FORCED: Slightly Better Edition news & patch notes

Greetings Knight, For the very first time, we are launching BetaDwarf’s “Month of Fun”! This is a month-long event series across all our games, packed with ultra-sweet bonuses, epic rewards, and more freebies than you can throw a Scrat at! Click here to see the program & schedule! The first week will be dedicated to Minion Masters and the release of the new DLC, “Torment”!

• The DLC will be free for a limited time upon its release.
• 25% Discount on all the DLCs and Premium Upgrades.
• We’ll give away Dwarf Packs here!

You’ll also be able to win a DLC key, BIG Dwarf Packs, MEGA Dwarf Packs, and even a BetaDwarf T-shirt by participating in our “Pixel Master contest” during the week! Join the Minion Masters Discord Server to not miss the contest announcement. Keep an eye on the Month Of Fun page and join our Discord Server to not miss any rewards and special events!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/5074340/de86041eee48ccfdee33314625967a2f8e9003dd.png

100% OFF - WEEKEND DEAL

Get the new Minion Masters $15 Crystal Conquest DLC 100% off this weekend!

THE QUEST FOR MOUNTAINSHAPER - OUT NOW

Our other game, Minion Masters, just got its biggest expansion to date, including arrival of Adventures and the new faction Stouthearts! Go on a daring journey in the new single-player rogue-like mode! Choose among unique Masters, gather Minions and find unique Relics to fight a multitude of bosses in the Minion Masters world. Every run is a unique experience with new bosses to beat and rewards to reap! You can read all about the new Expansion on the update site or just jump right into the game! :) Watch the new Minion Masters 90 sec movie! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/26467755/c0f63e61330f84a35b2c33b4ef26eae0e1c227c3.jpg Thank you! BetaDwarf

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074340/00b6001d280475c01fdae6c20cb9f49667bc0a3d.jpg Hello FORCED Fans, If you haven't tried out our other game, Minion Masters, now is a great time! You can claim Might of the Slither Lords this weekend, saving $15! This coincides with the release of Sand Wars, an expansion for Minion Masters that further explores the world that FORCED started. Cheers from BetaDwarf

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074340/633e3b8b146904ec1b84ebaf297895c3af3684a9.png Here at Betadwarf, we’re celebrating v1.0 and 9 years of making games with a -100% off Accursed Army Pack DLC and giving away 99,999 copies of our games! Yep. How do we make money when we keep giving away gifts, DLC and our games? We don’t care, it’s the release of Minion Masters! We’ve compiled this handy list of Acquisition for you:

Hurry and read Chapter 3 of our crazy story to claim a free key for our games!

Head to the Steam store and grab your -100% off Accursed DLC

Join our Discord Server for more giveaways in the following days! Phew, so much giving wears you out, but there’s no rest at the BetaDwarf fortress. We’ll be active on all the channels today, answering questions and collecting information, and you might even find us on the ladder. Strictly testing, of course. But first, we celebrate, and we want you to send your best toast our way!

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074340/2d0d1ce293430f7413e961de961c92773e2fb595.png Pick up your FREE Voidborne Onslaught DLC from Discord or Steam for Minion Masters! The normal price of 15$ is already 400% value with contents worth $60! Don't miss this exceptional value - free for one week only! Get Minion Masters for free today! Get the Voidborne Onslaught DLC here!

Gladiators, We recently added a FORCED reward to our Newsletter Subscriber benefits. People who sign up at our community site will get the free rewards sent to their mail. You will also get access to the FORCED SHOWDOWN rewards :) On a related note, this week there’s DOUBLE XP for people subscribing and watching streams, so share the love and you can get new rewards faster :) FORCED Love -Betadwarf

Gladiators, We recently added a FORCED reward to our Newsletter Subscriber benefits. People who sign up at our community site will get the free rewards sent to their mail. You will also get access to the FORCED SHOWDOWN rewards :) On a related note, this week there’s DOUBLE XP for people subscribing and watching streams, so share the love and you can get new rewards faster :) FORCED Love -Betadwarf

Our next project FORCED SHOWDOWN is running a pre-release event from this moment and until the release March 29th! As part of the event - It is possible to unlock more content for the game, reduce the launch price, win early access, and compete for sponsored prizes by watching streamers play. All you have to do is get on Twitch and watch FORCED SHOWDOWN being played. For every minute watched - the launch discount will increase! So don’t waste precious time, come join the fun now! Follow the event at HERE For quick ones - here are some event keys (which will expire on release) BJKHG-060EB-Q30RM HXZFW-063AL-K7I83 9G68I-T6XAM-F4GCZ VHIPE-AZYBX-I6RGB CGJXA-K94RL-NWNVF Enjoy! -BetaDwarf

Our next project FORCED SHOWDOWN is running a pre-release event from this moment and until the release March 29th! As part of the event - It is possible to unlock more content for the game, reduce the launch price, win early access, and compete for sponsored prizes by watching streamers play. All you have to do is get on Twitch and watch FORCED SHOWDOWN being played. For every minute watched - the launch discount will increase! So don’t waste precious time, come join the fun now! Follow the event at HERE For quick ones - here are some event keys (which will expire on release) BJKHG-060EB-Q30RM HXZFW-063AL-K7I83 9G68I-T6XAM-F4GCZ VHIPE-AZYBX-I6RGB CGJXA-K94RL-NWNVF Enjoy! -BetaDwarf

Hi everyone! It’s been a long time since we updated FORCED because we’ve been exceedingly busy getting the game out on consoles. Today, however, we’ve got a real treat for you; the Slightly Better Edition. This update upgrades the Survival modes with 2 new maps and a crystal system, allowing you to gain new powers through playing Survival. It also contains a lot of optimization and some bug-fixing, which should help everyone run it a little smoother :) We’re deploying this version as a patch so it’ll be freely available to everyone, and all our new gladiators will get to join in the fun right away :) I hope you’ll pick up the game again and give it a spin, and perhaps welcome our newest members of the community who are searching for games :)

Changelog

• Gem system for survival modes: You can now earn up to 3 gems in each of the co-op survival modes, based on how long you stay alive. These gems also unlock skills in the campaign.
• The Laser Pit survival mode added: A new Survival map that will let you try your skills against the deadly rotating laser that you encountered in Trial 11: Run for Cover. This time, however, the enemies won’t give you a break!
• The Dungeon survival mode added: Another new survival map that uses all the mechanics from the fourth chamber of the campaign. This map will never get repetitive when you die hundreds of times, as the enemy spawning has been randomized!
• 4 new achievements to earn by playing the survival modes
• Large optimization improvements. This will also help network play to be less laggy as the host computer no longer struggles to keep up :)
  • Chamber 4 environment darkness optimized
  • Blood machine blood optimized
  • Final boss FX optimized: Giant portals spell, Meteor Shower.
• Improved the design of the Final boss. Fixed a few exploit issues and balanced a few skills. Also fixed the fact that you could resurrect outside the arena.
• Inserted a startup logo screen to tell new players they should expect a hard game and should try to play it co-op :)
• Improved a lot of localization, implementing translations for a lot of the things that were missing.

Remember we always like to hear your opinions, so go give us some feedback on the forums! Also a big thank you to the community members that helped us test this new patch for issues; Rankaquion, Paurmon, Jedo, rialda_dreal and all the guys who volunteered but didn’t get to try it :) Enjoy! -BetaDwarf

Hi everyone! It’s been a long time since we updated FORCED because we’ve been exceedingly busy getting the game out on consoles. Today, however, we’ve got a real treat for you; the Slightly Better Edition. This update upgrades the Survival modes with 2 new maps and a crystal system, allowing you to gain new powers through playing Survival. It also contains a lot of optimization and some bug-fixing, which should help everyone run it a little smoother :) We’re deploying this version as a patch so it’ll be freely available to everyone, and all our new gladiators will get to join in the fun right away :) I hope you’ll pick up the game again and give it a spin, and perhaps welcome our newest members of the community who are searching for games :)

Changelog

• Gem system for survival modes: You can now earn up to 3 gems in each of the co-op survival modes, based on how long you stay alive. These gems also unlock skills in the campaign.
• The Laser Pit survival mode added: A new Survival map that will let you try your skills against the deadly rotating laser that you encountered in Trial 11: Run for Cover. This time, however, the enemies won’t give you a break!
• The Dungeon survival mode added: Another new survival map that uses all the mechanics from the fourth chamber of the campaign. This map will never get repetitive when you die hundreds of times, as the enemy spawning has been randomized!
• 4 new achievements to earn by playing the survival modes
• Large optimization improvements. This will also help network play to be less laggy as the host computer no longer struggles to keep up :)
  • Chamber 4 environment darkness optimized
  • Blood machine blood optimized
  • Final boss FX optimized: Giant portals spell, Meteor Shower.
• Improved the design of the Final boss. Fixed a few exploit issues and balanced a few skills. Also fixed the fact that you could resurrect outside the arena.
• Inserted a startup logo screen to tell new players they should expect a hard game and should try to play it co-op :)
• Improved a lot of localization, implementing translations for a lot of the things that were missing.

Remember we always like to hear your opinions, so go give us some feedback on the forums! Also a big thank you to the community members that helped us test this new patch for issues; Rankaquion, Paurmon, Jedo, rialda_dreal and all the guys who volunteered but didn’t get to try it :) Enjoy! -BetaDwarf

We just launched the Kickstarter to support the completion of FORCED: Eternal Arenas! We have been in development for 2 years, and we are very close to completing the game! Unfortunately our treasury is starting to run out and we really need your help! How can you do this? Most importantly go to our Kickstarter and support the development of the game! Click here to go to Kickstarter! Secondly, you can help us spread the word by following and sharing these: The relevant links: Facebook post to share Tweet to retweet Thunderclap It really means a GREAT deal to us that we have such an awesome community, and we are looking forward to finished up this game with you guys and girls at our side! Much <3 Betadwarf

We just launched the Kickstarter to support the completion of FORCED: Eternal Arenas! We have been in development for 2 years, and we are very close to completing the game! Unfortunately our treasury is starting to run out and we really need your help! How can you do this? Most importantly go to our Kickstarter and support the development of the game! Click here to go to Kickstarter! Secondly, you can help us spread the word by following and sharing these: The relevant links: Facebook post to share Tweet to retweet Thunderclap It really means a GREAT deal to us that we have such an awesome community, and we are looking forward to finished up this game with you guys and girls at our side! Much <3 Betadwarf

It's been a while :) This patch certainly took longer than expected, but with the help of our amazing community we've tracked down some hard to catch issues and managed to fix them. Here are some of the highlights;

• Fixed the bug that caused some people to get stuck with infinite loading screen.
• Fixed an issue with lobbies that you couldn't connect to appearing in the list.
• Updated the French translations with more words

We hope you enjoy this new patch, and please don't hesitate to tell us what you think on the forums :) -BetaDwarf

It's been a while :) This patch certainly took longer than expected, but with the help of our amazing community we've tracked down some hard to catch issues and managed to fix them. Here are some of the highlights;

• Fixed the bug that caused some people to get stuck with infinite loading screen.
• Fixed an issue with lobbies that you couldn't connect to appearing in the list.
• Updated the French translations with more words

We hope you enjoy this new patch, and please don't hesitate to tell us what you think on the forums :) -BetaDwarf

Hi! We have finally uploaded the massive network solution we've been working on for months. In short it replaces the old code we had and utilizes the steam backend, which should now allow more than 99% of people to connect to each other. Before that people might have been stuck in different router setups that we hadn't predicted, but that should no longer occur. Minor bugs may have been introduced due to this massive update, but we haven't had any reports for days now, and we've been playing a lot as well. So we are pretty sure Forced should now offer you a great experience no matter what evil router from hell you might have in your dungeon. But if you encounter a bug please post it on the forum, we will check on a daily basis. Playing with randoms is awesome: While playing recently, I encountered Seolfer (rank 2 in single player), who didn't knew I was one of the developers. So I thought “I'm not gonna tell him that” and I still haven't... :) That lead to one of my best experiences with FORCED so far. We've been playing for hours and I was treated like a random internet guy from Denmark. Even without voice communication we were actually able to get the challenge crystals in world 4, amazing telekinetic play! :) It's quite a special experience to play a campaign driven game with a random player over the web. You share an intimate problem-solving time over several hours, and might never meet again. Well I just wanted to recommend grabbing a few crystals like that, instead of only using friends. So if you meet Seolfer or similar awesomely behaving entities, you should definitely grab some trials with them :) Lastly thanks for actively helping us fix the new network solution. FORCED love! @Baboonlord and @BetaDwarf

Hi! We have finally uploaded the massive network solution we've been working on for months. In short it replaces the old code we had and utilizes the steam backend, which should now allow more than 99% of people to connect to each other. Before that people might have been stuck in different router setups that we hadn't predicted, but that should no longer occur. Minor bugs may have been introduced due to this massive update, but we haven't had any reports for days now, and we've been playing a lot as well. So we are pretty sure Forced should now offer you a great experience no matter what evil router from hell you might have in your dungeon. But if you encounter a bug please post it on the forum, we will check on a daily basis. Playing with randoms is awesome: While playing recently, I encountered Seolfer (rank 2 in single player), who didn't knew I was one of the developers. So I thought “I'm not gonna tell him that” and I still haven't... :) That lead to one of my best experiences with FORCED so far. We've been playing for hours and I was treated like a random internet guy from Denmark. Even without voice communication we were actually able to get the challenge crystals in world 4, amazing telekinetic play! :) It's quite a special experience to play a campaign driven game with a random player over the web. You share an intimate problem-solving time over several hours, and might never meet again. Well I just wanted to recommend grabbing a few crystals like that, instead of only using friends. So if you meet Seolfer or similar awesomely behaving entities, you should definitely grab some trials with them :) Lastly thanks for actively helping us fix the new network solution. FORCED love! @Baboonlord and @BetaDwarf

Hi everyone, Sorry we've been out of touch for so long, we've been hard at work rewriting a lot of the new network code to fix all the problems it introduced. As always with network, it's a bigger task than anticipated, and thus we've been getting more and more stressed without knowing what to tell you guys. We just released a new patch however, and this one should be vastly better than before. We're hoping to gather some feedback from all the players over the next week and then fix the last few issues. You can head over to this discussion; http://steamcommunity.com/app/249990/discussions/0/522729358661470285/ Which will tell you the newest fixes as well as what we’re currently working on, in the hopes that you’ll have greater clarity about what’s going on :) Thank you again for your patience, and keep up the activity on the forums, it’s greatly helping us in figuring out how to improve the game! -BetaDwarf

Hi everyone, Sorry we've been out of touch for so long, we've been hard at work rewriting a lot of the new network code to fix all the problems it introduced. As always with network, it's a bigger task than anticipated, and thus we've been getting more and more stressed without knowing what to tell you guys. We just released a new patch however, and this one should be vastly better than before. We're hoping to gather some feedback from all the players over the next week and then fix the last few issues. You can head over to this discussion; http://steamcommunity.com/app/249990/discussions/0/522729358661470285/ Which will tell you the newest fixes as well as what we’re currently working on, in the hopes that you’ll have greater clarity about what’s going on :) Thank you again for your patience, and keep up the activity on the forums, it’s greatly helping us in figuring out how to improve the game! -BetaDwarf

Hello everyone, Today we released v1.2 of FORCED, which contains improvements to a number of systems that were creating bugs for people during the past few weeks. We've also managed to get french localization into the game, so share the news with your french buddies! We're currently working on fixing the last of the issues people are having with the new network, stay tuned for more information and updates :) -Chris

Hello everyone, Today we released v1.2 of FORCED, which contains improvements to a number of systems that were creating bugs for people during the past few weeks. We've also managed to get french localization into the game, so share the news with your french buddies! We're currently working on fixing the last of the issues people are having with the new network, stay tuned for more information and updates :) -Chris

We've just released a major update to Forced - version 1.1. The most significant component of this new update is a completely new network solution, that we have been working on for the last months. This new solution should solve the problems for many of the users, who have reported problems connecting to games. We hope you will enjoy the new network setup. :)

We've just released a major update to Forced - version 1.1. The most significant component of this new update is a completely new network solution, that we have been working on for the last months. This new solution should solve the problems for many of the users, who have reported problems connecting to games. We hope you will enjoy the new network setup. :)

Hi everyone, Today we’ve got patch 1.08 for all of you, which brings a better version of the 1.07 controller fix along with some other improvements for Steam Big Picture users. We've also got Italian localization in-game now :) Note that we haven’t updated the Linux version, as we ran into some technical problems. We’re working on it and hope to update it within a day or so. Lastly we want to mention that we are working on a new network solution that we're hoping can enter the testing stage before Christmas holidays. Here's the changelog for 1.08: FORCED v1.08 changelog 17/12/2013

• General
  • Removed the Unity launcher window on startup. This makes start-up more controller friendly and also paves the way for some further improvements to the game.
  • Implemented auto-detect of settings.
  • Fixed an issue with the Last Man Standing Survival map dropping in performance after a while.
  • Fixed an issue with the co-op server list appearing when selecting Singleplayer from the main menu.
  • Fixed an issue with controllers not working on the ending screen of Last Man Standing.
• Localization
  • Italian is now available from the language menu.
• Controller Input (v2)
  • Implemented a (much) better reader for X-input. This should make it easier for the game to recognize non-official Xbox controllers (without compromising non Xbox controllers).

Hi everyone, Today we’ve got patch 1.08 for all of you, which brings a better version of the 1.07 controller fix along with some other improvements for Steam Big Picture users. We've also got Italian localization in-game now :) Note that we haven’t updated the Linux version, as we ran into some technical problems. We’re working on it and hope to update it within a day or so. Lastly we want to mention that we are working on a new network solution that we're hoping can enter the testing stage before Christmas holidays. Here's the changelog for 1.08: FORCED v1.08 changelog 17/12/2013

• General
  • Removed the Unity launcher window on startup. This makes start-up more controller friendly and also paves the way for some further improvements to the game.
  • Implemented auto-detect of settings.
  • Fixed an issue with the Last Man Standing Survival map dropping in performance after a while.
  • Fixed an issue with the co-op server list appearing when selecting Singleplayer from the main menu.
  • Fixed an issue with controllers not working on the ending screen of Last Man Standing.
• Localization
  • Italian is now available from the language menu.
• Controller Input (v2)
  • Implemented a (much) better reader for X-input. This should make it easier for the game to recognize non-official Xbox controllers (without compromising non Xbox controllers).

Hi everyone, We set patch 1.07 live this morning, and it’s a patch we’re quite excited about! It brings a large rework to the controller input and should hopefully fix most of the controller issues out there. While getting this patch out we’ve been devoting more and more resources to network fixes, so stay tuned for improvements in the near future! Here's the changelog: FORCED v1.07 changelog 28/11/2013

• General
  • Fixed an issue with crystals of players being misaligned after people dropping out of the game.
  • Fixed an issue with clients not being able to see Balfus moving when placed.
  • Fixed an issue with people getting stuck in pause if a player left during the first cut-scene of the tutorial.
  • Fixed an issue with controllers not being able to navigate the settings menu properly.
  • Fixed an issue with the server list changing search range when pressing refresh often.
  • Fixed an issue with the Challenge objective not failing when you died in Singleplayer.
• Controller Input
  • Implemented a better reader for X-input. This should make it easier for the game to recognize Xbox type controllers. If you have trouble with the new system, try the solutions in this thread again; http://steamcommunity.com/app/249990/discussions/0/666824800513308087/

Thanks to everyone in the community for reporting bugs and helping us track down the causes.

Hi everyone, We set patch 1.07 live this morning, and it’s a patch we’re quite excited about! It brings a large rework to the controller input and should hopefully fix most of the controller issues out there. While getting this patch out we’ve been devoting more and more resources to network fixes, so stay tuned for improvements in the near future! Here's the changelog: FORCED v1.07 changelog 28/11/2013

• General
  • Fixed an issue with crystals of players being misaligned after people dropping out of the game.
  • Fixed an issue with clients not being able to see Balfus moving when placed.
  • Fixed an issue with people getting stuck in pause if a player left during the first cut-scene of the tutorial.
  • Fixed an issue with controllers not being able to navigate the settings menu properly.
  • Fixed an issue with the server list changing search range when pressing refresh often.
  • Fixed an issue with the Challenge objective not failing when you died in Singleplayer.
• Controller Input
  • Implemented a better reader for X-input. This should make it easier for the game to recognize Xbox type controllers. If you have trouble with the new system, try the solutions in this thread again; http://steamcommunity.com/app/249990/discussions/0/666824800513308087/

Thanks to everyone in the community for reporting bugs and helping us track down the causes.

Hi everyone, Patch 1.06 is finally out! Some things gave us a lot of troubles so we decided to keep them out of the build and get the network fixes we made out. We’ll be working on getting the controller fixes we’ve been working on out as soon as possible. Here's the changelog: FORCED v1.06 changelog 21/11/2013

• General
  • The singleplayer extra life now has a cooldown of 30 seconds, as indicated next to the healthbar.
  • Implemented the Kickstarter and competition reward skins in the game. These allow people to change the colour of their armour to Golden, Black, Green or Pink. We will be sending information on how to use these in a mail very soon.
  • Implemented Kickstarter reward emote. Hope you’ll be entertained.
• Trials
  • Trial 24 - A Bone To Pick
    • Fixed an issue with the activator shrines not appearing correctly when Mordar entered his 50% health phase.
    • Fixed an issue with the bone shrines locking the orb indefinitely if destroyed before fully appearing.
• Achievements
  • Fixed an issue with the Volatile Omelet achievement not awarding correctly for clients.
• Network
  • Fixed an issue with wireless connections stopping traffic on regular intervals while FORCED was running.

Hi everyone, Patch 1.06 is finally out! Some things gave us a lot of troubles so we decided to keep them out of the build and get the network fixes we made out. We’ll be working on getting the controller fixes we’ve been working on out as soon as possible. Here's the changelog: FORCED v1.06 changelog 21/11/2013

• General
  • The singleplayer extra life now has a cooldown of 30 seconds, as indicated next to the healthbar.
  • Implemented the Kickstarter and competition reward skins in the game. These allow people to change the colour of their armour to Golden, Black, Green or Pink. We will be sending information on how to use these in a mail very soon.
  • Implemented Kickstarter reward emote. Hope you’ll be entertained.
• Trials
  • Trial 24 - A Bone To Pick
    • Fixed an issue with the activator shrines not appearing correctly when Mordar entered his 50% health phase.
    • Fixed an issue with the bone shrines locking the orb indefinitely if destroyed before fully appearing.
• Achievements
  • Fixed an issue with the Volatile Omelet achievement not awarding correctly for clients.
• Network
  • Fixed an issue with wireless connections stopping traffic on regular intervals while FORCED was running.