Greetings ghoulish death kindlers, thy time has cometh...
A new character vessel has been added called the Grave Raiser. He has the worst fighting abilities of all the vessels but has the unusual ability to kindle those he slays into familiars to fight in his stead. The amount of familiars he can control is linked to his health, depending on the game type. You can't just run off and let your minions do all the dirty work however! Each kill you personally make rekindles your resurrection flame, which slowly fades away. Once the flame has exhausted, your familiars will fall into a bone heap until you rekindle once more. The flame will only fade if there are enemies though so you don't have to fret when dallying in a merchantile shop for example. There's also 2 new achievements related to the new vessel.
Previously to unlock character vessels you simply had to make it to the relic room of the Dungeon Pilgrimage, but no more! Now each character vessel has their own unique unlock method, which involves some sort of light puzzle, challenge or exploration reward. In the General settings you can now also relock vessels you have previously unlocked.
I wanted to spruce up general levels a bit so there's now destructible pots which apart from getting in your way have a very low chance of containing a consumable. There's also 6 new thematic traps which also have a chance of spawning to spoil your lovely day in Hell.
Each of the minibosses have a new extra attack so they're less predictable. And since the Dank Crypts no longer have a character unlock it's had a little sprucing up.
In the Dungeon Pilgrimage there's a new room type which contains a nice fat chest but is protected by anointed meanies. There's also a chance of extra doorways being added to the dungeon generation so thy path may not seem quite so linear.
Plus...
- New Special Room: Omen Cranium
- New Items: Twin Strike, Skully Familiar
- New Hats: Eyeful For You, Maddy Turnip
Enjoy! :]
Anointed Compendium Update
Hello Heavenly Keepers. Some new sinful bigger boys wish to play with you. :]
Special Anointed variants of each of the regular enemies have been added, 14 in all. They have a random chance of spawning instead of the regular version depending on the game type. For example a Deamonica Hunt has a much greater chance of spawning them over a Lichemancer Hunt, or in the case of the Colosseum it's dependent on the wave number. I wanted to keep the gameplay pacey so Anointed don't have any more hp than regular enemies, but instead have new more dangerous attacks and/or are faster and meaner baddies to pummel you mercilessly.
There's now character vessel specific leaderboards for each of the game types. So if you're a fan of a particular character you can compare your scores against likeminded players. Note these are new leaderboards so you may get a few odd results for a while (e.g. you may score #1st for the vessel but #2395th overall).
The various stat related screens (itemography, scores, etc) have been folded into a new Grimoire Compendium to contain them all. There's also a new Beastiary and Diablocania which lists all the various meany nasties you've encountered and has a few extra stats. There's also two new achievements related to the Beastiary.
Plus...
- new items: Thirsting Fangs, Blunderbuss Spray, Skelly Familiar
- new special room: Sanctity Sanctorum
Enjoy. :]
Diablos Variance Update
Hi. New monstrosities for you to play with in a new way. :]
- The Lichemancers and Deamonicas now have three variants: bone, flesh and ghost. These new variants visually look different but also have all new attacks unique to the variant to beat you away with. Have fun.
- There's also a new miniboss called the Necarch. He also has three variants and has a chance of spawning instead of the usual minibosses, just to spice up playthroughs a bit.
- Once you've beaten all three variants of each of the main bosses a new game mode is unlocked called the Diablos Rush, which is essentially a boss rush.
- 5 new achievements have been added related to the Diabolus Rush, mini-bosses and variant bosses.
Plus...
- 2 new items (Cracked Hourglass, Celestial Jewel)
- 1 new consumable (Blessed Soul Ammo)
- 2 new Penitence Trials (Monstrous Purity, Clashful Chaotica)
- 3 new cards (Necarch, Thrall Wailers, Chaotica Chest)
- 2 new hats (Wicked Witchy, All Smiley)
- Added a Menu Cancel Key setting (can be pressed on a menu or card game and functions as a back button).
Enjoy! :]
Moreth Hellspawn Update
Hi. Bunch more sinfilled friends for you to play with. :]
- added mini-bosses: Skullionous, Gobmonster, Soulstorm
- new character: Accursed Haunt (+ the 2 associated Achievements)
- new items: Polearm Steel, Vasular Purifier, Soul Dust, Chaotica Blessing/Sigil/Hex
- new pickups: Purity Heart, Soul Ammo
- new special room: Bathhouse Skip
- new enemies: Malvomind, Slimer, Reaper
- new cards: Exalt Husk, Nascent Cherub, Accursed Haunt, Malvomind, Slimer, Reaper, Skullionous, Gobmonster, Soulstorm
- new hats: Scary Screamer, Straima Ninja
- new settings: dither border, dash direction, game over button
The new mini-bosses aren't particularly difficult, they're more just to spice up the runs. At least one will show up each run in all of the game types.
The three Chaotica items work differently than normal items. They don't appear in the regular item pool, instead they can only be found in special chests that may or may not show during a run, or via the Malevolent Bestowal and Tarot Destiny special rooms. They offer either a positive or negative boost which is randomly determined each time their effect is used, but are overall a good thing to have if you're willing to take the risk.
The black dithered border around the screen has been slightly reduced and the new setting can reduce this further or remove it completely.
Enjoy! Oh and if you could post any issues in the Bugs forum that would be neat. :]
Penitence Update
Hi. Some new stuff for you to play with. :]
- 2 new characters (Exalt Husk, Nascent Cherub)
- 5 new items (Swift Steel, Charmed Claw, Bonewhisperer, Chosen One, Wardic Amulet)
- 2 new hats (Pumpkin Treat, Penny Clown)
- 6 new achievements related to the Penitence Trials and characters.
A new game mode of sorts has been added called the Penitence Trials. It has a bunch of mini challenges, such as killing the bosses without getting hit, traversing a crowded dungeon maze whilst temporarily being locked in rooms without any weapons... and then there's... Glitchmoria...
There's now a way to play random game types, and since the game mode selection menu is getting a bit crowded you can now choose to hide whichever ones you fancy (e.g. so you can hide the tutorial once you've beaten it).
During a Hunt you may stumble into the Dank Crypts special stage where you explore a tiny dungeon. The main reason it was added is so you can now unlock characters during Hunts. The proper Dungeon will now always have an unlockable character if there is one to unlock.
In Clahful Cards you can now play 2-player against each other, though is local play only. There's also an option for the board to potentially have trap cards on them, which apart from blocking a tile will also reduce the power value of any cards placed next to them.
Enjoy. :]
Next up, I'd like to add some more gribbily enemies...
Usabilities Patch
Hi. :]
Just a patch update in response to the usability type feedback since release.
There's now an Itemography which can be accessed from the Menu button. It includes all the game's items which are unlocked as you discover them so you can check out what an item does before picking it up. There's also 2 new achievements for filling up the Itemography.
Some new visual options have been added. There's an option which turns off all the floor decorations which can make the readability of the enemies a fair bit better (it also very quickly fades out dead debris). There's a few CRT monitor style options to play around with too if you're into that sort of thing.
Clashful Cards now has a brief tutorial as well as a couple of new gameplay options, such as making the opponent more difficult and whether to hide his cards. There's also 6 new cards (Deaquakemon, Deaspewmon, Hollow Swarm, Forsaken Headless, Sinned Animus, Blighted Host).
The Dungeon game mode is now open from the beginning rather than having to beat the Lichemancer first. There's now an option to show a HUD minimap. Tweaked the lighting behaviour so it's a bit less gloomy when the player is skirting the outside of the room. Changed the way the music plays so there's more variety (going into a new biome area or special room will play a relevant new tune). Killing the Lichemancer will now create a couple of small chests which have a good chance of containing health.
All the games's tunes have been added to the install folder so it now should automatically appear in your Steam Music Library.
2 new hats (Hockey Jason, It's A-Meee).
Some other bug fixes and general bits and bobs, such as the Colosseum now has a chance of spawning traps (with an increasing amount/chance based on the wave number).
I'd also like to thank YOU for playing. Originally Skelly was only intended to be a small game but I've been really blown away by the response from you sinful lot. Seems there's some potential in Skelly and now this usability patch is out of the way I can focus on content updates. :]
