Version 0.25 released

If I was naming the updates, which I don’t, I would call that one something like “The Great Configurator Update”. It introduces difficulty settings and keybindings. Now you can choose from 4 difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane. Normal difficulty is the one you were playing so far, it’s the most balanced level, it provides an adequate challenge and allow you to enjoy the journey. Easy is for people who are somewhat stressed and want to make it, well, easier, still it’s not very easy, just easier. Hard is meant for hardcore RPG players, with lots of experience and so on (that’s the recommended difficulty if you came from RPG Codex or similar community), still the difficulty on Hard is reasonable. Insane is meant for those who constantly complain the games nowadays are too easy, it’s unreasonably difficult, with penalties to everything and probably unbeatable for most people. One thing to note, I tried to keep the pacing similar in all difficulties, so I abstained from heavy bumping monsters HP and other mechanics that would make the game longer than harder. It’s more like that harder difficulty levels introduce more deadly environment than more resistant one. As for keybindings, not much to say I suppose, you can bind up to 3 keys per action and rebind almost all keys (except very special like Escape).

– [feature] Difficulty levels upon new game start (Easy, Normal, Hard, Insane).
– [feature] Rebindable keys (Options/Controls).

– [design] Additional shop items (including Arcane buffing items).
– [design] Tower of Despair unofficial name was dropped in favour of the official Ivory Tower (it was confusing using both names, now the Tower of Despair appears only in the lore/rumours sections and it’s always accompanied by the official Ivory Tower name).

– [balance] Reduced regular shop prices for items tier 4 & 5.
– [balance] Decreased Arcane requirements and Magic Points cost for high level offensive spells.

– [interface] Disabled hot keys when in Quick Menu mode.

– [fix] Keyboard bug from v0.24.
– [fix] Inconsistent portraits highlights bug (now I understand why so many players were asking “what it means if the portrait has a yellow outline” :D).
– [fix] Other small fixes (extremely rare and harmless which probably no one noticed).

Version 0.24 released

This version introduces racial classes. Each race, except half elves which share it with humans and elves, have 2 unique classes available to this race only. Humans have Champion and Troubadour, elves Mage Knight and Sage, dwarves Troll Slayer and Battlesmith. So, effectively now you have 6 basic classes and 6 racial classes to choose from, 12 total.

– [feature] Added 6 racial classes (Champion, Troubadour, Mage Knight, Sage, Troll Slayer, Battlesmith).
– [feature] New spells (for Battlesmith).

– [balance] Spells slightly rebalanced.

– [misc] Removed Ranger’s antidote spell, overall I plan to remove from Ranger all healing and cure poison abilities, so Detoxicate ability will be replaced in future versions as well.
– [misc] Dwarves can be wizards and healers from now on. I think the new racial classes are sufficient to convey the different nature of dwarves magic (especially the Battlesmith) and some basic classes disable would look weird with the new classes screen setup.
– [misc] Renamed Bard’s inspiration/Heroic Ballad.
– [misc] Quick start option makes all party members start with redistributed attribute points.

– [interface] Sighly improved equipment display.
– [interface] Clicking again on right menu button closes it (useful since some players tend to click multiple times on buttons during combat with weak enemies, so now to correct the misclick they need to click it once more).

– [fix] Removed invisible enemies in Frost Labyrinth (leftovers from the old map editor format).
– [fix] Changing spell during combat after selecting a spell that require targeting party member was not clearing the previously selected spell.
– [fix] Fixed rare “attack immediately after closing character screen if previously attack was clicked”.

Version 0.23 released

In this version I focused on selling items, experimented with new racial classes and made a bunch of fixes and small improvements. Now you can sell items you don’t need and what’s more important, you can buy them back if you decide you actually need them. In addition you have an option to deposit unneeded items in any inn which basically let’s you deal with unneeded items in two ways. I was also implementing new racial classes, the idea is each race would have two special classes available for them only (except half elves who share those with humans and elves). The racial classes are at the moment disabled since only some of them work, still you can check those. The last thing is a quick linguistic QA pass, so probably around 90% of spelling and grammar errors were fixed in this version. Therefore, from now on I’m starting to accept spelling error reports.

– [feature] Can sell items to the shop and buy them back (for a small fee).
– [feature] Deposit items in the inn (in a magic chest, accessible from any inn).

– [misc] Healer’s restoration spell makes the target weakened (just like the ability), which is more consistent and logical.
– [misc] Time runs slower when exploring indoors and during combat (it’s more realistic now).
– [misc] Improved magic door’s description.
– [misc] The first pass of linguistic QA finished, from now on I’m accepting spelling mistakes reports.
– [misc] You can now see unfinished racial classes on new game screen, all of them are disabled in this version.

– [design] Ogre Fort: Ghar – inaccessible grates fixed.

– [interface] Shops display the number of master craftsmen rescued (which affect the availability of items).

– [fix] Incorrect end game statistics (monsters killed, gold looted, etc).
– [fix] Yet another Girdle of Carrying bug.
– [fix] One potentially serious memory bug fixed.
– [fix] Paralyzed characters able to train.
– [fix] Elven healer cleanse removes weakened status but actual attributes were not restored.

Version 0.22 released

This version introduces first customization options, things that would allow to adjust the game to your personal playstyle. For example you can enable fog on the minimap, start with fewer characters than 7 (which is not recommended) or adjust combat/animation speed. Griffin rules were adjusted to prevent abuse. The last big change was balance, it was changed a lot, based on the feedback I collected from early access players, which was basically that the game is too easy. If after the changes it turns out to be too hard, we can revert some of those in future versions. Of course eventually there will be Hard difficulty option so players with different skill levels can enjoy the game.

– [feature] After Griffin landing monsters get a turn.
– [feature] Can’t call a Griffin if monster within 3 tiles.
– [feature] Option “Unrestricted Party Creation” (no restriction during party creation, can start with any number of party members).
– [feature] Option / Controls (Combat speed) to adjust the combat speed.
– [feature] Option / Controls (Animation speed) to adjust the animation speed.

– [balance] Gold income from monsters and chests halved, increased shop prices.
– [balance] Increased MP costs for magic.
– [balance] Offensive spells made weaker (at higher mastery levels).
– [balance] Characters have lower HP/MP numbers now.
– [balance] Monsters base initiative +1 (they act earlier during the combat now).
– [balance] Monsters deal bigger damage (especially high level ones).
– [balance] Monsters have higher HP (especially high level ones).
– [balance] All kinds of trolls now have an additional attack type which targets all characters (but that attack deals lower damage).

– [interface] Option to enable fog on overworld minimap.
– [interface] Minimap displays unvisited locations as “???” instead of location names (like on the main map).
– [interface] Dungeon map fully fogged when outside of boundaries (to avoid confusion of existence of some hidden passage).

– [fix] After Griffin landing the tile is executed now (prevent Griffin teleport abuse, properly deal lava damage).
– [fix] Bug in the main storyline.
– [fix] Removed 0/0 invisible monsters from the overworld map (leftovers from the older map format used during alpha).
– [fix] Combat initiative not reset upon reload/new game.
– [fix] Starting characters sometimes had not fully restored HP/MP (attributes bonuses were not applied immediately).

Version 0.21 released

This Early Access update focuses on adjusting things that were found confusing or unclear and introduces several balance tweaks.

– [feature] Rest renamed to Quick Rest and Comfortable Rest to Full Rest, also adjusted the time passed while resting (more logical and intuitive now).
– [feature] Added notice to magic doors to avoid confusion.

– [balance] Rebalanced spells, overall those have more power but require more MP.
– [balance] High arcane spells got less steep arcane requirements increase for mastery levels.
– [balance] Damage from magic barriers, traps and lava tiles increased considerably.
– [balance] Significantly reduced experience gain from level 10+ monsters (players were leveling the party way too fast).

– [design] Added 2 new locations (eastern area).
– [design] Adjusted magic dust availability and magic dust quest requirements.
– [design] Adjusted ogre forts (grates placement less confusing).
– [design] Added a new spell for Wizard, one for Ranger, two for Healer and one for Bard. Those are mostly high arcane spells available at higher levels.
– [design] Added NPCs (in early inns) explaining how shops work (missing master craftsmen and the Guild).

– [interface] Adjusted screen height per pixel values so it looks better (bigger pixels allowed) in windowed mode. Especially useful for people who play on windowed maximized mode (which BTW is not recommended since borderless is a way better mode).
– [interface] More visible hotkeys (font color).
– [interface] Shops made less confusing (added counter of master craftsmen available and a sell button which is disabled for now).

– [fix] Magic Dust availability.