Underworld Ascendant is now live - Launch Info and Build Notes
Greetings, Underworld Ascendant players. Welcome to The Stygian Abyss!
Underworld Ascendant is now live. We are so excited to reach this momentous occasion and to share Underworld Ascendant with the world. We look forward to seeing how each of you approaches the many enemies and obstacles that stand in your way.
Here’s everything you need to know before heading into the Abyss:
BUILD NOTES
UPDATE: Some Chinese characters showing as a box has been fixed. We are looking at a fix for the same problem for Russian language text.
Player Hunger level can increase when game is paused.
Some metal doors can get stuck in their frame when opened.
Some audio might overlap when you play a memora log during narration.
Highlighting over the companion mind crippler shows additional outlines. This creature still behaves per normal.
There are rare areas where a skeleton would spawn in an unexpected area and not react to players.
Character punches the air after casting a spell with a wand.
Selecting sounds in the character customizer does not show box around the selected option.
If character falls into Valley in Titan’s Reach and has all the movement skills unlocked, they can survive the fall and become stuck.
In Tyball’s Folly, falling into water in the Necromanteion region causes players to be stuck.
Playing on the computer with a controller, exiting the game, rebooting the computer and starting up the game causes the game to be locked to playing a controller. You will need to replug the controller and reset the controls.
Corpses of Deep Slugs occasionally distort after reloading a level.
Thrown objects will pass through Aelita.
In one room in Murgo’s Prison some items will disappear after turning off a trap.
If you are climbing a chain while being hit by a Ripper, you are unable to get off the chain.
Some chains move on their own.
If an additional game is loaded while in-game, the faction favor could display inaccurate information.
Wooden chairs can sink in water.
Some items might be hard to see if they drop on soil.
Faction bonus popups add an extra “the” in front of the faction’s name.
Splashing into shallow water sounds like splashing into deep pools of water.
URUZ rune icon is different in spellwheel than in spellbook. This is a font issue.
Using Controller on OPTIONS menus that scroll, you need to use the right stick to scroll the menus.
There are some holes in the environments that are being addressed.
Formatting issues with some text with the quest tab, reward screen and subtitles.
Some fighting animations with a sword can miss collision with Rogue Outcast.
Text Formatting with Hints is inconsistent.
The Amethyst Ankh Amulet does not play a tune when near a treasure chest, as it should.
Gather quests do not have regions highlighted on the quest map as to where to find the items.
GENERAL INFO
Week 1 Bonus Items and Launch Discount Purchase the game week 1 to receive In-Game Bonus Items as well as 15% off of the retail price for the game. Offer expires 21 November, 2018 (9:59am PST).
Bonus Items: 2 quest companion creatures: Vorpa + Mana Leech
Downloadable map of The Stygian Abyss
Accessing Bonus Items: Retrieve the quest companions through the “Player Stash” in the Midnight Forum (near Aelita) in Marcaul. The Player Stash has a map icon to help you find it. When you open your stash, you get an auxiliary inventory UI and you will see the items in there. You can drag them to your regular inventory and equip them from there (there’s 1 special slot for equipping a companion, just like armor, etc.). Note: every new character the player creates will have those items sitting in their stash.
The map will be downloaded to a DLC Extras folder in your Underworld Ascendant Steam folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Underworld Ascendant\DLC Extras
You will also be able to access the folder from via the Steam library by right clicking the game, selecting Properties, Local Files tab, then select the Browse Local Files button.
FOR NEW PLAYERS
Do I need to know anything about the games this is based on? Nope! There’s a couple of throwbacks which veterans will catch, but the game itself is pretty contained. Keep an eye out for secrets…
This game seems… really hard… I can’t kill anything! First and foremost, this is a Looking Glass-style game. Here’s a couple of pointers:
If you spam light attacks too often, enemies will start to block more often. You need to vary your attacks.
Your weapons have durability, and not just from attacking! Defending / parrying too many shots can weaken your gear.
Exploration is key to survival. As you traverse deeper into the Abyss, you’ll notice there are a lot of enemies crawling around. Be sure to know your surroundings and use whatever you can to your advantage. (Ledges, traps, cliffs, etc)
Peek at the skill tree and play around with different setups! If you want to be more mobile, you may want to invest in the “Fighter” tree just for some mobility options. If you want to utilize more magic to give yourself more options, try out the “Magic” tree. And of course, if you’d like to go FULL “Garrett,” there’s always the “Stealth” tree.
COMMUNITY
Be sure to join the Steam Discussions or Discord ( https://discord.gg/UnderworldAscendant ) to share your experiences
FOR KICKSTARTER BACKERS:
I’m a Kickstarter Backer! How do I redeem my Steam key? You must log onto your BackerKit to access your final game key. Please log into BackerKit here with your Kickstarter login credentials, navigate to the Underworld Ascendant project, and then click on the Digital Downloads tab. From there, you should see your key to be redeemed on Steam. See below for DRM-Free info
NOTE: Whether you selected Steam or DRM-free for your final game key, ALL backers are receiving a Steam key. The game is still DRM-free (you can play offline or without launching the Steam client). We are still looking into non-Steam platform alternatives such as on itch.io / GOG .
When I load up Underworld Ascendant, it doesn’t play, and I was able to play the Backer Pre-Alpha / Alpha / Beta just fine! Make sure to delete your save files from the previous builds before playing Underworld Ascendant. You can find your save files under My Documents/My Games/Underworld Ascendant.
I received an email from BackerKit that my address was needed to complete my order, but I only have digital rewards. You can ignore this email! This is usually if you ordered Prototype Access and BackerKit assigned you a second pledge and it notices your address was left empty. Your launch key and rewards will NOT affected.
Other:
My game crashed! How do I send you a bug report? Please send us the output_log.txt, which can be found here:
C:\Users\[Your Name]\AppData\LocalLow\OtherSide Entertainment\Underworld Ascendant
I’m waiting for my / Mac / Linux key. When should I expect it? We expect the Mac and Linux builds to be finished after launch. We will continue to update you on our progress as we work on these versions of the game.
DRM-Free Version of Game for Backers For the DRM-free version of the game, we are still searching for a vendor. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you would like to use your Steam key in the meantime, it is is DRM-free and can be played completely offline and without launching Steam. We will update everyone when we have our DRM-Free distribution channel finalized.
Does this game support 21:9 or ultrawide monitors? At launch, no, not yet.
Claiming your Week 1 Promo Items
Players who have purchased the game before November 21 @ 9:59am PST can claim your bonus items at any time.
Quest companion creatures – Find the “Player Stash” in the Midnight Forum (near Aelita) in Marcaul. The Player Stash has a map icon to help you find it. When you open your stash you will see the items in the auxiliary UI. Drag them to your regular inventory and equip them from there (there’s 1 special slot for equipping a companion, just like armor, etc.)
Downloadable Map – You can find your digital map in the DLC Extras folder in your UA folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Underworld Ascendant\DLC Extras
You will also be able to access the folder from via the Steam library by right clicking the game, selecting Properties, Local Files tab, then select the Browse Local Files button.
Thanks for being the first to play Underworld Ascendant!
Nov 12 Weekly Update!
Wow, it's actually launch week!
I see there's been a lot of confusion about Backer Beta patch bugs, as well as what's going on with the release timing with Steam vs GoG, etc. I should have addressed most of these on the individual threads, but here's a general Launch Week Masterpost while I'm at it.
Some rewards, such as the talking skulls, lyrical lute, chalice of cabirus, etc are slated to be updated into the game shortly after launch. Other rewards, such as the Custom Theme Art and Custom Music are still being coordinated with backers, and thus we will continue to send those backers updates on how their rewards are progressing. Note that the redemption instructions are also included in the above link.
Launch Issues with the Backer Beta Patch: While the Backer Beta patch allowed players, such as our Mac and Linux backers, to play the backer build, it has also introduced some bugs that we are doing our best to track internally as we prepare for launch. Many submitted bugs are similar or have been fixed already for launch. We apologize if you are unable to play the Backer Beta as a result of a launch bug, but we're trying the best we can to make sure it's at least eliminated from launch.
Steam vs DRM-Free Key? As I've mentioned in another thread, we were caught by surprise that GoG could not host Underworld Ascendant at launch. We still need to fulfill our DRM-free promise, but as of right now, we are unclear if UWA will be hosted on GoG after launch as well. To play it safe, we're asking all backers to choose their key assuming that there may not be a GoG launch.
Please also note that the Steam key is actually DRM-free. You can play UWA offline and without launching Steam after you download the game.
...So How's Work? Dang it's been busy here.
It's been a huge push to the finish line here, and we're about to lock down the final build for our Steam launch this Thursday. I can't believe how far we've come in some areas. Optimization, cleaning up levels, patching holes, fixing some combat interactions, etc, have all really come together. We have major keybinding options, a cleaner UI pass on a lot of icons and inventory slots, and the feel has continued to improve.
That being said, remember that no game is perfect. Especially for a game with no scripted events. We'll be on the lookout for huge game-crashing bugs on launch, and we're excited to see how your adventures into the Abyss progress.
We'll see you all in a few days!
Week 1 Bonus Items: Vorpa, Mana Leech and Map
Underworld Ascendant launches November 15th and those of you who play in the first week will get special bonus items.
Vorpa - A companion that will attack enemies that are low on health
Mana Leech - A creature that gathers mana from the world and shares it with you when you are low.
Map - A map to help guide your way.
Make sure to wishlist the game today and then buy it in the first week to get these exclusive rewards!
New Underworld Ascendant Launch Trailer
We've launched a new trailer for Underworld Ascendant! It's got the latest visuals and a look at the skill trees you'll be able to choose to match your playstyle!
We launch November 15th! Play in the first week to get special bonus items.
Oct 22 Weekly Update & Reddit Announcement
Morning everyone!
I'm writing to you all from Argentina today, and I'll be back in the office on the 30th. Thankfully, I still have some cool updates for you all, even if I'm not in the office :D
First: We'll be holding a Reddit AMA on r/gaming Oct 25 at 1pm ET! We'll be talking about Underworld Ascendant, Deus Ex, Thief, Ultima Underworld, and LGS games... Hope to see a couple of you there!
And of course, if you don't have a Reddit account or can't participate live, we can collect some of your questions tomorrow via Google Form.
Second: We've been parsing through all the Backer Beta feedback we've received and tackling some of the problems that we've been wrestling with for awhile. (I'm looking at you, object highlighting and too much VO...) The external playtesters received a new build on the 20th, so if you're one of those, make sure that your branch was updated!
Third: We've been receiving reports of the Backer Beta failing to load to the Main Menu over the weekend. We're looking into this. We suspect this has to do with save files. Please let us know if you are experiencing this issue AND have existing save files on your machine (or none!) let us know.
Fourth: We've been working hard on preparing the physical KS goods, so please remember to update us at support@otherside-e.com if your BackerKit information is not correct.
As for how work in the Abyss is progressing, we've been upgrading UI and the look and feel of the game between weeks. Mobility should feel more natural, mantling is getting another pass, and of course cleaning over the levels to make sure there's no empty holes or missing tiles. We're finally updating some of the flame vents, which I'm pretty excited about. And of course, some optimization along the way whenever we can.
Overall, really excited to see some long-awaited updates going in. Here's some screenshots to give you an idea of some of the aspects we're improving upon, which includes the flame vents, a Kickstarter figurine prototype which just came in of Aelita, the physical merch goodies we have saved up from an in-office visit, and examples of skill trees we gave save files to for the latest external playtest. IMAGES HERE.
We've done our best to be transparent about our development process over the past year, especially as we've had time to dedicate to listening to the fanbase and set up a feedback loop so the team can actively work on features. I spent this weekend working with many of you, wrangling keys from BackerKit or helping you submit last-minute address changes before the KS shipments go out, as well as coordinating some of the last of the physical rewards. Just today, I was compiling all of the feedback you've submitted over the weekend so we can review it as a team and consider how we can address many of these points.
We have less than 4 weeks to deliver the game, and there's still a lot we'd like to get done. This means a lot of heads-down work as we get down into the weeds and polish up this game. There's so much improvement that's gone on in just the last two weeks, and some improvements are hard to track until you take a step back and compare the work from a couple of months ago to today.
Our next step this week, once the Backer Beta fixes are out of the way, is to make sure that we're entirely focused on our priorities up to launch. We'll share more on those details soon...
BACKER BETA AVAILABLE NOW
Our Backer Beta is available NOW for JOURNEYMAN backers and above!
First, we'd like to thank all of our external playtesters who tirelessly helped us discover some bugs we missed, as well as great feedback that is going to help us polish the levels going forward. Thank you for all of your support and patience!
We finally passed a big internal Beta milestone last week, and this means that our workload going forward will be:
1. More polishing. A lot more polishing.
The fun part about cleaning up an immersive sim-style game like this is how all of the attention to detail needs to go in at this stage. This means tweaking physics so not everything breaks with a single collision ("elephant in a china shop," was one of the most popular phrases passed around between the Backer Alpha and the playtest builds), cleaning up and tightening more of the levels, and then tying together the world with hand-placed narrative and making sure we review each of the levels with the updated state of the world changes.
2. The Backer Beta build! This is still being polished up, and I'm gathering all of the documentation necessary to make sure that returning players from the Backer Alpha have a list of changes that have gone in, as well as some instructions for any backers who are less familiar with how UA works.
3. Newsletter! This should launch the same day as the Backer Beta... that's all I'll say for now. :) So keep your inboxes open!
4. We're still working out an exact date and time, but sometime this month we'll be holding a Reddit AMA with some of the members of the OtherSide team! We'll be gathering questions in advance for anyone who can't make the date or time live, and post a link here once we've gathered more information. Now might be a good time to start brainstorming...
Oct 1 Weekly Update
Morning everyone!
First off, I just wanted to thank all of you who came by our table at BostonFIG on Saturday! It was a great show, and I got to meet general Underworld fans, a couple of Kickstarter backers, and some external playtesters at the booth. We were showing off a build that we made on Friday (which the external playtesters also had access to), and it was great to have a wide variety of feedback from both new and long-term fans.
Speaking of our external playtesters, we've been working closely with your feedback to improve, and there's been some significant upgrades to Marcaul, Cabirus, Typhon, and the general movement mechanics as a result. We've also been tweaking UI and improving some of the world interactions to improve the quality of life interactions you can have, such as mantling, making it easier to throw objects, removing the after-highlight trail of thrown objects, removing the held item highlight, etc.
For this week, it's going to be a lot of bug fixing and optimization, especially as we gear up to release the Backer Beta soon. We'll most likely post our monthly newsletter to coincide with the Backer Beta release timing, so keep an eye on your inbox...
It's a bit of a shorter-than-usual weekly update for you all, but we hope you'll be able to see for yourselves what we've been working on soon enough...
