With this release, we’ve accomplished a huge milestone—all placeholder character art has been replaced with final art! This goes for both 2D portraits and 3D models. Big props to our two amazing artists. Our game has been looking better every week internally, and we’re finally able to share this with players.
In addition to the characters, we’re also working on building out a robust set of visual effects for spells, as well as everything else in 3D space that requires particles to fly around. With this patch, we’ve introduced 54 new battlefield visual effects out of a total planned 106 (give or take a few).
Still, our game has a ways to go before being visually finalized. Remaining placeholder stuff includes the “skyboxes,” much of the UI, and finally, and the “story” scenes (intro, game over, and ending). We will address these in upcoming patches, so stay tuned, and hit us up with feedback in the meantime.
Balance changes:
- Units - Phaisy MP cost reduced by 10; other Earthen units’ MP costs increased by 10 (Terra, Toadstaff, Elyggdrien, and Ixis)
- Enemies - Vicilicar Painseeker and Surrelior Soothsayer nerfed (beam damage and HP down)
- Loot - Phaisy’s Favor appears less frequently as a reward (around half as often)
Battlefield visuals:
The biggest update here is a change to the camera angle which brings the game in line with other auto battlers and makes units easier to click on.
There are too many individual additions to list; they include things like explosions, shockwaves, glowing particles, and tile effects. Watch for more color and more visual splendor on the battlefield.
Note: A small number of net new visual effects are placeholder and will be replaced with the next patch. These include the Extremely Dense Beast’s Earthquake, Eleanor’s Diplomatic Immunity, Wooroonook’s Prayer for Rain, and more.
Model updates:
- Daniel
- Death
- Seramanju
- Hyacinth
- Mahadeva
- Freja
- Astreumnull
- Forbidden
- Sieforen
- Washing Machine
Portrait updates:
- Absalom
- Eleanor
- Elyggdrien
- Everett
- Fog of Rejuvenation
- Ganton
- Immithonth
- Jasper
- Jondar
- Kincaid
- Lobellia
- Lorelei
- Perth
- Samantha
- Suul
- Unttvert
- Unceasing Rain
- Varra
- Vizreaper
- Wallerant
- World-Ending Flood
What’s next?
Expect new bosses soon. The boss at the end of each map should be randomly picked from a pool of three; this means the total number of bosses in the game will increase from three to nine.
UX/UI updates are still a huge focus for us; while we didn’t get any into this release, we are working hard on features that make the game clearer and more satisfying, both in and out of combat. Many elements of the UI are still placeholder and must be updated with final versions.
Also, sound effects.
Until next time!