Hey all,

Thanks for taking a look at our 7th newsletter. Oh ya, and also happy Wayward anniversary! We have some news to share on beta 2.9 as well as information on how you can help support the project going forward as we approach some really big game-changing milestones for Wayward development.

Steam Broadcast & Live Q&A

As this post goes live, I’ll be testing the Steam broadcasting waters so to speak with a live Q&A while playing some Wayward instead of the normal Twitch streaming I do. Tune in now (for the next couple of hours)!

One Day Sale

If you are reading this, then you are lucky enough not to be reading this newsletter on Steam. Which means, you will know that we are offering Wayward for -30% off for one day only via our website and the Humble Store which will give you a Steam key as well. We will have this offer on Steam as well down the road, but due to some oversights, we can’t offer it at this time over there.

Beta 2.9 Teasers & Information

Traveling

Coming up in beta 2.9, we will see the ability to travel to new sets of islands without losing your current save and world, essentially, leading to infinite world generation and exploration.

Ice Cap

Here’s a sneak-peek at the new snowy biome. It’s one of three themes for new island types. Each island type will feature new content, resources, and many things unique only to that island type. Beta 2.9 will feature arid, ice cap, and coastal island types for starters. We’ll be working on more as we go as well.

Arid

Although the desert biome has always been present in every set of islands, it will now be much more fully featured with its own unique resources and cave system. Something worth traveling for!

Usually we have everything we are working on available on our development branch. With this one, we are going to wait a bit before pushing it out for everybody to test and play with as there will likely be some game breaking bugs that we want to iron out first. Stay tuned for that!

Supporting Wayward

Wishlist & Follow

First of all, if you haven’t already purchased Wayward, make sure to wishlist it for the future, especially if you are one of those waiting for a non-early access release (or just waiting for a big discount) before taking the plunge. If you already have bought it, make sure to give us a follow so you can keep up with all the news and releases we announce on Steam (like this newsletter).

Tagging

Steam recently added a bunch of new tags in order to label games more accurately. Due to the tumultuous history of the “roguelike” genre, we now have a “traditional roguelike” tag that properly describes games like Wayward. You can help us categorize Wayward (and any other game) with the proper tags by editing them on the store page here:

Here’s all the tags that I found (arguably) fit Wayward when looking through them all:

Reviews

If you haven’t had a chance to leave us feedback, make sure you write a review on the game. We use review feedback as one of the ways to improve the game and add more to our ever-growing to-do list.

If you’ve already reviewed the game, make sure to upvote any reviews you find helpful as this helps show more useful reviews to those deciding on purchasing the game or not.

Community Features

Save Games

Ever since beta 2.0 when we first released on Steam, we have had support for Steam Workshop-based saves. You can see everybody’s uploads here.

Explore somebody else’s world, or upload your own via the in-game export featured in the load game menu:

And choose the “Steam Workshop” option to share your creation or world. It’s always fun snooping through other player’s giant walls of wooden chests.

Screenshots

Taking a screenshot of your in-game creations is probably the easiest way to create community content for Wayward, not including all the time you spent building those floors and walls…

Here’s a few of my recent favorites from the community.

AI Player 2 finishes their base:

eXp術 reaches the iron age:

Mr. Rogers cries in slime tears:

GhettoVan shows off their island moat:

Discord

The largest gathering place for our small community. If you haven’t joined already, make sure to do so here.

Steam Chat

If you are looking to chat with the Wayward community on a much smaller scale and without a separate application, then your best bet is the Wayward Steam chat. Join the chat here.

Feature Voting

If you haven’t already checked it out, make sure to visit the feature voting page on our website to vote on upcoming features.

It’s looking like the next, next release is going to be dungeons, but it’s a bit too early to say for sure. Dungeons are one of those “really big game-changing milestones” I was talking about.

I hope everybody is doing good, well, as good as they can be at the moment. Stay safe!

Stay tuned and thanks for the support over the years!

We have a bit of an unusual release ready for everybody. A new release that is looking pretty chunky for being a minor update. This is a collection of things we have been improving while working on the next major update. Something like a midway point release. Enjoy! Let us know if you run into any issues.

In other news, we have transitioned the Wayward soundtracks over to the new “Soundtrack” category on Steam. This means you can purchase them independently of the game (they no longer count as DLC).

• https://store.steampowered.com/app/988620/Wayward_Soundtrack_Volume_Alpha/
• https://store.steampowered.com/app/988621/Wayward_Soundtrack_Volume_Beta/

As for news on the next major release, we have decided to work on seafaring, persistent world travel, and themed biomes/islands (and all the unique content that comes with that). Some of the things that have been continually requested by the playerbase.

We’ll have more news on that coming up soon! On with the changelog:

Read more…

We have a small patch ready to mostly fix up that auto saving issue. We were also able to squeeze in a few other things we were working on. More to come soon!

Let us know about any other issues you spot!

Improvements

• Where possible, the scheduled autosaves will now be combined with rest/sleep in order to be less disruptive.
• Skeletal remains will now animate based on proximity instead of when facing them.
• Improved client disconnection logic when a multiplayer game has closed.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed auto saving happening during resting/sleeping, causing delays that sometimes lasted after the rest/sleep.
• Fixed the “Close Container” action not working when using it from a quickslot hotkey.
• Fixed the “inedible” and “poisoned” notes describing you drinking from a waterskin when drinking from water directly. (Thanks jettix!)
• Fixed scrollbars appearing next to status effect icons when pixel font was disabled. (Thanks Sneed!)
• Fixed an outdated wooden flooring item graphic.

Balance

• Ash cement is no longer made with clay, but will require more ash and consume water fully.
• All items now have a higher variety of weights, allowing slightly lower weight on all items. A very select few items have been raised in weight to compensate for this change.
• Piles of ash can now weight up to 0.2.

Hey all,

Just a smaller release this time around. Even though it’s smaller, it still has some great new features packed in. Here’s a few important-ish things:

Pass Trough Creatures

You can now pass through weaker or flying creatures by disabling auto attack; however, they may attack you as you pass, leading to some more strategic escapes.

Improved Building Visuals

The contrast was lacking between flooring, walls, and structures. We’ve boosted this a bit to make your abode a bit nicer looking.

Crafting Efficacy

Introducing crafting efficacy. Starting at 20% crafting skill, you will begin to get a rating on each craft, letting you now how effective you are (using your combination of item and doodad qualities/tiers). The higher this value, the better chance at a higher quality and durability for your craft. You can read more about this in the help menu. The underlying system for this was already in place, it was just invisible to the player.

Auto-save Options

Due to popular demand, you can now set the auto save interval based on turns or time. Auto saving will also no longer stop you in your tracks, disabling movement after, and should be much more painless.

Multiplayer Improvements

The server browser will show all games except for private games. Friends-only games and games running in different versions will now be shown so you can switch versions or shoot over a friend request if you spot a game you want to join.

Additionally, we have fixed an issue with multiplayer games and how player’s are identified. You may run into issues with pre-existing multiplayer games because of this. The player data is not lost and we can help you out if you send us over the save and the Steam IDs (or Steam profiles) of the players in the game. We will correct the saves for you. Apologies for the issues!

Oh ya, and Happy New Year!

New

• You can now pass/walk through smaller or flying creatures by disabling auto attack; however, they may attack you as you pass.
• Crafts will now give a rating of how effective you are when crafting the item (for maximal quality/durability results) based on item/doodad qualities and item/doodad tiers.
• Added an option to configure the autosave timer, and toggle between turns and time elapsed.
• Added status warnings to stat tooltips (when hovering over stats).

Improvements

• All multiplayer games will show now in the server browser, regardless of friend status or version differences except for private games.
• Improved contrast of flooring versus walls (and all built structures) for all resource types for improved clarity.
• Liquid containers can now drop or be crafted with the “potency” legendary type.
• Autosave no longer stops movement.
• Reduced the size of the non-pixel font slightly.
• Fixed a few instances where item qualities were not specified in messages.
• The last save time and save size are now viewable in the save button tooltip.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed incorrect player identifiers being set when joining multiplayer games.
• Fixed an incorrect warning message appearing for destroying plants from gathering. (Thanks Davadin!)
• Fixed an issue where only the first consumed item in a craft would be used for tier bonus calculations.
• Fixed terrain qualities not appearing until reloading the save game again.
• Fixed a scrollbar appearing beside stats and attributes in several cases. (Thanks Sneed!)
• Fixed containers changing legendary types when being consumed. (Thanks Dodging Rain!)
• Fixed a bug where some doodads would count for double the bonus when using them in a craft.
• Fixed flashing occurring when opening the Steam overlay while in-game.
• Fixed the consumable message not highlighting bad versus good stat changes.
• Fixed animal fat still counting as fuel, leading to 0 added decay when added to torches. (Thanks EatAtSardis!)
• Corrected numerous pluralization issues.
• Fixed health always being set to maximum if any other health stat option is applied.
• Fixed there not being a way to configure your starting max health in custom game mode.
• Fixed mod issues interrupt not listing which mods were required when joining a multiplayer game.
• Fixed tile mapping issues with ash cement flooring.

Technical

• Defaulted more cards to use DirectX9 that had graphic issues.

Following the theme of big minor patches, we present beta 2.8.2, another big minor patch. In this release you’ll see a lot of fixes and improvements, but also something a lot of people have been waiting for. Better networking!

Hopefully the days are gone where you would need to do some router wizardry to host a Wayward game. We have implemented Steam networking support. This is all automatic, so you shouldn’t have to worry about anything besides staying alive in-game.

And how about all that ash that has been building up from the campfires and water stills? Well, now with a bit of effort, you can turn it into ash cement to build walls and flooring. Reduce, reuse, and recycle!

This holiday season you can also stay cool with a new feature that warns you when attempting to sleep with a lit torch/candle, a long requested feature for the “Warn on Dangerous Actions” option.

Some other related changes to resting/sleeping include:

• Increased effectiveness of resting or sleeping by fire sources or when using bedding items/doodads.
• Sleeping will now mitigate hunger and thirst more effectively than just resting.

These are just a few examples of what’s in store for this release. On another note, happy early holidays! Hope you get a game or two in!

New

• Added support for Steam networking, allowing players to connect to and host multiplayer games where they were not able to before due to networking issues.
• Added ash cement, crafted from all that leftover ash, to be used for walls and flooring.
• Added a help article explaining the differences between resting and sleeping and other regenerative bonuses.

Improvements

• If “Warn on Dangerous Actions” is enabled, players will now be warned when attempting to sleep with a lit fire source equipped.
• Terrain can now spawn with differing qualities (like plants, trees, and other doodads do).
• Consumption stat messages are now condensed into a single message.
• Messages produced by dismantling and disassembling are now condensed/combined.
• Improved performance of receiving items from actions, especially for any that returned multiple items (such as from dismantling, disassembling, gathering, decaying items, etc.).
• Large numbers in the game are now broken up by locale-supported separators (such as commas or periods).
• Added detail on how score is calculated in the “Challenge Mode” section within the “Game Modes” help article.
• Drawn maps can now be dismantled.
• Improved skill descriptions and help to include the fact that skill does impact quality of items gathered or harvested.
• Sorting items by quality now sorts legendary types as well.
• Blood is no longer spawned when the damage type is not piercing or slashing.
• Added more information on the “Milestone Modifier” system within the “Milestones” help article.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed quests not looking into containers for required items. (Thanks EatAtSardis!)
• Fixed an error when loading saved games from the Steam Workshop.
• Fixed an oversight that did not allow you to fish up aberrant mudskippers. (Thanks num ca nem vi!)
• Fixed the “Seafaring” milestone not unlocking until rejoining a saved game. (Thanks Caerold!)
• Fixed drawn maps having negative and/or too low durability. (Thanks Zalpha!)
• Fixed animal dung not counting as compost. (Thanks Davadin!)
• Fixed creature tooltips returning an incorrect happiness level. (Thanks sol!)
• Fixed custom game options initial strength applying more strength than intended.
• Fixed stat modifiers applying more to health than intended. (Thanks bored_o_mir!)
• Fixed multiple stats display issues on smaller resolutions & ui scales.
• Fixed a brief screen flash when loading into the game. (Thanks Zalpha!)
• Fixed servers sometimes showing incorrect regions in the server browser.
• Fixed the message filter name input not being correct when viewing subsequent filters.
• Fixed attempting to soothe burn injury messages appearing on permanent burning pain.
• Fixed an issue where not moving your cursor when crafting/dismantling would not always re-highlight required items in the craft/dismantle. (Thanks blay.paul!)
• Potentially fixed issues with music switching randomly.
• Fixed a bug where creatures that turned aberrant would not regenerate their loot to match. (Thanks num ca nem vi!)
• Fixed dismantling and disassembling saying all items were destroyed when some in fact were returned.
• Fixed the “Corpse” note not displaying the creature’s name.
• Fixed the protected “P” visual not updating on quickslots when enabling/disabling protected options.
• Fixed performance issues on certain distributions of Linux.
• Fixed a grammar issue where you “cooked cooked” food items. (Thanks Arnkh!)
• Fixed the messages dialog toggle not working correctly if the messages component was hidden.

Balance

• Increased effectiveness of resting or sleeping by fire sources or when using bedding items/doodads.
• Sleeping will now mitigate hunger and thirst more effectively than just resting.
• You can now perform actions on rafts that normally would have counted as “in water” or “swimming”, disabling you from performing them.
• You can no longer pet a creature indefinitely. It will reject your advances after a certain happiness and petting threshold is met.
• Increased the durability of the raft and decreased items required to craft it (also reducing its weight slightly).
• Reduced reputation gain from petting.
• Reduced raw clay (and non-clay brick items) weights significantly.
• Raw clay bricks now require two raw clay to craft.

Modding

• Fixed Input.setMaxLength. (Thanks Amax!)
• Removed named variables present in language files to make it easier for translators.

Technical

• Added a disableGpuDriverBugWorkarounds launch option for debugging purposes.
• Full conversion/version history is now saved in each game save.

Welcome to beta 2.8.1, the not so minor, minor patch. Luckily, in the last major release, we didn’t have many major issues to sort out, allowing us to focus on adding more content and smoothing out some important areas of the game for this release.

We focused on performance for sure, but we made sure to improve on plenty of lacking areas as well including fishing, reinforcing, and other UI/UX improvements. I encourage you to check all the new things out!

While this is a sizable release, we still have more to work on in the 2.8.x series of patches. There’s still a few more things to smooth out. Continue to give us feedback on the game! Make sure to check out our Discord if you haven’t yet, or shoot me a friend request on Steam!

Read more…

Sorry about that wait! The next major Wayward update is finally upon us! To help celebrate the release, Wayward is -25% off for the next 7 days.

This release we focused on many improvements and a new unlockable system for added replayability. There’s not really a theme here to speak of, hence the naming of “odds & ends”. Some of the stand-out additions include:

• Introducing “Milestone Modifiers”, a new form of unlockables. Toggle-able modifiers are granted upon the completion of milestones (in-game achievements).
• Added a new “refinement” mechanic to reduce item weight at the cost of durability using special refinement tools.
• Three new creatures added, one with a unique mechanic and use in the late-game. SECRETS!
• Stills will no longer require containers when crafting. You will now be able to attach/detach the container (with added visuals) to the still and gather water or drink from directly.
• Added scale armor, crafted from reptile skin using the leatherworking skill.
• Over 30 new items and crafts added with three new legendary properties.

The preview video shows a few more notable features:

Our plan with the upcoming 2.8.x series of patches is to continue to improve these small and large areas of the game, smoothing everything out to make way for something big with 2.9. We aren’t entirely sure what we want to focus on quite yet, but there’s a few things on our short list based on what players voted for on the new feature voting page. Make sure you vote on what you would like to see in the game next!

We’re in it for the long haul, and not in Valve’s Artifact version of “the long haul”. Thanks for sticking around!

On with the mega changelog:

Read more…

Hey all,

So, what’s the status on beta 2.8? We have been working on it, although admittedly a bit slower than normal. According to our FAQ statement on releases, we should have dropped a new major release around this time. Unfortunately, some of the things we planned on (redesigned crafting) have proved to take much longer than anticipated. So, instead of making this major take even longer, we switched tracks and instead focused on other areas. This delay has been compounded a bit due to the birth of my daughter. I’m having a lot less free time than normal as you would expect. Wayward is a part-time endeavor for all of us, so the timing of major releases can be a bit variable.

That being said, we are still making changes and additions on a day to day basis, and our work is always available for review and play via the development branch. We are now up to 141 changes, improvements, additions, and fixes. If that’s something you are interested in, make sure to check out the details on how to play it by checking out the Changing Betas/Branches for Wayward guide.

I would expect us to take another 1-2 months to get beta 2.8 released and tested. Thank you all for the testing you have done so far, and to the few that were affected, RIP those save games in that last major bug. Apologies!

On to the new reveals for beta 2.8:

Milestone Modifiers

We have replaced all previous meta-progression from milestones with a brand new system. Previously, milestones would provide bonus items and stats when starting new games. While some liked this, many wanted the game to remain the same difficulty when starting. Enter milestone modifiers! With each milestone you unlock, you can tailor your game with unique scenarios and bonuses. This of course is now optional instead of bonuses being forced on subsequent playthroughs. It also adds a little bit more reason for grinding out those tough milestones.

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Colored Lighting

You’ll find a few new sources of colored lighting in 2.8, including a quite unique creature.

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Sandstone and Rock Ground

A perfect accompaniment to the mountain ranges in the game, providing more visual appeal and resources.

If you missed the last reveals we did on beta 2.8, make sure to check them out on the Happy (Late) Wayward Day! post.

Stay tuned!

Happy Wayward Day! Okay, well, not quite. Due to some scheduling conflicts, we are a “few” days from April 22nd. For the 3rd year of Wayward on Steam, we are offering our best sale yet at -30% off for the next 24 hours on Steam or through the widget on our website.

We are still hard at work on beta 2.8, but we thought we would spoil a few upcoming features and announce a new feature voting page on our website.

Feature Voting

In the past, we have shared interactive polls (using the poll.ly service) for players to share what they would like to see next in version of Wayward. Unfortunately using this service resulted in some vote manipulation, dodgy submission, and less than ideal ordering and sorting features.

Check out the new feature voting page here: http://www.waywardgame.com/vote

We ensured the most popular features are available for voting since submissions are no longer available through our new feature voting page. We aren’t removing the ability suggest new features of course, rather just “approving” them on our end before listing them. Please share your suggestions via our forums, social media, or chat as per usual. Please also check out or Trello to see a full listing of submitted ideas and future plans: https://trello.com/b/PWX1Hpjn/wayward-todo

Water Still Changes

Stills will no longer require containers to craft them, meaning, if you want, you can use a single container for desalinating water. You can now spot visually exactly what container is attached to each and their fullness state (in the case of glass bottles and waterskins).

You can now attach and detach containers as you want as well as drink directly from the still.

Item Refinement and Weight Bonuses

A large part of the mid-to-late game of Wayward is managing item weight and starting to think about crafting items using the lowest weight components. While this is an intentional system for players to min/max, we wanted to introduce another strategy. Crafted items with higher weights will now provide bonus max durability. Additionally, a new system called “refinement” has been implemented through the use of new metal “refinement tools”, which will allow you refine most items, reducing their overall weight at the cost of some maximum durability (which can still be increased through reinforcement). With all these new systems, players can strategize which they want to focus on: weight or durability, or even somewhere in the middle.

This image shows weight and durability before/after refining and how many refines were used (not all are maxed out in the example). The maximum refinement depends on the item and at what weight it started at.

And of course, you can still reinforce the item’s durability back to optimal values with a lot of glue!

Here’s a showcase of how weight can now affect maximum durability:

Scale Armor

Leatherworkers rejoice! You can now work with more than hides and look extra stylish while maintaining quite competent defense values – comparable to copper or wrought iron, but a lot less heavy and durable.

These features and more are of course available to test and try out on the development branch. You can find more information on how to do this here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=721479594

Stay tuned for more reveals and updates!

The following is an April Fools’ announcement.

Hello all,

Coming at you today with some great news for certain players. The recent state of our reviews makes it clear to us that Wayward is attracting far too many players that are not familiar with traditional challenging, turn-based roguelike games with grid-based movement. We never anticipated more casual players finding the game. No, Wayward is not like Stardew Valley! It has led to a lot of frustration and confusion on both our parts and the players who subsequently refund the game, after leaving a negative review of course.

Because of this, we are taking a step back and re-focusing our efforts to make a game that tailors only to true hardcore gamers. Gamers that don’t need fancy graphics or free movement to be satisfied.

Wayward is moving to ASCII! Here’s a preview of what is to come.

One of our developers has also been investing a large amount of time into a VR port, all done in ASCII of course. This will be one way we can combat all the UI issues the game has.

Stay tuned for more (real) updates!