Exploring Boreas: VulcanVerse Visual Updates
You’ve experienced the hellish Palace of the Dead and the new Necropolis in the Underworld of Hades. You’ve got lost among the foliage on the steps of the Druid Shrine and cooled off in the waters at the Summer Palace in the Gardens of Arcadia. You’re enjoying our refactoring updates – who doesn’t like improved graphics and locations? Well now you get to experience the chills of the Mountains of Boreas as you’ve never done before..
Ongoing Updates
The team at Vulcan Studio consists of developers and artists, working together to bring you the VulcanVerse you deserve – smooth, fast and visually pleasing. In April we provided the outline for forthcoming updates to our flagship blockchain game, VulcanVerse. Below is our tentative update release schedule – so far we’ve hit our targets for Hades and Arcadia visual updates.
Here is the tentative schedule for VulcanVerse refactoring we are working towards:
Phase 1: Tools and code base overhaul | Early March ✓
Phase 2: Visual Updates Hades | End of April ✓
Phase 3: Visual Updates Arcadia | Mid-May ✓
Phase 4: Visual Updates Boreas | Early June
Phase 5: Visual Updates Notus | End of June
Phase 6: Optimization | Early August
Phase 7: Optimization | End of August
Phase 8: Optimization | End of August
Refactoring the Mountains of Boreas — Visual Updates
Our focus is on bringing new and improved graphics to VulcanVerse, further immersing you into the ancient Greek world of gods and monsters! In Boreas, you can expect rebuilds of your favorite landmarks such as the Fortress of the Wind and the Lair of the Cyclops. You’ll notice improvements to the sky, lighting, shadows and textures. As the third quadrant to receive visual updates, we have no doubt you’ll enjoy walking the Sacred Way – the road that surrounds VulcanVerse and exploring the changes made. Let’s take a look at a few of the changes.
The Fortress of the Wind
There’s no doubt that the most impressive update this phase is the Fortress of the Wind. Followers of Vulcan Forged may have seen sketches of the Fortress in our videos, particularly the look at the work of the Vulcan Studios art team in Greece. Now, you can experience the new Fortress yourselves!
The first thing you’ll notice is, from the outside, the Fortress looks more like a fortress! The old build was nice, but was more palatial. Now, on approach, you’ll spot the high walls on the rocky mount. The only way in is through the entrance to the north. There you will see two banners – at present these are advertising an upcoming event – see if you can spot them.. Next you’ll embark on a climb up to the fortress itself – allowing you to appreciate how well this place could be defended should guards be positioned at checkpoints and above the gate. We won’t say more other than make sure you visit.
The Port of Boreas
To the far north of Boreas can be found the port. A place of icy waters, timber shacks and rickety wooden walkways, the port can be found in a bay to the north east, not too far from the sheer drop that marks the border with the Gardens of Arcadia. In previous builds, this area did not exist at all and so is a welcome addition – giving good reason to explore beyond the Lair of the Cyclops.
The Sacred Way
Take a walk from the port to the west, following the road, the Sacred Way that surrounds VulcanVerse. There is now much to explore here – fallen trees, ruins, small markets, buildings – all adding to the feel of the area. The road comes close to the Harpies Nest and the Entrance to the Minotaur Labyrinth, giving the visitor traversing the well worn path a real feel for the size of the quadrant.
You’ll wind your way past rocks and encounter points of interest that didn’t exist in the last build. Frozen sausages anyone?
For those with eagle eyes, there are surprises at even the most distant locations in the frozen quadrant, such as this spectacular icy statue not far from the Harpies’ Nest.
There are many more tweaks, adjustments and bug fixes as well as texture updates, some of which are covered in the release notes below. As with any live release, our testing teams may not have picked up all bugs – if you spot something that isn’t quite right, report it in Canny, we truly appreciate your input.
What’s that, you haven’t experienced VulcanVerse yet? You can download VulcanVerse for Windows to get a feel of the latest version right away! Get the launcher here.
Summary of Release Notes
Thanks to Durdin for this summary of the release notes for version 1.1.95 of VulcanVerse:
VulcanVerse General
- Boreas has had a visual update! Enjoy the vast landscapes of the Borean mountains!
Fishing
- After “Respawn” while fishing, fishing continues so your fishing will not end even after clicking the respawn button.. Catch that last fish no matter what!
Vulcanites & NFTs
- Helikon and Mantichora are not released this version, but are coming very soon
- Updates to the ‘Blacksmith Barn’ – issue fixed where previously the texture of the shield falls into the ground
Misc Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing some of the NFTs to be able to hang in the air (Arcadia)
- Some Arcadia building assets such as chairs, a bed, chests, barrels etc now have extra collision now
- Fixed issue where Orestiad Goat would fall through texture during rest
- Fixed issue where avatar would have a blurry image when seen against a water background (Hades)
Stay up to date with all updates by joining our Vulcan Forged Discord!