Devlog #1: Where the watch stands (v0.1.3)

Welcome to the first devlog of The Long Watch. We ship a new build almost every week, so from now on we’ll post what changed in plain words: what’s new, what feels different and why. Version 0.1.3 is still in progress; this is what’s in it so far, followed by a short recap of the builds that came before.

0.1.3 — in progress

Choose your watch

Before marching into the campaign you now pick which watch you’re going to stand. On the left, a large painted scene of the fort; on the right, three choices, each with its own motto, meters and rules.

First Light — to play calmly and enjoy the story: a smaller, softer horde, a sturdier gate, fewer champions, weaker bosses and a slower Mist. Less reward at the end.
The Long Watch — recommended for new players: the game as it’s meant to be.
Dead of Night — for those who already know the Mist and want it to hurt: a bigger, tougher horde, champions more often, a Mist that reclaims and ambushes faster, broken veins that can’t be repaired, and shields from wave 20. More reward at the end.

The painting changes with the choice. At First Light, warm light and a clear road. In the Long Watch, grey mist hugging the ground and torches burning. In the Dead of Night, a red sky, snuffed torches still smoking, blood on the road and two ember eyes opening above the tower. Your score now depends on the watch you picked (×0.75 at First Light, ×1.3 in the Dead of Night), and the demo gets to choose too.

A world ranking

The RANKING button on the menu works now, with Local (the profiles on your PC) and World (every captain) tabs. There’s a podium for the top three, a scrolling list and your own row always pinned at the bottom. Each row shows which watch it was played on, and a blue flame if that captain beat the demo. At the end of a watch you’ll see your world position and how many places you climbed.

Nothing is lost offline: your watch is saved and posted as soon as you’re back online.
Scores are calculated by the server from the watch data, and anything impossible is rejected.
You can turn it off in Settings → Game → Post my watches to the ranking. Only your profile name and the numbers of the watch are sent.

A longer demo, and a reward for beating it

The demo now runs to wave 20. Sir Roderic waits at the end, and along the way you’ll meet forks in the road, the village of Stillwater, the refugees and the Thurifer who snuffs out your torches. Whoever beats the demo earns the Dawn Flame (a pale blue torch cursor) and the title of the First Watch next to their name. Both carry over to the full game.

The Trapper, reworked

The old man in the cabin now works with you. A Set trap sign above his cabin lets you choose where his traps go, with the same dotted range circle as your towers and a ghost trap that shows in green or red whether it fits. Two traps per wave; every enemy caught counts as prey. His cabin is half the size, so it fits along far more stretches of road, and his drying rack finally reads at a glance: three different pelts swaying in the wind and a trap hanging from a hook. If you fail him, his cabin burns into a real ruin, with a collapsed roof, charred beams and embers dying in the cracks.

The road to Lowgate

The door to Act II is now on the hill map: a new island, Lowgate, hidden under the Mist until Farpost holds through all of Act I. The first time you open the map after winning, the Torchbearer leaves the gate hauling his cart, and the road builds itself block by block in front of him while torches light up as he passes. When he arrives the fog bank opens and the Commander hurries you along: “Farpost held. Lowgate won’t be that lucky… Move.” (Act II itself isn’t playable yet; this is the door.)

What you saved in Act I travels with you: the people of the well, the refugees and the Trapper each leave a unique reward for Act II.

Clearer to read

Mission reports. When the camp, the graveyard, Stillwater, the Trapper or the refugees enter your watch, the game pauses and shows a report: what’s happening, a hint of what to do and what’s at stake, with the reward in large print. It used to be a sign that faded on its own, and it was hard to tell what to do.
Enemy ranks. Dangerous enemies now carry a badge on their card: Lesser Elite, Greater Elite, Special, Champion and Boss.
Status icons. Bleeding shows a single icon, and the Catapult’s crater now has its own Slowed icon instead of borrowing the frost one.
Stillwater looks like a village. The houses were repainted with warm wood, thatched roofs and lit windows, and each house lights the ground around it from inside.

Fixed

Ser Aldric the Anvil showed up on the final screen with his old name and labelled as a normal enemy.
Winning the demo could unlock Act II in the full game.
3D portraits no longer look pixelated on 2K and 4K monitors.
The camp no longer spawns right next to Farpost, and no event island spawns on top of your road.
The possessed of Stillwater no longer walk through houses and the well.
The “Made with Unity” screen is gone.

Previously

0.1.2 — September 18

Target priorities, rebuilt as orbs. Each tower has a priority chain and a pool of 21 orbs (first, strongest, marked, frozen, boss, channeling and more), so doctrines finally have something to aim at.
Commander powers show their real object: the Stakes wall, the Bait dummy, the War Cry horn, the Anathema slab. Before you cast them, a ghost preview shows where they’ll land and who they’ll hit.
The Campaign Map: a codex of the hill with an island for everything that can happen in the act, and a bestiary with every enemy’s stats.
Three answers to shields instead of one: the Arcane Mage and the Anathema power now break them too, and the game warns you a few waves early if you’re not ready.
A new priest, a Runic Golem that finally reads as shielded, and the first version of the Trapper.

0.1.1 — September 8

The game speaks English. Almost 2,000 texts translated; switch language instantly from Settings.
Demo and Campaign split. The demo ends with Sir Roderic; the campaign is the whole of Farpost, with its three bosses.
Twelve new boss-only reward cards, veins you can restore after a Wrecker breaks them, walls that grow with every wave, and a Reroll button for the card offer.

0.1.0 — September 5

Steel Temper: once a doctrine is complete, the armorer can keep tempering that tower type with no cap.
Repair the gate between waves, from wave 5.
Bosses at waves 15, 25 and 35.

The Long Watch is still in development, and every one of these changes came from playing, breaking things and listening. If you want to be there for the next builds, add it to your Steam wishlist and subscribe to the newsletter. See you at the palisade.