Hey everyone!
This month's dev log didn't quite make it in August, so here we are with a few days delay! :)
First of all I'm very happy to announce that I've teamed up with Pineapple Works as a publishing partner and together we'll be releasing Of Blades & Tails on Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles in 2023!
They will also support me in marketing, QA, localization and more!
But our next major milestone remains the EA launch some time in October!
Speaking of which, I've been working on new content and mechanics over the past weeks and want to share some of them with you now. Let's take a look!
New Talents: Arcane Magic & Dirty Tricks
In one of the last dev logs I showed you the Elemental Magic talent line, which focuses on delayed elemental damage and damage over time. In addition to that comes Arcane Magic which contains burst damage and a few utility spells, including a mana shield!
Minor perks in this talent will increase your max. mana.
Dirty Tricks also found their way into the game, which (for now) includes 3 abilities that require expertise to unlock them. They can be used with all weapon types and are designed to be a supportive complement to other talents. The minor perks will increase your critical damage.
Oh, before I forget: There's gonna be a new perk in the Athletics talent that allows you to switch weapon sets without losing a turn ;)
New Quests, Secrets and Legendary Rewards!
I spend a lot of time creating new content, like quests, secrets/puzzles, new locations and enemies... Primarily in the swamp region and around Immerfurt.
The image below shows a treant ritual site.
Upgrade your Items
A new mechanic to upgrade your beloved items will also be introduced with the EA version.
To make this work, you'll need an Orb of Magnificence and use them at the new Shrine of Magnificence. Upgrading an item will boost all its stats by 50%, including the level requirement. The first upgrade costs 1 Orb and the second costs 2 Orbs, and so on...
The amount of Orbs in the game will be limited, so you should think carefully about which items you want to upgrade. (Yes, you can and probably want to upgrade your legendary items! :) )
More Destructibles and Gatherable Items
New kinds of herbs and shrooms have been added as well. Most notable is the Recovery Herb, which lasts 200 turns and will automatically recover your health up to 65% when you're not in combat.
Manashrooms can be gathered now and are used to restore your mana.
You can also find new destructible containers around the overworld which have a chance to drop all sorts of gatherable items and other nice things...
More Help Topics
Last but not least, all important game mechanics are now covered in the help section that can be accessed through the game menu (and various tutorial popups).
And that's it for the moment!
But I'll most likely be back in two weeks with an Early Access release date and maybe also a new trailer!
If you want to support the development with your feedback and get access to an EA preview build, you can join our growing Discord community and give me a hint.
Until then, take care everyone!
Felix