Welcome Home, Scribes!
The Illuminated Library takes center stage in our 20th update of Early Access - Chapter X: Illuminated!
This is the largest single piece of content yet - containing our Elevated Library Design, Reading Nooks, Tome Items, Activities, Secrets, Lore, and more - take a look!
This magical evolution of our favorite impossible-yet-possible reading space has been in the works for several months! Check out our overall progress with our trusty Table of Content below:
Illuminated Library - Elevating the Home of Scribes!
Early Access has seen a huge number of improvements to the gameplay pillars of Vellum - from new Spells and Ink for Scribe to dangerous new Torn threats and new Tomes to mend!
Our tenth major chapter gave us the opportunity to look homeward to the Illuminated Library, ask tons of questions, and elevate the design of more physical pillars of the game!
What makes this place feel more real? What makes this place feel more magical?
What makes this place feel like home?
Reading Nooks - Styling Your Own Space!
Reading can be a very personal experience - so where better to enjoy a quick chapter than your own Customizable Reading Nook?
With over 220 decorations and furnishings, you'll be well-equipped to develop, design, and display your personal style.
Reading Nooks and a selection of decor are available to all Scribes from the start (everything in the image below is unlocked by default!). Gildings (gained in the normal course of mending Tomes) are the primary unlock method - though some items may require specific achievements to acquire.
After completing a particularly economic Tome - new items will also drop when mending Tomes!
Will you craft a cozy, comfy, fire-lit nook? A whacky shrine? A gallery? It's up to you!
Tome Novelties - Pet The Wolves, Race Your Friends!
As mysteries unfold and Scribes continue the battle against their new colorless foes, something strange has begun...
Novelties from the Tomes have followed us back to the Illuminated Library! These entries appear while progressing through Vellum. In our overview video above, we show two of these strange happenings.
First - and perhaps the most important - Dawn and Dusk appear AND YOU CAN PET THEM!
Second - after a fabled Tome concerning contests of speed - Race Courses become available in the Library!
Host a friendly test of speed with your fellow Scribes, with unique courses based on your Movement Spell!
Each Tome will affect the Library after the first mending - there's so much to discover!
Inscriptions, Speed, and More In Store!
The Font of Ink facilitates travel through Tomes - but also throughout the Library! The Inkways speed Scribes on their way from shelf to shelf!
Coalesced ink can be found and collected in the form of Quillmarks - but also give some extra speed in these great halls with the help of Library Inscriptions.
Learning from our fabled tortoise - slowing down to examine the details of the Illuminated Library may be a quick path to some additional insights into the literary world of Vellum.
Gameplay Tweaks - Page Adjustments, Area Effects, More!
And inside these countless Tomes? For the Scribe on the mending road - we've made a series of gameplay adjustments in Chapter X (with a much more performance/content/balance-focused interlude patch to come in February) .
On the Page of Power front - we've added pages to help give all Signature Inks access to stronger late-game scaling (particularly in builds with a heavy Generator/Spender damage focus).
Many Area of Effect attacks/hazards have been converted to cylinders - allowing more accurate safety when jumping over an acid pool or similar effect.
Joust (Punctuate) and Grapple (Quip) have also been updated ahead of their (potential spoilers!) upcoming Book Club challenges!
Epilogue - At Home in the Library
This update spanned several months while we continued our Early Access process. Chapter X: Illuminated came from a truly monumental amount of intense work and planning that was filled to the brim with twists and turns.
We've lived in these once-imaginary halls for a while now, working on features and details of all shapes and sizes - we couldn't be more proud to share this new chapter of Vellum with you.
Welcome back to the Illuminated Library - happy reading!
- The Vellum Team
Chapter X: Illuminated - Full Patch Notes
The Illuminated Library
Elevated Library Design
- The Illuminated Library has a brand new look, offering new features for Scribes to explore
- Library Inscriptions can be unlocked with Gildings, further customizing traversal through the Library
- More to discover!
Reading Nooks
- Players can now customize their own personal Reading Nooks
- Decorate your space from a catalogue of 226 items
- After completing Pride and Profit, new furnishing items may drop from mending Tomes
Tome Novelties/Pages and Examines
- First completions of Tomes will add novelties to the Library
- Examine prompts and scattered pages can be found
- In multiplayer, Library state and progress is determined by the hosting player
Gameplay: Scribes and Pages
- New Main Menu startup sequence
- New Pages of Power for Foil, Green Signature Ink, Blue Signature Ink
- Many Area Effects - primarily pools and ground based effects - are now cylinders instead of spheres, getting larger outward but not upward
- Out of bounds and Unstuck now use a page flip when resetting Scribe position
- Transformed Inklings should more often remember how to land when leaping
- Generator Spell: Quip properly plays the correct visuals once again
- Generator Spell: Enkindle slows Scribes less while channeling
- Page of Power: I said "I cast Fireball" now continues to hurl fireballs while casting Enkindle, with a 2.5s cooldown
- Page of Power: Flashback is now smarter in its placement of foes hit by Passage
- Page of Power: Grapple now grants Quip 40% bonus range and only pulls the caster while midair (was 20% and pulled with any collision)
- Page of Power: Joust now grants a steady speed boost, deals more and faster damage, knocks foes back, and plays the correct galloping sound
- Page of Power: Time to Duel now also grants Foil attack speed (5% per stack)
- Vignette: A Distant Oasis now provides enough apples for multiplayer games
- Vignette: A Timeless Alcove now provides a reward for all Scribes in multiplayer
- Font Power: Overflowing Joy will now properly appear in The Wolves
- Lore: Bindings, A Framework text adjustments
- Lore: Wonder & Wander renamed to Passages & Passengers and text adjustments
Gameplay: The Torn
- Many Area Effects - primarily pools and ground based effects - are now cylinders instead of spheres, getting larger outward but not upward
- Splice Boss: Golgor no longer summons floating Defenders at lower health (now appear from new Torn Page: Royal Guard)
- Splice Boss: Golgor has reduced visual effect frequency during beam attack
- Splice Boss: Crombul - Stone health reduced
- Splice Boss: Crombul - Stone area effects will now properly appear
- Raving Elite: Bogwalker root projectile now has a weaker seeking effect
- Raving: Spiders now wander into parts unknown less often
- Tangent: Acolytes have been removed, then somehow returned - their near-death Overflow ability is now 2s shorter, though
- Tangent: Acolyte orbs start smaller with reduced damage, then grow over time to reach max size/damage
- Tangent: Acolyte orb damage has been reduced to 20 from 30.
- Binding: From The Shadows has additional failsafes for stuck Torn
- Torn Page: Gae Bulg will no longer deal damage twice on direct impacts
- Unintended lingering greyscale terrain areas should be less likely to appear