Additional Performance Optimizations: Update 18 live
We're ready to push out the second part of some optimizations we've been testing to follow up with our last update.
Of note:
Some maps causing occasional performance hiccups have been fixed
Combat performance update
Herbology UI has been updated
Polymorph Wolf no longer utilizes range of missile weapons equipped
Sound and Music levels balanced since last update
Cheers!
Faster Load times and optimization: version 17 now available!
In celebration of the Winter Solstice and Necholai’s worst after party, we’re ready to release update 17! We’ve been poking at Shroomers and Serpent for a while now to optimize a lot of the behind-the-scenes systems, especially load times. The engine has been updated and with some heavy optimization to art and loading structures we’re looking at 60-70% speed increase. Maps should load in at ~5 seconds, depending on your system or how large the map is.
Besides that we’ve had some other system updates for stability and content tweaks listed below.
We have some art and content for the expansion, A Banquet For Fools, that we’re planning on releasing next year. There is the perfect amount of monks, mead and illuminated manuscripts.
Merry Christmas!
Joe & Hannah
Update log:
System
Load time optimization
Revamped ammunition system — for fringe cases of some equipped ammo disappearing on game loads
UI
Cursor can move off the edge of the screen in windowed mode in Windows
Gameplay
Stabilized fringe cases of temporarily de-syncing party order in inventory screen when a member is removed in certain conversations
Seraphim will allow you to retry to let him in your party after refusing him.
Various dialogue and NPC inventory tweaks
This version is up on Steam, and GOG should be as soon as they push it live on their end. If the game was purchased on our site DRM free you can also re-download it from your purchases page — that's automatically updated with the latest version for you.
We're depreciating our old patching application, but if you prompt the download on startup it will instead contain an updated game you can swap with your existing one, there's some brief instructions in the folder if needed.
Expansion system in action in Copper Dreams! Kickstarter now live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDsRs-r93As
Hi everyone!
If you wanted to check out how the system we're using for the Serpent expansion is shaping up, our cyber-espionage game Copper Dreams is the start of it! Vol will certainly have less firearms, but you can see the movement, 3d world and how combat works.
We'll be going over a lot of the systems in detail throughout the campaign, but the Burning Candle ruleset section will be essentially the same for the expansion.
Also, one of the miniatures we'll be offering for the KS will be a Pasaaran Bloodless Hunter in all their 3d glory, we'll be sure to post a picture.
Cheers!
Expansion News! A Fool's Banquet
We're back and excited to share some information with you about the free Serpent in the Staglands expansion! Titled "A Fool's Banquet," the expansion takes place in the Lachovinian Isles in the aftermath of the Moon Lord's journey through the Staglands.
A New Engine and Ruleset
As we began designing the campaign for A Fool's Banquet, we had a ton of ideas that we wanted to implement for the expansion and for future games set in this world. While we could have shoehorned some of these into the Staglands engine, we decided to do something drastic and create an entire new engine that was set up to handle all of the new really neat mechanics and optimizations we wanted to ad in. Thus decided, we started designing and have been spending the last few months building a new and improved engine that will have much faster loading times, better performance, has taken user feedback into account and will be able to support a lot of fun new features like larger maps and stealth systems as well as utilize the height of a 3d world. We have a feature list with some highlights listed below. The mechanics will be using a new ruleset that we think you'll love as well, but the atmosphere, lore, items, characters and, most importantly, your saved games will still be there.
A Fool’s Banquet began with one premise: authentic castles, and heists and infiltration within. Castles are fascinating, with mazes of corridors, intrigue, workers, gorgeous courtyards, and secrets waiting for a good crawl, and to adventure through all that the way we wanted, we've created a ton of new systems and put them in a neat package we're calling the Burning Candle ruleset.
The Burning Candle ruleset has been designed for the Serpent in the Staglands expansion, but will also be used on our new cyberpunk game, Copper Dreams, and you can see a preview of some of the mechanics and alpha art in action here. Right off the bat you might notice a few differences, one being the game is 3d. While we love pixel art, the move to 3d is necessary to create the interesting tactics that come from height and stealth, and opens up a lot mechanics that aren't available in a low resolution 2d game, like more accessibility in controls, UI and text. To keep the aesthetic as similar as possible and something we'll continue to enjoy working on, we've chosen a 3d style that utilizes the same filterless textures as pixel art, and are really happy with how it's turning out. We'll have some images throughout the year for you to check out the new Vol, now in full 3d!
Features
The Burning Ruleset includes the following features:
A volumetric line of sight
Light and shadow system with dynamic lights for sneaking movement
Fully climbable and traversable height
Isometric view with four direction camera
AI with environmental tactics as well as last known position indicators
Turn based combat with timed resolution
Ailment based health system
Multi-species companions
Inventory items with a range of uses in and out of combat
Global clock with time of day lighting
The Story
Disclaimer: These stories in Vol follow specific characters, and Serpent in the Staglands leads directly into the expansion, so any plot discussion will inevitably involve spoilers.
At the end of Serpent in the Staglands, Necholai receives an unexpected summons from the East, and is preparing to sail there with a son of Erlein, a young Varuchov named Lucian. Through the series of events that Necholai's meddling inadvertently triggered, namely the death of the goddess of portals, known as the Wandering Lady, many portals once opened are now sealed, causing the magic harnessed from gods to dwindle to nearly nothing over the course of the months since your original descent. As Necholai and Lucian begin their adventure in A Fool's Banquet, their party has to cope with a world devoid of sorcery. Divine Magic, as it were, has been closed off from Vol, and all that remains is rune writing and some very disgruntled mages.
Playing as an acolyte for the Moon Lord that has been posted to gather information on the Lachovinian Isles, you and your fellow celestial spies are sent on a mission by Necholai, leading you to a dangerous castle with an elusive host.
Timeline
We'll have more updates throughout the year as the expansion comes together, and will be posting more in-depth explanations of features on our blog.
Cheers!
Hannah and Joe
News in the The New Year + Rock Paper Shotgun's The Scrolls of Honour – 2015!
Earlier this month we were on Richard Cobbett's "The Scrolls of Honour" , listed as: "The Scroll of Histories: Serpent in the Staglands". We thought that was very neat and we wanted to share the article with you, and the whole thing is a very fun read if you hadn't seen it yet, check it out.
As we close out the year we wanted to say thanks to everyone who supported us with feedback and played Serpent in the Staglands since the release in May! We wanted to post some information on the free expansion, but decided we could do better with a proper reveal with more actual content early next year. Big changes coming to Vol that we think you'll enjoy! So expect some news on that and Copper Dreams , as well as a small Vol chronology site which will house content on the different campaigns happening in it.
Hope all you Spicers have a wonderful new year!
Cheers
Balancing, Spells, and Update 16: Live!
There are some late game encounters and enemies that have been tweaked to add difficulty and some resistances, along with an overhaul of smaller changes and improvements to many of the spells.
The update list below is a bit long, but besides the gameplay/quest updates, most of it is spell tweaks we've been wanting to fix up. Many of these have just had updated language in their descriptions to be more accurate to their output ( like removing proc/duration for spells that end when casting stops), while others had various stability changes or tweaks to their math. You shouldn't see anything that abruptly changes builds, but improvements overall.
* Note: The Balance section has some spoilers of enemies in the game
Update log:
UI
Added diagonal direction option to keys (can hold two at once)
Various spelling updates in conversations and items
Gameplay
Trap re-loading bug in Lumen Caverns fixed
Kyrilu dialog endless loop fixed
Cave Journal in Ista Cale populates as normal under all conditions
Balance:
Spider summons do less poison damage
Goblin summons: -1 Dex
Ista Cale Manor and Lighthouse Guards AC, Dex, and Str upgrades
Octavian & Mya stat upgrades all around
Ice Spider AC upgrade
Slavers: Dex upgrade
Slaver Cook: Str upgrade
Fighting Pits: various Str, Occ upgrades for opponents
Skills/Spells
Nauseate: Cast times updated
Strangling Vines: Cast times update
Searing Light: initiates hostility
Siphon Poisons: skill and proc times now accurately affecting each other
Arcane Attack: displays all hit information in game feed, small tweaks
Feverish Haze: proc inconsistencies fixed
Arcane Shield: Description update
Festering Ooze: Description update
Morph Into Cat: Description update
Morph Into Bats: Movement speed updates, INT-dependent
Polymorph into Wolf: weapons disappear under all situations now, duration time fix, various tweaks
Hallucinogen: Fixed disappearing enemies (if they travel off screen from fleeing and return)
Foul Creep: Stat affliction now works under all circumstances
Amplify: augments cast speed as expected
Shimmering Scales: Math update
Blood Cocoon: Math tweak for healing output
Parasitic Orb: General and duration updates
Planar Jump: Damage fix for all situations on use
Turn to Stone: loops spell cast on miss now (instead of stopping), game feed updated to reflect
Magic Shield: Protections end as expected, various stability updates and description in game feed
Interview at The Existential Gamer, general updates
We're doing some final testing on a spell and skill balance update which has a myriad of small usability improvements, math tweaks, or terminology on a lot of spells and skills. There's also some balance updates for some some encounters and enemies. Nothing too game changing, so builds and load-outs should continue just fine. That should be available soon.
Meanwhile, we had an interview about some of the story elements and thematic design of Vol and Serpent in the Staglands in an interview with The Existential Gamer. I don't think there is anything in spoiler territory there, so check it out if you're interested!
Lastly, we have a small website coming together to chronologically record games in the Vol campaign, starting with Serpent in the Staglands and its Expansion. It will house bigger news in general there, and will be available as well with more information on the expansion in the near future. If you heard news of our new game in development, you'll be happy to know the expansion is also benefiting from such developments. Vol will be expanding in the future, and owners of Serpent will be getting the next giant step forward in tech and interactivity for free! We're confident that will be worth the wait.
Update 15 Live! Now with graphic smoothing!
Now featuring AAA graphics.
Update 15 has a few small fixes, a UI update, and a new accessibility option: there's now a new graphics setting you can access within a game (this will save on start up next time you play) that will smooth out the pixels. It's not a perfect system and may cause a few graphical hiccups, but does a pretty neat job of smoothing pixels together, so if you were having issues reading the text over long periods of time it may help!
This setting requires a shader model 3.0 compatible GPU, along with playing the game in at least 200% or 300% scale, obviously we can't do anything when you're playing at actual pixel-level resolutions.
Change-log below:
UI
Smooth Pixel option added which blends pixels edges and creates smoother text and 'oil painted' effect on the art.
Implemented a smoother scroll for the dialogue menu
FIXED player selection hot keys interrupting incantation typing
Missiles listed more accurately as 0d2 instead of +2 in inventory descriptions
new Game Tips
GAMEPLAY
FIXED locked door in Hallowed Doors after saving
FIXED Mikalus is in Lebez after leaving your party
FIXED Kreel can use Quick Strike upon joining your party
SKILLS
FIXED NPC spell casting aimed at target instead of location to left when casting Magic Shield
Francisco of Vox Ludi has written a thorough write-up of Serpent in the Staglands and his experiences. If you’re on the fence or wondering about the game, check it out! Full link after some choice quotes we enjoyed:
“Like the seafaring Amethyvians that worship Necholai, Serpent in the Staglands’ foremost quality is its ambition, which looms like a mountain over the smaller hills that are its flaws. If you choose to venture into the peninsula, I tell you this: the Staglands are a dangerous place, and the carrion god takes mortals and gods alike.”
“This lack of hand-holding and the multitude of applications you can give to your aptitudes lend the game a truly pen-and-paper role-playing game feel, leaning not only on its choices, writing and story to summon this feeling but on the fact that you have many tools you can put to use throughout the game.”
