With update 0.8.6.0 we are adding a brand new softcore game mode to Striving for Light along plenty of improvements, balancing changes and bugfixes.
New Features
Softcore Game Mode
From our early access release until now we have frequently received player feedback wishing for a more casual game mode with plays a bit more like general ARPGs. We have now added a brand new softcore game mode into the game which makes it easier for new players to dive into all the game systems without having to restart runs over and over due to small mistakes.
With the new softcore game mode you can now decide on each new run if you would like to play a softcore or a hardcore run. The hardcore mode is the standart mode and has not been changed. On hardcore death is permanent. For the softcore mode you will be granted 3 shield charges. Whenever you die one shieldcharge is getting removed. If all shield charges have vanished you are defeated and the run is over. Whenever you have gained 10 levels one shield will be recharged.
How does Softcore work?
- The softcore mode has a shared stash with the normal Hardcore mode. We did not want to completely separate those two modes as this would mean unlocking all skills, weapons, characters, maps and collecting crafting materials two times for each game-mode per season. Your time is precious and we want to make it possible to jump into more casual runs and then switch back to the hardcore mode if you feel like it without the bad taste of having to unlock everything a second time in the same season.
- As a compensation for the additional shield the softcore mode has higher experience requirements for leveling your character. This will balance out the risk-reward for the new softcore mode and make runs feel a bit more ARPG like with slower progression but also less risk of ending due to early player death.
- You can use both game modes to farm crafting materials. Softcore is not essentially the go-to mode for farming as your character will end up a bit weaker than on hardcore so while this mode is more save you will also have a bit less power which makes it hard to spice up maps as you might do in the hardcore mode.
Overall we hope that this new softcore mode gives players a more diverse player experience which you can tweak to your liking.
Version 0.8.6.0f-g
- Reduced required experience for leveling up in the new softcore mode.
Version 0.8.6.0f-g
- hardcore / softcore mode from previous run is now remembered for the next run
- fixed some updating issues on the softcore leaderboard
- switching from softcore to hardcore in town will now properly hide shield UI
- smaller fixes for the softcore mode
- fixed crash when switching leaderboard from softcore to hardcore (v.0.8.6.0g)
- improved phoenix animation (v.0.8.6.0g)
Version 0.8.6.0e
- Early Access Season 10 start.
Version 0.8.6.0d
Improvements and Changes:
- If you die in softcore you will now always gain full live on restart in town.
- Rolled back the multi threaded physics model.
- Performance improvements.
- Fixed last shield charge not being visually removed on player death.
- Improved updating leaderboards when switching between hardcore and softcore game modes.
- Fixed bug that could lead to a crash when the player died when casting plenty of projectiles
- Fixed phoenix fire circle AoE being hidden when the event is placed at the very top of a map.
Balancing:
- Hammer Melee Weapon deals now 12 damage + additional 12 melee damage as slam Area AoE (was 16 melee damage + additional 16 slam area AoE damage)
- Throwing spear projectile damage has been reduced to 8 (was 16 before).
- Heleja has now 2 default max dodge charges (was 3 max dodge before)
- Rogue Character now has 4 max dodge charages (was 3 max dodge before)
Version 0.8.6.0c
- Fixed bug that erased save files and lead to plenty of crashes.
- Softcore/ Hardcore game mode can now only be switched at the start of the run.
- Added tooltips for the new game modes. Added a softcore / hardcore flag in the pathfinder to show on which gamemode you are playing.
Version 0.8.6.0b
- A new softcore mode has been implemented. You can now choose on the start of each run if you want to play the new softcore game mode instead of the standard hardcore mode. The new softcore game mode grants you 3 shields that fade when you die. The shields get recharge by one shield charge each 10 levels. In softcore you will receive less exp than in the standard hardcore mode to even out the difficulty differences. Hardcore and softcore both have sperate leaderboards. The hardcore game mode stays unchanged.
- Phoenix now on spawn does not directly deal contact damage.
- Further memory leak fixes.
- Fixed a bug that caused save files to be partially loaded leading to crashes.
Version 0.8.6.0a
- Transitioned to multi threaded physics model for increased performance. Plenty of technical changes on how collisions are processed to enable multi threaded physics.
- Performance improvements on hitting enemies due to new and improved enemy detection range change for all enemies.
- Fixed inconsistent map enemy density which could lead to very poor performance on very unplayable enemy densities on forest and sands map for example. Previously some maps due to weak enemy spawn restrictions could end up having tons over overlapping enemies that was leading to massive performance issues. This should now be fixed as enemies have now the same spawn restrictions on each map.
- Sand map now has larger trap distance to prevent trap cluttering.
- Memory leak fixes.
- Fixed invisible AoE field on corrupted merchant.
- Fixed off-flowing tooltips in the pathfinder when applying shards to maps.
- Increased spawn possibility of the new added secret.
Bounty Hunt the new Secret
The efforts which flowed into the past streamer-race event have also brought back a species which seemed extinguished in the vast lands around Ankerath.
We offer a bounty for the first 3 persons who post a screenshot of the new secret into our Discord in the screenshots channel. The first 3 players who share the right screenshot will receive a steam key for one of our games or soundtracks of their choice!
Bug Reporting
Please use our Discord or the steam forums to report any occuring issues so that we can fix and improve all the new features to make this udpate the best it can be! Thanks for being part of this journey!