Improved the game flow in the beginning to make player's goal more clear.
New relic.
New book item.
Compass / minimap can be acquired more easily in the beginning.
Reorganized quest and note items so the new items fit into the grid.
Bonfire close to Mrs Dunyazad.
Intro weather refined.
Snow area audio balance tweaked.
Consistent use of Hardland logo in the menu.
You need just one click to load a game on a mouse.
Barry's Field area has prettier sunflower fields.
Levitating items are not taken by the Death Dealer. They are preserved on save game migration.
Fixed bugs in the gamepad interface where it wouldn't be correctly displayed if the player died or went through a door into a new world.
Fixed a bug where migrating a save game not set the time of day and its advancement correctly.
Fixed a bug where the previous worlds could persist in the game's cache.
SPOILER SECTION New text in the intro relating to the King's Head. Barry's Field shipwreck area has the Elder King head on the shore. New dialogue branches for the Witch. New dialogue for Mrs Dunyazad on the beach. New dialogue for Bartok the Boatman. New dialogue for Chakkamadan. Additional Capra's book. Edited "The Three Leaves" to be more explicit. Map has text for "Deep Well". Longer path for the running intro player so to prevent it from getting stuck. Renamed the "Shipwreck" area to the "Wreck of the Thunnini" to correspond to the new name for the ship. Require 8 relics so the player doesn't think they should be able to make two puppets. Another text sequence for when the player brings the puppet to a healing altar. Added support for displaying a text sequence from TeleportComponent.
Kimmo
Hardland's Release Date: September 17
September 17. Mark the day on your calendars. That's when Hardland will be officially released, and also all of you who have been watching the development, but haven't been able to purchase the game, will be able to finally jump in!
You can watch the release trailer below: [previewyoutube="2Pm5CeIZj6o;full"] Kimmo
Release date and trailer will be revealed tomorrow!
Meanwhile, here's the changelist for several smaller updates that we've released since the last announcement post:
CHANGELIST
Added five new place names to the map: Fisherman's House, Goblin Tavern, The Broken Horn, Mountain Sheep and Queen's Tower.
"Jump stamina cost" decreased from 30 -> 10.
"No stamina jump speed" increased from 4.6 -> 7.0.
InteractionCamera's head bone location is calculated more accurately, it targets the lower third of heads so faces should fit better to the camera.
Changed the names of important doors to give a bit more guidance about the building type or location of the door.
Player always drops items forward, not in world space position.
Ghoul Merchant corpses can contain ghoul brains.
Death Dealer can be attacked and it can hit player.
Merchants can sells torches.
Cart02_Static added.
Barry's Field entrances aligned exactly to ground.
Root Hall entrances aligned exactly to ground.
Guildmaster's bucket can be inspected correctly.
Moved Barry's Field farmhouse label a bit higher.
Attached Witch label to her head bone.
Exhaust the transformation chain only after doing a save game migration.
Stealing chance decreased from 50% to 10% in most cases to prevent early game exploit.
Added base templates for stealing chance: 10, 25, 50 and 100.
Better damage effects for hearts.
Entrance_GoblinTavern_Exterior was removed accidentally. (when data was migrated from the decorations file to Blender file)
Fixed a bug where the gamepad control tips showed you could sell/throw away an equipped item, when in reality you can't.
Fixed a bug where the game would crash if you tried to load a game and didn't have any saves.
Fixed a bug where the game would crash when using an altar indoors.
Fixed a bug where Linus's wagon could still linger on after Linus.
Fixed a bug where the wait time requirement in character transformations would not be correctly skipped after migrating a save game.
Fixed a bug where doing a save game migration could lead to entities multiplying, because the same transformation could be applied multiple times within a transaction.
Fixed a bug where entity transformations would cause entities to ignore isOutOfViewRequired and isHidingRequired. Implemented entity transformation state update after a save game migration with a boolean variable that says the transformation chain can be exhausted until there are no immediate transformations left.
SPOILER SECTION
Added Capra's journal page for Hefwig into the game. Praakh's purses are using the correct templates that show up in player inventory. Fixed a bug where Elena could speak Snow Peak dialogue in Fortuna. The Death Dealer picks items up from all inventories. This fixes a bug where unique items could get lost on save game migration if they had been sold to a merchant, put on an altar, etc. Ivan the Big Criminal moves to the center of tavern when Praakh leaves. "Giant Ivan" spawns instead of "Giant Praakh" in the giant tavern in the case that Praakh has already left. New dialogue for Altar Hefwud with the skull mask. New text sequence for Altar Hewfud. New journal page: the Wish of Woods. Dialogue for the worm in the well so that it now trades Tappen for Ghoul Brains and Tender Hearts. The well gives you generic tappen. Shortened description for the cake item. Grand Jester spawn position aligns accurately with the floor. Further fixes to the bug that caused a crash at Altar Chartres. Linus Wagon appears in Snow Peak after the delivery mission. Linus data fixes. CellarGrimaldi set dressing with barrels that were used to drown Rajat. Fixed some light leaking around the walls. "The Final Boar" spawns in the late game. Dead Boar label moved a bit lower. Isidor cannot be kicked to death. Added purse for Domovoi where he keeps his fork. Domovoi's fork can be properly stolen. Fixed a bug where Cnut and Helgi, the boars guarding Gooseberry, would not disappear when all the boars leave Port Pulgar or die, after you accepted to take Gooseberry over to Ulf. Ghost of Capra in Limbo Guild. Lady Capra starts talking if you possess the right item. Made Lady Capra 3d model distinct from the other Knights of the Clover. All the imps now have dialogue for acknowledging the Hard Ogre Heart. There's a new villager Josephine at Port Pulgar docks if Praakh is implanted with the Parasite. Covert Coast has a new villager Omar if Bartok the Boatman leaves. The flag that opened Diamond Door was never set. Goblin Feast area height was too low. Changed "GoblinCaptainCorpse" -> "GoblinCaptainCorpse_Prop" because looting is not allowed in that scene. Improved label height on Young Gus. Fortuna's Sword was not tagged as quest item so it could get lost permanently. Moved one of the Snow Peak ghouls closer to the others so it's clearer cluster. Removed Snow Peak ghoul dialogue component to get rid of "Create me through story generator". Kicking the mertusk body spawns 3d blood particles. Added custom items instead of "player inventory items" for ending player as they wouldn't spawn if player already had collected the exact same items. Made the parasites invulnerable so that storyline doesn't get stuck if player accidentally kicks them. Parasites despawn after use. Prevents double items in save game migration. More robust Witch coffin despawn for save game migration. Iron Ore and Elven Flute are invulnerable. The parasite couldn't be cut out of Brother Tombola. Fixed the data and improved the special effects. Fixed a bug where you could run off from Praakh so quickly that there's no time to set "PraakhGone" flag. Fixed a bug where Cnut and Helgi would try to transform infinitely when they didn't have Gooseberry anymore. Fixed a bug where Von Sparkle's mask could remain unspawned even if everyone was talking about it. Fixed a bug where you couldn't remove the Elven Circle armor using the gamepad. Miniature healing altar and soldier made invulnerable. Another branch for Boris the Boar after the Guildmaster gets boiled.
Kimmo
Release Candidate is live for all Early Access players!
With this new Release Candidate, you no longer need to switch to a branch to play the full version. This version is available for every Early Access player by default.
We'll be fixing small things here and there up until the official release date, but at this point the game is fully playable from the beginning to end. There are over 10 different endings in the game, though, so if you happen to stumble across something we have overlooked, just let us know on the forum.
HIGHLIGHTED CHANGES
The intro has new areas and an additional layer of polish.
5 benches and cinematic camera angles at the Port of Palms.
All house connections in the desert and snow biomes are functional.
Catodon Sands polish: more decorations & beach houses refined.
Two new altars to reduce the amount of backtracking.
Thanks SplatterCat for the great video coverage on YouTube! We've smoothed out that fatal section of the town well for a more pleasant gameplay experience.
Greetings for the merchants.
Various wolf-related problems fixed. Special thanks to Robocrat on the forums for helping us track down this and many other gameplay bugs!
OTHER CHANGES
The right stick on the gamepad uses analog controller input.
All remaining desert wilderness houses connected to interiors.
All remaining snow wilderness houses connected to interiors.
"Storage area" set dressing for Port of Palms.
New encounters.
Many more place names on the map to help with player orientation.
Character markers move on the map.
Freja marker on the map.
Increased Merchant melee strike damage from 250 -> 500.
Fixed a bug where icons for the shared item slots were incorrectly displayed.
Prettier and more playable stairs for desert houses.
Added more decorations around desert houses.
More variation to Goblin Corpse loot: LOOT_FOOD_GOBLIN, LOOT_HEARTTENDER_SPARSE, LOOT_RANGED_EXTRA_GENERATED, LOOT_GOBLINCORPSE_MELEE_EXTRA_GENERATED.
Father Bunion's notice on the St Fry's Mission door.
Added custom texture and inventory icons for Contracts.
Higher fidelity Abbot Cotton 3d model.
Abbot Cotton camera behavior polished.
Damage effects for books, papers and letters polished.
More accurate collision shape for WallRockLarge.
Fixed a data bug with Shield_TownGuardBroken_Base.
Letter template destruction bug fixed.
Grave01 doesn't need WaveAnimationComponent.
Snowman destruction improved.
Jerome's apple sacks don't float in the air.
Every time the player collapses, play a sound of drowning, and revive him after the text sequence.
Playing the flute badly has a fixed duration.
Fixed a flute bug.
New gameplay area next to Beholder Road to fill in empty space.
Tomb_02_PhysicsShape is more accurate so the player character doesn't intersect with it.
Smaller ground normal angle for Elder villagers so they don't go in weird angles when walking on objects.
Fixed a bug where you could enter the Fortuna well riding Freja and bad things would happen.
All interactions that are not allowed while riding are now designated FocusOnly, to avoid bugs where secondary interactions that are never supposed to happen become available.
Outline shader and SSS fade out properly with screen transitions.
Fixed a bug where the transition to main menu from the ending could get stuck if audio didn't work correctly.
Optimization: Tent02_Sultan_Fabric, Tent03_Sultan_Fabric, Hat_MertuskSailor and Pouch_WagonRider_BarrysField were never hidden.
Town of Fortuna market area set dressing.
Aligned Town of Fortuna house entrances exactly to ground level.
Fixed a bug where greetings from templates could be overridden by empty greetings from the generator.
Fixed bugs in the 12-hour clock formatting: there's no 0 in the 12-hour clock, and midnight should read 12 a.m., not 12 p.m., and vice versa at noon.
Fixed a bug where you could teleport with a mount, including indoors where the game would crash.
SPOILER SECTION
A new clue for the elves in Port Pulgar. Talking guard in front of Queen's tower to give a hint it's gonna be accessible later on. Text for the guard patrolling near Maude's Graveyard. More explicit text for the Great Heart in the dream, and in the Tender Heart item description, telling players to eat hearts to gain strength. Added "in the well" to intro Text Sequence with the Witch to provide more guidance. Added custom texture for Tanya's outfit so she stands out from the basic villagers. Made her look a bit more like Ingrid and also added nun hood and gloves to make her outfit suit the climate better. Made Elena's outfit in Town of Fortuna stand out more from the villagers. Her hairstyle is a bit different in Snow Peak. Isidor greetings changed to fartext so it's easier to notice them. Isolde's talking head label is a bit lower. Added tall candles on the tables so Ingolf's head and the mask plans are possible to see during the night. Menhir Hill fox far text. Fixed the label that was in front of the face. Ending wolf label height improved. The Great Heart dream is the first dream you see, because if it is the second one, it can be as far as 20-25 minutes away. Guildmaster infinite dialogue loop fixed. Fixed a bug where Elena wouldn't correctly advance her dialogue after relocating to Snow Peak. Port Pulgar Barracks exterior entrance was a bit too high. Fixed Praakh's floating purse. Ring_MerchantLucas_PlayerSize_Spawner glitch fixed. Standing Lucas variant has the handgun in hand so the animations work correctly. Names for the Knights of Clover in the intro funeral scene. Added a plank that connects the funeral scene to the rest of the intro. Fixed a hole in Samarkand wall that allowed player to walk out of the level. Fixed a bug where you would get the Baron's mask without bringing Ingrid the Baron's head. Ulf's first camera has predefined player position, after that player is free to place themselves where they want. Burning Merchant Otto combat behavior is more predictable to prevent glitches. Added accurate collision shape for carriable Guildmaster and the carry position is more accurate. Faster way to carry the Guildmaster. Two additional chairs in Limbo Guild interior. Made the floating version of King's Bezoar not dynamic because it sometimes has physics issues and could sink 10 meters underground. Moved the player spawn point 20 cm further from the pool so player's head doesn't intersect with the stone. Northern Hero armor, Sir Kuolema armor and Guildmaster armor marked as unique. Added "Area_FrozenLake_ReviveAfterDrowning" to fix player sleeping bug when exiting a certain house in Dhulac Pillars. Added MerchantBlueCorpse_Generated behind the Hunter's Hut. You use an interaction to wake the Guildmaster up. This way the animation agrees better with the dialogue. Added Skeleton Champion next to the dead Goblin King. Changed "Hard Ogre's heart" to "Hard Ogre Heart" in some imp dialogue. Prevented the Mirror Shield from breaking. Edited dialogue for Boris the Boar. New dialogue for Gus in the tavern, where he kicks you out of the Grimaldi Ring if you completed the Pachyderm Post quest. New transformation for Gus in the cellar, where he kicks you out of the Grimaldi Ring if Praakh gets killed in the rowboat. Ivan doesn't report Praakh's fate before Praakh actually leaves in the rowboat. Improved the understandability of breathing at the flute altar in the Elven Citadel. Made the animal party louder. Monk's Key opens the St Fortuna's Rest cellar door. Fixed a bug at least Elena and Linus didn't correctly disappear from the Town of Fortuna after save game migration.
Enjoy the release!
Timo & Kimmo
Release Candidate Hotfix #2
A bug uncovered is a bug fixed.
Added missing interactions and cameras for two Town of Fortuna benches.
Added a missing interaction and camera for the Barry's Field bench.
Wolf riding tweaks.
[B]HOW TO PLAY THE RELEASE CANDIDATE[/B]
Go to your Steam Library.
Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the release candidate for you.
OTHER CHANGES
Fixed a bug where "Press E to stand up." couldn't be seen when sitting on the benches.
Allow menu entries to be selected while its still fading in (for a smoother user experience).
Don't show the menu entry selected with the gamepad when using the mouse.
Fixed a bug where the pause menu would work incorrectly on ultra-wide monitors.
Fixed a bug where the orientation of e.g. the wild boar could change rapidly from one frame to the next when standing close to water.
Fixed a bug where you could go to sleep while riding mounts.
SPOILER SECTION
Waking up would be buggy and loading the save would make Freja unavailable for the rest of the game. Added a talking Wood Elf to Port Pulgar roof. Custom camera angles for Jane and Mary. Fixed a bug where Colonel Lutz would reappear on the ground floor after migrating a save game when he's already on the balcony. Playable wolf can walk with the sneak button.
EXTREME SPOILER SECTION
If you die in the secret ending, you will be teleported back to an entrance with a new text sequence.
And just let me know on the forum if you stumble across something else worth fixing.
Kimmo
Release Candidate Hotfix
Lo and behold, new issues were uncovered, and the Release Candidate has now been updated with new improvements and bug fixes.
NEW DAMAGE EFFECTS They're done for the Goblin Minions, Goblin Healers, Goblin Bombers, Goblin Captains, Goblin Archers, Goblin Brutes, Goblin Kings and Wild Boars. Inspired by old PC classic Severance: Blade of Darkness. Anyone remember that game?
SUPERSAMPLING Allow supersampling up to 1.6x with the Render Resolution slider.
[B]HOW TO PLAY THE RELEASE CANDIDATE[/B]
Go to your Steam Library.
Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the release candidate for you.
OTHER CHANGES
Default gamepad sensitivity lowered to 80%.
Fixed a bug where button textures were not showing up correctly in controller tips.
Fixed a bug where the player stat bar length did not agree with the quick slot icons over various aspect ratios.
Fixed a bug where gamepad buttons in the inventory and map screens were not top-aligned, whereas their associated backgrounds were.
Fixed a bug where the game loading text sequence could only end at specific points in time.
Fixed a bug where you could make the intro player flicker by pressing the action button.
Fixed a bug where you could crash the game by pressing the key for the inventory or the map screen during startup.
Improved the logic for skipping the startup text sequence if loading is completed before the text sequence finishes.
Coconut and Ghoul Brain go into the quickslots instead of the left hand. Improved consume effects on both items.
Merchants were not selling Pumpkins.
Defined sneakSpeed and animation for the playable fox so it doesn't stop when pressing the sneak button.
Changed PigMedium to PigMedium_Generated in Adventurers' Guild and Port Pulgar.
WoodDropSound for TreeTrunk.
Optimized medium and low settings.
Removed unused files from the Steam build.
Moved texture sampling outside of a branch to get rid of an error on an older shader compiler.
SSS shader optimization.
Ghost lighting improved.
Higher sample count and a less scifi-like implementation of chromatic aberration.
Shader caching for quicker load times.
Switched to the discarding flip mode variant in DirectX for improved performance.
SPOILER SECTION The first tender heart will give you a level up. Fixed a bug where Merchant Ghoul, Gooseberry and Baron Von Sparkle couldn't be damaged. Gooseberry damage effects. Otto spawned a wrong sized body. Fixed a bug where the intro church bells couldn't be heard. Fixed a bug where the game would crash after the intro if you pressed the action key during the witch's text sequence. Intro fox could run out of stamina while jumping with no indication in the HUD.
Enjoy, and let me know on the forum if you find anything else worth fixing.
Kimmo
Hardland Release Candidate
FULL CONTROLLER SUPPORT Xbox One and PS4 icons included.
This is another very large update, as you may be able to tell by the size of the scroll bar on this page. This update is also different in that it is the first Release Candidate. What it means is we don't have anything on our task list that would prevent us from launching with this version of the game. However, since there only two of us, and a lot more you, you will probably run into a problem that we didn't see, so this update is unlikely to be the very last one, but it is certainly the last big one.
This Release Candidate is available right now for you all who are subscribed to the branch "full_beta". Once everyone is sufficiently happy that there isn't anything terrible going on, probably not before uploading a few patches, we'll turn the Release Candidate on for all players by default. Now we just need to prepare some more marketing material and figure out the right release date for the game. We really are that close to done!
UI OVERHAUL While doing the controller UI we ended up improving much of the general UI
DYNAMIC WEATHER Showing every 120th frame to keep the gif size somewhat reasonable.
GOBLIN CLUES
FRIENDLY NPC'S CAN BE "PLAYFULLY" KICKED Grandpa is fine. Hardlandians are tougher than they look.
RANDOMIZED HOUSE INTERIORS IMPROVED Better generation and more sensible villager & item placement.
EXAMPLE OF ASSET POLISH Hires Death Dealer. His items match the promotional illustration.
THREADED MAIN MENU LOADING When launching the game it no longer appears frozen.
[B]HOW TO PLAY THE RELEASE CANDIDATE[/B]
Go to your Steam Library.
Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the release candidate for you.
GENERAL UI
300+ Inventory icons separated from backgrounds and polished.
Stand up & unmount displayed in the HUD.
"You are dead. Press E to restart." Shown just like all the other controller tips.
A hint for eating and drinking in the inventory.
Inventory and map usage tutorialization. The inventory tip gets shown when you pick up your first item, and the map tip is displayed when you leave Barry's Field.
Highlighting usable slots when hovering an item.
Improved the rendering of the undiscovered items.
Animated confirmation button in dialogue for all control methods.
Added interaction button animation for all control methods.
Exclamation marks in the inventory are animated.
Fixed small gaps between menu containers.
More visible active item tab.
Inventory sound effects for all items.
Fallback sound for equipping plays reliably.
Hovered icon slot shows the "shadow" item very faintly as not to confuse the player that there's something in the slot.
Paperdoll "quickslot" ammo counter has the same visual effects as the other places which show it.
Show an Exclamation mark next to new items in the inventory.
Don't equip or consume items when using the cauldrons, tree stumps, etc.
E key works for getting out of the inventory when looting corpses.
Remove label when riding a Wild Boar.
The controller / button tip for throwing items.
Lowered throw bar height.
Removed texture compression from Menu Atlas as it was quite visible.
Inventory icon draw order fixes.
Added new quick slot icons.
New paperdoll slot icons.
Icon glow outline when dragging items.
The highlighted inventory icon is animated.
Menu uses fade in & out instead of sliding menu elements.
Juicy pop in & pop out for inventory item icons.
Added new ease functions: BackIn, BackOut and BackInOut.
Draw outlines for all text in the GUI.
Smoothly blend the blurred game screenshot in the background of the inventory and the map when transitioning to these states.
Quick slot animations are animated when coming back from dialogue or inventory.
Fade in & out animation for labels.
Fade in & out animation for player's armor / health / stamina bars.
Map screen "terrain" fades out much faster than other elements to get a nice graphical effect.
Most of the HUD is removed when the player dies.
Fixed a bug where the quick slots were incorrectly displayed when the player HUD was forbidden.
GAMEPAD UI
XBOX ONE & PS4 controller buttons.
Switch the HUD layout and icons between keyboard + mouse and gamepad when the player switches from one control method to another.
LB and RB displayed in the inventory when using the gamepad.
Assign items to quick slots on the gamepad using B + the directional pad or the stick.
The layout for the inventory is different with the gamepad.
Show the quick slots in the d-pad layout when using the gamepad. Match the default buttons to the d-pad directions.
When using the gamepad, use the shoulder buttons for switching between the different tabs in the inventory.
The dialogue menu can be used with the directional pad and the left stick. The selection of options is instant and index-based instead of based on a virtual cursor.
The interaction labels now show the gamepad button.
Zoom and pan the map using the gamepad.
Navigate teleports (altars, ports) using the gamepad.
Buy/sell, steal/put back etc. texts for the various modes the inventory can be in.
The inventory selection starts from the other container when trading, stealing etc.
When the item being hovered is already equipped (there are two), pressing X will unequip the equipped item instead of putting the same item in the slot.
GAMEPLAY AND FLOW IMPROVEMENTS
Dynamic weather.
Armor regenerates.
Sleeping recovers stamina.
Added talking Sleepless Knight in front of the Snow Peak castle to guide the player a bit.
Extra lighting at Snow Peak gate and castle main door so it's easier to navigate during the night.
Three additional talking Elder Guardians at Root Hall area.
Merchant that walks to Little Mitten. Removed his stationary variant.
Ghoul Merchant walking on the road in Village Vonsmark. Villagers fear him.
Changed few wilderness wolves to the guard evading "Wolf_Fearful" variant.
Added custom route for each walking Northern Guard in Snow Peak.
Added invisible physics colliders to make the Snow Peak Castle exterior stairs walkable for the patrolling Northern Guards.
The silent band member is carrying a torch to help with night time lighting of that scene.
Adjusted the villager roads in Snow Peak.
Added a text sequence for advancing the story in the intro.
Show the credits in the transition between the intro and the main world.
If the fox drowns in the intro it is taken back to the campfire.
Enemies stay away from the Death Dealer.
Description for the three-pronged pitchfork.
Dialogue for the patrolling elf at the Citadel.
Light-hearted NPC "poking".
Merchants can be kicked and they can retaliate.
Wizards can be kicked and they can retaliate.
Mertusks can be kicked and they can retaliate.
Imps and Elder Guardians can be kicked and they can retaliate.
Added small reactions to kicking wolves and dogs.
Lots of custom characters like Mrs Lansbury can be kicked.
Sheep behavior improved.
Custom blue outfit and asset for Admiral Rodriguez to make him stand out.
Goblin clues & greetings are visible for: GoblinBomber_Generated, GoblinBruteArcher_Generated, GoblinMinion_Generated and GoblinArcher_Generated.
Terracotta vases sometimes spawn loot.
Functional house doors for Barry's Field area "Cartwright Crossing".
Connected houses to interiors in Town of Fortuna suburbs.
Villager variants for randomized interiors that don't walk against walls.
12 new interior table layouts.
3 variants of GroupRoomMain_RoundTable.
Multiple tweaks to the interior generation.
Prevent cellar chests from spawning too tall enemies.
Forgotten Folk can drop food items.
Added a bonfire to Port of Palms so it's possible to sleep in that location.
Added patrolling Port of Palms guard "Brave Lefric".
Port of Palms set dressing with new "Merchant Cannon" 3d model, vases and sand versions of the Merchant statues.
Systematic fix to Goblin King sliding issue.
Reformatted dialogue menu for Mrs Dunyazad at the beach, with a few tweaks, to accommodate her walking route to Root Hall.
Jerome is in Barry's Field first with his food carriage. Fast travel along the road from Barry's Field to Town of Fortuna.
Brother Linus doesn't fall through the cathedral floor.
Chicken, Pigs and the Guild Chicken evade the player at close range.
Added a sound for kicking the characters.
Added the missing shoulder piece to the starting player and fixed the other shoulder pad to be the correct template so it shows up in inventory.
Fixed a bug where Eastern Port Commander's secondary hammer doesn't appear in the inventory.
Whiteknuckle Wharf physics shapes improved so NPC's don't get stuck on the roads.
Town Guard Leader helmet can be bought from Merchants.
Town Guard Leader helmet 3d model polished and added accurate physics shape.
Some dream recipes were using "Pumpkin" instead of "Pumpkin01_Pickup" making it impossible to get into those dreams.
Added "Beholder Road Tower" into an empty area just before Snow Peak - helps with orienting the player as the tower is visible from very far away.
Added "Adso Graveyard Tower" between Port of Palms and Port Pulgar.
Pentecost Tower area name.
Names for the endings.
Root Hall note reading uses correct camera.
Eastern Port Tavern has two more bandits, small winebarrel to the counter and some other minor set dressing.
Goblin Cathedral pickups moved so the location is less cluttered.
Goblin Tavern hatch is hidden beneath a carpet to reduce the amount of close proximity interaction targets.
Added custom entraces for all dreams. (instead of EntranceTest)
Dream Desert has several possible entrances.
Open cart for Jerome. It switches to empty variant when he reaches Town of Fortuna.
Staff_MertuskRoyalty_PlayerWeapon spawns in EasternPortTavern after Praakh leaves.
Ulf duplication bug fixed. If Ulf is already investigating the murders then remove the option of poisoning the Huntsman's Heel.
Ulf's minions couldn't be killed because: "BoarGuardFodder_EasternPort_Barracks_Fighting" didn't have correct factions.
Ulf's minions no longer do the annoying "push" against their targets when striking.
Start player has 60 coins which is enough to pay for the journey from Barry's Field to Town of Fortuna and replaced "HamPlate" with "Key01" as player already gets healing item from the blind lady. Added 1x Hardland Brew and 1x Lockpick for Loamie's corpse.
Chakkamadan will now sell you the Mertusk Staff after the embargo is lifted. He also has dialogue to acknowledge when Mrs Gooseberry leaves with her son.
Merchant Crystal is stolen once Ulf leaves Port of Palms.
Sheba can be killed in the boss fight. She does a lot more damage.
Custom player variant for Ingrid Dream.
Teleport out of the Ingrid dream when selecting "Wake up now."
Disallow the inventory in the Mangled Dream.
The Dream Desert ties into the intro drowning with its soundscape. Ingrid's Tower ties into the cave under the Frozen Lake.
Additional set dressing in Dream Desert.
Improved the sinking to the Frozen Lake and the pond in the Elven Citadel.
Removed stamina bar in the Feast Dream.
The Red One talks in the Feast Dream.
Shortened versions of the Goblin King recipes.
Added a handgun next to Second Secretary Luceratia's body.
Prevent jumping when rising up from a campfire, after getting knocked out, etc.
An exit text sequence for the Heaviest Dream.
The cobold theme is played when in the Cobold Cave dream and after the sacrifice. The sacrifice itself improved.
There is a short text sequence from the Cobold Dream back to the campfire.
Tweaks to the formatting for Ingrid's dialogue in the tower.
New text sequence for entering the dream desert.
New text sequence for leaving the Frozen Lake.
Start around the corner under the Frozen Lake.
Wake up in the small pool of water in the Frozen Lake.
Descriptions for the three wands, and the Royal Mertusk Staff.
Added flock of sheep to the empty stretch of road in the intro.
Intro's coffin jumps towards the player until you talk to it.
GAMEPLAY AND FLOW - SPOILERS SECTION -Deathbed dream. -Dialogue for the fox inside the deathbed. -New dialogue for Elena before and after the deathbed. -Brief dialogue for Jane and Mary, concerning Larry. -Additional set dressing of the docks at Blue-Light Bayou. (3 discoverable items) -Additional set dressing at Whiteknuckle Wharf. -Dialogue for Maudey Dhu in the dream. -You can read what Maudey Dhu says all the way from the edge of the scene. -Tavern has a new entrance for the situation where player spawns in his regular size. -Moved the two Wood Elves in Snow Peak so it's easier to sneak behind them. -Edited Tamara's dialogue to explicitly mention the Wild Mantra. -Tweaked Tamara's Horned Lodge dialogue to specify "five" truths. -Eject the tappen far enough from the well in the witch's garden so that they won't get stuck in the well. -All tappen goes to the Death Dealer if lost (they are all unique now), and they stack in the cauldron identically. -Fade out and back in when travelling with Opie, Rogriguez, and Jerome. Also when going through the Smuggler's Hole. -Better soundscapes for several playable dreams: Mangled, Ghost Dealer and Giant Wolf. -Added "Fiery Stash". Snake Wand can be found there. -Lucas relic quest can be completed by killing Ulf. Also if Ulf and the boars retreat Port Pulgar. -Guildmaster's Catodon Sands quest line fix. You can start carrying the Guildmaster even if you haven't opened the Catodon Gate yet. -Crimson Belmont never appeared in the tavern after player is back to normal size. Which in turn caused proper flags not to be set and Dream Wizard information to not be visible. -Secret ending gameplay improvements. -Completing the game adds information to the main menu.
POLISH & BUG FIXES
The sound of rain when it rains. Added support for an ambient loop in a weather definition.
Different weathers can make use of cloud speeds, scales and different textures for cookie textures without snapping artifacts.
Point light shadows use blue noise to get rid of banding artifacts.
Fixed two villagers at Port of Palms who tend to fall into the ocean.
Cobold Forest polish: Characters don't fall from the air, player doesn't get a level up in the beginning.
Removed WaveAnimationComponent from Olga's grave.
Optimization: Removed shadows from water ripple particles.
Performance problem fixed in one of the endings.
Added missing geometry and fixed light leaks in one of the dream scenes.
Added water ripples to Belmont's fish tank.
Don't use "GroundWater" materialName to check which particles to spawn, use much more accurate height based "material" check to spawn the water rings.
Cursed Mansion wall geometry fixed. Made the exterior mask more accurate.
Cursed Mansion interior weather tweak.
Queen's Pool Dream environment physics shape improved.
Grimaldi Dream scene polish.
Father Bunion uses character shading.
SpiderGiant's label attached to head bone.
Rotgerius label attached to head bone.
Freja's label attached to head bone.
Rotgerius' label attached to head bone and positioned correctly.
The Purple One has a purple cane to make him easier to spot in the dark.
Hires pedestal for Merchant Crystal.
Matching the water ripple shading to water surface.
On low and medium settings the particle buffer is upscale is blurred slightly with blue noise.
Clear SSAO to black instead of white to prevent sky artifacts.
Fixed geometry gaps in Marquardt Mansion.
White Libary particles don't expire.
Ghost rendering changed to double sided.
Added better "Box with a hole" object that doesn't have the horizon glow artifacts.
Coconut loot spawner needed "makeDynamic" so they don't float in air while spawning.
Moved Green Merchant labels higher.
Eastern Port boats don't sink when jumped on.
Remove Mertusk nose and hand collision shapes so it doesn't throw player out of level geometry.
MetalSpike_RootHall is invulnerable.
Decorated BonfireIntro with some additional flowers.
Moved two trees in the intro so there's no shadow on Loamie's face.
Snap mode support for entrances.
Lion's Mouth exterior gate label one notch higher so it doesn't overlap with Locke's head.
Moved Merchant Union guards slightly away from the pillars.
Treasurers in Merchant Union cannot walk out of their posts.
BeerStein 3d model bottom sections are more detailed.
Added 3 Undead_Piece 3d models.
New "TorchHolder_SnowPeak" 3d model.
Desert_GroundAlignedDust_Interior_Particles.
Rotated GroupCartTreasure01 so it doesn't intersect with the cart.
Undead blood splatter.
Invalidate motion vectors when the camera changes to get rid of smearing artifact.
masterDirectLightIntensity, masterAmbientLightIntensity, masterPointLightIntensity, masterParticleIntensity and masterFogIntensity are updated before usage.
Big Ben label height fixed. Made him stationary. The house he is guarding is boarded up.
Fixed a potential crash where the entity library would get torn down while loading still took place.
Removed unused files to save memory.
Town of Fortuna Imp's wooden pedestal is static and doesn't glitch when kicked.
Mr. Pickwick chair is static.
Father Bunionin table is static.
Accurate collision shape for Cactus.
Accurate collision shape for Closed Piano.
Accurate collision shape for Meat Piece.
Accurate collision shape for the sleeping guy at Animal Party.
Fixed bugs related to the Dream Desert.
Fixed bugs in isOnlyVisibleFarTextChanged.
Fixed a bug where you could drown in Cobold Forest.
Fixed a bug where the player couldn't stand up after loading the game from the first save.
Fixed a bug where the transition from one altar to another would do the loading during a visible frame. Fixed bugs with calling the spawning update.
Fixed a bug where GUI lists would crash if they had less than one screens worth of items.
Fixed a bug where the player stats in the inventory didn't update for the gamepad.
Fixed a bug where, if the needed to exit during loading, you would crash because of the wrong freeing order for buildGamePaths().
Fixed a bug where Boneman's label was over his face.
Fixed a bug where player could kick lockpicks to "death".
Fixed a bug where the player could get stuck trying to sit down in Ingrid's chair in the tower when running & interacting.
Fixed a bug where the request for finishing sleeping could get stuck in a true state, causing dream-related sounds not to trigger correctly.
Fixed a bug where the first stage of drunkenness replaced all the underlying ambience in the game.
Fixed a bug where the game was trying to set 3D-parameters for a 2D-sound.
Fixed a bug where the player can temporarily sink into the 8m-objects by running into them due to the way their contacts are modified. Don't do contact modification with the player.
Fixed a rare crash.
Optimization: Spread entity transformations over multiple frames when the Apple of the Eye is thrown. Added support for postponing non-critical entity transformations.
Optimization: Don't spawn the ground particles for equipped items. This helps the performance of entity transformations somewhat.
Deprecated the exclusive full screen and switched to just using a windowed mode (either normal or borderless full screen) with a sequential flip mode which,
coupled with rendering to a smaller buffer, gives the same kind of performance profile as a full screen exclusive would,
but without all the awkwardness both in the code and for the user experience.
Also, ClipCursor() is now used confine the mouse cursor the window area when capturing the mouse,
which is more robust than setting the cursor position to the center each frame.
POLISH & BUG FIXES - SPOILERS SECTION -Sir Kuolema's shield couldn't be picked up. -Made Samarkand armor pieces unique so player can retrieve them from the Death Dealer. -Exclude "Dream of Masks" and "Dream of Shields" from automatic recognition of item types so they don't get mask or armor stats. -Martha's Pie couldn't go into the inventory preventing her quest to be completed. -The giant pumpkin in the witch's garden sets a flag upon death prevents it from getting created again upon save game migration. -The masks in the Adventurers' Guild say Examine instead of Talk. -Cobold Forest was spawning lots of stuff out of level bounds. -Fixed a bug where the item pointers would get lost if there was one weapon in the quick slot and one weapon in the inventory, and the player opened up the witch's cauldron or an outhouse. This bug would then manifest itself as the quick slots getting cleared during a save/load cycle. -Fixed a bug where the Great Heart dream didn't display the level-up text. The level-up didn't get applied on the waking side, either. -Fixed a bug where descending from the court in Root Hall would hide the HUD permanently. -Fixed a bug where Freja would run off towards the kennel whenever you would stop riding and no longer had her in focus. -Fixed light leaking in Interior-CellarHolloway. -Added the sound of the heart beating to the Talking Heart dream. -Added some brighter particles to the Talking Heart Dream. -Intro storm transition polished, added dedicated weather for it. -Animal Party weather tweaked. -Prettier weather in Cobold Forest. -More dramatic weather for Ingrid's ending. -Elder King's Heart is "gently" animated and has a label attached to it.
GRAPHICS
Sky and clouds are marked on the material ID map which enables much cleaner sky & cloud rendering.
Updated water rendering that uses material ID map to its advantage.
Better smoke rendering. (Bonfire smoke rendering uses meshes to get proper depth writes)
Thin rim lighting
SSS effect.
Particles can be attached to the terrain height map.
Shadow cookies repeat less in the far distance.
More interesting Ghost rendering.
Visual glitches on Ghost characters fixed with u_ghostDistortWeight shader uniform.
Fixed Root Hall lantern particles. (they were rotating in weird angles)
Fixed a shadow flicker bug at high refresh rate monitors.
Ambient Occlusion splats for ship, shipwreck and ship bridge.
FogColorNight values added and defined.
Optimization: Shadow pass skips clouds.
Full controller support coming up!
The icon layout changes automatically when you start playing with the gamepad.
Alright, good news for you all who have been putting off playing the game because its gamepad support is lacking: the next release will remedy that. It's a big, sweeping update that touches most of the UI, and we need to do just a few more things to call it done, but I wanted to give you a quick sneak peek into it all right now.
The inventory has received an overall facelift.
300 icons needed to be partially redone. Timo separated the items from their backgrounds which allows for all kinds of small visual tricks to make the inventory more readable.
Here's the current list of other features and fixes coming up in what will be the Beta Iteration 7:
Dynamic weather.
Armor gets regenerated.
Sleeping recovers stamina.
Show an "exclamation mark" icon next to new items in the inventory.
Added talking Sleepless Knight in front of the Snow Peak castle to guide the player a bit.
Extra lighting at Snow Peak gate and castle main door so it's easier to navigate during the night.
Three additional talking Elder Guardians at Root Hall area.
Merchant that walks to Little Mitten. Removed his stationary variant.
Ghoul Merchant walking on the road in Village Vonsmark. Villagers fear him.
Changed few wilderness wolves to the guard evading "Wolf_Fearful" variant.
Added custom route for each walking Northern Guard in Snow Peak.
Added invisible physics colliders to make the Snow Peak Castle exterior stairs walkable for the patrolling Northern Guards.
The silent band member is carrying a torch to help with night time lighting of that scene.
Adjusted the villager roads in Snow Peak.
Added a text sequence for advancing the story in the intro.
Show the credits in the transition between the intro and the main world.
If the fox drowns in the intro it is taken back to the campfire.
Enemies stay away from the Death Dealer.
Particles can be attached to the terrain height map.
More sound effects for the inventory.
Fixed a potential crash where the entity library would get torn down while loading still took place.
Removed unused files to save memory.
Brother Linus no longer falls through the cathedral floor.
Description for the three-pronged pitchfork.
New "TorchHolder_SnowPeak" 3d model.
FogColorNight values added and defined.
SPOILERS!
- Reformatted dialogue menu for Mrs Dunyazad at the beach, with a few tweaks, to accommodate her walking route to Root Hall. - Dialogue for the patrolling elf at the Citadel. - Jerome is in Barry's Field first with his food carriage. Fast travel along the road from Barry's Field to Town of Fortuna. - Martha's Pie couldn't go into the inventory preventing her quest to be completed. - Fixed a bug where the Great Heart dream didn't display the level-up text. The level-up didn't get applied on the waking side, either. - Fade out and back in when travelling with Opie, Rogriguez, and Jerome. Also when going through the Smuggler's Hole. - Added the sound of the heart beating to the Talking Heart dream. - Moved the two Wood Elves in Snow Peak so it's easier to sneak behind them. - The masks in the Adventurers' Guild say Examine instead of Talk. - Tweaked Tamara's Horned Lodge dialogue to specify "five" truths. - Added "Fiery Stash". - Fixed a bug where Freja would run off towards the kennel whenever you would stop riding and no longer had her in focus. - The giant pumpkin in the witch's garden sets a flag upon death prevents it from getting created again upon save game migration.
EXTREME SPOILERS!
- Lucas relic quest can be completed by killing Ulf. Also if Ulf and the boars retreat Port Pulgar. - Guildmaster's Catodon Sands quest line fix. You can start carrying the Guildmaster even if you haven't opened the Catodon Gate yet. - Better soundscapes for several playable dreams: Mangled, Ghost Dealer, Giant Wolf, and the Labyrinth.
Happy midsummer's day, people, if that's a thing in your part of the world!
-Kimmo
Hardland Beta Iteration 6
Beta (May 28, 2019) is here. The update is pretty extensive: it includes a long list of fixes and improvements. The game has been updated to 64 bits, because it was starting to run out of memory for many people.
Is anyone playing on a Radeon, by the way? Is the game working alright for you guys?
CHANGES:
Two new locations. (See the extreme spoilers section for more info)
Generated Merchants walk the wilderness roads, three three unique Northern Guards, unique Elder Guardian and unique Wood Elf.
"Fearful" Wolves next to Snow Peak roads that evade patrolling guards.
New location to make the game flow clearer. (details in the extreme spoiler section)
Sound effects for all player equipped weapons.
Weapon trail height automatically calculated from weapon height.
Added weapon trails for all weapon.
Use stamina cost defined for all weapons (does not yet affect items in old save games).
Map screen shows place names. Names become visible at different zoom levels.
Display the map indoors.
Only show landmark names that you have uncovered on the map.
Fixed a bug where the fog of war texture was not correctly reset when the game was loaded.
Map border fog.
Dialogue for Ico in the Mountain Sheep tavern.
Added two more clues for the elves in Port Pulgar.
Medium and Small purses weren't visible in inventory when picked up.
Goblin corpses drop purses in addition to weapons and hearts.
Opening chests and outhouse no longer show damage numbers.
Some ground objects are 8 meters tall to prevent characters from getting stuck into them when jumping. Fixes for Goblin Cathedral, Port Pulgar, Snow Peak, Town of Fortuna and Whiteknuckle Wharf.
Fixed a bug where the inventory would show wrong values for all stamina-related variables.
Weapon trail colors adjusted on several weapons to match the particle effects.
Fade in & and out when teleporting with the altars.
Darting component has support for random angular velocity.
Von Mayerling cycle bug fixed.
Fixed a bug where General Lupus would get duplicated sometimes.
Fixed a small typo that made Brother Tibert unable to speak.
Fixed a bug where you could ride wild boars without the mask.
Fixed a bug where the healing sound for the Barry's Field altar, as well as other sounds, would play every the player stepped out of a building into the main world.
Fixed a bug where the player cone on the map would get drawn in the wrong place sometimes.
Imp Guardian labels were inheriting wrong offset.
Sober Sam, Jane, Jorma and Mary's labels are attached to head bone for nicer movement.
Sitting Merchant base template has label attached to head bone.
Inconspicuous Monk label height improved.
Ted Barry label height improved.
Dropping sounds were missing from marble material.
Added more silent fire sound for non-player torch.
Ghouls have sound effects when they hit player or other objects.
Blue Ghoul wasn't able to strike because it was missing Weapon_R bone.
Outhouse model round parts are higher resolution and added wood detail normal map.
Merchant called "Sleepy Crumpet" has sleepy eyes to match his name.
Custom clover particles for Olga's wand.
Introducing a new PhaseComponent, which makes the whole sequence of character transformations in Snow Peak more understandable and robust.
Moved Snow Peak Castle interior poles so player can access the back door without jumping.
Wolf standing up animation.
Added support for positionOffset to map labels.
Burned paper asset wasn't using transparent alpha texture.
LadderTall_Silver template added.
Key04 wasn't spawning as often as needed.
Fixed a floating rock and plank in Whiteknuckle Wharf.
Some Whiteknuckle Wharf roads were going through solid objects.
Removed random labels from intro graves as the fox cannot dig for treasure.
Removed label from "Broken Sword" as it shouldn't go into the inventory. "Risky Sword" is the correct player weapon.
- Adventurers' Guild debris doesn't float in the air.
Removed world "kill plane" that removed objects when they were 100 meters below the origin of the world.
Added three weather variants for landscapeId grass. (randomizing not yet plugged in)
SPOILERS!
- Dialogue for the three patrolling Sleepless Knights and the patrolling Elder Guardian. - Connected wolf dream to wolf recipe. - Intro funeral scene polished with custom character assets. - Blue-Lighty Bayou gambling area polished. - Mrs Dunyazad and her pig walk back to Root Hall after the player has talked to her. - Fixed situtations where there could be two instances of Mrs Dunyazad and her pig. - Fixed dialogue menu for Mistress Tamara in the Horned Lodge so that her initiation branch will trigger correctly. - Fixed dialogue menu for Ivan the Big Criminal so that his conversation advances properly after the first stage. - Fixed bugs in Linus's quest. Abbot Cotton didn't, for example, correctly acknowledge Linus was back after sabotaging the shipment, and Linus didn't ever disappear from the Town of Fortuna. - Linus sabotage scene is a bit more polished - the shipment cannot be attacked until Linus is distracted. - New bonfire at Eastern Port shore near the deserter. You can acquire the boar shield there. - Text for the two books in the Witch's garden. - New FarText for the talking pumpkins. - Modified recipe for the Curious Pumpkin. - Give a discount for lock picks once you're in the Grimaldi Ring. - Wounded Merchant scene tweaks. He stands up after being healed. - Eastern Port Commander mentions dialogue if you're wearing her shield. - Lucas tables scene fixes and polish. He now stands after the table is destroyed. - Music area for "Lord Cross" and "Madam Bucket" undead combat encounter. - Music area for Town of Fortuna undead encounter. - Tamara's house has extra lighting so it is easier to find during the night. - Slight tweaks for von Mayerling and the thief at the Diamond Door to mention "night" as a window of opportunity. - Adventurers' Guild exterior polish: Flowers at entrance, flowers at Olga's grave, mushrooms at the hill on the back. - Olga's Wand made unique. - Fixed a bug where Von Sparkle's head could be destroyed making his mask unobtainable. - Fixed a bug where the Unhealed Wound was always visible when teleporting from an altar. - Publican's diary table scene is more robust. - Holy book scene in Goblin Cathedral is more robust. - Rackham cannot be pushed into the Snow Peak moat. - Decreased the number of cheese chunks that Ezekiel asks you to eat. - New dialogue branches for Ulf outside his villa, so that you can give him a Union Ring to re-enter the Gooseberry quest if you reject it at first. - Remove labels from Merchant Union interior clerks. - Tweaked Strudel dialogue. - Animal Party villager label heights fixed as they're using head bone attachment. - Fixed a bug where the King's Western Eye from Rotgerius would duplicate upon save game migration. - Added one "spy pumpkin" that player can acquire without crafting. - A bit more reasonable beer prices at St Fortuna's Rest. - FarText for the Witch's well. - Fixed exploit where you could get infinite money by giving Great Hearts to the Harlequin One. He didn't actually take the hearts - just gave you the money. - The interaction text "Place Item" for Father Holloway sleeping. - Transfer the attachment information for Praakh's purse when transforming it. - Fixed a bug where the pumpkins planted in outhouses would have the wrong FarText appear. - Outhouse area at the house of the Witch had wrong pivot point making it not work properly. - Tweaked Belmont's Trial weather.
EXTREME SPOILERS!
- "Boiler Room" Healing Altar interior that enables fast travel between Snow Peak and the other altars. - Fixed a bug where you couldn't sabotage the teeth of the Lion's Mouth. - Lucas death sequence overhauled. You can acquire three personal items from him. - Tweaked Merchant Union massacre weather. - Port of Palms Walking Merchant and Patient Mendel disappear if the boars attack. - Kazik at Merchant Union is carrying a torch. - Torches are scattered all over the floor at Merchant Union to give the impression of carnage. - Skeleton King Tomb hatch could get spawned in a random rotation. - Text for the Instructions/Warning in the Boiler Room. - Edited dialogue menus for the three wizards, to eject the player from conversation instead of creating a loop. - Praakh's purse interaction becomes depleted after depositing the Parasite. - Bartok the Boatman leaves with his ship after the letter is delivered and player is out of sight. - Giant Maudey Dhu dream. - New dialogue for the Witch about the Wound in the World. - Always allow teleporting to the Limbo Guild once it's open. - Changed chapter names in The Three Leaves to mirror the cauldron names. - Miniature Altar of Healing with a small bonsai and tiny Knight Of the Clover figurine at Limbo Guild. - New location & scene that takes place between the transition from Altar of Healing and Limbo Guild. - Phantom knights fade out as you get closer to them. - Short text sequence to transition from the Eldest Eye to the Limbo Guild. - Don't collapse player to the ground when entering the Limbo Guild from the King's Passage. - Less cramped LimboGuild interior entrance. - Eldest King puppet is animated and 10x scaling is removed. The label is attached to the head bone for nicer movement. - Eldest King puppet has a more accurate collision shape. - The Eldest King disappears from the altar after entering the Limbo Guild. - The Eldest King now really requires three jars of Tappen. - The Eldest King destruction sequence.
About one half of the dynamic weather system was done during this update. We'll plug the rest in and enable it in the next update.
How to play the new beta
Go to your Steam Library.
Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the beta for you.
The reason this beta is behind a branch and password is that new critical issues are still being uncovered, and I'd like those issues to bubble up to the forums instead of people being left alone with them. That's more likely if you are jumping into the beta through this announcement. So, if you encounter things that prevent you from progressing in the game, be sure to let me know on the forums.
Your thoughts
I'm really interested to hear reactions about the game itself. If you are feeling really adventurous, a very rough timeline of your playthrough (when you discovered what) would be super cool. If you get stuck and simply have no idea of what to do or where to go, I'd like to hear about that, too. Something that's off? Let me know. Something you particularly like? Yep. Just create your own individual topics on the forums so I won't miss your feedback.
I want to point out a couple of much-requested features which aren't yet part of the beta:
Controller hints i.e. letting you know which keys do what in various situations.
In-game controller remapping.
Proper gamepad support for the inventory and the menus.
Where did my new items go in the inventory?
These and many more bug fixes and improvements are all things we'll be working on next. In the meanwhile, here is a lo-fi version of the controller hints for keyboard + mouse to get you started:
Game: WASD to move, E to interact, Shift to run, Ctrl to sneak, Alt+WASD to dodge, Space to jump, M for the map, I for the inventory.
Inventory: Left button drag to move items around, right button drag to move all items of a type around, right click to eat/drink.
Map: Left button drag to pan, left click to use the altars, right click to set a waypoint, mouse wheel to zoom in/out.
Enjoy the update.
Kimmo
Beta Iteration 5
Beta (May 14, 2019) is out. I expect the first players to be getting to the end of the game in this version. What this means is the next release could already be available to all Early Access players by default (instead of having to go through a branch).
Changes
New character which opens a shortcut between Barry's Field dead end in the south and Town of Fortuna.
Eating food recovers stamina.
New mammal.
New scene at the beginning to help players find the first thread to follow in the game.
Text popup is shown in inventory after you eat or drink something to make it clearer that you've used an item.
Animation for messages to help distinguish that you've eaten things multiple things of the same type in a row.
Added a credits area.
View cone is shown on map.
Waypoint marker is shown on map.
Additional set dressing in the intro area.
Fixed a bug where you would get the money from a trader when consuming an item.
Don't spend stamina for dodging if you're already dodging.
All the UI messaging talks about "you" instead of "me" or "I". Added a message for eating a Tender Heart.
It's easier to climb out of the open grave at Snow Peak.
Activating an altar takes you to the morning instead of night.
You can find beer from haybales.
Fixed a bug where piano would start playing, and never stop, after entering the Root Hall court a second time.
SPOILERS! - Fixed bugs where the King's Eastern Eye (Rackham's relic) and the King's Bezoar (Elven Citadel relic) wouldn't go into the inventory. - Fixed a bug where Gus's quest for Holloway wouldn't if you placed the Priest's Gift into Holloway's pocket during the night. - Fixed a bug where the player in old saves didn't get enlightenment. - Fixed a bug where the Baron's mask would never get made. - Fixed a bug where you could talk to the ghouls without wearing a ghoul mask. - Don't say "pint of" when drinking, because not all alcoholic drinks come in pints. - Fixed bug a where the open-interaction wasn't classified correctly. This caused a bug where Master Pumpkin would say "Pick Up" instead of "Poke". - A sermon for Holloway after you deposit the parasite. - Gus Grimaldi tavern scene is more robust. - The Witch's instructions for locating the three jars of tappen made easier to follow. - When dissolving items with the Cobolds, all items of that type become dissolved. - In dreams, the player is now transformed into a version specified in each dream world's file.
In addition to these changes, we did some preliminary testing with dynamic weather, and it appears enough code support is in place from before that it could be implemented without terribly much effort. Having the weather occasionally change from sunny to foggy or rainy might add to the atmosphere. What do you guys think, is that something you would like us to spend a few days on?
How to play the new beta
Go to your Steam Library.
Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the beta for you.
The reason this beta is behind a branch and password is that new critical issues are still being uncovered, and I'd like those issues to bubble up to the forums instead of people being left alone with them. That's more likely if you are jumping into the beta through this announcement. So, if you encounter things that prevent you from progressing in the game, be sure to let me know on the forums.
Your thoughts
I'm really interested to hear reactions about the game itself. If you are feeling really adventurous, a very rough timeline of your playthrough (when you discovered what) would be super cool. If you get stuck and simply have no idea of what to do or where to go, I'd like to hear about that, too. Something that's off? Let me know. Something you particularly like? Yep. Just create your own individual topics on the forums so I won't miss your feedback.
I want to point out a couple of much-requested features which aren't yet part of the beta:
Controller hints i.e. letting you know which keys do what in various situations.
In-game controller remapping.
Proper gamepad support for the inventory and the menus.
Where did my new items go in the inventory?
These and many more bug fixes and improvements are all things we'll be working on next. In the meanwhile, here is a lo-fi version of the controller hints for keyboard + mouse to get you started:
Game: WASD to move, E to interact, Shift to run, Ctrl to sneak, Alt+WASD to dodge, Space to jump, M for the map, I for the inventory, 1-4 for the quick slots.
Inventory: Left button drag to move items around, right button drag to move all items of a type around, right click to eat/drink.
