Grimoire: Manastorm
Patch Notes: v1.0.2.0 - August 1, 2017
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If you like what we are doing you can support us by purchasing a class, high quality concept art posters, or making a donation. Thanks!
Balance
Nature 1B Needle Thorns - Add to tooltip that it drains mana. Changed damage from 10-12 -> 12-14. Increased projectile speed from 2500 -> 3000.
Nature 3A Groundskeeper - Increased min healed from 5 -> 8. Decreased radius from 512 to 386.
Lightning 1 Electricity - Changed damage interval from 0.25s -> 0.1s. Removed damage range. Changed DPS from 20-25 -> 30. (Note: The interval change will make it much easier to do consistent damage.)
Lightning 2 Lightning Bolt - Decreased max damage from 36 -> 32.
Earth 2B Tremor - Reduced the delay from 0.5s to 0.25s.
Rolling Boulder and Magma Bomb - The collision size was too high, this caused the spells to frequently get caught on objects where it seems like it should have passed easily. Reduced the collision size.
Ice 4B Whirlwind - Increased speed from 200 -> 250. Increased damage from 7-8 -> 10-12.
Changed out of combat health regen from 5 -> 10 per second.
Maps
FFA & Conquest Temple:
Fixed a bug where ground-casted spells couldn’t be cast on the walkway.
Added a 2nd story to inside of temple. Only accessible by spell. (Testing out making this point more defensible).
Added 2 additional ramps on each team’s side of the inside of the temple that go up to the 1st story.
Removed some clutter from the center area
Reduced the size of most fences. These should now act more as intended, as half cover not full cover with players able to shoot back and forth over them.
Conquest Slums:
Added large cover along main path from spawn to middle point.
Blocked out backalley under Church
Fixed some places under walkways where players could get stuck.
Sanctuary
Fixed a bug where ground casted spells couldn’t be cast on the length ways walkway in the middle of the map.
Misc
Changed default resolution to 1920x1080 instead of 1280x720
Turned back on announcer sounds. You should now hear a kill announcement for kill streaks.
Free-To-Play and State of the Game
Overall, the Free-To-Play patch has been a success. As of today, there have been 7,000 new downloads, and the revenue will cover basic maintenance costs. There were two big bugs, one with Arcane Points displaying incorrectly and another which was crashing entire servers. These were uncommon and have been patched.
Unfortunately, revenue has been well below what was expected. Our marketing efforts have not met our goals and although the sales conversion rate is close to where it needs to be the total number of new players is simply too low to pay anything but server bills.
Grimoire has been developed over the last 4 years by a very small independent team and has been about 95% self-funded, with the rest coming from donations and Early Access sales. When we co-founded Omniconnection we were determined to make our ideal game into a reality. After a failed Kickstarter and a poor Early Access release my co-founder, the lead programmer, left the project. This was a devastating blow to the game and the programmer who replaced him also left later on that year. Although we have seen a good amount of setbacks, we have also pushed through with successes and recently released Free-to-play with custom classes and 48 new spells. The reason for bringing this up is because we want to give some context for the rest of the post and the state of the game. Although we have been able to find some great help (Thanks Saishy and Rachel!) the costs involved in replacing these key team members has been very high. I have been forced to cut many features and delay bug fixes in order to simply continue with developing the foundations of the game.
With all of that said, part of today’s announcement is that in about 3 months Grimoire: Manastorm will be leaving Steam Early Access and have its final release. In this forum post you can see the changes we can afford to do with the current budget.
There are many things missing from this list including new movement/utility spells, countless minor bugs, simple upgrades to game modes like spectator mode, and of course no new classes. The reason for this is simple, without an increase in budget we can only afford one month of full-time contracted programming work.
This isn’t the announcement we were hoping to make after the F2P switch but it is the current state of the game and its future. The above list is what will be added to the game for its final release if nothing changes.
If you want to help us with the current final release list we can always use help reporting new bugs and testing bug fixes, submitting balance reports and spell/class feedback, and marketing by spreading the word on forums/Discords/Steam groups/etc.
If you want to help us add to the final release list then the primary thing needed is money. Today we have launched a new page on the website where you can contribute a donation through Paypal, visit our new merchandise store to buy prints of the game’s concept art, purchases classes through Steam, or support us on Patreon. We are also looking for investors so if you are interested please email brentcaulfield[at]gmail for more details.
All revenue will be spent directly on the game by fixing bugs, polishing gameplay, and adding features. In the next 3 months, the highest priority is for programming hours. However, if we reach our goals the game’s graphics and sound can begin to be improved as well.
Before ending, we want to once again say that the game will be finished regardless of the success of this fundraising. If you can help out it is incredibly appreciated but if you can’t please don’t think the game will be abandoned. No matter what happens we will release a fun game that most FPS players can enjoy. Thank you for supporting Grimoire and as always please leave any feedback, comments, or suggestions below.
TLDR: The F2P switch went smoothly but sales are going poorly. We have had to cut some features from the final release planned for the end of October. If you want to help us do more we have set up a few new ways people can support us.
Patch Notes: v1.0.1.7 - July 26, 2017
Fight the Devs in twice weekly playtests on Wednesday: 6 PM EST (3 PM PST, 12 AM CET) and Saturday: 3 PM EST (12 PM PST, 9 PM CET)
Balance
-Out of combat Health Regen changed from 20 per second to 5 per second.
-Fire 2A Flash Fire - 22-24 base damage depending on charge. Removed the range of the secondary damage from 12-18 to 12.
-Fire 1 Flames - Reduced DPS from 30-40 to 30.
-Earth 1A Pebbles - Increased mix damage from 11 -> 14. Now deals 14-16 damage on hit.
Bug
-Potential fix for a bug that was causing entire servers to crash.
Patch Notes: v1.0.1.6 - July 24, 2017
Servers will restart for patch and be back up in 5 minutes.
Balance
- Fire 1 Flames - Reduced range from 1024 to 768. The effect and the spell range should now be very similar.
- Ice 2B Penetrating Cold - Increased min damage from 33 -> 35.
- Ice 1B Frigid - Reduced effective range from 6k to 3k. Fixed a sound problem where this was playing fire sounds.
- Nature 2B Fly Swarm - Reduced size of effect and changed it slightly. -Reduced the lifespan from 3s -> 1s decreasing its effective range to 2000. Increased cooldown to 2s. Costs 10 mana per projectile.
- Earth 1 Burst - Increase the size of the projectiles to be closer to the old size. Reduced spread slightly.
- Nether 3A Blackhole - Reduced Increase in damage per projectile from 1.5 -> 1.25. The projectile appears closer to the caster now.
- Nether 1A Leech - Increased projectile speed from 1500 -> 1800.
Bugs
- Nature 4 Tree of Life - Fixed a bug where this spell wasn’t healing and was healing past the spell effect. Heals every 0.5s for 7.
- Fixed a bug that was causing the following spells to not properly hit enemies when there was an object too close to the beam: Fire 1 Flames, Ice 1 Icelance, Lightning 1 Electricity, Lightning 1B Shock, Lightning 2 Lightning Bolt, Lightning 2A Energize, Nature 2A Anima Blast.
- More performance tweaks to some Fire spell effects.
Patch Notes: v1.0.1.2 - July 22, 2017
Balance
-Earth 1 Burst - Increased speed of projectiles to 3000, Decreased projectile lifespan from 5s -> 0.5s (Range 1500). Decreased projectile size by 50%, reduced spread from 100 to 20. Reduced size of explosion effects.
-Earth 1A Pebbles - Reduced projectile lifespan from 3s -> 1s (Range 2500). Decreased DPS by 25% from 45-60 -> 33-45. Increased mana cost from 2 per shot to 5.
-Earth 3A Granite - Reduced projectile from 30-38 -> 20-22. Reduced triggered explosion from 30 -> 15. Decreased explosion radius by 25%.
-Ice 4 Blizzard - Reduced the size of damage radius by 25% from 768 -> 576.
-Ice 2B Penetrating Cold - Reduced cooldown from 2.5s -> 2s. Reduced charge time from 2s -> 1s.
-Lightning 3A Energy Well - This spell is just simply too good. It heals for 10 health and 10 mana every 0.5s for 3s. Increased cooldown from 10s -> 15s.
-Nature 1A Healing spores - Increase healing slightly. Increased damage range from 2-4 -> 3-4 every 0.25s. Increased homing range from 150 -> 200.
-Nature 1 Thorns - Increased range from 1200 to 1500. Increased DPS from 16-24 -> 20-24.
-Lightning 2A Energize - Decreased damage range from 20-30 -> 22-25. Decreased healing done from 30 -> 25.
-Nature 4 Tree of Life - Increased range from 512 -> 768. Decreased healing done from every 0.5s -> every 1s for 15s. Heals for 15.
-Nature Passive - Increase the cooldown on this spell from 1 minute to 2 minutes.
-Fire 3A Lavaflow - Change fire sound cue.
-Fire 1B Ignite - Reduce cone size. Reduce damage range. 23-37 is too wide. - Reduced damage range from 23-37 -> 29-37.
Bugs
-Fixed a problem where Nether 2, 2A, and 2B were all able to be cast on the side of objects.
-Ice 4A Stormfront - Fixed a bug where this spell wasn’t properly damaging on some surfaces.
-Fixed a bug with the Arcane Points system that was causing crashes and showed player’s Arcane Points as -1.
-Nether 4A and 4B weren’t lasting long enough. These spells should now be working properly again.
Misc
-Fire 2B Flash Fire - Replaced the old particle effect with a new one.
-Fire spell effects seem to be causing lag. Reducing some of the effects to improve performance.
-Reduced the volume of the starting music.
Grimoire: Manastorm is going Free-To-Play on July 18!
On July 18th at 8 AM PST Grimoire: Manastorm will be switching to a F2P system using the game’s 6 classes. Each week, 2 of the 6 classes will be temporarily unlocked and every few weeks replaced with new classes. All currently available content, including all 6 classes and 48 new customizable class spells, can be permanently unlocked using Arcane Points gained by playing Multiplayer games. Pre-F2P players have all automatically received the new class DLCs which will be available for purchase to new players through Steam. While this is a large update please remember that we are still working on the game and you will find bugs, imbalances in combat, and crashes.
https://youtu.be/UuIDnAIDB6c
Added since Jan, 2016:
- Arcane Points and Free-To-Play System. Earn points after each Multiplayer game and use them to unlock new spells and classes.
- Customizable class system with 48 new spells - Mix and match each class’s 4 spell slots with 8 new spells to fit your personal playstyle.
- Survival - a single player wave survival game mode with 2 difficulty levels.
- 6 new maps - Conquest Market, FFA Temple, FFA Market, FFA Sanctuary, FFA Ruins, and FFA Futhark.
- In-game Voice Chat
- Updated environment art and refined layouts for all maps.
- Tooltips with detailed descriptions for all class spells.
- Updated first and third person character models and textures.
- Countless bug fixes and performance updates.
Customizable Classes
As a part of the Free-To-Play system and Arcane Points we have added customizable classes with 8 new spells for each class. We have been working on this new spell progression system for a long time and it is very exciting to finally be releasing it to a larger audience. Here is how it works: Each class starts off with the current four Active spells and one passive spell. After every Multiplayer game, you will earn Arcane Points which can then be used to unlock eight new active spells per class (48 total). These new spells are designed so that players can customize each class to their preferred play style and role. Want to change Lightning into a short-range burst DPS class with a bit of healing? Find Fire boring as an area damage class? Tired of getting pushed around as Nature and want some more damage? With the new spells, you can do all of these things and more by mixing and matching to create entirely new combinations or multi-role classes. We can’t wait to see what you all come up with!
Singleplayer Wave Survival
Survival is a basic and barebones wave survival mode with an objective to defend. Fight waves of undead warriors and mages as well as the occasional golem. The main goal behind releasing this mini-game is to give players a chance to test out new spells, classes, and general gameplay in a fun and challenging offline setting. This isn’t a huge epic campaign with lots of voice acting and cinematics and while we would love to develop a more traditional style single player campaign this is all we can currently afford. Depending on the response from the community we may spend more time adding on to it in the future but the initial release will be limited to these features.
Grimoire is the first game developed by Omniconnection and as a small independent game studio we are only as good as our community. With your help, patience, and support we have created a fun and challenging game. Now, after more than a year of development, the F2P update is finally ready. This is a huge step for the game and it is our hope it will bring in a whole new group of people to enjoy the game’s unique magical combat.
While development will continue no matter what happens, the scale and pace is entirely dependent on drastically increasing our revenue, so if you want to see the game really take off please consider purchasing a class. If you already own all the classes then please help us get the word out by sharing the game with friends, family, or even your favorite Let’s Player or Streamer!
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. Join us on Discord for insider updates, Q&A, and twice weekly Dev playtests on Wed at 6 PM EST & Sat at 3 PM EST.
Patch Notes: v0.9.9.98 - July 8, 2017
We have also made great progress with the F2P patch and now have the entire system working and ready to go! Once we finalize the release date and time we will have a big announcement post along with a new trailer. For now I can say that you can expect the release before the end of the month! Big thanks to everyone for being patient and for all our awesome playtesters.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. Join us on Discord for insider updates, Q&A, and twice weekly Dev playtests on Wed at 6 PM EST & Sat at 3 PM EST.
Maps
Bugs
Balance
Misc
Patch Notes: v0.9.9.94 - June 24, 2017
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. Join us on Discord for insider updates, Q&A, and twice weekly Dev playtests on Wed at 6 PM EST & Sat at 3 PM EST.
Misc
Bugs
Balance
Patch Notes: v0.9.9.91 - June 17, 2017
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. Join us on Discord for insider updates, Q&A, and twice weekly Dev playtests on Wed at 6 PM EST & Sat at 3 PM EST.
Misc
- Turned off the combat log until it can be moved to its own area.
- Added player spawn protection to FFA. Players will no longer spawn at the same location.
- FFA Victory and Loss conditions have been changed. The player with the highest score will now win after time expires. If two players have the same top score they will both win.
Bugs
- Fixed a bug where the Fire damage on player hit effect was lasting too long.
- Some projectiles were spawning above the player’s crosshair this is now fixed and all spells should now be on target.
- Fixed a bug where the player’s first person material was displaying the incorrect material after using Stoneskin spell.
- Fixed a bug where the Repel spell would trigger a player’s own Spellshield.
- The collision for Earth 3 wasn’t matching the particle effect. They should now be synced.
- Cleaned up various log spam and warnings.
Balance
- Fire 4A Focus Fire - Increased damage from 30 -> 50.
- Fire 1 Flames - Doubled range from 512 to 1024 and decreased damage from 4-5 -> 3-4.
- Fire 1A Fireballs - Increased damage from 10-15 -> 14-15.
- Buffed Nature’s self healing ratio from 0.25 to 0.5s. Nature spells don’t work as well on her as they do on others. Her spells will now heal her for 50% of the amount that allies are healed for.
- Earth 2A Concussive - Damage increased from 30 -> 40 for base, 35 -> 45 for half, and 37 -> 47 for full.
- Earth 2B Tremor - Damage increased from 25-28 -> 30-32.
Patch Notes: v0.9.9.85 - May 26, 2017
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates. Join us on Discord for insider updates, Q&A, and twice weekly Dev playtests on Wed at 6 PM EST & Sat at 3 PM EST.
Misc
- Safeguard game mode renamed to Survival.
- Removed some music until it can be turned off in options.
- Removed announcer killstreak voice until it can be turned off in options.
- Fix for Arcane point collection.
- Added impulse to all damage types so that dynamic objects can be moved. Testing this on a few maps (Some barrels and boxes are dynamic now).
- Upgraded Nether’s first person textures.
- Performance fixes which will increase FPS on the following maps: FFA Ruins, FFA Sanctuary, Survival (All difficulties), Conquest Slums, and FFA Futhark.
Bugs
- Life 3 Wisp - The particle effect is now properly following the projectile after it is retriggered.
- Earth 3A Granite - The particle effect and sound cue is now playing after it is retriggered.
Balance
- Ice 2B Penetrating Cold - This spell was very underpowered. Increased the damage and projectile speed. Damage increased from 25 -> 33 and max speed increased from 2500 -> 3500.