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Patch Info

Recommended Level: 26-30

Summary

Take a good, hard look - it's a motherflippin' boat!

This is one of those real Frontline updates! All the sounds are either placeholder or missing, and some effects aren't final etc, but the functionality should be enough for testing!

Details

About Making A Boat

The boat is here, continuing the story! Let me start out by saying we're very happy with how it turned out, and I think most of you will find a few enjoyable hours in there.

Quality aside, though, we're not at all happy about how stupidly long this took to make. Vilya wrote about it on her blog a week ago, and it's worth a read I think: http://www.vilyaroo.com/2019/12/monday-meeting-reflection.html

TL;DR: We started off designing this dungeon like monkeys and it bit us in the behind. We had to remake probably three times as much for this update than in any other. Some of it was due to our approach to the dungeon planning, and some was just bad luck/lapse in skill. Even at the best of times, not everything that's cool in your head works out in game. We usually end up scrapping 10-20 % of things we thought would turn out nicely, but damn, this time we scrapped half the things we made, maybe more.

Aaanyway, enough of the process and back to the patch!

It's a boat! If you're currently at the end of the previous patch, you can continue your journey by talking to Vilya in the Port Monnaie harbor.

We hope you enjoy The Lost Ship, despite it taking so long to get! Remember, this is a frontline update so it's missing that final layer of polish, and we also welcome all feedback to improve the experience before the Stable patch!

Hotfix Patch Notes

Hotfixes Patch 0.870c - December 27th '19

• Added some Lost Ship graphics: animated water edges, spooky key chest on first floor
  
• Change: The inspection phase of the Lost Ship kitchen now works like in Ivy's office, with each icon remaining until examined
  
• Change: The chief cook's log now survives the fridge smash, and can be read after the battle
  
• Bugfix: Ghostys and Haunties should now behave more consistently when perfect guarded, regardless of how far into their attack they are
  
• Bugfix: The Ghost Ship weapons will now properly appear at the weapon displays
  
• Bugfix: Fixed an out of bounds bug when Twilight shifting inside the goo in the cabin you find Shaik
  
• Bugfix: Fixed a bug where the ship's third boss would get stuck on terrain while trying to find a good spot to swing from
  
• Bugfix: Quinton now properly shows a quest update icon after completing the Lost Ship arc
  
• Bugfix: Fixed a bug that caused some bosses to move improperly in cutscenes (most notable first Marino encounter, placing his post-fight interaction awkwardly)
  

Hotfixes Patch 0.870b - December 25th '19

• Change: Crafting the Spectral Blindfold no longer requires a regular Blindfold - those who already crafted it will get a new Blindfold
  
• Change: During the Fridge fight, the player is now locked inside the room to prevent from leaving accidentally
  
• Change: In order to get to the quick-skip phase of the Evil Eye intro, you must stay in the boss room a while longer
  
• Change: Evil Eye's fire labyrinth has been made easier on Hard Mode
  
• Bugfix: Twilight shift can now be used during phase shift without rebinding or restarting
  
• Bugfix: Arcade Mode now properly ends at Floor 17 again
  
• Bugfix: The Fridge's healthbar is no longer visible before it becomes aggressive
  
• Bugfix: Ghosties can now spawn in the arena and during the alchemist quest without the game crashing
  
• Bugfix: the ship's third boss' triple strike during berserk now actually deals damage
  
• Bugfix: Skipping the Ghost Ship cannon cutscene now removes the quest update icon
  

Base Patch Notes

Additions

• Hit the deck - we're on a boat!
  

Changes

• When 100 % completion has been reached, the 'how to get completion' zoning tips will no longer show up
  
• Guardians will no longer shield Loods
  
• Having 10 quickslots filled in Arcade Mode will no longer push the map down, blocking some things in game
  
• In Arcade Mode, the quickslots now remember the player's preferred bindings per spell instead of per slot
  
• When players are trying to zone (showing the gather prompt), they no longer collide with other players
  

Bug Fixes

• Charging Smash after a Perfect Guard now properly spawns a Smash Ball
  
• Blinking into a new Arcade Mode room will no longer confuse the enemies in that room
  
• Gold Charged Smash no longer bugs out the Red Spinsects in the Big Boulder challenge
  
• Facegear equipment comparisons now work properly while masks are equipped
  
• Fixed a bug where a specific timing of turning around with the shield put it up in the wrong direction
  

More Insight

If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!

What's next?

As always we'll be fixing bugs, and then we're going to finish up the polish for the ship - sounds, missing graphics, and a pretty big side quest we've got planned. After that's been on Frontline for a few days, the whole ship will run ashore into Stable and we'll continue on with the rest of the game!

We're not 100 % yet if we'll power through to the story-end before touching Arcade Mode again. It kind of depends on if I (the programmer) get some extra time on my hands - Arcade Mode is mostly programming after all.