Happy Wednesday and happy gaming, Defiers!

The tiny patch today is to fix a multiplayer crash related to Town Center functionality and connected inventories. Please let us know if you encounter any other bugs or crashes by using crash reporter or Feature Up-vote[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com].

Hello, Defiers! You'll see a small update available in your library today. This is bringing you a couple things based on feedback for the November patch, plus a couple replacements to some outdated UI art in-game.

• Lowered the number of boar carcasses required for Hunting Mastery III
  
• Adjusted amount of gold Aeacus offers for resources (based on changes in November update)
  
• Skeleton spawns no longer affect the player while gliding
  
• A few UI art changes, including:
  • Improved map marker menu and information tab
    
  • New art for compass
    
  • Icons for the compass have been improved for better visibility.
    
  • Improved HUD graphics for activating consumables.

• Fixed an issue where the player would enter a stuck state if they dashed out of Downward Strike.
  
• Fixed several crashes related to Town Centers and Town Chests.

Unfortunately, due to some changes to how Epic processes binaries, the update to Epic will be delayed. We will be trying to get that to Epic players as soon as possible, but if you run into issues with cross-play today, this might be the cause.

Thank you!

And happy Winter!

Today, we were thrilled to be featured at the OTK Winter Games Expo to share some exciting news! Our first major content update "Sisters of the Deep" is coming your way in early Q2 2025. It marks the first of our planned updates on our Early Access roadmap to our 1.0 Release. Please check out this video we premiered at the event with current gameplay and a short teaser for the upcoming update:

"Sisters of the Deep" will be bringing massive improvements to the Dark Forest, notably an overhaul of four shrines, culminating with boss fights and new legendary weapons and armor.

Athena has been watching your defiance on the Crossroads closely, and its time to face the consequences. Soon, she awakens the Gorgon Sisters within her shrine for a challenge like nothing you've yet faced in Dawn of Defiance. We're super excited to bring you this update, and we believe it will be a great start to addressing the features we've outlined for Early Access.


Our living roadmap, which we've been revising behind the scenes using your player feedback, is now available! To see at full size, click here.[drive.google.com]

It lists 33 features we plan to implement before 1.0, along with the current status of those features in development. As you can see, Sisters of the Deep will be the first of five currently planned updates, each focused around biomes on the Crossroads. We are currently expecting to release updates in 3-4 month intervals, but we will officially set the expected dates for each update as we move along.

To walk you through this announcement and the introduction of our roadmap, please check out this video from our Game Director Tony:

We hope these resources help set expectations for new and current players alike for our intentions in Early Access and provide transparency into our development as we go along. We will be updating this roadmap with new statuses as we make significant progress or release updates. We will be following up this information with more detail on "Sisters of the Deep" in coming months as we get closer to shipping.

You can always refer back to our website to easily find this graphic and feature status.
Visit: DoD Roadmap[www.dawnofdefiance.com]

If you'd like to see what we've worked on so far, check out our Steam News hub or our News[www.dawnofdefiance.com] page on the website.

Thank you, Defiers!
- Traega Team

Hey,

I'm Tony, the Game Director here at Traega. First, I want to thank all of you in our community for taking a chance on us in Early Access. Your commitment to the game and to us as a studio has been very encouraging and we truly appreciate your support.

I wanted to take a moment to go over what Early Access will look like for Dawn of Defiance. It was important to me to start the game off with a quality foundation. That’s why after we launched, the first few months were focused on player feedback, bug fixes and QoL issues that we knew we wanted to wrap up before moving into full Early Access production.

Over the past 3 months, the team has fixed over 300 bugs, implemented dozens of QoL improvements (many of which came from the Feature Up-Vote site) and polished numerous assets, improving the overall quality of our game. With our foundation established, we are ready to begin our full Early Access production, as we head towards the Version 1 release of the game. I'm happy to share that more mythological creatures, more legendary gear, more biomes, more fauna to hunt and open-world features like farming and fishing are already planned.

Now, we are a studio of 12 people, many of which are wearing multiple hats. What this means is we can't move as quickly as other studios, and our Early Access might not look like other games that are in Early Access. We are planning on releasing major updates every 3 to 4 months. This will give us about half a month for pre-production, 2 and half months for production and 1 month to polish assets, fix bugs and prep the build for release. Our community manager, Monday, will keep you in the loop on progress towards the update, host in-game events and give you behind-the-scenes previews of what we are working on.

With our Roadmap about to be released on December 4th, expect a video series coming soon that will give an in-depth look at our first major update and the rework of our current, temporary shrine experience. I'm excited to share more on that soon!

Thank you for your time, if you have any questions or concerns, come join us in our Discord group.

Thanks,

Tony


*******


Join our Discord here:
The Defiance[discord.gg]

If you would like to read about some of our developments so far in early access, check out:

(November) Combat and AI Patch notes.
(October) An Update on Dates from our Community Manager.
(September) Quality of Life Patch notes.
(August) Creative and Build Patch notes.
(August) Launch QoL Patch notes.

Reminder that we will be featured at the OTK Winter Expo next Wednesday, December 4th! Please tune in for some cool game stuff! Watch here Dec 4th at 12pm PT: OTK Expo Twitch.[www.twitch.tv]

Happy Tuesday, Defiers!

Last Friday, November 22nd, we sent through our latest patch. You can see more information on that here: Combat and AI Patch. Today we're getting you some fixes to problems that popped-up with those changes. Take a look, and hopefully it will help some of you still encountering issues.

• Fixed an issue with existing Portals that were already activated. Investigating additional issues related to portals.
  
• Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck when performing Downward Strike over water.
  
• Fixed a crash when some Clients constructed near a Town Center.
  
• Fixed a crash when some Clients received Warm/Warmed Up buffs.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 27, 2024

Bug Fix for Hotfix 0.1.5.2:

Submitted an additional fix addressing a bug from yesterday where if you started but did not complete the portal project before logging, the portal would break.

Hopefully all players are traveling through their portals problem free again! If you are still having issues, please continue to submit your bugs to Discord[discord.gg] or our Feature Up-Vote[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]!
Have a lovely week and happy holiday season!

Thank you!

We're excited to bring some more improvements to your Dawn of Defiance playthrough! If you haven't followed our past two blogs teeing up this new patch, get ready for a variety of combat and AI-related improvements, in addition to more quality-of-life changes and bug fixes. But WAIT, there's more! This patch also welcomes in our new skeleton enemy, new mace weapons, enemy camps, roaming patrols, and the very exciting first iteration of our Town Center buildable!

As the changes for this patch largely touch on mid-game improvements and progression, they're likely best enjoyed from a fresh playthrough, but you don't have to restart unless you prefer, of course! Your saves should not break. If they do, please contact us immediately by Discord or [email protected]!


Reminder that on December 4th, we'll be getting you a revised roadmap and more information about our first new content-focused update! Now, take a read through the following patch notes, and we'll see you on the Crossroads! If you have new feedback or bugs to report, please use our feature up-vote[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com], our Discord[discord.gg], or visit Steam Discussions!

• Town Center has been added to the buildables.
  • Unlocked from the Simple Hammer.
    
  • Enables building and crafting from Town Chests within 100m radius to Town Center buildable.
• Town Chest has been added to the buildables.
  
  • Unlocked from the Simple Hammer.
    
  • A larger storage option that is connected to the Town Center.
    
  • Only items placed within Town Chests will be pulled from for building & crafting within Town Center radius.
• New Reiver mace weapon included at the armory.
  
• New Skeleton enemy type added to the desert.
  
• Added path roaming formations for random enemy encounters.
  
• Added more enemy camps to the world.
  
• Added new and additional ore resource node locations. Previous resource locations may have been changed to accommodate.
  
• New art for Darkwood Ambrosia trees added.

• Art for most ore nodes (such as Copper, Silver, and Clay) have been revisited and improved.
  
• Glide animations improved with various weapons.
  
• Hardfall adapted into Downward Strike:
  
  • Using attack while in glide now triggers an aerial attack animation.
    
  • Changes included for sword, spear, and club.
• Adjusted resource locations coincide with changes to resource tiers, such as Hardwood becoming a more valuable resource than Darkwood.
  
• Several Mastery quests have minor changes to account for economy-related updates.
  
• Updated knockback properties of various attacks.
  
• Adjustments made to Melee Attack behaviors, such as:
  • Spacing
    
  • Timing
    
  • Pushback added
    
  • Facing of target
    
  • Damage tuning
• Animations tweaks to:
  • Combat flinches.
    
  • Golem
    
  • Spear use
• Added distant Lost and Solider banter and chatter audio.
  
• Added additional fauna spawners and adjusted placements.
  
• Various improvements made to AI systems, including:
  • Boar
    
  • Wolf
    
  • Soldier
    
  • Golem
    
  • The Lost
• Players now have the ability to descend during glide (default input is Crouch). Feature Up-vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com] Controller inputs have been adjusted to support this fix.
  
• Players now have the option to “Hold to Sprint” function. To accommodate this change, certain bindings have changed, including Dash/Dodge roll. Check your keybinds for your preferred controllers in the settings panel. Feature Up-Vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Players now gather faster when holding interact to harvesting and running between resource nodes. Feature Up-vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Controller now behaves more consistently when using DPAD in some menus.
  
• Cancelling a bow shot no longer cancels camera zoom.
  
• Grindstone appearance has been updated for better messaging.
  
• Minor map changes, such as additional trees, rocks, reeds, etc.

• Fixed an issue with tall grass sticking through buildables. Flickering remains a known issue. Feature Up-vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Fixed several issues related to DX11 causing mining nodes and other objects to be invisible. Feature Up-Vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Fixed several issues causing Enemy and Fauna to spawn inside rocks, although a few known issues persists. Feature Up-Vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Fixed an issue where stamina regen could break when gliding into water. Feature Up-Vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Fixed an issue where player could get stuck between rocks when running out of stamina while gliding above them. Feature Up-Vote Request.[dawnofdefiance.featureupvote.com]
  
• Fixed a durability issue when using the Forge.
  
• Fixed an issue where consumable timers were not displaying properly.
  
• Fixed a reverb audio issue where teleporting from the small island to the main island caused the reverb to get stuck on.
  
• Fixes to looping audio where audio could stack and not be scheduled correctly, resulting in problems when loading back into a game.

Lastly, a disclaimer for players who like to experiment with the console: since we do not officially support use of console commands, we have disabled console accessibility by default. Please contact us on Discord if you have questions!

Thank you guys, and enjoy the patch!

Hello Defiers! We hope you’ve been having a beautiful autumn November! In our last article, we told you our next patch would be coming November 27, but we’re officially ahead of schedule! The next patch, focused on combat and AI improvements, will instead be coming November 22nd (this Friday, pog)! This allows you all to play the updates more during your Thanksgiving break AND allows us more time to work with players to clean-up any surprise bugs before the holidays.

Plus! We can happily share we will be featured at the OTK Winter Expo this December 4th! We have been saving news about our roadmap as part of our participation in this event, so you’ll see more information about that go live at the same time. It should be a fun day for us, and we hope you tune in!

As for now, here’s some MORE behind the scenes previews of the changes you’ll see this weekend when you return to the Crossroads!

Game Art:
The Crossroads are richer than ever! The next patch will populate the islands with more resources nodes, and many ore assets have been polished after an art and audio pass. With these changes, the resources will be easier to identify and distinguish from each other. Check out these visuals of the new Copper ore mesh and texture from our environment artist. It will definitely be time to update the fandom wiki map on the 22nd!

Animation:
Last update, we showed you some work-in-progress polish on glide movements! We’ve also recently implemented an update to Hardfall. Using your weapon while gliding has always triggered Hardfall, but now the animation includes an appropriate weapon attack, so the move has been renamed to “Downward Strike!” A sword coming down at you at a 100mph? I wouldn’t want to be a Gorgon, personally.

Design:
Wouldn’t you believe it, the Gods' followers are eating like kings! Come end of this week, enemies may drop strong consumables, coming in two varieties: Spiced and Infused. They sprinkled God-dust on them, or something like that. For the time being, you will be unable to craft these specialty foods, but you’ll definitely want to keep them in handy for those tougher fights as they’ll boost your stats up to twice as much as your regular cooked foods.

AI Updates:
There’s an assortment of AI improvements currently being tested for the upcoming patch across all existing enemies. A highlight amongst them that I’ve enjoyed is the new boar charge which makes them a much more troublesome and engaging enemy to combat with! Catch me trying to get a boar to headbutt me clear off a cliff. I’ll return with confirmation soon.
[Bug Fix:
Players (including myself) had been running into a strange bug where gliding into the water would lock your stamina, making it unable to regenerate. We’ll say your figurative wings were getting wet. Forever. But the QA boys were able to isolate the instance, and it will be on the list of fixes for the coming patch. You may return to your river-diving festivities immediately.
Bonus:
Did you enjoy the cackles last month? Here’s another sneak peak of the new enemy ambling in the desert. Have you guessed what it is yet? This gif is really mysterious, right? You can’t tell what it is at all :) Warning in advance of Friday…you may be jump-scared by these guys. There have been incidents… We’re excited for you guys to experience it yourself soon!

Lastly, thank you to everyone who responded to our poll last month. Between Steam and Discord, more foundational pieces and new functional buildables were nearly tied for first with 19% & 18% of voters, and new storage & shelving a close third at 16%! We'll be keeping that information in mind as we work on more buildables.

That’s all for today! We’ll be back Friday with the full patch notes and greater details on specific features! Until then, cheers and long live the Defiance!

Hello Defiers!

As we reach the end of October, we wanted to pass along news of the next patch, as well as an update for those anticipating a revised & accessible roadmap for early access!


We will be releasing updates at a wider cadence going forward for the sake of efficiency. For a little additional context on these dates, check out my super professional video here:

I sent this video to the directors for review, and their response was, and I quote: "What is an acceptable level of cringe. Scientifically." Let us know if you have shriveled into a raisin while watching this video. Fax them your opinions.

Thanks for playing with us and continuing to support us in our early access development. The best is yet to come! As for me, I’ll continue improving how we share updates on the game’s development to you all! For now, here’s some bits of work happening in the background:


Early this month, our animator had gone back to improve glide, particularly the weaponed stance. The main detail he adjusted was the wrist and head, lowering the position so they align better with the movement animations. He says while the work isn’t challenging, it is time consuming because he has to make manual adjustments for all the weapons, including all flight directions and speeds.

Our environmental artist is working on new foliage! Tree types are first created with specific branch, trunk, and leaf proportions. Once a tree type’s visual style is established, different size variations are created using the same rules applied to the parent tree. An asset that can be chopped down is complex compared to a flower that can simply be picked. A tree requires around 20 assets working together in game to accomplish our chopping mechanic. The colored clusters shown here visualize groupings and hierarchies in the tree that are used for wind animations.

Our stone doorways recently got doors attached, thank goodness, but did you notice the detail of the different sounds for the different door types. If you didn’t, its probably because our audio director’s really good at his job. As you guys know, he records all the sound effects himself! He sent me a whole bunch of clips of his original audio capture, testing to find the right sounds for the doors.

As mentioned in the video, some enemies may now be roaming the map, so you’ll have to be extra vigilant. The soldiers on the Isle of Arrival, in particular, are extra scary when you’re still starting off and crafting decent gear. Here’s a small glimpse at your future playthrough:

As a treat for spooky season, here’s a new recording for a fun addition coming to our November patch. I will be providing no further context. What do you think it is?


While that’s the last of the behind the scenes previews for now, we do have one thing to ask of you! If you’re a fan of building in Dawn of Defiance and anxiously awaiting more build pieces and decor, please swing by this poll we’ve started that compiles the various buildable-related requests we’ve seen! We ask that you vote on the types of buildables you’d most like to see (or see first).

PLEASE NOTE: The conclusion of this poll does not guarantee these buildables will be included in the next couple updates, but it will help our art team get a sense of which items players are most excited about. Plus, just because we're polling players on buildables, that does not mean buildables & decor are our highest priority at the minute. This is one of many things being worked on!

You can vote in Discord[discord.gg] here. Disclaimer, the following poll link only works if you're an existing Discord member with Defier permissions: Discord Poll.[discord.com]

If you don't like Discord, you can also vote in the Steam Discussions post here: Discussions Poll.

________________

That’s all for today’s news, but I’ll see you again later this week with our Temple Tracker “Haunted Crossing” build submissions and clips of the Playtrials: Tides of Triumph relay race! If we don’t catch you then, have a wonderful rest of your month and get excited for the update in November!

Best,
Traega Monday & Team

Before we dive into the build challenge for October, let's congratulate our last episode's winner, Leighsbian and Sugy for their Forbidden Labyrinth! Check out their builds and our other cool submissions over at our YouTube:

Congrats again, and welcome to the Hall of Hestia!

Our future Temple Trackers will now be on a monthly cadence. This may seem like sad news, but this means I have more time to record development news videos, and you now have twice as long to work on your submissions!

Also, starting from this episode, Temple Trackers winners will earn a physical prize! Ready to build??

The Haunted Crossing

Closes October 21st, 11:59PM CDT.


The spookiest season comes even to the mythic Crossroads, and rivers are a frequent theme surrounding death in the Greek myths.

Build a foreboding and impressive bridge and adjoining hall that evokes fear, mystery, and the spirits of the lost and fallen! A place where the dead may forever wander on their troubled path to the other side.

Other criteria or suggestions:

• Recommended to build in the Dark Forest
  
• Consider thoughtful use of shadows and lighting.
  
• Have part of your build be indoors AND outdoors.
  
• Make use of your paintbrush!

Keep in mind, I will be visiting your saves, so you might make a clear path in your build to be followed, like a haunted house! This episode will be reviewed by our directors in our special Halloween episode!

Here is the current Temple Trackers format! Please re-review as there's changes since the last episode:

• Players must submit pictures or a video of a build matching the description.
  
• Submissions can be made in Discord[discord.gg], in the Steam Hub, or on Twitter. Use the #TempleTrackers and @TraegaGames[x.com] to help me find you. Please label which challenge you are submitting for!
  
• At the Challenge end date, I will select a top 3 and contact those players to submit their Save files.
  
• I will record myself visiting the Top 3 builds with a special guest or dev.
  
• I will compile these tours for a recap video titled "Temple Trackers," inspired by House Hunters.
  
• At the conclusion, our guest will decide which impressive build has won their hearts.
  
• Winner will be given a vanity Discord role, main menu message space, and additional prizes depending on challenge.

Visit here for the exact Discord post (link is for existing Discord members): The Haunted Crossing.[discord.com]


----

A Discord Game

Closes October 21st, 11:59PM CDT.


At the end of the month, I will be hosting a relay race of up to 3 teams of 4 players each (for a max of 12 players)! Our Champions must take on this obstacle course: Tides of Triumph: Poseidon's Path to Confidence.

Designed in four sections for swimming, athletics, building, and archery, Defiers must complete their assigned course and pass the Trident on to their teammate. More detail will be provided to players. The team with the best combined time wins…

And each player of our winning team will earn a reward!


Our players will be selected from the first (up to 12) interested “Champions” in Discord[discord.gg], excluding admins! The “Champions” role is earned by reaching Level 10 in Discord.

To reach Level 10, you need 5250 XP! You can earn that XP in a few ways:

• Complete the Daily Quests for at least 400XP each! These will be simple in-game objectives shared in Discord and social. Sharing your Quest submission to social media with #DoDDaily will add an extra 200XP!
  
  • Make sure to @TraegaGames[x.com], so I get notified.
    
  • All old Daily Quests (before Oct 7th) will only add 100XP, but can still be completed.
• Submit to the build challenge for 500XP! Create a submission for this month’s Temple Trackers!
  
• Talk about us on social with the #DawnOfDefiance for 200XP!
  
• Hang out and talk in Discord! Messages and voice chat minutes will earn you passive XP that will accumulate.

Even if starting from Level 0, you can easily become a Champion this month! Visit here for the exact Discord post (link is for existing Discord members): The Playtrials.[discord.com]
You can also view the Discord leaderboard.[arcane.bot]

Players will be selected on October 21st. You have until then to earn 5250 Discord XP to compete in the race! Races will be scheduled the following week.

We hope to run similar challenges each month, but the exact rewards and rules to qualify will be changed & adapted!