This one has a number of balance tweaks most specifically centered around the various ion-based units and the spirecraft attritioner. These should now be a lot more fearsome in AI hands, but even more notably a lot more attractive for players to actually build and use themselves. There are a couple of other minor tweaks and fixes in there, too.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the
in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you
launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found
if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Friday, September 30, 2011
AVWW Betas 0.508-0.509, "Walls? What Walls?," Released!
These two releases are a couple of the coolest ones we've done yet, in terms of improving the overall feel of the game. There were a few ongoing gripes that a lot of players had, and we've addressed all the most persistent ones here:
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
- Guardian stones now give you warp potions instead of warp scrolls, and refresh you back up to 4 instead of 2. The reason the change to potions is significant is that means you can still get refreshed to 4 potions if you've crafted some "extra" warp scrolls of your own.
- Hit detection on melee combat is vastly better.
- Bats can no longer go through walls, nor can spells like ice cross or circle of fire. This makes it so that you can actually take cover behind walls in all cases, and it makes terrain more tactical for all enemies. It also prevents players from being able to exploit ice cross or similar against bosses.
- The power of healing potions/scrolls has been quadrupled, and the power of magic restoration potions/scrolls has been doubled. Magic potions also have their own cooldown, rather than causing a cooldown on all logistical spells. The difficulty had been creeping up in recent versions, but this gets it back into a better-balanced level.
- Monster nests no longer respawn except in boss rooms. So if you take the time to clear out a room of monster nests, you can go back in without fear. Handy for exploration in buildings in particular!
- The speed of enemy projectiles gets slowed down substantially (or sped up a little) depending on what action difficulty setting you choose.
- In the strategic/citybuilding parts of the game, we've done a massive overhaul of how NPC actions are taken. Now actions cost time units, and NPCs each have a certain amount of time units they can spend per turn. Before it was a flat one action per turn, which really was not very kind when it came to lower-value actions that were needed but which would consume an entire action for that NPC.
- The Ilari now provide protection from the ambient heat/cold in settlements and similar, so you don't have to worry about your new character dying from exposure while you rush to craft a snowsuit.
- A variety of smaller physics improvements and fixes make playing as a bat smoother, flying enemies work better around walls, things like amoeba shots and tidal pulse slide along the floor, and so on.
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
AVWW Betas 0.505-0.507, "Skelebot Goal Kick," Released!
These three releases have all come out in the last day or so. Aside from a lot of general bugfixes and balance tweaks, there's a number of cool changes here:
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
- The Skelebot Giants now have a massive knockback to their melee attacks, letting them basically punt your character a few screens away.
- Put in a number of improvements to the visual display and functionality of the direct keyboard targeting.
- The ranged bosses can now hit you from further away, making it harder to kite them.
- Gem veins and other mine-able stuff underground is now easier to find and see, and the dungeon map now updates its colors to indicate ones you've already mined.
- Support for single-button mice has been improved; actually, so has support for mice with more than three buttons, too.
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
AVWW Beta 0.504, "Multicolored Offense," Released!
After a small maintenance release last night, this one is our latest full update. This one is full of tweaks and adjustments, including monster speed, how you transition between chunks, how the auto-potions work, how potions work in general, and how offensive spell cooldowns work. Check out the release notes for full details.
More coming later tonight. Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
More coming later tonight. Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
A Valley Without Wind Early Beta Coverage
A Valley Without Wind has been out in beta for less than 48 hours, and already there are some great previews and other coverage coming in!
We definitely suggest you check out Quill18's super informative and captivating two-part LP preview of the game, which in lieu of our getting started guide is a great way to discover the basics of the game.
On the games blogs, IndieGames.com has posted the start of their preview with just an hour under their belt. DIYGamer has some extremely nice words on the game as well. More previews to come from these sources as well as many others!
Here's some of the other awesome coverage on the beta release:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: A Valley Without Wind Demo And Beta Launch
VG247: A Valley Without Wind offers first public beta client – go get ‘em!
VG247: A Valley Without Wind offers first public beta client – go get ‘em!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
AVWW Beta 0.502, "Smashed Spawners," Released!
This one is actually our second beta update since 0.500 came out yesterday, but the first update was so puny it wasn't worth a news post for. Yesterday was a busy, busy day -- and a really incredible day. The amount of support and excitement for A Valley Without Wind is pretty incredible!
Today was a lot more productive, in terms of actually updating the game and getting to the things folks were wanting to see changed. The changelog, which is linked above, is pretty long and inclusive, so for a lot of the details you'll just want to go there.
However, some highlights:
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
Today was a lot more productive, in terms of actually updating the game and getting to the things folks were wanting to see changed. The changelog, which is linked above, is pretty long and inclusive, so for a lot of the details you'll just want to go there.
However, some highlights:
- Fixed a number of mostly-obscure crash bugs and other errors of that nature. Nothing like having a suddenly wildly-larger playerbase for flushing those out of the bushes!
- Made it so that you can now kill monster spawners, but they respawn when you leave the area for too long. This was our most-requested feature. As a side note, minor loot drops from the small mobs is coming, but I didn't have time to get to that one today.
- Added a new spell, Death Touch, which is like Fire Touch on steroids. This one actually costs mana, but it's great for quickly mining things and it's also great for taking out monster spawners more quickly.
- With their help, fixed a couple of exploits that some clever players had figured out in terms of gaming the invincibility mechanics to slay higher-level bosses than they should be able to.
- Fixed the gap where there often were few or no regions leveled 11-19 in most worlds. There will definitely now be at least one non-ocean region of every level 1-1000 in the world, and generally there should be at least one region of every possible level above that, too, although there might be gaps here or there where 1097 happens to only have ocean tiles and 1098 has somewhere you can really visit on land, etc.
- Added several keyboard-centric control options for players that prefer not to use a mouse while they play.
- Added a number of fixes, tweaks, and additions that are OSX-centric. In particular there is a nasty bug in just the compiled executables that Unity 3D generates, where the mouse cursor on trackpads leaps upwards above the top of the screen whenever you press a keyboard key. We can't directly fix that bug since it's in the underlying engine, but we did put in a workaround tha seems to solve all the problems. Folks on OSX who were having trouble aiming spells while doing something like, say, running, should now be trouble-free.
- Also added in a little mouse cursor underlay to make sure the mouse cursor is easier to see against all kinds of backgrounds; in interiors on OSX it was easy to lose the cursor, and in snowstorms on windows it was easy to lose the cursor. Now you can see it everywhere for sure.
- And lastly, put in a number of fixes related to dead NPCs and what happens to them in the strategic/citybuilding interfaces.
- Along with a lot of other more minor things noted in the release log.
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
AVWW Comes To GamersGate!
Joining Arcen's other titles on GamersGate is A Valley Without Wind, which can be purchased there for the same 50% early-beta discount that Arcen is directly offering. Be sure to check them out!
Monday, September 26, 2011
A Valley Without Wind: Public Beta Begins Now! (Plus New Trailer)
Today is the day that the public beta finally begins! We've fixed up the website with new information, screenshots, and all the recent videos, including the one below.
Most importantly you can now download the demo, and give the first six civilization levels a full crack if you think the game sounds interesting. The only restriction is that your civ level can't go past level 6. If you're loving it, here's the preorder page in our online store where you can get the game for 50% off during early beta -- only $10 USD!
Here's the beta trailer:
Most importantly you can now download the demo, and give the first six civilization levels a full crack if you think the game sounds interesting. The only restriction is that your civ level can't go past level 6. If you're loving it, here's the preorder page in our online store where you can get the game for 50% off during early beta -- only $10 USD!
Here's the beta trailer:
Friday, September 23, 2011
AI War: Alien Bundle (Physical/Digital) Arrives On Matrix Online Store
Arcen Games is pleased to announce a partnership with Matrix Games and Slitherine that offers the AI War Alien Bundle up for purchase both in physical and digital forms at the Matrix Games Online Store effective immediately.The AI War's Alien Bundle contains the base game along with all three currently released expansions: The Zenith Remnant, Children of Neinzul, and Light of the Spire. An absolutely mind-blowing amount of content!
In celebration of the event, Matrix is running a two week sale on the bundle so gamers can pick up the digital copy for just $19.99, or $10 (33%) off of the standard price! For more information, check out the product page on the store. As always, anyone who'd like can try the sizable demo as well.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
RPS Exclusive Hands-On With A Valley Without Wind
Over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun Jim Rossignol has published first impressions of A Valley Without Wind, which marks the first official media hands-on with the beta ahead of its imminent release. Lots of good stuff, but we'll let Jim do the talking. Head over to one of our favorite gaming sites period and check it out.
Also, at the end of the article Jim mentions he'll be posting more on the game soon. So stay tuned for a possible part two of his session!
Also, at the end of the article Jim mentions he'll be posting more on the game soon. So stay tuned for a possible part two of his session!
Monday, September 12, 2011
AI War Beta 5.017, "Return of the Hunter/Killers," Released!
This one has the lately-omitted AI Hunter/Killer ships returning to take up a role in exo-galactic strike forces. Perhaps more interesting to more people are the forcefield changes: the blocking effect that was removed in the last patch is now back, but the various other forcefield improvements from the last patch have been retained: regarding teleporting enemy ships, etc.
Also fixed a couple of rare-ish bugs, and tweaked the hardened forcefields as well as the high-armor-piercing ships.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Also fixed a couple of rare-ish bugs, and tweaked the hardened forcefields as well as the high-armor-piercing ships.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
AI War Beta 5.016, "Hardened Forcefields," Released!
This one has some really substantial changes to forcefield balance. First of all, the player forcefields are buffed and increased in ship cap. Then players also get a new line of mark I-III hardened forcefields, which are high-armor but lower-heath alternatives to regular forcefields.
Next, the way that enemy ships collide at the edge of forcefields has been radically changed. This is a complex one to explain, so I'll just point you to the full release notes link above, which does the best job of explaining it. Feedback welcome on this in particular!
Oh, also ion cannons/blasters have been buffed about 4x, and preservation wardens now scale properly in multiplayer.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Next, the way that enemy ships collide at the edge of forcefields has been radically changed. This is a complex one to explain, so I'll just point you to the full release notes link above, which does the best job of explaining it. Feedback welcome on this in particular!
Oh, also ion cannons/blasters have been buffed about 4x, and preservation wardens now scale properly in multiplayer.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
AI War: Children of Neinzul donations to Child's Play reach $27,779.12
As of September 1st, 2011, we have so far raised and donated $27,779.12 for Child's Play! That's $7,098.82 since our July update, all of which has already gone directly to the charity.
This means that we're just a hair away from doubling the original goal of $14,000.00 raised for Child's Play, which we could not be more pleased about.
We'll keep everyone posted on how the donations are doing. Once again, we're ecstatic to continue our on-going contribution! Especially pleased to be considered a platinum sponsor for such a worthy cause.
More About AI War: Children of Neinzul and Child's Play
When you purchase AI War: Children Of Neinzul, you're not only getting an exciting new expansion, you're also supporting an important cause. Arcen Games has partnered with the Child's Play charity, pledging 100% of the profits from sale of Children of Neinzul (excepting any taxes and distributor fees) to helping sick kids in need.
The staff at Arcen has long admired the work done by Child's Play, and we're very excited to finally be able to contribute in a substantial manner. Our goal for 2010 was to raise $14,000.00 USD for Child's Play, but even after 2010 all of the proceeds from this micro-expansion are continuing to be donated to the charity.
At the moment, this micro-expansion is available directly through the Arcen Online Store ($3.99 USD), as well as through Steam, Impulse, and GamersGate.
We'll keep everyone posted on how the donations are doing. Once again, we're ecstatic to continue our on-going contribution! Especially pleased to be considered a platinum sponsor for such a worthy cause.
More About AI War: Children of Neinzul and Child's Play
When you purchase AI War: Children Of Neinzul, you're not only getting an exciting new expansion, you're also supporting an important cause. Arcen Games has partnered with the Child's Play charity, pledging 100% of the profits from sale of Children of Neinzul (excepting any taxes and distributor fees) to helping sick kids in need.
The staff at Arcen has long admired the work done by Child's Play, and we're very excited to finally be able to contribute in a substantial manner. Our goal for 2010 was to raise $14,000.00 USD for Child's Play, but even after 2010 all of the proceeds from this micro-expansion are continuing to be donated to the charity.
At the moment, this micro-expansion is available directly through the Arcen Online Store ($3.99 USD), as well as through Steam, Impulse, and GamersGate.