Greetings, Commanders!

What has been the most frequent request we've been getting for the past few weeks? That's right, a new round of a public playtest. And since we love seeing you play the game, showing the progress that's been made in Men of War II's development and getting more feedback from you, our awesome community, we have decided to heed your calls indeed and we can now confirm that you will get to try out a new Beta of Men of War II - starting November 16, 2023!

It is already possible to sign up via the game's storepage, and it is a simple process:

• You need to head over to the Men of War II Steam page where you will have the option to ‘Request Access’ for a ‘Men of War II Playtest’ - you can do so right now and get an e-mail notification once the beta goes live. Otherwise, clicking the button anytime when the beta is live will grant you instant access.
  
• If you have already taken part in any of the previous tests, you do not need to sign up again, the ‘Men of War II Playtest’ will simply become available to install/play in your Steam Library once the beta starts.
  
• Wait and jump into the action on Thursday, November 16!

This will not just be a repeat of the previous playtests, mind you - there will be some popular maps and missions from the previous rounds, but we have prepared plenty of new content for you to enjoy. We will share a much more detailed look with you next week, but to at least whet your appetite now, you can look forward to:

• 1 new PVE multiplayer mode
  
• 10 multiplayer maps - 4 of which we have not shown before
  
• 3 singleplayer missions, playable also in coop - 2 of which are newcomers as well
  
• "Classic mode" will return... This time with match-making and leaderboards
  
• Shorter loading times for all games
  
• And more features and updates that we will talk about soon

If you haven't yet, don't forget to wishlist the game so you don't miss any news and updates, and join the official Men of War II Discord server if you'd like to chat with us and your fellow fans.

We are looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield, Commanders!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128860/Men_of_War_II/

Fixed a fatal bug that caused the player to lose progress after defeating a mid-boss unit.

Fixed a bug that shortcut V did not work.

Three Skies has launched on Google Play, iTunes, and finally Steam. Currently, we are hard at work fixing bugs, addressing feedback, and working on future features. We want to take a moment in the midst of all this to thank everyone who has tried out Three Skies so far. We greatly appreciate all the feedback we’ve received and strive to continue improving the gameplay experience by adding quality of life and new features.

We would like to take a moment to let you know what we have planned for the near future.


While it’s great earning heroes through banner pulls and rewards, we want to add more excitement to dungeon runs by giving you opportunities to capture some of the enemies that you face. This will be accomplished through a new set of Commander skills, available when you face off against a lone fodder.

Once captured, they will immediately be transferred to your barracks. As you level up these fodder, you’ll be able to grow them a bit more naturally, as many will evolve into more advanced forms.

Some fodder may even have secret young forms that can learn new skills not normally available to their other forms. There will be a bit more to talk about once this system is closer to being released.





This highly requested feature will allow you to fully run dungeons in succession instead of having to manually restart over and over. This will also feature additional settings that will allow you to customize how the dungeons are restarted.



Now that we’re fully launched, we’ll start featuring new heroes to the roster, often with new mechanics and skills. The first hero to be released is named Edgar, a broken cleric who has high willpower that breaks down until he turns into a werewolf. This will be our first form changing hero, paving the way for more form changing heroes in the future.



Also coming soon is the expansion of our story mode. Thus far we’ve only covered Act 1 and Act 2 of our story. The next part of our story starts to the north of Federated Mourland, where we visit the Elven refuge before the border of Augia.



Our ultimate goal is to replace all dialoged old style UI with new full screen UI, designed from the ground up. These screens will not only give us more room to fully display information for better UI/UX, but will allow us to show off more of our background art. A few screen updates that are coming in the near future include:

• Battle Tower
  
• Blacksmith
  
• Tavern
  
• Journal

Hi, I’m Michele Nucera, Senior Concept Artist. I’ve been looking forward to showing you the hard work that our art team has done to bring life into our game. We’re using a relatively new technique in concept art to help us. Normally all the screenshots you see are fully finished levels with lighting and details in-game. But today I’ll be showing some of the earlier versions that we use to visualise what that final product will look like.

The first thing we keep in mind is the Bloodline 2 art direction. We want to create a foggy, dark, and neo-noir environment where the player can hide and attack from the shadows. The perfect setting for a vampire!


Paintover, View of Seattle – Art: Jordan Grimmer

Our goal is to provide the 3D team with a few images to show them our idea for a location or a character. We try to keep our concepts grounded to the real world, but we try to push reality up to 11 (as our Art Director John McCormack always suggests) so the player can experience something unexpected and never seen before.

Building worlds directly in the game engine is incredibly easy and fun. Thanks to our experience on other TCR titles, we had the chance to learn Unreal and experiment with a Concept Art pipeline to add this piece of software to our workflow.

Bloodlines 2 was the perfect game to push our skills in Unreal to the next step. We had a huge asset library available in this game, including props, characters, and materials. The most logical step forward was to use Unreal to create our concepts rather than creating everything from scratch.

The fog system and the lighting in Unreal are much closer to reality than other real time engines, especially with the recent update to UE5. So this was the perfect tool to visualise our version of Seattle. We have built these underground scenes in Unreal 5, using a fog volume and lights with volumetric options active. Once the composition is approved we then rendered them and quickly painted over in Photoshop.



Paintover, Underground area – Art: Jordan Grimmer


Before working on an environment, we usually receive a brief from Ben Matthews, Associate Art Director, who provides us with a rough idea of the environment he needs, together with some references. After spending some time searching for references we jump on Unreal and start working from a block-out scene done by the Level Design Team where we import our 3D assets and give “life” to their level.

As always when designing, we start from the big shapes first and then place some provisional lighting and fog. Traditional concept art generally captures the world from one perspective and you have to start from scratch if you’re painting something from another angle. Choosing a good camera angle early on is important and we usually set up a few cameras so our art director can choose what shot works better for him and then we are good to go with the final touches.

Once the first pass gets approved, we then move onto detailing our scene and this is the most fun part. This stage feels like playing a real-life simulator game where you can create little dioramas and add storytelling to the scene. If needed, we create additional assets with Blender and then import them in Unreal Engine. For example, in this bathroom piece we have modelled the toilet and bath using Blender and then imported the assets in Unreal where you can easily assign materials to them.


Paintover, Abandoned Building Bathroom – Art: Isobel Hine

Finally, we render our scene using the high-resolution screenshot tool in Unreal, import the render passes in Photoshop, compose the scene and paint over it adding more details and pushing the mood even further.

We are also lucky that we can easily import 3D characters and plug specific animation loops onto them so our environment will instantly come to life! Here we have used our 3D model of a Hunter done by Kjartan Tysdal, Senior 3D Character Artist, to populate the scenes and add storytelling elements.


Paintover, Radio Tower Callout – Art: Jordan Grimmer




Paintover, Hunters Entering an Underground Area – Art: Michele Nucera

If you are in a rush, you can skip the thumbnailing process and do it directly in 3D, also you can show a real-time 3D scene rather than one single image so it’s easier for Directors to have the right feeling of the space. Lastly, you can provide the 3D art team with your scenes so they have a base to work with when building the scenes for the actual game… if they can figure out how to deal with our very messy layers!

The below concept shows the police looking for you in an abandoned building. To showcase this, we have built a few rooms and a corridor using our assets in Unreal Engine and then rendered a few shots to follow the story of this policeman looking for you. Since the scene was done in Unreal, the Art Director could easily navigate the space and experience the flow and mood of it.





Paintover, Abandoned Building – Art: Michele Nucera

Obviously this game contains a LOT of blood. We were lucky enough that the 3D Art Team provided us with a few blood decals to use directly in Unreal. We placed them in our scenes and lit them in an interesting way to enhance their shiny property, adding a slight hue of red light so the blood colour is not affected by the mood of the scene!

These pieces show a vampire haven under attack. We placed a lot of corpses and blood directly in Unreal and then did a paintover to add all the extra details we needed to sell the story and mood.


Paintover, Vampire Haven – Art: Jordan Grimmer

I think that creating concepts in Unreal is the future of Concept Art. A lot of Concept Artists are expanding their skill set to learn this fantastic tool. Being able to create a real-time scene that your directors can navigate and give you live feedback is priceless and it makes the game better.

We’ll be back in another two weeks, but this time with a Video Diary where we will summarise the content from our latest Dev Diaries. If you have any questions relating to the first four dev diaries, feel free to send them to us on Discord and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.

Another unique event that will allow you to participate in the race for the RP reward.
To do this, just enter Shop-> Generals and use the refresh officers, after this you will receive a certain number of points that will be displayed in the rating, as well as accumulate in the form of GP points, which can exchange legend generals!


Best regards, JTGGame Team.

This event is extremely suitable for anyone spending gold coins. By spending gold coins, you can get into the gold rating and at the end of the event you will receive an excellent package of rewards.



Good luck!

Best regards, JTGGame Team!

Hey artists,

The first patch of Behind the Frame VR is now live. This patch includes tons of improvements like extending how long text appears on the screen and left handed version. You can view the patch notes below!

• Made notebook remember its position when the player has repositioned it
  
• Reduced the frequency of the "AHA" VO line to 30%
  
• Improved the Jack puzzle, so it now picks up letters more easily
  
• Added an outline as you hover UI elements and the notebook
  
• Extended how long text (dialogue and object descriptions) appear on screen
  
• Implemented a left handed version, there’s now a toggle to switch between right handed and left handed versions
  
• Made the coffee pot's collider bigger
  
• Simplified UI sliders so these are easier to use
  
• Updated the bread's texture once it's toasted, so it visibly toasted
  
• Adding an icon at the beginning of CH1 to show the player that there's a notebook and how to open it
  
• Added particle effects throughout the chapters to hint players, so it's more clear what objects they need to interact with
  
• Performance improvements
  
• Added details about the Oculus/PSVR2 controls in-game

• Addressed a bug present when recentering the game
  
• Improving how the hands are seen through objects
  
• Making UI for dialogue lines more visible
  
• Fixed a bug with moving the notebook, it’ll now remain in place while you’re painting on the canvas
  
• Other minor fixes

-Riv Otter

Hard to believe the dev-log entries that say I started working on this little game way back in 2015 ^_^; Spoilers: scroll way down for a few old screenshots from back then.

If you're reading this, thank you: for giving me the opportunity to continue working on this goofy game in my spare time, and for your patience as I slowly added in new features and fixed bugs - soooo many bugs that I never would've been able to find without the help of all your forum posts and messages.

It's been hard to figure out how to wrap up an open world survival game, and to know when to finally transition the game out of Early Access. I know calling this game finished might disappoint some folks - and I get that. There's always been a mountain of cool ideas and features that could have been added - but I've always tried to be realistic, and that I knew that I wasn't going to be able to add in everything. And after 8 years of using a code-heavy framework, I'm really itching to be able to dedicate more time to new projects with new engines and tools. That said, I'll keep trying to fix bugs and problems as people find them.

It's still definitely a game I'm proud of - even if its not the biggest, or most balanced survival-craft game out there. That's okay. I certainly enjoyed and learned a whole lot while making it, and I hope you all have had fun playing it. <3

I'm sure that Space Cat will get a chance to fly and explore once again in the future.

---

• Lots of new sound FX for the Launchpad and Rocket
  
• New Flag buildable that can be painted
  
• Auto-Crafter can now use water from its base's water supply
  
• Localization updates
  
• Updated libGDX to 1.12.0

• Water Supply modules now remember what color you paint them on game-load.
  
• Fixed an issue where "no weather" worlds didn't have wind, and some other issues that could have prevented the mode from working properly.
  
• Issue when crafting a workbench from HUD button with a full inventory would result in lost resources.
  
• Fixed a mouse-input issue with the Dozer trunk and placing items.
  
• Clicking on another inventory slot now cancels any active tile interactions / harvesting etc just like scrolling with the mouse or walking would.
  
• Fixed issue where inventory items that only allow 1-per-slot could sometimes be stacked/combined.
  
• Fixed issue that would stop the footstep sound FX if you interacted with an object.
  
• Artifact number in the "Research Complete" popup now matches what is shown in the Research Log.
  
• Fixed some sound FX problems with base modules (like Generators) that are close together and running at the same time.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Water Spigot wouldn't be active, even if your base had enough water in it.
  
• To prevent physics issues, turning off vsync will still cap the game at 60fps.
  
• Fixed issue with the Game Over screen when pressing ESC.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Refinery would still consume Oxygen and produce Fuel, even without power.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Paintbrush would be selected, but the color-picker still wouldn't be visible.

As always, a huge thank-you to everyone that has helped report bugs, either by sending me crashlogs or posting them on the Discord server!


---

Here's a few old screenshots from the game over the years :)

The earliest concept of the game, was just some pixel art I mocked up after having listened to The Martian audiobook, if I recall correctly.


First working prototype. Probably still with grid-based movement.


Original crafting menu, we can see some more familiar module artwork now appearing in the background.


Finally, one of the old versions of the HUD. Overall art-style taking shape. But the game still just called "Moon Base" - and the main character wasn't Space Cat yet...



Cheers!

Introduction:

In the dark and enthralling universe of Creatures Of War, survival is paramount as players navigate through a prehistoric landscape teeming with danger and mystery. As we gear up to enhance the gaming experience, our development team has diligently identified several crucial bugs that need immediate attention. By addressing these issues, we are dedicated to providing a smoother, more immersive, and exhilarating gameplay adventure for all our passionate players. Join us as we delve into the details of the bugs set to be exterminated in the coming weeks and the comprehensive strategies we're implementing to ensure a seamless gaming experience.

Known Bugs and Issues:

[PLAYER_JUMPING_ELEVATOR] - The issue of a fatal auto-death when jumping off a descending elevator due to discrepancies in the elevator's velocity calculations is at the forefront of our bug-fixing agenda. By reevaluating the velocity calculations and the interaction between the player and the elevator, we aim to ensure a seamless gaming experience without any untimely deaths.

[PLAYER_JUMPING] - Addressing the discrepancies in the player's jump behavior on different types of slopes is a key priority. By recalibrating the jump velocities on both upward and downward slopes, we aim to create a more consistent and balanced gameplay experience. Additionally, we are committed to resolving the jump stutter issue encountered in specific environmental contexts.

[JUMPING_THROUGH_NODE_MAP] - Rectifying the issue of players inadvertently falling through the level during specific jumping sequences at the final tram station demands a comprehensive review of the nodemap and collider settings. We are dedicated to ensuring that the nodemap effectively restrains the player's movements, preventing any unintended falls beyond the designated game terrain.

[SPIDER_DAMAGE_AFTER_DEATH] - The persistence of player damage upon encountering the "Spider Ambush Variants" demands a thorough examination of the relevant game scripts. By scrutinizing the parameters related to the "Fall_Attack_State" and ensuring appropriate state transitions, we aim to provide a smoother and more coherent combat experience for our players.

[CONTROLLER_ADJUSTMENTS] - Enhancing the overall control scheme to optimize gameplay efficiency is critical. By reassigning specific actions to appropriate controller buttons and addressing the inconsistencies related to the use of certain controls, we seek to provide a more intuitive and immersive control experience for our players.

Implementation Strategies and Demo Update:

To address these critical bugs and enhance the overall gaming experience, our development team is actively integrating comprehensive bug-fixing strategies into the current build pipeline. We are committed to thorough testing and validation to ensure that the upcoming fixes seamlessly integrate with the game's existing framework. Moreover, we are excited to announce that the most recent demo builds with these bug fixes will be available for download on the Creatures Of War Steam Page, offering players an early glimpse into the optimized and enhanced gameplay experience.

Conclusion:

As we embark on this journey of enhancing the Creatures Of War gaming experience, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated player community for their continued support and feedback. With our unwavering commitment to delivering a truly immersive and seamless gaming adventure, we look forward to providing an unparalleled and unforgettable experience in the world of Creatures Of War. Stay tuned for more updates and announcements as we continue to evolve and refine the game, setting new standards for the survival horror genre.

Artifice: War Tactics now includes the following:

• 2 Islands: Aziera and Mycella.
  
• 5 Battle Modes: Vanquish, Ambush, Escort, Retrieve and Rescue.
  
• 6 Champions: Zephyr, Pyromancer, Ranger, Berserker, Pathfinder, and Blood Fury.
  
• 8 Enemy Types: Sellsword, Bowmen, Terrodon, Siege Breaker, Shaman, Death Cap, Shroom Knight, and Shroomancer.
  
• 2 Bosses: Xo’Azora and Queen Mycella.
  
• 61 Items: Attack, Defense, and Utility.
  
• 3 Biomes: Snow, Desert, and Boss Arena.
  
• Biome Hazards: Sandworm (Desert) and Snow (Frost Wraith).
  
• Champion Trait and Ability upgrades.

Balance Changes:

• Concussive blast upgrade reworked with a new status effect “Winded” that disables the target’s overwatch for 1 turn.
  
• Frost Wraith now repositions at the start of player turn.
  
• Sandworm and Frost Wraith now attack after every overwatch trigger rather than at the end of all of them.
  
• Double move (Ember Bomb) is now a self-casting ability.
  
• Updated Biome hazards spawn Logic. Hazards no longer spawn in the same grid twice.
  
• Reworked Multiple Champion Abilities:
  
• Zephyr: Swapped Eagle Eye with Pathfinder’s Dual-Watch ability.
  
• Ranger: True Strike replaced with Armor Chink.
  
• Pyromancer: Cauterize replaced with Cleansing Flames and Fire Bomb replaced with Napalm.
  
• Berserker: Rampage replaced with Cleave.
  
• Pathfinder: Swapped Dual-Watch with Zephyr’s Eagle Eye ability.
  
• Blood Fury: Splinter Bomb replaced with Sacrificial Edict and Assassinate.
  
• Added turn timer trigger in Retrieve mode. Turn timer begins only after retrieving the artifact.
  
• Sandworm now inflicts bleed, but damage is reduced by 1.
  
• Reworked Frost Bite (now does Armor Negation).
  
• Updated the XP reward logic.
  
• Removed Burn, Poison, and Bleed resistance stats and replaced with a unified Resistance stat.
  
• Reworked stats for all enemies and champions.

Polish and Tweaks:

• Added a highlight on the hover for any interactive objects or NPCs – such as Artifact, Biome hazards, etc.
  
• Implemented partial controller support.
  
• Toggle has been replaced with press and hold to inspect characters during gameplay.
  
• Material pass for Theosus statue and other environmental props.
  
• Added Ember Bomb explosion particle effect.
  
• Added a highlight effect on hover for all characters.
  
• In-game character panel with detailed stats, equipped items, and previews of their traits and abilities.
  
• HP stat now shows both the current and maximum HP values.
  
• Improved AI responsiveness (reduced delays).
  
• Visual polish updates on the World Map.
  
• Province details now show up for all captured provinces.
  
• Captured provinces are indicated by a green outline on the World Map.
  
• New sprite animation in the Main Menu.
  
• Updated animations for all Zaha’Ryn enemies (Terrodon, Siege breaker, and Shaman).
  
• Updated trait, ability, and stat icons for multiple champions and enemies.
  
• Updated Frost Wraith’s idle animation.
  
• Minor HUD improvements.
  
• Removed injured state animations for all champions.
  
• Updated the trajectory of casting on a targetable ability.
  
• Added an animation for when a Jazis shard is consumed.
  
• Updated the Tutorial Flow.
  
• Added a turn timer below the turn start banner.
  
• Added Defeat text prompts for all battle modes.
  
• Improved Character Selection, Move, and Overwatch UX.
  
• Tooltips now appear on Threat and Opportunity tiles.
  
• Added a visual indicator (blue zone) in Retrieve Mode to interact with the Artifact.
  
• Hovering over a threat tile (indicated by red exclamation mark) now shows trajectory lines to the corresponding enemies with overlapping overwatches.
  
• On hovering over a move tile, crossed-sword icons may appear over one or more enemies to indicate attack opportunities.
  
• Updated Portrait videos for all characters.
  
• Snow Level visual updates.
  
• Added a fog of war effect for new provinces on the World Map.
  
• Updated particle effects for Abilities and Traits.
  
• Added a desaturation effect to the HP bar for champions and enemies after moving and setting an overwatch.
  
• Added a “Level Up” text prompt in the victory screen for all Champions when gaining experience.
  
• Updated Input Icons.
  
• Added Buffs on Mini HUD.
  
• Updated the cursor with a crosshair when casting on a targetable ability.

Fixes:

• Martyr’s Rite no longer heals the target.
  
• Removed the Secondary Objective from Boss Battles.
  
• Fixed Snow Level and Shade LOD issues.
  
• The execute modifier no longer triggers on Boss characters.
  
• Targets now react to Siege Breaker’s attacks.
  
• The Raider’s attacks are now triggering as intended.
  
• Player stats now update correctly when equipping items with a negative HP stat value.
  
• Provinces revealed post-victory are no longer assigned identical battle modes.
  
• Primary and secondary rewards no longer appear for provinces revealed post-victory.
  
• Miscellaneous minor bug fixes.