This week in the world of Trickster, the Orcs have done their homework. They've recruited Orc Hunters to join their ranks and rain down support fire to cover their advance. A good few of them also learned additional ranged attacks, some can now summon familiars and some can place down area-denial traps to make your job even harder.
The Dropship
There is also that new ragtag dropship Orcs will use to try to ambush you. In a world shattered to little bits and pieces, ingenuity starts to shine.
With all these changes, you may find the Broken Lands much harder to travel through. So let's even the playing field a little.
A new weapon - The Piercer
This ancient arcane bow can channel the primal energies into a single, armor piercing bolt. Position is key here, but well placed shot can easily take out an entire group of enemies.
Walk Locomotion
An important feature you asked for - Walk Locomotion - can now selected in the settings menu. Hold the touchpad to move forward at a steady pace and aim the controller up or down to adjust the speed. And, so you're not left without a tactical advantage, use double tap on the touchpad to teleport away from danger.
Full Patch Notes
0.2.5 New Features:
Added "walk" locomotion method available in the settings. Press the touchpad to move in constant pace.
New enemy - Orc Hunter. Look for cover, this one is a real sharpshooter.
Added two new tiles (that's a 25% increase!) to procedural level system.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Added one more variation of common orc warrior.
Some orcs will now throw axes at the player.
Red Shamans learned how to summon a familiar that gives them even more firepower!
Blue Shamans can now summon an arcane orb, perfect for area denial attacks.
Fixed teleport effect being displayed when vignette was off.
Fixed a bug where teleport effects would show with walk locomotion.
Fixed a bug where player could move with walk locomotion during game loading time.
0.2.6 New Features:
Added new Piercer Bow. Take it for a spin!
Added Orc dropship that will sometimes try to ambush player.
Added Damage Prompt that pops up when you get hit from behind.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Added footsteps to walk locomotion.
Walk locomotion speed can now be slowed down by aiming the controlelr down.
Added teleport on double tap to walk locomotion.
Fixed teleport marker being displayed for brieg second on walk locomotion.
Made end level portal rune activate when player touches the rune or the sign above it.
Update 2 - The Broken Lands
Procedurally generated levels, two enemies, three biomes, first four quests and entirely new game mode - that's what waiting for you in newest addition to the Trickster!
Head below for a detailed changelog.
0.2.4 New Features:
Added quest markers visible in the sky in Adventure Mode.
New Quest Added - "A Murder of Crows"
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Added snow particles to frozen islands.
Improved mission select table to be easier to use.
Red Crystal health and damage now depends on difficulty setting.
Teleport will now have a longer cooldowm (0.5 seconds, up from 0.2 seconds.)
Fixed vignette setting displaying wrong value in settings menu.
Fixed players being able to teleport onto enemy islands in wave attack mode.
Improved Adventure Mode end portal rune visibility.
0.2.3 New features:
Added basic Biome system. Now Adventure Levels can take place in grassland, frozen and desert islands.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Added an option to turn off teleport vignette in the settings.
0.2.2 New features:
Added two new Quests to Adventure Mode: "Chain of Command" and "Into the Source"
Added two new quest-related enemies - The Warchief and The Red Crystal.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Fixed a metric ton of pathing issues in Adventure Mode levels.
Enemies will now attack the player when hit from behind their aggro range.
Enemies will now signal nearby allies to help them fighting the player.
Adventure Mode map will now show the main quest details upon selecting the mission.
Fixed a bug where exit portal on a level would end up inaccesible for enemies.
Wave Attack mode now has a countdown before launching.
0.2.1 New Features:
Added new music system, 4 new battle tracks and 1 new calm track.
Added basic portal defence quest to procedural levels. Finishing a level won't be such a breeze any more.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Added birds on Adventure levels.
Added a tooltip for all the quests in the level displayed when player first enters it.
Portal defence on Adventure Levels will now take 45 seconds before a player can return home.
Added Title and plot of main quest for each level to loading screen.
Modified Adventure Mode levels logic - Levels will now be created based on given main and side quests.
Fixed too many enemies being spawned on Adventure levels causing the game to lag.
Fixed broken pathing in numerous tiles
Fixed enemies turning around when player is unreachable.
Fixed arrows getting stuck in map pedestal growing to huge sizes.
Fixed collisions for a bunch of stone objects - arrows won't get stuck in them any more.
Enemies will now wander around when no target is around.
Fixed some enemies swinging their weapons when out of reach to the player.
Improved Player teleport to avoid getting stuck in the walls on procedural levels.
Added better vfx to rune activation.
Fixed a bug where Difficulty Picker on portal island was visible during a wave attack game.
0.2.0 New Features:
Added new very big feature - Adventure Mode - this will be the core of the Trickster gameplay from now on.
Modified starter Island to be better suited for mission selection in Adventure Mode. Wave Attack is now a secondary game mode.
Changes, Improvements and bugfixes:
Difficulty and game type will now be picked from the map in the middle of the starter island.
Changed lighting and some texture colors to add some vibrance to color palette.
Player menu now can be opened with both controller's app buttons.
Player menu will now be more compact and use steam-like control method.
Player menu now contains quest tracker used in Adventure mode.
Removed rocks around the portal.
Added 3 new attack animations for orcs.
Added 2 new hurt animations for orcs.
Added new equip sounds.
Teleporter has been changed to allow for easier movement up and down slope
Improved some existing sounds.
Added grass with proper wind behaviour to the game.
Improved colors and contrast of some textures for more consistent pallete.
Slightly tweaked bloom and color correction settings.
Removed some unused textures that have been eating up memory.
Try the Adventure Mode Preview Now!
A major expansion is coming to Trickster within 2 weeks - Adventure Mode! Hunt orcs and complete challenging quests in procedurally generated levels. We're officially leaving the wave shooter badge behind.
How will this all work? You'll find more details on coming features below. I also have a teaser for you. You can check out the procedural maps right now on experimental branch. For those impatient, here is the link for some screenshot goodness: http://imgur.com/a/c13U4
The Adventure Mode
The Adventure mode will become the core gameplay of the Trickster.
When entering the starter island you'll be presented with 5 daily missions. Each of them will take place on a different, procedurally generated map and will contain from 2 to 5 quests you'll have to find and complete before returning home. Quests will range from "simple" killing the local Warchief to hijacking orcish smithy and forging a new weapon while hurling hot coals at approaching adversaries. After your job is complete, you'll have to locate and activate a portal that will take you home. This action takes time and alarms all the nearby enemies about your presence. You'll have a perfect opportunity to show off your freshly earned point defense skills. Your final score and rewards (coming next) will depend on how well you'll do in all those tasks.
You can check how the procedural generation fares on the experimental branch. Being experimental, there are a few things that still work quirky in there - AI often loses track of the player and starts spinning in circles, pathing meshes allow orcs and players go through walls and its too easy to teleport on top of the biggest rock around - but it gives a good demonstration on the direction the game is heading!
When is it all coming to live branch? After AI is freshed out, quests are all good to go and bugs are smashed. Some time mid september. Meanwhile, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on procedural levels system. Its right now on experimental branch for you to try.
Wave attack mode will still be accessible for some stress relief, but main development efforts will concentrate here.
Whats next?
With the adventure mode and quest system ready, we'll have a place where players can gather resources and earn rewards. The next thing on the menu is progression system with many (15+) weapons with varying stats and rarity to collect. Many of them can also be upgraded with resources you'll find along the levels. More updates soon!
PS. Say hello to newest addition to the horde - The Warchief!
This guys sports an impenetrable dragon hide armor - take extra care where you place your shots! You can test his combat prowess tomorrow on the Experimental Branch!
Update 1
Trickster 0.1.4 is now live. It contains a new weapon and a few improvements based on the feedback from the community. Here's what you can expect:
0.1.4 - Update 1
New features and improvements: Added new weapon.Throwing darts! Release your inner ninja. You can find it on one of the pillars.
Added bow draw length setting to the app menu.
Arrow hit sounds changed for ones packing more punch.
Improved bow mechanics: you can press the trigger before nocking the arrow to pull the bow.
Added weapon stats to app menu.
Sword will now return to belt if its released near it.
Moved the sword mount point a little closer to the player.
Fixes: Statue sword will have collision now.
Fixed no shadows bug some users where experiencing.
Fixed a bug where Rogue Orc would throw smoke when dead. (again!)
Fixed a bug where islands would start launching debris while on game stats screen.
Known Issues: Bow Draw Length is not saved between game sessions yet.
Let us know how you like the throwing darts and new bow sounds!
