With this improvement & content patch: the fast travel mechanics, a new companion and various content have been added to Draft of Darkness.
Fast Travel
I've been trying to improve run durations by introducing options to speed up exploration and encounters. I kept focusing on this matter to make further improvements. After exploring the map and reaching the boss, players generally backtracked to a shop or terminal to resupply. The fast travel system aims to speed up this part of the game and skip the mostly uneventful travels taking place in already explored areas.
The fast travel is simple: you can open the map, click on a fast travel location and initiate the process. You can fast travel to shops and terminals if you already interacted with them. There is a caveat though, this is not a teleportation, you can still get interrupted by the enemies! When the fast travel begins, a path is calculated between your current position and the target. If an encounter is hit, it will be triggered. This makes it important to have a clear path between yourself and the fast travel position. If you fled from the enemy and cornered yourself into a dead end, you shouldn't trust the fast travel to save you from harm's way.
New Companion: Brute
The newly added companion can be unlocked by completing a challenge offered by Brute Osman in the Streets area. Brutes use none other than their punches as weapons. They excel in utilising "combos" with the help of their unique perks.
The new unarmed cards manipulate hand & draw pile, getting more powerful when the combos are invoked at the right time.
New Events
With this patch, I've added several non-story events, focusing on the newer areas. One of the new events is the "Fireplace" event, found in the Residence area. This event replaces the recruitment event of this area, giving you a choice to select one of four companions. In other words, this will give you more control over your first companion. Credits to @GoldenEulogy in our Discord Server for suggesting this idea.
Other events add new opportunities to get more resources, cards, items and equipment. The "Supply Boxes", for example, will allow you to receive resources and rarer consumables if you have the necessary item to open them. With the "Statue" event, you can spend leftover Anolette dusts and petals in the last area of the game. To see the full list of new events, check out the changelog below.
Draft of Darkness incorporates puzzles of survival horrors in the rogue-like formula, by re-thinking them in a procedurally generated manner. The new "Grid Panel" puzzle event added to the Factory is another step towards the goal of having such puzzles in every area. I won't spoil the puzzle here, but as in all other puzzles in the game, I aimed to make it one that will be easy to master and fun to solve each run. Also, while it can be solved simply by itself, you can also find a clue dropped from an encounter in the area. Pro tip: When you are done with the puzzle, you can sell the clue for a high price!
Next Patch
The next month's patch will continue focusing on adding new events. There will also be a new boss added to the Factory area. Until next time!
Update Notes for v0.8.1
Improvements
- Fast Travel: You can now use the map to fast travel to shops, terminals and area bosses. To fast travel to shops and terminals, you must interact with them at least once; while bosses can be travelled to if you revealed them. When fast travel is initiated, the path to the target is checked for enemies; if there is, fast travel will fail and the encounter will be triggered. Environment effects such as Radiation will still be applied according to the calculated path. Fast Travel is disabled while the Daemon is active.
Content / Balance
- (New Companion) Brute: A companion who can only use unarmed cards. Unlocked using "The Brute" event.
- (New Perk/Brute) Crusader: When you trigger a combo, remove 1 Debuff layer from yourself.
- (New Perk/Brute) Muscular: Increase your Physical Power by 0.2 per card in your draw pile.
- (New Perk/Brute) Zealous: When you trigger a combo, restore 2 Energy.
- (New Decision Event) The Brute: An event where you fight Brute Osman in a one-on-one duel. The Brute companion will be unlocked if you succeed.
- (New Decision Event) Fireplace: Appears in the Residence area, in place of the regular recruit event. Through this event, you can choose a companion among 4 of them. The chosen companion will join the group.
- (New Decision Event) Supply Crate: Can be unlocked using a Crowbar or Lockpick to gain resources. Appears in all of the areas, but crowbars can be found in the Factory.
- (New Decision Event) 3 Chains: Appears in the Factory area. A choice between a rare move, trophy item and pristine equipment can be made to obtain one of them.
- (New Decision Event) Grid Panel: Appears in the Factory area. A procedurally generated puzzle event. Adds a special encounter to the area, which will drop a clue item as loot.
- (New Decision Event) Statue: Appears in the Hospital area. "Anolette Petal" or "Anolette Dust" item can be spent to obtain pristine condition equipment. Weapon drops are based on group members.
- (New Item/Consumable) Crowbar: Can be used to open supply crates. Encounter: Draw 1 move.
- (New Item/Quest) Crumbled Paper: Upon use, shows a clue for the Grid Panel event.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Cobra Stance: Select a move from your draw pile (except "Cobra Stance"), draw all moves with the same name from your draw pile.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Accumulate: Select and transfer up to 2 move(s) from your hand to draw pile. Until the end of turn, -Combo 2: Reduce Energy Cost by 1. -Combo 3: Increase base Physical Damage by 2. -Combo 4: Restore 4 Energy.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Elbow Strike: Deal 0.4x Phys. Damage. If unarmed, gain 2 Block. -Combo 2: Gain 2 Block. -Combo 4: Dealt damage is increased by 10% of Block you have.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Load Bag: Send to the bottom of the draw pile. While in draw pile, increase all defenses by 20 and reduce Speed by 0.5 while unarmed.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Suplex: Deal 0.5x Phys. Damage. If unarmed, gain Kickstart 1. Combo 2: Increase base damage and combo requirement by 1.
- (Card) Stall: Now has "Advance 20%", instead of "Advance 5% for each move in your hand".
- "Crowbar" is added as a new starter item.
- "Zealous" is added as a new starter perk.
Fixes
- Refresh rates removed from options, as the game uses desktop refresh rates in both windowed and fullscreen modes.