Sands of Salzaar News

大家好，这是部落与弯刀上线以来的“第五次”大更新。
同时我们也在这个时间开启了游戏的史低折扣-40%，折扣会一直持续到十一假期。希望这样的安排能让大家更好的体验游戏。

除了新的主线剧情，与故事的完善。 我们还加入了英文版，与多人联机测试。

多人联机MOD一直是我们想要尝试的一个方向，现阶段我们已经能够完整的实现多人联机的技术框架，也能让各位MOD作者参与到联机地图的制作中。这个功能还处于测试阶段，但是我们对多人联机MOD的未来抱有期待。

我们欢迎任何有制作联机MOD的玩家们参与到联机地图的开发过程中，官方会继续为此提供支持与帮助。


主线剧情改写，上新火魔地图

“野云万里无城郭，雨雪纷纷连大漠”——除了游戏独特氛围营造，我们认为，让大家真正代入游戏体会真实的大漠，离不开内容的打磨。

我们增加了6W字主线剧情，让故事更加完整密集，也增强了主线和五大部落之间的联系，让故事和游戏玩法连接得更加紧密，还有不少含特殊规则的战斗等待玩家挑战。
“门”那头的世界，千年前的动荡，王室之血的本源……银珊公主和火魔人的秘密将在本次新主线中解开。这一次，你将和银珊踏上另一条拯救之旅，去改写那个注定的结局。



同时增加了两条长支线——霍翎支线、火之书支线，也增加了一些零星剧情，它们零散地藏在地图里，等待着大家发掘。
在大漠深处，最不缺的就是秘密。随着火魔的阴谋被发掘，还有更多的问题浮现出来。看似暗中操纵一切的神秘人身份，恐怖的巨型蜘蛛，一本从火魔人手中获得却会时不时说话的残页.......注意自己的选择，可能选错一步，这些问题都会变得非常棘手。





另外，世界地图扩展，随着剧情推进，大家可解锁一张全新火魔地图。
在旧版剧情里，有一种威胁着各大部落的生物——火魔。而达成真结局的条件之一，便是前往红石谷击败火魔的首领——火魔暗主。但是他们从未出现在地图上，与玩家们在剧情之外也无任何交集…
在全新的故事中，火魔的阴谋随着故事情节发展，也将被各大领主所发觉。最终，他们会打破大河女神千年前设下的结界，把自己的领地与大漠连接上；而火魔暗主也会建立全新的火魔势力，带领他的八个部下与十座堡垒，重新开始征服人类。
此时你是打算继续维护人类的利益，还是与火魔联手建立新的秩序呢？



联机测试启动，势力外交优化

此次更新除了推出大家在意的多人联机测试外，也优化了游戏内的势力外交，让领主们变得更加有血有肉。

关于联机玩法，我们提供了一个官方的测试样例——日蚀之役，大家最多可以召集4名伙伴一起开始这场游戏：选择扮演的角色，在连续的关卡中不断提升，最后在危险的异世界中找出真相。目前我们提供的mod已有5种职业类型的10名角色、88个可学习技能、100+商店道具，它们都等待着大家来探索！（但我们需要跟大家解释下，目前玩法还存在一些bug，在体验过程中，可能会遇到闪退、卡死等问题。在以后的更新中，我们会持续优化解决，让这个玩法更完整）



另外，联机玩法目前只是一个实验性质的测试玩法，我们期待着更多优秀的mod作者在框架下填充想法！你将可以自由设计角色、技能、道具、关卡等。只需将你精心制作的联机战斗地图上传到创意工坊中，就能和朋友一起激情开黑了！

关于新版本的势力外交，我们增加了更多的选择性和互动。
城市附近的聚落成为香饽饽
——因为它作为前哨可以招募与驻扎士兵，虽然同时也会容易遭受攻击
势力间的火拼将更加激烈
——因为AI现在会优先攻击附近守军薄弱的据点，同时组成集团军大规模出动
部落战斗力大大提升
——因为我们不仅增强了领主，还新增一些在游戏开始时便效忠各大部落的新英雄升
不同领主间会互相亲善、主动结盟了
——AI外交更具人性化


全英版本推出，其他细节增补

虽迟但到，我们将50W字的内容全数翻译成了英文，这次同步带来了《部落与弯刀》全英文版本（虽然某种程度上也是被外国玩家们的催更逼出来的），希望海外的大家能够喜欢。在游戏设置中将语言修改为 - English，就能体验啦。

其他细节上，我们去掉了六个月的时间限制，大家可以自由安排游戏节奏，再也不用赶时间去统一大漠啦！同时新增了若干音乐、立绘、模型、技能特效，丰富视听体验。

以上，我们的每次更新都是听取大家的建议的最佳机会，期待大家告诉我们你的任何想法，感恩你在大漠中的每一分钟。

更新日志：
新增：部落与弯刀现已支持英语
新增：【联机玩法】联机玩法测试，目前已提供官方联机样例：日蚀之役，最多4名玩家可以组队进行闯关挑战，目前已有5种职业类型的10名角色、88个可学习技能、100+商店道具，后续也将继续进行优化和丰富内容
新增：全新6万字主线剧情替代旧版主线剧情（使用旧存档任将继续旧主线）
新增：主线剧情相关的多场BOSS战斗，以及一些小型系统
新增：多个支线剧情，随着主线开展而刷新
新增：火之书支线与配套技能页，BOSS
新增：全新沙盒地图火魔之地与全新势力火魔部落，随着主线剧情开展而出现
新增：多个新的随机任务新增：各大势力增加多名初始英雄作为城主
新增：各大附属聚落重做，现在可以作为前哨屯兵，占领，并可以建造少量建筑物
新增：重写部分战略AI逻辑，AI势力会自发组成集团军攻城，并更聪明的选择攻占目标
新增：外交策略数值重做，现在AI之间会互相结盟，亲善等
新增：一系列法杖武器，并可以在大漠各处找到他们
新增：一些新的角色模型与立绘
新增：一些新的主线剧情插图
调整：大量兵卡招募费用进行调整平衡
调整：部分特产现在不能被当作礼物送出
调整：部分怪物和副本的掉落平衡
修复：各处的游商会刷新出一些特产
修复：修复了赏金猎人主线在地牢卡线的BUG
修复：修复了“领主”不能升级玉石矿场的问题修复：NPC不会获取坐骑的错误

The first major update of Sands of Salzaar’s next stage of development is now here. But before that, we have some other news to share with you: Sands of Salzaar won the Best Game Award at the 2020 IndiePlay Awards! We are honored by our players’ support and feedback, and will continue to improve the game during Early Access and beyond.



Back to today’s update! In case you missed it, you can read about our update plan and roadmap for the next few months here.



[h2]New Quest Tracking Feature[/h2]

In the November update, one of our biggest priorities is to address a very frequent feedback: the quests lack direction and are often too vague for their own good. To address this, we added a new quest guidance system. You can now either pinpoint a main quest objective on the map, or follow a compass to find your destination.



For players that wish to immerse themselves in the game world, there is an option for you as well. Tavern hostesses will have rumors for your mysterious quests, and the clues will expand over time, in case you need them for late steps.



[h2]Combat and AI Improvements[/h2]

Another major addition we’ve included in this update is the first of the major changes to the combat system. New battle scenario maps are added for better visual variety in combat. Troop AI behavior in battle has also been adjusted, in particular to cavalry units and ranged units, which will now attempt to fight with melee weapons when necessary, instead of constantly trying to run away, much to the annoyance of players. Finally, there is a major rebalance of troops, especially at the higher tiers.



Some of the combat changes were part of work previously slated for later, but we’ve decided to bring them forward. These are things we are constantly working on, and we’d love to hear your feedback on the changes. In addition, we are focusing on single player mode features at this time, so the multiplayer map expansion previously planned for this update has been moved to a later date.

[h2]Expanded English Mod Support[/h2]

Last but not the least, to further support the English speaking modding scene, we’ve further expanded English tool support by localizing table headers of the reference excel files, and made them easier to access. A couple of untranslated modding tools are also localized. This is another field we are still in active iteration process, so let us know your modding experience as well.

Speaking of mods, some modders in our community are also working on localizing their award winning mods of the second modding event, you can take a look at the winners here.

If you encounter any issue in-game, contact us through [email protected], or join us on Discord!



The full patch notes are as below.

[h3]2020-11-20 Codename: Battle of the Black Sun (0.8.1.1)[/h3]

New Additions

• Brand new quest guidance system, with map coordinates and compass options.
  
• You can now ask for rumors at taverns for certain active quests. Options for the rumors will expand and change over time.
  
• 12 new battleground maps, which will spawn randomly depending on army composition and related environment.
  
• New combat moveset for sword, dagger, spear and staff.
  
• New animation set for dragons.
  
• AI and animation improvements for cavalry units.
  
• Added English headers for modding resource excel files and rearranged configuration tables.
  
• Teammate position indicator widget added to multiplayer mod.
  
• You can now set password for your multiplayer session.
  
• Added custom item slot feature to the mod editor. You can custom item slot and type name of any number, define slot exclusivity logic like differentiating between one and two handed weapons and more. Refer to GUI and LUA reference mod for more information.
  
• Added trade GUI reset function to the mod editor.

Adjustments

• Some persistent NPCs (Mysterious Witch and Haberdasher, for example) now show up in the town roster.
  
• Adjusted ranged unit AI and their movement behavior. Certain ranged troops will also attempt to fight with melee weapons when necessary.
  
• Removed the time limit of Bazaar.
  
• Adjusted combat roll animation.
  
• Updated Beastmaster’s dragon form model.
  
• Tasha, Threnody and Omar are now automatically assigned “in the wild” status once certain side quests are completed. You no longer need to use Legacy to bring them into the game.
  
• Significant troop stats and skill revamp. Certain high tier troops have also been redesigned, this include Dakn Elder, Dakn Priestess, Nasir Crossbowman, Nasir Healer and more.
  
• Adjusted the following skills: Wild Wolf Bite (Beastmaster), Beast Stampede (Beastmaster), Slam (Beastmaster), Lunging Chop (Berserker), Primal Dance (Berserker), Aftershock (Sentinel).
  
• Cooldown and mana cost adjustment for some skills.
  
• Most dungeon with chest rewards now change their battleground map accordingly.
  
• Added missing illustrations for certain quest NPCs.
  
• The multiplayer lobby now shows all available and in-progress multiplayer sessions. Players will also be returned to the session itself instead of the main menu after finishing or failing a multiplayer game.
  
• All mod configuration table files are now arranged in two languages, this includes file names and column titles.
  
• All open source configuration tables can now be found in "Example_ExcelReference" folder under game installation path. Mod developers no longer need to extract them from open source mods.

Dear desert travelers,

After sifting through a variety of high-quality entries for Sands of Salzaar’s Second Modding Event, we are excited to reveal today the list of cool mods selected by our official team! Before announcing the results, we’d like to thank all the participants. It was such a pleasure to explore everyone’s creations!

Compared to the First Modding Event in May, the second comp has inundated us with more diversity, more professional mods with higher technical requirements, more multiplayer maps, and even massive story overhauls that totally remake the game with all-new gameplay and storylines. Such progress not only comes from the constant technical updates on modding toolsets, but also owes a great deal to our passionate modders always dedicated to improving modding skills to realize the full potential of our humble indie.

So, without further ado, here comes the complete list of selected mods:

[h3]The Excellence Prize:[/h3] 乌坦城之变 (The Wu Tan City Uprising)
Mod Author: skyswordkill



The whole multiplayer map based on the IP of the popular Chinese fiction Battle Through the Heavens is remade with an all-new GUI, leaving a strong first impression on players. The re-designed skill system consists of passive and active abilities to be ranked up. The gameplay is more of a stats-based RPG, with huge potential in future updates.

空界之传v2.0版 (Hollow Chronicles 2.0)
Mod Author: KK大魔王Acrab



Based on the Japanese novel series Sword Art Online, this mod includes two fictional characters with exclusive plots and quests, adds several new maps, and introduces skills like crafting equipment and items. The mod overall is very polished with frequent updates. Some newly-added dungeons are also well-designed.

[h3]The Merit Prize:[/h3] 墨家传人正式版 (The Descendants of Mo)
Mod Author: M3小蘑菇



If you like game storytelling and martial arts, this is the mod you can’t miss. A new character The Descendants of Mo is added and the original storylines about Mohism will soon get you immersed in the game. We really look forward to seeing the ending of the story!

少女与弯刀 (Femme Salzaar)
Mod Author: HA会长



This campaign mod is the base mod for “The Weaker Sex”. These two mods feature an original female character, new female NPCs and a variety of female combat arms. The recent update remade characters’ portraits and added a slew of new storylines. Strongly recommended.

动态人物互动与势力交互大修 (Dynamic Character and Faction Interactions)
Mod Author: skyswordkill & 勃兰登堡



This mod expands the base game’s Favor system and interactions with NPCs and factions. Now you can have chit chat, practice fighting with other fellow characters, make confessions of love to your crush, trade cities with other factions, and even beg for goods.

数码宝贝 (Digimon)
Mod Author: 宇文kong



This mod adds a variety of Digimons as combat arms in-game which can be upgraded with different progression routes. The Digimon library is comprehensive with unique signature skills , and the models are so exquisitely-designed that sometimes cause frame drops in the troop upgrade interface.

[h3]The Creativity Prize:[/h3]

• Horde and Tank
  
• Grant Instant death to your enemies-Kara No Kyoukai -The mystic eyes of death perception
  
• 情比金坚3.0 (Heart of Gold)
  
• “星”世界 (Starworld)
  
• 弯刀塔防肉搏 (Melee Tower Defense)
  
• 命运传承 (Fated Legacy)
  

[h3]The Participation Prize:[/h3]

• 神兽坐骑大礼包 (Bizarre Mounts)
  
• Summon Skills and 3 Passive Skills
  
• 双花之禧 (The Wedding of Roses)
  
• 更有用的商品 (More Useful Trade Goods)
  
• 新角色：剑侠 (New Character: Sword Master)
  
• 月饼【商人卖】(Mooncake)
  
• 北斗导航寻人系统 (Global NPC Positioning System)
  
• 部落暖暖 (The Wardrobe)
  
• 自动翻译器 (Auto Translator)
  
• 装备大师与炼器之心 (Craftmaster and The Heart of Craft)
  
• 潘多拉魔盒 (Pandora’s Box)
  
• 告别抽卡 (Troops, on Demand)
  
• 技能魔改篇 (Skill Enhancement)
  
• 每日获取玉石 (Daily Jades)
  
• 我有一个菜园 (My Own Garden)
  
• 一些功能 (Misc Features)
  
• 有我就够了 (All You Need)
  
• 旅行药剂商人 (Travelling Potion Vendor)
  
• 灵剑角色MOD (Spectral Blade)
  
• 渣男语录~约会表白羞羞交互mod (Dating and Confession)
  

Congrats again to all the authors who made these awesome mods above! You guys will receive our prizes in the following weeks. If you haven’t gotten in touch with us yet, no worries, we will contact you on Steam, or you can join our Discord or email us ([email protected]) so that we can send you the prize.

We are glad to see there are English mods on the list. Given some coding issues in English modding toolsets, it is quite difficult for our English modders to get their creative juices flowing this time. To fix these problems, we are currently working on localizing all the Excels containing Chinese item IDs for modding. Besides, we will optimize English modding support in the next major update, which you can read about in our roadmap update blog, and more popular Workshop mods including the prize-winning mods in this comp will be localized into English for our English players to enjoy a variety of custom gaming experiences.

For Sands of Salzaar, mod not only substantially expands the original gaming experience with innovative custom content, but also helps us find out what players would like to see and change in this game. Therefore, in addition to improving modding support in future updates, we will continue to add new content to the base game, rebalance and optimize in-game systems in accordance with feedback from our Community. The desert world will keep evolving. Stay tuned for more!

Sincerely,
Sands of Salzaar’s Team

After the launch of Sands of Salzaar's latest major update “Battle of the Black Sun” which brought English localization and a slew of new content, now we are ready to reveal what’s coming up next in the development of Sands of Salzaar.





The current iteration of multiplayer in Sands of Salzaar is just a framework of what is possible, and for the next major update we want to address the issues discovered during this period and further polish the current content.



[h3]Update highlights[/h3]

• New additions to the multiplayer framework and “Battle of the Black Sun” map

This includes refinements for the co-op map, and various multiplayer specific item/gear changes.

• Continuous development of mod tools and expanded support for English language mod tools

There will undoubtedly be increased demands on mod tool features and stability after the English launch and the multiplayer feature, this is something crucial for talented mod makers to unleash their creativity. We are also looking to optimize the support for English mod makers so no matter what language you choose to play in, you could always share the freedom of modding.

• Quest system improvements

We also want to address some of the most emergent pain points like the quest system and further refine quest content.

• Additional mod developer support for multiplayer
  
• More battleground map variations in singleplayer

We are targeting a 1-2 month development time for this update, the features listed above are more urgent, with additional challenges from the multiplayer.



One of the most frequent feedbacks we received is the lack of variety in siege battles, especially during endgame and repeated sieges. More siege command options, and unit pathing are also we are specifically working on to fix and improve.

[h3]Update highlights[/h3]

• Siege battle improvements

The current siege battle design is not interesting enough, the lack of AI challenge makes endgame a bit on the tedious side of things. A revamp to siege battles would significantly increase the quality of battle experience throughout the game.

• A new starting class

I mean, who doesn’t like new playable characters? Although we’d love to keep the details on this in wraps for now. Plus, we are also making improvements to other classes and tuning the overall balance.

• PvP multiplayer map sample.

After the previous additions to the multiplayer framework and Battle of the Black Sun co-op map, we are planning to add a simple competitive multiplayer map as a sample.

• Existing classes optimizations
  
• Existing troop balancing
  
• Troop AI improvements

For this kind of open world game, nuances in character interaction is a very interesting aspect. To achieve what we want from the system, a few major changes must be made, including a redesign of favor/reputation system, more character side stories and more variety in NPC actions.

[h3]Update highlights[/h3]

• Nuanced character relationships

We envision Sands of Salzaar to be leaning towards the RPG side of a game, and we want it to feel like a proper one. The depth, characteristics, and the resulting possibilities in their interactions are what make every playthrough unique and interesting, and we want the players to have the desire to understand the world, the people and their backstories.

• More faction activities

Factions within the story will become more active in their trading, plundering and under table dealings. They will be much smarter when it comes to decisions, which leads to many more uncertainties and possibilities. You might want to change how you approach that certain Sultan a little, or a lot.

• More character side stories
  
• Controller support

This is a very important feature for us, and is something necessary for Sands of Salzaar to expand to other platforms like the Nintendo Switch. It’s relatively simple to support controllers for combat, but a total UI overhaul is necessary for full controller support, so this is something we are doing a bit later into development.



That’s what we have today for the next chapter in the world of Sands of Salzaar. We will also continue to update the game, fixing bugs and adding key features during this stage of development.

We are truly humbled by the tremendous amount of support since our last major release, and all the constructive feedback is incredibly valuable for us to determine what to do next for the game. We hope you like our showings here, and see you in the desert!

Early Access Update 0.8.0.7 for Sands of Salzaar is now live. We are taking measures to resolve some of the deeper gameplay related issues that impact your experience in this update.

You can now unstuck your character with the new feature in game settings. Opening the inventory screen in combat now pauses the game, so you can comfortably use recovery items or rearrange skills.

Further on the quality of life front, you no longer lose durability for the entire party’s items even if only a couple characters entered a dungeon, levitating some of the durability woes. Messages from other factions also no longer interrupt your more urgent actions such as preparing a siege.

We are also looking at solutions to address the following issues in future updates:

• Add new tools to streamline gear repairs.
  
• Fix quest item progress logic so you don't need to reobtain quest items you already have in your inventory.

Last but definitely not the least, expect a glimpse of what’s on the horizon for Sands of Salzaar soon!

For complete update notes, read further down below. In the meantime, check out our known issue list here and hop on our Discord server for more discussion and feedback.



[h3]2020-10-15 Codename: Battle of the Black Sun (0.8.0.7)[/h3]

Additions

• Added a button intended to fix various issues causing characters to be stuck on the world map, you can find it in game settings.
  
• Added new icons for some armor and weapons, modified some others.

Adjustments

• Diplomatic events like declaration of war or gesture of peace no longer prompt dialogue boxes that interrupt siege preparation. Players now need to address those events in the Message interface (bottom left in the world map) within a certain amount of time.
  
• Slightly reduced the power of Silver Warrior's skills.
  
• Certain dialogues now properly address characters based on their gender.
  
• Opening item and skill interface during battle in non-multiplayer modes now pauses the game.
  
• Removed reward selection dialogue from prestige levelups.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue causing messenger quests to sometimes display incorrect locations.
  
• Ifrit Archer can can now be upgraded to Ifrit Flamespitter.
  
• Fixed a geometry issue in Umbra Cliffs.
  
• Fixed an item description display issue caused by item customization interface in multiplayer.
  
• The legacy shop now properly displays all items under non 16:9 resolutions.
  
• Modded custom factions that do not have a designated color no longer cause all cities to lose their faction color.
  
• Battles that only require certain characters no longer incorrectly deduct item durability from all party members.
  
• Fixed an issue causing certain quests to not update their quest item obtain progress.
  
• On difficulty level 1 and higher, troop upgrade tree now displays the correct troop level required for the upgrade.