Good day all, welcome to this week’s progress report.

Level:
We started working on mini location asset design and are finishing up the B blockout for Adûn
and working on the transitions from Adûn to other regions.



Code:
Continued with combat rework, currently working on hit detection.
Sandbox:
116 Attachment points were not enough? Try 515!
Experimenting with bone controllers which can modify and offset the transform of any bone on any character in any state (player, character, pose, sex scene).
Added bulk-rename functionality
All events of an object can be copied and pasted to another object now.
Prototype props have a toggle to affect the lighting with emission even when invisible (Lumen only).
Improved the look of poses, specifically around fingers and the hip.

Character:
Finished work on Solenne - a Sky Village council member (human female).
Started working on Taruk, a farmer from Umbar (pigman).
Multiple outfits are being worked on at the moment.






Animations:
Working closely together with Game Design on a first set of improved combat animations.
Transferring dialogue emotion animations to other characters.

Design:
Working on blockouts for mini location caves all over the world map.
Further refining the different design aspects for the combat system.


Thank you for all your continued support,
-Wild Life Team

Hello, everyone!

The underground world is packed with creatures: some minding their own business, others guarding their nest, and some looking for an easy prey. As a survivor navigating this dangerous landscape, you're guaranteed to cross paths with these creatures, leading to inevitable confrontations.

This is where improvements in AI were required, which became the main focus of this month's development.

During the private demo event with our community last year, one thing that kept coming up was how players struggled to predict when a creature would attack. In game development, it's not just about making the AI smart or hard; it's about making it readable for players so they can pick up on patterns and adapt their strategies. When behaviors are unclear, it often leads to frustration and makes players feel like the experience is glitchy and disjointed.

That's exactly what we were dealing with for some of our AI creatures. To fix this, we've completely overhauled how behaviors are handled. We put more emphasis on giving players visual cues to anticipate attacks, which was a significant improvement we recognized based on our recent internal tests.

While we are unable to share footages of these improvements right now, stay tuned for the upcoming updates where we will be able to share more.

While our main focus was on fine-tuning the AI, we didn't stop there. We've made some significant improvements in other areas too. Now, when a player joins a multiplayer session later on, they'll still be able to see world changes like collected foliage and built houses. It wasn't the case before – you had to be in the session at the same time to see those changes. This was one of the most important milestones for the multiplayer integration which we recently completed successfully.

Overall, it's been a very busy month. We plan to put more time on the AI to keep improving the combat experience even more, and we'll have more updates to share in the coming months regarding these improvements.

Thanks for being a part of the Blind Descent community! Don't hesitate to drop a comment and let us know what you think!

—Pokuch Team.

Hello, fellow well dwellers!



The Anaesthetic team celebrated its anniversary on 25.04 at Cybermachina Wroclaw game pub, co-organized with Korbank! We had a great time with people testing Unwell, engaging in productive conversations, and enjoying our very own drinks prepared by skilled bartenders :)

We gained plenty of insight from our testers and are preparing changes to the Unwell world accordingly!

In the meantime, we've prepared a couple of hot fixes for the demo of Unwell :)

TWEAKS/FIXES:

Resolved issue with being stuck in the falling animation in some cases.

Resolved some out-of-bounds issues.

Optimized dodge mechanic.

Made entry to level 2 more accessible.

Enhanced durability of adversaries in level 2 (you're welcome!).

Addressed incorrect quickslot numbering in the inventory - we've reworked the logic behind it, but it still needs more refinement ;)

Updated descriptions of some objects, revealing a bit more of the game's lore.

More changes to item icons.

Thank you for standing against The Gray with us.

The Head Protege"

• UI: Fixed an issue where the stats window would not show up when hovered over an item.
  
• Maps: Optimization improvements on background assets for better performance.
  
• Stability: Fixed an issue that caused the game to hang in some cases.

Fixes:

-fixed an issue where if a loadout had a grip equipped on the weapon the player would not hold it with the hand in the loadout selection screen

Added/Changed:

-made an animation for the the loadout selection menu player models

-more GUI changes, e.g. changed the pre-game lobby screen as well, making it look more nice and clean

-added the ability to switch host. So if you are the host and want to pass it to someone else you can do that with a click, in the pre-game lobby screen

-added the ability to change map, game mode or few other settings from within the pre-game lobby, so the host doesnt have to go back and host again with different settings

-pushed the multiplayer version up to avoid unwanted mismatches. This means that players who didn’t update to the latest version will not see lobbies created by players who updated and the other way around

A hotfix has been deployed at 2:00PM EST 4/26

Fixed a bug where Poison would not effect players.
FIxed a bug where building damage reduction in combination with Neon Barrier would amplify the damage dealt for enemies travelling through the wall but would diminish the value of damage dealt by bullets back to the attacker.
Fixed a bug where in Rogue Mode, Neon Barrier would incorrectly scale with shield power.
Fixed a bug where Tanks would have insane accuracy on Level 19: Protocol Arena
Fixed a bug where projectile prism would calculate damage from missiles incorrectly. This should benefit the player by taking 1 less damage than the previous value.
Fixed a bug where R.A.M mod in Rogue Mode would decrease health at a faster value than intended on boss levels.


Hey Recruits,

It's your favorite Sector VIII pilot trainer. Logan! Today's patch probably comes as a bit of a surprise, as we didn't plan on a patch for a while. To let you in on a secret, make sure to join our discord and subscribe to our YouTube channel, because we have BIG news coming this week. Let's get on to the patch!

Bugfixes:

Fixed a bug where when fighting T.O.M there's a rare chance his HP bar would disappear.
Fixed a bug on levels 38-39 that caused some strange lighting.
Fixed several bugs and optimized both Survival: Systolis and Survival: Demrova.
Optimized several skills.


While this patch had no plans on balancing especially before our BIG news, we had to address to issues that we caused by bugfixing and optimizing.

Neon Barrier

Overall Neon Barrier has been a decent skill and that's not why we're changing it today, since we cleaned up some code, Pulsating nodes have a weird effect on them that causes repeated attacks against the wall to deal reduced damage back to itself as a sort of defense mechanism to make sure pulsating nodes don't get instantly destroyed when they shoot the wall. We changed the background code so pulsating nodes will take a bit more damage then previously now that pulsating nodes are a bit smarter than before.

Damage reduction from multiple attacks from Pulsating nodes changed from 50/25/12.5/0 to 70/70/70/70/70/70/70...

Pulse Blast

Pulse Blast was already down in the dumps, but now enemies are snippier and a bit quick to back into the action, with this new change it's time to lower that cooldown and give the player more opportunities to fight from a range.

Cooldown changed from 5.5/5.5/5.5 to 4.75/3.75/2.75

• UI: Fixed an issue where the stats window would not show up when hovered over an item.
  
• Maps: Optimization improvements on background assets for better performance.
  
• Stability: Fixed an issue that caused the game to hang in some cases.

New achievement for beating the Sugar Bear mini game, and should allow Mac users to select Spanish.

Hello Everyone,

We’re continuing our deep dive into The Splintered Sea expansion today, with a look at the new aquatic blocks and how they work!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165710/Besiege_The_Splintered_Sea/

The Splintered Sea introduces 8 new blocks to the game, all designed to help you construct machines that can traverse water and navigate the challenges of an ocean themed campaign.




To help you move your machines through water, we’ve created three new blocks that each employ a different method of propulsion; the Sail Panel, Aquatic Screw and Paddle.



The Sail Panel provides you with a retractable sail that harnesses wind in order to propel your machine across the ocean’s surface. Retracting the sail while in simulation will slowly bring your machine to a stop.

When the sail block comes in contact with water it becomes wet and ceases to provide propulsion, but regains normal behavior shortly after exiting the water. While underwater, sails also create significantly more drag which can negatively affect the controllability of your machine.



The Aquatic Screw works the same way as a ship’s propeller, providing either forward or reverse propulsion. Aquatic Screws can be stacked together, forming one continuous unit that spins in unison. Modifying one Aquatic Screw with the Keymapper Tool, modifies any other screw that’s stacked together with it.



Due to their shape, Aquatic Screws also function as worm gears that interact with the grooves on Small & Large Cogs, causing them to rotate.



The Paddle block can be used to create oars for rowing or attached to wheels, turning them into “Paddle Wheels” (a method of propulsion used by early Steam Ships). The Paddle can also be placed on the sides of your machine, acting as a lateral dampener to help keep your machine moving in a straight line.




While many blocks in Besiege provide some degree of buoyancy, the Small & Large Barrel block’s buoyancy is customizable and has an upper limit that’s much higher than any other block. Placing and customizing their values allows you to finetune your machine’s overall buoyancy, whether it’s to support heavy cannons or balance a submarine.



While in simulation, you can use hotkeys to apply a “rise” or “sink” force to the Barrels that’ll help you control submersible machines like submarines. The amount of force applied can also be customized using the Keymapper tool.


To help you steer your aquatic machines we’ve created a Rudder block, which simulates a lateral force and provides more effective steering in water. You can of course create your own steering methods and even rudders out of existing blocks, but we wanted to ensure there was a block specifically designed for use in water as well.




The Harpoon Launcher has been a long requested addition for Besiege and what better place for it than as part of an ocean themed expansion! The block fires a devastating spear bolt attached to a rope, which can be detached or reeled back in at the press of a button. You can use it to pull enemy vessels along, winch your machine toward a target or maybe even do some fishing…



That’s it for today’s post, but fear not, there’s plenty more to talk about in the lead up to launch! In next week’s post we’ll take a deeper dive into building for water, discussing some engineering principles to consider, and demonstrating some tools we’ve created to help you build ocean faring machines.

See you next week!
Von

If you haven't already, please consider wishlisting the expansion and check out The Splintered Sea’s steam page for more information! :)

Hey Ghosts/Volks,
Wipe incoming! Whether you're a seasoned pro or new to the scene, we've got you covered. We know you've got questions, and we're here to answer them.

• From April 26th to May 1st, we're giving everyone a sweet treat: 7 million korunas and access to all items!
  
• On May 1st we're resetting progress, but don't worry, you'll get your edition and DLC back!
  
• We wipe every 3-4 months to keep things fresh and add new features!

• Will I lose my progress? Yep, it's a fresh start!
  
• Will I get my DLC back? Absolutely!
  
• When's the next wipe? Stay tuned, we'll let you know!

Got questions? Join our Discord ( discord.gg/ghostsoftabor ) or Facebook group ( Facebook.com/groups/ghostsoftaborofficial ) and let's get ready for a new beginning!

Remember, trust no one.