armor for the whole run. We still want it to be strong, just not OP.

To make up for that, several other things have been significantly buffed - all rotaries, all shotguns, Gun Kata, ancient items and SysOp. Hopefully that increases the variety of stuff that is viable for a run!

Finally, for those Endless players, and just because we have a cruel streak, Medusa infestations are a thing now.

== Bugfixes ==

FIX #1775 - fixed performance issues in Callisto Rift
FIX #1775 - don't add exalted traits to player on INFERNO
FIX #1805 - fixed rare AV trait reroll issue - no more trait remove

The regular amount of bugfixes is also present, some not noted on this list.

== Raw Changelog ==

Release 1.7 - Creation - August 3rd, 2023

NEW #0012 - Modding/Steam Workshop support!
NEW #1391 - 5 new armor perks, 2 new helmet perks
NEW #1391 - early game - 4 exotic weapons, 1 consumable, 1 armor
NEW #1794 - all post mortems are archived in morgue subfolder
NEW #1795 - post mortems can be viewed from highscore screen
NEW #1756 - flavor e-mails with branch mechanics spoilers
NEW #1803 - modmode has been added for modding purposes
NEW #1804 - tech and med stations have tier 2 and 3 variants
CHANGE #1799 - EXPT'L - enemies deal 60% damage on EASY (but full acc)
CHANGE #1799 - buffed damage of all shotguns
CHANGE #1789 - all rotaries got a damage buff and -25% crit damage
CHANGE #1789 - drum launcher and grenade launcher damage nerf
CHANGE #1789 - Gun Kata - crit damage from lev 1, +100% at lev 3
CHANGE #1776 - charge based terminals return to last option after use
CHANGE #1783 - most ancient items got significant buffs
CHANGE #1391 - higher level infestations (Endless) will be more varied
CHANGE #1391 - medusa infestations added
CHANGE #1793 - backup of score.dat and player.dat if > 1024b
CHANGE #1798 - in Purgatory only the glyph room blocks save and quit
CHANGE #1799 - JoviSec armor crit chance 25% -> 15%
CHANGE #1804 - Sysop L3 extra charges 3->4
FIX #1775 - fixed performance issues in Callisto Rift
FIX #1775 - don't add exalted traits to player on INFERNO
FIX #1805 - fixed rare AV trait reroll issue - no more trait remove

== What's next ==

Next version will be the Aftermath release, due to sometime still this year, which should bring any requested modding improvements, endgame and Dante Station improvements, and maybe more - stay tuned!

Also, we're working on... can we say it Hyperstrange? (Yes, you can! --HS) Can we? Yeah, the first port of Jupiter Hell. Expect a Nintendo Switch release at the turn of the year ;).

Thank you,