Core Keeper News

[h2]Gameplay:[/h2]

• Added two new combat playstyles: Mage and Warlock. These have been added to the game through new equipment, weapons, skills, talents and character backgrounds targeted towards these new playstyles.
  
• New world generation.
  
• The game has a new world generation that will be used for any new worlds created and we strongly recommend players to create new worlds to get the full experience the game has to offer both during the 1.0 launch and moving forward.
  
• Old worlds can still be played as of now but are not intended to be supported long term. Following are the more significant improvements new worlds will offer:
  
• New worlds are no longer infinite, and even the outer biomes will have a maximal extent.
  
• This makes the world more dense with content and makes exploration more rewarding. It also allows the world to be more easily expanded with new areas in future updates.
  
• New worlds are now created using a seed.
  
• Worlds created with the same seed will contain the same generated terrain, and boss arenas and unique items will appear in the same locations. The exact location of non-boss dungeons and custom scenes may differ even if the same seed is used
  
• When creating new worlds there is now a new world generation parameters option that gives players control over key features, such as the amount of water and ore that is generated, how chaotic the biomes should be, and more.
  
• This will allow players to tune the world to their preference but also to create interesting challenges, can you defeat a sea world?
  
• The world layout has been improved with more structured tunnels, rivers, chasms etc to create a more interesting journey through the world.
  
• The Hivemother statue has been replaced by a statue of Malugaz the Corrupted who is now the third story boss, while Hivemother has been changed into an optional boss.
  
• Along with this change the difficulty of Malugaz has been adjusted as well as the crafting options unlocked in the statues.
  
• Waypoints. These are a new method to teleport through the world. Can be occasionally found in key-locations.
  
• Along with all the new items we have also changed the stats on some of the old items such as equipment, weapons and food to utilize the new stats that come with the new mage and warlock playstyles.
  
• New enemy: Shrooman Brute. Located in the Dirt biome.
  
• Mining skill “Self-mending alloy” replaces “Night vision”
  
• Breaking a wall containing ore will replenish some durability of the mining tool.
  
• Gardening skill “Feast for the eyes” replaces “Bottomless watercan”
  
• Harvesting plants restores some hunger.
  
• The fishing minigame has been removed to make fishing a better experience. Stats related to the minigame have been changed to other fishing-related stats throughout the game. Opening the inventory will no longer disrupt fishing.
  
• Fishing skill “Chewy Bait” replaces “Throwing Expert”
  
• Bait has a chance of not being consumed when fishing.
  
• Fishing skill “Angler’s advantage” has been changed to give increased chance of higher rarity fish to bite instead.
  

[h2]Graphics:[/h2]

• Improved the visuals of The Core and the statues surrounding it.
  
• Improved the visuals for tree trunks.
  
• Improved the visuals of multiple hairstyles while a hat is equipped.
  
• Improved the visuals of seeds by adding a bit of color to them to make them more distinguishable.
  
• Improved the visuals of the character creation UI.
  

[h2]Balancing:[/h2]

• Food buffs that have a duration of 5 minutes have generally been increased to 10 minutes.
  
• Increased the duration of Enrage Potion, Keen Potion and Unusual Potion to 1 min.
  
• The health and damage reduction on walls as well as the mining damage done by mining tools has been balanced throughout the game so that it generally takes fewer hits to destroy walls in order to make the game feel less grindy.
  
• Reduced the amount of hits required to max out the mining skill.
  
• Reduced the amount of catches required to max out the fishing skill.
  
• Changed starving and well fed buffs to no longer affect movement speed and the damage and max health conditions has been merged into one condition to make it more readable. Max health reduction from starving is also reduced to be less punishing.
  
• Increased the damage gained from the “Taking a step back” and “Charging in” talents.
  
• Reduced the values gained from the talents “Meticulous miner” and “Poison coated weapons”.
  
• Increased the value gained from the “Not so picky” talent to make it more balanced versus the “Healthy diet” talent.
  
• Increased the amount of materials and potions gained from chests throughout the world.
  
• Increased the visibility distance of ores on the Core Iris offhand since the talent with the same effect has been replaced.
  
• The drop chance for valuables that are common to find has been reduced throughout the whole game to avoid bloating the player inventory too much and also to increase the chance of finding useful items such as equipment or crafting materials.
  
• Nature and Mold Walls no longer drop any valuables or other loot to avoid bloating player inventory.
  
• Increased the drop chance of the Cipher Parchment from Igneous the Molten Mass.
  
• Adjusted several items in the game such as the Glow Tulip, the Scholar set and the Fireball Staff to use magic related stats instead.
  
• Some weapons projectiles now bounce a few times on walls, objects and creatures causing the projectiles to deal damage and then change direction instead of being destroyed.
  
• Sticky Stick projectiles now bounce up to 3 times.
  
• Galaxite Chakram projectiles now bounce up to 4 times.
  
• Throwing daggers have a windup attack that adds up to 10 bounces.
  
• Moved some of the crafting options between the Alchemy Table and Distillery Table to allow accessing Keen Potion earlier in the progression and to group together the explosives crafting options. Also adjusted the materials required for some of the potions.
  
• Increased attack speed overall on equipment and consumables to be a more competitive stat.
  
• Reduced charge up time of portals to be half of its previous duration.
  
• Recall idols now drop from more destructibles throughout the world.
  
• Buffed damage of all melee weapons to make them more competitive with range weapons.
  
• Slightly increased the minimum amount of items bosses are dropping.
  
• The stack size has been increased to 9999 per item slot.
  
• Reduced the amount of hits it takes to max out the melee skill.
  
• Reduced the amount of melee damage gained from the Miner’s equipment set bonus.
  
• Adjusted the durability of weapons and tools to better match their attack speed. An implication of this is that weapons and tools from old saves may become reinforced or not have full durability when starting the game after the update as they keep their current durability while the max durability has changed.
  
• Reduced amount of seeds dropped by destructibles in Azeos Wilderness and Desert of Beginnings.
  
• Increased amount of seeds dropped by enemies and crates in the Dirt biome.
  

[h2]Audio:[/h2]

• Increased the volume of several ambient sounds.
  
• Changed the sound effect for harvesting crops.
  
• Improved audio for hitting explosive walls
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• The game now uses a server-authoritative networking model with client-side prediction. This solves a slew of multiplayer bugs, especially when multiple players with poor network connectivity interact with the same objects.
  
• Fixed a bug where the text from the Core speaking would sometimes appear behind objects adjacent to the core.
  
• Fixed an issue where the shortcuts window would not show the shortcuts correctly in Thai.
  
• Fixed a bug where quick moving non-helm items using shift click would appear in the wrong slot for a few seconds in Skeletons before being corrected.
  
• Fixed a bug where the A Good Life achievement would trigger for other players instead of the player feeding the cattle.
  
• Fixed a bug where Mold Tree received its own shadow when under ceiling light.
  
• Fixed a bug where certain objects (mostly pillars and other square, shadow-casting objects) appeared very dark when under ceiling light.
  
• Fixed a bug where boss damage reduction would have no effect on some projectiles shot by bosses.
  
• Fixed a bug where no error message was shown when a non-existing Game ID was provided.
  
• Fixed a bug where a Game ID that was too short caused an error.
  
• Hoed nature ground no longer appears on the map just like other hoed ground types.
  
• It is now possible to open cracked eggs by right-clicking on them in the hotbar.
  
• Fixed an issue where map markers would sometimes not be positioned on a pixel perfect position causing them to render a bit weird.
  
• Fixed an issue where the wrong colors on player clothes would be shown when eating a Spooky Pop Candy.
  
• Fixed an issue where enemies would sometimes attack murals with melody signs.
  
• Fixed an issue where breaking the Crystal Snail shell would not drop any ore in casual mode worlds.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could dodge and parry at the same time causing unexpected behavior. Parry now takes priority over dodge.
  
• Players are no longer stunned if parrying an attack that would otherwise stun the player.
  
• Fixed a bug where conditions on creatures would show up while hovering them in the players inventory while in creative mode.
  
• Conditions that are triggered when mining wall blocks such as the “Pick and run!” talent no longer triggers if 0 damage is dealt to the wall block.
  
• Fixed a bug that made some areas in the Wilderness spawn with normal tilled dirt ground instead of tilled grass.
  
• Fixed a multiplayer issue that happened when players would use rotated beds, causing them to look like they were sitting on the bed.
  
• Removed an evil stray pixel that was present in the Lava Rock Block sprite.
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause certain tiles to be visible through water in the Water Well and in the Mold Well.
  

[h2]Other:[/h2]

• A loading indicator was added to the bottom right of the screen that appears whenever the game is loading.
  
• Credits have been updated.
  
• The wall category in creative mode has been renamed to “block” and the base building walls have been moved to the base building category.
  
• The craftable Skeleton decor now also has 2 slots like the Deceased Explorer.
  
• Added an inventory sort button to the players inventory UI.
  
• Players will now unlock the souls UI directly when talking to the Core after activating the statues and don’t need to wait for the full dialogue to finish.
  
• Shrooman enemies no longer attack cattle.
  
• Added Ancient Coins to the creative mode under Other/Currency category.
  
• The scene containing the Thread of Fate is now guaranteed to spawn in the Desert biome for new worlds.
  
• Beach Blocks and Desert Blocks can now be put into the Glass Smelter.
  
• Implemented rumble on controllers to be triggered by several sources in the game.
  
• Items in the hotbar can now be used/consumed by right clicking on them.
  
• Made Glowbugs placeable on pits.
  
• Changed the tiles that the Grubzooka and Burnzooka can destroy.
  
• Ping value will show only the network round trip time to the host or server instead of the full processing and network delay.
  
• Reworked the pick-up system for a more stable animation when players pick up items.
  
• Added the option to show keyboard numbers on hotbar in the UI Settings.
  

Happy August, Explorers! Can you believe it’s launch month already? Naturally, we’re ecstatic, and we’re loving the positive energy and excitement you’re bringing to our community spaces. As we approach full launch, there are a couple of things we wanted to communicate with you about PC 1.0.

[h2]We Strongly Recommend Starting a New World[/h2]
We’ve been developing Core Keeper in PC Early Access for over two years now and it has been an incredible journey. We had so many ideas for the game and our amazing community provided so many incredible suggestions, that Core Keeper is looking bigger and better than we ever imagined.

One of our more ambitious goals was to create a whole new world generation system so that players could influence the way their worlds look – from the way biomes overlap, number of caverns, and ore density, all the way to things like how many rivers and lakes appear in the game. This brand-new system will also allow players to generate world seeds so that they can share their worlds with other players.

New world generation is just one of a handful of new features that rely on mechanics that Early Access worlds will be unable to support. We appreciate that many of you have been playing in the same worlds for a very long time now, and we’ve done our best to ensure that players can still enter and enjoy their Early Access worlds once the game launches, but things like The Passage biome and some of the game’s new story content will only be available in worlds created at 1.0. Because of this, it is our recommendation that players start new worlds to access the full Core Keeper story, and for the full 1.0 experience.

[h2]Early Access Worlds Will Become ‘Classic’ Worlds[/h2]
As mentioned above, we know Early Access worlds hold a lot of meaning and fond memories for our community, which is why we want to keep these available to play at 1.0. To that end, Early Access worlds will be re-named ‘Classic’ worlds and you will still be able to enter them and enjoy the Early Access sandbox experience, however it should be noted that these worlds will be considered “unsupported” from 1.0 onwards. In practical terms, this means that 1.0 worlds will be the main focus of development after full launch.

For many of you, this is not your first experience with Early Access, and the opportunity to participate in and influence the development of a game offsets the risk of running into bugs or the possibility that your Early Access worlds might not be evergreen. Equally, we know the idea that your worlds will no longer be supported may come as a disappointment to some. Your continued support throughout Core Keeper’s development has been instrumental in getting the game where it is today and we hope the 1.0 version of the game and subsequent support will be just as magical to experience.

[h2]We’ve Added Two New Combat Styles to Master at 1.0[/h2]
You’ve likely seen by now that there are two new combat styles coming to Core Keeper – Warlock and Mage – but we wanted to share a little more info about those with you. Both of these combat styles use our new magic system, which relies on a resource known as mana. You’ll spot your blue mana bar in between your health and hunger bars and, just like your health and hunger, mana can be buffed by various things throughout the underground – including crops like the Glow Tulip!

Along with adding new armour and equipment relevant to the Mage and Warlock, we’ve also updated existing items in the game to work with mana, such as the Fireball Staff. These combat styles will come with new skills and talent trees in the form of Magic and Summoning. The Magic talent tree focuses on things like mana regeneration, barriers, and damage, whereas the Summoning talents focus on things like minion life, attack speed, crits, and so on.

The community has been requesting magic for as long as we can remember, and this was something we were very excited to start working on. We’ve been refining this system for around six months now to ensure it blends nicely with the rest of the game, and we’re looking forward to hearing what you think!

[h2]New Content Doesn’t Stop at 1.0![/h2]
We’ve mentioned this before across X and Discord, but we thought it’d be helpful to make an official announcement about it. We will be continuing to add to Core Keeper after 1.0. Core Keeper is a sandbox game, so the adventure doesn’t end once you’ve experienced the game’s main story arc, and it is our intention to build upon this wonderful underground world with new content, quality-of-life improvements, and more.

We’ll have more information for you on exactly what our future plans are for the game once we’ve launched in 1.0, but we wanted to make it super clear that we’ll be showing Core Keeper plenty of love after its full launch. In the meantime, there’s plenty of exciting new content coming your way, and you can get an idea of what to expect at 1.0 by reading our content reveal post here.

[h2]We’re Updating Multiplayer to Support PC Crossplay[/h2]
There’s some cool, behind-the-scenes changes coming to Core Keeper around 1.0 that we wanted to share with you. Core Keeper currently uses a networking solution known as Steam Datagram Relay to support multiplayer.

Well, we’re currently in the process of testing a new networking solution called PlayFab Party, which will enable multiplayer with friends playing on Microsoft Store, GOG, and Epic Games Store versions of the game. While PlayFab Party will be the default for multiplayer, Steam users will still be able to opt out and instead use the Steam Datagram Relay (which is currently in use) if they choose.

[h3]Help Us Test PlayFab Party![/h3]
We’re currently still in the testing phase when it comes to PlayFab Party, and we’re looking for a small number of Explorers to help us stress test this solution before 1.0. If you’d like to participate in testing, please follow the instructions below and report your feedback here.

1. Launch the Steam client and navigate to your Steam library.
   
2. Right click on Core Keeper and select properties.
   
3. Click on ‘Betas’ and then click the drop-down menu next to ‘Betas Participation’.
   
4. Select ‘Network Testing’ to opt into the testing branch then close this window.
   
5. Launch the game and play in online, player-hosted multiplayer as usual.
   
6. When you’re ready to report back, submit your feedback to us here.
   
7. To return to your regular branch of Core Keeper, follow the steps above, but under ‘Betas Participation’ select ‘None’.

We hope these will answer some of your frequently asked questions and provide you with the information you need to have the best possible experience when Core Keeper leaves Early Access, Explorers! You can catch up with us in the official Core Keeper Discord for news, updates, information, and to ask any additional questions you might have.

Did we just enter 1.0 launch month? Yeah we did! We're beyond excited for PC 1.0 and can't wait for you to experience everything we've been working on. There's definitely a buzz in the community too...

[h2]Your Favourite Core Keeper Memories[/h2]
In celebration of our approach to 1.0, we asked our community over on X what their favourite Core Keeper memories were and you did not disappoint! Here are some of the highlights we loved reading from you:

"One of my favorite memories was when I found a whole bunch of critters who needed to rescued and realized I could get multiple of them to follow me all at once 🥹 it was a long journey back to base (it was before the update with the box and leash) but it was 100% worth it!" - Lindie

"I love your game so much! It brought so much joy & fun to my while I was home with broken bones. Hunting the pretty priest robes in the sunken sea and digging trenches for pretty fishing spots in the base I will never forget 🥰 hyped to return for 1.0!!! 🤍🤍🤍" - Neny 🩷💛🩵

"I remember when I first entered Azeos' Wilderness I instantly knew it would be my favorite since I love lush green forest areas in games, plus the theme for this area is great too!" - SecretSigil

"The OST, when i start playing i just fall in love with the soundtrack and when they add the instruments, i lost a lot of hours playing the ocarina" - VySh0

"When I first came across Ghorm, I was so surprised that I screamed😂" - 或付＊いえのなかにいる＊

[h2]What Makes a Good Base?[/h2]
Cool but controversial take from Wither503 who prefers their bases WITHOUT furniture! 🤯 What do you think makes a good base in Core Keeper?



[h2]Seasonal Events[/h2]
We're taking a trip down memory lane on X and looking back on key points in the Core Keeper timeline (we're feeling nostalgic, okay?). We had a handful of minor updates and seasonal events between the Desert of Beginnings and our last major update before 1.0, the Shimmering Frontier. From Valentine's to Christmas, our Anniversary update and Cherry Blossom event, which was your favourite?



[h2]Hive Mother Concept[/h2]
The Hive Mother may have relinquished her statue at The Core, but she'll always hold a special place in our hearts as one of our earliest boss concepts!



[h2]Ecllpze Plays Core Keeper[/h2]
We'll let the video speak for itself!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Mamfroth Fan Concept by Owluane[/h2]
Our amazing community member, Owlunae, shared this fan concept of a creature they're calling a Mamfroth!

She told us that the Mamfroth would live in an ice/snow biome and its harvestable item would be its hair, which would work similarly to wool.



Follow us on X: http://www.twitter.com/corekeepergame Join the Conversation on Discord: http://discord.gg/corekeeper

It's just under ONE MONTH until our 1.0 launch, Explorers! Tomorrow begins the actual 31-day countdown, and there's a real buzz amongst the community. We've shared some fun things with you this week and you've shared some of your incredible creations with us, so let's take a look.

[h2]Community Comments![/h2]
We've been asking our community questions about their Core Keeper experiences over on Discord, including their favourite Early-Access updates. This comment from Moonburn really stood out to us since The Sunken Sea was our first major update after our Early-Access launch! It definitely holds a special place in our hearts 🌊



[h2]M.Othman[/h2]
Do you name your pets in #CoreKeeper? We like to come up with first and last names for ours! In fact (and for no particular reason 👀) we named this little guy Michael Othman...but he prefers to go by M. Othman 🦋



[h2]Mage & Warlock Info[/h2]
We shared a little more info on the Mage and Warlock combat styles with our community this week. Whether you're going Mage or Warlock, you'll be using our brand-new magic system, which relies on a regenerable resource known as mana. The Mage combat style focuses on magic damage and mana regeneration whereas the Warlock style focuses on summoning! The Mage in this screenshot is wielding weapon known as the Arcane Staff!



[h2]WIN a Caveling Plushie[/h2]
We're holding a giveaway over on X at the moment where you can comment for a chance to win your very own Caveling Plushie! All you have to do is make sure you're following us on X and then respond to this post, tagging a friend who you think would love Core Keeper. Make sure to read the Terms and Conditions, and we look forward to announcing a winner after the giveaway ends on August 4th!



[h2]Dawson's Shrooman Brute[/h2]
Artist and community member, Dawson, has been sharing their pixel art over in the official Core Keeper Discord! This is their take on our new mob, the Shrooman Brute. We love this interpretation and think it's managed to retain some of the cuteness of the original design while still looking much more intimidating than your average Shrooman!



[h2]"CORE KEEPER New 1.0 Content Revealed!"[/h2]
Jade PG CRAFTED has been playing Core Keeper throughout our Early Access launch, and this video takes us through all the new 1.0 content we've revealed so far. It also includes information on our recent Xbox Game Pass announcement. We're honoured to be one of Jade's favourite games, and we look forward to seeing more videos when we hit 1.0!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Clownin' Around with AniDen[/h2]
Community member, AniDen, shared this harrowing piece of pixel art with us over on X. Whether you love clowns or find them absolutely terrifying, you've got to appreciate the effort it took to create this smiling face!



Follow us on X: http://www.twitter.com/corekeepergame Join the Conversation on Discord: http://discord.gg/corekeeper