- Fixed jump not registered in tutorial when playing on Vive
- Fixed not showing Vive controls in tutorial
- Fixed some tutorial messages and added some extra info
- Vive players can now sprint by holding the left grip button while walking
- Small optimizations
Treefender
Small update v0.511
Hotfix v0.51
Fixed appear animation of defeated squid reward
Fixed location of koinz message for defeated squid reward
Fixed avatar in lobby
Swapped joystick controls for dronestation. Now more in line with how gamecontrollers work
Doubled research part price
Some additional details, colorcorrection and setdressing added to lobby
Update v0.5 "Fight & Flight"
Bugfixes:
- fixed jumping
- fixed trampoline jump trigger
- Fixed playernames not showing correctly in-game
- Fixed grab slingshot from shoulder, which had to be triggered multiple times before
- Added singleplayer mode. No internet connection needed
- Fixed orientation of world based messages
- Fixed unintentional snapturning while scrolling buildmenu
Changes/additions:
- New buildable: Drone station
- New buildable: Fence. Allows you to create balconies and porches for your treefort
- New enemy type: The urchin
- New enemy type: The wasp
- The slingshot now does more damage the further you pull the elastic. Can you oneshot the squids?
- buildables like climbable rung and birdhouses now automatically orient to the tree
- Added a Sampler tool: you can now sample a buildobject with the Y-button on your left controller for a more efficient building experience
- Added some sounds for UI and interactables
- Added more information to buildables description: How much treefort value they generate and how much upkeep they cost per minute.
- Climbable rungs can now also be placed on other buildobjects
- You can jump higher now, allowing you to jump over half-walls
- Tweaked headset collisions when colliding with the tree for instance. Still experimental!
- Added a buildable sampler button (left controller y-button) which allows you to quickly sample a built object for faster treefort building
- The "last chance" countdown when all players are dead now requires only 1 player to be respawned to prevent a "Treefailed" event.
- Some visual tweaks, we’re changing shaders and are working on changes to the level
- Bart (the character you play) now has a backpack and sandals!
The Fight & Flight update is in the air!
New enemies
The spacesquids have gathered reinforcements and are changing tactics!
Land and air are not safe anymore, so make sure you build a robust treefort to defend from these 2 new enemy types:
- The fast and deadly Wasp, attacking you in swarms from the air, but very fragile to slingshot fire.
- The thick armored and silent Urchkin. Where it plants it’s spikes, a deadly electrical field appears on the ground. Make sure you don’t fall out of the tree!
New Reward System
We've done an overhaul on how players are rewarded when defeating a wave of enemies. You gotta work for your Koinz now! Enemies now drop collectible space squid artifacts when defeated.
New Drone Station
This update also introduces a new station which spawns a drone you can control! Use it for exploration, transport or as bomb: a very versatile tool in the arsenal of a Treefender. Make sure you recharge its battery at the station from time to time and don’t lose signal by flying too far from the station.
There’s a grabable handle underneath allowing players to fly along with the drone.
You can find the drone station under equipment in your buildmenu after you've researched it.
Since it's such a powerful, versatile tool, it's quite expensive!
Drone stations are currently limited to 1 per game, although this may change depending on your feedback.
Bugfixes
- fixed jumping
- fixed trampoline jump trigger
- Fixed playernames not showing correctly in-game
- Fixed grab slingshot from shoulder, which had to be triggered multiple times before
- Added singleplayer mode. No internet connection needed
- Fixed orientation of world based messages
- Fixed unintentional snapturning while scrolling buildmenu
Tweaks and small additions
- New buildable: Fence. Allows you to create balconies and porches for your treefort
- The slingshot now does more damage the further you pull the elastic. Can you oneshot the squids?
- buildables like climbable rung and birdhouses now automatically orient to the tree
- Added a Sampler tool: you can now sample a buildobject with the Y-button on your left controller for a more efficient building experience
- Added some sounds for UI and interactables
- Added more information to buildables description: How much treefort value they generate and how much upkeep they cost per minute.
- Climbable rungs can now also be placed on other buildobjects
- You can jump higher now, allowing you to jump over half-walls
- Tweaked headset collisions when colliding with the tree for instance. Still experimental!
- Added a buildable sampler button (left controller y-button) which allows you to quickly sample a built object for faster treefort building
- The "last chance" countdown when all players are dead now requires only 1 player to be respawned to prevent a "Treefailed" event.
- Some visual tweaks, we’re changing shaders and are working on changes to the level
- Bart (the character you play) now has a backpack and sandals!
Known issues
- making a high trampoline jump can sometimes get players land in mid-air
- Player avatars in the lobby are currently chilling on the floor.
Further remarks
As always, there will be new bugs and new challenges arising from these changes. Please let us and the communitree know through our Discord or the Steam community so we can adress these. Feel free to ask and share your feedback!
We’re excited to see what you’ll do with the drone and what tactics you’ll use to defeat the new enemies.
Happy Treefending!
Automatic orientation and Buildobject sampler sneak peek
we’ll be sharing some insights into the new and improved features you can expect.
In today’s short post: Automatic orientation and the buildobject sampler!
What's been bothering me for quite some time now was the climbable rung not pointing the way I wanted to, so I always had to manually rotate it. (Tough life, I know...) Anyhow, things like climbable rungs, birdhouses and other buildables that don’t require manual rotation now automatically orient to the stem of the tree. With these types of objects, we don’t want to think about their orientation so this saves the brain some processing power which can be used to think about, for instance, how many gardengnomes are needed to destroy an Urchin enemy.
Delicious. A tiny update, but a nice quality of life one.
We’ve also implemented a “buildable picker tool” which allows you to highlight a buildable object with your pointer, hit the Y button on your left controller and behold! You’ve now selected the buildable you want to build without searching through your buildmenu. This will save a lot of time which is especially desirable when the spacesquiddies are attacking and you need some treefort cover ASAP.
Lovely. More news coming soon!
New update coming: Fight & Flight
Hey Treefenders!
Yes, it's been a long, long time, but we haven't been sitting still!
The spacesquid invasion of the neighbourhood is still ongoing which
means new enemies and features coming to Treefender soon!
Here's a small sneak peek for what to expect in the next update:
The Urchin
A big spiky enemy which really makes you not
want to fall out of the tree... They are solitary robots with a very thick, spiky skin.
The Wasp
Fast and deadly, this airborne enemy never comes alone.
Keep a close watch on the skies and practice your slingshot aim!
Other things to look out for
The new update will also bring some more polish in existing gameplay,
new sound fx and new features including a overhaul for the reward system and tweaks on the slingshot combat. More details about those things later.
So, how will you take on the fast and deadly Wasps? And what do you think makes the Urchin a dangerous foe? Let us know!
Stay tuned, and happy treefending!
Small update: Networking and refinements
Hey Treefenders!
Thanks for the great suggestions and feedback so far.
We're back with a new update mostly focusing
on networking issues and some refinements of existing content. Here's the full list:
Buildmode:
Tweaked the joystick snapturn angle threshold a bit to make it more responsive.
Fixed a bug where trying to rotate a buildobject would also result in doing a snapturn.
Finetuned buildmode a bit so the system will warn you of intersections more precisely.
This will greatly reduce the bug when a buildobject was built, but directly deleted.
Fixed buildObj UI buttons animations not happening when highlighting them with pointer.
Newly unlocked buildobjects have a "new" icon in the buildmenu.
Research:
Research system is now more fleshed out, showing which unlocked items lead to which through
arrows between the different items.
The research station now has updated visuals and
shows the current research progress on a computer screen.
Respawn Station now has to be researched
The traffic signs now need to be researched
Networking:
Fixed a bug where changing the region from EU to something else wouldn't allow to create a room anymore.
Custom room names are now available. The last roomname you've created or joined is saved for ease of use
when starting Treefender the next time.
We've also added a room list, so you can jump into an open game and meet other Treefenders.
Enemies:
Fixed shooting sound not playing when squids fire
Added in a particle effect when a spacesquid fires for more readability
Added in a small charging animation when spacesquid is about to fire for more readability
Misc:
Reduced bloom post effect a bit
Reduced volume of the combat music a bit
More visual polish on the Limbo
Player names should now show correctly above other players
That's it for now. We'll be back soon with more updates. Happy Treefending!
Small update: Index and custom SteamVR bindings
Fixes
- Added support for the Valve Index
- Fixed some bugs with the tutorial not loading correctly
Additions
- A few decorative signs for you to decorate your treefort with. Use them to mark a zone for other players in your treefort, or to let the spacesquids know who's boss
- A lavalamp for some groovy ambiance
- There's now an options menu in the main room level
where you can adjust the angle of your controllers. We'll probably semi-automate this in the future with a default per Headset type. - Added option for music on/off
We're moving into holiday mode now. Back in September with more updates.
Happy Treefending!
Early Access out now!
The moment is finally here! Garden gnomes have been assembled, and aliens have become extra grumpy. Treefender is in Early access now!
What to expect from the current version (v0.4944)
Players can host a room with an unique code and share this with others to invite them. We’ll replace this with player typed names which will be remembered by the game, so you don’t have to copy/paste codes all the time.
Right now, there’s one level: “Neighbourhood" which gives us a good testing ground for new and improved features and stress testing the game.
There’s some secrets hidden in the neigbourhood. Aside from “shrooms" which you can grab to get a koinz boost, there’s also some red and blue ammo pouches hidden with unique slingshot pebble ammo types:
Exploding pebble
Devastating explosion on impact. Very good for destroying multiple enemies at once, or demolishing your treefort..
Ultra pebble
Shoots very far, and fast. One shots enemies.
Enemies
The rustic neighbourhood is soon disturbed by UFO’s dropping of their grumpy passengers. They come in waves, and each wave has a duration. Didn’t kill all enemies in time? Tough luck! New wave incoming!
Right now we have two enemy types:
Grunt
Basic allround unit. They have a medium move and attack speed, and can be killed with 4 or 5 shots.
Artillery
These green squids might look funny, but beware: they shoot a devastating artillery shell which shatters treefort and treefender.. Not to worry though: aim well with you slingshot and the shell will explode mid air!
Research
We’ve implemented a research system which allows you to research new buildobjects, stations and gameplay features. For now, now there’s not a lot to research still, and the researchtree is messy, but this will soon change when we introduce new buildobjects!
Gameplay
Will you research and invest in gardengnomes for an explosive experience? Be more of a hunter/gatherer and search for all the special ammo? Or are you more of a pacifist and build a ladder to heaven to completely avoid combat? We’re curious to see all the scenarios you think of!
Let’s see if you can make it till the end of the third set of enemies!
Known issues
The ultra pebble trajectory preview when aiming the slingshot doesn’t match up, so aiming is a bit difficult. It shoots pretty straight over quite a distance, so just try to ignore the trajectory preview atm.
We’ve done a lot of coding and testing for the enemies. As you might expect, synchronizing a lot of enemies and their individual health and orders in a multiplayer game, is quite a challenge. Though we think they already work quite well, expect more optimizations for them in the future. Enemies don’t make sound when shooting, so bullets are difficult to spot. Also we’ve seen healthbars not synching correctly.
Falling damage works sometimes. And sometimes you suddenly die when hitting a branch. We’ve reduced the amount of branch deaths, but they are not zero yet. Be careful out there..
Buildobjects might turn red and not yellow anymore. Workaround is selecting a different one from the menu, and then selecting it again.
Buildobjects might say they intersect and won’t place while that’s actually not true. Climbable rung has a bad habit of doing this.
Steam player names don’t update yet. Everybody is now called Playername.
“Hello Playername!”
Where to next?
For now, after a long period of getting things ready for early access, we’re going to sit back and watch for a bit. I’ll do my best to respond to questions and remarks though. There’s also some holidays planned.
Expect new updates starting September, where we’ll focus more on decorations to build and enemy behaviour. We’ll also start sketching out level 2, which will swap the cozy neighbourhood for a rocky pine forest!
See the roadmap for details: https://trello.com/b/FLNjSYdD/treefender-roadmap
Closing words
We hope you enjoy and have as much fun as we did developing and testing out Treefender so far. The adventure is really starting now, and I’m super excited to see what you’ll do with Treefender and how it will grow!
Cheers!
Bob
Treefender has a release date!
After building the tools to build a VR treefort
for a long time, the moment is almost here: Treefender will
open the doors to it's early access on 14-7-2022 and put these tools in your hands!
What will you build?
How will you repel the alien invasion?
What happens if you fall out of the tree?
Questions that will soon be answered!
