First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your patience and support in these trying times. Good news though! I'm happy to announce the development of Shores Unknown is continuing where the team left off when we announced our hiatus in March.
The Adventure Continues!
That's right. This means that you all will soon be able to continue your search for Brisst in the next content update, which will introduce the third chapter in the story of Shores Unknown.
There's still some work left to do: the update will introduce a large outdoor area which we were working on filling with various events and encounters at the beginning of 2022, and I still have a couple of quests and a few more combat encounters to set up before our ship sets sail.
That's not all, though. The update will also include a number of exciting new systems and mechanics!
While Shores Unknown already featured a high degree of customization by letting you choose a personal approach to growing your mercenary team, the roster itself was largely fixed. Update #4 will add a couple of new upgrades to the Hideout to help with that: a new Recruit system and a Training room that, once unlocked, will allow characters in Reserve to automatically gain a fraction of experience the main party receives in battles. With this change, you'll have a lot more options when assembling your main group, and benched characters will still be able to keep up thanks to experience sharing.
A new mechanic of persistent food buffs is also being added. Different meals found in the world will provide the active party with a lasting Well Fed effect, persisting for a fixed number of battles after eating. Entering a Rest area will also automatically refresh the last applied Well Fed effect, so you don't have to micromanage consumables.
This is compounded by Wounds, another new mechanic that is only encountered on Classic and Hard difficulties: now, when a character gets knocked out in battle, they will be affected by a persistent Wound debuff, decreasing their main stats and maximum health, and their Well Fed effect, if present, will be lost. Luckily, Wounds are removed when the party enters a Rest area or eats another meal!
If Wounds Is something you'd rather not deal with at all, worry not: the mechanic is disabled on Normal and the newly added Story difficulty settings. You'll still get to explore the world and enjoy the various meals found when exploring, though!
Combat system has also received a couple of new additions: Taunts and Target masking. The first mechanic is familiar to any RPG fan. In Shores, it will force the affected target to redirect their attack action at the taunting character, assuming they get to act before the target, and the target is not affected by another Taunt effect. A bit like Intercept mechanic which already exists in the game, but not generating Engagement automatically.
Target masking logic makes it possible to implement trickster-themed effects which make a character completely untargetable by actions of a certain type. The most prominent examples of these are Stealth (making it impossible to target the stealthed character with ranged attacks), Invisibility (same as stealth but for both melee and ranged), and Play Dead (completely untargetable for the duration, identical to being knocked out). An acting character whose target gets affected by one of these, invalidating the action, will automatically reassess their move.
Another new addition is the Rally mechanic: now, when a character is put on Standby or is unable to perform an action as a result of a Reassess, they will receive a Rallied buff, doubling their Speed for the duration of the next turn! This lets you compensate for a character skipping their action by moving them up on the timeline, and adds tactical depth to Standby command: for example, you can now choose to Standby in preparation for a very quick attack that you know is coming next turn, letting one of your characters intercept an action that otherwise would've been out of your control.
And speaking of Reassess: the logic of combat action assessment has been completely rewritten (the original implementation was one of the first things I did when I started working on Shores Unknown, so it didn't age all that well) with peformance, ease of customization and modularity in mind. For now, this means developing character behaviors in combat is easier and quicker than ever, but I'm also exploring the idea of making this player-facing and allowing you to customize the behaviors of your party as you see fit. But that's a feature worth a separate post!
Sounds exciting? I, for one, can't wait to push all these new additions live! But there's a caveat, as you might have noticed the "I's" instead of the usual "we's" scattered across this post.
Due to the current real world situation, we had to scale the team down to what amounts to a single developer working in engine on a regular schedule, and the rest of the original team helping with specific tasks on case-by-case basis when they're able to. Luckily, the story and level design tasks for the remaining content are pretty much completed, so I can focus my work almost fully on event scripting and mechanics design and implementation.
Unfortunately, this means combat and quest-related tasks that could previously be accomplished by three people working in parallel, now have to be done by a single person, and although things are progressing splendidly, there are no shortcuts to be taken here: this work takes time. Nevertheless, I am happy to be working on Shores Unknown again, and I would never forgive myself if this story didn't receive a proper ending. And so I would like to ask, yet again, for your trust and a liitle bit more patience while I continue pushing things into shape and finalize the update. There will be another announcement posted once the content is locked and ready to go, but for now, the plan is to release Chapter 3 somewhere in Q3 2022.
Oh, and last not least, in case you missed it, Shores Unknown is now Verified on Steam Deck. If you're one of the happy owners of the Deck, consider giving the game a spin!
Thank you for reading and see you next time!
Shores Unknown: Statement From The Team
Update 0.8.1.1
Greetings, Mercenaries! Update 0.8.1.1 is now available to download. It includes fixes to important issues found by our QA and reported by the players since the launch of Content Update 3. As usual, we thank you all for providing feedback and helping make the game better!
Bug fixes and improvements
Restored Hilde's Unstoppable Force ability logic, she will now correctly use this ability if engaged by two characters at the beginning of the turn
Quest - "Beneath The Iron Peaks": Korrinn should no longer reappear in the location after loading a save
Improved the initial positioning of units in battles
Quest - "Entrapment": fixed a potential quest blocker and a reported issue where player would be transported to the quest area with only Morten and Sheila in their group
Fixed some issues that stopped the party members' dialogues from triggering correctly when they're interacted with in the Inn
Minor fixes to quest cutscenes and dialogues
Discuss the update with devs and other players!
Shores Unknown: Content Update #3 - Now Available!
Greetings, Mercenaries! The release of the next intermediate content update is upon us! This update brings new major features and QoL improvements, as well as several new mercenary contracts to provide players with a playground to test the new additions in!
New Major Features Highlights
New mercenary contracts
Item comparison functionality
The Alchemy Laboratory unlock in the Hideout is now available (requires completing Carrines Bay main quest)
Animal familiars are now available to help you in battle
Morten can now learn magic
Buddy the Dog is now not just a good boy, but a very useful one as well!
Update v.0.8.1.0 - full changelog
New Gameplay Features & Content
5 New mercenary contracts: 4 of which are available for the players who have finished the currently available main story content, and one more for those who have finished the WANTED: DEATHMATCH contract.
The Alchemist laboratory: Players can now establish the Alchemy Lab in the Hideout after completing the currently available main story quests. The Alchemy Lab provides you with a way to craft and upgrade accessories.
Blacksmith upgrades: Certain items collected in Carrines Bay and obtained as rewards for contracts can now be used to craft and upgrade unique equipment via the Hideout blacksmith. Some new upgrade materials have also been added to the world.
Animal familiars: they can assist the main party in battles if certain items are equipped. Currently, two familiars are available.
Ability groups unlock for Morten: Morten can now learn to use Destruction, Conjuration, Support magic and Bardic Lore abilities after completing certain optional story events related to the party members at Birgit's Inn. Some unlock events require meeting specific conditions to access.
New character dialogues: All party members will now have unique dialogues that reflect on the main story events and/or their personal quests. Try talking to them while resting at the Inn!
New item abilities: Some equippable items (weapons, armor and accessories) now have new unique effects that are added to the list of character abilities on equip. Item abilities cannot be turned off without unequipping the item. Note: you will need to re-equip an item if it's already equipped on a character in order for its ability to activate.
New items & rewards: Some of the quests and locations that previously offered little or no rewards had new juicy loot added to them.
Updated Buddy the Dog! He will now give out special rewards if fed with his favorite treats. But be aware, he can be a picky eater.
QoL Improvements
Item Comparison Functionality: Equippable items in vendor interfaces and loot containers can now be compared to the currently equipped items for all characters and all equipment slots.
Improved inventory management flow: Equip functionality in Inventory screen has been adjusted to open the Equip window for the selected item for the currently active character.
Balance
Adjusted contract rewards: mercenary contracts now give more coins on completion.
Adjusted item prices: vendor prices for most items have been adjusted to better reflect the quality of the goods.
Adjusted item stat tuning: some weapons, shields and armor have undergone a balance pass. In particular, Soulseizer and Collector's Bow (epic weapons available as rewards in Carrines Bay update) have received a stat overhaul, coupled with new unique effects - so don't miss out on them! Additionally, the tuning on some of the lower quality weapons has been improved to make them more appealing to the player.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a rare bug in which gamepad button inputs allowed to close the party editor screen and progress without critical characters present in the active party.
Fixed the bug in which the player could lock themselves in the Warehouse in the Trade Ward.
Fixed the bug in which Oscar would not give any reward for helping to find his glasses.
Fixed the bug in which "Begging the Question" quest would not finish if the goal was located without asking the beggars for help.
Fixed the bug in which the player would incorrectly be transported to Farrol's House after leaving the Abandoned Iron Mine during the second and subsequent visits.
Fixed the bug in which the player could get softlocked in the dialogue with Oistin after refusing to help him once.
Fixed a bug in which the "Food Supplies" quest could be sequence-broken and become impossible to complete.
Fixed certain enemies sometimes spawning in elevated positions or walking in the air during combat.
As always, we'd like to thank all the players who have helped us improve the game by posting their reviews and feedback and submitting bug reports! We hope you enjoy your time with the new content. Join the community on Discord to discuss the update:
Update 0.8.0.1
Greetings, Mercenaries! Update 0.8.0.1 is now available to download. It includes fixes to important issues found by our QA and reported by the players since the launch of Content Update 2, as well as balance changes aimed at improving the combat experience in Carrines Bay quests. As usual, we thank you all for providing feedback and helping make the game better!
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed a blocker issue at the end of Carrines Bay main quest chain where game would get stuck depending on a choice the player made.
Fixed an issue that allowed companion quests to be taken again after completion if initiating them in Carrines Bay.
Choosing to help Hilde or not at a certain point in Alchemist quest will now have intended consequences later in the storyline.
Ren dialogue in Central after leaving the Guildsman's house party will no longer retrigger when loading a save game made during that section of the game.
Normal NPCs will no longer be present at night after Guildsman's house party. There's a curfew, after all (new saves only).
Some enemies from the final fight had a mismatch in visuals and equipped weapons compared to the cutscene preceding that fight. The visuals should be matching now.
Improved the "Asking Beggars" step of the Alchemist main quest to make it easier to navigate.
Fixed some instances of incorrect objects, lighting scenarios or characters loading into a level when loading from save games.
Some characters were incorrectly being dissolved to skeletons on death.
One sleepy head kept sleeping after the fight at Fabian's camp. He'll be properly removed now.
The quest giver marker for Reginald's quest in Carrines Bay Outskirts will no longer be visible when Reginald is not present.
UI/UX improvements
Contract quests now appear in a separate section within the journal.
Balance fixes and changes
Final fight in Carrines Bay main quest chain has been rebalanced to be more manageable regardless of party composition.
Some characters (e.g. Crown Arcanist) didn't have a correct class assigned. They do now.
Some enemies in Carrines Bay quests had a tendency to spam the same ability each turn (e.g. Defensive Spin or Kick). Such enemies should behave more naturally now.
Added AI behaviors for Battlemage and Arcanist classes.
Discuss the update with devs and other players!
Shores Unknown: Content Update #2 - Now Available!
Greetings, Mercenaries!
We're happy to announce that the second major content update for Shores Unknown, which introduces the City of Carrines Bay and continues the main story of the game, is now available to download!
Note: save files from the previous versions of the game are compatible, but can cause some unforeseen issues. As always, we recommend you start a new game when a big update like this drops for optimal experience.
Below, you'll find the patch notes for Content Update 2 (version 0.8.0.0) - please be wary of potential spoilers.
New Additions
Continuation of the main story: explore the sprawling port city of Carrines Bay and uncover the secrets of the mysterious Alchemist.
7 new side-quests taking place in a number of new (and some old) locations, including companion quests for Reginald, Ashya and Sheila.
17 new advanced classes: bring your characters to new heights! Advanced classes unlock automatically when the characters progress enough in their ability groups. Some of the classes require progress in multiple ability groups (e.g. a weapon stance and Destruction magic). Note: please keep in mind that not all classes are obtainable with any character. We originally planned to include new ability group unlocks, allowing to learn magic schools for the main character, in this update, but the events needed to support this will be added in the next incremental update instead.
Weapon specialization abilities: using a certain weapon type in battles continuously will now eventually unlock a new powerful ability for that weapon type. These abilities can differ drastically depending on what weapon and stance are being used, but we can promise they're all pretty strong and provide some valuable utility for the characters, so experiment away!
New weapons and items available from vendors and quests in the update.
New respawning enemy encounters added to Mountain Forest and Abandoned Iron Mine locations for all your grinding needs.
Combat Improvements
Ranged attacks will cause the character to automatically move away from the target if it is too close.
Using buff/preparation abilities that result in engagement break will cause the character to automatically move away from the engagement, similar to disengage command.
Characters performing support actions will be less prone to moving into melee.
Mages, archers, and other classes focusing on ranged combat will now prioritize ranged over melee when reassessing to a new target if their original target is already down when they act. Note: We received feedback that combat, especially prolonged battles, would often devolve into chaotic skirmishes with everyone, even archers and mages, jumping into melee combat. These changes aim to improve the situation, and ranged characters will now attempt to keep some distance from the enemies.
Reworked debuff system: instead of each ability available to party members applying a unique debuff that often stacked with each other, we now have a set of core debuff types. Core debuffs of different types (e.g. Hobbled and Chilled) will stack, but the same core debuff applied from different sources will not (the newest application will overwrite). Core debuffs will also now show the numerical value of their effect in their descriptions.
Some of the core debuffs that previously existed as unique ones have been reworked: for example, Broken Armor now applies its effect to Block values as well and only affects physical defences; Bleed also works as healing absorb (healing taken by a character affected by a Bleed DoT will first be used to remove the stacks of bleed, and only the remaining value will be applied to HP),
Battle support mechanic: this is available as part of some advanced support classes' kits and allows the character to use support actions without breaking engagement, regardless of whether they have any engagement slots left. Want your Ren to tank the enemies while still throwing heals around uninterrupted? Now you can!
Balance Tweaks and Fixes
Archery: Barrage - first 3 arrows now deal damage with a reduced multiplier.
Fencer: this class now longer has access to Riposte passive, which has been moved to Duelist (advanced class). Fencer instead gained Finesse passive (increased Critical rate).
One Handed Combat: reduced the damage multipliers for Piercing Lunge, Butterfly and Riposte. Reduced the critical chance of Riposte.
Shield Stance: reworked Assault ability. It now deals less single-target damage but has an AoE component, dealing damage to all enemies caught into the path of the character using the ability.
Destruction: Ice Storm now applies Chilled to all targets hit by it.
UI Improvements
Size of UI elements in combat, dialogues and exploration can now be scaled individually to match the player's preferences. The option is available in Game Settings menu.
...and we also squashed dozens of small bugs while at it. As always, a huge thank you to all the players who have submitted their feedback!
We hope you enjoy your time with the new content. We're not stopping, so stay tuned for more updates soon! And don't forget to join the community on Discord to discuss the update:
Shores Unknown: Second Content Update Preview
Greetings, Mercenaries!
The work on the next big content update is in full motion. Today we would like to share a little preview of what you can expect once the update hits, and a surprise sale! A merchant special - this week only - 30% off.
As the main story continues beyond the point we left off during the previous update, the breadcrumb trail leads your team to a sprawling port city of Carrines Bay, where you'll have to track down and confront a mysterious figure only known by their alias — the Alchemist.
Carrines Bay is a city of many connections. Being the center of the Kingdom’s trade, it brings together people of widely different backgrounds and motivations. It has no shortage of potential new allies, adversaries and perhaps a few guests from the long-forgotten past… You will also be able to experience your comrades’ stories in the new Character quests. Get to know people you fight alongside with a little better!
And as exciting as it may be to explore an unfamiliar city, you shouldn’t forget about the places you’ve already visited. Something interesting might be happening there too...
0.8.0.0 Preliminary overview
Tier 2 Character Classes
Your characters will be able to advance further in their combat proficiency, unlocking new classes, each with their own passive abilities. New classes include, but not limited to:
Minstrel Proficient with both the bow and the way of the word — Minstrel uses their skill with bow to strengthen supporting abilities of Bardic Lore.
Vindicator Supporting class that enables you to heal allies every time the Vindicator blocks incoming damage with a shield.
Battle Mage A fighter who uses physical attacks to weaken the enemy and finishes them off with a charged up magical attack.
And many more!
New major location: City of Carrines Bay
The city itself is divided into four expansive sections, each with its own unique architecture, activities and smaller sub-locations.
Outskirts
Home for farmers, peasants and those who have a distaste for the stone walls of the city proper, Outskirts is a developing region of Carrines Bay. And since it's not currently restricted, Outskirts draw all kinds of travelers, honest merchants... and the shadier kind.
Central Ward
The oldest part of Carrines Bay and the most developed one, the Central Ward is the heart of the city. Everything the civilized big city life has to offer can be found here: Countless shops and market stalls, cafés, and plenty of intrigue under the surface!
Harbour
The Crown Guard doesn't risk to come here unless its absolutely necessary. While the Harbour is technically a part of Carrines Bay, it seems more like an independent state with its own rules and those who enforce it. This part of the city is controlled by the infamous criminal organization called The Syndicate.
Trade Ward
The Trade Ward is a place fully controlled by the Trading Guild — the wealthiest organization in the Kingdom. Any and all curiosities and goods from around the world are shipped here to be sold by the merchants affiliated with the Guild.
Character Quests
Experience personal stories of your teammates, find out what happened to them in the past and what drives them in the present.
New missions and challenges
Over a dozen additional side quests and little activities, both in Carrines Bay and elsewhere.
The time draws closer, Mercenaries. We'll meet in Carrines Bay soon!
Greetings, Mercenaries! Update 0.7.1.1 is now available to download. It includes fixes to bugs found by our QA and reported by the players since the launch of Content Update 1, as well as balance changes aimed at improving the Contract combat gameplay. As usual, we thank you all for providing feedback and helping make the game better!
Bug fixes
Fixed an issue with UI corruption caused by incorrect tooltip shown when looting items (wrong item icon was shown)
Fixed a couple of issues caused by loading an autosave made immediately after finishing certain scripted combat sequences in Iron Peak
Fixed an issue that caused certain enemies to remain in chase mode in exploration even after being defeated, making it impossible to save game in the current location
Fixed Blacksmith discovery notification in the Hideout appearing each time the location was reloaded
Fixed a couple of geometry issues causing the players to get stuck
Fixed interactable objects not activating if attempting to interact while moving
UI/UX improvements
Added a shortcut to access Character Info UI directly (C key on keyboard, X on Xbox controller)
Improved the navigation in Vendor UI
Item changes
Adjusted (decreased) prices for Northerner items and most bows
Balance fixes and changes
Contract: Syndicate Heist - lowered difficulty to match the original intent, removed the requirement for this contract to be completed before the player could progress further
Contract: Delicate Package - Matekai will now take reduced damage with each summoned add active, will also deal more damage when glowing
Wanted: Werewolf? - Increased the boss health a bit, health and damage are now shared between the two characters
Wanted: Deathmatch? - Overwhelmed effect will now persist for three turns (up from one)
Non-boss contracts are no longer required to progress, new contract tiers will be unlocked once the boss of the current tier is defeated
Ability Changes And Fixes
Fixed an issue with Arcane Shield 2 not activating the buff when cast
Fixed an issue with Mass Cure not dispelling debuffs from characters other than the main target
Fixed a rare case of soft-lock occuring when Conjure Blade was used
Resolved incorrect calculation of buffs to character's Atk and Def stats when corresponding main stats were updated due to another buff's effects
Discuss the update with devs and other players!
First Content Update - Now Available!
Hello, Mercenaries!
The update bringing the game to version 0.7.1.0 is now available!
We'd like to thank all of you for supporting the game, providing your feedback and being patient with us! And a special shout-out to kormakrtv, a friend and streamer who provided his voice for one of the characters in this update. See if you can spot him!
Update notes
Content Update 1 - Version 0.7.1.0
A note on save compatibility
While preparing for this update, we did some extensive testing to ensure older save compatibility, smashing most major bugs in the process, including the pesky Birgit dialogue issue which was still plaguing some players in the previous patch. We also added backwards compatibility for the majority of changes to player character progression.
This means that your saves should allow you to jump into the new content added with this update right away, and your characters will also be able to unlock and use all the new abilities we introduced. In Ashya's case, you'll have to win a couple of fights with her (luckily there are respawnable enemies now...) in order to unlock the new baseline Bard abilities from her updated starter kit.
Unfortunately, we cannot ensure such backwards compatibility when changing objects which already exist in the player's save state: that would mean somehow merging the changed state of each individual object the player has interacted with during their playthrough - a cyclopean task that would deter us from working on actual new content.
Because of this, we suggest starting a new game whenever a large update such as this one drops. Of course, you're still welcome to submit bug reports and other feedback when playing the game using an older save using the "Send Feedback" in-game tool - we will review such reports case-by-case and do our best to resolve any issues we can reasonably fix. Thank you for your understanding!
Changelist
Bolded changes are new additions since the preview
General
Added a difficulty slider and two new difficulty levels: Normal and Hard.
Existing saves from previous versions will continue the game at the default difficulty, known as Classic.
Difficulty can be changed at any point during the game. Note: difficulty levels were designed specifically to affect the strategic difficulty of the game without affecting the numerical progression of the characters - e.g. enemies on Hard will not suddenly turn into arrow sponges, but fights on that difficulty will require more careful planning and preparation with less room for mistakes.
New enemies will now appear in certain areas when the players revisit them later in the game.
Enemy corpses will now disappear as time passes by.
Improved the chase logic of enemies in the map. As long as the enemy who initially noticed the player is chasing, the other enemies in the pack will continue chasing as well.
Changed "load game" on defeat to "load last save".
Slots in Load Game menu are now sorted by date and time.
Fixed scrolling issues in Quest Journal.
Content
New major side-quest: recruit a blacksmith for your hideout!
New contracts: unlocked after clearing one of the initially available contracts. Fight men and beast alike, and test your mettle against the might of a travelling blademaster!
Hidden mini-boss added: see if you can find it!
Several new items added, including a new weapon group: bows!
Morten can now pet the dog.
Fixed a progression blocker with Birgit refusing to talk to the player if certain conditions were met. Note: hopefully for real this time. If she still doesn't talk to you after updating, please make sure to head downstairs and interact with the contract board. Return upstairs and Birgit should revert to her normal dialogue.
Ability Changes And Fixes
New ability mechanic: modal passive abilities that can be switched on and off at will during the order phase for no additional cost. Active modals are highlighted in your character's ability lists. Note: it made sense - both thematically and tactically - to allow certain passives to be switched on and off depending on the situation on the battlefield. For example, with this change a Rogue character will be able to switch Patience on when needed to delay their action in combat, then switch it off when a quick response is required.
New ability mechanic: area damage. Note: usually this works in combination with Engagement-based attacks such as Cleave - such attacks will now deal damage to everyone standing in their area of effect, but targets affected by Engagement will take additional damage.
New ability mechanic: targeted buffs (certain Preparation abilities can now be used on other characters, not only self).
Certain abilities will now ignore weapon scaling and will instead only scale with character stats directly (where thematically appropriate). Examples include Kick (Two-handed stance) and Mend Wounds (Item ability). Equipped weapons can still affect these abilities by providing direct bonuses to main stats.
Generator abilities (e.g. basic attacks) will now restore 1AP to characters using them instead of a number of AP equal to the character's Preparation. Preparation still defines the number of AP a character gains each turn normally.
New ability group: Archery (stance, requires a bow equipped).
New ability group: Conjuration (magic).
Bardic Lore: abilities now ignore weapon power but scale better with base stats.
Class: Bard's Repertory passive logic updated: the buff it grants cannot be stacked endlessly by rotating just two songs anymore, but is now easier to maintain (playing any song will automatically refresh it).
Bardic Lore: Soothing ballad is now a direct heal (regardless of Repertory).
Bardic Lore: Several new abilities added.
Class: Mender's Healing Pulse passive has been reduced in efficiency. AP bonus is now chance-based, and can only occur once per ability use.
Support: Several new abilities added.
Destruction: Several new abilities added.
Destruction: reduced the Critical rate bonus of Fireblast and made it slower.
Class: Wizard has received a brand new Spell Focus passive. This replaces the Spell Focus preparation ability previously available in Protection tree.
Protection: Arcane Shield is now an active preparation ability and has been moved to Conjuration tree.
Protection: Group removed as its abilities were dissolved into other ability trees, old and new. Note: we felt that Protection, with its pure defensive focus and no offensive spells, lacked the flavor of other ability groups, and made a choice to dissolve it, moving important abilities such as Arcane Shield into other thematically-appropriate groups.
Shield Stance: Reduced the scaling of Shield Bash at level 2.
Restoration: Reduced the healing provided by Healing Chain and made it slower.
Items: Mend Wounds will now correctly work as a generator.
To avoid disrupting the player's strategy, certain abilities (mostly buffs and debuffs, e.g. Kick) will no longer allow switching to another ability when it is unlocked.
Stat changes and fixes
Characters can now have 0 engagement slots under certain circumstances. Such a character can never intercept nor be intercepted, their attacks will always be from the side, but attacks made against them will also be resolved as side attacks.
Added a hidden Damage Taken multiplier (1 by default). This can be altered by certain abilities to reduce or increase all damage a character takes (on top of normal Defense modifiers).
Fixed an issue with Strength stat having incorrect XP gain calculation.
Miscellaneous fixes
Reworked the pathing logic in combat. The characters will now try to stay away from enemies when repositioning for action, and will move much less chaotically when idle.
Resolved numerous minor bugs reported by our players. Thank you all for submitting your feedback!
Thank you for supporting the development of Shores Unknown. If you're enjoying the game, please leave us a review - every single one helps us a lot! (If you already did - we see you and thank you!)
Shores Unknown: First Content Update - Preview & Devlog
Hello, Mercenaries!
We're excited to say that the time for update is nearly upon us!
After some unfortunate, but necessary delays, the changes are locked in and the build is undergoing QA - if all goes well, it will reach you by the end of this week.
This being our first big update, we really wanted to get it right. And so, instead of merely following the original update plan to the letter, we opted to take some detours to include some of the most requested changes from our community. Those include, but aren't limited to:
Expanding, or, in one case, almost entirely reworking existing ability trees (Bardic Lore got a major makeover!)
Implementing a difficulty setting that treats our players with respect
Adding more life to the world via respawnable enemy encounters
(More on these in the second part of the post)
Everything that was planned for the first phase of our Early Access made it in, including the Blacksmith quest, new contracts, and, of course, archery!
We also smashed a lot of bugs (let's be real, probably added a couple of new ones, too) and fixed some balancing issues. Of note, pathing logic in battles has been improved, resulting in better looking fights while also making them easier to read.
The preparation for the next update, which will take the story to the merchant city of Carrines Bay, is well underway, too: the implementation and tuning of the main story events are almost completed and side-quests are being worked on as you read this post!
As you see, there's a lot going on with this update, we'd love for community to come chat about it in the community server:
Below, you'll find the (preliminary) patch notes for Content Update 1 (version 0.7.1.0) - please be wary of potential spoilers.
General
Added a difficulty slider and two new difficulty levels: Normal and Hard.
Existing saves from previous versions will continue the game at the default difficulty, known as Classic.
Difficulty can be changed at any point during the game. Note: difficulty levels were designed specifically to affect the strategic difficulty of the game without affecting the numerical progression of the characters - e.g. enemies on Hard will not suddenly turn into arrow sponges, but fights on that difficulty will require more careful planning and preparation with less room for mistakes.
New enemies will now appear in certain areas when the players revisit them later in the game.
Content
New major side-quest: recruit a blacksmith for your hideout!
New contracts: unlocked after clearing one of the initially available contracts. Fight men and beast alike, and test your mettle against the might of a travelling blademaster!
Hidden mini-boss added: see if you can find it!
Several new items added, including a new weapon group: bows!
Morten can now pet the dog.
Ability Changes And Fixes
New ability mechanic: modal passive abilities that can be switched on and off at will during the order phase for no additional cost. Active modals are highlighted in your character's ability lists. Note: it made sense - both thematically and tactically - to allow certain passives to be switched on and off depending on the situation on the battlefield. For example, with this change a Rogue character will be able to switch Patience on when needed to delay their action in combat, then switch it off when a quick response is required.
New ability mechanic: area damage. Note: usually this works in combination with Engagement-based attacks such as Cleave - such attacks will now deal damage to everyone standing in their area of effect, but targets affected by Engagement will take additional damage.
New ability mechanic: targeted buffs (certain Preparation abilities can now be used on other characters, not only self).
Certain abilities will now ignore weapon scaling and will instead only scale with character stats directly (where thematically appropriate). Examples include Kick (Two-handed stance) and Mend Wounds (Item ability). Equipped weapons can still affect these abilities by providing direct bonuses to main stats.
Generator abilities (e.g. basic attacks) will now restore 1AP to characters using them instead of a number of AP equal to the character's Preparation. Preparation still defines the number of AP a character gains each turn normally.
New ability group: Archery (stance, requires a bow equipped).
New ability group: Conjuration (magic).
Bardic Lore: abilities now ignore weapon power but scale better with base stats.
Class: Bard's Repertory passive logic updated: the buff it grants cannot be stacked endlessly by rotating just two songs anymore, but is now easier to maintain (playing any song will automatically refresh it).
Bardic Lore: Soothing ballad is now a direct heal (regardless of Repertory).
Bardic Lore: Several new abilities added.
Class: Mender's Healing Pulse passive has been reduced in efficiency. AP bonus is now chance-based, and can only occur once per ability use.
Support: Several new abilities added.
Destruction: Several new abilities added.
Class: Wizard has received a brand new Spell Focus passive. This replaces the Spell Focus preparation ability previously available in Protection tree.
Protection: Arcane Shield is now an active preparation ability and has been moved to Conjuration tree.
Protection: Group removed as its abilities were dissolved into other ability trees, old and new. Note: we felt that Protection, with its pure defensive focus and no offensive spells, lacked the flavor of other ability groups, and made a choice to dissolve it, moving important abilities such as Arcane Shield into other thematically-appropriate groups.
Shield Stance: Reduced the scaling of Shield Bash at level 2.
Items: Mend Wounds will now correctly work as a generator.
Stat changes and fixes
Characters can now have 0 engagement slots under certain circumstances. Such a character can never intercept nor be intercepted, their attacks will always be from the side, but attacks made against them will also be resolved as side attacks.
Added a hidden Damage Taken multiplier (1 by default). This can be altered by certain abilities to reduce or increase all damage a character takes (on top of normal Defense modifiers).
Fixed an issue with Strength stat having incorrect XP gain calculation.
Miscellaneous fixes
Reworked the pathing logic in combat. The characters will now try to stay away from enemies when repositioning for action, and will move much less chaotically when idle.
Resolved numerous minor bugs reported by our players. Thank you all for submitting your feedback!
...and there we go, now you know what to expect! The team is incredibly grateful for your support and patience as we continue working on the game and strive to make it the best experience it can be.
As a little bonus, our game designer and team lead Ilya recently made an animated wallpaper based on on the scenery from one of the new locations in the upcoming update using Wallpaper Engine. Download here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2462273188
