In the near future (October 1st) we plan to release an updated demo of the game on Steam Next Fest.
We have prepared a description of the main improvements and innovations.
Dream catchers
You can find rare artifacts called Dreamcatchers in the Dungeon. Having such an artifact, your hero, in case of death, is reborn at the place of the last rest, and the stone disappears.
This will increase the survivability of the hero, and protect against accidental deaths a bit), at the same time, it will keep the game hardcore, because the number of "lives" is limited.
The number of such stones in the Dungeon depends on the complexity of the game. There are 5 on initial difficulty, 3 on standard, and 1 on nightmare.
Skill Books
In the Dungeon, you can find special rare books, reading which gives the hero a new skill / ability.
You can find books that give the ability to improve sharpening or poisoning weapons. A thief can find a book on setting up poison traps and learn how to disarm them. The number of books will increase.
Weapon
We have made various improvements to the game related to weapons and the combat system.
Added new weapons. Legacy weapons are better balanced, descriptions have been updated to better match the lore. Updated all weapon and shield images to better quality.
Improved weapon generation system on levels. For example, in each raid, a different sword may be lying in the same place (or not lying).
Added "One-Handed Weapon" and "Two-Handed Weapon" skills. They are growing when using the corresponding type of weapon.
Added the ability to poison arrows.
Added sounds when arrows hit wood, stone, metal, monsters.
The crossbow can be worn simultaneously with two-handed weapons.
Added new animations and abilities to the monsters. Spiders can now effectively bite the victim, the undead can kick, and Morroch can deliver a powerful kick from which the hero will fall on his back.
Improvements in the artificial intelligence of monsters.
Updated some locations and environments.
New sounds
Added a set of new sounds that were previously missing :)
For example, now you will hear how the lamps light up and break, how the crowbar creaks when the chest is opened, and how the hero screams when he falls into the abyss. And also, those terrible voices in the head, which the adept of the Four Towers, who stabbed himself in madness, wrote about in his diary!
Interface Improvements
Updated some windows and dialogs. When viewing equipment, a "live" character is now displayed.
A new book about Starstones has been added.
Added French translation. Bienvenue au Donjon !
Added partly support of gamepads.
A lot of improvements, fixes, improvements, balancing, including those based on your feedback.
Thank you for your support, feedback, suggestions and ideas!
Spark in the Dark / New Demo
Hello everyone!
We've made a lot of different improvements and innovations to Spark in the Dark for the past several months. And we'd like to share the fresh demo with you. The update contains various improvements of the dungeon and gameplay described below.
Added crossbows
The crossbow is now the Hunter's primary weapon, though other classes can use it as well. The Crossbows skill is leveling up with usage and affects the reload speed and the accuracy of the shot. Bolts pierce monster flesh and wood, but bounce off metal and stone. Also you can pull them from defeated enemies.
Undead improvements
Now the undead can fight with their hands, you can also knock out weapons from their hands, and sometimes they are found unarmed initially (their number depends on the difficulty level).
Added alcoholic drinks, which can be found occasionally in the Dungeon. Such drinks provide various Will boosts (restoration of stamina, health, resistance to darkness and harmful influences) at the same time, the Inebriation debuff is applied, which is accompanied by visual effects on the screen) and some penalty to Perception. Moreover, each sip of alcohol increases the gain and the penalty and the effect on the screen.
You can use a grinding wheel and a reservoir:
Added a description of the influence of basic attributes on the processes in the game:
Added chests with traps :)
Added the system when melee attack speed depends on hero's Strength and weapon skill level.
Updated some locations.
Added a couple of new rings and increased the number of rings worn at the same time from 2 to 4.
Added 4 new achievements.
Added Spanish localization.
Improved UI for different resolutions so it scales correctly on any displays from square to ultrawide.
Improved procedural generation.
Made additional optimizations, the game runы smoother.
Various internal improvements, adjustments and fixes.
Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it and it helps us develop the game and better understand you guys! Sometimes we cannot do everything quickly but we listen to many of your ideas and suggestions! 💀
You are welcome to the Dungeon!
Devlog – New features and improvements
Hello everyone!
We've made a lot of different improvements and innovations to Spark in the Dark for the past several months. Here are some of them:
Added crossbows. The crossbow is now the Hunter's primary weapon, though other classes can use it as well. The Crossbows skill is leveling up with usage and affects the reload speed and the accuracy of the shot. Arrows pierce monster flesh and wood, but bounce off metal and stone. Arrows can then be pulled from defeated enemies.
Undead improvements. Now the undead can fight with their hands, you can also knock out weapons from their hands, and sometimes they are found unarmed initially (the number of unarmed undead depends on the difficulty level).
Added alcoholic drinks, which can be found occasionally in the Dungeon. Such drinks provide various Will boosts (restoration of stamina, health, resistance to darkness and harmful influences) at the same time, the Inebriation debuff is applied, which is accompanied by visual effects on the screen) and some penalty to Perception. Moreover, each sip of alcohol increases the gain and the penalty and the effect on the screen.
You can use a grinding wheel and a reservoir.
Added a description of the influence of basic attributes on the processes in the game.
Added a couple of new rings and increased the number of rings worn at the same time from 2 to 4.
Added 4 new achievements.
Added Spanish localization.
Improved UI for different resolutions so it scales correctly on any displays from square to ultrawide.
Made additional optimizations, the game should run smoother if anyone had problems with this.
Active work is underway on the deeper tiers of the Dungeon.
Also we made a lot of various fixes and adjustments based on your feedback, streams and reviews (we read and watch!). Thank you!
These (and other) improvements will be available in the next update.
Spark in the Dark / Demo Updated (0.09.3)
Hello everyone!
Here is a new patch that fixes some bugs in the demo game and contains some improvements.
Added 'RESTART DUNGEON' option after your hero died. So you don't need to return to the menu if you want to replay your character and Dungeon.
Added confirmation question before getting insides of creatures for Hunter.
Added an amount of available crowbar usages on cracking lock dialog.
Added new idle animations for Thief with daggers.
Fixed incorrect behaviour "Sharpen weapon" button on a camp screen.
Fixed getting 'Spy' achievement in some cases.
Fixed untranslated Russian text on Book review screen.
Various internal stability improvements and micro balances.
Thank you, your feedback helps us to make the game better! We are continuing to work on new features which will be available in big update planned on spring.
Spark in the Dark / Demo Updated (0.09.1)
Hello everyone!
Here is a patch that fixes some bugs in the demo game and contains minor balance improvements.
It fixes the issue when the monsters were attacking a hero during interaction animations. Now you can safely pick the lock or gut the corpse of a spider and if someone bites you, it will not cause problems with a hero control.
Also:
Decreased a speed of leveling up for Shields skill.
The darkness a bit less aggressive in Forgotten Dungeon and a bit more aggressive in Nightmare Dungeon.
Decreased a weight of bear traps.
Updated dirty ramshackle clothes for corpses.
Fixed bug with poison crafting.
Fixed bug with stealth mode switching.
Small text/UI fixes.
Thank you, happy New Year and have a great adventure in the Dungeon!
Spark in the Dark / Demo updated
We are continuing to work on the deeper levels of the Dungeon. At the same time we'd like to share the fresh demo with you. The update contains various improvements of the Dungeon and gameplay described below.
Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it and it helps us develop the game and better understand you guys! Sometimes we cannot do everything quickly because we are a small indie team but we listen to many of your ideas and suggestions! 💀
Statistics and achievements
Now in the hero window you can see statistics and achievements for the current game. Previously, this information was only on the final screen.
If you find all the secret locations, this will also show up as a corresponding achievement, although until then the total number of secret locations in the level will remain unknown.
Obtaining the achievement will notify you that all secret locations have been found. The same applies to books - the finding of all unique books on the level is now recorded as an achievement.
Light and night vision of monsters
When the hero is in the light or with the lantern on, the monsters see him with 100% vision. However, when the hero is in the dark, the monster's range of vision decreases depending on how well it sees in the dark. All monsters have different vision in the dark.
The bestiary displays information about the vision of the monsters.
Heroes have a new skill Shields
It determines the effectiveness of using shields in fight.
For example, the Warrior has initially Shields skill = 3 and the Thief has initially Shields skill = 1. If the Thief takes the shield and the enemy hits him with a powerful two-handed, all stamina can be taken from one blow, and the block will be knocked out in this way. But the Warrior will be able to withstand several such blows.
The skill is level up as the shields are used.
Also, weapon blocks have been improved. Removal of stamina depends on the level of possession of the weapon with which the hero is defending. When hit in the block, the skill of the weapon is slightly increased.
Improved the system of receiving injuries
Now, getting injuries depends on the type of armor:
For heavy armor, injuries are only obtained on a critical hit.
For medium armor, injuries are obtained with a critical hit and a 50/50 chance for a normal hit.
For light armor, injuries are obtained with a critical hit and a normal hit (this was the case for all armor before).
Without armor, injuries are obtained with any hit.
If the weapon is poisoned, the poison is always applied on a critical and normal hit, regardless of the type of armor.
AND:
Added broken swords.
Improved Ancient Altar.
Some armor can enhance a hero's Constitution.
Different color of the blood of monsters. The weapon is dyed upon hitting the victim's corresponding color.
Added new animations for crowbar and Ripper skill, improved some of the previous hero animations.
The hero can carry as many lanterns and crowbars as he wants, limiting himself only to the maximum carried weight.
The hero has new, more authentic underpants)
Improved the mechanics of climbing and rappelling, various level improvements.
Numerous minor improvements and bug fixes.
Optimization, reduced peak processor loads.
Improved English localization
Added Portuguese
Thank you!
P.S. The keys rebinding settings are in progress and it will be added to the game by the near patches. It will allow people to play the game with AZERTY keyboards. Thank you for your patience.
