Big announcement today, but I'm going to post the patch notes first. A lot of small issues and bugs were fixed in this patch, mostly the placeables system and some character deletion/recreation/disappearance bugs.
Patch Notes:
New:
Steam Cloud Saves!
Didn’t move Penny
Improved:
Items all sell for 40% of their initial value now
Minimum of 1 gold for any item with a value
Clyde now loans you a unique axe with no value
Fixed:
Horses can swim again
Placeable items disappearing act
With this, the price changed back up and growing times increased
Various dialog typos
Removed some Witch’s Eve dialog
Various reported bugs fixed
You can now use deleted character names on new characters
Fixed an issue with characters disappearing when one is missing or deleted
Announcement:
It’s been a busy couple of months since we launched in early access. In that time, we’ve made a lot of progress and released a lot of patches, updates and hotfixes (in conjunction with community feedback - thank you as always!). We’ve also learned a bit about how we can position ourselves to keep working effectively in the future. So here’s an announcement to break down and explain some changes we’re making to our update schedule.
The last update (with planters and wind whirlers) did what it needed to do - stress test some early implementations of the placeables system, which will form a fundamental part of the housing update. It exposed a lot of bugs, which we’re working our way through and will result in a good, robust, housing system, not to mention the somewhat unexpected side effect of a brand new save system with Steam cloud save support! However, the bugs were disappointing for many players who had the planters they’d spent their hard earned gold on vanish. We hotfixed a patch to lower the cost so people could stress test them more and recuperate their lost items. But in hindsight, we should have been making proper use of our amazing dedicated testing team with at least a week for them to test and report major bugs before we pushed anything to the public build. Recently, while rushing to get these builds out on time to meet our deadlines, we've been working up until the day of release, sometimes only giving our testers an hour or two to rush through before we need to publish the build. So here’s the plan:
Starting in January, we will be doing updates every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. We will have quarterly goals to meet, which will be in a roadmap we’ll publish soon. So we’re doing away with the old plan of minor and major updates each month. You can still expect updates to be the same size and frequency as normal in terms of content - like before, some updates will focus on quality of life, some will contain new, minor features, and some will have major features and content updates. But instead of minor/major milestones, the updates will align with the new quarterly feature roadmap. And importantly, on the new timeline, all updates will be tested properly by our team of dedicated testers, with plenty of time to find and fix bugs. Speaking of which, we’re still looking for more testers right now, so go check out the form in our Discord in the #faq channel and sign up if you’re interested.
Now, the roadmap isn’t up yet, (we’re still finalizing the specifics within the dev team,) but I should flag that the housing update won’t be coming out today as planned after the initial delay. I know, it hurts me too, but the object persistence issues we discovered last update absolutely had to be resolved first. We really don’t want anyone’s homes vanishing after they’ve worked so hard and waited so long for them.
In the meantime, we’re workshopping some exciting changes to inventories and storage, including the ability to expand your inventory with different gear, spells, potions, mounts and even pets. This will come along with a host of new quality of life features like category tabs and changes to how stacks and splitting works. This system overhaul has been totally driven by player feedback and is designed to play to the strengths of the game, so we hope you’re excited to try out the changes for yourself as soon as it’s ready.
Thanks for being understanding about the delay, and thank you especially for being along for the ride as we endeavour to hit our stride as a team and keep making this game hand in hand with you all. See you on stream!
Beta 1.1.7 - Minor Update
Hey everyone,
Witch's Eve is over, but it's still fall in Tirawyn and new things are in the works.
This week we’re launching a couple of new features that are really glimpses of things to come rather than full-fledged features. We want to use these as a test to springboard off of, and to make sure we're on the right track for upcoming major updates.
Many of the planned features for Swords 'n Magic, (including housing and main quest lines,) involve world persistence. This means that when you build a house to store your things, or place down a tent to make camp for the night, you can count on those items being there when you return to the game. To ensure that this world persistence is solid and won't leave you with lost items and lost time, we wanted to start with a few smaller features to sort of dip our toes into the concept.
In this update, you'll find a few new items you can purchase at a shop in Ramshackle Reef, as well as a new contraption Clyde has made available for you. These are the first of many similar items in our new placeables system that we're releasing over the coming months. This will eventually lead into the much larger systems of crafting, farming, cooking and of course, housing.
These systems may feel like prototypes for now, and well, that’s because they are. We like the idea of releasing things in bite-sized pieces to make sure that you (the most important part of the development process) enjoy the new features, and that they function properly before we spend months working on the full systems and content.
Aside from the new placeables system, we've also fixed a few bugs here and there and begun work on revamping the worldmap interface. We’ve been wanting to properly overhaul the map since day one – we want players to be able to plan out where to go and what to do without too much hand holding. The new map is a start, and we have more plans in the works, but for now you can at least zoom in, pan, and navigate the world and its landmarks. We’d love to hear your feedback here as always.
Soon, we'll be adding player markers so you can find your location as well as your friends' locations. We’re also working on a waypoint system that lets you set in-game markers to help navigate without needing to open your map every few moments.
Now! Onto the patch notes:
Minor Update - Beta 1.1.7
New:
Removed Witch’s Eve Festivities
Added new persistent placeables features
Added 3 new placeable items
New shop and merchant NPC in Ramshackle
New tool
New map art
Removed Map button from Journal
Improved:
World Map has seen major improvements (Press M - Keybinds coming soon)
Tutorial quests were cleaned up
Tutorial quests can now be bypassed
Adjusted nighttime ambience volumes
Fixed:
Fixed a handful of dialog typos
Fixed an issue with shop items not showing up in multiplayer
Beta 1.1.1 Update - Animal Companions and Multiplayer Lobby!
Hey everyone!
We had a few hiccups getting the update out today, but it's up now, and already patched.
Most notably the update brings a new multiplayer lobby system to make joining and hosting games with friends (or even strangers) much easier and a new Animal Companion feature that introduces two new companion mobs that you can earn and summon to fight by your side throughout the game.
The animal companion system will be getting more love and updates over the next few months, so be on the lookout for some features like a companion inventory, armor and a companion level system that mirrors how weapon skills level up. We're really excited to keep working on this system and bringing a whole new taming skill to the game that lets you tame new beasts once the mainland opens up and new creatures can be discovered.
As always, here are the patch notes for the update!
Major Update - Beta 1.1.1
New:
Animal Companion feature!
2 animal companions
Giant crab claw item
New Hunter NPC
New multiplayer lobby system
Password protection for hosted games
Public hosted games
AI resistances and weaknesses system
Improved:
Time of day now persists through sessions
Made Sen’s tutorial quest more clear
Better AI interactions. Now wild animals and monsters can fight each other!
New Tough Boar mobs
New Big Ol’ Crab textures
Fixed:
Fixed all masks to be considered “masks” and no longer hats.
Fixed all mask icons to show masks instead of hats.
Fixed a bug with the tutorial stone door quest
Fixed an issue with Bernard’s backpack sometimes missing
Fixed a few issues with day/night cycle quests for Witch’s Eve
October 20th - Major Update
Hey everyone.
We have some development progress updates to share, including some changes to the previously planned roadmap for the next few major updates. We also have something exciting to announce in terms of game content!
So, we’ll start with the roadmap changes. You’re probably aware that the next planned update was the “Home Sweet Home Update” which will include player housing and furniture. We’ve made the call to push this major update back by a month, which puts the release date at Nov 17th. The housing system is quite complex, and while we’ve been working on it this month, we’ve come to realize that it will need some extra care and attention to finish it and make sure it’s tested to the standard we’re happy with before pushing the update live.
Now, this isn’t to say there won’t still be a major update next week! During early access, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of systems and development more broadly, even during the major update milestones. So, because we’re giving player housing a little more time, the rest of the team has been able to give a greater focus to one of the systems that was previously being worked on behind the scenes.
That means this month, we’re excited to announce:
Animal companions are combat-ready AI that will travel with you and help you fight. Once you’ve acquired a tame critter, you can summon it with a whistle and battle alongside it. Over time, it’ll grow and become stronger. Eventually you’ll be able to equip it with armor to make it a truly formidable opponent. You’ll be able to collect a variety of animal companions across Tirawyn, and even trade them with your friends. We hope you’re excited for all this and more to arrive on Oct 20th.
Now that we’ve announced animal companions, the astute Kickstarter backers among you may be wondering about your backer exclusive fox pet. We’ll ask for your patience here - this month’s major update has a focus on companions, which are combat animals that will travel with you and help you fight. The Kickstarter fox is a pet: a cosmetic-only critter that doesn’t fight. Vanity pets will be coming in a future update.
In summary: the housing update will be pushed back to Nov 17th, which will in turn move the crafting update to Dec 15th. Animal companions are coming in the next major update, on Oct 20th.
Witch's Eve - Seasonal Update
Happy Witch's Eve!
For this update we launched a big seasonal update with all sorts of spooky things to do in Azura.
I won't spoil them all here, but some things to keep in mind are as follows:
Many of the NPC's in town have both seasonal dialog and standard dialog. Currently at night some of them switch to their seasonal dialog and you cannot continue their standard quests. Waiting til day will switch them back to the standard dialog and you can proceed with questlines.
<*> Certain monsters now only spawn at night. If you can't find a certain monster, try searching around later.
<*> We've recently revamped our versioning system, which led to us resetting back to version 1.0.6. This will no doubt lead to a bit of confusion for this update, but we're on track now. From now on we'll update versions for every minor and major update.
On to the patch notes!
Minor Update - Beta 1.0.6
New:
Seasonal Event: Witch’s Eve!
2 new mobs
Time-based spawning system
15+ new items
Improved:
Added Drop and Dismount keys to keybind options
Various tooltip items corrected for consistency
Updated ambient sound system to work with day/night cycle
Gave NPC’s time-based dialog
Fixed:
When using ‘Q’ to drop an item, the item will actually disappear from your inventory
Masterwork items now display the correct names in the upgrade bench
Fixed a bug where you weren’t able to purchase items after trying with a full inventory
Fixed an issue with opening a secret tutorial door locking up the quest
Fixed various quest and typo issues and inconsistencies
Witch's Eve - Seasonal Update!
Happy Witch's Eve!
For this update we launched a big seasonal update with all sorts of spooky things to do in Azura.
I won't spoil them all here, but some things to keep in mind are as follows:
Many of the NPC's in town have both seasonal dialog and standard dialog. Currently at night some of them switch to their seasonal dialog and you cannot continue their standard quests. Waiting til day will switch them back to the standard dialog and you can proceed with questlines.
<*> Certain monsters now only spawn at night. If you can't find a certain monster, try searching around later.
<*> We've recently revamped our versioning system, which led to us resetting back to version 1.0.6. This will no doubt lead to a bit of confusion for this update, but we're on track now. From now on we'll update versions for every minor and major update.
On to the patch notes!
Minor Update - Beta 1.0.6
New:
Seasonal Event: Witch’s Eve!
2 new mobs
Time-based spawning system
15+ new items
Improved:
Added Drop and Dismount keys to keybind options
Various tooltip items corrected for consistency
Updated ambient sound system to work with day/night cycle
Gave NPC’s time-based dialog
Fixed:
When using ‘Q’ to drop an item, the item will actually disappear from your inventory
Masterwork items now display the correct names in the upgrade bench
Fixed a bug where you weren’t able to purchase items after trying with a full inventory
Fixed an issue with opening a secret tutorial door locking up the quest
Fixed various quest and typo issues and inconsistencies
Hotfix - 1.0.20
Here we go again! This hotfix address mainly the quest bug issue.
Last patch we accidentally removed a quest from the center of our quest table. This shifted everyone's quests back one, giving players incorrect quests and in many cases, giving them old quests they'd already completed.
We've fixed this issue and shifted the table back, but if you've done any of those shifted quests since then, or any new quests, then expect to have even more bugged quests.
Unfortunately this kind of stuff is bound to happen in Early Access. Because of this, we've added a command you can type into the chatbox: /clearquests
This command will be removed eventually, but for now it's a good way to completely clear all quests from your log like you started a brand new character. This will allow you to start all quests over without having to start a new character.
Just keep in mind that you'll need to get your horse again if you've already done those quests.
Anyway. Here's the patch notes:
Hotfix Beta 1.0.20
New:
Added new area to tutorial landing zone
New quest in tutorial landing zone
Tammy
Improved:
Adjusted the big boar’s drops
Gave Arrow’s Mooki Bow some extra oomph
Reworded “M2” to “RMB” for Right Mouse Button
Mooki feathers now found in respawnable nests
Added a quick and dirty wrap function to shop item descriptions
Added a background to dialog options
Mob drop range increased for ranged combat
Increased despawn delay for mobs
Increased walk slope angle
Captain James’ quest is back up and running
Fixed:
Fixed some audio issues in multiplayer
Fixed quest table order bug
Fixed an issue with Azura mushrooms in multiplayer
Fixed zoom length on camera toggle
Fixed middle mouse click icon in tutorial tips
Coconuts and beehives now drop for clients in multiplayer
Fixed an issue with Sen’s inn quest being repeatable
Removed more broken button icons from tutorial tips
Damage numbers no longer appear in the wrong place
Mounts can now be summoned by clients in multiplayer
Fixed various typos and quest bugs
Hotfix - 1.0.19
Hotfix - Beta 1.0.19
Thanks for all your patience through our first regularly scheduled patch. We had a few hiccups and a bit of a delay, but we're working on being more prepared and better polished for patches going forward.
We just launched a hotfix patch that addresses several of the issues we sort of introduced with the last patch.
Thanks for all of your bug reports. All of the player feedback is helping make this game better with every update and we can't thank you enough for your reviews and comments on the Discord server.
Improved:
Adjusted some quest dialog and item descriptions
Added collisions to resource nodes
Harvest node drops are now local to each player and can be shared
Minor tweaks to mob spawning system
Dealt with pesky floating coconuts
Sen's tutorial dialog is more clear
Fixed:
Load times in Town of Azura should be better
Fixed sensitivity slider affecting walk speed
Scolded Clyde for stealing axes - He says he won’t do it again
Gave Clyde permission to take back his own axe
Fixed an issue with quests resetting on tutorial island
Fixed an issue with mob corpses blocking pickup collisions
Purchased shop items are now properly replicating to other players in game
Harvested nodes now properly replicate to other players
Fixed an issue with drinking/eating in succession locking player actions
Fixed an issue with mobs appearing alive after another player killed them
Gold no longer shows 0 when first joining the world
Fixed item stack size inconsistencies
Removed sentience from doors
Cleaned up all the bugswatters around town
Regular Update - September
Hey everyone,
Our first regular update is live. But not without a few hitches.
Our first build out had some major game breaking issues, so we frantically fixed them up only to find out that our testing team was experiencing crashing bugs trying to join multiplayer.
We can't find a quick fix for the multiplayer issues so we're prioritizing a new join system that doesn't rely on the Steam join menu. We'll keep you up to date on when this will be live.
One last note. There are a few missing labels and minor issues with the menu we're still ironing out. Namely, the T (camera swap) key is missing. We'll be working on a hot fix for that before the next regular update, so stay tuned.
And without further ado, here are your patch notes:
Beta 1.0.18
New:
Entirely new tutorial zone
Options menu overhauled
New harvesting area near Town of Azura
Crabs now drop crab claws
Added new resource
Added eating and drinking animations and sounds
Added new wooden weapon types
Added the ability to store your start location at inns when relogging
Added nighttime firefly light sources to the world
Added keybindings (some tooltips may display default keybinds instead of what you’ve selected)
Added volume sliders for various channels
Added V-sync option
Added additional graphics options
Added custom framerate cap
Improved:
Gold chests now drop better loot
Major boar rework
Minor crab rework
Increased all resource stack sizes from 12/24 to 99
Embershards are now affected by critical hits
Mob corpses now poof out of existence
Added continuous music (This may change. It was highly requested though)
Fixed:
Various weapons now use appropriate upgrade materials
Fixed Iron Dagger attack speed
A Dark Treasure quest changed
Fixed various minor bugs
Reduced bone weapon drop rate
Fixed bank slot stacking bug
Fixed issues with varying volume levels between music tracks
Other:
Merrymaker Tavern moved
Moved some buildings around in Town of Azura
Gretta’s quest is no longer a quest
Temporarily removed some dock quests for new tutorial
Small performance pass
Tweaks to ladders to make them less buggy (for now)
Increased lava damage
Live Development on Twitch!
Hey everyone!
Today is a regular stream day, but many of you probably don't know that, so I thought I'd get you up to speed.
I stream three (3) days a week over on Twitch doing development and AMA's.
I'm live right now if you want to come by. I won't announce here every time I'm live, so be sure to follow if you want to stay up to date on live updates.
