SpellShokked!

Released: Jun 15, 2018
Platforms: WindowsmacOS
Last updated: 06 Sep 2026, 08:43 GMT

Updates & announcements

16 posts

14 Jun 2020Developer post
Alpha 20 released
A small update to SpellShokked! that introduces our smart particle technology - used in this release to add some nice animations to your right hand. The particles you see are actually small free-flying agents that try to keep each other's company. We have developed this as part o
16 Jan 2020Developer post
Alpha 16 released
On January 2nd, 2020 we had a breakthrough: After almost a solid month of engineering and completely losing playability, we got SpellShokked back to running. This was no small feat, because the new version contains the following changes A completely new network layer. Spellshokke
On January 2nd, 2020 we had a breakthrough: After almost a solid month of engineering and completely losing playability, we got SpellShokked back to running. This was no small feat, because the new version contains the following changes

A completely new network layer. Spellshokked was originall built upon UNet, which uses a relay server (which is expensive) and a paid-for third-party matchmaking infrastructure that did not work very well. Technologically, it also used UDP frames that, although fast, don't work well with demanding games, and (worse) often get filtered by many common firewalls. We now use straight TCP/IP which is not as performant, but additional network latency of 10ms is covered by predictive movement code. The end rsult works much more reliably, and is compatible with most (if not all) firewalls
Instead of a relay server, we now use Peer-To-Peer connections. This further reduces latency (that's how we were able to go from UDP to TCP/IP), and we were able to get rid of the legacy and unsupported relay server architecture
Matchmaking currently is reduced to direct connect open duels, and we'll introduce our own matchmaking later once there is sufficient demand (currently too few people duel each other to warrant a global leaderboard)
The original Lobby system we had in place with it's awkward UI was also scrapped. In place we now have a streamlined system where you can either sign up for an existing duel, or create an open invitation for a duel (see images). choosing which kind of duel to create now is a simple click with your wand.
Most importantly, however, the entire networking middleware is more stable. You no longer need to re-start the entire game every other duel because of re-connection issues. The new Lobby and network layer have been extensively battletested and we no longer experience these strange network outages (which we believe were the result of dropped UDP packets)
We removed some bugs from shaker code, so the 'humming' of the wand during casting should be slightly more pronounced, and feel more 'magic'
We have temporarily toned down the soft-body physics on the female avatars (you saw an example of that technology on the bouncing gifts that littered the floor of your home room). This may return to full in a later version
That being said, there are still some items left to fix

There is a lingering issue where a client may not show the corect avatar in a network game.
Additionally, we are tracking a report of slow-moving player avatar after blinking
The Valve Index controllers still make for an uncomfortable playstyle due to the fact that they are rotated 45 degrees up; we re looking for a solution here.
The 'Bridge' and 'Breach' levels are now playable in that you can lose. Winning conditions still don't always register correctly in co-op, though.
So, have fun trying out the new version!
Original post
13 Dec 2019Developer post
Alpha 15 is live
Another month, another update. Progess on the network front is frustratingly slow, and we are looking at completely re-thinking our approach. Still, we finally completed the haptics feedback module (which is a very looking-down-your-nose way of saying 'shaker'). When your spells
03 Nov 2019Developer post
Alpha 14 released (Nov 2019)
The network migration (yeah, 'notwork migration', as we call it) is proving to be more difficult than we expected. So, in order to not have anything for you,, here's a tiny update that features some seasonal stuff for the home screen and restores the butterfly's AI in the home ro
The network migration (yeah, 'notwork migration', as we call it) is proving to be more difficult than we expected. So, in order to not have anything for you,, here's a tiny update that features

some seasonal stuff for the home screen and
restores the butterfly's AI in the home room
We bet you didn't know that the little butterfly (which you only see if you turn on the lights around the rostrums) has an AI, huh? Well, it does, and it's not in any way a simple piece of software, as it has to

mimick the 'butterflyish-ness' behaviour of fluttering about, changing direction near-but-not-quite randomly
avoid obstacles while fluttering about
OK, so it's not that complex, but still...
Original post
21 Sep 2019Developer post
Alpha 13 released
We are progressing the network update, and it is as bad as we thought. Changing network infrastructure is ugly in the best of cases, and this is not a good case. But we have some progress nontheless. Alpha 13's network code itself has not been touched, as we are working on a bran
23 Aug 2019Developer post
Alpha 12 (August 2019)
We did it! We moved the entire game to the new infrastructure, and made it run. There are some inconsistencies, some rooms have different lighting, and some shaders don't quite work as before, but that's small fry. Network duels function, but their life is on a lease, which is wh
26 Jul 2019Developer post
Alpha 11 (July 26, 2019)
Another month, another alpha. With apologies to "Spinal Tap", this one goes to 11! This release is entirely about bug-fixing. As it turns out, supporting multible avatars across network duels has the little critters multiply like crazy. Even though most of them aren't of the game
16 Jun 2019Developer post
Alpha 10 (June 16th, 2019)
Ok, so we were a bit optimistic about how long we'd take to bring multiple avatars to networking. And yes, there's still the aberrant optical glitch occasionally when you blink in network play (although we think it's specific to some graphics hardware). Anyway, you now can take o
16 Mar 2019Developer post
Alpha 9 (March 2019) has arrived!
This is a big update (and not just by download size). Alpha 9 brings a host of improvements: Player-selectable avatars: Until today, you always played as 'Aria', the hooded wizard (the one you also faced off in the Shield tutorial and one of the Solo Duels). Now, you can choose b
This is a big update (and not just by download size). Alpha 9 brings a host of improvements:

Player-selectable avatars: Until today, you always played as 'Aria', the hooded wizard (the one you also faced off in the Shield tutorial and one of the Solo Duels). Now, you can choose between five different Avatars, Aria among them (the others being: Zediuk, Fionna, Kas'Danel and Artemis. Let's see if you can match the names correctly to the Avatras). Note that we need to tweak the individual avatar joint bending routines. We are currently using a general reverse-kinetic routine that works for all skeletons, but since all Avatars have slightly different skeletons, the currently might look strange for certain movements or if your height doesn't fit that of our testers.
Solo Level multi-avatar support All the Solo levels (but not the networked) now support the new multi-avatar system. This only applies to those levels that originally supported an avatar, e.g. channeling and invisibility tutorials, and the Shokkrange. Other solo levels (e.g. thsi missile or shield tutorial) remain avatar-less
Avatar Chamer with Vanity-inducing Mirrors You need a way to change into the other avatars, and we built a brand new special room just for that purpose. We then added functioning mirrors (!) to this room, so you can spend hours there, gazing into the mirror, admiring yourself. This new chanmber is accessible from the "home" room.
Three new audio tracks The network level 'Breach', and solo levels "Invisibility tutorial" and "Avatar Chamber" all have received brand new audio tracks
More vanity in the Library The Solo Library has received a mirror. It's been delivered, but still requires correct placement. It's currently stowed behind the leather comfy chair.
Mac Parity This release brings full Mac parity to all visual effects. Please note that the OSX implementation of VR still lags in performance behind Windows by a significant margin (30%-50%). On full settings we get stutters using a Vive Pro an an AMD Vega 64 - which does not happen in Windows on the same machine (using BootCamp). This needs to be looked at by Apple, there is nothing we can do.
Other changes We continue to tweak the visual f/x. Ambent Occlusion and Anti-Aliasing still aren't where we want them to be, but it's getting much better.
Enjoy!
Original post
15 Feb 2019Developer post
Alpha 8 released
As you probably have noticed, there was no January update – the reason for that being that we took a long-overdue break after spending the last two weeks of the Year battling the (still on-going) hack attempts on our site, and celebrating various superstition-based events. We ret
18 Dec 2018Developer post
SpellShokked Alpha 7 (December 2018)
We have just released Alpha 7 to Steam. This is basically a 'Mac Compatibility' release, as the Mac versions had some show-stopping bugs that we had to address first. We also are in the progress of updating our range of test machines, and getting all the graphics cards set up cor
18 Nov 2018Developer post
SpellShokked Alpüha 6 (Novemer 2018) released!
So there's some good news and some bad. The good news is that we deliver the November release on schedule. The bad is that we weren't able to add all we wanted, nor in the quality we usually ensure. The November update is a purely graphics update: we have spent almost two entire
14 Oct 2018Developer post
Alpha 5 (October) released!
Today saw the release of Alpha 5, a milestone release that brings a tremendously tactical spell to the duel levels: Invisibility. If you thought that fighting at close quarters was hair-raising enough, you'll definitely lose it when you know that your adversary might be lurking a
15 Sep 2018Developer post
Alpha 4 (September 2018) live
The new (September) release of SpellShokked is now live on Staem - update now. This release contains lots of small improvements (bug fixes, additional ambient audio, upgraded graphics for spell casting in solo levels, in-betwen level loading), new achievements, and a completely n
18 Aug 2018Developer post
Alpha 3 (August) has been released!
The new release for SpellShokked is live on Steam - update now. The new release delivers tons of tweaks to the network versions of the channeling spells (as you may have found out, they were a bit erratic). We've also added a new network level, with a new twist: it's co-op. You d
16 Jul 2018Developer post
Alpha 2 available now!
Alpha 2 has been released with the following enhancements: 3 new spells: guided missile, channeled shield, lightning The new spells are available in network (requires more extensive testing), library, and the new ‘darkness’ level 2 new levels: Channeling Tutorial and ‘Darkness’ T
Alpha 2 has been released with the following enhancements:

3 new spells: guided missile, channeled shield, lightning The new spells are available in network (requires more extensive testing), library, and the new ‘darkness’ level
2 new levels: Channeling Tutorial and ‘Darkness’ The new level and tutorial are available once you complete the ShokkRange, or check the relevant override in the Game Settings menu
Additional Audio and animations for spellcasting
Numerous bug fixes, enhancments to the tutorials
spell mechanics: fire balls can be shot down
tweaks to light quality in many levels
The new release is live on steam
Original post