VALHALL: Harbinger News

This is a part of Indiegogo update which we are posting here for our Steam community to make sure you don't miss it. You can read full update in the Indiegogo updates section.

Сheck full update

The time has come for us to announce the launch of the testing phase for the "Wield Mjolnir" game mode. Despite an ambitious tasks for our indie team, we are approaching our goals to provide you with a great experience.

Today we do pretests and when necessary invite available players from Alpha channel to help us. During these Sunday-Tuesday you will see an update in #alpha-announcements-events and Alpha build will be updated for Wield Mjolnir tests.

First of all, servers are 24/7!

The best place to unite with other players is Discord#alpha_general.

As we mentioned in the last updates, it's not Beta, but the game mode test to try the game while we are continuing to work on the other elements as well as:

- Improve the quality and accuracy of viking animations. The base system is already working pretty well.

- Finish networking for the new game mode.

- Finalize some of the cool features related to Thor's hammer.

That means that this build will be updated frequently to add the developed content for the tests. After it's implemented Wield Mjolnir will be released without NDA and shared with all the backers.




We consult with our community through regular polls, discuss all your questions and answer through all platforms.

But one thing is rather difficult for us at this moment, dev blogs. We strive to keep you in the loop as well as we can, yet we are aware that there is a considerable gap between updates without an explanation from our side.

So here are the 2 main reasons why this occurs - we spend all the time on development and we have very few native English speakers in our small team. But we want to overcome this and plan to start uploading videos, screenshots and make posts about the development of animations or new cool features, etc.

We are very glad to tell you that we are currently maintaining a steady speed of development, despite the delays that occurred in the past. The mechanics/animations which aren't presented at the beginning of the tests will be added.

Also, we start a new way of interaction - community Trello.
We use this platform for our work and it will allow you to see the tasks in process.
Just for the beginning let's start with Trello of Wield Mjolnir. You will find a link in #alpha-announcements-events on our Discord server with the tests launch message.

When we get feedback this Trello will be opened to everyone.

You have been chosen to be one of the warriors to participate in Thor's test!

The God of Thunder needs to find a warrior who will be mighty enough to wield the strongest hammer - Mjolnir.



Features:
- There are 25 vikings on the map and 3 players enough to start the match.

- The first goal is to retrieve Mjolnir out of the ground. This phase has a total timer of 1 minute, during this time a player pulls out the hammer and earns points.

- After the first minute of pulling passes, a player can pick up the hammer and use its great powers: throw away enemies like ragdolls by simple attacks & charge the hammer by lightning and use the special abilities like chain lightning & throw the hammer.Don't worry about the balance. If nobody defeats the player with the hammer he will fall from the lightning after 1 min since he has equipped the hammer as player hasn't prove that he is mighty enough to use the full power of Mjolnir yet.

- All players can either fight between themselves or unite against the player with the hammer.

- The player who earns the most points by the end of the match wins.

- Use non-typical attacks to defeat your enemies: headbutt, uppercuts and so on.


Points are awarded for:

- Taking the hammer from the ground/a dead player.

- Pulling a hammer within the first minute.

- Each second of holding the hammer.

- Killing other players.


Also we prepared some unannounced features for this game mode.

How to join:

Everybody who already has Alpha access (everyone with Beta access who joined Alpha channel) will just have their Alpha build updated in Steam.

If you are a new player, find Alpha instruction in update of Jun 15, 2019 for access.

Current version is not finale, there is work to do (listed in Trello) and we will be updating the build regularly. We start with combat collision tests.


See you on the battlefield!
Blackrose Arts

Hello mighty warriors!

Here is a teaser of Wield Mjolnir - new game mode which is perfect for the game lore and based on community requests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwMPjlz8X94
Let us know what do you think about it!

Game mode launch details

Guys, as you know we don't use funding on marketing purposes such as videos promotion - our the only and the strongest power is this incredible community. We will be grateful to everyone who share this teaser on YouTube, make a post on Reddit or tell your friends about the game!



Best wishes!
Blackrose Arts

This is a part of Indiegogo update which we are posting here for our Steam community to make sure you don't miss it. You can read full update in the Indiegogo updates section.

Сheck development progress

For the last time we have kept all the news on our Discord channel. It's time to make a public update!

Alpha has been launched over a month and has been available for testing each week.

The schedule wasn't changed:

US Servers:

• Tuesday: 5 - 7pm ET. (Tuesday: 9 - 11pm UTC.)
  
• Saturday: 8 - 10pm ET.( Sunday: 12 - 2am UTC.)
  

EU Servers:

• Thursday: 5 - 7pm UTC. (Thursday: 1 - 3pm ET.)
  
• Sunday: 7 - 9pm UTC. (Sunday: 3 - 5pm ET.)
  

Good news for those who participate in our tests. We have added radius voice chat!

Hold T button and talk, the others will hear you. The current radius is not final, it's big for testing purposes. Enjoy.




For those who are awaiting the next stage to play.

After the last trailer release we received a huge amount of feedback. Your words mean a lot for us, it was a great pleasure to read your impressions and consider suggestions. Our team thanks you!

While developing the combat system, basing on this feedback we were working on a special game mode, which will be launched the first one as a part of a new build!

It will have no NDA and will be full of fun.

We are going to have it closer to the end of July. In the next updates we will reveal all the necessary details on it and hope you will be excited as we are!

Also, all of us understand how amount of players is important for matchmaking. With this game mode we want to try to make a transition to 24/7 servers to let you play when you want. To make that happen we will let all our backers including owners of Early Access perk play this new game mode! Please await info about it in the next update. Owners of Beta perk, no worries, you keep having all your privileges coming with Beta access (you will be first to play BR&Siege mode, etc.).


As you know each current backer will get an amazing pack of bonuses which were published before.

And as we have already announced before - all these bonuses are available for players who became a backer before Alpha launching.



We didn't make an official update about the Alpha launching clear enough, some players thought it wasn't not out yet.

This is why we decided to extend the early backers benefits to 18th of June (Tuesday).

How to join Alpha

Best wishes!
Blackrose Arts

This is a part of Indiegogo update which we are posting here for our Steam community to make sure you don't miss it. You can read full update in the Indiegogo updates section.

As we promised in the past update, we present to you a video of the state of the Beta that's we're working on.

Official Siege Trailer

We hope that it will answer both questions that have frequently appeared after the previous update, chiefly regarding the price and the progress that has been made since the last gameplay video was published.

Also, due to a number of similar questions that we have received lately we would like to briefly clarify that we are maintaining our independence from publishers and investors.

This independence is necessary for our prolonged work as a community in VALHALL's development, because the future of this game must be paved by players and gamers. That is why, in spite of all the difficulties of developing at a low budget, which affects the timing of the implementation of certain plans, we fully disclose our nature of our indie development team.

All of this is thanks to you, everyone who has supported us up until this stage.

Сheck info about the Alpha launching

Best wishes!
Blackrose Arts

This is a part of Indiegogo update which we are posting here for our Steam community to make sure you don't miss it. You can read full update in the updates section.

Сheck development progress

And the day has come, mighty warriors of VALHALL!

It's time to announce the date of the Alpha testing period beginning - the 21st April!

The Alpha build is playable, but we want to use this time to finalize a number of features before the launching.

Testing will start according to the following schedule. Days Alpha Test will be available (each week):

• NA server Time: 5 pm - 7 pm ET (Tuesday)
  
  
• NA server Time: 8 pm - 10 pm ET (Saturday)
  
  
• EU server Time: 1 pm - 3 pm ET (Thursday)
  
  
• EU server Time: 3 pm - 5 pm ET (Sunday)

The presence of the schedule is caused by the necessity to consolidate matchmaking during the Alpha tests so that no one has to wait too long for matches to begin or play with a very small number of players on the map, as well as to conduct technical work between game sessions.

In scheduling, we tried to take into account the most convenient time intervals for all the involved time zones, based on the regional positioning of the bakers.

Moreover, we are open to suggestions and if you wish to adjust the specified times to make the schedule more convenient for you personally, or voice your opinion on our current schedule, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/gvQ6MHSzbxdgXKhu8

We would also ask that you take into account that the schedule can't be perfect for each participant, however, the option to vary and alter the schedule is still available, as we aim to allow each Alpha tester to be able to play at a convenient time.

As we published before, every Beta access owner will also have access to the Alpha.

You will need to enter the code in the "betas" menu (we will attach screenshots manual) of the game on your Steam library, which will give you access to the Alpha version of the game client and will automatically be downloaded.

This code is one for everyone and it will be published in advance (update before Alpha), so you will have time to download the game before tests launching.

Please fill out this form to gain access to the Alpha:

https://forms.gle/vpmX1AS9jM6H85VSA

This is quite important and necessary to gain an accurate indication of server capacity during the testing period.



We also strongly recommend you join our discord server! We're planning to hold numerous community events during the testing phase.

If you would like to take part you will need to be a member in order to receive information and instructions. Games will be played, fun will be had, prizes will be won.

Moreover, connecting with us on Discord allows you to get in touch with the developers and our community during testing, share your opinions, recommendations, bugs (with screenshots please!) and overall make our community a better place.

Note: To get access the exclusive Alpha channels you will need:

- to be a member of our Discord server discord.gg/z5pwABS;

- to be a backer with Beta access;

- to fill in the form https://forms.gle/vpmX1AS9jM6H85VSA

Enjoy the testing with your new Viking family! P.S.We will upload a form where users will be able to report bugs with the launch update for those who don't want to use the Discord.

The combat system 2.0 is still half playable and has some serious issues which prevent its use in the game at this stage. This is why we are launching Alpha with the old one, however our team is working hard on the new version and we are sure you will understand our motives after the video with the combat system 2.0 gameplay and description is released - it will be before Alpha launch.

Throughout Alpha, we will release patches that will add some working elements from combat 2.0 to the current system. This will all be explained further with the release of our combat explanation video.

For those who missed the previous update, we recommend to check our progress there.
This one is text only, we want to surprise you with the next update's content.

With the launch of the Alpha we plan to implement the following changes to the bonuses for Early backers:

We didn't plan for the Alpha to be publicly accessible, and that decision was made this month at the request of the community.

For that reason, there will be some changes to the bonuses available to new backers. These changes don't apply to any current backers.

The extra Steam key for Early Access & the Full Game as well as all bonuses from our lost bet (which you can find in the previous update) will be available only up to the launch of the Alpha. This means that if you became a backer before the Alpha launch, this insane bundle of rewards is yours.

Note: If you became a backer before the Alpha launch, but you missed out on choosing your extra key via form as a loyalty reward, you contact with us via email at: [email protected] We will be sending extra keys closer to Early Access launch.

As many of you have already noticed, there have been some changes on the Indiegogo web page - this was planned to incorporate updates to all the perks along with the launch of the Alpha and switch to our new pricing policy. We already published that info with our update on 25th Dec.

Our pricing policy will be updated with the coming Beta release. This will allow you to reap the rewards of your loyalty with even more benefits due to your decision to support us during the earlier stages of development as an Early backer of our project.

More for less. For the convenience of understanding and comparing the prices on each stage (current, Beta, Steam) we have prepared a pricing table for all our future Backers for a visual comparison.


Warriors of VALHALL! As promised earlier, as the launch of the Alpha tests grows nearer, we will make an update with the password and video.

Thank you,

Blackrose Arts