Hey everyone! This release brings major improvements to creature building, as well as modified and new/added controls. We need your feedback on these changes! Please tell us what you like and what still needs improvement in this forum thread. (And don’t worry if the new controls take some getting used to. They did for us, too!)
There are also some other neat things to play with in this update, like axe tossing and enrage potions and mounted attacks… just to name a few. (Pro tip: combine them all for a fun rampage.) Here are the patch notes!
Patch Notes
New Features:
- Creature Building Improvements:
- The camera has been updated to make it much easier to see what you’re building!
- Camera now orbits the creature itself for a better 360° view
- Pivot around by using the [WASD] keys, or by holding your right mouse button and panning
- Camera pivot point can be changed by clicking [Mouse Button 3]
- Zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on your mouse, or by pressing the [+] and [-] keys
Get a full view of your creature by rotating around it.
- The mouse cursor is now unlocked during creature building for faster block placement and selection!
- Select a Life Block by clicking on it in your hotbar
- Then just point and click where you want the block to go on your creature!
Now use your mouse pointer to place blocks.
- Use [E] to quickly toggle between Add Block and Remove Block modes
- Added a new toolbar at the top of the screen with quick buttons for easy access to the various controls if you prefer using the mouse: building modes (add & remove), camera focus & reset, zooming, grid mode toggle (smart, small, off), creature name, and exiting build mode
- The camera has been updated to make it much easier to see what you’re building!
- New Control Scheme: controls throughout the game are now easier to use
- Right-Click will now always use the off-hand item (Left-Click is still your main hand action)
- Throwing actions moved to a new key (default [Mouse Button 3] or [X].
- Contextual interactions like petting and feeding have moved to the interaction key [E]. In cases where multiple interaction are present holding interaction key will reveal a radial.
- Several items had their default actions modified to fit this scheme
- Removed the whistle item and changed it to be always available via key press (default [Q])
- Changed radial menu to be active as long as a button is held and dismiss on button release. Command is issued on key press up.
You can turn on the display (in the options menu) to see a helpful list of controls while you play.
- All items are now throwable! And any weapons you hurl will deal damage when they hit their targets.
Just be sure to pick your targets wisely.
- Updated on-boarding in all modes for new control scheme/creature building
- Additional improvements to creature animation:
- Creature bodies will now naturally bend when turning
- Creature’s root block will now be recalculated based off of its actual center to create more realistic animations
- New feature: Remote Control!
- Use the Remote Control to directly control tamed/bonded creatures via mind control
This Beetledodo is now yours to control! Muaa haa haaaa!
- Automatically places a mind control hat on a creature. Destroying the hovering hat will release the controlled creature.
- Left click does light attacks (bites) and right click does special attacks (charge, fire breathing, etc) if a creature has that ability. Tapping shift will cause creature to dash.
- If a creature goes out of range, the connection is lost and control is returned back to the player. Interact key [E] will also exit control at any time.
- Life and hunger bars swap to reflect the controlled creature.
- When controlling a creature, the player is idle and vulnerable so be careful!
- Changed poachers to use new remote mechanic instead of mind control hat. (Poachers will now drop the Remote Control as loot instead of the hat.)
- Improved Saddle Riding:
- The first person camera is now smoother
- Improved chase (third-person) camera placement
- Mounted creatures will now show alongside other bonded creatures in the party UI
- Added player controlled creature combat while mounted:
- Two modes: indirect control (default) and direct control
- Indirect control: Set the direction and speed and your creature will navigate on its own from there, leaving you free to look around, use items, and even attack while mounted. (Tap the forward [W]/back [S] keys to increase/decrease speed.)
Let your creature do the driving while you attack!
- Direct control: You have full control of the creature (but can’t use items this way). Use [WASD] to move, Left-Click to bite, and Right-Click for any special attacks the creature has. Dash by tapping shift.
Take direct control of your creature while mounted to control its attacks.
- Change modes by pressing R by default
- Tapping [E] will pet or feed the creature
- Holding [E] will dismount
- Two modes: indirect control (default) and direct control
- Improved Pathfinding (Creature Navigation):
- Pathfinding now creates multiple navmeshes of different sizes. This allows creatures to more accurately transverse the environment.
- Creatures should clip through objects less often and should no longer get stuck on top of fences.
- New Potions: Antidote and Enrage!
- Antidote potion: cures all ailments! Drink it, toss it, or feed it to a creature.
- Enrage potion: causes a creature to temporarily go berserk and attack anything in range, even friends! Drink it yourself to get a damage buff for a short duration.
- Offset camera in chase cam slightly to the side when in locked mode to make it easier to see
Optimizations:
- AI optimizations: FPS improvement in scenes with many active objects
- Smoother frame rates by reducing GC allocations (60fps on recommended spec machines, 30fps on minimum spec machines)
- Reduced FPS drop when loading new creatures
- Added item rotting and a max number of active items per chunk to improve performance (rotted items will not reload after leaving and then returning to a chunk)
Bug fixes:
- Fixed creatures juggling their food instead of eating
- Fixed herbivores not eating fruits (Herbivores will also now eat plants that do not contain fruits.)
- Fixed bonded creatures freezing after teleporting
- Fixed a bug that prevented unsummoning a bonded creature in networked games
- Fixed a bug that prevented scenario spawning from working
- Fixed backward-facing darts when fired or thrown
- Fixed a bug where blowpipe darts failed to do damage
- Fixed various null exceptions that cause all sorts of unpredictable game errors
- Action button descriptions now use the bound keys (even if you’ve changed them from the defaults)
- Fixed several item hand alignments
- Fixed immortal poachers
- Improved chase camera crosshair raycasting
- Improved character look direction
- Fixed a bug where statuses (slowed, fire, etc) would not be removed correctly if loaded from a saved game
- Fixed issues with the dialog box
- Modified creature collision detection to allow bites on larger creatures
- Fixed bugs in sensing that prevented creatures from seeing other creatures
- Improved bonded creature teleportation to happen less often
Next Up!
While we wait for your feedback on this release, we’ve already started on the next one! Here’s a bit of what’s coming in the next release:
- New Adventure Mode starting zone story, progression, and content: First 2 new biomes with new look and feel for environments and starter creatures, plus new lore and characters will unlock features and items for you as you progress.
- New creature skills/abilities: Select certain blocks and combine them for special abilities, like a chain of blocks with spikes on the end for a hammer slam, or add a shield of turtle shell blocks to deflect attacks.
- AI updates for new behaviors: creatures will play with each other, chase sticks, have more personality.
- On-going: performance improvements and updates based on your feedback!
In the meantime, we’ll be putting out an interim update with controller support. Keep an eye out for that if you’ve been waiting to use a controller in CHKN!
Until then, check out our Roadmap to see what we’re working on. Sign up to be the first to get CHKN developer news.
Join us on Twitch/YouTube for our developer live stream on Friday at 3:30PM EST.
See you there!
- Team CHKN
http://store.steampowered.com/app/420930/CHKN/