As time goes by, we’re slowly approaching the day of the Celestial Empire’s release. Hard to believe how much time has passed and how many things have changed since we started, isn’t it? But we’re finally getting there, so it’s about time to talk about it more.
EARLY ACCESS
The game will come out first in early access. But what is it and why is that – you might ask. EA is a solution thanks to which you will be getting a fully playable version with the promised content of the game, while helping us on our game-making journey. We are really looking forward to including our community in the process of improving the game to its fullest potential. With all the basics covered, our focus will be on adding new exciting content, balancing mechanics and polishing already existing features with you guiding us on the right path. Expect lots of updates coming! More details about early access will be available soon on the FAQ on our Steam store page.
RECENT CHANGES
It’s been a busy time for our developers, who are working hard like bees. Lots of different things have changed since last time, so let us show you what we have been up to.
Now an altar is not a thing that is already placed in the world, once you start the game. An altar is a special place where you can make offerings to the godly powers, but you have to unlock and build it first. That also means that you are the one to decide its placement, which gives you more creative freedom in constructing your city. Once the player builds an altar, he gets to choose his godly patron. Each one of them (Ao Guang, Wukong, Nüwa) provides different changes and bonuses to the game’s mechanics and will lead a player further on his journey. After choosing a patron, there's no way to change it, so choose carefully.
The new and the first monument to construct is called Weeping Fountain, representing the moon goddess Chang’e. Once the player meets requirements, he can unlock the monument and build a base for it in a place of his choice and start delivering offerings to the altar. This process can be paused at any moment. The monument no longer emerges in one moment, but it slowly appears piece by piece, according to the offerings' progression. At the end, the monument’s construction must be finalized to advance your city.
HELPFUL FEATURES
To make your game even more enjoyable, we decided to add a helpful feature - highlights. When a player hovers over an icon of a building on the lower bar, all the buildings of its type light up, which makes it easier to keep track of them. There’s also a road’s highlight. It shows you the operation range of some of the buildings, once you click on them. And, while placing a building that requires a warehouse to function, highlights will let you know about all the warehouses in range of a chosen place. Decoratives, just like religious buildings, work only for the social class assigned to them.
AND MORE COMING…
Is that all? Ha, of course not. We are currently working on new maps, new tutorials, improvements and many many different things are being developed at the time we speak. All to meet not only our expectations, but yours. Here's a little new map's teaser!
Do you like new changes? Or more importantly... are you as excited for Celestial Empire as we are? Hop on discord and feel free to share your thoughts with us!
Greetings Champions! Here's what happening in the Realm this week:
Update on 7.2 & Ranked Season 7
After watching the Wild Hoard settle and taking time internally to go over the current sandbox, we've decided we want to take a bit more time on releasing Ranked into its next Season. We originally were aiming for middle-late February for its release; but as we've worked to update Commendations as well as other content and balance we'd like to put in the update, we're now aiming for the latter half of March.
We know you all are excited for another chance to climb the ranks and earn a new set of Ranked cosmetics, but we also don't want to push out an update we aren't confident will be in its best form. Our goal in 2023 and carrying into this year are updates that feel more transparent and fun to play, and in order to hit that mark we need some extra time to cook. We'll share more info in the coming weeks but expect a bit of love to be given to Card balance, as well as new and old modes to join the fray.
In the meantime, thank you all for playing & enjoying Wild Hoard!
The first of a few experiments with maps being added to Onslaught, Bazaar now invites players to contest the Io statue and fight for control of the market in this test LTM! We'll be watching player feedback on the gameplay & if it's enjoyed, we could see Onslaught gain a map in its main queue!
Long time no see :) We’ve been pretty busy with development work (more on that at the end), but it’s about time we do another one of these posts highlighting how different game mechanics work in Laysara. This time, let’s bring yaks to the spotlight!
Yaks in the game’s lore
Yaks are domesticated wild oxen with shaggy hair, humped shoulders and large horns. They can survive altitudes as high as 6000m above the sea level and as such, tend to live on mountains and plateaus. Wild yaks are native to the Himalayan region, which is a huge inspiration for the fictional world of Laysara.
Remember our previous Steam News post about the three social castes in Laysara? Well, yaks are basically the secret fourth. They play an important role in both the economy and traditions. Citizens admire yaks and care for them, making them pets on the one hand, but hard-working and valued members of society on the other.
Applications of the Yakforce
As mentioned before, yaks are quite crucial for the economy. A healthy herd of yaks can provide your kingdom with two key resources: Wool and Milk. Wool is used to weave fabric, which surely is something your people will appreciate given the harsh mountain conditions. Milk can be used to produce Cheese, which is one of the most common food sources in the game, or can be churned into Butter. Butter then can be utilized for brewing Butter Tea and manufacturing Butter Lamps (yes, it is really a thing). So there are quite a few resource chains based on good old yaks, and I didn’t even list them to their full extent!
In the pre-industrial era, yaks are an irreplaceable source of power. Do you need these heavy grinding stones rollin’ to turn grain into flour? Or some way to operate huge bellows to make the furnace temperature hot enough to smelt Ornaments? Heck, maybe you even have to power a whole resource-transporting mountain lift to the very mountain peak? Yep, you guessed it - yaks can do it all!
That brings us to the matter of transportation. You see, you can put only so many bags on a human’s shoulders and expect them to still be able to walk. Using some clever technology, like carts, will get you further, but that’s still not a serious competition for yaks. They will happily deliver all the goods all the way to the second side of the mountain for a handful of feed and a friendly pet.
Last but not least, people just love to be around yaks. A perfect example of that is a Yaks Race (yes, this is also a thing - just google it, I dare you), which attracts people no matter their age or gender, as it’s just so entertaining and ridiculously funny.
Breeding yaks
Alright, there is no prosperous town in Laysara’s kingdom without yaks - I hope we all see this by now. But how we can be sure there are enough of our furry friends around to fulfil all of these various responsibilities we just described? The answer is, of course, yak breeding. In the game, three buildings serve this very purpose:
Yak Pasture
Doesn’t get any more basic than this! A Yak Pasture is just a patch of land with a bunch of yaks wandering around and eating what they find. That’s also the reason why this building gets less effective when you place it on higher mountain zones - less nutritious grass to consume, resulting in fewer baby yaks being born. All in all, a Yak Pasture gives you a few healthy yaks and that’s great, but it takes a ton of space and you’ll quickly start looking for an alternative.
Worth noting, Yak Pasture is the only building unlocked from the very start - you’ll need to increase your Research level to use more advanced breeding facilities.
Compact Yak Breeder
As you can see by the name, this building solves the problem of space by just having yaks tightly packed together. Not the most wholesome thing in the world to do, but you’ll have to compensate for the tight squeeze on our dear yaks by feeding them some high-quality Fodder. This building will provide you with over a dozen yaks no matter the mountain zone you build it in, which is great, but there is one more way to approach the task of having plenty of yaks.
Yak Utopia
This is basically a spa for yaks, with enough space, food and conveniences to make them breed at an optimal tempo. Utilization of Perfumes may seem extravagant at first, but just look at the yaks' happy faces and you won’t question it ever again. And, of course, tons of Fodder to make every single Yak Utopia’s occupant full and happy. One single building of this type increases the yak population by a few dozen, which is exactly what you need if you want to go big with your town’s design.
And that’s how you’ll interact with our furry friends in a yakshell!
Release date status
To be honest, we don’t have any new updates to share in that regard. However, we thought it was worth mentioning that our development work is coming along smoothly and nicely. We hit some really important internal milestones and are now focusing on the final stages of pre-launch development, like translations, bugfixes, optimizations and polishing whatever we can. We leave you with a vague early 2024 release window for now, but it won’t be long before we’ll be ready to make a proper update on that!
Thanks for sticking around and see you in the comments / Discord!
Version: Rocket League v2.35 Platforms: Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S Scheduled Release: 02/06/2024, 4 p.m. PST / 12 a.m. UTC
THE HEADLINES
Quality of Life Updates
New Minimum Level for Competitive Playlist
Disabling “Leave Tournament” button at end of match
v2.35 prepares Rocket League for the Mandalorian Mayhem Limited Time Event
2024 Esports Shop Refresh
CHANGES AND UPDATES
NEW MINIMUM LEVEL FOR COMPETITIVE PLAYLIST
To ensure that players are spending a reasonable amount of time acclimating to Rocket League before jumping into the ranked experience, we changed the minimum level requirement for the Competitive Playlist to Level 20 (up from the previous level requirement of 10).
In addition, we have changed the design that previously allowed players to play ranked if they were partied with an individual above the minimum level requirement. Now, no player below the level threshold (20) will be able to enter the ranked experience.
Party leaders with a member below the level threshold will see their playlist locked and will need to queue in the Casual Playlist.
Updated Minimum Level Messaging - To convey these new restrictions, players will see new messaging in Rocket League when queuing for the Competitive Playlist.
While solo (not in a party) the new messaging will read: “You must be Level 20 or higher.”
While in a party, the new messaging will read: “All party members must be Level 20 or higher.”
These messages will be displayed to any player who is below Level 20 / any party leader in a party with someone who is below Level 20.
DISABLING “LEAVE TOURNAMENT” BUTTON AT END OF MATCH
In order to prevent players from receiving negative consequences, such as temporary bans from tournaments/matchmaking, or losing earned tournament rewards, we will now grey out/disable the “Leave Tournament'' button at the 0:00 gameplay mark of Tournament matches.
This will ensure your rewards are earned and all data is properly populated so you can jump right into your next match.
NEW CONTENT
MANDALORIAN MAYHEM LIMITED TIME EVENT
Unlock new items by completing Mandalorian Mayhem Event Challenges.
The RLCS 2024 Season has kicked off, and with it our Esports Shop has received a RLCS Decal Refresh. 21 existing teams from last Season, as well as 10 new teams, have gotten a 2024 Octane Decal, 2024 Fennec Decal, 2024 Dominus Decal, and 2024 Player Banner. Check out the teams below:
ASIA-PACIFIC
Elevate
EUROPE
Endpoint
Gentle Mates
Karmine Corp
Moist Esports
Oxygen Esports
Resolve
Solary
Team BDS
Team Vitality
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
Rule One
Team Falcons
NORTH AMERICA
Dignitas
G2 Esports
Gen.G
Luminosity Gaming
M80
NRG
OG
Rebellion
Spacestation Gaming
TSM
OCEANIA
Ground Zero
Pioneers
PWR
SOUTH AMERICA
Complexity
FURIA
KRÜ Esports
Ninjas In Pyjamas
Team Secret
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Limitless
BUG FIXES
The Fire God: Multichrome Decal is no longer locked to the Dominus Car Body. This Decal is now universal, as intended.
The Wasteland (Pitched) and Farmstead (Pitched) Arenas no longer display abnormal ground textures.
Fixed an issue where the paint finish select menu would start at the top of the list instead of the currently equipped paint finish.
Fixed an issue on PC where the audio would stop working when the player changed the Windows focus immediately after launching the game.
We've closely monitored the feedback from our Ratten Reich demo during the Steam Festival, and it's clear the experience fell short of expectations. Frankly, we pushed this demo out in haste to meet the festival deadline, relying on internal QA assessments that indicated stability on our systems. However, your feedback has been a crucial wake-up call.
Acknowledging this, we've made the difficult decision to withdraw the demo from the festival. We extend our deepest apologies for any frustration this has caused. It's disheartening for us to see our community not enjoying the game as intended. This project is our debut, fueled by immense passion, and we're committed to getting it right.
We're inviting you to join our Discord community to actively participate in shaping the game into something we'll all treasure. Plans are in place to conduct more closed tests, and we aim to involve as many of you as possible. Your insights will be invaluable.
Many of you have highlighted game-breaking bugs and performance issues, some of which we're aware of and others that are revelations. Rest assured, ongoing developments, including more stylized voice effects to match the characters' appearances (imagine more distinct, hissy rat voices), are in the works alongside additional features. Your direct feedback on Discord, particularly in the demo feedback section, will be instrumental in guiding these improvements.
We're earnestly asking for your help and feedback to ensure we learn from this experience. Our commitment to not repeating these mistakes is unwavering.
Thank you for your understanding and support. We're eager to collaborate with you and earn back your trust.
Get more from your game with great in-game rewards like this month’s Apex Legends™ Weapon Charm Bonanza, plus, Madden NFL 24 joins The Play List and members receive an EA Play Supercharge Pack on February 8, 2024, EA SPORTS FC™ 24 fans score a 90s Retro Black Cap and 175,000 VOLTA COINS, and more!
And when it’s time to find your next favorite game, we’ve got you covered with an ever-expanding library of our fan-favorite series and premium games. You can even try out select new release games for up to 10 hours of playtime with no commitment. If you decide to buy, your saved progress will carry over, so you can continue where you left off. Our members also save on purchases of EA digital content, with a 10% member discount letting you save on full games, points packs, and DLC. Find out more about upcoming EA Play benefits at https://store.steampowered.com/subscriptions/ea or follow us on X (Twitter) and Instagram @eaplay!
Right from the beginning of production, we knew we wanted Kenzera to feel rich, varied and colourful.
As you play the demo, your eyes will probably be locked on the flurry of action before you as Zau leaps, strikes and unleashes the cosmic power of the masks on marauding enemies. Don’t forget to take a closer look at the world around him - keeping an eye out for peek-a-boo views that tell you more about Kenzera itself.
At a certain point in the demo, you’ll find yourself underground. Surrounded by glimmering crystals and fungi, you’ll watch light bounce off the rippling water and set the surrounding stone aglow with shimmering prisms - all carefully crafted by our team.
We’re really proud of this area, and we hope its beauty will at least partially make up for the harrowing challenge area nearby.
Join EA Play to make your games more rewarding with access to great player benefits and a library of top titles. Members get more from your game including monthly rewards like Ultimate Team Packs in Madden NFL 24. And when it’s time to find your next favorite game, we’ve got you covered with an ever-expanding library of our fan-favorite series and premium games. You can even try out select new release games for up to 10 hours of playtime with no commitment. If you decide to buy, your saved progress will carry over, so you can continue where you left off. Our members also save on purchases of EA digital content, with a 10% member discount. Letting you save on full games, points packs, and DLC. Find out more about upcoming EA Play benefits at https://store.steampowered.com/subscriptions/ea or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @eaplay!