Our biggest update ever is now available! This was a huge undertaking for us as the effort was borderline making a new game. We really hope you enjoy it, as it is the first step to Blade & Sorcery becoming 'more' than a sandbox. If the download doesn't appear, try restart the Steam / Oculus client. [b]Remember to remove all your mods![/b] Like every major update, U9 mods will not work in U10 and will need an updating. Delete all your mods from StreamingAssets/Mods and/or Vortex or your game won't work. Please be patient in giving modders the time they need to update their mods; they are well aware they need to update their mods but just need time. After deleting your mods [b]it is wholly recommended you delete your U9 save file[/b] to make sure your game is nice and fresh for U10, which is a major update. You can do this by deleting the folder located at Documents\My Games\BladeAndSorcery\Saves. This is a good idea even if you had no mods, as sometimes Steam can do strange things on updating. [i]If you have any issues at all, especially with loading, it is almost certainly this cause[/i]. [h2]UPDATE 10 FEATURES[/h2] [h3]Dungeons Sandbox[/h3] The big one; semi-procedurally generated Dungeons with pre-spawned, patrolling enemies. This was a gargantuan undertaking, but the goal of Dungeons was to add a sense of structure and objective to Blade & Sorcery for players who craved something a little more than a pure sandbox experience. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/349f9bea7c3457d94766bd94330e8ec70758ee25.jpg[/img] This release is the first step on that road. It should be noted that U10 Dungeons is still a sandbox experience, in the sense that you can take with you any weapons you spawn from the Home, and currently the only objective of Dungeons is to get to the end. The long term goal which will follow in subsequent updates is to have a loot system, skill trees, and an objective to Dungeon delving. But for now, this U10 release will give you a really solid idea of the direction we are going, as well as a peek at what B&S looks like at a higher development scope. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/29e299bc7949f44babf5dea508f94560ad020e2d.jpg[/img] Currently we have approximately 50 rooms in the generation pool - by full release we are aiming to at least double that. You can access the Dungeon from the Home map menu by selecting to travel to "Greenland". [h2]Patrolling AI[/h2] A huge step for B&S AI; enemy in the Dungeon will not be spawned by the player through the book spawner. Dungeon AI will have patrols, idle animations, a FOV, and will respond to sound. However, as we mentioned before, please don't expect a polished stealth game; our 'stealth' system is basic but we will continue polishing and maybe even expanding it based on community reception. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/99eab98f377de742d95ecf2cebeff32d41c1ab1f.jpg[/img] [h2]Modding / "The Surprise"[/h2] Given the madness that has been ensuing on Reddit and Discord, we think you guys have all figured this out already, but if you watched the U10 trailer you may have seen 'the surprise' we had mentioned on the roadmap was in fact... the chicken! But it is not just the chicken itself that is the surprise! In actual fact the chicken is symbolic of something bigger: It is the first ever non-humanoid creature added to B&S, which means... you guessed it, B&S will officially support custom creatures for modders! That's the surprise! There will be a creature framework for modders to add non-humanoid creatures into B&S. On launch there will be no documentation or a sample creature to work from, so modders will have to fumble around a bit until we get that to them, which will be asap! It should be a huge boon for the modding community to be able to add non-humanoids creatures with native support. And who knows, maybe we have some non-humanoid creature plans of our own.. ːsteamsunnyː [img]https://media0.giphy.com/media/4U75k78GDmSVMqIZBg/giphy.gif?cid=790b761175cec1764ceabb1dbcc6cec203a659505b3cac67&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g[/img] But what about this fella? His name is Jonathan... apparently. We did not expect such an outpouring of love for this little guy, nor did we anticipated that people would like him as a pet in the Home, which was [i]not[/i] planned haha. However, based on the insane response to Jonathan we decided to add a little Jonathan easter egg into U10... Let's see who out there can figure it out first. ːwftogrinː [h2]New Character Screen[/h2] Bye-bye to our trusted old black void character screen. We won't show you any preview here so that you can enjoy the surprise of getting a sense of how much bigger and grander in scope B&S has become. [h2]New Home[/h2] And speaking of goodbyes, the home that has been used since the alpha will also be retired. This new home is a modest little dwelling, but we are formulating plans on expanding it under 'The Progression Update' concept. We have pretty cool ideas, but you know how we like our little secrets, so we will just tease you for now! ːsteamdanceː [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/04e0e17642d7ce851ea0e6a6fab9f08029386690.jpg[/img] [h2]New Weapons[/h2] The newest weapon additions should give you a little taste of what we meant when talking about "tiered weapons". It still might not make full sense until progression and purchasing weapons/armour is implemented in future updates, but you should get an idea of how the quality and reliability of weapons range from some new T0 (tier zero) to T3 weapons. However do note that nothing is really balanced, so expect tweaks. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/25f4b94ad632fd7868fbbb59cbe1de7b97fa23bf.jpg[/img] The higher quality the weapon, the longer it retains an imbue whereas T0 weapons will not retain an imbue at all. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/9d85c86d7890afe99733a57a3a7ed45204a5386f.jpg[/img] [h2]New Animations[/h2] While still not the "animation overhaul" we mentioned before, NPCs have been addressed to stop the behavior of them charging into you and have some better range-finding, so less swatting air. Some new animations have been added in as well as some old ones removed (RIP jumping spin attack). [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/6c14d137451b817dcb48bf107adff284d9e4ada2.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/c64ee9720c2250d6dfd4655cb4631e691601fb0d.jpg[/img] Some polish is still needed however; in attacks you may experience some "Achilles spam"... we will keep refining! [h2]Revised Arena Maps[/h2] In an effort to make the Blade & Sorcery universe more homogeneous when it comes to lore, some old arena maps have been revised with updated textures and colours to better mesh the locations together under a more consistent art direction. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/26ea5f993003159d2057c3b31c175d0352ee9bc9.jpg[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/fe58bab3a31c24fd9f4b9a1852477e5ad6d0c594.png[/img] [h2]Revised Enemy Armour[/h2] Similar to the revised maps, some enemy armours have been revised to be more lore appropriate. This will be an ongoing process until we hit 1.0. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/6704a556fe4fed5fccd784e71ca5f6e569411263.jpg[/img] [h2]Performance Enhancements[/h2] All these Dungeon rooms are nice, but not so much if no one can play it! As always, work on performance optimization continues for U10 (it is a never ending process). Unlike normal arena maps, Dungeons does not load in one big chunk, so (hopefully!) you won't get the same kind of performance strain as you would with a huge map like Citadel for example. Dungeons will load in concealed chunks to give the impression of a continuous, seamless dungeon but without the performance strain of loading the whole thing. It's really cool! Some (not too many) rooms are very large, and have many enemy all at once. Those will be the expected trouble rooms if we have any, so we are eager to see how players get on because even on those large rooms there was a lot of work done on optimization. We also have the new system implemented where enemy outside a certain range will have their physics disabled, so they don't contribute to overall physics strain. Only enemies actively within fighting range will impact performance. This should mean you could have more enemy on screen in the background without any issues! --- Well, I think that is everything! Please enjoy this update and thank you to all the fans who have supported us to get to this point. Blade & Sorcery started out as a small wave area game, so please know that it is truly the fan support and enthusiasm that makes magic happen and propels the development! And a big shout out and thank you to the full Warpfrog team, who busted their chops on this ambitious update.