Secrets of Grindea News

Frontline only! Click here for Frontline instructions



Summary

A load of bugfixes, some QoL improvements and more difficulty options!

This patch is a "Frontline Patch"! It's intended for players who want to help out with testing, or if you're having a specific issue that is solved in this patch!

The default/Stable branch on Steam, as well as the Humble/GOG branches, will be updated after this has been in testing for 1-2 weeks!

Details

About the patch

After watching a lot of streams and reading a lot of feedback, we've come to realize that the difficulty options in the game are a bit limited, and there are two seemingly pretty big groups that is affected: people looking for something a bit less demanding, and people who'd like to face a greater challenge than Normal but don't appreciate the current Hard Mode. The patch contains a couple of new difficulty settings hoping to improve on this: Chill Mode and Expert Mode, and some toning down of Hard Mode.

There are also changes to display options, as well as the possibility to adjust controller deadzone and assign the DPad to be a quickslot shortcut instead of being used for movement.

Another noteworthy change is the addition of proper translator credits, where authors of the fan-translations now have the option to appear at the start of the game, and during the credits!

Oh, and the difficult Phase Shift Course no longer has to be fully completed in order to get the True Ending.

...and a bunch of other changes that can be found in the patch notes!

More Details on Difficulty Changes

The first part of addressing the difficulty issue is a new “Chill Mode” (aka Easy Mode). We hope this mode will suit players who want to go on an adventure but not necessarily be under a lot of pressure skill-wise.

Conversely, we’ve realized that the gap between Normal and Hard is very big – especially considering the final boss' moves of disabling the Health Potion and Barrier; two tools that a lot of players feel forced into when playing the mode. For some, Normal feels like a cakewalk and Hard like a punishment.

To better serve this second crowd, we will adjust the difficulty of Hard Mode, where HPot and Barrier will always be allowed, and the mode will generally be made slightly easier across the board. It is basically equivalent to Catalyst 2 in Arcade Mode, with some adjustments.

We will at the same time introduce a fourth difficulty: “Expert”. This mode is slightly harder than current Hard, mostly due to the Health Potion and Barrier being weaker right from the start. Overall, though, the experience will mostly be about the same as current Hard.

The Hard Mode-achievement will be rebranded as an Expert Mode-achievement, and everyone who has unlocked it will keep it but under the new name!



Version 1.02c (May 16, Hotfix)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some layering issues in Post Ending startington
  
• Fixed a bug where one of the final bosses might crash the game for clients during his fireball attack
  

Version 1.02b (May 15, Hotfix)

Bug Fixes

• The fire hurtboxes now properly disappear during the Frosty Foe phase of the final battle
  
• The 'Preserve Ratio' graphics option is now saved properly between sessions
  
• The Boots of Bloodthirst now deals its player damage on Chill Mode as well, but at a reduced rate
  
• The difficulty selection now wraps around properly when pressing Left (from Chill to Expert)
  
• Fixed a bug where the new burn code could cause a highly unnecessary amount of updates and network sends in Co-op
  
• In multiplayer Arcade, the Floor 5 spawn sequence no longer occasionally disables item collision for clients
  

Version 1.02a (May 9, Main Patch)

Additions

• Translation authors can now add a name and logo to be more prominently credited in-game!
  
• There's now an option to enable/disable black borders when playing fullscreen with a monitor that's not 16:9 aspect ratio
  
• Gamepad players can now choose to have the DPad quick-access the left clover (the one accessed with LT/L2) instead of moving the character
  
• Gamepad players can now adjust the deadzone of the left thumb stick to match their preference
  
• Potions can now be equipped one-by-one to remove the need for multiple button presses, if preferred
  
• The 'Hard' difficulty is now a bit easier overall (especially towards the end), and a new difficulty called 'Expert' is like the old Hard Mode
  
• The fighting part of the Collector Exam now includes a short shield trial
  

Changes

• It's now possible to select zoom levels higher than 3 for monitors that support it
  
• Red Giga Slime's level scaling will now be locked to the player level when first fighting it [Story Mode]
  
• If equipping a weapon through a Quickslot, you can now switch back by pressing the same button again (especially convenient for things like the Bug Net)
  
• Larvacids no longer leave continuous acid behind unless they're angry
  
• Health Orbs now have a larger pickup radius
  
• The player is now healed between every battle in the final tower, except on Hard and Expert Mode
  
• The Burn debuff, when affecting a player, now has a short 'mercy timer' before being applied
  
• Enemy Shockwave-attacks now have less punishing colliders
  
• The Arena Gauntlet Challenges now scale in a more reasonable manner on high levels
  
• The player can now move earlier after putting the shield away
  
• The player can now move earlier after taking shield damage, and can attack and use spells at any time during the shield damage animation
  
• Input when turning and raising the shield is now somewhat context sensitive, making the timing less strict
  
• ("[Arcade Mode] The zoning field (jumpdown) in the Flying Fortress Boss Rooms now has an indicator to lessen confusion
  
• Kailan's ghost-gift has been changed from the Phase Resequencer to a new item, 'Kailan's ID', which is found earlier in the bonus phase course
  
• Thorn Worms can now be interrupted during the beginning of their dig-animation
  
• After completing a Twilight-locked challenge in the Ghost Ship, the player now automatically leaves Twilight
  
• The monkey barrel room in Tai Ming's Inner Shrine will now become an efficient Monkey + Statue grind room after saving Shiidu
  
• Monkeys can now spawn as elites, mostly for drop-rate-increase purposes
  

Bug Fixes

• Skipping the quests that grant potion flasks should now more reliably set the potion amount correctly
  
• Reading Penn Wryte's final book as a client in multiplayer no longer removes it from your inventory
  
• The Penn Wryte achivement's progress is now tracked on the character, not the world
  
• Burn particles for burning players are now displayed correctly on clients
  
• Player 2 no longer automatically picks up the health orb when reaching Floor 5 in Arcade Mode
  
• Fixed a bug in the cannon-scene in the Lost Ship that made the scene become rather silly
  
• Fixed several music bugs related to Tai Ming
  
• When receiving the Valkyrie Hat DLC reward, the game no longer mentions being in Beta
  
• The housing menu no longer puts Rotate and Place on the same button on gamepads
  

If nothing major arises, this update will make its way to Stable and the other storefronts in 1-2 weeks!

After that, more QoL (with focus on clutter reduction and other clarity improvements) and New Game+ awaits!

Summary

The 1.01a patch is now on the default branch/Stable!

If you are already playing on Frontline, you already have this patch, and the below information is redundant!



Changes

• The game now asks for player confirmation before a rebind of the confirm button goes through
  
• Players can no longer sell the unique seeds that are required for the Master Gardener achievement
  
• When failing to establish a multiplayer connection, the game tries to provide error context
  
• The final boss' Inferno attack should no longer be able to corner players if the Giant Earth Spike is positioned poorly
  

Bug Fixes

• When accepting the 'enemies from floor above'-bet in the Arcade Mode Desert, you'll now be granted Twilight Shift
  
• Defeating the final boss of Arcade Mode now actually grants score!
  
• Solving the Deceit puzzle and then immediately exiting the game no longer soft locks upon reload
  
• Fixed a visual bug where the arena door would not open after The Gauntlet I arena challenge had been cleared
  
• Quitting the game during the cutscene between Lurifix' quests in Mt Bloom no longer soft locks the save
  
• The game should now award the Card Enthusiast achievement without needing to quit and load back in
  
• The crash report tool can now identify some more common issues and give advice
  
• Leaving the Forgotten Tower during the puzzle phase no longer causes the zone to bug out for multiplayer clients
  
• The game no longer locks up for multiplayer clients when finishing Arcade Mode with less than 100% score
  
• Fixed a crash that occured in the ingame menu when selecting the last item of a category, selling it, and then trying to select it again
  

What's Next?

We're currently working on the design part of a New Game+, and will simultaneously keep doing bugfixes and QoL changes!

Frontline only! Click here for Frontline instructions



Summary

We've seen quite a refreshing burst of life in the week since 1.0-launch, and me and Fred had a great time streaming for a few hours after release! Thanks to everyone who've played the game - we hope you've enjoyed it, and we're aiming to make it even more enjoyable with post-launch additions, fixes and adjustments!

Thus begins the post-release period, and as expected the first order of business is improving base functionality an stability. On that note, here are the patch notes!

This patch is a "Frontline Patch"! It's intended for players who want to help out with testing, or if you're having a specific issue that is solved in this patch!



Changes

• The game now asks for player confirmation before a rebind of the confirm button goes through
  
• Players can no longer sell the unique seeds that are required for the Master Gardener achievement
  
• When failing to establish a multiplayer connection, the game tries to provide error context
  
• The final boss' Inferno attack should no longer be able to corner players if the Giant Earth Spike is positioned poorly
  

Bug Fixes

• When accepting the 'enemies from floor above'-bet in the Arcade Mode Desert, you'll now be granted Twilight Shift
  
• Defeating the final boss of Arcade Mode now actually grants score!
  
• Solving the Deceit puzzle and then immediately exiting the game no longer soft locks upon reload
  
• Fixed a visual bug where the arena door would not open after The Gauntlet I arena challenge had been cleared
  
• Quitting the game during the cutscene between Lurifix' quests in Mt Bloom no longer soft locks the save
  
• The game should now award the Card Enthusiast achievement without needing to quit and load back in
  
• The crash report tool can now identify some more common issues and give advice
  
• Leaving the Forgotten Tower during the puzzle phase no longer causes the zone to bug out for multiplayer clients
  
• The game no longer locks up for multiplayer clients when finishing Arcade Mode with less than 100% score
  
• Fixed a crash that occured in the ingame menu when selecting the last item of a category, selling it, and then trying to select it again
  

More bug fixes while we start the design work with New Game+! That update might also have some other difficulty and playstyle related additions coming along for the ride.

We sure hope not! Even (especially?) for us it feels a bit surreal that this day has finally arrived!

Thanks to everyone who have been with us on this crazy journey, and for all the encouragement and feedback we've been given to make this game what it is now - after a total of 13 years (!!) in development - and thanks and welcome to all the new player who will join in shaping it into what it will eventually become!



Yep! We've been in Early Access for nine, but before that we were making this game on the side while going to school! Thirteen years became the grand total oven time for this brightly colored bun. It's quite insane when you put it like that, but we're very grateful for being able to create this game the way we wanted



Bug fixes! Then the first big post-release thing we will tackle is a New Game+!

So, without further ado... thanks for playing, and we hope you enjoy :)

- Teddy, Fred & Vilya

Attention - this is not a drill!

The Story Mode and Arcade Mode endings that have been live on Frontline can now be accessed by all players! Oh, and Secrets of Grindea 1.0 officially launches February 29!

[h2]Story Mode Endings[/h2]

The game's two Story Mode endings are now available on the Stable version!

This also includes a huge amount of bug fixes, QOL-changes, minor world updates, menu improvements and also a post-end world state to explore for players who beat the game!

[h2]Arcade Mode[/h2]

Arcade Mode is now also beatable, not to mention that Stable users now have access to the new event rooms and revamped challenges!

[h2]Official Release Is On February 29![/h2]

You (probably) heard it here first: the game will finally release on February 29! A chance like that only comes along every 4 years, so as avid Collectors we just had to have that rare treasure.

Thanks everyone so, so, so freaking much for being with us on this insanely long journey! Without all your feedback and support, the game wouldn't have been nearly as good as it is today!

If you have some friends you've been considering recommending the game to, the best time would be to do so on the day we launch out of early access, as we plan on having a modest discount to celebrate the end of this 13 year long adventure.

[h2]Then what?[/h2]

There will probably be a minor tsunami of bugs, issues and feedback that will be revealed by the increased number of players - so the immediate aftermath of the release will probably be a lots of tweaks and bug fixes!

After that, we'll shift focus to some post-release content, such as New Game+!