Q3's patch has finally come, bringing more content than any previous update. Check it out below!
Changelog:
The Void Mine is a new area where you can activate timers for in-game resources. You earn XP for a special drill through this activity, which will allow you access to better rewards!
Equipment pieces now have individual levels along with their rarity, which can both be increased using a new material called Synths; each level increases the stat boost by 2%!
Equipment level and rarity are now displayed on the icon while on the main equipment screens
The Combat Plaza is a new menu that will direct you to battling activities as well as the Void Mine; this replaces what used to take you straight to the Arenas
Hovering over a save file on the main menu now displays that creature's name
The Main Menu option on the Quit menu now goes straight to the title screen instead of the opening logo
The Evolution Goals screen now accounts for non-plural grammar where applicable
Updated Cheat menu to support various new variables
Changed text color of Equipment Price on Sell Equipment screen
Fixed specific equipment slot sometimes not displaying icon
Fixed RTC not properly updating when saving clock values
Fixed Stasis being available before egg hatching
Fixed text cutoff on Stats screen
Fixed text cutoff on Title screen
Fixed text cutoff on Equipment screen
This update also applies to the demo.
Make sure to check in during Q4 for our final and most critical update! Enjoy!
One Year!
Wow!
I am very proud to announce that as of tomorrow, VC has officially been released for 1 year. This is a monumental achievement for us, as there was a time I wasn't even sure this game would ever make it past alpha.
This project started when we were only 16, and went through one hell of a development cycle, being pushed back and tinkered with for 2 full years until finally making it to the golden release status. This was actually our first full game ever attempted, and we were happy to even get this far. Now, deep into our 3rd year of active development, we've been updating and expanding many aspects of the game, and VC is looking better than ever. So, how do we celebrating such an occasion?
Anniversary Sale!
For the next 2 weeks starting August 7th at 12AM PST, VC will be slashed by our maximum-allowed 88%. We hope some new people check it out, and look forward to our next major update, dropping in just 1 week!
Once again, thank all of you for helping us keep going, and we hope to see you even more in the future!
Devblog 1.4 - Void Mine + Beta!
Hello once again!
After a bit of a delay, all of the features for this quarter's update are finally ready. So without further ado, let's take a look at some new content! (Please excuse the lower resolution screenshots, I don't have access to the nice 1080p rig I had before)
The Void Mine
The Void Mine is the biggest new activity coming in Update 1.4!
What you see above is the map. Nodes are locked based on Drill Level, which you increase by successfully completing nodes of an equal level.
When you select a node, you see a percentage breakdown showing what might be obtained after completion. The level of the node effects the value of whatever you obtain.
When you start the drill, a timer begins that counts down in real time. You can go back and play other activities, or even save and close the game if you wish, and the clock will continue to move. Only 1 node can be active at a time.
Once completed, you will receive your reward, and your Drill XP will increase towards your next level. Over time you will be able to use this system to claim many rewards, including Synths to power up your equipment!
Drill Synths
If you're stocked up on Synths/Money and don't want to wait for the Drill timers, you can speed up any node by 30%! This can be done at any point during the timer.
Some Cut Stuff
I've decided to not include the previously mentioned "? Chests" in this update, as the entire concept started to seem ambiguous to the overall vision of the game, as anything this mechanic would have provided is already available through less obtuse means. It may be retooled and included in a future update, but for now, sayonara.
Beta Available Now!
As promised, the public beta for this build is now available! To switch your branch, simply go into the game properties on Steam, go to "Betas" and select the only public branch.
Save compatibility is not ensured if you switch back before the full update is available.
Approaching Release
If no additional bumps in the road are detected, Update 1.4 will be pushed to the main branch by August 14th! We hope to see you then!
Devblog 1.4 - Equipment Rework, Synths, More To Come!
Hello!
So, before we get into it, I would just like to say that this will work a bit differently than previous Devblogs; this time, I'll be splitting everything into 2 parts as there is quite a lot of ground to cover and everything isn't quite wrapped up yet. Additionally, the beta will not be available until said second post. This update might come a bit later then usual, but we're usually early, so all is still on schedule! Without further ado:
Synths & Synth Equipment
This is the biggest new addition coming in this quarter's update. Synth equipment will completely reshape the core progression of your play-through, as the quickest way to statistical advantage is now by obtaining and feeding "Synths" to any given piece of equipment, which will boost its active stat increase by 2% per level. This caps out at Level 9, where you can then (with a higher Synth requirement) increase the rarity of your equipment and reset the level counter! This means even basic, low rarity equipment can be upgraded to something potent if you so choose.
"How does one get synths?" you may be asking. That will be properly explained in the next blog! Just know for now that this new resource will become extremely important to any future sessions.
Equipment Rework
Along with all these additions to equipment came a rework of some of the core code. While this was mostly backend stuff, you will notice that on all inventory screens both the level and rarity are now shown directly on the icon itself! Hopefully this makes locating your important loot easier than before.
Combat Plaza
What previously directed you to the Arena menu now goes to our fancy new Combat Plaza! Each option has a simple description and will direct you to the appropriate activity.
Fun QOL Stuff!
Every update I usually take some time to go over old code or screens and clean it up a bit for the sake of polish and consistency. Along with some other useful things, the title screen now displays your creature's name alongside the appropriate save file! This was requested all the way back at launch and is finally here as a quick way to locate your desired save.
When Is This Coming?
We do not currently have a specific date for either the beta or full release of Update 1.4; please come back sometime soon for the second part of this devblog where I'll be going over the Void Mine, a new core activity for obtaining both new and old resources, and a special new chest type that uses a unique mechanic for giving you new equipment.
Stay tuned!
Update 1.3
Patch 1.3 is live!
Q2's patch is now up, offering some new content and a few improvements. Consider this the middle child while we prepare for the 2 biggest patches. Check it out below!
Changelog:
New Arena: Max - Test out the limits with a special arena that grants both your and the enemy's creature maximum possible stats. You won't earn any XP here, but you will still get a payout. The creature's you face will scale to your current tier
New Arena: Impossible - A similar arena meant as the real challenge for high level creatures. Like Max, the enemy will scale to maximum possible stats, however yours will remain the same. This has the highest XP and payout rate of any arena. You'll need to be at least level 40 to try!
Arenas now have dynamic payouts that scale based on difficulty. This should mean you get larger payouts more often
Timer-based minigames now display the remaining time underneath your current score
Fixed vertical text displacement on arena timer
This update also applies to the demo.
Come back in Q3 for the first steps of an exciting transformation for VC!
Devblog 1.3 - Cutbacks & Changes + Beta Available Now!
Hey there,
Back again from the void to give an update on some of what's coming in VC's next patch.
Cut Content
So, I'll get the disappointing news out of the way. Due to some new projects and my desire to stick to a time-based schedule, I have removed some features from 1.3 that I don't believe will be that necessary in the larger scope of what this game will be, that being the addition of new minigames. While it would certainly spice up one of the less interesting aspects of the game, it is also the most asset-intensive of any feature sans the new battle system, and for that reason it was cut. It isn't being moved further down the roadmap as of now, so unless VC sees updates past 2019 and I feel it deserves another look, it's gone. But... There's still stuff coming this patch! Without further ado, let's take a look at:
New Arenas
This update includes two all new arenas that function a bit differently than any currently included. For this reason, they will be placed in the Special section along with the Infinite Arena. So what are they, exactly?
Arena Max - This was designed to be a fun little scenario tester to mess around, no risks included. When playing in this arena, all stats of both your creature and the opponent's will use their maximum possible values! The creatures you face here will scale to your current tier. No XP is awarded for participating here, but you will get a little money, so it isn't a waste of time. There is no level requirement.
Arena Impossible - This arena is intended as an endgame activity for players who have gotten to a high enough level and obtained good enough equipment that they trounce all arena opponents. Want the highest possible challenge? Like Arena Max, all opponents will use maximum possible stat values - but yours will stay the same. This has the highest XP and money rate of any available arena, so it's a good spot to grind out those last few levels if you can take it. Your creature must be at least level 40 to participate.
Dynamic Payout Changes
Previously, when you lost an arena, the money payout was based on a static factor, as opposed to wins, where the factor was increased based on the difficulty of the arena. As of 1.3, difficulty now also effects the factor if you lose. What does all this nonsense mean? Well, in general, that should mean larger payouts from losses, although if you do really bad it'll turn out lower, as the base factor was turned down to compensate for this large increase.
Coming Soon!
As of this post, Update 1.3 can be tested from the beta branch. To switch your branch, simply go into the game properties on Steam, go to "Betas" and select the only public branch.
Save compatibility is not ensured if you switch back before the full update is available. The patch should be live on the main branch by April 14th!
See you all then!
Update 1.2
Patch 1.2 has arrived!
Our first quarterly update is now live, bringing many QoL features and some well needed fixes. I've pushed it up to today due to some scheduling issues with the planned date. Check it out below!
Changelog:
Players now receive daily gifts for logging in, escalating in value with a 7 day loop
Creatures can now be placed in "Stasis" for an in-game fee, where you can leave for an unlimited amount of time without risk of dying
Cheats can be accessed from a menu now present in options. Use the password "ihatefun" to activate it
The audio mix for all music and sound effects has been rebalanced, now being much more pleasant on the ears
The RTC system has been completely redone from the ground up, now tracking time at a much closer rate and no longer having rollover bugs
Hunger reduction over time has been reduced; your creature can now survive roughly a month without being fed
XP values in the arenas have been revamped to prevent players from abusing low tier and low difficulty options; the infinite arena XP rate has also been slightly decreased
The infinite arena no longer drains any hunger
Special arenas are now only level-locked and not tier-locked
Neglect or abuse checks are now done in-game and not purely when loading a save file
Stat increases for your matching creature type have been increased with every level up
Fixed bug with evolution that would break save files
Fixed Holy Staff equipment bug making low rarity useless, and high rarity too powerful
Many various adjustments or fixes that I forgot to write down
Check back in Q2 for our next major content update! Happy new year!
Devblog 1.2 - Daily Gifts! Sleep Stasis!
Hello once again!
I've slunk back from my hiding place (as promised) to deliver some info about VC's rapidly approaching 1.2 patch. This will be relatively short, as a lot of what's here was listed in the mega 2018 Devblog in fairly good detail. So, instead of going over everything byte by byte, which you can find in Devblog 2018 instead, here are some pretty screenshots and a quick overview of major features!
Daily Gifts
Every day you check in on your creature, you will be rewarded with a free gift, which could be anything from a chunk of change to a recipe you haven't discovered yet. Repeated daily logins up the value of the gift, which caps out at 7 days before resetting to 1. Missing a day resets the cycle as well. Enjoy your free stuff!
Stasis - For long breaks
Need to leave for an extended amount of time? Just don't feel like checking in? Well, here comes the QoL feature for you - Stasis! For a fee, you can put your creature into indefinite sleep, where it will not lose any hunger or happiness. You can close the game and open it whenever you want to check on your creature with no fear of lost progress. Any time-based features like Gifts will not progress while your pet is sleeping. The fee scales based on your creature - higher level, more powerful creatures will need more money to put away.
Cheats - the boredom cure
Wanna mess around with your creature? Give yourself all the money in the world? Check out the different evolutions? Well, go for it! A cheat menu is now present that you can activate from the menu and with the password ihatefun. This allows you to change just about anything you like regarding your creature and personal inventory.
Complete RTC Redo
This is a fairly backend thing, but the clock system has been completely re-coded from the ground up, and is now very accurate in measuring how long has past, with no more worries of progress wiping bugs. The death time has also been highly extended, with roughly a month of leeway available before your creature is at risk of dying, assuming it's well kept previously.
Progress curve rebalance
And finally, along with a host of bugfixes and slight adjustments, the XP curve has been rebalanced to prevent players from cheesing the whole game by spamming low-tier arenas or easy difficulties. If you take the harder options as they become available, you should hardly even notice this change.
So when's this all coming?
If you feel like you want to test this build early, feel free to switch to the beta build in game properties and give some feedback! (No save safety guaranteed) Otherwise, all that remains to do is a couple bugfixes pointed out to me by a player (thanks for that!) and the patch should be ready for a live build by Jan 31st! At some point in March, we'll be back again with Devblog 1.3! Stay tuned!
Devblog 2018 - New Year Roadmap! Beta 1.2 Available Now!
Hello everyone!
As promised in my ominous teaser post, more is coming to VC! I have decided that dropping support of the game myself and a few others dedicated several years and tons of work to just wasn't appropriate - and frankly, we would like to push this game into more awareness than it currently has. What better way to do that than free content?
For each quarter of 2019, a new major update will be released for no charge, offering expanded systems and entire new mechanics. Each of these updates will be preceded by a Devblog like this one, detailing the update and showing off screenshots/footage of what's new. Additionally, a beta branch is now open to the public where these builds can be tested before going fully live - in fact, the first build is available right now. Look below for details! Without further ado, here's a summary of each update:
Update 1.2 - Q1 2019
Stasis, Gifts, and Stabilizing The first update will focus on some general improvements and balances to prepare for the upcoming content. That doesn't mean nothing new is being added though! Here's a few important things to note:
Creatures can be put into "Stasis" for an in-game fee, where they can safely be left for an unlimited amount of time without risk of dying. For all those long trips or gaming breaks!
Completely redone RTC system - Yeah, the one we disabled in November. It had some issues, but after being completely rebuilt from the ground up, it's now not only functioning, but more accurate than its ever been. This also comes with a balance adjustment to allow creatures to live much longer; your pet can now last about a month uninterrupted before kicking the bucket!
Daily Gifts are now awarded to the player just for popping on to keep their creature alive. These work in a week-long loop, meaning checking in successive days in a row during each week will get you better stuff! This can be money, chests or even recipes you haven't discovered yet.
New Audio Mix - No more blaring 8-bit explosions or annoying beeps. Everything has been turned down, and the more "primal" sounds are much lower in the overall mix. Now eardrum safe!
Cheats! By typing the password "ihatefun" into a box located from the options menu, many faucets of your experience can be changed - Completely pimp out your creature, get all the best equipment, whatever you want. This was originally designed as a debug menu for myself, so keep in mind some values will use internal names and none of it is mapped out or explained, so you'll have to poke around to figure out what means what. Also, no warranties on that save file, they aren't that hard to break!
Some XP adjustments to the Arenas - Mainly to prevent people from cheesing the whole game by spamming low tier and low difficulty options. Less XP is generally given in the "Easy" arenas as well as the Infinite Arena, and participating in arenas of a lower tier than your creature now has a harder penalty. On the flip side, the Infinite Arena is now purely level locked and not tier locked, meaning that little blob can give it a go if you really want it!
Lots of little adjustments and bugfixes - Infinite Arena no longer drains hunger as to not kill you for completing it, death checks are performed in-game and not purely when loading a save, stat increases are larger on level-up and are based on your creature type, and any little bug I found I just squashed then and there to get this build really stable.
As mentioned earlier, this build is currently available as a public beta! To switch your branch, simply go into the game properties on Steam, go to "Betas" and select the only public branch.
Tada! For those who don't wish to mess with unstable builds but still want to see everything here in action, this patch will still get its own Devblog early in January.
Update 1.3 - Q2 2019
Expansion & Depth The second update will be focused on fleshing out existing mechanics before the jump to all new features. We want every faucet of the experience at the same level of quality! Here's a rundown:
2 new Minigames! Both sections will receive a new activity that serve the same purpose as the existing 4, to further your behavior stats and keep your creature happy. Yay for variety! The contents of the minigames will be explained in this update's respective Devblog.
New Special Arenas - The "Special Arena" section of the Arena menu will now be filled out past just the Infinite Arena with two new variations: Arena Max and Arena Impossible, respectively. As per the minigames, check the upcoming 1.3 Devblog for more info when it arrives!
Minor Improvements - Just like 1.2, lots of little minor changes are taking place as I go through the code and will be broken down in further detail in the Devblog!
Update 1.4 - Q3 2019
Void Mine, New Equipment & New Features! This is where it gets real. As you can tell, 1.3 is sparse enough to give us time to really pack on for the last 2. Here's what's coming:
The Void Mine is a brand new area that can be used to farm for items both new and old, with its own unique progression system. Players will use a Void Drill to mine "Sectors" on a grid-based map. When a Sector is selected, an RTC timer will be started that runs both while the game is running and while it's off, and when finished will grant both classic items like Chests and Money, as well as brand new ones explained below. As more Sectors are mined, the drill will level up, opening up new areas on the grid with different timers and drop rates.
New Item: Synthesizers - These special objects come in color variations matching each of the equipment colors, and can be obtained exclusively from the Void Mine. They are used to power up the brand-new "Synth Equipment" (see below) or to craft "Drill Synths", special consumables that temporarily increase the mining speed or rare drop % on your drill!
Synth Equipment - These equipment pieces match the types, rarity and colors of the current offerings, but are distinguished by a level found in the corner of their icon. This level can be increased by feeding Synthesizers to the equipment, and each level increases the stat boost by 2%, capping out at Level 10. Synth Equipment can also have its rarity boosted once you hit this max level, resetting it back to 1 and increasing said rarity by +1.
"?" Chests - A new chest type, exclusively obtainable from the Void Mine. These work differently from the default chests, as they have no color distinction; instead, the player pays with in-game money for different levels of identification, with higher levels giving higher rarity. What do these chests contain? Synth Equipment! Synthesizers can also be pooled into the identification payment to increase the chance of a certain color being obtained from the chest.
The Arena menu will be transformed into the "Combat Plaza". Really this is just a slightly nicer looking menu that separates into the Arenas, the Void Mine, and some new stuff coming in 1.5...
Equipment Rework - To line up with all this new stuff, a lot of the current equipment systems will have to be re-done. While this will mostly be backend stuff, one notable improvement to come from this will be having the rarity displayed right on the icon!
The 1.4 Devblog will break this all down visually and give some concrete numbers on timers, rarity, prices and Synth Equipment. Look forward to it!
Update 1.5 - Q4 2019
The Big One Always save the best for last. The final update will focus entirely on adding a massive new element to gameplay:
Turn-Based Battles - Classic RPG goodness. This was a feature always intended for VC that got cut pretty close to the wire and replaced with the Arena system. After so long, I'd like to finally bring it back into the fray. All your stats, equipment and crafting will play a role, and each creature will have a static set of moves that play into the 4 "stances" of the Arena.
Battle Towers - This is how you actually participate in these new battles! Added to the Combat Plaza will be multiple "Towers", each with a grid layout similar to the Void Mine. Each node will contain a set of creatures to face, with progress being saved, further nodes being unlocked and XP rewarded after every successful node. Clearing a tower will unlock the next, increasing in difficulty. These are separated by tier, just like the Arenas.
Daily/Challenge Towers - Adding on to this feature will be special Towers that net extra rewards! Daily towers rotate based on every day of the week, with progress being reset after every day or on tower completion. Every clear will net the player an item drop, and each day has different drop rates for different items. These are scaled to the player's level, meaning it will always be a mostly even challenge to complete a Daily Tower. Challenge Towers are unlocked after clearing all the basic towers, being extremely high level variants. These also drop items, however the rates are fixed for each tower. These 2 options are the only way to earn Drill Synths, however they can always be crafted!
The 1.5 Devblog will explain the battle system with more depth, and include some footage to see what it's like in action!
We really hope you're as excited as we are for this upcoming content! Each of these updates will coincide with a sale as we want as many players as possible to experience VC. Now that we're at the tail end of this announcement, we have a couple more things we'd like to discuss:
Steam Trading Cards
This is something we've wanted since the game launched, however Steam's hopeless "trust" system means we probably aren't even close to having that stuff unrestricted. As soon as we are able to, Trading Cards will be added.
Web Demo - Available Now!
A web version of VC's demo is available now online! At the moment it is purely being hosted on Newgrounds, however it will most likely be spread on other sites as well over time leading to Update 1.2 being released. Check it out if you want!
Holiday Sale
In celebration of this announcement, during the Holiday Sale VC will be 88% off! (We weren't allowed the full 90% :p) We would like lots of new people on board for next year.
Future Ventures
While VC has been turned back to being a priority for us, it cannot be our only priority as we want to grow as developers and as a potential business. This is still a niche product, and we want to reach different audiences and interests. As such, there are a few projects going on under the hood, and these may be the focus sometimes during the new year. I'll do my best to stay communicative and open, but please remember that nothing here is permanent or set in stone. Dates may get moved, features may be adjusted, pushed or cut, etc. We'll all do our best, and if anything changes - You'll be the first to hear about it.
