In this update:
- Map expanded with new elements added;
- Bug fixies (shotgun weapon sometimes didn't count kills) and other small changes;

It’s been another busy month spent working hard to release Gateway, which included several adjustments because some of the new mechanics weren't ready in time, so they had to be removed.

The remaining efforts were focused on moving forward with some new additions to the game, but also to have the first post-Gateway patch released as soon as possible. However, some work in progress systems are:.

• Tyrannosaurus crush ability. It would be a mix of Pounce and Lunge, having different behaviors depending on the size of the target.
  
• Burrowing. The mechanic has been updated with proxy meshes for testing and adjustment, some design decisions are to be made, but the mechanic should be finalized as soon as we set the final choices.
  
• Mutations. Mainly the mechanic is done, but not all designed mutations were added, we can do that overtime so we have better balance applied to them. In that regard, we are allowing Server Owners to customize the values of each mutation, also enable/disable them all or just a few, all through server configs.
  
• Pounce has received some updates to the new Grapple system (disabled for release), also some balance changes and an important change: Pouncing the front or the back of a big target won't connect (latch) anymore.Instead the Pouncer will perform a claw attack doing small damage. In order to latch on the target it needs to be attacked on the sides. This change applies to Troodon as well. Latching from the front was initially implemented to assist players having a difficult time landing successful pounces but we feel is not needed.
  
• Balance Updates. In general more balance changes were made to several abilities and mechanics.
  
• Several bugs were fixed including the ones reported by stress testers, not only QA.

Thanks everyone!


I started the month setting up the new migration and sanctuary scent icons. On the topic of scenting, it is now possible to do it when crouching or resting as well. I also did some experimentation on human weapons, but that’s something that will be worked on properly a bit later on.

The diabloceratops also received some improvements to be more reliable and convenient to use. It has a sidestep action when sparring to quickly get around each other which was previously done by tapping a direction key, but we moved it to the spacebar to be more user friendly. I was also able to make the movement faster when locked together so pushing each other worked much better, it was quite challenging in a networked environment. The camera is also locked to the front now, it helps make it more focused on the interaction. I also started working on a new action, running into the side of another diabloceratops lets you push them around a bit differently. That one is still work in progress though.

I also made further progress on the herrerasaurus. The branch snapping system is being improved with more trees being supported and the movement working better in general. The jumping indicator also shows when you would break your legs from jumping now. Fracturing your legs is something you would really want to avoid, so it should be quite useful.


Humans. Yes. Humans. This month has been on humans and the extension of their presence on the island. Soon you’ll find the new aquatic fences when they are finished up, which will be the start of shaping up aquatic gameplay..

As well to further the future human interaction and gameplay loop, I’ve designed our new keycards. This card is WIP and it might go through some changes.



Earlier this month, I also finished our new door kit, which consists of a wide array of door types, which represent proper indoor and outdoor doors, so you can distinguish them easier, just by their look and bulkiness.





Besides that I’ve been busy with small additions to our human environment which will be revealed as we populate more places with human stuff, so stay tuned for that!

That is it for me this month, see you next month!


This month (outside of some icon edits) I've been working on designing two types of cloning tanks, one for large to medium specimens, the other for small and some splash art to showcase them. Full on large scale painted illustrations are intensive enough on their own, but these also needed to be layered in a way that different creatures could be easily swapped in and out from the tank without it looking like it was simply dropped on top of the canvas and where the lighting layers would still ‘play nice’ with any newer additions to the painting.

Not just a fun piece to look at but both will be getting their own design sheets as well so they can be turned into a 3d asset for the labs.


Just capping off the last of the monkey gator animations this month before I move on to the next beastie. But in other news, Maiasaura got a nice rig update and we’ll be able to spin up the big cow for some work pretty soon. Always liked working with Hadrosaurs, they’re pretty satisfying to work with so I’m looking forward to that.




This month the majority of my focus was on sounds for Dilophosaurus’ venom mechanic.
After concepting a few ideas for both the ambience and the sound to go with a hallucination dissolve visual effect, I compounded what worked into a singular design for both sounds. With the sounds designed, a large portion of the work was how the ambience was to be implemented. The ambience is split up into layers which are either introduced or removed as the victim progresses through stages of envenomation, becoming more claustrophobic as it reaches stage 3. The existing natural ambience is effected to compliment this feeling, with some ambience sounds still audible at stage 1 and slowly being removed until none of the original ambience remains at the final stage. Audio effects were set up, blending existing sounds such as the original ambience as well as vocals that occur while envenomated into the new venom ambience, helping along the spooky atmosphere created. To cap it off a sound which plays a random selection from an array of Dilo’s vocals, mostly choosing from its shorter gurgles, hisses and coos as well as its distinct venom laugh, to replace the ambient one shots. These are processed with slightly different effects to sell the ethereal nature, blend with the final soundscape, and confuse its victim in turn ramping up the tension.

After finishing the venom ambience I moved on to Herrera vocals, where I have the majority of its pain reaction and attack sounds done as well as a few other supplementary vocals. Designing as much of its sound palette as possible will be carried forward into December as my sole priority.

Aside from my main two tasks this month I also managed to work on a few smaller improvements and additions. I did another design pass on Diablos threaten call, improving all the vocal layers as well as adding in an impactful snap of its beaks. Sounds were added to Dryosaurus’ new directional attacks; however its vocal sound is likely a placeholder until a bespoke sound can be designed. The pulsing bees sound I made a few months ago have also been added in, initiating when dangers to animals that have taken sanctuary are near. Finally I also made use of the system that changes footstep sounds based on terrain to also do the same for body impacts, this not only applies to body falls from knockdowns but also landing from jumps or falls as well. And of course plenty of bug fixes to go along with all this too.


This month QA have been hard at work continuing to test Diabloceratops, Dilophosaurus, and Herrerasaurus. The latter two are nearing completion. All we need to do is a bit of balance testing, add a few assets and fix any lingering major issues, then they’ll be prepped for release.

One of the more interesting bugs that has occurred is the dilophosaurus’ head growing to a massive size when dragging a corpse. Here’s what that looked like…



Herrerasaurus seemed to be very keen on throwing itself head first into the mud pits until recently as well…


Diabloceratops definitely needs to work on its cardio…



Hmm, mostly been bug fixing, polishing some outdated concepts/content and a ton of reviews. Stegosaurus mechanics got approved so that’s nice. Grapple has a framework. I think we touched on it before but the TLDR is size doesn’t mean everything.

We’re glad to see how you all are taking to migrations and sanctuaries as a whole. Which largely has been accomplishing their intended goals. Expect to see more sanctuaries as we planned way more than what we released with. The concentrated sanctuaries as a test have yielded valuable information. Naturally, the features we release will require edits and review as we continue fleshing out the experiences we want players to have. There have been some changes to stamina that you’ll hopefully be seeing soon. But don’t get too excited. While the stamina regen is indeed heaving hitting, as was intended and although we will be making adjustments to it, stamina is going to remain an important resource in The Isle that needs to be managed well. Sprinting everywhere is not what we want. These changes have slowed things a bit and we are pleased with that aspect but still need to work on finding the sweet spot.

The herrerasaurus and dilophosaurus are shaping up nicely for their eventual release. Just needing some polish in a few places to get them fully tested and play ready. The herrera may get a few placeholder sounds if it ends up running too long production wise. So glad for big features to be less common all at once.

For myself I have enjoyed being able to work on ironing out some animation inconsistencies that have been long standing to help improve the smoothness and feel of the characters. I’ve been working on some ground based locomotion for the pteranodon in preparation for some changes it’s likely going to undergo playstyle and overall thematic wise. Pteranodons were supposed to be dogfighting and stealing from each other originally. Among other things.

The deinosuchus has also needed some love. The swimming is not nearly as smooth as I find acceptable so I’ve also been able to touch on some of that. It has been a long time coming for me to personally have time to devote to those kinds of additions/changes so I am just glad to be entering into more of a polishing era for once rather than plowing through a stack of animation sets across the roster. So expect to see some things altered, smoothed out or replaced entirely.

The maiasaura has had some establishing poses made and the animation team is about to begin chipping away at it. I enjoy working with hadrosaurs the most as they are usually by far the easiest to work with and you can’t have a game with dinosaurs and not have a hadrosaur. They really are painless. Hopefully not famous last words because we would like to preserve the biped/quad swap and that may end up being a lot of work. So we’ll see.

The diabloceratops is still in testing. We really want to hit the nail on the head with its mechanics and all the animations it takes to make it pop. Upside being as soon as we do finalize that animation list and the functionality, the triceratops will already have its path laid out. We’re trying to hit multiple ceratopsian birds with one stone.

As a general PSA please keep in mind, room needs to be made to have something to work/build towards. Some baselines are going to feel rough because they are but may have ways of mitigating them through proper gameplay. Building a digital ecosystem is challenging and it takes time to fully see the impacts of sweeping systems. That’s pretty much the month as a whole. I’ll see what I can do as far as getting replay polished up for the next update but don’t hold your breath on that cause we do have a fair amount of bugs to tackle and loose ends to tie up before break. We don’t want to leave you hanging for the holidays if possible. Anyway, that’s all for now. Toodles!

• Climbing mechanic fixed
  
• Slight modifications to the start tutorial
  
• Player idle animation revised
  
• Title menu bug fixed
  
• Sound adjustments

• Climbing mechanic fixed
  
• Slight modifications to the start tutorial
  
• Player idle animation revised
  
• Title menu bug fixed
  
• Sound adjustments

People of Nysamor,

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown’s Closed Beta is live, and we’re happy to confirm that all ThriVIP members and applicants have been granted access. We’ve been humbled by the response so far and are excited for more of you to venture into the world of Nysamor.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can request Playtest access via Steam now and our team will work to grant you access immediately! As a reminder, the Beta ends 11th December, 4PM MST, so get in quick.


Thank you all for reporting bugs and issues, this is very helpful to our team! Our intention with the Closed Beta was always to closely monitor game performance and actively seek feedback from our players. From your feedback, we've been able to identify several issues affecting some of our player base, including performance, AI and pathfinding issues impacting caravan mechanics, multiplayer desyncs and UI improvements. To that end, we have just released the first patch, V0.0.0.134 which should include fixes across all of the above. Full patch notes, along with notes and known issues can be found below.

Please note that this update will sadly cause a loss of save files and game progress for our early Closed Beta players. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately were unable to find a solution to maintain save progress with updated builds through the Closed Beta period.

As mentioned, we'll continue to monitor game performance, and your feedback throughout the Closed Beta, so please continue to share any issues you may run into in Discord.

Don’t forget to check out our Helpful Hints below to learn more about your first journey in Nysamor.

• Fixed issues with Events starting but quickly disappearing, causing progress to halt.
  
• Fixed issue with players getting stuck during an Event conversation.
  
• Fixed issues with units getting stuck while pathfinding.
  
• Fixed issues with desync during multiplayer matches.
  
• Fixed bugs loading into the multiplayer menu both client and host side.
  
• Added multithreading to unit move calculations.
  
• Fixed issue where the Farmers assigned to a Resource Flag would continue to work on their assigned resource node when the AOI (Area of Influence) was no longer contained in that node.
  
• Fixed issue where the same resource can be added multiple times in the top resource bar from the dropdown menu.
  
• Fixed issue where removing and then adding a worker to a building with another worker already assigned no longer results in their animations overlapping.
  
• Fixed an issue with loading where units may not responding to users.
  
• Add space-to-pause.
  
• Esc menu no longer blocked by Event UI.
  
• Added Event UI minimizing.
  
• Fixed locked upgrades not locking correctly

• We are aware of an issue affecting frame rates and memory usage. Please make sure to enable V-SYNC and restart your computer.
  
• Some labels on buttons may be displayed as ‘Default’
  
• Multiplayer load times are longer than expected.
  
• Localization is still in progress; certain text prompts may display incorrect information.
  
• Some animations may not seem 100% correct with villagers appearing to walk in place outside buildings where they are assigned to work, or performing incorrect actions.
  
• Fires in the early game may feel overwhelming. Ensure that you have placed Wells within the Area of Influence, and have villagers working at Wells. This should enable you to extinguish them.
  
• Some buildings may not seem to generate their resources. Ensure that the structure has access to a Primitive Stockpile/Stockpile in range (or more than one!) and is not overworked. If this does not solve the problem, demolish and rebuild the structure to solve the issue.
  
• Apple production may feel slow. Ensure plenty of apple orchards are planted to support the village.
  
• Edict menu may behave unusually during onboarding. This will cease once it is complete.
  
• UI popups may appear on top of each other - and you can continue to play the game while they are open. This applies to Tutorial steps, Menus and Narrative Events.
  
• Events currently do not pause gameplay, as the intent is to be able to minimize them and revisit as-needed. This feature is coming soon.
  
• Within the Jobs menu, the Tavern icon may incorrectly display the Farmer icon.
  
• The count of resources may spill over the allotted space within the top bar HUD
  
• You can only prioritize one building at a time. This is an intended limitation.
  
• You are unable to delete a trade route once it has been created. You can, however, change the resource slots as desired.
  
• Waelgrim Surges are present but will be expanded in Early Access.
  
• The game may take a long time to exit to the main menu (after building a large village)
  
• Loading and Saving the game can take some time to complete.
  After the ‘Preparing for Expansion’ tutorial step, you will need to establish a proper settlement and not just a wheat farm, for the settlement to properly function.
  
• You will need a Grim Stores to properly deal with Waelgrim Crystal. It can be unlocked through Events.
  
• The Tome of Knowledge (research tree) can be accessed through your Keeps UI, or via the top-left menu. The second button from the left (Sword and Book icon) represents this tree, and will allow you to unlock various new elements of gameplay.

We’ve includes some helpful tips and tricks to getting started in Thrive

Preparing for expansion
• When deploying a caravan, the placement has to be within range of a stockpile – but not too close
  - An alert (red triangle) may show on the menu pop-out that there is no storage within range
  This is a minor bug – and the caravan can be filled with resources
  - Press the purple button to automatically load the caravan; it may take some time to load, but the caravan will be loaded with stones, rocks and farmers for settling in a new province
  - Players need to press the green deploy button to continue through the tutorial
  
  
  Cultivating Wheat
• Once they have traveled to a new province, players need to deploy the caravan using the button on the caravan popup HUD
  - Select the Traders Hut after pressing deploy (this is not highlighted)
  - Begin building in a new province
  
  
  Creating Trade Routes
• Ensure the caravan is packed before starting this step to enable the creation of trade routes
  
• Within trade routes, tooltips will display ‘default’
  - The food category is represented by the fish icon
  - Wheat is the yellow icon (next to the water drop
  
• To assign a caravan, press the ‘Add Caravan’ button near the top of the trade menu
  
• Introduction of edicts step 1/3 may appear before pressing the Accept button at the bottom of the Trade menu
  - It currently activates with the trade menu open (before the accept button is pressed to begin a trade route)
  
• You are unable to send villagers between villages through the trade route menu
  
  
  Understanding Edicts
• The Edict button is not highlighted when this tutorial is activated
  - It is the red button between Jobs and Trade
  - To view the Edict associated with Taxed Food Delivery, you need to scroll down in this menu
  
• To construct a Smelter, the 20 laborers required is the count among all villages
  - The Smelter is found within the Laborers menu
  - The smelter can be constructed in either the starting or second village established
  
  
  Military Preparations
• Ensure the smelter is functioning to generate Iron Ingots to construct the Armory
  - When activating a smelter, ensure that you are generating enough Firewood
  - In order to produce military rations, ensure a Pork Ranch is constructed (found within the farmers menu)
  
• Currently in the Beta build Hunting Lodge can be built anywhere including the starting province and it will produce the hide you need regardless of what animals

—————

Until we next meet…

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is available to Wishlist on Steam now!

Social Links:
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Website - Official Website
Discord - Join our Discord community
X/Twitter - Follow us @thrivehltc
Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Find out more about PlaySide Publishing on its official website

To learn more about Zugalu Entertainment, please visit its official website

• NEW Feature: Mute Abusive Words (Find in Audio Settings)
  
• Minor Audio Improvements

Hi there,
This is Black Stigma.

Week 1 of the Latin America region will begin soon.

※ The updates below will be reflected starting from testing in this region.




[UI-UX]

- When using the store in each round of ‘Kill ‘Em All’ mode,
　a notification has been added for damaged armor that requires repair.



- The setting has been changed so that the one-person dummy in the training ground automatically attacks the player.
　* You can change the attack and attack stop settings by interacting with the controller in front of the one-person dummy with the F key.




We're always working to make Black Stigma better.

Thank you.

from. BLACK STIGMA Team



Discord X (Twitter) Facebook Youtube

Patch Notes 1/12/2023 - Version 0.88 - Weather System & Promotional Community Set Preorders Live

Weather comes back to Infinity Wars!
Celebrate the festive season as the snow blankets Infinity Wars, just in time for December and the joyous spirit of Christmas, transitioning to refreshing rain after the New Year.
More weather types to come!

Promotional Community Set Preorders Live!

Next week the following cards will be released, preorder them now to get access to exclusive platinum versions of the following cards:
- Soul Reaper
- Benionin, Mage Guild Archivist
- Blueleaf, The Scroll Keeper
- Dalton, The Blood Hunter
- Bemmie, Paragon of Community

Sign-up to our Patreon to automatically preorder this and future community sets in platinum.

Changes:
- Enabled Christmas for those on the nice list. (Not you)
- The card Acid Rain now temporarily changes the weather to Acid Rain.

Fixes:
- Fixed Inevitable dead not triggering from hand if no other Inevitable dead are in deck
- Fixed the Burg, Root of Resurrection battlefield failing to load.
- Fixed various bugs & soft-locks present in Tutorial 3.
- Fixed incorrect pricing on the Patreon banner in the store

Other news:
Blog Post #4 is out!
In this article Teremus talks about the state of Infinity Wars and the upcoming Community Set as we move closer to the end of the 2023.

In the dark world of "SERAPH : IN THE DARKNESS", the Barbarians are a group of agile and immensely powerful warriors renowned for their wild strength and fearless courage. Born in jungles, prairies, or deserts, they have forged profound connections with nature. Their robust physique and adaptability to harsh environments make them one of the most suitable warriors to bravely fight on the battlefield.



Barbarians are known for their ferocious combat style, excelling in wielding massive two-handed weapons such as giant axes or swords to tear enemies apart. Their strength stems not only from muscle power but also from the untamed force within. In battle, Barbarians can enter a state of fury, boosting their attack power and survivability, making them even more fearless in chaotic battlegrounds.



In addition to formidable combat skills, Barbarians possess special abilities connected to nature. They can summon storms, earthquakes, or flames, bringing these forces of nature into the battlefield to deal devastating blows to enemies. These abilities make Barbarians invincible in close combat and showcase formidable power when engaging enemies at a distance.



Barbarians typically wander alone, embracing the life of a free spirit. They enjoy roaming in nature, seeking new opportunities and challenges for battle. Despite their wild performance on the battlefield, in moments of peace, they can reflect thoughtfully and protect those unable to defend themselves.



Whether the wind blows across the grasslands or deep within the jungle, the presence of Barbarians symbolizes a primal force. They are the storms on the battlefield, an unstoppable force, an undeniable presence in the world of "SERAPH : IN THE DARKNESS".

"Hira Hira Hihiru" has been update.

[Changes]
Fixed display problems of Simplified Chinese and English in some scenes.

Please use the steam update function to update your game.