The Rogue Prince of Persia News

Helloooo,

We said we'd be back with some shiny new stuff on Thursday and so here we are! Yes, it's Friday, but we won't tell if you don't ;)

TLDR:

• Test branch is live
  
• New biome, mob, weapon, meta progression
  
• New feedback sections for test branch in Steam and Discord
  

We are continuing the performance/bug fixes too, don't worry!




So, let me introduce you to your new friendly neighbourhood beta - publictestversion.

This is where we will be updating the game with our latest creations as soon as we think they're good enough to test (i.e they won't completely break the game). So if you play this beta you'll have all the new content ASAP, aaaand you'll probably experience some crazy interactions, uber OP builds and very possibly some bugs.

This is where we will find some of the best additions to push the game further, thanks to the pure experimentation, but the player experience will be a bit off-the-wall.

It will definitely be entertaining, but it is not for everyone and is 100% optional.



[h3]What's in the box?![/h3]
So, what's actually in the beta!

We have:

• New biome - Temple of Fire
  
• New traps (limited to Temple biome) - Spinning Axes, Pressure Spikes and Arrow Booby Traps
  
• New weapon - Flaming Censers (big swinging balls on fiiiireeee)
  
• New mob - Relentless Juggernaut (big fella with a bigger shield)
  
• First iteration of a skill tree for meta progression in the Oasis - very WIP but very cool!
  

I don't want to spoil too much, and remember this is all WIP, so go have a play around and let us know what you think!


[h3]How to access the good stuff[/h3]

FIRST: BACKUP YOUR SAVE DATA

Using this beta might cause problems to your main save file after an update we will do on Monday. So to backup your save file, go to where you have your Steam folder installed, then follow this path:

Steam folder -> userdata folder -> your user id folder (if you have multiple steam accounts you'll need to find the right one) -> 2717880 folder -> remote folder -> copy the file called 'global' and stick it somewhere safe on your computer.

Mine looks like this, but your user id folder with have a different number of course!


If you still want to get stuck in, here's what to do:

Go to The Rogue Prince of Persia in your Steam Library -> click on the gear icon on the far right.



Click on Properties and a pop-up box will appear.



Click on Betas.



Opposite where it says 'Beta Participation', click on the dropdown menu where it says 'None' and select 'publictestversion'.

Update the game and you're good to go!

To change back to the standard game, just go back into the betas section, click on the same dropdown menu (it will now say publictestversion) then select 'None' and update the game.

To leave feedback we have new 'Test Branch' sub-forums here on Steam, or go to Discord, check in 'server-news' for the prompt to choose the new 'The Rogue - Test Branch' role (click the emoji!), and you will see the new channels for discussion and feedback. Without this role you won't see the relevant channels.

If the branch doesn't work for any reason, we will be back on Monday to fix it, just leave us a post in the forums and play the main game until Monday!




Hopefully this shows our intentions for moving forward in this Early Access period - you'll be getting lots of goodies and quick. Maybe not a new biome every week... but you get the idea ;)


Thanks for playing!
Matt and the Evil Empire team

Discord Twitter Tiktok
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube

Hey!

We just pushed a new patch, mainly to improve the performance issues that have been reported so far.

Please make sure the game is updated to the latest version (#10631d04).

Fixes:
- Big round of optimization and clean up to improve overall performance
- Added more failsafes to save files to prevent weird behavior when resuming runs
- Fixed an issue that caused medallion effects to linger after restarting a run
- Fixed a crash that could occur during Baatar's fight
- Fixed a crash caused by summoners in Garden
- Corrected font issues with Chinese localization

We still have some optimization left to do to improve performance, so more fixes will be coming!

For players still experiencing this issue after this patch, please share your player.log (located in AppData\LocalLow\EvilEmpire\The Rogue Prince of Persia) on Discord or Steam Forums so we can keep on identifying the causes and optimizing.

Thanks a lot to everyone who has actively been reporting bugs, we really appreciate the help as we keep on improving the game!

We will be back very soon with more fixes and that test branch with new content we were talking about...

Cheers,
The EE squad

Hey everyone,

We're working hard on getting you fixes ASAP and you'll have one in less than 24 hours.

A patch is nearly prepared that will address some of the performance issues, save problems and bugs/crashes, but we just need to test it a little bit more to make sure it won't cause any other problems.

We'll be back tomorrow with the patch notes and thank you so much for your patience.

Cheers,
EE

Hi everyone,

So it's been nearly 24 hours since we launched our first ever Evil Empire game, and we want to say thank you to everyone who's supported us so far! We can't wait to show you what else we want to add to The Rogue Prince of Persia, and to have you alongside us as we build the game to v1.0.

But, we're going to be honest, our launch wasn't as great as we'd hoped.

We've seen two main concerns from players - bugs/performance issues and lack of content - and we want to reassure you that we hear you and that we're already working hard on this :)

[h3]Performance/Bugs[/h3]
First things first, sorry to anyone who's experienced a bug or crash.

The number of you who have had one is too high and we can only hold our hands up and apologise for that.

Fixing these is our top priority and we will be pushing hotfixes as soon as possible.

Stutters, framerate drops & input lag

These three problems seem to be interlinked and this is our number one issue to fix right now.

If you're experiencing these problems please leave a message on our dedicated Discord thread. There are instructions there to provide the player.log file and please also give as much information as possible about your PC specs too.

Save file problems

Save problems are super frustrating, so this is another issue we're working hard on. We already believe that we've got some fixes ready for this, but we need to test them to make sure we're not introducing other issues with them. That would be even more annoying! So keep an eye out for the incoming hotfixes, we'll be posting the details of each one in the Community Hub as we go.

Other bugs

We're busy cataloguing and fixing the other bugs that you've been reporting.

If you have a bug or crash, please leave as much information as possible in the dedicated bug sections in the Steam forums or Discord.

This will help us to identify the problem quicker and so we can fix it quicker.


[h3]Lack of variety/content[/h3]
We've seen quite a few comments that the game was released too early, even for Early Access, and doesn't have enough variety or content - whether that's weapons, enemies, story, or anything else.

This is a perfectly valid criticism, we're not going to try and convince you otherwise. Just know that we'll be adding lots more content very very soon.

However, we think we need to clarify again why we have chosen to release in Early Access, because some other comments are trying to compare us to games that are in very different stages of development than us.

The following section is not against people who find we don't have enough content right now, we completely get where you're coming from!


Our Early Access plan

We're not here to do a final sense check on a 90% finished game and replace some placeholder art, nor are we a finished game with years of post-1.0 support.

Our plan is to at least double the amount of content in the game, by providing weekly content updates where we work closely with the community. It'll be a collaborative environment where we build on our core gameplay and improve the game, over more than a year. It's going to be fast moving, a bit experimental, and above all, fun!

So for the reviewers saying that the game has lots of potential but they'd prefer to wait for more content, that's fine - we'll see you in just a month or two ;)

If you're curious about what we want to add, before the launch we published a list of things we're planning (and this doesn't include all the weapons, meta/upgrades, enemies, biomes, bosses and story acts we want to add) - https://steamcommunity.com/app/2717880/discussions/1/4335356121965125630/



Right now

For the moment we are 100% focused on fixing the performance and bug problems, but once that's done we'll be going full steam ahead into the weekly content updates and pumping this game full of much, much more content.

Hopefully that'll be starting next week!


Thanks for reading and we hope you'll stick with us as we shape this game through Early Access, we're excited for what's next!

Cheers,
Matt & the EE team

Discord Twitter Tiktok
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube

Hello everyone,

Coffee has been drunk by the gallon, controllers have been broken, tonnes of tacos have been comfort eaten, and we can finally announce that The Rogue Prince of Persia is available to play in Early Access!

Here's a launch trailer to get you even more hyped, courtesy of La Cachette studio and backed by yet another great tune from our soundtrack creator ASADI!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We also have a 10% launch discount on for 24 hours only, so get on it quick to take advantage of that...

Phew, it's been a long road, but everyone on the team is immensely proud of their work and can't wait to get stuck into Early Access and improve the game even further with you, the community.

So, how is that going to work?


[h3]Early Access[/h3]

TLDR:

• Fun solid core of a game that will be built on (a lot!)
  
• Move fast - weekly content updates
  
• Devs will work closely & openly with community
  
• Experimental branch coming Thursday
  
• Dev stream in an hour
  

Right now we have a fun solid nugget of a game - we're very confident that the acrobatic platforming and the combat moveset is a blast to play with and is a great base to build off during Early Access (and the music ain't half bad too, thanks ASADI! ;D).

We're well aware that we need to add more meta progression, upgrades, enemies, weapons, difficulty settings, other features and of course biomes, bosses and story acts, before the game can be considered complete.

But this is what Early Access is for, and our philosophy is that this is the best environment for us to build all of that in and to arrive at v1.0 with the best game possible, by working alongside a player community and in a fluid 'experimental' way.

Weekly updates

We're going to fully embrace the essence of Early Access and release weekly updates. This will be flexible of course, and we are 100% open to changing our approach if their is a negative effect on our team or the game. Flexible is going to be a key word for this Early Access ^^'

An update could contain a new mob, meta upgrade, character animations, a goat, multiple things at once - whatever's ready will be delivered. We will then tweak those additions if needed, based on a mix of player feedback and of course our own vision for the game.

It's not "move fast and break things", we want a playable game for you lot, but it's definitely "move fast". There will very likely be some placeholder images and text and things of that nature. If this kind of stuff is there, din't worry it won't be left like that, it will be polished up as we go.

Of course, big updates like a new biome or a story act can't just drop out of nowhere, so these will be reserved for certain times and will likely be communicated about in advance.

In any case, it's going to be a fun journey with lots to create & discover and there will always be open communication from us!



[h3]Experimental branch[/h3]

There will also be a more... fruity 100% optional branch coming on Thursday.

Here we will be updating the game with our creations as soon as we think they're good enough to test (i.e they won't completely break the game). This means that if you play on this branch you'll have all the new content ASAP, and you'll probably experience some crazy interactions, uber OP builds and very possibly some bugs.

This is where we will find some of the best additions to add to the game, thanks to the pure experimentation, but the player experience will be a bit off-the-wall.

It will definitely be entertaining, but it is not for everyone and again it will be 100% optional.

If you're interested, watch out for our future post where we'll give you all the access details and everything else.



[h3]How to give feedback[/h3]

At the moment we have the Steam forums and our Discord set up for feedback/bug reports.

We are trying to set up an in-game reporter too, we'll let you know when that's ready.

Please be patient with us during Early Access. Even though Ubisoft is the publisher we are just a small team working on the game here at Evil Empire, so we won't be able to make big changes instantly, as much as we would like to!



[h3]Now go play the damn game!!![/h3]

If you're stuck somewhere you can't play, we will be streaming at 18:00 CET/09:00 PT on the Steam store page, our Youtube channel and Twitch channel, so come say hi!


See you very soon and thanks for all your support,
The Evil Empire team

Disclaimer: No controllers were harmed during the making of this game. Unless they deserved it.

Discord Twitter Tiktok
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube