Wolfire Games Blog

Receiver v10: Modifiers Update

2023-03-16T17:14:45Z

Receivers!

The Threat has once again invaded The Dreaming and expanded its grip on the world. To counter this, the Receivers are reaching out to you to support and give you more power and control of your Reality.

We are thrilled to announce a new update for Receiver, just in time for a sale on all of our titles and additions of new bundles. Support Wolfire in its goal to create more games and exciting content by checking them out!

This update brings some exciting changes and improvements to the game, including a new Modifier system that allows you change the gameplay in some fun ways. We’ve also fixed a set of performance issues and bugs, in particular one bug that had a major impact on Linux performance.

We’ve also added support for custom seeds, allowing you to replay the same world again, or share the seed with your friends to challenge each other.

We would love to hear suggestions for future modifiers in our Steam community or our Discord server.

New Modifiers

Green Demon: try to complete the game while being chased by a slower but immortal kill drone.
Thick Fog: Darken the world and shorten your view distance, making enemies harder to see and increasing their potential to surprise you.
Spawn Magazines: At long last, additional magazines will spawn in the world, allowing you to have more than the ones you initially manifest.
Tough Killdrones: Killdrones take more of a beating by requiring that you hit vital components, no more random chance of destruction by any hit.
Deadly Threat: Everything is worse. The Threat is made near impossible to overcome.

Other Changes and Fixes

Add a “Modifiers” menu button to play custom games.
Reduce garbage generation in Shell Casings scripts.
Fixed an issue with Revolvers.
Made VSync turn off by default.
Improved the Settings menu to be nicer to use and interact with.
Implement FOV Slider.
Stop limiting the games FPS to 60.
Globally enable round interpolation inside of magazines.
Adjust player camera near-plane.
Implement a speedrun split timer for tape-pickup.
Added an advertisement for Receiver 2 in the pause menu, can be completely disabled via settings.

Overgrowth Open Source Announcement

2022-04-21T23:05:11Z

Open Source

We have worked on Overgrowth for 14 years. It is our longest running, ongoing project, and a massive reason why we have continued to work on the game is the fantastic fan response and following. Not only have people all over the globe continued to play and enjoy Overgrowth for years, but the community has had an enormous impact on the project as well. From the helpful feedback that led to better updates, to the amazing modders who expand what you can do in the game, to the talented artists and creators who expand upon Overgrowth’s style and lore. This game has been shaped and crafted in no small part by the people who play it.

So what's the next step? How do we honor the community that helped build this game? We are pleased to announce that Overgrowth’s code is now open source! Not only that, but we're also permanently reducing the game’s price by a third worldwide, from $29.99 to $19.99 in the US.

Only the code is getting open sourced, not the art assets or levels, the reason is that we don't want someone to build and sell Overgrowth as their own. We're using the Apache 2.0 license, which allows you to do whatever you want with the code, with very few obligations. It’s easy to compile and run the official Overgrowth game using the open source code, so you don't need a lot of technical knowledge to get started.

To be clear, this is not “the next big engine”. Since great open source game engines like Godot exist, using Overgrowth’s engine for your next game project is a bad choice in almost all cases. However, if you‥

Are interested in looking at what shipped game code can look like.
Want to look at specific code, like the procedural animation system.
Are an Overgrowth modder who wants to make a more involved total conversion or mod.

Then this is for you, and you can download the source files here!

A few people from the Wolfire community, and the Lugaru OSS project have come together to help maintain the Overgrowth Open Source git repository in their free time. So if you want to fix a bug or add a new feature, submit your changes and these people will consider your code for inclusion in the official repository.

With the git repository on GitHub we want to provide a place for people to collaborate on the code, to make it as useful as possible to the wider game developer community. This is only possible thanks to the maintainers who graciously spend their time maintaining the project. A huge thanks to everyone involved!

If you have any questions, ask them in the official Wolfire Games Discord.

We have wanted to open source Overgrowth for a long time and we are incredibly grateful to our team and community for making this happen. We are excited to see what people do with this code and we look forward to the spirit of Overgrowth living on for another 14 years.

Receiver 2 Language Update

2022-02-22T13:10:03Z

Localisation

Accessibility is important in all forms of media and video games are no exception. We have seen interest for our games from all corners of the globe and we are incredibly grateful for the international support. For a long time we have wanted to add language options to Receiver 2 but being an indie developer with limited resources, it wasn’t an easy task.

Our first language update to the game was back in October of 2021. This update localised the game into three new languages. Spanish, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified). It was a great step in the right direction and we were very proud with how it turned out. On top of localising the game, we also updated the official Receiver 2 website to include 13 different language options.

We learned a lot from these experiences and since then have been working to make Receiver 2 even more accessible. That’s why we are so happy to announce that we have added 4 new languages to Receiver 2! Thanks to help from community translators we have been able to add Turkish, Czech, Traditional Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese as options on top of the existing languages in Receiver 2.

We could not be more grateful to our amazing community for your help with bringing our game to more players around the world. We can’t wait for people to experience Receiver 2 in their preferred language and to continue improving the game for fans around the globe.

If you’d like to experience Receiver 2 now that these language options have been added you can find the game here and if you want to keep up to date on the latest Receiver 2 and Wolfire news we highly recommend following us on our various social media platforms.

Overgrowth Online Multiplayer Prototype

2021-12-15T21:37:48Z

Prototype

As a lot of you know, Overgrowth has been a beloved project for us at Wolfire and for the Wolfire community at large. The love for the game has never failed to humble us and we are so grateful for all the people who have played it. The continued enthusiasm for Overgrowth from the community and from us has pushed us to always try to make the game better and better wherever we can, and one thing we have wanted to implement into the game for a long time is the ability to play with friends. Of course there already exists a way to fight against your friend in a local setting but for a long time a goal of ours has been implementing online multiplayer to the game.

After a lot of work, and a lot of problem solving, we are delighted to announce that we have finally created the functionality for multiplayer in Overgrowth. Not only can players now experience online multiplayer together, but from this base functionality we can grow and improve it. Thanks to the hard work of our developers we have now released a new branch of Overgrowth on Steam that allows you to play the game with other people online!

The multiplayer is very much still in development and there is so much more functionality we want to add to it, but we do feel that it's in a state that's very enjoyable to play. Allowing the Overgrowth community to experience the game in this state means we can gather useful feedback to implement into future versions.

So how was this done? How was online multiplayer added to a game that had none of the groundwork for this feature at launch? Well luckily Carl and Moz have teamed up to create an in-depth video on how we added online multiplayer to the game, as well as a ton of more interesting details about the process. In the video Carl breaks down the stage at which the feature is currently working and some of our plans for its future.

Video

Discord

We can not wait for you to try Overgrowth Online Multiplayer yourself and to hear your feedback. If you are looking for people to play the game with or run into any issues, we highly recommend checking out the Overgrowth channel in our Discord server. We will continue to work to improve the multiplayer experience in Overgrowth so that everyone can enjoy the game with others.

Receiver 2 Localization Update

2021-10-27T14:19:56Z

We are happy to announce that Receiver 2 now features new language options. We have always wanted Receiver 2 to be accessible to as many people as possible and this is hopefully a further step in that direction. Currently there are 3 new official languages that you can play Receiver 2 in: Spanish, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified). Players who want to play in these languages can now launch the newest version of the game and easily switch to the option they prefer.

To coincide with this update, the official Receiver 2 website is also now available in 13 different languages. At the bottom of the page you will now find a drop down which allows you to select your desired language.

This is our first experience with localisation and we couldn’t be more excited to bring our game to players who haven’t been able to play it before. We appreciate everyone who has voiced their suggestions on how to make Receiver 2 more accessible and everyone who has supported the game’s development. We will continue working to make Receiver 2 the most enjoyable experience for the most people possible. Remember to follow us on our various social media platforms so you don't miss future announcements!

Wolfire Monthly Update - October 2021

2021-10-03T23:26:09Z

Low Light Combat

In July we dropped our brand new multiplayer experience Low Light Combat. For those who don’t know, Low Light Combat is a reimagining of a Jam game we made in 2013. The new LLC is a completely free multiplayer shooter that uses light and time to create tense and fast paced battles. The game was created in a month using the beta of Unreal Engine 5.

Since release, the Wolfire community has been trying out LLC and we’ve been right there with you. We’ve loved jumping into matches and getting absolutely destroyed by fans. We even streamed one of those community play sessions over on our Twitch channel and then edited the VOD so we could put the best bits on our YouTube channel.

Overgrowth Map Jam July 2021

Another exciting thing to come out of the community recently was the latest Overgrowth Map Jam. Despite other jams requiring map creators to create within a theme or themes, this jam dropped the idea of having a theme and encouraged creators to go wild. The results were amazing. There were eight maps created for this jam and they ranged from a fully playable car racing level, all the way to recreating Receiver in Overgrowth. During the voting stages we streamed our journey playing through all of the maps on our Twitch channel and had a blast!

In the end the community declared Yanwang Ken’s map victorious so congratulations to them! We recommend you try out all of the maps created for the jam as each was unique and full of creativity. You can find them all on the Steam workshop.

If you want a breakdown of each of the maps submitted and what they entail, we spotlighted each of them in this video on our YouTube channel.

The Future

There is so much more coming down the pipeline that we can’t wait to share, but until then we just want to express how grateful we are for the Wolfire community and all that you do to support us.

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Low Light Combat Launch

2021-07-21T15:32:05Z

Our New Game is Out Now!

We are thrilled to announce our brand new 100% free experience, Low Light Combat. Long time Wolfire fans might recognise that name but this multiplayer shooter was developed from the ground up in the cutting edge Unreal Engine 5.

In Low Light Combat light is your only weapon. Matches take place during a rapidly changing day and night cycle, meaning your fast paced fights quickly become tense and thrilling battles of wit. In LLC, your health, ammo, and stamina are all tied to a single resource: Time. That means everything from firing your weapon and taking damage, to sprinting and shining your flashlight will all deplete your time. To replenish your time you must either defeat other players, or touch the reactor found in the middle of the map. But you must act fast because time... is fleeting.

We developed this project in one month and there are a couple reasons for this. We wanted to see what was possible with the new Unreal Engine 5. We wanted to push ourselves to create something fun without taking too much time away from other projects. But mostly we wanted to give the Wolfire community an exciting and unique multiplayer experience at no cost whatsoever!

LLC is also completely open source, so if you want to dive headfirst into the project file and learn how we did what we did, you can do so. Regardless of if you're a big name developer or a hobbyist programmer, any and all can learn from Low Light Combat. You can download the source code here!

The game is available right now on Steam and Itch.io.

Wolfire Monthly Update - July 2021

2021-07-05T23:07:44Z

Summer Sale

It’s finally summer which means it's saving time! You can now get all Wolfire games, including Receiver 2 and Overgrowth, at discounted prices as part of the summer sale. But act fast because the sale ends on the 8th of July! If there is a game of ours that you’ve been wanting to try, now is the time to complete your Wolfire collection!

Overgrowth Map Jam April 2021

Now that the results are in, we wanted to let you all know that the latest Overgrowth Map Jam was one of our most exciting yet! For those who don’t know, this is a recurring event in the Wolfire community that encourages people to create an Overgrowth map that fits the Jam’s themes. Map creators submit their maps and then the community votes for their favourite. These events are great fun and go a long way to bring the Wolfire community together and to foster creativity.

This Jam’s themes were ‘Ragdoll’ and ‘Stealth’! Map creators took one or both of these themes and created some amazing Overgrowth maps that you can play right now. On top of that we continued the tradition of streaming the maps live on our
Twitch channel and an edited down version of that VOD is available to watch on our YouTube channel.

Compound Posters

We have really loved everyone’s reactions to the compound in Receiver 2. A lot of love and hard work went into creating it and the fact that fans have been enjoying exploring, training and hanging out there has been so fun to see.

One of our favourite things about the compound were the in-universe posters that decorate some of the walls. The designs created by Aubrey are so compelling and fit the themes and mood of Receiver 2 so well that we wanted to give you, the fans, a chance to own them. Right now you can purchase any and all of the Receiver 2 compound posters in the Wolfire Games merch store. And of course if posters aren’t your thing, the store has plenty of other Wolfire merch including t-shirts, phone cases and stickers.

Upcoming Content

We are so excited to share with you all the things we are working on behind the scenes but that will have to wait a little longer. In the meantime, keep an eye on our socials and make sure you are following our YouTube and twitch channels for some fun video content. We appreciate all the support form the Wolfire community and we hope to bring some awesome stuff to you in the future.

Regarding the Valve class action

2021-05-06T17:46:49Z

Dear gamers and game developers,

I would like to explain why Wolfire Games is seeking to represent game developers in a class action suit against Valve Corporation. I felt that I had no choice, because I believe gamers and game developers are being harmed by Valve's conduct. While I am taking on significant personal risk, I am not doing this for personal gain. If there’s any monetary recovery, it will be distributed to all developers and gamers in the class.

I did not set out with the goal of suing Valve, but I have personally experienced the conduct described in the complaint. When new video game stores were opening that charged much lower commissions than Valve, I decided that I would provide my game "Overgrowth" at a lower price to take advantage of the lower commission rates. I intended to write a blog post about the results.

But when I asked Valve about this plan, they replied that they would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM. This would make it impossible for me, or any game developer, to determine whether or not Steam is earning their commission. I believe that other developers who charged lower prices on other stores have been contacted by Valve, telling them that their games will be removed from Steam if they did not raise their prices on competing stores.

While talking to other developers about problems that they were having with Steam, they kept referring to it as a "monopoly," and saying that there was nothing that we could do. I wondered, has anyone actually checked if Valve is obeying antitrust law? So I consulted with legal experts, which eventually culminated in the complaint.

As the dominant platform, when developers list their games on multiple PC stores, the majority of their sales will come through Steam. I believe this makes most developers afraid that if they don't sell on Steam, they will lose the majority of their revenue. To those developers, avoiding Steam would add unacceptable risk to the already high risk of game development in general. I believe that most developers have little or no choice but to sell on Steam and do as they're told by Valve.

I believe that businesses are free to do whatever they want within the law. However, once a company reaches a certain level of power over an entire market, the antitrust laws forbid those companies from distorting competition. I believe that Valve is taking away gamers' freedom to choose how much extra they are willing to pay to use their platform. I believe they are taking away competing stores' freedom to compete by taking advantage of their lower commission rates. I believe they are taking away developers' freedom to use different pricing models.

In my opinion, this is part of why all competing stores have failed. This suit insists that Valve stop interfering with pricing on other stores, and allow gamers and developers to make their own decisions. That’s why I joined the lawsuit.

Sincerely,
David Rosen

Receiver 2 One Year Anniversary

2021-04-15T00:28:17Z

Happy Birthday to Receiver 2!

We can hardly believe it's been an entire year since we launched Receiver 2, but as of today R2 is officially a full year old. We wanted to take a moment to say thanks to our incredible community for all the love and support we've received (heh) since the game launched. Because of you the game current sits proudly on Steam with "very positive" reviews, we're practically drowning in awesome fan art and hilarious memes, and we even won an award!

So, from all of us here at Wolfire, thank for your overwhelming support. Here's to another year of Receiver 2!

Anniversary Sale

But that's not all, to celebrate the anniversary Receiver 2 is on sale until the 21st of April so if you haven't picked it up yet, now's your chance to snag it at a lower price than normal!

But THAT'S not all, you can also get free US shipping on ANY order in the Wolfire Merchandise Store until the 21st by using code R2BIRTHDAY at checkout, this includes the Receiver 2 Compound posters we launched recently!

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