Note: If you would like to enjoy these bugs for yourself, I suggest holding off on updating until your curiosity is quenched. Just make sure you read through the changelog to know the severity of the bug before you try to replicate it!
2023-9-8 (Post PAX West)
v1.0.1.3
[Steam Specific]
Auto-Cloud has been enabled- meaning your saves will be saved/loaded to the cloud. Note: Your settings are carried over with this file.
[Gameplay Adjustments]
You no longer fall off of hanging rails when you're at the edge of them.
"Modern" mode now has "Respawn from Pits" on by default, as this is a "modern" feature to have.
Pickups now appear over your head when you grab them. This may have a toggle in options in the future.
Boss doors now show a "LOCK/OPEN" indicator that changes when you meet the requirements to open the door.
Setting all of the bombs now plays a sound to let you know you can get to the boss.
You can expedite the bomb placement animation by pressing or holding the Skip Dialog action button.
The pause screen now has a "Resume" button, and will no longer accept inputs until the Up and Down buttons are in the neutral state. This should minimize the accidental "Return to Title" or "Level Select" presses that occur. --> An additional note on this: Localization may be rough on "Resume". This is mostly a stopgap until I can have localization for an "Are you Sure?" prompt on returning to title or level select. Spicy game dev tip for anyone interested! When dealing with multiple languages, it's hard to update things that require new strings.
[Level Changes]
[Train]
Train/Intro level has some minor adjustments in Normal mode. Bomb mode is unchanged.
Ground spike enemy in the room with the slide/rail segment has been removed. It was causing too many problems for people who didn't quite understand how grappling works, in that you don't need to time a press or hold the button while grappling.
[Rooftops]
There's a little platform to the right of the boss door in Normal mode. Too many people jumping over there thinking there's something there. (there's not until Bomb mode)
Some background elements have been reduced in colors to prevent people from thinking they can interact with them.
Caution indicators have been added to the spot to the right of where the contact is, because people kept jumping down there instead of using the ladder they have to pass just before that.
[Cold Storage]
Cold Storage level has an additional solid floor part in the upper right most room, so the player doesn't have to fight with ice to turn around and grab a ledge.
Additionally, some Cold Storage enemy placement has been adjusted slightly.
[Freeway]
There is now a ladder to get back up from the first dropping freeway section to prevent backtracking if the player struggles with the hang bar platforming.
The upper path of the room just past the boss door screen now has some freeway overhang that you have to slide under. This is to prevent an out-of-bounds glitch allowing the player to jump over the room transition trigger.
You can now walk past the 2nd Toilet Tank segment, as the 1st one is build to be skipped if you're skilled. Having a solid wall trigger for the 2nd one didn't make sense.
The rails over the 1st Toilet Tank have been reduced from 4 to 2.
[General Bugfoolery]
Fixed issue in the 2nd to last level where Jump Yoku Blocks would go out of sync if you jumped on a specific frame, causing them to either be ON or OFF, not mixed between the two, until the player dies or reloads the level.
Fixed an issue where you can grab a wall you shouldn't be able to grab in Cold Storage
[Upcoming/Planned Update Preview]
Removing the tutorial tips from the Train level, and replacing it with an entire training segment on first run. --> This will be optional after first run, but will need to be started (and can be skipped) on a fresh game. --> The train will serve as a "use what you've learned" level. --> This is directly in response to hanging/grappling mechanics not being as clear as they should be, and players brute forcing their way through the train without fully understanding how grappling works. It's easy to assume the game is clunky vs realizing you only need to "hold grapple or up until you're grappling, then release the button" (instead of trying to time the press for some reason or holding the grapple/up button the whole time on a rail, which would be absurd) --> This may not be the specific change that happens, but it's the current thought.
Select minigames directly from the level select if you've completed the level they belong to. --> Just select the level they're attached to and a new menu pops up! You can use this to get some extra lives/power chakram upgrades (on Easy) if you beat the minigame. --> As a result of this, new graphics have been made to support the minigame level cards~
Exclusive New World consumable items are now available through Prime Gaming until October 13, 2023. If you are an Amazon Prime member, make sure to pick up the Equilibrium’s Boon! It contains Large Ebony Bookcase x1, Powerful Corrupted Coating x3, Vial of Suspended Azoth x10, Runestone Stopwatch x1, Umbral Shard x500, Ancient Fireworks x3, and Gypsum Orb x5.
“Balance is its own reward... but these certainly won't hurt either.“
With Prime Gaming, Amazon Prime members enjoy tons of free, exclusive content for their favorite PC, console, and mobile games. Plus, they can claim a collection of PC games for free every month that are theirs to keep forever, and a monthly Twitch channel subscription. Prime Gaming’s selection of in-game content and free PC games is always growing and rotating to stay fresh, with new items and free games added every month.
Players who are not currently Amazon Prime members that are interested in accessing the exclusive New World loot can sign-up for a free, 30-day trial on the Prime Gaming website. Prime Gaming Loot can only be claimed once per account.
Stay tuned, as we’ll have more content for Prime Gaming members in the future.
Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.
In the next few hours we are going to release an update to both packages (including the base game and the DLC) that are going to transfer the source code to UNREAL ENGINE 5.3 We expect the update to bring us the multiplayer mode but expect the unexpected
So, a common misunderstanding/complaint that I've seen is that most consumable items were mainly only for the main character. This included any and all food/drink items, some medical items, some drug items like booze or cigs, and even some other various items. Well, I've gone through EVERY item manually and made it so they can be used on companions now. Given this change, it should be SIGNIFICANTLY EASIER to manage your companions in terms of their health and mettle.
This change makes it so that companions can much more easily have their health and mettle restored outside of combat - no longer only relying on passive healing, sleeping and specifically designated medical items. Companions can now use ANY and ALL ITEMS.
Another big change comes from community input and is in regard to how easily you can get your hands on low-quality consumable items such as snacks and so on. Vending machines! Yes, you can now use either of the two vending machine types - snacks or drinks - to buy some cheap items for a FIXED PRICE. The prices in the vending machines DO NOT shift with the in game economy fluctuations, so you'll always be able to reliably know exactly how much cred you'll need to buy from them.
Another small request from the community was to add some misc items to drop from killing monsters/creatures other than the humans or the drones. Animals and creatures already had some various loot items in their drop lists, but they now have some special loot drops that are unique to them. They can be sold for a bit of cred to help you pay for that fancy new augment or that expensive gun that you've had your eye on.
Some other notable changes are that some of the colors in the game (especially related to mouse-over text) have been changed/swapped to look a little better than they did before, toxic rain now affects companions since they are so much easier to manage now, and some new gear/usable items have been added.
Vending machines
Check out the full change log below!
*Please note that these changes are not in any particular order.*
BETA Update 1.20.0 Change Log:
Bug Fixes:
FIXED some typos
FIXED the terribly annoying sound bug related to using the mouse in selection menus which caused the mouse-over sound to play endlessly if your cursor was in the exact middle between two separate choices
Changes & Additions:
Optimized several background processes
Changed the tan color representing taking actions during dialogues and for the standard mouse-over text to be a very light blue-green
Changed mouse-over colors of several NPC types to be orange to represent possible danger
Added new mouse-over colors for several NPC types to be yellow to represent neutrals
Added more environmental details to The Slabs subdistrict
Added some randomly walking civilians to The Slabs subdistrict
Added Last Line gun shop area to The Slabs subdistrict
Updated some shop listings
Consumable food items can now be used by companions BUT THEY DON'T RECOVER STAMINA AND CONDITION AS THAT PART IS ONLY FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER
Consumable drug items such as booze, beer, cigars, etc can now be used by companions BUT THEY DON'T RECOVER STAMINA AND CONDITION AS THAT PART IS ONLY FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER
Toxic rain now removes 1 mettle in addition to removing 1 condition if you don't resist the damage and can now affect companions (Removes 1 mettle from companions if they don't resist the damage)
Added umbrella gadget (+15% Chemical Resistance, Cannot suffer from Damp Status)
Entering ANY interior area from being outside in toxic rain will now restore 1 Mettle to ALL party members
Toxic rain now removes 1 mettle from ALL enemies of a combat encounter (Enemies and allies) at the end of each combat round AND companions - only if they don't resist the damage
Toxic rain can now affect you during conversations (It was not technically a bug before, but it wasn't working exactly as intended - the weather is no longer polite and absolutely does not wait for your conversation to be over)
Updated randomized container loot drop lists
Updated enemy loot drop lists
Added some new unique NPCs to interact with
Updated some quest related hints
Fade out duration of screen elements has been sped up, but fade in has been slowed a bit to allow ample time for background processes to catch up when loading a new area (Should not really be noticeable since I just shifted where the timers start but have not extended them)
You can now choose to sleep for 12 hours (Counts as resting twice, quicker to use so you don't have to keep clicking the bed, community request)
The random price fluctuation at the start of a new game will only be a max of -5% or +5% until the following game day (This means you won't get hit with insanely high prices at least for the first game day)
Vending machines can now be used (There are 2 versions: food and drink) and will be a good way to easily stock up on consumables since their prices are set and will NEVER change - unlike in shops
Added new graphics for flashing cred symbols over the new vending machine events
The main character (Player character) will now recover 1 Mettle in addition to the 1 Health when out of combat and their condition is above 0 over time
Synth Coffee and Energy Drinks now restore 5% AP at no extra cost
As promised in the transition to the Final Early Access Phase on August 4th, 2023, the Alder Forge Launch Date and the moment we will finally leave Early Acces are included in this community news section, and as a start here is the Launch and Final Trailer:
Video Subject: Alder Forge Launch Trailer.
Are there any additional events coming with v1.0.0?
[/b]
Yes. The final optional event "Divine Weapons Pack" will be added with v1.0.0, plus all the additional optional events we have done since the start of Early Access a year and 9 months ago. More details about the "Divine Weapons Pack" will be shared with the community during the Launch alongside the v1.0.0 manifest.
Is there going to be any change to the System requirements?
[/b]
The system requirements are the same as the ones during the announcement 2 years and a half ago, and will still support DX11-based GPU hardware.
What is the launch date?
[/b]
If you skipped the "Launch Trailer", then the date is September 15th, 2023.
What is the total text content in the game from start to end?
[/b]
The game's total word count is 182266 words.
How long is the game?
[/b]
In my latest playtest, I finished the game in 31 hours and 39 minutes. I did not take any side activities, or talk to people, and I only did 3 optional events while moving quickly from story point to story point in "Normal Mode". Here is a proper detailed chrono-timed sheet from my last playtest:
Prolepsis and Chapter 1: 8 Hours 09 Minutes
Chapter 2: 7 Hours 20 Minutes
Chapter 3: 9 Hours 21 Minutes
Chapter 4: 6 Hours 49 Minutes
Are there any plans for post-launch?
[/b]
It all depends on the game's performance during its transition from Early Access to Launch, and even so, I will continue to welcome your feedback.
[/list]
Thank you for your continued support and appreciation for this world, characters, and story.
Cat Warfare has been in the works for over 5 years and this is Cat Warfare's 5th year on Steam.
What's new?
With this update we plan to push Cat Warfare further than before.
For those of you who don't know, this has been the third time Cat Warfare was rebuilt from the ground up. All new net-code, new systems and new everything. This update does not mark the end of future updates, but the beginning of better and new ones.
We don't expect to be the perfect arena shooter or the best, but the most important thing for us is your enjoyment!
This is just the beginning of what is to come to Cat Warfare.
We’ve been talking quite a bit about how our development efforts so far in Early Access have prioritized a new player’s experience and with Patch 0.1.1.0 out of the way, it’s finally time for us to announce that… new content is on the way to Hawken Reborn! Yes you heard that right. The new release of Hawken Reborn will be a big one that will have some exciting features to sink your teeth into.
UPDATE 0.2.0.0
Let’s start with the biggest milestone which comes by way of an “Update”. This is our designation for a build that comes with a significant amount of new content and improvements to the game. Previously, we’ve pushed out hotfixes and patches to address specific chunks of developments, but Update 0.2.0.0 will have an array of new features across many different categories to improve your overall gameplay.
HUD EVOLUTION
The next evolution of the HUD has some revisions that we’re really excited to share. Since launch, we heard a ton of feedback about how our UI made critical combat information too difficult to discern. From a color palette that blended too much with the background to a health bar that was too far from the action, there was a lot of great feedback for us to digest.
Here are some noticeable improvements that you'll see in the new HUD:
The weapon reticle has been redesigned at the center of the screen that now communicates how much ammo is left or heat has built up with your weapons.
The overall UI is now curved to feel like they’re a part of the cockpit of your mech.
Health and shield bars have been redesigned to be bigger, have more contrast, and are closer to the center.
A new Threat Level indicator has been added to the top of the screen and now gives a better assessment of your zone’s risk factor relative to your Pilot Level. As the threat increases, the world threat level will change colors to show how much risk you’re putting yourself in.
The fuel gauge now has its own dedicated location at the bottom of the HUD with a similar visual glow up as the health and shield.
The radar has been moved to the top left and mission comms will appear just below it.
THIRD PERSON CAMERA
At any time, you can now toggle between first person and third person views when piloting your mechs. This new way of seeing the game not only affects your immersion from within a cockpit, but switching over to third person view also changes the way you play Hawken Reborn as you’ll have more situational awareness with where your mech is. Especially when handling a new combat mechanic against infantry outlined later in this blog.
MECH BALANCING
Weapons, Platforms, and Thrusters have gone through a rebalance that improves their overall experience across the board. Along with these adjustments, weight will also have a bigger impact on movement, especially the Dash which now factors in both the equipped thruster and weight class of your chosen mech.
SPRINT
Traversal has always been a critical part of Hawken Reborn with its open expanses to explore and while bunny hopping has thus far been an effective means of transportation, it never was intended to actually be an option for getting around town.
To keep traversal more grounded to the sprint ability, Sprint has now been reworked to increase its speed significantly while maintaining better fuel efficiency. Sprint speed will also be dictated by the mech weight class. This is a small, but critical way in designing thrusters to make them feel more unique across the board.
With these Sprint buffs, bunny hopping will be less of a core mechanic to movement so you’ll find it harder to do on the majority of loadouts. That’s not to say it’s no longer possible however. For pilots who enjoy pouncing around town, be sure to get the new Long Jumper thruster and build it out ASAP.
DASH 2.0
Similar to sprint speeds, the Dash ability will also undergo some changes that feel noticeably different across thruster choices. In the future, certain thrusters will offer design variations such as a much shorter cooldowns that allow them to string dashes together in quick succession.
HEAVY CLASS
The Heavy Platform class is getting a buff in the literal sense. From community and internal feedback, Heavies weren’t as popular as other classes due to offering less mobility for only a small advantage in bullet sponginess. While they’ll still retain their heftier mobility, upgrading them will now see noticeable improvements to their armor that will make them feel like a hulking mobile fortress that’ll make them a more viable build.
180 DEGREE TURN
The 180 degree turn makes a re… turn to mouse and keyboard with gamepad integration to come in a later update. This popular feature amongst some hardened pilots will come in handy as you maneuver across the battlefield against your agile opponents.
WEAPON RECOIL
Firing weapons now has a new recoil system that offers a more realistic feel to the spray patterns of different guns. While you could decide to dual wield two Ultra Rapid Fire SMGs, be mindful that this new recoil system will dramatically affect the effectiveness of different combinations of weapons. Remember, many battles are won or lost before you even leave the hangar so choose wisely as you head into battle.
WYNDHAM MOORS (ZONE B)
Our time on Illal so far has been spent in the outskirts of the Refuge and the gates are literally about to go down as we open up the next region, Wyndham Moors (Zone B).
The Wyndham Moors are officially part of The Dawning's territory, but the sheer number of refugees from the Giga Structure's spread in the west has overwhelmed their limited resources. Conflicts between settlements for food, water and power are commonplace, and several criminal gangs have moved into the area to exploit the scarcity of these essentials. Wyndham Moors are also thought to house a number of smuggler networks, and members of the Burning Flag revolutionary movement have been sighted near Blackport.
In Wyndham Moors you’ll find 10 additional Patrol Missions and 40 new random encounters scattered throughout the map. For those already familiar with the crafting mechanisms in the hangar, you’ll also find it a more enticing location to visit as you’ll be able to obtain more explosives that are critical to leveling up your weapon’s Mark. With these new rewards comes risk though so be careful when entering Wyndham Moors as the base Threat Level in this area starts at Threat Level 70.
INFANTRY CRUSHING
Combat against infantry units is about to step in a new direction. Specifically: a step into the faces of infantry who are fleeing for their lives as you come barreling through them. And we mean that in the literal sense of the word as you now have the ability to crush enemies with the sheer size of your mechs. With the infantry crushing system implemented, infantry shields will pop against the crushing weight of your hulking mechs. This will cost a few ticks of shield damage, but the results are worth the cost of entry.
With this realization of impending doom at the feet of pilots, infantry have also gotten a little smarter with additional actions designed to make fighting them a bit more authentic. They’ll now flee in terror if the odds are stacked against them from fallen comrades or even retreat cautiously laying covering fire as your powerful mechs prove an insurmountable opponent. Plan on dashing straight into them with your newfound crushing powers? Some might successfully dive out of your way to avoid getting classified as a “former” resident of Illal.
ENEMY MECH CRIT SPOTS
In addition to being able to fling infantry to their demise, combat against mech enemies is also getting upgraded with a new crit spot system that will be an important component when entering combat especially against bosses who are able to handle a healthy beating against pilots.
The first iteration of our crit spot mechanic in Early Access comes by way of color indicators that pop up when you hit areas on enemy mechs. Certain crit spots such as cockpits, legs, or shoulders will create damage multipliers that tick numbers above an enemy. Pay close attention to those colors as it’ll help you determine where you’ll want to concentrate your fire on.
Cyan = Shield damage Grey = Armored spot damage White = Non-crit spot damage Yellow = Crit spot damage Orange = Non-crit spot Critical hit Red = Crit spot Critical hit
You’ll see the crit spot mechanics evolve over time as we continue to iterate and give them a bigger impact on game play. For now, please give it a shot .. or multiple shots and let us know how we can improve this vital part of combat!
PILOT LEVEL INCREASE AND UNLOCKS
Early Access Pilot Level will now increase from 25 to 35 giving players more areas to expand their inventory. At Pilot Level 26, you’ll unlock blueprints for the Ostentum Heavy mech and Ultra Rapid Fire SMG gun. At Pilot Level 27, the new Long Jumper thruster and Micro Missile Launcher (replacing the Loren) blueprints will also unlock. Expect other blueprints to unlock beyond these thresholds, but until then, progression into max level 35 will unlock upgrades for these 4 new items into the Mark V tiers.
OSTENTUM HEAVY MECH
“Every specialist soldier is an investment in training, time and equipment. Protect that investment with the Ostentum luxury heavy mech. A single Ostentum can protect your snipers and e-war units, needing only seconds of rest for a full recovery. This is not just any mech, this is the Sentium Ostentum heavy defensive platform.”
ULTRA RAPID FIRE SMG
“The Ultra-rapid Fire SMG is more than just a force of nature - it’s a force of Prosk! Your enemies will run screaming the moment they see their mech support get liquified in this hail of bullets. Stop wasting time, buy yours today.” - Big Shot bountycast
MICRO MISSILE LAUNCHER
Akin to its high rate of fire URF cousin, the new Micro Missile Launcher will offer an exciting loadout option for those who enjoy very high projectile velocity with the added joy of explosive AOE rounds.
LONG JUMPER THRUSTER
The Long Jumper is pretty decent on the ground – fast sprint, and the reactor regenerates your fuel really fast. But in the air, it’s… Well, it’s a matter of taste. Do you happen to like being shot out of cannons? Because it’s a lot like that. ~Havn
RELEASE TIMING
So when will Update 0.2.0.0 launch? This new build comes not only with the items mentioned above, but it also will come with a hefty list of bugs and other miscellaneous changes that we’ve addressed. Due to the sheer size of the update, QA which is currently underway will take longer than usual and we expect this update to release sometime around early October.
CLOSING REMARKS
We usually would end these blogs with a few updates of features in development, but today we’re going to wrap it up at this juncture since there’s already a lot of information to digest. Know that we’re still actively working on more features including multiplayer coop. While now isn’t the time to share details on this exciting update, we hope you’re seeing how we’re taking in community feedback and working towards delivering a Hawken Reborn experience that you know you’ve played a hand in helping shape.
Until next time, be sure to join the conversation on our Hawken Reborn Discord Server and official social media channels to let us know how you’re feeling about the upcoming release of Update 0.2.0.0!