A new update is live featuring all new sound effects, bug fixes, and improvements to audio across the game. There are still a number of sound effects changes still to come, but this update gets us a lot closer to a polished audio treatment for the game!
All Changes and Updates For Version .72 Early Access:
Added all new sound effects for combat abilities! Big Shot, Stress, Regen Serum, Focus, Lock On, Praise, Praise All, Foresight, Meditate, Incapacitate, Treaty, Antidote, Sniper Shot, Demoralize, Power Module, Takedown.
Added new sound for selecting buttons/targets with the controller.
Fixed bugs where ambient audio and sound effects were not following the volume setting set by the player.
Fixed ambient audio in the field to be about 1/6th of the Music volume. Fixed the night-time ambient audio not being changed and always being at 100% volume.
Made most sound effects have their volume changed programmatically to match the sound effects volume setting. Generally raised the volume of sound effects.
Adjusted timing for many ability vfx and sfx.
Fixed bug where Cover Fire and Wild Shot ability VFX were rotated away from their targets.
Added handling for "All" and "Row" abilities to not play multiple overlapping sounds, causing volume spikes.
Fixed no sound effects playing when advancing dialogue with the controller.
Fixed edge cases where some characters would have the wrong models when reloaded from a save game.
Fixed baby Raun bugs with walk animations during Rush and Raun Kick ability sequences.
Fixed a bug where some character slots in the Unit UI could not be clicked on for stat inspection.
Fixed edge case bug with cursor not resetting to a button after closing the Character Info View during encounters.
We love hearing from players, so please send us your feedback on our Steam forums or official Discord Server. It's also a huge help to get more positive reviews on our Steam Store Page. Look out for continued updates!
Version 0.71 Fix Build is now live!
Fresh off of our major v.70 release earlier this week, we've just pushed another small update full of additional bug fixes, and some all new combat sound effects.
Change List for Version v.71:
Fixed soft crash in Era 2 Repair mission and other missions featuring the "Drone Specialist" enemy class.
New Sound Effects added for Poison Cloud, Rally, Menace, EMP, and War Horn abilities. Expect many more new sound effects to make their way into the game in future updates (we're aware a number of abilities are missing sfx at the moment).
Fixed some damaging abilities not displaying their base damage range in tooltips. Fixed some will healing abilities displaying their heal amount as stamina damage in tooltips.
Peeking to view stats in encounters no longer hides the targeting cursor once the stat UIs are hidden.
Updated a number of text strings throughout the game to fix formatting and grammar errors.
Fixed bug with cursor placement/navigation in the HQ Atrium when tutorial messages were present previously.
Fixed a number of issues where hidden screens would trigger input mistakenly when trying to interact with message boxes or HQ dialogue.
Version 0.70 Major QoL feature update now live!
We've just released a new update (version 0.70 Early Access) that includes a massive list of fixes and new features across the game. The team has been working to address the community's feedback while getting brand new content ready for our 1.0 launch later this year. Take a look at all of the changes below, from QoL features in combat to full controller support, and more!
Change List
Added a "Skip Round Break" feature. In the "Command Panel" in combat, there is now a button that will prevent the game from pausing between combat rounds.
"Skip Round Break" and Auto-Battle settings now save and stay across missions.
End of combat results screen now animates in, and XP gain bars are animated. Sound effects added here as well.
Characters in the back row receive less damage from Stamina damaging attacks targeting them. Characters using physical (stamina) damaging abilities from the back row deal lower damage to the target. Will damaging abilities are not affected by row.
Demoting a character's class in the job tree no longer resets their Will stat. Class changes no longer change a character's "Region of Origin" stat.
Drone Specialist class abilities now have new visual effects (Mind Ray, Cover Fire, Lock On)
Town rewards/tributes are altered by your reputation at the time of securing. A new UI will appear with the modification to the coin total based on reputation in parentheses (+10).
Added helper UI in combat to expose the combat fast forward keys, and the stat "Peek" feature. Helpers change to match controller buttons as well.
Fixed duplicate inputs firing when using a controller. There should be no jumping cursor between UI buttons, for example.
The Joystick can now be used to select targets, in addition to the LB and RB buttons.
Game download size reduced by ~2.5GB! The game takes up less space on disk and updates will be smaller in the future.
Fixed a number of bugs with the transition between mouse & controller modes in the UI.
Fixed incorrect button images displayed in the UI for some platforms.
Fixed errors related to the placement and "parenting" of the controller cursor.
The controller cursor now follows your target during target selection mode. The chance-to-hit text follows the cursor.
Fixed the joystick axis sometimes moving to the bottom left in the RTS view.
The "Command Button/Start Round" button can how be navigated to directly with the cursor, in addition to its button trigger. The Finisher Enabled slider is now controllable with the joystick as well as a button press.
Fixed issues with controller focus when tutorial message boxes appeared in encounters.
Fixed issues with controller focus throughout the title UI. Added a fall back button press in the unlikely event the control cursor gets unfocused with the UI (LB) in controller mode.
Unit supplies/items list is now accessible and usable with the controller. Unit actions list (Sprint button, etc) is also now navigable with the controller. Use the D-Pad to navigate the Unit UI and press L3 to inspect characters, use supplies, or sprint.
Cleaned up some UI placement and text formatting issues in the main menu.
Fixed issue where input wouldn't work at the start of a mission if the control device was changed while dialogue was present.
Fixed controller focus handling on the "Baby Raun Name Choice" panel.
Input is now blocked after starting a new mission to prevent bugs with button mashing during the transition.
Fixed bug with missing cursor after exiting combat, due to the UI element receiving a 0-scale.
Adjusted some character class data, including ability adjustments and balance tweaks.
Fixed error when returning to the HQ after the first mission, causing overlap of dialogue and game UI in the moment, and issues with save/load later. Issues was with how save data was stored in memory during gameplay.
Fixed some memory leaks and optimized some features for faster responsiveness.
Load times reduced when loading existing save games for the first time.
Fixed a crash when older save files had missing tutorial progress data.
Added a "Press Start" landing screen and menu flow for other platforms that require user detection at start up.
Hid some elements of the UI throughout the game that were redundant with controller-accessible ui items, when playing with the controller.
New game icon.
Many more bug fixes and tweaks.
Behind The Scenes work (not visible in build):
Implemented an Xbox platform class and made many Xbox-specific platform changes to save games, graphics settings, and more.
Implemented console versions of existing feature such as achievements and leaderboards.
Refactored a variety of game features to work with AOT platforms.
Simplification and optimization of code and tools to improve development iteration time.
News: We were nominated for a Unity Award! We Are The Caretakers was recognized as a Best Social Impact game by Unity. Take a look at the other nominees and look out for when the winners are announced during GDC next week.
Looking forward, we're working on a lot of exciting things, including the final missions of an all-new 4th Era of the campaign, and a full sound effects pass from our sound designer Gaby. We'll be detailing our remaining work in an upcoming roadmap post in our Steam Forum. Thanks again for your patience as we worked on some big changes and put the game back together to get this update out.
We hope you like it! Be sure to send us your feedback in the forums if you get a chance to play the update.
-Scott
Survival Mode Update (V.55) is now live!
Another early access update (version .55) just went live, and it focuses on improving the survival mode and laying some ground work for dynamic difficulty/settings in future updates. In addition to our in-depth story campaign, we want to have a highly-replayable version of the game that you can come back to even after you've finished the story. Our hope is to iterate on and expand the Survival Mode to be that, and we're excited to get your feedback on how we can improve it after this update.
Here's the full list of changes, and we hope you'll check it out and let us know your thoughts in our Steam Forums!
Full Change List
Survival Mode Changes
Added the new Poacher "Waves" UI, showing when opposing units will enter the park. This helps you plan your unit movements and anticipate when you'll need to be ready for encounters. It also makes it less confusing about what to do when there are no poachers active in the park. The new UI bar is visible just above the mini-map.
The waves UI shows which unit entering the park is the boss (crown icon).
Enemy characters and Raun are now dynamically increased in level as you progress through survival missions (all characters were lvl 1 previously).
Reduced the XP received by player characters for actions in encounters, as they were leveling too fast before.
Raun start with a random starting health value, causing them to get "Hungry" sooner. This makes feeding them and managing their location on the map more of a factor. Inspect Raun units for the Hunger trait to see when they could use some food!
Mission 2 (Edgelands) has a graveyard territory now, to offer a Will healing opportunity for your units.
All missions have their survival day goal reduced by 1 (6 days).
Some Tech Tree options, such as Elite Training, were Era Locked and thus inaccessible in survival mode. Those requirements are now removed and all tech tree options are now accessible.
Adjusted spawn time for poachers.
General Changes
The Character Slot UI for characters that have been finished now shows a finished "skull" icon to avoid confusion about which characters are available in encounters.
Will healing sources now show the "+" feedback on the unit callout icons similar to town healing.
Some rare unit personalities have specific handling when/if they are detained.
Fixed an issue where the Encounter results screen would display negative values incorrectly (ex: "--1").
Now show the "Loading" spinner sooner when loading a game from the title screen. On some machines there would be just a black screen for several seconds before this UI appeared.
These changes are just the start of a larger set of features and improvements we want to make to survival mode. We look forward to developing this mode alongside you during Early Access. As always, we appreciate any positive reviews on our store page, and you can follow us on Twitter/Discord for the latest development updates.
-Scott
New Update! Atrium and Poacher Choice Updates, Boss UI, and QoL Fixes!
We're back with a new update to We Are The Caretakers, packed with a number of fixes and improvements across the game. Version 0.54 highlights include updates to the Atrium "Visitor/Detainee" resolution system, polish in encounters, new Boss Identification UI and effects, and many bug fixes. Here's the full breakdown!
New Features:
Improved Visitor resolution choice system.
Now check to ensure a player has enough coins or research to give as a bribe in poacher resolutions. Kray gives feedback to show you don't have enough.
Choices are more logical and less randomized, and based upon the region/faction the poacher is from.
Resource change display in poacher choices, story missions, etc now have color coding to clarify at a glance if the choice is negative/positive.
Bosses and some other characters have special-case choices to ensure their resolutions match their narrative situation.
The game now identifies bosses in the UI and at the start of encounters. There is a new camera focus event at the start of encounters with bosses to identify them.
Character Slots, hover UI, and Character Sheets now all have an orange crown icon to identify the boss of a mission.
Bosses are now much harder to Recruit directly, and detaining them has a lower baseline. The chance to hit on bosses can be increased by lowering their will stat. This brings boss encounters more into balance and makes detaining/recruiting bosses more meaningful.
Added a damage flash effect on characters when damage/effects hit successfully. The color of the flash helps indicate the type of damage as well.
Enabled resolution support for other screen resolutions beyond 16:9, 16:10, 21:9. You may now see even more supported resolutions in the settings drop down now.
The map globe in the HQ now has additional mission zones, and each of the 4 campaign Eras has it's own location on the map. Added additional animations to rotate the globe to these new zones. (Helps to differentiate which Era the player is in)
New Steam Library Box Art image!
Bug Fixes:
The Slider for toggling Finishers ON/OFF in Auto Battle now updates/snaps into place as expected.
Fixed Ducaine not being removed from your starting unit after the 1st mission in non-english languages.
Fixed loading screen image missing on some resolutions.
Fixed some edge cases with controller navigation and focusing.
Fixed crash with enemy avoiding AI on the field. Enemy AI units that were avoiding higher-leveled player units would not stop avoiding them even when they were finished/undeployed, creating a crash.
Fixed bug where recruiting a detained poacher would not work due to duplicate entries in the player's organization.
Era 2 Boss mission title text is no longer blank.
New Update (v.52)! Japanese Language, Widescreen support, bug fixes, and more!
We Are The Caretakers has a new update! Version 0.52 is now live on Steam. This update adds full Japanese language support, Widescreen resolution support, and a host of fixes to the UI. Check out all of the changes below!
Full Change Log:
-Japanese language support is now fully implemented, just in time for our upcoming Tokyo Game Show "Indie Area" inclusion! This includes a fix for some missing characters in our fonts. -Widescreen (21:9) aspect ratio support! Implemented dozens of UI fixes to ensure the game UI is visible and looks good in ultra-widescreen and any other non-standard screen resolution! This includes resizing of overlapping text/image elements, adjustments to Team "Bench", End of battle results, loading screen, dialogue boxes, and more! (Please let us know if you see any further issues, major or minor, with the resolution you play at in our Steam Forums and we'll get them fixed in future updates) -Depth of Field and Tilt Shift camera effects are now turned off in resolutions greater than 1920x1080, fixing the visual issues making the game excessively blurry at very high resolutions. -Extended tooltips that explain traits/effects now hide when their content is empty. Other improvements with tooltip display. -Connecting lines between the Globe mission icons now resize dynamically and work in all resolutions. -Some optimizations and fixes for memory leaks in our UI code. -Finisher buttons stay highlighted in orange after hover. -Additionally the past few weeks have seen some behind-the-scenes work on support for additional platforms, to be released in the future.
Our team is working hard to continue to address all technical and gameplay issues. We're excited to roll out a set of fix updates over the next few weeks.
Brave Hand is OUT NOW on Steam! Replayable Card Game Fun
Brave Hand just launched, and it’s now available on Steam! Brave Hand is my award-winning press-your-luck meets solitaire card game, and it's finally ready for you to play. It’s releasing for just $1.79 ($1.99 with a 10% launch discount), and includes achievements, leaderboards, and Steam Trading Cards. I’m excited for everyone to play and I hope the affordable price encourages you to check it out!
The game features 4 endlessly replayable modes, including a brand-new “Zen Mode.” In the game, you use the cards in your hand to challenge cards in 8 piles, and decide whether to press on challenging the same pile for exponential increase in points, or to stop and bank what you have. With randomized decks, pile complete bonuses, and special card rules to explore, you’ll find yourself playing over and over again. As you play, you unlock an epic story via 16 storybook pages. The pages double as customizable theme decks and backgrounds.
You can expect Brave Hand to be a small, highly-replayable, solitaire-style card game where your goal is to beat your previous score, and unlock a light story along the way. I made it because I loved the simple yet replayable games that came with my first computer, and wanted something like them, but with just a little more strategy.
If the main "Brave" mode is too hard or too random for your taste, you can try out the other modes! Boost Mode adds up to 3 legendary golden cards to your deck. The longer Jumbo Mode has 8 cards per pile and an epic 90 card deck. Finally, Zen Mode makes it easier to progress by letting you win ties and giving you more cards in your hand. Each mode is designed to cater to a specific type of playstyle and give you endless ways to play.
You can buy it from our Steam store page. Feel free to contact me through Twitter, or our Discord if you run into any trouble or just want to follow along with development. I really hope you enjoy the game.
-Scott Brodie
Brave Hand is Releasing on August 6th!
Brave Hand is ready to release, and it’s coming to Steam Friday August 6th! Brave Hand is my award-winning press-your-luck meets solitaire card game, and it's finally ready. It’s releasing for just $1.79 ($1.99 with a 10% launch discount), and includes achievements, leaderboards, and Steam Trading Cards. I want everyone to play so I hope keeping the price low will encourage you to check it out.
The game features 4 endlessly replayable modes, including a brand-new “Zen Mode.” In the game, you use the cards in your hand to challenge cards in 8 piles, and decide whether to press on challenging the same pile for exponential increase in points, or to stop and bank what you have. With randomized decks, pile complete bonuses, and special card rules to explore, you’ll find yourself playing over and over again. As you play, you unlock an epic story via 16 storybook pages. The pages double as customizable theme decks and backgrounds.
You can expect Brave Hand to be a small, highly-replayable, solitaire-style card game where your goal is to beat your previous score, and unlock a light story along the way. I made it because I loved the simple yet replayable games that came with my first computer, and wanted something like them, but with just a little more strategy.
If the main "Brave" mode is too hard or too random for your taste, you can try out the other modes! Explore Boost Mode that adds up to 3 legendary special cards to your deck, the longer Jumbo Mode with a 90 card deck, or the new more forgiving and relaxing Zen Mode. Each mode is designed to cater to a specific type of playstyle.
It would be a big help if you'd wishlist the game, and feel free to contact me through Twitter, or our Discord if you run into any trouble or just want to follow along with development. I really hope you enjoy the game.
-Scott Brodie
Brave Hand was created by Heart Shaped Games, and can also be played on Google Play, iOS, and Google Play Pass. Our other games include Hero Generations, and We Are The Caretakers (now out and in active-development via Steam Early Access).
Version 0.51 Update is now live!
Following our recent Major Update, a new update (v0.51) is now live for We Are The Caretakers, with some bug fixes and QoL improvements. Here's the full change log!
Change List:
Changed how traits are added when upgrading and demoting characters in the Job class tree to prevent excessive duplicates on a character. Traits are no longer added when demoting a character to a lower-tiered class. A random class trait is removed when demoting as a deterrent to excessive demotions.
Auto-battle mode state is properly tracked and the UI can no-longer get out of sync across successive encounters in the same mission.
Fixed Space Bar input activating highlighted buttons at incorrect times.
Added Enter key as a keyboard command for activating highlighted buttons when using keyboard navigation of the UI.
Properly hide info for the selected target for an ability in Mouse mode until the target is hovered by the mouse.
Fixed bug where, after choosing to leave a field mission from the pause menu, the first mission of each Era would not return to the HQ and automatically restart the mission.
Fixed bugs with the Turn-Order list in encounters. Character portraits can no longer be clicked when they are supposed to be hidden. Stun/Wounded status icons now hide properly with the UI.
Additional fonts added that fixes some missing Japanese characters. There are still a few fixes required here before we'll mark Japanese language as being fully supported.
Additional code cleanup and edge case fixes with controller support.
As always, you can share your feedback on this release in our Steam Forums and official Discord Server. Please consider dropping a positive review on our store page if you're enjoying the game!
Major Update v0.5 - Full Translation, Controller Support, Bug Fixes, and More!
Our first major update for We Are The Caretakers (v0.5) is now live! This update brings Xbox and Playstation controller support, Full text translations for 6 languages, a major UI overhaul, and many of your most requested bug fixes. We're very excited to open the game up to non-english speakers and to players who prefer to play with gamepads.
Creating a control scheme across the Headquarters, RTS field, and turn-based encounter modes was a tall task, but we're very happy with the results. In the field, you'll see that you have a selection reticule in the center of the camera that you use to select and inspect objects. We view this as a complete, but "Beta" implementation, and we look forward to your feedback on how we can further streamline the controls in future updates.
Under the hood, this update also sets us up to begin adding new gameplay content and features in our upcoming updates. We know this update took us beyond our original roadmap schedule, so we thank you for your patience as we made these important changes. We hope you're as excited as we are. Check out the full change log below!
Major Features:
Full text translations now available for German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese! Select your desired language from the Options menu drop-down.
Full controller support for Xbox and Playstation controllers! Other controllers may also work but have not been fully tested yet.
Added a "Controls Guide" that appears at the bottom center of most screens when in controller mode. This shows the controls that are available in the current context that aren't already shown in the UI (such as exit or select buttons).
Added "all stats" view and "fast forward animations" controls in encounters. Hold L2 or T keys to view all stats for all characters in encounters. Hold R3 or F to increase playback speed by 2x while ability animations are executing.
Reworked and refactored UI to fix common issues, as well as to support both Mouse and Controller input discoverability.
Bug Fixes & Improvements:
Characters with 0 Will (critical) upon return to HQ are now reset to 1.
Fixed reputation signs being reversed at end of encounters.
Fixed value signs not matching text on poacher resolution choices in the Atrium.
Fixed special character Jadu having starting stats of 100.
Fixed main menu character models overlapping upon return to title screen.
Fixed main menu character models appearing in background of HQ sometimes.
Fixed misplaced/overlapping UI elements caused by non-standard resolutions.
Fixed Drag & Drop bug where dragging character portrait can get stuck out of place on drop.
Fixed error with assigning leader of a Unit when it was initially empty.
Fixed Begin Button being visible in HQ on screens where it isn't relevant.
Removed incorrect "chance to hit" text in bottom left corner of encounter UI, during target select state.
Fixed issue where HQ screens could be activated while in the title screen.
The game camera is now locked while blocking tutorial screens are visible.
Fixed some edge cases where input during transitions into encounters from the field could cause the UI to get out of sync.
Fixed Pause Menu and Tech Tree being opened in encounters.
Known Issues in version .50:
There are some situations where swapping between controller mode and mouse/keyboard mode may cause the UI cursor to lose focus. In these cases you may need to press a controller button, refocus (click on) the game window, or close an open screen to regain focus. In general, sticking with one controller type for the full play session should not encounter these problems.
Connecting a controller via USB is preferred. Bluetooth connected controllers can cause unwanted control mode switches. This is an issue with our control library and we're investigating mitigations.
We have not directly tested Steam Controllers. Please let us know if you encounter problems using a Steam controller; we are looking to fully support Steam Controllers in future updates.
There are a few buttons that are currently inaccessible in control mode (supply buttons and sprint button in the Unit UI, Finishers on/off toggle in encounters). These will be enabled in an upcoming update.
The Tech tree cursor only navigates vertically between buttons.
Japanese translation is also included in the update, but there is a font issue causing a small number of symbols to be missing. We'll officially mark Japanese as supported on our Steam page as soon as this bug is fixed in a future update.
Thank you so much for your support and our team looks forward to continue updates and fixes in the coming weeks! If you like the game please consider dropping a positive review on our store page and joining our official Discord Server.
