Swords and Sandals Immortals
Patch 0.8.4.E - Fixes for Dungeon / Halloween Boss crashes + weapon switching
As mentioned in the last update, I'm working on the multiplayer component of the game right now, it's functional (woohoo!) but needs a fair bit of work to bring it to production over the coming weeks. Will keep you posted!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.4.E (Jan 12 2023):
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• Potential fix for weapons not being equipped properly at the start of battle or when switching - if you find your gladiator still equipping a shank etc, try unequpping and re-equipping your items just once in the inventory screen and it should remember your favourites now.
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash after defeating a Halloween Champion
• Increased the allocated days for the Halloween questline by an extra 50 days
• Fixed a bug where dungeons could not be entered (Thanks Roberth!)
• Fixed a bug where alignment achievements accidentally triggered when players entered certain towns
• Fixed a bug where you could not leave the dungeon by climbing up a ladder
V0.8.4 - Achievements Are Here!
I've been on holidays since Christmas, hence the lack of meaningful updates to the game, but I'm back at the forge this week with some goodies for you. This update is specifically to add in achievements to the game, something many players have asked for over the course of the game's development.
There are over 50 to find and complete, and I'll add more in the coming weeks. Please let me know if any of them don't trigger, I have tested many of them but there may be a couple that need looking at.
So this pretty much wraps up the single player content for the game - there are no new additions planned content-wise at this stage ( unless I do some DLC down the road) . From tomorrow, work begins exclusively on the *multiplayer* component of the game - won't be too long 'til we are out of Early Access!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
--- NEW FEATURES ---
• Steam Achievements have appeared! There are currently over 50 achievements for you to collect (and a few hidden ones!)
• ** IMPORTANT ** Note that existing gladiators may not retroactively be able to claim all of these achievements as it checks each one when you reach the requirements ( eg when you defeat a boss ) - to collect them all, you must start a new character.
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Throw Weapon Skill now does 2.5 x damage
Patch 0.8.3.C - Starbound Nerfed, Melee Builds Buffed
Patch Notes for 0.8.3.C
-------------------------
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• The Starbound Gladiator's Defence stat has been lowered significantly from 90 down to 60 on Normal mode
• The final dungeon boss's stats (except for Attack) have been lowered by 10% ( and Defence down to 60 from 70 )
• "This Is Brandor" skill now has a 50% chance to stun enemy ( down from 100% )
• Atomic Essence talent now maxes out at 3 (down from 5) to prevent most skills from being available every turn
• "Bhaargle's Apprentice" talent is now in the game and
Increases defence against and reduces damage taken from elemental attacks by 5% per point.
• "Relentless" talent in the Warrior tree has been replaced by "Man At Arms" which increases hit chance and damage with all melee weapons by 8% per point.
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Rewards gained from bosses are no longer fully randomised ( as in you will always get the intented boss loot, helmets, weapons etc). Only the bonus stars/gold will be randomized now - some bosses you will get the option of bonus gold, some bonus stars, some both. The amount of gold and stars per boss has been reduced by roughly 33%.
• Fixed a bug where Dungeon Champions did not scale with difficulty
V0.8.3 : Zoomed Out Camera Option + Stamina gains when walking
Also something to note - now when you walk, you regain some stamina. This is just to make it so there's a little more action and a little lest resting in battles. Let me know what you think!
I've also potentially fixed the 5-6 second turn delays that were happening ( didn't note this as a fix as I'm not 100% sure it works.)
Alright everyone, enjoy and let me know what you think and what needs balancing!
Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
Patch Notes for V0.8.3.A
--- NEW FEATURES ---
• Added extra Zoomed Out Camera option ( experimental ) . This camera has horizontal buttons at the bottom of the screen so you can better see the action
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• You now *gain* some essence back by walking - 20% of what you would while resting. The logic being it's kind of a restful thing to do - this also allows characters to not waste all their energy on walking and therefore they can use more skills, making battles more fun
• Fixed a bug where Golems using Rock of Ages could still have limbs ripped off once effect wore off
• Fixed a bug where if cutscenes were turned off , incorrect music would play in dungeon / halloween battles
• The UI Armour Shield Icon will no longer display for gladiators entering battle with no armour
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
• Potential fix for weapon item inventory panels not always showing items as being equipped
• Now if you unequip your main weapon while holding an alt weapon, the off hand weapon will become your main
• Fixed a bug where changing shops after selecting a sub category would show that category in the next shop ( eg shop for swords, go to armourers, sword category would appear for a moment)
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Fixed a bug where the Stellar Crystal cost (from the LFK shop) was not reduced by having the Industrialist Talent
Daily Hotfix Patch 0.8.2.D - Fixing Knight's Heart of Valour and other bugfixes
Cheers Oli
V 0.8.2.D Patch Notes
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Dungeon champions can no longer be killed outright by Virtuoso talent
• Dungeon champions stats are boosted in higher difficulty levels now
• Fixed a bug where Battle Rage and Heart of Valour used the enemy's talent tree when determining effects
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• Camera button now only appears during your turn
• If you die in battle at the same time as your enemy ( for example, both spiked ), it counts as a loss now.
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Increased tick counter in settings sliders to match decimal points
• Increased Eldor Hath arena level to 72
• Removed extra hologram shader from Observatory Star Panel (in case anyone has epilepsy)
V0.8.2.A - Battle Camera options and a stack of balancing/bugfixes. Merry Xmas!
Things will obviously slow down over the Xmas break ( kids are home from tomorrow so chaos will ensue until early January!) I'll monitor the game for any absolute game breaking bugs at night - so just hit me up with feedback in the forums, and if you like the game, leave me a review!
Merry Christmas to you and yours, gladiators.
Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
Patch Notes for V 0.8.2.A (Dec 22 2022):
--- NEW FEATURES ---
• Added Camera Options to Battles! The default camera is now Action ( old one was "Original" ). There's a button on the top left to cycle through these cameras. I'm working on a 'zoomed out' camera but it's still too buggy so not in place.
1) "Original" - Standard camera, mostly follows you around but sometimes quick pans to enemy when enemy is firing a projectile
2) "Action " - Cuts between each gladiator depending on whose turn it is
3) "Follow Hero" - Always follows the hero
4) "Follow Enemy" - Always follows the enemy ( your battle buttons will appear above them with an arrow pointing to where you are )
• You can now toggle on or off music pitching in battle scenes (when characters are inspired or stressed etc) via the settings menu
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Reduced the essence cost of all skills slightly
• Fixed a bug where minimum hit chance for power / quick attacks was set to 20 instead of 10 and 30.
• Fixed a bug where enemy's defence was being capped at 90 and any above that would not count to their defence (allowing for high hit chances against endgame bosses)
• Cycladian Call of the Sea hit chance is now 40% (down from 80%)
• Knight's Heart of Valour skill has been buffed to 35% (up from 20%)
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• Fixed a bug where characters taking Damage Over Time (DOTs) from elemental spells used their own intellect value when calculating damage percent rather than the caster's intellect
• Fixed a bug in combat where Arena Champion Heroicus had no special skills
• Fixed a bug where a certain dungeon champion dropped two helmets
• Fixed a bug where Clamp XOR Overdrive dropped two star blades
• Fixed a bug where a teammate would sometimes not have full health
• Capped Gold / XP rewards from fights at 500000 gold and whatever you need to level up
• Fixed a bug where the End Battle panel would appear if you fought the final battle with help
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
• Reduced unmaking cost
• You cannot unmake Unique items now
--- DUNGEON CHANGES / FIXES
• Fixed a bug where retrying dungeon boss battles would crash the game
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Fixed a bug where losing a fight to an Automaton after having faced the Starbound Gladiator would trigger the Starbound ending
• Fixed a crash where the game would crash when exiting to Title screen from the Battle Caravan ( Thanks to legendary discord user Yo! )
• Fixed a bug when fighting simulcrums of Dungeon Champions, it would appear as if you were in the dungeon itself
Patch 0.8.1 - Unenchanting weapons, plus a blast from the past arrives!
The Adventure Talent Tree has also finally been unlocked - this is a minor talent tree with some useful talents to help improve your 'non-combat' experience in the game. Make adventure rolls easier, reduce the cost of respeccing and so on. I hope you enjoy it.
Also, check out the world map for a new mysterious stranger who has appeared. There's also some much needed bugfixing and balancing.
Okay, so basically there's no more single-player content left to add now - the rest of the game's dev time will be spent on bugfixing, small improvements to UI and things , as well as of course getting multiplayer ready for launch.
This will probably be the last big patch before Christmas, so to you and yours, I wish you a wonderful holiday whatever you're up to - thanks for supporting the game all this time!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
Patch Notes V 0.8.1.A (Dec 21 2022):
--- NEW FEATURES ---
• Added a new mysterious figure to the overworld map. Look for an unfamiliar icon on the map and visit at your leisure
• The Adventure Talent Tree is now unlocked. This is a small optional talent tree to complement the main battle talent trees and includes talents to make item costs cheaper, steed speeds faster and so on.
• For a cost, you can now Unmake items at the armourer / enchanter. Simply visit the Enchant/Forge panels, select a magical item and click Unmake and you will receive the runes/blueprints that made up the item.
• Added new voice set to the game - thanks to Dane Simoneau for the vocal talents!
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Vitality now grants 8 health per point spent (up from 6)
• Vitality, Agility, Intellect and Charisma now grant +0.5 to their respective Hit Chances
• Attack grants +0.75 per point to hit chance and retains the bonus of doing so for all attack types, sonic, melee, ranged, magic etc )
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• Fixed a bug where Taunts would not stun your enemy
• Fixed a bug where haxxapods no longer see the Spare/Slay panel twice
• Fixed a bug with min/max skill hitchances for default melee attacks
• Fixed a bug where unique skills would not be available on repeat fights vs dungeon bosses
• Fixed a bug where you could still be eliminated if you defeated your enemy on the last turn of a time limit arena
• Hex attack and damage stat reduction now correctly displays 14 instead of 10 on tooltip
• Potions now give +10/+20 to stats as shown in description ( up from +8/+16)
--- DUNGEON CHANGES / FIXES
• Added Dungeon Quest text header when first arriving at a level so your objective is clear
• Leaving dungeons or dying without defeating the Dungeon Champion will result in you losing any stat gains found from items in the dungeons ( fixes an exploit )
• Changed some code for dungeon movement to possibly fix
• Fixed a bug where objects altering Intellect in dungeons would change Agility instead
• Exploring dungeons now takes 6 hours of game time per level explored
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
• Redesigned the Buy/Sell section of the Shop Panel to better display information and show more detailed item descriptions without them covered up by the buy/equip buttons
• Fixed a bug where certain helmet portraits were incorrectly displayed
• Added descriptions for items enchanted with runes of levels > 5
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Fixed a bug where you would sometimes see the end of day screen when levelling up
• Fixed a bug where incorrect Champion Power Score would show in the Fight Selector screen
• Fixed a bug where it showed you gained alignment points from fighting Simulcrums ( You never *actually* gained these points, but visually they showed you did)
Small patch v0.8.0.B.3 Fixing unlimited stamina in dungeons + Str,Def,Agi buffs
V 0.8.0.B.3 (Dec 17 2022):
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Increased armour value of legendary items
• Each point in Defence now increases defend chance by 0.75 (Up from 0.5)
• Each point in Strength increases melee damage by 4 (up from 2)
• Each point in Agility increases ranged damage by 3 (up from 2)
Daily Patch - V0.8.0.B : Fixing Dungeon Quest Tile Placements + More
V 0.8.0.B Patch Notes (Dec 16 2022)
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• Increased armour value of legendary helmets
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
• Holy Items now only appear for good characters and Unholy items for evil characters
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Fixed a bug where not enough quest interactive items would spawn on some dungeon levels
• Fixed a bug where interacting with blade traps did not count towards quest completion
• Reduced damage taken from kicking doors to 20% health (down from 25%)
• Fixed a bug where the game thought you were still in the dungeon after you manually exited via the ladder
• Fixed a bug where clicking the character panel and then returning in a dungeon would reset the dungeon maze
V0.8 : Enter The Dungeons!
In actual fact, this update took me about 5 weeks. I'd always been a fan of those classic "Eye of the Beholder" style dungeon crawlers from the 1990s and I wanted to see if they might be a good fit for S&S. These new dungeons are using that 3D perspective ( I recommend using the WASD keyboard keys to navigate !) and contain traps, chests and other items to interact with on your way to the boss.
Defeat all 8 Dungeon Champions for an exciting reward!
Also in this patch, I have reworked how hit chances play out in game, plus there's a lot of other bugfixes and balances. As always, I'll be monitoring the game over the next week to fix any issues that arise from this build and patching as often as I can - so let me know here in the comments or the Steam Forum if you spot anything weird.
Next up will be Achievements, the Adventure Skill tree and prepping the game for the final big addition, multiplayer. The road has been long but we're nearly at the end of Early Access!
Good luck in your journeys underground, make sure to bring a torch!
Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios
V 0.8.0.A Patch Notes (Dec 15 2022)
--- NEW FEATURES ---
• *** Dungeons *** have now been added to the game! This is a huge update that adds in 3D mazes to the game with special Dungeon Champions at the end of each. Defeat all 8 Dungeon Champions for a special reward.
• Use Stellar Crystals to unlock these dungeons, and remember to buy dungeon supplies from the tavern.
• It is recommended to use the WASD keys on the keyboard to move around the dungeon but you can use the mouse as well.
• Increased character max level to 80!
• You can now turn off AutoSaving of characters from the Settings Menu. If you turn off Autosave, remember to save each time you visit the battle caravan or your character progress will be lost
• Another special new loading screen background thanks to Zevskiy
--- BALANCE CHANGES / STAT FIXES ---
• The Hit Chance system has been overhauled.
• Each point in Attack and Defence now increases hit chance and defend chance by 0.5 . All other synergy stats increase hit / defend chance by 0.25 in order to even up battles a little more and stop every hit either being 1% or 99% chance.
• Hit chance now has min-maxxes. Now maxxed out at 90%, most skills min 20 % ( Quick 30% and Power 10%).
• Reduced the bonuses/penalties to dodge/parry gained character height
• Essence Costs for all skills have been increased
• Elemental debuff damage ( damage over time ) now maxxes out at 10% of an enemy's per turn per status ( down from 20 )
• Limb From Limb now has a lowered base chance to succeed vs bosses ( was too big an advantage for Yeren )
• Increased the base armour value of all Unique helmets
--- BATTLE CHANGES / FIXES ---
• The Falsewood Arena rules have changed from No Special Skills to No Items
• The Sharpsdale, Port Skulden rules have changed to No Lightning + First Blood
• Removed the ability to use Switch Weapon in "Ranged Only" / "Melee Only" arenas
--- SHOP FIXES CHANGES ---
• Potential fix for multiple items in your backpack showing as equipped
• Increased the price of potions of purification
• Reduced resale value of items to 10% + bonuses
• Increased prices of food + dungeon items
--- MISC FIXES AND CHANGES ---
• Tag Team Battles now show the Before Battle Intro so you can check out the Champion's stats (but not their teammate as they're largely irrelevant)
• Stretched out time between hero/enemy speech in Battle Intro scene
• Removed item upper limit from backpack inventory item panel text
• Fixed a bug where sometimes your shank could appear as being enchanted when it wasn’t.
• Fixed a visual bug where the 'backflip slay' animation when playing in the chasm arena would appear as if the gladiator was levitating over the chasm
• Restored missing shop portrait for the Great Cloak item
• Fixed a bug where the day counter wouldn't visually show more than 301 days in unlimited days mode
• Added Crusader Medallions Icon to Character Mini Panel
• Fixed some visual bugs on the battle caravan screen