Hallo SUPERVIVERs. Today’s patch is on the lighter side as we’re cooking on a number of changes that will have a large impact on the shape of the game. Does that sound vague? Maybe a little provocative? Good! Want to help out? You should join us on our Discord to get into our beta playtests and see what’s on the horizon. We’re excited for these changes, but just want to make sure they’re well-baked.

Anyway, enough about that, let’s do the patch notes.

A new Hunter: Saros, Elite Solar Soldier

• Ionized (PASSIVE) - Using solar abilities empowers Saros. When he becomes Ionized, he gains move speed, mana regen, and increased rate of fire with Sunspear’s Rifle.
  
• Sunspear’s Rifle (LMB) - Fire a bolt of sunfire, dealing 70 (+45%) damage. Deals less damage up close and full damage after 900 units. Charge with RMB to fire a stronger shot that burns 100 mana. Kills grant 100 mana. Hits with uncharged Sunspear’s Rifle builds mana.
  
• Charge Sunfire (RMB) - HOLD to charge up your Sunspear’s Rifle (LMB), after charging PRESS Sunspear’s Rifle (LMB) to fire super charged shots. Each shot is Empowered when you have 100 mana. Empowered shots apply 2.5s of Anti-Heal. Empowered damage is applied in an area-of-effect when hitting Nova Orb (Q).
  
• Dive Slash (SHIFT) - Dash in with a light attack. Then recast to heavy slash, dealing damage and knocking back enemies. Hitting Slash grants bonus dash for a short duration. Can be used on Nova Orb (Q). This ability resets when hitting enemies with the explosion from Nova Orb (Q).
  
• Nova Orb (Q) - Throw a sunfire orb that grows as it travels. Orb will burn nearby enemies, dealing damage over time and slowing them. After a short arm time, shoot the orb to detonate it, dealing damage and shredding armor in an area-of-effect. Explosion hits Ionize Saros for a short duration. Explosion hits fully reset Dive Slash (SHIFT). Orb can be kicked into enemies using Dive Slash (SHIFT).
  
• Eclipse Portal (R) - Fire a projectile that, upon hitting a wall, creates a portal to the other side of that wall. If a portal would be made near another portal, the existing portal duration is refreshed and extended instead. Entering the portal Ionizes Saros. Allies that use the portal are temporarily buffed, gaining mana over time and movespeed for a short duration. Only goes on cooldown if you create or refresh a portal.

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We've been seeing a lot of feedback on Ranked, specifically that organized, premade squads tend to run the lobbies and it's really difficult for solo players to progress as they go higher.

Late last year, we added premade restrictions at the top to address this feedback, but saw negative responses from players not being able to play with their friends, so we walked it back. It's a rock and a hard place! But now that we've seen both realities, we think it's better on the interim that we go back to premade restrictions. That said, we can be sharper about those restrictions and, along with a lot of the ranked tunings we've been doing the past couple months, we can better target only the top of the ladder.

Worth calling out we do have more longer-term changes in the future. We're still keeping an eye out!

P.S. If you love organized, competitive play, we’ve also been supporting and promoting community tournaments on our Discord - many of which have in-game currency or cash prizes! Go check them out and sign up.

• Squads Grandmaster+ ranked players will now be restricted to duo or solo only when queueing for Ranked Squads games
  
  • This will not apply to Duos Grandmaster+ players (we are not applying premade restrictions on Duos ranked)

• If your team does not own a base camp, you can press the recall button (default keybind: B) to recall to your closest ally instead

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As we saw our leveling/farming changes play out on live, we think we pushed possible power differentials (that is: how far apart two teams can be in terms of ‘raw power’ via levels, gear, stats, etc) too far. There’s a balance to be struck between “farming feels good” vs. “perma-farming is mandatory” somewhere in these changes.

• Soft level caps are back so you’re not perma-farming - if you reach a level breakpoint for the day, you'll earn 20% the exp you would normally earn from monsters (and never less than 1 EXP)
  
• When at the level breakpoint, you still gain reduced EXP but do not count as a “split EXP” target. What this means is if you’re killing monsters while at the level breakpoint with a low level ally, they will get full EXP as if they were solo
  
• AP per Level decreased from +10 >>> +5 per level

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Related to the above, we’re walking back our previous changes that made upgrade levels have a larger impact on the game.

• Equipment stats now start with +50% more base value (ie. 100 ability power >>> 150 ability power)
  
• Equipment upgrades grant 20 >>> 10 ability power per upgrade
  
• Upgrade prices have been reduced by 25% to account for upgrades being less impactful

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Now that the Heal/Dash reset change has settled a bit and we’re seeing good results, we’re going back and updating the Hunters that get less value from their kits due to this change. We’ll call those out in their respective Hunter sections.

On the other side, we also need to pull back some of the strength on this mechanic for Hunters that abused this the most. To document all of this:

• Hunters with multiple dashes (dash charges) only get 1 charge of their dash back on Knock
  
  • Affects: Brall, Bishop, Crysta, Myth, Beebo, Felix
    
  • Exception: Joule no longer receives Dash refresh on Knock
• Shrike has additional benefits for knocking enemies, Ghost has a new passive

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Last patch we said bombs are sentient and have power over life and death—this patch we realized all sentient things yearn for company (and not just being smashed into enemies), so we’re giving Beebo and his friends reasons to hang out with the Bee-bombs before their inevitable explosive demise.

Bee-bomb (Q)

• Allies and Beebo now gain +20% movement speed near the bomb

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Hunter Mastery

• Beebo RMB Super Zeep mission (A Zeep Too Far): changed from "Get Knocks with Super Zeep'" to "Get Knocks/Assists on units recently hit by Super Zeep"

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While it’s a defining feature of Celeste’s ultimate that she has to ‘earn’ the full channel, it’s making her so predictable for experienced players to play around that we’d like to add just a smidge of variability for her to play some mind games.

Chilling Finale (R)

• Reactivating this ability early in the last 0.75 seconds of the spell now deals 33% less damage and stuns for 33% less duration
  
• Always displays an indicator on the floor and the detonation hitbox will always hit according to that indicator. Enemies will always see the full wind up but Celeste no longer needs to be near the floor to hit targets.
  
  • This removes the ability to catch people off-guard by falling from extremely high up

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This might be too good, but… let’s see.

Lunar Air Dash (Shift)

• Level 4 now refreshes the cooldown entirely upon wisp pickup, up from 2 seconds

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New passive!

Combat Rush (Passive)

• Whenever Ghost lands a non-LMB ability on an enemy, gain +8% Omnivamp for 3.5 seconds (this can stack)
  
• This stacks twice when you attach a grenade on an enemy (the attach and detonate both count as separate ability hits)
  
• Lasts for 3.5 seconds, and wears off all at once (not one stack at a time)

Combat Slide (SHIFT)

• Can now be tapped in the air for 2/3 of the distance of the full hold

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Someone make a montage reel of Hudson just body slamming people to death, please.

Hover Jets (Shift)

• Cooldown increased from 11/9.5/8/8 -> 12.5/11/9.5/9.5 seconds
  
• Hover Jets now refunds Hudson 25% of the cooldown per enemy hit when you dash into them

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Joule is too strong. Also we know that incorporeal >>> ignores projectiles nerf really nukes Joule’s use of Thunderstorm to just instantly get out of all dangerous situations, but maybe that’s a good thing.

Voltaic Spear (RMB)

• Cast time increased from 0.25 >>> 0.33 seconds

Surge (LSHIFT) and Thunderstorm (R)

• Surge and Thunderstorm now grant “INCORPOREAL” >>> “IGNORES PROJECTILES”
  
  • This means anything other than a projectile can still hit Joule
    
  • Stuns, Roots, Grounds, and Glider cancel the state

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As our premiere sniper, Shrike struggles to pick off multiple enemies in a row, especially if she can’t two-shot someone reliably. Given the dash/heal reset benefits a long-range sniper less than others, we felt we could buff up her lethality once she gets rolling.

Truetalon Rifle (LMB)

• Whenever Shrike knocks an enemy, her next shot is empowered with +150% Armor Shred
  
• Lasts for 6 seconds or when she fires her next LMB (whichever is first)

• Abyss Specialist, Hover Wings, and Glider Jets are all Legendary (Tier 4 - Gold) Powers
  
• All Legendary Powers (including the 3 above) are NOT Soulbound

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We want to make Elixirs more exciting as a luxury item that you buy on top of your baseline equipment. Also: testing out some in-combat power to see how it feels.

• Elixir of Health
  
  • Out-of-combat health regens faster and scales off of max health (instead of flat amount)
    
  • Now grants in-combat Omnivamp on non-LMB abilities
• Elixir of Mana
  
  • Now also gives mana refund on LMB hit (only can trigger once every 0.5s)
• [NEW] Elixir of Vision
  
  • Consume to be able to see invisible units for 90s

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Those lava monsters…

• Magma Brute
  
  • Damage mitigation decreased from 90% >>> 50%

• Corrupted Guardians
  
  • Now drop 1000 Gold instead of a Power

• Gold Pickups: Gold pickups are now vacuumed from 300 range and the audio ceremony has been updated
  
• Minimap/Megamap: Icon visual pass to standardize points of interest and make them pop more
  
• Team HUD: Updated to make it clearer at a glance whether a teammate is dead or alive
  
• Team Eliminated: Audio cue updated
  
• XP Books: Audio cue updated

Pings

• Added chat messages for each of the ping wheel options

Emote regulation

• You can no longer bind emotes to the same keys as movement inputs
  
• Emotes now rate-limited

• Increased the number of Hunters granted from 4 to 5 (thanks for the heads up, carlos carbonara!)

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There’s no change here, but some of you may have noticed we’ve slowed a bit on shipping cosmetics. This is deliberate! We heard your feedback that our battlepass contents could be better, so we’ve been reshuffling our skin development pipeline to beef it up for our next season debut. Stay tuned!

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For changes that weren’t reflected in previous patch notes. Listen, we’re not deliberately hiding stuff, we’re just bad at documentation.

Quests

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Quest rewards are now slightly higher than before and are now standardized to be shared across teammates (was true for some Quests, but not others)

• Brawlers - 2,000 gold per player
  
• Team Wipe - 2,000 gold per player
  
• Vault - 500 gold per player
  
• Take Enemy Basecamp - 2,000 gold per player
  
• Farm Minions - 500 gold per player
  
• Biome Soul - 2,000 gold per player
  
• Megaboar - 1,000 gold per player
  
• Supply Drop - unchanged

In this first Backstage Pass blog, we're pulling back the curtain on the art process behind the character designs in Rockbeasts! Our fantastic lead artist, Mateusz took inspiration from a few different sources when designing the look of Rockbeasts: animated shows like Daria, Beavis and Butt-Head, Bob's Burgers and Bojack Horseman, as well as graphic novels like Blacksad and Maus, and games such as Night in the Woods!

As you'll see below, the game's art style went through several iterations before we honed in on the final designs!




One of the toughest challenges we faced when designing the art of Rockbeasts, was creating an art style that stayed true to the personality of the characters we were creating, while also being easy to animate and that would allow players to customize their band as they see fit.

Early in the design process, we explored using human characters in the game. This would give our characters the full range of emotional expression that we were looking for, but we ended up deciding against this direction in favour of using animal designs for characters instead.

We felt that using animal designs would allow us to play into the well-known animal archetypes that players immediately understand and associate with certain characteristics. For example, players immediately understand the personality of an awkward and introverted fish, a tired old lion, or a timid young mouse.

Games like Night in The Woods, movies like Zootopia, cartoons like BoJack Horseman, and comic books like Blacksad were all inspirations behind the anthropomorphic animal designs we moved towards. If you haven't already, we'd recommend checking out all of the pieces of media that inspired Rockbeasts!




We also explored styles that were more reminiscent of '90s comics and zines with a look that was grungier and more punky. As seen above, one of the first iterations of Paz was much more detailed in this style, but it proved very difficult to animate. Especially once we decided that we wanted players to connect with the characters' emotions as much as possible, meaning that the animation style had to be able to show every sly smile or brief grimace. As much as we liked the look of this grungier style, it would have taken a lot of work to animate it to the level we needed.

That proved tricky using a comic book style too. There were just too many things to redraw and adjust for each animation. Something that would have been almost impossible for a tiny indie studio like us.




At the beginning of Rockbeasts development, we started doing all animations in Spine using 2D character skeletons. We were happy with the flexibility the software gave us in-game, so we now knew that we needed an art style that would look good when paired with the animations in Spine. For early prototypes we used vector art like the example above, as it was easy to work with in Spine.



Whilst we were getting to grips with Spine, we were also working on an art style that would be more detailed and could replace the prototype designs. The sketches above don't necessarily match any of the characters you'll find in the final game, but they should give a good idea of the direction we were moving in.




We started looking at 2D cartoons for inspiration, especially '90s MTV shows like Daria and Beavis and Butthead. The art in these '90s and 2000s cartoons had faced and conquered the same issues we were facing with animation and expressing characters' emotions, so they were a natural fit as inspiration for Rockbeasts.

We landed on something that was really close to what we'd envisioned - a punky and retro style that suited the themes of the game. But also a style that we could animate using our team's tools and know-how.

With so much dialogue in the game we also had to introduce lip-sync into the designs, refining the look of the characters' mouths to make sure they still looked natural when speaking. There's a big difference between how Vernon's beak and Carlton's fish mouth looks when they're talking!

We also didn't just want animal heads on top of human bodies, we wanted that '90s cartoon feel. That meant designing a llama with a moustache or a chicken-lady with a majestic blonde hairdo that only a supermodel could pull off. We also play around with how "animal" the characters are. You might notice a koala in Rockbeasts having two thumbs, for instance.




The last step in the design process was band customization! We knew from early on that we wanted to give players the option to change the look of their band. In Rockbeasts, players have the freedom to dress their band up in different outfits at gigs, shoot music videos in outrageous hairdos, and much more. This level of roleplaying was super important to us, as we wanted the player to be able to guide the direction that their band went down over the course of playing. One player's band might be full-on glam rockers whilst another might stick to a grungier, Nirvana-like vibe.

This level of customization again proved quite challenging, requiring more cleaning up of the overall design that we'd chosen to move forward with. We had to make sure that every item of clothing and every hairstyle looked right for each of the characters as well as looking natural during animations.



Overall, getting the art in Rockbeasts to where it is today was a process, but we're happy with the style we landed on. It gives us the flexibility we need while still having that 90's cartoon vibe we wanted for our game. The animals, the line-art, and all the details in each character help bring the game world to life.





https://store.steampowered.com/app/1445880/Rockbeasts/

Today we’ll be taking a look at the XM246, an experimental SPAA with a pair of 35 mm Oerlikon KDA cannons on the hull of the M48 Patton tank, coming in the Hornet’s Sting major update.

At a glance:

• Fast-firing 35 mm Oerlikon KDA cannons!
  
• Search and tracking radar.
  
• Large turret, but with a good rotation speed.

Vehicle History
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The U.S. Army looked to replace their M163 and MIM-72 anti-aircraft systems through the Advanced Radar-directed Gun Air Defense System (ARGADS) competition. This competition aimed to develop an anti-aircraft system equipped with a radar, mounted on a tank chassis to be able to accompany ground formations. Later, the competition was relaunched under the new name of Division Air Defense (DIVAD), where the M48 tank, that remained in large quantities in army warehouses, was used as the chassis.

Two companies built experimental prototypes: Ford Aerospace with their XM247 and 40 mm Bofors guns (the future M247 Sergeant York), as well as General Dynamics with their XM246 prototype, armed with 35 mm Oerlikon cannons. Despite a convincing advantage in the number of targets hit during test firing, the XM246 did not win the competition and was withdrawn from further testing.
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Meet the XM246, a new anti-aircraft vehicle for the USA that features familiar guns and chassis, positioned at rank VI between the M163 and M247, capable of providing more anti-air firepower for several lineups. Descending into the particulars!




The very concept of the XM246 may seem familiar to many of you — a medium tank chassis with 35 mm Oerlikon cannons, so it must be the Gepard, right? Well they’re both similar in many ways, but there’s still some differences. Firstly, the guns are positioned closer together in the center of the turret rather than spread apart. Next is the large looking tracking radar that’s located at the front left of the turret and the search radar on top of the turret, both enclosed in a dome. Lastly is the ammunition, where the XM246 lacks the APDS belt, however it won’t stop this vehicle from being able to penetrate lightly armored tanks at close range with the other belts!

As for mobility, the XM246 uses the M48 Patton chassis as did its competitor in the ARGADS competition, the M247. This chassis is capable of reaching a max speed of 48 km/h, allowing it to move around on roads fairly quickly and off-road at a decent pace.




Rounding off, the XM246 sits in a good middle ground between the high rate of fire but short range of the M163 and the slower rate of fire but long range of the M247. The radar on the XM246 will tell you the lead point for firing at targets at long range, and the fire rate of 550 RPM per barrel will compensate for any inaccuracy thanks to the high rate of fire down range. As with all other SPAAs, the XM246 will also be quite effective as a support vehicle by taking out enemy tracks, gun barrels and lightly armored targets. Don’t count on your armor protection though, as the armor is pretty thin all-over and will be penetrated by most enemy tanks.



That’s it for this one. The XM246 is coming in the Hornet’s Sting major update and will provide good firepower for taking out enemy aircraft in several lineups. Keep an eye on the news for more dev blogs coming your way!

Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.

Dear players,

We are temporarily deactivating our demo version on Steam. The reason for this is to fix the deficiencies identified during Next Fest and the feedback we received, as well as to provide a much higher quality experience by adding new content to the game.

We would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your support and valuable feedback during this process. We are grateful for your patience and understanding. We will be back with a stronger, more enjoyable and richer experience.

Stay tuned!

Best regards,
Kaira Digital Arts

Let’s ghoulify Appalachia.

Season 20: Glow of the Ghoul starts March 18, timed perfectly to arrive with Ghoul Within, Fallout’s next major update, which is bringing all the Vault-dweller ghouls to the Wasteland.

Glow of the Ghoul is all about the Ghouls. This theme is for the mutated, the irradiated, the glowing and the feral of the wasteland. Even if you’re not going the way of the ghoul, be sure to decorate your C.A.M.P. in the most radiation-ridden and dilapidated way to make all your ghoulfriends feel at home. Toxic waste looks good in any C.A.M.P.

We've got the trailer for the upcoming season below:




What’s coming up in Glow of the Ghoul? Here’s the season calendar:


Ghoulish Rewards

On March 18, when both Season 20 and Ghoul Within are live, you will be able to turn into a ghoul. But wait, there’s more than just looking irradiated to being a ghoul. You’ll also want to remodel your C.A.M.P. and give it the gooey radiation-y vibe that every wasteland palace deserves.

By the way, if you don’t have a current Fallout 1st Membership, you can always get a Seasons Pass for access to Fallout 1st rewards.

Getting ready to transform into a ghoul? Check out our Official Guide to Being a Ghoul, featuring a welcome video by T0nik.


Remember, Glow of the Ghoul begins March 18 alongside the next major update, Ghoul Within.

Fixed translation in statistics, and also fixed spacing for hieroglyphs in the title

Adventurers! Thank you all for your support during Steam Next Fest 💙

Our demo was one of the 50 Most-Played Demos in Steam Next Fest Feb 25, which is incredible! We appreciate you all for adventuring with Baelin for the first time during the event on Steam. 🎣


Thank you sincerely for everyone's feedback, support and excitement for our game. It's been a whirlwind for us! We can't wait to give you the full game and we'll have more news to share about Nice Day for Fishing soon!



Due to our demo being one of the most popular during Next Fest, we've put our demo back up on Steam... it's once again a Nice Day for Fishing, ain't it? 🎣


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393160/Epic_NPC_Man_Nice_Day_for_Fishing/

Follow Epic NPC Man Nice Day for Fishing on X!

New Content:

New Class: Windshooter (Shortbow, Focus, Combo Attack, Elf)

Windshooter's arrows gain [&1]% increased speed and knockback, traveling farther.
They can also detect and intercept enemy light projectiles.

Class Buffs:

Sniper:

Attack range increased by 5.

Arrow speed improved.

Class Nerfs:

Longbowman:

Arrow speed reduced.

Bear Tamer:

Bear Shield cooldown increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.

Bear Cavalry:

Bear Shield cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue where the damage statistics panel did not change position after switching queues.

Fixed an issue where HP was not restored after clearing the Bridge Defense mode.

Fixed incorrect arrow speed data for Longbowman and Sniper.

Fixed an issue in Adventure Mode and Survivor Mode where Slime King's circular Slime spawns did not deal collision damage.

Fixed an issue where walking class change prompts appeared while mounted, causing crashes upon selection.

In this update we have added the option to spawn in bugs using a sprite as a reference, we have started to use it in the last chapter in the story about butterflies. We also added some of the previous new spawn shapes to that storyline, the butterflies are now better than ever at dancing!

Right now Froguelike is taking part in the Women's day sale organised by WINGS, take your chance to get the game with a 20% discount and do check out all the other amazing games made by women-led studios by clicking this picture:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2315020/Froguelike/

If you want to support us even more after buying Froguelike, please consider leaving a review!

New:

• Bugs can now spawn in any shape, using a sprite as a reference

Changes:

• The butterfly storyline (starting with "Graceful flutters") has been update using the new sprite spawn shape and the previous new spawn shapes as well

Bug fixes:

• The angle of the line spawn shapes had a bug that has been fixed

Johanna & Rémi

Fixes in the hotel:

• We tried to fix all the cases you sent us about jammed doors and missing keys in the hotel. Thanks for your messages.
  
• It is now easier to jump over railings and into windows
  
• Death bones no longer threaten the construction site
  
• More clear tips on what to do when cleaning and in which room there is dirt
  
• You can put your favorite cactus on the reception desk. We didn't think you loved them so much
  
• Fed and hungry horses are counted even when the tavern is closed