Martin Rumenov The Warpfrog team has rolled out a new update, version 1.0.3, for their game Blade & Sorcery, focusing on bug fixes, optimizations, and improvements to AI behaviors. This patch addresses a variety of issues, from item duplication exploits to significant bugs like crystals falling through the ground when physics settings are low.
AI Improvements and Bug Fixes
The update introduces several AI-related fixes. One major issue addressed is the AI’s tendency to get too close to the player, sometimes glitching into them. To mitigate this, the developers have removed small weapons from AI, such as tiny hammers, which caused difficulty in finding the correct attacking distance in VR. Additionally, shield enemies have been adjusted to prevent them from constantly getting in the player’s face to perform shield bash attacks. Now, they will only use the bash as a secondary behavior, as originally intended.
In group fights, AI rangefinding issues have been compounded, leading to crowding. To alleviate this, a new behavior has been implemented where non-attacking AI will hang back, reducing unnecessary crowding. The update also restored some missing death animations that had been disabled due to a ripple bug effect caused by an innocuous change.
Optimizations and Enhancements
The update includes a significant optimization in Unity that improves loading times for all assets, including up to 50% faster loading for dungeons. However, this optimization required a full redownload of the game bundles, resulting in a large patch size. This is expected to be a one-time occurrence.
Other enhancements include increased audio sample rates for better sound quality, enriched presence for Steam, and various fixes for issues like navmesh problems, item positioning, and shader updates.
Full Changelog Highlights
- Enhancements: Improved audio quality, added enriched presence for Steam, and spectator camera optimizations.
- Fixes: Addressed navmesh issues, item duplication exploits, improper item positioning, and various UI and visual bugs.
- Optimizations: Reduced build size by removing duplicate assets, optimized particle effects, and improved memory impact.
- Skills and AI: Fixed issues with AI behaviors, restored death animations, and adjusted enemy attack patterns.
This update represents Warpfrog’s ongoing commitment to improving Blade & Sorcery, despite the challenges posed by the game’s complex AI system and legacy code. The team plans to apply lessons learned to future projects, starting from scratch with a cleaner codebase for their next game on the new Thunder Road 2 framework.
Read also our story for patch 1.0.2. Blade & Sorcery or patch 1.0.1. Blade & Sorcery
Warpfrog
Warpfrog is an independent game development studio that specializes in virtual reality (VR) games. The studio operates entirely remotely, with a small international team working from their homes. Warpfrog is known for its focus on creating immersive and innovative VR experiences, emphasizing simulation over traditional game mechanics.
Their flagship title, “Blade & Sorcery,” is a physics-based VR sandbox game that allows players to engage in combat and interact with the environment with a high degree of freedom. The game is currently in Early Access and has a standalone version called “Blade & Sorcery: Nomad” for the Oculus Quest 2. Warpfrog prides itself on its commitment to the community and its philosophy of “under promise but over deliver,” relying on word-of-mouth rather than aggressive marketing strategies.
