Hey all, so we're got a few announcements to make.
1. The Pools of Murk is the next dungeon in the game and will be included in the next content update, along with a new challenge level, overworld and boss fight. Just one character left to code for AI, as well as fine tuning the boss fight and we should be nearing completion of the content. I'm still waiting on animations for the main character to add in some of his new moves, so it will likely be a few more weeks before the content is ready to be pushed out onto Steam. It's looking and feeling great though and I think you will all be excited for a lot of the changes/improvements coming. Below is a few new screenshots of the Pools of Murk. You can check out some of the enemies including the frogmen and the mushroom. The AI is much stronger compared to previous areas of the game, but again we'll continue to retrace our steps and improve other aspects of the game as we continue development. A lot is going to be changed/improved so bear with us :)
2. Following the next content update we'll be focusing on making major changes and improvements to the world map. Eventually you will no longer be able to die on the world map. Instead we're going to be redesigning each world a bit to be focused more on exploring rather than having to worry about making a jump. The world map is meant to offer a fun diversion from the main dungeon levels of the game, however we feel it isn't living up to par right now and we'll be modifying it tremendously. So expect gradual improvements of this once we release the Swamp of Green Mist content.
That's about it for now. No new builds this week as the new content has taken up nearly all of my time, but I'll push another build out next week with some other improvements.
Build 0.5.5.0 is live
Build 0.5.5.0 is now live and includes the following:
- Added theme music to Korrath Woods
- Fixed some enemy pathing issues in The Abandoned Mines
- Fireball will no longer collide with torches
- Revised the backend audio logic that controls music, sound fx etc to prepare for additional music and made the system much more efficient and flexible
- A few other small improvements/tweaks/bug fixes
Now it's back to working on The Swamp of Green Mist. I Can't wait to share more details about the next content update!
Build 0.5.4.0 is live! New Screenshots and News!
Build 0.5.4.0 went live today and includes many more improvements. Any feedback on this build would be really helpful as the mechanics do change a bit. Here is what's been tweaked/fixed:
- Increased the speed by which the players pulls himself up onto a ledge by 50%
- Player will now respawn with full health and fire after dying. This is likely to be further tweaked.
- Sped up the shoot fireball animation by 30% to have it feel more responsive
- Adjusted the walking/running speed of the gnolls in the abandoned mines to be more fluid and responsive
- Changed hit detection with the bats in the abandoned mines making it easier to melee attack them. Originally the idea was for the player to crouch to avoid the bats and jump from platform to platform, but a lot of people weren't figuring this out so we changed the mechanics and just made it easier to kill them with melee
- Adjusted enemy pathing in The Abandoned Mines
- Adjusted enemy placement in Korrath Woods, The Abandoned Mines, The Hives and The Mountains of Orin
- Fireballs will no longer collide with ladders
- Zoomed the camera out on the World map by 40% to offer more visibility and easier navigation
- Decreased player's run speed by 10% on the world map
- Modified level design in Korrath Woods
And here is a couple new screenshots of what's to come in The Swamp of Green Mist. These shots are from the overworld. I'll continue to put up new screenshots throughout the coming weeks as well as give little background info on the area, types of enemies and new things you will encounter.
So besides learning more about the story, exploring new areas, learning new abilities and battling new enemies, what else do we have on the horizon? Lots. We listen to everyone's feedback and we encourage you all to share anything you'd like to see in the game. Some long-term changes we plan to make to the game include:
Improving the world map, from both a design standpoint and navigation standpoint. We want this to be a lot more polished and feel great. We may even hide more gold pieces in new and clever ways.
Adding maps for the dungeons. Yes, we hear you. But please understand why we do not offer maps at this time: we are going to continue altering level design throughout development, so every time we alter something we would have to alter the map and it's simply too much work, especially considering one person does nearly everything in this game. Yes, that's me, Sterling. Nice to meet you :)
Improve the AI and the battle system. Got my animators hard at work creating some new moves and attacks. They will likely go live in the Swamp of Green Mist content update, so expect some cool new moves. The existing AI will constantly be improved and new enemies will be much more advanced and do some cool things. I can't wait to share the enemies in the swamp of green mist.
A full soundtrack for the game. We've had a few requests for this and let me just explain why there isn't one yet. I write/record all of the music myself, do all the programming, design, manage all the artists, voice actors, freelancers etc etc etc. It's a lot of work, and I really want the music to be good and I record it all on an acoustic guitar so it's not as easy as just changing some notes on a keyboard. I have to record it all live and it has to be perfect, so ya... musicians you get me. It's a lot of work. I've written dozens of other songs and I'll continue to update and improve the music as the game goes. There WILL be a full soundtrack and it will be glorious... at least to me :) I may overlay some other instruments overtop and get really creative with it once I've fleshed out more of the core of the game and improved a lot of other things.
Well that's it for now. Expect lots more. I live, breathe and eat this game on a daily basis. Thank you for playing and reading. As always, I appreciate your feedback.
Sterling Selover
Stingbot Games
Build 0.5.3.0 is Live!
Build 0.5.3.0 is now live. Some fine tuning, overall improvements and bug fixes are included in the latest version of the game. Here's what's been updated in the newest build:
- Modified the run speed and animation of the wolf in Korrath Woods. Movement is much more fluid now.
- Reduced the damage inflicted by spells of the gnoll shaman in The Abandoned Mines from 2 damage to 1 damage
- Reduced the damage inflicted by the giant spider in the Hives from 2 damage to 1 damage
- Improved the AI of the golden spider in the hives. Spider will now parry(shoot) more consistent and he will also detect the player with better accuracy
- Added post processing FX to the camera on the world map to brighten things up and add consistency throughout the game
- Player will no longer slide on objects/stairs etc while on the world map. The only place he will slide is on slippery surfaces like ice
- When the game loads a custom save, the camera will now load to the desired position relative to the player, instead of gradually arriving at the desired position
- Fixed a bug in the Aeromancer boss fight where the Aeromancer would sometimes not rotate after moving to the other side of the battle area during phase 2 of the fight
- When entering the Enchantress' lair, the player can no longer move around while engaged in dialogue
- Player will now always play the correct jump animation when jumping off a mushroom in the Hives
- Fixed a bug in The Mountains of Orin, where the ice golem would sometimes get stuck in his idle mode. He now properly resets.
- When siphoning fire in the Mountains of Orin and you slide out of range on an icy surface, player will now properly stop siphoning fire and fire source will return to normal
- Fixed an issue where Aeromancer would reward player over and over again for completing Shard of Dragon's Eye quest. This was not properly fixed before but it is now.
- Changed some enemy pathing in the hives
- Various other minor bug fixes
We'll continue to fine tune the game based on feedback and there is still more we want to do with existing content, but our main focus is new content and new features, and I've been working really hard to make progress here. Expect some new screenshots soon showing the next environment and some details on what's to come.
Finalist in Microsoft's Dream Build Play Contest
We are excited to announce The Forbidden Arts is a finalist in Microsoft's Dream Build Play contest. The winner for each category will be announced March 20 at GDC. Thanks to Microsoft for the opportunity. It's an honor.
As always, stay posted for more updates to the game. Lots to come!
Status Update and New Build 0.5.2.0 is Live
We've been hard at work on new content for the game. The Swamp of Green Mist is the next major content update and it's coming along well. AI is 50% coded, and the levels are fully designed. I just need to finish up the AI, write/record the music and add in the story elements to tie it all together and it will be ready for testing and then pushed out onto Steam. I'm hoping to launch the new content by April, but we'll see how it goes. I'm also working hard on adding new features and improving existing mechanics daily.
With that said, I posted a new build today and here is what's included in version 0.5.2.0:
- When the player dies, the game over screen will no longer display. Instead the game will automatically load to the last save point. This has been requested by lots of players so here you go! :)
- Player will now die instantly when landing in a spike pit
- Revised AI for the gnoll shaman in the abandoned mines. Huge improvements and an easier attack pattern to figure out, making the enemy much more manageable.
- Improved ground collision detection
- Colliders on Platforms in the Enchantress' boss fight will now deactivate immediately when player kills all necessary Dark Wings
- Fixed a bug where the player would still continue to siphon fire after falling off a ledge in the ice caves
- Player will now take damage from collisions with enemy bats. In the last update we changed how the player collides with enemies. Collisions will now work properly with bats
- Fixed a bug where Elia would not display dialogue after defeating the Aeromancer if you attempt to talk to her in Korrath Woods
- Various other small bug fixes
I'll likely get a few more builds released before the new content so stay posted.
Build 0.5.1.0 is live! Improved combat mechanics and more
Very happy to announce the beginning of the revamped combat system. Here's what's included in build 0.5.1.0 and then we'll tell you more of what's to come:
- Colliding with enemies will no longer damage the player. You will now physically collide with enemies rather than pass through them and take damage. Instead, only actual enemy attacks will inflict damage to the player
- In general, enemies now have more hit points
- In general, enemies now react smarter to the player
- Collision detection has been vastly improved. Before this patch you might have found yourself missing some melee attacks at times, even though you were within melee range. This should not happen anymore.
These changes to the combat were highly requested by players and we think they greatly improve how the game plays. More good news is that with these changes we can now make further improvements much easier.
Coming soon there will be more attack animations and moves for the player to perform including a charging flurry attack and an evasive ground roll.
Enemy AI will continue to be improved and become more unique and advanced as we continue development. Right now, new animations are being created to support these new moves, so once they are complete, we will begin working them into the game. As for enemy AI, we're going to start with more advanced AI for enemies in the Swamp of Green Mist as that is the next content update to be added, but we'll continue to strengthen other enemies over time.
Other fixes/improvements included in this build:
- Added a death trigger to a pit in the Mountains of Orin. It was missing and the player could fall endlessly. No longer!
- Fixed some pathing issues for the female assassin in Korrath Woods
- Fixed a bug in properly detecting animated foliage in certain areas of the abandoned mines
- Fixed various bugs related to spawning enemies and projectiles
- Fixed a bug related to animated foliage that could potentially cause the game to crash upon loading at the end of a scene
- Fixed a bug that would not load the correct lighting settings in the mountains of orin
- Player will no longer get stuck in siphon fire animation when moving really slowly along a slippery surface in The Mountains of Orin. He now properly transitions to his walk animation
- Fixed an issue with some ranged enemies not properly shooting projectiles in the correct direction due to a problem where projectile's rotation was set to match the root parent object
- Fixed a bug where Aeromancer would reward player with Blades of the Sun for not actually returning all 3 shards of the Dragon's Eye.
- Updated and improved the save system backend
Stay posted for more updates. Lots to come. And as always, thank you for the feedback, whether it's direct or we have to scout the internet for it :)
Improved combat is coming very soon
The beginning stages of a much more refined combat system are in the works. A few complaints people have made is they do not like the old-school mechanics of colliding with enemies and taking damage. Although it personally never bothered me, this is being changed because ultimately I don't want to just make myself happy, I want you all to be happy as well. You will soon be able to physically collide with enemies and not take damage unless you're actually being attacked. Changing the mechanics was not simply changing collision types, but it altered logic from dozens of scripts and required a lot of tweaking to get it working, but I'm happy to say it's working great!
This is not all I've been working on. This is just a start for an improved combat system. We have a lot planned to improve the system and really make it shine and more details will be announced in a couple days when the next build is released, but we think you're going to like the changes quite a bit.
Stay posted for the new build!
New Content Released! Explore the Northern Wastes now in Version 0.5.0.0
We are excited to announce the first content update for The Forbidden Arts is now available to play, increasing the total game content to 60%. We also updated our video trailer to show some footage from the new environment.
Grab your daggers and venture into the Northern Wastes, a frozen wasteland in the northern region of Chora, home to all sorts of enemies and dragon kind. Following where the story left off, you must seek out the ancient ice dragon, the Aeromancer, in hopes he can help you discover the secrets behind the phoenix feathers you have found throughout Chora. But something is wrong and things are worse than you thought. It will take a bit of strength and courage, and all of your Pyromancy skills to overcome the darkness looming over The Northern Wastes.
This content update includes several hours of new content including the largest “dungeon” yet as well as the most intriguing and difficult boss fight and challenge level yet. There is also a mini game that is sure to generate a few smiles.
You will have to master the fire jump to conquer the frozen wastelands and it’s now becoming crucial you learn how to switch between abilities on the fly. There are also several new upgrades/abilities you will obtain in this new area.
Besides the new content we have made loads of improvements to the game, from adding new features to squashing bugs to improving the controls, the list goes on. There are so many improvements in this build the list is simply too long to write it all down here. We’re well on our way to tightening up the game and all the feedback we’ve received has been very helpful and we thank you.
There is still a lot of content to be released, mechanics to tweak and features to add, but we’re well on our way and excited for the future. We read you loud and clear about wanting a more fleshed out melee combat system and advanced AI and you can rest assured it’s going to be gradually strengthened as we continue development.
Thank you all and we hope you enjoy The Northern Wastes content as it’s our favorite addition yet. Next up: The Swamp of Green Mist!
Sterling and Marcy Selover
Team Stingbot
Build 0.4.3.0 is Live!
No, this isn't the build with the new content. I'll just get that out of the way. But it has so many improvements I had to release it now. The new content is still planned to release by this coming Friday, but here's what's been improved, tweaked or fixed in Build 0.4.3.0:
- Adjusted mechanics to how a player takes falling damage and made it much more reliable and much more forgiving
- Doubled the speed of the fireball
- Shortened the amount of time it takes to restart a game after player dies
- Improved wall jumping again! Player will no longer attempt to latch on to a wall near the ground when jumping while standing directly next to a wall. Instead, the player will only attempt to latch onto a wall once the apex of his jump has been reached
- Fixed a bug in the Abandoned Mines Puzzle where if you lower both boulders at same time it would only activate one boulder upon reaching the bottom, disabling the other one from being pushed
- Added a sound effect to the moveable crates when they collide with the grass
- Fixed some issues with grabbing onto a wall or ladder. Should always work properly now
- Action Icon will now display properly when player is able to climb ladders or walls
- Fixed some colliders on world map
- Fixed some enemy pathing issues in Korrath Woods
- Fixed an issue with crate in Korrath Woods. If it falls into a pit and is destroyed it now respawns at the correct location
- Revised level design in Korrath Woods
As always, hard at work every day on the game. Can't wait to share more!
