Velmorne has been on the map selection screen for almost a month now - after opening the city gates, we listened, tweaked, and patched. The final (final-we-are-done-for-real) patch dropped yesterday, and it appears that support for Webgrave has now been concluded. This means there will be no more patches for a while. But that doesn’t mean we’re disappearing off the radar - we’re just switching from support mode to development mode, working on future content for the game. An updated roadmap is currently in the works, and we plan to share it with you in a few days - stay tuned!

Before that happens, Adrian has a few words he wanted to say:

Today, we're having a big team meeting to discuss the next steps. We can smell 1.0 in the air, but there's still some work to do – like, you know, the story. We'll share the updated roadmap soon -- next week, probably -- but for now, let me wrap up the Webgrave update with some additional data. This time, let's dive into the juicy subject of refunds.

You wouldn't know it, but one thing that caused me a few sleepless nights was Witchfire's above-average refund ratio. It felt like living in a bizarre world: on one hand, the game was selling very well and had a high and rising user score of 92%; on the other, we had this unexpectedly high refund rate. This ratio was even more puzzling since typically, the higher the user score, the lower the refunds.

Of course, Early Access games usually see a higher refund rate because they're unfinished, and many people buy them just to sample the experience. Still, we knew something was off. We knew we had a good game, but we weren't fully connecting with some players.

After analyzing feedback, we identified three key areas that needed attention.

One, explaining the features. To us, everything seems obvious. I mean, how can Stamina not be obvious? It's not like we invented the concept. The same goes for spells, dashing, weapon swapping, witchfire as a resource, HP that doesn't auto-regenerate -- and countless other details. Yet, data from players and our playtests clearly showed we got this wrong. Yes, these concepts might be familiar individually, but Witchfire combines them in such a unique way that it simply demands a proper tutorial.

Two, the story. Many players are happy with just the atmosphere and gameplay; they either don't need a story or can wait for it. But others want a clear goal from the start, they need to understand the stakes and feel emotionally engaged. As someone who's never made a game without a story, loves immersive sims and narrative-driven games, and dabbles in writing, I understand that need perfectly.

Three, the difficulty. The game is simply too challenging for some players. Reasons vary: some feel overwhelmed, others don't want to adapt, and some ignore the tutorials entirely. Whatever the reason, our second most common refund justification is the game's difficulty.

Here's what we've decided to do about these issues:

For the tutorial, that was a no-brainer. We knew it was long overdue. So we've invested significantly in creating a proper tutorial, including a new map and a special Game Handbook feature. I'm happy to report that this has worked remarkably well: we've cut our excess refunds in half.

For the story, well, that's coming soon. We already have bits of it in the game, along with plenty of lore -- but that's nothing compared to what we ultimately envision for Witchfire.

Regarding difficulty, we've decided not to change anything from a top-level design perspective. We understand this means Witchfire will never appeal to everyone, and we're okay with that. We hope players will come to see there's more than one way to beat the game, whether through manual skills, strategic thinking, or clever exploits. But we don't plan on adding difficulty levels or reducing the overall challenge. Witchfire was never designed to be punishing; to us, it's "normal difficult" -- but we firmly believe a proper challenge is essential for a satisfying experience.

To sum it up: the tutorial and Game Handbook feature have been successful, the story is coming next, but we're standing firm on not adding difficulty levels.

And with that, it’s time for the…

[h4]Rotten fiend appreciation corner[/h4]

Original Thread
Iron Cross may be the fan-favourite (or at least the go-to spell for a very vocal minority), but recently there’s been a surge of appreciation for a companion raised from six feet under. And I have to say, I absolutely love it. I may be guilty of leaving Rotten Fiend on a shelf in the Hermitorium for far too long, and this post made me feel like it’s time to dust the spell off. Especially since it seems there’s a way to make him Extra Buffed™ - so buffed that I’m afraid we’ll need to have another look at balance, because this feels a bit excessive.

Original Thread
A lively performance for someone so dead.

[h4]I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me.[/h4]

There’s a wide range of ways we see you approach gameplay. It usually begins with a lack of confidence: being very careful, counting bullets, using cover, and taking laboured breaths after each encounter filled with projectiles flying around your Preyer’s hat.

Then it gradually evolves into feeling like a god of hellfire - only to level up your gnosis while riding high on another successful expedition, and immediately finding out the difficulty has been bumped up by a considerable margin, so you’re not getting just a slap on the wrist, but rather getting your head kicked in.

Eventually, you get used to what the Witch is serving you. You gain enough experience to know what you can do, when to run, and when to push harder. Key-Post-9750 started a thread asking when that moment was for you - and when you were put in your place.

Thanks for sharing these moments and what lead to them - we want to make you feel things while playing our game, and while synthesizing what lead to these moments may be difficult, the more data we have, the more reliably we can craft opportunities for them to happen.

Original Thread
[h4][Kylo-Ren-MOAR.gif][/h4]

That said, and circling back to what Adrian wrote about the difficulty being too high, there are also plenty of players on the opposite end of the spectrum, daydreaming about scenarios that are… well, borderline concerning.

I mean…

Original Thread
It reminded me of the time I was taking screenshots for the Handbook and… well, I’m impatient. When the console command didn’t work as intended, I hit it again. And again. Until the game froze.

Anit suddenly roared back to life. Literally roared, courtesy of the horde.

[center][/center]
Never have I ever found myself in a situation where the “I’m in danger” meme felt more appropriate.
And why do I get a feeling that it's what some of you would like to have in game?

[h4]Kowalski, Analysis![/h4]

I think this is the first time someone has made a video thoroughly analyzing Witchfire, and it was a blast to watch. It’s always exciting to see players put so much time and creativity into sharing their perspective - thanks for the thoughtful breakdown and fantastic presentation!

The youtube embeds are not working again - please follow the link to [h4]This requires no comment[/h4]
[center][/center]
Original Thread
We absolutely love it.

And that’s about it for today - we’ll be back soon with a roadmap outlining the future of the game. Please stay tuned, and in the meantime - go explore, hunt the Witch’s minions, and send their souls screaming back to hell.

Cheers!

Fellow preyers, we’ve prepared one more patch for Webgrave. The changelist is short, but the impact might be big for some of you.

The full patch notes are available on our website[www.theastronauts.com], but here’s the gist of what’s new since the last update:

• Velmorne now uses 0.3GB less memory
  
• Ambush Bells optimization
  
• Fixed Ambush Bells objectives not updating properly.

That 0.3GB memory reduction may look small, but it can prevent PCs with 16GB RAM or less from dipping into virtual memory – meaning smoother performance.

This patch likely (hopefully) wraps up the Webgrave update cycle. We’re still here and we will still read your feedback, but we're shifting the focus to developing more content for future updates - more info coming soon.

Cheers!