Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Indie, Arcade
Castle of Alchemists
vEA_07 - TOWER UPDATE
Hello good folk!
We finally brought new towers and buffed the existing ones. With these updates we also revamped the tutorial area to be more informing.
Here are the patch notes :
TOWERS
New Towers
3 new towers have been added to the game:
Flame Tower : Shoots a dispenser siege bolt filled with oil, dealing fire damage the area for 4 seconds. Tries to target most crowded area within range.
Acid Tower : Shoots a dispenser siege bolt filled with acid, dealing acid damage in the area for 4 seconds. Tries to target most crowded area within range.
Carpet Tower : Carpet bombs a large area. Shorter Range than Mortar Tower. Tries to target most crowded area within range.
Changes to Towers
Zap Tower
Has been removed from the game. It was the alternate version of Electric Tower.
Ballista Tower
Its visuals are updated.
No longer needs to reload after 5 shots.
Attack speed is increased by 35%.
Price reduced to 110.
Mortar Tower
Range is increased from 12 units to 18 units.
Wait between attacks increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds
Tries target most crowded area within range.
Damage is increased from 325 to 525. Damage dealt is maximum for 1 unit from the center, reduced to 2/3 between 1 unit and 2.5 units from the center, reduced to 1/3 between 2.5 units and 4 units from the center.
Price reduced to 200.
Addition to these, you can now see the radius of the towers, as well as time indicator for the next attack.
MAP CHANGES
Following maps have tower placement added to them:
Lava Passage
River Flow
Frozen Canals (Extra tower place added)
Library
Tower placement location is adjusted for Magma Reserves.
Tile set for Blacksmiths' Wing and Magma Reserves have been updated similar to Lava Passage.
We have added minor visual changes to almost all maps, especially near enemy entrances.
NEW TUTORIAL AREA
We have revamped the initial tutorial area for Bellator and his movement mechanics. New area is almost 3 times larger to include more actions to show and feel less cramped, with informational videos on some mechanics.
This will be all for this patch notes. As we mentioned in earlier updates, localization for new updates are not present yet.
Right now we are working on new maps, new enemies and balancing. Stay tuned for further updates.
Hope you all have blasting weekend!
vEA_06b Hotfix 3!!
We have managed to replicate the bug where players are stuck at "Win" or "Wave Finished" screens. We deployed a fix. If the problem still continues please let us know.
We have added a new effect for Rage. Now entering a rage pushes enemies back with a new visual.
vEA_06a Hotfix 2!
We have deployed a potential fix for a bug which causes strange stuff during Wave Finished or Win screens.
We couldn't replicate the said bug on our end, so this fix is potential.
Please inform us if the situation still continues.
vEA_06a Hotfix
Bug where you cannot click on first and last hotkey for traps has been fixed.
Bug where life-steal for rage still stays after the effect ends has been fixed.
A small visual effect added for heal effects. Side of the screen slightly flashes green when you heal, similar to when you take damage.
Aside from those, we are aware of "Hoop - Hop" writing mistake. We will try to locate more writing mistakes as we push a new update within week. Don't hesitate to reach us when you find one.
Cheers!
CRAFT EXPANSION UPDATE
Hello good folk!
We have updated our crafting system for weapons, with new abilities and conditions and brought several UI/UX updates and reworks to some existing systems.
Here are the patch notes:
REWORKS
We have reworked some of the mechanics for a better experience.
Poison Clouds
Now coloured green. Explodes when contacted with fire.
Heavy Poison
Works exactly like Poison. We kept this in the game for prevent corrupted save files. Will be removed in future updates.
Explosive Gas
Increased its damage to distinguish from poison clouds.
Acid Puddles
Now deals acid damage to enemies passing. Hitting an acid puddle with electricity releases a 3x3 Poison Cloud.
Hydro Puddles
No longer applies wet, still conducts electricity. When hit by chill, freezes and no longer conducts but slows enemies instead.
Sprinkler Trap
No longer slows. Instead applies a condition to enemies within radius for its active duration (10 seconds) and leaves a 3x3 puddle on the ground. Variants as follows
Default : Sprinkler Trap - Oil => Applies Oiled to enemies and leaves an Oil Puddle.
Upgrade 1: Sprinkler Trap - Hydro => Applies Wet to enemies and leaves a Hydro Puddle.
Upgrade 2: Sprinkler Trap - Acid => Applies Acid to enemies and leaves an Acid Puddle.
Rage
A new buff type for main character. Rage allows you to ignore stamina cost, take half damage and have 20 percent life steal on melee attacks for its duration.
Adrenal Pump Mutation
Now enters you in a Rage for 15 seconds when you kill 10 enemies with a melee weapon within 3 seconds.
Shoulder Cannon
Shoulder Cannon now works with a cooldown rather than being once per wave.
CRAFT UPDATES
As per feedback, we realised melee weapons were not getting enough love. With these craft updates, we aimed to make them more viable with new conditions and abilities.
Here are new "Melee Only" abilities that you can get :
Life Steal Heals you for a percentage of the damage you are dealing. Hitting multiple enemies do not increase the life steal amount.
Deadly Blow
Deals damage equal to 25 percent of enemy's current health on given chance.
Culling Blow
Directly kills enemies who are below 35 percent of their total health on a given chance.
Absorption
Blocks a given flat amount from each physical attack after reductions.
Triggers for several abilities
Aside from those new abilities, we have added new triggers for some new abilities we have added to "all" weapons, as listed below:
On Charge
Triggers when you activate your melee weapon's charge.
On Reload
Triggers when you reload your ranged weapon. For Crank Gun, you need to fully reload your weapon to trigger.
On Dodge
Triggers on landing after a dodge.
On Hoop
Triggers when you initiate a hoop back.
On Acrobatics
Triggers on landing after an acrobatic (climbing up & down, jumping across gaps).
These triggers can occur only once per pre-determined cooldowns. When a trigger happens, you will see a cooldown icon on the left side of your Health Bar. Cooldowns are different for each trigger.
Triggers except "On Acrobatics", only occur if you are using the weapon (Melee/Range). On Acrobatics always occur regardless of your current weapon.
Effects that can occur after these triggers are:
Guaranteed Crit
Your next attack within 5 seconds is a guaranteed critical hit.
Melee Buff
Melee damage is increased by 35%
Ranged Buff
Range damage is increased by 35%
Fire Explosion
Releases a small fire explosion dealing 200 fire damage which can ignite.
Chill Explosion
Releases a small chill explosion that applies Chill which can freeze.
Release Oil/Acid/Hydro Puddle
Releases an oil/acid/hydro puddle sized at 3x3, which can interact with other abilities.
Shield
Blocks a certain amount of damage, for 10 seconds or till depleted.
Release Bomb
Releases an explosive bomb on the spot.
Release Cluster Bombs
Releases small cluster bombs near the spot.
Combination of these creates a large number of abilities you can get on the weapons. Weapons are not overloaded with all combinations possible, but rather with a theme. While Core Hammer type weapons would have more defensive oriented abilities, Alchemical Greatsword types would have more aggressive ones with higher chances.
New Consumable and Shoulder Cannon
We have added a consumable item and a shoulder cannon to the game. We have added small separate menus for both shoulder cannon and consumable which can be accessed from Arma by clicking on the consumable and shoulder cannon.
Freezing Blast Cannon
Applies Chill condition and possibly freezes enemies and other freezable objects, such as hydro puddles.
Rage Pellets
Small pellets that allows you to enter Rage for 15 seconds.
UI/UX CHANGES
New cooldown icons have been added for each of the buffs you can get via items or skills above your skill bar.
New cooldown icons have been added for the new ability triggers mentioned above.
Visual effects on the main character has been added for the buffs.
When you heal from a source aside from Life Steal, now your HP bar briefly flashes.
When you enter an effect that allows you to ignore stamina, your Stamina bar freezes visually.
When you get a Shield buff, a shield buffer appears on your HP bar.
Your character flashes white when you are hit while having shield.
Visuals of the puddles have been updated.
Armored Arctic Swordsman has been given a visual uplift.
New sound effects added for Crushing Blow, Deadly Blow and Culling Blow.
As we mentioned in earlier updates, localization for new updates are not present yet. As these abilities are not finalised and may be subject to change with new updates and feedback, applying localization now will cost us as a small indie company. Also translating into 13 languages takes time which delays these updates further.
We hope you understand.
Have a blasting weekend and have fun scorching your enemies with new abilities !
Nominate "Castle Of Alchemists" for Steam Awards!
Hello people!
Steam Awards are here along with the Autumn Sale and we need your help with nominations!
You can support us by nominating "Castle Of Alchemists" for the "Best Soundtrack" category from the widget above. We're very proud of our awesome OST created by the one man army, Mehmet Can Güler, and we hope you also enjoy our soundtrack enough to nominate us for this category.
If you'd like to support us further, you can do so by purchasing the OST!
We have patched a couple of small bugs and added some forgotten stuff.
A bug where interaction with breakable objects causing game to crash has been fixed.
Oil Barrel booby trap and Oil Spider-mine now applies oiled conditions to enemies. Oil puddles do not auto burn anymore with the latest patch.
Ballista Tower's projectile now interacts with breakable objects.
Mortar Tower's projectile now interacts with breakable objects.
Mortat Tower's projectile now leaves a more lasting visual effect with added small camera shake.
Have nice weekend people! ːBellatorː
vEA_05b Update
Gameplay Changes
New Enemy Debuff Indicators
Visual effects on enemies for these effects are added to the game:
Blind
Bleed
Burn (New Condition)
Corraded
Oiled (New Condition)
Poisoned
Marked
Wet
Breakables and Interactables Objects
We have added several new breakable objects to levels, as well as some interactable objects which react to melee attacks or explosions when appropriate. While this items do not change the gameplay in anyway on mechanical terms, they add a sense of *satisfaction*.
New Conditions
We have added 2 new conditions to game; Oiled and Burn
Oiled Oiled enemies catch fire when they take any fire damage unless they are immune to burn (fire) damage.
Burn Burning enemies take around 50 fire damage per second.
In combination with these effects, Liquid Flask (Oil) has been rebalanced as follows: Liquid Flask = Applies Oiled condition to enemies and leaves a burnable oil puddle on the ground.
A rework for "Sprinkler Trap" is also in the works.
Balancing
Selling your traps now always refund full price.
Attack speed animation of Alchemical Greatsword is increased about 15 percent at the last attack.
Hit box colliders of Alchemical Greatsword is increased in size and made into a cone shape.
Bolt Gun Reload Speed decreased from 2 seconds to 1.25 second.
Bug Fixes and QoL Updates
Bugs
Several bugs on craft and respec has been resolved.
Bolt Gun Reload sound bug fixed.
A bug that prevents Melee Attack Stamina consumption to be effected from upgrades (such as skill or item abilities) has been fixed. Stamina consumption for melee weapons now works as intended.
A bug that prevents "Increased Lung Capacity" to work properly now fixed. Previously it directly set your stamina to 120 in game no matter your skill level. Now it works as intended and your stamina in game is same as shown in level up screen.
This 2 fixes greatly fixed stamina consumption and the number of melee attacks you can make.
Quality of Life Changes
Small Enemy bars now include enemy armor as well.
Stay tuned for further updates, cheers !!
Dwerve and Castle of Alchemists Bundle!
Hello people!
We are happy to announce that Castle of Alchemists will be available in a bundle with Dwerve, an epic action-adventure with tower defense combat!
Dwerve was one of the games that we watched closely as we developed CoA as it was another title in pixel art focusing on a different approach for tower defense genre, and we are thrilled to go into a bundle with them!
Also, Castle of Alchemists will be on sale for 35% off during SHMUP festival!!
Enjoy !
vEA_05a Ranged Weapons Update
Hello PEOPLE !!
We coming in hot with a new update on ranged weapons. This took a while to build back-end stuff for the future updates.
But before patch notes we have an important announcement regarding localization.
To expedite the updates we will be making to the game, you may notice some gaps in the localization for a while. New texts will be available in English most of the part.
The reason for that is, Localization updates takes quite awhile for us, and they cost us as well. We want to make swift updates, as well as want to try our new things when possible depending on the community feedback.
But when you translate everything, even the things that might be removed or changed with next update, this takes both a huge time investment and financial investment.
Hence, we will be updating languages other than English later on, and only when the updates are set in stone. Hope you people understand us.
Now, into the update:
RANGED WEAPONS UPDATE
Each ranged weapon now can be crafted into 3 different versions, just like other items. If you already unlocked the recipes, you can go an craft them with no problem. Here are the weapons you can choose from :
Blunderbuss - Regular blunderbuss that you have used up to this point, only slight adjustments to its stats.
Revolving Blunderbuss - A more precise blunderbuss with an increased capacity, at the cost power.
Dragon Blunderbuss - A less powerful version of the regular blunderbuss that unleashes a powerful fire breath at close range at the top of its regular damage. Its pellets deal half of their damage in fire. This weapon can ignite oils and explosive gasses.
Repeater Crossbow - Regular crossbow that you have used up to this point, only slight adjustments to its stats.
Acidic Repeater Crossbow - Repeater crossbow that shoots acidic bolts, which apply Corraded to the enemies and deal half of its damage in Acid.
Frost Repeater Crossbow - Repeater crossbow that shoots frost bolts, which apply Chill to the enemies.
Crank Gun - Regular Crank Gun that you have used up to this point, only slight adjustments to its stats.
Zeus Crank Gun - Crank gun that shoot electricity infused pellets, which deals half of its damage in Electricity.
Bolt Gun - A powerful mini cannon powered by steam, shooting precise and powerful pellets with a faster reload time, at the cost of rate of fire.
With this update, overlapping qualities are removed from existing weapons (such as Fiery Rounds or Acidic Rounds) and these abilities will no longer come from randomised abilities.
UI UPDATES
We slightly altered the UI for Crafting, for better visuals at the type selection.
Retry button has been added to the Pause menu.
For future updates, we are gathering feedback from you guys, both in Steam discussions and Discord channel. Soon we will address mostly repeated features, such as Trap Selling prices, a better melee system, expended challenge UI etc.
