Hey, everyone. We’ve got patch notes for you for the latest Pre-Release update. Since Pre-Release is work in progress, bugs are expected and we could really use your help testing. We appreciate any bug reports and feedback you send our way on the Pre-Release forum. * If you’re not familiar with Pre-Release, it’s the unstable developer branch we use for testing new stuff. More info here.

Patch Notes [Pre-Release v0.6.3]

• Creature Builder UX Improvements
  • Toolbars have been removed and all actions are now done by interacting directly with the Life Blocks themselves. No more swapping “tools” as you build! This makes it easier to get Life Blocks exactly where you want them and removes unnecessary complexity. (The UI was getting crowded!) A quick guide:

• Add: Drag a Life Block from the tray on the left to your creature (Clicking to add will also be returning soon so you’ll be able to choose your favorite method when building.)
• Rotate: Use the [R] key while dragging, or click a Life Block on your creature to select it and then click the rotate button that appears
• Move: Click on a Life Block on your creature and drag it around wherever you want it. You can grab single blocks or whole groups.
• Remove: Click on a Life Block on your creature to select it, then click the trash can or use the [Del] key. (The block is returned to your inventory in Adventure Mode.)
• Camera focus: Now auto-focuses around the Life Block you have selected. No need to refocus manually.
• Tell us what you think of the new system.
• New Character & Crafting Journal panels in progress
  • New item inspection box lets you view stats and other useful info for items in various inventory and crafting panels
  • New crafting interface
    • Filter recipes using the icons on the left
    • See all the resources needed at a glance
    • Queueing added to workstations. Add up to 4 items so the station keeps working while you’re away (as long as your creature can handle the workload!)
    • Remember that some recipes require workstations to craft, even if you have all the resources. We’ll be adding this info to the UI soon.
  • Toolbox now replaces Crafting panel in Creative Mode for easy access to all items in the game
  • Character panel now includes a spot for some fun adventure stats. (They’re all 0 for now. We’ll be hooking these up in the future.)
  • More improvements coming as we work on this, including much-needed item stack functionality

• New Creature Power & Tiers System
  • A new stat called Creature Power (CP) combines a creature’s stats, abilities, and level to give you an overall estimate of how powerful that creature is.
  • Compare CPs when you run across a creature in the wild or face a challenger in the Arena to see if the fight will be more evenly matched.
  • As you build a creature, keep an eye on the new stats breakdown to immediately see how each Life Block you add affects your creature.
    • As more stats and abilities are added to a creature, it moves into higher Build Tiers (replaces the old “build limit” system) and CP increases.
    • Stats are broken down and color-coded per category: health, energy, attack, defense, movement speed, range, abilities
    • This new stat breakdown UI helps you strategize your builds and decide what your creature’s strengths and weaknesses are within each Build Tier. You may have to trade speed for health, or a combat ability for a farming one, depending on the type of creature you’re trying to build.
    • The current bright rainbow stat breakdown will be made much prettier in the future. ;)
  • Build Tier limiting is currently disabled in Adventure Mode, meaning creature progression is unbalanced and you’ll be able to make very strong creatures early on in survival. This will be working in a future build.

• 10 default creature combatants added to the Arena
  • These creatures are ready for battle so you can jump straight into Arena matches. Pit two of these creatures in the same tier against each other to see how they match up.
  • These span the tiers and have a range of abilities. They’re a great way to test out the new points and tiers systems before building your own creatures.
  • Find them in the Discovered tab

• Adventure Mode Updates
  • No more scene load between the temple and open world
  • Various visual improvements made to the terrain
  • Initial tutorial area size greatly reduced and quests have been removed for now in preparation for upcoming changes to the on-boarding/tutorial sequence
• Creature Art Updates
  • Texturing improvements to dog, pig, crab, and elephant
  • Eye shaders fixed
  • Dog fur improvements
  • Bad normals/vertices on dog mouth fixed
  • Leg animation improvements
• Creature data optimization
  • Creature data rewritten to reduce hitches and improve performance as creatures load in the world or when they are edited

Quick links for testers:

• Instructions for how to get on Pre-Release
• Please post your bugs and feedback on our forums
• You can also join us on our CHKN discord to post bugs, feedback, or questions (or just hang out!)

Arena Battles Livestream with BrettUltimus