Early Access v0.85 - Anniversary Update
Hello all! Today is a special day in the life of We Who Are About To Die, as well as in my life, to be honest.
The game was in solo development for 7 years until Early Access launch, and has been in Early Access for 3 (with wonderful teammates for most of that!). Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the project.
The game is also 30% off to celebrate, please help share the word!
I started this project having absolutely no idea that it would come this far, changing my life the way it did and become my full time career. This thing has been with me for the better part of my adult life (I'm 34!) and the way it has evolved - especially the last 3 years - is nothing short of mindblowing to me. If you agree, let me hear some echos in the arena for my team who have been kicking ass! I'm so happy with the fundamental and fearless changes we've been doing since the game became available on Steam.
To me, it feels like I entered the "Indie Arena" and somehow came out victorious. But... no - because we're not done yet. This update, v0.85, will likely be the last before 1.0. At the very least, 1.0 is the next Major Update.
We have some ambitious plans with 1.0 - so it will take a while, but know that it's coming, and it will be the best 1.0 we can deliver. Put simply, you believed in me and my studio, Aegic Entertainment, and throughout this Early Access, I want to make sure you got your money's worth 10x over! I started something 10 years ago and I intend to finish it - gloriously.
I cut together a little gameplay clip to celebrate the 10 years! It's not much, but it's honest work.
Full Changelog
MAJOR - new content & features
Complete AI overhaul
We have completely rewritten the AI from scratch to be much more dynamic and challenging. In short, the AI is more competent and conscious of its environment and especially it's own Stamina! AI will switch between a tired and aggressive state much more clearly. Check out News post "Preview #2" for more context!
We also fixed countless glitches and AI bugs in the process and fundamentally rebalanced the game to go with this AI rework.
CONTENT - New Elites
New Elite: Magistrate Magnus
New Elite: Khor the Warlord
New Elite: Sons of the Scormorii
New Elite: The Coin King
New Elite: Cultivator Cren
CONTENT - New Character Traits
New Character Trait: Rabble Rouser
New Character Trait: Marked For Blood
New Character Trait: Harvester
New Character Trait: Hunted
New Character Trait: Collector
New Character Trait: Shady
New Character Trait: Showman
New Character Trait: Vain
New Character Trait: Eclectic
New Character Trait: Scrappy
New Character Trait: Multicultural
New Character Trait: Snobby
New Character Trait: Traditionalist
CONTENT - New Items
New Item: Linolian Captain Helm (Crested and regular variant)
New Item: Lophosi Temple Guard Helm
New Item: Lophosi Warlod Helm (Horned/Unhorned)
New Item: Owakhan Feathercrest Helm
New Item: Terantian Pitmaster Helm
New Item: Iron Face Mask
New Item: Lionslayer Dome Helm
New Item: Feathered Cast Iron Helm
New Item: Feathered Dome Helm
New Item: Linolian Captain Cuirass
New Item: Hanian Infantry Maille
New Item: Lophosi Furhide Chest
New Item: Linolian Tunic
New Item: Leather Bracer
New Item: Gold Bracer
New Item: Owakhan Obsidian Malala
New Item: Owakhan Kaapha
New Item: Lophosi Skullclava
New Item: Hanian Chaaka
New Item: Iron Talaschaka
New Item: Linolian Captain's Kromo
MINOR - GAMEPLAY
Idle characters' weapons now don't cancel/fumble attacks when you hit them. This should cause smoother combat and less random failures. Only weapons that are actively striking or blocking will interrupt an attack when the weapons clash
The Third Person Camera has been made more immersive. A better angle, dynamic camera movement based on attacks, a minor handy-cam noise, and countless other tweaks
Weight now affects throw speed and spin - heavier weapons slower, lighter weapons faster
MINOR - UI
Item Properties are renamed to Attributes and every item has been assigned logical and new Attributes
New Betting UI: You can now see Bets you took on inside combat, and whether or not you completed or failed them
New Stats Panel: We've rebuilt the entire stats panel and system in preparation for 1.0. This will reset your stats once you make a new character
The Weekly Report Panel has gotten a lot of small visual upgrades and a few more notifications have been merged into it
The loading screen will auto continue now but you can press a key to pause so you can read tips (Actually, we just found a bug with this so it's disabled temporarily, but we will patch it in ASAP)
BALANCING
General boost of player skills, rewards and a ton of other small things, to match the increased difficulty of the AI
Lowered AI max stamina (across the board but mostly affects early game AI)
Player gains (more) stamina when damaged
Player minimum speed at min 0 movement skill slightly increased (~10%)
Player minimum stam regen increased (~5-10%)
Player minimum max stamina increased (~5-10%)
Player minimum throwing ability (accuracy, speed, ...) at 0 throwing skill increased (~25%)
Increased player's regen a bit. Lowered attack speed overall at low skill
Acceleration minimum at 0 movement skill increased about 20%
Slowed down the pacing of combat a bit and overall damage is lowered a bit. Armor effectiveness is now 80%
Movement Speed increased back to 100% when holding attack (from 85%) (AI and player)
Movement Speed slightly increased during strike (120%)
Movement Speed slightly reduced while blocking with weapon
Boosted game-wide match payouts (gold fame) by roughly 10-20%
Increased Damage and improved colission on Strong Hammer
Changed the weight of the Strong Hammer from 1 to 9
Changed speed of the Great Chaka from 0.9 to 0.8
Bugfixes
Resolved an issue where you could accidentally resize the game window in third person mode
Fixed a bug where some Match Bracket lvl's were not rising with the player rank
Resolved the issue where the heartbeat sound kept going after death or on pause menu
Fixed a bug on Grand Tournament and Pit Fights where the player would always start with one less ally than it should on the first round
Resolved an issue where clicking difficulty tabs did not count for rerolls
Fixed broken vegetable particles
Fixed the bug where the player's weapon got removed at the end of a tournament round because an ally picked it up
Resolved the issue where the gold pickup notification in the battle log did not register values over 1000 gold
Various fixes on Alluora events
Fixed/improved the stability of death ragdolls
Minor changes to the career menu character
Fixed stats and tags of various items
Fixed bug where the pause menu was opened behind the weekly report
Resolved issue where the weapon UI pick up is stretched on standalone
Fixed issue where AI gets stuck trying to walk into Draft
Fixed issue where grayed-out major traits had a minor trait background
Fixed issue where gamepad focus would be lost after returning from the pause menu
General performance stabilisations and improvements
Countless more smaller bug fixes!
Minor persisting issues concerning gamepad functionality and focus will be resolved in the next smaller patch
Much more we're forgetting!
If you like what we're doing, please consider sharing this update and the game with your friends: we still rely on word of mouth more than anything.
And as always -we who are about to die salute you, Jordy
