Archaelund News

[p]Finally, you can take your revenge on the Bloody Crow pirates! This update features a new dungeon and some relevant tweaks. Our Beta is open, so you can join it anytime and try it for yourself. Since this isn't a huge update, I expect it to be out of Beta in a few days.[/p][p][/p][p]Here is the full changelog:[/p][p][/p][h3]New Content[/h3]

• [p]New dungeon added as part of the 'Chasing the Bloody Crow' quest, which is now completable.[/p]
• [p]XP cap increased to 30,900 (Level cap not increased).[/p]

[h3]Content adjustments & Balance[/h3]

• [p]Companions joining (or returning to) your party will now have a minimum XP equal to 75% of your least experienced party member, or 50% if the companion has the 'Unwilling Adventurer' negative talent.[/p]
• [p]If you have failed other skill checks, you can still obtain certain information from Phadabar's innkeeper by paying him gold. You're not supposed to be locked out of the main quest by failing a check![/p]
• [p]Ethereal creatures are now immune to stun, poison, prone and paralysis effects.[/p]
• [p]Lifeless creatures now reduce any stun effect power by 3, instead of by 2.[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Dual Expertise now correctly deducts an extra AP from Dual attack.[/p]
• [p]Attack Focus will again display correctly in the UI the improved accuracy.[/p]
• [p]Hammers equipped on the offhand now show properly on your character.[/p]
• [p]You can no longer equip an offhand weapon if you wield a bow.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Archaelund OST updated[/h2][p][/p][p]Players asked for it in the forums, so we just published a new Youtube video with the full soundtrack of the game. It is already an hour long, and includes some of the recently added tracks, like the new character creation theme, and all the music from Urendale and Phadabar regions.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]The video not only includes Laura's amazing music, but also some previously unreleased concept art from Nacho Corva. [/p][p][/p][p]I am already working on the next big area of the game, and also there will be an update to the roadmap, adding more details. Stay tuned![/p][p][/p]

[p]This release adds Controller Support for the first time. The game should be playable with most controllers, although it might still receive further improvements. In addition, I am waiting for a Steamdeck to arrive, because I want the game to be fully optimized for this device.[/p][p][/p][p]While this update was beta-tested during the last weeks, I've been working on a new dungeon that concludes the main quest chapter II. That upcoming release should be out in a few weeks, and will be labeled as 0.9. At the same time, I'll publish and updated roadmap for the game.[/p][p][/p][p]Dual Wielding: You can now have characters specialized in fighting with two weapons. Ruffians will receive the 'Dual Wielding' Talent automatically as part of the career, but others can get it as an Open Talent, and then improve with the rest of the talents added. [/p][p][/p][p]In short: when you have this talent, you can select to attack with the main weapon, offhand weapon, or a 'dual attack' with both. This dual attack has a discount of 1AP, compared to attacking with each weapon. For instance, attacking with two daggers costs 5AP. Eventually the dual attack can be improved greatly with further talents.[/p][p][/p][p]Here is the complete changelog.[/p][p][/p][h3]Features & Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Added controller support. A few minor game functions may still not be available. If your controller is not autodetected by the game as XBox/PS/Nintendo, you'll have to set its type in the settings>input menu.[/p]
• [p]Added dual-wielding combat for characters. Anyone can equip a light weapon on the offhand, which will receive a -20/-2 penalty, but to attack with both weapons a character needs to acquire specific Talents.[/p]
• [p]Four new dual-wield related Open Talents added, starting with 'Dual Wielding' which enables 'Dual attack', and others that improve the attack and defense of the character.[/p]
• [p]Ruffian career now has 'Dual Wielding' as its level 2 talent, instead of Dodge Expert. This change is applied to existing characters.[/p]
• [p]New music tracks for Irampor Ruins, Port Galeb(night), and character creation(will begin after the 'main title' if you are creating characters).[/p]
• [p]The following items are now stackable: Ironwood, Mirmek Carapace, Minotaur Horn, Preserved Skull, Mercian Silk. In addition, broken weapons and armor have increased stack size to 20.[/p]
• [p]Added support for 3840 x 1080 ultrawide resolution.[/p]

[h3]Content adjustments & Balance[/h3]

• [p]Companions joining (or returning to) your party will now have a minimum XP equal to 75% of your less experienced party member, or 50% if the companion has the 'Unwilling Adventurer' negative talent.[/p]
• [p]If you have failed other skill checks, you can still obtain certain information from Phadabar's innkeeper by paying him gold. You're not supposed to be locked out of the main quest by failing a check![/p]
• [p]Ethereal creatures are now immune to stun, poison, prone and paralysis effects.[/p]
• [p]Lifeless creatures now reduce any stun effect power by 3, instead of by 2.[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a visual glitch that could cause transparent materials such as water to shift as you move the camera (on lower graphic settings)[/p]
• [p]Certain chest pop-up in Phadabar's warehouse has been fixed, this time for real![/p]
• [p]There was a minor issue with random numbers generated for brittle weapons, Lesser Remedy spell and Acid Blood (random values were slightly lower than described). Solved.[/p]
• [p]No item can be purchased for less than 1 gold, as intended.[/p]

[p][/p]

[p]After several weeks of hard work, the latest beta update 0.8.6 includes controller support for 99% of game functionality. There's wtill a few minor things (such as typing a character's name) which still require a keyboard, but I'll implement them soon.[/p][p][/p][p]Our Beta is open, so you can join it anytime and try it for yourself. Since I am not an expert at controller gameplay, any feedback is welcome.[/p][p][/p][p]This new Beta includes a few other interesting features and bugfixes. Here is the full changelog:[/p][p][/p][h3]Features & Improvements[/h3][p]• Added controller support! a few minor game functions may still not be available. If your controller is not autodetected by the game as XBox/PS/Nintendo, you'll have to set its type in the settings>input menu.[/p][p]• Added support for 3840 x 1080 ultrawide resolution.[/p][p]• New music track in Irampor Ruins.[/p][p][/p][h3]Content adjustments & Balance[/h3][p]• Companions joining (or returning to) your party will now have a minimum XP equal to 75% of your less experienced party member, or 50% if the companion has the 'Unwilling Adventurer' negative talent.[/p][p]• If you have failed other skill checks, you can still obtain certain information from Phadabar's innkeeper by paying him gold. You're not supposed to be locked out of the main quest by failing a check![/p][p]• Ethereal creatures are now immune to stun, poison, prone and paralysis effects.[/p][p]• Lifeless creatures now reduce any stun effect power by 3, instead of by 2.[/p][p][/p][h3]Bug Fixes[/h3][p]• Fixed a visual glitch that could cause transparent materials such as water to shift as you move the camera (on lower graphic settings)[/p][p]• Certain chest pop-up in Phadabar's warehouse has been fixed, this time for real![/p][p]• There was a minor issue with random numbers generated for brittle weapons, Lesser Remedy spell and Acid Blood (random values were slightly lower than described). Solved.[/p][p]• No item can be purchased for less than 1 gold, as intended.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h3]This is the deal![/h3][p][/p][p]Greetings, adventurers! [/p][p][/p][p]Today, Archaelund has been listed on Steam's main page as "Daily Deal", a curated selection of great games offered at the best prices. It is the first time Archaelund goes on sale, and it is a great opportunity to buy it at a price very similar to the original Early Access release price. [/p][p][/p][p]Enough merchant talk, let's talk now about the good things to come.[/p][p][/p][h3]0.9 Release is around the corner[/h3][p][/p][p]Most of the features listed on the roadmap for 0.9 are already released as of 0.8.5, past month. Only a few things are remaining, and we expect to have them out quickly.[/p][p][/p][p]Controller support is almost ready for the beta, and will likely be available to beta-testers next week, in release 0.8.6. A few weeks later, there should be another update with the conclusion of the main quest chapter 2, and some interesting new features, such as dual-wielding. [/p][p][/p][h3]Looking at the Horizon: 0.10[/h3][p][/p][p]I can already disclose some news about the next major milestone, version 0.10. It is scheduled for the end of 2025 (estimated!), but it will likely be released in smaller installments; it will enlarge the world significantly, and expand character development through several levels, adding Advanced Careers to the game.[/p][p][/p][p]More importantly, 0.10 will also add detail to the existing areas, including dynamic quests and random encounters, and giving Companions a more active role at dialogues and other interactions. [/p][p][/p][p]Besides this, 0.10 will include localization to various languages, there will be more information about this during the summer. [/p][p][/p][p]If Archaelund's current content includes about 55h of unique gameplay, I expect 0.10 to reach 75-80h. [/p][p][/p][p]If time allows, I might also add some improvements to animations and UI redesign, but it is likely that I choose to delay these until 1.0 release is real close.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

Here's another small release that keeps paving the way for 0.9.

Some love for archers was due, and the new arrows also make the Crafting skill more useful. I am now working on adding dual-wielding and player-usable poisons.

I've begun experimenting with controller support in this update as well. For now, all you can do with a controller is to move and look around in exploration mode (using both sticks), and select objects with the "down" button (A in Xbox, X in PS). There is still no controller settings. But more will come in the next weeks, making the game fully playable with controller very soon.

There were still a couple lingering issues that needed fixing after the last content update. Find below the complete changelog.

[h3]Features & Improvements[/h3]

• Arrows implemented. You can still fire unlimited 'normal arrows' that don't show on inventory, but a new slot has been added to equip special arrows with bonuses that have been added to weapon vendors and also as loot.
  
• Added 6 new crafting recipes for arrows.
  
• When you 'browse all talents' from the Character Window, you can now see if the character meets the requirements, just like at level-up. In addition, the search function will also work on talent descriptions, not just titles.
  
• Controller Support implementation has begun; for now it is very limited, allowing the player to move in exploration mode, and select objects (A in Xbox). I'll keep adding functionality and options on each update.
  

[h3]Adjustments & Balance[/h3]

• Talent
• Gifted Pupil* now requires the character to be a spellcaster.
  
• Mycora in Urendale are now slightly stronger.
  
• All enemies will slightly increase their resistances per level; stronger creatures such as Helliants or 'named' beasts might get significantly more resistant.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a game 'freeze' that might happen after using Conduits, and in other dialogues that allowed the player to travel.
  
• Fixed a rare crash that could freeze the loading screen when opening certain areas.
  
• Fixed a rare crash that might happen when spells are cast from exploration.
  
• Fixed a chest popup that could appear in Phadabar's basement.
  
• Fixed many minor issues in Harlin Plains and Phadabar.
  
• Certain group of Wild Geldryn in Galeb Peninsula had their detection disabled. Fixed.
  

There will be at least two more 0.8.x updates before we move into the 0.9.x development arc. They'll arrive relatively quickly since the two large outdoor areas (Urendale and Harlin Plains) are already out. I'll be posting about it soon.