Hello there! Today's update closes the upgrade section. This leaves the Mandrillians with the Smoke Screen, Firebomb, Plasma Gun, Scanner, Self-Destruct, Healer, Armor, and Insta-Spawn, adding some well-needed depth to the PC side gameplay. I also added the option for PC players to adjust their individual joystick deadzone at any point in the match (very useful for Remote Play sessions)

On top of that, there's some important news regarding the future of the game's audio system, but first let's go over today's new upgrades:

These two are quite the heavy hitters, both have some unique features and both massively increase the Mandrillians' survivability.

The healer is unique among the "special move" upgrades in that it has two modes. Tapping the special move button will quickly heal the Mandrillian at a rate of 100 points/second during 1 second. This is enough to get a (standard) monkey to full HP in any situation. It will also give you back up to 3 stamina points, which can come in handy and be used for some devastating combos.



Holding the button will instead release the healing chemicals, affecting both you and nearby Mandrillians. This mode won't give any stamina gain, and its effect will only heal half of what the self-injection does while also being spread over 5 seconds instead of 1. However, it can be a very powerful tool, especially when used to get a monkey teammate out of a status effect like poison gas.



The armor is a familiar face with some tweaks. It's the same armor that has been available for the Mandrillian Bots since their debut, with some small modifications, like some extra protection for the eye area. It's also the first "passive" upgrade, meaning it doesn't replace the special move nor the tracking ability. You just wear it.



This chunky armor will protect you from most conventional weaponry, being basically impervious to any non-armor piercing bullet. Usually, the fastest way to die as a Mandrillian is to charge head-on against the Robot and getting shot in the face. This armor covers most of your front, allowing you to take way more risks and forcing the Robot to be more creative.

The armor still has weakpoints: getting shot in any non-armored area will still damage you as normal, and it won't protect you against electric shocks, poison gas, flash grenades or fire. Explosives can also ruin your day, so don't think you're invincible!

Ok, the important news here. As many of you know, split audio has been a pain in my behind since this game's inception. Every solution I have tried either straight out didn't work or had some unacceptable drawback like excessive audio delay, not to mention the possible incompatibilities with Remote Play Together. Right now my only option is doing a full audio system revamp porting it to either FMOD or Wwise. I'm not too unhappy with my current rudimentary shared-audio solution; for me and for many players it is acceptable but I can't deny it's far from ideal.

Well, I decided that before starting with the insectoid enemies I should just have a go at my final attempt to full port. After careful consideration, I think FMOD is a more sensible option for me than Wwise, so that's what I'm gonna be working on from this week on. If I manage to pull this off, VR and PC players will have their own audio outputs (the VR one being way more phsyically accurate, and the PC one being a more basic split-screen mix). I know there's at least a couple local VR games that have managed to do it (and also got it working in Remote Play which is a pretty big deal), so I wanna think it's possible for me.

This means the next month might look a bit silent on the main branch but will be absolute madness on the experimental branch (I might end up making an experimental audio branch just for testing this thing). There are no guarantees I will succeed in this attempt, but at least I'll be able to say I tried. Worst case scenario, I will lose a month and be right back to were I'm today, and start working with the Insectoids.

As always, if you want to be continuously and annoyingly updated to every little progress I make (and maybe get people to play with over Remote Play) you can join the official discord server.

Have a nice day!

• New Mandrillian upgrade: Healer
  
• New Mandrillian upgrade: Armor
  
• Reduced damage armor-piercing weaponry does to armor (it was actually doing more damage than hitting non-armored spots)
  
• Joystick deadzone now adjustable per-player on the Mandrillians' settings menu (press start/enter)
  
• Adjusted some upgrade prices
  
• Reduced cooldown in Smoke Screen, Firebomb and Plasma Gun
  
• Robot's footsteps no longer appear on minimap if sprinting around a dead monkey
  
• Damage controller rumble no longer happens after death
  
• Fixed Plasma Gun not blowing up mines
  
• Fixed upgrades not displaying the dissolve effect on corpse despawn
  
• Fixed the first-time-launch screen on the main menu being absent for new players
  
• Optimized the main menu scene a bit
  
• Fixed a small visual bug on the monkey vat's mesh
  
• Fixed horizontal/vertical split screen indicator in the main menu always starting as "horizontal"
  
• i forgor💀

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Supreme Collegium!

We are gathered here today to celebrate this momentous event. Thousands of hours of work by the staff of the development bureau were not in vain: on January 26th, a demo version of the laws of Nadragia will appear before you! Let's say loudly: three cheers!

In the demo version, you can start your journey for a simple bastard - Aiden Fair, who received the non-repudiable honor of becoming a prosecutor in our new state. Aiden will have a hard time on his way: many bandits and enemies of the state will be executed thanks to his work. But we at the supreme collegium believe that he will meet our expectations. Well... Or he'll end up on the gallows himself, ha-ha!

The demo version will be the first working day of the new prosecutor, and its passage will presumably take you from 1 to 2 hours (depending on your style of play).

At the moment, the development bureau is busy sending letters to video-talkers and the press. Let's give a standing ovation to our colleagues and thank them for the hard but useful daily work that has borne fruit!

*applause*

It's Friday and it's business as usual! It's good to be back!

According to our word count, the project has increased by roughly 30K words since the last patron release, meaning Infinite Stars is roughly 160K words long so far, or just a bit longer than J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers! (I'll share exact numbers with the release, but it'll probably be a bit more by then!)

To those of you who have been keeping me company on the livestreams, thank you! You know who you are. It helps keep me focused and motivated!

I've also added some of the old, new backgrounds that I haven't had time to implement until now, as well as a bunch of entirely new backgrounds for the new content. You can see the examples below of how the new bridge looks.

(You can compare them over here!)

I've also added some of the previously revealed sprites to the game this week (Sonia, Lindi and Nikau)

If that wasn't enough, with the next release being around the corner, I've also added some new patron portraits that will be waiting for you in the roster!



As you can see, I've been super busy! I can't wait to share the new build with everyone! If you see one of our patrons in the wild, give them a pat on the back– none of this would've been possible without them! Infinite Stars is still a passion project, and I'll continue working on it even without funding, albeit at a slower pace. Their support makes it possible for me to justify spending a large amount of time on Infinite Stars! <3

I appreciate all of you! Have a peaceful weekend, stay safe and go do something fun to treat yourself!

We have partially updated the UI of the home screen and world map!
We hope it has become a little easier to play. (I know it's still not enough...)
We plan to update the UI for a while, then update the features and fix bugs.


Fixed layout of home screen
Changed background of home screen
Added help display to world map

As we step into the new year, the keen-eyed dwarves among you will have noticed, we are in fact in Q1 of 2024, which can only mean one thing. The Early Access Launch is close!

We know it can be hard to wait, so to stave off your hunger for gold and minerals, we will share some development insight nuggets with you every week until launch. Let’s dive right into the subject of today’s post: Biomes.

The first biome you will explore is the Crystalline Caverns where we want to introduce you to the mechanics of the game. The lack of hazards lets you explore the concept of mining as a means to influence the level and shape it to your advantage while simultaneously exploiting it for its natural resources. Less complex, but full of destructible crystals, giant gaps in the terrain, and rocks that can be mined to create escape routes or choke points.



With the lack of hazards in this biome, we consider it a stepping stone or a greenbeard tutorial if you will. We might explore adding more features to it as the game evolves.


Keep on drilling and you’ll reach the bubbly and scorching Magma Core biome. Thank god we sent a scout out there first!

Magma Core is a total contrast to Crystalline Caverns, presenting a way more aggressive and hazardous environment. Lava can help you by slowing, damaging, and routing bugs, but it can also burn your toes, so choose your battles and choke points wisely!



Another element we have lifted from DRG is explosive plants. These herbal fireworks will explode when you get too close to them. Avoid them but exploit them(!) to do some serious AoE damage.



After all that smoke and heat we can finally get some fresh air in the third and final biome: Hollow Bough.

Our main goal in translating this biome from DRG to DRG:S is to convey the dense and organic feel of the bough with vines sprawling from all sides, resulting in a cramped and tangled mess.

We want the environment to feel restrictive, but to also offer a unique gameplay element by adding destructible vines that grow back shortly after you clear them. This lets you make new and interesting choices in your approach to setting up choke points and eradicating enemies that you don’t get in any other biome.



This wraps up our sneak peek into the biomes that will be available at the Early Access Launch! We plan on releasing more biomes during Early Access and improving the existing ones based on your feedback.

For now, it’s about time to go back to our development mines and dig away at our to-do lists. Stay tuned for the next post where we’ll be sharing some info about the enemies of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.

Rock and Stone!
The Funday Dwarves

The festive period and the beginning of a new calendar year is always a great time to get to grips with a new save challenge in Football Manager.

Finding the right club can be tricky though, so we’ve pulled together 12 interesting save ideas for you, ranging from established giants to clubs with celebrity owners and some making their series debuts in Football Manager 2024.

To read more about the clubs, head over to The Byline.

For extra Glourious Leader love, the office landline is now connected properly.

I am sure 100s of phone calls will be wonderful.

Modifications to Yulia's "Panzer Ace!" strategy effect:
2. Whenever you choose a AP turret, Muzzle Velocity +3% -> Critical +5%
5. Whenever you choose a Yulia's skill, Critical +10% -> Reload speed +10%
9. Whenever you choose a APCR turret, Probability of shell go through target after penetration +3% -> +10%

-Fixed the bug where enemies on the Forest map were blocked by trees.
-Fixed the bug where vehicles couldn't be flipped over.
-Fixed the bug where boss battle music would occasionally disappear.
-Attempted to fix the feature where enemies would stack on top of each other.

Greetings, Royals!

The playtest for Kingsgrave is over, and we’re ready to announce some changes based on your feedback.



Firstly, we want to thank you for the support, activity, and patience you showed during the playtest, as well as the ideas you shared with us. We have carefully reviewed everything and made a plan for the upcoming changes to the next build. Here are some of the them we’ve been starting to implement into Kingsgrave:

• Repositioning puzzle elements. All crucial riddles essential for the main storyline will now be placed in the surrounding territories and won’t be scattered across the entire map.
  
• Making complex riddles optional, eliminating frustration and allowing a smoother progression through the plot.
  
• Introducing more dialogues for NPCs (similar to the Cartographer) who will impart pieces of the story, immersing the player in the world’s lore.
  
• Providing more detailed descriptions for weaponry and buildings so that players can make informed decisions on resource spending and understand the bonuses they will receive.
  
• Highlighting interaction objects and collectibles will be available as a basic skill.
  
• Rebalancing the amount of resources at the beginning of the game to prevent player frustration if they miss some.
  
• Adding a visual effect to the location torch when the area is cleared.
  
• Implementing a visual transformation of lands cleared from darkness.
  
• Increasing the hitboxes for the weapon.
  
• Widening the bridges to prevent characters from getting stuck.
  
• Reworking sound and visual effects for a more immersive experience.
  
• Changing the position of some puzzles.
  
• Refining the main menu and death/pause windows.
  
• Enhancing the options menu and other UI elements.

You will soon be able to try out all these changes and more in the demo, which will be a part of the Steam Next Fest next month. Thank you for your participation and support!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2644360/Kingsgrave