Early Preview
Ahoy there, boaters!
Developing a well-balanced game can be difficult - especially if it’s an ambitious title with THOUSANDS of handcrafted levels procedurally stitched together. Our team is working hard on creating new content (DLC Pack 2 coming soon)...
[Click here to see images]
…but in the meantime, we’re working on some quality-of-life improvements for the base game and Fate & Fortune DLC! You are more than welcome to check it out in the Early Preview branch on Steam. We’re beyond excited to make Shovel Knight Dig even better!
Please keep in mind that we’re still in the process of rolling out fixes! With that said, there is a possibility that you’ll run into bugs, crashes, and oddities that you wouldn’t normally encounter in a retail release. So, to avoid any potential mishaps, we recommend you backup your save files just in case!
Note: This is currently limited to the Steam version of the game. Once the content has been polished and meets the quality bar that we’re happy with, we will bring the improvements to consoles. Thank you for your patience!
If you encounter any issues, contact us on our Discord, or email us at [email protected]
Version 1.1.5
General Changes
New - Black Knight Armor!
- After defeating Black Knight, a Blueprint is found in the overworld, near the location where SK wakes up. Greyson can now craft the Black Knight Armour.
- The armor allows the player to charge their attack and fire a fireball. This ability can stack with other charge items.
Knightmares:
- Knightmare 3: Updated description to be clearer.
- Knightmare 10: Adjusted the offscreen speed of the Omega Saw so it approaches the player at a marginally slower speed than normal. Ambush rooms will appear slightly less frequently.
- Knightmare 6: Ambush rooms will appear slightly less frequently.
- Knightmare Ghost Follow Item: Knightmare Key will only spawn their spirit if the player is carrying it and if the player got hit. The Ghost will not spawn if the enemy drops the key, and it breaks on spikes. The ghost will despawn after it has been in close proximity to the player for several seconds (6 seconds, time adding up). When it has reached that time, it will still wait until the player has moved away from close proximity to despawn.
Omega Driver:
- Increased homing efficiency of Omega Driver towards the Omega Saw.
- Increased time allowed for Omega Driver to connect with Omega Saw before Omega Driver returns to the player.
- Increased tolerance of the Omega Driver so it will snap to Omega Saw easier for a successful hit.
Removed several conditions preventing Omega Driver from starting to home towards the Omega Saw. Including but not limited to:
- Allowing Omega Driver to home to the drill even if thrown to the right.
- Allowing Omega Driver to home to the Omega Saw from any distance.
Seed Menu:
- Added a visual cue to indicate if the seed in the menu is an auto-generated seed (normal game), or custom (has been edited or pasted by the player).
- Custom seed codes appear in blue, and have a little lock symbol next to the box, meaning that the seed will not change, whether you go back to the surface, or do Dig Again.
- Once a seed is locked (custom), the way to go back to the normal auto-generated random seeds is to delete the number in the text box. It will then be overwritten by the current random seed.
- Quitting the game session will also reset the seed to auto-generated (it's not saved).
Bombs:
- Bombs from the Book of Bombs now don’t destroy collectibles or dirt. Although they will still damage the player!
- Increased the total time bombs will follow a player from 60 to 90 seconds.
- Increased the throw bomb timer from 3 to 5 seconds.
- Reduced the damage of the Goldarmour Hammer from 4 to 3.
How to Access the Quality of Life Feedback Branch
To access Shovel Knight Dig’s Quality of Life Feedback branch you must own Shovel Knight Dig and have it in your Steam library!
Once you have purchased the game, follow these steps to switch to the Quality of Life branch of the game:
- Right-click on Shovel Knight Dig from within your Library and select Properties.
- Select the “Betas” tab.
- Enter the password "FetcherFetch" and select “Check Code”.
- A blue button that says “Opt into: qol-feedback - For Playtesters” should appear.
NOTE: If you experience problems entering this code, and you’ve confirmed you have entered the code correctly, try rebooting Steam!
The game should update with the early-preview branch and should now say [qol-feedback] after the Dig title in your Steam library
Returning to the Main Game Branch
- You can switch back to the normal game at any time! If you wish to switch back to Dig without the early-preview content, follow these instructions:
Navigate back to the “Betas” tab by right-clicking Shovel Knight Dig in your Steam library and going to:
- Properties > Betas
- In the dropdown menu, you will see 2 options:
- None
- Qol-feedback - for Playtesters
- Select “none” to go back to the base game
Your game will then update and return to the main release version of the game.
How to backup your save file
- If you wish to back up your Steam save file just in case, open a File Explorer window and type the following into the address bar:
%APPDATA%\..\LocalLow\Yacht Club Games\Shovel Knight Dig\DefaultUser
- Copy the file called skdig.sav and store it in a safe place!
- If your save data gets corrupted and Steam Cloud doesn’t restore it properly, you can copy and paste your backup folder into this directory to restore your save file.
