Book of Travels News

Feb. 22 Patch Notes (v.0.18.140222.31897)

Dear Traveller,
In just under two hours, at 1pm CET / 4am PT, we're rolling out a new update of bug fixes to Book of Travels. As always, anyone still online playing at this point will be disconnected as the update files are being applied.

[h3]Bug Fixes [/h3]

Combat

Solved various cases of movement and positioning issues in combat.
Fleeing in combat now shows the player running (as intended).
Solved a case of gliding instead of running when charging at the start of a combat scenario.
Solved that there was a brief pause between running to charge and attacking in combat.
The red combat ring sometimes sliding over the screen after having started multiple combat scenarios at different positions in the same scene solved.

Movement

Sometimes being stuck for 15-20 seconds after a level transition solved.
The loading view fading out before the camera has been placed solved.
Sometimes sliding slightly animation-wise when starting to walk or run solved.

UI and Interactions

Fixed a visual bug that caused your inventory to not be loaded into the UI after using the Trainmasters Chest.
Fixed an issue that caused interacting with drinking fountains to not work.
Reduced the time the player is locked while interacting with drinking fountains.
The "Hide hud" buttons are now properly greyed out if they are not interactable.
The Atlas HUD button is now properly greyed out when not interactable.

Skills

Fixed a bug that caused offhand items to turn invisible while being affected by the Knot of Mimarob skill.
Fixed a bug that caused the Fold skill to not work on unconnected (but still valid) positions.

Best wishes,
Oliver and the team at Might and Delight

An Update on the Near Future for Book of Travels

[h2]Dear Traveller,[/h2]

Before we get to the matter at hand I’d personally like to thank you on behalf of the entire team at Might and Delight for playing Book of Travels, engaging with each other on our social platforms and providing us with the invaluable feedback we need to improve and grow the game.

Now, we’ve always said that we’re going to be communicating our plans and priorities with you as they take shape and today I’m going to tell you about how they’ve changed recently.

Our original plan was, as you may know, to continually flesh out the game with content in the form of additional features, levels, character forms and more – all of it along with a flow of patches with fixes on a regular basis throughout the Early Access period that we call “Chapter Zero”.

But the truth is – and this is the part where we need to be brutally honest with ourselves – Book of Travels is nowhere near the level of polish we expected it to be at this point in its life cycle, nor where we need it to be to make it a successful product in the long term. New content tends to birth new problems for us to deal with when they get added, and for a team as small as ours it quickly becomes unsustainable.

Simply put: we need to get Book of Travels to a place where we can start building it with brick and mortar rather than putting bandaids on it. And for that to happen we need to go to the foundation.

[h2]Waging War on the Bugs[/h2]

It’s in light of this that we have decided to completely focus on fixing the game for the next few months, instead of having our attention split between fixes and new content. Of course, we realise that the fact that the game won’t see any new major content additions for an undetermined amount of time will disappoint some of you. But we also believe that any player who has invested any kind of significant playtime in the game knows as well as we do that this is what Book of Travels needs.

Last week we put out a form open for any and all of you to fill out, and in it we asked you what technical area we need to focus on getting better first. As you can see above, the majority of you want the gameplay bugs to be taken care of primarily, whereas the server stability/functionally got the most votes as a secondary objective.

This data didn’t surprise any of us, and we think that’s a good thing. It serves as a nice confirmation that the path we’re about to set out on is the right course of action. We do have the talent onboard to straighten this out, we really believe that. And with this new focus on fixing what’s wrong with the game, all hands on deck, we’re going to put everything we have into the betterment of Book of Travels. And hopefully, with that, we also secure a stable future for the world of Braided Shore.

That is pretty much everything that I wanted to tell you for now. While this new, aggressive campaign of ours indeed does mean that the output of new content will be put on hold, rest assured that we won’t go into complete radio silence. Whenever we reach milestones you will hear from us, you will get the patch notes and we are interested in doing more forms that you can participate in further down the road. And I will be here, lurking, and forwarding your will to the powers that be. Because your input, your voice will continue to be vital for our progress.

Thank you and Best wishes,
Oliver and the team at Might and Delight

New Places to Discover and Get Lost In

[h2]Dear Traveller,[/h2]

Today we rolled out a new update to Book of Travels, which we've been calling World Update 0 internally. It contains some fixes, all of which we detailed in the patch notes yesterday. But the update also fleshes out the world of Braided Shore with new areas for you to travel and explore. We know that some of you have been clamoring for more places with new mysteries to unearth, so we're happy to be able to oblige!

We've mentioned this expansion of land before, and here we are. The first of the two new areas we've added today is a little more of what you've come to expect of the Braided Shore wilderness: a mountainous forest area that connects the central western parts of Charwood to Lakatos Inlet. It's lively, beautiful and inviting – a perfect spot for a stroll when you're in a serene mood.

But we're the first to admit that this isn't the most exciting of prospects, even if we all obviously also want these additions to the "overworld". That's why the second area is the one we're most happy about bringing you today! An all new outmark, which is what we call our game's basic equivalent to "dungeons". The reason that we try to avoid that word is because an outmark can be anything ranging from, indeed, a literal dungeon to building interiors and islands – but the concept is just what a seasoned RPG player would expect: an area, or level if you will, of particular note with compelling secrets to discover and gameplay challenges that goes beyond what you'd generally experience on your average everyday travels.

The Underbelly is an ancient underground area that holds many mysteries of its origins. We're not going to spoil how one would get access to these subterranean ruins, as we believe that it's part of the thrill to find your own way forward. But it is out there, ready to be found and searched by you.

And with that I say happy travels, my friends! We will have more to bring you soon, but in the meantime we hope that you will enjoy the new areas and what they have to offer you. Thank you for your attention, your love and your support. It's what drives us forward!

Best wishes,
Oliver & the team at Might and Delight.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1783460/Book_of_Travels__Cup_of_Kindness/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1849710/Book_of_Travels__Soundtrack/

[h2]Help us bring Braided Shore to life![/h2]
[h3]

[/h3]

[h2]Want more info?[/h2]
[h3]Become a Traveller[/h3]
Sign up on our mailing list for news about our game at www.TMORPG.com.

[h3]Unique Stories[/h3]
When you play Book of Travels there is no linear questline, instead every player will have their own journey and stories to tell. Find out more about how our game design works to make your journey unlike any other...

[h3]Revealing the Early Access World[/h3]
Book of Travels is now available in Early Access on Steam. In Chapter Zero parts of the Braided Shore will be open, and among the places to visit is the gem of the region – the city of Kasa. Read more here.

[h3]Join our Discord[/h3]
Join our super friendly Discord to exchange ideas on all things Book of Travels as well as art, games and books. Join here.

Feb. 8 Patch Notes (v.0.18.060222.31876)

Dear Traveller,
We hope you're doing well! Tomorrow, Tuesday February 8th, at 3pm CET / 6am PT, we're excited to be rolling out an update containing both new content (which we'll talk more about tomorrow) and a host of bug fixes to Book of Travels. Below you can read up on what those fixes do, specifically.

Note that the servers are expected to be down for maintenance between 1pm and 3pm CET, so that we can apply the changes and do some "dusting".

[h3]General Changes[/h3]

Character level achievements now trigger retroactively when logging in (for non-deleted characters in the same region).

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

Combat

Your ward will now get used if you get attacked while casting a knot spell. You will no longer be instantly defeated if hit while casting a spell.
Fixed a bug that caused NPCs to occasionally joining a combat situation when they shouldn't (like chickens).
Several cases of incorrect timings and double-triggered animations in combat solved.
Characters sometimes not drawing their sword at the end of the combat initiative counter solved.
Players no longer incorrectly exits the Hand on Sword state when entering it from walking or running.
NPCs can no longer initiate combat with a player who is currently being robbed, or currently engaged in combat with another event (this solves several corner cases of getting stuck in combat).
Fixed a case when attacking robbers would trigger a robbery during the combat.

Vehicles

Boats no longer have an occasional delay between counting down and starting to move.
Solved that vehicles boarding buttons sometimes showed up too late after stopping.
Player is no longer locked for a brief moment when disembarking from a vehicle.

Movement

Sometimes starting to teleport instead of walking after a level change or re-log solved.
Fixed a bug that caused the player to continue their walk when starting to cast a skill.
Fixed a bug that caused your character to sometimes slide towards a teapot when sitting down and clicking on it.
Fixed a bug that caused your character to slide after logging in with an active animal port.
Fixed player sliding when stopping while in animal form.
Running can no longer be entered when in water by right-clicking interactables.
When right-clicking to run, but circumstances does not allow you to (in water, not enough stamina), your character will now start to run if the circumstances change to allow it.

Stacking items in Trainmasters Chest should now work properly and not lead to items disappearing.
Items should now properly save in both the Trainmasters Chest and the inventory after using the chest.
Fixed a visual bug that caused your inventory to not be loaded into the UI after double-clicking items in the Trainmasters Chest.
Fixed a bug that caused the 'Take All' button to not give the player the items.
Fixed a bug that caused spam clicking the 'Take all' button to duplicate items.
Fixed an issue that showed trade buttons for NPCs that don't have a valid trade anymore.
Fixed a bug that caused the compass button to indoor areas to keep the rotation of the last seen compass. It will now always point down.
Fixed certain instances of flickering text boxes.
Tea description sometimes not working on player created teapots is now fixed.
Fixed a bug that caused certain headpiece items to not have an item icon.

Events and Endeavours

The Elder statues are interactable again.
Solved that some narrative events (like the night market in Charwood Forest) were empty / lingered with their props like tents, and some audio etc / had their NPCs standing in the same corner when the event was not supposed to be active.
Invisible NPCs are interactable again.

Levels

Added proper collision to a rocks in West Wind Shores.
Moved spawn points of some out of reach reagents.

Skills

Fixed bug where skill objects could spawn outside of valid terrain.
Fixed projectile path looking strange when using certain skills without a valid target.
Guiding Spark now recognizes House of Ari as shelter.

Tech

The launcher now works on OSX.
Fixed a bug that caused smoke to appear pink on OSX.
Fixed various instances of ground color bleeding.

Best wishes,
Oliver & the team at Might and Delight

Our Vision for Death in Braided Shore

[h3]Dear Travellers (dead and alive alike),[/h3]

Over the past months, many of you have raised concerns, questions, and frustrations about permadeath (haven't we all?). This is something that we have been discussing a lot internally, sharing much of the same concerns that you all have. Today we want to share some of our thoughts on this topic and how we’d like to evolve it going forward.

Firstly we believe that dying is an essential ingredient in the Book of Travels soup. We don't want to fall into the trap of trivializing dangers and risk, removing the edge from gameplay moments such as combat and survival. Therefore, our current plan is to keep both the life petals and ‘physical death’ but add depth, meaning, and gameplay to the player character’s post-death journey. Here is a spoiler free breakdown of the sequence of events that we are currently considering:

Life is dependent on your life petals in accordance with original design.
Characters can die, and seeing someone else die will ignite a special quest regarding mourning and closure.
Your items will be stored by your grave, collectible only by you.
Ghost forms can travel the world interacting with other ghosts.
There is a path to be discovered to get resurrected. A way to gain ‘passage’ back to the land of the living.

Where this will fit into our current update schedule, we have yet to entirely work out, but we will get back to you as soon as we have a better idea. For now, we just wanted to shed some light on our thoughts regarding this important part of the player experience. We hope you like the direction we are headed in with this and that you continue to stay with us on the road ahead! If you are interested in some insight into some of the inhabitants of Braided Shore’s beliefs on life and death, you can read a few tidbits from our vault of lore below:

Life and Death Death is a topic surrounded by much speculation and study in Braided Shore. In the modern mythos, life and death are thought of as being synonymous with land and sea, echoing the stormy, mysterious origins of the Asken settlers that now call Braided Shore their home. The shore between life and death is seen as a realm of passage between the two worlds. Mystics calling themselves “shore walkers'' have dedicated their mortal existence to exploring this uncharted middle-land, risking death, insanity, and perhaps even worse.

In other cultures, such as the Malku Su, death is a completely foreign concept. Malkus believe their race exists as a finite number of eternal spirits. Should their bodies perish, their spirits are carried by lightning to nest with their goddess until a worthy Malku Su family is rewarded with a child. The goddess then chooses one of the nesting spirits to bestow to the newborn, thus perpetuating the journey of the Malku Su Soul. This mysterious circularity has shaped the mentality of the stoic Malku Su for countless generations and drawn awe and wonder from other species.

Until next time,
Jakob, Oliver and the team at Might and Delight

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1783460/Book_of_Travels__Cup_of_Kindness/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1849710/Book_of_Travels__Soundtrack/

[h2]Help us bring Braided Shore to life![/h2]
[h3]