Happy September Goblin Gang! NextFest looms, and we’ve been hard at work preparing the WOFG! demo. In fact, our demo build is now in our open playtest. If you want to help us polish it up by trying it out and giving us your honest feedback it would be greatly appreciated. You can sign up for the open playtest on the store page. If you’d rather wait until it’s out, you won’t have to wait long. We are planning to release the demo in early October.
If you’d like to know what we’ve been working on for the past month and a bit, read on for this month’s State of Dev report:
Milestones Reached in the Last Month
Level Design - The WOFG! demo will be set on the Skrimble Iles. We’ve been shaping the level to try to find a balance between guided progression and open exploration. We think we’ve managed that.
Goblin NPCs - We’ve created a “quest line” system for our NPC goblins that lets them change behaviors/dialogue based on things the players do on the map. We feel it gives the goblins a lot more personality and we are excited to expand on this system in the future.
Mechanisms! - We have a lot of things to collect, but we had nothing to spend them on. Mechanisms are our solution. Now you can place a Power Cog into an Energy Widget, which will activate any attached mechanisms. Some mechanisms (like the vending machines) are activated by spending your hard earned mud and bolts. We like the idea of slowly bringing life to Gobland as you explore and are happy with how the mechanisms system supports this.
Dev Goals for September
Get Ready for Next Fest - The WOFG! demo is going to be in Steam’s October NextFest! The goal now is to focus all our effort on making the demo as polished and ready as it possibly can be. As I said above: we are currently running an open playtest of the demo content through Steam. We will be running this palytest until the end of September. Any feedback helps us learn what is working and what isn’t. Playtesting is what makes games good.
That’s all for now. I’d better get back to it. Exciting times. Thanks for reading all the way to the end, you always impress me when you do. We will see you in the playtest if you want to help (you can find it on our store page). Otherwise, we hope you are excited to play the WOFG! Demo during NextFest next month. As always, until next time, remember - Watch Out for Goblins!
We have some new additions that further improve the game. You can read below:
*v1.6.0.6* - Fix of the bug that caused ships to freeze aiming and movement due to a code exception (very old bug) caused in campaign rarely when players saved a refit design which involved a change of guns and those ships participated in a battle the same turn. Hopefully this is the definite fix . Please report if you anticipate it again. - Fix of another rare bug that could cause overweight ships due to a wrong save of engine data. - Adjusted the ship damage model to make "All-or-Nothing" armor schemes more viable. Taking damage out of the citadel will have smaller impact so well protected ships will distinctively endure more damage. - Gun accuracy improved slightly at all ranges. - Shell dispersion logic optimization, addressing issues that could be caused at the edge of range for large caliber guns,which previously would not be able to find a firing solution. - Ship maneuverability mechanics’ optimizations and fix of the reverse bug, that could make ships in division to not be able to complete their reverse movement. These changes also improve the way that ships maintain their division formations. - Fixed auto-refit mode reducing too much the speed of the ships. - Further auto-design optimizations, making it faster and more effective. - Minor other fixes.
Uploaded optimized build including: - Auto-Design further optimizations. - Armor penetration thresholds fine tunings. In short, armored ships will be even more durable in combat but full penetrations will result in an even more catastrophic damage. - Battle AI adjustments to exploit more effectively the advantages of its ships. - A minor camera fix in campaign map. You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Uploaded optimizedx2 build including: - Auto-Design further optimizations. - Increased ammo replenishment in campaign. - Fixed FPS limit not being saved in settings. - Fixed some problems in camera scrolling in campaign map, being either too sensitive or not fast enough. - End techs improved to not cause overweight ships. - Fixed remaining issue of shell ballistics not being able to find a fire solution sometimes. Gun ranges and accuracies have been adjusted accordingly. - Adjusted further the armoring logic and damage model, addressing cases where some ships with very high endurance were too hard to sink plus other fixes. You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Note: There will be a new beta shortly introducing a radical change in the game, making a new campaign to need only a few seconds to start, and overall to greatly reduce the loading times. Mainly this update will improve the number one issue of the game, as stated by the community.
Uploaded optimizedx3 build including: - A further improvement for the FPS limit in settings. You should notice also a slight fps increase. - Battle AI fine tuning. - Tension slight tone down. - Other minor. You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Note: In about 2 hours, we will provide the promised beta.
Uploaded optimizedx4 build including: - Auto-Design further optimizations. - Further shell dispersion optimizations. - Further ship movement optimizations. - Rudder options became more distinct in their effect. - Aiming became more persistent when hitting the enemy. - More aggressive Division AI logic for Screen/Scout commands (passed the change from the current beta) You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Uploaded optimizedx5 build including: - Fixed issue in Campaign forcing the AI to design ships too often, delaying the turns. - Further optimizations for auto-design. - Further improvement on how snapping works in the ship constructor, fixing previous problems causing difficulties to add guns on barbettes. You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Note: The beta version of the game will be updated soon, most probably today.
Uploaded optimizedx6 build including: - Possible fix for minor nation ships not cleaning up after being sunk in battle. - Optimization in ship movement at sea mechanics. - Optimizations in shell ballistics (affects penetration due to different shell physics applied). - Optimization in environment lighting for battles. - Optimization in auto-design. - Optimizations in Battle AI. You need to restart Steam to get the update.
Note: This version aims to be stable and good enough as a safe build to revert if you have any issue when we make the beta version finalized and released. We will offer a release candidate of beta tomorrow.
We’ll soon be attending the Tokyo Games Show for the very first time! If you would like to get your hands on Path of Exile 2 before Early Access, come check out our booth!
When - September 28th - 29th, 2024[/li]Where - Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan. Hall 2, 02-S02, near the Public Entrance[/li]
We can’t wait for you to try Path of Exile 2 and meet some of our team! See you there!
Just a quick patch to fix the flying platforms that were invisible. You can see them now! Also fixes some issues with the NPC goblin quest lines sometimes skipping over a phase.
The nineteenth weekly update for 'Shell of a King' is here. As always, if you find any bugs, especially game-breaking ones please let me know via the official discord! I can always revert to an earlier update if something breaks! 1.1d Change List:
Add texture quality settings: High, Medium, Low, Retro (joke setting). PC will default to High, Steam Deck will default to Medium. Using a lower setting will improve performance on lower-end GPUs
Bilinear all textures for lower-quality render scaling
Rename Upper Queen's Garden to 'Meadow of Whispers'
Add more tile variation to small rooms in Meadow of Whispers
Leaving the big Knight in Meadow of Whispers will reset his HP and phases
The gate unlocked by defeating the big Knight will stay unlocked on reload
Boomerang now scales 1:1 with attack levels
Bloodletter now scales with attack levels (percentage based)
Add some missing tiles to Swallowed Caves
Fire Essence shots will now clear the water in the Grand Library
Fire Essence shots will now create steam when colliding with enemy water projectiles
Water Essence shots will now create steam when colliding with enemy fire projectiles
Increase the size of the equipped box in inventory by 2 rows
Improve visuals of statue dragons in Temporal Construct boss room
Matthew 6:11
Rename Gregs Bell -> Greg's Bell
Skull Babys will now continue dropping coins after resting at a Statue
Summoned Skellys now die if too they're far from the player
Summoned Skellys lose more hp over time, 3 -> 4
Increase Rat Fire Mage damage 6 -> 40
Remove shadows from blue bonfires
Fix Bloodletter + Slime Ball not ignoring defense on bounce
Fix bouncy shots not hitting Swordfish enemies
Fix Boomerang hitting Slime Companion and Summoned Skellys
Fix being able to hear the Golden Rat from Sewer Conduit
Fix being able to die while using Bloodletter and Dichotomy of the Jack
Good Fortune and Etheriality Scroll animations added
Replication Forbidden Scroll animation added
Description tooltip added to Rune Inventory screen
Visual aid added when using a Empowerment/Demotion Scroll
Initial sound effects pass added
Note: these are are work in progress and will very likely change
Balance Changes
Rarity Changes
We’ve found the actual power and feel of the below trinkets to be in a good spot, so we’re making rarity changes so that they’re more in tune with the average power of their respective pools.
Dicentra Medallion changed from Rare to Uncommon
Antimatter Amulet changed from Uncommon to Common
Overkiller changed from Common to Uncommon
Nap Time changed from Uncommon to Common
Voluminous Vial changed from Rare to Uncommon
Black Ice Amulet changed from Rare to Uncommon
Soul Dagger changed from Uncommon to Common
Common Trinket Power Changes
A few patches ago, we started addressing your feedback about game difficulty, starting with small changes to the enemy HP curve. With this round of changes, we aim to strengthen the common Trinkets to have a little more oomph as you progress through the early levels. Hopefully this will make it a little easier to clear levels with them before they’re replaced with rarer trinkets.
Crystal Cherries changed from +4 Multi to +6
Crystal Lemon changed from +6 Multi to +10
Crystal Plum changed from +10 Multi to +16
Crystal Orange changed from +20 Multi to +25
Dark Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Dark Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Ice Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Ice Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Fire Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Fire Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Lightning Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Lightning Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Earth Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Earth Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Light Ring changed from +2 Multi and +10 Damage per Light Rune to +3 Multi and +15 Damage
Bounty Hunter starting coin generation changed from +1 coin to +3
Prismatic Rose changed from +15 Damage when Runes with Amulets are triggered to +20 damage
Battle Purse changed from +2 mult per 5 coins to +3 mult per 5 coins
Rune Polish changed from +3 Base Damage to +5
Winged Dagger changed from +6 multi per unheld Rune to +10
Grow Trinket Power Changes
With the current state of the Grow trinkets, it’s very possible to reach a point where they just don’t scale hard enough into the later fights of Act 2 to justify using them. We’re planning on making further adjustments, but in the meantime hopefully these small buffs will make them feel a little better to use.
Merchant Coin changed from +2 Multi per Restock to +4
Scroll Book changed from +1.5 Multi per Scroll use to +2
Tarnished Pendant changed from +2 Multi per Rune destroyed to +4
Symbiote changed from +0.4 Multi per grow to +0.5
Mimic Talisman changed from +4 Multi per skipped chest to +5
Undead Mask changed from 0.25x Multi per destroyed Rune to 0.5x
Once again, a true thank you to everyone who has played the game and offered feedback. Believe it or not, we have been reading all of it and we’re extremely grateful that you guys have taken an interest in making our game as great as it can be. Happy Casting!
PMC-0437: Unable to change the size of sound effects and background sounds PMC-0447: Manual controls would not work correctly when a manual control and operator reorder action occurred in-game at the same time PMC-0425: Preferences UI does not show correct values when settings are changed and not applied PMC-0448: In-game no longer progresses after executing a recovery manual action
We're collecting bugs reported by the community. We'll be addressing them one by one as they are prioritized. Your bug reports, gameplay feedback, and reviews are very helpful to the team!
