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GRAVEN News

Connecting the World of Graven

I’m Chris Holden, Lead Level Designer on Graven. Our game's world opens up through exploration, secrets, and unique items that enhance the player's navigation. This requires a lot of unique connections for designers to create.

Graven's levels are big and level designers are given a lot of freedom to use the space. We found a little extra padding here and there was useful for transitioning, storytelling, pacing, etc. That's where our smaller connection levels came into play as many of those areas grew to become their own areas of importance and the assets created for them became some of the most widely used and important modular kits for the project.

In our first HUB, the Lice Slough connects the swampy Brine Muskeg and the quarantined Clotted Avenues under the town of Cruxfirth via four different entrances/exits. This has made the area perfect for secrets, discovery, gameplay, and returning later with new items that allow for additional exploration.



The Resonating Stone is found early in the Clotted Avenues and on top of providing combat benefits,the player can now return to previous areas and unlock new connections and secrets, such as uncovering the Peat Burner, a powerful explosive weapon which is not otherwise available.



The Ring of Passing is another example that comes later in the game, enabling movement through Cursed Barriers which have been encountered multiple times at that point, while the ring is equipped of course.



A vertical climb through a thick, hedge maze garden connects the Clotted Avenues and the Cruxfirth Archives (library). This allows us to have the Archives on a higher elevation so the clock tower is an almost always visible landmark. The hedge maze itself organically creeped into the archives. The player can then unlock a shortcut back to the town of Cruxfirth via a gated off tavern.





Being smaller, modular levels had another great effect on the project. Since they usually needed less development time to create, this helped refine the pipeline for larger areas. The unique modular pieces produced each yielded a ton of new assets for use in the larger levels speeding up their development.



Graven could possibly be considered a Metroidvania-lite, and it's taken a lot of work designing and balancing locations. Keep your eyes peeled for what new weapons and items might open things up as you play. Graven is currently available in early access which includes the entire first hub!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/

Winter has come... and huge sales with it

Hello everyone,

2022 is nearing its end and that means one thing - Winter Sales are here! From now on until January 5, you can get GRAVEN with 20% discount. Perfect Christmas present for yourself or your friends, right?

To view all our discounted games, head straight to our Steam page.

And if you want to save even more money, you may want to check out the bundle GRAVEN is in, since then the particular discount gets even bigger.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/12693/WRATH_Aeon_of_Ruin__Ion_Fury__GRAVEN_Complete_Your_Set/

[h3]Merry Christmas![/h3]

Autumn Sale is here and GRAVEN is 20% off

Greetings everyone,

Autumn Sale has just started and GRAVEN is one of the included games. From now until November 29 you can buy the game for 20% off.

Also don't forget that GRAVEN is a part of WRATH AEON OF RUIN + ION FURY + GRAVEN COMPLETE YOUR SET bundle along with Ion Fury and WRATH: Aeon of Ruin, meaning you can combine the discounts. That's a hell of a bargain, isn't it?

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/21710/REALPOLITIKS_I__II/

Many more games from Fulqrum Publishing, such as fresh titles Lords and Villeins, Forgive Me Father or The Pegasus Expedition, are discounted as well, you can find all of them on our sale page.

Hotfix for GRAVEN is out

Hello everyone,

After the most recent Content Update, you have been able to locate some annoying bugs, so here we are, fixing them for you. Thank you very much for the feedback you are providing, GRAVEN should now run smoother than ever!

[h3]Bug Fixes and General Tweaks[/h3]
  • Player: Add low jump when out of stamina
  • Player: Adjusted volume levels for low stamina audio
  • Player: Fix not able to swap actionbar items
  • Player: Fix for not being able to activate sprint when standing still
  • Player: Fix for continuing to attack when a pickup window is displayed and attack button is let go
  • Player: Fix hand veins being active by default
  • Player: Fix stamina being drained if trying to jump while in the air
  • Spell: Fix spells not properly applying upgrades VFX
  • FIXED: Fix for Town to Lice Slough connection having a large black box in it
  • FIXED: Fix for Brine Muskeg gates not properly restoring state when pressure plate is activated
  • FIXED: Fix for Cruxfirth Archives puzzle being too dark
  • FIXED: Fix for bookshelf in Cruxfirth Archives cellar stopping player from falling to their death and thus getting stuck
  • FIXED: Fix various crashes
  • FIXED: Fix switching maps not working on tabs 3-5
  • FIXED: Fix Loot Vaccuuming pickups can result in message spam
  • FIXED: Fix lore notes, look books, lore maps having wrong physical materials (bleeding)
  • FIXED: Fix boss fight having gates close if killing boss too quickly after entering arena
  • FIXED: Fix invisible blocker for projectiles appearing by Cruxfirth Archives main entrance


If you manage to find any other bugs to fix, go ahead and start a discussion here on Steam, please. Thank you very much for your support!

Third Content Update for Graven has arrived just in time for Halloween!

Greetings GRAVEN fans,

We are getting closer to full launch, but we wanted to get one last big update out for our awesome community. The spookiest season of the year was a clear choice, so we have prepared some new features perfect for Halloween:

  • A new area - the winding, flooded repository beneath the Library of Cruxfirth
  • A new side quest to unravel
  • New pickups and breakables
  • A devious new enemy - Skeleton Sapper
  • New traps and secret areas
  • Phantoms!
  • Pumpkins!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
There are also a lot of changes under the hood, so to speak - read the full changelog below. And please, let us know what you think of the update, either here on Steam in the discussions or come chat to our Discord, we welcome and truly appreciate all feedback!

[h2]Full Change Log:[/h2]

[h3]AIs[/h3]
  • Add step back functionality for AIs
  • Add immolated enemies attack new target after everything attack
  • Add infected face variation
  • Add skeleton sapper enemy
  • Add support for AI's to navigate around breakables, gates, doors
  • AIs that die from explosions have impulse applied
  • Add deacon spear attack chance of causing player to bleed (overtime damage)
  • Add Parry Sparks VFX to the Skeleton Warrior Sword parry ability
  • Add time delay between stunlocks for AIs
  • Add AI so that when stuck by projectiles or seeing those projectiles they are alerted
  • Reworked Mire Reaver
  • Rework Archivist
  • Rework Lichenthrope
  • Add more behaviours for AI doing range attacks when a player can't be reached
  • Add support for enemies to retarget in coop
    ---------------------------------------------------------
  • Adjusted Deacon knife fan
  • Gave Dihedral Priest some resistance to the Staff
  • Changed Skeleton Warrior burn time from 5 to 1
  • Made skeletons more resistant to the short sword
  • Adjusted shock stun times for multiple enemies
  • Updated Razorfin to makes it more easily stunnable and reduced bite damage
  • Undecaying Honored - Increased flinch chance, increased flinch cooldown
  • Lowered Cleric health a small amount
  • Made Lichenthropes more likely to flinch, with a reduced cooldown
  • Archivist - lowered the primary head health by 25%
  • Update skeleton armor damage to only take the base value and not multiplier from bones
    ----------------------------------------------------------
  • Fix skitterflys not flying
  • Fix infected sliding after lunge attack
  • Fix Infected, Skitterflys, Razorfins, Lichanthropes, Undecaying Honored, Undecaying Punished being affected by swamp volumes
  • Fix startup animation not working on client
  • Fix SkitterFly not flying after exiting a level and returning



[h3]H1Boss[/h3]
  • additional Boss action 'Roar'
  • Update H1Boss to have projectile attacks in Phase 1
  • Update H1Boss to shoot projectile at enemies when off nav
  • Update H1Boss to have much shorter Phase 1
  • Fix projectile attachment on the H1Boss (and all other enemies that we couldn't notice)


[h3]Quest[/h3]
  • Add Gravick quest
  • Add librarian books to have gold sparkle VFX
    ------------------------------------------------
  • Fix [Potential] for killing Mire Reavers in H1M4 not opening doors
  • Fix not killing both Mire Reavers in H1M4 before saving and later resuming, causing a softlock (couldn't open doors)


[h3]Misc[/h3]
  • Add dithering of foliage to fade in/out rather than popping
  • Add pickup vaccuum
  • Add smart loot system
  • Add Stamina costs for kinetic actions
  • Add more obituary tips
  • Add Casual/Nightmare difficulty
  • Add warning for trying to start outdated profile
  • Add quest rewards notifications
  • Add more lore notes to H1M3
  • Rework of elevators
    --------------------------------------------------------
  • Update boss health bar to disappear/reappear depending on the distance to the enemy
    --------------------------------------------------------
  • Fix two player markers present on map
  • Fix keg barrel not having ghost material
  • Fix paintings not having backfaces
  • Fix Infected character wobbles under a tree (all characters could run into this actually)
  • Fix main menu difficulty selection button loses focus if press left/right on the gamepad


[h3]SFX[/h3]
  • Add more door sounds!
  • Add more gate sound!
  • Adjusted sound levels for footsteps, Area Names, Pickups (Health potions and mana), Staff weapon and wood break
  • Adjusted sounds levels of some weapon SFX


[h3]VFX[/h3]
  • Add VFX for player taking unarmored damage
  • Add VFX for player swimming in water
  • Add VFX for player entering/exiting water
  • Add VFX for parrying
  • Add VFX for throwing health potions
  • Improve performance of pickup VFX


[h3]Levels[/h3]
  • Add new fog!
  • Added pumpkins!
  • Add super secret to Black House Bog level
  • Add small secret to H1L1
  • Add mesh for critter holes
  • Add additional area to H1M3 - Cellar
  • Add crusher traps throughout HUB
  • Add Peat Cairns throughout HUB
  • Add phantoms across HUB
  • Add aftermath victims
    ----------------------------------------
  • Adjusted difficulty settings across entire HUB
  • Adjusted breakables and resources across HUB and difficulties
  • Adjust spawning logic to avoid bypassing enemies
    ----------------------------------------
  • Fix stone plague in Cruxfirth center playing wrong sound
  • Fix bunch of seams, misalignments, floating rocks, OOB across the HUB
  • Fix peat ammo pickup loading/unloading before being pickupable
  • Fix ladders being able to be disabled
  • Fix iron door in HUB1 town that was locked and never opened
  • Fix reso-breakable bars in lice slough not having the correct reso material for resonating stone
  • Fix various nav generation issues across the HUB
  • Fix H1M3 library main doors not properly opening
  • Fix H1M3 gate to hub not always being open


[h3]Items[/h3]
  • Add stamina recover to drinking health potions
  • Add FP models visual changes for discharge upgrades
  • Add visual upgrades for all weapons
  • Add additional behaviour for breakables when being kicked or hit with staff
    ---------------------------------------
  • Increase Ballista alt-fire damage
  • Buffed Short Sword parry damage reduction
  • Update Health Potion to be consumable when either health or stamina is not full
  • Adjusted armor values for the lower 2
    ---------------------------------------
  • Fix spellbook related crash on resuming a save
  • Fix not being able to hold multiple levers
  • Fix misplaced hand when holding the Ballista
  • Fix Ballista having wrong upgrade materials


[h3]Player[/h3]
  • Buffed falling damage slightly
  • Nerfed death gold penalty on lower difficulties
  • Improve ladder handling when entering a ladder from water
  • Improve ladder handling when entering water from a ladder
  • Stamina tweaks
    -----------------------------------------------------------
  • Fix player still being crouched on Revive if they died
  • Fix when elevated above an NPC, their dialogue bubble cannot be triggered
  • Fix water PP effect not going away when climbing a ladder from water