Hello friends!

Hope you have been doing well! I've just released a major update for the AlterMage demo that aims to improve the base experience and offer some cool new things to check out while we wait for the full game to release on November 17th. You can find the detailed patch notes near the bottom of this post.

One of the biggest changes in this update is focused on refining the gameplay into a more consistent level of difficulty. AlterMage is a hard game, no question. Be it enemies blowing you to bits, environments that test your memory and navigation skills, or deadly platforming sections that require skill and reflexes to overcome - players can expect to be challenged.

To that end, the difficulty selection when creating a new character has been removed and the game has been standardized to a single level of difficulty that is roughly on par with the previous Hard difficulty. Difficulty primarily affected how many enemies spawned and how much damage the player takes, so this aims to make the difficulty of combat more closely aligned with the difficulty of other gameplay systems.

It's not all doom and gloom though - I've also added a brand new tutorial sequence that gives players the chance to try out every single base spell in the game! The experience is fleeting, but I hope this tickles players brains to think about different ways they can use the Spell Alteration system to combine these spells together. Those 1.6 million spell combinations aren't going to craft themselves!

Lastly, AlterMage is set to appear in the upcoming Steam Next Fest event starting on October 19th! I'm looking forward to checking out tons of game demos and watching new players take on the challenges of the enhanced AlterMage demo!

Thanks for stopping by, and check out the full list of patch notes below if you are interested! Cheers!

-- Justin

Updates & Improvements

• General

  • Difficulty options have been removed and Hard is the new default. Characters created on lower difficulties will be transitioned to Hard automatically.

  • New Intro text during cut scene in the Ocean

  • Fire and Poison status effects now accumulate more quickly

• World

  • Completely new tutorial and redesign of the Initiation level

  • Forest Perimeter Level - New and improved Wind Booster puzzles

  • Forest Crossroads - Swapped locations of demo complete Terminal and Warpstone

  • Water Boosters are stronger and no longer oscillate up and down

• Quality of Life Changes

  • Game now automatically switches Input Mode between Gamepad or Mouse & Keyboard while at the main menu and while in-game. Will include in-game pause menus in the future.

  • Swapped default E & R uses for M&K so that E is now the default Interact button, and R attunes the Catalyst in order to align with more common M&K controls. Players can still remap any button as they see fit.

  • Wet status effect no longer slows the player as much

  • Increased range of Daggers and Shortswords

  • Increased collision detection width of all melee weapons (easier to hit with glancing blows)

  • Leveling Agility no longer increases lateral wall jump distance, only the vertical distance

  • Reduced base lateral walljump strength and increased vertical jump strength

  • New Messages screen available on the Reliquary at the Citadel to guide new players

  • Player can now attune their Catalyst even when only a single rune is unlocked

  • Performance improvements for water and Spirit Rift particles on Low+Medium graphic quality

• Graphics

  • Updated and added new textures throughout the demo

  • The Citadel has been given a makeover

  • Improved the look of Spider enemies and added new arm raising animation when attacking

  • Improved melee weapon swing trails to not glow while in the dark

• Enemies

  • Reduced Rolluli enemy max life from 200 to 150

  • Increased forward chop range on Knight's sword swings

• Spells

  • Buffed duration of Wind Sprites summoned via the Orbital Stabilizer Catalyst component

  • Improved accuracy when altered spells cast another spell that targets a nearby enemy

  • Lowered Firestorm's projectile spawn locations to reduce chance of impacting ceilings

• Sound

  • Reduced volume of explosion sounds when parts of defeated enemies disappear

  • Reduced volume of boss defeat animation explosions

  • Reduced volume of sound effect that plays when opening a capsule chest

  • Spirit Rifts and Warpstones now play a sound when warping

• Map

  • World is now unveiled as it is explored

  • Fully completing a level by collecting all items and defeating any bosses now turns the level gold on the map and shows 'Completed' text

Bug Fixes

• Fix for AI pathfinding sometimes getting stuck on opened doors

• Fix for music getting stuck at 0 volume if set to 0 with M&K

• Fix for switch on Forest Crossroad rotating too far when activated

• Fix for slow time effect on death stopping too early

• Fix or enemies that fire projectiles firing one last shot if defeated after priming attack

• Fix for footstep effects playing rapidly when walking into certain low hanging ceilings

• Fix for Wind Sprites not firing at target dummies at the Citadel

• Fix for gamepad joysticks being able to trigger skip cut scenes attempts

• Knight NPCs

  • Fix for sword swing animations not transitioning properly

  • Fix to stop sword swings if they are defeated mid swing

  • Fix to prevent attacking or dodging when stunned by Lightning