Leap of Fate
Content Update 4.0 - Rasimov
Rasimov is very different from the other three characters for a few reasons. First of all, when you play Rasimov, there is no mana at all in the game. This currency is replaced with a volatile one, souls, which act a bit like XP. When you fill the soul meter, you gain a bonus upgrade card among other things. This means that Rasimov is a master at upgrading skills, and you can do so much more often that with other characters.
Second, Rasimov gains his powers from sacrificial magic. Whenever you want to acquire something, be it skills or shop items, you must sacrifice health instead of spending mana. This seems harsh, and it is, but Rasimov is well equipped with permanent upgrades that help you remain healthy despite the sacrifices. You'll see that this makes Rasimov a much more tactical character where you must find ways to manage his health losses and gains. He starts slow and is a bit risky, but if you manage him well, he becomes very powerful mid to late game.
On the action side, Rasimov's basic attack has two modes. You can keep pressing the button for a continuous cone of blood magic, or you can let the attack charge and shoot a large, piercing and far-ranging blood projectile. This gives Rasimov a very versatile basic attack. His starting glyph is an explosive sigil that you place on the ground near you, and his shadow walk power is time walk, which helps you collect the quickly disappearing souls that are left on the battle field after you make special kills.
Hopefully, you enjoy playing this new character. Please give us feedback on the forums.
Important bug fixes
We fixed an important bug that prevented players from unlocking Hard mode since last game update, because of the change in the mission system. Let us know if there are still problems.
Bye now,
Matt and the Leap of Fate team
LoF update plans for 2016
Now, I'd like to tell you a bit about Leap of Fate's plans for 2016. Here it goes:
- On January 15, we plan on releasing Rasimov, the fourth playable character. You can expect something very different with this sacrifice-themed mage in search of immortality.
- On February 12, after 7 months in Early Access, we plan on releasing our last content update before transitioning to full release. Yaaay! First, this update will include a major overhaul of the game's whole interface. It's going to look soooo much nicer :-). Second, we'll introduce a lot of narrative content for each character, in the form of background stories and fates (cinematics), as well as character development (short in-game animations at the end of each level).
Of course, each update will also include balancing, polish and debug. And as always, we'll try as much as possible to listen to your feedback to deliver the best game we can.
If all of this goes according to plan, we should be announcing full release in Early March, including Steam achievements, cloud save and Steam trading cards. Not 100% sure yet about the full list of language translations, so I'll postpone this announcement.
Hopefully, you'll be along for the ride.
Happy 2016
Matt, and the LoF team
Content Update 3.0 - Controller support
- As the title of this post implies, the main new feature is that you can now play Leap of Fate using a controller. We've put a lot of work into this to try to make the controller experience as good as the mouse & keyboard one. We tried to support as many different controllers as possible and we added many customization options in the Options menu. However, we have not implemented a proper menu control scheme yet, so it's still using the cursor, but that's in the work. Please give it a try, and tell us what you think in the Steam forum.
- The mission feature is now complete. The main new addition is that failed or completed missions now get replaced in between levels, so that you always have an objective to aim for. We also polished and debugged the system, and tweaked the missions to make them as interesting and varied as possible for each character.
- There is a now a cool camera event when you start a guardian fight.
- The guardian's essence, which you must pick up at the end of a level to complete it, now has a short timer bar, to avoid exiting the level by mistake.
- Creatures with some form of shield (e.g. the cop in level 1 or the laser artifact in level 3) now display an overhead icon to show if a hit was absorbed or if the shield was broken.
Balancing
- Three of Aeon's permanent upgrades where switched around in position. Seventh position is now Tactician, eleventh position is now Health Increase, and thirteenth position is now Spontaneous Combustion.
- Hard mode now unlocks by completing 18 missions with a character, instead of by completing Normal mode.
- There are now a lot more different items that can be found in Mystery cards, including the compass, extra charge tokens, etc.
- Level 6 guardians now have more health.
- In Hard mode, creature regeneration was removed.
- Effects that increase maximum health are now less frequent in loot tables.
- The skill Nothing to Lose now causes special kills.
- The skill Mana Runner now increases the probability of dropping loot, in addition to its multiplier on mana.
- The skill Homeopathic Supplement was removed, as it was extremely dominant. It was replaced by the following ability : Gain 1 health when exiting a card with exactly 1 health.
- The skills Toughness and Arcane Plating now provide 1 less point of maximum health increase each.
- With the skill Explosive Stasis, there is now only a single AoE that can stay active at any one time, and its damage was reduced.
- The duration of the Homunculus was reduced.
- The probability distribution of loot in Gift cards has been reduced towards an average of 3 items.
- The glyph Silver Star now starts with 6 charges instead of 4.
- We tweaked the effect of all skills and glyphs that stun so that it's not possible to perma-stun guardians.
Noteworthy bug fixes
- We updated our sound engine (FMOD), which should fix the severe sound problems some of you experienced with Windows 10. If it did not, please make sure to post in the forums with your computer's specs so that we can understand the problem better.
- We fixed Mukai's starting glyph's physics, which made it hard to aim. We also fixed some graphical glitches that made the glyph's trail remain rendered onscreen sometimes.
- The skill Reach did not have any effect on Mukai's attack. Now it does.
- The skill Wheel of Fortune sometimes did not activate in some shops. We fixed the issue.
- The skill Chrono Boost did not cause special kills. Now it does.
- The bronze version of the glyph Penance had no visuals anymore. This is fixed.
- The Glyph Larger Caliber did not apply its bonus on Homunculus. It now does.
- Loot does not spawn within obstacles anymore (when affected by the skill Vandalism)
- The combat modifier Wind (found in Hard mode) now stops once the combat is cleared, as it made opening a locked chest really hard.
- Last patch, we said we fixed the Countdown challenge, but that was actually not the case. Now it is! Extra time is now awarded when reaching a new creature wave.
- We fixed some pathfinding issues with fully destructible obstacles that still blocked creatures after being destroyed.
So this is it for this content update. As always, make sure to tell us about any problems you encounter in the Steam forums, and happy gaming!
Matt, and the Leap of Fate team
Content update 2.2
Four new glyphs were added:
- Alien Abduction spawns a devious alien who abducts up to 5 creatures.
- Infernal Device places a time bomb over the head of a creature, and explodes with splash damage after a short delay.
- Headshrinkers throws a dart which, upon killing a creature, spawns a pygmy ally with a blowgun.
- Telekinetic Shove pushes a creature back violently, causing damage to all other creatures it crashes into.
Here are some notable gameplay changes:
- Compass is a new single-use item found in shops. It reveals all special cards in a level, including the location of the clockwork key. It also reveals trapped cards.
- Combat modifiers (e.g. One-Shot Kill) now give you the choice to skip them. If you choose to accept the challenge, a reward is granted to you upon success. If you decline, you must pay karma, and the card reverts to a regular combat card.
- There are now tooltips on the skill icons at the bottom of the screen, so that you can examine what upgrades you have. This is only viewable outside of combat cards.
- The +1 max health pick-up now additionally heals 2 points of health instead of just one.
- Elite guardians drop a +1 max health pick-up when killed, instead of a regular health orb.
- The clockwork key is now revealed by all effects that see through a card's back (e.g. the skill Third Eye).
- The third clockwork card now provides 2 keys, 2 energy cells and 2 health orbs, instead of just 3 health orbs.
- The skill Wheel of Fortune was modified so that your shop reroll can be made before or after having purchased items
- The skill Elite Privilege now causes special kills (i.e. creatures drop mana and possibly loot when killed by it).
- The skills Frozen Revenge and Quick Temper now trigger when Mukai loses her spirit shield or when any character loses their Nanofiber Coating. On the other hand, Infuriation and Masochistic Ecstasy still need health loss to be triggered.
- Some skills were buffed, including Mana Runner, Bounty, Fast learner and Masochistic Ecstasy. In all cases, rewards are now more generous.
- There is now a clear usage indicator for the card powers that are shown on the side of the Deck of Fate. Those that are bought in the shop (e.g. Card bypass) always show the total number of uses, while those that come from skill upgrades (e.g. Force of Will) show the number of uses per level.
- The special Gift card now always drops at least 2 items.
- The special Shortcut card now allows you to choose a free skill upgrade before skipping to the next level.
- Whenever a glyph drops or is offered in a shop, it will never be one that you already own.
- Karma pick-ups are now worth 5, and the large karma pick-up yields 100.
- The mission system was further refined (still not finished though, more improvements coming soon), including balancing, adding new missions, and fixing bugs. In particular, tutorial information is now separated from the mission text for better readability, and some missions now have a custom counter to better fit their requirements.
And among a list of bug fixes too large to show here, here are the most important ones that you should be aware of:
- The reanimator was fixed. It sometimes raised skeletons outside of the map or within obstacles, thus causing walkthrough breaks.
- Mukai's starting glyph was fixed. Sometimes, when it stunned creatures, those could not be killed afterwards, thus causing a walkthrough break. Moreover, the chains' visuals remained displayed in the air after each activation.
- Mukai can now reflect the snake projectiles in level 2.
- The skill Vandalism was fixed (it used the wrong loot table). It now provides mana roughly every other obstacle, and sometimes drops a key, energy cell, or health orb.
- The skill Piniata was fixed. It produced an insane amount of mana when assaulted by creatures with constant attacks or DoTs.
- Edit: oops, small mistake; this was fixed, but not pushed in the update. It will be there next push, sorry The Countdown challenge was fixed. It now provides additional time when triggering a new creature wave.
Hotfix 2.11
- Lock icons were missing on the locked characters' Play buttons
- The "New Reward Unlocked" mention was not displayed in the result screen
- In level 2, the Reanimator guardian could not find a valid target to raise if the only creatures in the room were guard drones
- In level 5, the Fire Mage guardian had animation problems that sometimes made it unable to act
- Big Mo's grenade sometimes showed the wrong reticule warning on the floor, and no explosion fx
- Each time Mukai hit through Korrigan War Chant, her basic attack's damage would increase additively and permanently. Yes, that let her one-shot anything after a while (thanks POTMGuy !)
- In the timer challenge, the bonus time granted for reaching a secong creature wave was displayed at the start of the challenge
- The skill Phoenix did no damage
- This skill Ascetic Discipline was not functional
- The skill Nanofiber Coating still had its old description, despite its rework
Content update 2.1 : Mukai
Major new content
- A new playable character: Mukai, the spirit channeler. She is a melee character with a spirit shield, she's fast, and she hits hard. I think you'll agree that she plays very uniquely. Please give her a try and tell us your impressions.
- 40 new guardians ( mini-bosses). Now, when you reach the end of a level, you get a randomly-selected mini-boss from that level's pool of guardians. Some are harder, some are easier, and this changes depending on which character you're playing. The previous guardians are now elite guardians, much tougher and unlocked further in the game. This definitely brings in a whole new level of excitement and variety to the game.
- A completely revamped progression system. We listened to your comments, mainly that the achievement-based unlock system was too grindy (and sometimes not even known to exist), and replaced it with something much more dynamic and integrated to the game loop: missions. You'll immediately notice the new karmic wheel when selecting characters, which lets you see that character's list of unlocks. Please try it and make sure to let us know what you think.
- A full data reset. As a necessary consequence to the new progression system, we must of course wipe all save data. Sorry about that, I know it can be frustrating. But I think you'll find that the benefits far exceed the costs. The new system is much more exciting and fast-paced. And after all, this is why Early Access is interesting, you get to test new game features and help developers make better decisions.
Balancing
Based on your comments and play stats, we improved the difficulty curve of the game in these ways:
- Level 1 and 2 creatures are now generally slower, for an easier start
- The first skill upgrade is now extremely affordable, which makes sure that all players, even those that have trouble making special kills to generate mana, can get a good start
- New mini-bosses at the end of each level create an unpredictable difficulty spike at the end of each level
- level 1-3 guardians drop 2 health orbs when killed, and only 1 in levels 4-6
- levels 5 and 6 are a bit harder (slightly tougher creatures, and slightly more cards in the level), to better fit the average number of skill upgrades that players have when reaching these levels
- More keys are now dropped, as there were just too few on average
Various changes:
- Improvement to enemy physics and pathfinding, including better hit detection, less zigzagging while moving, and better dispersion around other enemies.
- Achievements are currently removed from the game, but fear not, Steam achievements will replace them place soon.
- Several improvements to the tutorial, such as a mini-boss at the very end, and a new voice for the character that introduces the player to the Crucible of Fates.
- Hints are now well identified in each level's loading screen
- Nanofiber Plasma : the protective shield now triggers after the first enemy wave, regardless of whether you received damage or not
- you can now reset your game progression if you want to, in the option menu
- Cards now have a descriptive title in English, instead of a Latin flavor name
- Many, many small bug fixes and polish to smooth some of the game's rough edges
So, if you're a new player, this is a great time to get on board, with a lot of very exciting new content and polish. And if you've played the game already, hopefully you take some time to revisit Leap of Fate and tell us what you think of this major update.
Have fun!
Matt, and the Leap of Fate team
Coming up: A new character and full progression reset
With PAX Prime, TwitchCon and a bunch of other things happening, the development of Leap of Fate has slowed down considerably in the last month and a half. However, we've resumed full speed and I'd like to announce that the next big content update is almost ready.
We're planning on releasing it around the 21st of October, give or take a few days, depending on the playtests.
This patch will include a new melee character, Mukai the spirit channeler, with her unique permanent upgrades and abilities. I think you'll really like how different each of our characters are.
Moreover, this update will include a brand new progression system. This was added in response to critical comments concerning the unlock/achievement system, and also as a way to address the steep wall of difficulty that many players encounter when starting LoF. The new system is mission-based and feels much more dynamic and well-integrated to the main gameplay loop. It also removes the grind that some achivements imposed.
Of course, with a new progression system comes a necessary reset. So please take notice that when the new update comes out, all of your progression data will be fully reset. It may seem disappointing to some of you, but this is Early Access after all, a time for improvement and experimentation. With this reset, you'll get to try the dynamic new system and give us comments about it. Hopefully you'll like it! I do think that it makes the game that much more enjoyable.
See you soon at the new content update!
Matt and the Leap of Fate team
Leap of Fate at TwitchCon in San Francisco
Hoping to see you there! :-)
Back from PAX Prime
Hi everyone,
This is Matt bringing you some news about PAX Prime, now that we are back in Montreal. As usual PAX was very intense and exciting, and it was a good event overall for Leap of Fate.
Here's our team, at the booth, before the show started.
For this event, we decided to go all out with cool features at the booth, to make it more fun.
The first such feature was a scoring contest that let players compete for cool prizes, sponsored by our good friends at Corsair gaming. This was a hit, as many gamers came back several times during the convention, sometimes with a friend or two. It was fun to see skilled players take a shot at LoF, sometimes with deadly efficiency. Good times! Here are the four big winners, mr.bastille on top with a fantastic 122 000 points! Congratz guys, and enjoy your shiny new Sabre laser mouse from Corsair!
The other nice touch was that we had a cosplayer dressed as a cyberpunk fortune teller. We made her a special tarot deck using the game's concept art, and she would read their future to all of those interested. Her costume was awesome and she did a fantastic job! For the non-initiated among you, the Deck of Fate is a magical tarot deck at the core of LoF; it's the artifact that the player needs to defeat. It was awesome to see it materialized and used on the fans. This was a real hit, and caused many smiles.
A lot of famous people attend PAX, sometimes anonymously, sometimes not so. We had our fair share of surprise visits, among others a project lead on Bungie's Destiny, one of the 3D modelers on the cult classic Diablo 2, and Kiwikid, a League of Legends pro-gamer from team Dignitas. This was very exciting for us!!
I am a Dignitas fanboy, what can I say ...
And to top it all off, we held a raffle for a Strafe gaming keyboard from Corsair among all who visited our booth. And the lucky winner is ... Mason McNulty !!!!! Congratulations Mason, we will contact you so you can give us a shipping address to send this to.
And last but not least, we want to offer a big THANK YOU to all of those who came to see us at the booth. You guys are the reason we make games, and we had a lot of fun seeing you play the Leap of Fate :-)
So that's it for the PAX update. Stay tuned for our next big content update on Steam around the 25th of September, which will include, among other things, Mukai, the third playable character.
In the meantime, please follow us on Facebook
And if you like the game, please write a review for our Steam store front, that helps a lot.
Bye bye, now.
Matt, and the Leap of Fate team
Patch note 1.11
- Implemented a migration script to fix the achievement duplication some players experienced following content update 1.1, in particular with respect to achievements that unlocked permanent upgrades
- Fixed a problem where some players could not complete the tutorial achievement
- Removed (again) the white flash some players experienced when entering the shop
- Fixed a bug that prevented Big Mo's portrait to be displayed in the character selection page before being unlocked
- Added a mention in the splash page that the game is in Early access and still in development
And by the way, we have added a new sub-section in the Steam forum for bug reports.
Now that we are back from PAX, development has resumed, and we are hard at work on our new character, Mukai, and several other features. Stay tuned for more info.