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VoidBound's Upcoming Patch: Details and Delay

Hi everyone!

The team just wanted to put out a quick post to check-in and apprise you all about our current status in detail.

We are all hammering away on the new Introduction. It certainly ended up being a bit more of a process than we expected when we outlined it. The process of finding what works and what doesn't work is always an adventure, and you want to streamline stuff while not just cutting away so much that you leave the experience as something that feels empty.

In addition to new maps, new battles, and new just hints and tips to walk players through how navigation, stealth, and combat work, we've got some new alien designs, a crucial element of every great Sci-Fi Adventure.

These critters are forming the basis of some of the Urtu Empire's most elite and deadly soldiers. While the Urtu already has a great host of soldiers to call upon, nothing is better than a species that has evolved to kill over thousands of years. We're still honing down the details on these critters, but they will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

Foes are always fun, but we've got new Friends joining the party as well. Meet Fou and Hemma, Vas' associates who take part in freeing Caly.

Fou

Fou is a Vatrix who left his over-populated homeworld at an even younger age than most Vatrix do. He has skills in mechanical fields but the thing he found he was the best at was cutting people down with two sets of unique blades he built himself. He met Vas during a bank robbery just after she went A.W.O.L. from the Urtu Marine Corp. The two struck up an unlikely bond, and he has been with her ever since.

Hemma

Like other Toktil, Hemma fell from a roving Limogon, a giant creature similar to a whale on Earth if whales could gracefully glide across the cosmos with large sprawls of eggs on their backs and other parts. Hemma's egg landed near a spaceport, and he was adopted by a local crew and quickly showed off a natural inclination for anything with a fast engine. He built his own spacecraft when he was ten, though the vessel couldn't break through the atmosphere. The resulting crash left Hemma in debt to some very serious people. He did his best to work at paying them off but eventually met up with Fou, who by then already knew Vas. The Toktil became their pilot and heavy weapons expert. Of course, the Toktil's lumbering stature almost always convinces an enemy that a deal is better than a fight if he's around.

The work continues…

The update is close, but it's not quite there. Unfortunately, we won't be able to put out the update in July as was planned, but we are confident that it will be finished in August. When the new pieces are in place, we'll have a shiny and refined start to the VoidBound adventure that we hope both current and new fans will enjoy.

Summer may have gotten off to a rocky start, but we will have a bigger and better August to make up for it. Inconvenience for the delay is deeply regretted, but ultimately a more preferred outcome than releasing on time and present to you all, a half finished- below quality work, which we would never stand for.

Thank you for your patience, as well as your continued support and patronage for VoidBound.

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Progress Report #74: July 2023

Hail Voidseekers o/

We hope you're all doing well. This week we made significant progress on some fronts whilst stabling out a bit on others. No time to waste- lets get to unpacking.

Our artist established newly updated parameters for structural elements in order to make the map environment more distinguishable. The idea is to improve the physical distinction of walls, floors, ceiling and likes, so they stand out on their own rather than to depend on lighting like we used to.

Of-course most of these elements will be introduced in the new intro maps which are coming along nicely, including crisp new NPCs! Urtu crew sprites have been minted to populate the ship. They will be your primary pain in the arse during the escape sequence.

Fret not though, you'll have backup(maybe)! Design concept art for alien mercenaries, that might or might not accompany Vas, during the intro have also been generated. Are they badasses who will have your back kicking Urtu butt? Or just chumps who will only make things worse for Clay? We’ll see.

Our writers went on a much deserved vacation, but not before they apprised us about what's cooking in their kitchen. The reworked dialogues for the intro maps are nearly finished. The plan of Caly convincing Vas and her goons to fight their way out remains the same. But, instead of simply vanishing from the probe room, they will make their way through the ship, engaging multiple enemies before they reach Settek.

Choice oriented opportunities will come aplenty as well lowering the kinetic feel of the scenario by handing over some control to the player.

Arena World is also now the primary developing focus of upcoming content with Entrance of Champions And Scrapyard zones in the concept phase. Big imposing doors, menacing opponents and all the related works, will wait for you!

Busy but exciting week in the codelands as Android compatibility testing officially kicked off! Good new is that the bugs found till now are few and far between, but we're still on the lookout for more feedback so if it fancies your inner tester, check out this post for more details.

And finally, the usual work continues on plugin troubleshooting and optimization, albeit at a light pace as our coder is in the process of moving his current domicile. Rest assured, he is expected to settle down at his new place by the end of this month so we'll be chugging full speed ahead towards the next release in no time.

And that winds it down for this one. Thanks for sticking with us and we'll see you in the next one.

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

VoidBound On Android: Looking for testers!

Hi everyone,

With VoidBound's completion inching ever closer with each passing month, the team here at CA has decided to explore and expand the game's compatible platform list from Windows to Mac, Linux and of-course Android mobile operating system!

With popularity of "gaming on the go" skyrocketing these past few years, our focus falls on the Android based mobile segment first and currently we have three ways of going about it:

1) Running the game on the smartphone via APK: Currently not possible

We're facing **technological conversion issues which is preventing VoidBound from running natively off an APK. In simple words- right now we are unable to make the game run on smartphones directly. Currently, work-in-progress.

2) Running the game on PC via BlueStacks: Currently not possible

For those who don't own a smartphone but like to play mobile games, there is also the option of running the game in an Android emulated environment like "Bluestacks" + "Maldives" on PC. Unfortunately, even though we managed to get the game running, some coding issues seem to be preventing the game from running in dungeon sequences. Currently, troubleshooting and additional work-in-progress.

3) Running the game on the smartphone via Maldives: POSSIBLE

The game does work on a phone as long as it's being run inside a RPG Maker player like Maldives! We know there are other similar apps, but for now we can only confirm seamless install, boot and playback of all core elements on the aforementioned app.

Either way, if you're a pioneer spirit who owns a fairly gaming speced android smartphone device, and is willing to take VoidBound out for a spin for testing and feedback, please join us on our Discord! We have prepared a special role and a separate channel to discuss the intricacies of mobile environment.

Goes without saying- relevant installation instructions are available there as well.

Thank you for reading as well as your time, and as always, we wish you well!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team