Welcome to the third Brighter Shores Weekly Leek. We've had an exciting week, including a new quest launch, so let's dive in!


Andrew has been working on:
• New starter inductions.
• Compliance with the UK Online Safety Act.
• Annual Reviews.
• Breaking LED strips in half with Samuel.

James has been working on:
• Compliance with the UK Online Safety Act.
• Launching Herbalist's Hurdle Quest, including post-launch fixes.

Ian has been working on:
• Fixing bugs.
• Boss Fight coding for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Paul has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Mine of Mantuban 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Consuming Lemsip.

Samuel has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Crenopolis 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Preparing for the Official Fen Fridays livestream.
• Reading and replying to support requests and customer complaints.
• Preparing this weekly leek.
• Breaking LED strips in half with Andrew.

Daniel has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Hopeforest 6 ⭐️ quest.

Haaris has been working on:
• Technical coding (pre-graphics) for the Hopeforest 2 ⭐️ quest.

Greg has been working on:
• Map design for Stonemaw Hill (episode 5).
• Graphics for the Hopeforest 2 ⭐️ quest.
• Particle effects for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Splash Art for Herbalist's Hurdle quest launch.
• Graphics for the Official Fen Fridays livestream.

Nic has been working on:
• Graphics for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Joe has been working on:
• Encounter variants of the global music tracks.
• Sound effects for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Minor audio bug fixes.

Lewis has been working on:
• Graphics for the Hopeforest 2 ⭐️ quest.

Volkan has left Fen Research for personal reasons, we wish him the best in the future. We will open up recruitment again very soon to find a replacement.

• You can no longer store forensics potions in the potion belt. Any forensics potions already stored there will remain, but will not be used when doing forensics.
• Remove drink option from forensics potions in the potion belt.
• Block tile which when stood in, prevented the Feral Cat boss from doing it's special attack.
• Fix error when trying to pull a crate backwards into a wall.
• Improve ambience in Podium Cave.

Today marks the launch of our first new side quest. The quest is called Herbalist's Hurdle and can be started by talking to Maeve in the Critical Care Ward, which is a new room adjacent to the Infirmary in Hopeport.

The story for Herbalist's Hurdle was written by Samuel, with additional dialog from Paul.

• Tarsus & Petros, who are in the Boneworks & Stonemasonry Room respectively, no longer wander around.
• You can now equip up to 1,000 healing and 1,000 strength potions in the weapons interface for use during combat.

• Fix a bug which made clicking on the map occasionally walk to the wrong tile or ignore your click entirely.
• Fix various typos.

Welcome to the second Brighter Shores Weekly Leek. This week has been exciting, with some new members of the team to introduce.


Andrew has been working on:
• New starter inductions.
• Technical coding training with Samuel.
• Finally returning to programming! Technical coding for the Hopeport 4 ⭐️ quest.

James has been working on:
• Compliance with the UK Online Safety Act.
• Configuring a network for the live streaming room.

Ian has been working on:
• Fixing bugs.
• Technical mapping & coding for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Paul has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Mine of Mantuban 6 ⭐️ quest.

Samuel has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Crenopolis 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Technical coding training with Andrew.
• Reading and replying to support requests and customer complaints.
• Preparing this weekly leek.

Greg has been working on:
• Map design for Stonemaw Hill (episode 5).
• Particle effects for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Various quest concept art.

Nic has been working on:
• Graphics for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Joe has been working on:
• Encounter variants of the global music tracks.
• Sound effects for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Volkan has been working on:
• Graphics for the Hopeforest 2 ⭐️ quest.

Daniel has been working on:
• Learning Fenforge
• Story planning for a Hopeforest 6 ⭐️ quest.

Haaris has been working on:
• Learning Fenforge
• Working on a standalone project for technical experience.

All 3 of which have spent time with various members of the team.

Welcome to the first Brighter Shores Weekly Leek. A great many of you have asked for more transparency about what is going on at Fen Research. Specifically what we are currently working on, and how close we are to releasing some new content. To that end, we are going to start publishing regular updates in the form of The Weekly Leek.


Andrew has been working on:
• Recruitment and new starter preparations. With 5 new team members joining us over the next few weeks, there is a lot to do!

James has been working on:
• Compliance with the UK Online Safety Act. We have talked about this before in posts on X. Basically, as a UK company we are required by law to do this work.
• Launching this week's game update, and the improvements to personalized striping that came with it.
• Reading and replying to all your bug reports.
• Preparing this weekly leek.

Ian has been working on:
• Fixing bugs.
• Improving our map design tool.
• Technical coding for the Hopeport 4 ⭐️ quest.
• Technical coding for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Paul has been working on:
• Story coding (post-graphics) for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Mine of Mantuban 6 ⭐️ quest.

Samuel has been working on:
• Story coding (pre-graphics) for the Hopeforest 2 ⭐️ quest.
• Reading and replying to support requests and customer complaints.
• Planning out the first raid in the game. This involves exploring the theme, rewards and mechanics that will be involved.
• Assisting Andrew with new starter preparations, including getting the hardware and software setup for them to use.

Greg has been working on:
• Map design for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.
• Map design for Stonemaw Hill (episode 5).

Nic has been working on:
• Graphics for the Hopeport 6 ⭐️ quest.

Joe has been working on:
• Encounter variants of the global music tracks. These are the variants of the music tracks that the game switches to when you enter combat. Currently the global tracks do not have encounter variants, which means if you spend a lot of time in combat, you will never hear the global tracks and the music will seem more repetitive and less varied.

We know everyone loves an infographic, so we have made two! The first infographic details the progress of each side quest, and the second the progress on Stonemaw Hill (episode 5). With each new weekly leek, we will update both infographics, so you can get an idea of how far along things are.

We have been gathering feedback on personalized striping since the launch of the combat rework update. We have identified a couple of areas where we think it is not working as well as we would like, so we have made some changes. If you find the combat level of various foes has changed for you, this is why!

• Players who played episode 3, but let their premium pass expire before the combat rework update, will now receive the default striping.
• Boss foes in episode 3 and later, will now be personalized based on your level at the time the episode launched, regardless of if you have a premium pass.
• Boss foes who end up with a very high combat level due to personalized striping will have their level reduced slightly, to reflect that levels are harder to get when you are very high level.
• New foes always unlock exactly 20 levels before their combat level. This resolves an issue where some players found the next foe unlocked before they had even passed the previous skin of that foe.

• Make links in the 'Contact Us' section clickable.
• Fix layout issues with the Rock Shop, the Monument Pieces Bank and the Quartermaster Bank when in portrait mode.
• Fix various places where you could crawl in water by clicking on the map.
• Fix tile you could not walk on in Treeway Junction.

• Fix bug which allowed you to get a spoiled potion in additional to the potent potion when brewing a potent potion.

Easter has arrived in Brighter Shores! From now until the end of April, you can take part in the Great Egg Hunt. Speak to any member of the Easter Gifts Guild to start the event. Hint: One of the members can be found near a large fountain in Hopeport.

The Easter Gifts Guild members have scattered a large number of eggs throughout the world. Some are easy to spot, but many are well camouflaged. Keep track of of how many eggs you have found so far in the quests tab, and deliver them to the appropriate guild member to claim your Easter rewards.

The Easter event will end with the game update on 30th April 2025, after which you will not be able to collect any eggs or claim any rewards. As with the Christmas 2024 hats, we will never make these Easter 2025 rewards available again, so now is your only chance to get them.

• Fix an issue which occasionally prevented you from being able to click on the entrance to the Gnome Dwelling.
• Fix various typos.