Build 1.4 for Windows & Mac is now live on itch.io!
Major updates:
- Finally, an all-new engine! This has been long overdue. Since the game’s initial release back in 2014 there have been many attempts at porting the game but without much success. It was being done on a part-time basis, and basically the reason why its been taking forever. It also gave me the chance to revisit some old, really awful (and rather embarrassing) codes and fix lots of bugs. The new engine offers much better performance and works a bit differently, and I had to make sure this new update matches the gameplay & feel of previous build (such as how collisions were handled in the older engine) so a few things had to be re-done from scratch. If you encounter any new bugs, please let me know!
- In-game achievements have been deprecated & removed from v1.4 onwards. Having only one build per-platform across all stores, and not having to worry about separate Steam/non-Steam builds will make it easier to maintain the game in the long run. With this decision, I’m thinking about a permanent price reduction at some point.
Gameplay updates:
- Player walking speed have been increased.
- Dropped shields now display both its name AND its effect (stun, reverb, extra damage). Standing over a dropped shield will show a glowing outline, just like its sword counterpart.
- Skeleton Warriors (the ones armed with shields) can now move forward & backwards while in combat range, to spice things up a bit. Be aware that this does NOT change the core, existing gameplay. Like always, watch enemy movements like a hawk and get those shield-bashing moves ready! This is now on by default, but the old behaviour (as in Skeleton Warriors can only move forward, regardless of player position) is still available under “Instructions” at the title screen.
- Skeleton Warriors will now occasionally block spears being thrown at them, unlike in previous version where spears are being completely ignored. You have been warned!
- Deflected spells now has a small radius/splash damage and inflict 2x damage to enemies (depending on the weapon’s min-max damage. The greater the range, the greater the damage will be). Deflecting spells have always been a risky move that requires good timing, and it makes sense to make it feel more rewarding to pull off.
- Loot now stays around longer after being dropped.
- Avenger shield’s damage now benefits from swords with greater min-max value range.
- Every enemy will now always drop loot when destroyed, and the RNG has been tuned further.
- Minor tweaks to sword damage stats. Sword icons now comes in more colours and the actual sword name will be displayed under the health bar.
- Player now flashes white properly when taking damage.
- Spear traps are now in sync and move together in pairs.
- Time Counter is now only available under Arcade Mode. This is to reward those that enjoys the risk of playing with limited lives, just like in the old Arcade days.
System & other updates:
- Its time to bring back the 80’s with a faux-CRT scanline effect! This is a simple, non-shader implementation that should not use any extra graphical overhead. This is an experimental feature, just for fun, and only available under fullscreen. Its also optional and may not work well with all monitors, so you can turn this off at anytime (press 4).
- Sound volume can now be adjusted in 5 increments at anytime (press 2). In addition there’s a simple audio on/off toggle as well (press 3).
- Mac version finally have native gamepad support! You can grab the Xbox 360 driver from here: Github.com
- Fixed the “lighting” alpha while traversing dark rooms with a candle. Now its way less saturated and matches the look of other rooms a lot better.
- Players can skip over vanity intro screens, prologues, ending, etc much more quickly. The duration of startup logo is also much shorter.
- Default brightness is now set to maximum. Its now the permanent and “official” look of the game. Previous settings were way too dark and looked awful when being video-streamed.
- Changing between fullscreen/windowed mode is now fixed on the Mac, thanks to the new engine. For both Windows and Mac, the game’s window now scales properly to the game’s actual resolution.
- Previously the game uses separate .ini files for keyboard & gamepad controls, which was redundant. All control settings is now placed under a single .ini file.
- Background room tiles have been replaced by black tiles for simplicity & higher contrast.
- The title screen have received a little makeover.
That’s all for now. As always, thank you for playing! You all rock.
