Here's the list of changes in Angeldust v3.1:
One picture—a thousand words
Of course I'm flying on a drakeling. Of course we now have MXAO, ambient light, depth-of-field (DoF) and FXAA. Of course this is amazing!
Angeldust PostFX
Our Itch.io page now lists an 'Angeldust PostFX for Windows' download containing an official OpenGL shader add-on for Angeldust. Currently available for Windows 7 and up, it greatly enhances the graphics:
You will need a solid desktop-class GPU to run Angeldust PostFX, but I'm sure you'll like the new ambient occlusion, ambient light, depth-of-field and anti-aliasing effects! Just wear sunglasses to prevent snow blindness:
Major thanks to 'Alex makarov' who suggested the idea for making an Angeldust PostFX add-on. And he helped out greatly with finding a solid initial solution.
Angeldust Ultra 2D Sprite Pack
In addition to the Angeldust PostFX add-on, there's a new sprite pack to enable the Ultra detail level for 2D sprites. You'll need about 6 GiB of video ram (VRAM) to run this, but everything looks pretty sharp using it!
My kingdom for a dragon!
If you have the donator badge (or up) you can now fly around on the drakelings in the game. If that isn't awesome enough, there are even more donation incentives now:
- instant access to the 'pet snack' to tame creatures
- a brand new, cheesy 'cheese' block
- (just to remind you:) you can fly dragons!
- exclusive, new colors for your heroes:
Weekend rockstars
Angeldust v3.0 brought daily quests. Angeldust v3.1 brings weekend quests! Every weekend, during the entire weekend, you'll have to hunt creatures that are more difficult to find and kill. See if you can rise up to the challenge!
For example, today (as of writing), we're trying to hunt… uhhh… this thing:
Bust a move!
More graphical improvements: heroes, ridden creatures and pets now have movement trails. This way you can more easily see where others are going and what's happening around you:
Thanks to 'Alex makarov' (again) for posing handsomely.
Sparks in your eyes
Angeldust v3.1 brings totally awesome spark showers. We already had these in the main user interface, but now you'll see sparks flying around in the game world too.
These sparks celebrate joyful events like heroes leveling up, discovering new creatures, materials or trees and progressing on your quest. For instance, I don't know what happened here, but it's very joyful. Many spark. Wow!:
Don't get off your high horse
Quick note: you can now use the shovel, axe, blocks and trees while riding a creature. This is especially cool (hint hint!) while flying on a drakeling since you can now easily navigate in 3D and build to your heart's content.
Make things better
Builders: pay attention! In Angeldust v3.1 you can upgrade your devices! Just keep swinging your hammer on the device as if you were repairing it. If you get a critical hit, the device will become more powerful. So, swing on:
Telecharger. Turbocharged!
The telecharger has changed almost completely. Location load/save buttons are visually connected now. Friends take up an entire row and buttons now have icons for building permission, private chat and world location:
In addition, if you are currently in one of your claimed lands, the button will be highlighted in yellow.
Chatception
You might have wondered… private chat? Yes! Angeldust v3.1 comes with private chat (1-on-1) and friend chat (all online friends). Enter a private chat by clicking on the text balloon next to a friend's name.
You can enter friend chat mode by toggling the new, uppermost button in the chat log:
Every claim you stake
Big news! In Angeldust v3.1 you can name your land claims. You can manage land claim descriptions on the Angeldust website at PlayAngeldust.com, and while claiming new land:
The telecharger and holo charger will show land claim names:
Solid performance
Angeldust v3.1 ships with a completely re-architected rendering path. Mainly to support the Angeldust PostFX add-on, but also to majorly improve rendering performance. Here's a technical list of changes:
- increase 2D sprite resolution for smoother animations and movement
- speed up weather particle (rain, snow) lighting performance four-fold
- switch to a single, per-frame depth-buffer pass
- improve vertex shader level-of-detail thresholds
- optimize entity door detection and door sound tracking
Understated overdraw
I've also found the time to (finally) implement something that's been on my wish-list for years. 2D sprites are now rendered with less overdraw. Previously heroes would be rendered up to ten times over, pushing GPUs to their limit.
Now only the visible areas of sprites are rendered, reducing GPU load from 1300% to less than 100% for complex sprites. Here's what the GPU now sees. Kind of:
Legen… wait for it… dary. Right.
There are two new very rare, very legendary creatures in Angeldust v3.1. But you'll probably never find them. Just thought you should know.
Count on me
Speaking of legendary discoveries. Over the years some players have reported not being awarded creature kills in rare cases. I've found the root cause and finally fixed this problem once and for all.
So if you do manage to find those very rare, legendary creatures that you'll never find, you will always be awarded the discovery bonus and additional goodies.
Moar blox
Angeldust v3.1 comes with a boatload of new blocks: orange marble doors, opaque wooden doors, clouds, smoke and thick smoke.
'space is green' is decking out his awesome tower with smoke and cloud blocks. They bubble and puff quite nicely. And I'm totally NOT trying to show off flying on a drakeling (donate!) and Angeldust PostFX:
Good, old-fashioned love!
For everyone playing in the 'old-fashioned' visual style: everything now looks much crisper thanks to a nicer texture filter. In the future I might improve this even more, but for now it looks pretty decent:
Additional changes
- Ridden creatures no longer follow heroes
- Pets wait in the regular game world when entering The Void / Hero battle!
- Improved user interface control highlighting
- Fix keyboard and game controller user interface navigation away from filter buttons
- Added in-game tips on 'world' location, build permissions, taming and donating
- 'R'-key now both opens and closes the telecharger
- Support even more game controller models
Be social!
If you like Angeldust, please write a positive review on Steam! You can also stalk us everywhere. Thanks in advance:
- Steam reviews: http://steamcommunity.com/app/488440/positivereviews/?browsefilter=mostrecent
- Developer live stream: https://www.youtube.com/AngeldustLive
- Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/AngeldustLive
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngeldustLive
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playangeldust/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngeldustLive
- Community Discord server: https://discord.gg/m8FekP3