Journey to the West News

[h2]We need your support to complete the journey together![/h2]

Divinity Chronicles: Journey to the West is self-funded by our own savings and we invest all of our time and passion in it. However, due to the low sales volume after its first early-access in March, we are currently struggling to get our ends meet. In order to sustain the game development, the team has to take multiple part time work to get funding for the significant amount of investment in art and music in the final chapter and future characters. With the limited and uncertain funding we have now, we have to push the development timeline for 2 new characters to early next year.

As we are sorting out our financial plans, we are also aiming to release the final chapter - Omen storyline for all 3 characters at the end of August to pre-release branch. Please help us by referring our game and OST to friends who like indie games, and let’s finish the journey together! Thank you for your continued support during this difficult time!

[h2]Official OST is out! [/h2]

This comprehensive album includes all music from chapter 1-4 as well as a bonus PV theme music, the total playback time is over 48 minutes! We offer an introduction discount of 10% until Aug 24th; check it out here now before the discount is gone!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2119250/Divinity_Chronicles_Journey_to_the_West_Soundtrack/

We also offer a 10% off bundle discount - will be a great little gift if you’d like to buy the bundle for your friends!
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27507/_/

[h2]Mod Update[/h2]

• We finished the code supporting Mod uploader, but we are still blocked by the unknown communication issue with Steam Workshop. More specifically, the upload process does not receive callback messages from Steam.
  
• We’ve contacted the Steam Workshop support team many times but they went unresponsive last week. So we need to spend more time on our side investigating the root cause of the blocker. Once we identify the root cause, we will be able to establish the mod property.

Please stay tuned, and thank you for your patience!

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

• We are working on supporting controller, current focus is on enabling combat card flow control and card picker

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

This week, we submitted the OST album for review and it will be ready soon! The OST album will include all music from chapter 1-4, as well as a bonus PV theme music - Ten Thousand Miles. Please check it out when it is available (ETA next week depending on the Steam review process) if you like music!

[h2]Chapter 4 update: [/h2]

• We will need some extra time to polish and debug the final storyline - Omen, and will release it to the pre-release testing branch as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience!
  
• We continue making improvements and polishing ending scenes and text for Heaven and Soul Mountains, fixing bugs, and improving user experiences.
  

We are also making progress on the new card design! Preview some of these new Wukong cards and please leave feedback :)


[h2]Mod Update[/h2]

• Currently we are working on an issue where the game cannot communicate with the Steam Workshop, specifically, the upload process does not receive any callback messages from Steam
  

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

• We are working on supporting controller, current focus is on enabling combat card flow control and card picker
  

[h2]Balance and Improve[/h2]

• Change Slave Imp's death effect to apply Apparition
  
• Improve Divine Beads and Hammer of Thunder
  
• Now “Endless Universe” will be reset when High Buddha changes form
  

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]

• Fixed companion picker UI
  
• Fixed description of seduced card
  
• Fixed lose scene boss image for Soul Mountains
  
• Fixed Grey Spider Shape Shifting animation issue
  
• Removed story finish scene dialog
  
• Other bug fixes
  

Next week, we are about to release the last storyline: the Dark Omen. Stay tuned!

Here are some combat scenes:

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

• Chapter 4 combat background polishing
  

[h2]Balance and Improve[/h2]

• Localize chapter 4 combat logs
  
• Adjust fake buddha (gold eyebrow) appearance
  

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that plot replaced companion in final elite combat will duplicate when combat finishes
  
• Fixed replace NPC stuck when all teammates are not companions
  
• Fixed final chapter hints for Wukong
  
• Fixed a bug that the listener cannot be on the player's side
  
• Fixed a crashing bug when Dragon Princess dies at the end of the game
  
• Other bug fixes
  

This week, we released Soul Mountains Storyline for beta testing, and continue to polish and improve the Heaven Storyline based on our community’s feedback.

Final Chapter: Soul Mountains Storyline is available for Beta Testing!
Please note that all updates are currently on the pre-release branch. Make sure to switch to the “pre-release- Release Candidates” branch to test (currently in Simplified & Traditional Chinese only , and we are working on the English version for plots).


[h2]Introduction to Soul Mountains[/h2]
Soul Mountains is the final chapter that you can enter after defeating the Fallen Phoenix in the end of Chapter 3.

Based on your encounters and choices before, you will be able to collaborate with Golden Eyebrows and Fallen Phoenix, encounter the Goddess of Cruelty (Goddess of Mercy’s sister) in elite combat, confront the High Buddha, defeat the ultimate evil, and choose the true love for Holy Monk!



Conditions to enter Soul Mountains:

• Wukong: Collaborate with Golden Eyebrows, or Evil, or Good and not directly confront the Demons during your journey;
  
• White Dragon: Collaborate with Golden Eyebrows, or Evil, or Good;
  
• Holy Monk: Collaborate with Golden Eyebrows, or Evil, or Good.

[h2]General Chapter 4 Update[/h2]

• Background music: add final chapter boss and elite fight ending music and improve BGM looping logic;
  
• Art Assets: add final chapter boss icons and 3 ending scenes;
  
• We are developing and implementing the last storyline: the Dark Omen, adding plot, dialog and performance.

[h2]Mod update[/h2]

• Continue working on the Steam workshop support
  

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

• Increase select bounding box size for characters
  
• Hotkey support: add Combat target selection support
  
• Add Controller input device option
  
• Add notification for trial level increase
  

[h2]Balance and Improve[/h2]

• The General of North now only taunts one enemy
  
• Change High Buddha behavior: change the damage cap, and now he will act once every 2 cards played
  

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]

• Fix a couple of story and text bugs in final chapters (Heaven and Soul Mountains);
  
• Fix a lighting bug in final combat.
  
• Fix a bug when copying and use High Buddha's Palm with ShapeShifting potion.
  
• Fix a bug that plot replaced companions in final elite combat will duplicate when combat finishes.
  
• Fix replace NPC stuck when all teammates are not companions
  
• Other bug fixes
  

This week, we continue implementing the 2nd storyline: Soul Mountains, building mod tools, balancing, and fixing bugs.

[h2]Chapter 4 Update[/h2]

• We are wrapping up the Soul mountains storyline, adding performance, special effects and sound effects. We are on track to open testing on the pre-release branch for Soul Mountains next week!
  

We also added a trial level 20 specifically for final chapter (available on pre-release branch now):

• High Taoist God will only give curse cards in Trial 20
  
• Jade Emperor's card limit each turn increases instead of decreases when the player triggers it

Ending scenes

• Good ending
  

* Make sure to switch to the “pre-release- Release Candidates” branch to test (currently in Simplified & Traditional Chinese only, and we are working on the English version for plots).


[h2]Mod update[/h2]

• This week we encountered some technical issues in developing Mod UI, and we are working with Steam Support to find out the solution.
  

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

• Hotkeys: we are implementing the hotkeys to optimize in-combat experiences
  

[h2]Balance and Improve[/h2]

• Decrease the Good/Evil requirement for entering the final chapter from 5 to 3, so it is much easier to achieve at high trial levels
  
• Now the High Taoist God does not give curse cards on trial level 0-19
  

[h2]Bug Fix[/h2]

• Fixed a set of story and text bugs for chapter 4
  
• Other bug fixes