Where the *#!% is the new content patch and why is it taking so long?!
Where the *#!% is the new content patch and why is it taking so long?!
We thought that a new update is due about what’s going on in pg5-Studio since you haven’t heard much from us in the last couple of months. Don’t worry we haven’t abandoned ship and we’re still making progress on the promises we’ve made, but it is taking us a lot more time than we’ve expected (a *#!%*-ton more time than we’ve expected). But we wouldn’t take our sweet time, if we didn’t think that’ll be worth it in the end.
We’re still working on tirelessly on our new server infrastructure and that’ll allow us to introduce the following features with the upcoming patch:
- Deployment of servers in American and Asian Regions
- The ability to switch servers at any given time without loosing progress
- The ability to create Instances to phase players at any given time
And despite a bunch of complications, we’re making good progress recently and will be hopefully be able to deliver on that promise very soon.
Yeah, yeah that’s neat and all that, but what about my *!?#* content?!
So here’s the new playable content that will be making it’s way into the game with the next patch:
- A huge new area, that we’ve already previewed on our social media
- 3 new “classes”: Shaman, Hunter & Warlock. Each play style will be equipped with a set of new kinds of abilities.
- As well as new types of quests (e.g. Dailys and repeatable Quests)
We also have additional content that’s already in the making but won’t make it into the next patch unfortunately, but will be coming as soon as it’s ready:
The new capital city that we’ve already teased isn’t quite ready yet but it will be opening it’s gates very soon after the next patch.
We’ll be also adding 3 new professions: Fishing, Farming & Cooking. Those professions will work a little differently than the previously introduced ones. But in order to make that happen, we will be also introducing new gameplay mechanics in order to maximise the long-term motivation to pursue those professions [ more information will follow ;) ]
Despite all that, we also have a lot minor and major additions to the game in the pipeline that you’ll be hearing about in the upcoming months. Many thanks to everybody who’s been sticking around despite the lack of new updates recently. You’ll be hearing from us very soon. But pg5-Studio needs to get back to work!
STEIN - First step of Localization (v0.3.4)
General:
- The respawn times for the startquests items and those of the mobs have been significantly reduced.
- New calculation of groups XP. Players now get more XP when playing in a group than before.
- The T-Shirt at the Farshore Inn now has the right colour on the ground (blue)
- Players who have a significantly lower level than an opponent now get less XP
- In all large villages there are now new traders
- You can now also buy Stein.Accounts for Gems at special merchants
- A new language has been added: Polish - incomplete
User-Interface:
- Added a new Error-Message for WebGLRenderer errors
- Start dialog of an NPC is now skipped if there is only one following option
- Full Account is now called Stein.Account because the old name has led to confusion
- The chat was limited to 256 characters.
- A help button was added in the Professions window
- There is now a language selection in the options
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a Bug with the quest "Mysterious Jewelry"
- Players who are webbed can now rotate their character
- The chat no longer resets its position while scrolling when a new message arrives
- Quests items are now properly updated in the quest log when you trade them
FAQ / Adressing some of the criticism we've recieved since release
So, stein.world has found its way onto Steam a week ago and let’s just say that things have been a little bit crazy ever since. I would like to thank everybody who has joined our humble community in the last couple of days. It has been absolutely mind-boggling to see that many people enjoying our game at once. That being said: with the major influx of new players, I would like to take the opportunity to answer the most commonly asked questions and talk about the things we will focus on in the very near future. Before I get into the nitty gritty, please keep in mind that stein.world is still a passion project that is being made in our free time. Pg5-Studio is a two and a half men team, so some updates might take a little longer than in other development studios. So please be a little patient with us. We have heard and read every bit of feedback that we received over the last couple of days and here is how we will address it:
Will there be a –insert random language- version of the game?
Probably yes, with time. We can’t give you a certain date though. Our primary focus over the last days was completely restructuring many, many, many elements of our game in order to make them easily translatable. We honestly didn’t expect such a high demand to support different languages this early, but we’ve figured that the sooner we make these changes to our game the less painful these changes will be with further development of the game. Since we speak three different languages between the three of us, we can say that the first two other languages we will support will be Polish and German. Moreover, the beta release of the Polish translation is imminent. For the languages that we don’t speak ourselves: We also plan to introduce a system that’ll allow 3rd parties or the community to translate the game, but that will take some time until we’re ready to do so. We heard you loud and clear, friends from Spain, Portugal, France & Russia! We’re working on it!
Add US and Asia Server to the game!
Yes! They are coming! We still need to tweak our server infrastructure, but they are definitely coming. The lag for our friends in the US and Asia will hopefully come to an end soon over the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep you guys posted.
Where’s the game sound?
Some of the folks coming from Steam might have missed this, but as a reminder: stein.world is built from the ground up to run in its entirety in a common internet browser as well. Therefore, something trivial as adding sounds into the game is actually a lot more complicated for us than you might think. We still need to restructure some significant portions of our game to be able to add sounds in places where they´re common for other games. We also want to keep the data that is streamed and required to play the game over the browser and on mobile devices as low as possible. And the more sounds we add, the further we will be deviating from that goal. It’s a careful balance that we must strike. We have some UI and environmental sounds ready in the pipeline and those will be added soon. Then, the next step will be designing the sound around combat, especially in a scenario where a lot is happening at once, e.g. a wave dungeon run with a group of five people. It’s very challenging to not make it sound like a handful of toddlers going ham at a synthesizer simultaneously, since 3D sound isn’t really an option in a 2D game. However, we will be updating you regularly on our progress!
Where’s the PVP?
We also love some PvP in the games that we play and as much as we would like to flip a switch and watch you guys solve your conflicts the good old-fashioned way, we want to make it worthwhile and fun and integrate the mechanic in a meaningful way into the game. For now, all I can do is to give you these bullet points, because we don’t want to spoil the surprise yet:
Internal PvP Tests will start next week
There will be new playable areas solely dedicated to PvP
The first implementation will be fairly basic, but we’ll introduce entirely new gameplay elements for a better PvP experience over time
This game is Pay 2 Win!
So, our payment model has been bothering quite a few new players. It has been the number 1 point of criticism over the last days. We think that some of the wording and design of the shop might have been poorly chosen and therefore might have given the impression to newer players that you’ll need the subscription to fully experience the game. But in all honesty, that’s not what we want to achieve. And as we see it, those who actually gave our game a shot and weren’t put off immediately, seem to share our sentiment that this is not a Pay 2 Win game.
Nonetheless, we want to present our point of view on the monetization of the game. We want to explain why we have chosen this type of model over others.
Stein.world started and, as of today, still is a passion project that we develop in our own free time while still working regular day jobs. Even well before the development of the game, we really didn’t want to sell anything based on empty promises, since it was our first attempt at developing a game this large in scale. Therefore, any sort of crowdfunding simply wasn’t an option for us.
Stein.world also was originally conceptualized as a browser game only. After a few months into development, we’ve realized that our prototype would also work well on mobile platforms. We liked the idea of progressing in the game, even if you’re on the go. And since nobody wants to pay for a browser or mobile game upfront, the idea of selling the game for a fixed price beforehand seemed unfeasible as well.
That’s why we’ve settled for an optional subscription-based system. Everybody has his own tolerance when it comes to perceiving what constitutes as Pay 2 Win and what doesn’t. But these are the core principles that we want to uphold during the future development of the game:
The game is for everyone to enjoy, paying or not. No gameplay element will be locked behind a paywall. Yes, the subscription might make things a little faster or make some elements more convenient, but everything in this game should be achievable without spending a dime.
If an item is solely attainable through the shop, it will be purely cosmetical.
Nothing in the shop is set in stone, we’re monitoring your feedback very seriously, and there are already plans in motion to tweak the offers we have on the store front.
Well, that was quite a bit of text, huh?
As always: If you want to get in touch with us, have questions, or want to leave your feedback consider joining our community discord [https://discord.gg/k4crEHR] or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. A review on Steam would also be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
Patchnotes: Bitterburg Keep (v0.3.2)
Patchnotes:
General:
- New Dungeon: Bitterburg Ruins (5 Players)
- New Dungeon: Bitterburg Keep (5 Players)
- over 70 new items
- 10 new quests
- New ground sprites for overworld
- Enrage for bosses
User-Interface:
- Added Twitch Link in Player-Hub.
Bug Fixes:
- Players should now leave a dungeon correctly, while they were dead on leave.
- Removing items from player trade now resets the lock for both players.
- Player trade now closes on player despawn.
- "Critter" is now "Chicken". :(
- Scrolling on map for zoom no longer scrolls embeding page.
- Amount selection now closes when you close the shop.
- Trash item dialog closes when you close the inventory.
- Reconnect no longer duplicates entries in friendlist and gem shop.
- Bank now closes when you press the close all button.
