Hey there orc hunters!
In this week's patch we bring you a new challenge to take, some new epic spells and a powerful adversary to test your skills against. Updated post-game stats better show each hero's contribution to the party's success. We've made some powerups much easier to use and fixed some nasty bugs!
See you in the Broken Lands!
Patch Notes
New
Added new Post-Game stats. Player's score now also depends on healing done, damaged parried and longest shot that hit the mark.
Added new Powerup - Scroll of Meteor. Use this mass destruction device to obliterate everything that stands in your path.
Added new Quest - A Burning Matter
Added new Enemy - Pyromancer
Added Walk Speed adjustment to Settings. Thank you to Dwight Frightening for this suggestion!
Improvments:
Powerups can only be grabbed from belt when player is looking at them. This is to prevent accidental grabs.
Crossfire crossbows will now automatically refil magazines when their power is activated.
Scroll of Cone of Healing is now Scroll of Healing Blast. Instantly heals players within range when cast.
Scroll of Healing and Healing Flask will now show healing VFX on targets.
Scroll of Ressurect now automatically targets dead players in the direction it was cast. No need to aim the projectile.
Scroll of Conjured Spear now has a little autoaim to help with targeting.
Bugfixes:
Fixed a bug where attacking with shield and some off hand weapons would sometimes not work while moving.
Drops will now properly disappear after some time.
Fixed dead enemies showing empty health bars after dying on clients
Fixed Red Crystal stutter when moving.
Fixed Green Shaman spawns in Trimming the weeds quest so they won't get stuck in geometry.
Fixed a bug where remote player damage effects could be heard across an entire map.
Scroll of Force projectile now regains its missing sound.
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Lets grow the Trickster family.
Update 18: A Warm Welcome
Here are some highlights from today's patch. For full patch notes, head below!
1. Melee weapons now have better collision with world and enemies.
2. Ranged weapons require ammo. Make your shots count!
3. Players and Enemies can now show Health bars.
5. We've added Powerups to make gameplay more varied and make some higher level spells accessible for beginner players.
5. We've added first part of the drop system. Ammo and Powerups can now drop from enemies and magic chests around the world.
Here's are the single use Powerups you can find during your adventures:
Scroll of Dragon Breath
Scroll of Fireball
Scroll of Force
Scroll of Conjured Spear
Scroll of Healing Spray
Scroll of Resurrection
Full Patch Notes
New:
Melee weapons now also collide with scenery and enemies when not being swung.
Ranged weapons now require ammo. Ammo can be found throughout the world and in drops from enemies.
Health bar options added to the game. You can choose between Health bars for players, bosses, all Enemies or none at all. (muh immershun!)
Added Power Ups to the game - single use magical scrolls, potions and bombs that drop from chests and enemies.
Improvements:
Desktop view now uses wider angle camera for better viewing experience.
Updated to newest Unity, SteamVR and third party plugins version for increased performance.
Parry sound effects are now more pronounced.
Weapon hit haptics are now stronger.
Gadgets and Powerups will now be properly visible in remote player's hand when picked up.
Guardian will now let you know when another hero dies and needs your help.
Players can now damage enemies with melee while moving or teleporting.
The Guardian will now periodically drop ammo and powerups during Wave Attack game mode.
Changes:
Changed how the Game Settings are saved. This may mean you'll have to change your settings again.
Dual Crossbows now reload 25% faster, shoot 25% faster, are 25% more accurate and deal 25% less damage with each shot.
Scroll of Fireball and Scroll of Force are now called Books. Their models have been updated. Functionality stays the same.
Lantern is now placed on the left side of Player's belt and no longer can be carried. This is to make room on belt for new PowerUps
Playspace Center marker is now on by default.
Green Shamans now must wait for 10 seconds to start casting heal after being spawned. This will make Keeper fights a little easier.
Game will now let players know when their play space is not set up properly.
Bugfixes:
Fixed a bug which caused basic enemies to remain silent during the fight.
Fixed overboosted sounds in Skyships, Islands and Quests.
Fixed an issue where last level in the game would not give it's reward ("The Kindness" dual knives)
Fixed an issue where setting lobby to private would in some cases not hide it from game list completely.
Fixed an issue where Party list would sometimes not show players in the group.
Hotfix 1 - August 26th
Fixed issue which caused voice chat to stop working.
Fixed ammo counter being occluded by controller on Oculus Home.
Fixed issue that would mess up text in multiplayer menu.
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Bonus Round!
How does the ammo system fit the Trickster gameplay? We would love to hear your feedback!
LET US KNOW IN A POLL HERE
Update 17: Black Iron
Update 16 - The Iron Forge
Hey there Orc Hunters!
In this week's update we're dropping in two new quests to complete in your adventures! Here's your chance to stand face to face with new mighty enemies, each sporting a set of never seen before abilities and tactics.
We've also added a handful of changes that you've asked for. Namely, Battle Axe received a new power and players can now move with bow pulled. Two handed weapons also got some love and now grip automatically when you move your hand towards the handle.
Did I mention all the unique enemies can now be found in wave attack as well? Yeah, that too!
Happy hunting!
-TricksterDev
Full Patch Notes
New:
New quest - Supply Chain
New quest - Trimming the Weeds
New Enemies with special abilities: Green Shaman, Forge Master, Keeper of the Grove
New tile for procedural levels.
Battle Axe gained a new special power and grows stronger with each hit while the power active.
Starter sword will now become transparent when you have to move it faster to damage an enemy.
Changes:
Players can now move with pulled bow.
Game will now show you how many items to unlock you have left and where to find them after first level is completed.
Two handed weapons will now automatically be grabbed when you move second hand close to the grip.
Unique enemies (Warchief, Forgemaster, Keeper of the Grove) have been added to Wave Attack mode.
Headshots now have a distinct, satisfying sound.
Two Adventure levels played in a row can no longer have the same quest.
Bugfixes:
Big enemies (Berseker, Warchief, Forgemaster) will now keep a more distance from the player when attacking.
Fixed bad colliders in some adventure mode tiles.
Fixed a little bug where two handed weapons would play a blunt sound when grabbed.
Grabbing a two handed weapons will now properly fire haptics.
Equipment switcher will no longer be displayed on controller when connecting to the server.
Throwing knives will now be held by the blade, as the should.
Fixed a bug where grabbing a gadget while holding a two handed weapon would not hide the weapon.
Fixed a bug where Warchief would sometimes stand in place when getting hit from a distance.
Fixed a bug which causes enemies to wander without purpose after they lost their target in wave attack mode.
Update 16: The Wolf
This week's update bring back the mighty Howler Bow and Scroll of Force. The pushback power of both of these items is enough to make your enemies vanish over the horizon. If you previously unlocked these items you can now instantly proceed to play our new favorite game - "Who can throw an Orc over that bridge?"
Dual crossbows received some well-required balance pass. Their reload time is now 1.2 seconds (up from 0) and time between shots is 0.25 seconds (up from 0.2 seconds).
To make you even more convinced bows are also worth your time, we increased their damage, arrow flight speed, range and arrow physical force by 25%
There is also a few important bugfixes coming in this update. Most notably - you'll no longer switch back to starter weapons when joining a coop game.
Full Patchnotes
New:
Added Scroll of Force.
Added The Howler Bow.
Female Avatar is back. You can switch to it in the settings.
Added enemy head shot hit icons for more clarity in combat. These can be turned off in the menu.
Changes:
Crossfire crossbows now take 1.2 seconds to reload, up from, well, 0
Crossfire shot cooldown increased to 0.25 seconds, up from 0.2 seconds
Arrows shot from every bow now fly 25% faster.
Increased the number of spawned enemies on casual difficulty on big islands to make fights more common.
Bugfixes:
Fixed a bug where dead enemy would grunt on hit on clients.
Fixed a bug where walking into dead enemies' weapons would damage the player.
Fixed a bug which caused equipped items to vanish when joining a game.
Fixed a bug where when upon rejoining the same game twice, player would see his last equipment hovering in the air.
Fixed a bug where Guardian would sometimes call for help during Adventure levels.
Fixed Power meter working erratically on Defender's Insignia, The Kindness and Whirlwind.
Defender's Insignia will no longer charge its power after 1 hit.
Update 15: Co-op
Since the launch of early access, coop has been to most requested feature in Trickster. Starting today, you can bring a friend to the Broken Lands, or find new companions on the battlefield!
Summarized Patch notes
Coop is now available (duh!) for both adventure mode and wave attack
The more players in the game, the harder orcs punch and the more life they have.
When using melee weapons, players take 50% less damage.
Skyships are now present in wave attack mode.
Red Crystal now shoots energy orbs instead of a death ray. It also summons helpers during the fight.
Warchief now calls reinforcements during combat.
Blue Shaman's force field can be cracked with a few shots.
You can now choose the movement direction to be based on head or controller in twin stick locomotion.
Weird bug that made the UI unresponsive is no more!
If you're curious, more detailed patch notes are available at the discord server.
Which brings us to...
Discord server - Looking for Group
If you want to team up for orc slaying, discuss important stuff or just wish to say hello - great news. We now have a dedicated discord server.
Come say hi at https://discord.gg/EgSfrqH
All that is left to say - lets hunt some orcs together!
PS. Due to balancing issues, Howler Bow and Force Push Scroll will be inactive this week.
Try out the Co-op Alpha!
How about starting your weekend with a few rounds of team orc slaying?
Sticking to the plan, today we launch the Coop Alpha Test. For the next month or two, we'll work on expanding it, until it has all the features (and more!) of the offline version. Coop Alpha Test is available right now on the experimental branch. Feel invited to try it out!
A few things to know before joining in:
Gameplay
There are up to 4 players in each game.
Only Wave Attack mode is available. It has been redesigned for best multiplayer experience.
Orcs get harder to beat the more players are in.
Host player (first one to join) picks the level to play.
Not every weapon is implemented yet.
Matchmaking
Cloud server is located in North America. If you're from Europe, you'll get around 130 ping.
Matchmaking is automatic for now. If there is a game in progress, you'll join it when you start the game. If not, you'll become the host.
There is no host migration as of yet. When host leaves, game ends.
Voice Chat
Voice detection by default. You can enable push-to-talk as well as change its volume in the settings
Number of Players
With this being on experimental branch, expect that there will be times with no players around. It's best to get a friend to join you.
FAQ
Q: How do I enable Coop Alpha? A: Right-click Trickster on steam, select Properties, BETAS tab, choose "Experimental" from the dropdown.
Q: When will Adventure mode be added? A: Mid June, possibly earlier. After the full matchmaking features and remaining items are in.
Q: When will this be on default branch, for everyone to play? A: When all the features from offline version are in and no critical bugs are present. End of June / beginning of July.
Q: When will coop version be available on Oculus Home? A: At the same time as it's released to default branch on steam. I run tests on SteamVR because it's faster to work with.
Bugs and Feature suggestions
Love to know your opinion! Share your thoughts in a dedicated thread here:
Come say Hi in the Broken Lands!
Hotfix and the State of the Co-op
A new hotfix to last week's patch with some important bugfixes and requested features you asked for. Also, a little insight on where we are with the co-op mode.
A brand new hotfix!
Changes and Improvements
Blink teleport is now default for Teleport Locomotion.
Added an option to change dialog volume to options.
Entering the portal without melee or ranged weapon will make player equip the default one.
Ballistas now use teleport assist to easier move player into right position.
Skyships now explode when shot down, killing the crew on the spot.
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where enemies dropped from a killed skyship would be invincible.
Fixed a bug where switching to two handed weapons would make them appear with wrong rotation.
Fixed a bug where pooled arrows would continue their trail from last position.
Fixed a few places where orc projectiles would get stuck on invisible objects.
Fixed arrows getting stuck in enemy spawners on mission end.
Fixed a bug where skyships would sometimes drop troops on level entry portal.
Skyships will no longer bleed and scream in pain when damaged.
Skyships will no longer drop troops through Cathedral's roof.
Fixed a bug where Find the flock objective in Murder the flock quest could not be completed.
State of the Co-op
As some of you already know, we have a great ambition to bring online coop to the game. The work has already started and I'm happy to say that with client-sided hit detection the game maintains its fast paced and responsive feel. This of course only works now in a test enviroment, as all of the game components are slowly being upgraded to broadcast relevant data over the network.
First test version will be available at thebeggining of May on experimental branch. The goal of this version will be to test the netcode and how well unity relay servers can support a bandwidth-heavy VR game.
What will the experimental version include?
4 player wave attack game mode.
Basic enemies.
Starter weapons.
Simple UI-based lobby system. (boring, but fast and easy!)
Placeholder player models (think RecRoom dismembered ghosts)
PS. Adventure mode should also happen around that time, although the quests will come later.
Update 14 - A Friend in Need
Update 14 - A Friend in Need A big update, just in time for the weekend. Drop into the Broken Lands to say hello to your new companion. His out-of-this-world voice will smoothly guide you through your adventures, with just a tiniest bit of mockery. And yes, we do have some new tools of the trade to try out!
Scroll of Force Ever wanted to fling orcs to their deaths with a flick of a finger? You'll love this one. This short range spell is a great tool to make some breathing room when you're surrounded. Plus, there is something weirdly satisfying about using it. You can find it in Nordhall.
The Kindness Double treat for knife lovers. Its very short range and almost no defensive capabilities makes it as dangerous for the wielder as for the victim. It makes up for it with high armor piercing damage - don't have to look for open spots on heavy armored enemies any more. Its "Fan of Knives" special ability makes it easy to clear enemies right in front of you. As a bonus, holding the trigger on your controller makes the character switch to "blade down" grip. Find it in The Hollows.
Full patch notes below!
New features and improvements
Added a new outwordly companion to guide you through the world of Trickster! UpstartCrowe did a great job recording tracks for the character.
Added a new weapon - The Kindness - dual knives to play out your favorite rogue fantasy.
Added a new gadget - Scroll of Force - Send your enemies flying, just like you always wanted to.
Orcs gained 13 new voice lines. Additional credit for UpstartCrowe!
Reduced Red Crystal ray rotation speed by 70% on casual and 30% on brave difficulty. Will make it easier to beat.
Added a helper for teleport locomotion users to move next to the campaign map easier.
Rift users can now use grip trigger to pick up weapons and select levels
Players can now change in which hand they want to hold the bow regardless of their dominant hand.
A new sound effect for heavy damaged player.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed a bug where Smooth Controller turning would not be remembered after the game closes.
Fixed a bug where changing dominant hand with crossbow equipped would break it.
Fixed a bug where hit percentage and kill streaks would not be counted for some weapons.
Fixed crossbow bolts not getting stuck into the terrain.
Fixed a weird invisible terrain glitch at the top of the stairs in broken tower tile.
Fixed treasure chest shooting blood particles in the air.
Fixed a bug where killing crows on casual difficulty would sometimes complete the quest multiple times.
Hotfix 1 - March 24th:
Added new voice lines to wave attack mode - portal will now politely let you know when you're slacking.
Added new voice tips to each quest.
Added new misc portal voices.
Update 13 - The Voice of the Enemy
New features and improvements
Orcs gained 26 new voice lines, professionally recorded by UpstartCrowe.
A big thank you to the man!
Arrows will now show sparks when hitting armor.
Improved The Defender's shield model.
Starting a level at casual difficulty will show a hint about finding quests on the level.
Quest Tooltip will now show all the subtasks of the quest at the start of the level.
Quest marker - blue pillar of light - has been made more visible.
Exit portal will be inactive if the quest on the level is not completed.
Bow and Sword will automatically be equipped if entering a game level without any weapons.
Improved Arrow Stuck system.
Reduced damage from Hunter Orcs by 25% on casual difficulty to stop them from being the main cause of death for new players.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where red lines where visible on side edges of some headsets.
Fixed a bug where having 1 life point left would show a black death screen.
Fixed a bug where some generated levels were only 3 tiles long.
Fixed accidental Lantern grabs when pulling the bow.
Update 12.5 - The Ruins of a Better Past
Dropping some important bugfixes and requested features in this week's update. Plus an ancient cathedral to explore and a great looking on-screen damage effect that does not block the view.
New features
Added a new floating island - the cathedral.
Added new player screen blood effects.
Added Unity Analytics to track game performance.
Player Related Improvements
Redesigned player menu for better readability and more room.
Vertical distance player can travel during teleport has been reduced by half
Added 180 degree tracking screen overlay,
Oculus Touch users can now rotate play area in Hold To Walk locomotion.
Oculus Touch users can now hold thumbstick forward for continuous teleport in teleport locomotion.
Enemy Improvements
Improved Enemy skill in avoiding walking inside the player.
Orc Hunters will now be better at finding a good angle to shoot from.
Updated Orc Heavy Armor texture for more contrast with squishy parts.
Blue Shamans will no longer move while casting spherical shield.
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where sometimes orcs would stand motionless and do not react to player actions.
Fixed Orc Hunters often shooting too high and to the left of the player. They will be more accurate on higher difficulty now.
Fixed a bug where items would stay on portal island during wave attack.
Fixed a bug where items would sometimes fall to the ground when picking them up on portal island.
Fixed Orc Hunters not being keen on shooting the portal in wave defense.
Fixed a bug where orcs would sometimes get stuck standing straight after parrying an attack.
Fixed a bug where fast sequence of teleports in Reduced Motion mode would freeze the teleport marker.
Fixed a bug where step turning was not working on joystick locomotion on vive.
Fixed missing black overlay after Player dies.
Fixed persistent tooltip on Hold To Walk locomotion on Oculus Touch.
