List of changes:

• Added paintball gun and a task to mark animals with it
  
• Added a portable radio to call a flare gun if the player gets lost
  
• Added animals (wild and livestock)
  
• Added cinematic (view) cameras in several places
  
• Increased performance (fps) up to 10% in some scenarios
  
• Other minor fixes, including bugs, objects in the scene and the scene itself

A paintball gun is available for purchase in the store. It leaves traces of paint when it hits, and is harmless to animals.




With its help it is possible to perform the task of marking various animals for the local forestry. For each marked animal you can get a reward at the stand in the store, in the form of in-game currency.




A portable radio is also available for purchase. It can be used to request a flare gun shot to the nearest building or road with a source of drinking water (water pumps).





Cinematic cameras are available in areas with beautiful views or recreational areas, entering this mode deactivates the player model and switches to a stationary wide-angle camera.

-Reduced fog density while raining

Bugfixes
-Fixed a bug where Resurrection not showed in list after learned the book
-Fixed a bug where items not saved properly in guild vault or campfire

• Fixed translations
  
• Added Chinese support

Bonus weekend hotfix, version 11.1.20!

We were going to wait until Tuesday to release the next hotfix, but in the course of working on something else, we discovered something that we didn't want to leave until then, a bug that will fire you as GM/Head Coach when you weren't supposed to be fired, and will almost always fire your Head Coach when you're playing as GM-only. A few other things that were safe to release right now also made it into this update. We're still aiming for one more on Tuesday, which will contain database corrections (we need one more day to build and test those) and the remaining major postt-release problems.

Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated games, and now you won't get fired unjustifiably, which is nice.

Changes:

-when playing as GM-only, lines can now be changed when you have the Setting Lineups option set to yourself rather than the assistant
-"acquire a foreign player" owner goals will no longer happen when playing as a major junior team
-fixed missing affiliate switch in 2000 for Vancouver in historical
-the icon for championship wins now appears in the player pages of players who should have been on championship teams

Hello, and welcome to the 8th devlog for Red Dust Colony. Last time we were in the middle of bugfixing following the private release of a demo on our Discord server. I'm happy to say that the game is much more stable now, with the last build receiving no crash or bug reports. With the base of the game stabilized we can move forward, add more content, polish what we have and improve the overall gameplay.


One of the first things that we wanted to rework was the way maps are generated. We'd like to provide multiple types of maps each with their own styles and intricacies and what we had until now wasn't powerful enough to handle everything.




The current system was something developed early on as a temporary solution and while it has served us well until now, some of the issues were starting to surface. Let's go over the basics of map generation first and then see how it fit in the old system vs how it fits in the new one.

First of all, map data is expressed as a 3-dimensional grid, where every cell contains information about what kind of tile it contains. The possible tiles currently are regolith, iron, copper, ice or none. We plan on adding a few more types in the future. In order to create this data, we create a 2-dimensional grid where every point contains the height of the terrain. This is commonly referred to as a height map.

To do this we use something called Perlin noise. By itself it doesn't look that interesting but if we apply it multiple times in a row it generated mountain-like formations.



This data is then adjusted a bit so we have a flat base ground.



Finally, we take this heightmap and use it to create the 3-dimensional grid where every cell is filled if it's under the height defined by the heightmap. The following animation shows individual slices on the vertical axis.



For resources generation, we use something called cellular automata. In simple terms, this helps us create natural-looking clusters of resources by following simple rules about how materials group together. This algorithm takes a randomly initialized grid, and then for each cell, it determines if the cell should be filled or not based on a rule. This step is applied multiple times in a row. The most basic rule we use is to count the neighbouring cells that are filled. This is how it looks like when the rule is applied multiple times in a row:



In the end this generates pockets of filled cells which we use as iron, copper or ice. All this data is then combined in a final grid that contains all the necessary information. This animation shows individual slices on the vertical axis, where red is regolith, blue is iron and green is copper.




Before, we had a system where all the steps from above could be combined together in a visual editor. This allowed us to change and tweak the generation without having to change any code.



Unfortunately, due to initial time constraints, the interface only allowed configuring this in a tree like structure instead of the ideal graph structure. Another huge problem in the original implementation was performance related. All of this was running on a single CPU core even though each cell in all these steps can be calculated independently of eachother.


In order to solve all the problems from the old system, the new one was redesigned from the ground up. First of all, the editor now works with graphs where every step from before is a node. These nodes can be combined in any number of ways, allowing to use the results of a node in multiple places, something that was not doable before. This is how the same map generation from before looks like in the new system:



Before, if we wanted to see how the terrain looks in game, we'd do some tweaks and start the game. While this works, it's not exactly fast to iterate on. In order to resolve this issue, we added a secondary panel to the editor where results can be previewed almost in realtime.



From a performance point of view, the gains have been incredible. The new system distributes the work seamlessly across all CPU cores available while also taking advantage of a technology called Burst which makes code written in a specific way run much faster. If the map data generation used to take 3-4 seconds for the biggest map before, an equivalent configuration now takes around 80 milliseconds. What this really means for players is faster loading times when starting new games and the ability to generate larger, more diverse maps without long wait times.

With the system being so flexible now, adding more types of nodes was trivial. All this allows us to make new types of maps now, like canyons and craters. These maps are all created with this system:












As many of you know, we initially targeted a 2024 release. This was an optimistic release timeline from when we thought we could get everything ready by the end of the year. From the demo we've learnt that we're not quite there yet and at the end of the day, we will only release the game when it's ready. We realize that this might not be the news you were hoping to hear but we hope you understand that we care deeply about the game and want to do right by it.

We're updating our Steam page to show "Coming Soon" rather than 2024, but rest assured that development is proceeding steadily. Our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience, supported by the invaluable feedback from our community.

We are continuously developing the game with the involvement of our amazing Discord community, which have been helping with play-testing the private demo that will continue to be updated as we're improving things. Thank you to all our Discord friends that have been following along, playing and giving us so much helpful feedback! 🖖🏼

If you'd like to join us in our journey, join the Discord server and we'll let you know when we're ready to have you try the game.

Hello,

Update 0.4 is almost finished, but before launching it for everyone, I will do things in several stages:

I am launching version 0.4 on the test servers now, version 0.4 will then be put on the classic servers towards the end of the week.
Season 2, with new improvements, will arrive on November 15.

I will just leave a summary of what has been done for update 0.4, I will put it with more details at the end of the week.

New content

• Addition of a very large number of talents.
  
• 15 "keys", grouped into 3 large groups are available in the game, but very well hidden. You will not be able to open anything with them for the moment.
  
• You have new bonuses by increasing the difficulty level of the game.
  
• Addition of improvements in the guild panel.
  
• Addition of new statistics, which have been added to several places in the game (talent, equipment, skills).
  
• Added new powers for equipment.

Improvement

• Skills now gain rank thanks to honor points, which you get in the challenges of the challenge tower.
  
• Skills that can be launched automatically no longer have an animation for their launch and when automatic activation is activated, you can now set how many seconds you want your skill to be used.
  
• Visual improvement of several areas.

Balancing

• You recover gold on each monster killed, as well as on chests.
  
• The chances of having an item on a monster goes from 30% to 20%.
  
• Guild improvement: The level of improvements to a maximum level of 20.
  
• Several bosses have changed location and rarity, the goal being to have 1 legendary boss on each large area and then only secondary bosses. Legendary bosses are still to be worked on.
  
• Secondary bosses in the areas are now random and more powerful than before.
  
• Bosses have 30% more life.
  
• Boss explosive shields now take into account the boss's maximum health value, instead of being a fixed value.

Skills

• Most damage reduction and damage bonus skills have less significant level increases, some skills that were already nerfed have not been touched, it is a question of balancing the others.
  
• Lightning Jet (elementalist): Damage +100%
  
• Lightning Shield (protector): Becomes a status buff for all classes, with 5 maximum stacks instead of 1, damage +100%.
  
• Progressive Power (thief): Becomes a skill for all classes.
  
• Pure Energy Trait (bard): Becomes a skill available to all classes.
  
• Eternal Cold Familiar (all classes): By leveling up, it is correctly gained in chance to activate absorption shield with cold damage, going from 10% to 30% at maximum level.
  
• Several skills have their resource type changed to mana: Explosive Ball (Pyromancer), Acid Blade (Chaos Manipulator), Bramble (Forester)

Equipment

• Equipment effect: 75% of the effects have been improved, the goal being to have almost all the effects on the same power, you only have to really choose what you want to play as a character, rather than building around a few very powerful effects compared to the rest.
  
• The bonus level thanks to consumables goes to +10 maximum, this is retroactive, so your items with an item level higher than 10 will now have a bonus level of +10.
  
• Equipment now has stats with Tier, ranging from 1 (best), to 5 (worst), reducing the power of items.
  
• Durability on low rarity items has been reduced.
  
• The number of stats that equipment can have is now random and depends on the rarity of the item.
  
• The blocking time with a shield goes from 6 seconds to 2 seconds at level 100 (this was partly a bug).
  
• The power on equipment that allows you not to use endurance outside of combat has been modified, it now allows you to increase the maximum amount carried, as well as to increase breath regeneration.

Talent

• Talent: Blocking talents go from 0.4% per point to 1% per point.
  
• Power talents for the start of the game have been removed, these talents were too powerful at the beginning, leaving no room for diversification of choices.
  
• Defense talents against a type of element go from 0.5% to 1% per point.

bug fix

• Fixed a bug on the absorption shield when you were not equipped with an item with the effect that does damage when the shield disappears.
  
• The button to change class is correctly visible if you have the maximum class learned.

As a reminder, this is only a summary of the most important things, I will put the whole thing together with a better presentation at the end of the week.

• Common ≈ 55%: Penguin Farmer, Bishop Moart, Penguin with Coffee, Penguin Egg, General Stormguard
  
• Uncommon ≈ 30%: Great Penguin Toad, Maestro, Uncommon Bishop Moart, Uncommon General Stormguard, Penguin Cook, Faust Morrigan
  
• Rare ≈ 10%: Penguin Blacksmith, Penguin Devil Young, Great Bishop Moart, Great General Stormguard, Great Faust Morrigan, Cerberus Sisters
  
• Epic ≈ 5%: Great Cerberus Sisters, Great Life's Pander, Penguin Doctor, Lamiya, Epic Ghoul, Penguin Manager
  
• Legendary ≈ 1%: Penguin Mom lvl 2, Penguin Bee Young, Penguin Engineer, Fairy, Santa Penguin, Great Ghoul, Great Lamiya, Mermaid, Boss Penguin, Dracula, Werewolf, Legendary Young Abomination, Legendary Mechaguard, Something legendarily winged
  
• Divine ≈ 0.05% (Gift only): Succubus, Ancestor of Penguins Young, Great Dracula, Penguin Dude, Holy Virgin Penguin, Great Abomination, Penguin Hippie, Penviking

Шансы зависят от типа монеты.

Coin Types: Ghost Pencoin, Silver Pencoin, Gold Pencoin

Craft time: 5 minutes

Announcement of the Promised Hidden Ring Mechanic:

• By combining 3 Ring of Power, you can obtain a Chaos Ring
  
• A Chaos Ring and 50 Epic Keys can be used to create Divine Ore with a 5% chance *(the ring is always returned)*
  
• Divine Ore can be used to forge Divine Axe, Divine Fishing Rod, Divine Sword, Divine Key; the exact recipes will be announced later

Hello,

We have uploaded the hotfix version 1.0.3.1. Scroll down to see the entire patchnotes.

If you encounter any problems or get stuck, please use F2 in-game to send us a report (don't forget to include your email address) or write us on Discord.

We are here to help you as quick as possible!

Just2D
---

• Fixed a few locations in which you could get stuck at tree stumps
  
• Fixed a bug through which Diemo had the wrong combat behavior in earlier acts
  
• Fixed a bug through which the guard in the Pit area wouldn't reveal their name
  
• Fixed a bug that didn't allow players to finish the Bloodquito nest quest from Georg as well as the retrieving Lobos lost item quest
  
• Fixed GoG achievements not working properly
  
• Fixed a bug that led to Eugen being stuck after the Shots for Ripper Quest
  
• Fixed players not being able to move after being captured in the "Missing" quest
  
• Fixed Melf being stuck
  
• Fixed the guard in the Pit area reacting to brawls
  
• Fixed Eugen looting you after the drunken brawl
  
• Fixed bleeding tooltip in French language
  
• Fixed Reija being stuck in the library if player blocks her
  
• Fixed missing combat music layers in a floodplain forest cave
  
• Fixed players being stuck with the Pannier after helping Willi
  
• Fixed a bug through which the silver disappeared when helping Willi
  
• Fixed a bug through which NPCs could get stuck when escaping the bandit mine
  
• Fixed a bug through which players could get stuck at the elevator with Kilian

FEATURES
🆕 Added reward of souls and TF via promotional global code
🆕 Added save version check

TWEAKS
⚙️ Application target frame rate to 60
⚙️ VSync disabled

FIXES
🐛 Fix server login error on existing username
🐛 Fix infinite loading on changing display name
🐛 EC3 stars locked
🐛 Hide locked tab on switch portrait/horizontal
🐛 Fix no ads available reward a small TF amount

We are still working on more fixes for the saves & sync issue, we already managed to improve it well.

Somewhere in the coming weeks we'll be publishing an After Story DLC chapter for Deluge: Threnody of Crashing Waves.

Full news article:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1745690/view/4547039255696769686