some of you might have wondered if we got lost in the desert. Some of you might even have feared that the vultures and coyotes got the better of us.
Truth is, we are alive and kicking – but had to take a small step back. Sometimes, when you pour your heart and soul into a project like this, the aftermath and the feedback can be overwhelming. You want to please everyone and work on everything at once, until you realize that way you help no one.
We needed to take stock and see where we are. More importantly we had to make sure that we are still on the trajectory where we want Wild West Dynasty to be – and that we listen to your valuable feedback. Because even though we have a vision for the game and all its potential, ultimately your gameplay experience is paramount.
We took the last few weeks to work on a variety of issues. We worked on the visuals, the mechanics and of course the next steps on the last roadmap update we posted.
Will it be enough to make it the game we originally set out to develop? No. Not yet. For that, we need quite a few more miles with this stagecoach convoy. We are not at the finish line yet. Not by a long run.
But we are getting there. Very soon we will show you the improvements we made to the game, how it feels, how it looks and most importantly, how it plays. And we are looking forward to seeing you back in the prairie.
The teams from Moon Punch Studio and Toplitz Productions
Hotfix 0.1.8420
Added
Corner added to tech-tree
Fixed
Fixed a rare issue with saves
Fixed an issue with the Drop prompt
Updated
Adjustments to the localisation system
Hotfix 0.1.8414
Fixed
New Shed with light
Fix for placing/picking up pots with flowers and other decoration
Fix for City Warehouse resources double cost
More dung on the map
Wild West Dynasty - The Home Improvement Update
Howdy Cowboys and Cowgirls!
It's time for another update, which provides several bug fixes and updates several things. New for example are the flowers as agricultural items. In addition, there is a new system for building walls. And there are craftable paints you can freely use to color your houses!
Furthermore we have a new roadmap for you to give an outlook on coming content updates.
So, go ahead, rush into the Desert Bloom!
Added
Hoof sounds
Additional plant and flower seeds, season specific (new seeds can be bought in Taxation)
Dung (can be picked up near the cows in Taxation and used as fertilizer)
Flowerpots (crafted at Workbench (Tinkerer))
Collectible flowers on the map
Box-trap to catch live rabbits
The player can now kill a rabbit in his inventory – doing so yields the related resources.
Changed house modules from section B (planks) and from section C (stones) to a brand-new look
The player can craft paints on the tinkerer table
Floor module now also starts with a frame-skeleton (same as wall modules)
The player can craft fertilizer on the tinkerer table
Visual representation for some farming-related seeds (such as cotton)
Feature to paint a house for several colours.
Dev note on colouring: Our goal is to give players plenty of opportunity and room to unleash their creativity. Previously all the houses looked similar, so the first step to customize them is to give the players the option to paint the wall modules in the colours of their choice. Players can choose from 7 colours for painting the facade and 7 colours for painting the module's decorative elements.
Updated
Moved the sun
Adjusted map
Changes to starter cave
Streamlined quest indicators on compass
Items after picking up full chest will be returned to inventory
Blood decals for several animals
Removed unused NPCs
Improved thunder mug counting (early pick up will not break quest)
Bucket weight
Muzzle flash for all colt models, missing hit layer for rifle
Made bigger animals harder to kill
Optimized shop window (looks, mechanics and performance)
Fields can now be placed and used without a barn
New decals for field states (fresh, seeds, watered, plants)
Fields now need fertilizer (craft from Dung at Workbench (Tinkerer))
Dryer and pantry functionality: dryer turns harvested plants into seeds, food items stored in the pantry spoil more slowly
Crashed wagon destruction
Changes to directional keys work on foot and on horseback
Improvements to first person tool animations
Improved horse movement (less chances of getting stuck)
Rabbits spawn further away from Taxation and will no longer terrorize the citizens there
Plants now need 2 seasons to grow
More resources can be bought in Taxation (seeds, dung, and fertilizer)
All languages
When selecting a module for a house, the player sees the full visual representation of the module instead of the green ghost- Shader for modules have been changed and improved
The UI for the building system has been updated
Vendors in Taxation are right now split into 3 categories. Those categories are food, building resources and decoration and paints.
Fixed
Ghost material not appearing on every LOD of walls
Loading of houses if game was saved in a different language than used for loading
Disappearing fences on save/load
Settler assignment issues on save/load
Disappearing arms in first person for several items
Tool animation in first person (stone axe, wooden hammer)
Disappearing mother in certain camera angles
Several buildings could not be destroyed
Work benches not showing in inventory after crafting
Dialogue loop with The Stranger (A Friend in Need)
Player crafted oil barrel functionality
Bed indicator
Potential fix for “spreading blackness” issue in specific cases
Placing farm plot on another farm plot
Water tower requiring city to build
Floating planks in several buildings
Floating thunder mug
Key binds cannot be exited with ESC
Key binds not always saving correctly
Jack Just’s disappearing head
Some floating plants
Galloping with the horse should now feel much smoother (improved obstacle detection system)
Some floating building elements
Wild West Dynasty – Desert Bloom on Public Stage
What is Public Staging? It is the modus operandi of working with a second version of the game, on which new patches and updates can be applied and tested before they are integrated into the regular live version of the game. This means that one or more updates can first be tested before they are made available to all players in Early Access.
How to join the public staging?
Some of you probably have not done this before, so we have a small guide:
Prerequisite: You must have Wild West Dynasty in your library – obviously.
The procedure
Open your game library.
Right click on Wild West Dynasty.
Open properties.
Select the tab "BETAS".*
Enter this password into the field below the drop-down menu: fQZQ9qeeJhpa
Click on "CHECK CODE".
Use the drop-down menu and select “public_staging”. This is the public stage version.
Click on "Close".
Steam should now download this version of the game.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE SAVE YOUR GAME ON THE LIVE VERSION AS A BACKUP COPY BEFORE ACCESSING THE PUBLIC STAGING BUILD!
Just in case something goes awry!
The saves can be found here:
Windows > user > Your user name >AppData > Locallow > MPS > wwd
*Steam labels all those builds as "betas” even if they are technically not betas, don’t let it confuse you!
The notes
Added
Hoof sounds
Additional plant and flower seeds, season specific (new seeds can be bought in Taxation)
Dung (can be picked up near the cows in Taxation and used as fertilizer)
Flower pots (crafted at Workbench (Tinkerer)
Collectible flowers on the map
Updated
Moved the sun
Adjusted map
Changes to starter cave
Streamlined quest indicators on compass
Items after picking up full chest will be returned to inventory
Blood decals for several animals
Removed left over NPCs
Improved thunder mug counting (early pick up will not break quest)
Bucket weight
Muzzle flash for all colt models, missing hit layer for rifle
Made bigger animals harder to kill
Optimized shop window (looks, mechanics and performance)
Fields can now be placed and used without a barn
New decals for field states (fresh, seeds, watered, plants)
Fields now need fertilizer (craft from Dung at Workbench (Tinkerer))
Dryer and pantry functionality: dryer turns harvested plants into seeds, food items stored in the pantry spoil more slowly
Crashed wagon destruction
Changes to directional keys work on foot and on horseback
Improvements to first person tool animations
Improved horse movement (less chances of getting stuck)
Rabbits spawn further away from Taxation and will no longer terrorize the citizens there
Plants now need 2 seasons to grow
More resources can be bought in Taxation (seeds, dung, and fertilizer)
All languages
Fixed
Ghost material not appearing on every LOD of walls
Loading of houses if game was saved in a different language than used for loading
Disappearing fences on save/load
Settler assignment issues on save/load
Disappearing arms in first person for several items
Tool animation in first person (stone axe, wooden hammer)
Disappearing mother in certain camera angles
Several buildings could not be destroyed
Work benches not showing in inventory after crafting
Dialogue loop with The Stranger (A Friend in Need)
Player crafted oil barrel functionality
Bed indicator
Potential fix for “spreading blackness” issue in specific cases
Placing farm plot on another farm plot
Water tower requiring city to build
Floating planks in several buildings
Floating thunder mug
Key binds cannot be exited with ESC
Key binds not always saving correctly
Jack Just’s disappearing head
Some floating plants
Hotfix v0.1.8251
Hello cowboys and cowgirls!
Another hotfix to ease life in the West.
Fixed
Fixed the cutscene text synchronization.
Fixed the load of broken save with a house error.
Fixed a loading issue for various structures with modules loading wrong.
Fixed an issue with crafting, causing an operands error, displaying minus symbols in the inventory.
Fixed Pantry and Crop dryer issues.
Fixed placing furniture on a foundation D sized 5x12.
Fixed an issue where the purchase costs for skills were doubled.
Momma J should serve and distribute food properly now.
Naming the warehouse should now be consistent between different panels.
Fixed a bug that caused damage to a dismounting player on horseback.
Updated
Added audio for refilling a lantern (as feedback)
Several terrain updates like colorization and textures.
IMPORTANT: Some modules for houses could have disappeared, these modules can be replaced anew and will stay after replacement.
Hotfix v.0.1.8238
Hey there, pioneers! We had a quick Sunday hotfix for you. Here are its patch notes:
Fixed
Animal spawn times.
Sticks not spawning (sticks from trees that have fallen to the ground will not be present after save/load).
Sticks from trees not visible with the sense ability.
Missing subtitles in cutscene.
Missing translations for several items.
Issue with item name display in shop windows.
Dialogue mouse click occasionally has no impact.
Shadow fix for items in first person.
Dropped items could disappear.
Leaving the player menu with “X” could lead to lockup.
Stone drop from rocks.
Hare cage cost.
Save menu refresh when using an empty slot.
Updated
Skill tree functionality and descriptions.
Horse call ability and icon added.
Horse marker on map.
Changes in key-binding should be reflected in in-game UI (e.g. hotkeys).
Default close button for player menu (inventory/skill/map/technology) set to TAB for all (ESC still works as well).
Hit detection for pickaxe (more accurate).
Physics of rock parts.
Technology tree unavailable options no longer interactable (were 99 points before).
Warehouse built before Chapter III should be recognized retroactively.
Added self-speech near bridge for Rich in Stone.
Teleport to safety in case player falls through the map.
Balanced horse stamina.
Wild West Dynasty - A new dawn
Hello cowboys and cowgirls!
We are back again. As already announced, we have a big update for Wild West Dynasty. First, we apologise for the inconvenience that so much time has passed, but there was some work to be done. We have listened to the criticism and focussed on the most important points. Virtually jacking up the carriage, removing everything, the draft horses watched with interest as a group of cowboys examined each part closely and then reinstalled it.
So, what happened?
Performance has been tweaked and improved at every turn.
The visuals have been substantially reworked. This has been accompanied by several changes and improvements in the game world.
Some far-reaching changes have also been made to the gameplay, which are intended to offer an optimised gameplay experience and give you more freedom much earlier in the game..
There is now a First Person View.
Numerous bugs have been catalogued and wiped out.
A lot has been done and hopefully it will be noticeable when you pick up and play the game again. But we don't want to stop there, and we hope that we have put the game on a solid foundation on which to continue its development.
We thank you for your tireless patience and for the feedback, which has been a great help to us.
ATTENTION: If you are a returning player and want to use an old save game: Please be advised that you might be able to start the game with an older save, but it can lead to unexpected results or crashes. We strongly suggest that you start a new game.
And now, without further ado, the long list of updates:
ADDED
First person mode.
Tech tree added. (WIP)
New ambient sounds.
The player can now build, modify, and destroy fences. Fences have an autofill option.
Charlie, a trusty and brave carriage horse. Charlie will await you after you visited Mum’s grave.
The player can now buy a horse at Taxation’s corral.
The player can now place decorations like caskets, lamps, or images on the wall. The player can now snap furniture to nearest wall (by holding the SHIFT button).
The player can now place worktables in the houses. Worktables have their own radial menu with separate items to craft.
New furniture now exists in the game.
Indicator info to every wall of the house.
The player can now destroy a house fully using an Axe.
Every interactable horse in the game has its own stamina level. The HUD is tracking horse stamina if the player is riding the horse.
The player can now take off clothes.
Added a footstep ground tracking system (WIP).
Added a bridge next to Taxation's embankment.
Added the option to shift a foundation on the "y" axis.
Added bigger foundation sizes.
Gathered some birds and freed them in the biome.
Mouse sensitivity settings.
Mouse Invert Y setting.
Added a heat-effect. (WIP)
Added a feature of auto-equipping tools of same type if present in the inventory.
Added a feature to refill lanterns (Present at Ed’s farm).
Added options for SSR.
Added options for SSR Transparency.
Added footstep audio when weapons are equipped.
Added a new cave location for the “Rich in Stone” quest.
Added option to build structures/furniture outdoors like benches (new category in radial menu).
Added a fade option to tips panel.
FIXED
The farm rotation is now stored and restored correctly after save/load.
Caught several NPCs and dragged them to the barber to remove their pink hairs.
Fixed an empty dialogue box for NPCs in the camp when addressed to.
Fixed the farm state (plant/claim) after an incomplete load.
Fixed an issue that lock the input when picking up items from farms.
Fixed missing potatoes on farms after loading.
Fixed double-farms spawner after loading.
Fixed overlapping quest info.
Fixed a camera issue after loading the game.
Fixed texture issues for NPCs on mid/long range rendering distance.
Fixed rendering problems for children hair on mid/short rendering distance.
Fixed a problem with the loading state of Mytree.
Fixed a problem with an uncuttable tree after loading (Mytrees quest).
Fixed a problem with players being locked in their own house if they build a prototype and lack materials to build a door.
Fixed an issue with dropping down after loading if player saved the game on horseback.
Fixed an issue with Treasure Chest that locked the player input if player was aiming on the chest.
Fixed several issues with game physics after loading a saved game.
Removed the camera rotation from the P button.
Fixed the assignment of new buttons for the wall module selection.
Fixed a problem with incorrectly stacked food after condition dropped to zero.
Fixed the quest list by adding missing references to notes panel.
Fixed the wolf attack collider and changed visibility range.
Fixed a farm pickup error while the farm was saved with a wrong Boolean operator.
Fixed Jack Abernathy’s placing animation.
Fixed Rogers teleportation after the elevator has been fixed and used.
Fixed a player freeze after finishing crafting.
Fixed a block when opening inventory/journal after initial dialogue.
Fixed falling off from the elevator area.
Fixed invisible walls in houses.
Fixed a problem with a quest stopping when an issue with the connected journal notes occurred.
Fixed the bow, which could break in some cases.
Fixed a problem with the craft hierarchy for the carpentry table and remaining crafting workstations.
The bed could not be unlocked on carpentry table whilst it was unlocked in Engineer Tech Tree. This is now fixed.
Could not build iron mine although unlocked. This is now fixed.
Could not build stone mine although unlocked. This is now fixed.
Could not build the workshop. This is now fixed.
Could not build the barn although unlocked. This is now fixed.
The warehouse interaction location is now fixed.
The windmill was accounted as well for the “Newcomers” quest. This is now fixed.
Fixed the Elevator quest.
Fixed the item icon overlays inventory list.
Could not build the Well. This is now fixed.
Could not store items in the warehouse. This is now fixed.
Could not put items in any storage chest. This is now fixed.
Seamstress' table was missing on the radial menu.
Fixed the quest "The chemicals between us."
Applied several fixes plus z-axis elevation to house foundations.
Fixed a variety of bugs related to pathing and foundations.
Fixed a problem with loading destroyed objects.
Fixed a popup about clothes which froze the UI.
Fixed the resolution of tips textures.
Unplaceable foundations.
Fixed text overlaps.
Fixed an issue with falling horses.
Fixed problem with the queue of tips.
Fixed assets with metal shading LOD.
Fixed the audio level text display.
Fixed the cutscene.
Fixed a problem with missing buildings after loading.
Fixed an issue with the spawning of multiple horse after loading.
Fixed disappearing logs.
Fixed the journals UI.
Fixed the quest selection.
Fixed the placement of Taxations assets.
Fixed the man sitting in mid-air in Hope.
Various fixes at Roger’s location.
Repairing object's GUID in scenes.
Fixed an issue with tree spawning.
Fixed an issue of reappearing objects after loading.
Fixed an issue with the gamma slider.
UPDATED
Tweaks to general performance.
Updated shaders and FX
If a player dies to the wolves in “Friend in Need” – the player will be respawned next to Jack.
Updated the lighting setup extensively.
Updated the map’s vegetation.
Updated UI Panels for Inventory/Map/Journal.
Updated the blood and frost overlay.
Updated terrain textures.
Memory optimizations.
NPC performance optimization, most noticeable in Taxation.
Extensive terrain changes.
Increased the draw distance for trees.
Storage and inventory UI should now scale properly on wide screen formats.
The carry ability is switching the perspective to third person.
Farms can now be placed once unlocked in the technology tree.
Tech-exp necessary to gain a tech point increased from 150 to 550.
Performance improvements for loading elements on the map.
Changed texture compression rate.
The player by default have now wears red Long John.
There are no more info popups about items after loading the game.
Pathfinding has been updated (WIP and needs more iterations for improvement in various places).
Arrows should now stick to animals after being fired.
Improved footstep synchronization.
Momma J’s inn was confiscated and locked down by the Marshals. She now resides in a tent.
Players can now sit on benches.
Popups right now fade in instead of popping up.
Moved the chapter trigger to the starting cave.
Changed ground detection, added a function that requires a foundation to stay on ground.
Updated the storage UI display.
Updated items translation, elements in the world, dynamic spawned pickups, tips, buildings, in game info.
Updated the gamma setting in main menu panel.
Updated the animal blood effect.
Changed the logic of the Sense Ability to detect objects better now.
Map updates (new location + Taxation improvements).
Changes in HDRI + colorization.
Increase grid range for tree shadows.
Increase grid range for NPCs.
Improvement for Momma J quest.
Changed Dr. Warp’s position.
“Rich in Stone” quest re-positioning (WIP).
Added the gate to place in "outside objects" category.
Removed the "Tech points" info at start or at loading the game.
Furniture now stores its last rotation during placement.
Updated the audio for shooting with a bow/colt (shooting in stone gives different audio-feedback than shooting in ground).
Updated and improved the riverbank.
Improved the key-binding layout.
Changed the settings UI.
Updated the skill-tree design (WIP).
Updated Roger’s house.
Updated all implemented languages.
We hope that now you can enjoy the Early Access journey into the Wild West as originally intended.
And don’t be surprised if we deploy a few hotfixes and further patches over the next few hours and days. We already have a few further items that we encountered while playtesting and will take care of it asap (e.g. some item names missing or out-of-sync subtitles), before we continue to work on enhancing the Early Access version.
But of course: If you encounter any problems, please get in touch with us on our Discord channel.
The teams from Moon Punch Studio and Toplitz Productions
Wild West Dynasty - On the road again!
Hello Cowgirls and Cowboys,
Yes: After a phase with numerous hotfixes it got very quiet around Wild West Dynasty's progress. We apologize for this period of silence and can assure you that there is nothing to be concerned about: Behind closed doors we are working on a major update, which will not only address content, but more importantly many technical respectively performance issues that have been bothering you.
And you don't need to stay patient much longer. The stagecoach with the update leaves the station in May and we hope, that you will enjoy the plethora of fixes and additions.
The teams of Moon Punch Studio and Toplitz Productions
Wild West Wednesday - The Frontier Myth
"Edgar? EDGAR?"
Getting a little more serious and a wee bit scientific today, we're looking at the appeal of the Old West. What fragrance does it use?
The Myth
The frontier myth? What is that?
First of all, a myth is a vivid narrative that has been found to be true and has been passed down through generations. The more credible this narrative turns out to be, the more important the protagonists of the myth become.
The myth of the West is a complex and influential construct of American culture that, based on the thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner and Richard Slotkin, is the point at which a narrative emerges that can break free from the shackles between civilization and wilderness. This place is the West, with its boundless freedom, between lawlessness, roughness, and the chances of becoming a character who has made it. Whereby this "it" can be ambivalent, but usually has a positive effect.
The heroes of these narratives, there are four archetypes, are first formed in the pulp novels of the time, then later through books and films. Together with those, an image of boundless freedom in this country was constructed, the freedom of individualism and the promise of wealth.
The archetypal heroes of the West are: Daniel Boone, an adventurer and scout; William Clark, the expedition leader who found the overland route to the West Coast; Davy Crockett, a mystical character, whose greatest contribution was his death at the Alamo, a place more symbolic for America's growth, expansion and liberation than almost any other; and "Kit" Carson, a man whose heroism springs from the dime novels of those years. A conglomerate of these archetypes is Buffalo Bill, a soldier, hunter and entertainer who reshaped the West in his shows according to the demands of his audience.
All of these figures have become mythical figures through their own portrayal or through the portrayal of strangers, although the real person did not match the myth at all in some cases.
The Dark Side
The myth of the West is embodied in hardly any narrative genre as much as in the Western, where even in the revisionist representatives of that very genre there are always the smallest traces of romanticisation, idealisation or archetyping of these narratives or the characters. An extreme example of how the myth is transported are the stories of Karl May. The German author gave himself over to a completely romanticised and idealised form of myth when he wrote his novels, because he had never seen or known the land and the dreary downside of the colonisation of America at the time of his authorship.
Every myth also has a dark side, and it redeems itself on the backs of those who are not part of exceptionalism at the time of its creation, mostly in generally marginalised groups and victims of unspeakable violence and racism. Boom and bust, metaphorically too. In the game Red Dead Redemption 2, the Wapiti people, represented by the characters Rains Fall and Eagle Flies, are sufferers of predation and the displacement that accompanies it.
The role of the cowboy, an occupation that was hard and dangerous, has also always been romanticised and goes hand in hand with the image of the lone rider on his horse, riding off into the sunset in the most beautiful landscapes in America.
Which story has shaped your interest in the Wild West and why? Feel free to write to us in the comments or on our social media channels.
PS: Update is in the works and will be applied in the near future!
