Reworked monster collision

• Improved Monsters collisions with the environment
• Improved Monsters collisions with the player
• Improved Monsters dodge mechanics
• Improved Monsters landing animation

Reworked monster aim

• Monsters now shoot in the direction they look at

Combo items

• Combo items (excluding cooldown tokens) now disappear after 10 seconds from spawning
• Additionally combo items blink 3 seconds before disappearing

Other fixes and adjustments

• Added "Disable Autosaves" option to preferences
• Poisoned and Bleeding Monsters count towards combo
• Crystal sentry kills count towards combo
• Adjusted monster physics
• Increased Palmer's HUD size
• Fixed cacobot's aim and animation sprites
• Fixed utility binding on HUD display for Urd and Palmer
• Fixed floating boxes in e1m4

Patch note Ver2.06

• Fixed some checkpoints not working.
• Fixed some collisions being visible.
• Fixed an issue where Einomaru's unique costume was not available when clearing Idol mode.
• Fixed an issue where the heroine was visible on the map but not visible on the game screen.
• Fixed an issue with Einomaru's gift item's value being wrong.

Patch note Ver2.07

• Fixed an issue where a large number of rhythm games occur when using some skills
• Fixed an issue with optional parts disappearing after recovery in battle
• Fixed an issue where the next scene could be seen in the main character's room in reminiscence mode.
• (Maybe)Fixed an issue that the screen spins around and behaves incorrectly when using Kusuha.
• Fixed Takayuki-kun's face
• Fixed an issue when operating the pad in Idol mode.
• Fixed an issue in the unlocking conditions for rewards that are contingent on completing Idol Mode.
*If you have already completed it, you will get the reward the next time you enter Idol Mode
• Fixed an issue where pressing retry with insufficient ability during Idol Mode live performance would not allow the user to return to the previous chapter
• Fixed issues with the subtitle and beginning of the "Inferior Dreamer" in Idol Mode
• Fixed an issue with status notations remaining in Idol Mode
• Fixed an issue where Einomaru's detailed status display was not correctly indicated
• Fixed some collision errors
• Fixed an issue where the recovery does not increase the reinforcement gauge of heroines
• Fixed some credit issues
• Fixed some character model issues

Update 2.2.1a

Hello, crusaders!

An update 2.2.1a is here!

Highlights:

• Fixed the ability to kill Sithhud the Reborn in The Lord of Nothing DLC before time. Now after killing him the cutscene appear and the party will not be stuck at the arena;
• A blizzard elemental (Druid Winter Child companion) now resurrects after resting.

If you are playing with mods, don’t forget to update them before loading your saves!

Beware of possible plot spoilers below!

Areas

• If shadows have been killed on the Shadow Plane in The Lord of Nothing DLC before the death of Ulab's brother, there was a duplicate dialog with the brother — fixed;
• Polymorph on companions in The Lord of Nothing DLC final cutscenes has been fixed.

Quests

• Now defeating Sithhud in The Lord of Nothing DLC triggers a dialogue with companions.

Classes & Mechanics

• Vengeful Comets spell firing 2 projectiles even when the buff only gave one projectile — fixed;
• Extra Hex (Shaman) feat gave a choice of Witch hexes instead of Shaman's — fixed;
• Weretiger in the last form didn't have access to the Combat Expertise — fixed;
• In some cases, the Weretouched didn't get a Trip combat maneuver — fixed. To get the maneuver, you will need to reuse animal form;
• Fixed the ability to kill Sithhud the Reborn in The Lord of Nothing DLC before time. Now after killing him the cutscene appear and the party will not be stuck at the arena;
• A blizzard elemental (Druid Winter Child companion) now resurrects after resting.

Visual

• Cutscene in Dry Crossroads location with Greybor has been fixed.

Misс

• Some symbols were missing from Chinese localization — fixed.

Update 1.6.0: New Tidings

This update pushed some significant gameplay changes. The whole quest and rumor system has been overhauled. You can now collect rumors by talking to and trading with local folk. On the map you can spend these rumors to get leads for specific locations or learn about new locations by getting leads for a region.

What’s more, you can now leave the Staff in Haven. In fact, the Loremaster will probably like it best if you do, because if you lose the Staff on your journey, the world is lost.

Although previously generated world’s still function as normal, all these changes are best experienced with new worlds. The game tries to convert much of the old info you collected to the new rumor system, the conversion cannot be 1 on 1. You’ll probably find you miss some leads you had previously. But you’ll also likely find some new ones on your map.

Making this update proved to be an undertaking worthy of Moobak… The rumor and quest system had its tentacles spread wide like the roots of an inspirited thicket. It is still a little rough around the edges. But the feedback from the players testing it out was positive so we saw little reason to withhold the other players from enjoying the much improved game.

The next couple of weeks we’ll be picking up the other bug reports again, and make sure we’ll polish away the remaining roughness of these new systems.

The most important gameplay changes:

• Taking the Staff is optional: you can leave it in Haven. If you do bring the Staff, the world is lost if you die.
• Spellcraft skills now allow you to use magic from sources without using the staff.
• You can leave the First Valley after you’ve entered.
• Knowledge points have been removed: returning books gives you sparks, and researching a topic costs 5 sparks before the test.
• If you have little or no information about a destination it’s nature isn’t revealed until you go there.
• You can gain ‘rumors’ from talking to and trading with folk.
• Rumors can be used to gain leads on specific destinations.
• Rumors can be used to learn about new destinations in a region.

Now, here are some fixes added to 1.74-6:

• Balanced the range value for many of the guns

• Upgraded Steam API to get a better detection mechanism for Steam Deck. It seems like with my old API, some Decks aren't getting detected.

• Fixed a bug with Visitation causing dead ghouls to be unlootable

• Reduced the audio volume for the generator underneath the bunker in Ravenwood Valleys

• Fixed a bug with the Meal Order blackboard in Ravenwood to be hard to interact with

General Tweaks and Fixes

• Asus Aura - fixed launch issue
• Achievement for finishing the game with both playable characters fixed
• Steam Deck Text Size fixed
• Fixed the light on Boss 5
• Fixed “faded” colors of Endless Mode menu background and text
• Problematic platforming sections - tweaking
• Green Blood for content creators - option added

Enemy balance changes with the main focus on reducing health. Following enemies have been changed:

• Patient
• Crab-Man
• Squad Leader
• Yellow Cultist
• Forest Cultist
• Giant Gobbler
• Abnomination
• Mutant
• Ygolak
• Entity of Torment
• Abyssal Hunter
• Ancient Portal
• Slither
• Observer
• Pain Entity

Weapon balancing data change:

• Snail Thrower
• Snail Thrower MKII

Megaquarium v4.1.0 - Quality of life update!

Greetings curators!

I want to say one last time, thank you all for the amazing response to the launch of Deep Freeze last month.

If anyone has enjoyed the expansion, please consider leaving a review on the store page.

For the last few weeks I've been working on an update based on all the feedback I've received from the community. I've focused on frequently requested features that could be implemented in a reasonable timeframe. Let's take a look!

Sortable staff

As I briefly introduced in last week's post, it's now possible to sort the staff management table by: status, zone, skills and accessory.

As this was a highly requested feature, I'm sure the community already has ideas on how to maximise this feature. Here's what I could come up with myself:

• Sort by highest active skill to make mass levelling up quicker. Just work your way through all the feeders, then the fixers etc. No more hunting for the right button to press.
• Sort by zone and then check the 'status' column to see if anyone is idle near the end of the day or visa versa. This insight can be used to rebalance your staff zoning so you're maximising each staff member's productivity.
• Similar to above, sort by 'status' to easily see if you have idle staff who can be put to better use.
• Sort by 'accessory' to quickly find staff who haven't been assigned an accessory yet.

In my own playtesting I found this feature especially useful when paired with...

To overlap or not to overlap

Before now, it's not been possible to place the same area in more than one zone. When you added an area to new zone, it was removed from any zone it was currently assigned to.

With the latest update there is now a setting in the Options which, when enabled, will allow your zones to overlap.

I prevented zones overlapping in the original design because I thought having lots of overlapping zones might be confusing for players. Plus, if I'm honest, I didn't understand the use case for this feature... until now.

You see, zones are really useful for stopping your staff from wasting too much time walking. That's because, while staff do prioritise nearby tasks, if the only task available is far away, they'll still do it.

However, it can be quite painstaking to balance your zones perfectly so that staff idleness is minimised, especially for your fixers, because equipment breakdowns are semi-randomised.

I personally found overlapping my fixer zones helped deal with breakdown spikes, while retaining the advantage of zoning, that is: reducing the amount of time spent walking between tasks.

Not to mention, overlapping zones makes it easier to zone the separate jobs (gift shop, cleaning etc.) because each zone is essentially on its own layer, independent of all other zones.

So I'll say it: I'm a convert! And I suspect I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what can be done.

Let's reconnect

A quick one to finish with. When you pick up and move a tank, any pumps, compressors and posters that were connected to it before you picked it up will reconnect with it when you place it down (assuming they are still in range!).

This will hopefully make tweaking your aquarium layout a more rewarding experience. :)

A final word

That's just the big hitters, as usual there are many bug fixes, balance changes and general improvements. Full changelog below.

Thanks and enjoy!

Tim Twice Circled

Changelog

• Feature: You can now sort the staff management table.
• Feature: Added setting to the options to allow zones to overlap (default is off).
• Feature: Pump, Compressors and Posters reconnect automatically when you move a tank, if the tank is still in range.
• Balance: Abyssal animals can now be unlocked with Ecology in 'Everything Available' mode in Sandbox.
• Balance: Abyssal animals cost much more Ecology to unlock than regular animals.
• Balance: Improved several Deep Freeze Sandbox objectives so they are easier to trigger.
• Balance: Reduced the number of animals required to fulfil some of the hardest Deep Freeze Sandbox ARG objectives.
• Balance: Staff feed the lowest health animals first.
• Balance: However, animals do not regain health unless fully fed (partial feeding is not enough).
• Balance: Supplement Manual bonus increased from 40 -> 60.
• Balance: Dictaphone bonus increased from 20% -> 25%
• Balance: Deep Freeze level 2, otter objective, science requirement reduced to 190. Added '(Check end of message)' to the otter sub-objective.
• Balance: Deep Freeze level 1, the message about observation pops up as soon as you place the Antarctic Sea Pig.
• UI: Renamed Mirror Anthia -> Mirror Anthias. Purple Queen Anthia -> Purple Queen Anthias.
• UI: Changed "Roles" to "Skills" on individual staff window.
• UI: Squeezed out a bit more width for skill name in staff management table (helps non-English localisations).
• UI: Slightly increased the height of the staff window.
• Fixed bug: Plant Destroyer and Breeding function in Passive Mode when they should be disabled.
• Fixed bug: Wrong tooltip on light icon on tank window.
• Fixed bug: Incorrect access points on Medium Beach Tank, Island Beach Tank and Small Polar Dome.
• Fixed bug: Too many overlapping containers on Medium Beach Tank and Island Beach Tank.
• Fixed bug: You could place underwater decorations under the cliffs on Small Polar Dome and Mega Polar Dome.
• Fixed bug: You could build a bridge through a Large Abyssal Tank.
• Fixed bug: Lines to connected Compressors were not shown when you hovered over the tank.
• Fixed bug: When placing a new Compressor, invalid tanks were highlighted when they should not have been.
• Fixed bug: 'dev mode' level up staff button works again.
• Fixed bug: freeze when you try to connect a pump or compressor to a tank before it has finished animating in.
• Misc: When mods are copied from Steam's folder to My Games\Megaquarium\ we do the copy and rename in one method call rather than 2. Hoping this reduces chance of permission issue occurring.

Update 1.74-7 Patch Notes

• Finally found the root cause of roof showing up after saving game. It seems to be related to the harddrive IO speed - if it's on the slow side, then it'll trigger this bug. Hopefully it's fixed for good this time!

• Added subtle rotational camera shake for various actions

• Added floor/wall collider padding for the Lake Cheko underground tunnel to prevent playing falling off map

• Now certain ghouls will slow down their running speed when hurt, and when hurt further, will start limping.

• Fixed a bug with weapon attachments in NG+ not refreshing on the weapon when you swap out one of them with another attachment