Striving for Light

New Features

Softcore Game Mode

• The softcore mode has a shared stash with the normal Hardcore mode. We did not want to completely separate those two modes as this would mean unlocking all skills, weapons, characters, maps and collecting crafting materials two times for each game-mode per season. Your time is precious and we want to make it possible to jump into more casual runs and then switch back to the hardcore mode if you feel like it without the bad taste of having to unlock everything a second time in the same season.
  
• As a compensation for the additional shield the softcore mode has higher experience requirements for leveling your character. This will balance out the risk-reward for the new softcore mode and make runs feel a bit more ARPG like with slower progression but also less risk of ending due to early player death.
  
• You can use both game modes to farm crafting materials. Softcore is not essentially the go-to mode for farming as your character will end up a bit weaker than on hardcore so while this mode is more save you will also have a bit less power which makes it hard to spice up maps as you might do in the hardcore mode.
  

Version 0.8.6.0f-g

• hardcore / softcore mode from previous run is now remembered for the next run
  
• fixed some updating issues on the softcore leaderboard
  
• switching from softcore to hardcore in town will now properly hide shield UI
  
• smaller fixes for the softcore mode
  
• fixed crash when switching leaderboard from softcore to hardcore (v.0.8.6.0g)
  
• improved phoenix animation (v.0.8.6.0g)
  

Version 0.8.6.0e

• Early Access Season 10 start.
  

Version 0.8.6.0d

• If you die in softcore you will now always gain full live on restart in town.
  
• Rolled back the multi threaded physics model. 
  
• Performance improvements.
  
• Fixed last shield charge not being visually removed on player death.
  
• Improved updating leaderboards when switching between hardcore and softcore game modes.
  
• Fixed bug that could lead to a crash when the player died when casting plenty of projectiles
  
• Fixed phoenix fire circle AoE being hidden when the event is placed at the very top of a map. 
  

• Hammer Melee Weapon deals now 12 damage + additional 12 melee damage as slam Area AoE (was 16 melee damage + additional 16 slam area AoE damage)
  
• Throwing spear projectile damage has been reduced to 8 (was 16 before).
  
• Heleja has now 2 default max dodge charges (was 3 max dodge before)
  
• Rogue Character now has 4 max dodge charages (was 3 max dodge before)
  

Version 0.8.6.0c

• Fixed bug that erased save files and lead to plenty of crashes.
  
• Softcore/ Hardcore game mode can now only be switched at the start of the run.
  
• Added tooltips for the new game modes. Added a softcore / hardcore flag in the pathfinder to show on which gamemode you are playing.
  

Version 0.8.6.0b

• A new softcore mode has been implemented. You can now choose on the start of each run if you want to play the new softcore game mode instead of the standard hardcore mode. The new softcore game mode grants you 3 shields that fade when you die. The shields get recharge by one shield charge each 10 levels. In softcore you will receive less exp than in the standard hardcore mode to even out the difficulty differences. Hardcore and softcore both have sperate leaderboards. The hardcore game mode stays unchanged.
  
• Phoenix now on spawn does not directly deal contact damage.
  
• Further memory leak fixes.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused save files to be partially loaded leading to crashes.
  

Version 0.8.6.0a

• Transitioned to multi threaded physics model for increased performance. Plenty of technical changes on how collisions are processed to enable multi threaded physics.
  
• Performance improvements on hitting enemies due to new and improved enemy detection range change for all enemies.
  
• Fixed inconsistent map enemy density which could lead to very poor performance on very unplayable enemy densities on forest and sands map for example. Previously some maps due to weak enemy spawn restrictions could end up having tons over overlapping enemies that was leading to massive performance issues. This should now be fixed as enemies have now the same spawn restrictions on each map.
  
• Sand map now has larger trap distance to prevent trap cluttering.
  
• Memory leak fixes.
  
• Fixed invisible AoE field on corrupted merchant.
  
• Fixed off-flowing tooltips in the pathfinder when applying shards to maps.
  
• Increased spawn possibility of the new added secret.
  

Bounty Hunt the new Secret

Bug Reporting

Patch notes v. 0.8.6.0a

• Transitioned to multi threaded physics model for increased performance. Plenty of technical changes on how collisions are processed to enable multi threaded physics.
  
• Performance improvements on hitting enemies due to new and improved enemy detection range change for all enemies.
  
• Fixed inconsistent map enemy density which could lead to very poor performance on very unplayable enemy densities on forest and sands map for example. Previously some maps due to weak enemy spawn restrictions could end up having tons over overlapping enemies that was leading to massive performance issues. This should now be fixed as enemies have now the same spawn restrictions on each map.
  
• Sand map now has larger trap distance to prevent trap cluttering.
  
• Memory leak fixes.
  
• Fixed invisible AoE field on corrupted merchant.
  
• Fixed off-flowing tooltips in the pathfinder when applying shards to maps.
  
• Increased spawn possibility of the new added secret.
  

Bounty Hunt the new Secret

Bug Reporting

Improvements:

• Rearranged the dialog box options so that all dialog boxes have confirm action to the right and leave or cancel actions on the left. The phoenix, merchant, coop stone, chicken dialog boxes there have been update with new option arrangement.
  
• Stone statue enemy eyes now as well have a red outline
  
• Fixed inconsistent worm enemy attack collider activation
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed crit damage value not being displayed in the stats window
  
• Fixed cape glitch of unknown wanderers
  

New Features:

Improvements:

• Smoother player camera movement and performance improvements
  

Balancing:

• Darkness Staff now has 5 base damage (was 10 base damage)
  

Bugfixes

• Reverted to serial physics model due to some regressions.
  

Improvements

• Fixed memory leaks on scene switch which lead to degraded performance over time.
  
• Glaring light has reduced visual stack count to prevent visual blow out
  
• Darkness Challenges for receiving skill gems now do not spawn enemies on current player position
  
• Fixed wrong displayed shadow on phoenix superboss
  
• Fixed stats display fraction of values decimal values
  
• Stone Statue enemies now as well have red outline for hands
  
• Loading screen now has translations
  

Balancing

• Worm enemies now do not deal damage on tail edge
  

Bugfixes:

• Fixed world event glitch that makes it possible to activate an event multiple times
  
• Rolled back previous change that always difficulty tier 1 is automatically selected. Now always the highest current difficulty tier is selected by default on the start of a run
  

New Features:

• New training dummies have been added to Ankerath.
  
  
  
  This training dummies always have the same HP Pool as regular enemies of your current difficulty setting. So the HP pool dynamically grows with your enemy strength making it the perfect dummy to test build changes before going back into a map. Once a training dummy HP pool is depleated it will immediatly get refilled.
  
  
  
  
• Re-designed damage numbers. We completely redesigned the damage number animation to make damage numbers feel as responsive as possible and more satisfying to look at. So the new animation is designed to reflect the damage inpact. Also the damage numbers have got a complete new color code with gradual tint shift from pure white - yellow - golden depending on the damage amount. The previous color code was just to diverse with a more rainbow disco feel.
  
  
  
  
• Re-designed tooltips for skills, maps, map mods, shards and consumable items. The previous tooltip design can be dated back to our pre-early access days over a year ago so it definately needed a long awaited redesign. Here is how the new tooltip design looks like.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Improvements

• New multi threaded physics model for improved performance
  
• If new difficulty tiers are unlocked a new run now always defaults at difficulty tier 1 and has to be increased by the player
  

Bugfixes:

• Fixed the cursor hotspot offset for the software cursor
  
• Fixed crashes for new players that did not have any savefiles
  
• Fixed crash/ missing placement preview on placing skill gems with new multi threaded physics model (v.0.8.5.0a)
  

New Features:

• New maps can now be unlocked in one run by pushing deeper delve levels. Previously you had to do a few runs to unlock all maps
  
• Rewritten object pooling system that will prevent memory leaks from happening. Previously playing the game for 7+ hours straight has lead to some degraded performance due to accumulating unused game objects from the pooling system. Gameobjects are now reused more efficiently to prevent memory leaks and keep performance stable for very long gaming sessions. But we encurage everyone to take regular breaks, stand up, refill water bottles to stay hydrated, and take care of your self!
  

Streamer Race

Improvements:

• Improved damage number coloring
  
• Overall performance improvements and improved performance after scene switches
  
• Software cursor is now active by default, if you got hidden cursor issues you can still dectivate the software cursor in the options menu
  

Balancing:

• Darokins Staff: Projectiles now have 40% chance to unleash a light ray upon hit enemies. (was 25% trigger chance)
  

The 24h Streamer-Race will take place at the 24th-25th June 2023 starting and ending at 7pm CEST.

Price Pool

1. Place: 125$ + Design Weapon/Skill/Companion together with the devs which will be implemented as a new secret into the game.
   
2. Place: 75$
   
3. Place: 50$
   

How to participate

1. Join the Igniting Spark Games discord & introduce yourself in #streamer-race
   
2. Stream your full race progress on twitch & have VODs active to prevent cheating
   
3. PayPal for receiving price money (price pool provided by event host QuietForMe)
   

Balancing changes

• All characters, weapons and skills are unlocked from the start for everyone for the streamer race event
  
• The increased Fragments of light drop rates have been lowered for the streamer race event
  

Not streaming yet?

New features:

• Software cursor is now a opt-in option in the options menu. As plenty of players reported back that windows hides the software cursor for some specific resolutions and screen scaling settings in fullscreen mode the software cursor is now disabled by default. This should always yield a visible cursor with the option to activate the nicer looking software cursor if your windows settings support this.
  

4 Days Character Race Event

• 4 day event duration, giving all players a more time to compete and try out the still pretty new timed event system.
  
• All characters are unlocked from the start of the event
  
• Only tier 1 difficulty tier is available for the rush events
  

Improvements

• On rush events only difficulty tier 1 can be played and no further tiers can be unlocked
  
• Rush events now grant you access to all playable characters right from the start of the event
  
• Visual improvements for the event system
  
• Tweaks and improvements for the event system
  

Bugfixes:

• Fixed a bug that could lead to a crash when entering skill tree
  
• Fixed wrong rounded resource regeneration values in the leaderboard build viewer
  
• Fixed resposiveness number overlay for healthbar that activates after exceeding a certain health treshold