Gladiators! I'm thrilled to launch V0.9.0 at long last, featuring multiplayer battles!
This has been a long time coming, and was of course promised when the game launched in Early Access. The S&S series has not had proper multiplayer since Swords and Sandals III Multiplae Ultratus back in 2007 ( which sadly didn't last long when the servers crashed, never to recover.)
So what you see here today is at last fully working multiplayer against actual real life people. I'm really fascinated to see what happens with this, what tactics will become popular, what classes will need re-balancing, who the greatest gladiators will be and so on.
With multiplayer now live, the game is now feature complete. I'm going to monitor multiplayer over the next week or two, do some bugfixes and balancing and then I will launch the game into 1.0 Full Release.
A few notes for you:
ELO Rankings ( kind of based on chess rankings ) are coming in a few days, so until then the leaderboards are still just based on Power Score rather than actual wins/losses/skill levels of players.
There's a chat panel in each realm room but if I see this being used to abuse players or for too much mischief, I'll have to turn it off - so I'm trusting you guys to be responsible and kind to each other.
Multiplayer is a 'bonus' mode for the game, not a full on massive experience, so it is a little bare-bones. If I find all of a sudden there's 10000 players playing, I'll throw lots more at it to add new features and so on - right now I'm kind of at capacity and the game's scope is complete, so at this point 'it is what it is', but it is for the most part a fully playable experience!
If the servers go down, I'll monitor them and add more bandwidth - right now the setting is pretty low.
You have to create a new "multiplayer" gladiator to fight in the multiplayer battles, you cannot take a single player campaign gladiator in for balance reasons.
Try not to cheat with cheating tools - I don't have sophisticated anti-cheat stuff in there but there's a few checks and if you cheat, your gladiator won't be able to keep fighting multiplayer battles. Besides, where's the honour in beating someone just because you falsely bumped up your stats?
Cheers gladiators, I really hope you enjoy this update and perhaps I'll see you in the arena!
Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.9.0.A Patch Notes
--- NEW FEATURES ---
Multiplayer now arrives in Swords and Sandals Immortals! This is still a work in progress and you may encounter some issues. I will look to improve the experience based on feedback where I can.
Please bear in mind, Multiplayer is a bonus game mode and not designed a sophisticated experience, that is to say this is no League of Legends, there are no guilds, matchmaking etc.
It's kind of 'bare bones' just because I don't have the resources to work too much longer on it. If it becomes hugely popular I'll be able to pour more into it.
The ELO Ranking (based on chess) is coming this week, and will rank gladiators based on games won/lost and quality of foes.
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
Reduced the amount of XP won per battle after character level 5 (on a sliding scale - as you level up you need to win 3 or 4 fights to level up instead of just 2.)
Increased value of defence stat from 0.75 % hit chance per point to 1.0
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
Fixed a bug where Clamp XOR's flamethrower particles did not always go in the correct direction
Enemies will no longer yield to you in tag team battles
Your character name panel is now highlighted in yellow when it is your turn
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
Shops will now restock every 2 days ( down from 3 days )
Shops now remember if you use the grid view or the wide item view
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
Fixed an issue where text looked jagged on some monitors in full screen mode
Added camera tracking to the overworld map when the gladiator is moving ( the camera will properly follow them without the need to double click to return focus to them )
Added Klergish Xorg voice set ( thank you to user Xorgius )
Potential fixes for some achievements not firing
Changed Defensive Stand and Furious Anger achievements to 5 hits/misses (down from 10)
V0.8.8.A - Balancing species bonuses + defensive stat / shield adjustments
Hey gladiators! Good news, I've been able to fix the multiplayer syncing bug! Meaning we are almost ready to bring you the Multiplayer update - possibly in the next few days, if not then early next week at the latest.
Meanwhile, this is a small patch just to balance the overpowering effectiveness of shield defense, as well as balancing out a few species to make them a little fairer.
Enjoy!
Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.8.C (Feb 08 2023)
-- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES --- • Lowered max and min bonuses for characters natural height/weight for parry and dodge to (-10 to 10) , down from (-25 to 25) • Improved Imperial Helm defence value • Reduced shield mastery talent % from 4 to 2 per point. • Reduced bonus from shields to 0.25% per item level ( down from 0.5%) • Adjusted day and night bonuses to 5% hit chance instead of 10 • Added Skeleton night bonus to +30% damage • Removed Skeleton day penalty Adjusted terrain bonuses and penalties so they are +5 +10 (instead of 10 and 20%)
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • After 300 days pass (in unlimited days mode), you will now no longer gain stars or random adventure opportunities on the overworld map.
V0.8.7.C : Making bows and guitars stronger ! Plus extra balancing.
Gladiators - just a small patch today to improve the effectiveness of bows and guitars. I also played around with the effect duration of the various elemental effects, and fixed a bug where lightining/nectrotic resistances were using each other's values.
V 0.8.7.C (Feb 06 2023)
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Greatly improved sonic weapon damage • Slightly increased bow weapon damage • Increased all bonuses from Intellect and Charisma from 2 to 3 across the board • Increased duration of all poison status effects by a turn • Reduced duration of all fire / lightning status effects by a turn • Fixed a bug where lightning and necrotic resistance numbers were using each other's values
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Fixed a bug where the final battle could crash if Cutscenes were turned off
Patch 0.8.7.A - Bug fixes as we prepare for Multiplayer (coming soon!)
Hey mighty gladiators - still in the process of bringing Multiplayer online but it's literally just one more thing to fix and then I can get it live ( the syncing gladiators bug that I mentioned in the last update ). Last week I was busy working on a mobile port of the game to Android and didn't much time to look at multiplayer but I'm locked in on in this week and hope to have a fix before the end of the week.
Meanwhile, here's a bunch of bugfixes and balances based on your feedback. Thank you so much for all the reports, helps make the game better. I much prefer this to those impatient types who find a bug, or don't win instantly with one particular character build ( "This game has no balance!") , then they give the game a thumbs down review and refund the game instead of maybe talking to me to see if there's ways I could improve or fix the game.
These aren't the kind of players I want anyway - they are not true heroes and it's probably better they watch the real gladiators from the comfort of the stands .... haha! But that is why I appreciate you guys so much, all your awesome feedback has genuinely helped make the game so much better since it was first launched in Early Access.
I salute you guys!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.7.A (Feb 06 2023)
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Dungeon Boss Armour values have been significantly lowered • Fixed a bug where you could repeat the same three survival battles each time once you were already champion.
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES --- • Fixed incorrect Helm of the Republic inventory picture • Fixed a bug where you could unmake an item without having enough gold to do so. • Fixed a bug where you could unmake a 'grey item' after unmaking an enchanted item. • Increased amount of items available for sale in shops
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Potential fix for incorrect item prices upon reloading a different savegame after quitting to title screen • Potential fix for adventure panels not disappearing on completion and being repeatable
Patch V8.5.D - Fixing broken achievements and a few other bugfixes
Hey guys, just a small update today while I work on both multiplayer and the mobile builds of the game. Thanks for the bug reports!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V0.8.5.D Patch Notes (30 Jan)
- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Throw Weapon now no longer removes your melee weapon during cooldown ( was causing too many bugs ). It now instantly reappears ( just like Thor's Hammer! ) . To balance this, I have reduced the damage it does. • Yielding during a tag team battle now causes the fight to end instead of tagging in a teammate • Fixed a bug where battle buttons appeared sometimes after falling into a pit or being spiked
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Fixed a bug where achievements would not trigger ( issue to do with concurrent build of the mobile project I think) • Removed Adventure Tree button from Skills Panel in the Training Dummy
V 0.8.6.A - Steam Cloud Saves , bugfixes and balancing.
Hey Gladiators, this week's patch introduces Steam Cloud Saving to the game - many of you requested the feature so you could transfer your gladiators from machine to machine. Here it is! Also in this update, some small bugfixes and balancing.
I actually wanted to talk to you guys today about multiplayer, firstly apologies for the delays. There's one hurdle left - syncing up gladiator turns. They were working in an earlier build ( my multiplayer guy was working on an older branch of the game ) but since then, I've made the game infinitely more complex - we just need to get this one last bug sorted and then we're basically good to launch!
All leaderboards, lobbies, chat, challenging etc - its all in the game now. So once we have that bug sorted I will upload version 0.9 here to Steam, let you guys check it out for a week or two and then I'll make any neccessary changes before pushing the game to Full Launch 1.0 some time in February.
Exciting times, we are nearly there!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.6.A (27 Jan 2023)
--- NEW FEATURES --- • Enabled Cloud Saving on Steam - your gladiator save games should now transfer between your various Windows based devices.
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES --- • People's Champion and Stargazer max talent point limit reduced to 1 ( to stop 'star creep' and make stars more valuable • Yield skill now listed as universal rather than arcane
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • If you try to drink a health potion or use a healing ability while poisoned, your character will cough and you will see a poison cloud ( previously it showed the healing icon, but no health would be restored)
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES --- • Fixed a bug where de-enchanting an item gave duplicate blueprints. Now you receive the proper split ( two blueprints, one with each stat )
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Added a percentage chance of no adventures appearing on the map - this starts at a 75% chance of mini adventures appearing, determined each time you appear on the overland map. As the days move past 300, this chance will get dramatically lower until it's something like a 5% chance each time you leave town. This is basically to slow down the rate of you potentially getting ridiculously high stats just from adventures. • Fixed a bug where the Dungeon Unlock achievement did not trigger correctly • Fixed a bug where completing the Halloween Quest did not trigger the reward animation
V 0.8.5.A - Graphic Options and potential fixes for flickering etc
Hey gladiators - this patch is slightly experimental as I'm putting in some fixes for people experience screen flickering or graphical weirdness in fullscreen mode.
The patch notes also include a few changes from the builds from the last few days just to consolidate it all into a more major 'dot patch'.
Let me know if you experience any real weirdness with this new build visually!
V 0.8.5.A (Jan 20 2023) (rolled changes from 0.8.4.Q onward): --- NEW FEATURES --- • Added HiDPI as an option for high res machines (doesn't do that much that I am aware of) • Possible fix for Gsync tearing issues on some machines ( flickering in fullscreen) • You can now record the game in fullscreen mode at long last. Let me know if this causes issues on your machine (experimental) • Turned on HiDPI mode in the game to potentially improve game sharpness at high resolutions - let me know if this causes issues on your monitor as it's not well tested • Head to Head Battle Crest now shows talents/skills for hero and enemy gladiators via an extra button on the crest
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Reduced damage on Throw Weapon to 1.33x regular damage ( instead of 2.5x )
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • NPC Character classes are now better at choosing appropriate talents / skills based on their class
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Fixed scrollbar issues in Settings Panel • Fixed text issues with title screen on fullscreen
V0.8.4.Q- Full Screen recording, higher, random colourful hair/skin and more
Hey guys - very small patch today, but I can tell you multiplayer is coming along really well. I have implemented a global leaderboard for players to see their rank. Gladiators can also level up, visit shops etc - so the multiplayer loop is now complete.
All that is left to do is multiplayer bugfixing , some quality of life things for multiplayer and making sure the turns sync up properly, this may take a few weeks.
Cheers, Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
Patch notes for 0.8.4.Q:
--- NEW FEATURES --- • You can now record the game in fullscreen mode at long last. Let me know if this causes issues on your machine (experimental) • Turned on HiDPI mode in the game to potentially improve game sharpness at high resolutions - let me know if this causes issues on your monitor as it's not well tested • Head to Head Battle Crest now shows talents/skills for hero and enemy gladiators via an extra button on the crest • Small chance of NPC gladiators having colourful hair/skin outside of their usual species parameters
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Reduced damage on Throw Weapon to 1.33x regular damage ( instead of 2.5x )
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • NPC Character classes are now better at choosing appropriate talents / skills based on their class
Hey guys, just a small patch today fixing up some of the issues to do with enemy turns in battle - sometimes they would 'skip a turn' when halfway through a move etc. This should clear up *most* of that, not fully tested but the gameplay experience should be a bit smoother.
Also fixed another bug where if you used a skill that created a status effect, and then another of the same effect, it would default the skill's cooldown to the latest one (even if it was less) , so a 3 turn cooldown effect would suddenly be 1 turn.
All the fun and games of trying to debug this behemoth! Not much work done on multiplayer this week unfortunately but gotta try and make the game as stable as I can. Back to the forge!
Cheers Oli
V 0.8.4.M Patch Notes (Jan 17 2023):
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Potential fix for turns beginning before a move was complete ( eg halfway through a status effect etc) • Fixed a bug where skills that created status effects over existing status effects would override their cooldown. EG causing a stun via taunt when enemy already had 3 turns of stun would set that to 1 turn
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Previously the game hasn't been keeping track of total time played properly ( it was including down time between sessions. ) . This is now fixed , but all characters upon load the first time after this patch will start from 0:00 now ( start a new character to properly track all time played.) • Some font size appearances have changed in preparation for new language support • Fixed a bug where reloading a game after a gladiator had run out of days ( ie 'the bad ending' ) would cause the game to restart at day 1 and odd things would happen. The game now reloads at the final day so you can still see your character and witness the bad ending.
Patch 0.8.4.K - Have I finally figured out a fix for the $@#% weapon switch bug?
Hey mighty gladiators. Just wanted to apologise for the weapon switching bug that's plagued the game on and off for a while - believe me you, it's been tearing my hair out too! The code was a little needlessly complicated, a problem of the long development time of the game. Code sort of builds up and some of it becomes a bit 'spaghetti-like' making it hard to keep track of.
I put in some work over the weekend and I feel like I've got it sorted, at least on *my* gladiators anyway! Please test it out, maybe first unequip/re-equip the weapons you want, then hopefully they will stick for you.
A few other little fixes in there too. This week it's all about multiplayer, I estimate its still about 3-4 weeks away from being ready but it's starting to come together!
Cheers all, Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.4.K (Jan 16 2023):
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES --- • Fixed a bug where Virtuoso talent could one-shot champions. This was never intended, - now it causes them 20% health damage. • Fixed a bug where using taunt on an enemy with a long stun time would reduce their stun time to 1 • Added a tiny delay between turns that should help with the 'multiple enemy turns' bug
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES --- • Weapon Equips/Favourites: I am almost certain I finally have a solution in this patch for the weapon equip/unequip bug that has plagued us for a while. Please try this out and see if your weapons are behaving as they should! • Increased variance in weapon generations so you should see a few more options for weapons at max level
