It's been a crazy few months for the Windblown team, so we wanted to take some time to thank you all for your passion, excitement and dedication to our latest crazy project!

Below you'll find a recap of what the team has been up to in the month of March, and a quick throwback to when we announced Windblown.

For those of you that don't know, Windblown is a lightning-fast action roguelite for 1-3 players. You'll leap across beautiful procedurally generated sky-islands, with the aim of taking the fight to a very angry vortex!


When we first announced Windblown back in December 2023, we had high hopes for how it would be received. With this being our first major project since Dead Cells, we had a lot of cool ideas we wanted to explore, but until it's seen by players it can be a mystery if we're onto something special.

Luckily, we think we've got something super fun here!





A couple of months ago we opened the doors to a closed Alpha test. This was done with the aim to invite a very small amount of players to try Windblown and give us vital feedback on how it played. At the moment, we're more focused on if the game is fun, rather than squashing bugs (although we've done plenty of that too!).

Over the months we've expanded the test to more and more players, expanding our reach for feedback and allowing us to broaden our understanding of what players are enjoying. This has lead to a whole heap changes, tweaks, fixes and of course, bug busting!



Our plans with this form of testing is to open it up to more and more players, while keeping feedback manageable and concise. We need to be careful not to get overwhelmed, as we're a small team and we need to sleep sometimes!

As time goes on, we'll begin to share some of the changes we've added to the game, that way everyone can stay up to date with how the game is developing. But as a sneak peak, here are some of the additions we've added to the game since the closed alpha began:

• Changes to level design
  
  • More randomness/procedural generation
    
  • More reward choices
    
  • More combat situations
• New Gifts (passive buffs the unlock as you play and progress)
  
• Enemy updates, balancing and new varieties

Earlier in the month we sat down with key members of the press, and gave them a sneak peak at what Windblown was all about and how it's shaping up (Not to mention our whacky design choices along the way)!

It was great to take the time to really explain the direction and intention with have with the project, although we did annoy a couple by not letting them play themselves!




Late in March we released our brand new Gameplay trailer!

This 2 minute video focused heavily on the gameplay cycle of Windblown, and showcased a whole host of features, including weapon types, alterattacks, gifts, trinkets, and of course, multiplayer!

If you somehow missed it, you can check it out here!



The reception to this trailer has been nothing short of amazing, and we can't thank you all enough for your excitement for Windblown!


Well, that's easy. We'll continue to work on Windblown with a key focus of ours being community engagement! We want to shape Windblown alongside the players, to make sure what we deliver is something gamers really want to play!

We'll continue to expand our tests, with an aim of welcoming as many people to the world of Windblown as possible ahead of our Early Access launch later this year!

Finally, we want to thank everyone once again. Announcing a new project after so long has been whirlwind, but is something we knew we wanted to do. We hope you'll stay with us on this journey, and we'll see you next month for another update!

You can Wishlist Windblown below, and stay up to date on our social media!

Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
TikTok

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911610/Windblown/

Hello Triangles!

We just rolled out our first patch 1.2.5.5 for Void Sols! It should be available now for you to enjoy, just make sure to update your game.

Full patch notes, see below:

Gameplay Updates:

• Ruby Phial recharges when stunning bosses as well
  
• Shield no longer blocks status effects
  
• Overall improved hit registration on primary weapons
  
• Added quick restart option on death screen after you have died at least once, allowing you to respawn outside of the checkpoint menu

Fixes:

• Fixed softlock if player dies next to light spark with enough Sols to level up (as seen on PirateSoftware!)
  
• Preventing soft locks caused by pausing after the player has died
  
• Preventing soft locks by exiting the game while viewing the map
  
• Fixing player deflecting thrown projectiles back at themselves
  
• Resetting scrollbar when switching tabs in settings
  
• Fixed broken sprite on patch notes button
  
• Replaced mentions of "Kindling" with "Potions"
  
• Improved contrast of keyboard icons
  
• Fixed crafted Sols crystals being spent on only one loadout. These should give you an extra stat point across all loadouts
  
• Fixed being able to remap lock on on keyboard
  
• Minor improvements to lock on behaviour
  
• Throwing dagger should not spawn on other side of small enemies if thrown right next to them
  
• Preventing players from launching into broken states by pressing multiple buttons on the main menu
  
• Fixed Watchers disappearing in Supermax prison

UI:

• Improved UI for Switch Pro Controller
  
• Improved readability of locked nox trials levels
  
• Improved readability of mobility tutorial
  
• Fixed some UI not reacting when control rebinds are reset
  
• Fixed not being able to see light sparks on supermax prison map

Thank you again for all your support! 🔺

--
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🔺 Join the community on Discord
🔺 Subscribe to Void Sols newsletter

Hi ! I hope you are all doing great ! Pure Rock Crawling is celebrating its 6th birthday !

First things first, a few improvements to the gameplay. Thanks to everybody who caught a few things that were not right with the tutorial. Several things piled up and caused problems in completing the tutorial and proceeding to the game:

• When resetting location to the trailer a reference to the vehicle was being lost, that caused inability to complete other tasks. That is now fixed.
  
• You couldn't access the garage if the previous notification window was not closed/confirmed. It is fixed now.
  
• Also discovering the trailer required engaging with it to proceed - that seemed unnecessary so it now only requires discovering it.

To avoid these situations in the future, you can now skip the tutorial completely while starting a new game.


If you happen to find any other issues please let me know in the forums.

There are several known issues that I am currently working on, like (but not limited to) vehicles losing power when turning left, weak brakes and other gamepad/wheel related bugs. This should be temporarily fixed but I am in the middle of reworking the whole system for binding steering wheel inputs as it has a conflict with the gamepad inputs causing bugs like these. So the fix should be here soon. As of right now, you might need to rebind your wheel inputs for: steering, throttle, brake and clutch. Apologies for the inconvenience.



Alongside the above mentioned fixes I am working on a new map. It's coming along nicely, but still needs some work.

To sum up, this was quite a year. From drivetrain and physics updates that improved the simulation side of gameplay, through new challenges, missions, garage for modifying your trucks, to a new map. Everything topped with the complete redesign of the UI. I am very happy with every improvement and will work hard to add more. I know that not every aspect of the game works for everyone but I am reading all of your reports, issues and suggestions. Thanks to you Pure Rock Crawling is constantly evolving into a better game, big thanks ! I am going straight back to work on the next update, stay tuned !

Cheers and take care !

Version 2.0.7 Update:

• Explore our latest scenarios!
  
• UI Interaction Enhancement makes navigation smoother and more intuitive.
  
• Other bug fixes

✨Share Your Brilliant Ideas with Us and Let's Bring Them to Life! Please Follow Our Official Twitter for Updates and New Features!

Desktop Garage Kit Offical Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nzzzz

Hey!

Here are some news:

Turkey is going to finish with the text of the second part this week and start inserting pictures into the code.

Shock news: there will be no bad endings in the second part (these are what we call the ones that end the game based on your choices). Which means no matter what you choose, the game will continue :D But whether you will be happy about it is questionable!

There is a lot of text (by next week we will try to calculate about how many hours of reading it will be) and it is very variable. If you want, we can also show a table by next week, but without the choices, of course, purely to enjoy the view of this huge thing, It was not for nothing that Turkey has done it :D

We attach one of the funny picture selections to the post

Plus, this month we have made good progress on the backgrounds - our regular background artist took the time and drew 3 beautiful backgrounds, plus helped Turkey with the backgrounds in the illustrations.

Turkey, when her brain was boiling after the text, started working on the illustrations. We attach a small spoiler to one of the illustrations. A plus sign in karma to the one who guesses who is in the illustration :D

Hello, Feudals!

Exciting news - Life is Feudal: MMO is making its return on Steam soon! This re-release comes as part of an agreement with BitBox, the original game developers, and sees LTG publishing the game in partnership with Lunate studio.



Since its relaunch on the https://ltg.com/game/life-is-feudal platform in May 2023, the game has seen over 30 updates, introducing enhancements to game mechanics, professions, and the redesign of more than 150 items, along with the squashing of numerous bugs. The LTG team is committed to not only refining the current iteration but also has expansive visions for the game's future development.



A significant update in the new version is the introduction of a game subscription model. Our goal? To level the playing field, ensuring success is dictated by skill and strategy, not by in-game purchases. Thus, we've instituted a subscription service while eliminating any store purchases that could skew game balance.

Life is Feudal: MMO veterans from the previous version of the game will have the opportunity to convert their prior expenses into LiF Coins, redeemable for game subscriptions. Moreover, veterans will be greeted with a bonus - 30 days of free trial. Newcomers aren't left out either, receiving a welcome bonus of 7 days of free trial. And for those currently playing via https://ltg.com/game/life-is-feudal? They, too, will enjoy 7 days of free subscription. We’re ensuring rewards all around!

Dive deeper into the game's evolution with our video development diaries. Just in, a new episode shedding light on the eagerly anticipated new map. Don’t miss it!



You may wonder, "What’s new since the game servers shut down in 2021?" Here’s a rundown:

• Introduced a few new structures and blueprints.
  
• Launched monthly subscription rewards.
  
• Organized the King of the Hill event and a series of events with prizes.
  
• Added anti-cheat system Easy Anti-Cheat.

• Enhanced skill progression for 149 items, including weapons, shields, and armor.
  
• Implemented a cooldown for parries and instant counters following a successful parry.
  
• Enabled direction selection for alternative attacks post-block.
  
• Introduced an "in combat" status, preventing Prayer for Homecoming usage.
  
• Refined parry and counterattack dynamics.
  
• Conducted a thorough rebalance of combat gear, affecting shields, armor, all 28 weapon types, their attacks, and even 6 warhorses. Plus, we made some additional changes guided by community feedback.
  
• Introduced a 15% chance for equipped weapons and armor to be destroyed outside the Arena.
  
• Enabled the destruction of any structures, decorations, and blueprints during HJH.

• Reviewed the pricing and capacity of certain buildings and the growth rates of over 20 plant types.
  
• Balanced skill usage speed for 48 profession activities and experience gains for leveling.
  
• Added the ability to track animals while mounted.

• Rolled out a few new structures and blueprints.
  
• Introduced monthly subscription rewards.
  
• Integrated voice chat.
  
• Unified game entry through a single launcher.
  
• Enhanced the dynamic map for near-real-time updates.
  
• Added buff indicators in green zones.
  
• Marked local settlements on the map.
  
• Implemented blue zones in select areas to curb exploits.
  
• Refined localization across all supported languages.
  
• Automated the removal of inactive characters from guilds and brand lists.
  
• Rescued all characters trapped underground.
  
• Addressed over 100 significant bugs and numerous minor ones.
  
• Optimized game servers.

The game’s evolution is ongoing, and your input is invaluable. It's the community's feedback that has spearheaded numerous enhancements, and your ideas will shape the game's trajectory. Join us on social media and help forge the future of Life is Feudal: MMO.

Best regards,
The LTG Team

Keep your weapons close and your Traverser just as handy, Renegade—Wonder Rush is fast approaching! Grab a Renegade partner and scour X-Isle for Wonderium in this new limited-time PVP Duo Mode, coming to HAWKED on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC from April 18–28.



Availability: Daily from 19:00 CEST / 10:00 PDT until 02:00 CEST / 17:00 PDT

GRAIL’s surveillance has found veins across X-Isle practically teeming with Wonderium. Better yet? There’s not a single Disciple in sight!

Partner up in the first Duo Mode and compete against other teams in Wonder Rush. Leave no vein untapped in a rush to obtain Nuggets or Motherlodes of Wonderium—you can trust your Traverser to ping whenever it finds some nearby. 

Stay in the fray with unlimited respawns, and get your precious minerals to an Extraction Point to increase your score. The first team to 500 nabs the top spot!

Keep an eye on the news for more details, and get your duos ready for pure PVP madness when Wonder Rush bursts onto the scene on April 18.

Wonder Rush is coming on April 18! If you’re getting ready to scour X-Isle for Wonderium in this new limited-time mode, be sure to set aside some time to tune into streams to earn Twitch Drops from April 18 at 10:00 CEST/01:00 PDT until April 29 at 23:30 CEST/14:30 PDT.



Wonder Rush Twitch Drops: Earn Wondrous Loot

Grab a snack and get comfy, as there are more than 10 Drops to loot over 12 hours! Watch Drop-enabled HAWKED streams to receive Drops, and get additional Drops by joining MY.GAMES Content Creators, including GRAIL+, a Tribal Backpack, and an Outrigger Hoverboard.
How to link your account and claim Twitch Drops

To claim your items, make sure you link your HAWKED account with your Twitch account:

• Go to http://playhawked.com/TwitchDrops.
• Log in using the correct account where you’d like to receive the items. If you play on Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox, you’ll connect that way. No need to create a new account, you already have one!
• Select ‘Link with Twitch,’ and make sure to confirm the connection.

When you’ve racked up enough viewing time, claim your loot from your Twitch Drops Inventory to receive it in-game.


Where to Watch

New to X-Isle’s streaming shores? Check out HAWKED on Twitch and the following channels participating in our Content Creator Program. Don’t forget to follow or subscribe to the streamers you enjoy!

Dabble in streaming? Check out the MY.GAMES Content Creator Program and become a HAWKED Creator!

Twitch Drops start on April 18 at 08:00 UTC/10:00 CEST.You know the drill: tune in, tally up time, and watch the rewards roll in!

Let's kick off our overview with (not so) fun fact #1: if you follow us on social media or occasionally engage with the game outside of Steam updates, you've probably noticed that this world is most often referred to as Void. That's because no one on the team bothers to memorize such a tricky word as Kohakujō, and everyone still uses its working title (even the writer, shame on them). But here's the funniest part: no one in the in-game universe calls it that either. Except for the inhabitants of the Land of the Emerald Peaks, one of whom you get to play as. So yeah, the more you know.

What essentially is Kohakujō? To avoid excessive lore dumping, let’s keep it relatively brief: Kohakujō is the very first ‘container’ world, the homeland of an ancient civilization of Gods, and the energetic core of the game universe, as well as the deposit of amber resin, a highly efficient energy resource (time for fun fact #2: its name literally means ‘amber citadel’ or ‘amber castle’ in Japanese. Or at least it should). Kohakujō organically provides all other worlds with basic energy, allowing them to sustain their livelihoods.


One of the very early concept arts. Yup, Akatori could be set in Silent Hill

Monks are convinced that the amber resin is the tears of Akatori the Firebird that gave birth to the universe. They also believe that one of the Bird's tears sprouted the Primordial Tree from which the Gods and then humans were first born. When Kohakujō became a bit crowded, the Gods began to create separate worlds for people and other races one by one (this is why the side realms have different ages and are at different stages of development), but after a while, the destructive behavior of mortals spawned Chaos, from which the Bird hid the Gods, and which plagues Kohakujō to this day. Phew, sorry, that was as brief as possible. So, did things really play out that way? Well, that's for you to find out in the full game.


That’s how Kohakujō looks today. What will it look like tomorrow? We’ll see, I guess

Since Kohakujō plays an important role in the story and is a border world that connects the entire multiverse of Akatori, we wanted to add more flavor to it with unique mechanics. In the current state of the game, the more time you spend in Kohakujō, the harder it gets to actually stay there: there’s a timer, aka the Chaos Meter, causing levels to change and hidden passages or hazards to appear. To reset the meter, you have to either save the game by resting at the altars or hit one of the special bells scattered across the world. But more challenges also mean more rewards, so it’s always a matter of whether a risk is worth taking at a given time.

The corruption mechanic is intentionally not explicit: the world around changes and makes the player going through the same level twice think 'wait, was it always like this here?'.


The real-life reference of the current Kohakujō design, presumably somewhere in California

In the future we plan to expand the mechanics further, not only in terms of environment but also enemies, and add a special boss that will chase the player when Chaos levels are high. We ultimately aim for more risk/reward situations, where high Chaos opens up new zones and shortcuts, but makes traveling through Kohakujō noticeably more difficult. Plus, we're considering introducing items that affect Chaos mechanics. For example, making the world corrupt faster if you want to artificially increase the difficulty.

Of course, in addition to the lore background and mechanics, we will also continue to work on the visual design of this world, where players will likely spend most of their time: improving existing art, adding clearer zoning, catchy landmarks, and so on. However, in such matters it's always better to show than to tell, so stay tuned for more updates.

Please remember to wishlist both Akatori and Chapter One if you’re looking forward to the game, this will help us immensely with upcoming releases.

Cheers!

Insight is written in the stars for heroes of Dracania. For a limited time only, get more group experience by defeating the many ferocious monsters that terrify the inhabitants of Duria.

Play the Time of Solidarity event today and take advantage of this opportunity to take your group XP to a whole new level!