VALHALL Tests News

Greetings, Vikings!

Today we are excited to reveal VALHALL: Harbinger launch date! Watch the teaser to find out when Steam Early Access begins.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Launch details[/h2]
If you missed the previous update, Thor blesses you to check there information about:

• Harbinger and its Early Access launch
  
• Ultimate supporter status
  
• NDA lifting
  
• Steam keys for backers from Indiegogo
  
• Big patch note
  
• Weapon customization system announcement
  

Check previous update

More details on the Harbinger story part, game modes and other launch info are coming in the next update.

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]
Thanks to everyone who helped to test the multiplayer in a new village hub in the mid patch. We collected the issues and will be working on them, multiplayer put in maintenance again. Here is a list of other changes:

• Weapon hit collision VFX/SFX

You will notice throughout the world that you can now strike the environment. This strike is accompanied by an animation of the impact and a corresponding VFX/SFX effect. We hope that this inclusion, which we will keep upgrading for each material type, creates a higher level of immersion.

• General VFX/SFX Improvements

We have improved and upgraded the blood VFX as well as trails in weapons (both for air while slashing and for blood if you hit).

• Impulse on death

Tired of just seeing corpses fall to the floor after killing another viking? You will now feel a much improved feel upon killing another viking! When a viking dies, it is sent flying in the direction of the last hit. The amount of impulse is variable per weapon (a knife will not cause as much of an impulse as a sword)

• Weapon fall

The currently equipped weapon is now dropped upon death and is free to be picked up and used! All the previous status of the weapon is carried over, that means, if someone used that weapon to kill someone, you will inherit the blood marks present in the weapon from those kills!

• Village hub

New location for weapon testing and lobbies. It's work-in-process, we are improving the landscape, adding new props, interior, etc.

• Block reworked

Block has suffered a big rework. While more realistic, this new block system is way harder to master as it requires direct contact between weapons! You will have to point and preview where your enemy will hit in order to block it!

• New UI Bars (Smooth)

You will notice that the bars for HP/Stamina/Rage now present a much smoother feel as well as a delayed drop down (instead of instant). That gives a better read of your current situation as well as a better feel in general.

• Per stat regeneration

Health regeneration and Stamina regeneration used to be tied (they would start regenerating at the same time and cancel at the same time). These are now separate regenerations. Health regeneration will start after a certain amount of time after the last loss of health. Stamina regeneration, similarly, will start after a certain amount of time after using stamina for any action (blocking, attacking, etc).

Skål!
Blackrose Arts

Greetings, Vikings!


Today we have exciting news to share.


[h3]Official website[/h3]

There is a lot of information, we welcome you to read the update details on our new official website. It's not yet fully completed, as we are now devoting time to the progress you will find below.

Read the full update here

This is a place where the game info, news and patch details will be published. We will continue to post updates on Indiegogo with links to full notes.




[h3]Independence[/h3]

As you know we had hard times before and were considering investors to be able to implement everything at the highest level set with the reworks beginning. The strive for this level is strongly powered by the amount of attention the game got, which seemed impossible at start, the millions of views on YouTube and so many people providing feedback, awaiting the launch.

At the time of receiving the grant, the investors question was not closed.

However, during the last months of progress we assessed the strength of our boosted work and realized that we can provide enough content on our own, which means saving independence.


[h3]Early Access launch
[/h3]
As we said earlier, the feedback we receive from you is very diverse - from the requests of survival elements in a realistic setting of the Viking Age to traveling through the worlds of Norse mythology, smashing enemies with Mjolnir. All the wishes are united by the core gameplay we are working on.

VALHALL is a Viking universe. It will have different parts presented as different games, each of which devoted to its own story fitting to global lore, and corresponding game modes which differ by genre.

The first part is VALHALL: Harbinger.

It covers the beginning of Ragnarok from the perspective of the people of Midgard. While there was no visible sign of it, we start with Viking fighting with each other and their local problems. Only some of the warriors get a chance to be the first to witness the omens of the end of the world and influence the course of events.

That way this story chapter includes both realistic and fantasy settings available through different game modes.

In addition to lore-modes combination, Harbinger is being built the way you can play it from the beginning, not just test the mechanics we are adding in.

This leads us to possibility to launch Early Access earlier and continue independent development. Actual Beta tests with initial modes will take place during Early Access period.


VALHALL launches in Early Access in the 4th quarter of 2020

The date will be announced with the next update in September


There will be multiplayer battles, arenas, but also Harbinger will feature single player modes. We got a huge amount of its requests before and it fits for the development process. Let's take a look what comes first.

Wield Mjolnir evolves to absolutely another game mode with a big world, different weapons, story, Norse mythology creatures and being played solo. Mjolnir abilities will provide unique gameplay, this is not just press and throw. The mode will be available at launch and a little earlier for tests.



Multiplayer hub in Viking village, where you can fight on the arenas, will be added to the next patch and improved in Early Access.

There also will be a Massive battle game mode - a cinematic experience of being a Viking on the big battlefield.

As promised, you can find short term roadmap on our website. It covers only a part of what we will provide these months and what will be available in Early Access.





[h3]Ultimate supporter status
[/h3]
Today we grant you an ultimate supporter status.

That means you will receive game keys to all future VALHALL parts - free access to all of the next game modes of new genres.



[h3]Battle Royale
[/h3]
Another whole chapter of VALHALL will be devoted to Battle Royale mode. We want to give you an experience that you could not have imagined when supported the game.

The previous map that some of you could check in Alpha will be fully reworked to become a real field to host a battle between the forces of the gods.

It will become available during Early Access separately from Harbinger.



[h3]Items[/h3]

In-game items from perks will appear in your inventory in the middle of Early Access.

We are making Weapon customization system so you could not just have your skin on weapon, but do combinations with different blades, pommels and so on.



Also you guys get a lot of items from perks and bonuses, we want to fill them with more models. We are not working on cosmetics too much yet, but you can see the quality of the items.



[h3]Keys[/h3]
Steam keys will be sent to all backers with “Early access & full game perk” closer to the launch by email. We will announce that separately. For everyone else, your tests app in the library will unlock Early Access at launch.


[h3]NDA lifting
[/h3]You will be able to make videos and stream the game without NDA a little earlier than launch. We will announce about it in the next update.


[h3]Patch[/h3]
Today’s update is the biggest for the last time and is a small part of what we are preparing for the coming patches.


New one-handed sword attack animations.
Slash : 0,40, 140,180,220,320 degrees.
Stab: left, right.




New two-handed axe attack animations.
Slash : 0,40, 140,180,220,320 degrees.
Stab: left, right.




Staged blood on weapons and fists.
Randomized sets of blood that appear by stages on weapon after you hit somebody.






New ground decals.
More different blood decals from different weapons attacks.


Knife.
Stab your foes in a quick way. Goes to 4th slot (num key 4).




Mjolnir model 2.0.
Basing on received feedback we decided to make a more canonical Thor’s hammer. We will fully finish it soon. You can find it in the patch.


Characters launching physics.
Now Mjolnir hits are more precise. Also enemies fly away more physic accurately depending of how you perform an attack.




Flying to space when dead fix.
Now your character does not explode when dies with Mjolnir in hands.


Pick up UI.
Organic weapon name showing up when aim at it.




Inventory system.
You can switch between different weapons by keys 1,2,3,4,5.
Slots:
1 – custom equipped melee weapon.
2 – custom equipped melee weapon.
3 – bow
4 – knife
5 – fists
There are certain restrictions, for example, you can't carry two two-handed axes.


Weapon swapping.
Hold E while looking at another weapon to swap with the current one.

Unarmed mode.
Press the key of the current slot number and you will holster your weapon and enter unarmed mode.




Map increase.
The first map block increase.


FPP/TPP animation system overhaul.
Weapons now have own set of animations for FPP/TPP with different blending rules. You will feel it in the game. For example, there is FPP idle with sword, FPP walking, FPP running, and the other corresponding animations for TPP. Everything blends well so your movement is diverse and smooth.




More.
Other improvements.


The next patch will be in mid September - multiplayer will come back with it.


Skål!

Blackrose Arts

Hey!


Thanks to the grant a few very talented developers joined our team.

The next update will have news about Early Access launch and NDA lifting. Also, the new website will arrive with a short-term roadmap.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Combat system core is ready.  It has counter attacks, feints, dodges, directional foot and separately knee attacks, soaking wounds, and so on, you will be able to read more about it on the new website.

We are upgrading it to reach the desired 2.0. As said before, there is a lack of animations, we need pretty much due to FPP/TPP, but now the work on them is ongoing and with their insert the fun will begin.

Weapon test is a new option in the menu. Today we add its early beginning with just two handed axe which animations are placeholders, but this option will grow into advanced system connected with customization. With the next update there will be more weapons and features.

• Wounds system added.
  Each body part can be wounded.
  Wounds soak differently after hit.
  Wounds look and size are different depending on attack type (slash, stab, other). To be adjusted.
  
  
  
  
  
• Blood splashes follow the attack direction and depend on attack type added
  
  
• Different swing and blood trails per weapon added.
  
  
• Souraunded audio added.
  Hit sounds in world and depend on attack type.
  Enemies cry with attenuation when fly away hit by Mjolnir.
  
  
• Pickup system fixed.
  You can pickup weapon by pressing E while looking at it. Fixed aiming bug.
  
  
• Weapon test option in menu added.
  A new map (not optimized yet) where you can take weapon and test on character.
  
  
• Two handed axe added.
  
  
• Block and counter attacks added.
  Fists block animation. 
  
  
• Multiplayer put in temp maintenance mode.
  
  
• New character added.
  
  
• Music playing at the beginning fixed.
  
  
• Attacks blending system reworked.
  Now it is possible for us to customize all the attack stages and morphes easily. It will result in much better gameplay feeling.
  

We give all backers and testers who joined us before Beta launch an exclusive legendary axe!








Guys, thank you very much for the congratulations and kind words that you wrote after the previous update! This is important for us.


If you want to support the game now
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1154320/VALHALL_Tests/


Best wishes,
Blackrose Arts

Hey guys,

We hope you are staying healthy and safe through these challenging times.



With great excitement, today we want to share that Blackrose Arts is being awarded a MegaGrant!

Our team reached out to Epic back in the summer. This is a huge honor for us to have been selected.

We're incredibly grateful to Epic Games for supporting independent developers at the stage when it is really necessary.

The grant doesn't limit us in any way, we remain ownership and the ability to publish on any platform. Soon we will place a nice badge in the rewards section of our Steam page.



We also thank you guys for your support from the beginning of our journey, we achieved it together.



In the previous update we wrote about the negotiation with investors. They are ongoing, we are considering current proposals and are waiting for several others. This is still necessary for the scale of our plans, but we emphasize that we consider only those options that remain our independence.

Meanwhile, thanks to the grant, we connect more devs to active work and the game state where players can have fun from the full expereince of fighting will be achieved faster.

Grant funds will arrive in May. You will see more frequent patches adding playable content.

Also now we are preparing an evolved official website. It will have detailed info about the game and a short term roadmap. We will publish it in the update.



The patch will be uploaded the next week!

- Improved fighting dynamics.



- Offline mode. Kills score in the end. Timer doesn't break after reload. Fixed respawn loop.

- Bots added.



It's their the first coming, don't surprise if some of these guys lose interest to you during the battle.

They can do combo attacks.

- Mjolnir added.



We got many requests to try the hammer asap even if it is not fully finished - you can smash, but you'll see what what we wrote earlier about the need for animations.



A new bonus is based on your suggestions shared with us through the form in the previous update. Special thanks to @novax for such cordial suggestions and wishes.

There were a lot of interesting ideas. We would like to mention that you will continue to receive new bonuses during the next stages too, as surprises.

The most we liked the concept of making testers feel valued by other players on the battlefield - a new bonus item will have organic glowing elements making you look different. This item is a special one-handed axe. We don't share its name now, but in the next updates we will show how this powerful weapon looks and you will be able to read about its lore on our new website.

Indiegogo backers and Steam tester both will receive this axe. We remind that all rewards will be available in your Armory from the Early Access launch.

In the future updates and on our website you will see new special bonuses announcement and completion

We are sincerely grateful for all the words of support you added to the form.


Best wishes,
Blackrose Arts

Hey guys,

We have news about the state and progress of development.

After the previous update with body angle replication fix and adding new basis for directional attack system, two things left before we can start actually playing during the tests. They are body physics for advanced interaction with Mjölnir/other weapons and animations.
 
Most of the old animations look not good enough for the quality level we raised and you are waiting for. Some testers can remember the look of the game and the weapon animations in pre-alpha. The combat system core was reworked from scratch, but it still doesn't have all the necessary animations set up.
 
We wanted to do it the best way - do motion capture in specialized studio and surprise you with the quality. The animations in games like VALHALL play essential gameplay role.
The amount of animations we need at that level has high costs. We had to let some of the devs pause the work for this period until we increase the budget and make the animations to work with.
However the income to the budget for the previous months was not enough and we were looking for another way.

The good news is that we have a solution. From the beginning of our journey the independence was its important part, we don't want to loose it. When we were talking about investors before it meant that our team and the community won't have full control of the game. However, by the end of 2019 VALHALL became very interesting for investors and private funding, that allowed us to discuss the conditions where we keep game independence and full control of the development.

Getting additional funding this way will boost the speed of progress and with the top quality animations we will reach the necessary state. That's why during this period we worked on the preparation and there is no big patch today.

Advanced body interaction, which is the second thing before the fun begins, is in process and while not completely finished can't be used. Mainly this system is responsible for the way how the hammer turns the enemy into ragdoll, also it will fix the issue that you could see with the common ragdolls and camera twitching. Once it's done it will be possible to play with Mjölnir because the attacks system is ready.  Also parkour over any obstacle is coming.



We have several potential investors with whom we are currently negotiating and expect to have the news to share this or the next month.

Some of you can be upset with how long it takes and we more than understand it. As it happens in indie development our path wasn't easy, we did some mistakes and we are sorry for making you wait more. However, it is important where it is eventually going.
Starting with non viking looking characters and combat prototype, after the game got attention it comes closer to that true viking experience people were looking for.

Two left points are milestone. After the new animations are set up and Wield Mjölnir is available we also will let you fight each other with weapons in a simple deathmatch in tests build while we will be finishing full Siege for Beta.
We want to increase emphasis on combat with shields to provide realistic tactic in Siege. We understand you need not just an improved version of something available, but a different experience.

With additional funding more devs will join the team and certain elements which we could await only at the late stages will become possible earlier. For example, production of female warriors and their animations will be in process in parallel with the main work after the first motion capture sessions.

We sincerely thank you for the support and understanding! 


This bonus is special, you can suggest your own idea of an exclusive item and after reviewing the answers we will publish the results with the chosen one in the next update. It can be a mythological weapon or a creative piece of armor.

It goes in addition to all the existing rewards. This bonus is for all VALHALL backers and Steam testers who joined us before Beta.

Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfovbUSKfu-tk7biEAhQGlmnNLjnMdPQ7We1bV5TSIsCwrd1w/viewform

Thank you,
Blackrose Arts team