The duties of the clergy of Lady Death are many—from embalming, to funerary rights, to going where the living fear to tread on grim nights when death is less than final. Priestess Adiriel and her young acolyte, Sylth, found the sexton hiding under a table in the cemetery chapel.
"At attention, sexton," Priestess Adiriel said.
"Begging your pardon, mother. It's just…" Read more
PATCH #3 - Combat Patch 1 - Alpha Version 0.5.8.0
Today we patch the first installment of several combat upgrades. The goblins have picked up some defensive skills and are now able to duck arrows and parry melee attacks. They have not mastered these new skills, but overall they've improved their combat tactics. The goblins are slow learners, and their tutor believes there’s room for improvement, so expect further updates during the course of development.
New Stuff
Controller tracked locomotion (also known as 'Onward-style'). Multiple presets for different movement preferences (teleport, free locomotion, both of the above). To access them, press the menu button above the touchpad on the right-hand Vive controller.
Breakable pots and jars have been added throughout the game. These can be shot, hit with weapons, picked up and thrown, or smashed against each other by holding one in each hand. May contain valuables.
Goblins may dodge arrows and parry melee attacks.
Enemies now respect your zone of privacy. Instead of standing in your face (literally), they keep a proper fighting distance.
While not actively engaged in combat, players will, if their current health is less than 50%, heal back to 50% of their max health over time.
Added health bars to all enemies. These will only show if the enemy is hurt, or actively engaged in combat.
Added damage numbers when enemies are hit.
Hitting different parts of the environment will now produce sounds, sometimes effects, and controllers will vibrate slightly. Environment is not destructible, we just found it to be much more immersive to let you hit it.
Added warnings when health is running low, in the form of an audible heartbeat and on-screen visualization.
Added a billboard to the lobby where recent patch notes will be displayed.
Tweaks and Changes
Ability to cause damage wiggling your weapon has been reduced. Practice on the target dummies to become familiar with the changes. As always when fighting in Karnage: Pretend you're wielding a real weapon.
Improved AI pathfinding: Monsters will no longer stack up behind their buddies if they can find a way around them in order to reach you.
Added more rocks to the water in the level 2 puzzle room to make it possible to get across using locomotion only.
Changed the boss monster health decal to be a proper health bar.
Added vibration to bow-hand when pulling the arrow.
Most combat sounds should now be audible from further away, including hitting monsters, hitting the environment with arrows, and death rattles.
The Vulture Bear (level 1 boss) and the Corrupted Troll (level 3 boss) have each learned a new trick.
General Bug Fixes
Players should no longer take damage from simply touching the weapons of the enemy. Monster weapons will only deal damage from actual strikes.
Players should no longer randomly take damage when performing a successful parry.
Fixed a bug where the Corrupted Troll would sometimes stop attacking.
Fixed a bug where some steps in the Corrupted Troll area could not be teleported on.
Fixed a continuous vibration bug with the bows.
Fixed a bug where the copper coin value of 1 was displayed incorrectly.
Plans for Next Combat Patch
We have no schedule for when the next combat patch is going live, but we still want to share with you some of what we have planned:
Further improvements to parrying and dodging.
Enemies will start using special attacks to break through shield guard in melee combat.
Enemies will start using feints in melee combat.
Enemies will start using melee counter attacks.
Combat patch is on its way!
We know this has been a long awaited patch for some of you. It hurts when developers push back fixing "the most critical issue" about a game you want to play – we know, we're gamers too. As developers, the difficult part was having to weigh two large issues up against each other: Loot and upgrades vs. combat fixes. We still stand by the order in which we did things, but we're sorry we let some of you down by making that priority. If we had the manpower we'd do both at the same time, but, as many small studios can testify to, that wasn't possible. Also worth noting: This is the first combat patch, but it won't be the last. As with the RPG patch, we're adding layers one step at a time, and will continue to improve the experience over the course of Early Access.
We're aiming to patch next week. To award your patience, here's a preview of what's to come:
Controller tracked locomotion (also known as 'Onward-style'). Multiple presets for different movement preferences (teleport, free locomotion, both of the above).
Breakable objects!
The Goblins have taken combat lessons and are now better at dodging and parrying. The trainer is still lurking about, and future lessons are to be expected.
The Vulture Bear and Corrupted Troll have learned new tricks.
Monsters now respect your zone of privacy: Instead of standing in your face (literally), they keep a proper fighting distance.
Improved AI pathfinding: Monsters will no longer stack up behind their buddies if they can find a way around them in order to reach you.
Players no longer take damage from simply touching the weapons of the enemy. Monster weapons will only deal damage from actual strikes.
Players no longer randomly take damage when performing a successful parry.
While not actively engaged in combat, players will, over time, heal up to 50% of their maximum health.
Ability to cause damage wiggling your weapon has been reduced. As always when fighting in Karnage: Pretend you're holding a real weapon.
We'll try to get this out as soon as possible, but we also have a great desire to do things right and give you the best possible experience. Hope you're as excited about this as we are!
In the meantime: Wreak karnage, Murkwraiths!
Friday Fiction #12
THE MUSIC OF ZILZAL
Zilzal was a clever old soul, and a clever old soul was he. The gnome gathered his pipe, chalk, and fiddle. Only it was no ordinary fiddle. Zilzal had it custom made, with thick strings that produced a deep bellow. It was large, too large for even a human to play normally, and it took him a quarter of an hour just to get it down into the darkness of his basement.
By the light of the candle, Zilzal drew the ritual circle. He wrote out the equations. Within the circle, he placed a... Read more
HOTFIX – Version 0.5.7.4
Changelog
Crashes should be completely gone.
More optimizations (CPU especially).
Vulture Bear should no longer block teleportation onto, and through, the spot where it died and evaporated.
Repeater Crossbow will now show the correct shot count, also after cycling between weapons.
A bug that made monsters detect arrow impact sounds from too far away has been fixed. This should reduce the amount of monsters rushing the player.
PATCH #2 – Version 0.5.7.3
New stuff
Added the first version of the player Journal. Access it by pressing the menu button on the left controller. The Tutorial Tome, previously associated with the left controller menu button, has been moved inside the Journal.
Added sparks and splinters when weapons hit each other for improved immersion.
Added loot.
Added weapon and armor upgrades.
Added notice board.
Loot
Monsters now have a random chance to drop coins and gems.
Monsters in unreachable areas will, if they drop coins, drop them on the path ahead of you.
Valuables and trash loot have been placed in the environment and will convert to a gold value upon pick-up.
Defeating bosses will yield a loot chest filled with valuables.
Weapon and armor upgrades
Created a shop to the class selection lobby, located in a previously unexplored area of the cave.
Contains a full set of new gear for the Archer.
Contains a full set of new gear for the Warrior.
Notice board
A notice board can be found in the shop area. Consult it for in-game rumors on coming updates.
Tweaks and changes
Major performance optimization on both CPU and GPU.
Jittery hands should now be experienced less often for some players. Issue does not seem to be either CPU or GPU related and is not completely resolved.
Monster health and damage numbers have received a minor overhaul due to the introduction of new class gear.
Goblin Archer will use its tri-shot ability less often.
Vulture Bear: Fumes has been given added width to help players avoid standing in the acid puddle without noticing.
Made it possible to interact with world objects using both your hands and your weapons. The only exception is movable objects, these will still require hands only.
General bug fixes
Vulture Bear: A bug where the boss was wrongfully redirecting its acid spit after the animation had started, making it more difficult avoid being hit, has been fixed.
Vulture Bear: Fixed a problem that caused melee weapons to do less damage than intended against the boss.
Fixed a problem that occasionally caused monsters to not attack if the actor was facing away from them.
Fixed a problem where normals were inverted on the warrior shield in left-handed mode.
Patch is on track
We’re putting the finishing touches on this week’s content update and will be patching as soon as we’ve been able to test it thoroughly. Here’s a sneak preview of what you’ll be getting:
Loot and treasures
Monsters will now drop a selection of coins and/or gems. Tougher monsters will drop higher value coins, ands boss rooms will have a loot chest waiting behind the barrier. In addition, we’ve scattered trash loot items across all areas for you to search for. Some will be harder to find than others, so let loose your inner scavenger! Balance is still being worked on, so expect numbers to be tweaked as we go forward.
Player journal
In the coming patch we’re also introducing the player journal. The journal shows you what items and armor you’re currently wearing, how much health you have, and how much gold you have. It also gives you access to your Tutorial Tomes, which, in the future, will include any official guides we publish on our community page.
As the vigilant observer might notice, the journal also alludes to upcoming features, most notably weapon and armor stats, trinkets, and consumable items.
Shop
A trading vessel in the service of the Elven Republic Trading Corp has stranded on the cliffs of the Wyvernscale Mountains, and weapons and armor have been salvaged and stored in a previously closed-off section of the character selection lobby. Go up the stairs to the left of the Difficulty Settings crank and follow the signs from there.
Once you purchase an item, your old, equivalent item will take its place in the shop, and the price tag will show that you own the item. You can then swap between the two variations by interacting with them in the shop. When we later add more items to choose between, we’ll move this functionality to an inventory system that allows you to carry a selection of items.
Monday Lore #25
The sea elves?
My grandad told me stories. I don't know if they were his stories, or if they were stories his grandad told him. History in the mouth works differently than the history bled in your ink. It moves and lives.
I gathered earfuls. Stories of elves that lived in cities that could rise and sink above and beneath the waves. Elves that breath the water. Elves that ... Read more
Patch schedule pushed by one week
Hold on. What?
We’re pushing our previously announced patch schedule by a week, meaning that the loot and weapon upgrades will come in week 19 (May 8-14), and the combat update scheduled for next week will be pushed accordingly.
Why we’re doing it
The loot system is near complete, and we’re expanding the character selection lobby with a shop where you can spend your loot and treasures to purchase upgrades. We’ve been working overtime to get it all done, but we’ve decided to take another week to allow ourselves time to push the quality of the new weapon and armor models to give you the best possible experience.
What loot to expect
Monsters drop coins, bosses drop chests, and we’ve hidden trash loot in-between, that transmutes into a coin value upon interaction. The trash loot is distinguished in the environment by the same red glow that identifies intractable objects in the world.
What the upgrades do
Weapons do more damage, armor gives more protection. Some of the weapons functions a little bit differently, but we’ll leave it up to you to discover the details.
How to keep track of everything
In the same patch we’ll also introduce the character journal. The journal contains information relating to your character, like accumulated wealth and current health. Later this will include XP, powers, stats, etc.
TL;DR
No new patch this week. Next week will be extra awesome. In the meantime: Wreak karange, Murkwraiths!
Monday Lore #24
On the kraken
I am no theologian. I am no sage. I've only rough words.
But I've heard tell the theories of the scholars and priests regarding the kraken. Mouth to ear. My hands only know fishhooks and rough trade. They've soaked up more blood than ink.
Some say the kraken is the wrath of the gods. One of the remaining chaoses from before the gods re-wrought the world in its current order. Or some such.
Read more
