Wayward Beta 1.5 Released: Watergate

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Wayward Beta 1.5Wayward Beta 1.5 has been released! Dubbed “Watergate” after the controversy of the inclusion of thirst and water in the last update and a reference to the real-life scandal. Get it? It’s a pun… anyways… water and thirst is a lot easier in 1.5. How easier? Well, if you read the previously posted “On Thirst & Hydration” post, you can get an idea on what changed and why.

Besides the water and thirst changes, there’s lots of other changes, and I mean A LOT! Take a look at the changelog! There’s close to 70 changes there. Some of the best stuff is as follows:

  • You no longer move to fire bows (yes, there’s more than one now!), instead, you can double click to fire them (provided you have the ammunition).
  • Aberrant monsters now spawn (more at night/in caves/on treasure). They are doubly as strong (both defense/attack), always hostile, and can potentially drop rare items.
  • Milestone system has been implemented. Special bonuses are given out on obtaining each one. More milestones will appear each release.
  • Fixed a bug that always focused on the crafting filter when you opened the inventory window.
  • The inventory now also has a filter option for name/group.
  • A handful of new items have been introduced including a focus on Archery/Bowcrafting materials/weapons.
  • You can now control + right click to attempt to drop all of the same type of items on the ground/container. You can also hold control while drag/dropping items for the same effect between containers/inventory.
  • Ore veins now have the potential to be double the size.
  • Items quickslotted will now re-quickslot on use if available from your inventory.

Downloads:

Play Online:

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

Do a hard refresh or clear your cache if beta 1.4 is still popping up for you.

Wayward Beta 1.5

Beta 1.5 Preview

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I know I don’t post very much on the blog in between each version. I usually just relegate most communication to Reddit or the Facebook page during this period, but I thought I may as well make a small update just to show you all what we are working on.

There’s some fancy new dropping/dragging features, which allow you to drop or take all of a certain item while holding down control (CTRL). Shown here:

Earlier this week, I also posted a screenshot of some new inventory changes/features:

Wayward Beta 1.5 Preview

I asked people to guess at all the changes they could spot here. But, I’ll just go ahead and tell you:

  • Items with a durability of 1 or less now show up in red in your inventory/equipment/quickslots.
  • The inventory now also has a filter option for name/group.
  • Requirements now are shown in red in the tool-tip if you do not have the item, or enough items for the craft.
  • All items now have durability (no stacking in this build). Don’t worry, I am also working on some form of smart grouping system. But for now, definitely use the filter.
  • There’s a few new items shown.

Some other great changes coming up in 1.5:

  • There is now “fresh” water sources (in caves, ponds, oases) in which you can place into a Waterskin or Glass Bottle to drink directly. You can also boil fresh water to make it cleaner and less potentially hazardous to health. Fresh water does not need to be desalinated unlike sea/ocean water which still needs to be distilled using a still or Flask.
  • Ore veins now have the potential to be double the size.
  • Milestone system has been implemented. Special bonuses are given out on obtaining each one. More milestones will appear each release.
  • Ranged (projectile and bow) items are getting an overhaul with how they work. There’s also a few new items for ranged combat. More information will be added about this in the changelog when ready.

View all the beta 1.5 changes so far on the Changelog:

http://www.unlok.ca/wayward-free-changelog/

Beta 1.5 will be coming very soon. I promise!

 

Hunger Clock, Literally Post-mortem

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Hunger Clock, Literally

If you don’t already know what Hunger Clock, Literally is, or know about Ludum Dare, go here to get the scoop before reading this. But basically, I made a game in 48 hours for the Ludum Dare game making competition. Here’s my thoughts.

This weekend was pretty fun. It was my first time doing something like this. I had a lot of crazy ideas at the start, but I knew I had to play it a bit safe if I wanted to get it finished. So while, innovation was important, it took a bit of a back seat to the rest of my goals.

In the end, besides the primary goal of completing the game, I also wanted to make it fun, challenging, and rewarding – hopefully most of that shines through this relatively unpolished piece. The main personal goal for entering this competition was to force myself to learn some new things and try out some techniques to add to my arsenal of game development. I capitalized on that aspect as well. I am happy with the result for these reasons.

HTML5 is great for these kind of competitions because I had people playing and testing while I was developing all simultaneously. I think that sped up my development process a lot. I was originally going to try out Phaser, a recent HTML5 game engine, but was having a lot of issues with physics and collision. In the end, I decided to do it from scratch and the result was a lot smoother, but I definitely wasted a bit of time testing Phaser and then coding my own systems. Time which could have been spent doing some of the stuff below.

If I had more time, I would of fixed up some of these things:

Better Internet Explorer 9 & 10 Support

Foolishly, I assumed IE9/10 had nearest neighbor scaling for canvas. I was wrong!

IE Fail

More Mario!

I know I wanted to use some pretty advanced jumping physics. I got most of it in, like arcing, imprecise corner jumping, corner boosting, friction, dynamic jump heights (based on input); however, on smaller jumps the arcing isn’t noticeable or effective. I would also perhaps like to implement jumping momentum like in Super Mario Bros 1/2/3 where your jump forces you into a direction a bit more so you can’t just stop dead in air.

Music

So quiet… we need some trashy chiptune stuff going on! Sadly, my skills are quite lacking in this department.

Content

While there is a decent amount of content for a 48 hour game, I would maybe like to push that more. More power-ups, more block types and mechanics, better randomization/templating. Who knows, maybe even some real enemies?

Mobile/Touch Support

It’s an HTML5 game, right?! So, ideally, with some more time I could of added some touch controls for this to work on mobile and touch devices.

All in all though, I’m very pleased and look forward to the next Ludum Dare! Who knows, maybe I will expand on this one after all.

View Game Entry on Ludum Dare

Play The Game

Hotfix: Forever Loading Begone!

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Having trouble with a forever loading screen? No more!

If you play on the online version, simply do a hard refresh (CTRL + Shift+ R) on Chrome or (CTRL + F5) on Firefox to grab the new hotfixed version.

Your game should now load after a couple seconds as per usual.

On Thirst & Hydration

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On Thirst & HydrationAs anticipated, there has been some resistance to the idea of thirst being implemented in Wayward; however, I think most of this stems from the complication of distilling sea water into a drinkable form. It’s definitely not a perfect system yet and I wanted to do a blog post to discuss the following:

  1. Provide hints on stopping dehydration and staying alive in beta 1.4.
  2. Announce some changes coming up in beta 1.5 and beyond.

Hydrate Yourself! (Spoiler Alert)

There’s two new environmental items for water distillation including:

Stone Water Still

  • Large Rock x3
  • Sharpened Item
  • String
  • Pole-like
  • Waterskin
  • Fuel-like

With this one, you have to pour unpurified water into it (right click), light it on fire, and wait until it burns out to grab the now distilled water.

Solar Still

  • Sheet of Glass (Tongs, Refined Sand x3, Limestone Powder, Furnace)
  • Waterskin

With a solar still, you have the pour unpurified water into it, then wait a couple hundred turns. This will only work during the day. After it’s done, you can grab the distilled water.

You can also use a direct recipe method:

A Purified Filled Waterskin

  • Flask (Clay Blow Pipe, Refined Sand x2, Limestone Powder, Furnace)
  • An Unpurified Filled Waterskin
  • Campfire

Using a flask, you can distill water directly from your craft menu.

There’s some other thirst-reducing foods as well including:

  • A Pile of Snow
  • Pineapple
  • Nopal
  • Coconut

Planned Changes

  • Fresh water sources (from caves, oasis, and ponds). With fresh water, you can just boil to use (although not as pure as desalinated water). Perhaps later on, there will even be filtration as an option for fresh water to get even cleaner, healthier water.
  • There will be two water containers: Waterskins and Glass Bottles. In addition to this, both of them will be find-able via loot instead of just crafting.
  • Provide better descriptions and messages regarding the distilling and boiling process.
  • Make thirst and hunger reduce a bit slower still.

Most of this will appear in beta 1.5, so stay tuned!

Wayward Beta 1.4 Released: More Ways to Die

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Wayward Square PromoWayward beta 1.4 is out right now! Very appropriately subtitled, “More Ways to Die”; this release features new stuff that will kill you, like poison and thirst! FUN! It’s not all bad though, there’s plenty of improvements and other new content as well.

Looks like we are sticking with the monthly release schedule so far, so as always, stay tuned for beta 1.5 and onward.

Play Online:

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

Delete your cache if beta 1.3 is still popping up for you.

Download:

Some of the bigger stuff from this release:

  • Monsters now have defense, resistances, and vulnerabilities based on weapon damage types.
  • Trapping skill and items have been implemented.
  • You can now sort and filter crafts. You can filter by name, group and skill currently. You can sort by name and skill.
  • Poisoning has been added (from eating bad stuff/monster attacks).
  • Many new items added, including everything needed to distill water and cure poisoning.
  • Thirst has been added with more ways to create drinkable water.
  • Hunger now increases slower.
  • There is now support for multiple groupings. Coal for example is now considered, “Carbons” and “Fuel-like”.
  • You now learn past crafted items just by having the materials in your inventory. You no longer have to craft them for them to stay. Craft discovery rate has also been increased very slightly.

Read about all the changes via the Changelog:

http://www.unlok.ca/wayward-free-changelog/

Beta 1.4 Screenshot

Casting Call: In Search of a Wayward Tutorial Video

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QuestionsIt’s been acknowledged that Wayward has some complexity attached with it. Even in spite of it’s simple (and unpolished) UI and relatively easy control scheme, some players have trouble starting out in Wayward. If Wayward was a relationship, I would say It’s not you, it’s me. There’s lots to improve in that regard.

Most People Don’t Read

It’s okay, I’m not insulting you. I do this too; I don’t want to read; I just want to play. Eventually, we may get there with Wayward, but not quite yet. Generally, people don’t use the help/hint system and don’t read the Wiki (or don’t want to in case of spoilers).

Make a Video!

That’s why I am asking the community to help develop a tutorial video. Something a player can watch for a view minutes passively and learn the basics of Wayward without spoiling anything. Maybe there’s multiple videos, each showing a different portion of the early game?

If accepted, your video(s) will be watchable/playable in-game with all view counts, subscribers, and monetization going to you. It will also be promoted and placed in several other online places (such as the Greenlight page).

Everything is up to you. The pacing, the topics, the design, the length. The only thing I ask for is to be on topic, generally polished in terms of the visual and audio and ultimately, helpful for new players.

Wayward Now on Steam Greenlight!

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That’s right. I’ve decided to take a plunge. After all the recent controversy on the service, I have no expectations, nor should any other indie developer for that matter.

Luckily, I have no concrete plans for the monetization of Wayward and will happily keep it the same as long as I get the same level of support I need to keep developing Wayward.

Actually, I do have some expectations for Steam Greenlight. A lot of “No” votes. A lot of nonconstructive criticism. Unfortunately that’s just the reality of putting yourself out there to the masses. Thick skin mode activated!

UPDATE:

It’s now been up for around 24 hours and I have to say that I’m really surprised at how positive it has been. Sure, there is the people that just vote “No” for lulz, or because it’s retro-looking, or because it’s 2d, or even because it’s turn-based, but I’m glad to report that many took the time to give it a chance. Thanks for the support!

Show some support:

Oh yes, and I also did a new trailer:

Wayward Beta 1.3 Released: It’s The Little Things

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Home Sweet HomeWayward beta 1.3 has been released! And yes, your saves should be safe! This release was all about improvements and fixes, hence the title “It’s The Little Things”.

Play online in the usual place:

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

Some of the latest and greatest from the changelog:

  • Five new tracks from Austin “Mars-San” Dhillon.
  • Keyboard shortcuts have been added for all windows (Esc = Main Menu, I = Inventory, / = Help, C = Skills, M = Messages, O = Options).
  • Tile stacking has been implemented. There is now a simulated z-depth that allows the game to save what was under each tile.
  • Glue can now be used to reinforce items (provide maximum durability bonuses and repair a bit of damage).
  • Crafting tool-tips now show all item information and consumes/requirements are now condensed.
  • You can destroy or remove items from the game by dropping/sinking them into deep and/or normal water. Dropping edible items into the water may stir up some unwanted (or sometimes wanted) guests.
  • There is now a delay during your first movements to stop accidental wall/resource gathering. The more you move consecutively, the faster you go.

As always, you can check out the behemoth of a changelog here:

http://www.unlok.ca/wayward-free-changelog/

Although this release was more about tweaks and fixes, you can expect the next one to be all about new content and simulation.

Downloads

*UPDATE*

On June 21st, a fix was uploaded for the Mac stand-alone version. Previously it was not running at all. Please re-download the Mac copy to have it work once again.

New Songs Preview

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Austin “Mars-San” Dhillon recently pumped out some new chill tracks for Wayward (to appear in the upcoming version of Wayward). New tracks:

  • Shipwrecked (Main Menu Theme)
  • Shudder Sounds
  • Night Owl
  • Underworld
  • Savage (Based off of Darker World)

My personal favourite is Night Owl out of the bunch.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say these are some of the best tracks thus far. So moody, so atmospheric, so melodic. Austin has a real knack for composing the exact tone and mood I want to set in Wayward, all while keeping it semi-retro. Take a listen here: