Welcome to the 8th edition of AM Devlog! AM Devlogs are weekly (when we don't patch) updates on the development progress of Adventurer Manager. These Devlogs highlight our philosophy of the importance of development transparency and player feedback.
Wow, it's been a long time since there was a Devlog! The reason being is because we've been patching so damn much! I'm sure we can all agree that's a good thing as we try and bring you very regular updates to keep the game's production moving forward and to better reflect the changes we've made based on your invaluable feedback as players. We are taking this week off due to the massive patch we just released last weekend. This patch saw the introduction of a surprise and entirely new game mechanic called Invasions as well as the introduction to the long-awaited University and 2 more dungeons taking the level cap up to 45. For this edition of AM Devlog I'm going to talk briefly about some upcoming class additions and some class changes!
5 New Classes!
We've always wanted to bring you more classes and we had debated internally how we were going to do that. Originally it was just going to be more classes, then it changed to advanced classes that had to be unlocked, but now it's gone back to just more classes. Adventurer Manager is about the Adventurers and creating fun and diverse parties to experiment with so we felt the best option was to introduce more classes up front. This is not to say that we aren't still considering advanced classes or ways to alter existing classes in the University, but introducing new classes seemed like the right option due to some archetype holes that were missing (ie. one Arcane damage class and one Healer are not great options). So we were originally going to introduce 3 more classes but that number has now increased to 5! That's right, 5 new classes are coming and you may even see their early iteration sometime this week! Now let's talk about some of them!
AM has always lacked utility classes and in order to attempt to achieve better balance we gave all classes a few utility abilities. Well that is changing a bit (I'll explain more after the classes) to introduce some much needed utility classes. The first class we're introducing is the Warlock! The Warlock is a DoT'er and Debuffer and will have both single target and aoe DoT's and debuffs. One of his abilities is a debuff that reduces amount of healing received by an enemy target to help you cut down on those annoying healer mobs.
The next class is the Enchanter! Inspired by one of our favorite old-school MMORPGs, the Enchanter is all about Energy and Energy regeneration. He does almost no damage but has a single target and aoe stun as well as ways to replenish his own energy and the energy of other party members. We have avoided many Energy abilities as they are pretty powerful, but we feel that the Enchanter will find his niche in your parties!
The third class we're introducing is the Shaman! A new healer that has some hybrid qualities, the Shaman has a single target heal and an aoe heal. Other abilities are a stun and life regen buffs. The Shaman's primary weapon is the spear but is also able to use blunt weapons, light shields, and wear leather armor. This new healer should help relieve the Cleric from all of his healing duties!
The fourth class we're introducing is the Death Knight! Essentially an anti-paladin, the Death Knight trades heals for lifesteals and damaging nukes. He also can buff spellpower to benefit your casting party members as well as taunt. The Death Knight's primary weapon is the pole-arm and he wears heavy armor.
The fifth class is a mystery that will be revealed when we patch! I just know that he likes crossbows….
Skill Changes!
We've always tried to make each class have similar ability make-ups so that the classes are easier to balance. This resulted in many abilities that had little use in an effort to differentiate classes. A lot of these were buffs and debuffs that were far too situational to be useful. We're now in the process of editing all of the classes with the addition of these new ones to make them all more specialized and more unique. Not all classes will be able to buff and debuff like they use to and some will be able to do more buffing and debuffing than others. The buffs and debuffs will also be more useful, targeting Armor, ToHit, Magic Resistance, and a few others over the more Mutator specific ones. This should really make our new utility classes shine as they will find more usefulness in the party despite their lower damage. This is an ongoing process and we will continue to address the classes until we feel they are where we want them to be.
AM Team Member Feature AM Team Member Feature is a segment in these Devlogs where every week or so I feature one of our team members who is currently working on AM. Leading off the new segment is our Composer & Sound Designer, Daniel Lopatka!
Who are you and what are your duties on Adventurer Manager?
My name is Dan Lopatka and I am the Composer/Sound designer for Adventurer Manager. My duties are just that, but I compose more than I sound design.
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a bunch of things right now! Some may even say TOO many things…*shifty eyes* I just created sound effects for item drops – different ones for common, uncommon, rare, legendary, and mythical items. I’m also writing new music for a couple of levels, as well as re-orchestrating tunes like the Ruined Keep and Druid Grove.
What is a major feature that you have created or developed?
Music is a major feature, right?
What are your favorite aspects of working on Adventurer Manager and VAStudios?
I’d say the thing I like most about working on AM is writing in such diverse genres/styles. I mean, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a quasi-tribal piece (Monster Camp), followed by an epic LOTR-style tune (Mountain Pass), and then a foot-stompin’ bluegrass number (Undead Farm)!
Do you have anything else you'd like to share with fans and those who may be interested in AM but have yet to purchase it?
My favorite video game tunes are the ones that are so fun and memorable, you don’t care if you hear them 100 times in row, which is why some of my biggest inspirations are composers like Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Masato Nakamura (Sonic the Hedgehog), and Koji Kondo (Legend of Zelda, Mario). If you’re into music like that, then I think you’ll dig the Adventurer Manager soundtrack. Feel free to check out some of the tunes from the game on my SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/drlopatka
That's all for this week's edition of AM Devlog! Check back next week for more development updates!
Happy Adventuring! Thomas Spradling
Game Designer & Producer
VAStudios
Build 0.6.00 - HUGE UPDATE with University, Invasions (wtf Invasions?!), 2 More Dungeons, and much more!!!
Miraj is now sending INVASIONS!!! - A new manual dungeon type encounter has been added to the game. Miraj is now specifically targeting racial towns with monster invasions. These invasions have a chance to spawn on the world map near the wizard spires while auto and manually adventuring.
- When triggered, the overworld map will show an invasion icon with crossed swords as an active Adventure to accept.
- A random racial town is targeted for the invasion. If the invasion is not completed in a set amount of time, the town being attacked will suffer an Allegiance penalty. If successful, the town is spared and a nice Allegiance gain is awarded.
- It is rumored that the monsters in the invasion come from all over the land and carry increased amounts of Blacksmith gems.
- All Races are now available to be hired from the start of the game from their also unlocked racial towns.
The UNIVERSITY has finally arrived!! - The Adventurer University is now accessible from the Overworld map.
- Each Adventurer may train in any number of Courses available in the University which enhances his or her overall effectiveness. Time required is still being tweaked.
- The Attributes School allows Adventurers to train up base attributes and derived stats like Crit and ToHit.
- The Adventuring School allows training in adventure related attributes like Gold Find, Magic Find, Resting, and Auto Adventure speed.
- The Combat school allows Adventurers to focus on one specific weapon and become proficient with it. Some unlocks include Double Attack, TRIPLE attack, and Riposte.
-- Each weapon also has a unique specialization associated with it. Examples are: Hammers have Armor Penetration while Swords have increased Parry and Daggers have increased Critical Chance.
- The Combat School also allows for specialization in Armor which will receive more love and more bonuses in the future.
- PLEASE NOTE! - Some Courses are still marked as place holders and will be modified and added in upcoming patches. Icons for Courses will also be added in future patches.
IMPORTANT ---- Cloud Sync!!! - Cloud syncing is now enabled on Windows devices.
- To ensure the correct data is uploaded you must launch the game on your primary PC first so that that data is sent to the cloud.
***- Opening the game on another PC before your primary PC will cloud that data and warn you when you launch the game back on your primary PC. Failing to read these warnings could result in loss of data, so please be mindful when clouding your data.
- This was necessary to test before we go live so please report any issues so we can relay them to Steam if necessary.
Dungeons & Level Increase - Two new dungeons were added to the game: The Sunken Ship and The Pyramid.
- The level cap has been increased to 45.
Music - New Cave and Swamp music tracks added to the game.
- More music tracks are coming for the newly opened areas.
Gameplay - Mythical items are being introduced to the game as a preliminary implementation. Their full power will be added after initial testing is successful.
- Quest indicators on message boards in town now accurately reflect what actions are available.
- Added hotkey D for defend while in combat.
- Monster packs are now labeled as such when spawned.
- Defend now expires at the start of a round so that it may be used repeatedly.
- Parties no longer automatically regenerate HP and END after each encounter.
- Resting is now available between encounters in a manual dungeon. Hitting R or the Rest icon (looks like a teepee) will begin the rest cycle. It is possible to get surprise attacked by a wandering monster pack while resting. This is different than the preset camps in dungeons which have 0% chance of spawning monsters. Rest away from a camp and beware!
- Monks can now wield 1h and 2h hammers.
- Added much better response time to tooltips.
- Paladins can no longer use Bows or Crossbows.
- Increased the Allegiance requirement for hiring higher level Adventurers.
- Encounters between nodes have been removed in favor of a quicker, more rewarding dungeon crawl.
- All Party Bonuses (for different race, class, gender combos) in game have had their effect doubled.
- Traps now spawn in main nodes when an encounter starts to make them actually detrimental to that subsequent combat encounter.
- The skill selection window now has color coded indicators to show when a skill is out of level range, maxed out or trainable.
- Dark Elves now have pointy ears like their lighter cousins.
- Paladin monsters now correctly roll STR on gear and stats.
Bugs - As always, more minor bugfixes than you can shake a Jeff at.
Cloud Sync for Windows (Important)
We will be releasing a cloud sync patch this week which will enable sync between Steam installs. This is a very unlikely scenario but we must mention it.. if you load a game for the first time on a new machine after cloud is enabled and have NOT played and closed your game at least once on your main computer it will cloud sync that new save game as your primary save.
As you can imagine this would make you cry when you get home and ignore the warning that you are launching with an older file and then overwrite all your save progress.
Just a heads up to be mindful of any pop-up messages and to load and close the game so that it cloud saves your main PC.
This is currently only for Windows but we will enable OSX very soon as well (possibly at the same time if we get the OSX paths in before we go live with it).
Thanks :)
Build 0.5.40 - Castle Upgrades
This build revamps the Castle Upgrade system which allows the player to select from several different upgrades that affect overall gameplay.
IMPORTANT
You will most likely need to build a couple stash modules after the update to accommodate the new system. Please me mindful of this when entering the game after this patch since the old upgrades are no longer valid.
Gameplay - Castle Upgrades!
-- Upgrading the Castle is now done through the Castle in the world map and has many different upgrades.
-- Be mindful of which upgrades are selected early on because demolishing pieces can only be done from the top down like building blocks.
- To accommodate the upcoming University changes and bonuses for Magic Find, Gold Find and other perks.. Magic and Gold find now take the average across all Adventurers in the party. Magic find is also being tweaked a bit to accommodate this change. The end result is for MF to be more of an end game farming component.
- More animations added to the World Map.
Build 0.5.32 - Small Content Update + Level Cap Increase
Gameplay - The Pirate Ship and Bone Graveyard are now unlocked making the new level cap 39.
- Different traps have been added to game.
- Holding alt now works for selling higher quality items in the shop.
- Adventurers sent on auto quests no longer find it worth their time to bring back common quality items. This makes it a lot easier to manage auto adventures and loot issues.
- The difficulty indicator of a manual dungeon crawl is now based off the min monster level of the dungeon, hopefully making the visual indicators flow better.
- The Jester has built a time machine and went far into the future where a magical device called a keyboard was introduced. After years of reverse engineering he has discovered the fabled ESC key! Upon sharing this with the kingdom of Adventuria they have craftfully implemented it into the UI system to allow closing windows. Rejoice! (Please report any windows where ESC doesn't seem to work properly or doesn't work at all)
- Block has been changed from a full negate effect to instead block a % of damage. This will allow better functionality in the University and class differentiation like making the Paladin absorb more damage on buffs in the future.
- Changed dungeon UI to allow better readability of fonts on different backgrounds.
- Auto Quests now require the dungeon they associate with to be cleared before being able to be taken.
Bugs - Fixed a bug causing all saved party data to be overwritten by the members in party 1 upon closing and re-opening the game.
- Allegiance was being incorrectly saved and will probably be reset with this patch. This will affect anyone hiring the different classes, so you will have to farm back to at least Allegiance level 1 for a town to hire all the classes again. Sorry, alpha! :) All save game data is verified moved to the new file based system now.
Steam1st AM Early Access Impressions!
Looks like AM is changing minds on Early Access games! Check out Steam1st's Early Access Impressions of AM!
This build introduces monster mutators which affect enraged, deadly, miniboss and boss monsters.
Gameplay - All taunt skills have had their base increased to 200% and detaunt has been changed to 100% per rank.
- Common loot drops were reduced in auto mode dungeons.
- Enraged packs are a little more common.
- Mutators are being introduced.
-- Enraged and Deadly mobs now roll random mutators that act as passive bonuses.
-- Miniboss and Boss mobs have assigned mutators that make them more effective in combat but still not where we want them to be.
-- A mutator can be anything from crit chance, hp regen, damage bonus, etc that greatly affects how they perform in combat.
Bugs - Fixed a bug where reflect damage was not properly doing damage and checking for death.
- Fixed a bug where Adventurers were able to be put into more than one dungeon at a time. You may need to completely overwrite all party saves to fully fix the issue.
Build 0.5.26 - Info Scroll Introduction!
- Monk active Parry skills changed to dmg bonus and dmg penalty.
- Barbarian dmg bonus and weakness buffs changed to Parry.
- Manual Adventures now show the range of monster levels that can be found inside a dungeon.
- During party creation any Adventurer with 0 END is now hidden from the list.
- Adventurers may now be pulled out of an inn during party creation.
- INFO SCROLL! The Info Scroll is being partially introduced into the game. The first iteration of the scroll puts the Adventures inside of it with the same basic functionality. Clicking on an open slot will allow you to select an auto adventure, while clicking on one in progress will show a more detailed view of an automatic adventure. Clicking on a manual mode adventure slot will present you with the party screen to enter with your party.
- Scroll notifications. Any time an Adventure completes it will bounce the Adventures icon on the scroll indicating it needs your attention. As we implement more of the Inn and University they will also bounce to indicate something needs attention.
- Automatic Adventures now show detail of the number of items looted by rarity, gold per encounter and have changed a bit in functionality. XP is now awarded on the fly as the Adventurers progress so that they may be managed (skills on level up, stat points) without having to wait until they exit.
- You can now easily send Adventurers straight to the Inn from the new Auto Adventure summary window.
- The Adventure Party screen before going into a dungeon or auto quest has all new art.
- Auto Adventures may not be portaled from unless there is enough inventory space to fit the returned loot.
- Lots more names have been added to Adventurer generation.
Build 0.5.23
Gameplay
- Added HP healing while resting in the Inn.
- Auto quests no longer grant items and gold per tick, rather they accumulate successful battles and return items and XP upon clicking Portal Out of the dungeon.
- A very basic Quest Log has been added to the game which is accessible by clicking an Adventure slot at the top of the main map. This currently only works on auto mode quests and has limited info. (More to come)
- Auto mode Adventures now have consequences if taken well above the Party's ability. First pass is to penalize Endurance by a scaling amount based on the difference in level and Gearscore of the Party sent into the Adventure. More penalties will come later.
Bugs
- Fixed a bug where decayed stats from low endurance would not recover.
- Fixed a bug causing Barbarian, Warrior, Paladin and Cleric monsters to roll much higher CON on gear than expected. This resulted in an almost 24% higher Max HP than expected.
- Fixed a bug causing Ranger mobs to roll much more Wisdom than expected, resulting in much higher healing than intended.
- Fixed a bug with Ranger skill Mark being set to 0 rounds instead of 3.
- Fixed a bug with some skills which buffed stats to not expire on the correct round.
Build 0.5.21 Hotfix
Fixes - Added a Remove Adventurer button to beds in the Inn.
- All Adventurers in the Adventurers menu should now be clickable.
- Adventurers can once again be renamed.
- More descriptive information is given before accepting an auto quest (XP/Gold per hour).
- Auto Adventures are now granting the proper XP per tick.
