Patch 21 - Enjoy your adventure in the world of Super Cane Magic ZERO!
Patch 21 has arrived and with it our adventure in the story mode begins! As we anticipated a few days ago, Patch 21 includes a huge part of story mode, new levels, NPC, achievements, enemies, dialogues, loot and much more! This means your saved games won’t work anymore, because the new game structure includes many features not included in the previous versions.
In the upcoming weeks we’ll collect your feedback, as we’ll gradually release the remaining parts of the story, making it completely available before the end of 2017. This means that if you find mistakes, bugs or things too weird you can help us leaving a comment in the official Community Hub
This patch and the ones that will complete the story includes, among the other things, all the items suggested by our backes. If you are a backer and you can’t find your in game reward don’t worry! You can contact us using the email address contacts[at]studioevil[dot]com
We can’t wait to see the screenshot of your characters! Enjoy the game and watch out for the LASEEEERS!!!
Patch 21 Preview - Story Mode Incoming!
Explorers of virtual worlds, we salute you! We are here to make a huge announcement: the story mode is coming soon! On Friday 17th you will be able to start exploring the world of WOTF in Early Access!
Get ready to secrets, traps, dialogues and huge levels to explore, alone or in local co-op up to four players. You will meet dozens of new NPCs and monsters, including the characters suggested by our backers and a bunch of new and wild bosses!
The three procedural levels you already met will return in the story mode, improved and expanded. You will also find WPD spaceships and the flaming corridors of the lava bakery. But this is only a taste, because tons of new levels and environments will arrive soon, and we can’t wait for you to play them all!
New levels and new environments means new treasures to find! Prepare to wear weird and absurd armors and to brandish powerful fruit baskets!
Last but not least, one of the main features will be the new game hub: the Poptarts Village, place of the prestigious Academy of Magic and Bakery. At the beginning of the adventure you will find it ruined, destroyed by the cataclysm caused by the magic dog AAAAH! You will be the hero who will rebuild the village, unlocking characters, stores and items that will help you through your journey!
Patch 21, that will arrive on November 17th, includes more than half of the story contents, and will be followed in short time by a series of smaller updates that will complete the whole story mode before the end of 2017. In this way you will be able to enjoy story mode without big interruptions, and will allow us to do more granular patches, making the management of all the new stuff easier for us.
With your help and your feedbacks, once the story will be released we will focus on polish and debug, so we will be able to leave Early Access in the first half of 2018. The game will also be released for all the main latest generation consoles.
Prepare your wooden pants and alert your friends, because the adventure is about to begin!
Early Access Update 19
Salutations, creatures of planet earth!
We are proud to present you the new features of Super Cane Magic ZERO Update 19!
In this patch we wanted to make the game more dynamic and more responsive, and we also introduced dozens of new items and gameplay options. We optimized the RPG system, making the core stats stand out.
What about the story mode?
In addition to all the improvements that you’ll read below, we also moved forward on the story mode. We created the tiles and elements that will compose the new areas as well as the items that you will find inside them. We built the internal tools that allow us to easily and quickly make game levels, and crafted some missing gameplay mechanics. Almost all enemies and most levels have also already been designed and drawn.
Most of this progress will not be shown in this patch. This is because we have chosen to release the story only when it will be complete.
Our plans are to release the story in the next big update. There will only be in-between patches if necessary (bugs, balance issues, etc...) or if some of our work will be easily implemented in a release (e.g. upgrades to AI made while we build new enemies)
Let’s see what’s new in patch 19.00:
Dynamic and Reactive Game
Sprint, brake, dash and knock back your enemies with new mechanics, effects and animations.
We significantly increased the amount of mana available to characters. More mana means more choice, more combinations of attacks and abilities.
Respawn, cooldown and pickup times have been reduced, while attack and throw animations have been sped up. This makes the character far more responsive.
You can now control even the smallest movements with increased precision at low speeds (curse you lava!)
Enemies and players are more fragile: every attack counts and every dodge can save your life.
New Items, Unique Traits and Off-Hand Actions
Off-Hand items now have actions just like Main Hand items. They can also be swapped using the quick slot belt. Off-Hand abilities are different from main hand actions: they are indirect attacks, power ups, mobility actions, etc...
We introduced about 30 new item traits, some of which are only found in unique items. This makes unique items really special as they offer combinations of traits and stats that cannot be obtained in other ways!
New stats for all items and their affixes: now it’s easier to obtain core stats.
We added more than 100 new equipment items of all types: Standard, Uniques and Set Items.
RPG system upgrade
We made big changes in our RPG rules to achieve a smoother progression and to remove uninteresting or obscure stats. This upgrade was necessary to include the large number of new items we added in update 19 and the upcoming story mode.
To create more interesting progression choices, we introduced character Classes. Classes define the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen characters. Will you make an extreme build exploiting your strong stats or will you try to compensate the weaknesses?
Power Level now increases your stats based on your character’s Class. All informations about your character’s Class can be found in the character sheet within the inventory or during character selection.
Beliefs have been updated to follow the RPG changes. Now the Power Level is gained by spending points in the belief page. Don’t forget to spend your points when you level up, it will make a difference!
Contents:
Added LASEEEERS!
Added a tooltip that shows the stats for items on the ground or in a shop
Added all missing backer items (some of them cannot be obtained due to their spawn area not being accessible at the moment)
Added many items both Standard and Unique (some of them cannot be obtained due to their spawn area not being accessible at the moment)
New game mechanics, animations and effects for attacks, abilities, sprinting, braking, etc...
New effects for explosions, projectiles, status effects (poisoned, on fire, chilled, etc...)
Atmospheric effects like rain, snow and more
Improved inventory and map interfaces, and added a Fog of War system
Added new musics and fixed some old musics that were not playing due to an error
You can now buy surprise boxes in some shops
We added a “magnetic” effect that allows player to pick-up Salami in a small area around the character
Every game area has now specific loot that drops from thematic treasure chests
Balance:
Due to big chances to our RPG ruleset, we re-evaluated all game calculations. Damage, armors, special abilities and other game stats may have now different values.
New lives system: lives are now persistent and are reset only when accessing the map or being defeated. The base number of lives is determined by game difficulty
Set items now have a green trait that identifies them
Foods that grants the “vitamins” buff will heal the “poisoned” status effect
Every level will have a boss now. The boss is randomly chosen from the area bosses (This is a temporary solution before the story gets released)
Random Traits will now spawn only on purple items (and no longer in green and blue items)
Many effects that are continuously applied will have a less invasive notification (e.g. walking in the mud)
Explosions and area effects can now hit stunned characters, inflicting 50% damage
Levers and pressure plates have been made more reactive and the interaction with them has been made quicker
Fixes:
Fixed many bugs both major and minor on gameplay issues
Fixed some enemies attack AI. Now they’ll do rapid attack sequences alternated with pauses, instead of attacking slowly and continuously
Fixed some bugs with interface scaling (text disappearing)
Early Access Update 18
Hello Friends, Cats, Dogs and a specific Chicken!
We present you Super Cane Magic ZERO update 18.00 (and Hotfix 18.01)!
Let’s see what’s new in Patch 18.00:
New Arena: Brainfreeze
This arena introduces the new Ice Environment! A Magic Frozen Jelly stands in the middle of this arena, eat it to gain incredible powers! Be quick, as there is only one jelly at a time for all the players!
New Arena: Insta-Friends
There are 4 Ultra-Powered-Insta-Kill staves in this arena, get them quick and be ready to dodge those bullets! You can slow down the most elusive opponents using sticky jelly drops. Watch out for the timed traps too, they can cripple you and make you an easy target.
New Arena: Bouncy Bombers
Bounce around using your spring and drop a vast array of explosive items on your frenemies! Keep your eyes open to spot yellow potions that can turn the tide of the game. Avoid falling into the lava pits though, there is no way out of those!
Other Additions
We revamped the old arena selection menu, and now it's atleast 3 times nicer!
It also gives you informations on arenas old and new.
We have renamed old arenas with cool names too:
Close Quarters: the WPD office arena for close combat brawls
Hot Shower: the volcanic arena with falling meteors and fiery rocks
Portugal: the mildest arena with grass, sun and water (ideal for a picnic!)
Balance:
Magic staffs and wands now have faster bullets that travel further. We also added cool trails!
The Spring now creates a - literally - stunning explosion upon landing.
Fixes:
Fixed a bug that kept controller vibration going when a level was over
Fixed the loot tables for some of the bosses
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused a black line to cut through the level and block passage (This bug was kinda rare, and for this reason we can’t be 100% sure that the fix is definitive. If this bug still happens to you, please tell us!)
Fixed a bug that caused explosion marks and decals to be shown as purple areas on Linux and OSX (actually due to an incompatibility between our shader and the OpenGL Library)
Hotfix 18.01:
Fixes:
Fixed a bug that caused shadows to be drawn on top of other stuff (e.g. salami)
Fixed a bug with the “Bad Digestion” perk that you get by eating some items. The perk wrongly caused all incoming healing to be inverted. Now it correctly inverts only the healing caused by items that you eat.
SFX volume now correctly fades with distance. We also reduced the volume of the most common sounds like impacts and shooting. Some minor eq has also been applied to SFX.
(ARENA ONLY) Reduced the invulnerability period when recovering from stun by half. A bug caused it to be double its value.
Mouse cursor is now confined to the game window
Balance:
Base Ego values for all characters has been raised from 75 to 100. Now all special abilities will be more effective from the start.
Removed the brief invulnerability period when using a special ability. Be careful how you use them!
Dr.Buttdog special ability:
Duration reduced from 10 fixed seconds to 1 second + (Ego
0.01)
Absorption bonus slightly reduced
Armor given to team members increased
Mana cost reduced from 50 to 30
These changes are aimed at making the ability less “autowin” while still keeping it very effective if used at the right moment.
Flashio special ability:
The number of lighting bolts in the trail has been increased by 20% (Total damage remains the same)
Dodge bonus reduced: instead of setting the value to 500, now adds 100 points to the current value
These changes are aimed at making the ability slightly less powerful and increasing the skill required to use it properly.
Evilio special ability:
Base duration increased from 12 to 15 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30
These changes are aimed at making the ability easier to use.
Yogurt special ability:
Base duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30
These changes are aimed at making the ability more effective if used at the right moment.
Laser Grampa special ability:
Base damage increased from 1 to 2 per bullet
Ego damage multiplier increased from 0.02 to 0.03
These changes are aimed at making the ability stronger. Laser Grampa’s ability makes him an easy target, but now it also makes him dangerous!
Fishman special ability:
Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
These changes are aimed at making the ability use more frequent.
Early Access Update 17.51
Hello dogmancers! We finally present you Super Cane Magic ZERO update 17.51
codename: いただきます!
This update is about tech and localization but we added some some new content as well. Let’s see what’s new:
Japanese Localization
To celebrate our showcase at Tokyo game Show 2016 this update adds support for the japanese language!
Please note that Super Cane Magic ZERO is still in early access, so as we move forward in the development of the game you might find some parts of the game are still in English even if you set the game in Japanese. We will try to limit these issues as much as possible, but we must wait for the new content to be “stable” before being able to translate everything properly.
Improved Eating
Eating plays a big part in Super Cane Magic ZERO, it creates ridiculous situations and it is useful for recovering health, but we felt it could be improved to deliver more fun. Eating different food now grants your character unique buffs in addition to the usual effects and health recovery. You can only have two “diet buffs” active at the same time. Eating a third diet-enhancing object will make your hero digest it’s meal loudly and resets all diet perks.
Different food improves several aspects of your adventuring, from mana regeneration to damage resistance and movement speed. Experiment which combination better suits your characters and play-style and do not eat too many bombs!
Visuals and interfaces:
Redesigned lava bakery items to be more visually unique and interesting
Added a warning message when you are leaving the belief interface with unconfirmed talent points
Improved tutorial and hub areas with the addition of interactive signposts that explain game controls
Improved item tooltip balloon visuals
Improved loading screen background art
Changed “retro” mode to be less gameplay breaking
Re-designed icon for “max mana”
Optimizations and Fixes:
Updated the game to Unity 5.4
Improved game performances by reducing memory usage and lighting calculations
Improved off-screen culling system
Improved game elements caching system
Fixed a bug that caused some bullets to hit twice
Fixed some bugs with liquid interaction effects
Fixed a bug with camera auto-zoom
Early Access Update 17
We’re happy to announce Super Cane Magic ZERO Early Access Update 17!
Let’s see what’s new:
https://youtu.be/TPgfmX4J-2o
Sell items
You can now sell items to vendors! We added vendor characters in every shop, so now you can convert the items you don't’ use in precious salami!
Respec
Some characters will be able to reset your belief points
Level Cap +20
We increased the level cap by 20 levels. You can now reach level 50 and gain access to 2 new belief trees!
Game Hub
After completing the tutorial, you will be able to access a new level with some interesting features:
Permanent Shop to buy and sell gear
The Belief Respec Specialist
Playable characters unlock
“Elite Dungeon” Level
Balance and content
Enemy spawn groups reworked to be more varied and challenging
Enemy damage reduced roughly by 20% al lower levels
Ranged enemy movement speed increased by 30%
Small Enemy Stun Resistance increased by 50%
Medium Enemy Stun Resistance increased by 30%
Large Enemy health received a small buff
Stun inflicted by throwing enemies against other enemies reduced by 40%, it should now be harder to chain stun enemy groups
Spring mana cost on use has been reduced
Added new enemy: Lizard Man Axe Thrower
Added a new room to the “Hills” Tileset
Health and damage from eating items has been reduced approximately by 40%
Doubled warning time for enemy attacks
Mini-stuns on enemies after a successful weapon hit have been slightly increased
Reworked audio
Changes and Bugfixes:
Story dialog status is now saved
Fixed a bug that caused unspent belief points warning being shown in the arena
Fixed collider on stairs borders that were causing glitchy movement
Changed the threshold for falling down from higher places to be more forgiving
Removed “Unlockables” menu. Playable characters can now be unlocked in the Hub
Solved a bug that made random generation sometimes fail at being random
Backers’ Rewards
All characters have been completed. Some are coming with this patch and the others will be released in future updates
Backer Items and Credits will be coming in the next patches
HOTFIX 17.02
Fixed a bug that prevented detect hidden stat from working
Fixed broken texture in a defesive buff
Fixed a bug that prevented item mana usage and base damage to be shown while being stored in the inventory
Fixed a bug that prevented the rumble sound of pressure plates from stopping
Fixed a bug with doors making no sound when opening and closing
Fixad a bug that made world map nodes appear horizontally stretched
Fixed fixed trap damage Not Scaling with stage tier
Poison damage: 1.5%HP per tick but duration increased from 10 to 20 secs
On-Fire Damage: increased from 2.5%HP per tick to 4%HP per tick. Duration is still 4 seconds
Fixed wrong lighting in world map
Early Access Update 16
We’re happy to announce Super Cane Magic ZERO Early Access Update 16!
Let’s see what’s new!
https://youtu.be/V94QrvnZPcU
Leveling system and squad progression
We have built a team progression system that allows you to gain levels defeating enemies. Each new level grants a point that can be used in the Belief system. Just like the inventory, the levels and the upgrades are shared among all the team members.
Belief system and upgrade trees
To access the Belief system, press “B” on the keyboard. If you are using a controller press Y (or Triangle) and browse the interfaces with RT/LT (R2/L2)
Much of the story will be based on what characters believe to be true, and the consequences of these silly delusions. To make the game a memorable experience, such an aspect could not have been kept apart from the game mechanics. For this reason we decided to integrate the Belief system with a core element such as the characters progression.
Each different belief is connected to a unique upgrade tree. These beliefs are also divided in two subjects each, and those can be parallel or opposite to each other.
If the subjects are parallel, you can acquire the upgrades of both, without limitations. If they are opposite you have to choose carefully which one to take, as unlocking the first point in one will block the other one.
Currently, in challenge mode, beliefs are automatically unlocked when reaching specific level milestones. In the future, with the release of story mode, beliefs will have to be unlocked exploring the world of WOTF and completing missions. The complete Belief System includes dozens of different icons, 32 unique abilities, 7 upgrade trees for a total of over 90 perks and talents.
In this update you will have access to the first two beliefs and 20 levels. More levels and trees will be released as we progress with the game development. We are trying to keep the whole thing spoiler free but the closer we get to the story release the harder it will become.
Adaptive game world
The game difficulty now is self adapting, as it grows by 1 Tier each 6 player levels. Difficulty tier influences enemy damage, health and abilities, as well as loot power. This will keep the game challenging and rewarding.
Guests from the Internet and the Real World!
We added several new treats to the current version of the game.
From time to time you will encounter a giant version of the comic book artist Daw and his ninjas instead of the usual bosses. A smaller version of him can also be unlocked as a new playable character with unique passive and special abilities. Rumors have it that he also hid the Mysterious Japanese Duck somewhere.
But it’s not over! If you are lucky you can also meet the dubber/youtuber Ludo Thorn around the world… watch out! He sure knows how to drop the mic!
Map upgrade
Working on environments for the story mode we understood that our map system was too simple. Big areas where really hard to navigate with no reference except external walls. Now the map and the minimap show ground height levels with grayscale and areas occupied by different liquids with specific colors. Keeping track of your position in the dungeon should be way easier now.
Item sets
In order to make treasures aven more interesting, we added item sets that grant unique abilities or powerups if a character is wearing all the pieces of one or more sets. For now there are 4 sets in the game, some more rare than the others, but more will be added in future patches. Sets are secret and have to be discovered, happy hunting!
Item Traits system upgraded
Traits assigned to usable items are now split into two categories: offensive and defensive. Items that affect only enemies will be granted offensive traits and items that affect only friends will be granted only defensive traits. Items that affect both, or some particular items, will have access to both types of Traits. Currently we have a very limited number of Traits in these categories, but more will come soon.
Classes and Combat Power
Playable characters are now divided into classes that define their starting stats. Moreover, class changes how combat power is converted to warriorness, rogueness and wizardness. Combat power is a new character stat.
Currently the character’s class is shown in the inventory screen.
For each 100 points of combat power
Warrior: 5 points of warriorness, 2,5 points of rogueness , 1 points of wizardness
Rogue: 2 points of warriorness, 5 points of rogueness , 1,5 points of wizardness
Wizard: 1,5 points of warriorness, 2 points of rogueness , 5 points of wizardness
Balloons
Characters and enemies can now express their ideas with funny balloons.
Don’t get mad if enemies make fun of you!
New visual effects
We added many new visual effects for basic interactions, explosions, movement and abilities old and new.
Other content and interfaces
Added more variety to weapons in the tutorial level to allow trying different playing styles from the beginning
All non-magic bullets have now a colored outline effect that makes them more visible
9 new equippable items
1 new trait for defensive items: “shielding”
Flying texts are now smaller and less oblique
Dialogs now show the names of the speakers
Character status screen has been upgraded
Using the controller is now possible to access all in game interfaces by pressing Y/Triangle. Navigating through all the interfaces can be done by using RT/LT (R2/L2).
Balance and tweaks
DoT can no longer deal a critical hit
Reduced stun amount on players
Optimization and bugfixes
Fixed a bug on dog biscuits calculation at the end of levels
Some fixes in the AI
Early Access Update 15
Update 15 is a tecnical update that addresses important issues with controllers an game balace. We also added more items suggested by backers.
Improved controller support
We redesigned and re-implemented how we handle control settings and controllers. Most of the controllers on the market are now working properly
Keyboard and Mouse control configuration interface has been redesigned
Character selection interface has been improved
[Windows Only] Added controller vibration to some in-game events. Vibration can be turned off in the game options menu
Improved difficulty settings
Difficulty settings now also affect damage taken and loot dropped
Standard difficuly has not been modified, but you should now find a bigger difference between difficulty tiers.
Hard mode should be much more challenging with improved loot drops, easy mode should be significantly easier, with slightly worse loot.
Difficulty settings can be changed at the creation of a new savagame, or any time in the world map
It's no longer possible to access the difficulty settings during a mission
EASY Unlimited lives
80% Damage taken
70% Loot Quality
NORMAL 2 lives per Active Player
100% Damage taken
100% Loot Quality
HARD 2 lives per Active Player
110% Damage taken
110% Loot Quality
PARTY HARD 0 lives per Active Player
120% Damage taken
130% Loot Quality
Balance and Fixes
Character names have been transalted in English!
Friendly Fire damage has been reduced from 50% to 30%
Weapon attacks no longer hit your allies, throwable items and other effects still damage your friends
Game interfaces and tutorials should now suggest the correct buttons based on the actual controls you are using for Player 1
Fixed a bug that caused errors at the end of some arena matches
Minor optimizations
New Items (Backer Rewards)
We added some backer rewards! More coming in future updates!
Early Access Update 14.02
Balance
Chests properly spawn gear during arena matches.
Max lives per level is now 2x number of active players
Every in-game shop now has a special stand that spawns better quality items
Updated stats available to weapons and tools to have better Affix distribution. This could have made some items obsolete
Added one extra level to "Totemland" and "Two Rocks"
Mariangiongiangela's "Buon Appetito!" mana cost decreased from 40 to 35
Fixed a bug that caused the game to grant twice the health when eating items
Item cost rebalanced
Interface / controls
Added a visual feedback displayed on the character when items or special abilities consume mana
The minimap now displays a blinking feedback when a new room becomes accessible in a dungeon
Tweaked arena user interface, score points now have dark background and should be more readable
Added "hide GUI" command (F11)
Added "Show FPS" command (F10)
Opening the inventory and map interfaces in co-op games now requires to hold the proper button for a fraction of a second. This avoids the unintentional distruption of the game flow that happened when players accidentally pressed the map/inventory commands
Changed inventory navigation controls. Follow on screen hints
Added a visual feedback when purchasing items from shops or dispensers
Added a visual feedback when it's impossible to purchase something because the player has not enough salami
Player health bars now display a different color based on the amount of health the character has left
Gear is now highligted in-game by a colored effect that displays it's rarity
Item description now displays stats and traits coming from Affixes in a different color
Added a 0.7s forced delay between the end of a dialog and any next interaction. This stops users from accidentally opening an endless chain of dialogs
Fixes
Fixed a bug that prevented the item name tooltips from being displayed when interacting with an object on a pedestal
Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash if F12 was used to take a screenshot
Fixes few typos here and there
Fixed a bug that crashed some AIs if their target died
Fixed a bug that was preventing item pick-up if the inventory was full but a viable character slot was available
Fixed a bug that prevented to equip an item when inventory was full
Fixed a bug that caused enemy health bars to remain visible after a game ended
Fixed a bug that caused purchased items to require another purchase to be picked up again if dropeed to the ground
Several game code optimizations
Early Access Update 14
We are super excited to present you update 14!
This patch is the foundation of our RPG system, that will be "feature complete" with upcoming updates featuring the leveling/belief system.
With this update we wanted to finalize the core of our RPG rules and make them more intuitive and interesting. This is why we redesigned our game stats, made our items modular, redesigned much of the in-game interface and made the inventory shared between players. So, without further ado, let's see what's new!
Redesigned stat system
Our previous system was convoluted, with a hierarchy where primary stats influenced both secondary stats and item damage/efficiency. This created a complicated balance that was mostly unecessary and did not add anything fun to our RPG layer.
Understanding complex systems can be really fun in an RPG game, but the puzzle should be optional, based on the discovery of interesting synergies and not from hidden math and cryptic interfaces. So we went for a more straightforward approach and removed all stats dependencies, cryptic icons and changed our stats so that they have a very specific purpose and effect in game.
New Stats overview
PRIMARY STATS
Max Health Hit points represent the damage you can take before losing a life
Max Mana Mana is used for special abilities and the activation of some items
Warriorness The ability to be mean like a warrior. Influences the effectiveness of some items based on their damage ratings
Rogueness The ability to be sneaky as a rogue. Influences the effectiveness of some items based on their damage ratings
Wizardness The ability to act fabulous like a real wizard. Influences the effectiveness of some items based on their damage ratings
Ego The ability to be overly self-confident. Influences the effectiveness of your special power
Speed Defines your movement speed
DEFENSES
Rainbow Armor Reduces all kind of damage
Physical Armor Reduces physical damage
Fire Armor Reduces fire damage
Ice Armor Reduces ice damage
Poison Armor Reduces poison damage
Energy Armor Reduces energy damage
SECONDARY STATS
Throw Damage Influences the damage of thrown items.
Throw Range Influences your throwing range
Critical Influences your chance to land a critical strike
Critical Damage Influences your critical strikes damage
Dodge Influences your chance to dodge an attack
Hit Chance Your attacks ignore points of enemy dodge
Aim Influences your accuracy when throwing items
Recovery Defines your ability to recover from stun by button mashing
Detect Hidden Influences your ability to spot hidden things meters away
Extra Salami Influences how much lott you receive
Body Mass The mass of your character. Influences damage when you are thrown by other players
Attract Enemies Influences how much your actions attract enemies
Incoming Healing Influences the intensity of healing you receive
Mana Regeneration How much mana you regenerate per minute
Action Speed Influences your action speed (attacks,item use)
Mana
The new mana bar has replaced the old charge system we were using for characters special abilities.
The old charge system was clumsy to explain with a GUI, allowed poor character progression and most importantly did not encourage players to use their special powers as having limited charges created a scarcity of "power" availability.
The mana bar is easily recognized by many players and upgrading the mana pool works really well with our RPG system. In addition, characters Mana slowly replenish over time and allows us to balance special powers more precisely by changing the mana costs, mana regeneration an mana pools for every character.
New modular items
The previous game itemization was based on a large amount of items with pre-defined stats that scaled matematically based on their "tier level". As the player progressed trough the game each item had a pre-defined rarity and was basically always the same item with higher numbers. The scaling was matematically ok but the game was too predictable and it required us to create an huge amount of different items to generate enough combinations to make dungeon crawling interesting.
So a couple of months ago we went back to the drawing board and studied some good ARPG classics to design a new itemization that would be both fun for you to play and manageable for us to maintain.
What we created is our own take of the classic ARPG "modular items" in addition to our old item system. Modular items are now the standard items you find the the game, while 100% authored items are unique, powerful and usually come with some weird ability.
Modular items are created by a fixed "root" item that can have up to 3 affixes:
[prefix] ROOT [suffix] (trait)
The ROOT contains the basic function of an item (ability/damage for weapons and tools, defenses for shields and armors, etc.)
The Prefix usually contains primary and other very important stats
The Suffix contains mostly defenses and secondary stats
The Traits are rare, and usally bring a scripted special ability or a super rare stat like extra critical damage
Every items becomes more rare with each additional affix. An item with just the ROOT is a "common" item, an item with 1 affix is an "uncommon" item, 2 affixes is "rare", 3 affixes is "epic".
Unique items are considered like an item with 4 affixes, so they are very, very rare drop, or found in a very specific location of the game in the upcoming story mode.
Each Affix scales in power with the item tier, so you can still get the same (or a very similar) item you have at tier 2, but more powerful, at tier 10.
New Gear Slot "off hand"
We added a new item slot for shield and utility gear. Off Hand gear usually adds extra defenses or mana.
New Gear Slots "quick slots"
We added 4 quick slots where you can store 4 extra "items" (weapons/tools). You can cycle between these items using the mouse wheel or the directional pad left/right buttons.
Interface Improvements
Our interface has always been very rough, so we improved it a bit. It's still not final, but you should find it much better than before.
With all the improvements and upgrades on the RPG system, we needed a GUI that was able communicate all the new details in the game rules.
Health is now visualized with a numeric bar, this was an hard decision. Both you guys and us at Studio Evil really loved the old Zelda-like hearts we were using to display characters health.
But as with all the other things we improved on this update, we needed a scalable interface that showed character status and progression more precisely. This is why we think the health bar, showing exactly how much health your character has, is a step in the right direction.
Stats are now displayed in plain text with colored highlights, we removed most of the icons.
Every enemy has now a small health bar, minibosses and bosses have their usual huge health bar. Displaying the remaining health of your opponents is an important information and allows a more interesting tactical combat.
We completely revamped our advanced stats sheet in the character status. Each stat has now a proper tooltip that explains function and effectiveness.
We also finally added an in-depth description of each character special power.
To access the advanced stat sheet just open your inventory (I) and press spacebar. To access the tooltip just mouse over or navigate the gamepad cursor over the stat name.
Redesigned Inventory
During several testing sessions we noticed a few issues with our previous inventory system.
It was impossible to share items between your unlocked characters by playing single player
It was very cumbersome to share items between players in co-op games
Accessing the inventory screen in co-op games stopped the action
We needed a solution that reduced the necessity to open the inventory and pausing the game and also allowed items to be shared easily both in single and local multiplayer games.
So we removed the old system and added a new shared inventory. Now everything that you pick up and is not equipped by a character is accessible from every other characters, any time during the game.
Inventory Wipe
Unfortunately, with all the new stuff we introduced, it was impossible to keep your old items consistent and we had to reset all your inventories. We are getting very close to the point where this is not necessay, but please keep in mind that this will happen at least one more time before we get to 1.0. We hope you will enjoy this new update and forgive us for this small inconvenience!
Balance and Tweaks
With a whole new stat system in place the game balance has been reworked. Damage and health values have been multiplied approximately x10 to have more readable numbers.
Wall slam damage has been decreased to: 70% max health on small enemies, 25% max health on standard humanoids, 10% max health on big enemies. Previously was 100% small, 50% standard, 15% big. This still makes wall slams a major damage output, but increases the relevance of other combat options, like throwing items and standard weapons.
We added some variety to enemy spawns and rebalanced miniboss encounters to make them more challenging
