Jun 27, 2024

A Twisted Path to Renown - hangmansJoke

The new Update is here! AI enhancement! Unlimited free mercs! QOL improvements! Sounds adjustments! Various gameplay and performance upgrades! Multiple item changes and fixes!

Dear players!
We were happy to see you loved the last Update from Jun, 20th and based on your feedback we added this Update to enhance your playing experience even more!
Thank you for your contribution and support!

Sincerely yours
~ ATPTR Team

PATCH NOTES

GAMEPLAY
- now recruiting free mercenaries is unlimited but has 5 minutes cooldown after hiring
- starting at reputation level 2, Edgar Mills now offers a new barter, upon completion of which you will receive the item "Sack". The Sack can be used to store items from the Junk category
- weapons and ammunition of free mercenaries no longer have any monetary value
- aiming stamina debuff now starts from 25% instead of 50% and peaks at 5% instead of 15%
- now, the missing items will be highlighted in the Shop and Quest windows
- the merchant task items on the Market can be auto-filled
- now, the recruits can be dismissed (except for the last recruit)
- now you will have the ‘unready’ status by default after completing the raid in the group
- the amount of Health restored by Plantain Salves has been increased
- improved animations for consumable items
- the peak map brightness has been reduced
- added an option to show tooltips only when the ‘Alt’ key is held (disabled by default)
- enhanced post-death shot trading for higher RTT/RTT spikes
- the required items for increasing reputation from level 1 to level 2 with Samuel Cole have now slightly changed

AI
- the AI behavior has been improved
- the highest level AI sprint speed has been decreased
- AI previously found with a Volcanic pistol featuring an 8-round magazine and a 7" barrel will now have a 13" barrel in an 8-round magazine pistol

SOUNDS
- the footstep sounds have been adjusted
- the voice-over in the game has been improved
- the voice-over physical properties have been adjusted

ITEMS
- now, the Sage can be found in the Fisher Log Cabin and at the Caravan
- now, the Salt can be found in the Anny's Village and the Fishing Station
- now, the Iron Plates can be found in every locked house in Anny's Village with the small chance
- the deprecated Black Walnut Log has been removed from the Auction
- the non-relevant items from the Explosives category have been removed from the Auction
- displaying amulet levels has been fixed

FIXES
- multiple animal bugs have been fixed
- a few Korean/Japanese/Chinese translation issues have been fixed
- the issue with the ‘widows clothing’ armor class reset to ‘0’ after the successful extraction has been fixed

Jun 27, 2024

Update Information on June 27, 2024

Black Squad - madelcampo

New Character Update
▶ Sales of Anne characters begin.
※ Sales period: After maintenance on June 27, 2024 - until 05:00 on July 11, 2024 (UTC)

ARCADE Series Updates
▶ BALISONG ARCADE
※ A random box of new weapon products that can be purchased at a discounted price once a day is added.
※ When purchasing this item, the permanent random box acquisition count for the series increases.
※ The permanent random box count is shared during the sales period for items of the same series.
※ Only Platinum ~ Diamond products can be obtained from the permanent box of the series.
▶ Sale period: July 1, 2024 00::00 - July 8, 2024 05:00 (UTC)

▶ Sale period: July 8, 2024 05::00 - July 15, 2024 05:00 (UTC)

▶ Event missions are added.
※ [EVENT] Game victory mission
※ Mission period: July 1, 2024 00:00 ~ July 10, 2024 23:59 (UTC)

▶ A mission dedicated to weapon point mode will be added.
※ Daily mission to acquire weapon points
※ Mission period: After maintenance on June 27, 2024 ~ until further notice

Information on other modifications
▶ Fixed an issue where missions were not checked when using weapon point mode.
▶ Fixed an issue where GROZA weapon kill count was not checked properly.
▶ We have corrected an issue where the results screen did not proceed properly before the competition.
▶ It has been modified so that items paid as basic presets cannot be sold or used for combination.
▶ Fixed an issue where the image did not change when changing the weapon in use during game play.

Notice of fixes found
▶ An issue was discovered where the daily mission to acquire weapon points appeared to be reset on the mission screen after obtaining the points.

Jun 27, 2024

Dev Blog : Navigating Game Development - Challenges, Decisions, and Updates

Tavern Ventures: Guilds & Tales - Fusu

Hello adventurers!

Let me introduce myself: I'm Arkadiusz Fus (Fusu) from Cracow, Poland—nice to meet you!

After much deliberation about where and how to run a dev blog, I've decided to do it on Steam; let's see how it goes. I'm not one to talk much about what I do, rather, I do a lot and speak little :) Unfortunately, this hinders things like running a dev blog or managing social media, which I 'try' to manage.

Why do I make games?

Because I've been making them since I was young, but this time I decided to finish something and do it as best I can, and if I can't, find someone who can. The tavern project started quite some time ago;
I think there weren't games about taverns on the market back then, and the first project outline was in May 2019.

Journey from Unity to JavaScript: Navigating Early Development Challenges

The first attempts were on the Unity engine with a college friend, but we failed, the entry threshold (learning C# + engine at once) was too high, so instead of prototyping the game, most of the effort went into learning the engine, so poor results, a lot of time spent, so motivation had to run out. Then I tried again on my own and with technology that I somewhat knew and liked, meaning JavaScript. And I started making a game without any engine, just on a framework that isn't necessarily meant for it, but the entry threshold is low because it focuses on Developer Experience and is therefore highly intuitive. So you could say I'm going uphill a bit because I'm not using a ready-made game engine, but on the other hand, I'm not writing everything from scratch, my 'engine' is the browser, but you have to write what, where, and how it should work, plus it has a lot of limitations, but most importantly I don't regret the choice :)

Embracing Collaboration and Charting a Unique Path in Game Development

Somehow in May/June 2022 I decided that I would need help from people who will fill my gaps, especially graphic gaps, and from that moment you could say that I took the project seriously. I think choosing JavaScript closed my way to the broadly understood Gamedev, but in reality, I didn't want to be part of 'that' gamedev that is now on the market. I wanted to do a piece of 'gamedev' my way, where money is secondary, not primary. I'm also a gamer and will always be, so I see what most gamers like and what they don't. I try to ensure that player experiences in a given game are first and foremost. Although it's a very broad and difficult topic, it doesn't mean that you can't try to achieve it.

Balancing Integrity and Sustainability in Game Monetization

I won't surprise you if I say I don't like microtransactions, pay-to-win, or ads in games, so I won't use them in my own games :) DLC is cool, only if they really add some cool interesting content that is optional. But I also won't hide that I would like to earn money from the game (if it pays off it will be a success), to be able to do what I want on my own terms with great people who have a similar vibe. Passion is passion, but you have to eat and provide a roof over your head.

Navigating Development Dilemmas: Full-Time Game Dev, Potential Projects, and Beta Decisions

I've been working full-time on the game for a while now, but unfortunately, that will end in a few days. Additionally, I'm facing a dilemma about whether to take on another project. This new project won't be easy, but it might have potential in the future, and I've already invested a lot of time and energy into it. It's also important to consider physical and mental health, personal life, and balancing what should be done with what we desire.

Therefore, I'm not sure if I'll be able to launch the open beta by the end of the year. Recently, I thought about skipping the closed alpha and going straight to the beta. However, I'm worried that there might be too many bugs initially, which could discourage players. In my opinion, there's nothing worse than game-breaking bugs, especially since it's my own engine, and I'm unsure how it will perform on different configurations and resolutions.

On the other hand, the sooner a large community forms, the better the chances of launching a Kickstarter campaign that would allow me to focus 100% on the game. So, these are the dilemmas I'm currently facing.

Shifting Gears: From Personal Insights to Tavern Updates

The most significant recent changes have been closely related to UX/UI. We've already implemented a lot of feedback from events that was quick to address, such as keyboard shortcuts for navigating the tavern or menu, adding more tooltips, and implementing a full animation for the waitress with our new solution. I've improved the map's performance, although it's still not perfect in my opinion. We've added floating texts, and most importantly, we are in the process of redesigning the majority of the menu views. This is currently taking the most time, but we already have something functional.

Honestly, the new UI is impressive, making me excited to play. I can't wait to rework the rest and let you all try it out! Additionally, we are working on a mini-game for negotiating with customers, where you'll be able to choose the difficulty level of the negotiations. Depending on your effort, you'll earn corresponding rewards. I'll definitely show it once it's ready!

Reflections from Pixel Heaven: Networking, Feedback, and Insights

We attended Pixel Heaven event in Warsaw, where we met many new people including other indie developers and received valuable feedback. It was quite a tiring event, especially since the organizers didn't quite manage it perfectly, but I'm feeling positive after it. Many people spoke highly about the graphics and animations, which was very gratifying. Of course, the feedback on UI/UX wasn't as good, but we were already aware of that! Some also mentioned that the game looks 'done,' which surprised me a bit. Perhaps when you work on something for so long, you see what's missing rather than what's already there? Hmm.

P.S. I like memes!