Hello Riders!
The Season 8 update will be deployed on Tuesday 26 at 8 am UTC, for about 2 hours.
The season will start the 27th at 1pm UTC.


New sport: The skateboard arrives in the Republic on September 27th.  
Try it out for free with the demo or through our season program of weekly content. And if you want to continue the experience anytime, anywhere, grab the Skate add-on or the Skate Plus Pack. It'll unlock the Skate Career with 15 events, 4 stunts and 3 new sponsors: Pizza, Mini Logo and Powell Peralta.

World update: Located in Brice Canyon, a new festival venue is born! Join The Deck and explore its different areas, The Vans Skate Park, The Plaza, The X Games site, The Containers village, The Pools or the Hangar. Each offers different opportunities for a different style!

New gameplay features: Once you're on the skateboard, you'll notice a few changes from the way you played in Republic. A different scoring method. And pipe edges are now fair game for grinding! The BMX hasn't been left behind and will be able to grind bowls and pipes as well!

User Generated Content: You asked for Replay Mode, and it'll be available after maintenance on September 26th. Capture your best tricks from a whole new set of angles or use it to find the best moment to get the best shot.



Controls: The "Walk" and "Backtrack" inputs are switched by default in this patch. You can always change the controls to suit your style in the Options tab to return to the previous preset.

Live Content: The weekly activities have received some upgrades to make them more interesting, don't sleep on them!

UGC Menu: Big changes are coming to events and we're preparing the field. The UGC menu has received its first changes with the addition of the Skate tab and the Recommended Content tab, which will be filled based on the creations you play.

Tricks: Spamming the same trick won't count towards the combo score.

Tricks Academy: Multiple lessons for the same sport can be taken right after the previous one. No more skipping classes!

Sponsors: Daily sponsor contracts asking you to participate in a showdown match have been removed.

• The Peace Out emote has changed slightly.
  
• Live Events and Live Areas are now correctly displayed on every weekly rotation.
  
• Fixed some weekly challenges that were difficult to complete.
  
• Fixed some first-person camera issues.
  
• Ice Melt secondary objectives can now be completed.
  
• Various hoverboard, snowmobile tricks and BMX bug fixes.
  
• Fixed PS button appearing in wrong places.
  
• Fixed some checkpoints that would still count if you did not pass through them.

Cycle 28 is 85% off as part of the Steam SHMUP Fest!

The second game we released, and if I'm honest the one I'm most proud of. It's the only game I've ever worked on that almost made a streamer cry because it took them back to their childhood. It was the first game by a Welsh studio to be released on Nintendo Switch which led to be being nominated for a BAFTA. You have just six minutes to beat your high score and the fantastic track our composer wrote for us lets you know exactly how long you have left without needing to look at the clock.

Here is a video review which will give you an idea if the game is for you or not...

Last week I outlined some of the tasks that I would have in creating the pioneer wagon, so this week I want to explain some of the basic questions I had to answer when I started programming it, and why.

To begin with, it might be important to mention that I always try to reuse code if possible. This makes it both faster to create new systems, and means that future changes and bug fixes can be done centrally, rather than having to be copy pasted multiple times. So with that in mind, I had of course hoped to reuse the code I am using for the other “units”, i.e. villagers with the pioneer wagon. This would mean I could use the same system to give movement orders as the soldiers, could use a similar UI to what we have for the villagers when the player opens the book, and many more.

However, there are of course many differences between a regular villager and the wagon, which led to some essential questions that needed to be answered to see if it actually made sense to reuse the villagers’ code. Starting with the first important difference: Villagers always have an accommodation, and require food. This is woven quite deeply into the code and affects many different aspects (including how to handle their death or reassignment), so there would need to be a lot of checks that recognize not to run this code for the wagon.

However, this code is also not run for pirates. Pirates have been around pretty much since version 0.1 of the game, and so much of the more complex code has been added with them already in mind - checking if the current person is a pirate, and acting accordingly. Which begs the question: should I treat the wagons, at least for those purposes, as a pirate? This would have been a potentially quick way of creating a wagon that doesn’t require food or an accommodation, but otherwise benefits from many of the mechanics that apply to villagers.

Of course there were many more considerations: Pirates are treated differently by the game not just for their food and accommodation needs, but also for how they handle different tasks (they are all soldier units after all), whether they initialise GUI elements (since players can’t interact with them in the player book, there is no need to have a GUI element after all), and many more aspects. So, making them straight up pirates would simply not be good enough.

Overall, there were a couple more questions that I ended up going through (and discarding): Should wagons be treated as moving buildings instead? (Especially when realising that they will be the accommodation for the 4 villagers they carry until they create their outpost.) Should they instead be a completely new type of unit (and if so, are there additional units in the future that may use similar code, such as the ox carts?), etc, etc.

In the end, I decided that I was indeed going to create all new code for them. I will of course copy a lot of the relevant code from other units, but I think that they are sufficiently unique in how they function, that creating a new unit for them is justified. Creating this code is going fairly well so far, so I will keep you updated!

Until next week!

PhaigeX is now a part of Steam's SHUMP FEST! Get the game now at 20% off!

And just in time for the occasion, we have released our latest PIONEER update, with new playable ships and Support Crafts to try out against the growing A.I. menace.



Thank you very much for the continued support, valuable feedbacks and interesting suggestions to improve the game. Our dedicated developers will keep on going, a milestone at a time, towards game completion no matter what!


Towards a brighter future,

The PhaigeX MegaCorp.

Greetings, Space Fighters and Explorers!

I am thrilled to announce that Arcadium - Space Odyssey is now part of Steam's SHMUP Fest, kicking off today, September 25th.



Throughout this event, you're invited to immerse yourself in an epic space battle for survival!
Exciting updates are in the works, so stay tuned ❤️

Make sure to join the community on Discord to share your feedback: https://discord.gg/5JwM7DcWPv


Cosmic regards!

. main menu high-score background scrolling was stopped after displaying high-scores
. in the main menu, when the music volume was at 0 and you reset to default, sound volumes were not updated
. Bullet cancel should not spawn an item if Smart bomb bullet cancelling setting is unchecked
. tentative steam deck crash fix

- Fixed two bugs
- added a small settings menu

Please enjoy a weekend-pass on WWII Online and join us for OPERATION IRONCLAD on Sunday.

OPERATION NAME: Ironclad
WHEN: October 1st at 12PM PST, 2PM CST, 3PM EST, GMT-8
WHERE: Campaign Server for large-scale combined arms battles
DURATION: 3 hours
UNLOCKS : All-Access Weekend

Join us to participate and witness:
• Dogfights and level bombers dropping payloads
• Massed infantry assaults
• Tank columns storming through expansive terrain
• Scores of paratroopers dropping over the objective
• Artillery bombardment and smoke

All of the above are accompanied by the "soundtrack" of WWII Online's gunners firing anti-aircraft, light machine guns, and the whistling of artillery. Experience YOUR immersive "WWII Online Moment."

Every soldier is requested to RSVP right away. Doing so encourages more players to participate. Spread the word, let's go! Here is the Discord link so don't delay!

https://discord.gg/wwiionline?event=1155919894790017179

This DLC will be free! and included in the base game.


Harness the powers of the elements! Make your foes yield to your 4 elemental powers!
Fire, Energy, Earth, and Air!
Gwen's playstyle revolves around picking an element to match the situation.

• Earth provides a shield to yourself, and allies when applied
  
• Fire provides a damage buff to yourself, and allies when applied
  
• Air provides movement speed
  
• Energy provides Energy regeneration!

The projectiles also have unique effects as well.

• Earth is a heavy hitting direct hit 60 damage attack.
  
• Fire is a Damage over Time effect, allowing you to track your foes.
  
• Air spawns a cyclone on surfaces, serving as "boost pads"
  
• Energy deals moderate damage, and spikes enemies whom are not 'grounded' enough. bolting them for massive damage!

+New Character:
Gwen - The Field Alchemist
Harness the power of 4 different elements to conquer the battlefield.
Buff your allies, yourself, or smite down enemies with alchemical combos.

+Balance Changes:
Friday
Heal Magnum
-Instant damage 7 to 4
-DoT 15 over 3 seconds to 12 over 3 seconds
Kick
-Damage 40 to 35
-Hurtbox Duration 0.4s to 0.3s

Abigail
+Starting Ammo 100 to 200 Scrap
BABY Shotgun
+Pellet damage 6 to 7 each (Regular shotgun off map is 8)

Hemlock
-Can no longer apply harpoon bleed to turrets, giving himself free speed.

Charlie mini-Rework
- Now takes 25% increased damage while holding the flag instead of 15%
- Brush-Off Passive:
- Before: 10% damage taken upfront, 90% of it delayed over 3 seconds
- After: 20% damage taken upfront, 80% of it delayed over 3 seconds
- Removed the ability to animation cancel her reverse "roll"
+ Movement speed increased by 18% (800 to 950)
+ Jump power 550 -> 650
+ Staff slam cost 60 -> 50
+ Staff slam damage 45 -> 55
+ Knock out Punch Momentum increased by 25%
+ Energy Tick changed from 0.35 to 0.245

Dalton
- Removed 50% Fire & Poison resistance

Map Changes

Mechanyon
- Removed Rifles from each base rooftop
+ Added a new Rifle spawn to under the bridge on the hill

BUG FIXES:
+ Camille USB Mouse skin headlamp was turned off (Fixed)
+ Kill-Streak Announcer in wave defense is now disabled
+ Dalton Scope didnt account for ultra-wide monitors (Fixed)
+ Wave Defense servers could not be converted back to normal servers once started (Fixed)
+ Items on Dalton disappear completely while scoped (All items attached to him, arrows, guns, etc)
+ Charlie's item slot marker no longer is bugged out & features a new instant cast animation
+ Randomizer no longer displays all character portraits while enabled (Was a bug) Never actually impacted gameplay, but was confusing
+ Plummeter now gives 10 ammo on pickup (Fixes an issue on Randomizer)
+ Wait to Respawn text no longer animates if you have no lives left


Other Features:
+ New Keybind: Hide UI (f2 by default)
+ New Default color option in the skin menu
+ Ability to make a list of allowed characters via the ServerSettings.ini (You can have a dalton only server if you want)
+ A new Character-Random select button on the character select screen

Heya adventurers! Whether you like the smell and taste of Pumpkin Spice, it's that time of year again! You know what else is back? The Harmony Festival is! But that's not all, Prof. Pho Attendance Event is also returning because we really want to fill all your inventories in preparation for the coming cold season! And as always, don't forget to check out the many things we have at the Item Mall for this week!


Fall feels are starting up! Plenty of rewards await just by logging in and doing super easy tasks!

• Want to help out during the festival? Deliver food to the customers to get [Cobo] Harmony Festival Exchange Tickets which you can exchange for awesome rewards! What those rewards are, you just have to find out!
  
• Don't forget to get your fishing rods ready because Helen has got some rewards to give you in exchange for certain fishes!
  
• Get ready because the Burning Boost for the duration is FREE ENTRY to Elrianode, Secret Dungeons, Heroic Dungeons, Pruinaum, and Monaterra! You also get +1 Additional Dungeon Daily Special Reward which stacks with your Elrios Pass effect! Plus, there are more daily Burning Boosts which you wouldn't want to miss out on!
  
• We also have exclusive Harmony Festival Food! The Harmony Festival Pie is totally FREE!
  
• The bonfire site is back! Hang out in there for a minimum of 1 minute to get boosts like: Physical/Magical Attack Power 5% Increased in Dungeon and Fields, EXP 50%, and Adaptation 3%!
  
• And there's truly so much more happening which you have to check out on your own!

You want rewards? Well, we got ‘em! All you have to do is log-in every day for 14 days to get goodies like: Spectral Amethysts, Dungeon Entrance Tickets, [Luriel] Sage's Magic Stones, Elixirs, Potions, and so much more!


Go get your cottagecore aesthetics! With the new Cozy Garden Costume Set, you'll look like you're having a cozy time even in the midst of an intense battle!



That's all for now, folks~

See y'all in-game!