Nice to have you back, Confiners!

With the recently-concluded PhaigeX playtest, we have received lots of valuable feedback from you, so we had to address more issues than usual and implement more changes to better the workplace. Always keep improving towards the brighter future!

For those who missed the playtest, the Demo version of PhaigeX is also updated to match the current build. Being a demo though, some of the game features are restricted as listed below.

• Limited unlocks: Only ships and upgrades from Origin banner can be unlocked
  
• Limited unlocks: Only one-star modifiers can be rolled and equipped from the Transportal
  
• Hyperspace Mode game session prematurely ends after reaching [50/100] Sector Progress
  
• Only Hyperspace Campaign and Survival mode game modes are available. Access restricted for Fleet Assault and Demolition Modes.

With that out of the way, we are here again to announce today's updates.

• UI Changes
  - Main Menu: Sped up UI transition animations between menus
  - Game HUD: Added Color flashes to HP bar (and blue Shield bar when you have a barrier) to indicate getting damaged
  - Pause UI: Added Equipped Modifiers panel to show the effects of currently-equipped modifiers
  - Pause UI: Simplified Selected Player Ship and Support Craft display
  - Hyperspace Mode: Enlarged the "Warp to Next Area" text indicator
  - Hyperspace Mode: Tooltip for replacing modifiers shows the currently equipped and the chosen modifiers' effects
  
• Tutorial Changes
  - "OK" button Hotkey change from [Enter] to [Space]
  - Shop Tutorial: added pointers to AP / RP currencies
  - Added "Hyperspace Events" tutorial
  
• Hyperspace Mode Changes
  - Survival with Boss Events: Increased Mission Timer

• Title UI: Unlocked modifiers count reaching 271/270
  
• Ship Selection UI: wrong elements appearing
  
• Shop UI: Lv4/Lv5 upgrade animations can now be skipped at any point
  
• Hyperspace Mode: Record-keeping issues on end stats
  
• Hyperspace Mode: Selective Manual Fire not recording properly for [Rave-N]
  
• Added [Weapon] tag to [Burst Shell]

The updates are available on the Game Demo and the Beta branch.

1. Right-click PhaigeX at the Game Library list
   
2. Click on Properties
   
3. Click on Betas
   
4. Under Private Betas, enter the code: poweroverwhelming
   
5. Select your beta participation to betabranch and you're good to go!

Towards a brighter future,

The PhaigeX MegaCorp.

- Reworked all monster mechanics. Values, art
- Reworked the level selection scene. Now you can see the specific monsters and health at the level selection. You can also choose different resource allocation routes as needed. - Added direct jumps between floors in level selection
- Added new levels, from level 7 to level 11
- Reworked scenes, GUI art

- Fixed the problem that [Knife Cutting] cannot be stacked
- Fixed the problem that shield counter can be triggered even when there is no armor and strength

- Added an option in the settings for the camera to follow the mouse cursor.
- Now when you pick up arrows that are the same type as those in the quiver, they go directly into the quiver.
- Fixed a bug when scrolling the mouse wheel with two players active.

- Added achievements that can be obtained at the shooting range
- Made some changes to the shooting range

Welcome to the August Development Update!

In this post, we’ll be going over the upcoming improvements coming in Update 12 and taking a look at the latest developments along the way.





Since the last dev diary, we’ve been working to address a number of sore spots reported by new players and to improve what was introduced in Update 11.

To start, camera controls for panning and rotation will be updated to better support laptop users with new optional keybinds, including a toggle that switches the Q and E keys from raising/lowering the camera to rotating it left/right instead.

In terms of onboarding, we have almost completed a unified objectives system that will allow us to finish implementing tutorials, notifications and the park issues list shown in our previous dev diary.



We’ve had notifications and park issues running internally for a little while now, which means most of the remaining focus is going to tutorials and making them intuitive. For example, if you’re playing through a tutorial, there’ll be some fancy new highlights that direct you around the UI.



Excitingly, this objectives system has also been built with scenario missions or quests in mind. The idea of integrating more characters as occasional quest givers is something that the team has wanted to do for a while, so it’s nice to have some of that infrastructure in place. We look forward to sharing more about this in the future!



Our titanic duo Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus are here to make their cinematic debut with two species spotlights! As always, they’re returning with narration from our trusty park supervisor, Nigel.



The walking tank, Ankylosaurus, will be waddling its way into Prehistoric Kingdom in Update 12. This armored dinosaur features rows of large, protective osteoderms and a clubbed tail perfect for battering the shins of deserving predators everywhere.

Alongside its much older relative, Scelidosaurus, this will be the second thyreophoran added to Prehistoric Kingdom!




What’s a zoo if the visitors can’t see properly?! Update 12 will be bringing a variety of backend improvements to guest visibility that better supports extremely large and small exhibits. Visitors will also show more realistic crowding behaviors as they try to congregate closer to where visible animals are.



This does mean that since guests can see animals from further away, some visitors will take advantage of elevated terrain or view from a distance rather than always standing directly next to viewing areas. Foliage, fences, scenery and buildings can be used to block guest sightlines and create a more curated experience, just like a real zoo!



When Update 12 releases, there’ll be changes made to alleviate some of the efficiency woes experienced by players.

Staff will not only carry more resources, but will also queue up multiple tasks at a time. This means that Keepers will be able to refill multiple feeders in a single trip, picking the shortest path between all destinations if possible.




In the next few updates, we’ll be implementing new management and gameplay mechanics for staff. Here’s an overview of how it’ll work once it’s fully developed:

...

Inside the Staff Management menu, players will eventually have the option to set the maximum skill level their employees can train up to.

By training at the Staff Center in their spare time, a worker can increase their skill level, unlocking perks that boost their efficiency. Depending on their role, these perks may come in the form of buffs such as reducing the time it takes to gather resources. Each job type has preset perks depending on a worker’s skill level, there is no RNG.



As employees increase their skill, they’ll bump up into a higher wage bracket. The salary tab can be used to adjust the minimum and maximum pay for staff across the park. Increasing pay will improve staff welfare and might make workers more willing to put up with poor conditions, while reducing it can lead to people quitting.

Side Note: we’ll be adding similar salary-like controls to the Finances menu, eventually letting players set the entry ticket or amenity prices park-wide. We’re also considering scaling down the economy for readability and balance purposes (smaller numbers!), making $100,000 worth as much as $1,000,000 in the current game.

Babies! Yes, we’re still working on them. Between creating and implementing all the new species that’ve arrived this year, we’ve been working on the assets for ontogeny where we can. We are currently making our way through painting a lot of baby skins, creating blend shapes for all the growth stages and prototyping animations.

We’re working on it, but it’ll take some time to do properly as it’ll not only touch every animal, but all the animal related systems, both in terms of gameplay and on the technical side (AI, locomotion, IKs, etc.)

For this month, however, please enjoy this early look at our baby Apatosaurus blend shapes. It’s using a temporary baby skin and normal map, but the final design shouldn’t be too far off!



To cap out this Dev Diary, we have a tiny bit of animal AI news! Throughout August, we’ve been working at the animal awareness system. When it’s finished, this will let animals effectively see and hear their surroundings, recognising and prioritizing entities based on their size, loudness, etc.

Think of it as a gateway to the more requested behaviors like fleeing and conversing between animals. Once it’s finished, there’ll be a lot of exciting stuff to build on top of it!





Created by Suwa


Created by MajorJuggler


Created by domesito



Thank you for reading August's dev diary!

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Hey Tower Defense Enthusiasts,


This time, we have taken additional measures to make the game more accessible and understandable for everyone. Additionally, we have implemented several visual enhancements to make the world more vibrant and engaging.

Here's a sneak peek:



Changelog:

• Fish, frogs, and dragonflies have been added to make the environment more lively.
  
• A new roadmap has been implemented.
  
• Level selection legend added.
  
• The tutorial has been expanded and is now fully integrated into Level 1.
  
• Settings are now permanently saved and no longer reset automatically.
  
• The issue where the lighting was always set to dark on the first game launch has been fixed.
  
• A bug where the spaceship sometimes couldn’t exit the level correctly has been resolved.
  
• The golem now attacks properly again.
  
• Levels are now correctly unlocked and remain unlocked after exiting the game.
  
• Interaction with the crafting table has been improved.
  
• A save icon now appears in the top right corner when saving the game.
  
• The error in the credits has been fixed.
  
• The text was edited when leaving the game in the hub.

Robin Hoffmann - DreamStudios Team

Hello all, it's Cassel, developer of <Ratopia>.
September is already upon us. It feels like time is flying by. While we've been rushing to develop content, we've had little time to add the great ideas that the players have provided. Therefore, throughout August, we decided to focus on developing the features suggested by the players. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who sent in their ideas once again.



"mamegatana" who suggested many ideas along with cute illustrations.


As we organize the various feedback we've received, we're realizing once again just how many compelling ideas there are. We are also going through a lot of discussions and decision-making processes within the team on how to best incorporate them into the game. In this journal, we will cover the Trading Post and Prosperity Reward Systems that are currently under development.



The Trading Post is a new structure designed to temporarily alleviate economic difficulties by allowing players to sell unnecessary resources in the early stages of the game. It also helps resolve situations where players are unable to progress due to the unavailability of certain resources. Many players have consistently provided feedback about the difficulty of obtaining specific resources and the necessity of early-game trading. While we have worked on improving the exploration and trade systems to address this, there remained the issue that these systems were still not fully accessible in the early stages.

To address this, we decided to add a Trading Post where players can trade with wandering merchants right from the beginning. This way, the Trading Post can serve as a stepping stone before players advance to the diplomacy and trade stages. However, to achieve this, we first needed to establish the trading mechanics for the Trading Post, which led to several considerations.

The first consideration was the range of resources that could be purchased at the Trading Post. After a long development period, there are now over 150 types of resources in <Ratopia>, and since the terrain changes with each game, it is challenging to predict which resources players will need. Allowing all in-game resources to be purchasable at the Trading Post would diminish the necessity of gathering or producing resources. On the other hand, if only a few resources were made available for purchase, it would not significantly reduce the difficulty of obtaining certain resources, which was the initial problem.



You can buy all these resources at the trading post—could this be a revolution in logistics?


To improve this, it was necessary to limit the types of resources that merchants could bring to the Trading Post. We first categorized merchants into different types, such as food merchants and gatherable goods merchants, and set it up so that a different merchant would visit each day. Each merchant would then trade only items that matched their specific category.

Even after categorizing the merchants’ goods, there were still over 30 types of gatherable and processed resources, which gave the Trading Post too much impact compared to the Trade Center, a structure available in the later stages. To maintain balance, we decided to limit the number of resource types a merchant could bring to a maximum of eight. Additionally, the types of resources they bring would change randomly with each visit. This way, planned trades could be conducted through the Trade Center, while more spontaneous trades could be done via the Trading Post.

However, adding randomness to the Trading Post introduced a new inconvenience: players now have to visit the Trading Post directly to check the resources brought by the merchants. While providing a notification message to inform players of the resources available for trade with the wandering merchants would be the most straightforward solution, there were concerns that if we displayed daily notifications about which merchant arrived and what resources they brought, the sheer volume of notifications appearing in the late game could become overwhelming.

To address this, we considered displaying the resources available for sale directly on the Trading Post building. We decided to indicate the type of merchant currently present by showing their appearance or emblem on the Trading Post. Additionally, we placed boxes with icons of the available resources around the building so that players could see what items are being sold even from a distance. We anticipate that this will reduce the instances of players making unnecessary trips to the Trading Post. However, we are a bit concerned that the size of the boxes might be too small to be clearly visible from afar.



We also paid attention to the details where surrounding decorations change depending on the visiting merchant.


The second consideration was the trading method. We wanted to avoid allowing transactions using Pia at the Trading Post. This was because we didn't want the Trading Post to become a building that generates Pia. We believed that if trading with Pia were possible, players would repeatedly exchange endlessly regenerating resources for Pia. Therefore, we thought it would be better to make transactions based on a barter system, allowing players to recycle unnecessary resources.

However, it was quite challenging to obtain Pia before building the Mint or the Trade Center, and we realized that the users who provided feedback likely wanted to acquire Pia through the Trading Post. So, we decided to allow players to earn Pia through the Trading Post as well, but we set the amount of Pia that could be obtained from merchants to be relatively small for testing purposes. Additionally, by designing it so that the more a player buys resources from a merchant, the more Pia the merchant has, we could still encourage the intended barter system.



Various UI mockups created to explore different ways of trading.


There were also issues with the UI design when trying to smoothly implement the barter system. For bartering to work well, both the items possessed by the merchant and the player, along with the items to be traded, need to be displayed on the screen simultaneously for easy use. However, adapting the existing UI resulted in insufficient space, limiting the number of items that could be traded at once and making the controls cumbersome. It became clear that we needed to create a completely new UI, but developing a new UI would take a considerable amount of time, making it challenging to implement. However, if trading was done with Pia, we could separate the buying and selling screens, allowing us to quickly test by adapting the existing UI. Although it was a bit inconvenient, there were no functional issues, so we decided to put the barter system on hold.

The final issue was that it became too easy to gain research points through trading. In <Ratopia**>**, players get research points when they acquire a resource for the first time. However, during testing with a somewhat finalized Trading Post, we found that it was much easier to buy items one by one from the Trading Post to gain research points than to painstakingly find or produce the new resources.

The original intention of this system was to encourage players to keep exploring their city for new resources to gather and produce, rather than idly waiting for research points to accumulate over time. However, as the methods for obtaining new resources became more varied and easier, the necessity for players to gather or produce resources diminished.

We seriously considered removing the system of gaining research points through acquiring new resources altogether. However, this seemed like too drastic a change to the game due to the addition of the Trading Post, and we couldn't make that decision lightly. For some players, the game could become frustrating if progress was suddenly blocked due to a lack of research points. We are still contemplating whether it's okay to leave this issue as is or if there is a good alternative to reduce this problem.



The final look of the trading post! The size of the trading post had to be doubled for the visibility.


It would be ideal if the Trading Post could serve its original intended purpose effectively, but we are both hopeful and concerned about whether it will fulfill its role properly. What do you think about this?



The Milestone system began as an idea from an email sent by a player who has long enjoyed playing <Ratropolis>. This player suggested that the Prosperity rewards in <Ratopia> could be made more special and diverse, like "artifacts" in other games, to provide a unique experience in each playthrough. Appropriately, <Ratopia> is a game that aims to offer a new experience each time, and because of its high difficulty and frequent updates, many players often start from the beginning. Therefore, we decided to actively consider and incorporate this player's feedback.

Coincidentally, the existing Prosperity reward system was in need of improvement. After reaching Prosperity Level 5, the maximum number of Ratizens in the city would no longer increase, meaning that raising Prosperity further only made enemies stronger without providing any significant benefits to the city. We saw this as a perfect opportunity to adjust the maximum Raitizen limit for each level of Prosperity, allowing the maximum population to continue increasing even in the later stages. By allowing players to choose their rewards, they could experience new styles of play, achieving two goals at once.



Engaging games that offer a change in gameplay direction through choices.


The Milestone system allows players to choose one of three predetermined rewards each time their Prosperity level increases. For example, when reaching Prosperity Level 2, the following rewards might be offered as choices:

- Path of Expansion: Increases the maximum number of Ratizens and the speed at which Ratizens are acquired, allowing for faster early expansion.
- Path of Gathering: Permanently boosts the gathering speed of Ratizens, making plant gathering a key growth driver.
- Path of Education: Enhances the abilities and growth speed of Ratizens, leading to improved overall efficiency as the game progresses.

However, having fixed rewards for each Milestone at different Prosperity levels made it challenging to design rewards for higher Prosperity levels. As the game progresses, it becomes difficult to predict the extent of a player's development based on their Prosperity level, increasing the likelihood of offering irrelevant rewards as Milestone choices.

For instance, we wanted to introduce a Milestone related to power usage to encourage players to start using power before they actually needed it. However, by the time this choice became available, players might have already developed to the power stage or, conversely, might be too far behind. This posed a risk where the Milestone system would end up reinforcing the current operational direction of the city rather than bringing about new changes in future gameplay.

To address this issue, we grouped the Milestones that could appear according to the player’s Prosperity level (e.g., 2, 3, 4 / 5, 6, 7 / 8, 9) and allowed players to choose one Milestone from a set of three randomly selected options within each group. Additionally, we introduced a refresh function that allows players to replace an unwanted Milestone a limited number of times, aiming to reduce the frustration of receiving an undesirable Milestone while still offering the excitement of discovering a desirable one.



Mockups designed to make selecting milestones visually more enjoyable.


Designing the effects of these Milestones required a lot of thought and a variety of ideas. The core concept was to offer rewards so appealing that they might inspire players to change the direction of their city management. However, features that could significantly alter gameplay became too technically complex to implement. It was disappointing that the system intended to offer a new experience couldn’t go beyond adjusting existing mechanics and stats.

Given the limitations of deriving features from the existing system, we experimented with various approaches. For instance, we tried adding higher tiers and conditions for the appearance of each Milestone, so that choosing "Path of Gathering Lv.1" would lead to the appearance of "Path of Gathering Lv.2" later on. We also tested allowing the same Milestone to be selected multiple times, thereby amplifying its effects.

However, due to the inherent randomness in the Milestone selection process, players might feel significant disappointment if higher-tier Milestones didn’t appear. This approach also tended to reinforce the initial city management direction chosen in the early game, which wasn’t the intention. Additionally, there was the problem that the appeal of individual Milestones was diminished when higher tiers or repeated selections were not utilized.



Police rapidly catching criminals thanks to the accumulated effects of the Paths of Law.


For now, we decided to provide significant adjustable values to create a more varied and enjoyable experience. During testing, I found that making choices at each Milestone stage led to more thoughtful and enjoyable gameplay. However, perhaps due to my own expectations, I felt slightly disappointed that the rewards were not fresh enough to drastically change the existing play style.

We are still brainstorming and adding more compelling ideas for Milestone effects, so if you have any creative ideas for these effects, please leave them in the comments. Your valuable feedback will greatly help us make the game more fun!


We plan to continue reviewing and incorporating the various feedback and ideas we have received. One piece of feedback that stood out to me was the suggestion for a reward system for defeating invading enemies. I hope to introduce related content in the next DevDiary!

• Reduced Achievement Requirements for "I Call Shotgun!" and "Mined The Gap"
  
• Increased Unit Rewards by 200%
  
• Removed Unit cost for higher threat levels

- Added clear rate display to time attack mode result
- Improved player behavior
- Bug fixes

Another Friday Saturday, another patch! This time, we've got a bunch more fixes from our new dev and a lot of adjustments from Typ!

• Fixed Faulty affix being... faulty (not working as intended)
  
• Fixed projectile count affixes not functioning. Moar bullets!
  
• Fixed an issue with stat increasing affixes not being applied on reroll until world change
  
• Fixed projectile shot count on tooltips displaying an incorrect number
  
• Fixed package contents on mobile not having tooltips
  
• Fixed issue of plat/gold buy menus not automatically opening after disconnecting from the Tavern
  
• Fixed a client crash caused by rerolling a clean (no affix) item
  
• Fixed being able to reset camera angle in a cutscene via the reset camera angle hotkey
  
• Fixed "<" breaking the chat when used in a message
  
• Fixed another issue with NPC pathing in the Tavern

• Adjusted the tiers of the following items from Unique to Special: A Proposal, Mara's Offering, Chloris' Seed, Champion's Assegai, Scorch Recurve, The Big Special, Glacial Flurry, Crystal Catalyst
  
• Adjusted the Attainment score rewards for the following items: A Proposal, Mara's Offering, Chloris' Seed, Champion's Assegai, Scorch Recurve, The Big Special, Glacial Flurry, Crystal Catalyst
  
• Adjusted Essence Cost (150 → 120) of Crusader's Front, Divine Spirit, and Elkendire Impaler
  
• Increased Max Dexterity (60 → 65) of Assassin

• Retired Attainments for turning in and collecting essence from the Trembling Giant and Flower Thicket, along with all related items
  
• Removed Essence from the following dungeons: Trembling Giant and Flower Thicket
  
• Removed Essence from Crimson Asura now that it doesn't drop a Unique

• Increased base rates for Special tier items
  
• Reduced Projectile Damage (160-190 → 150-180) of Champion's Assegai
  
• Increased Projectile Damage (115-145 → 125-155) of Recluse
  
• Added an Additional Projectile to Desert's Fang
  
• Removed Speed Penalty (-4 → 0) from Magma Coffin
  
• Increased Health Penalty (-20 → -35) on Magma Coffin
  
• Increased Attack (3 → 4) given by Magma Coffin
  
• Reduced Rate of Fire (0.8 → 0.7) of Beast Twinfang
  
• Increased Tether Duration (2.0 t0 / 4.0 t6 → 2.0 t0 / 5.0 t6) of Tiered Whips
  
• Increased Damage (1000 → 1250) of Venomous Pestle
  
• Decreased Delay (2.5s → 0.75s) of Venomous Pestle bomb hitting the ground
  
• Decreased Cooldown (5.0s → 2.0s) of Venomous Pestle
  
• Decreased Mana Cost (175 → 100) of Venomous Pestle
  
• Decreased Paralyze duration (2.0s → 1.5s) of Venomous Pestle

• Added 3 new Red Phases/Variations to Darza
  
• Decreased Base Health (40,000 → 30,000) of Left/Right Hands of Darza
  
• Decreased White Shot Max Speed (14 → 12) of Left/Right Hands of Darza
  
• Decreased Delay (2.0s → 1.5s) between Red Slashes during Darza's Primary Red Phase
  
• Decreased Speed (12 → 10.5) of Darza's White Blast
  
• Increased Deceleration (2 → 3) of Darza's Red Slash Projectile

• Decreased Delay before moving to 1st Lab (20s → 15s) of MUCK
  
• Decreased Base Health (80,000 → 70,000) of MUCK

• Decreased overall size of Outback Hunt Map
  
• Decreased Enemy Kills Required (5 → 3) to trigger the first Boss Spawn
  
• Increased Density of Mob Spawns
  
• Increased Knockback Strength (60 → 75) of Pecker Egg

• Replaced Set Enemy Spawns with Random Enemy Spawns
  
• Increased Minor Enemy Spawns slightly
  
• Reduced Dispersion (66 → 30) in the generation
  
• Increased Projectile Damage (10 → 25) of Man o' War Spinner
  
• Reduced Slow Duration (4.0s → 2.0s) of Man o' War Spinner
  
• Increased Chase Distance of Lava Pup
  
• Increased Delay (0.85s → 1.15s) between Lava Pup Teeth
  
• Decreased Projectile Speed (8 → 6) of Lava Pup Teeth

• Replaced Set Enemy Spawns with Random Enemy Spawns
  
• Added Additional White Spiral Projectiles to Rampant Bishop fight
  
• Decreased some Chase/Circle Player behaviors of Minions
  
• Reduced Damage (140 → 110) of Cecil's Red Spiral, now Ignores Armor
  
• Decreased Size (1.6 → 1.25) of Loyal Slow/Quiet Book's White Spiral Projectile
  
• Increased Damage (110 → 120) of Loyal Slow/Quiet Book's White Spiral
  
• Increased Delay (0.19s → 0.25s during Cecil, 0.19s → 0.2s during Rampant Bishop) between Loyal Slow/Quiet White Spirals
  
• Increased Number of White Spiral Projectiles (1 → 2-3 depending on phase) from Loyal Slow/Quiet Books
  
• Changed spiral shooting behavior of Rampant Bishop Circlers

• Removed lower area of Dominus Arena
  
• Increased Lifetime (3.2s → 3.75s) of Dominus Green/Blue Lightning Projectiles
  
• Reduced Curve (65 → 55) of Dominus Green/Blue Lightning Projectiles
  
• Increased Delay (0.065s → 0.09s) between Dominus Ice Spinner Projectiles during Rage

• Closed entrances to Boss Room while Bosses are active in Shrine of Devas
  
• Adjusted Amount and Delay between Firey Boom Booms across all Turquoise Asura phases