Development Digest April 8th - 15th
Hi there!
Louis here. Janna and Michael are taking a few days off for their birthdays, so I’m in charge of the digest while they’re gone - and boy, do I have one for you this week.
Wendy’s hard at work in Bone Reach right now, as part of our plan to keep on top of zone updates so that we can ensure they release in a timely fashion without speedbumps between each zone. As you may have heard, the Windless Woods will be our next zone. So while that’s in the detail phase (encounter design, quests + narrative, towns + NPCs) Wendy’s blazing ahead with blockout in the next zone. It’s too early to show you what she’s working on, but while Janna’s gone I’ve managed to sneak this little teaser out to you:
Whatever she’s doing, seems like it’s visible even from Hope Harbor.
Things are continuing apace in the Woods. Here’s some spots you haven’t seen before:
On my end, I’ve been busy setting up all kinds of traps, triggers, levers and devices for the team to make use of in the ruins you’ll come across in future updates.
Stream viewers will recall the tripwires and pressure plates that can be used to open doors and operate elevators, but they can also be used for more devious purposes:
Better watch your step in the ancient ruins we’re working on in the Windless Woods.
Alongside these devious machinations, I’ve been delving deep into our combat code - tidying up, pulling out the parts we’ve outgrown, and laying the foundations for the new systems we have planned. It’s a big job, but we’re nearing the stage where we can start pushing prototype content to our dedicated testing team.
Before we wrap up the digest for this week, I have a segment here from Mike, who has been helping us a TON with server management and networking behind the scenes. Take it away, Mike:
Back in our extensive Quality of Life update in March, we gave you the ability to see who is on your server, what their Steam name is, and if needed, the ability to kick them from your server. Giving you the control you need when running a server is necessary to stop and prevent unwanted guests. Immediately, many of you asked "great, but what about banning?". We're happy to say that you'll be able to ban players from ever joining your server again, even if you stop and restart hosting at any point. This ban is tied to Steam accounts, so offenders can't just make another character. You can access this in the same admin panel from the pause menu.
And don't worry, if you ban someone by accident (or let's be real, you banned them as a joke) you'll be able to unban them using their Steam account ID.
As you might have noticed from the prototype screenshot, we’ve taken things a step further and set up the ability to grant trusted players moderator power. These players will be able to do everything except add/remove moderators.
These changes are part of our effort to bring you dedicated server support (that Kindred leaked in a stream back in February). We can't promise you a date (Soon™️), but we can tell you it's important to us and we're actively working on it. Stay tuned for more updates!
Alright folks, that’s it for this week’s dev digest. Thanks for having me as your guest host while Janna’s away! She’ll be back in charge next week.
Take care!
Louis
Louis here. Janna and Michael are taking a few days off for their birthdays, so I’m in charge of the digest while they’re gone - and boy, do I have one for you this week.
Wendy’s hard at work in Bone Reach right now, as part of our plan to keep on top of zone updates so that we can ensure they release in a timely fashion without speedbumps between each zone. As you may have heard, the Windless Woods will be our next zone. So while that’s in the detail phase (encounter design, quests + narrative, towns + NPCs) Wendy’s blazing ahead with blockout in the next zone. It’s too early to show you what she’s working on, but while Janna’s gone I’ve managed to sneak this little teaser out to you:
Whatever she’s doing, seems like it’s visible even from Hope Harbor.
Things are continuing apace in the Woods. Here’s some spots you haven’t seen before:
On my end, I’ve been busy setting up all kinds of traps, triggers, levers and devices for the team to make use of in the ruins you’ll come across in future updates.
Stream viewers will recall the tripwires and pressure plates that can be used to open doors and operate elevators, but they can also be used for more devious purposes:
Better watch your step in the ancient ruins we’re working on in the Windless Woods.
Alongside these devious machinations, I’ve been delving deep into our combat code - tidying up, pulling out the parts we’ve outgrown, and laying the foundations for the new systems we have planned. It’s a big job, but we’re nearing the stage where we can start pushing prototype content to our dedicated testing team.
Before we wrap up the digest for this week, I have a segment here from Mike, who has been helping us a TON with server management and networking behind the scenes. Take it away, Mike:
Back in our extensive Quality of Life update in March, we gave you the ability to see who is on your server, what their Steam name is, and if needed, the ability to kick them from your server. Giving you the control you need when running a server is necessary to stop and prevent unwanted guests. Immediately, many of you asked "great, but what about banning?". We're happy to say that you'll be able to ban players from ever joining your server again, even if you stop and restart hosting at any point. This ban is tied to Steam accounts, so offenders can't just make another character. You can access this in the same admin panel from the pause menu.
And don't worry, if you ban someone by accident (or let's be real, you banned them as a joke) you'll be able to unban them using their Steam account ID.
As you might have noticed from the prototype screenshot, we’ve taken things a step further and set up the ability to grant trusted players moderator power. These players will be able to do everything except add/remove moderators.
These changes are part of our effort to bring you dedicated server support (that Kindred leaked in a stream back in February). We can't promise you a date (Soon™️), but we can tell you it's important to us and we're actively working on it. Stay tuned for more updates!
Alright folks, that’s it for this week’s dev digest. Thanks for having me as your guest host while Janna’s away! She’ll be back in charge next week.
Take care!
Louis