Mar 10

Boat Crew - Cotanius Jeta

Greetings Captain,

We are at the tail end of yet another Experimental cycle, coming to you with the new Stable update, v1.6.2 Stable Battlespace Control! Despite not being numbered as a major update due to the limited additions to the Campaign, we felt the update was significant enough to warrant a name.

Almost all of this Experimental cycle was focused on the Level Editor, but not without the additions of the Atlanta and Furutaka into the fight. As it so happens, we've also found the time to sneak in another little thing.

Say hello to the Gun Buoys! A late war Japanese innovation, presumably borne out of desperation, these manned submersible gun platforms were created for coastal defense against landing assaults.

In the game, they come in two variants, basic and Heavy, sporting autocannons and a small caliber gun respectively, and can be occasionally found guarding bases with Moderate Base Defenses and above. We decided against adding the historical mortar-armed variant as they would be too far forward to live to do much against the player.

This was another player suggestion that we previously did not know about. Upon seeing it, we thought it was a fun unit concept that fit the theme of Boat Crew very well, and ended up deciding to add it to the game. We hope you'll find them enjoyable to fight.

Towards the end of the Experimental Branch, we wanted to get some early adopters together to create scenarios in anticipation of the Stable Release, but unfortunately, we weren't able to get anything on the Workshop in that time.

Regardless of if it was due to the limited adoption of the Experimental Branch or simply because there hasn't been enough time yet, the Workshop, as of the time of this release, is empty aside from the one test mission made by us. This also meant that unfortunately, we couldn't get much feedback during this experimental cycle on the Level Editor itself, as well as the learning assistance we have tried to provide for it.

We're hoping that will change with the release on the Stable Branch, and we are really eager to see your feedback on the tool. In addition to the in-game guide, we have also been posting tutorial videos on our YouTube channel, so check those out and also feel free to reach out to us if you're struggling with the Level Editor and have questions to ask or feedback to give.

As usual, thanks to all of you who have participated in the Experimental Branch. If you want know more about the update, you can read the detailed changelog at the bottom of this post.

Boat Crew has always been about the little guy and about the unsung heroes of the Mosquito Fleet; It's about the small and the tactical, and their impact on the big picture. Today, we'd like to give a shoutout to a project that approaches the Pacific War on the opposite end, looking at the grand and the strategic.

Task Force Admiral, an ambitious game being developed by our pals over at Drydock Dreams Games, seeks to put you at the helm of an entire Task Force, putting you in the shoes of an Admiral charged with both fleet manoeuvres and flight operations. You got to experience fighting alongside these ships as a PT Boat Captain, and in Task Force Admiral, you'll get to be the man on the bridge, overseeing it all.

Boat Crew's connection with Task Force Admiral goes back to even before our collaboration with MicroProse; in fact, it was them who introduced us to our publisher. They have believed in our project from the start, and so we have in theirs. We have grown to see Task Force Admiral as a more serious and methodical sister in contrast to Boat Crew's chaotic whimsy.

If you're interested in the Pacific War as we know you are, and if you've been craving another perspective, go check Task Force Admiral out. They've been killing it at their Kickstarter campaign, shooting far past their original goals, and they have a demo out that is constantly being updated. We can't wait to see the game at release!

Enjoy the update!
Captain,
T.T.

Links:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1281220/Task_Force_Admiral__Vol1_American_Carrier_Battles
Task Force Admiral Kickstarter Campaign
Developer's Diary G1 - Laying the Keel
Developer's Diary G2 - Armored Superiority

v1.6.2 Full Changelog

- Added Level Editor and User Level support through Steam Workshop.
- Added Furutaka-class cruiser.
- Added Atlanta-class cruiser.
- Added in engagement UI scaling feature in graphics settings tab.
- Added submersible gun platforms to base defenses.

v1.6.2.3 Stable
- F4U Corsair minor model and texture updates.
- Increased aircraft activity range that limits all to fly within range around the player, so that call-ins in the campaign have an easier time engaging and using their payloads for distant targets.
- Fixed AP bomb drop issue for call-in Dauntless.
- Fixed an issue preventing aircraft rocket pods from being fired properly.
- Army flag corrections for certain light Japanese units.

Mar 10

1 Week Later...

Lambda Enigma - LambdaEnigma

Hey everyone,

It's been 1 week since Lambda Enigma was released in Early Access. And I hope you've all had a great week!

I've been hard at work on the next release. In this short announcement, I'd like to briefly share some info and images with you regarding what I've been working on.

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers.

I'll also mention that I haven't received much feedback yet, so if you've already played the game then please let me know what you liked, or what you didn't like, about it. Your feedback is valuable to me!

In the meantime, I'm simply prioritizing what I had already planned to work on from the beginning. I have a ton of ideas, so I'll just continue working through my list.

Start Menu & Loading

On the initial start menu, when you press the button to start (or continue) your game, you may have noticed that sometimes the loading indicator is shown for several seconds. Actually, it's not loading at all, it's just waiting for the start screen video's frame to synchronize with the introduction video's frame, for a smooth transition.

You don't actually have to wait. If you just left click once, then you can skip directly to the intro video! Furthermore, after you've seen the intro video at least once, you can then left click to skip that too the next time that you startup the game.

In hindsight, I think it was a bad choice to show a loading indicator while the game waits for up to several seconds to sync two videos. It gives the misconception that the game's loading performance is really slow, when in fact it was already done loading before the start menu was displayed.

After the video frame syncs, you'll then watch a short video in which you'll fly toward the workshop, enter through a broken window, and eventually arrive at the workbench. You're not presented with any context about what's going on, or even a hint at the story.

I'm solving both of these issues by working on a better transition to start the game. Note that it's still going to be skippable by left clicking, after you've already watched it in full at least once before. This new transition will also introduce a bit more of the story's context. Here's a screenshot of work in progress:

(Mouse over for spoiler...)

Mazes

Maze puzzles are still under development. I'm continuing to work on their infrastructure to make them fully playable and stable. But I really like how they're coming along so far!

I'd like to share one teaser video with you that I think illustrates (or at least hints at) how the maze puzzles fit into the theme of the coding puzzles in Lambda Enigma, and how these mazes aren't just your typical "maze" puzzles that I'm sure you're all probably expecting. No, that would just be way too boring, and it wouldn't be unique at all! Lambda Enigma is all about, at least what I feel is, a unique approach to solving puzzles, via writing code of course!

(Mouse over for spoiler...)

NOTE: This is not in-game footage! It's a video that I rendered in Blender, but it does use the actual 3D models and animations that are currently in my development build of the game as I work on the maze puzzles.

Mar 10

Ark Nova Digital Patch 0.9.3

Ark Nova - Dire Wolf Digital

Today’s patch addresses a handful of small fixes for issues identified by the player community.

Bug Fixes

Removed the white box which would sometimes appear on the Player History.
Players will no longer be prompted to use the Commercial Harbor map ability when they first connect to it or after they complete an action (they can still activate it manually).
The headers for each area now provide visual feedback to indicate that they can be selected to collapse that area
The Research Institute is now visible on the map during map selection.

Known Issues

The “Disable Opponent Animations” toggle is misleading. The toggle turns off opponent action presentation, not animations.
The “Heavy Equipment Operator” scoring mod displays as a text string in the rewards screen.
Pressing “.” in chat incorrectly removes you from a game lobby.

As always, if you run into trouble or need any help, please drop us a line at Support@DireWolfDigital.com, or join the player community on Discord. Thanks for playing Ark Nova Digital!

Mar 10

The New teacher--Minji!

Fighting! Ms. Luan!! ─ Gold-digging Angelic Bitch Simulation - weissgarden

"No… No, don't look at me! Wait, actually… maybe a little more… Ahhh, no no no, this is too much!!" (curls up in the shadows, trembling)

Minji-sensei is a shy, otaku-type Korean teacher.
She always hides in the corners of the classroom, behind curtains, under the desk, or even in the ceiling’s shadows—silently watching you from afar.
She loves to suddenly pop out from door cracks, drawers, ceiling gaps, or even your own shadow, giving you unexpected surprises.

She is absolutely terrible at socializing, yet strangely obsessed with you.
The moment your eyes meet, her face turns as red as spicy kimchi, and she lets out a bizarre, trembling voice of excitement:
"으으으……기분이 너무 좋아…" ("Uuuu… this feels amazing…")

However—
When she realizes she’s been stared at for too long, she instantly clutches her head and screams:
"아악!!!" ("Aaaaah!!!") before dashing into a corner's shadow, too scared to come out.
From the darkness, she shyly extends a trembling finger to form a tiny heart:
"하지만…더 봐도 괜찮아요…" ("But… it's okay if you look a little more…")

A gloomy, socially anxious, yet hopelessly lovestruck teacher.

Wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2498010/Doki_Boki/

Mar 10

The New teacher--Minji!

Tentacles Party With Nuns - weissgarden