Dark Harvest: Major Update to the game

Version 0.1.5 is a major update for the game, it brings multiple technical enhancements an offline mode and controller support.

Why still version 0.1.5 you might ask? Well that's because I am using the 0.1 version for work on world 1 off the game (The great forest), version 0.2 will be all the work that will be done on the Grand Temple and so on for the other worlds. So the number may seem very low but a lot of work has gone into making the game playable and working before I started work on the worlds.

Hopefully when the first world is done progress trough the story will got a bit quicker since then I can focus more on the story then to split it between the story and have the technical side of the game nearly completely done.

The complete changelog can be found at www.darkharvestgame.com/changelog/

The main Story

This update has had a complete run for the current main story, a lot of bugs have been fixed or have been updated to give you a better progression. I will keep on monitoring feedback and keep on reviewing the entire game including already finished content to see if any new bugs appear.

The main story of the game does not yet continues in this update, the game already has over 15 quests (both Main Story and Side Quests) that you can access. But a lot more is yet to come, the next updates will bring you to the Ensland Enclave a small secure part of the Great Forest near the Grand Temple, from where new characters will help you reach the Grand Temple.



Although not in this update, work has begun on the first dungeon of the game, you will enter the crypt's of the High temple to get the Keystone.

You will encounter new enemies and experience the game in an entire new way very soon.

Character Overview

This update brings the character overview and skill point allocation.

You can also see an overview of your current stats and your stats when you update your character attributes.



Offline mode

The game now offers you the option to play offline and don't register an account. This option has been added because I want you the have the option to never be online to play the game, although the launcher will still be there (you can start the game without the launcher but its not recommended) to give you updates when they come available.

You can simply start he game in offline mode by selecting "offline mode" at the login screen.





Please do keep in mind that offline is entirely separate from the online component, so you wont have any social features, no achievements and you cannot obtain or buy any new Hero or skin.

The data for the offline mode saved on your computer locally and cannot be synced in anyway with the online features.

(Xbox) Controller support

This update will include seamless controller support, which means you can switch between keyboard and mouse and controller on the fly, all you have to do is use the other input device and the UI will change as well. This all gives you more options to play the game the way you want to play it.

Custom Cursor

After a long time of debugging finally the custom cursor bug has been fixed. The cursor now changes from the default the moment when you start the game it took a long time to find a solution to this issue, but this update finally brings a fix.

This fix helps to make the game feel less 'clunky and cheap'.

The portals

All portals in the game have been reworked so they now work when you stand on the instead of you having you to put your mouse on them.

The game also has an teleporter added to make travel between the main town and the quest hub (The Ensland Enclave) in the great forest easier.





Melee Heroes

All melee heroes have gone trough a gameplay overview, there was a bug where melee combat was not correctly registered by the enemies. This made it that sometimes your hits just would not be doing any damage to the enemies. This update fixes most of those issues and I will continue to monitor the state of melee heroes to see if the issue is now completely gone or needs some more attention.

Website

The Dark Harvest website has got some updates, the website is now mobile optimized. So even though you cannot download the game on Android or IOS at least you can now access the website and your account on your phone.





Account

On the account page you can now see which items you own in game and some of the statistics of your account.





New technology

The website was originally made in PHP with an Microsoft SQL (Azure) Database, but the entire website has been move to an Oracle Database and Oracle APEX. This has been done so the game can more use REST API's that connect the database to the game. As some may have already noticed there is an "Service News" at the login screen that shows you if there is maintenance or service outage.



There is also "Game News" showed at the character select screen.





Both of these news sections now use the new REST API endpoint that is available from the Oracle products, the game will hopefully expand on the options that are available now.

The website is also been upgraded from ReCHAPTA v2 to ReCHAPTA v3, this means that you dont have to do any box selecting or "proof" that you are human.

To the Grand Temple

The coming updates you will get you even more closer to the Grand Temple, and you will see yet more enemies on your way.

You can start your journey today by registering your account on the website and download the game, so you can explore this new update and start your Dark Harvest. If you want to play offline only, you don't need to register an account.

