It was supposed to be a monthly series of devlogs, but Matt realized he had a game to finish.😅 He still found some time between coding stuff and sat down to talk about games that inspired him to create the ambitious open-world sequel to Streets of Rogue. You may know some of those games well; some are obscure. However, they all influenced Streets of Rogue 2 in some way. Enjoy!

Watch the previous devlogs:
Devlog 1: How I Approach World-Building? 🗺️
Devlog 2: Creating an Open World Solo 🗺️

As always, thanks for your support. Let us know in the comments what you think about this devlog entry. Also, a reminder: Streets of Rogue 2 is coming to Steam on August 14th as an Early Access title; wishlist & follow the game to keep yourself updated with the latest news:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2165810/Streets_of_Rogue_2/

---

Join the community on Discord:
🔗DISCORD

Follow Streets of Rogue 2 on social media:
🔗TWITTER (X)
🔗TIKTOK
🔗REDDIT

Howdy, exofarmers! Can y’all believe the Making it Home update drops tomorrow?! We’re practically jumping outta our boots with excitement!




Today, for our final devlog before the update, we’re sitting down to chat with Cornelis – Lead Technical UI Designer, Writer, and Co-Founder – about the new features coming to the in-game Photo Mode.

Howdy, Cornelis! What kinda things have you been wrangling with on this project?

I’ve been taking the lead on the design and development of the new updates and additions to Photo Mode! This involves figuring out what settings and features could add the most value, before prototyping these and testing them internally. After seeing what works (and what doesn’t…), I begin the final implementation and involve artists and programmers where needed.



Tell us about all the new updates to Photo Mode, will ya?

Nine new updates and additions are coming to Photo Mode with the Making it Home Update:

1. Stamps: We've upped the ante from just two stamps to a whopping 20!
   
2. Stamp Position: Choose from nine different spots on the screen to place one of those new stamps.
   
3. Frame: What was once "Cinematic Mode" is now "Frame" – with four extra options added. More ways to frame your epic shots!
   
4. Player Signature: Give yourself some well-deserved credit by adding your Player ID to your screenshots.
   
5. Composition Grid: Easily line up those perfect shots with a handy 3x3 grid overlay!
   
6. Camera Path: Save up to 15 camera positions and create a smooth sequence by pressing play. Perfect for capturing the action!
   
7. Mech/Exofarmer Emotes: Strike a pose! Use the new Emotes Feature to activate emotes in Photo Mode and pose your character just right.
   
8. Mech/Exofarmer Emote Position: Emote animations are frozen in Photo Mode to make it easier to get the desired shots. Now you can position them exactly where you want!
   
9. Time Freeze: When entering Photo Mode in single-player – time stands still! Characters and effects freeze in place, making it easier to capture dynamic shots.

Wow, that's a lot of new features! Wrangling those into shape must've been quite the task. What's been the biggest challenge?

One of our main goals with the Photo Mode – and also its greatest challenge – is to keep the experience as approachable as possible. Virtual photography can quite easily get convoluted and complicated due to the endless possibilities in the form of ratios, alignments, lights, values… to only name a few. We don’t want to scare any curious newcomers away with too many options! But we also want to give our community as many fun and interesting settings as possible, to allow them to take the most expressive shots! This balancing act is, and will probably continue to be, the biggest challenge to overcome.



Now, how are you hoping to see our community use these new features?

Aside from new cool photos, I’m hoping to see a lot of interesting videos and GIFs due to the new Camera Path and Time Freeze features! I think there are a lot of opportunities here to make really dynamic-looking content in poses and positions we haven’t seen before.

To wrap this up, what can we hope to see in Photo Mode in the future?

There has been some testing on having the exofarmer character’s head follow the camera position, allowing more selfie-style photos – which I think could be very cool! So here’s hoping we get around to it in the near future!



What features are y'all most excited about? Hop on our Discord channel and let us know! And for the love of mechs, do NOT forget to tune in for the new update tomorrow, ya hear?!

Happy farming!


TL;DR

Nine new features are being added to the in-game Photo Mode with the upcoming update, including more stamps and stamp positions, frames, the ability to add your Player ID, composition gridlines, camera path ability with up to 15 camera positions, mech and farmer emotes with emote positioning, and time freeze upon entering Photo Mode.




--
Follow our social pages for the latest on Lightyear Frontier:

It's been a while since our last update, but we've been hard at work to bring you something special. We've completely overhauled the early levels, remaking every location and adding more loot.

We've improved the quests, removing tedious fetch tasks and introducing more engaging objectives. We added areas only accessible with the squirrel spell, reminiscent of the Risen series.

Now, almost every ladder in the game is climbable and often leads to hidden treasures. Many waterfalls now conceal mysteries behind them.

Some new quests feature multiple endings, and the Sea Side storyline has been entirely rebuilt from scratch, focusing on more combat and exploration instead of filler content. There's much more to discover in this update!

1. The first level, 'Prison Island,' has been both narratively and graphically remade (with new quests added).
   
   
   
   
2. We've added a new cave in the first level that introduces the player to a hidden loot mechanic. This mechanic involves using specific spells to transform into animals to collect the loot.
   
   
   
   
3. The caves now look much better and contain more content.
   
   
   
   
4. At the end of the level the Vikings of the Eric the Red now get lost in a proper drakkar
   
   
   
5. We have added many more cutscenes
   
   
   
6. We've added written letters for more environmental storytelling. They not only narrate the game's story but also often provide hints about where loot might be hidden.
   
   
   Second level "Great Forest"
   
   
7. We've added a hidden quest in the Great Forest. You'll need to follow a written diary to locate an ancient tomb and possibly its treasure!
   
   
   
8. We have added a lot of verticality to the level. Now completionists will need to use teleport spells, possess the eagle spell, and possess the squirrel spell to gather all the loot on the level.
   
   
   
9. We have added a completely new area that was previously empty and introduced a new complex quest with multiple choices.
   
   
   
   
   Third level "Sea Side"
   
   
10. We have completely scrapped the old questline on the seaside and replaced it with a new one. We removed any backtracking and time sinks, focusing instead on fighting and exploration.
    
    
    
    
11. The seaside has been graphically enhanced. We've reduced the emptiness of most of the level and added several points of interest.
    
    
    
12. We have also added a few unique weapons in hard-to-find locations.
    
    
    
13. We have added more cutscenes to enhance the narrative. As Ayash is a fugitive, many warriors will try to hunt him down.
    
    
    
    
    MISC
    
    
14. All of the game icons have been changed.
    
15. Fixed bug when keybindings were set to default after restarting the game
    
16. Fixed disappearing dialogues during sequences
    
17. You can drop/deactivate torches depending on the gameplay
    
18. Increased cohesion in dialogues
    
19. Tweaks for arrow effects
    
20. More immersive arrows
    
21. Added more Viking weapons and fixed some of the handles on existing ones
    
22. Tweaks related to lip sync (still a WIP)
    
23. Added more environmental effects like fire damage or single-use recipes
    
24. Adjusted armor values
    
25. Added new clothing equipment
    
26. New sound effects (SFX)
    
27. Fixed hairdresser rotation bug
    
28. Added Unstuck Option in the menu
    
29. Added party banter
    
30. And much more, but it's been a while and we can't list everything.

We plan to release the final version of the game this year if we can keep up the grind and resolve a few issues. Once that's all done, we'll move on to localizing it into several languages (Spanish, German, Russian, Polish).

Add Trail of Ayash to your Steam Wishlist

Hello, friends!

We want to delight you with a new animation featuring Mrs. Moore. In this animation, she decided to relax in the bath and playfully engage with you.




Additionally, we are diligently working on the demo version of our game "Bored Wife," and we are pleased to announce that it will be available on Steam soon!

Always with you,

Marlis Studio

This is a small patch build to address a few issues.

- Tons of code refactoring around level up systems and ability management to help prevent the game from entering unwanted game states at high levels. At high levels, rare and odd bugs could be generated based on build styles and low ability upgrade count, and so I spent a dozen hours or so refactoring related code that should help resolve such issues. It's possible you could have gotten stuck in a specific level if the game fails to find an ability for you to upgrade based on how you built your character, banishment choices etc. Now, if this happens then the game should no longer enter an idle state, but rather allow you to continue your run and finish even if it means you will bypass that level. The true solution to this problem is to add more abilities, but for now this should help. We are also going to shift logic in the next update, so that if no active ability is found, then the game will slot in a passive ability. And if no passive is found, an active will be slotted in.

We're also looking into adding another class specific passive ability for each class. This won't make it in the game until the next big update, likely towards end of July.

- Added a failsafe to activate the pause menu if the game becomes stuck in an idle game state while attempting to level up

- Changed how XP is gained to prevent leveling up immediately after closing the level up UI menu

- Fixed a bug where Insight may not have been properly boosting XP gain

- Curse: Open Wound - Health Damage has been reduced from 5HP/5Sec to 2HP/5Sec resulting in 60% less damage inflicted upon the player

Thank you for the feedback. More to come!

Stingbot Games

- Updating SteamCore Support

A new patch has been released today.

After reviewing your feedback, here is a list of fixes:

• Added several quality settings (View Distance, Reflection Quality, Effects Quality, Texture Quality, Post-Process Quality, and Anti-Aliasing Quality).
  
• Fixed certain physical platforms that were too low due to framerate issues.
  
• Session passwords are now encrypted. Please ensure your game is updated to version 1.7.6; otherwise, you will not be able to join your friends' sessions.
  
• Some collision issues have been resolved.
  
• Respawn problems have been addressed.
  
• Several minor bug fixes.

Feel free to join the Discord if you encounter any problems.

Have Fun!

Upgraded many textures, especially motel area
Upgraded tutorial
Filled out motel area extensively
Other misc fixes

Note: Enemy AI seems to freeze up at times

Multi Idle will soon be opening to a public PlayTest through steams PlayTest feature.
There is currently plans for roughly 500 players at first, with more space opening after depending on feedback, bugs, and the number of player drop-offs.

For those that already have access, Content will be roughly the same but with QoL additions.. But for players that are entering the PlayTest they will be granted the exact same build as what is currently being released to players. Current game updates have been reserved to just Quality of Life, Visual improvements and bug fixes for this time, With content updates soon after the PlayTest.

There's a lot of features and mechanics that will be introduced. After the PlayTest, when updates start being more content driven again, there will hopefully be a passive addition of skills. Somewhere shortly after, I will also restructure the center of the passive tree. It won't be a full refactoring of the passive tree but mainly just how players start. Players will select one of six starting locations in the center, which just dictates which node your passives begin from. You can always double back around to another starting node, but may not be worth the point investment.

From there we will likely have a decision to make regarding what content comes after, but to list some out:

• Roguelite - Will be inside the dungeon module, and will be a system that will use a resource to either start a RogueLite run or move forward to the next room within it. Every run will begin at room 1, and increment with every room similar to how the dungeon stages work. The fighter used in this feature will also begin at level 1. Between every room, the player will be able to choose a bonus that will be applied to that run. These bonuses include things like levels to the fighter's level, increased damage, armor and health of the fighter, and more. With the fighter used in this feature being very secluded to itself, he will not be getting the benefit of many bonuses available to the normal dungeon fighter except a lesser bonus based on the player's current multiplier. There will be benefits given to the player at the end of each run depending on how far they've gotten.
  
  
• Raids - Players will use either all three of their characters. Or the currently selected fighter with two other Pre-Configured fighters scaled with your character's current multiplier. The player will then fight a difficult dungeon boss with absurdly high health! A very even fight will likely last a whole minute. When a boss is defeated, the next boss will then spawn and with a much higher difficulty. There will be multiple different types of bosses, each with their own respawn times. There is going to be a time limit on the fights, likely somewhere between 60 to 120 seconds. When all of the player's fighters die or their time runs out, rewards will be given based on how many bosses they've defeated.
  
  
• Arena - Some players may not have experienced this since there has been a large bug with it recently and a large focus being pointed to other focuses of the game. If the arena is not working this time around then we will get it fully working with the full implementation on the way. The arena will allow players to create a configuration of a fighter. What that means is that we'll give them 100 points to increase stats like health, level, crit chance, and other such elements. As well as 100 passive points for a customization of their tree. And maybe a few other possibilities like a few set ups of equipment. From there the players' fighters will go into a queue where two of the fighters will then fight against each other. Every player both fighting and in the queue will see the same fight, and those in the queue can bet on who will win using arena money. After 64 unique player fighters have passed and been declared a winner, The winners will then fight in a tournament style bracket to decide who has the best fighter!
  
  
• Some others - There will be other things like Wonders, large buildings to be constructed in the Kingdom. Players will have to rebuild every rebirth however each Wonder will come with a very large reward.
  There is a card system that will be used as a strategic form of play since there will be a field that you can place cards onto that will have various effects and can change depending on the cards that are adjacent to it.
  And finally the 'after everything that has been said is done', there will be Space and Worlds, Spaceship building, fighting, and more!

Patch 0.7.3 has now been deployed, please consider restarting Steam if you don't see an update.

• Added new sights (EOTECH flex mini, EXPS3, RMR sight)
  
• Added a riser on few sights (RMR sight, EOTECH flex mini) when the weapon requires it (example - M4)
  
• Reworked the squad system (fixing several issues including going offline after a raid)
  
• Reworked labs on Island of Tabor (new optimized models)
  
• Reworked matchmaking to prioritize full servers when possible
  
• Reworked matchmaking to allow noob queue (<level 5 match together)
  
• Reworked attachments (visible hologram to show where the item can be applied)
  
• Improved player’s death rag doll (not jumping like a cartoon anymore)
  
• Improved reconnection reliability (including trying to reconnect you automatically if possible/network error)

• Fixed the gliding glitch
  
• Fixed an issue where the players would get a false message announcing an update, followed by kicking them out of the game
  
• Fixed a crash linked to the social tabs of the main terminal
  
• Fixed the Ruger mk IV bottom rail
  
• Fixed grabbing the backpack while climbing (can’t grab your backpack while grabbing a ladder anymore)
  
• Fixed being unable to grab items from crates without opening and closing the crate a few times
  
• Fixed the shotgun silencer not fitting in the backpack
  
• Fixed the saiga magazine limited to 1 unit in the market
  
• Fixed textures breaking when setting the settings to low on PCVR
  
• Fixed being able to scan and purchase (but not receive) suppressors you haven’t unlocked
  
• Fixed some situation where a player’s weapon would not drop after being killed

Island of Tabor

• Fixed collision with a certain rock formation
  
• Fixed aggressive culling/occlusion around the radio tower

Matka Miest Underground

• Fixed a kill volume that was too easy to trigger

Silo

• Fixed some walls offset (visible seams)