The Slormancer News

Hello everyone!

Patch 0.6.01d

[h2]New Enemies[/h2]


5 New Enemies have been added to the game.

[h2]New Environment[/h2]


The Royal Wing has been added to the game and can be accessed through Battlefield Expeditions.
This is NOT a new Act. It will come in a later update.

[h2]New Legendary Chest[/h2]


A New Storage Stash has been added to the game and allows you to store up to 1 of each Legendary item that can be found in The Slormancer.

[h2]Changes:[/h2]
Battlefield Expeditions:
You can now choose between:

• Battlefield Journey: Random and everchanging Environment. Boss Events.
  
• Careful Examination: Chosen Fixed Environment. No Boss Events.
  

Super Elites

• Super Elites have been removed from regular Battlefield Floors.
  
• Super Elites have been reworked and are now Bosses during Battlefield Journey Expeditions.
  

Various:

• "The Great Maze" mission has been changed and now have regular fights along the way.
  
• The Jetlag Cataclysm has been renamed to "Invulnerability" to match its current effect.
  
• The "Head of the Syndicate" mission no longer has the Jetlag Cataclysm.
  

[h2]Bugs:[/h2]
The Mighty Knight:

• Whirlwind should now work properly with Reaper of Vindictive Slam.
  
• Voracious Swing should now work properly with the "To Each his own" Cataclysm and with the Obelisk of Revocation.
  

The Fierce Huntress:

• The Force Transmission + Elemental Sorcerer loop should now be fixed.
  
• Fountain of Malady now reads: "While Delighted, you can now Leech Life with Poison Damage and have an additional +3.5% Life Leech on Poison Damage." instead of "While Delighted, you have +3.5% Life Leech on Poison Damage."
  
• Fountain of Malady should now work properly with the "To Each his own" Cataclysm and with the Obelisk of Revocation.
  

The Mischievous Mage:

• Chrono-Burst should now properly deal its damage to the enemy that triggered it.
  
• Chrono-Burst should now trigger properly with the new Leech mechanic.
  
• Empowered Rift Nova should now work properly with Supreme Rift.
  

Legendaries:

• Ancestral Champions' Present should no longer display Ancestral Gifts that are currently not available in Early Access.
  
• Battlefield Mantle (The Mischievous Mage) should no longer trigger when inside Bryan's Seal of Protection.
  
• Spectral Sight should now grant you the proper Pierce Chance.
  

Various:

• Starting an Optional Mission to unlock a new Hero then immediately leaving the game should no longer your Material Tab and Shared Stash to disappear.
  
• You should now properly lose the Stun status when leaving a Boss Room while being Stunned for cinematic purposes.
  
• Elite Life Bars should no longer show negative values.
  
• Slorm Temple Shrine animation should now be played at the correct speed.
  
• NPC moving during cinematics should now walk at the correct speed.
  
• Fixed a few typos.
  

Slorm Reapers:

• Animations from Vindictive Slam's Holy Ground should now be played at the correct speed.
  

Enemies:

• Suffering Soul's visual FX should now be consistant with FPS.
  

Controller:

• Reaper Damage and Skill Damage should now properly display their Tooltip when hovering.
  
• Talking to an NPC should no longer prevent you to then navigate the Slorm Reapers menu (and a couple of other buttons).
  
• Changing Font Sizes with a Controller with Simplified Chinese displayed should no longer crash the game.
  

If you find a bug, please report it below or on our Discord.
Cheers!

Hello everyone!

The Royal Wing Update is almost ready, and it will be available next week! Today also marks the 2-year anniversary of The Slormancer's Early Access! Two years of Updates, Patches, and Chronicles!



We've been talking about upcoming content in our latest Chronicle, so I'll only briefly recap what has been said and move on: The Royal Wing Update, Part I comes with a new environment called "The Royal Wing" (duh) and 5 new enemies, tied to that environment.

Oh, and it will be availble on April 11th!



Now, we've been working on a couple of new exciting stuff that will be available with this update:

[h2]Battlefield Expedition Changes[/h2]

As you can see in the screenshot above, we've added a couple of choices to Battlefield Expeditions.

We wanted to fix different issues we've been having with Battlefield Expeditions:

• Playing in the same environment over and over gets boring, especially when you've been dealt with an environment you don't really like.
  
• Battlefield Expeditions lack special events / changes of pace.
  
• If you wish to play in a specific environment, you have to fish for the correct environment by entering/leaving Battlefield Expeditions until you get the one you want.
  
• For the same reason, once we introduce the Influence feature tied to Environments, players will want to farm in specific environments, so this has to be doable.
  

Now, you will get to "Choose your Adventure":

• You can either choose the Battlefield Journey which is the default option. "Random and Everchanging Environment. Boss Events."
  If you choose "Battlefield Journey", you will get to face a boss every few floors (with appropriate loot :o). We've been working on a nice staging, similar to the one we've made for Story Bosses: The entire floor is dedicated to the Boss fight, just you and him.
  
  
  
  Once you've dealt with the boss, the Expedition will then continue on a different environment so it never gets boring.
  
  
• Or you can choose the Careful Examination option. This alternative allows you to choose the Environment you want to venture in. However, you will face no bosses and the environment will, obviously, never change.
  

This comes with a change: Super Elites that you could sometimes find in Battlefield Expeditions can no longer be found in a regular Expedition floor. We felt that they didn't have the set-up they deserved and were not noticeable enough to cause the change of pace we wanted them to cause.

So we've actually been working from what we had with these Super Elites and turned them into the Battlefield Journey Bosses mentioned above. The changes we've made should hopefully create more epic/memorable fights.

[h2]The Legendary Chest[/h2]
This is step 1 of the "Loadouts & Smart Stashes" line from our Early Access Road Map. We're introducing a new Storage Chest where you will be able to store one of each Legendary item available in The Slormancer.



We really like collectible stuff so it felt like the most natural option for The Slormancer. And since we plan to have about 200 Legendary items for the 1.0 release, it was almost mandatory to add more storage options. And depending on how much it is needed, we will eventually increase the number of basic stashes later on.


This is a particular milestone because we originally planned to get from Early Access to the 1.0 within two years. Well... We were wrong. Very very wrong.

For the purpose of the Steam Q&A about Early Access that you can read on our Steam Page, we had to give an estimate of how much time we expected our Early Access to last. In which we said "About 2 years".

I believe that we were expecting to have no issues whatsoever, no bugs or setbacks, and less sales (so less feedback to manage). Let's call it optimistic ignorance.

If you've been eagerly waiting for the 1.0 release of the game, then sorry for being optimistic ignorants. We'll do better.

As of right now, we will soon update the Q&A with an honest (yet desappointing) release date answer: We don't know. We have a release date in mind, but we don't trust our own prediction anymore. We would love to get to 1.0 before that date, but we've been reminded many times that developing a game takes time. So we will keep that date to ourselves. I think it's too optimistic anyway :).

On the bright side, we're making good and tangible progress and our to-do list never felt so small and manageable. We still have lots of things to work on, but we can see the end. It's far. But we can see it.

The goal always was to get the best possible game. We know that The Slormancer has the potential to be much more than it currently is. So we'll try our best not to waste it.


That's about it!
Thanks for reading! See you on April 11 for the release of The Royal Wing Update!

Hello everyone!

As discussed in our latest Slormite Chronicles, I've been working on various aspects of how the Controller behaves, both in menus and in game. Both were causing some frustration and a rework was much needed.

This update introduces major changes to our controller support but I also took the chance to work on other technical and / or quality of life features so everyone has something to look for in this update.
So here goes!

Controller Aim Assist:
Reworked the Auto-Aim system to be much more efficient.
The Auto-Aim should now accurately follow the direction of the ground cursor.
The Auto-Aim should no longer aim for enemies behind walls.
As a result, switching between targets should be much MUCH easier.

When moving with the Left Stick, the system should aim for pretty much any relevant target nearby in front of you. When using the Right Stick, you will be able to more accurately pick a direction FROM the enemy currently being targetted. If you don't like that behavior, I've also added two other options for you to choose from:

"Aim Assist" Setting:
Added an Aim Assist Setting with 3 options:

• Auto Aim: (Default option) Use the Right Stick to navigate between targets.
  
• Semi-Free: Use the Right Stick to Aim. Your aim will adjust to a relevant target in the direction you're aiming.
  
• Free: Use the Right Stick to Aim. No Help.
  

Toggle "Aim Assist":
Added a Bindable Option called "Toggle Aim Assist" that I encourage you to set to R3 (R3 used to be Toggle Enemy Life Bars by default): Toggle Aim Assist will switch from your chosen Aim Assist setting to "Free" and back to your previous choice when you press R3 again.

Visual Feedback

• A Locked Target will now glow with a more distinct stroke and the back of its lifebar will change.
  
• When a Target is locked, the ground cursor will change color.
  

User Interface:
The Left stick can now be used to move a newly added cursor around menus and select any button or hover over any kind of tooltip. This should make the navigation much MUCH smoother.

I've also fixed a couple of weird behaviors:

• Ancestral Tree Menu: Moving the Tree now takes stick sensitivity into account.
  
• Ancestral Tree Menu: You can now properly refund Ancestral Legacy choices with a controller.
  
• Inventory: Enabled Stick/Pad Navigation to Slorm Reapers, Thumbs and pretty much any button.
  
• Inventory: You can now add/remove Traits 10 by 10 by holding RB.
  
• Inventory: You should now be able to navigate through the Slorm Reapers menu without issues.
  
• Inventory: You should now be able to properly close Reaper Runes / Ultimatums notifications with the A button.
  
• The Great Forge: You can now hover over Challenges Effects and Rewards.
  
• Expeditions: Now that everything is clickable, the default button to start Expeditions is now Y instead of A (used to click on things).
  

Bonus:
Button Faces can now be customized between Xbox / PlayStation or Nintendo Switch.

Font Sizes:
Added new Font Sizes called "Biggerer" and "Biggest" which are bigger than the "Bigger" font size.

Search Bars:
Added a Search Function to Skills, Attributes and Slorm Reapers.
The Search Bar in the Ancestral Legacy menu has been moved to the top right out of consistency.

Mouse / Keyboard
You can now bind Side Mouse Buttons (up to 2).


Added a "Target FPS" setting with 4 options: 30, 60 (default), 120 and Uncapped.

This was heavily requested, so here goes.
I haven't been able to test those options on proper hardware, so please let me know if everything is working properly. When playing above 60 FPS, you may notice elements going slower or faster than usual. If you do, please let met know.


Added 21:9 support to The Slormancer.
The following resolutions are now available:

• 2560 x 1080
  
• 3440 x 1440
  

Same as FPS, I haven't been able to test those options on proper hardware, so please let me know if everything is working properly. You may find some UI elements in the wrong places, or unable to click on some buttons.


Added a Zoom setting that allows you to zoom in by 25% and zoom out by 25% (via mouse wheel or via the Settings Menu). It should feel better for people unconfortable with our current level of zoom without breaking the experience.


And here are a couple of bug fixes that I've managed to squeeze in before today.

Act 4:
- Minimap sizes should fit better.
- Arnaldow, The Scarecrow, should no longer stop targetting you when you move too far.
- Chaining missions should no longer cause an inappropriate "Time Played" to be displayed on the Victory screen.

Various:
- Influence should now be properly displayed on the Victory screen (there was a small difference due to Influence Gain stats).
- Victory Screen should now properly display Flasks and Books destroyed in The Mage Academy (major bug!).
- When using Bryan's Portal, "Next Floor" should be displayed, instead of "Next Mission", when applicable.
- The number of possible Reforges displayed at the Blacksmith for Masteries, Reaper Affinity and Attributes should now be the correct values.

Crashes:
- Fixed a Crash when clicking on Flawless Defense occuring in Chinese.


That's about it!
Let us know what you think.

Hello everyone!


In our previous Slormite Chronicles, we've said that the Controller Update was expected to be done in February. I later posted a comment regarding the delay that most of you probably missed:
I had personal things that came up so we had to delay the release a bit. But we can now announce that
The Controller Update will go live on March 7.

Things also got out of control as I felt the need to add more and more features to this update! :D
So the "Controller Update" became a larger beast, now known as "The Technical Update".


I don't want this to turn into a patch notes (that we will publish on March 7 as well) but I'm glad you ask!

[h3]Controller Rework[/h3]
Controller Aim Assist:
I've reworked the Auto-Aim system to be much more accurate and efficient.
I've also added an Aim Assist Setting with different control schemes:

• Auto Aim: (Default option) Use the Right Stick to navigate between targets.
  
• Semi-Free: Use the Right Stick to Aim. Your aim will adjust to a relevant target in the direction you're aiming.
  
• Free: Use the Right Stick to Aim. No Help.
  

On top of that, we've added a new bindable option called "Toggle Aim Assist" that is used to quickly switch between your default Aim Assist option and the "Free" control scheme.

We've been working on visual feedback aswell.

User Interface:
Navigating through menus with a controller used to be really painful. But fear not! Things got much MUCH smoother as you can now use the Left stick to move freely inside menus.

And as mentioned in our previous Chronicle, you will be able to change button faces and choose between Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Switch.


[h3]Wait! There's More![/h3]
We've also been working on various Quality of Life features and technical stuff that should improve the overall experience.

• I've added new Font Sizes called "Biggerer" and "Biggest", bigger than the "Bigger" font size.
  
• You can now bind Side Mouse Buttons (up to 2).
  
• I've added Search Bars (similar to the one in the Ancestral Legacy menu) to Skills, Attributes and Slorm Reapers.
  
• The Slormancer now supports UltraWide and the 2560 x 1080 and 3440 x 1440 resolutions are now available.
  
• The Slormancer now supports 120+ FPS and a "Target FPS" setting has been added by 4 options: 30, 60 (default), 120 and Uncapped.
  
• Last but not least, I've added a Zoom setting allowing you to Zoom Out by up to 25%. It should feel better for people unconfortable with our current level of zoom without breaking the experience.
  

Everything listed above will be available with the "Technical Update" on March 7.


While working on the technical aspect of the game, we've also made progress on The Royal Update that will add a New Environment and 5 New Enemies to The Slormancer.

[h3]New Enemies[/h3]
Here's a preview of our upcoming enemies!



From left to right:

• The Loot Thief
  
• The Decaying Domestic
  
• The Spectrum of Justice
  
• The Ominous Jester
  
• The Undead Paladin
  

[h3]New Environment: The Royal Wing[/h3]
It is actually the very first environment we've built for the game. It has been through a lot and is now ready to come to The Slormancer.



[h3]Bonus Pic![/h3]
As I've said, the Royal Wing was the very first environment we've built for The Slormancer. Behold its first iteration. You can also enjoy the very first designs for The Mighty Knight and Skeleton Soldiers.
Back then, we were super proud of the result. :o




That's about it for now!
Have a nice day everyone and see you tomorrow for the update!

Hello everyone!

It's Chronicle time!


The Luxuriant Update Part II has been out for a week now. So it is time to take a look at the feedback we've got. Basically, we've mostly had positive reactions while negative points that were addressed were almost only about two specific things:

1. The Great Labyrinth Mission is basically too long, boring and uninteresting. We tried something different, it didn't work. But it is pretty simple to take care of so we plan to address this an upcoming Update.
   
2. The Story as a whole, is repetitive and missions get boring fast. This is a much more complex point, and we tend to agree that the Story/Missions part of the game is not one of The Slormancer's strengths. We also believe that reworking each and every mission won't fix this. So we're still looking for solutions.
   

We've allocated 50% of the resources of the company (being one artist) to start working on our next content update: The Royal Update Part I. It will include 5 new enemies and a new environment, so quite a bit of assets to draw.

While the entire tech department (being me) is currently working on a Quality of Life / Controller / Technical update.

And since HyonD, being the fancy artist that he is, doesn't want to share his precious designs (even to me), I'll talk about what I'm doing instead.


Jokes aside, we've had a lot more feedback regarding our controller support lately. It is most likely due to the Steam Deck being more and more popular.

To be honest, the very first iteration of our controller support was not meant to be final, and we aimed for something "good enough" without having the Steam Deck in mind or even thinking about how popular playing on a PC with a controller actually is.

Right now, I'm working on the "True Final Omega Version", not the "Final 001 Version" if you know what I mean, addressing every issue that players have encountered.

The goal here is to get the "Optimal" status for the Steam Deck, instead of the "Playable" that we currently have. On top of that, we've always wanted to get The Slormancer on consoles, so I'm working with that in mind. And ideally, a Switch release could be done without any further adjustments that the ones I'm currently making. So it has to be close to perfect.



Here are the points I'm focusing on:

• Better Menu Navigation: I'm adding a cursor (similar to games like God of War or Assassin's Creed) to easily navigate. And it is much much smoother.
  
• Better Auto-Aim / Aim System: I'm reworking the Auto-Aim to actually work (...) and to be a lot less intrusive when players want to manually aim for their targets.
  
• Bigger Font Size: Pretty self-explanatory. This is mostly for Steam Deck users, but if your setup is to play on a TV with a controller, then you should like this one aswell.
  
• Fixing Various Issues: Such as not being able to select Slorm Reapers, or get Challenges Tooltips inside the forge etc...
  
• More Keybinds options: By allowing every button to be remapped.
  
• Button Faces: Since I'm planning (way ahead) a console port, I've added different controller styles so you will be able to choose the one you want to use (from X-Box, PS & Nintendo Switch / Steam Deck).
  

A cursor, bigger font size and a PlayStation design.

Some points are mostly technical stuff, that are probably hard to understand on paper but very easy to feel ingame. So I'll be looking for more feedback once the update is live. As of right now, if you're a Steam Deck / Controller user and feel like I'm missing something that should be addressed, please let me know.

I'm also adding a couple more options on the way for Mouse + Keyboard users, such as the ability to bind side mouse buttons. I'll be looking to add some more if I have enough time.


I should be done with the "Controller Update" by the end of February.

Quick update about the date (also in the comments).
I was hoping to get it done before the end of February but we unfortunately won't make it. The good news is that it is ready (and actually far more important than I expected), the bad news is that I have personal stuff to take care of (nothing to worry about) and I won't be able to upload it and be around to handle issues that may arise.
For this reason, the update will go live on March 7.


And to reiterate, given the nature of our next content update, working on this will not delay the
addition of new content.


That's about it for now!
Have a nice day everyone!