Hello Friends,
This update took way longer to complete than we expected, but it is the biggest one so far. It is focused on improving the experience for the new players, with huge improvements in the first 1-2 hours of gameplay, Featuring a whole new biome and redesigned "Moonstone Hamlet". Quests are updated to reduce travel and navigation in the game world is seriously improved by a new map/minimap system.
New Content:
- A whole new biome - "Guardians Temple" with its own enemies and story is now replacing the old tutorial area.
- Moonstone Hamlet biome fully redesigned to encourage more dynamic play.
- 3 new enemies: (Soul Bug, Temple Golem, Zombie Dwarf)
- 2 new gadgets (Force field Generator, Soul Speed Boosters)
- 1 new trap (Piston smasher)
- Activators turned on by explosions are added to control gates and bridges
- Monster Rabits redesigned - now also having "Poisonous egg" ability. When the egg explodes, it gives poison effect in the area, slowing the player.
- Ferral wolves now have bloodlust ability, 2 hitpoints and improved movement pattern.
- Lots of new models, animations and redesign
Navigation:
- Minimap Added
- Navigation Beacons removed - now all you need is to go into a zone to explore.
- Map system redesigned with improved freeview and zoom options.
- Quest markers added to the map.
- Fast travel screen completely redesigned to have more natural navigations between the beacons and show travel connections.
- Quests improved to reduce travel.
Gameplay:
- Difficulty settings added (peaceful, casual, moderate, hard, nightmare)
- Battle grids now respawn the enemies, when you leave the area or die.
- More Soul beacons added, to make the respawning of the enemies less punishing.
- Soul drops from enemies and destructibles greatly reduced, but the new enemy the "Soul Bug" contains a lot of soul, so you have to make a strategical decision when to blast it.
- The new gadgets are activated when you do multikills. That gives more high risk/high reward options, and forces strategical placement of the bombs.
- You now start with 2 bombs (Automation core gadged is equipped by default).
- Enemies, bosses and gadgets have balance changes.
- Loot from the lootcrates is no longer randomised.
Graphics:
- A lot more color and life added.
- Completely new fog and halos shaders developed.
- A lot of calculation optimisations in the most used shaders to reduce the GPU load.
GUI:
- New "Pick a saved game" screen, that gives a lot more information about the selected save and displaying a map.
- New convert old save screen.
- New dificulty select screen.
- A lot of small visual improvements in all the menus.
- A lot of small improvements in navigating the menus.
General/Bugfixes:
- Save converter functionality improved, so that you can continue playing a game you started in the old versions of the game.
- Pausing Game does not stop the music now.
- Some dialogues removed/shortened
- Some Loading issues fixed
- Fixed the annoying audio bug that made the sfx disappear when you stop the music.
- Fixed the bug that displaces the gui in the top left corner.
- Many small bugs fixed.
Engine:
-Complete redesign of the loading system - that will allow different game modes and multiplayer.
-Complete redesign of the skill system - that will allow different skill options to easily be added and removed - adding capabilities for many game modes and multiple heroes in the future.
-Complete redesign and the gadgets and effects system - that will make it easy to add new gadgets and skills.
Running saved game from older version:
- Loading a save converted from a previous version will place you at the start of the new biome "Guardians Temple" as it is impossible to account for all the possible saving spots and terrain changes. - All your gadgets will be updated to 0.4.4 and unequipped.
- If you prefer not to play the new zone - you can just walk to the closest beacon and fast travel.
- To have the best experience when playing the new biome, starting a new game is advised, as having late game gear will make you OP.
We are really excited by all the improvements we made in this update and the huge potential for the future of the game that it creates!
If you have any suggestions and want to help us shape the future of the game - don't hesitate to join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/pP24YY4