Beta Iteration 5

Beta (May 14, 2019) is out. I expect the first players to be getting to the end of the game in this version. What this means is the next release could already be available to all Early Access players by default (instead of having to go through a branch).

Changes

• New character which opens a shortcut between Barry's Field dead end in the south and Town of Fortuna.

• Eating food recovers stamina.

• New mammal.

• New scene at the beginning to help players find the first thread to follow in the game.

• Text popup is shown in inventory after you eat or drink something to make it clearer that you've used an item.

• Animation for messages to help distinguish that you've eaten things multiple things of the same type in a row.

• Added a credits area.

• View cone is shown on map.

• Waypoint marker is shown on map.

• Additional set dressing in the intro area.

• Fixed a bug where you would get the money from a trader when consuming an item.

• Don't spend stamina for dodging if you're already dodging.

• All the UI messaging talks about "you" instead of "me" or "I". Added a message for eating a Tender Heart.

• It's easier to climb out of the open grave at Snow Peak.

• Activating an altar takes you to the morning instead of night.

• You can find beer from haybales.

• Fixed a bug where piano would start playing, and never stop, after entering the Root Hall court a second time.

SPOILERS!

• Fixed bugs where the King's Eastern Eye (Rackham's relic) and the King's Bezoar (Elven Citadel relic) wouldn't go into the inventory.

• Fixed a bug where Gus's quest for Holloway wouldn't if you placed the Priest's Gift into Holloway's pocket during the night.

• Fixed a bug where the player in old saves didn't get enlightenment.

• Fixed a bug where the Baron's mask would never get made.

• Fixed a bug where you could talk to the ghouls without wearing a ghoul mask.

• Don't say "pint of" when drinking, because not all alcoholic drinks come in pints.

• Fixed bug a where the open-interaction wasn't classified correctly. This caused a bug where Master Pumpkin would say "Pick Up" instead of "Poke".

• A sermon for Holloway after you deposit the parasite.

• Gus Grimaldi tavern scene is more robust.

• The Witch's instructions for locating the three jars of tappen made easier to follow.

• When dissolving items with the Cobolds, all items of that type become dissolved.

• In dreams, the player is now transformed into a version specified in each dream world's file.

In addition to these changes, we did some preliminary testing with dynamic weather, and it appears enough code support is in place from before that it could be implemented without terribly much effort. Having the weather occasionally change from sunny to foggy or rainy might add to the atmosphere. What do you guys think, is that something you would like us to spend a few days on?

How to play the new beta

• Go to your Steam Library.

• Right click on Hardland, and go to Properties, then Betas.

• Enter the beta access code WhereTheFoxIs, hit check code, and select full_beta from the drop-down list.

That's it! Steam will download the beta for you. The reason this beta is behind a branch and password is that new critical issues are still being uncovered, and I'd like those issues to bubble up to the forums instead of people being left alone with them. That's more likely if you are jumping into the beta through this announcement. So, if you encounter things that prevent you from progressing in the game, be sure to let me know on the forums.

Your thoughts

I'm really interested to hear reactions about the game itself. If you are feeling really adventurous, a very rough timeline of your playthrough (when you discovered what) would be super cool. If you get stuck and simply have no idea of what to do or where to go, I'd like to hear about that, too. Something that's off? Let me know. Something you particularly like? Yep. Just create your own individual topics on the forums so I won't miss your feedback. I want to point out a couple of much-requested features which aren't yet part of the beta:

• Controller hints i.e. letting you know which keys do what in various situations.

• In-game controller remapping.

• Proper gamepad support for the inventory and the menus.

• Where did my new items go in the inventory?

These and many more bug fixes and improvements are all things we'll be working on next. In the meanwhile, here is a lo-fi version of the controller hints for keyboard + mouse to get you started: Game: WASD to move, E to interact, Shift to run, Ctrl to sneak, Alt+WASD to dodge, Space to jump, M for the map, I for the inventory, 1-4 for the quick slots. Inventory: Left button drag to move items around, right button drag to move all items of a type around, right click to eat/drink. Enjoy! Kimmo