We are very happy to announce that the first Vinland: Arctic Assault open beta is now live! You can find it here : Vinland: Arctic Assault Open Beta!
Arctic Assault is the first foray into the world of game development by Zatobo Games, based on the (in production) Vinland series of books by Gareth L. B. Kay, and it plays like a more modern version of Asteroids, but with a decidedly Viking flair. Join Leif Erikson, the intrepid explorer and help guide him and his crew to the fabled lands which would one day become known as Vinland.
The hand-sculpted levels provide a dramatic backdrop to his voyage of discovery, delving ever deeper into the dangers of the unknown, fighting enemies both natural and mystical. To aid in this, there are a variety of weapons and navigators that can be collected during the journey, which allow the player to customise their vessel.
The challenges to be faced during this expedition, range from battling through storms and blizzards, to defeating a witch and sneaking past the spirits of the dead. Then there is the ever present threat of the ice, the icy death which lurks ever present in the seas of the North Atlantic. If Leif is going to survive the trip to Vinland then he will have to master both these silent predators but also his own fears and doubts recounted in a dramatic series of dialogues throughout the game.
It is the full game there except for some of the physical weapon models which have not yet been done, and a final secret level (so don’t bother doing the Valhalla achievement for the time being).
We do have an in-game bug tracker, which can be accessed in from the “feedback” button above the “save/load” tab on the campaign screen. We will check these reports very frequently, and act on them as quickly as we can. If you need discuss any issues further, or want to interact more directly with us then please do post either in the comments section below, or at our forums and we will do our best to get back to you swiftly.
We’ve compiled a quick list of things we would really appreciate some feedback on;
General thoughts and problems
Difficulty? Was it generally too easy or too hard? Any levels in particular, and if so what setup did you use?
Which ship / weapon / navigator would you consider your most / least favourite? Why?
Was anything over or underpowered? Why?
Was the mission overview / hints useful? How can they be improved?
Were the menus intuitive? How can they be improved? How about the campaign map?
Enjoy!
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Will look into this asap…
About the water… its a modified standard water shader, the main thing is carefully prepared cubemaps and reflection color maps.
Thx Jcoaster, we are aware of the issue with the music - but we already licensed it so we have to live with our decision. Personally i dont think its a ripoff (it have another theme and beat) - but there is no sense in arguing about this.
New update available:
fixed missing audio in all missions
fixed a bug with music sliders not working correctly in Settings Panel
all missions have now ambient sounds
Intro Screen
sinking ship animation after death
Hidden mission included and can be properly unlocked with Valhalla Achievement
changed “New spring” mission to be shorter
included Difficulty settings (easy = Armour increased and more HP, hard = Armour decreased)
Some better models for the weapons would be a nice improvement, along with perhaps some particle trails when you fire them.
And some water sounds would also add to the ambience, and the collision sounds are sorely lacking.
The UI looks pretty cool. It would be nice if you could go full screen.
@Meltdown:
Weapons are defintly on the todo list, beside the pure particle based weapons its all just placeholder models right now.
About the water sounds - what exactly do you expect? We already have the “ocean-ambient-sound” in (atleast i hope i didnt broke it again),
collision sounds are totally bad right now, we are still hunting for some free available better ones.
Full Screen is planned, but we tried to build for low resolution first cause we might consider going for an iOS or Android release later.
After the Open Beta has ended we will do a release for PC/Mac and this will of course be fullscreen.
We will use web-player build only for bug and gameplay testing and later for having a free to play demo version.
Beside some fixing of small bugs there is also quite some new content to explore: Patchlog V0.003 Open Beta
Weapons have proper models now
Icebergs have updated models
Figurhead / Dragons - collectables mechanic included
fixed various small bugs
The Figurhead collectables mechanic was the last big missing feature. Let me introduce you to it:
"Viking ships are known to have had a figurehead at the prow of their ship, normally in the shape of a dragon or another mythical creature. These were not just for decoration but to protect the crew from the vicious “fetches”, or spirits of the sea. It is said that the gods smile down on those who collect any figurines that have been lost at sea, as they have effectively put the souls of the departed sailors to rest. Collect any yellow figureheads that you find, each level has a certain number clearly displayed.
For each 3 that you find, the gods will boost the health, armour and speed of your vessel by 2% in gratitude. Find all 30, and you may find the Wanderer himself watching over you."
