We have more great news to share with you all! DwarfHeim has just passed the 70K wishlist mark!
This is an incredible milestone for us and it's so exciting to see interest in our game and the DwarfHeim community increase so much! This is wonderful news that we simply had to share with you all because it would not be possible with you, our fantastic Dwarf loving players! You make this possible and make us even more excited to bring you this great game!
We appreciate your continued support steamhappy Ross @ Merge

[ 2020-07-01 14:37:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Make sure to tune in to our Twitch channel tomorrow at 7 pm CEST! Some of our dev team will be available to answer any questions that you have about Dwarfheim for an AMA! On this AMA you will meet:
Hans-Andreas Kleven - co-founder, CEO and Game Director. Hans-Andreas is the leading the charge in all the development aspects of DwarfHeim. Hes been a part of the birth of the concept of DwarfHeim and has carried the whole vision so far. Hes the busiest member of our team so were lucky to have him for a whole hour! Take advantage of it! Marianne Nathalie Austvik - Producer, COO and Sound Director. Marianne started off as our Sound Designer but ended up having better control of the whole game development landscape than anyone else and very naturally slid into a COO position while also carrying out many producer tasks. Marianne is a diamond for Pineleaf and a knowledgeable gamer, were lucky to have her on the team and the stream. Sigurd Murad - CTO and Master of Technology. Sigurd is a kind of genius that were so lucky to have leading our programing and technology development. He's a vital part of our design and admin team. Kenneth Kristensen - Lead Programmer. Kenneth is such a vital member of our team and filled to the brink with information about the game. This is your chance to prod him of as many details as you can! Follow our channel here: https://www.twitch.tv/pineleafstudio and get your questions ready! Also - remember that our servers will be up for 24 hours this weekend, from 8 pm CEST Friday to 8 pm CEST Saturday! Sign-up here if you want to play with us: https://forms.gle/TD8Guw1pq9efpsex7

[ 2020-04-23 11:37:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everybody! Here we are again to tell you that 5 new levels are available in the Steam Workshop! They are all based in 1968. Obviously, we are talking about this: Protests of 1968 on Wikipedia
These levels were all produced by students of Accademia delle Belle Arti di Bologna (Art Academy of Bologna). So, thanks to:

• ELENA MAZZUCCATO (Tlatelolco massacre, Mexico)
• MI-CHIAMO-Z (Battle of Statale Milan, Italy)
• TOMMASO BONETTI (Sorbonne riots, France)
• ANDREA MALVEZZI (Columbia University riots, USA)
• MARCO SESSA (Valle Giulia in Rome, Italy)

and to Kyle Morena for editing these levels. Enjoy and RIOT ON! Ivan

[ 2019-04-19 09:25:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Following the full release of RIOT: Civil Unrest last month, the team has been busy working on tightening up the code even more. The latest build features the following changes / fixes / updates:

• Fixed police units getting stuck when arresting rioters
• Fix of "automatic optimization" sampling system
• Various minor bug fixes
• New Sci-Fi level released on the workshop

Please keep the feedback coming. For bug reports, post here. For suggestions, post here.

[ 2019-03-04 15:31:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've pressed the button and RIOT: Civil Unrest full release version 1.0 is out now. Download and play the new levels by grabbing them through the Steam Workshop. The developers have created new scenarios and are working on more. Try these to start with -

• Hamburg, Germany G20 Rote Flora
• Mashhad, Iran Shohahad Square protests
• Buenos Aires, Argentina Financial reform protests
• Rhineland, Germany - Ende Gelnde movement, mining protests
• Paris, France Yellow Vests protest
• Fantasy Orks vs Knights

Of course, you could dive straight in and create your own levels. The Steam Workshop Editor is feature rich and includes:

• Name your riot, create a description of the event and add many other details ( where, when, links etc. )
• Add your images to backgrounds
• Place and edit sprites from a library with more than 700 objects
• Add lights, vehicles, particles effects and filters
• Customise the characters skins, clothes and gears
• Set the Gameplay rules defining the rebels and police teams and the objective.
• Share it on Steam Workshop!

The team have been working on a number of updates and fixes. Of course, they'll keep working on more. If you have any issues, please post your findings in this thread - reporting issues. We already know there are issues with the fire and the team are working on a hot fix right now (no pun intended).

• Added "automatic optimization" options in the main menu. It will adjust the quality settings and physics quality based on your fps.- NOTE: If you're experiencing poor performance drop your settings.
• Fixed frame rate drop that happened by changing teams repeatedly
• Optimized tear gas smoke fx, especially at low quality settings
• Optimized spry gas fx
• Optimized chorus fx
• Fixed some problems that could trigger or crash a level (at start or after the victory)
• Fixed video and images size in the wiki section
• Fixed the mouse wheel navigation in the wiki section
• Fixed various performance issue
• Added FPS cap in game menus
• Fixed some bugs with incorrectly initialized launchable objects, which could lead to some gameplay errors
• Fixed various bugs in the tutorial
• Fixed japanese translation
• Added back the missing firecracker sfx
• Fixed wrong font size after changing language in options menu
• Fixed the disappearance of the UI in some levels
• Fixed some in-game-popups that remained in play without disappearing

Languages update - RIOT: Civil Unrest now supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, simplified Chinese and Russian. RIOT ON!

[ 2019-02-12 16:37:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

RIOT: Civil Unrest will officially leave Early Access next week! Tuesday February 5th will see the full release of v1.0 of the game. We will be increasing the games price to $16.99 / 16.99 / 12.99 thank you to everyone who supported us in Early Access.
Included in the release will be six new levels (with a Sci-Fi level to follow later). The six new challenges have been put together by the team at IVP using the games level editor. The locations have been taken from recent clashes as well as showing the versatility of the editor to completely change the look and feel of the game with the Fantasy and forthcoming Sci-Fi levels.
New Levels

• Hamburg, Germany G20 Rote Flora
• Mashhad, Iran Shohahad Square protests
• Buenos Aires, Argentina Financial reform protests
• Rhineland, Germany - Ende Gelnde movement, mining protests
• Paris, France Yellow Vests protest
• Fantasy Orks vs Knights

Thanks to everyone who has been testing the level editor out in its beta format. The team have been working hard to integrate your suggestions and fix any issues with the editor. The feature list looks like this:

• Name your riot, create a description of the event and add many other details ( where, when, links etc. )
• Add your images to backgrounds
• Place and edit sprites from a library with more than 700 objects
• Add lights, vehicles, particles effects and filters
• Customise the characters skins, clothes and gears
• Set the Gameplay rules defining the rebels and police teams and the objective.
• Share it on Steam Workshop!

Finally, heres a list of updates and fixes that will go into the release version of RIOT: Civil Unrest. The team are still working so expect even more when we launch on February 5th.

• Added "automatic optimization" options in the main menu. It will adjust the quality settings and physics quality based on your fps.
• Fixed frame rate drop that happened by changing teams repeatedly
• Optimized tear gas smoke fx, especially at low quality settings
• Optimized spry gas fx
• Optimized chorus fx
• Fixed some problems that could trigger or crash a level (at start or after the victory)
• Fixed video and images size in the wiki section
• Fixed the mouse wheel navigation in the wiki section
• Fixed various performance issue
• Added FPS cap in game menus
• Fixed some bugs with incorrectly initialized launchable objects, which could lead to some gameplay errors
• Fixed various bugs in the tutorial
• Fixed japanese translation
• Added back the missing firecracker sfx
• Fixed wrong font size after changing language in options menu
• Fixed the disappearance of the UI in some levels
• Fixed some in-game-popups that remained in play without disappearing

Join the revolution - Tuesday 5th February RIOT ON!

[ 2019-01-28 15:23:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join the Revolution! But do it soon. Riot: Civil Unrest is set to come out of Early Access in February. Be sure to check in on Monday to find out what's planned. In the meantime be sure to take a look at the new trailer on the store page. Have a great weekend. RIOT ON! Don't forget you can join the RIOT: Civil Unrest channel on our Discord server. https://discordapp.com/invite/merge

[ 2019-01-25 14:53:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

The RIOT team have been busy working on updates and fixes to the core game. These include:
OPTIMIZATIONS & STABILITY

• Several low-level changes should improve CPU, GPU and memory performances and gain stability.
• Several minor bug fixes

GAMEPLAY & BALANCING

• Changes in Battle of the Camel level balancing and collisions
• Tweaked global mode levels balancing for a better progression
• Solved several units navigation bugs
• Small changes to gamepad control system

As promised the BETA version of the Level Editor is+ also available for you+ to experiment with. As its the first time weve let you lose on the editor there will undoubtedly be some issues you come across. Please be sure to reach out and tell us your findings and thoughts.
LEVEL EDITOR & STEAMWORKSHOP SUPPORT

• Brand new level editor
• Level editor include also a character customization tool
• Full steam workshop implementation
• Upload and share your levels with the community

The team will continue to work on both the core game and editor over the next few weeks. Weve got some exciting new content to share with you too. Keep an eye open for more announcements in January. In the meantime, the RIOT team and everyone at Merge Games would like to wish you all Happy Holidays and well return in the new year.

[ 2018-12-21 17:44:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everybody!!! Here is Ivan from IVP, working hard with Z4G0 and Triggy on the editor, with Kyle (our internal supertester) who tests the game and also captured this video for you!
https://youtu.be/Kx_7nhSujw4 (sorry for the youtube link but Steam had problems with uploading the video... F****!!!!) You can see here the character customization, where you'll be able to define your own units, rebels or police. You can discover the system we use to create every single character on the screen: starting from the naked man, adding layer for dresses and equipment, till the result of having the complete character. For the end of next week you will put your hands on it! RIOT ON!

[ 2018-12-14 18:36:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

The team at IVP has been busily working on the RIOT: Civil Unrest level editor. They are currently testing it internally with a view to letting you get your hands on the editor next week (December 21st)! As you can see from the video, its a powerful tool. Every aspect of the game can be manipulated, allowing users to create their own custom riots. We want you use it as much as possible over the next few weeks reporting all feedback to the team in this thread. The games producer, Ivan, will post regular updates letting you know about fixes and updates as they happen. The editor has been designed to work with Steam Workshop, so Ill stop writing now and let you get creative. Cant wait to see what you all come up with. Just one caveat, the community will be self-policing and we reserve the right to delete any content we deem to be offensive. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1589032268

[ 2018-12-12 14:04:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

We're working nose-to-the-grindstone to polish RIOT as much as we can. While we continue our efforts to bring you the best game possible, we've got some highly requested changes to share. First up, we've had the game professionally translated into our most commonly requested languages. If you're a Chinese, Japanese or Russian speaker, you can now enjoy the game in your native language! Also included in this update are a myriad of minor bug fixes and improvements to the game. This update will go live later today. Thanks to everyone for the feedback as we continue to develop and improve RIOT. Kind Regards.

[ 2018-09-17 09:47:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Everyone!

We've got a new update to bring you with some more improvements. Here's a list of the fixes and additions for this build:

• Added localisations for 'Global Mode'
• Fixed a bug that could unlock all of the 'Global Mode' contents when starting with a clean save
• Fixed some compatability issues that resulted in a fullscreen purple flash
• Fixed a graphical error when using the 'Choir' skill on older graphics cards
• Fixed some graphical issues on Mac
• Fixed a bug that could glitch the custom menu when removing all Police teams
• Fixed journalist photos memory handling
• Optimized several shaders for older DirectX versions
• Optimized memory for pool handling & for grabbable objects on the ground

Russian language and Simplified Chinese language options are currently being added to the game and will be coming soon! Thanks for playing and... RIOT ON!

[ 2018-07-31 09:32:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone!

Here's the latest update. All of the details for the update are listed below. GLOBAL MODE

• New cutscenes added in-game in all levels (work-in-progress for camera movement)
• Added interlude scenes between levels (how your actions impact the whole world)
• New end-level screen
• Some specific levels are now better balanced
• Prepared build for additional localisation - coming soon!

GENERAL

• The crowd now groups around the leader only when the team is controlled by the player, to get a more realistic crowd behaviour instead of single, isolated groups
• Fixed bugs that blocked the start of some levels while using certain combinations of equipment / special characters
• Fixed some riot crowd phisycs bugs, in some moments it was creating a force too high compared to the previewed one
• Italian text review (still working)
• General bugfixing

BATTLE OF THE CAMELS

• Level balance strongly modified, the previous one was totally on the rioters side
• Fixed camel men animations, who sometimes fell down instead of attacking

NOTE A lot of you guys asked us to be able to use the items you unlock in the global mode in the rest of the game. We are considering that and we'll try to do it in the next updates -but very cautiously to avoid breaking everyone's saved games!

[ 2018-07-03 14:49:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

Following the recent release of Global Mode, we've got an additional hot fix update. For more information on what's been changed, check out the list below:

• Fixed "NEXT" button broken when you finish the last global mode level
• Fixed military and political score sync when you unlock a new level
• Implemented difficulty progression:
  • LVLs 1-4 (4) TOO EASY
  • LVLs 5-12 (8) EASY
  • LVLs 13-23 (11) NORMAL
  • LVLs 24-30 (7) HARD
  • LVLs 31-33 (3) TOO HARD
• Fixed NOTAV_1 DATA xml (removing hand grenades and an unexpected Santa Claus xD)
• Fixed missing labels in in-game objectives tips

Don't forget to let us know what you think of the new Global Mode! Kind Regards

[ 2018-06-04 16:52:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here we are! The new update is live!

Global is the brand new game mode. We’ve designed it to meet many of your suggestions regarding the game’s length and to negate the confusion that some of you occasionally experienced with the current campaign mode. We absolutely expect the game to still need some tweaks (bug-fixing and balance) but we wanted to give roll out the Global mode as soon as possible so we can get your opinions, criticism and suggestions. As you can guess, balancing the game is not an easy task. Now it takes us almost a full day to play the whole of Global mode with both rioters and police – and we know how to win!
What is the GLOBAL MODE Global mode is a single player game mode where every level is connected. If you use violence with no purpose, you’ll pay the consequences in later the levels. Global mode often challenges you to try different strategies within levels in order to discover a way to progress. What’s new? - Global mode has its own save system, unlockable items and customization of all teams - New items (coloured eggs, taser, pepperspray and a lot more. FYI they’re currently overpowered, so enjoy them at maximum effect, while you can – for the definitive release we will balance them and probably reduce their power) - New weapons and easter egg weapons (flamethrower, railgun, knight armour, swords, holy bomb) - New loadout menu which allows you to quickly choose objects, equipment and special characters to use - A new system for public opinion. The total public opinion will be the difference between your own political score and the adversary’s. Using violence against a pacifist adversary will have a huge negative result; while using violence to defend your units or groups from a violent adversary attack should give you a bonus. - You will be able to replay every already played level with new equipment unlocked, to improve the global political score. What is missing (what we’re working on)? - New victory screens, different to the current screens in the other game modes - New cutscenes - Interlude events which will tell you what’s happening in the world thanks to your actions - New special characters for the police - A new exclusive game ending for Global mode - Peace and love all over the world - 19373258909280337 (almost) small finishing touches So, play it and let us know! And, as ever,

RIOT ON!

[ 2018-05-30 11:11:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! We already told about it:
This is a little taste:
*** ADVICE: DON'T DO IT AT HOME *** As riots often remember us the middleage clashes, we thought that it would be interesting to have something like this:

Swords and armours!
And there is much more:
...and many other tasteful things. QUESTION: when this supercool update will be online? ANSWER: NEXT WEEK! We're spending some day more to test it hardly, to give you a (at least almost!) solid one! RIOT ON!!!

[ 2018-05-25 08:43:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

A lot of work, guys! We're near! Enjoy all this stuff that Triggy is cooking for you!





RIOT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

[ 2018-05-16 14:48:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're working hard on completing the global mode mechanics and testing them. You'll have the chance to change world history, and sometimes you will unlock very special items...
RIOT ON!

[ 2018-05-10 08:30:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! Now let's move to US. To the North Dakota Indian Reservation known as Standin Rock. Backwater Bridge. Here a mockup (real background levels - crowd and police drawn as mockup - new vehicles just drawn for this level but put it by hand):
Police, as you can see, is taken from another level. As it is a mockup, you see it without lighting effects and so on. Water is the graphic base, without any shader yet. These are pictures from the protest:

From Wikipedia: "Dakota Access Pipeline Protests Part of Indigenous rights Color image of Lakota man locked down to construction equipment at direct action against Dakota Access Pipeline A Lakota man locks himself to construction equipment in protest Date April 2016 – February 2017 Location United States, especially North Dakota, the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois Caused by Protection of water, land, and religious/spiritual sites sacred to indigenous peoples of the Americas Casualties: Injuries 300; Arrested 487+ Part of a series on Indigenous rights Indalo symbol Rights Ancestral domain Intellectual property Land rights Language Traditional knowledge Treaty rights [...]
The Dakota Access Pipeline protests, also known by the hashtag #NODAPL, are grassroots movements that began in early 2016 in reaction to the approved construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States. The pipeline was projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Many in the Standing Rock tribe considered the pipeline and its intended crossing of the Missouri River to constitute a threat to the region's clean water and to ancient burial grounds. In April 2016, Standing Rock Sioux elder LaDonna Brave Bull Allard established a camp as a center for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance to the pipeline; over the summer the camp grew to thousands of people.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had conducted a limited review of the route and found no significant impact, but in March and April 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation asked the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a formal Environmental Impact Assessment and issue an Environmental Impact Statement. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed suit against the Corps of Engineers in July, but the motion was denied. In December, under President Barack Obama's administration the Corps of Engineers denied an easement for construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River. An environmental impact assessment was to be conducted by the Army Corps, but many protesters continued camping on the site, not considering the matter closed. On January 24, 2017, newly elected President Donald Trump signed an executive order that reversed the Obama legislation and advanced the construction of the pipeline under "terms and conditions to be negotiated, " expediting the environmental review that Trump described as an "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process." On February 7, 2017, Trump authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed, ending the environmental impact assessment and the associated public comment period. The pipeline was completed by April and its first oil was delivered on May 14, 2017.
The protests have drawn international attention and have been said to be "reshaping the national conversation for any environmental project that would cross the Native American land." In September 2016 construction workers bulldozed a section of land the tribe had identified as sacred ground and when protesters entered the area security workers used attack dogs which bit at least six of the protesters and one horse. The incident was filmed and viewed by several million people on YouTube and other social media. In October, armed soldiers and police with riot gear and military equipment cleared an encampment that was directly in the proposed pipeline's path. In November many new participants joined the protest; fluctuating numbers of protesters remained in the thousands. Police use of water cannons on protesters in freezing weather drew significant media attention. Following Donald Trump's approval for the completion of the pipeline the number of protesters gradually decreased and on February 23, 2017 the National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted those that remained."

Here you can find a video of the action we are trying to simulate: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/21/standing-rock-protest-hundreds-clash-with-police-over-dakota-access-pipeline This is the base layer:
I spent a lot of time collecting all these stuff (more than drawing it!) - it was not clear where the action precisely were. But in the end I found the exact point. RIOT ON! Ivan ps: days... then we'll have the update with Global Mode!

[ 2018-04-24 16:09:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! Soon we'll release an update with various fixes and: > Global Mode (here a glance of it, work-in-progress)
> New GUI when using joypads, to make it more understandable (icons are now arranged as the corresponding buttons)
I'll be back to you soon with new levels stuff! RIOT ON! Ivan

[ 2018-04-09 11:38:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! Here is the new level. This time, finally, in Middle East.

In the end of 2017 in Masshad, one of the main cities of Iran (and one of the holiest) people arose against the government, shouting anti-government slogans in protest against high prices and corruption. More than 100 protesters arrested.
Video (starting from 0'55''): https://youtu.be/ekcCojx-hB8?t=56


This is the "source" scenario:
This level was particularly hard because photos and videos are very few. And not easy to understand exactly the successions of events. In case anyone of our beloved player had info, pictures, videos, anything to share with us, welcome :) Please use this post to insert additional info as comments. As for G20 Rote Flora, the artist is me (Ivan). Hope you'll like it! ...And apologize for my not perfect english. I invite you to go deep, digging info by yourselves. Middle East is a lot more than what media and politicians are telling us. RIOT ON! Ivan

[ 2018-03-26 11:55:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! Finally we're here with info about new levels! These new levels will be available as preset for the editor when we'll release it, so now we'll keep you updated but these level won't be playable till the editor will be released. So, here it is! G20 protests, Hamburg, Germany, 6/7th of july 2017. This is a mockup done using the elements created for this level:
News! I did it, I'm the 2D artist who will work the new levels! Here, another screen to give a taste of the way it will appear in the game.
- - - The night (00:30-01:00) between 6th and 7th of July there were protests in Hamburg, Germany, against the G20 meeting. One of the main ones was in front of the Rote Flora. "The Rote Flora is a former theatre in the Sternschanze quarter in Hamburg. It has been squatted since November 1989 in response to a decision to turn it into a musical theatre." (Wikipedia)
We worked it out using the direct info of E., a friend of us working in TPO (Bologna, Italy), who was on the scene that night, together with other friends. So we had direct info to elaborate this level.
There were two fires and mainly the protesters (about 4/500 people) stayed between them. Police on the right (about 40/50 in the beginning, then more).
On the rioters side there were mainly: rocks, empty bottles, firecrackers, some DIY rockets.
Police were extremely disciplined and used a watercannon to extinguish the fire, and tonfa, telescopic baton and pepper spray. There were some different kind of police as they come from different Länder.

For our german RIOT friends: if you have to add/comment something, please write in this post as comment! I'll do my best to collect all info and prepare the best level as possible. RIOT ON! ps: apologize for my rough english!

[ 2018-03-12 09:18:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! We are there. We can now say that the game is almost solid, (nearly) bugfree and pretty well balanced. Even do, there is still a long way to go with the project. Now, however, it’s time for us to make changes!
(pixelselfie: Marco, Zago, Ivan) Our plan is to 1 - re-design the menu 2 - create a more complete loadout menu for the rioters. Similar to the police menu, offering the opportunity to add and subtract groups. 3 - push strongly toward a more immediate style of gameplay, removing all the delays between the command and the action. It will be a bit less realistic, but the rocket will launched when you want! No more waiting for the guy to arrive, load it, light it then finally fire - Just CLICK and SHOOT! So you will find an option to switch between the “realistic” gameplay (like now) and the new one (more immediate) “action” gameplay. 4 - remove redundant submenus. 5 - add the GLOBAL MODE, where you will be able (in single or multiplayer modes) to play ALL the levels, starting from the beginning right through to the last one. Progressing only by completing each level in order to progress to the next one. We will include a well-balanced learning curve for each of the difficulty levels. New items will also be unlocked and usable at every level. 6 - major changes to the UI. We want the UI to be more visible, more immediate. This will also make it easier to play the the game with a joypad. 7 - add skills and items to let the rebel groups be able to charge and fight toe-to-toe. We’ll be addin the likes of crowbars, ironbars etc. for this. 8 - unify the unit parameters. No longer will you find a wounded unit still reacting positively. Likewise you won’t see healthy units reacting negitivly and fleeing the scene. All units and groups will begin a fight at the same level of morale, what happens next will be down to your actions. In order to make these major alterations and addtions we plan to halt the weekly updates for now. We need to rewrite some parts of the code from scratch. We believe we’ll need several weeks to achieve our goal. BUT In the meanwhile, we’re working on content. I’ll post again to give you a taste of what to expect but in the meantime, here’s a clue… it is related to the editor. So… RIOT ON! Ivan Post Scriptum! For the record: The team spent 3 years in development, not 5! 5 years ago Leonard did the crowdfunding on Indiegogo then tried to create the game with three different indie teams, without results. IV PRODUCTIONS and MERGE GAMES, we began the game completely from scratch 3 years ago. Less than one year ago we changed the gameplay and game design (the original design was too hard and confusional - and boring!) The two years before we were not involved -and we had no money from the crowdfunding! We know that three years is still a long time, but it’s certainly shorter than five years!

[ 2018-03-09 08:28:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, We've got another content update to share today. Apologies for the delay, as we ran into some unavoidable RL issues. Included below is a list of this weeks changes:

• Added a new weapon for rebels to counterbalance the violent M16. Rioters can now use the Handbomb SRMC35.
• To unlock it you have to......
• Fixed how M16 unlocks for police
• Fixed the vsync issue with fantastic settings
• Various other minor bugfixes...too many to list

Keep an eye out for news later this week. We've got some massive plans in the works and hope to have details soon. Kind Regards

[ 2018-03-06 17:32:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello freedom fighters, law o biding citizens, rebels and looters!

We've got another update for you with loads of nice updates to the game. For details please check out the list below: VEHICLES

• The "morale" bar of vehicles now represents the vehicle's resistance and decreases when it is damaged.
• The hydrant jet no longer raises violence to 10 instantly
• Improved collisions of the water cannon
• The power of the backward thrust on the hydrant has been lowered
• The hydrant now works correctly when using the keyboard shortcut

GENERAL

• Removed unnecessary text, "Future Balance" from the versus section

CUSTOM POLICE MENU / LOADOUT POLICE:

• Corrected changes to 'score that changes the first time you click "edit"
• Corrected ballistic weapons changing the first time you click "edit"
• Corrected item that disappears the first time you click "edit"
• Removed all references to "default" when creating a new team
• Corrected point calculation when adding a new team
• Corrected the addition of a new type team, not already present in the selected map

These updates might not seem like massive changes, but hopefully the're all working together to make a difference. We've got bigger things going on behind the scenes which we hope to talk about in the coming weeks. Please keep an eye out for more posts! Kind Regards

[ 2018-02-26 16:52:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! The latest patch is ready to deliver. We've got some juicy updates for every platform. Feast your peepers:

• LINUX: fixed the missing executable bug
• DIY Smoke Bombs are now highlighted in-game with an icon, like other items
• INDIGNADOS 3: Increased the crowd size to better balance this level
• Fixed a bug that blocked some levels at the end of the objective timer
• The calculation of military score has been corrected and improved on many levels. In particular, in the levels with the "Clash" objective (eg: Tahrir 5, Keratea 4, Indignados 3), "Rebels Reach" and "Police Reach" (ex Keratea 1, NoTav 2, Tahrir 3).
  • This is particularly important since now the victory also depends on the political score, so balancing the military score guarantees a better overall balance.
• Improved barricades: we have listened to your suggestions and criticisms, and made some changes to make barricades more intuitive and tactically useful.
• Defensive barricares:
  • Now the barricade does not last indefinitely, but it can "absorb" a certain amount damage to faction morale before it disappears.
  • The morale bar will become blue, showing the barricades morale resistance.
  • When it reaches zero, the demonstrators will leave the position.
• Offensive barricades:
  • A purple bar is shown that has the same purpose as the defensive one, but instead of starting at the maximum, increases with the construction of the barricade.
  • The offensive barricade is now being built faster.

These are quite big changes which will be further improved in next weeks update, so please let us know what you think! Also, there will be a big announcement in the next few weeks about additional game features. Be sure to keep an eye out for more news! Kind Regards.

[ 2018-02-19 17:54:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

The latest version of RIOT is rolling out right now! Included in this build are various bug fixes and changes to improve the overall game performance. Details on what this build includes are listed below:

• Fixed ballistic trajectory
• Fixed bug in some 'hold police' objective levels that made it impossible to win with rebels
• Fixed graphics bugs on some transparent items
• Several minor bug fixes & optimisations for all platforms
• Several minor bug fixes & optimisations - Ongoing

Mac users may note that there have been dedicated efforts this last week to improve the game on their platform of choice. If you notice any significant improvements or issues with the latest build, please let us know. To all users, 'Fixed ballistic trajectory' means that thrown objects now go exactly where you want them too. A lot of you have asked for this and we're happy to finally release a fix. Kind Regards

[ 2018-02-12 15:47:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

The latest patch contains the following fixes / updates

• Linux Build
• Fixed hint texts cut from the screen during the game
• Fixed text formattation in loadout / custom menu.
• Added the total score at the end of the match, to to highlight who has lost and why
• Fixed some graphical effects that did not disappear during the game, creating confusion (for example, the visualization that shows the time left to complete the goal)
• Fixed bug that allows rebels to launch powerful columns of divine fire against the police
• Review of all levels in progress (many have small wrong physical collisions that make the characters get stuck, and we are also reviewing all the lights and backgrounds to optimize the performance of each level)

[ 2018-02-06 21:28:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, There's been a slight delay and Update #11 will not be releasing today. Unfortunately, one of the key developers has been sick and is still recovering. (Get well soon Z). The update will only be 1 day behind and is planned to release tomorrow. There will be a load of art, physics and performance fixes in this update so please keep an eye out for more details when it does live. The extra day will also mean that we've got enough time to prepare the Linux build for release! Sorry for the delay and thanks to everyone for their patience. Kind Regards

[ 2018-02-05 18:24:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello rioters, police and spectators!

Following the Christmas disruption, we're back on track with our Monday updates! Today, we've got another round of optimisations and bug fixes. Check out the details below:

• Fixed physics bug that incorrectly pushed cops inside crowds
• Lowered the time it takes for the demonstrators to sit down or to raise their hands
• Fixed a bug that shows the cool-down of the skills delayed by a few seconds
• Added in-game icon to the smoke grenade, when used and launched
• Fixed the launch of giant objects by rebels (even if it was fun)
• Levels no longer load until all atlas' have been loaded, avoiding the "ghost" characters when the level starts
• Temporarily removed the launch prompt to play the tutorial

Next week, we'll have a bunch more improvements and changes.
If you have any problems with the new build, please post to the bug report forums! Kind Regards

[ 2018-01-29 18:00:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here's a list of the latest updates live in today's build.

OPTIMIZATION

• We have decreased the update time per second of physics calculations (As you can imagine, we had to adapt a lot of things, so you may notice some minor glitches - we're working on them).
• Now all the interactive street objects are drawn in a single draw call while remaining illuminated.
• Fixed memory leak and frame rate drop for journalist photos.
  
• Optimized memory management for spawned objects.
• Optimization in the drawing function of the characters.
• A lot of script optimization.
• Optimized INDIGNADOS_2 level (To be applied to all others maps).

POLICE

• Fixed offset of the police formations that was bugged when surrounded by the crowd.
• Fixed spam error in the log when the police could not correctly calculate a formation.
• Fixed a bug that allowed cops to do more attacks per second in some circumstances.

VIOLENCE

We refined the violence and public opinion level in order to make it an integral part of the gameplay. The main changes are:

• The political score now affects the winner of the match
  
• In the gui you'll find text that indicates the behaviour of the faction in progress. It's only in English for now, but we'll translate this too. Possible status (for now) are: [olist]
• PEACEFUL when you're not using violence at all,
• PROVOKING when you're using a small amount of violence according to the situation,
• VIOLENT when the violence used is much higher than the opponent,
• PAYBACK when you use violence to defend yourself from a violent adversary;[/olist] All these situations have a different influence on public opinion, as you can imagine during the payback status the violence inflicted has much less weight than those who attack peaceful people in VIOLENT status.
• Now it's possible to use all this mechanics to peacefully win each level, or to use subtle strategies such as provoking the adversary until it becomes violent in the eyes of the public, and then attack him.
• Violence now scales non-linearly, so the first violent actions, the first casualties, or even deaths have a much greater weight. The player must be careful who starts being violent first
• We have completely reworked and rebalanced the values of public opinion and violence to make them more sensible and realistic

NOTE

Since we have made a lot of changes, we will continue to test and refine everything over the next few days. It may be necessary for us to issue a hotfix. Let us know if you notice any strange bugs due to optimization!

[ 2018-01-25 14:09:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone

The team are working around the clock to implement fixes and improvements to the game. Thank you to everyone who's provided feedback and bug reports to help with their efforts. So that we can bring you even more fixes, we're making a slight change to the update schedule. Fixes planned for the 29th are being pulled forward into an earlier build! To do this, we're not going ahead with the build planned on the 22nd. Instead, a mash-up of both updates will go live on the 24th. The update will include balancing and optimisation of match results and various bug fixes. Exact details will be posted closer to the release. If you're still experiencing issues, please make sure to report them on the Discussion Board > Bug Reports. We are reviewing this regularly and taking every effort to address all reports. Thank you for your patience while bugfixing continues. Thanks again to everyone who's helped make the game a success. Kind Regards

[ 2018-01-19 12:16:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

The team's been working hard, fixing a wide range of bugs and issues. Here's the list of what's been corrected in the latest update

• All police teams could be eliminated by leaving the faction with zero teams
• Sometimes adding a new team created an invisible card
• Sometimes by clicking "Edit" an assault team would open even if you were editing a balistic or tactical
• The "Cancel" button editing a police team saved the changes anyway
• The ballistic weapons inside the "Edit" menu had different indices than the main police menu, so sometimes the correspondence between the weapon in the team card and the one in the Edit card was lost.
• Police item icons were not displayed correctly
• Clicking on the "None" object did not exit the object selection menu
• Opening the object selection menu for the police does not show correctly the selected object
• Vehicle in-game icon sometimes disappeared: FIXED
• When a vehicle is destroyed, the side icon becomes grey.
• When a vehicle is destroyed, player is adviced by a in-game popup.
• Fixed bug which made run police men X-flipped.
• Zago is trying to find (then fix) the bug of in-game popup which remains on screen (stretched)
• By editing a police team the level of armor appeared always written in caps and not translated
• By deleting all the teams and adding only ballistic teams sometimes they were created with non-ballistic weapons and with a wrong background colour
• Increased the cost of police items

[ 2018-01-15 14:59:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

We’ve been working hard on building a new asymmetrical parameter system, which was not provided for in the original gam design (originally the game was more simulator oriented). We can now balance the game in a better way by activating or deactivating the behaviour of certain units in either faction. In this way, we can make the game easier for the player so the learning curve isn’t too difficult. We’d welcome your comments regarding the game’s overall balance. Please share your comments on the community hub under the pinned topic “Balance”. Please try to include the following information:

• What level? (i.e. NO_TAV1)
• What difficulty level?
• Are you playing as the rebels or police?
• What was your overall impression? (too hard, too easy, too short, etc.)
• Any notes or details for your impressions? (i.e.: were the police too slow reacting in the beginning)

DEVLOG

bug fixing and improvements

• We removed 1.5 seconds of delay before starting the animation of the leader using the radio (just before the police charge – but we kept the sound).
• Fixed a bug which blocked police units for all gameplay. We added a safe timer which unblocks units that used to stay panicked for too long.
• Initial cooldowns for skills at “too easy” and “challenging” difficulty have been removed.
• M16 now has the correct text in the loadout menu
• It is now impossible to have all units or groups panicked simultaneously – you’ll always have at least one to control.
• We changed the “aggressive icon” from rocks to a red circle icon
  
• The defensive icon has also changed to a blue circle icon too.
  
• We have removed a bug which sometimes showed cooldowns as still active on weapons even if you were not aggressive.

Difficulty rebalance All difficulty levels

• Police controlled by the player - police units now try to get the selected (by the player) point for 10 seconds + x seconds depending on leader discipline.
• They won’t flee every time they are subjected to rocks or other rebel actions.
• Input and actions depending by psychological parameters (i.e. fear) are well separated; so, it is easier (under our dev-point of view) to manage them.
• Damage is halved in single player (compared to previous version) in “too easy” difficulty; this is a bit less in “challenging” difficulty.
• Police units now recover from “fear” more quickly.

Too easy difficulty level Rebels controlled by the player:

• When moving have a stronger push.
• When idle have greater resistance to police units.
• Have more resistance while they are pushing of more than one police unit.
• Ignore panic.

Rebels controlled by AI:

• Don’t use barricades.
• Can’t ignore police repulsion in conditions when normally they’d be immune.

Police controlled by the player:

• Ignore panic.
• When a police officer is on fire (i.e. after been hit by a Molotov), his unit won’t retire.

Normal difficulty level

• In single player, teams won’t get panicked while they are selected. But you still can’t select a unit/group that is panicked or running away.
• When a police officer gets hit with a Molotov, the unit won’t automatically become panicked but gets large reduction in morale.

EASTER EGG

By unlocking all levels, you can now unlock INTIFADA level (CGA 4 colours) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86BRHPgzBE8 Click on the floppy disk in the custom menu, and you’ll play INTIFADA level!

[ 2018-01-08 16:47:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everybody! This time is Ivan posting you! We're here working for you on Riot! So, first of all: sorry for my bit-rough english! We added > "Like" points where you take a picture with camera (rebels)
> "Views" points where you take a picture with camera (police)
> Money earned is shown when you take a picture as journalist (in journalist mode)
> M16 authomatic rifle: easter egg!!! You will find it in the police item list when you'll have unlocked doing this and that... guess it! Balance > Flags now have less weight in total people count > adding items to units or groups influences the total number of people expected (if you add as police, you will have more rioters; if you add items as rioters, you'll have less rioters) > overally improved police courage... hope that now they're not too much brave! NOTE! As we added these "weights" to items, all game balance is to be finish (quantities of people are changed almost everywhere). You can find plenty levels with a faction too strong or too weak. NOTE(2)! We activated the .log file writing, so it could be that, if the system detect an error, you'll have some lag for reading/writing the .log file. But this way we'll be able to ask you to send us the .log file if any crash. Fixes > Pozo Soton fixed: now all police units have more than only one member, rifles cooldown time is 1/2. And we add grenades. (In the next weeks, we'll cut completely the initial cooldown on rifles, but now it would modify too much things, so we need to do it structurally). Please note that the level is still hard! > Battle of the Camel: fixed. Now police is not so easy to unsaddle. > a crash fixed > updated compression for graphical atlas, so loading times are a bit shorter. (sometimes, still some ghosts on the screen if you begin playing when still graphics is not totally loaded - we'll fix it soon) > loadout menu problem solved > total count of rebel groups: it happened that sometimes you have on screen a group less then how many expected. New known problems of this last build (as we changed things and other things broke) Red rectangles around objective text remains on screen more than before... F**K! Texts in weapon box and some option box get overwritten in the beginning... F**KF**KF**K!!! But we wanted to give you an update before the end of the year... GOG > yesterday: we updated the GOG version NEXT UPDATE It is previded for monday 8th of january 2018, we'll return regularly to monday update. > we'll probably focus on fix a group of problems coming from the old game design (which was completely thought as a simulator - so it is in conflict with current "more reactive" direction of the game); we'll need to do parameters asimmetrical and variable for every game mode and difficulty level... big work! But crucial for having a good balance. > as usual, minor bugfixing > ...if time will be merciful, we'll add another veryverygooooooood easter egg! AND THIS IS THE END OF 2017! BTW: in the last weeks, two (real) italian police "chiefs" who did bad things in G8 Genova (2001), as taking false molotov bombs inside the Diaz school (the one we simulated in police tutorial), not only they are still not punished... the government promoted them! To key high-positions in police hierarchy. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/premium/articoli/dalla-diaz-alla-dia-vince-il-manganello/ (sorry it is in italian) so we're a bit sad... this is pure unjustice. RIOT ON! ...and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!!!!

[ 2017-12-30 16:05:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

As there’s a quiet lull in the festivities between Christmas and New Year we took a moment to ask the game’s producer, Ivan Venturi, to talk us through some of the finer aspects of RIOT – Civil Unrest.

At first glance Riot – Civil Unrest looks like a traditional RTS game but you describe it as real-time riot simulator. How would you define the difference between the two genres? RIOT is a new sub-genre and it is difficult to define it in a couple of categories. Initially, Leonard’s idea was that it should be solely a riot simulation - crowd vs police. As the development of the game evolved, so too did the strategic and tactical elements of the game. The end result is a complex mix - real riots are not a clear sequence of facts and actions. They are chaotic, confused, disordered, with no sensation of understanding what it is happening. So, recreating such an extremely chaotic situation would be great if we just wanted to create a scientific simulator; but less enjoyable as an entertaining and challenging videogame. We decided, that even in in LAWLESS difficulty, you can experience the confusion and disorder. However, to follow the videogame paradigm, we tuned down the pure simulation element. We understand that, in a videogame, players expect immediate feedback for their actions. In easier modes, the game will seem more responsive to the player as we have reduced the lag of the crowd AI but on the game’s the hard difficulty you can expect a more simulation experience. Take a look to the first trailer Leonard did years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=56&v=2jWYCXneCn8 At about 50 seconds in you will see police and rioters running against each other as two medieval armies. This is absolutely unrealistic, BUT in a videogame, it is exactly you’d expect to do. So, in TOO EASY mode, we allow players to fight as an army, even if you’re controlling the rebels. It is IMPOSSIBLE to see this type of behaviour in a real-life riot. When playing the game as the protesters I notice that there’s a real sense of the mood ebbing and flowing as the crowd reacts to the police’s actions. Can you explain how the psyche of the crowd works? You feel the sensation of being in a situation that changes continuously and not only for your direct actions. The crowd is a fluid mass of people which moves and changes with its own mechanics. Every person, every AI, is moved by physical status, but more of all by an emotional and psychological status (anger, fear, calm, cold power you have when you know at 100% that you’re fighting for your rights without wounding the other people’s rights, shock for viewing violence, angriness for being attacked without reasons etc. ). The best way to succeed, if the level allows to it, is to keep calm and be peaceful. If you have to use tactics to create human barriers and sing choirs to increase everybody’s courage levels, so be it. Moreover, if you use violence for no reason, you will pay a heavy price – on subsequent levels you will find the opponent faction really angry and armoured. So, if you play as rebels, often it is better to use your head, not your weapons, keep calm and “fight” without fighting. Can you explain the subtle differences in the different police squads? What are the best ways to use the tactical, assault and ballistic teams? Tactical units are the most powerful in terms of resistance and also for pushing the crowd. Testudo formation is the best way to push crowd with energy but without using violence. Assault units are quick and if you have to attack, they are probably the best units to use. Ballistic units are always an important part of your strategy to clear an area but it depends on the level you are playing. In some scenarios, they carry smoke grenade launchers while in others they have live ammo. Use them sparingly as once deployed the hostility can escalate rapidly.

Next version update

Ivan wanted to let you know that he and the team are working on the next update as promised. They are currently testing the build and expect to post it live no later than Saturday 30, December.

[ 2017-12-28 14:22:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

It has arrived! The Mac version is now live and includes all Windows PC features! A new Mac update will be available at the beginning of 2018!

[ 2017-12-23 12:28:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

The team have been working hard to bring you updates on time and we're here to deliver! Included in today's update are some of the most requested features we've had to date. REBEL Tutorial A tutorial for the rebels has been introduced. You can access this by choosing to play the tutorial on launch.



In this scenario, you'll learn how to control the rebels. Mastering their basic functions, movements and even how to make barricades. POLICE Tutorial To better explain how the Regroup ability works for Police, the 'Radio' has been added to the tutorial POLICE Morale Following complaints that the police are too easily scared, we've put them through boot camp! Police units should now have better fortified morale and resistance to fear. There may be some additional balancing to this in the next few updates, so please share your feedback. MAC Version: It has arrived! The MAC version is now live and includes all Windows PC features! A new MAC update will be available at the beginning of 2018! We've got more updates soon so keep an eye out for more posts. To anyone experiencing technical difficulties, please be sure to report these in the Bug Reports sub-forum. The team aware of issues and are working hard to improve the game. Thank you for your patience whilst they continue their efforts. Kind Regards

[ 2017-12-21 13:51:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here we are with the new Monday update... The main addition is the POLICE TUTORIAL. The idea is to give a basic overview of the main functions you can perform as the police. For a more in-depth analysis of what the police can do, you’ll need to look at the game’s wiki section (there’s a lot of functions the tutorial doesn’t cover).
Background to the Police Tutorial The Police tutorial is based around real-world events that occurred in Genoa, Italy back in 2001 when the G8 Summit was held in the city. The "Armando Diaz" School, the temporary headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum, was also raided shortly before midnight on July 21. The State Police of Genoa, Rome and Milan attacked the buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of the Carabinieri. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnRHVPleY98&t=641sNote - this clip contains scenes of graphic violence. Following the raid, 93 protesters were arrested. 61 were seriously injured and taken to hospital - three of them were in a critical condition and one in a coma. Several of the arrested protesters were tortured and humiliated before being released. The police also planted evidence including Two Molotov cocktails, an array of knives, sledgehammers and pickaxes. All of which they claimed to have found at the school.
Over 70 police officers were subsequently sent to trial but none were charged due to delays in the investigation and incompleteness of Italian laws under which torture is not recognised as a crime. On April 7, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Italian police had violated the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered compensation for a protester beaten by the police. The “Mexican butchery’ dealt out by the police cost the chief of police a mere 47 euro and 57 cents.
Link to Genoese news site Other content Also included in the update is first version of the REBEL tutorial. The team is still working on this section but for now you should be able to get a better understanding of the rebels’ main actions. In the next update (coming later this week) we’ll aim to offer the complete version. Keep an eye on this hub for the update. Alongside all of these new features, the team have been working diligently to resolve various performance and stability issues. We’d like to thank everyone experiencing issues of this nature for their continued patience whilst the team continue their efforts. Planned Updates With the holidays fast approaching we thought you'd like to understand our schedule. Here's what the devs are aiming for for the next couple of weeks. 21st December: (in place of the Monday 25th update -Christmas holidays).

• The rebel tutorial will be complete
• Mac version will be released
• more police morale balancing will be implemented
• The Use Item skill in the police tutorial
• Choir skill and offensive barricade skills in the rebels tutorial

28th December:

• Various bug fixes
• This will include easter egg content

New year update:

• Various bug fixes
• This will include a new easter egg level, based on an 80's game. Focuses on israeli and palestinian conflict.

[ 2017-12-18 14:51:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Venezuelan fitness fanatic, Caterina Ciarcelluti, dubbed “Wonder Woman” by fellow activists appears in RIOT – Civil Unrest’s Venezuelan Riot.

The protests began in early February when students demanded increased security after a female student was allegedly been the victim of attempted rape. The students also complained about record inflation and food shortages.
Protests turned violent and several several students were arrested. This lead to further demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, demanding their release.
The protests in Caracas turned deadly when three people were shot. There have been many demonstrations since then, varying in size from small gatherings to large rallies. Venezuela has the fifth highest murder rate in the world, and crime is rife in many urban centres.

[ 2017-12-16 15:20:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Please check your email to see if you're a winner. I've sent emails to ten lucky winners with the subject "Congratulaions - You are a WINNER!". If you've received this email then please be sure to reply to me with the answers I want. I'll Post a full list of winners as soon as everyone has responded

[ 2017-12-16 15:20:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Chilean Education Conflict / Chilean Winter student demonstrations began as a protest over costs, profits, and fairness of higher education in the county. Only 45% of high school students study in traditional publicly funded schools and most universities are private.
The students’ protests also attracted other Chileans keen on publicising their frustration over wages, health care and other social issues. The protesters were united by a common dissatisfaction with the hugely unpopular President Sebastian Pinera. Many demonstrations were met by police using tear gas and water cannons on the crowds. Changes in the education system are still unsettled and student protests continue even now.
Among the protesters on 22nd December 2011 was someone dressed in a red Santa suit. Whether or not it was the real Santa remains unanswered.

[ 2017-12-11 14:32:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

As promised, here is the first of our Monday updates. In addition to the smaller hot fixes the team issued following RIOT - Civil Unrest's release last week the team has spent the weekend working on the following fixes and updates. Details of what's expected in the coming weeks are at the end of this post.

• Function keys now directly select groups - press the corresponding F-Key to quickly select units.
• New PANIC icons. You will see these exclamation marks if the unit you are controlling panics. The unit icon will grey out and the unit will be unresponsive.
  
• New UNCONTROLLABLE icon status. A red disc will appear over the unit and the UI icons will turn red.
  
• Radio. Players will find the radio equipped as an available item automatically in the first level of campaigns when playing as the Police. To use it in later levels it will have to be selected in the load-out menu.
  
• Megaphone: Players will find the megaphone equipped as an available item automatically in the first level of campaigns when playing as the Police.To use it in later levels it will have to be selected in the load-out menu.
  
• A green border has been added to the selected unit to make it clearer which unit is being controlled
  
• The LOG file has been removed. This will remove pauses and stuttering gameplay as the system won't stop to open & write the log file.
• Police now enter a state of panic correctly (previously they only became panicked when being burnt by a Molotov).
• Police now remain controllable when they are attacking (previously, when hitting the crowd, they became uncontrollable).

The team has spent the weekend testing these fixes but are quick to point out that they do have an impact on the level balancing. For instance, if you play as the police and set the difficulty to challenging you will find that in the first level of the Indignados campaign it will be nearly impossible to push away the crowd. The team would like to point out that fixes will disrupt the balancing of the game but they intend to take a much closer look after next week's major update. The team are currently working on implementing a tutorial which hopefully will be ready for next Monday's update. The subsequent Monday update will focus on balancing and bug fixing including:

• When single functions (such as panic) become active.
• Cooldown times.
• Weight of additional items in load-out menus.
• Weight of flags.
• To apply the above points to all levels.

Also, the team are working diligently to resolve performance and stability issues reported by the community. Thanks to everyone experiencing these issues for their patience. Please keep the feedback coming either on this community hub or, better still, by the google doc that pops up when you finish your game session.

[ 2017-12-11 11:01:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! Some of you have complained of several crashes at startup: we investigated this and, thanks to your reports, we have come to understand a possible cause for the problem. Riot loads its graphical assets in the background (the game has thousands of animated sprites) in order to reduce the loading time of each level to a few seconds. To make you understand the scope of the optimisation, some levels that were loading in 40-50 seconds now load in 4-5. We found out that unfortunately the Unity 3D engine has a known and unresolved bug, so on a low (but significant) percentage of computers, it crashes during this operation. You can find details about the error online, on the Unity forums: https://forum.unity.com/threads/d3d11-failed-to-create-2d-texture.392286/ Unfortunately, on our test PCs the system this bug has never showed up and we cannot test it directly, but we checked the settings one-by-one for each atlas, hoping to eliminate the problem. We look forward to your feedback on whether this first solution has fixed the problem for everyone, otherwise we will keep work on it! This update should be live almost immediately, so please update and check if the solution has worked. For other possible solutions, please check out the pinned thread in the bug reports sub-forum. Kind Regards, Ben

[ 2017-12-08 14:39:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

First Update

Hello everyone! First off, a huge thank you to everyone for a really successful launch. We've had loads of great feedback and the team are hard at work on improvements already. GIVEAWAY
In celebration of the early access release of RIOT - Civil Unrest and in recognition of over 10k units sold in a single day we're offering our community members the opportunity to win an exclusive RIOT - Civil Unrest World Tour T shirt. We've got ten of these highly prized shirts up for grabs, all you've got to do is sign up to our Signature Edition mailing list here, Signature Edition Games. In case you don't know, Signature Edition is Merge Games' label that offers collector's edition versions of some of its favourite titles on PC and Console. To win, just add your details via the link and on Wednesday 13th December we'll pick ten lucky winners. Be sure to check the community hub on Wednesday to see if you've won!
UPDATE Today, we've got a patch fix for several community reported issues:

• Lightened the NoTav 3 scene. Many of you have reported that this was too dark.
• Police Morale has been corrected. Morale and fear now work correctly and we'll continue to balance this based on community feedback.
• Team selection is now more evident in the UI bar. Some of you have been reporting that this wasn't clear, please let us know how you find the changes

In addition to these quick fixes, the team are investigating a number of reported issues. If you've reported something in the pinned bug thread, the team have seen it and are already working on it! Thank you for your patience while we look into all issues. So that we can keep driving game progress forward, the developers are making a commitment to all players:

From this Monday, we will share a weekly buglist and roadmap

We've had complaints about communication and transparency prior to release and we want you all to know that those days are dead! Every week, you'll find out exactly where development is. If we know about it, so will you! In our next major update, we also hope to add at least one tutorial level! This is already being worked on and we should have news soon. Thanks again to everyone who's helped support the game! Kind Regards, Ben

[ 2017-12-07 17:19:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Included below is an intimate look at one of the games key developers, and their account of making RIOT. --------------

A peculiar development journal

I’ve always been intrigued by the separation between gamers and programmers. Press releases are usually created by marketing and communication teams and not by the techies who usually have other things to think about (typically, finishing the game). This way, the truest stories regarding the development process often get lost. Stories that might leave an impression on those who will take the time to read them. Stories that go beyond the noise and promotion of a game. Three years ago, I was offered the possibility of taking over the work started and abandoned by others on Riot. A game on uprisings, police against demonstrators, telling a crude reality that is not always shown to us in its entirety. A thorny subject with topics difficult to digest and delicate to handle. But moreover, an enormous project that three teams of programmers in two years had not been able to complete. What’s more, I was tasked to finish the project, more or less, by myself! Luckily, I was crazy enough to accept. Three years ago, at the same time, the illness of my father began. Advanced stage pancreatic cancer, inoperable. An estimated life expectancy of one year, in the best of cases, with the best cures. I had to take a rapid decision, and not an easy one. would I be able to manage the most complicated project of my life in the most difficult moment of my life? It is with this premise that my personal story with Riot begins. In this context that I decided to restart programming the project from zero, scrapping all the previous work done on the game, much of it incomplete and obsolete by time I joined the team. My predecessors, faced a number of technical difficulties far above any expectation. Now, three years of development to finally come to the end - 1,221,330 lines of code later, RIOT – Civil Unrest has launched into Early Access. It has been a war fought against myself, against the urge to surrender in front of that enormous amount of work, rewriting the physics, the rendering, the animation system, audio managements, artificial intelligence and a lot more: everything in Riot has technically gone beyond the original capacities of the Engine, becoming something unique. Is Riot a game? This, I don’t know. I do know that it’s something alive, organic, that some of you will love, others will find insignificant, others confused, or violent. The most cherished comments came from those who lived these events for real and, upon trying the game at fairs, told us the game was extremely realistic. The way I see it, if it succeeds in making gamers question what’s happening in certain areas of the world, if it stimulates them to get informed independently, it will be, for me, a complete victory. I developed the game with a clear idea in mind: both factions are made by people, people with their ideas, there for something they believe in. There are just a few brutes, on both sides- But during a riot even a little spark of violence can become uncontrollable. It is this sensation that I hope you will have all while playing: that sometimes violence seems like the only possible answer, but the more you use it, the more you will lose control of the situation. Until you regret having used it in the first place. I have fought my own long and silent battle to reach this result, and have had the honour of assisting my father with a different battle every day upon returning home from work. A battle that he could not win, but that he fought until the very last day with strength and pride. His “estimated” year of life became almost two thanks to his sheer willpower, fighting inch by inch against a merciless disease. It is also thanks to his strength, which I had as an example before me, that today I can offer this experience to you. An experience that, though tough and a bit rough around the edges, you won’t find anywhere else. Give it a chance, and if you won’t like it I hope that Riot continues to grow and improve according to your suggestions. I would like to take a chance to say thank you to all the colleagues that made the game possible:

• Leonard Menchiari, author of the game and of all the unthinkable amount of design produced to achieve it.
• Fabrizio Zagaglia, the best programmer in the world, who collaborated with me during the last year to conclude this titanic endeavour.
• Michele Postpischl, who on his own recreated the audio of the riots in a masterful way.
• Ivan Venturi, the producer who made possible an impossible project.
• The team at Merge Games (Luke, Nick, James and Ben), who believed in the game supporting its development well over the standard duties of a publisher.

And to all the people who believed in the project. Thank you. Trigghy

[ 2017-12-07 16:11:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Following RIOT – Civil Unrest’s Early Access release I wanted to say, “Thank you” on behalf of Leonard, The IVP Team (Ivan, Marco, Fabrizio, Michele) and Merge Games (Luke, Joanne, James, Nick, Ben & Grainne). Your support and patience is immeasurable and greatly appreciated. As I have said many times in recent posts, we’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the delays that the project has endured. We understand the frustration that’s been felt by everyone during the game’s protracted development. But that’s all in the past… 15:00 GMT saw the release of RIOT – Civil Unrest, a moment we’re very proud of. Of course, it only really marks the start of a new chapter. Now, with your help, we can press on and make the game something really special. Only with the community’s feedback can we make the all-important tweaks and fixes needed. To this end, we’d like to invite you to tell us about your RIOT – Civil Unrest experience. When exiting the game you’ll be presented with a Google docs feedback form; be sure to let us know how your gameplay session went.
Naturally, there are some aspects of RIOT – Civil Unrest that haven’t made it into the Early Access launch – the level editor being a major one. We’ll endeavour to keep you informed of progress on a regular basis via this community hub.

Weekly Updates

The team has committed to delivering a new build, with patch notes, every Monday. Each Monday to Friday they will work on the build, testing and making revisions over the weekend. Of course, there will be gaps over the Holiday season but the guys do need some time off too… To kick things off here’s a list of bugs, errors and annoyances that have been found in the beta already:

• Removing and adding police units in loadout causes behaviour issues.
• Unable to move vehicle after it's been moved several times.
• Light armoured units can take too much of a beating.
• On hardest difficulty, no input required to win level (Notav 1 as rioters, Kera 2 as police).
• Units get stuck.
• Projectiles don't land where you tell them to.
• Low performance on mid-spec rig.
• Units get stuck on some scene objects (fences, edges of map).
• Projectiles may never be fired.
• Ukraine: Rioters don't protect objective zone.
• Menu navigation with gamepad may not cycle correctly.
• Level boundaries are visible on 4k screens.
• ‘Cancel’ is non-functional for an extra added Police unit.
• Only the left analogue stick on ‘Steam Controller’ functions for navigation of menus.
• Placeholder text is present for the ‘Tear Gas Spray’.
• No hover/feedback effect present on 'BACK' button in Wiki.
• FRENCH – Difficulty option text clipping outside of text box within Options menu.
• ‘Menu’ button formatted incorrect on newspaper results page.
• ‘Style’ options not translated in the ‘Options’ menu.
• Versus – Keyboard added as player 4 displays as controller.
• Newspaper at the end of a level has no image.

We hope you enjoy the game, be sure to let us know. RIOT ON!

[ 2017-12-06 15:00:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

RIOT - Civil Unrest is Now Available on Steam Early Access and is 10% off!*

As civil crisis deepens and inequality tears the very fabric of society the discontentment of the masses manifests itself in violent public disturbances and civil disorder. Play as the police or the angry horde as RIOT – Civil Unrest places you in some of the world’s most fractious disputes.

*Offer ends December 13 at 10AM Pacific Time

[ 2017-12-06 14:59:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

DON'T PANIC!

If you pre-ordered RIOT - Civil Unrest directly from Humble or you used the Humble widget on the RIOT website you will receive your key directly from them tomorrow.
If you're one of the Indiegogo backers who didn't qualify for the beta, don't worry. I've put all your details into a mailchimp list and will be sending them out to you as the game gets its release.

[ 2017-12-05 18:14:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been quite a journey but we're now counting down the release of RIOT - Civil Unrest in terms of hours and minutes rather than months and weeks. On December 6th, at 15:00 GMT I'll be clicking on this button.
By now you'll have read the community posts and watched the videos from people lucky enough to have received a beta key. You'll have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone experiencing RIOT - Civil Unrest, it's going to be a blast. At the same time I'd like to remind you that the game is in Early Access and certain features, such as the level editor, will appear during the Early Access period, not on release. Thank you for the incredible support you've shown the game. We know it's been difficult (oh boy, do we know!) and we'd like to apologise for all the frustration. Prepare to RIOT ON!

[ 2017-12-05 15:00:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

The game is split into four campaigns and sixteen single level scenarios. Indignados (Spain), No Tav (Italy), Karetea (Greece) and Arab Spring (Egypt) are campaings and contain the following levels (these levels are playable as single scenarios too, once beaten). Indignados (Spain)

• 15-M
• NO!
• Mossos Retreat
• Pozo Soton

No Tav (Italy)

• Maddalena’s Clearing
• December 8th
• The A32 Highway
• The Beginning of an End

Karetea (Greece)

• Bloko Keratea
• Black Tuesday
• Eftihis’ Ballad
• La Fin

Arab Spring (Egypt)

• Friday of Anger
• Friday of Anger Pt. II / Friday of Anger Pt. III
• Battle of the Camel
• We won’t go! He will go!

In addition, these are the sixteen single scenarios. Italy

• Rome October 15th – Roma Indignati, in 2011, 200,000 people protest against the influence of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the government of Silvio Berlusconi.
• NoMUOS - Protests occurred in Sicily after that the government approved the installation of several M.U.O.S. military antennas without the approval of the local citizens.

Greece

• Syntagma Square - The anti-austerity movement in Greece involves a series of demonstrations provoked by plans to cut public spending and raise taxes as austerity measures.

Egypt

• Tahrir Library - An old library which contained thousands of ancient historical books, was burnt down during a riot near Tahrir square in Cairo.

Brazil

• Confederations Cup Riots - After protesting against the increased price of public transport tickets, the Free Fare Movement unmasked several corruption cases in the Brazilian government.

Chile

• Chilean Student Protests - Students in Santiago protest to demand a new framework for education in their country.

France

• Clichy sous Bois - After escaping the police, two kids get killed by electrocution in a power station. The two deaths caused riots across many suburbs of Paris.
• Notre-Dame-des-Landes - People in the country side of Notre-Dame are fighting to stop the construction of a new airport for ecological and human reasons.

Colombia

• Nacional Bogotá University - As public universities across the country go on strike, thousands of students are discussing the next step on how to make sure the reform isn’t passed.

China

• Foxconn Riots - In 2012 nearly 2,000 workers at a Foxconn facility temporarily shut down the factory as a sign of protest because of the apparently inhumane working conditions.

Korea

• Korean Training - Based on the popular video, this map shows the extreme organization of the Korean riot police during an organized demonstration.

UK

• London Riots - Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England following the death of Mark Duggan, a local man who was shot dead by the police on August 4th.

USA

• Occupy Oakland - Occupy Oakland refers to a collaboration and series of demonstrations in Oakland, California that started in October 2011.

Turkey

• Gezi Park Turkish Revolution - Taksim Square, in 2013 the Turkish government planned to cut down all the remaining trees in Gezi Park to build a gigantic enclosed shopping area.

Ukraine

• Ukrainian Revolution - The Ukrainian revolution took place after several violent events in Kiev that resulted in the ousting of the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

Venezuela

• Venezuela Riots - People protested in Venezuela in 2014-2017 against the government of Nicolás Maduro, as a consequence of corruption and shortages of basic products.

[ 2017-12-05 13:51:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Not long to go now... The devs have already acted on feedback from those of you lucky enough to get keys early. Improvements have been made to the game's projectiles - these no longer get caught on rioter collision. Further improvements will be implemented soon to increase accuracy. Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Please keep it coming RIOT ON!

[ 2017-12-04 14:35:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://youtu.be/Dk43muUH0xo

[ 2017-12-04 14:18:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://youtu.be/lJdnLJkDG8g

[ 2017-12-04 14:14:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://youtu.be/AiaLCxsSwYI

[ 2017-12-04 14:11:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://youtu.be/iegHZ_UWWsA

[ 2017-12-02 14:05:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some of you may have noticed a sudden flurry of activity. Some of you may have spotted that the Indiegogo backers have received beta keys. Some of you are speculating on RIOT – Civil Unrest actually being released.

I can confirm that the wait is nearly over and RIOT – Civil Unrest will launch as a Steam Early Access game on Wednesday 6th December at 15.00 GMT - $12.99 / €12.99 / £9.99.

I’d like to remind you that RIOT – Civil Unrest is still in development. After each game session, players will be presented with a Google docs feedback form via which we would welcome any suggestions or observations. By working closely with you, the community, the dev team can fine tune the game to make it the best possible experience. The team will continue to work to a schedule and plan to release regular updates - be sure to keep checking this community hub. Finally, on behalf of Merge Games, Leonard and IVProductions, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the delays that the project has endured. We understand the frustration felt by everyone during the game’s protracted development. There have been multiple setbacks during development and we thank you all for your patience and support. - Note for those who pre-ordered from the Humble Store. You have already paid and will receive your keys on December 6th direct from Humble.

[ 2017-11-30 08:48:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://youtu.be/oGAGfCpHGno

[ 2017-11-30 08:15:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/riot-civil-unrest/riot-civil-unrest-strategy

[ 2017-11-29 20:57:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9KZ4TID3N8&feature=youtu.be

[ 2017-11-29 07:41:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=Fh1L13aV3aY

[ 2017-11-28 14:35:19 CET ] [ Original post ]