The game's three endings (two for Story, one for Arcade) are now available, together with the final tower and its bosses!
Details
About the patch
This patch includes the final tower, the game's final bosses and two endings! Since it's a Frontline update, the final layer of polish (especially sound-wise) is not there yet. However, the overall quality is still high!
Also note that this is not quite the 1.0 release content wise - some things, such as an updated set of Achievements, are not added yet!
This last portion of the game has been a final boss in itself for us to produce, but we are happy with the quality of the content, and hope you guys will be too!
Some useful chat commands for testing purposes:
/towerreset - resets the whole tower /finalereset - resets the final battles
To add/remove a catalyst to see the different endings, type in these to turn them on/off (Note! Make sure to do this outside the final boss room or things might bug out): /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfPower_G /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfAwakening_R /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfMortality_B
Patch Notes
Hotfix Patch 0.99d (Dec 29)
Changes
Dad now has a new dialogue line shown if spoken to while Amalet is stolen
Quinton now has a new dialogue line shown if spoken to before reporting to Dad, after Temple of Seasons
Various minor visual improvements
Bug Fixes
Terrorweed can no longer spawn thorns out in the air during the elevator gauntlet
Dialogue replies can now show different formulations depending on world factors (relevant only to certain translations)
Hotfix Patch 0.99c (Dec 21)
Changes
Everyone's favorite NPC - the HQ window cleaner - now has a post-end animation change!
Updated portraits for post-end cavelings + some expressions added elsewhere
The tower boss-rush theme is now updated to its intended version!
Bug Fixes
Fixed some text errors
Barrier being exploded just as the final boss was preparing to steal it no longer crashes the game
Getting the health potion stolen while Hard-mode final boss is charging up a Giga Earth Spike no longer softlocks
Taming pets in Arcade Mode no longer crashes the game
Patch 0.99b (Dec 20)
Additions
The two final floors have been added to Arcade Mode
The Catalysts now have a purpose
The Arcade Mode final boss now has sounds!
The new Arcade Mode events now have sounds
Arcade Mode now has a proper ending!
Changes
Loods in Lood God-rooms now have less HP
Reflected Wisp projectiles now deal much more damage
Adjusted the HP of some late-game bosses downwards in Arcade
Arrows shot by the pin that adds archery charges on basic attacks may now trigger other arrow-pins on hit
The pin that casts meteor on arrow hits now casts a silver charge meteor
Solo Hydras should no longer appear in Temple of Season gauntlet rooms
NPCs and summons now display damage numbers in orange, to help differentiate between player damage
The 'S-rank heals' shrine buff now heals for much more
GUN-D4M's hands now have a short delay before going into attack-mode after being damaged
Perfect guarding GUN-D4M's hands now actually has some useful purpose
The Winter Hydra's beam now behaves a bit differently
...and a whole load of others!
Bug Fixes
Ni's chat bubbles during the Festival now appears correctly with all translations
Crabbys no longer instantly re-locks on the player when using Blink
Wisps should no longer be able to get knocked out of bounds upon dying
Arcade Mode Essence can no longer be bought at the bank if the player has 999 essence
Scarie's quest marker is now rendered above the trees, making it easier to spot
Katarina now has an appropriate dialogue if interacting with her before the festival
The miners in Mt Bloom no longer talks about Steve having found a new job before he has
"Updates caught up" should no longer be spammed in chat for some players
Archie should no longer appear in the room where Mesido is saved, scamming playes
Fixed a multiplayer descync issue that could occur after a Floor Bet by Bishop
The 'Attacks and wand Projectiles add Spell Charges'-pin now triggers more reliably with wand projectiles
Fixed a bug where Ice Nova was unable to crit
Time Crystals should now reset arcade mode floors even more reliably
Fixed a bug where using Maracus transmute two times with a crashed sound system would lock the game
Fixed a number of text related errors and bugs
HP bars and barrier effects now match the opacity of the player they belong to
Shadow clones granted by the pin will no longer disappear if dying in multplayer
The Bag-tip regarding new charge levels of persistent spells now appear in Arcade Mode as well
Buffs that increase DEF% will now raise negative defense instead of lowering it
Attacks with armor penetration no longer adjust negative armor upwards
Marino's shadow clone dashes should no longer be able to dash through the shield
Boots of Bloodthirst can no longer kill players with less than 1000 MaxHP
The Double Damage curse no longer applies to Boots of Bloodthirst and Spectral Blindfold
Damage against barrier is no longer quadrupled with the 2x damage curse
The Ice Cream Parlor can now be encountered in normal event rooms (previously only via Archie)
The uncharged plants that come with the Gold Charge plant now attack properly!
Quitting the game right after being cursed by Bones no longer lets the player 'leave' the curse
Santa now stays as his small version throughout the Cookie quest
...and a whole load of others!!
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
Bug fixes, Achievements, final polish. The Stable-version of this update (which will be 1.0) will land when we've got all sounds in, and have done a final polish-pass of the game!
After that, we'll see what post release content is high on the list! We feel New Game+ is a likely candidate.
The game's three endings (two for Story, one for Arcade) are now available, together with the final tower and its bosses!
Details
About the patch
This patch includes the final tower, the game's final bosses and two endings! Since it's a Frontline update, the final layer of polish (especially sound-wise) is not there yet. However, the overall quality is still high!
Also note that this is not quite the 1.0 release content wise - some things, such as an updated set of Achievements, are not added yet!
This last portion of the game has been a final boss in itself for us to produce, but we are happy with the quality of the content, and hope you guys will be too!
Some useful chat commands for testing purposes:
/towerreset - resets the whole tower /finalereset - resets the final battles
To add/remove a catalyst to see the different endings, type in these to turn them on/off (Note! Make sure to do this outside the final boss room or things might bug out): /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfPower_G /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfAwakening_R /toggleflag _MainStory_EndGame_CatalystOfMortality_B
Patch Notes
Hotfix Patch 0.99c (Dec 21)
Changes
Everyone's favorite NPC - the HQ window cleaner - now has a post-end animation change!
Updated portraits for post-end cavelings + some expressions added elsewhere
The tower boss-rush theme is now updated to its intended version!
Bug Fixes
Fixed some text errors
Barrier being exploded just as the final boss was preparing to steal it no longer crashes the game
Getting the health potion stolen while Hard-mode final boss is charging up a Giga Earth Spike no longer softlocks
Taming pets in Arcade Mode no longer crashes the game
Patch 0.99b (Dec 20)
Additions
The two final floors have been added to Arcade Mode
The Catalysts now have a purpose
The Arcade Mode final boss now has sounds!
The new Arcade Mode events now have sounds
Arcade Mode now has a proper ending!
Changes
Loods in Lood God-rooms now have less HP
Reflected Wisp projectiles now deal much more damage
Adjusted the HP of some late-game bosses downwards in Arcade
Arrows shot by the pin that adds archery charges on basic attacks may now trigger other arrow-pins on hit
The pin that casts meteor on arrow hits now casts a silver charge meteor
Solo Hydras should no longer appear in Temple of Season gauntlet rooms
NPCs and summons now display damage numbers in orange, to help differentiate between player damage
The 'S-rank heals' shrine buff now heals for much more
GUN-D4M's hands now have a short delay before going into attack-mode after being damaged
Perfect guarding GUN-D4M's hands now actually has some useful purpose
The Winter Hydra's beam now behaves a bit differently
...and a whole load of others!
Bug Fixes
Ni's chat bubbles during the Festival now appears correctly with all translations
Crabbys no longer instantly re-locks on the player when using Blink
Wisps should no longer be able to get knocked out of bounds upon dying
Arcade Mode Essence can no longer be bought at the bank if the player has 999 essence
Scarie's quest marker is now rendered above the trees, making it easier to spot
Katarina now has an appropriate dialogue if interacting with her before the festival
The miners in Mt Bloom no longer talks about Steve having found a new job before he has
"Updates caught up" should no longer be spammed in chat for some players
Archie should no longer appear in the room where Mesido is saved, scamming playes
Fixed a multiplayer descync issue that could occur after a Floor Bet by Bishop
The 'Attacks and wand Projectiles add Spell Charges'-pin now triggers more reliably with wand projectiles
Fixed a bug where Ice Nova was unable to crit
Time Crystals should now reset arcade mode floors even more reliably
Fixed a bug where using Maracus transmute two times with a crashed sound system would lock the game
Fixed a number of text related errors and bugs
HP bars and barrier effects now match the opacity of the player they belong to
Shadow clones granted by the pin will no longer disappear if dying in multplayer
The Bag-tip regarding new charge levels of persistent spells now appear in Arcade Mode as well
Buffs that increase DEF% will now raise negative defense instead of lowering it
Attacks with armor penetration no longer adjust negative armor upwards
Marino's shadow clone dashes should no longer be able to dash through the shield
Boots of Bloodthirst can no longer kill players with less than 1000 MaxHP
The Double Damage curse no longer applies to Boots of Bloodthirst and Spectral Blindfold
Damage against barrier is no longer quadrupled with the 2x damage curse
The Ice Cream Parlor can now be encountered in normal event rooms (previously only via Archie)
The uncharged plants that come with the Gold Charge plant now attack properly!
Quitting the game right after being cursed by Bones no longer lets the player 'leave' the curse
Santa now stays as his small version throughout the Cookie quest
...and a whole load of others!!
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
Bug fixes, Achievements, final polish. The Stable-version of this update (which will be 1.0) will land when we've got all sounds in, and have done a final polish-pass of the game!
After that, we'll see what post release content is high on the list! We feel New Game+ is a likely candidate.
This patch adds the final two floors, new event rooms and some adjustments to Arcade Mode - now it's full focus on Story!
Details
About the patch
This update puts an end to all Arcade Mode-related work before release, introducing the Desert and Ghost Ship floors, as well as a load of new Event Rooms, revamped challenge-rooms, more perks, and more stuff that can happen during runs!
Finishing a run now awards players with Golden Essence which can be used to purchase rewards, both power-ups and cosmetic! After the run has "finished", the player can also fight a final battle against two different bosses - the one waiting after a finished Three Catalyst run is an entirely new boss that's unique to the mode.
Patch Notes
Additions
The two final floors have been added to Arcade Mode
Beating all Arcade Mode floors now provides many extra rewards, as well as a final battle for the Catalyst
A unique final-final Arcade Mode boss can be encountered if beating the mode with three Catalysts activated
Nine new types of ?-rooms has been added to Arcade Mode
The Arcade Mode challenge-room pool has been revamped
Arcade Mode now has its own map
Experimental change to new network API for Steam
Changes
The Arcade Mode shop and most event rooms now has unique looks
Vastly improved load times when travelling between zones, especially ones already visited during session
In regular challenge rooms, damage taken no longer reduce health or score
The player can no longer attempt to brute-force themselves into Pine's office
Taking a photo in a Arena Boss Rematch now shows a bag tip explaining the failure
Salmon can now be caught in the Pillar Mountain ponds in Arcade Mode!
Arcade Mode Shrine Buffs now last the entire floor, and have more powerful effects
Enemies in the Temple of Season Gauntlets in Arcade Mode no longer counts as true elites, reducing their item drop rates
The Crabby's 'charge up'-sound is now louder
Bug Fixes
The game no longer crashes when trying to read the dragon puzzle inscription after solving it without the translation tome
When a client drops an item, that item no longer uses the host as its spawn-position
A poorly timed skip of the Desert Rose cutscene no longer puts the main character in a locked animation
The Butterflown quest can now be skipped if the character has completed it in multiplayer
Fixed a bug where spinning autumn knights would occasionally leave behind hurtboxes after being killed mid-spin
The Throw-skill's damage should now be properly modified by Pins
It should no longer be possible to get two pins of the same type, even on the run pins are unlocked
Plant Summons now follow their owner in and out of Twilight, attacking ghosts correctly
In the rare event that two pins are collected simultaneously, they are now equipped separately
The 'Blink casts Ice Nova'-pin now works properly on clients
When entering a cutscene, the Frosty Friend UI will disappear if up
Clients should now see the game over screen after dying on floor 1 with a timeshift crystal active
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
We're going to help the cavelings with the Cinema, and then turn our full focus to finishing Story Mode. The Stable-version of this update will land when the sound design to fall into place!
'The Loose Ends'-Update is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: N/A
Summary
Be it wiggling plants, that giant desert tree or Marino's family relations - this update ties up the pieces of partially finished content throughout the game!
Details about the patch
For every step closer we've gotten to finishing™ the story, the "loose ends" of Story Mode have become more and more of an eye sore. With loose ends I mean teased but unreachable areas, unfinished features (looking at you, memory room) and other unresolved stuff that makes the world feel incomplete to our standards.
With the final dungeon being all that remains between Roger Lyke and the credit roll, we realized we've reached the point where pushing this major task to the side no longer made sense!
So over a number of Frontline updates, we've made a ton of additions and improvements to the game as a whole. Let's list some of them!
Marino's Mansion
After beating Marino for the first time, you'll now have access to his family's impressive estate! You'll find a couple of new quests and secrets in here, not to mention being able to appreciate all the splendid decor.
Plants!
Maybe you've noticed those wiggling little sprouts that appear here and there across the game! These things can now grow up to fulfill their true destiny as ladders, letting you reach previously inaccessible areas! In these areas, you'll find a varying amount of secrets and NPCs.
To grow the plants, you'll use a new item, "Super Fertilizer", which you can get via some new quests and secrets!
There used to be only two of these things, but now there's four!
The Arena + Boss Rematch
The memory room was scrapped and now every boss in the game can be fought again inside the Evergrind Arena! You can choose if you want to fight it at its original power level, or scaled to suit your current strength.
There are also new gauntlets, and new rewards for completing said gauntlets!
Also, as a part of this, Boss Drops have been reworked to become guaranteed drops instead of something you farm for by repeatedly defeating the boss. And as a part of that several bosses got new items as drops! If you've already beaten the bosses, you'll receive their rewards automatically.
Plants!!
You can grow plants in your house now, too, by picking up seeds dropped from plant-based enemies! Finally!
Steve
We know you've all yearned to see more of this guy!
Splash Screen
The game has been pretty unresponsive on startup so we've added a startup loading screen, which also displays backer credits!
A boatload of other content
Seven new quests
Three new bosses
A bunch of secrets
New treasure maps
Lots of new items
40+ new NPCs
Skill->Talent point conversion
GUI improvements
Bug fixes
New bugs probably
And a Bug Net
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
With the side-content of Story Mode basically at 100%, we'll now shift some of our focus to finish up Arcade Mode, with the two remaining floors (Desert and Lost Ship)! After that it's finally time to start implementing the final dungeon (to which a lot of design work is already laid down).
With this patch, we're now pretty satisfied with the amount of side-content in Story Mode!
Details
About the patch
Unlike the recent patches, this one actually ties in to the main story in a significant way, by introducing some end-game "challenges". These are optional, but their rewards will serve a purpose at the final portion (which is yet to come).
We've also moved boss battles to the arena instead of the Memory Room, and you can now refight all the bosses in the game! Also, some more bosses have been given drops, which will be handed out retroactively to characters that have already beaten said bosses in Story Mode.
For those of you with a bazillion unused silver points, there has opened up a new service in the Collectors HQ that you might want to check out!
Since the content is quite spread out, the easiest way to find it is to use the completion tracker on the world map!
With this patch, we've reached the point we've been aiming for in terms of Story Mode side-content. After a period of bug-testing and final layer of polish, we'll bundle all these Frontline patches together and drop them on Stable in one big package!
Patch Notes
Patch 0.912a (May 28th)
Additions
Penn's autograph now has a use, as a gift
Many plant enemies can now drop seeds which Bark (the Ent) can help plant!
The Port Monnaie church now has a basement and some NPCs
There are six new treasure maps that become available in Simon's store throughout the game
Several new books with flavor lore have been added
Changes
The Pumpkin Seeds drop has been changed to Pumpkin Stem to avoid confusion with the new Jumpkin Seed
The Fireball Fae in Arcade Mode no longer shares the same appearance as Summer, the boss
Ugra's notes now has an examine icon in addition to the book icon, to differentiate it
Bug Fixes
Female characters should now initialize as such for the server player
Smash Balls should now be able to crit properly
Gold Charges of Whirlslash and Heroic Slam now display crits correctly
Reading Charlotte's letter no longer messes up the visual sorting of the player sprite
GUN-D4M's hands should no longer be untargetable in the Arena Refight
Kim will now stop appearing in Evergrind City if everyone in the game has bought a house
Certain enemy on-death effects should now trigger properly even when killed by a summon
The Evil Eye fire maze is now a little more forgiving to navigate, and deals its damage over time
Said fire maze should no longer disappear for clients in multiplayer when on exceptionally low ping
The Poison counter should now appear properly again
Bishop should no longer occasionally throw more swords than he indicates
During Bishop's fire circle, he should no longer only come from one direction
Patch 0.911e (April 19th)
Changes
Summon Plant's shooting version has gotten its max range increased
Magic Battery's EP regeneration on crit has been reduced slightly
The requirements for getting good grades in the Arena Challenges are now a bit more lenient
Bug Fixes
Fixed a startup crash when using translations on some slow machines
Marino should no longer be able to jump out of bounds in the desert fight
Patch 0.911d (April 14th)
Bug Fixes
The game should no longer crash after returning to Dabi after him disappearing
The living statues in the Arena gauntlets truly no longer give exp
Patch 0.911c (April 11th)
Changes
The regular enemies in the Arena gauntlets now have a cap to their scaling
Endasil's cube's freezing effect now has a lower chance of proccing on multiple enemies at once
Bug Fixes
The living statues in the Arena gauntlets no longer give exp
Dabi no longer reappears again after passing on
Freezing Bishop right before he catches a thrown sword no longer makes him lose all sense of purpose
Patch 0.911b (April 10th)
Bug Fixes
Fires started by a certain boss now deal more damage
If the Arcade Mode catalyst count was set too high via chat command before, it will now lower to your actual catalyst count
Fighting the Sentry in the Arena no longer grants copious amounts of exp
When fishing to the right, the fishing line is attached to the rod more accurately
Bishop's fire tosses should no longer disturb persistent spells for clients
The Season Knights and Season Mages should now display properly in the Card Album
Patch 0.911a (April 9th)
Additions
The game is now more responsive on start-up, with a splash and initial loading screen
The Grindea statue on the top of the highest point of Pillar Mountain now serves its purpose
The cave to the right of the Cavelings in Mt Bloom can now be accessed
A final ghost has been added to the Spectral Party quest, as well as a fourth reward for it
There's now an optional scene that can be accessed late game in Startington
You can now refight all the bosses in Story Mode in the Arena
Three new challenges have been added to the Arena, as well as a new reward
Bishop now offers his edgy takes at every Grindea-statue in the world
A few more bosses now have drops, which will be found in your inventory if you've already beaten them
Players can now turn unused blue skill points into talent orbs in a new room in HQ
Changes
Ghostys and Haunties now get interrupted for longer when perfect guarded
Arrows will no longer drop from Endasil's cube if there are already several arrows on the ground
The Evil Eye now cannot be completely killed while still on the wall
Red Slime Hammer's gold value has been increased
The digging location of the first treasure map has been changed to prevent morally questionable acts of digging
Discovered enemies whose cards you don't own now appear in gray in the card album for easier tracking
The Spectral Blindfold will now only trade HP for EP when EP is below 50%
The PhaseFace is now a guaranteed drop, and has been nerfed a bit
The Season Orb furniture is now a craftable from a Season Hydra drop
Friendly fan-summons (and similar things) should no longer knock around your Smash Balls
Bug Fixes
The /catalyst command has been removed, requiring the player to actually unlock the catalysts
Trick & Treats monster forms are now visible to clients
Defeating the Evil Eye while it's dashing around will no longer leave the dashing effect behind
Fans spawned using Endasil's Cube now disappear properly on clients
Fans spawned using Endasil's Cube no longer leave behind permanent hurtboxes after disappearing
The Overcharge Pin now works as advertised instead of... er... not
Pins that gradually increase stats for the rest of a run now reset properly upon Time Crystal use
Selecting an item to give to a ghost during dialogue skip no longer result in a locked state
The hole in the living puzzle block fight room now has proper collision even when returning to the cave
The pin that makes wand projectiles count as melee attacks now work properly with more interactions
Weapon stands and ambient boxes can now be changed on clients and those changes will be seen
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
Since we want the final update before release to be the completion of Story Mode, and since the "end" of Arcade Mode will have some cross-over story significance, we'll be finishing up Arcade Mode next! We'll have to add the latest floors (Desert + Ghost Shp), a final boss, and fill the place out with some more quests!
Some more of Story Mode's dead ends in the world have been filled!
Details
About the patch
Like the previous patch, this one makes the game a bit fatter by filling in some "holes" in the world (and in some cases just adding more stuff)!
Since the content is quite spread out, the easiest way to find it is to use the completion tracker on the world map!
With this patch, we've now almost reached the point we've been aiming for in terms of side-content. There will be one more Frontline-patch of this kind, and then we'll move on to finishing (?!) both Arcade Mode and Story Mode!
Happy holidays, everyone!
Patch Notes
Hotfix Patch 0.897h
Changes
When playing Fark's minigame, the music volume is automatically lowered to make it easier to hear the sounds
Beating Fark's minigame now gives you a proper celebratory effect
Changed Steve's note to say where he went, as well as having some miners in Mt Bloom mentioning him
Bug Fixes
During the Career Change quest, talking to Steve in multiplayer while scattered no longer crashes the game
Skipping the cutscene when getting the equipment in the Sponsored Contest quest no longer locks the player in place
The Marino's Mansion music no longer starts playing in perpetuity when being warped by the Pumpkin Woods curse
Creating a female character now works properly again
Fixed a crash bug that happened if moving between the inventory and crafting menu a certain way
NPCs now have fallback portraits, preventing crashes due to version differences in translations
Hotfix Patch 0.897g
Bug Fixes
Using a melee skill after activating a Crit Circle Pin no longer gives the player's basic attacks guaranteed crits
KO'd Frosty Friends no longer leave permanent spinning stars when their owner also dies
Submitting Arcade Mode high scores with a character name that contains certain symbols no longer crashes the game
The Ninja Suit no longer counts as two secrets
Patch 0.897f
Additions
Added a new side quest in Port Monnaie, which brings closure to a very important side story
Added a bunch of additional secrets scattered around the world
Added a bunch of new NPCs: some with new content attached, some just for the sake of it
Chat command: type /clearhighscores in the in-game chat to erase local Arcade Mode highscores
Changes
Added a dedicated spawner for Bloomos in Evergrind South, to make them less of a headache to farm
The fans summoned by Endasil's Cube now disappear after a while
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where perfect guarding one attack made the shield auto-perfect all subsequent attacks until lowered
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
There are still some things we need to get into the game before embarking on the final stretch of development towards 1.0! So expect one more Frontline update of similar type and size, and then all the new side content will appear on Stable.
Some of Story Mode's dead ends in the world have been filled!
Details
About the patch
So you know how there is a bunch of stuff in the game that teases content but you can't really get there? Well, this is the first of two (perhaps three) updates where we aim to iron out those things! This update in particular is mainly focused on the little sprouts you've seen around the world and wondered how the heck you make them grow. The answer is here, and it's Super Fertilizer!
Oh, and you can now enter Marino's Mansion and hang out with his wholesome dad...
This update basically makes the game a little "fatter", adding 14 new NPCs, 5 quests, and some new areas with secrets within!
We initially wanted to release a smaller patch faster, but the sprouts was so heavily connected with other content needing to be made that it really wasn't possible to chop it up much!
Patch Notes
Hotfix Patch 0.893d
The default skin for the furniture trees have changed to match the inventory appearance
Camera panning now properly resets upon zoning
Fanita no longer bends spacetime while arguing with the guards outside HQ
Hotfix Patch 0.893c
There's now a player animation for using the Super Fertilizer
The 'use fertilizer' prompt now informs the player about how many bags of fertilizer they are carrying
Leafcifer now properly shows up in the player's inventory after rescuing him
You can no longer re-trigger the toaster cutscene by interacting with the open chest again
In multiplayer, the server no longer magically gets a copy of Leafcifer in addition to the toaster
Hotfix Patch 0.893b
Fixed another bug related to BranDi's rum!
Fixed a bunch of typos
The Red Slime Hammer now have proper graphics when charging
Patch 0.893a
Additions
There's now a quest to bring (back) butterflies to Evergrind City!
Marino's Mansion is now accessible, with a couple of quests inside
Red Slimes can now be found in Story Mode, and have been given a card
Added a new Two Handed Weapon obtainable after Flying Fortress: Red Slime Hammer
Two more wobbly sprouts have been added, and all four can now be grown using Super Fertilizer, unlocking new locations
Some minor quests/secrets have been added to give the player said fertilizer
The Alchemist storyline can now be concluded with a final quest
Changes
Changed the stats of Green Slime Hammer, and changed the Smashlight into a Hybrid (ATK+MATK) weapon
Bug Fixes
In Arcade Mode, furniture in Carpenter's store now unlocks properly with the new floor numbers
In Arcade Mode, Arena boss fights now unlock properly with the new floor numbers
When failing to catch a circle with the Increase Damage Every Circle-pin, the indicator now disappears properly
Advanced translation features should now work together with trophy names and descriptions
When entering someone else's Player Home in multiplayer, the prompt should no longer appear twice
Helping BranDi's ghost as a client no longer makes it impossible to help him on your own save file
Smashie and Bashie no longer bug out the Pin-fae's fireballs
The Museum is Closed-quest can no longer be started until the Crystal Clear quest has been completed
Quitting the game in the middle of the moving tree-cutscene no longer bugs the Season Temple quest
The spinsects in the Mt Bloom Spinsect challenge once again collide with the small rocks properly
Marion will no longer have a permanent quest update icon if you skip finding the Translation Tome
Killing Captain Bones while his head is channeling a spell now stops the channel sound properly
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
We'll continue on this track for a bit since we want Story Mode in its proper place before doing the final push towards the end of the game! There are still some loose ends in the world. When we get sounds for the new stuff in-game, we'll probably push all this to Stable as well (it depends a little on the timing)!
New Arcade Mode is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: N/A
Summary
Arcade Mode additions + changes, and enemy balance changes
Details
About the patch
Arcade Mode used to be a hellish and monotone experience for most players - even those who usually enjoy roguelites. One might've beaten Story Mode on Hard and then struggled to make it past Pumpkin Woods in Arcade Mode.
While we do think the toughest challenges of Arcade Mode should be brutal (and Triple Catalyst runs with curses surely still are), we needed to do a better job of easing people into the pain, like frogs being boiled slowly alive. Wait, what were we talking about?
Anyways, the base difficulty of the mode has been lowered, and a lot of unfair situations mitigated! By beating the mode (currently this means beating Tai Ming), you'll unlock the higher difficulties.
As for addressing the feeling of every run being the same, we've introduced a mechanic called "Pins" that grant a plethora of modifiers to empower the player in many different ways. Play a few rounds and they'll unlock, changing the mode drastically!
More details of the changes and their reasoning is pretty well described in the Frontline post, so check that out!
So far the feedback has been almost entirely positive, though there are some people that mourn the old version and the length of each run! We'll think about ways where players who want to can get some of that feeling back - though this would be in the form of optional modifiers, since most players seem to greatly prefer the new, shorter experience.
Note that this update does not include the Desert or Lost Ship floors! They'll arrive a few patches down the line, after we've focused on Story Mode for a while again.
Patch Notes
Patch 0.890b - July 19th 2020
Changes
If you have the Hide Hat or Hide Facegear option selected during an Arcade Mode run, the game will now remember this preference
Bug Fixes
It's now possible to clear the Frostling Boss Dojo challenge even on Catalyst 0
If someone had the Hard Mode curse equipped in the old Arcade Mode version it will now be unequipped
Pressing the cancel button during the dojo victory screen no longer makes it repeat
The dojo challenges now unlock properly using the new floor numbers
Killing a Wisp in Arcade Mode exactly as it spawns no longer causes it to rise again as an unkillable demon ghost to claim vengeance for your unsportsmanlike behavior
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
Those following the blog will have seen a lot of Story Mode related graphics, and now that there's a sizable chunk of that we'll switch focus to Story Mode for a while!
For those who aren't in the loop, before we begin implementing the final dungeon we're going to plug in the holes of the world (the growable plants, inaccessible areas, unfinished quest lines, etc).
Arcade Mode additions + changes, and enemy balance changes
Details
About the patch
So while Fred and Vilya have been making graphics for the upcoming Story Mode polish phase (wrapping up loose ends in the game world), the programming budget has been put towards a last push at making Arcade Mode a more pleasant experience, and in the process improving some enemy behavior for both Arcade and Story.
If you've been on the fence about Arcade Mode before, please do give it a try to see if you enjoy it more now!
Enemy Changes
A bunch of enemies have received changes of differing magnitude, and the shield has become stronger in general - especially shielding without perfect guarding. All these changes are basically "quality of life" changes that remove certain jank scenarios, especially for people playing close-range builds.
You can see the details in the patch notes, but the kind of changes we're talking about is stuff like more readable indicators, less disruptive randomness, more clear windows of vulnerability, etc.
Arcade Mode
In what will be our final attempt at sweeping changes to Arcade Mode to make it more accessible, we've made three significant additions to it: Pins, Length Reduction and Catalysts.
Pins
When playing Arcade Mode, it's easy to fall into a groove of doing the exact same thing over and over, and it can become quite monotonous. Pins is a mechanic that, when unlocked (happens early), will give the player various modifiers that can make them very powerful if used the right way. Your arrows might suddenly explode on impact, basic attacks might empower the next spell, or you may simply get a cloud summon for free! The idea with the pins is to give a little bit more uniqueness to every run.
There's currently 100 different pins available, and four can be equipped at the same time.
Length Reduction
Before this update, Arcade Mode featured two floors per biome. The floors also increased in size as you went, resulting in one complete run being an endurance test that could last well over an hour. Looking forward, with the Dragonbone Dunes and Lost Ship being added, the double-floor layout seemed unsustainable.
So, we've now made each floor represent its own biome, and also capped the maximum amount of regular rooms that can be created each floor. We hope this will result in less fatigue when playing!
As a part of this we've also introduced "gauntlet rooms", which is basically regular rooms but with different types of enemy reinforcements arriving! These rooms are generally much tougher than the normal battle rooms, and adds some variation to the run.
Catalysts (Difficulty Range)
Lastly, Arcade Mode has been way too difficult. A player that could easily beat Story Mode might struggle greatly to get even halfway through Arcade.
We still wanted the skill ceiling in Arcade Mode to be very high, so we decided to implement difficulty looping (like Dead Cells' loop mechanic Boss Cells, etc).
By beating Arcade Mode (a proposition that's no longer a Herculean achievement) you will unlock a Catalyst that can be inserted into the Grindea-statue in Arcadia. Beating the mode again will unlock another Catalyst, up to a maximum of 3.
With this, there are now four difficulties in Arcade Mode. The new "vanilla" difficulty should be a decent challenge for people who are used to Story Mode. With all three Catalysts equipped, it's extremely difficult, yet more fair than the old Arcade Mode thanks to the reduction of absurd situations.
What do you mean "final attempt" at Arcade Mode?
Obviously this is not the end of Arcade Mode in terms of actual content; the new floors must still be added, and we'll also be adding a little final segment for those mad enough to beat it with all three Catalysts. Content pieces like additional pins or new event rooms is also very likely to get added, as well as changes to dysfunctional sub-systems (like more interesting bets made by Bishop during the runs).
However, as mentioned above, we don't want to make any more big overhauls after this. We feel like we've done what we can to make the mode approachable now, and any further effort into widening the appeal will likely not be worth it!
Patch Notes
Patch 0.889e - July 16th 2020
Changes
Red Spinsects can now be Perfect Guarded, making them stop spinning for a while
You can now take a tiny bit more damage without losing your Floor S-rank
Bug Fixes
The pin which increases basic attack damage after firing an arrow no-longer spawns extra red cubes
Pins that automatically cast Reaper's Blade should no longer target enemies that are invulnerable
Patch 0.889d - July 15th 2020
Additions
The new Arcade Mode cutscenes (Traveller/Bishop's Catalysts) now have sounds
Changes
Cacute Projectiles are now more forgiving to shield against
Adjusted HP of some bosses in Catalyst 0-2 to stand a little more chance against the player
Enemies spawning in gauntlets now have a (very) short delay before taking action
The pin that grants permanent ATK/MATK for killing elites now has diminishing returns each floor
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that would crash the game when certain spell-creating pins were triggered by another spell
Time Crystals no longer re-activate the sticky 'skill point'-pin, mistakenly granting its effect again
Patch 0.889c - July 14th 2020
Bug Fixes
The twice-upgraded bow now properly pierces enemies as advertised again
Fixed a rare bug that would make the game tragically crash during the Mimic's death sequence
Added five pins that for some reason weren't in the pool of possible spawns
Fixed some dialogues and descriptions that reference the wrong floors after the change
Fixed a bug causing the game to freeze if using a circle spawning pin on certain bosses
If phase shifting as a pin spawns, the pin will land at the origin phase plate instead of in the air
You can now actually get a Pin Lood egg to hatch in Arcadia
The pin that greatly damages all enemies on critical player health no longer tries to kill Chickens (an outrageous venture that naturally crashed the game)
Spirit Slash can once again crit from the player's base crit chance
Wisps defeated the moment before firing no longer rise again as unkillable Skynet zombies
Patch 0.889b - July 9th 2020
Additions
You can now find Pin Loods in Arcade Mode!
Changes
Polished the UI-feel when doing actions within the Pin Equip Menu
The QuickLevel interface in Arcade is now infinite, and maxed skills/talents we be placed first next run
Equipping Catalysts now grant a bonus to score multiplier
The Treasure treat has been changed to create an extra treasure chest each Treasure Room
Bishop's second Arcade quest (reach floor X without healing) now requires you to reach Flying Fortress
Bug Fixes
Reaper's Blade should now function properly against Temple of Seasons enemies
The room where the Traveller appears can no longer spawn elite enemies
If a Client tries to change the Catalyst level, Bishop will now tell them they can't
The Pin Traveller will now unlock properly even during a multiplayer session
Getting S on both damage and time should now automatically grant a floor S rank
The Pin that increases MaxHP on Perfect Guard now correctly increases current HP along with it
Herded chickens no longer drop hazards spawned by the Booby Trap curse
The All Elite quest and nightmare now affect gauntlets, too
Fixed a bunch of text mistakes
Perfect guarding a spinning Autumn Knight into a Yeti no longer makes the Yeti want to kill the Autumn Knight
The 'Every Skill fires an Arrow'-pin now works properly with Static Touch
Pin descriptions should now display properly in langauges with custom fonts (Chinese/Korean/Japanese etc)
Patch 0.889a
Additions
A new mechanic - Pins - has been added to Arcade Mode!
Arcade Mode has received a rebalance and slew of changes, including reducing the number of floors
In-game chat command /overrideinput added, to help in setups where the keyboard resumes command - type '/overrideinput 1' for default controller slot
Beating Arcade Mode unlocks Catalysts, increasing the difficulty
Changes
Bee and Bird attacks now deal significantly reduced damage to shields, so blocking many of them is much less risky
Enemy projectiles reflected by Perfect Guard now passes through most obstacles
The shield now recovers much quicker when broken
The shield breaking now offers a small window of invulnerability
Bombs spawned from Presents are now much easier to push around while moving
The Wisps have had their projectiles reworked
Brawlerbots now show an indicator if they are about to flank you
The Power Flower-battle has been adjusted slightly to make it easier to avoid a certain death-state
Tornadoes spawned by Autumn and Autumn Mages are now nearly static but can appear anywhere
The spin done by Autumn Knights can now be interrupted by shielding
Thorns summoned by Summer Mages now get removed in one hit
A bunch of enemies now idle for a little while extra if their attack is shielded (non-PG)
Spinsects should now behave a bit better in multiplayer
Echoes of Madness now telegraph their flanking intention, and will not flank on Normal difficulty
Changed the timing of elite Statues on all difficulties, and added shockwaves on harder ones
The Plasma Bracelet has been slightly nerfed
Enemies in Arcade Rooms now have a (very) short delay before taking action upon entering the room
The winds in Arcade Mode Seasonne are now much less oppressive
The Tier 2 rings now cost a bit less in Arcade Mode
Bug Fixes
The Lantern Jack projectiles should no longer sometimes get past your shield in weird angles
Fixed an issue that sometimes made clients unable to drink potions
The Mimic Shockwave challenge in Arcade Mode should no longer disrupt Shadow Clone or Cloud
Mini-Bubbles spawned from perfect guarded Bubbles vs Captain Bones no longer damage players
Gold Smashing a Spinsect into Power Flower should no longer displace it
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
What's next?
part from fixing bugs that appear in relation to the new stuff, I'll probably do some additional quality of life-improvements before putting these things on Stable.
After that, I'll shift most of my focus towards Story Mode-related stuff for the time being!
The Lost Ship is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: 26-30
Summary
Now everyone can get wet and scared on the Lost Ship!
Details
(This patch basically moves the Frontline content to the Stable branch - so Frontline players don't need to read this)
Players on the Stable branch can finally access the Lost Ship and the surrounding extra content!
Something to note: this release might be a bit less stable than regular Stable updates, since I've fixed a lot of bugs that hasn't passed through Frontline (and sometimes fixing a bug might lead to unintended behavior elsewhere - we have all seen the classic programming movie Butterfly Effect). The reason is because I added a pretty big feature to the Translation Tools that I realized would break the game for all those who play with translations if not everyone got their game updated at the same time. I apologize in advance, and will be keeping a close eye on things so I can fix any issues as quickly as possible!
Soundtrack Update
The soundtrack should update sometime today to include all the new tracks!
DRM-Free Update
The DRM-free version on the Humble Store will be updated next week! Since that installer does not automatically update, I want to observe the build for at least a few days to make sure as few bugs as possible slip into that installer.
What's Next
A few weeks back we had a discussion about what was left to do. We are, after all, at the doorstep to the end of the game - main story wise, at any rate!
As many of you know, there are a number of "holes" in the game right now: promises with no conclusion, like those wobbly plants, the house visible from Evergrind East, the strange stump in Seasonne, and so forth.
In essence, the four big parts left to do are: Final Dungeon, Game Finale, Arcade Mode Finish and Filling The Holes. The Game Finale will be very content heavy so we feel it's best to separate it from the dungeon leading up to it.
Initially, we were really intent to steam ahead and go with the Final Dungeon, but thinking about it some more we actually didn't like that approach. If we kept on thinking like that, would Filling The Holes be the last thing we did? That didn't seem very exciting, and might also inadvertently trigger people who have resolved to wait until the finished product to instead buy it early "since the story is finished", and getting a rather weird experience for someone expecting a finished game.
So instead we've decided to do things in the following order:
Filling The Holes
Arcade Mode (add Desert + Ghost Ship floors)
Final Dungeon
Game Finale (including a proper "finish line" for Arcade Mode runs)
Release!
Post Release*
In other words: the next segment we'll be working on is resolving the "promises" found throughout the game! Some of you might feel a bit deflated since you're eager for the conclusion to the story, and we feel you (since we are, too), but unless we add these things now the timing will be even more awkward!
The filled in holes will arrive chopped up as several Frontline patches, and possibly even more than one Stable update, since many of them are small, self-contained systems, quests and areas that can be polished to Stable quality individually.
We've actually become quite excited about the coming segment, and hope we can make you happy with what comes out of it!
* Post Release content will range from balance changes to brand new content, as well as adding backer rewards for people who sent in their design requests late
Patch Notes
Hotfix 0.880c (April 15th)
A new loading tip has been added, describing the feature of increasing respawns when grinding
Zoning out of the ghost bridge room while the screen is zoomed in no longer make it remain that way
Braazlet no longer remains in inventory when she shouldn't be
The Ghost Ship bridge room should now work more smoothly in multiplayer
The Lost Ship's end boss has received some further performance optimizations when in prolonged fights
Fixed a crash in Tai Ming if watching memory orbs in a specific order after finishing the first area
Fixed an obscure multiplayer crash while fighting the Living Fridge in the Lost Ship
Fixed a potential multiplayer crash at the Lost Ship's end boss during his weapon throw move
Hotfix 0.880b (April 3rd)
The rolling, exploding eyes are no longer named 'Cacute'
Fixed some usability issues with the translation tools
The Thorn Worm card and shield can no longer damage enemies meant to be untargetable
Insect Swarm and Spirit Slash no longer cause Boss names to be redundantly displayed in the corner
Additions
All Lost Ship-patches has been merged into Stable!
Changes
Added the option for Translators to use conditionals outside of dialogues
If a player seem to not understand how Twilight Mode works, they'll get a hint inside the first twilight battle room
Bug Fixes
You can no longer temporarily soft-lock the game by teleporting out of the Evil Eye fight
Defending against a boss attack with Perfect Barrier (aka casting it the moment before getting hit), no longer pushes them away
Vegetable pets should no longer randomly get stuck in a jumping animation
The Giant Scimitar no longer has a graphical glitch when using Heroic Slam
Taunt should now work properly on the Lost Ship enemies
Fixed a bunch of text mistakes
Spirit Slashing slimes in 'Startington?' now shows their proper names
While inside the Twilight Bridge room, blink will now reset its position upon shift to prevent getting stuck
The adverse effect of using the Blade of Echoes is now cancelled if entering a cutscene
During the final cutscene of the Lost Ship, all player-effects are cancelled to avoid certain visual bugs
Dying against Captain Bones while water balls are present no longer leave behind fake-bubbles
In multiplayer, the Lost Ship's last boss no longer retains its target indicator after defeated
The Lost Ship's last boss can no longer be targeted or damaged during cutscenes
Improved a number of small polish issues regarding the ship's final cutscene in multiplayer
The note in the Lost Ship's cargo hold now has a working indicator
Fixed a bug where the Skeleton Wizards' elite projectiles would get the wrong IDs on clients, disrupting other spells
The cleaning ghost should now sync better between server and clients
Ribb now plays the proper animation for clients after giving him his item
Talking to Spengler while not gathered in multiplayer no longer crashes the game
Talking to Marino after the Collector's Exams no longer crashes the game
In Arcade Mode, the Camera item is now disabled inside the Arcadia Arena
More Insight
If you want to follow the progress and get a glimpse of the wonderful hell/heaven hybrid that is game development, you can check out our DevBlog! Be warned that it contains spoilers, though!
