Age of Darkness: Final Stand News

Greetings Defenders of Humanity!

The Steam Awards are rapidly approaching, much like the Nightmares who wish to destroy your keep! We need you to help bolster our chances of success in our fight (for a Steam Award 🏆)

Do your duty to your heroes, Edwin, Vizargo, Aelis, Cyrus and Merek by voting for Age Of Darkness: Final Stand in the Labor Of Love category 🙏🏼

Age Of Darkness has come a long way since it launched into Early Access in 2021, and we're not done yet!



As always, if you come across any bugs or crashes, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘bug-reporting’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

[h3]AoD Social Links:[/h3]

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

Protectors of the Light,

While we have been focusing considerable resources on completing the Age of Darkness: Final Stand Campaign, it’s now time to talk about one of the major Survival updates coming up in Exile’s Return.



Fall In, Attention!

Formations is a highly requested feature allowing players more tools and flexibility to fine tune the positioning of troops. On the battlefield, this means the ability to move units together at a matching speed, and to more easily define the position of individual units without microing them on a per unit basis. Players can now move groups of faster, stronger units to defend slower more expensive units with a click, and guarantee they won’t be caught wandering alone. All this adds up to very bad news for Nightmares!

Form and Function

Players play as per usual, but can now right click-drag or click S (or the bind for Formation command) then right click-drag to perform a formation command.



To adjust orientation and size, simply click, hold and drag your mouse. To adjust the spacing of units, click, hold and use your scroll wheel.

Units will automatically sort into an order that benefits their combat role effectively, for example, melee units will take their place at the front of a formation, and ranged units will stay at the back.

Units in formations are given matched speeds, meaning if a faster unit and a slower unit are in a formation command together, their speed will be averaged as to ensure they approximately move and arrive together. Certain thresholds break the formation into small sub-formations, such as having a group of rogues (fastest) and catapults (slowest) in the same formation, or if they’re required to travel very long distances.



Hold the Line

We’re continuing to push towards the launch of Exile’s Return in 2023, creating new content and introducing new features, such as Formations. Much of the work we are doing also has the effect of improving other systems, for example Formations assisting with pathing updates, an ongoing effort for Age of Darkness: Final Stand. Expect more updates shortly.

Till next time, Protectors of the Light…

Next up, we will be deep diving on Aurelia…

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We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘player-support’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog X/Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel
Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Protectors of the Light,

It’s been a very busy month as our team has been both working to complete Exile’s Return and showcasing some of our most exciting progress to audiences at PAX Aus in Melbourne and SXSW Sydney, Australia.

If you weren’t able to make it to our Casting Back the Veil panel, don’t fret. We’ve got the biggest takeaways covered below, and the full presentation available here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
**Be aware, some spoilers below!**

Casting Back the Veil

Ryan McMahon, our GM PC and Console kicked off the panel by introducing himself and Age of Darkness: Final Stand, before celebrating two years to the day since the team launched the title into Early Access, and our incredible AGDA win for Studio of the Year 2023.

We couldn’t have done it without you!

Next, the panellists were introduced:

Mario Barone – Senior Designer, Age of Darkness
Shane Dalton – Designer, Age of Darkness
Guy Cunningham – Voice of Edwin
Derek Pritchard – Lead Animator, Age of Darkness
Ruby Trumble – Concept Artist, Age of Darkness
Chris O’Neill – Senior Audio Designer, Age of Darkness

Mario kicked things off by discussing the story-so-far for Erodar and where our cast of characters find themselves at the end of Act II. Guy then spoke about how Edwin has evolved into a fully-fledged character. Many might not know it, but Guy is a Melbourne local who has been a huge part of the Age of Darkness: Final Stand journey, and helped shape Edwin to the character he is today.

Shane then took over and looked at how Mission 6 evolved dramatically throughout production.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Daughter of Ruin

Next, the discussion moved over to Aurelia. As many of you will know, Aurelia is a playable character in Act I and II of the campaign and people have long guessed that she would be appearing in Survival – but probably as an Order character, not as a Volatist. Accompanying her heel turn, she’s got a new, darker look.

Concept artist, Ruby, delved into Aurelia’s two designs and how they compare and contrast.

Before, as an Order Lightbearer.

After, as a Volatist Hero.

Derek then spoke about how he works with Ruby and other members on the team to create cutscenes and cinematics for the game.

Stormeye concept art by Ruby Trumble.

Finished Stormeye art

Derek continued to discuss how the title’s cutscenes have been improved and iterated on, sharing progress over time for Mission 3:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Finally, Chris spoke about the creation of an audio identity for Age of Darkness: Final Stand and how the Audio team strove to make the world of Erodar feel unique and grounded. He then related one of his favourite anecdotes of using the PlaySide team to make the Order feel richer and more menacing.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

New Vizargo Intro

Eagle-eyed attendees would have seen the new Vizargo intro featured prominently. So here it is in all its glory! Enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Till next time, Protectors of the Light…

Next up, we will be deep diving on Aurelia and Formations…

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We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘player-support’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog X/Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel
Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Prepare for battle, warriors! ⚔️🛡️

Age of Darkness Final Stand is now 33% off during the Steam Scream Sale! Immerse yourself in this epic strategy game and lead your armies to victory. Don't wait, grab it now at a discounted price!

Now is the ultimate time for you to dive in, defend humanity, and experience Age of Darkness: Final Stand for yourself!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426450/Age_Of_Darkness_Final_Stand

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.

Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

Protectors of the Light,

As both winter and Exile’s Return approach, our team has been hard at work adding new features and content. Let’s take a look at what we’ve achieved.

FACTION KEEPS

As players have ventured forth in Erodar and learned more about the world, we’ve sought to represent each faction’s overall identity more and more in Campaign and Survival.

Alongside Exile’s Return, players will start to see Order- and Volatist-specific Keeps throughout the Campaign, with these being used by default for Survival when playing as those Factions. Our existing Keep will serve as the base of Operations for Queen Aelis, Cyrus and their loyal band of rebels.

Below is a sneak peek of the Keeps to come for both the Order and the Volatists.

Order Tier 1 Keep



Order Tier 4 Keep



Volatist Tier 1 Keep



Volatist Tier 4 Keep



VO RECORDINGS

Additionally all throughout September our Audio, Narrative and Design Teams have been hard at work ensuring we have all the remaining VO ready to deliver a gut-wrenching Act III with Exile’s Return.

Previously, we had recorded all our VO Lines upfront when developing Flames of Retribution, with VO lines for Exile’s Return being added in as we created the final missions. This has been incredibly beneficial at ensuring we can achieve the look and feel of missions (with the correct VO in place) as we develop, but it also worked well to highlight any gaps along the way.

Throughout the development of Exile’s Return, our Design and Narrative teams found areas we wanted to include additional VO pick-ups for. This includes narrative gaps that make sense contextually to us as developers, but may not be so readily understood to players who haven’t been entrenched in the lore of Erodar for years – like we have.

This has kept us busy with the team reuiniting with our main cast to record additional lines, all in our quest to ensure we’re delivering the best possible conclusion to our players. As a tease of what’s to come, here's a snippet of the ever talented Peter Wicks, voice actor for Vizargo Oriah.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For those of you interested in learning more about our VO Process and what it takes to bring a character to life, you can read more about this with our deep-dive into the Voice of Queen Aelis Syren.

FORMATIONS

Lastly, it’s high time we look at a feature that’s been long-requested by our players – and something we’ll have more to say about soon in its own dedicated blog post.

September has been a busy month for our Engineering Team as we look to further iterate and improve upon our Formations feature. This brings with it its own unique challenges due to the intricate relationship it has with unit pathfinding – another area that we’re actively working on to improve.

We’ll deep dive into the challenges this feature has posed and how we have planned to attack them soon, but for now, let’s leave you with a look at the work-in-progress feature of Formations currently.

Below you can see an example of Formations collapsing in to attack and rush enemies once within range of them and commanded to attack. Specific care has been made here to ensure we’re keeping ranged units safely behind their melee counterparts to provide players with a more efficient and safer means of combating the Nightmare threat without sacrificing nearly as many of their units.



Your units will try to maintain their formation as they navigate around terrain together - naturally there are plenty of edge cases to this, but we’re working to ensure even if they break formation they can return to rank and order upon reaching their targeted location.



PAX AUS 2023 AND SXSW SYDNEY

We’re looking forward to getting in front of our Australian fans at two upcoming events.

Visitors to PAX Aus 2023 can check out our panel, entitled Casting back the Veil to learn more about making the Age of Darkness: Final Stand Campaign. Taking place on Sun, Oct 8, 2023 at 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM in the Dropbear Theatre, GM Ryan McMahon will host devs and VO talent as we uncover exclusive BTS assets and more…

Additionally, Age of Darkness: Final Stand has been selected to be part of the first ever SXSW Sydney 2023. Our showcase is taking place Friday, Oct 20, 2023 at 12:15 PM - 9:00 PM at the Eddy Multipace, so please come along and check it out if you can.

That’s all for today, but expect more info as Exile’s Return continues to near…

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We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let us know about these bugs and crashes you’ve encountered. If you come across any bugs or crashes in the future, please report them to us either through the Steam forums, our Discord server in the ‘player-support’ channel or using the in-game bug reporting tool.

Till next time Protectors of the Light…

AoD Social Links:

AoD Discord - Join our official Discord server AoD Website - Official Website & Blog X/Twitter - Follow us at AOD_FinalStand Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page Reddit - Join the r/Age of Darkness: Final Stand community
YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel
Have a question about the game? We have a handy FAQ we’ve posted on the Steam forums that you can view. If your question hasn’t been answered there, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with questions here, on the forums and our Discord server.
Speaking of which, you can also chat with our team and ask them questions on our official Discord server here!

Age of Darkness: Final Stand