We proudly present ourselves as the Soulmask development team, and recently, Soulmask has launched its demo at the Steam Next Fest, officially introducing our game to everyone. This also signifies that the release of Soulmask Early Access is drawing nearer, and we are filled with immense excitement as we intensify our efforts in crafting the EA version.
As a passionate team deeply rooted in the world of gaming, we aim not only to create enjoyable gaming experiences but also to produce works with a meaningful and soulful essence Although our team may not be large in scale, most of us possess over a decade of game development experience, and our design team has a wealth of diverse gaming backgrounds.
With utmost confidence, we believe we can deliver an exceptional creation in the form of Soulmask and present this intriguing world of the unknown to you as soon as possible.
Sandbox games possess an unparalleled charm that captivates, allowing individuals to immerse themselves in the freedom of exploration, creation, and the ability to shape their world. After years of game development, we have come to appreciate the allure of sandbox games, thus deciding to focus on creating open-world sandbox survival games. Soulmask, as our debut title, will be built upon a rigorous world-building foundation.
Allow us to briefly introduce a few key features of Soulmask.
Welcome to this authentic world.
In Soulmask, we strive to construct a coherent world governed by its own set of logical and realistic rules. For instance, there are vast environmental differences between regions, an immersive weather system with dynamic weather transitions, and the extensive influence of factors such as temperature, wind, and rainfall. These elements exert a profound influence over the game, whether it be the visual and auditory perception of living beings or the distinct traits and behaviors of the creatures that inhabit this vast land, and each barbarian inhabiting this land possessing their unique personality, hobbies, and innate talents, among other aspects.
Acquire unique masks, embark on consciousness transfer, and ascend the soul.
Since obtaining the first mask, you are no longer the same. Your consciousness has been transferred, your soul has become eternal. You will merge with the mask, traversing this vast world brimming with untamed wilderness, exploring ancient ruins, gathering materials of ancient technology to constantly repair the nodes of the mask, and acquiring new abilities and knowledge.
Particularly, after obtaining a mask, you can utilize its abilities to synchronize cognition, recruit tribesmen, and transfer the mask to different individuals. By synchronizing with different tribesmen, you can engage in production and combat, gaining completely distinct gameplay experiences (switching between controlling different characters). Furthermore, in this world, Soulmask offers more than a single mask. You will come across numerous astounding ancient masks within a plethora of underground ruins, each possessing its unique characteristics and abilities. Discover them, restore them, and adorn them according to your preferences, achieving a "thousand-faced" persona."
Recruit barbarians, and build your tribe.
In this world, several powerful barbarians are savage and brutal in the early stages of civilization. We can recruit the best among them by using our masks, making them our tribesmen. Occasionally, some exiles have experienced similar difficulties as us and willingly join our ranks. Through continuous recruitment, training, learning, and improvement, our tribe constantly grows and develops.
Our tribe members have diverse personalities and interests, possessing various top-tier talents and abilities. They are skilled in different weapons and excel in various production crafts. Together, we will strive to increase our production, enhance our strength, and explore this world, seeking the secrets behind the masks.
Equip yourself with suitable weapons and face real battles.
Our battles are highly realistic: launching attacks consumes stamina, which may expose vulnerabilities. Seize the opportunity during the enemy's attacks to strike them hard. The game offers 8 types of weapons, each with different action modules and completely different attack rhythms. It is crucial to choose the appropriate weapon based on different scenarios. Additionally, during battles, you can also perform deflection at the moment the enemy attacks, briefly subduing them and gaining an opportunity to strike.
Furthermore, the game also includes damage type classification, enemy weak point systems, and damage calculation for specific body parts. By observing the enemy's weak points, luring their attacks, gathering information, selecting the right weapons, honing your combat skills, and adapting to unforeseen circumstances, victory can be achieved.
The above content only scratches the surface of Soulmask. Moving forward, we will maintain a certain frequency in announcing the development progress and engage in deep discussions with players about our new ideas and game concepts.
We acknowledge that our game, like any other masterpiece, is not without flaws. We humbly express our gratitude for your invaluable feedback and unwavering support. Your opinions will be collected through various channels, and we welcome you to contact us in any way possible. While continuing with our original development plans and striving to complete the main game content as soon as possible, we will also focus on addressing the feedback and concerns raised by players, especially regarding game guidance and usability.
“After 40 hours, my bonfire still blazes - akin to a graceful dance in the game”. Amyrlin's heartfelt comment from the Steam community has reinforced our resolve to create a world brimming with enchantment and mystery.
Lastly, as a response to everyone's enthusiasm for the game's trial version, thanks to the intensified efforts of our development team, we have decided to open the private game mode and the LAN server mode of the game on February 5th, providing everyone with a better trial experience.
Once again, we express our gratitude for your love and support, and let us witness the growth and development of Soulmask together!
Development of the vaccine for the Dooper Virus has reached a critical new milestone, but there are some adjustments and improvements that we need to share with you.
Here's the list of fixes:
The Booth Clerk continuously charges the player even if they couldn't afford the Vascular Pass the first time.
Changing the game language will now reflect in saved files (the language will be locked to what was saved in the file previously).
Removed the ability to hover over the Language option with M&K in the Pause Menu outside of the Main Menu to prevent confusion (Language can only be changed in the Main Menu).
Proton Smasher Bullets will now be destroyed upon colliding with destructible walls.
Distributor Titles for DocX and Phoebe will display correctly.
Closing the Shop Menu would lock the position value of the selector, preventing the player from scrolling through items in the shop correctly until they left the room and came back in.
Spike Wave Bases will no longer jiggle after killing the TapeWorm Boss.
Viral Protocol Chip drops energy orbs after dealing enough hits on enemies.
Removed Boss Damaged SFX when shooting at a dead boss.
Removed a spot in the Phorgog fight that allowed players to cheese the boss.
Fusing Atoms in Spunk's room would trigger the race track to play.
Cestoda (Tape Worm) Boss will slow down/stutter when hit during its Wall Pushing attack.
If you're interested in delving deeper into the micro world of BioGun, allow me to provide you with a gentle injection of social activity. Rest assured, it will be painless, but be warned, it may have a side effect: an irresistible urge to follow BioGun's social media accounts.
Today is a very important day for us! During Nextfest, we make the "Spaceship Building" part of our game available to play for the duration of the Nextfest, make sure to give it a try. This update is also on the playtest branch. There was a lot of bug fixing and polishing this week, and sorry for the late update, we wanted to polish the demo as much as we could before the NextFest. Oh also, we support 13 languages now, some of the Localization QA is done, but some of them are still work in progress!
Let's get into updates;
New Additions: - Recycling Center, Robotics Lab, Silicon Factory, Cryogenic Pod, Green House, Defence System Bot, and Ship Wreck have been added to the game. - Implemented various new structures including entertainment center, miner factory, and nano material assembler. - Added spaceship effects, thruster effect starts on launch, and spaceship explosion and malfunction mechanics. - New UI features such as a demo panel, spaceship design handbook UI, and an in-game debug screen. - Localization improvements for multiple languages and UI adjustments to support these changes.
Gameplay Updates: - Enhanced localization for bot hovers, event indicators, settler assigning flow, and many other elements. - Updated the bot localisation via SO and fixed various localisation errors. - Adjusted button sizing for botinfo panel & structure info panel. - Improved vertical tunnel placement and storage collider adjustments. - Enhanced quest progression logic and fixed general quest progression issues. - Implemented a default language picker depending on Steam language settings. - Updated launch info panel to stay active and show percentages. - Adjusted spaceship button functionalities and camera movements for better gameplay experience. - Added and updated various gameplay elements like spaceship parts button, ore info panel translation, and entertainment center morale generation.
Fixes: - Corrected numerous localisation issues across different languages including Korean, Turkish, and Chinese. - Fixed issues related to storage, research button hover text, layout shifts, and tutorial button functionality. - Addressed bugs in structure placement, ghost notes, and spaceship part tooltips. - Resolved issues with miner target rotation, hauler container null checks, and environment object navmesh. - Fixed tunnel placement issues for downward tunnels and nano material assembler. - Adjusted storage count from zero and fixed trade screen and text overflow issues.
Optimizations and Performance: - Performed sync of translations and various optimizations across the game. - Implemented performance comments to enhance game efficiency. - Disabled build navmesh and removed all structures from navmesh for performance improvement. - Updated and balanced sound effects for a better audio experience.
Balance Changes: - Balanced spaceship costs, pop & pod cost, and research credit costs. - Adjusted resource production rates and updated spaceship part requirements. - Balanced energy gain and adjusted costs for various gameplay elements. - Improved defense system capabilities, including increase evade chance and pod placement.
Miscellaneous: - Introduced various scriptable objects, prefabs, and sprites for new additions like the defense system. - Enhanced UI interactions with new scroll rect customizations and sensitivity adjustments. - Implemented spaceship self-destruction mechanics and fixed related issues. - Added and updated various animations for a richer game experience.
This update brings a host of improvements, fixes, and new features aimed at enhancing gameplay, expanding content, and refining the overall player experience.
Thank you everyone for your support and wishlists <3
Today is a very important day for us! During Nextfest, we make the "Spaceship Building" part of our game available to play for the duration of the Nextfest, make sure to give it a try. This update is also on the playtest branch. There was a lot of bug fixing and polishing this week, and sorry for the late update, we wanted to polish the demo as much as we could before the NextFest. Oh also, we support 13 languages now, some of the Localization QA is done, but some of them are still work in progress!
Let's get into updates;
New Additions: - Recycling Center, Robotics Lab, Silicon Factory, Cryogenic Pod, Green House, Defence System Bot, and Ship Wreck have been added to the game. - Implemented various new structures including entertainment center, miner factory, and nano material assembler. - Added spaceship effects, thruster effect starts on launch, and spaceship explosion and malfunction mechanics. - New UI features such as a demo panel, spaceship design handbook UI, and an in-game debug screen. - Localization improvements for multiple languages and UI adjustments to support these changes.
Gameplay Updates: - Enhanced localization for bot hovers, event indicators, settler assigning flow, and many other elements. - Updated the bot localisation via SO and fixed various localisation errors. - Adjusted button sizing for botinfo panel & structure info panel. - Improved vertical tunnel placement and storage collider adjustments. - Enhanced quest progression logic and fixed general quest progression issues. - Implemented a default language picker depending on Steam language settings. - Updated launch info panel to stay active and show percentages. - Adjusted spaceship button functionalities and camera movements for better gameplay experience. - Added and updated various gameplay elements like spaceship parts button, ore info panel translation, and entertainment center morale generation.
Fixes: - Corrected numerous localisation issues across different languages including Korean, Turkish, and Chinese. - Fixed issues related to storage, research button hover text, layout shifts, and tutorial button functionality. - Addressed bugs in structure placement, ghost notes, and spaceship part tooltips. - Resolved issues with miner target rotation, hauler container null checks, and environment object navmesh. - Fixed tunnel placement issues for downward tunnels and nano material assembler. - Adjusted storage count from zero and fixed trade screen and text overflow issues.
Optimizations and Performance: - Performed sync of translations and various optimizations across the game. - Implemented performance comments to enhance game efficiency. - Disabled build navmesh and removed all structures from navmesh for performance improvement. - Updated and balanced sound effects for a better audio experience.
Balance Changes: - Balanced spaceship costs, pop & pod cost, and research credit costs. - Adjusted resource production rates and updated spaceship part requirements. - Balanced energy gain and adjusted costs for various gameplay elements. - Improved defense system capabilities, including increase evade chance and pod placement.
Miscellaneous: - Introduced various scriptable objects, prefabs, and sprites for new additions like the defense system. - Enhanced UI interactions with new scroll rect customizations and sensitivity adjustments. - Implemented spaceship self-destruction mechanics and fixed related issues. - Added and updated various animations for a richer game experience.
This update brings a host of improvements, fixes, and new features aimed at enhancing gameplay, expanding content, and refining the overall player experience.
Thank you everyone for your support and wishlists <3
Steel Hunters Alpha Test Playtest - iamgroenlandicus
Long time no see fellow Hunters! Now that the first month of 2024 is over, we're here to introduce you to our first update recap of the year for version 0.31. What does it have in stock for you, our favorite players? A couple of exciting events, a few adorable additions to the maps, and a pinch of eagerly awaited bug fixes. Let's not waste one more minute — everyone aboard v0.31!
The Steel Hunters development team begins a new round of updates by introducing you to two piping hot in-game events that should add more fun and diversity to your battle routine. Both new in-battle quests—"Bounty Hunter" and "Tag Hunt" — serve as alternatives to the existing "Legendary Key"; they have clear objectives and deliver rewards upon completion.
Alongside this article describing the most recent changes in detail, we've also prepared a short guide to give you info about the new in-game quests and how to complete them. Before we invite you to run for the bounty, let's take a closer look at the events' mechanics to make your first-hand experience more enjoyable.
Hunter or Prey?
The two new quests released in v0.31 join the original one — "Legendary Key." You can expect the three quests to appear in an unpredictable manner: one will randomly be selected for each match. We've also implemented a change for the original quest — the Legendary Key can now drop from a random Guard Drone, Supply Pod, or Hunting Ground Drone.
If you want to learn about the two new alternative quests available in this version, keep reading!
Bounty Hunter
"Eliminate the target or escape the Hunt and get a reward!" This is all you need to do to complete this quest. There's only one special Contract in the match dedicated to it, and it can drop — similarly to the Legendary Key — from any random Guard Drone, Supply Pod, or Hunting Ground Drone. If you get the chance to find and collect this Contract, you become the Bounty Hunter, while another random Hunter from one of the enemy squads is assigned to be your target. Either side can win: the Bounty Hunter achieves victory if their squad is able to eliminate the victim within the time limit, and the hunted can win the reward by surviving the hunt or eliminating the Bounty Hunter, even if the Bounty Hunter's squadmate remains alive.
The quest lasts for a limited timeframe which is defined based on the target's proximity to the Bounty Hunter: the farther the target is, the more time is given to the hunting squad. Both parties and their squadmates are informed that the quest has started, and they can see each other's positions both on the radar and Minimap. If you think that you are safe unless you are chosen for the Bounty Hunter quest, you might well be mistaken! This is tricky — if you kill the Bounty Hunter's target, you become the new target yourself!
Hunt your prey before it starts hunting you! To learn all the intricate details about the mechanics of the quest, visit our dedicated game guide page.
Tag Hunt
If you fancy yourself as a bit of a collector, you'll probably appreciate our other new quest named "Tag Hunt." Each Hunter that participates in battle has a Soldier Tag — a prized item for any military person which can only be lost if the Hunter is killed, and these Soldier Tags are collectible items that occupy a Quest Item slot in the player interface. In this quest, you can pick up the Tags of eliminated enemies and exchange them for valuable loot!
One Hunter can pick up to five Tags in each battle. Collected Tags merge to create higher-level Tags that can later be exchanged for rewards of different rarity: one Tag for a Common reward, two for an Uncommon one, and so forth up to five. Tags can be dropped as a stacked object; i.e., if you collect three Tags, you can't drop just one and be left with a LVL 2 Tag. When a Hunter is destroyed, they automatically drop their Tag; it can be collected by other Hunters, and its value will not be lost. A nice detail about this event is that you know for sure what you can get for a certain number of collected Tags, and the reward is claimable, so you can choose the appropriate time in battle to get your deserved prize.
Check our new guide for an exhaustive list of claimable rewards and all the intricate details of the quest mechanics here.
Anything Else?
In addition to the (literally) game-changing part of this update, we've also delivered something for you to admire on our maps: go and find the new "Destroyed Helicopter" feature on the Crimson Ridge map, and you'll see the remnants of a catastrophe that happened even before humanity left the once-prosperous planet Earth. Who were they, those people running the helicopter? Did they survive? Where did they go? So many questions remain unanswered... These are the kind of details that build up the in-game universe, binding it to the lore and stories of the Hunters who were once humans themselves.
That's not all: in v0.31, you'll notice that seven Hunters — Razorside, Razor Old Guard, Weaver, Fenris, Ursus, Heartbreaker, and Taurus — have received new melee attack visual effects, and some of them now boast fresh twitch SFX and animations in the Hangar.
The Steel Hunters audio team has contributed to this patch with new sound effects for the main weapons of Ursus and Prophet, as well as a new announcer voiceover (have you spotted it while waiting for battle?).
We do hope that you're excited to both test the new in-game events and meet the visual and audio updates we're here to announce. One thing that never changes in Steel Hunters is that we always look forward to reading your feedback! Thank you for being with us, Hunters, and see you in the Arena!
Steel Hunters Alpha Test Playtest - iamgroenlandicus
In-Game Event
Among the three quests ('Legendary Key', 'Bounty Hunter' and 'Tag Hunt') currently available in Steel Hunters Arenas, only one is randomly selected for each particular match.
Bounty Hunter
Added a new 'Bounty Hunter' quest, where a player is contracted to eliminate an enemy Hunter in battle within a limited timeframe.
'Bounty Hunter' quest mechanics: 1. A Contract activating the quest drops from a random guard drone, a Supply Pod, or a Hunting Ground drone after one of those is eliminated.2. If a player picks up the Contract, the quest is activated, and this player's Hunter becomes the Bounty Hunter:
The player who activated the Contract hears an announcement about a new combat task.
The Bounty Hunter's squad mate also hears the announcement and is called to help eliminate the hunted victim.
If the Contract remains on the ground and no one picks it up, it disappears after a 30-second cooldown and may drop from any other guard drone, Supply Pod, or Hunting Ground drone.
3. The Hunter who has picked up the Contract has a special 'Bounty Hunter' quest icon above their head.4. The moment the 'Bounty Hunter' Contract is activated, one of the Hunters from a random squad is selected to be the hunted victim. A bot can become the victim if there are no real players left in the Arena. If the squad consists of a real player and a bot, only the player can become the hunted victim.5. The amount of time given to a player to complete the quest is calculated based on the proximity of the target.6. All the quest participants (the Bounty Hunter with a squadmate and the hunted victim with a squadmate) can see Bounty Hunter icons on both the radar and the mini-map.7. The quest ends if one of the following conditions is met:
If the Hunter or their squadmate kills the victim, the Bounty Hunter's squad completes the quest successfully.
If the victim's squad survives the quest duration, they complete the quest successfully.
If the victim's squad kills the Bounty Hunter, they complete the quest successfully.
If the victim is eliminated by a squad other than the Bounty Hunter's, the killer of the victim becomes a new victim. The Bounty Hunter will hear the announcement about a new victim, and the timer for quest completion refreshes. The new timeframe for new victim elimination cannot be less than 30 seconds.
If the victim is killed by an environmental element (e.g., a drone, Supply Pod, etc.), the mission is closed for both squads.
8. Once the quest is completed successfully, the winner can claim a reward - an on-demand Supply Pod with valuable loot: 1 Legendary Core, 2 Epic Cores, 1 Colossus Kit, 1 Revive Kit, and 2 Repair Kits.Tag Hunt
Added a new 'Tag Hunt' quest, where a player needs to collect Soldier Tags from eliminated Hunters and later exchange those Tags to get a claimable reward.
'Tag Hunt' quest mechanics: 1. When a Hunter is eliminated, a Soldier Tag drops out of this Hunter. Another player can collect this Tag via a short interaction with it.This Tag then occupies a slot of the quest item in the player's interface. 2. Once the first Soldier Tag is collected the quest is activated. A player can collect up to 5 Tags, which are stacked onto a single slot. There are a total of 12 Tags in a match.3. A Tag can be dropped the same way as any other collectible item. A player can exchange collected Tags for a claimable reward - an on-demand Supply Pod - depending on the number of Tags collected:
Reward Level
Reward Set
Drop Rate
Common (1 Tag)
2 Common Core 2 Repair Kit 1 Ammo Refill
37.75%
Common (1 Tag)
1 Uncommon Core 1 Common Core 2 Repair Kit 1 Ammo Refill
Legendary key can now drop out of random drones/ crates/ Supply Pods.
Hunters
Introduced new melee VFX for Razorside, Razor Old Guard, Weaver, Fenris, Ursus, Heartbreaker and Taurus.
Added new twitch animations and SFX in the Hangar for Razorside, Razor Old Guard, Trenchwalker, Fenris and Weaver.
Maps
Updated country roads on both Maryland Heights and Crimson Ridge maps with abandoned cars, trailers and facilities.
Improved graphics for visual transitions between terrain and rocks on Maryland Heights.
Introduced visual updates to spawn points on Crimson Ridge.
Introduced a new 'Destroyed Helicopter' zone on Crimson Ridge.
Introduced visual improvements to Space Port control point destruction on Crimson Ridge.
Audio
Improved damage dealing/taking SFX.
Improved the overall in-game mix and announcer's voiceovers to ensure better clarity and sound perception.
Improved Spectator Mode audio: when a player follows an ally or an enemy Hunter as a spectator, this player will hear the same SFX as the followed Hunter.
Introduced New SFX for Ursus and Prophet weapons.
Added a new announcer's voiceover when a player selects a hunter in the lobby and waits in the countdown window before the battle.
Bugfixes and General Improvements
Fixed a bug where Trenchwalker's animation played with twitches in the Grenade targeting state.
Fixed a bug where players couldn't switch VSync settings on.
Fixed a bug where Fenris's Rocket Mortar would fire continuously if a player holds the fire button.
Fixed a bug where Razorside's Shield Recharge Venerated Blade Mod would keep damage resistance effect for 1 sec after the reload is finished.
Fixed a bug where the Extraction Pod marker would show incorrect name of the Extraction Zone captor.
Fixed a bug where the game client would crash after a player healed his squad mate in the Spectator Mode.
Fixed a bug where some Hunters' models became invisible after revival.
Fixed a bug where player's camera wouldn't return in the default position after the Hunter is revived.
Fixed a bug where players could see decals on a Hunter model after the Hunter is revived.
Fixed a bug where players couldn't see decals on a drone after it is eliminated.
Fixed a bug where damage source marker was incorrectly displayed if the damage was dealt by Burner Mod of Razorside's Frag Grenade, Persisting Mod and Creeping Mods of Trenchwalker's Hybride Grenade, Shock mod of Fletcher's Tethering Trap ability.
Fixed a bug where the crosshair would display the shooting permission state incorrectly.
Stabilized shooting registration for Razorside's Assault Rifle Fracture Mod.
Fixed a bug where the game would freeze when a player was upgrading Hunter levels for free XP.
Improved the behaviour of bot Hunters captured inside Fletcher's Tethering Trap.
* Fixed issue with some RSS feeds not working * Fixed issue where if you had a private window and hid the entire interface, then un-hid it, it would unmute the private window.
I'm sure you've seen the trailers and you're already downloading our demo, so we'll cut to the chase. This post has all the info so you know what to expect from the demo and from the game as we enter Early Access on... 24th April 2024!
First of all, if you find a bug or have some feedback, tell us at Discord or via the Steam Discussions forum. If you’d rather something a bit more one to one, you can also directly email us, at feedback@massiveminiteam.com
What is Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure?
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is a beginner-friendly automation game with RTS elements set in a procedurally generated fantasy world. You can play it single player, or multiplayer (up to 4 player supported). We love the genre and want to make it approachable for the automation-curious, while providing interesting twists for those who already have thousands of hours in the genre.
What's in the Demo?
The demo contains 3+ hours of content. You'll get a taste of our core loop and the beginning of our story! You can play for as long as you want, but you will run out of stuff to unlock.
The demo features...
[Beta] Multiplayer (Up to 4 player supported)
[Beta] Mouse & Keyboard Rebinding
Character Customization
Mouse & Keyboard and Gamepad support
One playable biome: The Woodlands
Complete 38 out of 61 Woodland Quests & Tutorials
Unlock 3 out of 5 Woodland Sparks
Build 9 out of 18 Woodland Workstations and Logistics Buildings
Manage 10 out of 21 Woodland Recipes
What's in the Early Access Release?
We're going to enter Early Access on 24th April 2024! The Early Access release will contain everything in the demo, and...
A second biome: The Mountains (with Vertical Logistics!)
More Sparks (10+)
More Enemies (7+)
More Workstations (15+)
More Logistics Buildings (20+)
More Quests (80+)
and more!
In fact, you can already take a peek at what will be unlocked by pressing H or Right Stick in our Quest Overview! Obviously, everything here is very subject to change, the order might get shifted around, not everything might survive, but you can already see what we have in mind.
What's the Early Access plan?
More Stuff! More Sparks, more biomes, more logistical challenges and tools, more quests. We're currently planning to be in Early Access for a year, but we want to be flexible. We'd love to support the game for a while and really make sure it's the best it can be before we give it the version number 1.0.
When we're ready, you can expect to see the plan for our next milestone! We already have a lot planned to make this game amazing, and we're looking forward to working with the community to test out ideas and features in betas, get feedback, and create a lot of fun together.