It's that time again! Time for a major Wayward update to be released into the wild. And into the wild, you shall go. A harsher wild this time around, one where you are not only surviving your bodily needs, but now also surviving the elements with the introduction of temperature in this update. Temperature is only a taste of what is to come as this update is one of the biggest ones we have ever released. A few notable changes include:
To help celebrate the release, Wayward is -20% off for the next 7 days.
Less talk, more video:
[previewyoutube="KwYRwu_7JMg;full"]
The original plan with this release was to further what we brought forth with the original "Seafarer" update, but to include even more of our lofty goals and deep systems to improve the "feeling" of these new island types. Those island types being of the new ice cap and arid biomes, now each with their own set of temperature challenges. Even with everything here, we still have more we want to do. So stay tuned!
Well, it's taken awhile to get here, but we finally have something "close" to the eventual release ready for testing. There's still a few fixes to get in, and a few more content updates before this fully goes live, but it's pretty close now.
If you want a sneak peek at what we have in store, download and try the development branch today! Change your branch in Steam to "development". More information on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721479594
As always, make sure to back-up your important saves and data before switching to and while using the development branch!
Thanks for helping us find any issues! You can play the game normally, or help us debug or polish any of the following from the (unsorted) changelog below:
While we are still working away on beta 2.10, "Seafarer+", our next major release, I thought I would share a bit of what we are working on while new players enjoy the deal going on right now of -25% off Wayward on Steam for the next few days. Enjoy!
Item Qualities, Magical Properties, and Mastercrafted items
There is a new item quality system implemented which reduces some of the confusion in the previous system in terms of colors and naming, which have both been redone. This new system decouples the old legendary item system that only allowed for a single magical property to be included on legendary quality items. Now, any item can have magical properties, and sometimes even multiple properties. The amount is still tied to the item's quality, but no longer specifically tied to legendary items, which have now been renamed to "exceptional".
There is, however; a new maximum tier quality, called "Mastercrafted"; only possible to obtain through high efficacy crafting with decent skills. These items are super durable, have a huge impact on skills/actions used by them, and can feature up to four magical properties per item.
Treasure Hunting & Maps
Treasure hunting and maps have had a complete overhaul. The mapping system now looks a lot more thematic and hand-drawn, improving the aesthetic substantially. The treasure maps can also be reversed and rotated, increasing their difficulty and improving the gameplay portion of finding the locations. We plan to improve this new gameplay feature by expanding the treasure hunting system to include riddles and hints as well. Oh ya, and there's even a chance a map can feature more than one treasure now! Preview this new system in the video below.
[previewyoutube="5IWwO7uDvHk;full"]
Maps will now fade and deteriorate like before, but now look a whole lot spiffier when doing so.
Action Tiers & Item Inspection
As hinted at above, items will now vary in effectiveness when used in certain actions or skills. For example, a fishing net will be better at catching fish than a fishing pole (among other benefits). This effect is furthered by the item quality as well. Here's a look at this system including a sneak peek at the new item inspection mode which will reveal even more information on each item.
Animations & Notifiers
We have teased the new attack animations a bit, but there is also a bunch of new notifiers available; those icons that pop-up over your character, that now show over creatures in certain instances as well.
Every attack damage type has a unique animation, including traps that animate over the creature or player. Ranged items like throwing, slings, and bows will now animate the ammunition along its trajectory. There are new pop-up notifiers showing creatures becoming tame or untamed, status effects to your player (like getting poisoned or burned), items close to breaking or destroyed when crafting or on use, water ready to drink on water stills, and more!
The purpose of all this is to provide more visual feedback to the player without the need for reading through your messages with each action. This video showcases most of these new additions.
[previewyoutube="k1-A-fQ5B2w;full"]
Tin and Bronze
What's the point of copper without bronze? Well, with the addition of tin, bronze is now obtainable! This new maximum tier metal is better than iron in most ways; however, has less durability and is a lower tier in some specific cases; so both materials still have their individual uses. Tin will now take all the hate from copper going forward!
Melting & Temperature
We already talked a bit about the new temperature system in our last newsletter, but we are furthering this system by allowing things to melt or decay faster or slower depending on the temperature. For example, snow tiles too close to raging fires, or raw meat in a hot backpack.
This example video is a sped up a bit just so you can see tiles melting and turning into puddles. If there is enough water on a tile, it will convert itself to a pool of shallow water. We also see at the beginning that apples decay slower while in the colder climate of the ice cap, and even slower while in a chest.
[previewyoutube="dQv7SfjxYOc;full"]
New Timeline
We bite off a bit more than we could chew here with everything, and as a result, we will be delaying this release a bit until we get everything polished. It will be no doubt one of our biggest single releases to date. That being said, if you are interested in any of the above, all of it is playable and more in the development branch and we are already gathering feedback from players as we make the changes.
Stay tuned for more!
Beta 2.9.6 Released
So, with a bit of delay, this should be in fact be the last minor patch in the 2.9.x series of releases.
On to bigger (and better) things! As previously mentioned, we are taking another stab at this whole Seafaring thing and improving multiple aspects of it for the next major release. You can read more about it in our latest newsletter: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/379210/view/2874942454047808303
If a weapon has multiple damage types, it will use both of them on each hit. Each value in a resistance will reduce the damage by one, and each vulnerability will increase it by one. As an example:
You hit a scorpion with a wooden sword that deals 3 blunt/piercing damage. Scorpions have a resistance of 1 against piercing and a vulnerability of 2 against blunt with a base defense of 2. The scorpion would take 2 damage (3 - 2 - 1 + 2) in this scenario when other factors like skills are not applied.
You can read more about attacking and damage in the new help article available in-game.
Hey everybody! No patch this weekend, but we have a newsletter for you instead while we finish up the next patch. More on that below.
Week Long Deal
There's still a day or so to get Wayward for -10% off on Steam! The offer (and week) ends September 21st.
Beta 2.9.x
While our latest update (beta 2.9.5) wasn't too crazy exciting relatively speaking; it was a culmination of a couple of weeks of work while I was moving houses, and mostly done by the other team members. The next update (beta 2.9.6) we have in the queue is much of the same while I get settled in. Expect to see more bug fixes, balance tweaks, and general improvements including the advancement of the crafting sorting features:
The "Best for Crafting..." sort options are now combined into one, making it a good default active sort to use along with the new "Protect" item feature when crafting for the best results.
This special sort takes into account quality, tiers, weight (lower the better), and durability of items and attempts to weigh them against each other to find the very best items for crafting.
Item protection will also be getting an upgrade:
Protected items are now protected from disassembling, throwing, and dropping in destructive ways.
Expect to see these and more coming up in the next week or so. Much more exciting is the work we are doing on beta 2.10.0, our next major release which we entitled, "Seafarer+".
Seafarer+
Our next update, as previously revealed will focus on the advancement of the traveling and island biome systems.
This major update will be a collection of everything we couldn't fit in for the last update. More content and unique scenarios for the different biomes, temperature, and world mapping are some things on the docket this time around.
Here's a preview of some island art that will be showcased on the world mapping screen:
There's still a lot up in the air with temperature (haha), but here's a preview that may or may not be at all accurate in the released version:
Temperature will be introduced as at least two new status effects, "Overheating" and "Freezing", leading to negative consequences and longer-lasting status effects ("Heatstroke", "Frostbite") if left unchecked. Many things will affect your body temperature including equipment, the tile you are standing on (or around), the biome type, fires/doodads, creatures, day/night, and more! There will be many ways to control being too hot and too cold with items as well such as with eating and drinking hot/cold things.
Oh ya, and take a gander at some upcoming modding changes, allowing you to create a mod page right in the game:
Mod `README.md` files can now be viewed in-game.
Video Showcase
If you didn't already watch it, Splattercat made another video on Wayward for this new update and new year:
[previewyoutube="vhS_W3FEZng;full"]
We're always super appreciative when he does a new video as it has become a huge source of new players discovering or rediscovering the game!
Mod Showcase
Special shoutout to slayerjerman who has been working a lot on graphical and music mods for Wayward, replacing our art and music with likes of that from Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and The Legend of Zelda. Here's the full list of all mods released so far by slayerjerman:
While they don't replace everything at the moment (that's a monumental task), it's quite interesting to see how other art styles and game art look in a Wayward context.
Modding Update Guide
Speaking of modding, check out the recently released modding update guide video I produced for those of you that need some help updating a mod. It doesn't even need to be your own mod!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT2VLY7isiY
Feature Voting
Although our feature set is fairly predetermined for the next major, we'll always refer to our voting results for new upcoming features. We've recently updated and added some new options for upcoming releases. Make sure to get your voice heard here:
As much as I like answering all the questions we get on the forums and our Discord, a lot of the times these answers are found on our FAQ page. Check it out and let me know if I am missing anything. It's also a great way to learn more about the game and its development.
We're back this weekend with another minor patch! Apologies on the delay for this one. Things are finally settling down for me again after a recent move.
This week we have a bunch of bug fixes as per normal as well as some general improvements, many of which are community-submitted from our Discord and on the Steam forums.
Bonus Tip
Not all resources can be found on the starting coastal island. Many resources, creatures, and plants are unique to each island type or are more commonly found in certain biomes. For example, although clay can be found near swamps and in caves near water on the starting coastal islands, it's much easier to be found all over the arid island type including under all desert sand. Iron is most abundant in ice cap islands as another example.
Bonus Promotion
SplatterCatGaming once again graces our community's presence with a brand new Wayward video!
A new weekend, a new set of changes! This time around we have a pretty substantial set of changes for balance as well as a brand new item protection feature ready for everybody to check out.
You can hover over items and use "P" or right-click them and select the "Protect" option to protect items. Protected items will not be used in crafting, dismantling, or auto-carving (from the action menu), so you never have to worry about crafts breaking your prized axe anymore!
Bonus Tip
There are more differences between resting and sleeping than just being able to cancel out of rest. While you rest or sleep, your hunger and thirst rate is reduced and your stamina and health are regenerated. But these effects are stronger when sleeping. You can only ever rest until you have full stamina, whereas with sleeping, you will sleep for as long as you aren't interrupted among many other factors including your camping skill and whether you are around a fire source.
There's a lot more to this and is explained in full detail within the help menu located in-game by pressing the "?" icon in the top menu bar or by pressing "/" by default.
Bonus Promotion
Check out our newly updated voting page for helping us prioritize upcoming features. Not everything is listed here of course, but most of the major things are.
Some more bugs bite the dust in beta 2.9.3. We have also refined the modding workflow and improved a few areas of the game including performance. Take a gander at what we tweaked and fixed this week with the changelog below.
Also, for any TARS fans out there, check out that beefy list of changes!
Bonus Tip
What's better than getting headbutted by a goat? Well, a lot of things, including taming them and letting them produce milk for you. Goats can easily be tamed with leaves (by offering them, or by leaving them on the ground). You can attempt to "Gather Milk" with any liquid container when facing the goat. Make sure to keep taming it so it can produce more and more milk over time. Petting goats will also help them produce milk faster.
Bonus Promotion
Wondering where most of these bugs are being uncovered at? Our Discord of course! We have a great Discord community full of theory-crafting, bug hunting, and general fawning over upcoming features.
Have an old mod you need to update? Not sure where to start? I did a modding update guide video with an example mod to perhaps help you out with that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT2VLY7isiY
Another weekend, another release! So, it turns out there was more issues to fix up. Quite a bit more in fact. Thanks for all the reports! Keep them coming if you find any new issues.
There's a few new feature and improvements thrown in for good measure too. Enjoy!
Bonus Tip
For an alternative water source, you can build wells. These wells produce water based on where they are built. The rate of water corresponds directly with where they are built in relation to the cave system below them. Build them over impassable terrain like rocks in the caves and they will slowly trickle in groundwater. Build them over underground lakes and water sources and you will get an unlimited source of water. Build them over dirt, gravel, or other passable terrain and they will not produce any water. If you have a cave entrance nearby, you can count the steps or tiles to judge where to build it above ground.
Bonus Promotion
Check out our Twitter for keeping up-to-date on everything Wayward. We tend to post smaller updates and news pieces there that are too small for a Steam news post.
First off, I want to thank you all for the great turn-out for this major release so far. I've had tons of fun checking out all the new changes/content and traveling with everybody in multiplayer.
This patch will hopefully fix most lingering, serious issues to the game while we get started on the next major patch. As mentioned previously in the major update patch notes, we want to get started right away on a bigger update instead of supplying a bunch of smaller patches. In theory, this is the last smaller one, but we'll continue to fix any issues as they are encountered and reported. As always, you can stay up-to-date with our nightly changes on the development branch in the middle of bigger releases where we aren't patching as often.
If you were unfortunate enough to have the seed corruption issue, please send me your save along with the seed that you set an I can restore the issue for you. It looks like this issue was pretty rare, but we have fixed any future issues concerning it.
Bonus Tip
Did you know that planting seeds and growing plants in fertile soil will not only make them grow faster but also spread to adjacent tiles once they reach the "ripening" stage? Each plant has their own unique growth rate and spread amount.
