Attention Fellow Dragons!
It's been a long time coming, but after months of work, we are finally pleased to announce the release of our newest update. In addition to a host of tweaks and fixes, this update also includes new intro levels, plus new and updated features! Building a solid foundation for deep storytelling and improving the introductory experience were the foci of this update.
| Brand New Intro Experience |
Begin the game in a multi-environment tutorial level where you meet new friends, encounter new enemies, and learn about the game through interactive dialogue where your choices change the outcome.
Hone your dragon abilities as you jump, glide, fight, and fly your way through a treacherous cavern to get into the village. Once in the Village of Ember, Alvis takes the player on as his apprentice, and teaches them magic; starting with Flash of Nature, Magic Missile, and Homeward Bound. Given our community feedback, we agree that having magic in the village was much needed and makes for a much more exciting experience.
There is still plenty more to come with these areas, with secrets and hidden treasures to find. There's definitely not gonna be a giant spider boss with a hidden mechanic that may or may not be unlocked through the tutorial-- no. Definitely nothing like that, no.
| New Dialog & Questing System |
The previous dialog and questing systems have been completely replaced by our new custom dialog and questing solution. With this new system, dialog and questing are seamlessly integrated, making it possible for actions you take and dialog choices you make to have an often immediate (and possibly lasting) affect on the behaviors, dialog, and decision making of other NPCs within the area and/or game world.
| Powered by Ink
"Ink is [a] powerful narrative scripting language designed for professional game development", says Inkle Studios, and, oh, how right they are. With it, we are able to weave together any universe we wish, add and remove content on a whim, and control every aspect of the narrative.
We're very excited to utilize this incredible system to its fullest capabilities, and really push the creative limits of our story-telling.
| Change Notes |
| Gameplay
- Implemented brand-new RPG leveling system!
- Completely rebuilt the dialog and questing systems.
- Replaced legacy 'Pick Ups" system with a full-fledged Inventory System. (GUI coming soon)
- Added new player spell 'Homeward Bound' to bring Frigg back to the village.
- Enemies now reposition themselves during standard combat.
- Enemies now have a chance to flee during standard combat on a failed Willpower roll.
- Fixed multiple issues with NPC melee attacks not triggering if the NPC was too close to its target.
- Corrected multi-cast, overcast, and other issues related to Spell Cool-downs.
- Reduced the level requirement for Divine Judgement from 30 down to 24, reduced its cool-down from 45s to 35s, and reduced its min and max damage by 25.
- Divine Judgement now consecrates the ground it strikes with a DOT.
- Player's heal spells may no longer be interrupted.
- For repositioning checks, enemy NPCs now check against their current interact distance instead of a hard 3m value. This has corrected an issue where ranged enemies fail to reposition themselves appropriately if their target has taken cover behind an obstacle.
- Slightly reduced Frigg's Magic recharge time.
- Adjusted probabilities of some enemy spawns.
- Adjusted the starting level of some enemies for a smoother transition between stages.
- Fixed an issue where a successful defense roll would negate any damage type, not just physical attacks.
- Saved character data that fails to match the base character values is now properly updated on game load.
- Mitigated damage may now produce a zero result if a roll against the player's defense is failed.
- Reduced the cool-down of Divine Harmony from 30s down to 15s.
- Reduced the Magic cost of Divine Harmony from 30 down to 15.
- Invoking spells no longer consumes Energy.
- Up/Down control is now disabled when flying if dialog is pending.
- Slightly adjusted Frigg's Base Damage, Crit Chance, and Base Defense in the player's favor.
- Slightly lowered the efficacy of 2-Paw Front Attack and Tail-whip.
- Slightly increased the efficacy of Flash of Nature, but also increased its cool-down from 3s up to 5s.
- Frigg now starts with 50 of each Eternity Rune.
- Increased the range of all NPC summon spells up to 30m.
- Tweaked the NPC Spell 'Minor Summon' to include Mini-Archers.
- Large Chromatic Orbs cast by Skeleton Mages now home in on Frigg.
- Complete refactoring of the Actor Character and Actor Character Data systems.
- All enemy NPCs now call out for help when engaged in combat.
- Reduced Frigg's maximum look angle from 90 down to 70.
- Reduced the health of The Bone King's boss summons by 50%.
- Reduced the health of The Bone King by 50%.
- The Bone King now summons minions at 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50%.
| Audio
- Gameplay music now changes when combat is engaged.
- Fixed multiple issues with Audio Players.
| Visual
- Da'Boss now performs a dance sequence as a temporary placeholder for the actual boss mechanics.
- Renamed 'Zombie Peon' to 'Zombie Scout'.
- Heals no longer have capability to trigger the 'hit' reflex.
- Summons by The Bone King are now announced via system message.
- A high-contrast system message is now displayed when a Player's spell is interrupted.
- Added animated lighting effect to game title on Title Screen.
- Added blur effect to the Gameplay Menu and Bonus Screens.
- Tweaked Fly-Text to be cleaner and faster.
| GUI / UIX
- Completely revamped the player-portrait into an informative Player Progression gauge system
- Compass Markers now correctly fade in and out, instead of 'popping'.
- Fixed an issue where enemy NPC compass markers would fail to be removed upon that NPCs death.
- Collectibles now immediately disable their Compass Marker.
- Reduced the Loading Tip show time from 5 seconds down to 3 seconds.
- Increased the Loading Tip delay up from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
- Added fine-grain joystick control to UI sliders.