2 New Maps
17 New trinkets to equip that provide various new active effects
21 New Companions, Base Defenders and Offensive Units

Hope these summer temperatures aren't bothering you too much! We recommend cold water, air contition and a good game to kill the time.

We've been working on next Patron update, and according to current plans it should be ready and out by mid next week.

What can you expect from this one? Well, we'll add some new content stuff (buildable beautification objects), additions to character visuals, optimizaton on few shaders and more 3D models, some quality of life additions that you've requested, bugfixes and more...

We'll provide the full changelog alongside update itself, and hopefully you can expect all o it by Tuesday next week.

Governn on and stay cool!

Greetings, comrades!

A warband of gnomes is ready to stand up against Snow White's tyranny and storm the Gnomontanomo to end gnome trafficking and stop their brothers' oppression! We are waiting only for you, the bold leader of the gnome movement for freedom, equality, and the right to be a gnome in any situation.



Discover the dark side of characters from your favorite fairy tales, fight them in tense battles, and make the most of your squad's abilities and talents. Combine different cards and create unusual and spectacular combos to defeat the enemy with minimal losses.

Below, you can check out our plans for the game's Early Access phase.

• 2 acts of six;
  
• 5 story missions;
  
• 3 story adventures with bosses;
  
• 29 quests;
  
• 28 common enemies;
  
• 8 bosses;
  
• 2 heroes with unique features and talents;
  
• 18 hero talents;
  
• 97 gnome cards;
  
• And 1 very special Neverending Nightmare Mode.

• New Bosses: The Wizard of Oz, Couturier Knonoff
  
• New Enemies and Quests
  
• MORE GNOMES!

Seekings of a Snow White’s Secret

• New enemies and strange creatures: Sirin, Alkonost, and Black Goat.
  
• And, sure thing, new recruits to the gnomes' posse!

• Quality of Life improvements
  
• New heroes’ talents!
  
• Definitely new gnomes!

• Update for a Neverending Nightmare Mode!
  
• Does the Candle still burn?

The smugglers’, pirates' and the mermaid's hideout

• Will you be the same after facing the mermaid??
  
• Also introducing Ali Baba, who surely won't show his coins!

Agenda:

• Сorrupt liar judge, Naked King!
  
• Сastle party, networking amusements, monsters, and quests!
  
• And, as tradition demands, new gnomes!

At all stages of development, we are eager for your feedback, bug reports, ideas for game development, and anything else you wish to share with the Union of Gnomes team.

Meanwhile... let's go! Let's overthrow Snow White and free the gnomes from years of slavery!

Freedom to Gnomes!
Union of Gnomes Team

"Commander, this is [REDACTED] reporting in. Several incoming hostiles detected, approaching fast, requesting backup... Holy sh... Mayday! Mayday! Unit [REDACTED] just took a hit and is going down! Need immediate assistance! Several squid-like bogies are closing... [SIGNAL LOST]"
-- Last transmission of the Aerial Covert Ops team

A pleasant morning or afternoon to you all!
An update has just been released focusing on optimization as well as the addition of the Squid, a kamikaze alien unit that is intended to counter human air units, though serves the purpose against ground units as well.
Some balancing changes have also made it in while the focus shifts to the planned, sweeping overhaul of AI. This will continue for some time, so stay tuned!

Without your support the game would not be half of what it is today, so a very personal thank you from the team.

Take care and see you in the skies of Baltarus!

Gameplay:

• Added: Squid alien unit

Technical:

• Added: Linux Dedicated Server support
  
• Changed: Upgraded to Steamworks.NET version 20.2.0 and Steamworks SDK 1.57
  
• Fixed: Movement values were normalized leading to reduced turning speed in vehicles
  
• Fixed: AI pathfinding could get broken when soldiers decided to go for cover
  
• Fixed: Linux-related screen size issue caused console spam and broken build
  
• Fixed: AI Commander did not use human air units
  
• Fixed: AI Commander did not use alien air units

Controls:

• Added: Support for alternate keybinds and validation
  
• Added: Sneak key to alien air
  
• Changed: Resetting binds uses global binds as defaults if they exist
  
• Changed: Bind validation revamp
  
• Fixed: Various input related bugs
  
• Fixed: Alt shift no longer resets sensitivity

Performance:

• Optimized: AI Commander construction placement raycasts multithreaded
  
• Optimized: Fog of war textures for non-player teams only created when needed
  
• Optimized: Team losing target no longer causes frametime spikes in unit/structure heavy scenes
  
• Optimized: Character controller spherecasts multithreaded
  
• Optimized: Update FPS hand animations only for the locally controlled soldier
  
• Optimized: Turret aiming raycasts multithreaded
  
• Optimized: Hovered vehicle jets only modulated when closer than 100m
  
• Optimized: Air vehicle jets and vfx only modulated when closer than 200m
  
• Optimized: Check risk of friendly fire algorithm
  
• Optimized: Animator deactivation on distance
  
• Optimized: GetBaseGameObject, GetHighestParent and GetDamageManager now uses cached results
  
• Optimized: Cached AIAgent, UnitCameraController and CrosshairInfo in Units automatically
  
• Optimized: Camera, CrosshairInfo and AIAgent precached references to all units

Multiplayer:

• Fixed: Player score incorrectly incremented by number of players
  
• Fixed: Day/night cycle switching to day suddenly when a player joined
  
• Fixed: Players remained on a team at the end of a Strategy game restart
  
• Fixed: Voice chat no longer worked at the end of a match

Balance:

• Changed: Fighter bullet range from 4000m to 600m
  
• Changed: Fighter bullet speed from 800m/s to 1600m/s
  
• Changed: Dropship bullet range from 2500m to 1000m
  
• Changed: Gunship bullet range from 2000m to 1000m
  
• Changed: Thorn Spire targeting range from 500m to 650m
  
• Changed: Hive Spire targeting range from 300m to 450m
  
• Changed: Hive Spire shots range from 800m to 550m
  
• Changed: Dragonfly side-strafe speed to 25% of forward
  
• Changed: Dragonfly rearward speed to 50% of forward

FX:

• Improved: Light Quad engine sounds
  
• Improved: Heavy Quad engine sounds

Harbingers,

a small hotfix patch is now available to fix the crashes caused by changing the graphics settings to or below "Medium".

Thank you for your feedback!

This update brings the public branch up to the same version as the current beta and includes a wide range of improvements and fixes....


Streaming Terrain System
The "Central Libya" map has now been upgraded to use a new streaming system. This effectively removes any limitation on the size of the map as terrain tiles will be streamed in and out as needed.

The main effect of this is to reduce RAM requirements to well below 8Gb.

Fixed Wing Support Assets
Su-25, Su-25T & A-10A support units are now available to be used in missions. They differ from the Reaper Drone as they are fully autonomous. Simply tell them were to focus their attacks and they will prioritise targets as they see fit.

These units are designed to be used on the Central Libya map where the terrain is fairly flat. They will be less effective when used on terrain with sharp changes in elevation such as Norway where units can hide in valleys etc.

Update Foliage System and Terrain Textures
Central Libya has been upgraded to use a new foliage & tree system that makes use of GPU instancing as well as a collider streaming system to reduce CPU workload.

Trees will also react to rotor wash as you approach them!

The terrain also now uses more textures to give a more varied landscape.

New U.I. System
The U.I. has been given a bit of a workover to make it a little more slick than the previous "chunky" version.


1. Most weapons have been given new sounds effects.

2. HUD has a new glow/holographic effect. You can adjust this effect in the Game Settings menu if you want more or less glow (or turn it off completely).

3. Weapon tracers now dim more realistically as they get further from you

4. UPK-23 Gunpod is now available for all version of the Hind giving even more "dakka dakka" options!

5. Harrier now has manual nozzle control. You can bind joystick (or keyboard) controls to the new "Thrust Vector" control under "Aircraft Controls".

For Joypad users you can change the "Collective" (left stick up/down) into "Thrust Vector" mode by holding "Modifier 1" (left bumper).

There is a new information display above the "TRIM" setting that will show you your current "NOZZ" (nozzle) angle.

6. Joypad users can now access an analgue trim system by holding "Modifier 2" (right bumper) which will switch the "Collective" (left stick up/down) into "Trim" mode.

7. Improved wingtip contrails.

8. Heat blur for the Harrier now follows the nozzle direction.

9. AT-6 missiles have a better guidance system

10. Shilka and Strela turrets have been updated so that they can turn faster allowing them to track an engage faster moving targets.

11. Reworked the flight models for fixed wing aircraft so they act more like proper aircraft. The Harrier should feel a little "looser" when in flight.

12. A.I. Helicopters now land a little faster rather than being very hesitant.

13. Applied a low pass filter effect to all cockpit views simualting a muffling effect

14. Remastered all the audio settings so sound attentuates more accurately with distance.

15. Added in Doppler Shift effect for suitable audio sources.

16. Updated flight path for the AGM-65 Mavericks so that they do a sensible loft attack rather than something similar to the Hellfire's top down attack.

17. All Apache's apart from the early A version can now equip Maverick missiles.

18. Updated the support unit selection page so that support units are represented by "trump style" cards.

19. Fixed HE blast zone damage calculations so damage is now applied correctly. This will improve the effectivness of pretty much every weapon!

20. Moved the keybinds for "Modifier 1" & "Modifier 2" from SHIFT and CTRL to "*" and "/" on the keypad. This is because other MFD commands are asssigned to "Keypad 1", "Keypad 2" etc but holding SHIFT will actually change "Keypad 1" to "END" etc messing up the MFD controls. Thanks to Darloth for spotting that one!

21. Updated the "Altitude Hold Up" & "Altitude Hold Down" buttons so that the input now repeats when they are held down allowing to change altitude more rapidly. Single presses are still possible for fine altitude control.

KNOWN ISSUES

1. When calling in fixed wing support there will be a slight stutter as they load in.
2. Support units outside the player bubble i.e over 12km away from you may not be able to locate targets to destroy.
3. Infantry units outside the player bubble i.e over 12km away from you may not be able complete their mission correctly.

Hello Gigantic fans!

We’ve just deployed our major patch for July that we had promised you in our last Dev Update. This patch fixes match grades, makes improvements to Easy Anti Cheat, and includes a ton of additional fixes and balancing changes. As always, you can read the full patch notes further below!

Reminder that Season One begins on July 23 across all platforms. We’re very excited for Ranked to officially kick-off and have in-game reward events planned for you to have the chance to get brand-new content that wasn’t in the original Gigantic, like new hero skins and weapon skins for some of your favorite heroes.


Build number: #614761.0

General
- Fixed summoning bug on Ember Grove point A during clash
- Reduced frequency of players being placed on the wrong regional servers
- Fixed players often not getting penalty points for dodging or leaving ranked matches
- Improvements made to Easy Anti Cheat
- Fixed the match grade calculations
- Changed Mozu's “Flee before me!” fortune tier 3 so it's more reasonable to complete
- Fixed Pakko's “Covered in Snow” fortune not always progressing

Balance Changes
Kajir
- RMB: Reduced charge 2 damage 350 > 300
- RMB-Finesse: Reduced charge 3 damage 450 > 400
- Q: Decreased cooldown 18 > 15s
- Q: Removed the 200 base damage
- Q: Reduced damage against enemies above 75% hp, 200 > 180
- Q Trick up the Sleeve: Changed to deal bonus damage when hitting an enemy from behind (+180)
- Q Prowl: Changed to start RMB at charge level 2 after using Q
Aisling
- LMB-Spectral defense: Reduced armor buff 20 > 10
- RMB-Cador's Restoration: Cador heals allies for 35 > 30 hp/s
- Q-Talent: Heals Cador for 750 > 500
- E: Cooldown range: 8-14 > 8-16s
- When Cador dies: Cooldown of all skills 15s > 18s
Uncle Sven
- Q: Removed push against enemies
- Q-Sticks to You: Adds push against enemies
- Q-Bounces off me: Reduced armor buff 20 > 10
- Q-Super Bounce: Now increases the armor buff to +20 armor
- Q-Absorption Matrix: Reduced the healing duration 10s > 5s
- E-Persistent Purgative: Immunity now only applies while inside the puddle
Roland
- Focus: Reduced damage to 500/700/1000
- Focus: Can now be deflected
Zandora
- RMB-Conversion of Strength: All hits now reduce cooldown of other auras
- Q: Increased move speed buff 10% > 20%
- Q-All do haste: Increased move speed buff 25% > 40%
- Q-Conversion of Haste: All hits now reduce cooldown of other auras
- E: Increased purify range to match the aura
- E-Life goes on: Increased healing 35 > 40hp/s
- E-Conversion of Life: All hits now reduce cooldown of other auras

Additional fixes
- Several improvements to bot pathfinding
- Fixed several crew panel and invite UI bugs (including wrong order in case of multiple crew invites)
- Fixed several UI and text issues and descriptions (including lore snippets for emotes)
- Fixed several spectator camera collision issues
- Fixed high-level players sometimes receiving incorrect rewards
- Fixed ending up in Clash queue after queueing for Ranked when another player declined the match
- Fixed a visual bug for Ranked where it sometimes looked like players lost MMR after a win

Known Issues
- Region/server matchmaking issue
DEV NOTE: We’ve made changes to help fix this issue. Some players may still experience being put on the wrong server.
- Improving solo queue wait times
DEV NOTE: We’ve made changes to fix wait times and have seen improvements.
- Issues surrounding custom games
- In rare cases, Easy Anti-Cheat might have to be re-installed manually to play the game. Please check this thread for detailed steps.
- Cyclops may wander away from the power circle on Point C of Sanctum Falls
- A Cyclops wall doesn't disappear in certain situations when the Cyclops dies
- Kajir: Enemies may be revealed for longer if Kajir dies during his focus skill
- Beckett: Machine pistols sometimes don't work upon entering a match
- Roland: Grappling Hook goes into 2 second cooldown when deflected
- Wu + Pakko: A desync can occur when Pakko uses Snowball Toss right before getting hit by Wu's Tonguelash
- Mozu: Missing the door VFX when using Dimensional Door
- A defending hero's death sometimes adds shield for the Guardian
- Leaving a Ranked match after the "it's safe to leave" message sometimes still leads to penalty points

Another blog where we take you behind the scenes of our work is here! This time, we're excited to introduce you to our talented map designer Pavel. He is currently working on the nature and mountains for the Nordic Horizons map expansion. So let's learn more about his creative process!


Pavel - Map Designer

"In this map expansion, I am recreating the beautiful archipelago of Lofoten. It extends from mainland Norway into the North Atlantic Ocean and despite belonging to the Arctic Circle, there is plenty of taller vegetation as well. This, combined with the majesty of the mountains surrounded by water, the colourful houses, and the many fishing harbours, creates an environment that is very satisfying to both capture and pass through," Pavel says about his project.


As with all new map expansions, we conducted field research by travelling to the country ourselves to collect references and data.

"I have had the opportunity to visit Scandinavia several times. Most recently, it was made possible by the management of SCS Software for research. The journey through Norway and Sweden was very beneficial for me as a map designer," Pavel tells us and also walks us through what needed to be done before the actual designing of the map.

"Research into shorter and taller vegetation, architecture and road networks preceded the design of the landscape. Textures, models and other functional elements were gradually created in collaboration with all departments. Their use and the representation of the landscape character in the map is preceded by a layout including the road network, depots, truckstops, gas stations, etc. On this layout with the help of Google Maps, I gradually, taking into account the limits of the virtual environment and the map editor, create a landscape with natural elements. This involves a lot of spatial imagination and sometimes a little magic."




Pavel uses his experience from his previous work, being part of the team doing the Austria and Switzerland Rework projects, where he also designed mountains and nature. "Experience from past projects featuring mountains, such as the rework of Austria and Switzerland, is certainly showing in the new Nordic Horizons DLC. I'm glad to see that the possibilities and limits of the editor are expanding," he says.



Of course, there are still limitations to the map expansions and we have to work strictly within them, as Pavel confirms. "Deviation from reality is determined by our scale, visibility, optimization and interpretation," he shared with us.

And his final message to our #BestCommunityEver? "If you love traversing beautiful landscapes with Viking history and experiencing the adventure of exploration from the comfort of your home, you'll love this DLC. Personally, I love the capital of Lofoten, Svolvær, which is a really beautiful place, so make sure to visit it," he says.



We hope you have enjoyed this little sneak peek into the making of our upcoming map expansion for ETS2. We hope you have enjoyed this little sneak peek into the making of our upcoming map expansion for ETS2. If you are as excited about the Nordic Horizons DLC, make sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist! Stay tuned for more updates by following us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2780810/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Nordic_Horizons/

How are you? How’s your crusade against everything that is good and alive going? Great? Moriana is pleased with your engagement - as we are!

Looking at the latest statistics, you have been very busy necromancy adepts. Thank you so much for such a colossal commitment!



Exactly one month ago, we launched the Early Access version of Be My Horde on Steam, and we couldn’t have dreamed of a better start! Thank you all for your support. Your reviews, feedback, and suggestions give us the much-needed boost to continue our work on the game. As we mentioned in previous announcements, this is just the beginning of this adventure!

Today, we celebrate. We’ll look back to calmly check out what the hell happened in the last four weeks. We’ll take a look at the present to share with you what the hell is going on in Polished Games right now. And, of course, we’ll take a look ahead to tease a little bit about what the hell will happen. Grab your snacks and drinks - let’s go!




It happened on June 18th at 7:00 p.m. (CEST). It was evening, but still bright outside. The sun was still fighting the night, and it was quite warm and nice on the other side of our windows. The whole Polished Games team gathered on our internal Discord server for a video call. We live in various places in Poland, so we work remotely. We started counting from 10 to 1, and at the right moment, Krzysztof Dadełło, the Game Director, pressed that magic green button, and… nothing happened because, on Steam, you need to confirm the release by typing the correct command, and we forgot about it. :D

Well, that was anticlimactic after all that countdown, and the champagne was opened too early. However, in the end, after a few more seconds, Be My Horde was available for everybody to try out. We crossed our fingers and spent one of the longest nights of our lives in front of our computer screens. We had no idea what would happen next.



Be My Horde is a small, simple project that we started working on mostly to learn new things and to gather a crew. At the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, we hired new people for the company, and we knew we couldn’t throw ourselves into a big, massive project right away. We had to make something smaller to learn to work as a team. So, we put a lot of effort and heart into Be My Horde, but at the same time, we didn’t have big expectations… And then the launch happened.



You can’t imagine how happy we are that so many people met Moriana, our glorious necromancess. However, we think that’s enough talking about the past. Our trip down memory lane ends here, and we’re back in the present.


The first major update was launched some time ago, and we’re happy it has been warmly received. We gathered more feedback, and as we speak, we are crafting a new update. We want to apologize for not sharing many details. We have that approach that sometimes we are a little bit afraid of showing what we’re working on. Don’t get us wrong; we love to be transparent - honestly answering your questions and letting you look behind the scenes occasionally. But at the same time, we don’t want to share something that is not ready and that we’re not sure we’ll even implement.

It is tempting to say: “Hey, we’re working on the X feature,” to hear your reply: “Oh, that’s great, we can’t wait,” and then find out, through tests, that perhaps the X feature isn’t such a good idea for Be My Horde. And then, we need to tell you: “Hey, do you remember that X feature that you were excited about? Yeah, it won’t happen…”. We really want to avoid that. That’s one reason we’ve never shared any roadmap with you, even if it’s a common thing to do during Early Access. We want to ENSURE that what we’re preparing is good and will meet your expectations.



For now, about the preset, we can share that we’re working on and polishing (hehe) the next major update that will happen in August. We’re thinking more about the first half of that month than the second half, but still, we don’t want to throw any dates in your direction not to disappoint you. What will you find in this closest update? We won’t tell you - sorry. At least not now. However, we think may tell you a little bit more about our plans for the future!


We have our general internal plan for Early Access. If everything goes according to plan, we’re considering launching Be My Horde in full sometime in Q1 or Q2 of 2025. As we mentioned many times before, we don’t want to make our Early Access phase too long. We feel like those 8-9 months from the launch are enough to polish (hehe) the game correctly, add much-expected content, and improve the gameplay.

Regarding the content, our plan is to create 2-3 additional levels. Now, the game has just the basic one, the plains, but we want to implement a few more. Each would have its own look, extra mechanics, and completely new enemies ready to be slaughtered and added to your malevolent horde.



At the end of each level, you’ll meet a boss. A powerful unit with unique abilities, challenging to defeat. Killing such a foe would mean that the level has been beaten. Naturally, our first step in this direction would be officially closing the first level you can already play by adding the boss to it. We already have a plan for him and some ideas. Unfortunately, we know he won’t be implemented with the closest major update, but maybe with the next one, sometime in September-October.

Various levels and their bosses will also allow us to tell an engaging and funny… story! Yes, we will add more lore to Be My Horde to share more about who Moriana is and generally prepare a proper script. Keep in mind that it won’t be anything spectacular; our game isn’t a massive RPG with plenty of characters and choices. But we feel and got confirmation through your reviews and suggestions that Be My Horde needs a cool story. Even if it's a simple one!



So yes, we will spend a lot of time improving the gameplay, polishing (hehe) the features, and making the experience of becoming a powerful necromancess much more enjoyable. But at the same time, we want to implement a lot of new content regarding levels, enemies, abilities, and the story mentioned.

We hope you’ll like it!


That’s it for now. We bow ourselves under Moriana’s whip and are back to work. We are aware that we say it very often, but THANK YOU! For supporting this small project. For your reviews, feedback, and suggestions. For spreading love to Moriana among your friends and family. All of it means a lot to us and motivates us to continue our work.

This weekend, we are planning a little celebration. There will be a party and sleepless nights. But after that, on Monday, we will roll up our sleeves. We genuinely hope you’ll enjoy what we’re cooking for you.

If you have any questions or further suggestions, please share them here on the Steam forum or our {LINK REMOVED}Be My Horde Discord server.

Take care, our lovely horde and…

PRAISE BE MORIANA!
The Polished Games Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2499520/Be_My_Horde/

Darkstone Digital is bringing more scares, more lore, and an endless embalming-only mode for those more interested in Rebecca's day-to-day work without the worry of being scared on August 2nd with The Mortuary Assistant: Definitive Edition!

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Along with this free update to owners of Mortuary Assistant on PC and Nintendo Switch, the Definitive Edition is also going to be available on consoles! The Mortuary Assistant: Definitive Edition comes to PlayStation and Xbox on the same date with some new content too!

• Embalming only mode - embalm unlimited bodies
  
• New Haunt Events
  
• Additional Lore
  
• New bodies to embalm
  
• New Valentine's Day seasonal event (Stop by the mortuary in February)
  
• New achievements
  
• Multiple Bug and Stability Fixes
  
• Performance Improvements

Pick up The Mortuary Assistant Now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295920/The_Mortuary_Assistant/

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