We have an update and some exciting news!
First, Idosra: The Electric Renaissance has been updated to Version 1.2.0. This update brings some important revisions to the UI code and addresses some other issues. If you watch the Community Hub, you will likely not be surprised by any of these updates. They mostly address issues reported in the hub.
Second, we are making good progress on our sequel. If you're a programmer, you may be interested in what we have accomplished so far. Otherwise, there isn't much to show yet. We are building the foundation (data structures, UI handlers, etc.).
News Update: "Idosra 2", and eventually, "The Electric Renaissance", will be moving to Godot Engine
The sequel (yet to be named) to Idosra: The Electric Renaissance will be developed in Godot Engine. This was not an easy decision. "Idosra" has been a part of the Stencyl community since its inception. However, Godot Engine offers a number of features we would like to take advantage of: gdscript, dynamic lighting features, and workflow to name a few. The Stencyl engine was developed during the heyday of Flash games, transitioning to mobile and HTML5. While Stencyl continues to excel for smaller-scope games, we find we're working against its optimizations, more often than with, for a game the size and scope of Idosra.
Regarding "The Electric Renaissance", in our "Roadmap" post, we alluded to owners (and also demo players) being able to take advantage of technical improvements. At that time, we weren't yet committed to a game engine: merely exploring options.
Our plan is to port Idosra: The Electric Renaissance to Godot Engine, which will be our 2.x version. Future 1.x versions will remain with Stencyl. Of course, this is a significant endeavor that will take time. So we will continue to support the 1.x series with bug fixes, gameplay revisions, etc. This is a natural evolution of the game, since the lower-level code we need for the sequel (dialog scripting, level handlers, data structures, etc.) overlap with game code for "The Electric Renaissance".
Version 1.2.0 Technical Discussion and Changelog
One of the most significant changes is how the UI is drawn. The Stencyl engine provides two mechanisms for drawing UI elements: a canvas layer that is refreshed every frame, and the "Image API" that allows creation and manipulation of bitmaps. Because the canvas layer (method 1) updates every frame, this is a convenient tool for handling UI. However, for some Windows users, the canvas layer was exhausting memory reserved for drawing, resulting in black squares being drawn where text should go.
Unfortunately, there isn't a fix we can apply to the canvas layer. Given that only some Windows users were affected, it is likely the issue lies in one of Stencyl's underlying frameworks (OpenFL, Lime) and may be related to specific driver configurations. Fortunately, there is a workaround: use the Image API instead.
Converting to use the Image API necessitated rewriting all of the UI code. As you may imagine, this took some time. To minimize memory usage, we took out many UI animations (such as the color cycling font).
The rest of the changelog is below. There are still a handful of agenda items we postponed so that we can push the UI update out sooner. These are now on the agenda for Version 1.2.1, barring any necessary hotfixes.
Changelog
User Interface
1.2.0.1 Style bonuses show a description the first time they are achieved.
1.2.0.19 Players will get a notice when the bookmarks bar (lower left) starts to fill, so they know to check inventory for weapons.
1.2.0.20 UI now displays information using generated, static bitmaps instead of Stencyl's canvas drawing layer. This will address some Windows users seeing black boxes where text should be displayed.
1.2.0.21 Added a slight delay before dialog response options are allowed to be selected (0.5 second) to prevent accidental selection.
Gameplay
1.2.0.2 Bonuses that depend on current stamina (such as uppercut) now compute their bonus before stamina is subtracted.
Balance and Game Rules
1.2.0.3 Poison (negative effect from Fireproof Tunic) now has a 7% chance to damage Marika every 0.5 seconds, reduced from 100% chance.
1.2.0.4 Original "Scry Enemy" ability (showing damage numbers) is no longer a skill. Damage numbers now always show.
1.2.0.5 "Scry Enemy" now decreases enemy guards' ability to dodge Marika's projectiles with every successful dodge.
1.2.0.6 Weakened the encumbrance penalty on Marika's actions. Actions cost 75% more stamina for every 32 ENC points. Previous behavior was: cost 100% more stamina for every 20 ENC points.
1.2.0.7 Weakened the encumbrance penalty on Marika's stamina recovery rate. Stamina recovered is multiplied by 0.6 for every 32 ENC points. Previous behavior was stamina recovered multiplied by 0.5 for every 20 ENC points.
1.2.0.8 Wall Walker attack warm-up time lengthened.
1.2.0.17 Guards no longer send "Wake" signal when player is scouting and they move on-screen
Level Design
1.2.0.9 Rearranged the pipes in the Wall Walker's chamber.
1.2.0.10 Added more Marika's observations through Chapter 2 introductory levels. More to come.
Items and Equipment
1.2.0.11 Added "Fiberglass Tunic" as a Chapter 2 tunic. This tunic prevents Marika from being stunned by fire debris. (Credit: Moe Anthropomorphism)
1.2.0.18 Skill description for uppercut revised slightly to indicate order of button presses: press down after beginning to charge a punch, and keep it held until the punch is executed
Bugs
1.2.0.12 Fixed a bug with the Wall Walker (spider) which causes it to move through walls when the player changes direction.
1.2.0.13 The reaching animation (when falling) no longer overrides the wall climbing animation.
1.2.0.14 Fixed a doorway in "Water Ruins" that had tiles drawn over the opening. This problem was more obvious if lighting FX was disabled.
1.2.0.16 Fixed HP gain code to properly take genetics into account when reading a +HP book mid-level
Manual
1.2.0.15 Added guide for style bonuses.