Sorry for the delay between updates. I updated Arakion to Unity 2019.1, yearly version updates with Unity usually take a couple of weeks to implement. There are still some minor bugs that exist from the update and I will make note of them in the build notes.
Builds Updated : Windows Note to Linux users, I believe I figured out the issue some users were experiencing. It's related to Cloud builds with Unity - I will be manually creating a Linux build every other update in the hopes to fix the problem. Thank you all for your patience (I'll try to get a Linux version out for this update this weekend!).
The big feature drop for this update is Chapter Two Pt. Two. This includes 1 to 1.5 hours of gameplay. Not all content for this area has been implemented but the core gameplay is there and ready to test!
Chapter Two Part Two - Early launch of this puzzle filled zone. Feedback for this area will be important as it implements a lot of new features and puzzles that haven't been released before. This currently includes 1 major zone and one dungeon. Two more dungeons, as well as the final boss, will be added in next weeks update!
Streamlined Hero Interface - The primary interface has been streamlined. This includes an overhaul to the hero panels themselves as well as the inclusion of Action Buttons.
Action Buttons! - Pets, Potions, World actions and more have been transitioned into two easy to use buttons. Actions can be set with right-clicking. This will allow Arakion to expand features without worrying about where they will fit in the UI.
New Puzzle Mechanics! - Along with the large new zone, additional new puzzle mechanics have been added. Be sure to let me know if any of these are difficult, fun or whatever your response may be.
Randomized Woods - Additional bug fixes have been patched into the randomized woods. They should be more stable now.
Title -
Main Menu Overhaul - The Main Menu has been updated once again.
Potion Update - Potions now operate strictly in the Action Button or hero button. This has made them far more streamlined and easy to use.
Graphical Enhancements - Along with most updates this one includes some graphical enhancements. These upgrades are primarily viewed in the new zone.
Resolution Scaling - Arakion has switched to Unity native resolution scaling. It is much faster and works better.
Settings Fixes - Most settings now work. Including the camera effects settings. A bug has also been fixed that was causing the game to go fullscreen or windowed randomly.
New Options! - Players now have the option to only show the selected hero as well as the option to disable unselected heroes UIs. These have been separated so you can toggle on whichever ones you like.
A lot of minor changes - Many other things have been updated that would take too long to list.
A quick preview!
Graphical Glitches - There are quite a few graphical glitch leftovers from the Unity 2019 update. A big one is that I had to overhaul how the characters are displayed on the screen. This has caused a couple of issues such as really dark characters having pieces of their skin not showing. This will be fixed in next weeks build.
UI Issues - Some new features appear out of place on the UI, I'll fix this shortly.
There is a ton of really awesome stuff in the pipeline, but I'm going to try and keep this area limited for today. The dates are an estimate of time.
New Character Customization [2 weeks] - A complete overhaul to character customization is in the works. A preview will be released soon.
Chapter Two Part Three [4 weeks] - The final part of Chapter Two, with this launch I will be moving from [beta] to full release and continuing updates on full release from then on. Oh, and there are some very very large lizards you're going to be fighting.
Story Enhancement [6 weeks] - Arakion has a wonderful story to tell and I want to make sure it is told. I have been frustrated with myself that a big part of Arakion that has been lacking is a coherent story and world progression. This will be changing soon - with this launch, areas in Chapter One and Chapter Two will be modified to work with this update.
Turn Based Mechanics [6 weeks] - This is the highest priority after launching Chapter Two Part Three. This will be launched alongside the story enhancement.
That's it for today - I'll try to get better at making patch notes in the future.
Have a wonderful day!
Lavidimus
Early Access 2 [beta] 3
Hey Everyone
Updated Build: Windows Join the discussion on Discord
Early Access 2b3 has been launched for Windows. This update fixes numerous bugs and adds the initial implementation of the Farm Dungeon (Access via Sanctuary).
My goal is to move EA2 to the main build branch next Thursday.
A big focus, for now, is making sure most of the serious bugs are fixed in addition to testing how performance works in the new Dungeon system.
As you can see from the screenshots, the Farm Dungeon has drastically enhanced graphics. These have been optimized to run smoothly, however, I need feedback on any areas that people may be experiencing lag. This is the initial implementation of the dungeon and much more content will be added and many changes will be made over the next couple of weeks.
Next weeks update will include Chapter 2 Part 2. So get ready!
Brief Notes:
New Content: Randomized Farm Dungeon
New Content: Randomized Stone Dungeon
New Content: Multiple new recipes
Numerous bug fixes
Greatly enhanced performance in Chapter 2 Part.
Shader fixes for character clothing (general visual improvement)
Town Quest bug fixes.
A lot more that I should have kept track of. . .
Known Bugs
The Farm Dungeon uses the Unity terrain system. For whatever reason, thrown objects may fall through the terrain. I'm working on some fixes.
I'm going to try to keep a better log of notes in the future as many players have been asking for better patch notes.
Update will be posted as soon as the build is finished in the [beta] branch. I should be able to update by Saturday Morning at the latest. I will post an announcement as soon as the update is published! Thanks for your patience.
Today I just wanted to give you a little preview of the Farm Dungeon. This is a randomized dungeon with a lot of unique features and secrets. There is also a recruitable NPC and so much more! Preview images can be seen below.
This is an early version and will be added onto in the coming weeks. It can be accessed from the old Woods randomized dungeon portal in the Sanctuary.
My goal is to have Early Access 2 moved out of [beta] and into full release next week. I will continue to fix bugs as they're reported so keep reporting!
Have a wonderful day!
Lavidimus
Early Access 2 [beta] 2
Hey Everyone!
Platform Updates: Windows | Linux
Please Note: Early Access 2 is intended to be played with a new party. Although old heroes may or may not work, Early Access 2 is an overhaul to a lot of gameplay areas and content. This means that old parties may present bugs or unintended behavior.
Additional Notice: There is a major bug in this build preventing town building. I will be uploading a fix for that on the 28th.
Early update today. I've pushed out a new build for Early Access 2 [beta]. A few things of note - first, this build also updates Linux and will require a lot of testing and reporting to squash/fix bugs on that platform.
Secondly, There is a visual error in some dungeons (including the starting dungeon). This error will cause all objects that are stone to be super shiny, it has been fixed and will be patched in with the next version. It is visual only so won't impede gameplay. I believe this bug affects around 4 dungeons.
Finally, this is the first cloud builds submitted to Steam. There may be other bugs that I don't know about caused by the cloud builds, so please let me know if you come across any unintended behavior!
This build contains a laundry list of bug fixes from the previous version. Assuming there are no major bugs, I will build and push to full release on Thursday, otherwise, I will continue to push builds to the [beta] branch.
Have a wonderful day!
Lavidimus
As always, some screenies.
Preview of Chapter 3
Roads, roads everywhere!
Early Access 2 [beta]
Hey Everyone!
*Minor update, I'll be pushing the build to full release next Tuesday. There are some additional content and data adjustments I want to add/make.
A bit late, but I have uploaded and pushed the Early Access 2 build for Windows to the [beta] branch. Assuming I don't find any major bugs (one noted below that will be fixed in the next build) or issues I'll push it to wide release on Thursday along with the Linux and Mac build. For all those Windows Venturers out there, help Arakion out by downloading the [beta] build now and start your journeys!
If you join the [beta] it would be great if you could discuss any issues you may have on Discord, if that's not possible, be sure to report any bugs and issues you find on the forum.
The final Windows build ended up taking around 9 hours - I'm working on speeding this up as well as getting cloud builds working again. Thanks for your patience and sorry for the late post (I had intended to upload at noon today but last nights build failed)
I did notice a severe issue with NPCs on a speedrun through the content. NPCs are spawning in incorrect positions. As you can see in the below image, the NPC is on the left, however, he should be on the right. This is a severe bug as you need to CLICK on the area to the right to talk to him (a chat bubble should pop up).
This will be fixed in the next build (potentially tomorrow). If you have any issues talking to critical NPCs you can usually find me on Discord through the day while I work.
Have a wonderful evening,
Lavidimus
Early Access 2 - Soft Launch Tuesday
Hey Everyone!
Just as a heads up, Early Access 2 will have a soft launch on Tuesday!
Soft Launch? Well, I'm calling it that. A chunk of the Early Access 02 content won't be in this version (namely the second half of Chapter 2), but there will be new content as well as all the underlying updates and all the new features and engine changes.
This means everyone will be receiving the new graphics engine, new data engine, combat improvements, new UI menus, new equipment forging and so much more. (There will be some bugs but they should be minor!)
Major Features
New Graphics Engine
New Data Engine
Reworked Chapter One
HALF of Chapter Two : Return to the Dream (preview images below)
With that said, moving forward, Arakion will be doing an official update every 2 weeks with a major content patch every 3 months (New Chapter). Arakion is on much better footing after the changes required over the past 6 months and is much easier to develop with. Read the note below for more information.
On a personal note TL;DR: Sorry for the long delay between versions. Everything is fixed now and it won't happen again.
I want to apologize for the longer than expected delay between EA1 and EA2. I have been generally frustrated with how much time it has taken. There were a lot of reasons for the delay between the versions - the biggest and most egregious is that some of the code in Arakion was just really REALLY old.
I was torn between continuing to develop with deprecated code or redoing it. The decision was made for me when a new Unity version launched back in 2018 and substances (what Arakion used for textures) no longer functioned. I was left with the choice to no longer upgrade Arakion with new versions of Unity, or fix my code so that it would be more agile and future proof. Since I plan on releasing 3 dungeon crawlers in the Arakion world, the choice ended up being easy. I spent months going through and fixing all of that.
None of this is an excuse for the delay between the versions, it's just an explanation. Arakion has 1 core developer and 1 part-time 3D developer, so even though I thought it could be done quickly, it ended up taking a long time.
Moving forward, Arakion is ready to rock! Starting Tuesday, you will be getting new updates every 2 weeks and a major update every 3 months. Additionally, Arakion will begin introducing seasonal events, so look for them soon! Get ready!
If you have any comments or questions, drop them below and I'll respond as soon as I see them!
Have a wonderful day!
Lavidimus
More preview images below
One Week - Five Builds : EA2 Close to Beta!
Hey Everyone!
I appreciate all the awesome feedback from everyone in Early Access 2 so far. I've put out 5 builds in the past week each one adding new content and features from the EA2 cycle. I expect that EA2 will move into [beta] by next Thursday with a full release the Tuesday after. The next couple of alpha builds will heavily focus on implementing all the new Dungeoneering and town building content as well as part two of Chapter One and the start of Chapter Two.
The full Early Access 2 release will be a massive content and feature improvement over the initial launch and I can't wait for you all to begin playing.
For those with motion sickness, the most recent build has added a motion sickness toggle in the gameplay settings, this will hopefully help alleviate any issues people are having.
Special thanks to Bambaladam for finding so many bugs that are now squashed!
Have a wonderful day!
Lavidimus
New Tooltips + Crafting UI
Just a random dungeon shot.
Early Access 2 | Roll-out schedule
Hey everyone!
Early Access 2 will be rolling out over the next week! The rollout begins today - the [alpha] build has been updated! In addition, enjoy a 25% discount as Arakion rolls out this massive update!
Here is a handy dandy tool to show exactly what you can expect for Arakion.
Handy Dandy Tool
There are some noticeable graphical glitches and a few major bugs in [alpha] - these will be fixed rapidly. I will continue rapidly updating the [alpha] version throughout the week until we finally do a full launch of Early Access 2!
So get your explorers' cap on and prepare to dive into Arakion with the updated graphical engine, features and everything else! If you're waiting for the full release, my goal is for a full release out next Tuesday!
Have a wonderful day!
-Lavidimus
Currently only Windows [alpha] is updated.
Steam Winter Sale! Arakion 25% Off!
Hey everyone!
The Steam winter sale has started and Arakion has a 25% discount! Be sure to grab Arakion on steam while the discount lasts. This is the last major discount before the huge Early Access 2 update!
In Arakion news, not only will you be able to journey through the world as the learned Torti, but Human females have joined the crew! We continue the steady march towards Early Access 2 by implementing massive chunks of content and gameplay features. I'm so excited for you all to get your hands on it!
A preview of my female Imperator getting ready to begin her journey.
So be sure to pick up Arakion while it's discounted and get prepared for Early Access 2! If you have any questions toss them below and I'll respond as soon as I see them!
Have a wonderful day! Lavidimus
Early Access 02 Full Release Soon!
Hey everyone!
I'm happy to announce that we're about 3-4 weeks out from the EA02 full release!
I want to apologize for the very very long delay in EA01 to EA02. Real life happens and unfortunately, one of the new developers on Arakion wasn't able to continue working. This left us in a bit of a weird spot with a lot of half-implemented things that had to be cleaned up or removed.
With that said, Arakion is now back on track! Daniel is now neck deep in Arakion and has learned a lot about its development tools. He is now creating some awesome content for you all!
"We've been waiting forever, this better be good!". Here's a brief list of some major points
New Feature: Dungeoneering
Overhauled Feature: Town Building
New Race: Torti
New Content: Chapter Two
Overhauled Feature: New graphical engine
New Content: Our first side story "Murder Mansion"
New Content: Hero quests - your hero must venture alone to further their profession.
Overhauled Feature: Reworked forging system for both horizontal and linear progression.
New Content: Human Females
New Content: 100+ new forging items
New Content: 30+ new traits
Skills have been updated!
New Feature: New emotions and sickness visuals for HUD heroes!
And so much more!
All in all three is about 5-10 hours (depending on your speed) of additional content and a lot of replayability with Dungeoneering and the new town building. I'm trying to launch Early Access 2 with all of these ready and rolling out. However, if a feature will delay release beyond 3 weeks it will be pushed back to a weekly patch.
As always if you want to test out Arakions new features before anyone else, hit us up on Discord!
Have a wonderful day!
Oh, I almost forget, let's see some prettiness!
Ah updated graphical engine. I love you.
Character creation screen (no UI)
Who's ready to tear through Arakion as a fearsome Torti?
