[Due to major mechanical changes, this is a beta release; you can opt in to the beta by opening the game's Properties from your Steam Library, and browsing to the "Betas" tab. Many Steam features are disabled in this release, but I would greatly appreciate any comments and suggestions you wonderful testers are able to provide. I aim to push this out to everyone within the week. It's also worth noting that if you opt to receive beta releases, you will also receive normal releases when the beta becomes obsolete.]
I received a lot of excellent feedback over the first week of regular release, and I am now translating it into new and revised mechanics; there are a couple of big changes here, and even more on the way in the next couple of days. I am aiming to simplify some mechanics to make the game more approachable while also bolstering the challenge for veteran players (hopefully without harming the novice experience).
Drag/Drop Any Minion Instantly
Firstly, you can now drag and drop any minion (not just champions) on to any valid floor to immediately move them. This allows you to more quickly build encounters or substitute one minion in for another mid-combat.
If you want a minion to stay on a floor that you drop them on (similar to the previous "stationing" mechanic, they will either need to be dropped into combat or that floor will need to be set to "Defend." Minions no longer take turns playing defense on "Defended" floors; they should generally waste less time.
The goal with this change is to bring more strategy to the dungeon management and make it much simpler than before: no more followers, and no more special rules for champions. Everyone is drag and drop, and everything is quicker and cleaner.
Checkpoint Floors
The other major addition with this update are "checkpoint floors," which are special floors that automatically appear every 5th floor. These are off-limits, hero-built floors, which you have no control over.
When heroes reach these floors, they will camp for the remainder of the wave, much as they do on the surface, and when the next wave begins, they will continue their descent. Heroes that make it to these floors will be instantly healed, un-poisoned, fearless, etc., and will also level up.
These floors should help divide your dungeon into multiple fronts, which can be a blessing for weaker dungeons, while also keeping the threat fresh for stronger dungeons.
Other Stuff
Previously, minions would recover defense immediately after leaving combat, but that poses problems when you are able to simply drag them out and then back into the fight. Now, all characters (minions and heroes) regenerate defense and even health (if defense is full) while out of combat, at a rate of about one point every fifteen seconds.
These changes (and the other upcoming ones) will require some revisions to the tutorial and general help topics, which have not been made yet, so keep in mind that there may still be erroneous references to followers and such.
I have some new content prepared, but I've been too busy testing and tweaking mechanics to try out the new stuff, so it's been held back. I know I said bonus content this time around, but I think it may have to wait until after this beta release has been thoroughly tested. Sorry for the delay on that!
Changelog
Additions:
- Checkpoint Floor: Challenging Checkpoint (actually has randomized names, as multiple can exist in a single dungeon)
Changes:
- All minions can now be instantly dragged and dropped on to other floors
- Minions can be tagged in and out of battles using this system
- Many small changes to minion patrolling AI
- All characters now regenerate fatigue and health over time when not in combat (currently, about one point every 15 seconds)
- Can no longer tell a champion to flee by clicking their battle icon (simplifying a mechanic that isn't strictly necessary and which many players didn't realize existed--you can instead drop the champ elsewhere and instantly remove them from a battle)
- Characters can be dropped on champion portraits to move them to the champion's floor or to send them pillaging (if that champion is pillaging and the dragged character is also a champion)
- Removed follower mechanics
- Removed "Throw [x] a Party!" plot (no longer possible)
- Fleeing heroes can regroup at checkpoints (they will not level up again, however)
Fixes:
- Fixed a crash involving dragging/clicking floors, minions, or heroes in specific situations
- Fixed a crash related to scared heroes in certain combat positions
- Fixed a couple of incorrect sound effects
- Legacy items could load into different inventory slots than they were saved in