Soon coming to Nintendo Switch! So here are fixes for you!
G'day friends,
I've been hard at work porting Witch Thief over to the Nintendo Switch! Which is very exciting. I've just this week sent off a build to Nintendo for checking. But wait you ask, why are you posting about this on steam? Many of the fixes, improvements and optimisations I've introduced for the Nintendo Switch roll over to the PC build and make it even better!
So lets get into that!
Object Pooling! What does that mean? Pooling allows us to reuse many of the bullets and objects in the game that have already ran their course, instead of creating literally thousands of bullets within the first fight you get into, now only about 30 bullets need be created and can be reused again and again.
Wow that sounds cool but what does it mean for me?
Well the fun thing about pooling is that it brings big optimisations! Especially for CPU bound systems. This makes Witch Thief run better on lower end machines!
Dungeon mode fixes! Gone should be the days that your dungeon run ends abruptly when a room does not spawn.
New loading screen tips and indicator screen This one isn't actually too exciting, but you will see a new screen as you open the game up
Removed trailer enemies I've determined they just weren't fun and dragged out the fights they were in, so now they are replaced with more interesting enemies.
And more! Many more little fixes across the board!
Cheers!
Timothy
Content Patch: Introducing Dungeon Mode!
Witch Thief Content Patch
In this patch for Witch Thief I have resolved many of the little pains you, our players have reported. These quality of life improvements make the game much smoother to play and easier to understand. Also here in this patch is Dungeon Mode, a whole new way to experience the game, find out more below.
Dungeon Mode
Dungeon Mode introduces hours of fun and challenge. It leverages procedurally generated content to build entire Witch Thief levels with a boss at the end.
To unlock more Dungeon Mode content you will need to defeat bosses in Story Mode.
If you enjoy dungeon mode please let me know! I have plans to add more level permutations and archetypes if it is popular enough.
Patch Notes
Added Dungeon mode
New icons for weapon pickups
Slightly increased cam shake (you can also turn it off in options)
Added "Are you sure" menu when pressing go back to main menu in game (This should resolve accidentally exiting the game when you die!)
Added slight delay before "Return to Menu" option shows on death menu
Added better support for PS3 and PS4 controllers
Mouse cursor now disables when using gamepad on main menu
Added new opening messages to the game
Tuned and improved the checkpoint system
Resolved some achievement bugs
Added option to disable bloom
Hope you all have a blast!
Witch Thief at PAX AUS
G'day Friends,
It was great to catch up with so many of you over the weekend at PAX AUS,
Got a heap of feedback and chatting with you all about Witch Thief and Cardboard Keep's other games.
If you guys haven't seen them, check out
Warden Melody of the Undergrowth: Trapped in an ancient forest, a young prince searches for a lost god. Here he befriends the spirit of a young girl and a volatile child, and they quickly find their destinies intertwined. Third-person action-adventure inspired by genre classics of the N64-era.
Puzzle Puppers: Stretch out cute dogs to their food bowls! Easy to learn, difficult to master with deceptively simple puzzles and mechanics.
Attrition: Tactical Fronts: Attrition: Tactical Fronts is a quick play, turn-based strategy game for 1-2 players. Matches can take as little as 5 minutes while offering strategic variety and depth.
Hope to see you all at future conventions too!
Later this week I hope to have the content patch ready! it's really close, just putting on the finishing touches as well as a collection of quality of life improvements you have all asked for!
Checkpoints! More Fixes! Approaching content patch!
G'day friends,
It's been a little while since I last posted but I wanted to make a post before the October content patch comes out. This build should be much more stable than previous builds and introduces a few quality of life fixes for you!
Mainly, Checkpoints! A lot of feedback I've recieved is that levels feel too long and dying at the end on the stage boss just to have to do it all again is really depressing so now every level has a Mid stage checkpoint!
Checkpoints are located roughly in the middle of each stage, generally after the midboss and will allow you to retry a stage from that point instead of the very beginning!
Retrying a stage after reaching the checkpoint will wipe your current score so you will need to survive the whole stage if you want to ace a stage but it will make it a lot easier to progress through the game.
Alongside the checkpoints, I've also updated the underlying engine to a more stable version and we should see many little pains disappear alongside this update!
Most importantly here is a fix for the strange bug that caused the game to lock up when you went to exit it!
Content patch news: The content patch coming later this month is coming together nicely! It will bring a lot of new gameplay and replayability to the entire game as well as a robust game loop that we can keep iterating over to make it better together! I'm keen to show it off to you all!
Added suction power to pickups so if they get trapped on a table you can still get them
Many smaller little issues resolved (such as collision and the like)
Cheers!
New Input rebinding menu!
This patch introduces a new menu for rebinding controls for all the input methods you use, controllers, keyboards and mice.
It's bound to have some issues with it but for now it's a huge improvement on the old system.
Let us know how it goes!
Also in this patch is some under the hood improvements that should make both input more stable and the post processing FX more performant.
Cheers!
Good Patch! Many Fix!
Hiya friends,
Release has been a whirlwind and it's been great to hear feedback from you all on Witch Thief. I'm happy to let you all know that many fixes have now been applied and balances tweaked!
Here is a list of changes!
Balance Fixes
Added option to disable screen flashes
Added option to visualise the player hit box
Added option to reset all game data
Adjusted player voice sounds
Doubled time between player gasp (grazing) sounds
Doubled time between boss hurt sounds
Added 8BitDo controller support
Added Xbone controller support
Added PS4 controller support
Reduced player hitbox size to be a bit more forgiving
Added powerup suction, now they will draw towards you if close enough, allowing you to get them if they land on a table, or just out of reach.
Added new Eyeballs in last level
Bug Fixes
Applying resolution without changing the resolution no longer gives you a resolution of 0, preventing the game from being playable. This fix should be backwards compatible and thus anyone suffering from this should have the fix applied
Improved menu flow with a controller so it should be more stable now
Fix for end stage not flowing correctly
Fix for some objects lacking collision (Rocks mainly) as well as some areas where you could get out of bounds and softlock
Keep letting me know what features you need or what things are irking you about Witch Thief, I can act fast, but only if I know what's not working!
Witch Thief is out!
G'day friends and all!
Witch Thief is now released! This is just step on of the road map and we have more content coming down the line!
Witch Thief has been the last year and a half of my life so it is very exciting to finally get it out to the people to play! After showing at PAX Aus and doing the convention circuit in Australia it has been excellently received and I'm really looking forward to seeing more people internationally playing the game!
So jump on in friends! Give the game a go, leave a review and let me know what you think!
Witch Thief: Road Map
G'day friends, on the road to release, I thought it would be a good idea to draw up a roadmap for Witch Thief and the future of it. This way you will know what to expect with the future of Witch Thief as well as look forward to some new content down the line :D
In less than a week we'll have Witch Thief release! for the whole world to play
The next month will be chockablocks full of fixes and improvements for players responding to the reception of Witch Thief
Come November, a brand new game mode will come out!
Dungeon mode will make use of Witch Thief assets and the power of procedural content to create brand new levels for you to explore and combat through!
In early 2019 we hope to release Witch Thief onto consoles!
Let me know in the comments below what you are looking forward too! Or if you have any questions <3
Release Date: 21st of September!
Witch Thief is coming out on Steam on the 21st of September!
It's been a good year and a half of development from me but Witch Thief is good to go! Lets take a moment to talk about what's left to do!
Firstly, I hope to just shy of release, put out a road map so you all know what I'm planning for the game post release. I can tell you I intend to port it over to the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4, that will pose its own challenges but will also cause a lot of fixes and bugs to be resolved which will be reflected in the PC version as well
Likewise on the roadmap I have new game mode in the works that should shape up the game and add a lot of replayability and interest into the game.
Thirdly, the roadmap will include a section for Witch Thief to pivot slightly and reflect what you as the users would like to see from it, Maybe you want a boss rush mode, maybe more player characters! I'll be reading the reviews and keeping my ear out for all the feedback I can get!
If you'd like to be first to hear about Witch Thief or want to chat with me directly, share your thoughts you can join our Discord Server to stay in the loop!
https://discord.gg/MWVTnBb
And remember, wishlist Witch Thief to make sure you get the launch discount!
Tell your friends too! :D
We Achieve Achievements!
Progress is coming along swiftly!
Witch Thief is now pretty much 99% complete, I am now playtesting the heck out of it, tweaking values, balancing and adding in the last little bits of polish.
As the title suggests we now have achievements in Witch Thief, so all you hunters out there can get your fix, and for everyone else we can get a giggle when we get achievements for whacky things.
Likewise, Steam Cloudsave is fully implemented!
Stay tuned for an update in the next week! Might be releasing the release date :P
