The next patch brings a variety of combat fixes and adjustments improving blocking and squashing a few more combat related bugs in VR. A new crypt dungeon is also being introduced that features many traps and culminates in a wave event.
Not included in the build notes is the time spent on the new tutorial zone. We hope to have it introduced during the week as work is almost finished. Along with the new tutorial zone we should see more VR bug fixes including a few lingering online issues along with some Oculus Touch adjustments to bring it to fully supported.
Combat
VR gamepads now have a damage bonus to better balance them with motion controllers.
VR Characters can be hit with projectile attacks once more. This was bugged.
Shield blocking is now effective against melee attackers when using a motion controller.
Some types of projectiles can now be blocked.
Energy will no longer be consumed when you block with your shield using a motion controller.
You can now parry more effectively with off hand weapons when in VR.
Fixed a bug which allowed motion controller players to deal damage multiple times per swing to the same opponent.
Graphics
It will no longer display multiple particles on a single swing vs. a single target when in VR mode. This corrects an issue where you could get numerous sparks while parrying and which could degrade performance.
Improved lighting on some treasure chests.
Improved Dust and Bone impact effects.
Optimized some of the cave set pieces by adding or improving Level of Detail.
Items
It should now be easier to strike very nearby enemies in non-VR mode.
Levels
Introduced a new crypt based layout which features many traps and culminates in a wave event.
Mobs in the Cave theme layouts should spawn a bit more quickly, they had a delay which allowed players to get pretty close before they were spawning.
Tweaked spawn rates in the cave wave event.
Optimized the Cave Wave dungeon.
Fixed an issue which was preventing the rockslide from blocking off the rear portion of the map in the cave wave event.
Miscellaneous
Small optimizations to VR characters.
Fixed a potential bug with GUIs zeroing out values in multiplayer in some cases.
NPCs
Shrooms now attack from further away.
User Interface
Fixed an issue where if using a gamepad and you picked up a dropped item a tooltip would show up.
v1.04 Patch Live
While the first three patches of Early Access were almost entirely responsive to player feedback, this patch is a mixture of that and some new features.
The largest of which is a new NPC scaling system which can increase NPC stats based on the dungeon level the role of that NPC in the dungeon. For example, in some higher level themed dungeons the standard mobs were previously several levels below the bosses. In the new version the standard mobs will be upscaled in levels but with lower stats than the bosses. This change will make dungeons more challenging and allow some NPCs to have a wider level range of representation than was previously the case.
The treasure system has seen similar changes, and is now adjusted based on the NPCs category, as well as the dungeon level. Coin loot has also been increased.
Audio
Added new rockslide sound effects.
Combat
If a player, pet, or NPC is stunned or mesmerized it will now display stars around their head to make it easier to notice.
If a player, pet, or NPC is hit with a movement impairment it will now display brown particles which start at the head and then swirl to the legs. This is a uniform indicator that the impairment has taken effect, and is in addition to other spell or ability specific effects.
Fixed a bug which was causing VR gamepad swings to miss.
Graphics
Created new particles to indicate status effects on players, pets, or NPCs.
Added new wood splintering effects.
Added a new door arch type.
Improved level of detail of some of the cave pieces.
Added new particles which are used as dust after a rockslide.
Interactive Objects
Collectible objects can now display optional and per-object definable particle effects when destroyed or collected.
Barrel collectibles now display splintering particles when they are collected.
Introduced a new door type which can be locked by external objects. It will be used in the upcoming tutorial, but could also be reused in future dungeons.
Added new prop types which incrementally update the quest helper and objectives, and can unlock doors or sections of a dungeon incrementally.
These are being utilized in the upcoming tutorial but could later be used in future dungeons.
Items
Increased the size of the collision areas of numerous weapons.
Levels
Introduced a new Cave based layout which culminates in a wave event forced after a rockslide blocks your exit.
Improved cave1 lighting.
Tweaked spawn rates in the fortress wave event level.
Fixed a spot in the cave1 map where VR teleports would fall through the floor.
Miscellaneous
Increased DPAD movement speed when using motion controllers.
Potentially fixed an issue related to interacting with potions with multiple VR players if you were a client.
Fixed a discrepancy in the energy calculation between VR and non-VR players.
NPCs
NPCs now use a new scaling system for their stats based on their difficulty and the quest level. Some NPCs this will have little effect, others it might make them harder or easier. If the NPC is now a higher or lower level than before this of course will impact them as well.
Treasure rewards from NPCs should now be consistent based on the difficulty. Minions will reward no treasure, Normals rarely, Tough a bit more often, Mini-bosses half the time, and bosses all the time. Gold rewards were upped as well.
NPCs are now able to stun players with melee attacks.
Mini-bosses and Bosses received a slight bump from these new changes and should be a little bit harder, but not massively.
NPC corpses should be easier to fire past.
v1.03 Patch Live
We’ve released the third patch of Early Access, v1.03 is live.
NPCs and AI were once again at the forefront. We wanted to thank all of the players for their feedback and suggestions. It is extremely helpful as we refine and get everything right. NPCs should now rotate more smoothly towards players, and we’ve introduced numerous balance, range, and AI tweaks in this patch.
Melee swings which make contact with worn NPC armor will now see some of their damage absorbed by that armor. The amount absorbed varies by the armor type. We also spent some time tweaking particles, audio, and performance, and fixing bugs.
Audio
Fixed an issue with rolling sounds on non VR players.
Combat
Melee swings which contact armor on an opponent will now do reduced damage, rewarding players for aimed shots.
Graphics
Added a new sparkle particle effect to be used on some collectible items.
Optimized Dragon Fireball particles.
More tweaks were made to flaming sword particles.
Added new tanning and arch props.
Items
You will no longer receive stats from weapons or held items unless that item is currently being held.
Miscellaneous
Fixed an inconsistency in the maximum stats between VR and Non-VR modes.
NPCs
NPCs should rotate more smoothly before attacking if they didn’t have to move, only face toward you.
Undead Dragon slashing attacks now deal damage. A collision issue was preventing that in previous builds.
Drak Tailspin attacks now deal physical damage so they can be absorbed properly by armor.
Reduced Drak Tailspin damage.
Reduced golem size to make it easier for them to fit through spaces.
Golems (both Ice and Rock) received a small boost to their hit points.
Reduced Fairy Dragon healing effectiveness.
Ratling Shaman will not try to heal dead NPCs any longer.
Orc Warlord should perform mostly abilities that will hit you head on now, there are still a few wild ones in there to catch you off guard though. He also is slightly less defensive than before and hits a bit harder than before with both weapons.
Lizardman Chieftain and Darkwater Guardian now chases a bit faster than before like his LIzardman brethren.
Adjusted Drak AI so it shouldn’t go into odd rotations due to attacks and defense getting mixed together.
Ghouls are now less defensive.
Werewolf Pack Leader values were fixed up, looks like they got reset.
Darkwater Warlock like earlier caster fixes will not cast through walls.
Drak Shaman is slightly less defensive than before and will heal more often.
Troll is slightly less defensive and won’t attack as far out as before.
Ogre animations are now playing more cleanly.
Wyvern now moves a bit faster.
Skeletons now attack from a little further away so they crowd you less.
Goblin defensive jumping reduced a bit as it was causing it to get locked in odd rotational angles.
Increased goblin attack range.
Fixed a Chimera animation that wouldn’t hit you.
Fixed an issues where dragons would not properly rotate and couldn’t attack.
Fixed up some animation issues on dragons. They should look better.
Fixed a missing emitter for the fire breath attack on the red dragon.
Fixed a rotational issue with VR and npcs facing toward you properly in some rotational scenarios.
Quests
Collectible Tomes and Crystal Balls now have a sparkling particle to make them a little bit easier to spot.
Spells and Abilities
Circle of Healing can now restore health to pets, in addition to players.
DoTs were not applying properly on players, they will now properly tick every second until they expire.
Corrected a bug which was causing Holy Wrath and Holy Strike abilities to deal more damage than was intended.
Fixed a bug with Circle of Healing which was healing targets more than once per tick in some cases.
User Interface
NPCs now receive a floating text message when healed with the amount.
v1.02 Patch Live
Another day and another patch. The v1.02 is now live. This patch focuses again on input and feedback from Early Access players.
The primary focus was on combat, including improvements the blocking system, NPC nameplates, as well as motion controller strafing and attacking. The largest changes though came to NPC AI as we refine and polish combat.
Audio
Increased the volume and altered the sound of shield blocking sounds to make it easier for players to realize they have blocked.
Combat
Adjusted parrying in VR gamepad mode, so that it can not eat up incoming attacks when in the idle position.
Fixed a bug which was preventing players from blocking or parrying attacks from mobs were not wielding weapons.
Graphics
Optimized Flaming Sword and Staff of Fire particles and reduced their brightness.
Reduced the brightness of Lighting Staff core particles.
Levels
Turned off collision on some objects which didn’t need it (things on top of tables, etc) in the Tavern, as they were intercepting motion controller rays in some cases and causing issues selecting dialog options from certain angles.
Motion Controllers
Opening the System Menu with the left hand grip button will not toggle navigation mode any longer. If you toggle this menu it should not change navigation mode, which was happening in error. A press of the grip button will still change navigation mode, as intended.
You can now strafe or move around while swinging and it will not turn off weapon collisions.
Fixed an issue with the left hand grip button toggling the system menu even if you released the button first.
NPCs
Increased goblin attack ranges so that they crowd players less.
Fixed Stone Burrower Soldier, Stone Burrower Queen, Granite Crawler Worker, Granite Crawler Soldier to display the proper name.
Tweaked Ratling’s defensive adjustment so he was less likely to go into it mid strike.
Goblin Swordsman now has a Warrior’s defensive AI (some defense, more offense)
Ratling Warrior now has a Warrior’s defensive AI.
Shroom and Shroom Guardian now has a Warrior’s defensive AI (slightly more defense than before).
Fixed Zombie initial chase so it doesn’t go nuts after it gets in combat range.
AoE projectiles were not damaging players if a NPC casted it (ex: Ratling Shaman). This is fixed and now will damage you.
Ratling Shaman, Ratling Witch-Doctor,Skeletal Sorcerer will now respect the walls and not spell cast through them.
Fixed a handful of Orc animations there were not playing properly and fixed an issue that would cause odd rotation issues.
Skeletal Soldier and Knight will now move around some defensively.
Phoenix animations should look better. Added a second beak attack animation for a bit more variety.
Lizardman and Lizardman Guardian has a bit more hussle in his step when running after you.
All Dragons should now properly rotate toward their target when moving.
Undead Dragon will chase a bit faster.
Black Dragon is using a lighter material, still black, but has visible white parts now.
Fixed Lich casting issues.
User Interface
Adjusted the tooltips, in particular the equipment ones that were quite a distance from the item.
NPCs now have colors on their nameplates corresponding to their difficulty. Minion = grey, Normal = white, Touch = Yellow, Mini-Boss = Red, Boss = Blue.
The Cleanse ability now displays the proper Gamepad or Motion Controller buttons when one is used.
It will no longer display Holy Wrath as an ability on the ability GUI unless you are holding a Symbol in your off hand. Previously Motion Controllers were displaying it when you were unable to complete the ability.
v1.01 Patch Is Live
The first Early Access patch has gone live. This patch deals primarily with feedback submitted by players, and we’d like to thank the player base for all of the feedback and bug reports.
The biggest changes came to VR mode which includes changes to how motion controller damage works, so as to not reward players for slap style attacks. It also features a new locomotion mode for those using motion controllers. This mode allows you to hover on the trackpad to move rather than pressing it and was a request made by players. The system menu is now available by using the gamepad select button, or holding the grip buttons on a motion controller for a second. This allows the map to be toggled in VR mode with gamepads, and also allows easy access to exit the dungeon, exit the game, or view the options menu. The VR interface has also been moved further from the player to make it easier to view it all without shifting your gaze.
Not all changes were VR exclusive though. We modified how the spawn upscaling works in multiplayer to help prevent mobs from stacking up. Ranged AI was also improved, and dragon breath attacks are now less deadly. We also saw map improvements and bug fixes.
Combat
Dealing melee damage when using a motion controller will now drain energy and damage will be reduced based on your energy level. This was done to prevent an exploit where players rapidly slapped a mob back and forth with a motion controller at rates quicker than gamepad or keyboard/mouse users could swing.
Increased energy regeneration rate.
Interactive Objects
Steins will now disappear after being used by VR players. This was previously only happening when done by non-VR users.
Levels
Adjusted NPC aggro ranges and density on the Crypt4 map to prevent them from overwhelming players.
Improved lighting in the Sewer5 map to remove some dark spots.
Miscellaneous
Added a fifth locomotion mode for motion controllers: Hover. This mode will allow you to use the trackpad to navigate by hovering over controls rather than needing to press down in a direction.
Oculus Touch users can now exit the game or dungeon by holding the left system menu button down for a few seconds.
Reduced the amount of time you need to hold the System button on Vive controllers to exit the game by 4 seconds.
NPCs
NPC spawn upscaling, which occurs in multiplayer sessions, will now give more time in between each spawn to help prevent cases where mobs stack up on one another.
Goblin Slinger AI received an upgrade. He will not hunt you down and hurl rocks at you if you hide.
Skeleton Archer AI received an upgrade. It is fully sentinel and will only fire when it has line of sight.
Dragon and Fairy Dragon breath attacks can now damage pets.
Dragon and Fairy Dragon breath attacks are now significantly less lethal. This was due to a bug which was causing them to make contact more times than was intended.
User Interface
VR players in multiplayer will now use a similar health bar, player name, and floating text display as nonVR players do.
The HUD in VR has been moved slightly further away from the player to make everything more visible on the screen without shifting your gaze.
Holding the Grip buttons with a Motion Controller no longer toggles the in-game map, it instead now toggles the System/Escape menu. That menu allows you to toggle the map, and also to access options or to exit the dungeon or game.
There is now a Map Toggle button on the System/Escape menu.
v1.0 Patch Live!
We are happy to announce that the 1.0 patch has gone live, and more importantly Prevent the Fall has entered into Early Access on Steam. We wanted to take a minute to give players an idea of what to expect from the initial Early Access phase.
The major features are all in place, and you can rise to level 20. The game features optional virtual reality support, but it is not required. It can be played with gamepad, vive motion controllers, or keyboard and mouse. Oculus Touch will be officially supported in the future, but Oculus users can currently participate using gamepads.
The Action RPG gameplay revolves around generated quests with a mixture of generated and static dungeon elements. You can play entirely in single player, or can host or join multiplayer co-op sessions. Co-op sessions can mix and match VR and non-VR players.
We expect the game to move out of Early Access by the end of the year, and you can expect continued improvements throughout.
Audio
Added grunt and tumble sounds to dives and rolls.
Necro projectile sounds are no longer louder than other sounds.
Fixed the deafening heartbeat sound if you died via a trap.
Combat
Gamepads will now work like keyboard/mouse when attacking and not finding a target (will face toward the camera). It was not doing this and made it hard to aim with ranged weapons.
Items
Loot from chests and creatures will now check your inventory to avoid giving out equipment you do not need.
Rings will now be offered as loot/rewards.
It is now possible to reward highly rare items by chance.
Introduced new magical item variations.
Leather armor and Chain Coif are now available a bit earlier as a reward.
They are also available for a bit longer if you happen to miss them early.
Coin rewards from completing missions and treasures were increased significantly.
Required experience for each level was increased by 1.5 times.
Experience now gets reduced if the creature is 2 levels or more lower than you and mission exp rewards also get reduced in a similar fashion.
Staff of Dust is now included as a starting item giving players a ranged, melee, and shield from the beginning.
Leather Armor and Cured Leather Armor now use different icons.
Levels
Added a new Sewer layout.
Reduced how quickly minion waves spawn in the trap floor wave event.
Fixed an issue with the pit trap on the dwarf2 map not registering.
Miscellaneous
Increased mana regeneration rate.
The left system button on Oculus Touch controllers can now be pressed a second time to close inventory.
Lowered the boss achievement counts to roughly half the mission success counts.
Added an achievement for finishing your first mission.
Turned on vsync by default for non-VR mode. There will be a setting added to options to toggle this on/off soon.
Using the B button will now work with containers and dropped items along with pushing the right stick.
Slightly increased VR walking speeds.
Fixed an issue which was preventing the camera from fading in if you were hosting a multiplayer game in VR mode.
NPCs
Attack AI now has an option to go into a switched defense state less often, if desired.
Eliminated a bug in the loot code which was causing NPCs who were meant to have no chance at loot to always drop it.
Fixed a bug which was preventing Rock Golems from attacking.
Fixed some NPC errors caused by trying to execute animations before the behavior trees were set up.
Fixed an issue where NPCs would constantly go in/out of logic when you died making some NPCs look like they were jumping/strafing everywhere.
Quests
Interacting with empty containers in collection quests will now remove the container to make it easier to track what you have already searched.
User Interface
VR Motion Controller UI interactions now feature a new laser pointer to make it easier to direct your UI navigation. This is only visible when in the tavern or when interacting with a UI.
Pressing Shift+Enter will now bring up a command interface. You can enter console commands on it.
Added the chat command. It will send a banner message to everyone in the zone with you if playing online. You can also use ; instead of chat if using the new console window listed above.
Items with effects will now show the effect in their tooltip (example: rings, rare weapons).
Equipment with a level set will now show the level in the tooltip.
Gold banner messages now display how much. They also should be negative if the value was negative (such as purchasing an item).
Clamped gold to 999,999,999
Added a tip window. Currently it is being used to show gamepad buttons used in the inventory system, but will be expanded in the future with more information.
Adjusted the ability button sizes so they were not stretched.
Symbol when using a gamepad should show the right buttons for Heal now.
NPCs now display their name above their health bar.
Pressing the Start button on the gamepads will now close the inventory if it was already open.
You can now use CTRL-L to print out the level name and your current location. This is to make it easier to report bugs or issues on specific levels.
Fixed an issue where player markers on the minimap would not disappear after the player exited.
Fixed an issue with opening the inventory with a gamepad where it would close it down quickly if you held the button down.
Fixed tooltips so they will update when something happens to the slot you were hovering over or using as a gamepad.
Fixed the manual tooltip not showing up on containers.
Changed Leather Armor icon so it didn’t match Cured Leather Armor.
