Frost Giant Studios and RallyCry are excited to announce the Stormgate for CHOC Charity Tournament, benefiting the CHOC Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Orange County. This upcoming in-game competition is founded on a belief that video games can be a force for good.

The Stormgate for CHOC Charity Tournament is free to join and open to all Stormgate players who want to compete for a great cause.

Tournament Details:

• When:
  
  • March 1 at 10:00 a.m. PST / 18:00 GMT
    
  • March 2 at 12:00 p.m. PST / 20:00 GMT
• Format: Open signup; single elimination, best-of-three bracket
  
• Co-Streaming: Streaming is available (contact mweber@frostgiant.com for details)
  
• Prize: Minimum $1,000

Frost Giant Studios staff will be making an additional US$250 donation to CHOC for every 100 players who compete in at least one match in the tournament, so be sure to bring your friends! Sign up here.


To further support the life-saving care provided by CHOC, Frost Giant Studios has stitched together an adorable in-game pet bear, Choco, modeled after CHOC’s iconic mascot. This one-of-a-kind huggable companion is available for US$6.99, and 100% of proceeds (less platform fees and taxes) go directly to CHOC to fund their cutting-edge pediatric research and programs. Choco will become available for purchase when the next Stormgate patch goes live, end of February.



Q: Who can participate in the tournament?
A: The Stormgate for CHOC charity tournament is open to Stormgate players of all skill levels! Whether you're a casual player or a seasoned pro, everyone is welcome to join and play for a great cause.

Q: Do I have to donate to participate?
A: No donation is required to enter. However, we encourage participants to support CHOC by purchasing the Choco in-game Pet (100% of the proceeds, less taxes and platform fees, will go to CHOC), by recruiting friends to participate (for every 100 participants, members of the Frost Giant team will personally donate an additional US$250 to CHOC, up to a cap of US$2,000), or by donating directly to CHOC at this link.

Q: Where can I go to buy the Choco pet bear?
A: He is for sale in the Stormgate in-game store.

Q: Why is the Choco pet US$6.99 instead of US$4.99 like the other Stormgate pets?
A: We raised the fee to compensate for the platform fees and taxes that will be taken out of the revenue in order to maximize the funds the charity will receive.

Q: What time does the tournament start?
A: It starts at 10am PST / 6pm (18:00) GMT on March 1, 2025. Follow the bracket results live on the RallyCry platform.

Q: How do I sign up for the CHOC tournament?
A: You can register by clicking here and completing the sign-up process. Make sure to join before the registration cutoff at 8am PT/4pm (16:00) GMT on March 1, 2025.

Q: What is the tournament format?
A: The event is a 1v1 brawl and will follow a single-elimination format with best-of-3 matches. Finals will be best-of-5.

Q: What are the rules?
A: All players must follow the official tournament rules, which include fair play guidelines, match procedures, and a code of conduct. Read the full rules here.

Q: Will the event be streamed?
A: Yes! The semi-finals and finals will be live-streamed on Twitch and co-streamed and re-hosted in many languages so friends, family, and fans can watch. Keep watching the playstormgate.com blog for the full viewing list! (Interested in being one of our co-streamers? Reach out to mweber@frostgiant.com.)

Q: How do I report match results?
A: Players should submit their match results via RallyCry platform immediately after each game.

Q: What prizes are available?
A: The prize pool starts at $1000 (50/30/10/10 split over top 4 places), with bonus amounts unlocked as more players join. Frost Giant will increase the total prize pool by $250 for every 100 players who sign up and actually compete in at least one match (up to a cap of $5,000). Additionally, Frost Giant devs will personally donate an additional $250 to CHOC for every 100 participants that compete (up to a cap of $2,000). So bring your friends!

Q: Do I have to donate to be eligible for prizes?
A: No! All registered players are eligible to compete for prizes.

Q: When will prizes be distributed?
A: Prizes will be distributed within 10 days after the event ends. Winners will be contacted via email or Discord.

Q: What happens if I have a technical issue?
A: If you experience connection issues or game crashes, report them immediately via the Tournament Discord to a tournament admin. Admins will review cases individually.

Q: Who do I contact for support?
A: The easiest way to reach a tournament admin is via the Tournament Discord. You can also use the 'Contact Support' button on the nav bar on the RallyCry platform (but response times may be slightly longer.)

Q: What is CHOC?
A: CHOC is a charitable foundation and children's hospital based in California which is part of a global pediatric research network contributing to clinical trials and studies that impact child health worldwide. It is home to the CHOC Research Institute, which conducts groundbreaking research in childhood diseases, clinical trials, and emerging therapies.

Q: Why should I support a hospital headquartered in California?
A: CHOC offers highly specialized medical treatments for very ill children from around the world. Their CHOC Research Institute collaborates with international organizations to advance treatments for rare diseases, childhood cancers, and neurological disorders. Their specialists train international doctors and healthcare professionals in cutting-edge treatments and medical technologies. CHOC doctors and medical teams participate in medical mission trips, providing free surgeries, medical supplies and medical care to children in underserved regions.

Q: How else can I support CHOC in its mission to save children's lives?
A: You can make a donation directly to CHOC at this link.

I have updated the villages to be larger and at the center of time is a pub that will heal you!

This change is inspired by my late nights stumbling around Boston. When the weather is cold and the sky is dark, there's nothing quite like a warm pub and a cold dark beer that will increase my HP.

More changes to come. Sorry I haven't been working on the game as much these days. I have a full time job that takes up a lot of time. But I still find some time for Skullborn everyone now and then.

Happy Valentines Day <3

Hello everyone!

As we mentioned in our devlog, starting from the 14th, we are transitioning to a new testing format. Today marks the launch of the first phase of testing, which will run for approximately a month.
Please leave your feedback in our Discord and in the dedicated discussion thread on Steam.

Beta test participation is open to all players, but please be aware that we cannot guarantee game stability or save compatibility when exiting the beta.

The beta test is available via a separate branch, which can be switched in the game's properties.

1. Controller Support
We have reworked the game’s UI for controllers and are looking for feedback.
In addition to controller support, we have also refined older interfaces, including support for keyboard-only play (old-school mode).

2. First Iteration of Augmentations
Preparatory changes to character and enemy body part properties.
All enemies now have limbs corresponding to their body type.
Cybernetic body parts now grant passive properties (making robots more dangerous).

3. Industrial Tileset
New visual updates for some older locations and new environmental objects for this tileset.

4. Balance Improvements
Adjustments to enemy class and items distribution among factions.
These changes aim to further specialize factions, making fights against AnCom feel more distinct from battles with RealWare.

• Second iteration of controller support and "keyboard-only" mode. This is still not the final implementation - we're looking forward to your feedback.
  
• Key bindings and control settings have been split into two separate sections in the settings menu.
  
• Changes to Pacts:
  • Transformation duration is now measured in turns instead of AP.
    
  • After returning from Baron form, all positive and negative effects will be reset, and health will be fully restored.
• AI Improvements, enemies now consider their fire and poison resistances when pathfinding.
  
• Turret and mine deployment now triggers negative status effects for "action wound" mechanics.

• Mod icon added to the main screen - hovering over it will show active mods.
  
• Option added to select the current control scheme.
  
• Option added to disable radio chatter sounds during flight.
  
• Option added to disable mob notification icons (! and ?).

• Multiple fixes to AI logic and pathfinding.
  
• Fixed: Softlock when throwing weapons through multi-tile environmental objects.
  
• Fixed: Quasimorphs/Possessed breaking doors at floor start.
  
• Fixed: Allies attacking the player if they attacked a mob that later transformed into a Possessed.
  
• Fixed: Mobs appearing outside the level when transferring between floors.
  
• Fixed: Items with an Expire timer could be restored to full duration via stack manipulation.
  
• Fixed: Game would lock up if interacting with an ally while in Baron form.
  
• Fixed: Allies standing in fire or acid would not yield their position to the player.
  
• Fixed: Ally armor values in inventory would only update after reopening the inventory when swapping armor.
  
• Fixed: When attacking a door via the context menu, the attack and block buttons would disappear.
  
• Fixed: NPC resistance was not affected by the difficulty selected.

• Unloading ammo in a dead body or ally inventory doesn’t refresh the visual ammo counter in that weapon.
  
• Some functions are not possible to do in Keyboard-Only/Controller modes.
  
• Tutorial texts aren't adapted for Keyboard-Only/Controller modes.
  
• To bind a combination of 2 keys for an action you have to press them at the same time.

That’s all for this update! Thank you for testing, and we look forward to your feedback! 🚀

In preparation for the numerous batches of new players hitting the game, we took a moment to fix a lot of nagging little issues and Quality of Life improvements to make the game more fun and intuitive. Additionally, we ramped up an entire new world that’s suitable for building…although new foes await you there also!

Because the duration of these preview tests is only two hours long, we’ve decided to make it much easier for players to get a sense of the game.

We’ve given you all of the tools in the game. You can equip them onto your toolbelt and use them, even without unlocking the skill nodes associated with them. You’ll be able to start accumulating experience that way that can be spent on the various skill trees. (Skill trees are opened via the “K” button.)

Additionally, there is a crate near each portal. You can access that crate to get small starter sets of building tiles (for the Fabricator), blocks (for the Instaformer), and road tiles (for the Paver). You can get these multiple times by clicking the crate multiple times…but be careful not to overfill your inventory…it’s kind of a pain to delete stuff at the moment.

Lastly, we unlocked the skill nodes for “additional camp size” and “enable homestead” so that you can lay down a Camp Kit and convert it to a Homestead to start building right away. Enjoy!

Definitely try the Grav Mesh and the Grapple! They’re both super useful and fun.

• A new world, Escarion, has been added. Like the other worlds, it is accessed by going to Space and traveling to it via Portal.
  
• There are large sections of creature-less and buildable areas in this world, including the extensive cave network, a good chunk of the beach, and the hill area between those areas. Also the big island in the middle of the lake is free of terror.
  
• Other parts of the world have a wide variety of creatures on it, most of which would like to eat you.
  
• Escarion has a couple of new resources available on it, including:
  
  • Turquoise
    
  • Opal
• New zone sweeper mobs: Joules and The Hart
  
• New creatures: Paindeer and Spitting Roaches

• You now get 10XP per planted tree (for Forestry) and 3X the XP for Depositing resources vs. Extracting them (for Mineralogy). This is the first baby step toward Planetology as we reward you for undoing destruction.
  
• When you harvest a plant, it is removed! It will regrow elsewhere on the map.
  
• There is a toggle on the Options screen that allows you to turn Homestead boundaries on/off. When Homesteads are toggled on, they are visible from a much greater distance (to help you decide where to place your Homesteads).
  
• Homesteads can be created on top of a Survey node, but it will always float above whatever building tiles, blocks, or resources put on top of it so that it can’t be hidden. Other players can enter the homestead and still access the survey node.
  
• Skill trees are ordered properly and show a nested structure so you can tell when one skill tree is required to open another one.
  
• You now get skill descriptions on a skill node, even after you acquire it.
  
• Chat scrolls smoothly up/down now on the chat pane.
  
• When you mouse over an item in your inventory, it now shows the name of that item.
  
• Pressing the “/” key now opens your chat and adds “/” to the chat box (making it easier to do emotes).
  
• The Dance wound healing effect now stops if you stop dancing.
  
• Wounds on your stat bars are now clearly indicated to make it more obvious what’s happening.
  
• The decal for area effect attacks by creatures has been improved so that the player doesn’t change colors as much when it overlaps them.
  
• When you use F11 to report a bug, the cursor will change from fixed-reticle to free-reticle so you can enter text easily, and then revert back to fixed-reticle after you’re done.
  
• When you enter a Camp, you’ll now get a message that your pattern has been saved.
  
• When you die, there is a chat message telling you what was left in your gravemarker.
  
• The Instaformer block interface has been changed to make it much more obvious whether it’s in Place or Destroy mode, and to make it easier to see depth as you move it around.
  
• A building grid has been added while using the Fabricator and Instaformer to make it easier to place blocks and tiles.
  
• When you use a consumable (from the “F” radial menu) that type of consumable is now chosen and displayed on the HUD. Tapping “F” from then on will use that consumable without needing to open the radial menu. (You’ll need to open the radial menu to change consumables, however.)
  
• Stat bars now have icons on them to identify what they are used for.
  
• The default setting for Field of View in the game has been changed from 40 degrees to 60 degrees. There is also a FoV field on the Options menu so that you can change it from 40 to 75 degrees.
  
• You can now harvest (and plant) all mushroom types. Additionally, there are a great number of new flowers
  
• Several AMD crashes were eliminated and it should be much easier for AMD players to enjoy the game now.
  
• Projectiles no longer hit bushes or Survey nodes.
  
• If you melt the ground under a tree, it will begin burning, but it also sinks down into the molten lava.
  
• The portal platforms (in space and on planets) have been modified slightly to make them easier to navigate.
  
• Trees now spread much more often, making it more difficult (although not impossible) for players to log all the trees on a planet.
  
• F1 screens have been caught up to match current functionality.
  
• Audio for crafting stations have been updated and improved.
  
• Arrow keys were added to Q/E buttons when you are able to use them to toggle through resources, making that functionality more obvious. Also, the name of the specials you have are also now shown on the HUD.
  
• Crafting stations are now building decor objects. Once you craft them, place them by using the Fabricator and putting them on your Homestead.
  
• Mushrooms come in many flavors now. Previously, no matter what type of mushroom you harvested, it was just “Mushroom”. Now it’s Chanterelle, Amanita, etc.
  
• Increased the yield of Consumable recipes so that you get five consumables per craft instead of one. Enjoy!
  
• Gashogs have been changed to stop an infinite spawn issue. After you kill the smallest version, they will auto-inflate over time, becoming more threatening. NOTE: Only the largest size drops loot and it doesn’t drop the loot if it explodes on its own.
  
• Removed the ballhive spawner that was above the Jungle portal.
  
• When you Gift someone, you’ll see the items arc through the air to that other character now.
  
• The Hopper now drops an amount of material that will almost fill the hole you originally dug. This is also true of Depositing resources. Doing so into the hole you originally dug will almost fill it up now.
  
• The Roachmaster now spawns Roaches. (Instead of “spaceroaches”) They act similarly, but differently.
  
• Skysharks in space are now “Spacesharks” and pose a different threat than those on planets.
  
• Removed all Makers from Zaraxa (the desert world) until we get time to work on those scripts to make them less buggy.
  
• When you gather resources via the Harvester or Xyloslicer you’ll now see the resources you gained on the left side of the screen (just like when using Extraction with the Terraformer).

Rarely, the terrain on a world will disappear when you travel to a world via the portal. There is no workaround for this. You need to quit the game and restart it. You won’t lose anything and you’ll restart where you were located when you quit.

There are occasional game crashes when portaling to new worlds. For some reason, it’s almost always when you portal to Zaraxa (the desert planet). We’re still trying to figure that one out.

This update is just a glimpse of what’s to come as we continue shaping Stars Reach. Every fix, improvement, and new world we introduce is driven by our passion for crafting an MMORPG that truly feels alive. Your support means everything, and we’re just getting started.

The Stars Reach Kickstarter is launching soon! If you’re excited about the future of the game, this is your chance to help bring it to life. Wishlist us on Steam, join the community, and stay tuned for exclusive rewards when the campaign goes live. Together, we’ll build something incredible!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starsreach/stars-reach

Hey everyone! 🎮✨

We’re excited to bring you Arcade Management Simulator, and we want YOU to be a part of the journey! 🚀

Join our official Discord community to get access to the exclusive first look of our Arcade Cabinets in the shop!

🔗 https://discord.gg/t96r3WKvhx

By joining, you’ll be the first to see new arcade machines, features, and upcoming events before anyone else! Let’s build the ultimate arcade experience together! 🎰🎟️

See you there! 👾🔥

This update is slated for release next week!


Everyone duck for the introduction of the Backfire Hammer! This torrid torpedo-mace packs quite the punch, but also cuts the wielder’s HP by 25% at the start of a battle. It'll also boost your equipped Maces' stats by 100%. You can follow it up with some healing, or simply equip it to those weirdoes who enjoy being hurt.


We’re introducing an entirely new furniture item: the Vending Machine! This special type of rack can hold items of your choosing and will slowly sell them over time while you are offline!

The Vending Machine is limited to one per shop, but we may look at increasing this limit in the future. It will cost you 1500 Gems and can then be upgraded similar to other racks (using Gold).

Event Leaderboard Rewards (trophies, titles, badges) now have a much longer grace period allotted to claim them. Approximately one month after the event’s start. 
Keep in mind that you’ll need to have scored enough personal contribution to complete the event in order to qualify for these leaderboard rewards.

We’re trying something new here. Superior Offers and Flashback offer priority has now been inverted. In other words, purchasing a mega pack will make you eligible for the Superior portion of the pack. If the superior pack is purchased, Flashback offers will be shown afterwards.

This is very much us testing the waters, so it may or may not be a permanent change. We’re hoping it works out!


Guild Coin hoarders rejoice! It is now possible to open 10 Grab Bags at the same time.


We followed up on a widely requested feature and reworked the blueprint details screen to include a new tab showcasing the Airship Power for Dragon Invasion and Favor value for King’s Caprice, even if those events aren’t currently active. We also took this opportunity to move over other item stats previously hidden behind a tooltip to this new tab.

• For party preset enjoyers, the quest screen will now remember (between sessions) your last used tab between the Hero list and the Party Preset list.
  
• It is now possible to mass invest in a capped out building.
  
• Aurasongs and Familiars assigned to Guest Champions will stay with those champions until their next visit.

• Significantly increased the Worker XP obtained from Dual Wield and Quiver items.

The King will return as a Guest Champion starting on March 3rd until March 6th.

The format in which currency displays in the webstore is now localized based on your browser preferences. 

For example, a user in a United States locale will see the USD pricing displayed as $18.99, while a user in a Canada locale would see it displayed as US$18.99. The format will differ based on the standard set in your preferred locale.

You can change your locale by going into your browser language settings and selecting a language and region preference.

• Champion requests will no longer ask for items you cannot craft, typically premium blueprints for which you do not own the worker.
  
• Fixed an issue where Velites would wield the Goldmane Guard upside down.
  
• The Command Console decoration no longer accumulates snow during the winter snow event.
  
• Fixed the Ancestor Spirit filter missing from Advanced Search.
  
• Fixed push notifications not working for some events, such as Lost City of Gold.
  
• The Platinum Pair blueprint no longer requires two Tier 3 resources, the Ether cost has been removed and an Iron cost added.

Welcome new and veteran players! Thank you for playing and competing in the :solaroidsS::solaroidsO:ːsolaroidsLːːsolaroidsAː:solaroidsR::solaroidsO::solaroidsI:ːsolaroidsDː:solaroidsS: monthly high score challenge.

Congratulations to all!

Big congrats to morg556 for taking the top spot this month with an impressive score of 273,552,665! Morg556 continues to dominate with their strong Classic control style, and their all-time high score of 342,642,665 still stands strong. Well done and congrats on this incredible achievement!

Securing second place is tank-tirement with a score of 17,452,120. Competing with the Modern control style at a Normal difficulty, tank-tirement has shown continued skill and determination. Great job on earning second place!

Rounding out the top three is azistair with a score of 546,390. Competing under the Modern control style at an Easy difficulty setting, azistair earned a place among the top players this month. Congrats, and keep up the excellent work!


Note: Only the First Credit leaderboards are used for the monthly challenge.

Cheers!

Chad (kiates)

Do you have a feature request or find a lingering bug/issue? If so, then post it to the Steam Solaroids Community. Many of the tweaks, features, other additions, or future plans for Solaroids have originated with the community.

Sign up on the Early Access Page to be notified at full launch across all platforms, not just Steam.

Come join the (Solaroids Discord Server), exercise some much needed bragging rights, say hi to other players, share some tips, and give me your thoughts about what would make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter on the planet.

NOTE: due to the difficulty changing recently I have decided to reset the leaderboard for highest wave earned. I'd like to be transparent about all of this so please forgive me for the inconvenience

- fixed some leaderboard issues, it's less wonk. I'd like to do a lot more with this
- added the bonus room rat spawns back
- reworked ADS
- trenchgun no longer automatically fires when holding mouse-click
- raised max living zombies 15->20
- raised cultist sprint scaling
- increased base cultist sprint speed
- increased base pistol damage 30.0 -> 34.0
- many small (mostly)cosmetic and quality-of-life tweaks

Happy Valentine's Day, Cabbies!

We're bringing you Cabbie Demo 1.3.
We wanted to furtherly improve the gameplay fun so we've worked on different updates than the ones promised in our previous post. We will be bringing those much needed boss and post-match improvements in Demo 1.4. With this said, Demo 1.4 will now be the last major demo update before we'll go and build the rest of the game so you can play MORE!

Lots of love,
Cabbie's Buddies

Updates:

• You now earn score for zapping Sheeplets;
  
• World 01 Level 03 now also has fireworks for awesome jumps;

Bug fixes:

• Score UI above your character no longer overlaps the job or interact UI that also appears in the same location;
  
• Post match celebrations screen shows the correct [enter] icon to continue for keyboard players, instead of the incorrect [backspace] icon;
  
• Exit prompt in the pause menu no longer disappears when you repeatedly pause;

• Carefree Collection! Event https://elsword.koggames.com/hyper-punch-master-event/
  (2025-01-02 00:00 ~ 2025-03-04 23:59)
• Hyper Punch Master Event https://elsword.koggames.com/hyper-punch-master-event/
  (2025-01-02 00:00 ~ 2025-03-04 23:59)
• Senpai, Carry Me in Raid! Event https://elsword.koggames.com/hyper-punch-master-event/
  (2025-01-02 00:00 ~ 2025-03-04 23:59)
• +11 Vestige of Soul Weapon Provision Event https://elsword.koggames.com/2025/01/11-vestige-of-soul-weapon-provision-event/
  (2025-01-02 00:00 ~ 2025-03-04 23:59)
• ELSTAR 2 Comeback Celebration Event https://elsword.koggames.com/elstar2-comeback-celebration-event/
  (2024-11-20 00:00 ~ 2025-03-25 23:59)
• Magmelia Gift Shop https://elsword.koggames.com/magmelia-fireworks-ice-burner-event/
  (2025-01-22 00:00 ~ 2025-02-18 23:59)
• Enhancement Event https://elsword.koggames.com/enhancement-event-2025/
  (2025-01-22 00:00 ~ 2025-02-18 23:59)
• Magmelia Fireworks Event (Abyssal Presence) https://elsword.koggames.com/ice-burner-abyssal-presence/
  (2025-02-05 00:00 ~ 2025-02-18 23:59)
• Fill Up Happiness Event https://elsword.koggames.com/fill-up-happiness-event/
  (2025-02-05 00:00 ~ 2025-03-11 23:59)

• More Power Up Event https://elsword.koggames.com/more-power-up-event/
  (2025-01-15 00:00 ~ 2025-02-11 23:59)

• ELSTAR 2 2nd Song (Ver. Switch) Costume https://elsword.koggames.com/2025/02/elstar2-2nd-song-switching/
  (2025-02-12 00:00 ~ 2025-03-11 23:59)
• Lithia Little Lamb Outfit Costume Suit https://elsword.koggames.com/2025/02/lithia-costume-suits-3/
  (2025-02-12 00:00 ~ 2025-04-08 23:59)
• Lithia Animal Pajama Costume Suit https://elsword.koggames.com/2025/02/lithia-costume-suits-3/
  (2025-02-12 00:00 ~ 2025-04-08 23:59)

• Lithia Christmas Party Costume Suit https://elsword.koggames.com/2024/12/lithias-costume-suit-christmas-party-suit/
  (2024-12-18 00:00 ~ 2025-02-11 23:59)
• ELSTAR 2 1st Song (Ver. Switch) Costume https://elsword.koggames.com/2025/01/elstar2-1st-song-switching/
  (2025-01-15 00:00 ~ 2025-02-11 23:59)
• Abyssal Presence 1+1 Sealed Relic Burner Package https://elsword.koggames.com/ice-burner-abyssal-presence/
  (2025-02-05 0:00 ~ 2025-02-11 23:59)