OCT 12-16 PLAYTEST news - Arcane Waters

Post news Report RSS OCT 12-16 PLAYTEST

If you werent able to catch the last playtest then ive got some great news for you! Arcane Waters will be holding one more playtest before being released into early access next month so if you'd like to try out the game before then, your free to hop aboard! Join by finding Arcane Waters on steam and requesting access, you'll automatically get into the beta and can set sail on your new adventure!

Posted by forte226 on Oct 13th, 2022

Batten down the hatches, this might be our final playtest before Early Access November 15th!

During the last playtest we focused on our perk system and new player experience. This playtest continues that work and takes it a step further and allows you to customize your pirate even more. Not only can you now pick a profession for your pirate, but we’ve added even more perks.

While we know the new Port Haven Academy and Perks will be exciting, don’t forget to moooove on over to your farm and chick out the new livestock options. Now, livestock can enhence your farm and give you some eggcellent goods to harvest. Yes, we know the puns are fowl, we just can’t help ourselves.

Livestock is a work in progress, so we’re looking for feedback on what you’d like to see. Just don’t forget to pet them!

The next preview window for Arcane Waters will open around 12:00pm/noon EST on October 12th and run through October 16th. Set sail with us and take our new changes out for a spin!

Since this is our last test before Early Access, we've also raised the level cap to 5!

Overview

Port Haven Academy - A training ground for new players east of the auction signboard in Port Haven!
Livestock - Victoria in Port Haven is in charge of the livestock permits. Be sure to prove to her you're a worthy farmer!
Choose a Profession - You can pick a profession when creating your character and receive a hat to match!
Rum Perk Tree - First implementation of some rum perks. You'll be able to hit multiple targets and more!
Grass - Grass can be planted at your farm. See the new seed vendor in the crop shop to score some seeds.
Follow - You can now follow players by typing /follow or clicking them, then the 'follow' option in the menu.

World:

Invisible POI triggers. Yep. We can make new traps. Oh don't worry, you'll be fine!
There's little ships that resupply your ship's food when you get near a Point of Interest (POI) in the open world.
Lots of new NPC art has been added. You'll see some in game!
Encounters now have different scaling ranks, like solo-only or full group scaling.
Fancy new animations when creating a guild outpost out in the world.

Fightin':

Gear can now have elemental modifiers to help boost elemental abilities.
Some encounters can only be joined by party members if they engage the enemy within a few seconds of the initial engagement. If you hang back too long, you may not get into the fight!
Desert sea boss AI improvements and minion spawning adjustments.
Updated the scaling on the sea monsters.
Ye can't heal past your max health at sea anymore.

UI:

Quests can be flagged as 'recommended' to help players figure out what to do next. Or you can ignore it. You do you.
Inventory should load faster.
New visuals for enemy encounters.
Made some stuff in the tutorial a little more obvious.
Updated some panel sorting orders.

Other Stuffs:

AFK - Inactivity will cause your player to show an AFK status.
New pickaxe sprite sheet.
Overall performance improvements.
Tool durability now wears on swing instead of per operation performed.
Sound effects added for things like grass collection, ore collection, and bug collection.
Male/Female eye types have been merged. No, we didn't make a cyclops. We just let you pick whichever you want at character creation.
Pathfinding tweaks. The pirates were not going where they were told. Imagine that... rebellious pirates... They also tried to walk through ore. Apparently not the smartest bunch either.
Patched up some memory leaks. Slap.
Updated some enemy spawn logic. They're still pirates, so how logical can they be?
Improved sprite morphing calculations. Sounds like voodoo.
Lots and lots of bugfixes.

REGULAR UPDATEPOSTEDWed, September 14Digging Deeper Into PerksWe’re sailing into another Playtest! During our last playtest we showed off the beginnings of the new perk system. This time we’re expanding them further with new perk trees and abilities. Look out gunners, it’s time to refine those skills.

Dig further into the changelog and you’ll notice we’ve added an ability to the shovel. Now you can dig for buried treasure - a requirement for any pirate worth their salt. We’re also introducing the pickaxe! Once you obtain it from the mining perk tree, you can swing into action and maximize your ore harvesting.

We’ve seen a lot of your feedback about our first time player experience. We’ve started work on the new player experience and would like some feedback. Help us test the tutorial by creating a new character and give it a try. Let us know what you think.

If you have a SteamDeck, take the game for a spin on it. We’ve spent time these last few months making sure it plays smoothly. Now you can leave home and still hit the high seas… or just farm a bit while waiting for your plane.

The next preview window for Arcane Waters will open around noon EST on September 14th and run through September 18th. Set sail with us and take our new changes out for a spin.

What's New

The intro/tutorial has been getting some love. Try it on a new character!
There's pickaxes! Using a pickaxe will yield more ore from veins than other tools or weapons. You can learn the recipe in your perk tree, or purchase one from another player.
Shovels are now usable and can be used to dig for common loot. Durability wear on each use. Items can be repaired at the weapon shop anvil.
Shovels can be used to dig crops.
New Farming Perk Tree.
Farming perk for a chance to return seed on harvest.
New Perk Tree for Guns. Pew. Pew.
Gun Perks: Bonus Damage / Chance to Double Attack / Ricochet Chance.
Improved ability casting behavior.
Players can 'react' to chat messages.
Option to disable pixel effect on screen transition.

User Interface

Steam Deck keyboard support for text entry.
You'll now see gold rewards on the quest rewards panel.
Translation for system messages.
Translation for notification messages.
Translation for confirmation messages.
Fixed bug where items could not be linked into chat.
Fix linked blueprint icons in chat.
Fixed some weapon icon issues in chat.
Fixed perk trees display issues on higher resolutions.
Update option layout to support language switching.
Adding chat command to switch local channel.
Fix issue where some NPC names did not display.
Options panel dropdown scroller UI improvements.
Improved translations for other panels and notifications.
Updated inventory panel to filter out items that are inactive/shows blank to normal players
Fixed categorization in inventory tab.
Fixed player menu popup coordinates.
Fixed bug where equipping rum weapon didn't display rum based abilities in the ability panel.
Added warning indicators for combat finish.