We Are The Caretakers News

Our first major update for We Are The Caretakers (v0.5) is now live! This update brings Xbox and Playstation controller support, Full text translations for 6 languages, a major UI overhaul, and many of your most requested bug fixes. We're very excited to open the game up to non-english speakers and to players who prefer to play with gamepads.

Creating a control scheme across the Headquarters, RTS field, and turn-based encounter modes was a tall task, but we're very happy with the results. In the field, you'll see that you have a selection reticule in the center of the camera that you use to select and inspect objects. We view this as a complete, but "Beta" implementation, and we look forward to your feedback on how we can further streamline the controls in future updates.



Under the hood, this update also sets us up to begin adding new gameplay content and features in our upcoming updates. We know this update took us beyond our original roadmap schedule, so we thank you for your patience as we made these important changes. We hope you're as excited as we are. Check out the full change log below!

• Full text translations now available for German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese! Select your desired language from the Options menu drop-down.
  
• Full controller support for Xbox and Playstation controllers! Other controllers may also work but have not been fully tested yet.
  
• Added a "Controls Guide" that appears at the bottom center of most screens when in controller mode. This shows the controls that are available in the current context that aren't already shown in the UI (such as exit or select buttons).
  
• Added "all stats" view and "fast forward animations" controls in encounters. Hold L2 or T keys to view all stats for all characters in encounters. Hold R3 or F to increase playback speed by 2x while ability animations are executing.
  
• Reworked and refactored UI to fix common issues, as well as to support both Mouse and Controller input discoverability.
  

• Characters with 0 Will (critical) upon return to HQ are now reset to 1.
  
• Fixed reputation signs being reversed at end of encounters.
  
• Fixed value signs not matching text on poacher resolution choices in the Atrium.
  
• Fixed special character Jadu having starting stats of 100.
  
• Fixed main menu character models overlapping upon return to title screen.
  
• Fixed main menu character models appearing in background of HQ sometimes.
  
• Fixed misplaced/overlapping UI elements caused by non-standard resolutions.
  
• Fixed Drag & Drop bug where dragging character portrait can get stuck out of place on drop.
  
• Fixed error with assigning leader of a Unit when it was initially empty.
  
• Fixed Begin Button being visible in HQ on screens where it isn't relevant.
  
• Removed incorrect "chance to hit" text in bottom left corner of encounter UI, during target select state.
  
• Fixed issue where HQ screens could be activated while in the title screen.
  
• The game camera is now locked while blocking tutorial screens are visible.
  
• Fixed some edge cases where input during transitions into encounters from the field could cause the UI to get out of sync.
  
• Fixed Pause Menu and Tech Tree being opened in encounters.
  

• There are some situations where swapping between controller mode and mouse/keyboard mode may cause the UI cursor to lose focus. In these cases you may need to press a controller button, refocus (click on) the game window, or close an open screen to regain focus. In general, sticking with one controller type for the full play session should not encounter these problems.
  
• Connecting a controller via USB is preferred. Bluetooth connected controllers can cause unwanted control mode switches. This is an issue with our control library and we're investigating mitigations.
  
• We have not directly tested Steam Controllers. Please let us know if you encounter problems using a Steam controller; we are looking to fully support Steam Controllers in future updates.
  
• There are a few buttons that are currently inaccessible in control mode (supply buttons and sprint button in the Unit UI, Finishers on/off toggle in encounters). These will be enabled in an upcoming update.
  
• The Tech tree cursor only navigates vertically between buttons.
  
• Japanese translation is also included in the update, but there is a font issue causing a small number of symbols to be missing. We'll officially mark Japanese as supported on our Steam page as soon as this bug is fixed in a future update.
  

Thank you so much for your support and our team looks forward to continue updates and fixes in the coming weeks! If you like the game please consider dropping a positive review on our store page and joining our official Discord Server.

We Are The Caretakers has a new update! Version 0.40 is now live on Steam. This update addresses a host of fixes to tutorials and tips, most notably that tutorial progress is saved so that you will not see the same tips again after reloading a campaign. Check out all of the changes below!

[h2]Full Change Log:[/h2]
(Note: the build will still say v.39 as I forgot to change the build number. Oops!)

• -All completed tutorials and tip progress is saved per slot. Instances of seeing the same tutorial twice should no longer occur in new campaigns. (Note: campaigns started prior to this update may still see duplicates one additional time as prior progress was not saved).
  
• -Fixed reputation gain and loss value being flipped on encounter results screen.
  
• -Baby Raun name choice made in the 1st mission is now saved and loaded correctly between sessions.
  
• -Eras ending in Story Missions now properly check for the end of the Era or Campaign and show end screens immediately.
  
• -Added new text when loading to let players know the initial load from a save slot can take awhile.
  
• -Tech tree “notification circle” now goes away immediately on visiting the screen.
  
• -Fast Forward tip now always shows the correct key icon.
  
• -Fixed instances of tutorial mission tips appearing in other missions and encounters.
  

Our team is working hard to continue to address all technical issues. In the short term you can expect full resolution and screen sizes fixes, controller support, new language translations, and gameplay content additions in the next few updates!

We would love to have you join our Discord server to follow along with development and give us your feedback. Please leave a positive review on our store page if you’re enjoying the game!

A new update, version 0.39 Early Access, is now live on Steam! This update primarily fixes a number of issues with the last mission in the Early Access Story Campaign (Era 3: Missile Defense) and related game mechanics.

Full Change List:
-Updated all ability, trait, effect, supply, and landmark tooltip descriptions for clarity/accuracy.
-Escape key now opens up the pause menu in the field.
-Fixed multiple issues with Bubble Barrier dispenser. They now always appear when revealed in the mid-mission cutscene in Era 3, and becomes visible in the fog of war immediately. They spawn Bubble Barriers more frequently.
-Bubble Barrier dispenser has changed visuals to clarify what supply it is dispensing.
-Bubble Barriers now deploy and break Raun being targeted by the towers properly.
-Fixed issue with Bubble Barriers not stopping attacks from missile silos that are in a cooldown state from a prior attack.
-Fixed user control being locked after mid-mission cutscene.
-Raun that are hit by missile silos no longer keep moving and cannot be re-targeted.
-When a missile silo is deactivated, any Raun that were being targeted are freed and return to wandering.
-Fixed visual and sequencing bugs with the arrival of the final boss.
-Refactored some code in Era 3 missions to run faster and avoid memory leaks.
-Adjusted some special/rare character class recruit names/stats.
-Added checks for names shorter than 5 characters in UI length checks to prevent errors.

There is still some balance and visual polish changes we'll be making to the missile defense mission and other missions in Era 3, but we feel more confident in the playability/stability of all campaign missions now.

Thanks for all of your feedback and help. We're continuing to work on the most critical bugs and improvements brought up by players. Be sure to join our official Discord Server and leave a positive review on our Steam Store page if you are enjoying the game.

Version 0.37 Early Access is now available for We Are The Caretakers! This update focuses on addressing the remaining bugs and critical path issues reported by players.

This update features some save game updating/repairing code that should set us up to safely change the content in the campaigns, and to repair existing save data that may have had issues.



1. Fixed save/load issues for some character class data variants.
2. Added fallback character data (Civilian) to avoid crashes for unhandled cases.
3. Era3 Repair and Cleanup mission changed to ensure all broken machines can be reached for repair.
4. Loading update/repair system added to fix any issues with missing levels, characters, character models, or animations due to save errors.
5. Prevent returning to the title screen from the HQ while a save/load operation is still running.
6. Steam leaderboards are now enabled and calls to post Campaign Scores are active.

Please let us know on the Steam forums or our official Discord server if you experience any problems loading save games or hitting blank screens. Please be aware that the initial loading process from a slot may take up to several minutes depending on your hardware. Please be patient!


If you're enjoying the game, please leave us a positive review on our Steam Store Page!

v0.36 (Early Access) is now available on Steam for all players! This update focuses on addressing major technical issues reported by players at launch.

Full Change List:
-Fixed crash with closing the Technology Tree in the HQ.
-Story mission Era2 M2 now completes once objectives are finished, and doesn't spawn boss as early in mission.
-Fixed campaign updating function in Survival Mode that sometimes replaced Survival missions with Story missions.
-Fixed bug with fleeing enemy units keeping their attack sequences active on any Raun they were targeting prior to the encounter.
-Fixed crash with Survival mission 1 after defeating the boss.
-Added protections as attempt to fix any other issues related to choosing technologies.

We wanted to get these technical fixes out as soon as possible so that we can verify the game is stable before introducing new gameplay changes. After further testing today, we'll turn our focus this week to address the top gameplay balance, polish, and new user experience adjustments requested by the community.

Additionally, we're excited to reveal our roadmap for the next month! You can find all of our short term planned features in our new Road Map thread in the Steam Forums.

Lastly, we really want to thank everyone that purchased the game and gave us feedback on our launch weekend. As you get more time with the game, we would greatly appreciate you also leaving a positive review on our Steam page to help us grow our player base through Early Access.

Thanks,
Scott Brodie
Heart Shaped Games