"Golden Joy" is a unique event that allows you to get resources, you spend gold coins and get rewards in return.


Best regards, JTGGame Team!

I’m a little tardy in writing this post because I’ve spent the last 2 days in meetings figuring out what we focus on next. Combat was all-hands-on-deck to get it out, then everyone and everything to patch it last week.




Combat represents a new foundation from which we can build. And build we shall. The rest of the game to be exact!


Our next formal release I call Rival Mages to add the ability to fight mages, starting with rival mages. The new combat system makes this pretty easy to do.

Why are we doing this? There were a couple of outstanding tasks I want to address from when we did the mini-update or Rivals.

• Hunt down your rival mages in the world and kill em.
  
  
  • We’ll add in the ability to befriend them with benefits later, right now we’re getting the fighting part working.
• Make rivals appropriately respond to you (instead of being clueless when you talk to them)
  
• Add a showdown mage battle to the end of the Mabren’s Tower Quest
  
• Add a better reward to the Mabren’s Tower for completing the quest
  
• Add in a new NPC reaction system. This is prep for the next big update.

This update is only going to take a few weeks to make. Will surprise everyone with a date once it is done.

(Man! We really need to stop doing all these unplanned releases and get to work on the roadmap!)


Almost a year ago I had to put together a roadmap so people could generally know what I’m trying to make with this game. One of the challenges of publishing a bullet pointed list of features is it doesn’t allow room to listen to the game and see if a feature is just a neat idea or really what the game needs.

So for exploration we’re going to focus on these core features:

1. Dynamic quests - having the game generate quests based on local data. Starting with two types:
   
   
   • Kill Named Monster quest
     
   • Find Named object quest
2. Create our first faction: The Conclave. A simple version of it.
   
   
   • Ability to climb up some ranks with some rewards
     
   • Hands out quests using the Dynamic Quest engine
3. Update the map generation
   
   
   • It’s way too mountain heavy in the middle
     
   • Have better more meaningful biomes
     
   • Better distribution of lairs for where the player starts
4. Improve interacting with Points of Interest on the map
   
   
   • Finding lairs
     
   • Seeing and encountering patrols
     
   • Finding resources
5. A new UI with new HUD
   
   
6. Get rid of dumb stuff that bothers us
   
   
   • All the stupid tracks everywhere
     
   • Stamina -> replace with Fatigue system
     
   • Nourishment bar -> replace with Hunger system
     
   • Pick axes being the only way to get a resource instead of something magical
     
   • Exploration rolls and the “Hex View” screen entirely, it’ll be replaced above with better points of interest

You will notice Weather and Seasons didn’t make that list. I’ve decided it isn’t important right now. The Conclave faction functionality will provide way more engagement than the seasons changing. Seasons isn’t necessarily cut, I’m just pushing it down the roadmap somewhere else.


Last week’s patch was massive. It was so massive we were testing late into Thursday night still trying to get it out, but found some serious problems. In total it contained some 40+ fixes, of which the release notes covered the highlights.

This week we are working on these issues:

• Ability to use items you sold - hard crash
  
• Weaponsmith dialogue breaking
  
• Dialogue underline click handling issues
  
• Quest giver changing based on conversation (Ashpeef)
  
• Trap click options not working (Mumzhar)
  
• Healer not treating injuries (You had one job!)
  
• Healer not accepting relationship discounts
  
• Innkeeper losing quest options
  
• Weapon stats issues
  
• Skeleton corpses not reforming twice

You had one job!

During the event, total silver consumption in enhancing equips and upgrading buildings will be calculated and top players who spent the most silver will be rewarded. Your efforts will not go unnoticed, keep the prizes and win!


Best regards JTGGame Team!

Game Island and Toplitz Productions are pleased to reveal that their first-person survival adventure game, Serum, will have a playable demo in the forthcoming Steam NEXT Fest starting Feb 5th.

Check out the new trailer; with only five days to go before your survival skills are put to the test, we’ve got five reasons why you should play the Serum demo.

Engage in a battle for survival against the clock where crafting weapons and traps is essential in surviving a brutal world. Uncover the EVAS conspiracy, explore a world in ruin, and craft various Serum recipes, each granting distinct skills crucial for overcoming the diverse array of enemies lurking in the hazardous environment.

Serum, the enigmatic elixir, will be crucial to your survival and will become a lifeline in the race against the surging global plague known as the Blight.

The NEXT Fest demo will give you your first true hands-on experience of the game as you embark on an exhilarating journey into the heart of darkness. SERUM will challenge you in your quest for survival; your melee and combat skills will be put to the ultimate test against the pressure of time as you venture into a world forever changed.



Join the conversation on our Discord and stay up to date with Serum news and updates on our social channels.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1610520

Hello Everyone!

After a good month working on the previous update as well as planning the incoming year, we can now present what awaits you this year in Northgard!
You can expect a new way of handling the updates, and some content added thanks to the feedback and suggestion of the active players of the community.

Enough talk for now, here is the plans for Northgard in 2024...

As stated last year, the Lobby Finder was tested in Multiplayer and we received a lot of feedback and suggestions to improve on the current system. That is why our first update will focus on this as well as other improvements on the UI that were long requested.

More news will be shared soon, and you can already set yourself for an open beta incoming later this month to test it all out before it goes live!







Answering the feedback on the recent updates, we decided to split the DLC releases in two key moments. Those moments will be sorted in two times.
At first the community update, adding new content for everyone to enjoy for free
Then, nurturing on the new content of the last update, a new clan for everyone to claim and master

For Claws & Jaws, expect a focus on the wild beasts of Northgard, and a new clan being as feral and aggressive as them.

For Trade & Prestige, we’ll look into a way to enhance the experience of the victory of the same name. Giving it more depth and adding a new challenge on it. This will be added with several enhancements around that subject and with a new clan focused on the economy.







As some of you might have guessed with the annual survey, we know a lot of you care for the Conquest and wanted to address some of your desire toward an evolution of this mod!
The survey showed a deep care for the actual format of the conquest as well as a desire to discover a new format for those missions. With that in mind, we’ll come back on this during the summer with more information for you to have.

---

We’re not the only ones who have a lot planned this year, our community thrives in creativity and inspiration. Two reached out to us to share their work and we want to share it with you as well. Click on the images below to see their work!

Northgard’s Shores, a fan-song made by Bart Zeal & The Musical Cartograph


Relive the saga of Rig in a musical way



Northgard tournament finale hosted by Larsman


Coming the 4th of February at 18H GMT+1 on Twitch


We wish them the best of luck! There are some of the other content creators that we haven’t shared here but are posting their content on a regular basis. We want to thank them as well!

Thank you all for reading this, we hope you enjoyed what was announced today! We still hold a lot of surprises for you, so be sur to stay updated on Steam and to join the community! Choose your new clans among the clan of the Discord, the Reddit, and the Steam!
You can also find us using Facebook and other! Thanks again for your attention and see you soon for more info on the open beta.

-Shiro Community Team

Hello, Darfall community!

It’s me Lukas and we have some thrilling news to share that marks a new era in the journey of Darfall. We are incredibly proud and excited to announce our partnership with the renowned game publisher, Paradox! More specifically, their Arc initiative.

This collaboration is not just a milestone for us at SquareNite, but also a testament to the potential of Darfall.

For us, collaborating with Paradox is a dream realized. Their commitment to crafting quality, strategic games that captivate players for countless hours aligns perfectly with our vision for Darfall.

Check out the announcement trailer!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1961600/Darfall/

Before we dive into what this means for Darfall, let's take a moment to appreciate the people behind the scenes. Here's a snapshot of our first office we set up beginning of this month, where magic happens every day.

From left to right, meet Erik, Lukas, and Martin:




January has been a month of relentless passion and hard work for our team. Here's a sneak peek into what each of us has been up to:

Lukas:

• Generating of voice overs for all the human units
  
• Cage captive system for map camps
  
• Added abilities to elites and bosses
  
• Hero gathering animations (finally!)

Martin:

• UI improvements and art for the “survival timer”
  
• Forging of our company logo
  
• Improving the survival world map
  
• Guidance of music composer for Darfall

Erik:

• Getting to know the project!
  
• Adding abilities to undead Graveguard elite
  
• Implementing the “survival timer” into UI
  
• Giving loot chests some special features
  
• Added numerous new tutorial steps

As we progress towards our early access in the upcoming months, let's go over the newest additions in more details.

Handcrafted Soundtracks

Thanks to our Paradox cooperation, we're excited to welcome Robert Bruckmayer, an exceptionally talented Slovak music composer, to our team.

He'll be meticulously crafting the soundtracks for Darfall, starting with the main theme that you can hear in our announcement trailer. This soundtrack resonates every time we hear it, capturing and elevating the essence of the Darfall universe.

Survival Timer

The “Survival Timer” now displays not only each impending undead invasion night but also the countdown to the ultimate challenge - the final demonic invasion.



Boss Abilities

Our elites and bosses now boast unique abilities, adding an extra layer of tactical depth to your gameplay. Here is a peek at the Blazing Overlord, the formidable final boss in survival mode.

'

This demon leaves a trail of fire in his path and occasionally unleashes a radial inferno, challenging you to adapt your troop positions swiftly to escape his scorching wrath.

Loot Chests & Art

Our loot chests have undergone a stunning transformation, both visually and functionally.

We're proud to introduce Jakub, a supremely talented freelance artist who has joined our team to elevate Darfall's visual aesthetics. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the revamped chest models:



Main Menu Concept Art

We're also sprucing up our main menu in preparation for the grand release. The main menu concept art is currently being crafted by our talented concept artist friend, Dalibor.

Here are a few sketches from the work he has done. We will reveal the final concept art in upcoming dev blogs!




Studio Logo

And finally, feast your eyes on the newly minted logo for our studio, SquareNite, created by Martin!



This logo symbolizes a “squared knight”, imbued with elements from Darfall, to signify our first game. The three peaks in the helmet crown design pay homage to Slovakia's national emblem.

And More...

This is just a small glimpse of what's to come. We have many more features and additions up our sleeves, which we'll either leave as surprises or gradually unveil in our upcoming dev blogs. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!


Our partnership with Paradox is a game-changer, quite literally. Thanks to the partnership with Paradox, we’ve been able to make some significant enhancements to Darfall.

This includes huge improvements to sound effects, the hiring of a skilled music composer who will bring audio experience to the next level, and additional talented artists to elevate the game’s visual experience. Their support has been instrumental in bringing our vision for Darfall closer to reality.


As we move closer to our early access release, we want to thank our community from Discord and other social media for your support. Your feedback, enthusiasm, and love for Darfall have been our driving force. Stay tuned for more updates, and get ready to experience a world like no other in Darfall!

With gratitude and excitement,
The SquareNite Team, from beyond the darkness of Darfall.

Come join me as I play through a few runs of Auto RiskRisk, the equipment based auto battler!
Suggest strategies we can try out, ask questions or watch how it's played.

Make sure to try out the demo for yourself.
If the game seems promising remember to wishlist the game
Join the community to share your strategies or follow the development.

Dear Silica Community,

First of all, we’d like to wish you all a happy 2024, and thank you for your constant support and feedback last year. During that time, Dram was able to address many issues and bugs, and also managed to implement new features which were highly appraised.
Silica was announced on April 6th, 2023 as the first game under our renewed Bohemia Incubator. It entered Early Access on Steam less than a month later. So far it’s been a pretty wild ride.

Over the past year, we’ve delivered nearly 25 updates, ranging from simple hotfixes to the reworking of entire features like:

• Improving harvester pathfinding
  
• Adding outposts and turrets to better defend your base
  
• Significantly increasing performance in the later stages of matches
  
• Balancing gameplay
  
• Playing with the attributes of various units and structures
  
• Adding 9 air units to the game
  
• Dedicated servers

That’s what 2023 looked like. Now let’s discuss what comes next – a.k.a the Road Map for Silica in 2024!
The original plan was to release 1.0 and exit Early Access in May 2024. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of things we’d like to finish before that happens. We want Silica to be in the best condition possible, so we’ve decided to push the release date back to Q4 of 2024.
In the meantime, we'll be focusing on:

• AI Units
  
• Balancing and the game‘s performance, which is our community’s biggest pain point
  
• Introducing VoIP, including proximity chat
  
• Hover bikes for human infantry units (our main focus in Q1 as a much-needed way to cover large distances)
  
• The Alien Queen – representing the main unit for the alien race
  
• Respawn mechanics
  
• Reworking or adding maps, including capture points such as bunkers, new maps, and adding new biomes
  
• Implementing quality of life improvements
  
• Adding new features, like further enhancements in the RTS part of the game (e.g. adding an attack move)
  
• Revamping the UI to improve its usability
  
• Improving the multiplayer matchmaking system (based on player skill and rank)
  
• We also plan on providing tutorials to help new players

Following that, Q3 and Q4 will be dedicated to the full release of Silica 1.0!
As you can see, there’s a lot to do and much to look forward to. If you‘re interested in a more detailed description of the roadmap, check out the video made by Dram. And if you want to show off that you’re a part of the Silica community, check here.
Finally, to show you that work on Silica never stops, here’s the changelog for the latest game update v.0.8.22:

• Added: Server list now uses info from game servers API rather than lobbies
  
• Added: 'FPS' console command to get current FPS
  
• Added: 'ServerFPS' console command to get current FPS on server (even on client)
  
• Added: Join command to join a server based on ID
  
• Added: Logging of network upload/download rates
  
• Added: NetRate and ServerNetRate console commands to get upload/download rates
  
• Added: Hit effect to Colossus' eye weak point
  
• Improved: Debug logging includes timestamps
  
• Changed: Debug logging moved from 'C:\Users\USER\AppData\LocalLow\Bohemia Interactive\Silica\Player.log' to 'C:\Users\USER\Documents\Silica\Game.log'
  
• Changed: Only HQ is a major structure now
  
• Changed: Colossus' eye weak point is active only when shooting
  
• Changed: Colossus' eye weak point damage multiplier from 2.5 to 10
  
• Changed: Hunter health from 4500 to 3000
  
• Fixed: Hotfix for 'Error executing m_dryGroup->getWaveData' spamming console
  
• Fixed: Long AI response wait time on Strategy match restart as navigation data is reloaded vs rebuilt
  
• Fixed: Hovered vehicles' rotation used wrong axis causing instability
  
• Fixed: All details correctly sent to dedicated server commander

We look forward to having you with us in 2024, and hope that Silica 1.0 will meet your expectations.
Thank you for your support and see you on Baltarus!

The demo of the Menace from the Deep game is now available to all enthusiasts!

I invite everyone interested to immerse themselves in the dark world of the game. If you enjoyed the demo and are anticipating the full version, be sure to add it to your wishlist. It will really expedite its release.

Don't forget to recommend the game to friends and even to content creators because the demo already has enough content for 1.5-2 hours of gameplay. Have a great day!

- Reworked UI for a better gaming experience
- Disabled Tutorial (for now)
- Fixed a bug where buffs would last longer than intended