Hi everyone, This week we played some characters with the upgradeable talent stones and see how they are balanced. As we mentioned earlier, with the upcoming update, the talent stones will earn experience as hero uses them and can be upgraded for five levels. Although the talent stone stamina costs raise with the level of the stones, the game became a little too easy because of the increasing power of the stones. So we powered up the tier 2, 3 and 4 monsters a little to compensate the more powerful hero.
Another balancing we made is about the 3 or 4 skull dungeons. According to feedback, they were somewhat not hard enough to earn the title 4 skull dungeon or 3 for that matter. Now in these dungeons, monsters will come up more crowded than before. It means the probability of spawning 3-4 monsters in a room is raised. There may be still 1-2 monster rooms but they will be rarer. Champions of these dungeons will also be more powerful so the hero needs to be prepared.
All these balancing efforts are an ongoing process and there may be more with the new feedback we get.
We are also adding unique items to the game. Unique items will come up only once and their stats will be generated when they are found according to the hero level. For example “Lotus Eye” ring will have +20 stamina if hero finds it at level 5, +30 stamina if hero finds it at level 10. They will have base/minimum stats but in every game they will have different stats.
These unique rings will be available with the upcoming fishing activity. Sometimes our hero may catch ancient rings instead of fishes. We worked on fishing some more and added new fishes, rings and cooked food too.
With talent stone leveling, unique items and fishing, this update is one of the biggest updates in our early access period so it took some time. But we are almost finished and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. May the tides bring you triumph!
Development News: Teleportation Sickness and Other Curiosities
Hi everyone, Last week, work on Talent Stones continued. As you know, with the next update, Talent Stones will earn experience points as they are used and level up (5 levels max). There are 51 of them and we tried to balance the new levels for each of them as much as we could.
Initially, we were not going to increase stamina cost with each level of the stone but after some iterations and testing, we decided that with every new level, the stamina cost for the talent stone should increase along with its power. This way, stones became a lot more balanced.
But sometimes players may not want to upgrade the stone to a new level because of the stamina cost. Maybe they want to keep a cheap offensive spell for low level enemies. So we made upgrading optional. After the talent stone earns enough experience, there will be a notice card informing the player that this talent stone can now be leveled up.
Then the player can right click on the talent stone to open the Talent Stone info page and click on the highlighted upgrade button to level up the stone. If hero doesn’t upgrade the stone, it will stop gaining xp.
This opens up new strategies for the players. Players now can have a fireball 2 spell, and a fire ball 5 spell in their arsenal and use which ever is suitable.
We made the Talent Stone info page bigger so we have more space to write all the information necessary and even managed to add a small lore piece from a fictional book of the realm.
The experience gaining of the stones usually consist of using them in battle and damaging an enemy. Every damage to an enemy gives one xp. So “area of effect” talent stones may earn more xp in one use. But they usually need more stamina.
Defensive spells like Astral Resistance or Iron Skin needs fighting and damaging an enemy too. Because othervise, one can spam these in an empty room and get free xp.
Teleport talent stone was kind of tricky. It is not an offensive or defensive spell and it is instantenous. It can be spammed to gain xp faster than usual. So now there is a “Teleportation Sickness” which is a kind of nausea. It lowers the dexterity of the hero. Like all diseases, this can be cured by cure disease potion.
Hero can still teleport with this disease but the talent stone can’t get any xp. Further teleportation sickness can happen and the effects stack on each other prolonging the disease time. As the stone levels up, the probability of this sickness decrease and teleportation range will increase.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. May the tides bring you triumph!
Version 0.82.11
Hi everyone, Here is small bugfix and changes update.
FIXES & CHANGES
Fixed an issue where hero may be trapped at the lighthouse if he spends all his gold in the facility.
The engravings at the ancient cave entrance now glow.
Improved the background skies for the overworld incident screens.
Changed the Fire Blade talent stone icon with a more suitable one.
Changed the Bleeding Strike talent stone icon with a more suitable one.
Increased some of the ingredients' possibility of coming up in the bushes to make it easier to mix some early level potions.
Development News: How Talent Stone Leveling Will Shape Heroic Journeys
Hi everyone, Last week we started developing a long planned feature: Talent Stone leveling. Actually, our original focus was on creating unique weapons for the upcoming fishing update, where we aim to introduce unique loot as rewards alongside the fishes. However, this endeavor led us to reevaluate the elemental damage systems within the game, requiring some necessary rebalancing. It was during this process that we realized the perfect opportunity to also delve into the development of Talent Stone levels, as they too would require rebalancing. Consequently, our next update has evolved into a more substantial undertaking than originally anticipated.
Talent Stones will gain experience points as you use them at battles and it is not connected to hero level. Gaining xp does not require killing the enemies; damaging them while using the stones will be enough. Talent Stones will start at level 1 and gain maximum 5 levels. Every level will improve damage or duration. Leveling up will need increasingly more xp.
The price of Talent Stones will be more expensive with every level too. So hero can level up some talent stones and sell them for profit if he wants.
To prevent experience spamming for the Teleport Talent Stone, we are thinking to add some kind of limitation to this power. Maybe hero will get a teleportation sickness if he uses this too often.
Another improvement is about user interface. Because of the Talent Stone levels, we needed to communicate more information. Current cards don’t have the space to show the next level of the Talent Stones or other required information. So we are adding a right click info page. If users right click the Talent Stone, a bigger page with more details will come up. Tips like “fireball doesn’t work when it is raining”, or “next level upgrades” will be written here as well.
To enhance the clarity and convenience of tracking talent levels, small indicators will be added to the icons of Talent Stones, allowing players to easily gauge their current level. The progression of Talent Stones not only adds diversity to character development but also enriches the overall experience, offering more rewarding gameplay.
During our playthroughs, we have observed that the presence of Maximized Talent Stones in one's inventory brings a small but unique sense of joy.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. May the tides bring you triumph!
Development News: Fishing at the Bountiful Waters
Hi everyone, We started working on a new feature for the next update: fishing. Since this is an island, it was more than necessary as a fun survival element.
Fishing will be governed by intelligence and wilderness survival skill. Whenever the hero camps near a water tile, he can choose to search for a fishing spot. He needs a bait to start fishing. There will be several kinds of baits with different qualities. The baits will vary from common and cheap to very rare and expensive. Also, it will be easier to fish while it is raining.
There will be three kinds of fishing spots in the world: a common fishing spot, an excellent fishing spot and a legendary fishing spot. They will be increasingly difficult to exploit but will have increasingly rewarding loot.
A fishing spot will grant numerous loots before it dries up. But one successful skill check doesn’t open the fishing spot and rewards all the loot like a locked treasure chest. Hero needs to choose a bait and overcome a skill check for each loot the fishing spot offers. Hero can be attacked by sea creatures while engaging in this activity.
Although we made new fishes to be caught, loot from fishing will not always be a fish. Hero will be able to fish magical rings or legendary amulets with different powers that are not sold in the shops.
We are also working on a small improvement to the UI. As our players know, while traveling on the overworld, there are exclamation marks at the top showing the danger level of each tile. Now there will be small icons near them which show the activities hero can take if he camps on that location, like “Foraging”, "Hunting" or “Fishing”. Hope this will make the game more informative, especially for the new players.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. May the tides bring you triumph!
Version 0.82.09
Hi Everyone, Here is a smal bugfix update
When finding a hunting opportunity while raining, the text was written as "deer tracks" although the hunt was a rabbit.
Fixed an issue about package delivery missions. When the bandit demanded the package, the hero was unable to give it to him.
Update 25 Arrives! Unleashing the Vermin Horde
Hi everyone, We are ready with a new update. This version introduces a long requested feature: A local scoreboard for ironman runs. There other additions too. See below the details.
Version 0.82.08 ADDITIONS
Hall of legends added. This is a local scoreboard for ironman runs. It holds 20 entries and can be accessed at the title screen.
Four types of monster nests added to certain parts of the game (Snake, Spider, Giant Mite, Rat). These are holes in the ground that spawn enemies. They can be destructed and looted.
Snake nests added to the gorgon dungeon.
Giant Mite nests added to the minotaur dungeon.
Rat nests added to the ratman dungeons.
Garden of Cocoons incident added. Hero finds a peculiar place full of cocoons. There is a spider nest in the middle of the battlefield. Cocoons are full of loot from the unlucky victims of the giant spiders.
Hole in the Ground incident added. The hero comes to a place with a curious hole in the ground. The rocks around the area glimmer with precious minerals.
A new small spider type added: Burrowlurker.
CHANGES
Mites are now weak to ice.
Completing Minotaur dungeon gives a talent stone as a reward.
Goat cheese added to rat drops.
Changed the icon for frost blade with a more suitable one.
FIXES
On rare occasions a monster won't die even it has negative hp. Since I couldn't reproduce this bug, I made an experimental solution.
Development News: Hall of Legends
Hi everyone, Last week we worked on a long wanted feature: a local scoreboard to keep scores. This will be called “Hall of Legends”.
Scores will be calculated for the ironman (permadeath) mode. Score calculation will take into account experience, number of days hero survived and fame. Experience and number of days are essential parts of the score but fame also contributes. Difficulty level will also change the score dramatically with a positive or negative multiplier.
The score sheet will hold 20 entries and will be accessible through the title page. Hope this will make the game more fun for permadeath players.
Another addition we worked on is monster nests. These are basically one-square holes on the ground that spawn monsters. There is a spider nest and a rat nest for now.
They may come up at the dungeons or on the overworld. These nests will spawn enemies every 10-15 turns. They are destructable and weak to fire-based attacks. So a fireball or a bottle of lavafall may come handy.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. May the tides bring you triumph!
Version 0.81.08
Hi everyone, Here is a bugfix update.
Excellent Potion of Minor Stamina was not showing stamina.
When getting meditation points, stamina cost of talent stones at the action bar were not updating immediately.
If you close the alchemy UI with the Q key while you have your cursor over a UI element, the tooltip was persisting on the screen.
Investigating a house with coral spiders revealed a ghost instead of a coral spider.
Update 24 Arrives! Midnight Tactics
Hi everyone, In this update we made several improvements for different aspects of the game. See below the details.
Version 0.81.07
ADDITIONS
Sort inventory button added.
Investigate Cautiosly skill check added for certain overworld incidents and quests with battlemaps. Successful "investigate cautiously" skill checks reveal the number and type of enemies. It also grants a suprise attack bonus to the hero (+10 melee & ranged attack for 10 turns). Hero can make a more informed decision about committing to the battle. This skill check is easier at night.
Sword in the Stone overworld incident added. Hero must persuade the ethereal defender of the sword that he is brave and worthy enough to wield it.
Forbidden Ritual overworld incident added. Hero discovers an otherworldly statue worshipped by the cultist. He has now the opportunity to fight the cultists and steal the valuable gems on the statue.
Crystal Field overworld incident added. Hero finds a strange place full of crystal formations.
Rabbit added as a huntable animal. Hero can find it randomly on the overworld map or at the camp while searching for hunt.
Ceremonial Staff added. (Damage 12. Defense 5.)
Aquathril Shortbow added. (Damage 9)
CHANGES
Changed one of the wilderness survival perks to "No travel speed penalty when it is raining".
“Follow the tracks” skill check is improved. Now, on success, hero can find 1, 2 or 3 huntable animals.
Some of the thievery skill perks now improve suprise attack.
Successfull skill checks give more XP.
Successfull intimidation skill checks give more reputation.
Maximum load capacity is increased by 5 for all characters.
Amulets may now have luck stat.
Introductionary texts for overworld incidents improved.
The last boss is now harder.
Enemies after level 12 are slightly harder.
FIXES
Enemies' lightning damage was not calculated correctly when raining. It was less than it should be.
Fixed an issue where game starts to play wilderness ambient music for a second when exiting from the town battlemap to the town.
Deers were not supposed to attack, but they were melee attacking the hero.
