- Patch 0.09.50 - 27 May 2021
Bug Stomping And Dragon Dodging The game is getting cleaner, tighter, and better. And that’s because of the hard work the team is putting in. And it’s not just hard work but a lot of work. This patch includes the following: Updated Character Models, Skins and Animations, Updated Particle Effects, Reworked Magic Projectiles, Numerous Bug Fixes, and Further UI Improvements. Updated Characters Every character has now had a full face lift! The gnomes are prettier, the hedgehogs spikier, trolls scarier, goblins greener. You get the idea. With the new models came new skins, smoothing out all those early aspects that are best not remembered. It wouldn’t be enough if we stopped there. We’ve also added a slew of new animations to every character to really bring out their personalities. On top of that, there’s a hive a new dragons waiting to be discovered. Updated Particle Effects Fire! Let there…
- Patch 0.09.00 - 27 April 2021
Polish, polish and more polish. The game is getting cleaner, tighter, and better. And that’s because of the hard work the team is putting in. And it’s not just hard work but a lot of work. This patch includes the following: Reworked Physics Layer, Repair Fixes, Reworked Shadow Magic, Additional End Conditions and Updated Level End Conditions, Updated Characters, Map Polishes, Polished Magic, and Further UI Improvements. Physics Layers This is all about optimization, bug hunting, and polish. By making sure that everything is a distinct layer and the correct layer, we ensure that every action has the appropriate reaction. The things we want to trigger when you throw a goblin are exactly those - and not say the UI. No one would enjoy it if you ended up changing the game settings because an errant troll collided with a button. Hence why we took the time to rework all of this and smooth ever…
- Quick UI Flow Fix - Next Level Buttons! - 18 March 2021
This is just a small but vital fix to our UI and UX. Instead of going back to Level Select, you can now press the "Next Level" button and the game will automatically load the next level. It quite literally does what it says it does. Enjoy.
- Patch 0.08.00 - 16 March 2021
Another Step Closer To Release And It’s A Big One Too Well that was a lot of work. It’s been a while since our last patch, but we know it was worth the wait. Why? Cause this one has so much in it, including: Campaign and Campaign Systems, Overhauled Wave System, Updated Character AI, Ally Spawners, Level Polish, More Shaders, Updated Club Sounds, UI Improvements, and Unity updated to version 2019.4 LTS. Campaign and Campaign Systems The beginning of A Giant Problems’ campaign is in. The first four maps are available. But the levels aren’t fully tuned. Nor is the story complete. This being early access this should be no surprise. To get more feedback on this we are planning on launching special playtests later this month. More on that in a future blog post. Overhauled Wave System To build out the campaign and even to enable an Endless mode in the future we’ve changed how we call and depl…
- Our 2021 Roadmap - 18 January 2021
We’re looking forward to 2021 and here’s why! We made it through, and we launched it into Early Access on April Fool’s Day in the midst of the pandemic and the restrictions they put here in place in Finland. For us that meant no movement outside of the capital region, closing of schools, and other limits. It sucked, but we got through it alive and with a game going out. We’ve been dedicated to improving what we’ve made and adding to it to the point we’ve put out 8 patches of various sizes. Those patches have steadily improved the game, added content and increased the features that make you feel like a giant. So overall the team is quite happy with the progress we’ve made on A Giant Problem. That is of course because we know what’s coming. And we’re happy to finally tell you all about it. The New Roadmap As you can see from the updated map what we’re planning on delivering has changed. M…
- Vote For Us! - 26 November 2020
In The Steam Awards and help make this year at least a little bit okay. 2020 sure has been something. So we thought why not make it a little more amusing. And what’s more amusing than a game called A Giant Problem? You can do that by going to Steam and voting for A Giant Problem for VR Game of the Year! This game has been the literal embodiment of the year, hence why we think we deserve such an illustrious award! It launched into Early Access on April Fools. It’s got a name that’s not just figurative. We as a company nearly went under, but we’re still here and kicking. And there’s nothing like smashing things when you’re annoyed. 2020 keeps throwing things at you and so does this game. But you’ll be knocking them out, back and into nothingness until 2021 and beyond! It also helps that our game is currently on sale for 20% off! Meaning it’s now 6,55€ ($7.99 USD). Making it the perfect ti…
- Patch 0.07.02 - 20 November 2020
Key to this game is the ability to throw. That’s affected by a number of factors, namely the hardware you the player are using. Long story short, we’ve accounted for most of those differences so the game should feel better! We’ve also made a slew of other improvements, changes and fixes including: Throwing Improvements, More Stuff Causes Damage Dragons Preventing Game Ending Bug Fixed, Dragons Can be Picked Up Now, Holstered Hammer Doesn't Fix Things Anymore, Warrior's Health Fixed, Goblins from Warriors Fixed in Multiple Ways, Lost Ziggurat Improvements, Stele Oasis Houses Fixed, Destroyed Houses No Longer Generate Mana, and Objects in Water Now Sink Throwing Improvements Each VR controller model behaves differently. That means throwing and other interactions can vary widely. Which isn’t great in terms of consistency nor making players feel like giants. So we’ve done another round of i…
- Patch 0.07.00 - 29 October 2020
2020 continues and so does the development of A Giant Problem. We hope this update finds you well. If not, hopefully this will be a bright moment in the day. And boy do we have a lot for you to be excited about. So much so, it’s almost too much for a single patch. We’ve been quiet for a couple of months in part because of the summer holidays and then our intense focus on implementing all of these new features and changes. But enough faffing, you want to know what we’ve done! This update includes the following: AI & Animation Overhaul, Repair Hammer Mana System, Destructible Gates, Stele Oasis, Warrior 2.0, Main Menu Scene Update, Holster Overhaul & UI Updates, Sound Updates & Fixes, Troll Hitting Walls Fix, Dragon Flight Rework, and Other Bug Fixes. AI & Animations The two are intricately connected in games. So we of course had to improve them. What does that mean? Well the game should…
- Patch 0.06.02 - 4 August 2020
We’re relaxing… seriously we are. We just thought we’d put out a small patch at the same time. As you can see from the beautiful artwork Minna, our Art Director, has created, even our characters are having a nice, relaxing summer break. Though they do occasionally try to sneak in and steal some gold. But we hope you’re getting to relax, remaining safe, and stopping the hordes now and then. This is smaller patch to just add a few things including: Tuned the Difficulty and Rewards, Additional Particle Effects, and Updated NavMeshes. Difficulty & Rewards We’re constantly tuning the difficulty to make the game as fun as possible, while being welcoming to new players. It’s not an easy task. But it’s one we know we’re up for. So in this leaks tweak we’ve tried to soften the start and ramp up more gradually. We’ve also doubled the amount of credits you receive at the end of a session, in the h…
- Summertime Update - 23 June 2020
Summertime in the city! Summertime is a pity. Cause you should be outside... but then you won’t be playing our game. Hell it’s nice here in Helsinki which we sometimes call Hel. That said we certainly want to be outside. And we will be soon. Just after we make another update to A Giant Problem for you! To entice you in we’ve got a summertime treat for you. A big tasty update! And this update has lots of goodies. Such as: A Progression System, Game Save System, A New Level, New Music and some Additional Sounds, A Rebalanced Difficulty, and Some minor bug fixes. Progression Being a giant is great. You’re big. You’re powerful. You’re good looking. Because of the first two no one is going to say otherwise on the third. But we recognize that you want more, you want to work towards something. So we’ve introduced our progression system, and as a requirement for that a game save system. In term…
- Patch 0.05.00 - 28 May 2020
The Eye of the Tiger is an oddly appropriate song for being a giant defending a village. Go on, give it a listen. But play the game first. It also helps that some of us… okay one of us and we won’t name who, (it’s Greg, it’s always Greg) keeps going around singing: Stomp. Stomp Stomp Stomp. Stomp Stomp Stomp. Stomp Stomp Stooommmpp! And all to the tune of Eye of the Tiger. That tangent aside, this is a fun patch. Simply cause we’ve added a really nice new feature. Along with some other fixes. This patch includes: A New Player Ability: Stomp Key remapping for Smooth Locomotion, Holster bugs sorted plus UI and UX clean-up, UI Updates - Instruction Images in the Controls Menu, and Art Improvements to the maps. Stomp Giants stomp. They’re big. They’re heavy. And they make an impact. That’s why anytime you teleport now you’ll be stomping your way around the world. We’ll be building out this…
- Patch 00.04.01 - 8 May 2020
Who ever said that game development was easy? But that's why we're in Early Access, so that we have some leeway when it comes to the introduction of minor bugs like this. In Patch 00.04.00 we introduced a couple of bugs related to the Club. That magic weapon we've gifted you with. And we've managed to resolve one of them in this patch. So what's Solved: The Club falls through the world, sometimes. Now it doesn't do that at all. Yeah for consistency and physics emulating the real world. What still needs to be solved: The club is immediately available even though it is recharging, and The right hip holster has some trouble, sometimes. We're working on them and will get a fix out as soon as possible. Until then, do something nice for your mothers. It is Mother's Day this weekend. And as usual please be sure to reach out to us on the Steam Forums, on our Discord or via our support email.
- Patch 0.04.00 - 4 May 2020
Things keep getting better and better, so much so that we can say you’ll have to holster your enthusiasm. Well actually it’s more about clubbing. But we’ll get to that in a moment. Before we ramble on, it’s time for what the cool kids call TL;DR. Or as we call it, just the important bits with none of the fluff. We do love our fluff though. This patch includes: Hip and Shoulder Holsters and relevant UI Grabbing Improvements Art improvements to Ragged Shore and The Cauldron UI Fixes A Quicksand Fix Holsters We’ve added more holsters for your club. Now you can slot it on either hip or either shoulder. Because the Club is a magical weapon, in the vein of Mjolnir, it returns to you when you throw it or when it breaks. But because your hands might be busy at that moment it returns to your holster. Smart, right? Well it gets smarter. The club can either return to the same holster every time. O…
- Patch 0.03.00 - 18 April 2020
We had more planned for today, but we’re letting it bake. More maps, more maps, everyone wants more maps! Not just you, but so do we. That said we want them to be good maps. It’s a matter of quality over quantity. So while we had originally planned for the third map to be out today, we’re holding it back to make it just that little bit better. Still we have some nice fixes for you including: New Wave Balance, Updated Quest Select UI, Two Hand Indicator, Teleport Collide Bug, Particle Effects Appearing When Blinded Bug, Grabbed Tree Thump Bug, and Grab Beam Deactivated Only on Teleporting Hand. We’re good. Some would even say very good at playing A Giant Problem. But we’re the developers. And that in itself is an issue. So while we know what to do, and how to do it we’ve noticed that new players are struggling to get past the first couple of waves. So we’ve softened the wave balance. Mea…
- Patch 0.02.00 - 9 April 2020
What a week eh? Well at least we’ve got some updates and fixes for you! First and foremost, if you’re playing A Giant Problem on the Valve Index using the Knuckle Controllers we recognize that things are not finely tuned. Due to Covid-19 we have not had access to that headset and controllers. We’re working to remedy that so we can fully support them as well. If you are playing and using them, please be sure to give us feedback either on the Steam Forums, on our Discord or via our support email. This being our first patch, is a minor one. But it does have some nice quality of life features. This update includes: Smooth Locomotion and Smooth Turning, UI Updates for the aforementioned controls, and Updated Trees on The Cauldron. Smooth Locomotion and Smooth Turning are now possible. So feel free to run yourself ragged. We would love some feedback on the speed of each. And of course, if you…
- We Launched, Now What - 1 April 2020
Look at the road map and you’ll get a great idea! TL;DR - We’ve got new stuff coming every two weeks! Okay it’s not laid out much like an actual map but it sure is pretty. And we do have some very specific goals in mind. Everything we’ve laid out we know is achievable. And this year. Some of this will even come this week. Why? Because we’re committed to sizable content drops every two weeks. That’s in part because of what we’ve already got in the works. But also because of the need for playtesting to fine tune much of what we’re doing. And because we want to thank you for your belief in us, A Giant Problem and making this game even better. If you’ve watched our livestreams then you’ll have seen our allies in action. The Gnome and the Hedgehog do great things, and they’re fantastic additions to the game. But we didn’t want to just throw them into the game without them being a choice, an…
- We're Gonna Make Fools of Everyone - 25 March 2020
We’re going into Early Access on April 1, 2020! We here at Critical Charm are excited to finally share with you all that we’ve been working on, not so secretly, over the past year. A Giant Problem is officially launching in Early Access on Steam on April 1, 2020. And you’re invited to play the game! A Giant Problem is a first person VR action game that sees you step into the very big shoes of a giant, tasked with defending a fairytale village from invaders. Goblins, trolls and more intent on stealing all your gold! You get to smash, bash and mash your way through hordes of enemies with a variety of weapons, objects, and magic. Anything or anyone you can get your hands on is a weapon. Face off against endless hordes of enemies as they sneak, run, and fly in to get your gold, trash your town and hurt your friends! Wade into the invaders or toss boulders and trees at them from afar. Contro…
- Where Did Everybody Go? - 13 March 2020
Home. We all went home. As a preventative measure with regards to Covid-19. Asides from washing our hands regularly and providing sick leave we’re taking the precaution of having everyone work from home. We’ve always tried to make distance work possible, and this time is really going to put this to the test. Especially as we near Early Access. Nothing should be delayed on your end. It’s made it a bit of a mad dash on our end. But even then we’re trying to avoid crunch as much as possible. After all, what good would it be to prioritize people’s health only in the event of a pandemic and not all the time. But we can promise in the next week we’ll have more news regarding A Giant Problem. Until then be sure to stay safe, stay clean by washing with soap and water, and stay tuned for more news from us. If you haven’t already then wishlist A Giant Problem on Steam.
- We Have A Lot To Say - 27 February 2020
About culture and leadership! Especially since our CEO was interviewed for an article and our Chief Storyteller was on a podcast. We’re apparently an interesting bunch, and not just cause we’re a charming lot. So much so that someone from Creative Finland took the time to write about us. They sat down with Marjo and interviewed her about being a CEO of a VR and gaming startup. Marjo discussed becoming an entrepreneur, what it takes to form a solid team, planning for the future and more. Why spoil the story, when you can read it here: Becoming a Giant in the VR World. There’s also a Finnish version available here. You can also see some photos of our team in action. At the same time Greg was on the Inter: Views podcast, hosted by Laurent Notin. He spoke about his experience becoming an entrepreneur and how he came to meet Marjo and the rest of the team, among other things. This too is one…
- An AWE-some Nite Awaits - 14 February 2020
We’ll be at AWE Nite Helsinki! So why not come join us… and maybe play the game! Our very own CEO Marjo Sutinen will be at Arcade 5 to demo the game to the crowd and talk about its development. So if you’ve been on the fence about the game and want a better understanding of it. There’s no better time to get a look! So join us on March 5, 2020 at Arcade 5! The whole night will be about XR gaming so you’ll also get to see what some of our friends are up to, like HipFire Games. It’ll be a Blast that’s out of this World. So don’t Fail to register as Space is limited. See we can make puns with the names of other games too. The night is sponsored by Helsinki Games Capital, Nordic XR Startups, Immersal, and Grib. Which means there'll be food and drinks! Helsinki Games Capital is a non-profit association that supports the capital area game industry's community, operations and culture. With the…
