It's been a long couple of weeks. Good news is, I think we did great! However, every step forward is not without it's potential for stumbles. BE ON THE LOOK OUT for bugs starting with this version of the game. Much of the back end for skills was changed which is going to lead to some problems. I won't go too much into that now since it's covered in the notes below, so let's talk for a minute about what else is going on.
I was looking into doing something fancy for Halloween this year. There's good news and bad news. The good news is: we're going to be doing a separate side-story Halloween event which will be accessible from the Colosseum. The bad news is... I was going to make permanent costume changes available for everyone, but it isn't feasible. Without getting too much into it, adding new permanent costume changes would exponentially increase development time for every instance where the game looks for a specific character to be in the party. After 10 or so hours of developing the costume change code, I finally hit a brick wall where I scrapped the idea entirely. My entire Tuesday morning down the drain. On the other hand, the Halloween event is progressing nicely, and I hope to have it available starting on October 1st, but we'll play the release date by ear. I know I've been working on DLC lately, but this event is free to all players who own the game for the specified duration, which will be announced closer to its release. Just go to the Colosseum and the path will be open! After the event ends, there may be a DLC option to allow access to the event permanently, but this is another play it by ear for now scenario.
Some exciting news - the placement for all character based back-end skills is finalized. This is referring to the 197 new skills which were introduced a few months ago. These skills won't move again, and any item referencing them will be good to go from here on out. Aside from the 2 special moves per element, most of the detail has been filled out. Some -strikes and -bolts are missing their appropriate names, but all the damage formula and elements and animations are in place for now. Some animations or damage formulas may change over time depending on testing.
The Nexus Waterway is still under construction for the Orc War. The enemies were originally set to be level 9-15, but were scaled back to 7- based on my most recent playtest. A player who avoids Hunter Lodges would be expected to reach this location at level 6 or 7.
Speaking of new enemies in new zones, the back end formula for creating new enemies is completely finalized (for level 1-20) and it seems to function well for now. Some tweaking will need to be made at regular intervals (say every 15-20 levels or so) but on the whole appears to integrate nicely with the game's current structure which was 100% curated.
Final Notes before the Patch Notes
Zones under construction:
- Nexus Waterway - an underground Revan-wide water system which connects the four kingdoms. This zone sits some ways above the Alpha Ruins.
--- This location is about 1/3rd finished. Major map transformations still need to take place and exits/entrances to the other three major cities need to be addressed.
- Terra Anatis - a home of aggressive humanoid avians and their masked followers.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending side story integration.
- Obscurite, the Dusk Kingdom - A lost city northwest of Auria, now overrun by Orcs under the control of Azroff.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending the completion of Nexus Waterway and progression of the Orc War questline.
- Den An'ura/Encampment - A more civilized area inhabited by An'ura which extends deep into the den. A malevolent power lingers within.
--- This location is about 1/2 completed and is currently a primary focus. This patch adds detail for the zone, but access to these new areas is currently restricted pending the full finalization of the An'ura Reconnaissance quest-line.
- Halloween2020 Event - A side story event filled with goodies. This event will function differently from the main game, in that you start the questline at level 1 and EXP will be awarded to the main party after the event is completed.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending the integration of story events and minor finishing touches to battlegroups and terrain. This location is also currently also considered a primary focus.
My thoughts...
- I know it's taken a long time to move forward. The back end changes introduced here are meant to relieve some of that development time moving forward. Up until now, they were the focus since the last update. Now it's time to add some meat ;)
4.1 [Build #87, Release Date: September 09, 2020]
MAC
- This is the version of the game for MAC players for the time being. Please keep in mind that MAC is not fully supported and bugs found on MAC may take longer to address, especially if they require special attention beyond the scope of regular in-game bugs.
- I know Steam shows a warning for certain OS's regarding the game's ability to play, but I was able to play on Catalina. If it turns out the game can't be played on later Mac OS's, Mac support will be terminated permanently.
Notes:
- Warning: The change in skill structure may result in some game files with Ruby having skills she should not. While most of these instances are patched out via the Delivery Boy debugger, a handful of these cannot be addressed due to the depth of their entanglement. Therefore, a new save file is recommended.
- Game data that is already held by the party (such as a reward from the Colosseum – Sterling Wand) will not have its passive effects changed. Only newly acquired versions will see changes. Multiple items in this patch have seen their referenced enabled skills change back end locations and therefore no longer target the correct skill for you unless you acquire a new version of the same item. As much as I would like to go through and debug every instance of this, the game isn’t so long where a new save file isn’t feasible. Therefore, for this additional reason, a new save file is recommended.
- A new save file is recommended for players returning to the game. However, it is not required. The game can still be successfully played using the mismatch of issues brought on by the back-end changes.
- Airslash was accidentally left in as a learnable skill for Ruby at level 1 in 4.0.6.1. It has been removed from her learned skills but will remain as a permanent ability for players who began new save files between then and now. (This falls under a new save file being recommended for any other issues it may cause when Ruby learns Airslash canonically.)
- Due to the change in skill positions, Ruby may know extra skills for players who spoke with the Neko in Lvell. The debug for this would be too comprehensive so it will remain as-is. For best experiences, a new save file is recommended.
Fixes:
- Fixed a repetitive issue with the Lightningstrike introduction at the Delivery Boy.
- Fixed text display for the Bolt Cutter schematic.
- Fixed an issue with Ruby’s Lightningstrike. Visit the Delivery Boy in Auria to reclaim this skill if you had it but have now lost it. New files, or files who have yet to claim Lightningstrike, will not experience this issue.
Changes:
- Enemies who use skills a character can use now use the same version of the skill as the actor. (This primarily affects -bolt and -strike skills).
- Many enemy specific skills have been merged or removed. Enemies who used special skills with similar effects to actor skills now instead use the actor skill.
- Enraged Frostbrood units have been removed from the game. Their corresponding battlegroups have been removed from Den An’ura zones.
- Changed the display text for Colosseum rewards.
- All Colosseum rewards may now be sold for a small amount of gold.
- Sterling Wand now adds the new Poisonbolt, which has a chance to apply the new poisons instead of % based poison.
- An’ura Rift enemies in the Colosseum no longer drop Tier 2 potions and have an overall reduced chance to drop restorative items in the level 8 and 10 versions of the Rift.
- Most skills which apply states now display the chance to apply the 1 turn version instead of the 5 turn version.
- All enemies in the Colosseum An’ura zones display on the field as An’ura Warriors instead of Rats.
- Lightningstrike now follows a new damage formula. Electric skills now have a 40% variance.
- Icons have been changed across the board for elemental skills.
- Field enemies in the Encampment now appear as An’ura instead of Orc placeholders.
- Increased exp yield of An’ura Taskmasters and An’ura Larvae.
This update should be ready for download by or before 5PM Eastern US time today, September 9th 2020.