Hey, listen! Sounds! And a final touch to the Lost Ship story arc.
Details
About the patch
This is a so-called "Stable candidate", in that from here on it's just bug fixing and monitoring for a while before the whole Lost Ship will sail into port for the Stable-branch!
In this update, the Lost Ship finally got its sounds, and it feels a lot better with them! I especially recommend battling the last boss of the ship again, if you can muster it, because those sounds were great in our opinion.
We also put the arc end-point a tiny bit further into the story, as we felt that was a better way to end it for now. Hopefully you'll enjoy what you see!
We'll bug fix this one over the weekend and sometime early-mid next week we hope to move this thing over to Stable so we can focus on the next step of development!
Patch Notes
Additions
The Lost Ship now has sound effects!
To better end the Lost Ship arc, we've added a tiny bit of story in the HQ
Our favorite villain trio (no bias) gets some catharsis in the Evergrind Cafe
Changes
Inspecting the DNA Door to the optional phase shift course with Tannie waiting outside now triggers a hint to go into Twilight
Bug Fixes
The vision stealing eyes in the Evil Eye boss fight are no longer called Obsession
If sent to a magical journey to a land far away, the torch puzzle mask now returns after a little while
The Solem Shield now triggers properly when perfect guarding Skeleton Warriors
The first enemies of the Lost Ship fight rooms can no longer be hit while out of Twilight
The Lost Ship's third boss no longer disappears randomly in multiplayer if the connection is too superb
Mirar giving his mirror should now play properly on clients
If the server selects the correct item for a ghost, the item-give interface should now close properly on clients
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?
Bugwatch until sometime early-mid next week, which is when we finally hope to get this thing to Stable so more people can enjoy it and we can move on to the next chunk of development!
This is one of those real Frontline updates! All the sounds are either placeholder or missing, and some effects aren't final etc, but the functionality should be enough for testing!
Details
About the patch
So this is the traditional "side content" update that usually follows a main story update, and as always things got a bit out of hand! First and foremost, the teased chests and secrets of the Lost Ship now has proper rewards, and the cards have their effects implemented. Mixe (the Lost Ship bartender) now also offers a pretty substantial side quest with a total of three rewards.
Apart from that, for a polished impression we also felt that we wanted to give the world-shifting ability some place outside of the ship. To that end, we've added ghosts in Tai Ming and the Pumpkin Woods graveyard!
Oh, and the real news everyone has been waiting for: the library is now open!!
Hotfix Patch Notes
Patch 0.873d - February 26th '20
If someone's been stuck inside the final 'Startington?' room for 30 seconds, an indicator appears
The rolling eyes in the Evil Eye boss fight no longer render their playfield health bars
Shifting to Twilight inside the left doorway of the Evil Eye room no longer pushes you out of bounds
Captain Bones' head no longer disappears when using Blink
The blue eyes in the Evil Eye boss fight should no longer leave behind ocassional colliders for clients
Captain Bones' head can no longer keep fighting even after his user is dead
Captain Bones' head no longer sticks around indefinitely after his user has disconnected
When a client tries reading something in the library, it no longers opens up for the server instead
Smashing a Skeleton Wizard no longer turns it into a Jumpkin, nor disables its spellcasting
Fixed an issue with rendering the Captain Head's chat bubbles in non-latin alphabets
Patch 0.873c - February 23rd '20
Progressing through Tai Ming's Inner Shrine on a new save file no longer crashes the game
Fixed a bug where one of Tannie's chests awarded multiple things if reloading the save after opening it
The Aged Rum should no longer remain in the inventory after giving it away
Patch 0.873b - February 21st '20
Skipping the final Captain Bones cutscene no longer crashes the game
Leaving Brandi without picking up the bottle no longer crashes the game
Skipping Mirar's cutscene now puts him in the right animation
Fixed some text mistakes
Base Patch Notes
Additions
A quite large side quest can now be gotten from Mixe in the Lost Ship
The Lost Ship chests now contain proper items and contribute to save file completion
You can now rebind keyboard controls in the in-game menu (before it had to be main menu)
The Lost Ship Cards now have proper effects
If you've finished the festival, The Library will now be open! Yay, books!
Added a new semi-minor NPC for Evergrind City: Mirar
Added ghost NPCs to other parts of the game, mostly Tai Ming but also one other place...
Added several interactions with aforementioned ghosts
Changes
Adjusted the Torch Puzzle in The Lost Ship to be a bit more readable (and polished)
Bug Fixes
The Lost Ship enemies should now look proper when frozen/in stasis
Haunties can now be targeted by stasis when hidden in Twilight
Skipping the Frozen Fairytale quest no longer locks you out of parts of Temple of Seasons
Returning to the Temple of Season thorn obstacle room now properly shows the ice thorns
Fixed a bunch of text mistakes
The Throw recall animation should now sync properly across host and clients
The Skeleton Wizard/Warrior Armor recipes now requires Twilight Cores instead of Magic Cores from Tai Ming
Using melee skills no longer cause Barrier to be temporarily weakened
Fixed a bug where skipping certain cutscenes as the host caused enemies to disappear for clients
Fixed a bug where releasing the shield button while going into a house would make clients stuck with their shield out for the server
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've just now received a big bag of sounds for the ship, so we'll be adding those, and also be completing a fairly big main story cutscene for when you return to the HQ! Since those things got separated from this side content batch, we'll make another Frontline update before the Stable folks get it. Sorry for the wait guys - hopefully the extra polish makes it worth it!
Take a good, hard look - it's a motherflippin' boat!
This is one of those real Frontline updates! All the sounds are either placeholder or missing, and some effects aren't final etc, but the functionality should be enough for testing!
Details
About Making A Boat
The boat is here, continuing the story! Let me start out by saying we're very happy with how it turned out, and I think most of you will find a few enjoyable hours in there.
Quality aside, though, we're not at all happy about how stupidly long this took to make. Vilya wrote about it on her blog a week ago, and it's worth a read I think: http://www.vilyaroo.com/2019/12/monday-meeting-reflection.html
TL;DR: We started off designing this dungeon like monkeys and it bit us in the behind. We had to remake probably three times as much for this update than in any other. Some of it was due to our approach to the dungeon planning, and some was just bad luck/lapse in skill. Even at the best of times, not everything that's cool in your head works out in game. We usually end up scrapping 10-20 % of things we thought would turn out nicely, but damn, this time we scrapped half the things we made, maybe more.
Aaanyway, enough of the process and back to the patch!
It's a boat! If you're currently at the end of the previous patch, you can continue your journey by talking to Vilya in the Port Monnaie harbor.
We hope you enjoy The Lost Ship, despite it taking so long to get! Remember, this is a frontline update so it's missing that final layer of polish, and we also welcome all feedback to improve the experience before the Stable patch!
Hotfix Patch Notes
Hotfixes Patch 0.870c - December 27th '19
Added some Lost Ship graphics: animated water edges, spooky key chest on first floor
Change: The inspection phase of the Lost Ship kitchen now works like in Ivy's office, with each icon remaining until examined
Change: The chief cook's log now survives the fridge smash, and can be read after the battle
Bugfix: Ghostys and Haunties should now behave more consistently when perfect guarded, regardless of how far into their attack they are
Bugfix: The Ghost Ship weapons will now properly appear at the weapon displays
Bugfix: Fixed an out of bounds bug when Twilight shifting inside the goo in the cabin you find Shaik
Bugfix: Fixed a bug where the ship's third boss would get stuck on terrain while trying to find a good spot to swing from
Bugfix: Quinton now properly shows a quest update icon after completing the Lost Ship arc
Bugfix: Fixed a bug that caused some bosses to move improperly in cutscenes (most notable first Marino encounter, placing his post-fight interaction awkwardly)
Hotfixes Patch 0.870b - December 25th '19
Change: Crafting the Spectral Blindfold no longer requires a regular Blindfold - those who already crafted it will get a new Blindfold
Change: During the Fridge fight, the player is now locked inside the room to prevent from leaving accidentally
Change: In order to get to the quick-skip phase of the Evil Eye intro, you must stay in the boss room a while longer
Change: Evil Eye's fire labyrinth has been made easier on Hard Mode
Bugfix: Twilight shift can now be used during phase shift without rebinding or restarting
Bugfix: Arcade Mode now properly ends at Floor 17 again
Bugfix: The Fridge's healthbar is no longer visible before it becomes aggressive
Bugfix: Ghosties can now spawn in the arena and during the alchemist quest without the game crashing
Bugfix: the ship's third boss' triple strike during berserk now actually deals damage
Bugfix: Skipping the Ghost Ship cannon cutscene now removes the quest update icon
Base Patch Notes
Additions
Hit the deck - we're on a boat!
Changes
When 100 % completion has been reached, the 'how to get completion' zoning tips will no longer show up
Guardians will no longer shield Loods
Having 10 quickslots filled in Arcade Mode will no longer push the map down, blocking some things in game
In Arcade Mode, the quickslots now remember the player's preferred bindings per spell instead of per slot
When players are trying to zone (showing the gather prompt), they no longer collide with other players
Bug Fixes
Charging Smash after a Perfect Guard now properly spawns a Smash Ball
Blinking into a new Arcade Mode room will no longer confuse the enemies in that room
Gold Charged Smash no longer bugs out the Red Spinsects in the Big Boulder challenge
Facegear equipment comparisons now work properly while masks are equipped
Fixed a bug where a specific timing of turning around with the shield put it up in the wrong direction
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?
As always we'll be fixing bugs, and then we're going to finish up the polish for the ship - sounds, missing graphics, and a pretty big side quest we've got planned. After that's been on Frontline for a few days, the whole ship will run ashore into Stable and we'll continue on with the rest of the game!
We're not 100 % yet if we'll power through to the story-end before touching Arcade Mode again. It kind of depends on if I (the programmer) get some extra time on my hands - Arcade Mode is mostly programming after all.
Patch 0.840a is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: 23-25
Summary
Now everyone can get hot and dirty in the Dragonbone Dunes!
Details
(This patch basically moves the Frontline content to the Stable branch - so Frontline players don't need to read this)
Finally there's some new Story Mode stuff, and it's the next area: Dragonbone Dunes (aka the desert)!
The role of the desert in terms of pacing is a bit different than how we did for Seasonne and Mt Bloom. The reason why is that Tai Ming itself was so very different from the other temples!
For one, Tai Ming was very NPC-heavy. This put us in a situation where players who leave Tai Ming might feel that the next part of the game seems like a ghost town in comparison. Since this is the final non-temple area in the game, and is supposed to be this bustling trade hub, we really didn't want that! In the end, we made over 70 NPCs for the desert and its port town.
Another thing we felt was that Tai Ming pushed the story forward into a place where another forced mini-dungeon (like the Toy Factory or Lurifix quest line in Mt Bloom) would be weird pacing wise. Still, if the desert just had a lot of NPCs but no gameplay content, that would be bad as well.
Because of this, we decided we'd shift the main/side content balance a bit for the desert, with a slightly more streamlined main quest (still with a couple of bosses), but more side content to do instead. This way, people who felt Tai Ming left them yearning for a more traditional gameplay/story pace can go through it relatively quickly, and people who want to spend more time in the desert area can do so with the side quests and secrets!
Hope you all have a good time in Dragonbone Dunes!
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 skip Arcade Mode for now and go straight to working on the fourth dungeon: the mysterious ship!
As I wrote in the previous patch notes, and as people who played through the main story in Dragonbone Dunes probably noticed, the main story portion was fairly short. To reiterate what I said then, this was a deliberate decision since we didn't want the story to linger too much before moving on to the next dungeon.
However, we we also didn't want the desert and Port Monnaie (its harbor town) to feel rushed or empty. In fact, as the final big "friendly" area, we wanted it to be one of the best areas in the game in terms of atmosphere and amount of content!
To that end, we've been adding a whole bunch of stuff to the desert, and also to other parts of the game (we've finally made the chests blocked behind water accessible and also added some flashback orbs that will unlock after finishing Tai Ming, giving context to some lore).
The goal is that coming from Tai Ming, you can go through it quickly if you like, but if you like to take it slow there's a lot of stuff to do before tackling the fourth temple/dungeon.
At some point we're going to add even more stuff (like the story behind the huge tree in the desert), but for now we're satisfied with the amount of content Dragonbone Dunes and Port Monnaie has, and we're ready to move on full force on the next dungeon! We hope you enjoy the additions!
Patch Notes
Hotfix 0.830b
Jonathan and his mom now has some updated dialogue as the game progresses
Added a loading hint for how to craft the Best Recipes book
The game should no longer crash when teleporting to Port Monnaie sometimes
Additions
All desert enemies now have an elite version
Added a cave with some bonus math-based puzzles (sorry)
Added a side quest for the drinking guy in the saloon
Added a side quest for the author in Port Monnaie
Added a side quest for Sandie in Port Monnaie the harbor
Added a side quest for Finder in Dragonbone Dunes
The statues in the math cave can now be inspected for side-lore
The Port Monnaie music now alters character when close to Riley
The sound effects of the Desert arc has been added!
Card Effects and Card Art for the desert enemies have been added
Desert fishing and its customary achievement has been added
All the merchants in the Port Monnaie marketplace now have proper shops
Five flashback orbs will now be available outside of Tai Ming for players who have completed it
Changes
Misc: The Sol-Gem and Marino will no longer become aggro'd by Frosty Friend
Balance: Various crit items have been buffed, as well as the Brutality talent
Balance: Projectiles deal 30 % less damage if shielded
Balance: Perfect Guard damage reduction is now 66 %, up from 50 %
Balance: Crystal Shield Perfect Guard damage reduction is now 80 %, up from 66 %
Balance: Card drop rate now slowly, slowly climbs if you've been extremely unlucky with a particular enemy
Balance: Season Mage projectiles now deal much more damage to enemies when reflected
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that made some pet types attempt grand escapes from Arcadia
Fixed a few bugs related to skipping the Sol-Gem and boulder cutscenes
A gold charge meteor hitting a burning target should no longer cancel the burn effect
Getting Cammy before Oldman in Arcadia should no longer block Oldman from spawning
Arcade Mode now remembers how much lumber you've bought between sessions and adjusts prices accordingly
Fixed a bug where activating the mimic while another player was by the door would lock that player out
A server talking to Quemi should no longer cause the dialogue to show up for the client as well
The Port Monnaie NPCs should now move around properly for clients
The 'I Got You Covered' talent now previews the effect increase properly when leveling it
Canceling a dodging strike with a weapon swap can no longer be used to create invincibility fields
Fixed a bug where Katarina could appear at two places at once. This is not Game of Thrones!
Fixed a bug that made uncharged Insect Swarm stronger than the bronze charge
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?
Now we're going to monitor the stability for a week while working on the coming temple. When any new bugs have been squashed, we'll upload it all to Stable! After that it's full focus on the fourth dungeon!
Don't invite Rick Astley because this update will totally desert you!
This is one of those real Frontline updates! All the sounds are either placeholder or missing, and some effects aren't final etc, but the functionality should be enough for testing!
Details
About Dragonbone Dunes
Finally there's some new Story Mode stuff, and it's the next area: Dragonbone Dunes (aka the desert)!
The role of the desert in terms of pacing is a bit different than how we did for Seasonne and Mt Bloom. The reason why is that Tai Ming itself was so very different from the other temples!
For one, Tai Ming was very NPC-heavy. This put us in a situation where players who leave Tai Ming might feel that the next part of the game seems like a ghost town in comparison. Since this is the final non-temple area in the game, and is supposed to be this bustling trade hub, we really didn't want that! In the end, we made over 60 NPCs for the desert and its port town.
Another thing we felt was that Tai Ming pushed the story forward into a place where another forced mini-dungeon (like the Toy Factory or Lurifix quest line in Mt Bloom) would be weird pacing wise. Still, if the desert just had a lot of NPCs but no gameplay content, that would be bad as well.
Because of this, we decided we'd shift the main/side content balance a bit for the desert, with a slightly more streamlined main quest (still with a couple of bosses), but more side content to do instead. This way, people who felt Tai Ming left them yearning for a more traditional gameplay/story pace can go through it relatively quickly to get to the next temple, and people who want to spend more time in the desert area can do so with the side quests and secrets!
That means this Frontline update is a bit unusual, as well. For the other areas, we first released only the main quest and no side content, but since the side content is a more integral part of the experience, we decided to add a portion of the side content to the Frontline patch!
Of course, since this is the first Frontline patch of the area, we're going to polish things up a bit and also add more stuff to do in coming updates, before shipping it all in one big lump to Stable.
Hope you all have a good time in Dragonbone Dunes!
Patch Notes
Hotfix 0.820c
Added some polish to NPC behaviors in Port Monnaie
The Cacute aggressive state now reverses if you leave them alone for a while
Perfect guarding the first tick of the Solem laser now interrupts the attack
Perfect guarded Cacute projectiles now move faster and deal significantly more damage to enemies
Fixed a number of multiplayer bugs in the desert
Bees no longer spawn en masse outside of bounds in Pillar Mountains
Hotfix 0.820b
Added some chat commands for desert reset: /desertreset (entire desert), /desertsidereset (all side quests), /desertmainreset (the main quest), /farmareset (only the Farmamera battle), /solgemreset (only Sol-Gem battle), /marino2reset (only Marino battle)
You can no longer stand next to Sol-Gem during its shockwave attack
You can no longer blink past the Marino cutscene trigger
Candy should now accept that you completed her objective in the museum quest and move on
The vegetable enemies should now keep spawning properly next to the farm after their quest has been finished
Additions
The desert and its storyline are now accessible
Changes
Balance: Chain Lightning's gold charge damage has been increased
Balance: Earth Spike's damage has been slightly decreased
Balance: Meteor's damage has been slightly increased on silver and gold
Balance: Enemies now build up stun resistance a short period after being stunned, preventing chain stunning
Bug Fixes
Fixed a skill-related underflow bug
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?
As always we'll be fixing bugs, and then we'll add a bunch more side content to the desert (including some obvious stuff like giving the cards art and effects, elite enemies, fishing and content for the shops). After that we'll put it all on the Stable branch and sail away to the next temple!
Patch 0.800a is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: Everyone's invited
About the Arcade Mode update
(Those of you who've already read the frontline news can scroll past this part!)
Until now only a small percentage of players got much enjoyment out of Arcade Mode. The mode was a cold, hard place with little of Story Mode's charm, but with all of the combat's brutality. Basically, we didn't feel like the game mode felt much like Grindea, and we wanted to change that, while also giving players who previously loved the mode more varied and interesting stuff to sink their teeth into.
We did several things to improve the general Arcade Mode experience, but the biggest by far is the complete revamp of the hub town, Arcadia. Before, your total score made some minor changes to the town and added a few NPCs with quests. Now, you earn gold by doing runs, which you can then spend on different buildings that all provide some useful or not-so-useful feature! Among the useful features, you'll now be able to practice against bosses you're having trouble with, make the mode easier (or harder) with treats and curses, train perfect guarding in the dojo, and getting potions to help you out.
We hope having this anchor will help people find purpose with the mode, and perhaps accidentally find meaning with becoming better at the game as well!
Aside for that we've made some pretty big changes inside the runs as well, like new Event Rooms that buff you or give you special treasure, and new NPCs that help you out in different ways.
Four new floors have also been added, ending the mode on floor 16 instead of floor 12 (featuring Mt Bloom and Tai Ming).
...but most importantly, you're now accompanied by your new best bud Trunk!
Regardless if you enjoyed the mode before or didn't care for it much, please do try the revamped version out! We hope with these changes we can capture the hearts of more players now than before!
The Future of Arcade Mode
We feel we now have a very solid foundation for Arcade Mode, which we can expand upon quite easily in small bursts by adding new NPCs, upgrades and quests bit by bit.
If you get good at the mode you're probably going to notice a shortage of quests that take place on the final floors; the idea here is that we're going to make some of the buildings upgradeable, and these upgrades unlock higher level quests (like adding a second floor to the tavern, for example). That's for another time, though!
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?
It's (let's all say it together) finally time for me to start implementing the next part of the story, which takes place in a desert and a port town! I'll put the Stable build in its own dev fork and parallel to doing desert stuff I'll fix any serious issues that might've escaped the Frontline crowd.
This is one of those real Frontline updates! All the sounds are either placeholder or missing, and there are some placeholder graphics! The gameplay should hold up well, though (I hope!)
Why update Arcade Mode?! It took forever!
Yes, well, when we began this effort we naively thought it wouldn't take very long to fix Arcade Mode up, but, uh... onto the "why"!
Until now only a small percentage of players got much enjoyment out of Arcade Mode. The mode was a cold, hard place with little of Story Mode's charm, but with all of the combat's brutality. Basically, we didn't feel like the game mode felt much like Grindea, and we wanted to change that, while also giving players who previously loved the mode more varied and interesting stuff to sink their teeth into.
We did several things to improve the general Arcade Mode experience, but the biggest by far is the complete revamp of the hub town, Arcadia. Before, your total score made some minor changes to the town and added a few NPCs with quests. Now, you earn gold by doing runs, which you can then spend on different buildings that all provide some useful or not-so-useful feature! Among the useful features, you'll now be able to practice against bosses you're having trouble with, make the mode easier (or harder) with treats and curses, train perfect guarding in the dojo, and getting potions to help you out.
We hope having this anchor will help people find purpose with the mode, and perhaps accidentally find meaning with becoming better at the game as well!
Aside for that we've made some pretty big changes inside the runs as well, like new Event Rooms that buff you or give you special treasure, and new NPCs that help you out in different ways.
Four new floors have also been added, ending the mode on floor 16 instead of floor 12 (featuring Mt Bloom and Tai Ming).
...but most importantly, you're now accompanied by your new best bud Trunk!
Regardless if you enjoyed the mode before or didn't care for it much, please do try the revamped version out! We hope with these changes we can capture the hearts of more players now than before!
What's left before Arcadia 2.0 comes to Stable?
We want to add a few more quests related to some buildings, and also add achievements for the higher floors... and of course fix all the bottles of bugs you guys are probably going to hand us!
Ok, ok, I get it, but... what about the story?
Arcade Mode has mostly been super intensive on the code side, with all the new features and floors that have been added. This means that while I've been stuck on this update during all this time, Fred and Vilya have made good progress on the art for the story! In fact, most of the areas and NPCs we need for the next segment have already been made, which hopefully means that when Arcade Mode is ready for Stable, I can start implementing the desert storyline right away.
Basically, if it weren't for Arcade Mode I would've been in a severe graphics bottleneck for a long time!
Patch Notes
Fixes for 0.780l (May 8)
Added a new late game two handed weapon to Arcade Mode: the Spiked Club (will be aquirable in Story Mode later)
Changed how Arcade Mode shops select items to sell to allow for greater variety
Skipping Story Mode quests completed in multiplayer games now actually works
The Arcade Mode Toy Machine should now spawn its first wave of presents correctly on clients
The Squire's Sword no longer takes the place of the Steel Sword in the Arcade Mode Loot Pool
Buff Shrines should no longer flip out completely for clients
Fixes for 0.780k (May 7)
While using Berserker, buff stacks now decay gradually instead of being lost all at once
While using Berserker, perfect guarding now stops the buff stack decay for a while
Teddy and Freddy should no longer get stuck on some patterns in the Black Ferrets fight
Unequipping the Big Quiver perk now reduces the arrows in your quiver to the correct amount
The 'Kill In Order' challenge in Mt Bloom should no longer occasionally spawn shrooms out of bounds
Spinsect spawning in the Temple of Seasons due to the Big Brother curse in Arcade Mode should now keep to the walkable areas
Hopefully fixed the bug where using the time crystal in multiplayer sometimes spawned players as ghosts
The Giant Thorn Worm should now have its HP correctly adjusted in multiplayer
Fixes for 0.780j (May 4)
Fixed a replay bug! What a day!
Unlocking Candy in multiplayer should now work for everybody
Clients should now be able to use Gift Boxes in Arcade Mode
When fighting GUN-D4M, clients should now be able to see punches directed at Frosty Friend
Clients should now be able to see the first snowstorms in the Seasonne snowstorm challenge
The Black Ferrets fight should no longer desync on certain throw patterns in multiplayer
Vilya should now always display her pattern bubble before a throw, even on clients
Fixes for 0.780i (May 3)
Fixed even more replay bugs!!
When using gamepad the character should no longer pull up the shield after dialogues
The game should no longer accuse you of cheating just because you used a time crystal
Clients should now be able to catch pets in Arcade Mode
Bishop's nightmare runs should now work properly in multiplayer
The Clock Tower should now work properly in multiplayer
Using end run in multiplayer no longer allows players to keep their summons
The client should no longer lose furniture and gain taming items after an Arcade Mode run
Using the arrow potion in multiplayer should now grant the arrows to the person using it
Fixes for 0.780g (May 1)
Increased the par time in Arcade rooms with ice winds
Solo hydras in Arcade Mode will now stay on the ground much longer if they are the last enemy in the room
Hydras on Hard Mode now stay on the ground longer after being knocked down
Fixed a gazillion more replay bugs, hopefully most are fixed now (note: this doesn't repair old replays)
The small Lood Chests no longer absorb arrows mid fight
Fixed a few continuity bugs related to Remedi's alchemy quests
Fixes for 0.780f (April 27)
Reduced the amount of tornadoes spawned by Autumn on Hard
Dying at the same time as a boss in Arcade Mode will no longer result in a full health revive
Pressing left at the first visible boss in the Arcadia Arena no longer crashes the game
Using certain potions right before zoning no longer leaves a permanent color tint on the character
Fixed a gazillion Cinema bugs (some still remain and will be fixed in a later patch)
Fixes for 0.780f (April 24)
Typing /neversubmit in chat will disable the 'Upload to Steam?' query after a run
Typing /toggletrunk in chat will let you enable/disable Trunk's speech bubbles
Pressing the menu button (ESC/Start) when a quick equip notice is visible now closes it without going into the menu
The bottom barricade bushes in forest areas have been lowered so they don't obstruct the playfield as much
The Grindea Chests now contains a Health Potion instead of a Health Orb if your HP is at maximum
Reducing the number of roaming pets to 0 no longer removes the Manage button from the farm menu
The option to expand the farm is now based on the total amount of pets owned, not the amount in town
Consumable Health Potions should now get auto-equipped regardless of how it was received, and no longer get equipped in multiple slots
The furniture Phase Shift plates should now work properly in Arcadia
The furniture Season Orbs should now work properly in Arcadia
Game should no longer crash if inspecting an egg spot in certain circumstances
The Shadier Merchant should now take the correct amount of health even when using HP modifiers
You can no longer enter the menu while doing Dojo Challenges
Fixes for 0.780e (April 23)
The Mimic should no longer crash the game when facing it in the Arcadia Arena
Trying to download more replay entries no longer crashes the game
The Shadier Merchant should no longer try to sell you a time crystal if you already have one
The Time Crystal now properly re-apply card bonuses after being activated
Card bonuses are now activated at the same time across clients/server, avoiding some extreme edge case bugs
Reaching Biline's event rooms when Vavani has fled no longer crashes the game
Beating a Dojo challenge and then quitting another no longer adds a temporary participation medal on the failed challenge
You can no longer change the difficulty to Normal while the A Little Harder curse is active (haha...)
Spam-talking to Master Ji after accepting one of his dojo challenges no longer starts multiple challenges at once
Buffed the HP of a couple more Arcade Mode bosses, especially on Hard
Changed the S-rank time for some of the bosses previously buffed
Trunk no longer calls Arcade Mode a 'Trail of the Goddess' to avoid insinuating that Faita went to Arcadia
Fixes for 0.780d (April 18)
The EP-potion now has longer recharge time in Arcade Mode
A few bosses have gotten buffs HP-wise in Arcade Mode
Chain Lightning has gotten a slight nerf to its MATK-scaling
Using the Guaranteed Elite curse in Arcade Mode no longer infinite loads if there are no elite-able enemies in a room
Reflecting the shockwaves in a mimic challenge room no longer crashes the game
After defeating Black Ferrets 2 in Arcade Mode, you can now go back south again
Accepting a cloning bet in Tai Ming does no longer create immortal statues
Eggs now take the intended amount of time to hatch (previously only two minutes)
If a Frosty Friend dies or is damaged before a Time Crystal gets used, it will now heal back
If a character is supposed to own the chicken pet but doesn't, that issue should auto-fix now
Hotfixes for 0.780c
Hotchange: The Shadier Merchant price for HP Pots now scales with more sanity
Hotfix: The game no longer crashes when perfect guarding red projectiles in a challenge room
Hotfix: Clients can now open and receive the reward of the Grindea Chest event rooms
Hotfix: Finishing Chix chicken quest in Mt Bloom no longer crashes the game
Hotfix: The store discount treat no longer work while in the Arcadia town
Hotfix: The Arcade Mode Queen Bee fight no longer spawns adds that give exp
Hotfix: Buying stuff so that your Essence reach 0 no longer locks you out of managing perks
Hotfix: You can no longer press Escape to get out of the taming item selection and lose your invested gold
Hotfix: Fixed a number of bugs related to pets in Arcade Mode multiplayer
Hotfix: Using a Time Crystal should now work in multiplayer as well
Hotfix: Connecting to someone in Arcadia now sets the score multiplier correctly
Hotfix: Game should no longer crash randomly when arriving at floor 17
Hotfix: Time Crystals no longer reset used pet items
Hotfix: Watching replays and fighting in the arena no longer creates taming items
Hotfix: The score multiplier is now set correctly in replays
Additions
Arcade Mode: It's a bit of a bunch of a lot of new stuff
Translations: Challenge descriptions (like 'Herd The Chickens') can now be translated
Translations: Grade type names (Clear Time, Damage Taken, etc) can now be translated
Changes
Balance: Shielding Rabbys now creates a small delay between their attacks
Balance: Frosty Friend can now only aggro multiple enemies at once when in Gold Charge
Balance: Elite Boars have been tuned down slightly. Just slightly.
Balance: Boss multiplayer scaling in Arcade Mode is a bit less brutal
Gameplay: The bow can now be cancelled into from attacks
Arcade Mode: The game will now remember what name you chose last time you played
Arcade Mode: Enemies spawning as elites now increase the time limit for S rank more than before
Bug Fixes
Multiplayer: Clients should no longer be able to be left behind when fighting the Mimic
Crash: Fixed a bug where Marino could sometimes get damaged by the player during the chase scene, crashing the game
Oops: Freeze duration reductions between elites and bosses were flipped! Now bosses are more resistant than elites
Multiplayer: Halloweeds won't use their root spell anymore if there's only one player alive
QOL: Reflected Wisp projectiles should now hit their previous owners (or some other enemy) more reliably
Oops: Fixed a bug where sometimes you turned into a static phase shift ball when battling GUN-D4M
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 fix any issues that come up on Frontline and tweak stuff according to feedback, we'll add achievements and their rewards, and we'll add a few quests. When that is done, and we've gotten all the new sounds from our sound dude, the whole shebang will go off to Stable!
Patch 0.730a is out on Stable!
Patch Info
Recommended Level: everyone's invited - these improvements affect all stages of the game!
Summary
This patch brings all the new reworks, balancing and Utility skills to Stable! For Frontline players, there's nothing new to see - this is basically 0.729c
Details
The following patches have been brought to Stable:
(If you want to know more about something, click the patch name to see the relevant patch notes!)
Utility Skills - Support players can be a bit more supportey, and solo players can vary their builds more!
Rebalance Patch - Overhauled every single skill in the game, reworked some, and introduced magic weapon projectiles
Talent/Bow Patch - Introduced 21 new talents and added upgrades and charging for the bow
Potion Patch - A potion rework involving recharging flasks and a ton of new potions
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?
The current list of non-story content:
Player Housing Done!
Skipping quests completed in multiplayer Done!
Support Skills Done!
Skill Balancing Done!
Potion Changes Done!
Arcade Mode Updates <-- Finally time for this one!
What's in store for Arcade Mode?
First off, we'll add Mt Bloom and Tai Ming, resulting in four new floors for people to die on!
Then we're going to rework Arcadia to be much larger and have more stuff to build. We're also going to let the player choose how to expand Arcadia instead of having it tied to total score! We'll be introducing a new currency, gold, which will exist alongside Essence. Players will use gold (which is more forgiving to obtain) for expanding the town, while essence is used as payment in some of the places built. We wanted to separate these two things to avoid players having to deal with the headache of choosing between expanding the town and, say, purchasing a new perk!
Arcadia will become roughly three times as large and feature both silly and useful things to build. Among the new buildings are:
Dojo - Train versus enemies and complete Perfect Guard challenges to earn rewards
Arena - Train against bosses you're having trouble with
Aquarium - Look at fishes you've caught!
Bank - Convert gold to essence and back
Cinema - Watch replays of your previous runs!
Player House - Your own house to decorate, like in Story Mode
Alchemist Shop - Equip potions for your run
Candy and Muffin's Shops - Make the next run harder or easier in exchange for getting more or less score
Clock Tower - Change the time of day in Arcadia (the best building)
Last but not least (well, it's probably the least to be honest) we'll add a bunch of new kinds of event rooms to the mode itself!
Cool, but what of the story??
When the Arcade Mode updates are done, we'll finally be able to go back to working on the continuation of the Story Mode adventure!
Potion system rework, with a new quest and lots of new potions!
Patch Description
Potions: Old vs New System
Before, you would stack up on the potion of your choice, equip it on a quickslot, and then just spam it for what amounted to a permanent buff with close to zero effort from the player. It just wasn't a very interesting system!
With the new system, you can gain up to three magical flasks, and you can assign a potion type to each of them. When you drink one of the potions, the flask will begin to recharge, with a much increased rate as long as you're dealing damage. Only one of the flasks can recharge at the same time, so you'll have to consider that when drinking multiple potions in a row!
Which brings us to another big change: unlike before, you can now combo multiple potion buffs to create great spikes in power, but since only one potion can refill at the same time, such combos can not be used frequently!
We feel this new system gives the player a wider variety of interesting choices and trade-offs. Do you drink the always useful but fairly weak Health Potion, which takes a long time to regenerate, or do you favor aggressive potions, which refill quickly and can help you get rid of dangerous enemies?
Since these potions haven't been tested yet (except by us), we fully expect to need to fine tune some stats and durations, but even as they are we hope they will provide some interesting gameplay!
Old Potions become Pet Food
Most players didn't bother much with drinking the old potions (despite them actually being quite useful). A more popular use case was to just pour them all into your pets! Since this seems to have been an appreciated use case for the more grind-minded players, we've decided to let Oak (the guy who owns the farm in Evergrind Fields: West) follow his dream of opening up a Pet Food Shop!
So, all the existing potions in your inventories will turn into pet food, and if you've caught both the Slime and the Rabby, you'll be able to buy more pet food from Oak on his farm!
Patch Notes
Additions
The Potion system has been reworked - visit Remedi in Evergrind City to try it out!
A new NPC has come to town, and he has a potion related quest to give
Oak, the farmer, now has a pet food store where he sells pet food
Changes
Talent: Fine Taste now increases potion effect rather than potion duration
Quest: The story and reward surrounding Remedi's first quest has been altered - redo the quest for the new reward
Arcade: Upon entering a new room, players do not have collision against each other for one second
Pet Food: The feeding value of fish has been increased, and changed to better reflect fish rarity
Pet Food: A lot more of enemy drops can now be used as pet food
Bug Fixes
Gameplay: Dying in Arcade challenge rooms and waiting for the time to run out no longer fake-resurrects players
Quest: You can now turn in the Cooking Witch Candy-quest even if you found the last ingredient in the same zone as her
Housing: Adding and deleting new rooms should now work as intended for visitors in multiplayer
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 fix any issues that come up on Frontline, and if it seems stable enough we'll finally patch Stable, which will get months worth of game improvements at once! After that, we're onto our final stop before going back to working on the story full time: updating Arcade Mode.
The current list of non-story content:
Player Housing Done!
Skipping quests completed in multiplayer Done!
Support Skills Done!
Skill Balancing Done!
Potion Changes Done!
Arcade Mode Updates <-- Finally time for this one!
...and when that list is completed, it's back to focusing on the story!
