Wayward Developer Log #11 + Newsletter Updates

Beta 2.0 Progress Video

I do that thing I do and ramble on about the upcoming beta 2.0 changes.

You can view the full beta 2.0 changelog here.

Newsletter

Many of you have probably noticed a subscribe option on the site when commenting or registering. I was eventually going to use this feature to mail out announcements and the like.

Unbeknownst to me, this wasn’t actually saving any data, so it looks like we are going to start over. If you want to keep in the know on everything Unlok and Wayward, then you can head on over here to subscribe:

Coming in Beta 2.0: New Graphics

It’s been awhile since I’ve done an update on the blog. As some of you know, I have been streaming Wayward development quite a lot, but otherwise, I haven’t been doing the proper blog updates. A lot has been done for 2.0 so far, and while we are getting close, there’s still a long road ahead from the looks of it. For day to day updates, make sure to check out the Trello Todo page. If you want to see how much work has gone into 2.0 so far, make sure to scroll through the giant “Done” list. Wayward is not dead.

You may also notice the immediate Wayward team has grown a bit in the last little while. We now have 5 active contributors with us:

  • Sassafrass (Programming)
  • Spacetech (Programming)
  • Dusty “Goaticide” Melling (Illustrations, Art)
  • Vaughn “Drath” Royko (Design, Programming, Art, Sound, Public Relations, Website)
  • Richard “Orillian” Hobson (Programming)

But enough about that, here’s a preview of what Wayward looks like so far in beta 2.0 through the help of the new Wayward team! Keep in mind, it’s still a work in progress (no lighting/no line of sight).

Beta 2.0 Graphics Preview #1

Beta 2.0 Graphics Preview #2

Beta 2.0 Graphics Preview #3

Not only does it look better with all of it’s fancy tile-mapping and new graphics, it also performs better. Wayward has moved to WebGL, making rendering blazing fast. None of this would be possible without the help from Sassafrass, Spacetech or Goaticide, so special thanks for them are in order.

Stay tuned for more “Coming in Beta 2.0” posts.

Coming in Beta 2.0: Gathering Overhaul

Sometimes less options are better, as we’ve come to find out with gathering.

I gave every player the option to gather with any item they wanted. Which lead to confusion and unwanted cases where torches, shields and other valuable items were sacrificed unknowingly. Coming up in 2.0 we will see gathering get an overhaul.

1. “Gather” is now a specific item use. If you do not have a “gathering” item equipped, then you will use your hands. Things like torches and shields do not have gather capabilities.

Gather Use

2. Gathering no longer randomly chooses a hand. If your right hand has a gathering item, it will use that. If not, it looks at your left hand next.

3. There is now a text-based and sound feedback when the tool you are using is effective or not for the certain type of gathering you are performing.

4. There is a new “gathered” message type visible in messages instead of simply “picked up” which was used before.

Gathering Effectiveness

5. Adding an option to gather with a non-equipped item.

Gather in Item Menu

6. A bug was preventing higher tiered tools from benefiting gathering at all (besides durability). Now the attack value, mixed with the effectiveness from each tool will be used as extra chances at gathering. For example, using an Iron Pickaxe (+6 attack) for mining will give you the chance to get up to 8 items from a single gather. If you tried to use that same tool for lumberjacking, it would give 2 chances (it’s not effective for lumberjacking). 2 chances is the base amount for gathering with any tool, which is why the Iron Pickaxe gives 8 (6+2) for mining.

Have any other ideas on how to improve gathering?

Freezing Be Gone!

Some of you may have been experiencing some slow down and freezing with the latest 1.9.2 downloadable copy of Wayward. Rejoice! Porting over to the latest node-webkit has shown both an increase in performance and a stop to all the freezing some people were experiencing. This was only reported for Windows and OS X users, so this update only applies to those two platforms. Unfortunately the new node-webkit crashes Wayward in Linux, so Linux users will have to wait for beta 2.0 or the next node-webkit version if there is indeed some problems. Simply re-download and enjoy!

Downloads:

In other news… well, I plan to talk about some new beta 2.0 information coming up in a later post. For now, check out the new layout for the mods. If you haven’t looked in awhile, there’s some new or newly updated mods by various community members.

Wayward Beta 1.9.2 Released!

Beta 1.9.2 Promo

In 1.9.2 we are seeing a deepening of the combat system and potential strategies in regards to armor having different resistances and vulnerabilities. This follows the same model as damage types for your weapons against monsters; now monsters also have a damage type or types against you and your equipment. Combat messages will reveal if you are properly equipped to take on each foe, just like in the last version where it displayed if your weaponry was effective against them.

This will most likely be the end of the line release before beta 2.0, which will ideally see the long-awaited Steam release. There’s still a lot of things up in the air about that, so I can’t reveal or comment on too much of it.

Play Online:

http://www.unlok.ca/wayward/

Downloads:

Bugs

Fixed a bug where:

  • The offline/downloadable clients would not allow mods to be loaded (node-webkit issue).
  • Quality of tiles did not transfer between setting down and digging/gathering them back up.
  • Slime Gelatin would decay into Rotten Meat.
  • Magical “Essense” typo fix.
  • Attack and defense values would not be updated after an un-equip.
  • When attacking a creature, you will no longer also pick up items from under it in the same turn.

Improvements/Changes

  • Water routing ability (digging adjacent to water) and chances now depend on how much water you are trying to route and dig from. If the pool of water tiles is too low, it will not be able to spread naturally; however, above that, the chance for water to route is based on the amount of water tiles in the pool. The more water, the easier the water is to route.
  • There is now a 32 and 64 bit versus for the offline OS X version of Wayward (previously only 32-bit).
  • Fixed the tile/world perspectives on Forge and Anvil and Wooden Chest and a few other miscellaneous graphic edits.

Armor now has specific vulnerabilities and resistances and monsters now have damage types to be used in conjunction.

Armor Resistances/Vulnerabilities

Attack and defense labels now have hover-over information which includes a more in-depth break down of damage types, resistances, vulnerabilities and skill bonuses for each.

New Defense/Attack Hovers

Transmogrify, Repair, Reinforce, and the new “Preserve” now show up in each item menu to specifically perform item on item action instead of having to drop the item on the ground to perform the actions.

New Menu Item Actions

New

  • A new “Preserve” ability has been added to be used on extended the life of foods.
  • A few new items including a unique, rare weapon and a new resource (and tile).

Wayward Beta 1.9.1 Released!

Beta 1.9.1 Promo

This month we have another significant patch to the beta 1.9 series. I think there will be another couple of these as we continue patching and adding new features up until the bigger/huge changes coming up in beta 2.0. This one includes the long awaited inclusion of chicken farming. It’s a bit rudimentary at the moment, but some simulation is there in terms of hatching and egg laying. Eventually, we will see this applied to other animals as well as adding young and male/female counterparts for increased depth and simulation.

Play Online:

http://www.unlok.ca/wayward/

Downloads:

Windows (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Linux 32-bit (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Linux 64-bit (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Mac OS X (10.7+) (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)

Those players also being annoyed at the outdated and messy wiki can now rejoice and take a gander at the brand new documentation that will automatically update as Wayward does. As always, read all the changes below:

Bugs

Fixed a bug where:

  • Multiple errors could be triggered when using a container that was in the first slot in your inventory.
  • A typo that caused some creatures not being able to spawn on shallow sea water.
  • Plant Roots was spelled “plant Roots”.
  • Fire decay rate status was not being calculated per type, so furnaces for example would always be raging to start and last for a long time. The message is now more accurate.
  • You could duplicate items by holding an item in your cursor and picking an item up.
  • Sounds would sometimes not play properly in the offline, downloadable version.

Improvements/Changes

  • Decode verbiage changed to make more sense with gather treasure changes.
  • Aberrant Living Mushrooms now drop/carve into Red Mushrooms instead of the normal white mushrooms.
  • Living Mushrooms no longer bleed.
  • Removed attack from actions as it caused issues with timing/turns and there’s no option to disable auto attack anyway, so it was confusing/unnecessary.
  • The Bull Boat no longer requires treasure, and no longer has a “win” state applied to it – it can now simply be used to travel to a new world.
  • A new, more advanced boat has been included to replace the old Bull Boat’s functionality.
  • Ammo and fire consumables (tinder, kindling, etc.) will now be checked throughout all containers in player’s inventory, not just those that are equipped.
  • Chickens now longer spawn by default, they have been added to a higher tier.
  • The container menu/window will now display the name of the container that is currently open.
  • Slowed down plant spreading chance by around 75%.
  • Speed up fire spreading chance by around 25%.
  • Blood removal now has a custom message and no longer loops as a second action.
  • Plants may now randomly, and rarely spontaneously grow (not just from spreading from another as previous).
  • Performance of the offline, downloadable version should be improved a bit.

New

  • Complete documentation and hint/help guide added. Caution: heavy spoilers! Let me know if you can see any improvements to be made on this.
  • Added unique corpses to aberrant creatures.
  • A few new items and item uses added.
  • Eggs have been added and can now hatch into chickens, or be laid by chickens.
  • Help and donation buttons added to the main menu.

Developer/Technical

  • spawnMonster now has an extra parameter for forcing aberrant status.

Wayward Beta 1.9 Released!

Beta 1.9 Promo

Life’s been busy, but thanks for sticking around. Beta 1.9 has been released and it’s full of all of our great Weekly changes as well as a giant list of other things. Some of the more exciting things include vulnerabilities and resistances being revealed in combat, a fix to that annoying invisible rotten meat bug, a couple new survival food items, and being able to change directions while moving with your mouse without needing to de-click and changing directions. That’s just scratching the surface though, make sure to read below.

Play Online:
http://www.unlok.ca/wayward/

Downloads:

Windows (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Linux 32-bit (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Linux 64-bit (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)
Mac OS X (10.7+) (Mirror #1) (Mirror #2)

Just like beta 1.8 previously, 1.9 contains all the fixes/changes/additions from the intermediary versions and some brand new stuff as well, this time quite a lot. You can expect everything from 1.8.1-1.8.6 and the following:

Bugs

Fixed a bug where:

  • De-spawning would stop to function properly after awhile in a game/session.
  • Using quick-slotted items with hotkeys would bypass sling/bow equip restrictions and cause containers not to work.
  • Quickslotted items would not restock if thrown from the item menu.
  • 0 durability items being blocked from crafting if they were just required (and not consumed).
  • Dying while rafting would cause the player to become stuck on respawn.
  • Invisible rotten meat would keep spawning in a player’s inventory if they had some meat with a 0 decay in the first spot of a container, in the first spot of their inventory. You can see how this one was hard to track down!
  • Filters would not work in Safari.
  • Items would disappear if you tried to use “Drop (All) In Opened Container” when not facing the chest.
  • Closing a container with the “X” would not actually close the container via game logic, possibly causing some container errors.
  • Fists and throwing items with no damage type would result in no vulnerabilities and resistances being applied.
  • Players could get different items back after they just placed a tile. For example, getting shale from a pile of gravel they just placed down.

Improvements/Changes

  • Randomized events will now happen more frequently.
  • Acceleration on movement slowed down on turning to produce more accurate facing movements.
  • Slowed down monster de-spawn a bit (although, it’s much faster than before due to a bug fix).
  • Items you cannot craft are displayed with a red border instead of a very low opacity.
  • If a container breaks from throwing, the items inside now scatter around the point of impact.
  • Decreased the durability on branches, bones, and wooden poles to promote crafting of higher tiered items for gathering/fighting.
  • You can now turn while moving with your mouse and holding down, instead of having to de-click, and then changing directions.
  • Increased vine whip durability.
  • “A Spear” is now “A Stone Spear”.
  • You now always have a chance at doing at least 1 damage to a creature.
  • Resists and vulnerabilities re-balanced across all creatures.
  • Fixed some grammar issues with combat messages.

New

  • A couple new survival food related items added.
  • Added a couple missing translation texts including recipe skill, equipment type, damage types, and dialog titles.
  • A pick-up option was added to the action menu for doors.
  • Inspecting an aberrant monster will now reveal it’s abnormal.
  • Combat messages will now reveal effectiveness of what you are using to damage a creature.
  • New fancy webkit-only scroll bars!

Developer/Technical

  • Item CSS is now generated dynamically instead of via CSS. This will improve modibility and changing of items on the fly.

 

Wayward Weekly: 1.8.6 + End of Wayward Weekly

1.8.6 Screenshot

Good news and bad news: Huge improvements to the resting and sleeping systems are in, but this will be the last Wayward weekly. There’s some pretty big changes going on in my life, and Orillian, our second in command has also been quite busy as of late, so this will be the ending to Wayward weekly, at least for awhile. We will still be busy working on the game, just a little bit less so for awhile, NO NEED TO PANIC! Calm your nerves and check out the Wayward todo if you are ever in doubt. Beta 1.9 is also just around the bend, so stay tuned for that release!

CAUTION

Back-up your game regularly if you care about it, especially with these weekly releases. There’s a Save/Load modification available for this task. Wayward is a still a beta!

Once you go weekly, there’s no going back in your save, it will convert it if you play online.

Play Wayward Weekly

http://www.unlok.ca/weekly

Wayward Beta 1.8.6 Changelog

Bugs

Fixed a bug where:

  • Mobs would eventually stop de-spawning properly, causing too many monsters present on longer playthroughs.
  • A default english.js customization would fail, making translations not able to be loaded fully.

Improvements/Changes

  • Increased default durability for both of the slings.

New

  • There is now a “Resting” and “Sleeping” feature. If you were familiar before with Resting, basically, Sleeping is now that functionality. Resting is a bit different now in that you will now automatically stop resting when your Stamina is full. On top of this, Resting, unlike Sleeping cycles (length) are not dictated by time of day or if you are facing a fire, but still dependant on your Camping skill a bit. Resting will provide the same regenerative effects as Sleeping; however, your hunger and thirst will still increase as if you were normally taking turns, while sleeping gives a bonus decrease to this (as per usual).
  • You can now “Rest” from the Actions menu without any item; however, you will receive less regenerative effects resting directly on the ground.
  • Special randomized events now have the rare chance of occurring, these include:
    • Bare trees can become full again.
    • Trees can grow extra resources.
    • Monster death.
    • Monster health increase.
    • Monster health decrease.
    • Plant destroy.
    • Plant fertility increase.
    • Plant fertility decrease.
    • More of these events to come.

Wayward Weekly: 1.8.5

1.8.5 Screenshot

Well, we got one pretty game-changing feature in this week with the inclusion of “Actions” which allows players to Inspect, Gather, Attack, Drink, and Pick-up with the press of a button rather than needing specific items or walking into tiles. We’ll also see more actions coming up soon, but I know a lot of people will appreciate being able to drink fresh water from a tile without needing an item.

CAUTION

Back-up your game regularly if you care about it, especially with these weekly releases. There’s a Save/Load modification available for this task. Wayward is a still a beta!

Once you go weekly, there’s no going back in your save, it will convert it if you play online.

Play Wayward Weekly

http://www.unlok.ca/weekly

Wayward Beta 1.8.5 Changelog

Bugs

Fixed a bug where:

  • Item menus would hover off of the left side of the screen.
  • Items in an opened container would not update if decayed (and cause errors) until re-opened.
  • An opened container would not close if thrown.
  • Movement was being dictated by FPS which on some configurations (GPU/browser) was causing very fast movements.
  • Errors were produced when killing a monster from shot/thrown item.

Improvements/Changes

  • Slowed down plant spreading by about 50%.
  • Increased chance at getting hurt from not using a tool while gathering (and now picking up items without a tool via new Actions menu).
  • Throwing and shooting (slings/bows) now reduce stamina based on a Tactics skill check like attacking melee currently does.

New

  • New “Actions” menu (hotkey “q”) implemented. This will create a contextual menu for your facing tile where one or more of the following actions will now be available: Inspect, Gather, Attack, Drink and/or Pick-up.

Developer/Technical

  • Fixed some possible bugs/errors caused by not converting item id’s to numbers (parseInt).