Qorena has went through a lot of trial and error in the span of 4 years (+1 year of post-game support). From its original debut in 2018, to it's final release in 2022, and post-release support this year in 2023. Now, I finally announce my post-mortem for this game. [previewyoutube=JZz7ufwuIRY;full][/previewyoutube]

Progress Timeline

2018

• Maze Qore Arena released commercially into early access on Itch - to an audience of crickets.
• The game has later switched to a non-commercial early access model.

2019

• The multi-player build begins development.
• Single player build is updated and improved.

2020

• The game releases in early access on Steam, for free - to an audience of crickets.
• Multi-player build is completed and released via the Version 0.5 update.
• Single player build is further improved.

2021

• Multi-player build is further improved.
• Plans for a game overhaul were announced.

www.youtube.com/embed/3CgrizvYLu8?si=cHxosE_eMqJCObUF www.youtube.com/embed/M_vWAczdtKQ?si=YGQ72vAK2RC1krMh www.youtube.com/embed/ZG0wLwhmmSc?si=y1Pzu81zOi-BApZ_

2022

• Name change: Maze Qore Arena has now became Qorena.
• Single player version has been abandoned and archived for historical reasons.
• Competitive multi-player version has been abandoned and scrapped entirely.
• Competitive multi-player model has transformed into a cooperative multi-player model.
• Qorena Foresight has been introduced for playtests and feedback - to no avail.
• Weekly playtests were hosted - few players participated, but at least feedback somewhat materialized.
• Qorena finally left early access, releasing in full - to (you guess it) an audience of crickets.
• Bots (AKA player AI substitutes).

[previewyoutube=bbuZp_8D7qY;full][/previewyoutube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xCPgocIkU

2023

• Cooperative player build has been improved drastically.
• Campaign mode was introduced via the Version 0.9.2 Update.
• We (at the time, WAS we, now it's just me that is left.) began to lose all hope.
• The Major Campaign Update (AKA Version 0.9.3) has released, considerably marking the end of our post-release support. (No point wasting anymore time for an audience of crickets.)

What have we learned?

• Never waste time working on a multi-player game unless you have a confirmed audience that gives a damn.
• Bots barely help matters.
• Try to garner an audience before the game is developed beyond the serious phase. Prototype first.
• Focus on single player games most often instead (if not exclusively).

Marketplace Developers Beware

If you make a marketplace template, ensure it does not share the same style and prototype scheme as the true game. Either make the game extremely different from the template, or just avoid making either that or the game entirely and let one of them sell on its own instead. I got a few complains some have mistook it for an asset flip. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone by using the template I created myself to speed development time and focus on expanding further the gameplay and improving the art, rather than do all of that from scratch. Little did I suspect many would accuse one's own creation of being an asset flip from the marketplace template they created themselves. I still made nearly this entire game by myself, with almost no outside aid, and it was all for naught. Developers use to fear using the marketplace under the pressure that gamers would accuse their game of being an asset flip. Suffice to say, I think this is partially true. If you use marketplace assets such as art or environ packs, it may not be too much of a problem so long as you make a large effort to originate your game or at least turn it into a signature game. Once you make a marketplace template however AND it is selling even decently, you may was well forfeit any plans to make a game out of it. Your task to originate because extraordinarily difficult. In a way, the 2D Top Down Shooter Template unwittingly further sealed any chances of Qorena getting anywhere. Ironically I have created this template to raise funds to help me develop this very game. It helped to some degree at first, then little more beyond a year. Ironically, this game was also developed as a means to develop funding for another project that is still in comatose to this day. That has also ultimately failed...

Any lingering plans left for Qorena?

We planned user-mod support using Modularity's Mod.io, but that ultimately fell through for two reasons:

• No audience means no point in wasting time. I already made that mistake thrice.
• Mod community went to utter shit since 2021, causing me to lose faith and interest in modding. I will not explain why here. I will instead make a video on my personal YouTube channel about the decline of the modding community at a later time.
• I am honestly tired of working on Qorena.

Mobile Port

I considered making use of the competitive MP build and transforming it into an Android port of the game. I underestimated the difficulty and feasibility of mobile builds in Unreal Engine as well as trying to get it signed for Google Play, and ultimately gave up. I might consider a much simpler, yet fun version of the game for Android using Godot in the future, focusing solely on survival and infinite waves, however no promises that will ever happen.

Game Over?

Yes. I am done with this game. The 2nd developer that helped me with this game has given up on the project and left. The non-dev members of the team have also left the gaming industry for greener pastures. I am all that is left now, and much like a previous project I worked on, I have lost all motivation to work on this game anymore as well. This project is cursed. It was cursed from the beginning. It is still cursed to the end. If you want to see any other projects I am working on, you can check out this one instead. Hopefully it will fair better.

[ 2023-12-06 03:39:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Qorena is currently available for FREE even after SHMUP Fest!

• 5 action-packed campaign missions.
• More than a dozen survival levels.
• Upgrades that turn your classic pea-shooters into powerful obliterators!
• Various enemies to slay and pray!
• Customize your mannequin!

We will also be hosting playthroughs of the game on YouTube throughout this week! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and keep an eye on this playlist for updates. [previewyoutube=WShZz_JJNyk;full][/previewyoutube] Full Playlist Here

LOOKING FOR PLAYERS?

Join our Discord server and pair up with other players for a match. We hope you will enjoy playing Qorena! Bring friends and enter the arena!

[ 2023-09-26 06:35:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last update, we released the Campaign Update, introducing the new game mode for mission scenario action with friends and/or bots. Now we brought 4 more missions into the fray!

• Aquamarine - Infiltrate the docks to steal plans for an experimental submarine.
• Scorch - Storm the beach, fight your way through an airfield, and liberate a suburban village.
• Valheim - March through a cold blizzard, destroy artillery, find an obscure base, and steal docs from a winter village town.
• Veritas - Storm through a moving train (be it from floor or top), slaughter your way to the engine room to hijack the train. Slog through a wet jungle marsh and rescue pinned down allies. Assault a castle with your comrades.

[previewyoutube=D1xCPgocIkU;full][/previewyoutube]

IMPROVEMENTS:

• Campaign: 4 new missions.
• Grenade perk icon now changes according to the perk collected.
• The Customizer now has background music and ambiance.
• The Score Streaker has been improved, allowing for multiple simulatenous streaks displayed on screen.
• The Navigation Marker system has been improved, allowing for multiple nav markers displayed on screen.
• The player's customizer sprites are now positioned properly even during online matches.
• The player's customizer sprites are now fully bright and almost fully colorable (sans weapons).
• Screen-space reflections and Global illumination are now being utilized.
• New Customer Headwear: Conical Hat
• New Customer Headwear: Imperial Helmet
• The original "Helmet" has been renamed to "Knight's Helmet".

COMING SOON:

• Level Editor - Create your own custom levels for survival mode, or mission packs for campaign mode!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The settings, map cycle, and customizer storage system has been updated. You may have to resave your respective content in order for the effects to properly apply. For instance, and as a result, chances are your mannequins will look brighter or paler than usual.

MATCHMAKING:

If you want to find players to play this game with (in the event the server browser is empty), you can join our Discord server. ___ We hope you will enjoy playing Qorena with this bountiful update.

[ 2023-07-27 03:59:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

TIME FOR THE TRUTH:

We will be bluntly honest. There was a sale planned in the Fall of this year for the SHMUP Fest, however due to recent turn of events regarding Evil Epic Games, that will not be happening anymore as the game is now free to play - that and we honestly had no more faith that players were willing to buy the game. The purchase of this game is no longer as important as our primary objective to provide an intuitive reason that will convince you to care enough to give this game a chance by playing it and inspiring others to play it with you. All we truly want is to see servers with many players playing the game (preferably in the hundreds).

• if we can at least 50 concurrent players, then we can consider this game a minimal success.
• 100 players is a minor success.
• 500 players is a moderate success.
• 1K players is a major success.
• 2K+ players is a phenomenal accomplishment and a dream come true.

While we still intend on releasing mod tools for the game, the only thing we can focus on without your support is the just level editor, before discontinuing post-support for the game, writing it off as a colossal failure, and moving on to other projects. In order for us to go further with more tools such as:

• Ability to create new monsters, items, or weapons, import music.
• Customize the game's UI theme - color schemes, new fonts, change BGM.
• Upload/download UGC (user-generated content) via Mod IO.

We truly need YOUR support to ensure that happens. We need to see that enough players truly care for this game and our vision. Far as we are concerned, there are practically crickets playing our game - practically, as in just 1 or 2 players (that may likely have been our playtesters) chime in on their own volition to play the game once in a blue moon. We know Qorena is not the best game in the world, nothing compared to the likes of BattleBit Remastered, Teardown, Door Kickers, or even the top-down Battle Royale IO games, but we do try our best to make this top-down bullet-hell game fun, enjoyable, and worthwhile. Since the original launch in 2018 as Maze Qore Arena, much has changed tremendously under the new title Qorena. For starters, we introduced upgrades and powerful weapon levels, making the weapons like the assault rifle and machine gun turn from standard-fare to powerful gatling blasters; rocket launcher turns into a missile barrage cannon; sniper rifle can penetrate through walls, and the flamethrower is augmented with minerals harvested from the Warp, to become the Voidthrower. Enemies now have dialog and music plays in an event-based fashion. Each survival level has their own unique preset of enemies that spawn. For instance, prison arena levels feature special enemies from Maze Qore prison (save for the Yellow Sector spawning exclusively hornets, and Red Sector spawning predominantly Psykers and their possessed victims), whereas outdoor levels feature enemies working for the Imperium - an evil tyrannical government set on imperializing and conquering the entire planet of Asterisk. What more can we honestly do with this game without transforming it too far beyond its original design and goals (again)? Call it an identity crisis if you wish, however it is a problem we have been trying to resolve for roughly 5 years - seemingly to no avail, and still are trying. We hired playtesters to play our game, find bugs and glitches, and help us improve the game to be fun and more available for anyone willing to play it for at least an hour, not 9 minutes at best. We tried to seek funding and marketing support for this game as well - to no avail. We have honestly ran out of ideas, so Version 0.9.X will very likely be our final update milestone for the game. We no longer have any motivation to complete the game enough to leave the Beta stage by reaching Version 1.0. Until a miracle is made, there is no point wasting anymore of our time if our audience simply does not exist outside of 'personal associates'. In fact, we're probably talking to ghosts here at this point. To anyone that did read this far into this post, thank you for paying attention I guess...

[ 2023-06-23 08:17:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Campaign game mode is finally here with Version 0.9.2! You can now fight against enemy forces in campaign mission packs alone or with bots offline, or with friends and strangers online. For now, only one mission pack exists - Operation Desert Storm. This will change in the future with 4 more mission packs. The level editor will have to arrive later (likely in 0.9.4 earliest). [previewyoutube=JWKidlDXpsU;full][/previewyoutube]

IMPROVEMENTS:

• Campaign Update - Play a series of mission packs alone or with friends in the new Campaign mode!
• The map cycle feature now switches to the appropriate game mode to accommodate for the selection accordingly.
• Cloud storage saves have been updated to save screenshots of your mannequins from the Customizer.

COMING SOON:

• Level Editor - Create your own custom levels for survival mode, or mission packs for campaign mode!

___ We hope you will (at least someday) enjoy playing Qorena more than we ultimately did developing this game...

[ 2023-06-23 07:45:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have made an important announcement regarding all of our products actively being sold on all digital storefronts. Any that use Unreal Engine it are extremely affected. The COMPLETE article can be read here. For those of you who are too busy or too lazy to read a two-page long sermon on what is happening, here is the TL:DR version: We have decided to do what many developers may consider "the unthinkable", or even "the utterly insane". From this day forth, we will begin the process to convert ALL of our projects using any of the Unreal Engines into NON-COMMERCIAL ones or switch engines.

• ALL games using UE currently on storefronts will become FREE.
• ALL games using UE we have currently in development that meets or exceeds 50% of progress will also be released for FREE.
• ALL games using UE we have currently in development that exceeds below 50% of progress will be RESTARTED using a DIFFERENT engine. Depending on the project type, platforms, and the scope, it will either use Godot or O3DE. For instance, Mobile games will likely restart on Godot; Higher quality PC games will likely restart on O3DE.
• ANY new games we have planned on lineup but not yet started will be using a DIFFERENT engine (Godot or O3DE).

We are MOVING FAR AWAY from Unreal Engine and abandoning Epic Games. We are moving on to greener pastures.

[ 2023-05-31 04:00:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

The 2022 Steam Winter Sale is here! Qorena is 10% off from now until March 23! Slaughter waves of Imperials with your friends or with bots (offline and online), upgrading on supplies each peacetime wave interval! [previewyoutube=M_vWAczdtKQ;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-03-17 20:57:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

It has been a while since this game was updated. Important fixes to the game has been applied along with a major graphical revamp.
[previewyoutube=M_vWAczdtKQ;full][/previewyoutube]

IMPROVEMENTS:

• The map cycle feature has been fixed completely. You can now add any maps you desire into the cycle and they will be played in the order of top to bottom (and rinse and repeat).
• You can now play levels in rotating fashion in Instant Action just as you can in online Multiplayer. Initially, you could only play the 1st level from the cycle which would restart that same level after each match.
• Restore Upgrades on Death finally works.
• Cloud storage saves are now properly functional for Qorena. The old Maze Qore Arena cloud storage is deprecated from this game.

COMING SOON:

• Campaign Update - Play a series of mission packs alone or with friends in the new Campaign mode!
• Level Editor - Create your own custom levels for survival mode, or mission packs for campaign mode!

We hope you will enjoy playing Qorena more than we did working on it. There will be a sale coming soon in the Summer. Wishlist us on Steam for updates on sales and more updates like this.

[ 2023-03-13 01:34:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

The 2022 Steam Winter Sale is here! Qorena is 25% off for the rest of this month until January 5th! Slaughter waves of Imperials with your friends or with bots (offline and online), upgrading on supplies each peacetime wave interval! [previewyoutube=-qXH8O8MnG0;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2022-12-26 21:27:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

After 4 years, Qorena is finally out of Early Access and onto full release! Those of you who downloaded the game during the EA already got to keep it free. Others will have to buy it now at standard price. [previewyoutube=3CgrizvYLu8;full][/previewyoutube]

NEW FEATURES

Improved Spectator Menu

Players can now access spectator mode at the pause menu. This will undeploy the player. If you wish to join the fray again, click Play on the spectator panel. Assuming "Allow Late Join" is enabled in settings, the player will deploy instantly, otherwise they will be deployed in the next peacetime interval.

Map Cycle List

You can now add levels into the map cycle list. This list will also be used to switch to a new map from the Spectator Menu, so add the ones you wish to switch between in your server.

Music

The game now features sequential music, relative to certain levels.

Config Presets

You can find this in the game's installation directory >> Config >> Presets. Make a backup, adjust your parameters, and update configurations in your App Data directory. Instructions are in the presets folder.

PLANNED FEATURES: POST-RELEASE

Mod Support

This was originally planned in this release, however that proved to be too ambitious to work on, especially when we are still not convinced enough players will care for the game enough to justify it, so we moved it to post-release. We will only work on it, if and when we can see reasonable player activity in the game. A good (but not the sole) indicator for us if the game unlocks the ability to use trading cards.

IMPORTANT: FOR EARLY-ACCESS OWNERS

A LOT has changed since the overhaul. You will have to reinstall your game for the latest changes to take effect. The new installation folder changed from "Maze Qore Arena" to "Qorena". Mannequin saves may also break so be sure to back those up before you uninstall and reinstall. _______________ That is all. Hope you all enjoy playing this game.

[ 2022-07-07 17:29:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another Qorena Foresight Playtest this weekend! Anyone is welcome to join! To participate, follow the instructions through the Qore World website. If in the event the official server is full, you are encouraged to host a new one and invite friends to join it. We hope you will enjoy the first of the weekly playtest to come. This will be ongoing until version 1.0 release.

[ 2022-05-21 20:00:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another Qorena Foresight Playtest this weekend! Anyone is welcome to join! To participate, follow the instructions through the Qore World website. If in the event the official server is full, you are encouraged to host a new one and invite friends to join it. We hope you will enjoy the first of the weekly playtest to come. This will be ongoing until version 1.0 release.

[ 2022-05-14 20:00:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another Qorena Foresight Playtest this weekend! Anyone is welcome to join! To participate, follow the instructions through the Qore World website. If in the event the official server is full, you are encouraged to host a new one and invite friends to join it. We hope you will enjoy the first of the weekly playtest to come. This will be ongoing until version 1.0 release.

[ 2022-05-08 12:00:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another Qorena Foresight Playtest this weekend! Anyone is welcome to join! To participate, follow the instructions through the Qore World website. If in the event the official server is full, you are encouraged to host a new one and invite friends to join it. We hope you will enjoy the first of the weekly playtest to come. This will be ongoing until version 1.0 release.

[ 2022-05-06 05:19:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

On this special day, we are kicking off the first Qorena Foresight Playtest! Anyone is welcome to join! To participate, follow the instructions through the Qore World website. If in the event the official server is full, you are encouraged to host a new one and invite friends to join it. We hope you will enjoy the first of the weekly playtest to come. This will be ongoing until version 1.0 release.

[ 2022-04-30 17:35:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

This game has been out for a full year, improving the game overtime. We truly want to make a fun game that is worth the player's time (however long it takes...), so much that we have made the entire early access free rather than charge money like most developers typically would do with their games (which is also fine). The most important to us is feedback. This will tell us what we are doing right and wrong with the game and how to make it better and more worthwhile. _______________________________ We don't expect for Maze Qore Arena to win this year's Steam Awards, yet it is worth a try. A nomination or Labor of Love while not required, would be really helpful. All we ask from you is to give this game a chance.

[ 2021-11-26 21:18:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! The new 0.7 update for Maze Qore Arena is now available! In this update, we have been hard at work to deliver yet another a new game mode, and a few more new levels!

NEW GAME MODE: IDENTITY THEFT:

Steal the ID card, escape the area or kill all the other players to win! Player with the fastest completion time wins!

IMPROVEMENTS

• New game mode: Identity Theft.
• New map: Outdoors - Imperial Base.
• New map: Outdoors - Deserted Town.
• Introduced a PS1/PC-classic graphics aesthetic.
• Improved the AI to perform better with Flag Hustle, and the Riots.

KNOWN BUGS

• Bot AI may still have a few hiccups with Identity Theft. We might work towards fixing it in a patch.

MOST IMPORTANT NEWS

As this year comes to a close, we've been deciding long and hard with what to do with this game. Despite our efforts, nigh no one seems to care that this game even exists as it has languished for months with no online servers populated with players (let alone at least one server to join), and almost no activity. Either that, or they probably played the outdated singleplayer demo and forgot about the entire game afterwards. For all we know, we are unsure if anyone is probably even reading these update articles. So considering this and the research on how competitive multiplayer games fare on this marketplace, we've concluded that competitive multiplayer is a fruitless endeavor. We really want to give players a reason to care for this game, and most importantly enjoy the game, for our success can only be achieved when players are enjoying this game. Starting next year (and part of our resolution for 2022), Maze Qore Arena will be overhauled. It will no longer feature competitive gameplay as it currently stands. Instead, it shall live closer to it's name; an Arena; a coliseum of enemies to slay; a might and fight for survival. MQA is going cooperative.

WHAT ABOUT THE CONTENT?

Most of the pre-existing levels, sprites, and gameplay will remain intact. The game modes will be scrapped and replaced with only one; Survival. NPCs from the old singleplayer demo will make their return to the overhaul. Bots will be overhauled to specifically support this game mode, so hopefully you will not have to fight alone against waves offline. This also means MQA might compete with the likes of Killing Floor when it comes to it's new gameplay direction (even though we're not trying to compete with them). From the beginning of this game development, we wanted to provide a variety of gameplay options for players to enjoy including the Survival mode (eventually), however we've learned that MP games for the most part have gone nowhere, often dead-on arrival. We tried to rectify this with bot support, giving players an alternative to at least still enjoy the game offline should online disappoint. We've learned that sometimes. it is better to keep it simple and straight-forward, rather than try to make an online game suite. Hopefully all goes well. _____________ I hope you enjoyed this update and thanks for playing Maze Qore Arena! - Establish. Explore. Expand.

[ 2021-11-26 20:02:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! Just fixed a few lighting bugs with two levels in the game, and improved movement for the players on network games.

• Fixes minor latency flaw with player movement on listen server matches.
• Fixed lighting ray-fighting in levels "Doctor Sid's Lab", and "Cloud Nine".

_________ - Establish, Explore, Expand.

[ 2021-02-13 18:03:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! We fixed a major latency issue preventing online play on listen servers. This was discovered last year after testing connections to servers and trying the new levels.

• Fixes major latency flaws with gameplay on listen server matches.
• Projectiles now fire at the proper position on listen server.
• Fixed latency cap prematurely set lower than usual in the Engine's config files (Epic Games screwed up again with 4.25), and copies same settings to the project for insurance.
• Removed Stomt bug reporting feature for Multiplayer build (since no one seems to care enough to use it and it broke in 4.26).

NOTE: This patch applies only to Windows. Linux packaging is under difficulty and will arrive at a later time. _________ - Establish, Explore, Expand.

[ 2021-02-08 21:19:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! The new 0.6 update for Maze Qore Arena is now available! In this update, we have been hard at work to deliver a new game mode, and several more new levels!

IMPROVEMENTS

• New game mode: Jail Bait.
• New map: Yellow Sector - Fahrenheit.
• New map: Red Sector - Peer Pressure.
• New map: Quarantine Zone - Doctor Sid's Lab.
• New map: Grey Sector - The Killing Floor.
• New map: Dream Sector - Cloud Nine.
• Fixed bugs with the audio and multiplayer settings.
• Fixed bug preventing a match from loading it's respective settings.
• Polished the bot AI to perform better with Flag Hustle and Jail Bait.

KNOWN BUGS

• Bot AI is still a WIP; finally playable with Flag Hustle and experimental with Jail Bait.
• Players may seldom disconnect as the server changes to a new level.
• Players may be unable to rejoin the same server they were abruptly disconnected from, requiring a restart of the game.
• Instant Action: Bots have trouble navigating through teleporters, seldom rendering some maps unplayable on certain game modes (Flag Hustle and Jail Bait).
• Teleporter sounds lack proper attenuation; sounds will still play as if you are close by. For this reason, it is recommended to play Doctor Sid's Lab and Cloud Nine with at most 4 players/bots to reduce noise spam. Expect a patch soon to remedy this.

After feedback from the team, we decided to alter our plan for the final release and post-support. We will take our chances introducing mod support before early access ends and hope for the best. We may have been looking at this the wrong and realized the potential the game truly has beyond just an action-arena, E-sports-friendly, shooter. We want to make it modular and expand the game with multiple themes to suit the gamer's preference, somewhat similar to Prison Architect only better. As a spin-off to our main project, we now seek to expand this game outside the confines of a prison, and we will start showing this by the next update version 0.7 with more outdoor levels and another new game mode. By version 0.8, we will bring two more new game modes, and a handful of game themes (to be discussed when that time comes). By version 0.9, bot support should be completed, and mod tools released in beta phase. By the end of early access (1.0), mod tools will leave beta, completing the entire project. Post release may see two additional game modes, and a series of holiday events for two years. _____________ I hope you enjoyed this update and thanks for playing Maze Qore Arena! - Establish. Explore. Expand.

[ 2020-11-21 11:17:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have made a mistake regarding the singleplayer build. Our original thought was that Steam's demo system would still work in liaison with the full version. Little did we know it would replace the demo and render it inoperable once the full version is purchased. Understanding this, we have decided to release a quick update. This is not a hotfix but rather a notice to our early access players. The singleplayer build is now integrated with the full version. The demo still remains for those who miss out on the early access phase (which shall end on Holiday 2020). It will be there forever. _____ Establish, Explore, Expand.

[ 2020-09-22 03:00:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Initially, we stated prior sometime in the past that multiplayer will mark the day Maze Qore Arena leaves early access with a price tag, but after some months deciding hard on it, and re-evaluating the quality of the single-player component, we decided to release the first multiplayer update free into early access, and we will continue this tradition until Version 1.0, which will mark the full release out of early access. In addition, we have already decided to make the singleplayer version a separate component via 'demo' release, available on the front page. Now please note. this game is still not complete, let alone feature complete. We still have plenty of features to complete before the game leaves early access. At this point, due to personal reasons related to COVID-19, we can no longer guarantee it will leave early access before the end of 2020 as we had hoped, but we still intend to ensure it does, hopefully no later than Holiday 2020. As for post-support, well to be honest with you all, that all depends on how well this game performs and how much the players care. We are willing to devote our time and efforts to supporting this game to be polished and complete, even after early access, however there is little purpose to do so if it is dead on arrival. To help prevent this phenomenon that many multiplayer titles succumb to, we are working on bots (player AI substitutes) to fail-safe this game from such predicament. As it stands now in V0.5, they are unready, and to a point where some game modes can be unplayable due to behavior. This shall be fixed in Version 0.6 or 0.7. Regarding mod support, this will also be completed during post-support for the very fears aforementioned - no point in mod support if no one cares about the game.

KNOWN BUGS

• Bot AI is a broken mess, yet they are fairly playable on Riot and Gang Riot.
• Players may seldom disconnect as the server changes to a new level.
• Players may be unable to rejoin the same server they were abruptly disconnected from, requiring a restart of the game.
• Score streaks are still a work-in-progress, thus you may experience an "unknown scorestreak" message, often when you kill multiple enemies.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Many features from singleplayer have been transferred to this multiplayer build, with necessary changes and omissions to balance online play.
• Players have the ability throw grenades and carry up to 8 at a time. Subject to change.

_____________ I hope you enjoyed this update and thanks for playing Maze Qore Arena! Establish, Explore, Expand. _____________

QUICK UPDATE

If you are having trouble finding a multiplayer server to play on, or finding players to play with, you can join our Discord server to lobby for players and join a match together. Use !register to access the server, then use the #gaming channel to host a session to other gamers.

[ 2020-09-20 06:40:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! We found another game-breaker and while we were at it, we took this chance to polish the prologue and eulogue screens for the game with simpler descriptions that hopefully won't bore you to death or feel like some kid with ADHD wrote it.

• Fixed a game-breaking bug that prevents saving and loading the game properly.
• Fixed a game-breaking bug that prevents starting a new game properly.
• Added the ability to delete games in both the save game and load game menus.
• Removed the unfinished mini-map in the single-player mode as it is useless and serves no more valuable than a special top-down mirror.

Apologies for the inconvenience. Hope you will still be able to enjoy Maze Qore Arena. _________ - Establish, Explore, Expand.

[ 2020-08-12 11:01:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! Right upon launch from our last major update, we discovered some game breakers and a few issues with AI navigation. We have fixed the following:

• The ceilings in the Yellow Sector mission, "Minefield" is now passable and thus the final mine can be cleared with the mine detector.
• Navigation meshes in several levels have been fixed to allow full AI navigation, particularly in the Green Sector mission "Resonance!".
• The HUD has been resized, taking less of the screen.
• Fixed a bug when starting a new game. It shall now start a clean, new slate instead of loading the last continue save.

Apologies for the inconvenience. Hope you will still be able to enjoy Maze Qore Arena. _________ - Establish, Explore, Expand.

[ 2020-08-11 02:39:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! The new 0.4 update for Maze Qore Arena is now available! Today's update is a very special one. As we focus on the multiplayer side of our game, we decided to review the overall quality of our project. After surveying the game and analyzing feedback from gamers and critics who've tried our game, we realized the previous art style the game released with is not adequate for today's gaming market. We wanted to go for an unlit, cartoon style synonymous with flash games from Newgrounds and with our philosophy, we expected the gameplay to stand out more and make up for the unlit 2D style. This did not seem to work as well as we had hoped. We had also realized we missed many opportunities to improve the gameplay as is to make it stand out from your generic flash game shooter. So we decided to overhaul the graphics and improve the gameplay to make it feel more like a game worth playing. Here are the changes made with this update:

• Levels have been graphically overhauled, applying lighting effects and reflections whenever and wherever necessary.
• Some effects (like explosions) now glow in darkness.
• Some props (like Black-Ops crates and explosive barrels) now have screen-space reflections.
• Camera shake effects have been applied to the game. Whenever the player shoots, or takes damage, the camera will animate.
• Camera effects vary based on weapons and damage types. For instance, a rifle or pistol will cause a minor shake; machine gun fire will shingle the screen; a hit from a psychic blast will disorient the player.
• Character sprites now blend with the environment.
• Removed a max ammo limit bug with the grenade feature (the limit was meant for multiplayer and somehow it crept into single-player). You should now be able to collect grenades infinitely.
• NPCs health have decreased by either one half or one third (depending on the type of enemies and allies).

From hence on, we do not plan to update the single-player mode from this point save for perhaps a few patches. It seems we've done as much as possible to improve this side of the game. The only possible two updates for single-player remaining are:

• Linux AArch64 support.
• Steam Achievements.
• Any necessary patches for the game.

As also stated in the previous 0.3 update, we are deprecating support for Windows 32-bit operating systems. Epic Games has overhauled the cooking and packaging infrastructure and thus effectively rendered 32-bit impossible to work with it unless we flip a switch in the project settings in Unreal Editor. Since they also stated in their engine version notes they will deprecate 32-bit support in 4.26, and remove it higher versions, we decided to deprecate support now. As it stands, version 0.4 of Maze Qore Arena will be the final version to support 32-bit OS and thus will be played in single player only. Once MQA reaches version 1.0 (and leaves early access) we will remove 32-bit support entirely. Seems the 32-bit era is sadly coming to an end. Now is the time to upgrade to 64-bit computers if you have not already done so. If you wish to play the single player in 32-bit after this point, the retail version will still be available on the game's Game Jolt page. _____________

IMPORTANT NOTE

Singleplayer and Multiplayer builds have been separated and renamed. For those tech savvy, you may notice in the file directory that the Maze Qore Arena folder now has SP and MP folders to separate the two halves, this has as a result broken the save storage for the game so if you have played earlier versions here is how to fix this: [olist]

Access directory "C:/Users/ <Your Computer Name> /AppData/Local"

Rename the "MazeQoreArena" folder to "MQA_SP" [/olist] If MQA_SP already exists. Delete the folder before following the above steps. Ultimately, it may be best to start anew instead as a few changes in the game has occurred however nothing that should corrupt saves. _____________ I hope you enjoyed this update and thanks for playing Maze Qore Arena! - Establish. Explore. Expand. _____ EDIT: Bugs found. Patch inbound.

[ 2020-08-10 08:17:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! We have released a new minor update for Maze Qore Arena, which fixes a few bugs and polishes the game with new features, as well as pave the way for the upcoming multiplayer update. Improvements:

• Most objects above the player now fade when overlapping with the camera view distance. This is known as CVOF (Camera View Object Fading). For instance, if you enter buildings with a 'roof' they will fade instead of blocking your way.
• To complement CVOF, few structures are no longer transparent by default, such as those in the Yellow Sector missions.

Changes:

• Upgraded to Unreal Engine 4.25.
• Added folder directory path preparation for the multiplayer release (for the tech savvy).
• Deprecating 32-bit support for Windows support soon due to changes with in Unreal Engine 4.25.

___ Establish, Explore, Expand

[ 2020-08-03 02:14:12 CET ] [ Original post ]