Seasons greetings wizards! We've seen Waltz grow like never before this year and have been amazed by the reception from our old and new users. Thank you, we are humbled!
It is that magical time of year again and we are thrilled to announce yet another free update to Waltz of the Wizard this year available right now! Riddles, Ramblings and Robots includes a horde of new features and maybe a few bits in the spirit of the season…
Skully is more alive than ever now, adding more than 700 new voice lines and a host of new reactions including a totally new riddle game, questions & answers, humms, whistles with a dash of some shower thoughts - and the update includes an all new Screen Mode! Solving the riddles may (or may not) include some special rewards… And a secret revealed for those who finish!
The voice ring (also known as Aldin's Reality Ring) is also no longer required for chatting with Skully, he's now ready to chat with you from the moment you step into your tower! Just make sure you retrieve the ring to enrich your voice with magical powers.
Now what is that mysterious robot? Well, we also have something that some might find surprising… Waltz is now fully playable on a screen without VR - where you can embody this robotic puppet! It has long been our wish that more people had a chance to experience Waltz of the Wizard and, after so many of you expressed the desire to do so, it's finally possible.
You will now see a new launch option for Waltz in Steam.
Even though Waltz is and will remain VR-first design, we are very excited bring Waltz to an even wider audience and hope you will enjoy the freedom to choose how to play! The screen mode is available to all of our Steam and Meta users that have a PC. (We're looking into Steam Deck and PS5 support but nothing to confirm at the moment!). We'd like to note that all feedback on this mode is most welcome.
We've made big strides to enable the non-VR mode of Waltz to include many interesting options to make the experience more interactive and fun. This includes a brand new Emote radial menu where you can select which action you'd like to perform by default. Natural magic is also now accessible via radial-menu for quick power selection in the non-VR mode.
There’s more coming…
Oh and one last thing, we're happy to tease that another update is coming early next year that will introduce an entirely new feel and companionship in the Fortress! More on that soon.
Riddles, Ramblings and Robots - New Skully Reactions List
🧙🏻♂️ Test your Waltz knowledge by asking Skully "Give me a riddle"
🥱 When all seems idle, Skully still might utter some peculiar showerthoughts.
🥴 Be careful not to hit Skully too hard, his eyes can go askew!
🫣 Play hide and seek with Skully just by asking him "Can we play hide and seek?"
🔮 Skully shares some new insights into his past via the old memory orbs, both before and after you teleport to those memories, depending on what you do.
🎃 Greet Skully with "Happy Halloween" for a seasonal surprise!
🐀 Skully can get quite upset if you do anything harmful to the rat.
😳 Don't stare too long at Skully.
🤾 The moment when you are about to throw Skully will not make him happy. Same goes for the moment you are about to throw something at him.
🪶 For a giggle, tickle, tickle Skully with his featherpen.
💔 Be a little more careful while working the tower, some things are more precious to Skully than others if they break.
🎺 The trumpet sound can ring in Skully's ears.
👂The earpiece makes Skully react differently to loud sounds.
💀 Skully might share some more details if you bring him around the Tower.
The Love Chronicles DLC has officially arrived on Steam! This new expansion brings heartfelt stories and deeper romance options with four beloved characters. If you're eager to dive deeper into Mi-an, Nia, Fang and Logan, don’t miss it—it’s available now for $4.99!
With Love Chronicles, you’ll enjoy sweet, voiced conversations, share in meaningful companionship, and find warmth in every interaction. These moments add depth to your Sandrock experience, making each day a little brighter and every connection more memorable.
This week, HOLTOW has pulled out all the stops, dimmed the lights, and turned the Arena into a place where things go bump in the night…things like Pumpkins that explode on impact, so keep your gourd up!
We hope you’ll have a ghoulishly good time destroying the Arena and smashing pumpkins to delight the fans and take out the competition!
The Arena’s this week are waiting for you. Enter, if you dare:
CONCRETE has been updated to Version 1.1, read below for the patch notes.
Just a small post-launch patch addressing a few minor issues I was made aware of (thanks for the bug reports!)
If you notice anything you think needs fixing then please feel free to send me a bug report at my email, benjam.pilbrow@gmail.com - I welcome any and all feedback.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Reworked the jumping section of [THE HUB] to be simpler and easier
Increased the activation time on the hatch in [THE HUB] to 1 second (was 0.5 seconds)
Removed unused keypad in [THE SEWER]
BUG FIXES
Fixed bug where soundscape ambience would not play when entering in [THE CITY]
Fixed bug where day counter in [COLLECTOR] minigame would start at 0 instead of 1
Fixed level lighting in [COLLECTOR] minigame
Stay tuned for an announcement regarding post-launch content updates. Including but not limited to a whole new map to explore...
As I look at the release time for tomorrow's game on the computer, I realize we've been working toward this day for three years, yet it feels like just one day has passed. I still remember the day we kicked off the project in early 2021. Back then, neither I nor the lead planner, Qian Ren, had the idea of making an indie PC game. Our initial consensus was only to complete a very small-scale product for a short-term goal. Later, with the addition of Teacher Paomian and the application for the publishing license, more resources started pouring in, and our ambitions grew larger. (Looking back, this decision marked the beginning of our three-year-long "Shura trial.") The development process was full of twists and turns, with constant shortages of people, funds, and resources, pushing the team to the brink of confusion and collapse several times. In some ways, this definitely wasn't a commercially valuable thing. However, for us, it has been a life experience worth remembering. There are always regrets during development, but when you work hard, surprises are inevitable too. From the launch of the demo to the lead-up to the New Game Festival, our promotional budget was limited, so not many players got a chance to try the demo. But once the festival started, more and more players began adding the game to their wishlists. Some of the players who had played the demo reached out to share their thoughts, and one even spent over 40 hours in the demo alone. All of this gave us a lot of positive feedback. Card Quest may never become a phenomenon-level game, but for us, it's a project into which we've poured immense passion and all our efforts. We love its gameplay, its art style, and its story in the artbook. Regardless of the final outcome, at the very least, we persisted and completed all the designs we could at this stage. Just like in the game when Ace says to Aileen: Light and darkness always go hand in hand, as do despair and hope. In the end, I just want to say, no matter when. whenever you open Card Quest, brew yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and enjoy embarking on this dreamlike adventure.