Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon News

Hey everyone!

Another month, another update from the development front! There is quite a bit of progress that we are happy to report, so grab a beverage of your choice and sit by!


[h2]MOAR PERFORMANCE! [/h2]

First of all - in the last update we were happy to report that the next Major patch will increase performance by about 30%. Well, last month we pushed that even more and decreased the usage of RAM quite significantly.

We know that performance and bugs are two big things that TAINT () your experience on Avalon, so our team is prioritising it pretty heavily.

Long story short - our codemasters are doing their magic, so that once the next major patch comes, the game will run super-smooth.


[h2]Map updates! [/h2]

Now, last update we were talking a little bit about upgrading the current map. Happy to report that we have some first examples of that! We were able to make some locations much better looking, but also we were joined by new level designers - so we will change a few small things here and there for better gameplay experience.

Oh, and we finally have vertical cliffs, so things that are not climbable will look like it from first glance :D



[h2]Galahad new model (and dungeon) [/h2]

We are also re-working Galahad a little bit. We wanted him to have his unique look (not a Caradoc copy :P) AND quest / personality.

In the current version, we feel like meeting him did not have the punch that it deserved. This is why we will be adding a bit more content around him, possibly a whole new dungeon and possibility to talk with him!



[h2]Questing beast! [/h2]

Now, time for a big one! Last time we showed you quite a weird looking concept, right?
Well, we already have this monstrosity almost finished! Say hello to Questing Beast!



Those of you familiar with the Arthurian lore might know Questing Beast as the mysterious creature that many great knights hunted without success. It is a symbol of wasteful pursuit and a hunt for “glory”. You can expect that in Tainted Grail, it will have its own dark version of this legend!

[h2]FX upgrades! [/h2]

Now, we have also created a bunch of FX upgrades - in general in the next major patch you can expect to have tooooons of those, but here we will just showcase a few selected. Check it out!



[h2]NPC actively looking at you! [/h2]

Well, ok, this one might not be a game changer - BUT it really helps the immersion ;) Also, might be helpful once we implement stealth and stealing systems (and they are coming too!)



[h2]Undead Enemies![/h2]

Last but not least - we also re-worked good, old undead enemies! Now, they should look much better ;) Check them out!



OK! That is it for this month. We are still working pretty heavily on everything and we really think you guys will be happy with the upcoming Major Patch. It is still some time away, as we need to pull everything together and test it hard - but we expect a drastic quality jump in all the major areas!

We hope those monthly updates cast a bit of light on what we are working on and get you a little bit excited for the patch! ;)


Best
Questline Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/

[h2]Hey everyone! [/h2]


As our team is deep at work on the next major patch for Fall of Avalon, we did not want to leave all of you empty handed, so we have a fresh update with some of the news from the development front!

Before that, we just wanted to take a moment to once again thank you all for taking this Early Access journey with us. Your support is amazing and having so many active players at this stage of the project feels very rewarding. Thank you!

After the EA release, our team had some very much deserved time off, but now we are back deep in development work and we are reporting back with some of the upgrades we have already managed to get done!

We will be doing updates like this every month to give you a unique look at the development process. Obviously, we look forward to any feedback (good or bad!) you might have and are always happy to hear any suggestions.

So, let’s see what we have in store for you today!

[h2]Visual upgrades! [/h2]

There are quite a few visual upgrades happening all around! Our team has been able to enhance the world, enemy and special effects. Let's see some examples, shall we?

First - the buildings’ interior and, in particular, the TAVERN! We want to make sure that going inside buildings will be a good, thematic experience, so we are adding some much needed details here and there. And what place could be more important than the good, old tavern?



But the outside world is getting some extra love as well. We are working on enhancing the environment to be more… well, three dimensional. Below, you can see how we are changing the overall quality of the game’s environment and terrain.



Now, obviously we are also giving some extra love to enemies you encounter near Horns of the South. Today, we are really happy to show you the reworked drowners and undead - we simply felt that they could use a design overhaul. We hope you enjoy the changes!



Speaking of enemies - we were finally able to implement overall clothes and give them proper physics, so that means… CAPES! And obviously many other options for humanoid enemies and NPCs that will look way better and more natural ;) Check out the first iteration below!



Not only are we making current enemies prettier (and smarter! More about that later ;), but we are adding some new ones, too! Here, you can see the 3D sculpt for Moonlight Guardian - what is interesting is that he is the first enemy with a shield, so defeating him will require a bit more finesse :D More shield-wielders to come!



But we are also working on concepts for monsters for new zones and you can expect some really cool designs. Here is the first spoiler of things to come! ;)



We are also working heavily on improving the combat, as one of the biggest feedback we got from you is that you would like for it to have a better feel. Right now, it is still very much a work in progress, but we promise you that this is a strong focus point for the whole team, and we are aiming for a really great feel from every type of combat.

Below you can see the first improvement to bows (special arrows VFX), as well as the very first iteration of critical hits. Thanks to these, it will be much easier to tell when you performed a special attack and obviously, that will provide that special satisfaction of seeing its effect on the poor enemy ;)





Last but not least - a small spoiler of things to come! As promised, we will be adding quite a lot of new content and we are aiming that for every new chapter/zone, we will have a different environment, so that every zone will feel unique and have its own character.

Without further ado, here’s the first iteration of snowy mountains! We hope you enjoy it!




[h2]THINGS HAPPENING IN THE SHADOWS[/h2]

There is also A LOT of work happening in the background that is aimed at drastically improving the game. That includes:

• Working on improving the UI
  
• Fixing and ironing out bugs
  
• Technical research on the open world aspect of the game and better optimization
  
• Improving enemy AI
  
• Improving balance, reworking items, skills etc.
  
• Reworking the crafting mechanic
  

All of this is happening simultaneously and we hope that we will soon be able to show you the first effects, as well as invite you to test it on your own during the next major patch!

In general - as you can see, the work is moving forward quite nicely and we are super excited about developing Fall of Avalon further. We can’t wait to share with you all the improvements and new content we are working on.

As always, thank you for being here, supporting us and sharing your feedback! We really do appreciate that! See you, in about a month, in the next update!



Best
Questline Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/

Hey y'all! Here's a quick note with patch notes for the newest build :)

• Compass can be hidden in settings
  
• The game can now be saved inside buildings
  
• Items in shops should restock after a while (including WOOD!)
  

• Reworked key rebinding, allowing binding of keyboard keys to mouse buttons and vice versa. Previous setups will be incompatible and deleted so you'd have to bind keys again.
• Lockpick rotation axis rebinds together with movement horizontal axis.
  
• Added an option to rebind "LootAll" prompt.
  

• Fixed missing map markers after entering a dungeon
  
• Fixed visual indicator of crafting availability
  
• Fixed resetting equipped item effects after restarting the game
  
• Slow modifier should be properly discarding when the game's saving when your bow is pulled
  

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for playing the game and reaching out to us with your feedback – we've been reading everything you had to say and adjusting our plans for the future accordingly.

Some of you have been asking about a roadmap for the future, or at least what to expect in the upcoming months or from the final version of our game. We hope this update answers at least some of your questions on this topic!

But before we dive in, it's essential to keep in mind that the process of developing a game isn't set in stone, and it's impossible for us to foresee certain problems that we may encounter along the way.

We cannot say definitively that "this and that will happen FOR SURE."

The only thing we can tell you is that "we want to do this and that, and we assume that it is possible within a certain time period."

With that in mind…



IMPORTANT: THIS PATCH WILL ERASE YOUR SAVE GAMES

We estimate that we'll release the first major patch within the next 3 or 4 months.

This patch will focus on updating and polishing the game experience.

The main areas we'll concentrate on are:

[h3]Technical Issues:[/h3]

• Further work on the game's performance
  
• Fixes for all (or at least 95%) bugs and outstanding issues (such as broken quests, etc.)
  

[h3]Gameplay:[/h3]

• Improvements to enemy AI/behaviors
  
• Enhancements to general combat (more enemy behaviors to counter player behaviors)
  
• Significant balancing and changes to various numbers, skills, and the game's economy
  
• More possible playstyles (cloak & dagger characters, etc.)
  

[h3]New Features:[/h3]

• Enemies patrolling the open world
  
• Thievery
  
• Faction reputation system (gating quests so that you're not overwhelmed by available quests in places like the Horns)
  

[h3]Quality of Life:[/h3]

• Numerous new map markers and states of those markers
  
• Better indication of active statuses (and what they do)
  

[h3]General Polishing:[/h3]

• More dedicated animations and VFX
  
• More music and improved sound quality
  
• Art and gameplay-related improvements
  

[h3]Story-related Additions:[/h3]

• Working & finished quest in the Blood Lake
  
• Improvements to the ending of Chapter 1 (an option to speak with one of the more crucial NPCs and other fixes where needed :)
  

[h3]Possible Additions (if everything goes well):[/h3]

• Horse riding
  
• Planting crops and fishing
  
• Player Housing
  

This isn't everything, of course – we're continually improving the game and adding numerous new features, some of which aren't precisely interesting to anyone except us and possibly the most hardcore players.

We're also clearing our backlogs from some easier stuff - for example: we're going to change the basic model used for our generic Undead enemies. We're also changing models for Drowners (and adding new behaviors for them but more on that later!) and they'll get a proper weapon ;)





Well, the most accurate thing we can say here is that the game's going to get… bigger.

Clearly, we will be working towards completing the whole story (no spoilers :D), but the exact amount of side content, map zones, and side quests are still very much a work in progress.

We don't want to promise anything – not before we're sure we're heading in the right direction – but we have some exciting plans for the future and can't wait to share them with you. However, we ask for your patience since we're not yet sure WHEN and HOW we'll share new content/zones with you.

One thing you can be 100% certain of - with your support (THANK YOU!), Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is happening big time. We will be putting in tons of extra work during this Early Access and creating the game we have always dreamed of.

Even if major patches will be rare (that's due to the nature of this game, being an open-world RPG and all), we will keep you in the loop with monthly updates to show you what we are working on.

We'll let you know the moment we have more information, and we're at least 90% sure that our planned features will work the way we want them to ;)

There are two spoilers of where we're going with the game, at least the ones we can share relatively safely – and they should be understandable for fans of the board game. You'll definitely be able to meet a couple of characters they should know very well from Cuanacht… And it should also be possible to get closer to the Forlorn Swords during our adventure! ;)





https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/

Hello everyone! We're back from our Easter break and here's a new hotfix addressing a couple of things :)

The main patch note for today is that we've addressed an issue of the very high RAM cost of the game on High and Ultra settings, so - without further ado - here are the patch notes:



We've greatly reduced the memory cost (RAM) of running the game on High and Ultra settings.
This should result in fewer crashes (because many were happening precisely because of too high RAM requirements).

To illustrate - Ultra settings were using around 13GB of RAM, and now they require around 7GB. Please let us know if the game-constantly-crashing-problem was resolved!

• Camera shouldn't move away on its own during dialogue
  
• "Game saved" text should properly disappear now
  
• Fixed an issue with Killer Instinct skill dealing too much damage
  
• Fixed a bug that caused people to randomly run around naked
  
• Fixed a bug that caused map markers to disappear
  
• Fixed sharpening cost being stuck at 500
  
• Damage-based proficiency gain is now capped by target health