This patch improves Update 1.1 with some various improvements and adds a new Rare Spawnable skin for the Inferno Ravager. Both servers and clients will need to update.
NEW
Added a new Secondary Attack Keybind (default mouse thumb button)
Added a new Rare spawn skin "Ember Dawn" for Inferno Ravagers
CHANGES
Increased the spawn time of the Boss Snapper at the elder crystal pond
Flame Stalkers Tail Swipe is no longer activated by doubleclicking the Attack Input and is now activated by clicking the Secondary Attack Input
Flame Stalkers can now tail swipe while carrying a baby or corpse
Inferno Ravagers now generate more velocity when jumping allowing better takeoffs
Survivor Mutation now bolsters Inferno ability by granting more mitigation to Plasma, Lightning, and Acid damage. Inferno grants 50% mitigation without Survivor mutation and 90% mitigation with Survivor mutation while Inferno is active. Inferno Damage mitigation to Frost remains unchanged at 25% and provides no defense to Venom, Impact, and Piercing damages.
Increased the health of all creature classes exponentially to make for better survivability
Updated various Sounds
IMPROVEMENTS
Various performance optimizations
Implemented a method to detect a specific Steam Client hack
Boss Snappers now have unique Sounds
FIXES
Fixed an issue where Bound pearls could be unbound by logging back in
It is now impossible for nests to spawn eggs with "random skin"
Fixed many sound bugs
Fixed a shadowing issue
Fixed an issue where EAC was kicking players from the server due to conection timeouts
KNOWN ISSUES
Players with less than 4GB VRAM on their graphics card will have blurry textures. Having less than 4GB VRAM does not prevent gameplay, but reduces the visual fidelity of the game. We highly recommend playing DoD with at least 4GB VRAM.
Players may experience an Infinite "Connecting" issue when starting the game. Try restarting the game or restarting steam to fix. We hope to have this issue resolved in Patch 1.1.3
Swamp Snappers may get stuck at the bottom of deep water sources, we are working to have this issue fixed in Patch 1.1.3
Day of Dragons Patch 1.1.1
1.1.1 PATCH NOTES
This patch improves Update 1.1 with many fixes to the game and some TLC improvements. Both servers and clients will need to update.
IMPROVEMENTS
Scaled Elder Crystals back to their original larger size
Scrabs now walk on the bottom of water bodies like good crabs
Upstatting is a little easier as recessive downcrits are now clamped to Bloodline Quality, so an A- upstat to A will downcrit the recessive to A- if the BQ is also A, but B+ if the BQ is below A. The same applies to B-/C-/D- recessive downcrits
Reduced how often it rains
Updated Flame Stalker Melanistic skin
FIXES
Fixed a rare crash when quitting the game
Fixed an issue that was causing textures to appear blurry
Fixed an issue where fliers would tumble around after hitting the ground while flying or taking off
Fixed an issue where players could join an EAC protected server without logging in to Epic which caused a stealth kick from server within 5 minutes
Fixed EAC issues related to players using multiple Steam accounts on the same PC
Fixed Nest interface not showing Biolumin skin names
Fixed areas around big lake showing underwater fog above ground
Blitz Strike charge now deactivates on death
Fixed various map issues
Fixed various sound issues
Fixed an issue where Swamp Snappers were spawning pearls they weren't supposed to spawn
Fixed an issue preventing player inventories from persisting after logout
Fixed an issue where Swamp Snappers and Dragons were not dropping carcasses
Fixed an issue which caused Swamp Snappers to not provide any food value
Fixed an issue which prevented Swamp Snappers from respawning
Fixed an issue which allowed Swamp Snappers to still be alive on the server after they died on the client causing "ghost snappers"
Swamp Snapper sounds no longer play on dead snappers
Fixed an issue where Normal size Snappers were dropping pearls (only Boss snappers drop pearls)
Fixed an issue where Scrabs were able to spawn pearls
Fixed an issue where weather occlusion volumes in caves were causing projectiles to ricochet
Fixed an issue preventing players from building nests on rocks
Fixed an issue where player could not fly if entering a cave below the surface
Fixed an issue where ragdolls would fall through rocks if the rocks were below the surface
Fixed many issues with Swamp Snapper behavior logic, Swamp Snappers are much smarter now
Fixed an issue where Snappers could get stuck on the bottom of large bodies of water
KNOWN ISSUES
Players who connect for the first time may see "Connecting" get stuck. Restarting the game should permanently fix this issue. Logging in to a different Steam account will require another game restart to fix. We're working to fix this issue as it involves an Epic Online Services login error.
Update 1.1 Patch Notes
Patch 1.0.1 has become Update 1.1 due to the amount of content and changes made to the game! This new update fixes all of the issues that plagued the 1.0 update and adds new content, including the Blitz Striker - our first Amphithere!
The Blitz Striker is now available on Steam to purchase as a DLC for $9.99 USD. The Blitz Striker can also be attained for free in-game through nesting.
Engine
Removed UE5 Nanite support
Removed UE5 Virtual Shadows support
Removed UE5 DX12 SM6 support
Readded UE4 DX11/DX12/Vulkan SM5 support
Readded UE4 LOD support
AMD FSR 3
Added AMD FSR Super Resolution 3 for 4k Monitors
Added AMD FSR 3 Frame Generation
Added Display Options to Enable AMD FSR 3, adjust quality, adjust sharpness, enable frame gen
Easy Anti Cheat
Day of Dragons now uses Easy Anticheat for fair multiplayer. Servers may disable EAC using the config bDisableEAC=true, however, clients must use the DragonsNoEAC.exe executable to play DoD with no EAC.
We have included new executables of Day of Dragons in your install directory. To run DoD and play on EAC Protected servers, launch DoD in Steam or run Dragons.exe. To launch DoD and play on EAC Disabled servers, run DragonsNoEAC.exe. This will have to be run directly or you can create a custom Windows shortcut or a custom launch option in Steam to point to this executable.
EAC should install automatically when you install Day of Dragons or update it. If you wish to uninstall or install EAC manually, we included 2 batch scripts in the installation folder to do this.
We have configured EAC to allow up to 2 game instances of Day of Dragons to run on one PC.
Third party apps such as Sandboxie are not officially supported by Beawesome Games, however, game instancing with EAC should be possible up to 2 instances and unlimited if running DragonsNoEAC.exe. It is up to players to figure out how to do this as we do not provide support for third party app usage with DoD.
To play on EAC protected servers, clients must launch the game in Steam or run Dragons.exe. Clients can play on unprotected servers with Dragons.exe or with DragonsNoEAC.exe.
For private friend servers where EAC is not required, we recommend setting bDisableEAC=true on the server and all clients running DragonsNoEAC.exe to play on that server. This will allow each player to use as many DoD instances as desired.
EAC protected Servers can be identified in the server menu by the special symbol to the right of the server name
Game
Added a new active Elder method to the game. Explore the Forgotten Forests to discover and attain this mysterious new power.
Added Crash Report Client
Added Double Tap Attack Functionality
Added an in-game secret method to acquire new skins
Admin
Added bDisableDayNightCycle server config allowing servers to make it static day or use day/night simulation
Added bDisabledRandomWeather server config allowing servers to make it static partly cloudy or use random weather simulation
Added bDisableEAC server config to turn off server EasyAntiCheat security
Admin Spectators now have a form of Nightvision
Nesting
Increased Dragon random spawn dominant stat max grade from D+ to C+
Dominant Stats now have a higher chance to pass on than Recessive Stats by default (was equal)
Dominant Mutation chance of passing on the Dominant skin reduced to make it easier to craft rarer skins
Improved Distance checking for Courtship Nesting Invitations
Biolumin
Added missing Juvi Sprint animations
Added missing Baby/Juvi Hover Animations
Added missing Juvi Bile anim
Added missing baby/juvi Flap Sounds
Biolumin emotes 6-9 no longer require the unobtainable Biolumin Kickstarter DLC
Biolumin's can no longer spray players on PvE servers unless they are both in the same group
Baby Bio's should now have an easier time hovering
Biolumin Taunt Emote Animation no longer moon walks
Inferno Ravager
Inferno ability now provides stun protection and reduces Raw Plasma, Lightning, and Acid damage by 50% and Frost damage by 25%. This reduction happens before Armor reduction and does not require Armor protection.
Bioluminescence can no longer be applied to Inferno Ravagers when their Inferno ability is active
Improved Inferno Ravager flight takeoff
Added Inferno Ravager Fireball attack (aim + tap attack)
Rain now extinguishes Inferno and prevents activation
Slightly increased Inferno Ravager turn rate
Inferno Ravager now uses the proper Wyvern Carcass instead of Dragon Carcass
IR Hatchling laugh emote SFX no longer sounds like a baby Acid Spitter
Flame Stalker
Adult & Elder Flame Stalkers can now use a Tail Attack which does Armor Piercing Damage and gains extra damage from the Strength Attribute. To use Tail Swipe, double tap the Attack key within 1/8th of a second.
Adjusted Flame Stalker Armor Mitigations - Fire Mitigation Base from 80 to 85 - Frost Mitigation Base from 0 to 10 - Lightning Mitigation Base from 0 to 60
Improved color vision when using Nightvision
Heat Sense no longer begins/ends with a fade to/from black
Increased Heat Sense detection distance to 75 meters
Heat Sense can now be used while running and fly boosting
Inferno Ravager and Flame Stalkers now generate more heat than non-Fire types
Added a Heat Sense Ability Icon Time Tracker to help players know how much time they have to reactivate it
Heat Sense can now be deactivated by holding the skill button
Heat Sense now lasts longer and costs slightly more stamina
Shadow Scale
Rain now prevents Shadow Cloak from obtaining full invisibility
Improved color vision when using Nightvision
Reduced cost of activating Shadow Cloak (20 -> 12)
Shadow Cloak now uses Stamina to maintain when moving (1ps Walking, 2ps Trotting, 4ps Running/Flying)
Acid Spitter
Increased Swim Speed when swimming underwater
Increased Venom Mitigation from 0 to 15
Blitz Striker
Blitz Striker is now playable
Added Blitz Striker custom skins
Added Blitz Striker Nest
Blitz Striker now has Lightning Affinity Passive. This enables Blitz to detect weather changes (via hint) and grants no-cost flight during Thunderstorms. While flying during a Thunderstorm, adult Blitz Strikers can summon a lightning strike to recharge their bile completely. Summoning costs stamina and the strike inflicts stamina exhaustion.
Storm calling has been added to the game. There is a new mechanic that allows a thunder of Blitz Strikers, under the right conditions, to summon a Thunderstorm once per game day.
Lightning Blast has a chance to stun which increases greatly during the rain
Blitz Strike AOE has 100% chance to stun but requires a full bar of Bile to use and uses all Bile
Being part of the Amphithere family, Blitz Striker bites are venomous and cause poison status which inflicts sickness over time.
Environment
Updated the Forgotten Forests map, fixing issues, adding new places, and filling out empty areas.
Added new random Weather system. Weather types such as Rain and Thunderstorms now have an impact on gameplay.
Admins can now change weather on their servers with chat comman "/cw (0-14)"
Players can no longer use nightvision during daylight
Improved Nightvision Effectiveness in darkest nights
Added Foliage Interaction to new Forest Map
Added New Water Interaction to forest map
Sound
Added Weather Audio Volume Slider
Updated/Added Various Sounds
All audio should now be heard when alt-tabbing (previously only specific sounds were heard)
UI
Added a UI Slider that appears when equipping a Shimmer Pearl that allows the player to adjust the iridescence strength of their skin
Updated Options Menu
Added Accessibility options for Photosensitivity: -Lightning: Normal/Reduced/Disable - Emissives: Static/Auto Dim
Player Menu now reflects Time of Day properly
Added Flight Input Keybinds for Flight Turn Left/Right
Added new Raindrops Screen Status FX
Added new UI setting for Screen Status FX
Added new Wet Status Icon
Server Browser Tooltip now shows if Day/Night Cycle and Random Weather are being used on that server
Reworked Controller Inputs Menu which now has two submenus, Options and Keybinds
Added Emote Wheel Keybinds for Keyboard and Gamepad
Added Emote Wheel UI Menu
Added Emote Wheel Gamepad Left/Right Thumbstick Selector Menu Option
Added Emote Wheel Screen Position Location Option
Added Double Tap Speed setting in Controller menu
Camera FOV is now capped at 100 degrees
Improved the Server Filters Feature so it is more user friendly
Main menu now says "Connecting..." when using EAC until connection to EOS completes
Combat
Added new and much improved PvP hitbox detection for all dragons
Improved projectile targeting when targeting fliers
Made huge improvements to bite detection when flying
Updated several ragdolls
Hit Decals are now visible at longer distances
Survival
Reworked Sickness mechanic. The young and the old are more succeptable to poison and envenomation.
Reduced the amount of damage players take from falling and colliding into trees
Players must have at least 1 point in Scavenger Mutation to eat Carcasses
Made improvements to better randomize player starting locations
Enabled Pearl Inventory in Survival maps
Status FX
Being in water now applies the Wet status which lasts for 3 seconds after leaving water. Wet status now protects from Decay, Burning, and Bioluminescence effects. Wet status increases chance of being critted by Lightning damage.
Added a new Stun status effect. Stun prevents players from moving or acting for X seconds. Lightning damage stuns when it crits.
Added new stun animations
Rain now removes/prevents burning, decay, and bioluminescence and adds wet fx
Poison comes in two types now, poison by ingestion or poison by injection. One can be immune to one or the other, neither, or both.
Flight
Added new stationary hover flight ability currently used only on Blitz Striker (Hybrid will also use this)
AI
Added the Swamp Snapper Class 4 AI that lurks in or near water. Beware of old snappers.
Added AI swimming mechanic
Bug Fixes
Fixed the issue where players with DX12 but lacking SM6 support would get a DirectX 12 error/crash
Fixed the infamous "flight glitch" which caused players to lose flight immediately after takeoff
Fixed broken Bite Collision for Inferno Ravager & Flame Stalker
Fixed the models of the Biolumin, Blitz Striker, Flame Stalker, Inferno Ravager, Shadow Scale, & Brood Watcher dragons to to fix misaligned eyes
Fixed camera showing underwater filter in some parts of redwoods
Fixed an issue where Elder growth progress would show 100.0% when the percentage was actually 99.5 to 99.9%
Fixed an exploit allowing players to accept an egg then go back to their sleeping dragon if they didn't like the stats
Fixed a bug where Acid Spitters could sprint indefinately without stamina
Fixed an issue where the Biolumin was struggling to get A+/A++ nesting stats due to not having the Elder crit bonus
Fixed an issue where restored Biolumins would cause a game crash
Fixed "Random Skin" nesting bug
Fixed bug that prevented nests from being killed
Fixed an issue where Acid Spitters and Shadow Scales could shoot a player behind them by zooming their camera out
Fixed a bug that prevented Inferno Ravager and Flame Stalker from being able to do bite damage while flying
Fixed an issue where server was calculating hitbox positions from the "T-Pose" and not the current animation frame
Fixed a bug where servers with Group Damage disabled allowed players in the same group to apply status FX like decay to each other
Fixed an issue where AI would not move
Fixed a bug preventing Admin Spectators from being able to see Global/Local public chats
Fixed a bug where Fire Breath audio would continue to play if the attack was cancelled quickly after starting
Fixed an exploit where Inferno could ignite indefinitely and other players would not see it
Fixed a bug where players would sometimes experience very slow and jittery turning on their dragon
Fixed a rare crash when opening the character panel or social panel
Fixed missing nest interaction menu
Fixed an issue where baby IR look around idle was using the wrong animation causing the tail to flare
Fixed some issues with the Being Carried Camera to eliminate jitters so it should work better when being carried in flight
Fixed some animation blending issues that were mostly noticable on the Shadow Scale in growth stages halfway between juvi and adult
Fixed an issue where IR/FS Fire Breath would get stuck on if releasing attack before the startup finished
Fixed many performance issues
Dev Blog #27
Hello, everyone!
Thank you for joining us for another Day of Dragons Development Blog! We some very exciting news to share with you all. After careful testing, polish, and preparation, we can happily say that we have a release date for Patch 1.0.1...
Update 1.0.1 Release is set for Thursday, September 19th at 2:00PM Eastern Daylight Time!
Public Open Testing for Update 1.0.1 begins Wednesday, September 11th. If you'd like to test now, you can join our Closed Test by becoming a Patreon supporter.
A huge thank you to all of our NDA testers, Closed Kickstarter & Patreon testers, and Open Testers who helped us squash some of the most annoying and persistent bugs in the game. This new update will feature a new playable - the Blitz Striker Amphithere, a new class 4 AI - the Swamp Snapper, new map updates and optimizations, a ton of fixes including the "DX12 Error" fix, as well as many new features such as a new eldering method, dynamic weather, interactive foliage and water, and so much more including an anti-cheat to help combat cheaters! We hope to see you all there on the release date to enjoy the new content and bug fixes. In the meantime, here is this month's dev blog for your viewing pleasure!
The Blitz Striker Amphithere is a DLC that includes 5 base emotes plus the Blitz Striker Emote Pack which includes 4 additional Emotes for a total of 9 emotes. The Blitz Striker DLC will retail on Steam for $9.99. Players may pre-purchase the Blitz on our webstore at dayofdragons.com. Purchase is not necessary to play as the Blitz Striker, only to be able to spawn in as the Blitz Striker. Players who do not own the Blitz DLC can still play as the Blitz through player nesting.
5 Year Kickstarter Anniversary
Five years ago, with the encouragement of some friends, our lead developer decided to pitch his idea to the world. Always fascinated with dragons and dragon themed media, he wanted to bring to life a dragon survival game. The original Kickstarter started on September 2nd 2019 with a goal of $12,000 USD and would be used to commission a talented artist to create 3-4 basic original dragon models for the game. The visual effects and sounds were going to be market place assets and they would have entry level animations.
By the end of the Kickstarter campaign on September 30th, 2019 we had raised over $500,000 USD. We never imagined we would reach our goal, let alone surpass it to such an extent. We realized that this wasn't just the dream of our lead developer, but the dream of everyone who came forward to help make our Kickstarter a success. This meant things needed to get... beawesome.
No longer was the plan to commission the artist for basic original dragon models. Instead, we were able to hire our modeler Jia Hao full-time and he is still with our team today. Not only has he created multiple outstanding models for our game, but they also have complex morph targets, allowing for seamless growth, and beautiful textures to allow different skin coloration and patterns.
With $500,000 and a whole community waiting in anticipation, entry level animations would just not do. We were able to find our Senior Animator to bring our dragons to life. With years of experience working on large productions, she was able to add life to our newly sculpted dragon models and continues to be a invaluable part of the team today.
We no longer needed to look to the marketplace for sounds and visual effects. Instead, we were able to bring our extremely talented sound effects and visual effects artists onto the team. And over the years we have found more and more beawesome artists and staff to help bring this dream to life.
Five whole years have passed since our Kickstarter. It's been a wild ride so far. With many up and just as many downs, we have gain a lot of experience working on Day of Dragons, our first game ever. We are excited to share with you the 1.0.1 Update and continue to create the game of all our dreams. We are deeply grateful to our Kickstarter backers who helped us get going, to our Patreon supporters who keep us on track, to our volunteers and paid community staff who watch over everything, to our development team who has poured their heart and soul into their work, and to everyone one of you lovely gamers who are just along for the ride.
The road has been windy, but it has been... beawesome.
1.0.1 New Content and Bug Fixes
Late last month we hosted our 1.0.1 Dev Livestream on YouTube. If you haven't seen it already, we encourage you to check it out! During the stream, players got their first look at the Blitz Striker, its bile attack, and its special attack. We also hosted an open test session over the holiday weekend. We have gotten a lot of great feedback and are continuing to add the final touches to the update before its release.
One of the big reveals along side of the Blitz Striker in the live stream is the addition of Easy Anti-Cheat. This will aid in the reduction of low skill players from hacking in order to gain an advantage against honest players. Hackers will just have to do what they rest of us do, and get good.
We are happy to report that the infamous "flight glitch" bug has been officially squashed. After looking into the hover takeoff issues for baby Biolumins and Blitz Strikers, we were able to find the source of the original flight glitch. Coming in the 1.0.1 update, players will no longer be smacked back into the ground as they are trying to take off. It is a joyous day for dragonkind everywhere.
In addition to the flight bug, we are working on squashing more bugs, old and new. We are also putting the final touches on the Swamp Snapper AI. The Swamp Snapper will be our first AI that is a threat to adult dragons and has the ability to swim. It will be a Class 4 creature, the same class as a Shadow Scale, and will be very aggressive. Swamp Snapper will be able to be found near lakes and swamps and will be a challenging fight but offer a hearty meal for any dragon.
Taking a Look at 1.0.2 And Beyond
After the release of the 1.0.1 update and any hotfixes that may be required after, we will turn our focus to the next part of the 1.0 Soft Release Schedule; the 1.0.2 Update. This update, also known as the "Brood Watcher Update" will introduce our first herbivorous dragon along with more content and features.
The Brood Watcher is a large herbivorous dragon with a tank-like play style. It will have no bile attack, have high defense, multiple armor-piercing attacks, and low ground and flight speed. The Watcher is fond of hatchlings of all species and can incubate eggs in its enlarged throat pouch. Eggs incubated by the Watcher are able to have one stat enhanced.
Along with the Brood Watcher will come other exciting content and features. Since this will be a smaller update than the 1.0.1, we are expecting to be able to release it in less time than it took for us to release 1.0.1 as we had to do a lot of work to fix all the issues in 1.0. We will discuss the 1.0.2 update in more detail in our next dev blog after the 1.0.1 update.
Looking past 1.0.2 here is some sneak peek treats for future content and updates! We hope you enjoy and we hope to see you all on the 19th for the release of the 1.0.1 update!
The Mimikor Dragon, a Patreon exclusive cosmetic
Frostfel Sit Animation
Frostfel Hatchling Walk Animation
Icehorn Behemoth Walk Animation
Feathered Zygovo Ragdoll (much ded x.x)
Lightning Elemental Concept Poses
Dev Q&A Livestream
Our next Q&A livestream has not yet scheduled. Stay tuned and watch for updates to find out when the next one will be!
From the Community
Each blog post, we pick some of our favorite screenshots and artwork posted by the community to showcase here. Want a chance for your submission to be showcased on our next blog? Post it in the appropriate channels on our discord!
Some of our favorite recent screenshots...
by valkyrieofdeath
by .o.saphira.o.
by emphyr_
Some of our favorite artwork from the community...
by radiantravens_creations
by xarzal
by raeofthesunflower
As always, thank you for reading :)
~The Day of Dragons Development Team
Don't want to miss out on updates? Follow us on our social media accounts or become a patron to get updates before they are released!
It has been a little bit since our last blog. In our last blog, we discussed the 1.0.0 update and the first part of the 1.0 update. As stated previously, we have divided the 1.0 update into 5 smaller updates in order to focus on different aspects at a time. We had realized that the 1.0 update was too big for us to finish by our deadline which is why we decided to push 1.0.0 on February 17th as planned and then release 4 additional content patches afterwards (1.0.1-1.0.4) in the months following.
While the 1.0.0 update brought a lot of new content into the game, it also brought a lot of bugs and performance issues. Instead of pushing out more content without fixing the game, we decided to fix the game with 1.0.1 while also pushing out the 1.0.1 content. This resulted in a lot of extra development time because we had to remove a lot of the new technology in 1.0.1 that we implemented in 1.0.0 to "fix" Day of Dragons. 1.0.1 has met or exceeded a lot of the playtesters' expectation in performance and content, and we have more to reveal in our upcoming 1.0.1 Livestream. That said, let's jump to a Word from our Lead Developer about the delay and why it is necessary.
A Word From the Lead Developer
Greetings everyone,
We're wrapping up the 1.0.1 Patch and this patch contains a lot of bug fixes, content, and a huge performance overhaul of what 1.0.0 was. To put it simply, we made a mistake launching 1.0.0 in the state that it was in. As most of you know, we switched to Unreal Engine 5 after April of 2022 (Flame Stalker Update). This change brought with it a lot of hurdles that we had to overcome which I have already talked about before so I will spare you the explanation. Suffice is to say that one year ago today, as I write this, I was in the hospital with 4 broken ribs, a punctured/collapsed lung, and soon after - Covid coughing on top of it. This health emergency took me out of development for around 12 weeks. When I came back to work, we had 3 months to get 1.0 out the door or push it back. I knew what kind of heat we would get from fans if we pushed it back, so I decided we would release it in 5 segments, 1.0.0 to 1.0.4. I pushed myself extremely hard to get that out on Feb 17th, to my own health's detriment, and looking back now, I should have delayed it. I/we learned a hard lesson. The stress, the sleepless nights, the migraines, and the fan disappointment - it just wasn't worth it.
The new UE5 tech, in my honest opinion, is not ready for large open worlds, as most players can attest to who have played games using UE5/Nanite with lots of foliage. We didn't have time to properly test this before we shipped 1.0, but in the months afterwards, we made some changes in how we do things and we will do things going forward.
For one, no more release dates until we have finished up our internal testing. This ensures that we won't have to push the dates back which upsets fans and ensures that we aren't stressing ourselves out trying to meet a very optimistic deadline which is usually the case.
Secondly, we changed how we do internal testing. The first round of testing takes place in my own virtual machine, then it gets pushed to GameDev where testers under NDA find and report all the major issues. Once fixed in my Dev VM, it goes back to GameDev. Once cleared on GameDev, we send it to Closed Testing where Patreons and Kickstarters get to test it. Any bugs are fixed in the next GameDev build, which when cleared goes back to Closed Test. If/when we feel it's ready for the Public, we push it to Public Testing before finally releasing the Update/Patch to live.
Lastly, we decided to be more transparent with development, and are now posting weekly to monthly progress reports on Discord to let fans know where we're at and what we're working on and what may be the hold up/delay aka "Why is it taking so long?".
We hope you all will understand that we're a first-time indie game studio, we made a mistake with 1.0, but we're fixing it in 1.0.1 and beyond and we hope you'll all give us another shot.
1.0.1 is what 1.0.0 should have been. Some of you could not play due to DirectX 12 errors, and we fixed the DirectX 12 errors. We've removed certain UE5 tech that we do not need and kept what we wanted such as Lumen, TSR, and Large World Coordinates. We've overhauled the map and it is not only prettier but runs much much better. We've added more graphics options for better scalability across older PC's. We've fixed many of the bugs including the long-standing bugs - things like the hitbox issues in PvP, turn-glitch, and many more - they're fixed. We've added new features like an Emote wheel. We've improved flight. We added more AI to the game. We added a new Elder mechanic. We added a new Weather system. We added a new Dragon, the Blitz Striker, but also polished current dragons for PvP such as the Inferno Ravager which has a new Fireball attack and better survivability and easier takeoff. We improved the Flame Stalker, we made some tweaks to the Shadow Scale, and much much more.
We plan to show our new Patch off later this month during our 1.0.1 Developer Livestream on August 23rd at 5PM EDT. After this patch is out, we will work on finishing the 1.0 content with the 1.0.2 Patch containing the Brood Watcher and more features/content, the 1.0.3 Patch featuring the new custom Skin Crafting system, and finally the 1.0.4 Patch which will introduce Dragon vs Elemental faction play. Once 1.0 is feature-complete, we will move on to our next major Update which is 1.1 introducing Singe Crest, fishing, the Micro Feathered Zygovo, and much more.
I hope to see you at the Livestream which has been scheduled on our YouTube channel.
Jonathan "SuperRhino" Slabaugh Project Lead Day of Dragons
What is coming in 1.0.1?
The 1.0.1 update is going to bring a lot of amazing and exciting new content and bug fixes into the game. For this update, we are taking our time to test every aspect as it is created and hold multiple closed and opening testing sessions. We have been listening to all of the feedback you have been providing us and are working on the important issues and content that matter to our community.
Map and Overall Performance
In the 1.0.0 update, players provided us with invaluable feedback regarding the new Forgotten Forest map and its performance. Unreal Engine 5.0's new Nanite foliage and light system turned out to not be as performance friendly as we had hoped. In addition to performance bugs, a DX12 bug also was causing players to crash when loading the level. To temporarily combat this issue, we had created a LOW SPEC branch of the game for players who not load the new map.
We are happy to announce that the LOW SPEC branch will no longer be needed with the launch of 1.0.1. Our Level Designer and Visual Effects Artist have done an awesome job of converting all of the Nanite assets into LODs and replacing all of the current map assets. Nanite dynamically manages & reduces the triangle count of the mesh which makes it look better but it comes at a cost, LOD's change the triangle count based off of "presets" which are predefined predefined which is cheaper but can reduce the quality. In our initial closed testing of these changes, players are overall seeing an improvement in frame rates and performance. The DX12 issue is a result of using Shader Model 6, which is required for Nanite but incompatible with a lot of older video cards. Since switching back to Shader Model 5 and ditching Nanite, the DX12 errors have been resolved. Goodbye DX12 errors!
Updated AI Spawns and New AI
Players found the food supply lacking in the 1.0.0 version of the Forgotten Forest map. We have been working hard to increase the overall AI spawns and tweak their behavior to improve player experience. There will now be more AI spawn locations around the map. The AI Creatures will also be able to move, walk, and run as previously intended after an old bug stopping them from doing so was fixed.
In addition to the current AI species, a new one will be added to the game in the 1.0.1 update. The Swamp Snapper will be a larger AI and provide more food for players, but also be more risky to take down. The Swamp Snapper will be found around bodies of water and be very aggressive.
The Blitz Striker Ampithere
Likely the most anticipated feature coming in the 1.0.1 will be the Blitz Striker Amphithere. This new dragon will be Day of Dragons first amphithere and bring a lot of new mechanics to the game.
Blitz Strikers will be a lightning-type dragon with the ability to stun players and AI Creatures with their bile attacks and special ability. The bite of young Blitz Strikers will be very venomous and young Blitz's are able to fly, allowing them to catch prey that is faster than themselves.
Along with the Blitz Striker, random weather will be added into the game. Strikers will be the first dragon to gain a buff from weather events and will thrive in thunderstorms.
Blitz Strikers will be a DLC species. Purchasing the DLC will allow players to spawn in as an E stat Blitz Striker hatchling at any time. Non-DLC Owners will still be able to play as the Blitz Striker for free if nested in by another player. However, the DLC emotes are only accessible to players who own the DLC. Nest players will not have access to these new emotes.
Combat Balancing
Once again, the feedback provided by our playerbase has been a big help. We have spent a good amount of time improving the combat in game. The 1.0.0 update introduced a new hit box bug that was frustrating our PvP players. We are happy to say that the hit box bug has been fixed. We have been, and will continue to, thoroughly test the combat aspect of the game. Before we push the 1.0.1 update for release, we will host combat testing events to make combat in the game is enjoyable and fun.
In addition to addressing bugs related to combat, we have also listened to feedback on the Inferno Ravager. With his lack of speed on the ground and lower defense stats, players were finding the wyvern too exposed to ranged attacks. In response, we have created a Fire Ball attack for the Inferno Ravager. Players will be able to choose between the long distance fire ball attack with one click or the short distance flamethrower by holding down the attack button.
And More!
We are very excited for the 1.0.1 update. We have taken our time and are confident to be releasing an update that adds new content, fixes old bugs, and addresses the concerns of our community. The update will also bring other content not listed here such as a new eldering system, an emote wheel, secondary attacks, new vfx, and new landmarks.
Our Patreon supporters and Kickstarter backers currently have their hands on an early testing version of the game. We will be hosting a Livestream on August 23rd at 5PM EST to show off the 1.0.1 update and answer questions from the community. Sometime after the livestream, we will hold an open testing event to squash any final bugs before the official release. We hope you join us for these events and we can't wait to join you in the 1.0.1 update!
Each blog post, we pick some of our favorite screenshots and artwork posted by the community to showcase here. Want a chance for your submission to be showcased on our next blog? Post it in the appropriate channels on our discord!
Some of our favorite recent screenshots...
by polin.kits
by bestie13
by valkyrieofdeath
Some of our favorite artwork from the community...
by sleepy_dragon6987
by gildedcorrosion
by aethyir./i]
WORDS HERE
~The Day of Dragons Development Team
Don't want to miss out on updates? Follow us on our social media accounts or become a patron to get updates before they are released!
It has been a while since we have done an official Development Blog. The 1.0 Countdown took the place of our last one, but we will try to begin posting monthly blogs to keep you all up to date on the game's development. This blog will be looking at what the 1.0.0 update has brought and what is in the works for the updates to come.
The 1.0.0 update has been met with some mixed reviews and contained a number of optimization issues and bugs - some of which were fixed in the various hotfixes released, but some can't be fixed until 1.0.1. Aside from that, 1.0 also contained a lot of new and exciting content, some of which isn't directly visible, but lays the groundwork for some pretty awesome stuff coming in the future such as Skin Crafting. The 1.0.0 update is just the start of the 1.0 Soft Release and we will be addressing common issues as we continue to work through the 1.0 Soft Release schedule.
We understand many of you were frustrated that the scheduling has been changed with the Soft Release and 1.0 in general. We pushed ourselves very hard to reach the February 17th release date with as much finished content as we could. Some of our staff even skipped sleep some nights to continue working on the update. As a result, brains were fried, bugs were missed, and some aspects of the release suffered, but we didn't want to push it back again. After taking time to reflect, we have decided that release dates are not something we can continue giving due to the pressure it puts on us to finish in time and the disappointment it causes fans if we don't make it in time, so for the mental and physical health of our team, we are no longer giving public release dates unless whatever we are releasing is already done and ready. This allows our team to focus on what is important (quality) and properly test the updates before releasing them.
What 1.0.0 Achieved
While the reception of the 1.0.0 update has had mix reviews, we are very proud of what we were able to accomplish with this update. Moving from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, to future proof our game being one of them.
The new engine allows us to have a lot of features we couldn't in UE4. One of the most noticeable features is the new lighting, which brings our models to life in a new and amazing way. Our dragons look better than ever and no longer have dark, unnatural shadowing caused from UE4's global dynamic illumination. UE4 works best with baked/static lightning and struggled with realtime lighting needed for time-of-day environments. We are also able to expand our world and create bigger maps than what was available in UE4 thanks to UE5's 64bit float precision. This update also came with new and improved servers, which have shown to be extremely stable and preforming well even with the stress of our 1.0.0 launch day, which smashed our all-time concurrent player record telling us that a lot of people want to play Day of Dragons, but not in it's current state... hence the player drop.
With new technologies come new problems as you all are well aware. Frame Rates have dropped considerably in 1.0 compared to Legacy, this is largely due to UE5's Nanite (video memory) and Virtual Shadow Maps (frame rate). We're also aware of issues with the new map, dragon hitboxes being broken in pvp, incompatibility with older PC hardware causing a lot of players to not be able to play with their friends. We appreciate the feedback and have been exploring options to resolve all of these issues causing patch 1.0.1 to take longer than we had expected, because we want to fix these issues when this new patch drops. We want the game to be beautiful but also playable with 30-60fps. There are currently a few options we are considering while weighing the pros and cons of each and at the time of this writing, we just finished up a meeting discussing our plans for fixing all of these issues in the 1.0.1 Patch.
Servers in 1.0 have been extremely stable and now have more config options than ever - even the option to host your own LAN server.
1.0 was our biggest update ever and brought a completely revamped map and two new dragons to the roster, but 1.0.0 was just the first of the 1.0 Soft Release schedule which some of you are enjoying, while others wait for 1.0.1-1.0.4. We are looking at all of our feedback and will be using it to improve on the upcoming updates. The 1.0.0 update was just the beginning of many things to come for Day of Dragons.
What 1.0.1 Will Bring
With our last hotfix for the 1.0.0 update finished, we are now working on 1.0.1 which will include the following:
Blitz Striker
The most anticipated feature coming in the 1.0.1 update is the Blitz Striker. This dragon is our first amphithere and first lightning type playable in game. It will be a DLC dragon and, like all of our DLCs, it can be nested in and be played for free for players who do not wish to or can not afford the DLC. While some players may not like paid DLCs, they help us fund development with rising costs of inflation and cost of living without having to increase the cost of the game.
While most of the Blitz's models and mechanics have been finished for some time, we had unfortunately found issues with the model that needed to be addressed (who knew babies needed to blink?). Unfortunately, when we find issues with the models, the textures, rig, and animations must be reworked as well to fit the new model. We have finished the updates and now just need to plug all the components into the game and start testing.
The Blitz will be bringing many new mechanics into the game, including the ability to stun other dragons. If done incorrectly, stunning mechanics can be too overpowering and ruin the gameplay experience. We are going to take our time in testing these new mechanics in order to balance this new dragon with the rest of the world.
Weather
With the Blitz will also come a new weather system. Some of you may have already experienced some of the weather changes while our developers have been online. The weather is already in game, we just need to hook it up to work on its own and with the Blitz as well as to implement an option to turn off lightning flashes for users prone to seizures. The Blitz Striker will be able to replenish its bile at any time during a lightning storm, being the first dragon to be affected by weather changes.
New AI
Patch 1.0.1 will be introducing the long-time-coming Swamp Snapper which has been finished for quite some time. The Swamp Snapper will lurk in bodies of water and will need to be lured out to kill. Running into water to avoid combat has never been more dangerous! But having a larger AI will make feasting and surviving much easier.
Optimizations
We are working hard on optimizing DoD for UE5 and are working on a solution that combines LOWSPEC with MAIN so that players using older hardware are no longer separated from their friends.
Bug Fixes and Other Tweaks
Along with the new content we will be working on fixing bugs that players have been reporting since the 1.0.0 update. One of the main bugs we will be focusing on is the hitbox bug in PvP. While we have an idea of what may be the issue, we are going to investigate further and test the hitboxes before releasing Patch 1.0.1. The hitboxes and combat balancing had been tested last year when we first introduced the Inferno Ravager to the testing server and no issues were reported at that time, but like anything, implementing new game code may inadvertently break old code.
We will also be focusing on the optimization of the game and map. We will be adding more food spawns and sources to keep players fed while they grow and more spawn locations to prevent spawn camping. We are currently investigating a bug that is preventing some of the spawn locations from working properly. We have also been exploring mechanics to limit spawn killing overall and give hatchlings a safer area to grow.
Overall, the 1.0.0 update has been a success for Day of Dragon's early-access development. It was designed to lay the groundwork for the rest of the 1.0 Soft Releases as well as future updates and did just that. From the response of the 1.0.0 release, we know our players are very passionate about Day of Dragons and so are we, and our team is committed to bringing you all the best dragon survival game on the market. Quality, however, takes time. So thank you for your feedback and patience while we work towards bringing you the next piece of the 1.0 puzzle, Patch 1.0.1, which we hope will resolve all the issues players had with 1.0.0.
Thank you for playing our game.
From the Community
Each blog post, we pick some of our favorite screenshots and artwork posted by the community to showcase here. Want a chance for your submission to be showcased on our next blog? Post it in the appropriate channels on our discord!
Some of our favorite recent screenshots...
by blakelyexp
by syperius
by reubs_93
Some of our favorite artwork from the community...
by ashutm
by lolpyi
by tempest2189
As always, thank you for your support and see you for the next Dev Blog!
~The Day of Dragons Development Team
Don't want to miss out on updates? Follow us on our social media accounts or become a patron to get updates before they are released!
Please note, this is the last of the 1.0.0 hotfixes before Patch 1.0.1
Made several optimizations to Nanite trees and virtual shadows to increase performance
Fixed an issue that caused hitching when flying during the daytime due to shadows updating position each time the sun position changed in the sky.
Biolumins can no longer eat corpses
Changed Biolumin's Bioluminescence Effect to work with any skin when being sprayed by other Biolumins
Updated various Sounds
Fixed Biolumin Baby/Juvi Mourn Emote playing love emote
Shadow Scale Decloaking after being Biolumin sprayed no longer causes permanent Bioluminescence
Shadow Scale Egg no longer appears black in certain lighting conditions
Dragons no longer have strange body shadowing in caves or at night
Skins for Flame Stalker now have the correct texture
Skins for Biolumin now have the correct texture
Made improvements to old immersive flight camera to reduce jitter while flying
Added a new "Flight Camera" option in General Settings that adds a new Responsive camera (enabled by default) that some players may like over the old Immersive camera. The Responsive camera is 100% jitter-free in physics flight and should eliminate many of the motion-sickness issues players experience, but sacrifices some of the realism, dynamic positioning, and acceleration feel of the old Immersive flight camera. Players who wish to go back to the old camera can set Flight Camera option to "Immersive".
Reduce Max Camera Zoom of Biolumin by 2 meters
Increased Max Camera Zoom of Shadow Scale by 2 meters
Increased Max Camera Zoom of Flame Stalker, Inferno Ravager by 4 meters
Fixed an issue where players were sometimes being kicked by the anti-cheat on servers that did not have dd enabled
Removed the "Council of Elders" in error messages and updated error messages
All metallic gold skins have been polished
All skins Bioluminescence has been polished so it is brighter at night and dimmer during the day
All skins Emissive brightness has been polished
All skins Shimmer have been polished
All skins Subsurface Scattering been polished
Server Hotfix 1.0.0.3
Server Hotfix 1.0.0.3
This should be the last server hotfix before the 1.0.1 update.
Reworked Server Latency Detection algorithm. Players should no longer be kicked unless their resting ping is above the server ping cap or due to severe lag spikes.
Server Config Option Normalized Egg Stats now also disables nest upstatting in addition to removing penalties for inbreeding. Community servers that use this config option may need to wipe their player saves to remove any upstatted dragons.
Server Hotfix 1.0.0.1
Dedicated Server Hotfix v1.0.0.1
Fixed an issue where servers using auto-restart would automatically re-initialize shutdown sequence after restart due to the time being the same.
Updated Steam Files for Windows Server to fix an issue on Windows Servers
Update 1.0.0 Patch Notes
This is our biggest update yet! We are switching to Unreal Engine 5, adding two new dragons, and a remastered map! This update also brings updated textures for all of the dragons and tons of new content.
Creatures
Added Inferno Ravager (starter dragon)
Special ability (Q): Inferno (flame cloak)
Added Biolumin (KS)
Special ability (Q): glow
New glow effect to all dragons
New emotes and animations
General Mechanics
Added Physics Hover Flight v1.0 (G) for Biolumin and upcoming Blitz Striker
Hovering ignores pitch inversion setting
Hover pitch controlled using Shift/Space; angle controlled using A+D or W+S
Biolumin can hover-eat (holding E) when given prompt on a flower
Added new “Camera-based” (current) and “Input-based” Movement Modes
Options are toggled in Controller Menu
Input-based allows players to move and rotate their character independently of the camera
Added settings to enable Camera Clipping when looking up in 3rd person
Allows players to see underneath their dragon
Enabled flight physics substepping
Meant to enhance flight experience for those with low FPS
Added 5-minute AFK timer to spawn menu
Prevents players from taking up server spots while AFK
UI and HUD
Added Title selection and display from Social Panel
Tweaked UI layout
Added new tabs to character panel: inventory, genetics, and survival
Added a player name filter to Social Panel group invite list
Going into Photo mode no longer notifies that you are in photo mode
Updated controller input icons
New Cursor should show on things that used to have touch hand cursor
Survival and Combat Mechanics
Added Dragon Pearl and Inventory/Loot system
Pearls may be cosmetic, provide skin overlays, or give buffs
A dragon’s tier class determines inventory size and which modifier pearl tiers may be carried
Shimmer, Gold Skin, and Sky Jelly effects are now a pearl overlay
Skin overlays reset after death
Added Second Wind for all fliers
An extra stamina reserve, recharged by resting on the ground
Can recover up to ¼ stamina by gliding while flying at upper altitudes
Added Stamina Exhaustion
Running out of stamina adds stamina decay, which is removed via sleeping
Updated hitbox detection for bile attacks and in-flight biting attacks
Added new damage type “Armor Piercing”
Acts similarly to Pierce damage except that some damage is not mitigated by pierce defense and is more likely to cause bleeding
Biolumin meat applies poison effect
Acid Spitters are immune to poison
Biolumin’s Glow ability (Q) can be stacked 5 times
5th stack causes glow to last 15 minutes instead of 60 seconds
Consuming Decay consumes all armor, resulting in more susceptibility to Acid damage
Provides immunity to Consuming Decay while ability is active
Setting and Server Configs
Added PvP, PvE, DvE, CvC game modes
CvC: only clans can non-faction PvP; clans may only invite same clanned, allied clanned, or nonclanned dragons, preventing nesting with non-allied clans, nonclanned players have red glowing eyes and nametags always visible, unable to pickup hatchlings unless in a Clan or in same group
PvE: Elemental faction is disabled
Faction PvP enabled for PvP, CvC, DvE modes
Added Survival (no quests/loot) game mode, Fantasy (quests and loot) coming soon
Added Roleplay Naming System and UI Prompt Players can name individual dragons when playing on RP servers RP names replace Steam name in group/local chat, player list and, nest lineage
Min Characters: 2
Max Characters: 17
No Spaces allowed
First letter must be capitalized
Only one capital letter allowed
Only one dash "-" allowed after the first 2 characters
Allowed Characters:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú Ćć Ĺĺ Ńń Ŕŕ Śś Ýý Źź
Ââ Êê Îî Ôô Ûû Ŷŷ Ĉĉ Ĝĝ Ĥĥ Ĵĵ Ŝŝ Ŵŵ
Ää Ëë Ïï Öö Üü Ÿÿ Ẅẅ
Added new Server Configs:
Force same species grouping
Admins to spawn all dragons with E stats
Growth Rate Scale Multiplier config
Disable growth
Disable nesting
Set an auto server restart shutdown time
Chat Filter to redact words from chat
Added Static Coordinates option
Added Fullscreen option
Added Lighting and Reflections in Graphics settings
Added New Graphic Settings for Nanite
Added Auto Resolution scaling
Will dynamically adjust asset resolutions without sacrificing visuals in attempt to maintain 30+ FPS at Quality and 45+ FPS at Performance
Hovering over a keybind and pressing Delete will remove the keybind
Environment
Added Biobloom flowers
Added effect of eating is restoration of a small amount of stamina
Added New Forgotten Forest map
Added clouds capable of being flown through
Added Interactive Water
Changes
Changed to Unreal Engine 5.2.1
DX11 and Vulkan are no longer supported
Players must use DX12
Made some optimizations for lots of players in the same area
Optimized Animation Logic to increase performance by 25-50% when 20+ players are being rendered
Thornbacks and Spined Scrabs no longer leave a red blood pool on death
Court emote (5) now uses half stamina
New genetic updates, including skins and recessive genes
Spawning applies the Dominant Skin as the Recessive, Spawned Random Dominant Genes are capped at C (+5%) and Hidden Spawned Random Recessive Genes are capped at A.
Upstatting mechanic has changed.
Broodwatchers (coming soon) have the ability to upstat any Gene by 1-2 grades
Upstatting without a brood watcher is still possible.
Dominant Mutation now allows players to see their recessive genes
Pressing F to pop out of flight while flying no longer gives you free altitude
Backing up speed is faster and turning is slower
Updated Game Menu splash
Made changes to flight acceleration
Fixes some issues where boosting would not accelerate properly
Acceleration should be much more fluid and responsive
Admin heal now removes all status effects
Admin Password prompt now shows mouse cursor
Devs/Admins can now skip special access allowing them to play as normal players
Great for playing while off-duty
Fixed Admin spectator mode
Added speed controls (mouse up/down/middle reset)
Admin tags now show up on spectating bodies
Added server warning messages that are sent to admins to notify of unusual activity
Admins may toggle this using the /warnings chat command
Added server file encryption, making it unable to replace save files with those of other players
Still able to back up and restore saves from the same player or transfer files across servers
Admin chat now shows 4 digit player ID's
Added mutation stat encryption
Slightly increased fly bank speed for Shadow Scale and Flame Stalker
Tweaked Shadow Scale’s combat values
Reduced frost mitigation
Slightly reduced pierce armor
Slightly increased blunt armor and pierce/fire mitigation
Increased Shadow Scale’s health
Increased Shadow Scale’s plasma damage
Reduced Shadow Scale’s charged plasma shot damage
Shadow Scale’s Cloak ability (Q) no longer costs stamina to maintain
Costs stamina to activate and prevents stamina regen while active
