Beta Iteration 2 is now available for download. There are a few of critical fixes in there. A special thanks to Charleston for the detailed bug reports.
This is also the first time save games are migrated to a new update. Any killed hostiles will come back alive during save game migration, but all your inventory, conversation topics with NPCs, and character stats should remain intact.
Changes
[WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS!]
- Smoother running for the fox in the intro.
- Fixed a bug where the introductory text dream didn't work.
- Much more accurate damage shapes for WildBoar and WildBoarFodder.
- Fox Mask neck part aligns with the player's neck.
- Wild Boar Mask texture fixes.
- Goblin King Mask has sideburns and looks more unique.
- Barry's Field cavalier hat is visible in the inventory if picked up.
- Added mini-boss fight to Desert Graveyard.
- Particle point light flickering bug fixed.
- Added "Hearts Wanted" posters at Root Hall.
- Catodon Key couldn't be obtained under specific conditions.
- Apple Special shows up in inventory.
- Added growth component for mushrooms.
- Frozen Lake portal takes player to the correct entrance.
- Adventurers' Guild set dressing and character placement tweaked. Fixed floating characters.
- Added atmospheric point light effects to several landmarks: Healing Altars, Goblin Treasure, Animal Party, Adventurers Guild, Cursed Mansion exterior and Root Hall gate and the Hall of Kings.
- The Root Hall gate opening -sequence was missing.
- Entering the Root Hall staircase -sequence was missing.
How to play the new beta
- Go to your Steam Library.
- Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.
- Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.
That's it! Steam will download the beta for you.
The reason this beta is behind a branch and password is that the likelihood of uncovering new critical issues is fairly high, and I'd like those issues to bubble up to the forums instead of people being left alone with them. That's more likely if you are jumping into the beta through this announcement. So, if you encounter things that prevent you from progressing in the game, be sure to let me know on the forums.
Your thoughts
I'm really interested to hear reactions about the game itself. If you are feeling really adventurous, a very rough timeline of your playthrough (when you discovered what) would be super cool. If you get stuck and simply have no idea of what to do or where to go, I'd like to hear about that, too. Something that's off? Let me know. Something you particularly like? Yep. Just create your own individual topics on the forums so I won't miss your feedback.
I want to point out a couple of much-requested features which aren't part of this first beta:
- Controller hints i.e. letting you know which keys do what in various situations.
- In-game controller remapping.
- Proper gamepad support for the inventory and the menus.
- Understandability of the inventory i.e. "Where did my new items go?" and "Did I just use an item?"
These and about 150 other bug fixes and improvements are all things we'll be working on next. In the meanwhile, here is a lo-fi version of the controller hints for keyboard + mouse to get you started:
Game: WASD to move, E to interact, Shift to run, Ctrl to sneak, Alt+WASD to dodge, Space to jump, M for the map, I for the inventory.
Inventory: Left button drag to move items around, right button drag to move all items of a type around, right click to eat/drink.
As always, enjoy the update.
Kimmo