Hey all! We’ve reworked the core loop of the game completely. The focus is now on points. Skating/combos, killing enemies, doing goals: everything now feeds into score. And score is now the way to progress. We like it a lot. To us, it feels much closer to what the game wants to be.
Don't forget, the game is in Early Access and could benefit from your feedback! Don’t hesitate to join our Discord and let us know what you think. We’re particularly interested in thoughts on / ideas for getting the tuning of the score requirements right for both new and experienced players.
Also: special thanks to Yungtown for the collab on this trailer, we absolutely loved working on it.
Thanks again for playing,
<3 The Phantom Coast Team
CHANGELOG
New Stuff!
New story intro (V1 - more improvements + final VO coming soon)
Score Attack mode is now the core game mode → Score X points and defeat the miniboss to unlock the next level
Added ‘Challenge Timeline’ that advances challenge (enemies and score requirements) over time
Added “Mallkoplin Supervisor” Miniboss
Added “Constellation” Miniboss
Added “Crowgre XL” Miniboss
Tuned down base score for tricks to simpler numbers (Kickflip = 1point, Barrel Roll = 5points etc…)
Added visualization and juice to combo scoring after a combo is landed
Added Magazine system for upgrading trick scores, trick types, and increasing score potential dynamically per run
Added goals to every level
Added Skyhawk portraits
Lots of additional juice and polish to dialogs
Added new songs from Enola Gay
Shades can now show up in the hub after their goals are completed
Improvements
Revised existing goals + added lots of new goals to levels
Revised competition to work with new format
Added dialog indicators for all NPCs
Improved collider and line issues in all levels
Bug Fixes
Fix for some stickers showing up infrequently
Fix for some animation state issues
Fix for some cases when player goes through walls while wallriding
Fix for sword secondary attack not hitting after state change
Tilesets! You can now create, modify and publish your tilesets or use already existing ones from the community to easily create screen details!
Full mod support! You can now use Worldsmith to create, manage and debug your new and old mods with ease!
Project linking! With this highly requested feature, you can now link a local project (on your computer) to modify and/or update an already existing Steam Workshop item!
Quality of life improvements! Worldsmith loads projects 70-80% faster compared to the last build, you can now also see Jump King blog updates from inside Worldsmith and the preview screen is now resizable.
Added the ability to add props, hidden wall props, scrolling images, world items, NPCs, merchants, messages and sounds onto a screen.
This update fixes:
A bug where a mask would not correctly save.
A bug where the wardrobe settings would be wiped.
A bug where props could not be created.
A bug where skin sets would be missing the base skin.
A bug where one or more props on a screen would delete itself.
A bug where the white raven's position would skip ahead by default. WARNING! Custom maps that depended on skipping the white bird's placement to prevent this bug, will need to fix their white raven's placement by removing those empty slots.
A bug where mods were not considered when creating the workshop menu.
A bug where Jump King would uninstall tilesets on start-up.
Workshop documentation
The documentation has been updated to hold the new Worldsmith changes such as new sections, in-depth how-tos and pages for tilesets and mods. Read the documentation's changelog.
Hello everyone! We just wanted to remind you that tomorrow, September 21st, at 2 PM EST, the second Sky of Tides livestream by spacevalkyries will take place as part of the ongoing Game Devs of Color Expo 2024!
During this stream members of the Lofty Sky team will join in the chat to answer any questions fans might have on the game. We can’t wait to see you there!
We have released the first part of the museum update this week, but the next part unfortunately will take some time because we have a lot of piled up work from the other job to deal with, so progress on the following 2 or 3 weeks will be very slow.
The next feature will be digging and artifacts, we will introduce the shovel, you will be able to use it similar to the bug net, but for hidden treasure instead of critters, just keep in mind digging won't modify the terrain, due to technical limitations.
Every few days a hidden treasure will appear in the world, and the shovel right click will let you search for it, similar to how the bug net highlights critters, once you get to the right spot you can dig, there will be many different possible items: loose coins, truffles, subterranean critters like worms and unique treasures that you will be able to display in the museum for more discounts in the debt.
After 1 ingame year the unique treasures will start to spawn again and you will be able to get a second copy to decorate your home with.
Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce the implementation of a key feature: the map system. This addition introduces a whole new layer of depth and strategy as you expand your criminal empire throughout New York City. Here's a detailed breakdown of how the map works and the strategic opportunities it brings.
🗽 The Map: Control New York City
The game map is based on New York City, divided into its five major boroughs:
Manhattan
Brooklyn
Queens
Bronx
Staten Island
Each borough is further divided into zones, representing specific areas of each borough. These zones can be controlled by one of the five Mafia Families. Controlling zones is key to expanding your family's power and increasing your profits.
💰 Zone Control and Income
Each zone under your control generates regular income from rackets and illegal betting operations. Each business within a zone can be extorted, allowing you to demand protection money, boosting your family’s revenue. Alternatively, instead of extortion, you can buy out businesses and use them as fronts to launder dirty money. This lets you turn your illegal earnings into clean cash, crucial for growing your operations.
👤 Made Men and Zone Management
You can assign a made man to each zone. Depending on their skills, they will provide operational bonuses, such as increasing income or improving defense for the zone they manage. Zones are defended by soldiers, who protect your territory from rival families. These soldiers are paid a fixed monthly salary.
⚔️ Conquering Zones
To expand your empire, you can attack zones controlled by other families. To conquer a zone, you must eliminate all guards defending it. Once cleared, the zone becomes part of your territory, and you can start collecting profits from its illegal activities.
🏢 Special Buildings
Certain zones contain special buildings that offer unique strategic advantages to the family controlling them:
Police Station: Gain access to critical information on ongoing investigations against your family and uncover if there are any informants among your ranks. This knowledge allows you to take proactive steps to avoid arrests and convictions.
Prison: Control the prison to interact with incarcerated made men. If you suspect one of them is a snitch, you can attempt to eliminate them before they testify against you, but be cautious: if the attempt fails, it will increase law enforcement attention.
Courthouse: Provides a bonus to acquittal chances during legal trials involving your family. This building is crucial to avoiding long prison sentences for your men.
Port and Airport: These buildings unlock the drug trafficking feature, allowing you to organize shipments of drugs and set the price for other families. Controlling the port allows for larger shipments, significantly boosting your profits from the international drug trade.
🔮 Future Implementations
We are working on several future updates that will make the game even more immersive and strategic. Here are some ideas we are currently considering:
Special Businesses: In the future, you will be able to build commercial properties such as casinos, racetracks, and other high-income establishments, providing additional revenue streams and money laundering opportunities.
Map Expansion: We’re considering expanding the map to include parts of New Jersey, adding more zones for you to conquer and control.
New Features: We’re also exploring new game mechanics, including political corruption systems and other advanced strategic elements.
🗣️ We Want Your Feedback!
We’re excited to see how the new map system changes the way you manage your Mafia family. As always, your feedback is key to making the game even better!
What do you think of the balance between zones, income, and defense? Does the system offer enough challenges, or are there areas you'd like to see improved? Do you have any ideas or suggestions for future implementations?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments or community discussion forums! Your input will help us refine the game and make it even more engaging.
Hey everyone, it's a small-ish new patch in publicbeta. I've added two-handed rifle animations for when crouching and walking or running:
I've moved Story Mode to the top item in the menu, for English and Japanese, which were the two languages with complete translations as of last week (though some others are close). I've noticed some people getting put off the game recently due to sandbox mode throwing them in at the deep end, getting surrounded by zombies without enough knowledge of the game mechanics to evade them. That's part of what Story Mode was intended to address, so I'm going to try this in the hopes newbies start with it, and see how that goes.
I've seen a few people wishing they could arm the NPCs by selling them weapons etc, without them selling them on next time they restock. So I've tried to ensure they won't sell their best ranged and melee weapon, or seeds or food if their community is short.
The rest is mostly bug fixes. Here's the full change list:
Added crouching idle/walk/run animations for rifles that hold it with two hands while not aiming
Made Story Mode top option when starting a new game in English and Japanese (i.e. languages where translation is complete)
Ensure settlement has at least one person prepared to do fisticuffs if it is the target of a chicken heist quest
Made it possible for NPCs in a relationship to hug when greeting sometimes (like the player can), thus getting the flirted successfully memory and keeping their approval high
Made selection and movement zone boxes thicker so they're more visible especially in supersampling mode
Include 'invaders approaching' speeches in log
Stop NPCs from selling on the best weapons, backpacks etc, or seeds and food if they need them, that you sell them
Stop NPCs from blaming other NPC communities if a team mate is killed by a zombie
If you stash a chicken in a car or building it becomes yours
Fix for the player not being able to say 'I love you too' if they don't like someone who wants to start a relationship with them
Fix for Superspreader achievement being unlocked when your community has 20 members regardless of if they are animals, or dead, or zombies
Fix for rifle walk/run animations not having footstep sounds
Fix for infection being lost if you pour infected stew from one container to another and in doing so empty the first container
Fix for target body location graphic not being shown if you start targeting someone while paused
Fix for chickens circling each other when trying to stand on the same tile to drink from a bowl
Fix for hit the road maps often not spawning a lot of baddies
Fix for snowball fights restarting due to snowball with high arc hitting opponent after they declared victory or conceded
Crash fixes
I won't move v215 to the main branch, due to having found a couple of crashes. Hopefully will do a main branch update soon though.
What's this publicbeta thing?
v216 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
Added a skill tutorial text when skills are acquired
Increased the number of likes displayed in the level list
Improved game performance and efficiency
The first 20 challenge levels now grant a star
Added tutorial information for placing objects
Due to the fix of a bug that previously allowed higher scores, all leaderboard scores have been reduced by a factor of ten
Bug Fixes
Fixed level loading lag issues
Corrected display errors in some languages
Removed email usage information from the EULA as we do not utilize email
Fixed tutorial clue text overflowing the screen
Fixed the issue of the boss moving when hit at high altitudes
Fixed stacking issues with objects in first-person view
Corrected basketball throwing trajectory issues
Fixed occasional invisible walls appearing in first-person camera view
This update aims to enhance the functionality and user experience of the game while fixing several critical bugs to ensure players enjoy a smoother and richer gaming experience.
