Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category

Man the Cannons!

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Past Prologue
If you’ve been listening to the podcasts, you probably heard about some changes coming down the pipe for Gang Warfare. Well, I’d like to take a second to talk about them here.

Allowing patrollers and ambushers to be in multiple places at once for Gang Warfare had a few unpleasant design effects (along with being a little weird). Among other things, it’s why there couldn’t be a system of “digging in” and fortifying areas.

So, you can no longer be in multiple places at once in Gang Warfare. Some will say it’s a nerf and I don’t disagree, although that’s not the main reason I had to make the change. You’re welcome to yell “NERRRRRRRRRRRRRF!” at your screen if it makes you feel better, though.

“But what about the fortification thing you were talking about?” you may ask if you lived to help me narrate (in which case, thanks). Well, I’m a big believer of delivering nerfs with a heaping side of new content that explains why the nerf had to happen.

Fortification
There is now an unlockable ability to strengthen your patrols and ambushes with various special effects dependent on the area they’re in. That’s the generally sweet part I’ll let you work out yourself.

The part I want to be clearer on is that there are a few new interface bits to interact with to get supplies to the different areas.

  • Leaders and Beancounters can assign profits to different areas in the Gang Stash screen, similar to how smugglers work.
  • There’s a new Gang Missions tab under the quest log. You can toggle whether you’re helping fortify there. You don’t need to have fortification unlocked for yourself to help.

So if there’s supplies en route to the area you’re in and you’ve agreed to help, you get special non-combat encounters setting up the fortifications. You can get these regardless of whether you control the area, but you do have to be active in Gang Warfare.

The fortifications themselves vary from handy to crazy. There might be adjustments for balance later, but I’m feeling pretty good about them now.

How does only being in one place work?
Regarding the earlier topic, if you have a patrol or some ambushes already in place in another area, it will give you a message about not being in two places at once. You can stop your patrols or ambushes at any time from the Gang Warfare screen under your gang.

Cheers!
Kinak

February Fixes

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

Hello! We’ve got another round of bug fixes here. Should be exciting :)

  • I’ve been adding a lot to PvP and breaking just as much in my wake. Thanks to Mag, PenguinPyro, and Heriodule for helping keep things straight.
  • Inject Relay should now be working properly. Thanks, Al!
  • Zach’s question about the Grapple Gauntlets won’t go to a completely weird place now. Thanks for the bug report, xKiv and Heriodule.
  • And frag grenades will now work in the Abandoned Building if you don’t have any gas grenades handy. Good catch, Arkaim.

Also thanks to Mag, Barton26, DoctrZombie, Vholes Piper, Arkaim, GoldS, and Al for some typo fixes.

Cheers!
Kinak

Late January Bug Fixes

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Fixes! Get yer fixes!

We’ve actually got a bit of a bumper crop. It’s been a good month for bug squishing. Squish, squish, squish.

  • Multiseason runs are now properly searchable. Thanks for the bug reports, Al and Vholes Piper!
  • Sorted out a variety of weirdness with the serpentine chase scene in the Fractured Reflection. Lots of good spading and good reports from DoctrZombie and Arkaim.
  • Long Lost Nostalgia shouldn’t show up as a non-donation skill for resets any more. Good catch, Mag!
  • Corrected some CSS compatibility issues with Firefox. Thanks Barton26!
  • Brick figures can now be removed properly from apartments. Thanks for the bug report, Cryptodynamic!
  • Sorted out a funny issue where replaced buffs weren’t always calculating their bonuses properly. Excellent catch here from xKiv.
  • And, perhaps most importantly, sparklers now deal damage appropriately if you have negative fire defense. Whew, dodged a bullet on that one. Thanks Vholes!

Also thanks to GoldS, Factitious, Mag, Borkman, Sir Cheddar, Al, and Argeth for typo fixes.

Cheers!
Kinak

New Year’s Bug Fixes

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

We have another round of bug fixes… and by “bug fixes” I mean mostly typos.

Speaking of typos, thanks to GoldS, RazielSonofKain, GoldS, Al, Cryptodynamic, GoldS, Argeth, GoldS, Cank, Vholes Piper, GoldS, ThunderBird, Mag, and GoldS for help tracking down typos.

  • Fixed a display bug with Better Part of Valor runs. Thanks Mag and xKiv.
  • Lieutenant rank now carries through whitelists properly. Thanks for the bug report, Barton26.
  • White noise programs should now deduct from perception properly. Good eyes, Al, good eyes.
  • The testing lab outside the Slags can now be salvaged like other computers. Good suggestion, BigBellyJarelli.

Cheers!
Kinak

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Bugfix

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

We’ve got a nice round of bugfixes and minor changes for the Christmas season. I hope you’re all enjoying the snowmen so far.

  • Starting off, we have the one that you’re most likely to notice: distracting guards in the sewer hideout is now substantially more effective. Thanks to BigBellyJarelli and Mag for this one.
  • Then we have the one that probably has the most impact on, well, the game not being a mess. Thanks to GoldS, we were able to squash an item duplication bug. Big round of applause for GoldS!
  • We also managed to squash a long-standing bug with gaining stats that increase your HP not healing you properly (giving you empty HP instead of full ones, basically). Good catch, Arkaim!
  • And, lastly, Monarch’s Call should now work properly in the Abandoned Subway. Thanks, Barton26.

To round out our list, we’ve got some typo fixes thanks to Vholes Piper, Argeth, Mag, Arkaim, and GoldS.

Cheers!
Kinak

The Floodgates

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

So, apparently I underestimated how many more bug reports I get when I post the fixes in the devblog. Nothing major, but a list of changes for the week:

  • All opponents should use Brutality appropriately now. Some were getting the bonus damage even if you had a Technique. Filthy cheating enemies.
  • Fixed a bug causing improbable guns to decay too quickly. Good catch, Cryptodynamic!
  • Updated the art for Brutality and fishing in the sewers to be less confusing. Thanks for the suggestions, Al!
  • Sorted out some weirdness eating specters. Thanks for eating absolutely everyone, Vholes!
  • Free fights should now properly refresh the character pane. Thanks again, Al!
  • Corrected some weird encounter logic in the Winter of our souls… I mean, the Fractured Reflection. Direct all applause to Vholes Piper.

And thanks to Barton26, Mag, GoldS, Arkaim, and Vholes Piper for typo reports.

Cheers!
Kinak

Fix Catch-Up

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Sometime around Halloween, minor bug fixes stopped getting reported in the shuffle. Sorry if you helped me fix something and I didn’t manage to thank you.

A few fixes I have notes for:

  • Fixed an error clicking on your current avatar. Good catch, Al!
  • Corrected some issues with the Halloween candy grab bag. Thanks, Dennis and Heriodule!
  • I stopped reporting minor bug fixes. Thanks for pointing that out, Mag!

Also thanks to (at least) Vholes Piper, BigBellyJarelli, Dan, Cryptodynamic, Borkman, Factitious, Mag, Isladar, pete, suuljin, Thrillhouse, Happy Yeti, and Thrillhouse for reporting typos.

Cheers!
Kinak

Urban Renewal

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

A new layer of paint has been added to Southside Park. I think it held up surprisingly well, but there were a few places it didn’t stand the test of time.

The quest itself hasn’t changed much, but things will hopefully seem a bit more alive and human now. Let me know what you think.

Cheers!
Kinak

Labor Day Labor

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Bug fixes and little updates ahoy!

  • Returning to the Fang’s hideout after killing all the guards should now display the appropriate options. Good catch, BigBellyJarelli.
  • Salvaged items now immediately appear in the list to resalvage. Good eyes, Pete!
  • There are now a “Newest” and a “First” link the profile list. Good suggestion, Vholes.
  • Offhand items are now properly unequipped when you have a cyberdoc remove your cyberarms. Thanks, Sir Cheddar!
  • Corrected an issue where credits you received in your mail wouldn’t update your character pane properly. Thanks for the bug report, Cank!
  • Logging in to a lab computer then immediately back out now counts as walking away and, when appropriate, loitering. Good eyes, DoctrZombie.

And special thanks to Factitious, Mag, Borkman, DoctrZombie, Cryptodynamic, Thrillhouse, and Vholes Piper for some typo finding.

Cheers!
Kinak

Mail Unmerge

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Hallo!

We have a few changes going in with the mail system.

The main change is that mail has been split into multiple boxes, pushing the common automated messages into their own boxes.

  • The Inbox, all your mail that doesn’t fall into any of the following categories. This does still include some automated messages, like the ones from gifts, contacts, and events.
  • Sent Mail, which works how it has, but is now linked from the top rather than having to scroll down through all of creation.
  • Gang Warfare, for the messages you get for defending an area.
  • Subversion, for the new messages related to your sites being taken over.
  • And “Mall” for messages from OmniMall about orders being fulfilled. I kept gifts in the inbox because, well, who doesn’t want to know about gifts?

A couple random things to note:

  • When you click “Messages” up top, it’ll take you to either the folder with the most unread mail or, if you don’t have any unread, the last folder you were in.
  • Folders only show up in the list up top if they have messages in them (except your inbox), so don’t panic if you’re missing some options.
  • Edit: Delete All Unsaved now deletes all unsaved from your current folder.
  • All the folders have the send mail interface at the top. I’m not really sure if we want that universally. If it bugs anyone, start a thread on the forums and we’ll see where we don’t want it.

Thanks to the Fop for suggesting this! Let me know if you run into any problems.

Cheers!
Kinak