The CNC machine is now online which means all three parts of the staff can now be 3d printed! (files are saved in the directory where your game is installed)
Several bug fixes with certain spells
The main menu / player home have been combined into one area with new access to a 'quickplay' area
Two new quickplay areas have been opened up, but still need a lot of work in terms of gameplay. Feel free to head into them to check them out! Teleporting onto the warp pads will automatically send you there
The tutorial can now be completed up until the staff assembly portion of the sequence
Spell costs and reload times have been significantly lowered resulting in less frequent trips to fountains.
Known Issues:
The tutorial bird A.I. is going through some changes, so you may see it fly to the correct place, but facing the wrong direction
quickplay gameplay is still in process of being developed, so the dragon may be impossible to kill at the moment (but is still fun to watch!)
Saving custom staff shapes in the woodshop causes some issues on the storage shelf, but still creates the 3d printable file
The 3d printable file from the CNC machine has a few errors with mesh reconstruction, so you will see some twisting in the print
On The Horizon:
continued improvements to the crafting system so the staff can be assembled with stored parts
a few more spells are still in the process of being constructed
quick play games will continue to be tuned
with core programming mostly complete, there will be optimizations and changes to level design to improve exploration gameplay
the mining-cart quickplay game is in development
Zombies! They're drinking your mana...
Light 'em up in the new quickplay game!
MageWorks update v0.0.17 is now available!
MageWorks update v0.0.17 is now available!
Here's a list of what's new:
> Fixed a bug where level warping sound would trigger during spell casting
> Increased speed of log shaping rotation to speed up shaping process
> Additional level optimizations
> Fixed a bug where players could use machine tools to cast spells.
> New Spells! Have included two more spells to play around with. "Frostbite" is a close combat Ice spell that knocks back enemies. "Living Roots" spawns a friendly plant that attacks nearby enemies for a short period of time.
> Instruction books! Each workshop has a book/manual that players can flip through to learn how different workshops work. For this build, the Observatory and Library have books have been included. The different workshops will be included in the next build update.
> A Tutorial Bird! When a player first starts playing the game, a crow will hop around and squawk to get the player's attention and guide them to learn how to interact with the features of MageWorks.
Known Issues:
> Several instruction books at each workshop currently show the bookmarking instructions, but will soon be workshop guides for each station.
> The Tutorial Bird & Tutorials stop at Lesson 401. This will be continued when all workshops are online and functioning
> The birds flight path may break if a player brings their bird into the outer courtyard of their Mage quarters.
> Some of the spells are malfunctioning a little and will be improved as more updates are released.
> Using a Rift on SteamVR may cause some issues with controls, and we are looking into ways of resolving this.
On The Horizon:
> continued improvements to the crafting system until all machines/stations are online for staff assembly
> a few more spells are still in the process of being constructed
> "quick play" games will be available where players can clear a vault, defend a fountain, or ride & shoot on the mining cart.
MageWorks Mini-Update 0.0.16
A small update has just been released addressing a few bugs under the hood. Additionally, navigation to different levels has been migrated to the new system.
To travel to different maps:
Align the observatory with a constellation using the staff controller left/right track pad buttons when standing in the observatory. Once aligned, step onto the teleport pad located in front of the globe, and hold the staff grip button for about 10 seconds. You will see the world twist away from you and reappear in the new map.
With this new system of travel, at any time, you can hold the staff grip button for ten seconds and teleport home!
A tutorial page will be released outlining this system in a future build.
Cheers, and thanks for playing MageWorks!
MageWorks update v0.0.15 is now available!
2016/11/14
build v0.0.15
MageWorks update v0.0.15 is now available!
Here's a list of what's new:
> Flower Milling! Players can now work with flowers in the flower shop to create ink.
> New spells! All defensive spells are now available including a Ring of Fire, Bone Wall, Ice Wall, Thorn Wall, and Static Field
> Improved A.I.! Elemental skeletons will now attack the player
> Vaults! Several vaults have been integrated into the environments and contain treasure chests with large amounts of gold to collect. Vaults can be opened when players find/unlock the Vault key spell located at one of the scroll stones.
> Health and Mana Stats! Players can now view their health and mana in the same way they can look at gold and kill count. Pressing the spellbook grip button will display the player's current stats.
> A new drone! The flashlight drone is now available and helpful in situations without much light like vaults.
> An observatory! Players can control a telescope to look around the night sky. In a future build, players will be required to line up the telescope with certain constellations to teleport to new levels.
Known issues:
> The gamestate save system is constantly evolving, so save games will be overwritten with the update. Until full release, most available spells will be auto-unlocked so players don't have to re-unlock anything.
> The uncut crystals in the mage quarters are currently collectible for ease-of-use and player testing. These will eventually be removed toward release date requiring players to venture out and explore to collect crystals for shaping.
> The log shaping system is being re-worked to address the mesh break issue.
On The Horizon:
> With the crafting system coming close to a workable state, players will soon be able to start using all of the pieces they create with the ink, wood and crystal workshops
> Additional polish on the environments and A.I.
> A book of maps is being developed to help players navigate in the wild.
> A tutorial system is in the works!
MageWorks update v0.0.13 is now available!
2016/10/18
MageWorks update v0.0.13 is now available!
build v0.0.13
Here's a list of what's new:
> Environments are continuing to be rebuilt so each environment reflects a different school of magic
> New A.I.! The forest now has a first look at some spiders being introduced into the environment.
> Fixed an issue with the Mining Cart making a ride through the tunnels more stable
> Beginning to introduce more of the staff wood shaping equipment. Players can experiment with a lathe and log shaper.
> The drafting board is also functional again, and players can draw different shapes (The CNC machine will build these shapes in the next build!)
> Resources can now be collected and lockboxes opened at any time without the corresponding spell page needed to interact.
Known issues:
> The log shaper is still being worked on, so cutting logs occasionally results in mesh errors. This is being evaluated for next release.
> CNC machine is not functional yet, but aiming to have this online next build
> Spiders are ambient, but will be aggressive in a future build
On The Horizon:
> Continued work on the woodshop. Art will improve, as well as a way to store different creations with the lathe, CNC machine, & Log shaper
> Improved A.I.
> Continuing work on adding more spells to the library which are functional
> Continued work on level design.
> Now that the flower milling / ink creation area has been populated, functionality will be implemented for ink creation.
MageWorks update v0.0.12 is now available!
2016/09/20
MageWorks update v0.0.12 is now available!
Here's a list of whats new:
> Environments are in the process of being rebuilt and are now designed so that each environment is tuned to a different school of magic.
> A New Environment! With five schools of magic, there are now five levels to explore. The newest level takes the player through snowy mountains to discover the ice spells.
> Staff material preparation! With resource gathering now available. Players can start shaping crystals in the new crystal workshop.
> New enemies! Skeletons are now spawned as one of three types of skeletons, each with a different magic school.
> Per community request (thanks to @Game Cooker US Rocks VR!), the teleport button has been moved to a more convenient location. Players can now use the staff motion controller's menu button to teleport.
Known Issues:
> Crystal shaping is early in development, and while functional, we are still reviewing ways to make it more performant.
> The drawing board has been disabled temporarily in preparation for implementing ink creation and wood shaping.
> The new levels are being redesigned, and not populated with much at the moment, but do contain resources and A.I. to continue testing spells against.
> All spell scrolls have been placed throughout the new levels to unlock, however several may not be functional in this build.
On The Horizon:
> Continuing the process of developing more crafting mechanics for staff creation. Flower milling and wood shaping will see further development and will be implemented in some form for the next release.
> More spells will be unlockable / functional
> More enemies are being developed specifically for the level that reflects the 'nature' magic school
> Continued improvements on level design, resource placement, and A.I.
MageWorks update v0.0.11 is now available!
20160829
build v0.0.11
MageWorks update v0.0.11 is now available!
Here's a list of whats new:
> HoverDrones! Players can now bookmark a HoverDrone for a personal ride around the environment. Advanced players have requested an alternate means of traveling other than teleporting, and the HoverDrone does exactly that. Summoning a HoverDrone allows you to use the trackpad directional buttons to float around environments instead of teleporting.
> Teleporting has shifted to use the grip buttons on staff motion controller. This allows for players to use the track pad for the Hover Drone controls.
> Resource collection! Players can now bookmark a resource collection spell that allows them to collect flowers, crystals, and wood in preparation for the upcoming staff creation workshop.
> Crystal Mines! The cave has been expanded to include a mining cart ride deep into the a caverns where players will be able to collect crystals and discover new spells
> New spells! The ice bolt spell is now available to discover and freezes enemies in place. The Death Bolt is also available to discover and launches a ghostly skull at an enemy with homing behavior.
> Optimization. The game continues to see further optimization to make sure the game runs at a solid 90fps.
Known Issues:
> A.I. has been improved but continues to see further experimentation to solve several issues.
> Saved games will be overwritten during early access development. To make sure saved games are properly including new information, games will be reset for the next few builds.
On The Horizon:
With resource collection now available, development focus will be on the workshop with activities such as crystal shaping, wood preparation, and flower milling. Levels will also continue to evolve with improvements to level design, resource placement, and A.I. interactivity.
MageWorks update v0.0.10 is now available!
2016/08/11
MageWorks update v0.0.10 is now available!
We've been hard at work, and the next update is now available. This update focuses heavily on developing more content, more features, and some minor improvements to existing content.
Here's a list of whats new:
> A Customizable Spellbook! Spellpage Bookmarks are now available. Players can bookmark their favorite spells which adds them to their personal spellbook. A tutorial page has been added to the Book of Beginnings (MageWorks 101) with instructions, however bookmarks can easily be added by press and holding in the down direction of the spellbook trackpad while on your spell of choice. Scroll up and down to pick which page you want to assign it to, and press and hold again to apply the settings.
> New spellsbooks! Three additional spellbooks have been added to the shelf. The Book of Locks will allow players to cast spells giving them access to various parts of the game like treasure chests, gates, and more. Currently the 'Unlock Lockbox' spell is available. The Book of Portals has been added and players can choose from two available portals. It is highly recommended that these pages be bookmarked for quick access to nearby mana fountains and level gates. The Book of Drones has been added, however the Drones are not ready yet. The drones to be released in a future build include a flashlight-drone, camera-drone, turret-drone, hover-drone, and guardian-drone.
> Two new combat spells! A 'Thorn Bolt' and 'Thorn Lash' are now available for players to use.
> A new level! A new level that is much larger is available for players to explore. Because the hover-board is not ready for release yet, the spells in this level are already unlocked. On future releases, when the hover-board is available for use, these spells will be locked up again for players to seek.
> Loot! Lockboxes have been scattered around all available levels for players to collect and require the Lockbox spell to open.
> Stats have changed location. Stats are no longer in the front of each book. Instead, they can be displayed or dismissed immediately with the use of the spellbook controller grip buttons.
Known Issues:
> A.I. is undergoing some changes and currently has some issues. This will be fixed in a future build making enemies more interactive and responsive.
On The Horizon:
The next aspect of development will be focused primarily on resource collection and the wood shop. Part of the original vision for this game included an area where players could collect resources to build their personal stave. While an early version of the drawing board is currently active, we're looking to start implementing some of the wood collection and preparation mechanics.
Beyond the woodshop, we're also aiming to have the hoverboard available from the Book of Drones so players can hover around levels instead of teleporting if they choose. The next update will also include more spells to find and unlock.
Thanks again for the comments, criticism & support as this VR experience continues to grow!
MageWorks first update v0.0.9 is now available!
2016/07/25
The first update for MageWorks focuses primarily on bug-crunching some critical gameplay issues. Updates beyond this will typically be in a bi-weekly or monthly basis including more content, but we felt it was important to address the initial concerns from the community as soon as possible!
Here's a list of what's new:
> improved teleporting with better stability and accuracy.
> updated skeleton models. steering away from bobble-heads...
> spell book page turning has changed slightly to require left and right clicks on the track pad rather than swipe
> players are no longer floating
> ground-based spells are now calculated through an arc for more flexibility
> zombies can now damage the player...if you take too much of a beating, you'll be sent home.
> lowered the cost of all spells so players will not need to visit fountains as often. this change will be reverted when the book of portals is released (in which case players can choose to bookmark a port-to-fountain spell)
> spells are now unlocked using the spellbook to touch the scroll rather than the stave (which just makes more sense).
on the horizon:
> getting the custom spellbook online with bookmarking
> a new spell & level
> new spellbook (most likely the book of drones with a hover drone unlocked depending on how testing goes)
