Hi all! Breaking the three months of silence, version 1.1.0 is now live for Rend. This is supposed to be the last development update for the game, but this one is major. So what's in the box?

Steam Deck support!

While the Proton layer is supposed to faithfully emulate PC architecture, there are hiccups sometimes. Previous versions of Rend didn't even launch on the Deck and when they did, you could not get into matches anyway. But that's a thing of the past now.

I installed the game through Heroic Game Launcher, here are the steps:

• Download the v1.1.0 installer from here on Itch.
• In Heroic, click "Add game" in your library, name it, set the proton layer version to v8 or v9 (newest stable ATM) and select "Run installer first", choosing the downloaded installer.
• Once everything is set up, save and try running the game. If it doesn't launch, you might want to install newest C++ x64 redistributables and perhaps DirectX 9, but for me, it worked first time.
• Now Heroic had set up a shortcut in Steam, but these can be buggy and might not actually launch the game (with Heroic, one version works like a charm and the next one breaks everything). In that case, just add the shortcut directly to Steam yourself and bypass Heroic entirely.
• Enjoy the game! If it doesn't work, write a comment here so I can help you resolve the issue.

Better gamepad support in menus

Previous versions had gamepad support in menus, but the movement was slow, choppy and generally unpleasant. This time, it will be smooth as a butter. As a tradeoff, if you're updating from an older version of the game, all your preferences will be reset so please adjust them back to your liking.

Note that mouse trackpad is not the preferred way to control the cursor on the Deck. Use the left stick and A button to confirm and B button to go back.

New CTF map

Turns out, making a CTF map is waaay harder than a deathmatch one! Everything needs to be symmetrical and you're not supposed to break established conventions too much. With the new map "Tug", I decided to break one of those conventions.

The flag is not directly on the route between both teams, it is slightly off the beaten path. That means it is not the flagpole to be contested the most, it is the shortest route between the teams. This should spice up the established formula just enough for this map to be interesting ;)

So what are you waiting for? Go play the game now, it's free!

Full changelog:

Gameplay:

• Added new 4-player CTF map: "Tug"

Bugfixes:

• Vertex shader was fixed so it can be loaded on Steam Deck
• Game waits until a server loop is started (caused the "Play" option in the main menu to crash on some devices, most notably Steam Deck)
• Cursor controlled with gamepad now moves smoothly and faster
• Adjustments to gamepad deadzone now apply immediately, not when game starts