Did a Unity upgrade to try to fix the Windows 7 save/load issue, but there may be a few unforeseen issues introduced. Please report any weirdness that you may find!
Fixes:
Fixed (hopefully) saving and loading on Windows 7
Fixed item labels under the mouse cursor sticking around after picking up the item
Fixed missing localization for speedup UI label at the bottom of the screen
Other changes:
Upgrade Unity version from 2021.2.3f1 to 2021.2.18f1
Blight devlog #1
Hello! This is Patrick from Most Dangerous Games, and today I’d like to introduce a new devlog we’re starting up.
A few days ago, on our team Discord, David shared something he’d written about programming and Blight. I thought it was great, and suggested we post it and make it a regular thing—perhaps bi-weekly.
This was more controversial than I expected, but maybe not for the reason you’d think. What I got was a (polite) mini-rant explaining how wrong I was about “bi-weekly:” it could mean twice as much, or half as much, but really it just means that we’re creating a problem we don’t need and somebody’s going to be confused.
Of course, I thought I was right—I’m the humanities guy, and David, well, he’s a programmer. I went to the dictionary to prove my point. And there it was… “done, produced, or occurring every two weeks OR twice a week.”
What a dumb word. “Let’s do this a normal amount, or four times as often—whatever you think!” The moral, here, is always trust your programmers and their big, logical brains; they obsess so you don’t have to.
• • •
Now that you’ve overcome my small diversion: welcome! This lil’ blog will update at some irregular interval with background on the development of Blight. We’re a team of five, and all of us will check in occasionally to give some color on different aspects of the game. We’re a new team, and figuring many things out as we go, but I hope you’ll join us as we sort it all out and make the game we’re extremely excited to make.
The current moment in Blight’s development is an interesting one. Just like Blight features five strangers forming a ragtag team to save the world, Most Dangerous Games features five internet strangers forming a ragtag team to make a game about the above ragtag team. The game we have now is the product of a lot of nights and weekends—can we take this to a finished product that you’re going to enjoy playing? I mean, obviously we hope so. Hopefully you’ll find it interesting to read about the process.
We’d love to hear from you—any thoughts, questions, ideas, corrections, 80’s movie recommendations, mini-rants—all fair game. The best way to reach us is on Twitter @BlightTheGame (and please follow us if you haven’t already!).
Until next time— Patrick
Update v0.5.7
Playtest updated!
A few more fixes and balance updates
Balance:
Greatly reduced evaporation rates of clay pot & jug, but also reduced their rain collection rates as well
Slightly reduced amount of infection of all creatures, with a greater drop for rabbits so they still remain a viable meat source a few days into the game
Fixes:
Fixed issue around not being able to use the "z" key for input mapping
Prevented ability to swap an item in your inventory into a clay mold slot after the bronze is done hardening
Fixed empty condition bar and wrong storage bar color when dragging items
Smelting down worn bronze blades no longer preserves the condition in the resulting molten bronze, allowing you to properly re-smelt a new blade up to 70% condition
Fixed rabbit snare from being able to "trap" dead rabbits, this resolves the "trapped creature" label for snares with seemingly no trapped creatures inside and no way to remove the status
Other changes:
Lying down on the ground is prevented if you are standing over water
Player actions menu now moved to the center of the screen
Update v0.5.6
Some fixes and a new ability to lie down on the ground to sleep, but with less energy replenishment!
Features:
New player actions menu (default key: P) with just one option so far: Lie down. You can use this to sleep and regain up to 70% energy if you get lost and don't have a bedroll
Fixes:
Fix lying down breaking and not showing sleep UI if there is a limestone burn pile active and ignited somewhere
Fix silent exception when a backpack is on a hand cart and it starts raining
Fix ability to repeatedly trigger ranged attack animation with no remaining ammo if clicking quickly after throwing last item
Fix exception when swapping an item with a required tool that is currently selected in the crafting list
Fix rare missing stockpile item issue when returning to camp
Fix random large inventory slot UI issue
Fix next sunrise time calculation not always being correct (will now properly show large amounts like 23 hours until next sunrise)
Other changes:
Stick fence and stone wall can now be placed in shallow water
Hostile creatures now attempt to avoid the player in deep water
Lying down now doubles stamina regeneration
Added clarifying info to charcoal pile tutorial task around using the build menu to place it
Update v0.5.5
Playtest build updated! Continuing to slowly add people that requested access on the store page.
A few changes to make the starting experience a bit more clear, along with a few fixes and whatnot. Thanks for all the great feedback!
Balance:
Slightly increased generation of clay resources, as well as the amount of clay gathered from each resource
Rotten meat fire fuel amounts now more consistent across all types of meat
Slightly increased fuel amounts of many burnable items such as sticks and planks
Fixes:
Fix Utility Table missing collision when placed down with partial materials present
Fix rotten meat strips not burnable in the fire
Fix collision of clay ingot mold and clay pot so they can be properly placed on the utility table
Fix terrain detail generation (ex. grass, uninteractable bushes) to not be randomly changed every time you load a game
Fix so that evaporation happens before rain is added so that there is no more flicker of interaction when hovering over a container
Fix "infinite rain water" bug when emptying a container into another
Fix so that bears only eat the soup in a container and not the whole container itself. The container will be dropped on the ground now for more of a cue that a bear was present
Fix so that creatures consuming carcasses properly converts the carcass to bones if all items are eaten
Fix missing localization for "or" text shown in hints for inputs that have multiple keys
Other changes:
Add different colors to container storage bars with yellow-green representing blighted water, orange representing molten metal, and the default blue for drinkable water
Add new task, reworded the stone bowl task, and added a new hint to make it even more clear that a small stone can be used as a hammer
Update v0.5.4
Some more QoL improvements and fixes!
Balance:
Reduced evaporation of placed jugs and pots
Fixes:
Fix items like steel blades to no longer require heating for non-forging recipes like putting together the blade and handle for an axe
Fix so that double clicking a filled container while holding a large two handed item doesn't move it to inventory (and lose contents), instead will drop the large item and move the container into your hands
Fix so that dragging and dropping two filled containers between hands and cooking surface will properly swap them now instead of moving one of them to inventory and losing contents
Rework pickup process to ensure that all handheld items will be unequipped automatically if picking up a placed pot with water from the ground
Fix "[LMB] Place down" not working for held large items in "Hold key to enable Attack Mode" control style
Other changes:
Prioritize equipped tools as the first selected tool in the crafting list, rather than items in the main inventory
No longer sort recipes to the top that have all ingredients but not the required workbench active
Properly sort the filled-container based recipes higher if ingredients are present
Animal remains tweaked and now properly align with the ground
Update v0.5.3
Playtest build updated!
More features, balance changes and bug fixes! Keep that feedback coming
Balance:
Jerky improved more: lower amount of blight, higher resulting condition when smoked, and slower decay. But Jerky now has negative thirst replenishment to help balance out the above, similar to cured sausages
Slightly increase effectiveness of hatchet, bronze and steel axes against trees
Molten bronze that hardens now only loses 5% of its mass instead of 20%
Fixes:
Fix steel blades getting flawed quality steel instead of a limit to condition when forged
Fix issue where holding the alternate interaction input (default: left alt) while clicking in a building's UI such as the crucible furnace will cause the character to start taking the furnace apart while the UI is still open
Fix so that attempting to run while carrying a large and heavy object like a log no longer drains stamina faster since there is no speed increase
Features:
Steel blades and tool heads can now be forged back into steel chunks after being heated
Added new crafting recipe: pine branch gives a stick and 3 pine leaves
Other changes:
Rework crafting list output amounts to be more clear how many items will be created at a glance
Change sand footsteps look
Add better looking dirt footsteps texture
Change up mosquito sound behavior and amount of blight from bites
Update v0.5.2
Playtest build updated!
A few more balance and bug fixes to tighten up the gameplay experience!
Balance:
Jerky hunger replenishment lowered and given slight negative thirst replenishment
Increased effectiveness of small stone and flint as a hammer
Increased generation of long sticks in forests
Reduced evaporation rates of jug and pot
Reduced starting blight infection amounts of all creatures
Various building build times changed to provide a more consistent experience based on how big they are physically
Fixes:
Meat strips now properly require the smoke rack to be smoked, no longer gets smoked in the ingredients section of the fire pit (or other heated inventories)
Fix contamination not being preserved when grinding meat or cutting it into slices, as well as when slices of meat are fully smoked into jerky
Fix weird issue where crafting list buttons disappear in certain UI scale modes and 4K+ resolutions
Fix up the cut-off main menu in ultra-widescreen setups by changing the UI resolution based scaling to be height based instead of width based
Fix right-click -> "drink all" not working with the equipped bowl/container at the bottom of the screen beside the stat bars
Fix issue where fire pit and fuel wouldn't be affected by the rain if close enough to a lean-to
Features:
Backpacks can be placed on the ground now to act as a storage area like the crate and chests
Held containers like the jug can now be poured directly into the soaking basin using the alternate interaction (default: left alt) without having to go through the UI
Other changes:
Flip yes/no buttons on all dialogs to be more consistent with common UX patterns. Buttons made more clear at a glance by changing yes/no to "action" and cancel.
Update v0.5.1
Playtest updated!
Fixing a few issues introduced in the previous update, and some much needed balance changes. Thanks for all your reports!
Balance:
Slightly increased the generation chance of ginseng and all the various mushrooms
Reduced the amount of poison from spotted red mushroom soup
Slightly reduced the amount of Blight from contaminated coyote and wolf meat
Slightly increased the amount of hunger replenishment from fresh coyote meat
Fixed cooked sausages having almost no Blight
Fixes:
Fix issue where certain saves would suddenly not be loadable with a "Could not load game" message
Fix so that the "[LMB] Place down" when holding logs will actually work now under click-to-move control mode, if the cursor is close to your character
Fix various font outlines when using the Russian language setting so that things are much easier to read against the the terrain
Tweak first task description in the "More realistic" mode to make it more clear that the home village is inaccessible
Fix the home village and region names not showing up in the task descriptions after loading a save
Fix chamomile flowers not properly switching to dry version when reaching 100% dryness while on the ground, and not in your inventory
Fix collision issue with lean-to when lying down on the bedroll, now the character properly animates onto the bedroll under the lean-to
Fix crafting list so that the selected required tool is properly preserved if you move it around in your inventory
Fix creature harvesting to be the proper times, they were made a lot slower by accident in the last update
Fix game breakage when crafting an equippable item (like a jug) while both hands are taken up by two separate items
Fix a few Russian translation mistakes
Other changes:
Allow bear meat to be cut up into a bunch of meat strips
The Story Update v0.5.0
After many months of work, the time has finally come for the release of the next huge content update for Blight. Currently only live on the Playtest build of the game. Hit "Request Access" on the Steam page or join the Discord server to get more priority access!
The Story Update
The main goal for the update was to start expanding on the limited story of the game and give the game some directionality. Making it so that there is more of a purpose and a path that should be clear and interesting enough to take. While a bit of this has been added in the update, it's becoming clear how much more the game still needs in order to become truly special.
A ton of other cool and interesting features have also been added to the game to make the journey along the new path exciting. A lot of existing mechanics have changed, and a lot of new ones have been added, making the experience a bit different than it was before. I hope people are excited with all the new features and the way the game is evolving.
Main Features
Completely reworked world generation - incorporating new road and village generation for a more varied and interesting world
New locations to discover - resource rich areas and swampland
Completely reworked map to show the above new features and locations, along with a much better look & feel
New dialog system for interacting with NPCs
Ability to put your own labels on the map
Initial ranged weapons - throwable stones and spears
Shields for use in combat
A whole bunch of new resources to find in various places in the world
Repairing items
New buildable hand cart for hauling many heavy items longer distances
Localization system and an initial translation of the game to Russian
New water reflection graphics setting
Bunch of new items, recipes, and buildings to create
New clay items and pottery kiln for hardening them
Compass for navigation in the "more realistic" mode - requires a lot of patience and attention but very rewarding
Grass slowly turning to dirt as you run around in camp
And a ton of other small features and improvements
There have been a lot of various performance improvements to the game since the last update, but also things are are a bit resource intensive in other places. The new water reflections being one of the main features in that regard.
Known Issues
Saving and loading in Windows 7 is still not fully supported yet sadly, but this will be fixed soon enough
The Mac version still seems to have higher instances of complete crashes of the game. Appears to be more of a core Unity issue unfortunately, will hopefully resolve this at some point
The Russian translations are a first draft and will have a bunch of mistakes, this will be an ongoing process to tighten them up. The village, region and sea names on the map aren't localized yet but this will be fixed soon
