Mar 7

Soar: Pillars of Tasneem - Sadi Houfi

The next fest provided an absolutely enormous amount of feedback. As we've sorted through it all, one thing we noticed over and over again was that people just do not like wall-running. The most common complaints were that it's unreliable, unintuitive, and not used frequently enough to justify it's existence. And, after taking a closer look at wall-running, we completely agree.

In fact, we realized that the situation was worse than that- there are only 3 or 4 locations in the entire game that properly support wall-running. The team was unanimous: wall-running just isn't a good fit for SOAR. It's too specific, too linear- our lead designer described it as 'perpendicular' to SOAR's design ethos- not to mention, very time consuming to implement properly.

Now, nobody's shedding any tears over losing wall-running, but, it still held an important place in SOAR's design. We built it originally to add variety and interest to the human form, and even though it failed in that goal, that doesn't mean we should give up on achieving it. So we had a brainstorming session, and we decided to cook up something new. These are the ideas that we've settled on:

Air dash
Wall jump
Superjump
Vertical wall run
Breath of the Wild-style glide

We'll spend the next couple of days prototyping these, then play through them as a team and see what feels right. Which ones are intuitive? How difficult will they be polish? How many new bugs might they introduce? What kind of new avenues for play do they open up? And most of all, which ones are the most fun?

We'll be sharing these playable snippets exclusively on our Discord in the next couple of days, so if you're interested in helping to guide SOAR's development, come on by and say hello!

Mar 7

Watch Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ New Gameplay Video

Assassin’s Creed Shadows - paulaudino

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is coming to Steam on March 20, inviting players to experience feudal Japan as the shinobi Naoe or the samurai Yasuke, each of whom have their own unique set of weapons, abilities, and gameplay strengths. The Assassin’s Creed team released a 20-minute gameplay video showing Naoe and Yasuke executing the same mission, with each character showing off their particular strengths in both stealth and combat.

In the video, Yasuke and Naoe are on a mission to assassinate Takahashi Shiro, a member of the Twisted Tree family currently holed up in the Nijo Palace. Naoe kicks things off in the shadows by taking on the mission at night, showing off her skills with the Hidden Blade to take out a Samurai Daisho, an elite enemy, and using her grappling hook to stay out of sight. To keep her stealthy approach hidden, she shows off the ability to extinguish lanterns and assassinate enemies through shoji doors, but when it’s time to fight, you’ll see she can hold her own with the legendary kusarigama, a long-range melee weapon.

Yasuke, on the other hand, will use his strength to hoist himself to the rooftops and eliminate enemies with his bow and katana without raising the alarm – despite infiltrating the tenshu in broad daylight. But when it’s time to switch from stealth mode to combat, Yasuke shows off his explosively powerful skills with the teppo rifle, kanabo club, and naginata.

You can also get a glimpse of three recruitable allies in action: Gennojo, whose stun abilities are perfect for stopping enemies in their tracks; Oni-Yuri, the poison master who can knock out multiple foes at once; and Yaya, a ferocious brawler who can eliminate guards before Naoe flips down from the roof.

This is just a taste of what Naoe and Yasuke have to offer when Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on March 20. Wishlist or pre-purchase Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam today. Everyone who pre-purchase the game will receive the Thrown to the Dogs bonus quest at launch, as well as the Claws of Awaji expansion coming later this year, at no additional cost.

Mar 7

0.8 Update

Vikings: Sex and Blood - Fartman

We’ve been hard at work over the past two months and have created a vast amount of new content!

We’ve rendered 500+ new images!

We’ve created over 80 new animations!

Implemented the Gallery!

We’ve expanded out character stories with 13 new events!

Plus, a whole host of new SFX, music on the soundtrack, and bug fixes!

New Events:
Astrid, Freya, Sindri, Yrsa, and Tove all get new content this update!
Seduction events for the strongest woman in Krokr – Freya! Can the arrogant warrior resist your roguish charm?

New sex scene with Freya’s sluttier sister, Yrsa! Krokr’s sluttiest resident has some ideas on how to spice up your sex life…

The shy Sindri returns with another sex scene. Can another of Krokr’s residents bring her out of her shell?
Seduce, sex and story events with the eerie village herbalist, Astrid!
A continuation of the main plotline! Subterfuge, assassination attempts, and scheming loom over Krokr. Can you outmaneuver Jarl Sten?

More plotlines for the village farmer, Tove, will reveal themselves as you develop your friendship with her! This will lay the foundation for future seduction and sex scenes with her!

The Gallery allows you to Save an event as you are playing it, adding it to the Gallery for later enjoyment. Also, in the Gallery, you can remove events, if you wish so, so you have the freedom to curate and keep only the events that interest you.

Mar 7

Progress Report and Roadmap

Rusty Flesh - jorgemakesgames

Hello!

The development of Rusty Flesh is going well lately. Three fully playable areas (plus the initial "Storehouse" area that works as a tutorial) are ready, and the fourth and final one is under development as I write these lines. And even better: these three areas are interconnected, can be explored in any order, and feel good to play.

Chambers

This is the first area that was made, and the one you can play in the demo after the Storehouse. It's like a sidescrolling Sokoban, where you push crates to complete the puzzles.

Engines

This area is hot! So, it is really dangerous to explore without the right equipment. Still, everything's possible. Here, you'll find fire, robots and teleporters. Don't get lost!

Greenhouse

Turn lights on and off, and connect circuits to progress through this area. Light and darkness hide different secrets, so be very aware of your surroundings.

So, what's next?

Right now, I'm working on the final area, the Control Bridge. which is unlocked only after completing the three previous ones. There will be of course a final boss, and the story will unfold.

I also need to design and make the vents system. It will be a top-down maze connecting different areas of the game, allowing for shortcuts and hiding its own secrets.

After that, I'll make an in-game achievements system, just for fun. And, obviously, cutscenes for the different endings, credits and lots of testing and polishing.

Last but not least, I already have a launch date in mind! Stay tuned, I'll upload a new trailer and reveal the launch date as soon as possible.

Mar 7

Producer Comms: Thank You — What's Next for the Wild Ten

War Robots: Frontiers - Kaeden

Hello to all our new and veteran Pilots! I’m Jennifer Cacheux-Girling, the Executive Producer for War Robots: Frontiers (you might also know me as Jen-Nausicaä on Discord).

After a long road through Early Access, War Robots: Frontiers finally launched on PC and console on March 4. I can’t thank you enough for all your support leading up to the release, and the overwhelming response that you’ve shown us since the launch. It’s truly a joy to see players worldwide battling it out on the Wild Ten, and we’re thrilled to welcome so many new players to share in the world we’ve created together with our Early Access Pilots.

The road hasn’t been without a few bumps, though. Launch periods can be rocky, with more concurrent players bringing technical and performance issues to light that weren’t apparent in playtests. However, our teams have been on point and working around the clock to monitor your reports and fix any issues—and we’ve already deployed a few hotfixes this week. We’re actively working on new updates based on your feedback and our own analysis, too, so keep your eyes on the latest news to see what’s coming up!

As a token of our gratitude for sticking with us while we stabilize the game, we’re offering all Pilots a thank-you gift. Log in between now and March 14 to claim a 3-Day Premium Account, 20,000 Salvage, and 4,000 Credits (enough to grab some new Modules from your Daily Deals).

I know many of you had issues receiving pre-launch rewards, so we’re also issuing the Peace, Love, Robots Sticker to all players at the same time.

Next, I want to take a moment to discuss our future plans and a rough roadmap for improvement. I spoke to players earlier this week on Discord voice chat to discuss their questions and concerns about a few aspects of the game, including:

Matchmaking
Players quitting matches early
The in-game economy, which items can be purchased, the emphasis on paid content, and how this may impact fairness and competitiveness in War Robots: Frontiers
The availability of specific content in DLC bundles
The gameplay impact and balance of Hero Pilots, and the functionality of Common Pilots
Bundles not being purchasable with Credits
The variety of cosmetic customization options
Future content suggestions

Together with Vladimir “Zukata” Krasilnikov (Creative Director) and the development team, we’re putting together a plan to address your concerns. While many of these points require more time to address, I want to reassure you that your voices are heard. We’ll share more updates later this month when we’ve reviewed our analytic data and locked design, production, and deployment estimates.

Since I know you’re curious to know more sooner, all Pilots are invited to a Q&A hosted by myself and my team on Friday, March 14 at 19:00 CET on Discord. Submit your questions here before Wednesday, March 12 at 14:00 CET and I’ll be sure to answer as many as possible live. If you can’t join, we’ll publish the highlights on the website the following week.

We want to make War Robots: Frontiers an unforgettable experience and an S-tier entry in the mech genre. Your playtime and feedback are so valuable to us, and through this, we hope to realize our vision together with you. Look out for more Producer Comms in the future, where I’ll share development updates and address hot topics from the community.

Thank you as always for your patience and understanding. If you’re playing this weekend, look out for me on the battlefield!

See you on the Wild Ten, Pilots!

Jennifer Cacheux-Girling
Executive Producer, War Robots: Frontiers