May 15, 2024

Director's Cut is Live! The letter to our community.

Dark Envoy - Luzgan

Dear Community, Players, Warriors, Sorcerers

We want to share an enormous thank you! We’re releasing Dark Envoy: Director’s Cut using each and every comment, report, and piece of feedback you’ve shared with us over the last six months.

Summary of most important Changes:

Less shy about connections with Tower of Time universe, new main meta level voiced narration
Major narrative changes, reworked main cutscenes, some VO reworked, creating a completely different experience, especially during the first few hours of the game.
Balancing, polishing then reworking again, then repeating the process
Improved Jaan map and unique boss items
further optimization and QoL improvements

And we fixed one major sinister memory leak bug that made us all so miserable!
Instead of pushing the marketing for Dark Envoy, we gave this game 6 months of pure love and improvements. We’re still not done, but want to share this news with you.

If you’ve enjoyed your time with Dark Envoy, please leave us a review and share your thoughts with your fellow players! Tell your friends, sister, neighbor and maybe a hamster or two; HELP OUR LITTLE INDIE STUDIO COMPETE FOR VISIBILITY in this harsh AAA market.

Here is our Socially Awkward Zero Budget Launch Trailer:

Brutally honest one, but dire straits tend to create the best anecdotes.

The Director’s Cut update is coming, along with a 40% off Steam Daily Deal starting from Wednesday, May 15th, 2024, which will last for a week.

It was thanks to your immense support and belief in out team that we've managed to complete this enhanced version. We deeply appreciate your ongoing collaboration with us on this world that we love so dearly. We are committed to making this game as perfect as it can be.

Great THANK YOU from all 13 of us!

Dark Envoy Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/945770/

Discord | Twitter | Facebook | TikTok

Full Patch Note:

Version: 1.4.0.73319 download size: 23,1 GB

Highlights

Reworked tutorial. Characters will no longer split up for the first part of the game, allowing for more seamless co-op play from the first minutes of the game. NOTE: Due to multiple changes to the flow in the early part of the game, saves made on the very first location will not be compatible with the new version. All other saves from further points in the game should be fully compatible. If you encounter any issues, please inform us using the in-game Report Issue function.
Rebalanced and updated combat encounters throughout the game and a general overhaul of player skills, items and even the tech tree. Our focus was to increase the variance in valid player options instead of nerfing the builds that were performing extremely well. As such, the changes mostly include buffs to the most overlooked items and upgrades, including a considerable boost to 2-handed weapons and melee options. There was, however, slight nerf to the most powerful combinations but we expect them to still perform well despite the changes (looking at you, dual pistols with chaos damage enchantment and maxed out Crit Chance). Detailed overview of balance changes can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tp5H5WVZHJMpT49bfLCfGtEAUlSHRrQo/view?usp=sharing
Recut and improved dialogues with high emphasis on improving the overall pacing, especially at the beginning of the game.
4 new cinematics throughout the game, including a brand new intro.
18 new unique items including custom handcrafted Boss drops, granting distinctive new weapon skills. Ever wanted to be able to throw explosive rats like a certain Rodent Monarch or summon Manaless out of enemy corpses? Now’s your chance!
2 new minibosses: Imperial Elite Assassin and League Winter’s Breath. Both may now appear on any random dungeon with the corresponding faction, further increasing their variance.
New cutscenes as well general improvement and polish on the existing ones.
Added a highly requested UX feature: clicking on the map will now move the camera to the designated point.
Reworked Rex bossfight for increased clarity in boss mechanics and smoother experience.
Upgraded world map: it now has an additional layer, showing the geographical names and borders of various regions for some extra lore and greater immersion. In addition, previously visited locations will remain visible (although grayed out, to be easily distinguishable), showing a map of your previous voyages.

Other changes

Added tutorial pop-ups explaining each side objective as they appear for the first time - either in the main game or in random dungeons.
New 20 level challenge awaits in the challenge arena - complete with a unique reward.
Polished audio, with high focus on UI and player abilities. New audio events for many interactable objects.
Respecialization Trainer got his own custom icon. He certainly deserved one!
Skill cooldowns will now immediately reset on combat end. No more sitting around, waiting for this juicy ultimate to be available again.
Further improvements to lighting and level art on both quest locations and random dungeons.
More dynamic cameras in select dialogue scenes, overall cutscene and dialogues polish.
Fixed issues with healing fountains occasionally bugging out and not healing the user despite having additional charges.
Most skills effects will now automatically disappear as soon as a cutscene starts. No more firewalls and summoned trees blocking the view.
Mining deposits received new looks based on the resource they grant.
A “select all” button was added over the leftmost character portrait.
Added an option to hide all tutorials. It can be turned on and off at will in the settings.
Forgotten Altar side objective will now reset on each game load, making it harder to brute force it with a save/load tactic.
Increased responsiveness on enemy units and fixed an AI issue that occasionally caused them to get stuck in-between actions.
Ancient Generator side objective will now correctly count down on the timer at the top of the screen, as indicated by the player goal.
Enemy tooltips will now correctly appear when the currently selected character is armed with a prism.
Crafting menu will now display a “Craft Item” button instead of “Precraft Item” for Normal rarity items that do not need to be precrafted.
Invisible units will no longer immediately exit combat.
Solved numerous small graphical issues on enemy and summon units and their abilities.
Multiple fixes to desync issues and other co-op specific bugs.
Fixed waypoint interactions on gamepad.
The Challenge Arena will no longer misleadingly inform the player that they would not be able to return if they leave. In fact, they are welcome to!
Fixed an issue with HP bars occasionally not updating correctly.
Fixed an issue that occasionally could have caused the controls to glitch upon changing the keybindings.
Fixed a potential blocker in the Faction Meeting quest.
Numerous other fixes, corrections and slight upgrades throughout the whole game.

May 15, 2024

Dev Journal 3: A Post Mortem Playthrough Adventure

Sins of a Solar Empire II - [SD] redskittlesonly

A number of fans have asked us about how Sins II plays, both from a new and returning user perspective. This past weekend, we played a 10-player dev FFA bout where I took the role of a TEC loyalist empire. Let’s walk through how things went!

As a TEC player, I start the game with a home planet, large and small ship factories, and a Refit Bay. I also get two scout corvettes which automatically set out to reveal my surrounding area. As with Sins: Rebellion, my first capital ship is free, so I pick the Akkan battlecruiser. The Akkan specializes in colonization which makes it ideal for the early game in helping to buff new planets. It also has the ability to enhance the ships in its fleet with its Inspiring Broadcast.

In Sins II, your planets are more important than ever; they’re not just credit generators and a place to host your orbital structures. Part of this change is in the research system, as research infrastructure is now planet-based. By investing in these areas, you can gain research points that unlock tiers in the research tree.

This early in the game, I want to quickly reveal my area, so I do some initial investment in Military research and unlock the Prova Jump Computer to decrease my scouts' phase charge time.

My surrounding planets are all asteroids and volcanic, so initially I really just need to research Volcanic Colonization since asteroids don’t require special technology.

I’ve found my first opponent! SolarSpish, a fellow TEC player, is just a few jumps away. Since I have alliance colors turned on, all hostile players will show red and allied blue. This makes it very easy to tell friend from foe at a glance.

Neither SolarSpish or I want to get into a tussle this early on - the game is just 6 minutes old at this point! He offers me a peace treaty which I gratefully accept.

With that resolved for now, I focus on colonizing all of my surrounding worlds and grabbing the precious derelict loot! Derelicts are another new feature in Sins II and can be found around many planets. These ruined objects need to be captured by a capital ship and can grant both resources and XP.

In the screenshot below, you can see a few things happen in fast succession: My capital ship gains a level from capturing the derelict; I put this point into its Colonize ability to bring it up to level 2. My research on Focused Exploration also finishes, granting me 4 free scout corvettes and the ability to find Minor Factions faster.

Moments later, I encounter the first Vasari player, Unikraken. I don’t know where his worlds are located, but he offers me a peace treaty which I also accept to avoid a war with someone who’s location I don’t know.

As a TEC loyalist player, one of my special bonuses is the Garrison Command on my homeworld. These forces don’t take up any fleet supply, so I switch them into offensive roam mode which sends them to assault adjacent planets with enemy forces present. This helps free up my fleet to continue colonizing planets that are further away.

A few minutes later and it’s clear that I have a big problem looming: I don’t have any Ice planets to colonize, which is going to seriously hamper my crystal income. As you can also see in the image below, I’ve just found SovereignEcho - a Vasari Exodus player. He’s far away from me, however, so not an immediate threat.

At this stage, I’ve found a couple of the Minor Factions. Unfortunately, a bug I found is keeping me from sharing a screenshot of them, but we’ll get it fixed up. (smile) Minor Factions have received a major update since the Sins: Rebellion DLC and are a main part of the game. For starters, the metal and crystal markets are now Minor Factions that exist on the map; until you reveal them, you’re unable to trade with them. Minor Factions can be revealed either by your scouts, or by using Influence, one of the game’s new systems. I’ll delve more deeply into Influence in a future dev diary.

In Sins II, it’s important to keep tabs on the planets' orbits, since these affect phase lane connections. In the above two screenshots, you can see the shifts over the next hour of game time from using the Future Orbits feature. Luckily, my planetary neighborhood is pretty stable, but you can see that the asteroid, Niebuhr, is going to gain a connection close to me.

Even though I’m lacking in precious crystal resources, as a TEC player, I have access to Trade. By assigning trade points to crystal, I can boost my crystal income by +1.0 per second which is vital to keep me in the game. Of course, I could also buy crystal off the market by trading it for credits once I locate that faction on the map.

With all of this happening already, we’re still less than 20 minutes into the match.

I wanted to show the Diplomacy screen here because you can see that my alliance timer with SolarSpish is getting ready to expire. In Sins 2, players can set an alliance lock timer which prevents either side from launching a sneak attack for the duration. Once the timer expires, you still have your peace treaty, etc. but either player can break it at will.

This makes scout corvettes a valuable unit throughout the game - if you lose track of what other players are doing, you will learn to regret it! In the above shot, you can see that I’ve just sent a cohort of scouts out.

Shortly after sending out my scouts, I discover an Ice planet - yay! Unfortunately, it’s in Unikraken’s domain, which makes it nigh impossible to capture without causing tensions. Now, had I been paying better attention during our match, I would have seen that our alliance lock timer had 10 minutes left on it. This would have been the perfect time to take Yoshino!

Instead, my attention was on bringing my forces closer to home so I could attack Ganesa and sync up my new ships quickly. In the above shot you can also see a Minor Faction auction for some Kalanide exotics. At this point, I don’t have much Influence, but I use what I have in a bid for it. Luckily, my bid won and I scored the exotic resources.

A new system we’re adding for the summer update is Surveying, which replaces the current Excavation system. I won’t go too much into the details of it right now, but you can see that my efforts bore fruit on Icarion!

My scouts have also discovered several new enemy empires…

A few minutes later and we have our first player defeated - Republica101 was taken out by the AI. It’s not over for him yet, though! He’ll quit and then rejoin to take over the AI’s empire that just defeated him (which is another new feature). (smile)

I wanted to show the lines of culture influence that have now formed on the map. You can see the green, blue and red lines along the phase lanes, which represent my, my allies (SolarSpish) and enemy cultural influence. Culture does a few things once it's dominant in a gravity well; for TEC it grants a credit income rate bonus.

Jumping ahead, we see that I have become stuck: I have two allies on either side of me and only one asteroid I could attack - Deiphobus. All this time I’ve been building up my fleet and technology, but it’s not nearly enough to betray someone. Why not attack, Deiphobus? It belongs to the Aluxian Resurgence Minor Faction, and they have a 900-supply fleet out there. Mine is just under 400, so that’s not a bee’s nest I want to poke. Instead, I decide to attack the asteroid Niebuhr after SolarSpish and I renew our peace treaty for another 20 minutes.

Niebuhr falls quickly to my forces and I’m only 2 jumps away from Stephen’s homeworld right now. He’s a TEC Rebel player and is asking for peace, but I smell blood…

You know how I mentioned earlier that scouting was important? Well… I was so focused on his homeworld that I totally ignored the asteroid in between and ran into this.

I stuck it out for a couple of minutes, but with his fleet and the Argonov starbase, I was in deep trouble. I ordered my forces to retreat back to Niebuhr, but not before losing my Kol battleship and another 150-fleet supply of ships. With my tail between my legs, I ran back to Ganesa and made peace with Stephen. It was at this point that Republica101 was slain for the last time by Zabik.

I would spend the next few minutes rebuilding my forces, establishing starbases on my key planets, and upgrading my technologies. I’m definitely feeling the constraints of my little empire. I only have 4 full planets, which limits my ability to increase research tiers without resorting to planet items. At this point in the game, I am 1st in Research but only 6th in Military and Economy. I really, really wanted a titan, however, so kept on the research focus.

Now with over 1,000 fleet supply, I decide to take out Deiphobus. It’s not a big gamble as others have already beaten down the Aluxian Resurgence, but it gets my new capital ships some XP. With the way open, I finally capture an Ice planet - Orpheus. I know I may not have it for long, though, as Zabik and his 1,400-fleet supply armada is right next door.

Luckily for me, Zabik headed towards Danae to take out Stephen; and unfortunately for Stephen, SovereignEcho was there to help. Since I’m allied with both players, you see both in blue on the tooltip above, but with Echo’s nearly 1,700-fleet supply and Zabik’s 1,460-fleet supply, he was toast. I jumped my forces to Eetorian to pick off some of Zabik’s stragglers, and then jumped to Nakai to attack Zabik. This was a poor decision as Fyst would jump in to pincer me while Zabik’s fleet returned to Eetorian. Once again, I would escape but lost a few hundred fleet supply.

Now two hours into our match, the first titan has been unleashed by SolarSpish. A few minutes later, SovereignEcho would also complete their titan and begin the process of going fully mobile. For my part, I finally unlocked Ogrov torpedo cruisers and was again rebuilding my forces; while at the same time, working on my own titan.

Having learned earlier lessons the hard way, I noticed SolarSpish moving his fleet toward Orpheus. There was no good reason to do so unless he planned to backstab me, and backstab me he did. All of my forces were at Orpheus and two things worked in my favor: The first is that my Akkan battlecruiser was level 6, and I had unlocked its ultimate ability - Armistice. This forced a cease fire for 60 seconds which was just enough time for my own titan to leave the drydock and avoid destruction.

Unfortunately, the day would not be mine. I would manage to inflict a fair amount of damage thanks entirely to my starbase and Ankylon, but the numbers were just not on my side.

Again I was at risk of being wiped out as Fyst flanked me by attacking and destroying Deiphobus. I was forced to retreat with my titan and few remaining to ships back to Niebuhr. To cap off this dev journal, my once proud empire would be effectively become vassal to both Unikraken and Fyst.