Hello folks, The Baron here with a little preview news about U8! As most of you know, U8 is gonna be the update that finally adds some long awaited magic into Blade & Sorcery. Being a big fan of magic and mages himself, you can be sure this is an update that KospY himself is really enjoying, and so he's hard at work with the goal of introducing magic mechanics that make you feel badass without the magic feeling too "gamey".
So, what to expect: New base spells that are being added are Gravity and Fire, with Lightning getting a little rework in the process. Gravity will give the player the power to control exactly that, lifting and manipulating multiple object with ease, like telekinesis on steroids. And you probably guessed it, this also means the long-desired ability to lift, push and pull enemies. Unlike telekinesis however, this will be a mana-based spell.
Fire is still in the very early days of development so it's a bit too early to discuss in great detail, but as of now KospY is working on a fireball. The player can cast the fireball and control it as it flies (cough, Dark Messiah) but it's all very WIP and this system could change; he's really just testing some stuff right now.
The lightning rework is only that lightning will cast differently. It will still be the same lightning effect but the idea is that it will have now a buildup before firing, to make it a little less OP (for player and AI) and reduce run and stun. This is also lending itself to setting up the groundwork for another big feature... that I can't discuss right now because it's too early days. ːsteamsadː
Good news for modders, U8 will have updated SDK support for custom spells. The modding community have already gone hell for leather tryna jury rig custom spells into the game, so it will be nice to see what they can come up with without their hands tied behind their back.
But it's not just magic in the works! I mentioned some time back that the WarpFrog team has grown to now include asset artists, vfx specialists and concept artists; well the expanded team is simultaneously working on the long term project of moving away from Unity store assets. Just as the player got a HD makeover, it is the ultimate goal to revamp and replace all enemy models with custom built, much better looking models that will be more "tone appropriate and badass looking" as KospY put it. This is not necessarily applicable to just U8 but I can't resist giving you guys a little sneak peek at what concept artist Kévin is working on:
The first two images are the approved aesthetic for the "Tier 2" of mages, and the third image is an example of a Tier 3 mage. Kind of similar to the tiered weapons, enemies will also be tiered with higher tiers being tougher difficulty due to their equipment and armour loadouts, as well as their capabilities. Just like the player, the enemy will utilize the slot-based (head, torso, legs, feet, hands) armor system when Update 9 (the Armour Update) drops (there won't be armour in U8). As mentioned, the model revamp is an ongoing process so it is still to be seen if any of these models will make it into U8 in time.
That's it for now, guys! There is much, much more, but as a lot of it is early WIP KospY is enforcing the good old "underpromise and overdeliver" mantra for now, so expect more news as the weeks pass by and we get closer and closer to U8 release. Because I know you are all gonna ask... A very rough, don't count on it, super breezy ballpark estimate for U8 dropping would be late January.
Well, the say finish on a high note so I'll leave you guys with this --
