Wayward

Hello there everybody,

Did you know that one year ago, today was the first Alpha 1.0 release for Wayward? Don’t worry, neither did I until a couple days ago. Which prompted me to get in gear for the celebrations… no, it’s not a new release, but rather, a new trailer for the upcoming release.

It’s been a great year filled with joy in making this project finally turn into something really special for me (and many others as well). There’s been on and off times throughout much of the year where I didn’t touch Wayward at all… but something definitely kept me coming back… and I’m pretty sure it was all of you guys/gals who supported me with feedback and encouragement.

Wayward is a big project. In fact, it’s really limitless in it’s scope. I could keep adding/improving it forever it feels like. Although I don’t like to personally draw this comparison, take Minecraft for example – it keeps changing and evolving even after it was released. Will it ever end? Who makes that choice? How is that choice made?

It becomes quite clear that for my first public game, I should have chose something easier, quicker, more designed, and more planned. I need the experience. I need the experience because I want that knowledge to make Wayward the best game I can. I keep planning other games that I will make after Wayward, but when will “after” actually come?

Having said all that, I realize that the scope of Wayward creates a following, creates fans of the game. That depth is what makes people come back to play and want to play and explore more of what the game has to offer. The comments I get, the emails, the donations I receive all help my “drive” to complete Wayward, or at least push me to get the next version out.

It seems like each release gets bigger. The wait between each release also gets bigger due to other projects/interests and because of all the changes themselves – some of them particularly complex/hard things to implement. I hope to break this chain with the upcoming beta and then really focus on like perhaps 10 things per release from then on out.

During this period of rest (also known as, the point where I do other things not Wayward development related), I thought I would give a nice shout-out to all the forums out there with people nice enough to plug the game in the form of community discussion.

Blockland! Forum

Discussion by Soukuw

2nd Discussion

Bay 12 Games Forum

Discussion by The Darkling Wolf

Discussion by Davichococat

Data Realms Fan Forums

Discussion by Contrary

/r/WebGames on Reddit

Discussion by outwrangle

Are you now following Wayward as a result of one of these discussions? Have a free pat on the back!

TheUberHunter (aka Game Hunter), prolific roguelike reviewer/commentator has released a two-part playthrough of Wayward. His comments and progression through the game open up all sorts of great tools for me to use to improve on the usability and intuitiveness of Wayward. The playthrough was quite idealistic in many cases; he routinely asks “how do I do this?” which he eventually answers himself through experimentation. There was a couple stumbling blocks a long the way, like right-click confusion – something that I will address in the upcoming version.

Making Wayward is fun, especially when personal goals are met. This was one of those goals; to have somebody review my game in the form of video.

I get asked a lot about the skills in Wayward. Some people are not fans of the skill system and would much rather have more traditional “class” systems in place. The skill system in Wayward is very much, a way to not need classes at all. Rather than forcing players into a role with limitations and boundaries, the player is only limited by how they want to play – in fact, all methods of play are available from the start without artificial class restrictions. It furthers the idea of open-ended gameplay that Wayward is all about. That being said, there is a few issues when dealing with this type of system.

Current Issues:

1. Some skills lack depth and effectiveness.
2. Some skills are simply for crafting success rates.
3. Some skills don’t effect gameplay.

These issues can be fixed, and will be, in the upcoming versions. The next portion of the skill debate is the progression of them. Currently, three systems are in place with Wayward:

1. The higher your skill is, the less chance you have to raise it.
2. The higher your skill is, the less it gains at a time.
3. The higher all your skills are, the slower it is to keep gaining new skills.

The issues that plague these systems are the balancing of them. Since Alpha 1.0, I have slowly been tweaking them, making it easier and easier each time. The 3rd point in the list was added a long the way to add more strategy in the progression of the skills – it makes players think twice about raising random skills at the start and makes them focus; such as what you would do in a real survival situation. That being said, these systems are very much hidden to the player; therefore, ruining my concept behind it. I think I can address these issues, in time, as well.

And yes, in the next version you will see easier skill gains once again.

Yes, as promised, the new alpha is out for your enjoyment – released as part of the 2012 Annual Roguelike Release Party (ARRP). There was tons of changes in this version – hopefully this is the final stretches before getting a solid “beta” version out. Some things you will love in this version (without spoiling it too much):

• Treasure hunting
• Iron-based crafts
• New soundtrack by Austin Dhillon
• 40+ new items
• Monster loot tables

Special shout-outs to Jeff, Silloe, and Jarkko for all the bug testing for this release.

Also, a very huge (and special) shout-out to Austin Dhillon who composed the complete Wayward soundtrack. Four brilliantly moody and atmospheric tracks with the right touches of modern and retro.

Play it now:
http://www.unlok.ca/wayward/ 

Although Chrome and Firefox have both stopped supporting the local sound/music playing (via Flash), you can grab the (silent) downloadable version here: http://www.unlok.ca/wayward_alpha1.5.zip

Back with a quick update on alpha 1.4 and 1.5. Did you manage to catch those new tunes? More details on that coming up soon!

Changelog: http://www.unlok.ca/wayward-free-changelog/

It’s a shame this will not be supported cross-browser sooner. This kind of thing will open up much more customization in Wayward without a lot of overhead, programming or asset creation – everything can be changed on the fly using some really neat Webkit (Chrome/Safari) CSS image filter properties. Below is an example using the fabled “Golden Sword” available in Wayward. This is all using the same graphic.

1. Golden Sword
2. Inferior Golden Sword
   -webkit-filter:saturate(0.8) contrast(0.8);
3. Exceptional Golden Sword
   -webkit-filter:contrast(1.2) saturate(1.2) brightness(0.1);
4. Iron Sword
   -webkit-filter:grayscale(1);
5. Bronze Sword
   -webkit-filter:hue-rotate(10deg) saturate(1.2);
6. Ultra Rare Super Awesome Ice Blade +3
   -webkit-filter:hue-rotate(160deg) saturate(2.0);

Obviously there’s a lot more possibilities here than shown above. Additional note: There is some very “hacky” ways to get cross-browser support for some of these things using just CSS involving some SVG tricks for Firefox and Microsoft filter effects for IE, but will not produce the same range of effects as Webkit’s implementation allows.

Written by blacklight

After three days of harvesting food, wood, and rock, I’ve finally gained enough supplies to venture by a makeshift boat. I push out to sea, beating back the sharks as I ran and dove in. I blacked out to find myself at another island much like the one I left. But wait… the inhabitants of this land seem much more hostile… Imps… Imps everywhere. I run to the nearest forest knowing that I can only hope to hide from the monsters in the great number that they are hunting me in.

I must quickly gather the supplies for a new boat. This savage land has no sandstone, the last ingredient I need to create my kiln. I will soon die without fresh water. These thistle seeds will keep me going for another day or two, but after that…Well, I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hit the tree with my fists again and again in a blind rage. “WHY. WON’T. YOU. DROP. BRANCHES?” I collapse in a ball sobbing and screaming my god or any being that might hear “Damn you Vaughn. DAAAMN YOUUUUU.”

A day and a night pass while I wail away at the nearby trees. The local monsters are getting bolder each night. First came the rats, and a sentient blob of slime. Too stupid to realize that a spear would make short work of them. Living nightmares come next, skin dripping from their faces. Faces that strike a chord somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I know these men must be my shipmates. I swiftly put them out of their misery with a couple of sick wet chops of my axe.

The bark of the trees of this isle is tough and thick, but flexible, I’ve tied it around my arms and legs and it protects me from these sad demons and their groans of despair. The sun is up again… The damn blistering sun is drying out my leather. A piece cracks and I clumsily destroy some materials. Luckily an inquisitive bear volunteers its hide as a replacement. My boat is complete and I’m ready to escape again. But what fresh hell awaits me on my new island? Or will I just sail endlessly for days until I’m too weak to fend off the assault of the abhorrent sea creatures?

I float in to a new island as dawn breaks. The bleeding seems to have stopped… I look for a nearby cove to take shelter in, maybe if I find some string I can sew these wounds shut. I find a dark stony corner mostly surrounded by trees. I roll out my makeshift leaf blanket hoping that some rest will make my head stop swimming. I dream of a town, my town, and my family waiting for me sitting on a chair by the fire. I can feel feet on fire. A red slime is covering them, I try to fight it off but am too weak. A terrified squeal is all I can release “No, not like this… Not like this”.

YOU ARE DEAD!

Got a couple requests to make a Subreddit, so, it’s now a thing – introducing the Wayward Subreddit. Not much there yet, but might be a cool place for some more interactive discussions.

Also new to the discussion front is the Wayward IRC channel (#wayward on freenode.net) – started by nefD. Again, not much going on there currently, but just another way to “hang out” with fans of Wayward. Don’t have an IRC client? Launch the web-based client (link will automatically go to the #wayward channel).

Want to subscribe to this blog to receive updates through RSS readers or email? We got you covered for that as well.

That’s all for now.