Keeper's Toll News

Hi Everyone,

Weekly build time! In case you haven't noticed, our plan in Early Access is to release 1 new build each week until the game is complete and out of Early Access. Next week we are planning to launch the Ranger class, so it's gonna be a big one. It's possible it could be delayed, but we're working really hard on finishing her up and balancing the class and we can't wait to see what you all think of her.

As for this week's build, some new features and lots of QoL improvements, bug fixes and performance boosts!

UPDATE NOTES

- Added Damage Stats to End of Round. Now you can see how much damage you inflicted with each type of attack, including Talents!

- Improved multithreaded collision system, boosting performance. We've seen average boost between 20-30% per platform. Steam Deck performance has also been vastly improved. There's still more to come, but this is a big step in the right direction. We're diving into lots of multi threading to boost performance in many areas of the game.

- Added some small clusters of destructable crates/barrels to the environment for a little more variation

- Refactored code for Necromancer's skill, Bonecaster, improving performance

- Improved performance of various sprite animations by switching to a custom animator setup

- Reduced the Necromancer's Skeleton targeting range so they stay closer to the Necromancer

- Reduced the damage output of Bloodsap and his Seed Projectile Attacks by 25%

- Slightly reduced damage output of Flesh Golem (5%)

- Modified the hitboxes for Flesh Golem's arm spikes ground attack

- Fixed the hitbox for the Wraith in Linden Forest. It was offsetting too low on initialization

- Fixed a bug at end of Bloodsap fight that would reset player attacks 2x instead of once

- Changed the Blood Altar UI selection to default to Yes, instead of No, when asked to sacrifice

- Fixed a rare bug where the player could still level up and be presented with level up options after they are dead

- Reduced hitbox size for the Hammer Smash Zombie in Usvit Depths

- Refactored code, providing a slight performance boost of Necromancer's skill: Fulmination

- Refactored code, providing a large performance of the Treasure Snail's gold drops

- Fixed a time delay issue with initialization on the Tree Stump Mimic

- Necromancer's Auto Flail is now affected by cooldowns, but at a reduced rate

- When elites and mimics are stunned, they will now break and reset from their attacks if attacking

- Modified Necromancer's passive skill: Soul Rip logic to properly affect the Auto Flail

- Updated the Throwing Dagger Powerup Effect

- Usvit Depths: Fixed a bug w/ stone guardian offset not resetting properly after jumping


We continue to make the game better and better because of you all. If your request is not in this update, please understand we have a lot we're always working on, but we'll continue to add more requests in and reduce our backlog as often as possible.

Thank you for all the feedback and your support. It means a lot and there's lot more to come!

Stingbot

Hi Everyone,

Summer is upon us and we want to start it off with a contest! Among many things, we are currently designing the next world to be added to the game: Usvit Castle. We have a clear direction we are headed, but we are looking for some fresh ideas for Elite Enemies and thought it would be fun to get the community involved and see what you all come up with. We are running a contest throughout the month of June, which we are accepting ideas/submission for Elite Enemies for Usvit Castle.

Below is a sketch of Usvit Castle. It all begins with a sketch!



Here's a few character sprites we’ve created that will be coming to this location of the game, to give you an idea of where things are headed:



RULES FOR ENTRY

1. Provide a description of an Elite Enemy and include what its special attack will be. All elite mobs will have special attacks. For instance, our Pinwheel character in Usvit Depths has its charge/roll attack. The Troll in Linden Forest flings a mud pile at the player, which, if hit, slows movement temporarily.

2. Art/Sketches are not needed and are not required, but if you can visualize and present your idea, we are more than happy to take a look.

3. Entries can be submitted as a comment in this thread or in our Discord under the public Contest Channel.

4. You can provide as many enemy ideas as you like, but this doesn’t necessarily guarantee you will win. Quality over Quantity.

5. All entries must be submitted by July 1, 2023 to be considered

6. In the event multiple entries are created with very similar character designs, the earliest of all entries will be considered based on the time stamp of creation.

PRIZES

The Top 2 selected entries will receive the following:
1. $20 Steam Gift Card
2. Your Elite Enemy will be created by us and added to the game
3. Your name will be listed in the game credits

The top 3 runner ups will receive the following:
1. $20 Steam Gift Card

HOW TO WIN

1. The enemy must fit within a castle environment and dark fantasy theme

2. Creativity from both enemy design and the special attack of the enemy. Please keep in mind the characters in Soul Survivors are all hand drawn animated sprites, so if you want a triple backflip, forward lunge spin attack which spawns a poison burst on collision and then the enemy backflips back out: well it’s unlikely we would select this due to the massive workload this entails. Simple, but unique attacks is what we are looking for.

3. How much we like something. If it’s cool and you love it, we probably will too!

Winners will be announced by July 3, 2023. In the event a participant fails to respond or collect their reward, we will issue a reward to another participant until all prizes have been collected.

By participating in this contest, you are not being given any rights to Soul Survivors, our IP, of or relating to the character you design or the game as a whole. You will not be entitled to any revenue shares or additional compensation outside of what is listed in our Prizes above. Winners will be required to E-Sign a simple form that states these terms when claiming their reward.

We are running this contest because we believe it is a fun way to involve players in the creation and development of Soul Survivors.We look forward to seeing what players come up with!

We will not respond to any entries, but we will read them all. We will, however, respond to any questions you have as soon as possible.

Thank you!

Stingbot Games

Hi Everyone,

We've been working hard on the Ranger update, but still have more coming to improve existing content. Here's what's new in our latest build:

- Added a save data check to verify all save files are properly working when first loading the game. If a file is determined to be missing or corrupted the game will now notify you and direct you to a support page



If you see this screen when loading the game, do not worry. This is expected if your save data is corrupt or not being read properly. If you follow the instructions or get in contact with us, we'll get you sorted. We added a check at the beginning of the game so players can't access the game and experience weird bugs from data not loading properly. This is just the better route to go.

- Separated current gold and total gold collected in the game's UI, improving clarity

- Modified Necromancer's Soul Rip passive. Reduced HP reduction by 2% and increased flail damage output by 5%

- Modified Bogatyr's Quake passive. Iron Smash and Iron Strike Attack Range increased from 5 to 10% per rank

- Fixed a bug where Warden Grainloch's Druids would sometimes spin out of control far away from the Warden

- Improved the AI targeting of Ally Lord Cerveris

- Tree Stump Turret hitboxes will no longer remain active for a few seconds when the stump is destroyed

- Improved spawn logic for Environment props and destructables

- Reduced the AOE radius of the Flammable Goods curse explosions

- Fixed a bug with sacrifice altar that was allowing rank 5 skills to be upgraded

- Modified the Necromancer's Fulmination skulls AOE, slightly boosting performance

- Modified Bogatyr's Iron Strike AOE attack, slightly boosting performance

- Modified the Cooldown effect of Bogatyr's War Cry. Rank 1 is now a 30% CDR and Ranks 2-5 Add 5% CDR for duration of the effect

- Fixed a sorting order issue with some props in Usvit Depths

- Structural changes to AI initialization and reference code, offering slight performance boosts

- Various Bug Fixes

- Code refactoring

We will likely release 1-2 more builds and then the Ranger will be live in the game. There's lots to come. Thanks for all the feedback. It means a lot and we enjoy chatting with you all.

Stingbot

It's been a busy few weeks since the game launched in Early Access. We've been listening to everyone's feedback, so thank you to everyone who reported a bug, requested a change, or provided us with any feedback. The game has improved because of you!



With that said, we're also working on new content, and we are excited to show our first preview of the next class to be added to Soul Survivors: The Ranger. She's had an updated design since what has originally been shown of her:



She is the fastest character in the game, with a high fire rate and a unique playstyle. Below is a video we put together to show off some of what you can expect.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Though she's not a summoner, like the Necromancer, she does have a couple companions. Here's a preview (WIP):



We're still a couple weeks out from adding her to the game. We are wrapping up her final abilities and talents and then we need to spend a lot of time optimizing and balancing the class. As she plays nothing like the other 2 existing characters, balancing take some time. We've spent a lot of time developing this class and we are trying to step up our game in regards to skills, talents,, synergies, build types etc.



We're also planning to upload a few more builds pertaining to existing content. Stay posted for news on this.



As for what to expect following the addition of the Ranger: we are also designing a merchant/item system, which will make all that gold you're stacking become very valuable and important, especially if you try out our new Hard Mode, which we are planning to implement in a later update too. More on this later.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their feedback and support. It truly does mean a lot, and we look forward to adding the Ranger to the game in the coming weeks.

Stingbot

Hi Everyone,

We have a fun update today! We added a couple of new Curses to the game and added dozens of improvements/fixes. We have a big announcement coming soon, so stay posted on that too!

Here's what's new in the latest build:

- New Curse Added to Linden Forest: Grainloch's Minions

- New Curse Added to Usvit Depths: Bilee's Revenge

- Removed the Traitors Curse. Will likely revamp and return at some point

- Removed Bogatyr's passive ability: Hardy. Replaced it with a new ability called Guardian's Fury.
Increases DMG of shield attacks by 15% per rank + adds 10HP to base health

- Modified the save system to avoid potential simultaneous async calls

- Usvit Depths: Shield masters' shield colliders will no longer remain active when enemy dies. Caused unwanted invisible collisions

- When cycling between characters on the Talents menu, the correct talents will now display for each character in their Trees

- Necromancer's Auto Flail has been modified to have a slightly longer rotation before it deactivates

- A few minor performance optimizations for the Necromancer's Auto Flail

- Increased Gold Drop rate in Usvit Depths

- Scaled gold amounts to drop with player level, so the higher the player level the higher chance of larger quantities of gold will now drop

- Bug Fix: Damage bonus is now working correct for Passives: By the Sword, Earthen Might, Defiled Bones, Vital Force

- Fixed a collision bug with Bilee's blood circles

- Fixed a bug related to speed overrides w/ powerups and curses

- Fixed a crash in curse mode related to the curse count not matching the available count

- Reduced collider size of boulders for Catapult Curse

- Fixed the enemy worm sorting layer

- Bug Fix: rare issue where the level up panel would not load into place on level up

- Fixed an issue with collecting Boss Souls resulting in 2 collisions and 2 level ups

- Balancing

- Code refactoring

As always, feel free to share any feedback or suggestions. We welcome everything and will strive to constantly improve the game. Thank you for your support!

Stingbot