A Spark of Hope Conclusion and Server Maintenance Notice
Heya Realmwalkers,
We’re pushing an update tomorrow (June 26) at the following approximate time: 9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / noon EDT / 5 pm GMT / 2 am AEDT
Here are the details you need to know:
Spark of Hope Event
The Spark of Hope community event will be coming to an end tomorrow with this update.
The end of the event means the following:
Removal of Hopeful Wisps
Hopeful Essence no longer drops
Event Trader will be removed from Abeyance Realms
Make sure that you spend your Hopeful Essence with the Event Trader before it closes! All unspent Hopeful Essence can still be converted to regular Essence after the event is over. Don't worry if you missed out - we'll be making these items available again in the future. Thanks for jumping into the Realms during the event!
Server Maintenance
Servers for the Online Mode will be taken down tomorrow (June 26) for maintenance to push a game update at the following approximate time:
9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / noon EDT / 5 pm GMT / 2 am AEDT
This update includes the following:
Pepys Box
Zephyr Anchor Points
Climbing Pick Grapple Ability
Online to Offline Mode Character Export
Steam Deck Offline Mode
Offline Mode Steam Cloud Saves
Closing the Spark of Hope event
Additional bugs fixes and game adjustments
Full patch notes will be provided when server maintenance begins.
We’re expecting maintenance to take approximately 1 hour to complete and will provide an update when servers are back online. The Offline Mode can be played during the maintenance window.
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team
Bound Minions: From Concept to Game - Interview with Neil Thompson
The most common Bound enemy that you’ll fight in Nightingale is The Bound Minion. They’ll be familiar to both experienced and novice Realmwalkers alike as the first type of Bound creature encountered in the Realms. While these lower-tier enemies are relatively easy to defeat individually, they can quickly overwhelm you in larger numbers. We’ve chosen to focus on these fiendish foes in this edition of our behind-the-scenes blog series, and to give us more insight into their creation, we've invited our Art Director, Neil Thompson, to shed some light on the design and lore behind these devilish grunts.
Please let us know if you have any requests for specific Creature Features on Discord or the Forums!
How did creating the Bound begin? The Bound Minions were the first enemy type to be created. The original intention was that they would be a ‘popcorn’ fight without much strategic importance or difficulty. We wanted a starting point for future enemy types from a gameplay standpoint and art direction.
The initial design process started with sketches that evoked a type of horde army, with a signature look that would tie (pun intended) all future Bound archetypes together. We went through several rounds of concept designs before we finally hit on a look that we felt satisfied with.
What inspired the lore behind the Bound? When did you know that you had the look for Bound? The original idea for the Bound was, in retrospect, quite horrifying. Human prisoners were captured by the Fae and, through a ‘Binding Ceremony’, compelled to do their bidding. In this case: Kill All Humans. As a Realmwalker, your only defense was to use whatever tool was at hand to kill these poor unfortunates. Conscious and aware but unable to change their fate, it was a tremendously dark conceit that ultimately we moved away from as it didn’t sit well with the overarching tone of adventure that we believe Nightingale to be. So their back story changed so that they are now constructs of the Fae; grown in vats via magical means. You can feel much better about hitting them in the head with an axe now without the moral dilemma.
This image by Casper Konefal was where we knew we now had the main themes for our Bound look. Even though we changed the origin from human to bestial in nature (as a result of the change in origin story), the visual language defined here became the lasting template that we still refer to today when starting any new Bound archetype.
How did the early development of the Bound change their design? The Bound Minions were the first enemy type we playtested with. The core idea of these enemies hasn’t changed much, but the art direction for The Bound took off from this point. We iterated off of some initial in-game models until we got to the Bound Minions that you see today. As development and playtesting continued, we evolved the Bound Minions into different enemy types.
Looking at Nightingale today, the palette of distinct Bound types has now flourished into a diverse set of enemies that can operate independently or as a collaborative group.
What is the object or goal of the Bound design? What story are you trying to tell? The Bound are unified by their aggression and strange ligatures on their skin. The idea behind their evolution is that Minions become Bound Lanterns and other minion types. We wanted The Bound to have a unique bestial quality yet appear capable of metamorphosis into the tougher variants.When we moved away from the initial backstory, we wanted the Bound to signify a soulless appearance, propped up by Fae magic. While these enemies have a physical form, they are an enemy that powerful Fae have created to prevent Realmwalkers from growing in strength.
One thing will always remain true with any Bound archetype: to be Bound is to be in pain, hence the uncomfortable posing and binding of limbs. If it’s not uncomfortable, it’s not Bound.
Thanks, Neil! That’s all for this behind-the-scenes blog! Stay tuned for more creature features!
0.3.1b.278384 Hotfix
Realmwalkers,
We pushed a minor game hotfix this morning to address chat logs occasionally disappearing on players. There are no other updates/changes at this time, and while you are able to access Online Mode without updating, we highly recommend updating to get the fix for both Online and Offline modes.
You can check if you're on the latest version in the main menu, which should now be 0.3.1b.278384.
Thank you!
0.3.1b Hotfix | Server Maintenance Complete
Realmwalkers,
Our server maintenance has concluded and our servers are now back online.
Please update your game to ensure you can access Online Mode once again.
It's recommended to restart Steam/Epic or verify your game files to make sure you're on the latest version. The game version shows in the main menu when you start the game.
This hotfix is to address:
A calculation bug on an item resulting in players being able to damage other players
Occasional crash when chopping trees
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team
0.3.1a Hotfix | Servers Back Online
Heya Realmwalkers,
Our servers for Online Mode are back online.
Please update your game to ensure you can access Online Mode once again. It's recommended to restart Steam/Epic or verify your game files to make sure you're on the latest version.
This hotfix was to address reports of the game crashing when players would click "Return to Respite" on their map, travel to the Watch, and a few other instances new to 0.3.1.
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team (Inflexion Games)
0.3.1a Hotfix Announcement | Upcoming Server Maintenance
Realmwalkers,
We are taking the online servers down at ~4:30pm MT for a hotfix to address crashes introduced with the 0.3.1 update.
You will be unable to play the Online Mode while servers are down and we are expecting them to be down for ~1 hour.
Thank you for your patience.
- The Nightingale Team
0.3.1 Changelog | Server Maintenance Complete
Realmwalkers,
Our server maintenance has concluded and our servers are now back online.
Please update your game to ensure you can access Online Mode once again. The below items will not apply to the Offline Mode until you update the game.
It's recommended to restart Steam/Epic or verify your game files to make sure you're on the latest version. The game version shows in the main menu when you start the game.
0.3.1 Changelog
Bug Fixes
Art/Visual
Bound Sniper cape colour is now consistent
Bound Mortar cape no longer see through on one side
Building
Buildings should no longer revert back to blueprints when logging out and back into Offline Mode
NPCs
All Taliesin riddles should now be able to be completed
Bass Reeves quests now complete as intended
Player Character
Players should no longer lose mouse input in The Watch after opening their inventory
Known recipes should no longer appear in the “New” section when logging back into the game
Hats that previously were invisible on some body types should now appear as intended
The player should no longer lose their head in some instances of pausing in Offline Mode
Fixed instances of missing limbs with clothing items such as the Draymans Ensemble
Shoddy Calcularian Pack now equips to backpack slot rather than outerwear
Corrected texture on Longer Scarf so it no longer shows placeholder studio logo
Hunter’s Hat should now correctly apply 5% ranged damage rather than 500%
Resources
New charms such as Invigoration, Wanderer and 100 Blows can now be crafted
Reduction in lose frames/delays when interacting with crafting when it’s linked to large amounts of storage
Misc
Hunt Sites of Power should no longer block progression due to invisible water
Should no longer be able to trigger underwater visuals in Astrolabe Site of Power
Fixed some crash variants
Game Changes
NPCs
Changed Bound Marksman textures to completed version
Joan of Arc’s name will shorten to J of A when at a distance
Player Character
Starting loadout items now have Predator Pelt characteristic so they can be used to get Gear Score 20
Charm Healer + Maleficent Minor Card combination no longer prevents Hunger or Rest death
Death markers will automatically remove after revisiting the location
Resources
Damage replicates to tree trunks (should help when hitting slightly outside of the damage area)
UI/UX
Players can now retry to sign in if the game fails to authenticate
Added a cancel button to authentication so players can get to offline mode quicker when there is no access to the internet
Ingredient placeholders have been updated to typed placeholder icons (Refined, Raw, Wildcard)
Misc
Bastille of Might have a chance to now be found in Herbarium and Gloom Realms
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team (Inflexion Games)
Planned Server Maintenance | June 4, 2024
Realmwalkers,
Servers for Online Mode will be taken down tomorrow for maintenance to push a game update at the following approximate time:
9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / noon EDT / 5 pm GMT / 2 am AEDT
This update includes improvements to the following:
Unblocking Taliesin and Bass Reeves quests
Hunt Sites of Power will spawn in more Realm types
Building progress being reverted to blueprints when logging back into Offline Mode
Additional bugs fixes and game adjustments
Full patch notes will be provided when server maintenance begins.
We’re expecting maintenance to take approximately 1 hour to complete and will provide an update when servers are back online.
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team (Inflexion Games)
0.3.0 Changelog | Server Maintenance Complete
Realmwalkers,
Servers have been taken down for maintenance to push a game update!
Added sound effect for double click on the Realm Card Machine
New sound effects for spells when tools are charged with new alternative actions from 0.2 (ex. Sickle throw)
Applied cooldowns on weapon audio effects when there are multiple triggers in a short timespan
Suppressed audio when creatures impact with other creatures of the same type accidentally
Change to medium creature impact sound
Added foliage foley sounds
Building
Can enable “Build from Storage” on storage containers to use its contents on nearby blueprints
Craft from Storage range has been increased
NPCs
New Essence Trader in Abeyance Realms for the Spark of Hope event
New quest NPCs: Edgar Allan Poe, Joan of Arc, and Taliesin the Bard
Added voiceover for Aurelio
Adjustments to Aurelio’s questline
Nellie has additional lore dialogue if some Codex entries are unlocked
Minor adjustments to NPC dialogue
New Bound unit: Marksman
New Bound variants: Bound Sunderer and Bound Caprine
New AOE VFX for Bound Darkweaver knockback ability
New tiered variants of Apex creatures, Eotens, Swamp Giants and Bound that drop higher quality item drops
Wisps can now be interacted with in the Realms
Player Character
New player outfits, body types, and professions are now available in character creator
Players can now edit existing character visuals in the character select menu
Players can skip the tutorial by selecting a ‘Start Point’ under the character creator ‘Difficulty’ section
Various balance changes to the tutorial quest flow
Balance pass on fishing
Changed shove animation
Resources
Changes to tree-felling behaviour, they will now always fall away from the player
Mushrooms now yield mushrooms when removed from tree trunks
Lowered resource requirements and/or crafting time for various T1-T3 items
UI/UX
Recruited NPCs now have a radial menu for quick behavior commands
Recruited NPC menus now show their name rather than “Survivor”
Changed Map UI for larger map size
“Reset Portal” and “Reset Realm” have additional confirmations and warn the players of the effects of the actions
Changes to tool tip and inspect subscreens: Characteristics and tier can now be viewed on tool tip. Extraction info, infusion details and tool and clothing descriptions have been moved to the item inspect subscreen
Tiers for crafted items can now be viewed in the guidebook
Benches display Tier in the default UI when players are nearby
Various UX/UI adjustments
Weapons
Ornate Blunderbuss recipe can now be unlocked in the Watch
Added Tier 3 & 4 Throwing Knives and Grenades
Items now have a soft cap on stats that will see diminishing returns on stats added to the item, and eventually hit a hard cap on the stat
New Track magick available in Swamp Astrolabe Realms
Misc
New POI encounters have been added
New Hunt codex entries
Capped loading screens to 60 fps and set default frame cap to 120 fps rather than infinite (but can be changed in the settings to be uncapped)
Performance improvements
Bug Fixes
Art/Visual
Mushrooms and ivy should now disappear when an NPC fells a tree they're attached to
Various animation polishes and bug improvements
Grenades now inherit gem glass appearance
Audio/SFX
Knife and Sickle positional audio adjusted in 1st person
Building
Estate foundations should no longer be blocked from being placed when they are too close to uneven ground
NPCs
NPCs restored from persistence will now correctly change visuals when their clothing is changed.
Boss summoning Mechanisms at Sites of Power are no longer destructible
Creatures should no longer spawn near Estate Cairns
Creatures should no longer spawn out of bounds in Forest Vaults
Player Character
Fishing rods above Gear Score 255 can catch fish
Players should no longer get duplicate companion NPCs
UI/UX
Removed former ESC menu from being accessed while downed
Weapons
Blunderbuss secondary attack should now utilize elemental ammo effects
Misc
Crafting stations requiring fuel will no longer complete all crafts upon logging back in if they have no fuel.
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REGARDING COMMUNITY INPUT
As of today, please direct your bug reports and feedback to our new Aha! portal.
To add your submissions, please create an account. Your name and email will not be visible to other portal viewers, but will be visible to Inflexion Games and player support administrators. All content on the platform is subject to our Code of Conduct.
If you need assistance or have questions, please reach out to a community manager or mod on our official Discord.
Our previous platform, Sleekplan, will be read-only for the next month and then archived for internal reference.
After evaluating feedback from both external and internal folks, we believe this change will provide a better experience for both players and members of the development team.
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Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
- The Nightingale Team (Inflexion Games)
Server Maintenance Has Begun | 0.3.0 Changelog
Realmwalkers,
Servers have been taken down for maintenance to push a game update!
Added sound effect for double click on the Realm Card Machine
New sound effects for spells when tools are charged with new alternative actions from 0.2 (ex. Sickle throw)
Applied cooldowns on weapon audio effects when there are multiple triggers in a short timespan
Suppressed audio when creatures impact with other creatures of the same type accidentally
Change to medium creature impact sound
Added foliage foley sounds
Building
Can enable “Build from Storage” on storage containers to use its contents on nearby blueprints
Craft from Storage range has been increased
NPCs
New Essence Trader in Abeyance Realms for the Spark of Hope event
New quest NPCs: Edgar Allan Poe, Joan of Arc, and Taliesin the Bard
Added voiceover for Aurelio
Adjustments to Aurelio’s questline
Nellie has additional lore dialogue if some Codex entries are unlocked
Minor adjustments to NPC dialogue
New Bound unit: Marksman
New Bound variants: Bound Sunderer and Bound Caprine
New AOE VFX for Bound Darkweaver knockback ability
New tiered variants of Apex creatures, Eotens, Swamp Giants and Bound that drop higher quality item drops
Wisps can now be interacted with in the Realms
Player Character
New player outfits, body types, and professions are now available in character creator
Players can now edit existing character visuals in the character select menu
Players can skip the tutorial by selecting a ‘Start Point’ under the character creator ‘Difficulty’ section
Various balance changes to the tutorial quest flow
Balance pass on fishing
Changed shove animation
Resources
Changes to tree-felling behaviour, they will now always fall away from the player
Mushrooms now yield mushrooms when removed from tree trunks
Lowered resource requirements and/or crafting time for various T1-T3 items
UI/UX
Recruited NPCs now have a radial menu for quick behavior commands
Recruited NPC menus now show their name rather than “Survivor”
Changed Map UI for larger map size
“Reset Portal” and “Reset Realm” have additional confirmations and warn the players of the effects of the actions
Changes to tool tip and inspect subscreens: Characteristics and tier can now be viewed on tool tip. Extraction info, infusion details and tool and clothing descriptions have been moved to the item inspect subscreen
Tiers for crafted items can now be viewed in the guidebook
Benches display Tier in the default UI when players are nearby
Various UX/UI adjustments
Weapons
Ornate Blunderbuss recipe can now be unlocked in the Watch
Added Tier 3 & 4 Throwing Knives and Grenades
Items now have a soft cap on stats that will see diminishing returns on stats added to the item, and eventually hit a hard cap on the stat
New Track magick available in Swamp Astrolabe Realms
Misc
New POI encounters have been added
New Hunt codex entries
Capped loading screens to 60 fps and set default frame cap to 120 fps rather than infinite (but can be changed in the settings to be uncapped)
Performance improvements
Bug Fixes
Art/Visual
Mushrooms and ivy should now disappear when an NPC fells a tree they're attached to
Various animation polishes and bug improvements
Grenades now inherit gem glass appearance
Audio/SFX
Knife and Sickle positional audio adjusted in 1st person
Building
Estate foundations should no longer be blocked from being placed when they are too close to uneven ground
NPCs
NPCs restored from persistence will now correctly change visuals when their clothing is changed.
Boss summoning Mechanisms at Sites of Power are no longer destructible
Creatures should no longer spawn near Estate Cairns
Creatures should no longer spawn out of bounds in Forest Vaults
Player Character
Fishing rods above Gear Score 255 can catch fish
Players should no longer get duplicate companion NPCs
UI/UX
Removed former ESC menu from being accessed while downed
Weapons
Blunderbuss secondary attack should now utilize elemental ammo effects
Misc
Crafting stations requiring fuel will no longer complete all crafts upon logging back in if they have no fuel.
Thank you for your patience and for joining us on this journey!
