Beta Branch opening
Hello warriors !
We hope you’re doing great ! It’s finally winter here in France, so it’s officially the season of hot chocolate and plaids! But don’t worry, snow and cold won’t keep uu from bringing you the next updates for the game…
[h2]Beta Branch opening![/h2]
As you know, The Last Spell is a very complex game to make. Anytime we make a small change in the systems or the balancing, there are about 1 million parameters that are impacted, and a possible introduction of some new (and unexpected!) bugs.
This is why we’ve now decided to officially open the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell!
This branch is mostly aimed at players who really want to help us make the game. Obviously, this will allow you to try the changes and new features before other players, but we can’t promise you this will be an optimal/bug-free experience.
[h2]FAQ[/h2]
What is the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell?
The Beta Branch is a version of The Last Spell containing features that are still being tested. If you want to help us develop the game, you can access it on Steam. Be cautious though! The builds that will be in this branch haven’t been 100% tested, so there may (will) be bugs and other issues. This build is not made to be played "as an official one", like the standard branch.
We’re creating this branch for players who really want to help us with the development of the game! They will be able to try the newest features that we’re developing. Thanks to this branch, this will ensure our next patches are as bug-free as possible.
However, once again, if you want to play a stable version, we strongly advise you to stay in the Main Branch!
How to access this branch?
To access the open beta, you need to change the branch on Steam. **However, before you make the change, we VERY STRONGLY advise you to put your saves somewhere safe! Even though they’ll be in different folders, you’re never too careful with saves!**
So, before you do anything, you should get your save folders %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save and copy them on your desktop if you want!
Now, you can change branch and try the beta one!
Can I use my current save in the beta branch?
Yes! The game will consider the branch as an update so you can definitely use your current saves. However, you won’t be able to go back to the previous branch with those saves!
For example, if you have a save in the 0.93.1.3 version, and decide to use the save in the 0.94.0.0 version, then you won’t be able to go back to the 0.93.1.3 version with those saves.
So, we strongly advise you to create a backup copy of your current save files if you decide to go to the Beta Branch.
Reminder: You can find your save files in %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save
How can I give feedback?
For the beta branch, please only give us your feedback in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch" channels. Please don’t write your feedback in the other channels, otherwise it will be quite difficult for us to differentiate the “beta feedback” and the “normal feedback”.
I’ve found a bug!
To make sure our devs fix the right version, please only report your bugs in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch"for the beta branch with as much info as you can:
When reporting a bug or an issue, please don't forget to join the Output log:
To get the logs
- Search the file in your explorer by copying this: %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Logs
- Ideally, make an archive (.zip, .rar, etc.) with the 3 logs MAJOR, NORMAL and DETAILED. If it's not possible, just send us the DETAILED.
And now, let's dive in to the very first update available for the beta branch!
[h2]Update 0.94.0.0 changelog (Experimental Branch)[/h2]
[h3]New Features[/h3]
New enemies
Elite enemies system
Reinforced: Increases an attribute permanently
Mirror Shield: Returns a flat amount of damage to the Hero attacking this enemy
Misty: Generates thin mist in a radius of 3 tiles around the enemy
Energetic: At the end of the enemy turn, this enemy will play an extra movement and attack phase
Regenerative: Regenerates a percentage of Health every turn
Rework of the wound system
Items
Heroes
Misc
Modding
[h3]Qol[/h3]
[h3]Balancing[/h3]
Enemies
Splitter:
Accursed:
Waves
Items
We hope you’re doing great ! It’s finally winter here in France, so it’s officially the season of hot chocolate and plaids! But don’t worry, snow and cold won’t keep uu from bringing you the next updates for the game…
[h2]Beta Branch opening![/h2]
As you know, The Last Spell is a very complex game to make. Anytime we make a small change in the systems or the balancing, there are about 1 million parameters that are impacted, and a possible introduction of some new (and unexpected!) bugs.
This is why we’ve now decided to officially open the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell!
This branch is mostly aimed at players who really want to help us make the game. Obviously, this will allow you to try the changes and new features before other players, but we can’t promise you this will be an optimal/bug-free experience.
[h2]FAQ[/h2]
What is the “Beta Branch” for The Last Spell?
The Beta Branch is a version of The Last Spell containing features that are still being tested. If you want to help us develop the game, you can access it on Steam. Be cautious though! The builds that will be in this branch haven’t been 100% tested, so there may (will) be bugs and other issues. This build is not made to be played "as an official one", like the standard branch.
We’re creating this branch for players who really want to help us with the development of the game! They will be able to try the newest features that we’re developing. Thanks to this branch, this will ensure our next patches are as bug-free as possible.
However, once again, if you want to play a stable version, we strongly advise you to stay in the Main Branch!
How to access this branch?
To access the open beta, you need to change the branch on Steam. **However, before you make the change, we VERY STRONGLY advise you to put your saves somewhere safe! Even though they’ll be in different folders, you’re never too careful with saves!**
So, before you do anything, you should get your save folders %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save and copy them on your desktop if you want!
Now, you can change branch and try the beta one!
- Go to your game library on Steam
- Right click on The Last Spell
- Click on “Properties”
- Go to the “BETAS” tab
- Select “open_beta
Can I use my current save in the beta branch?
Yes! The game will consider the branch as an update so you can definitely use your current saves. However, you won’t be able to go back to the previous branch with those saves!
For example, if you have a save in the 0.93.1.3 version, and decide to use the save in the 0.94.0.0 version, then you won’t be able to go back to the 0.93.1.3 version with those saves.
So, we strongly advise you to create a backup copy of your current save files if you decide to go to the Beta Branch.
Reminder: You can find your save files in %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Save
How can I give feedback?
For the beta branch, please only give us your feedback in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch" channels. Please don’t write your feedback in the other channels, otherwise it will be quite difficult for us to differentiate the “beta feedback” and the “normal feedback”.
I’ve found a bug!
To make sure our devs fix the right version, please only report your bugs in our Discord Server, in the "TLS-Beta-Branch"for the beta branch with as much info as you can:
When reporting a bug or an issue, please don't forget to join the Output log:
To get the logs
- Search the file in your explorer by copying this: %Appdata%/../LocalLow/Ishtar Games/The Last Spell/Logs
- Ideally, make an archive (.zip, .rar, etc.) with the 3 logs MAJOR, NORMAL and DETAILED. If it's not possible, just send us the DETAILED.
And now, let's dive in to the very first update available for the beta branch!
[h2]Update 0.94.0.0 changelog (Experimental Branch)[/h2]
[h3]New Features[/h3]
New enemies
- 4 new enemies: Blocker, Hopper, Hunter and Twisted
Elite enemies system
- An elite is a boosted version of the normal enemy with a random gameplay modifier. For now, we have implemented 6 modifiers:
Reinforced: Increases an attribute permanently
Mirror Shield: Returns a flat amount of damage to the Hero attacking this enemy
Misty: Generates thin mist in a radius of 3 tiles around the enemy
Energetic: At the end of the enemy turn, this enemy will play an extra movement and attack phase
Regenerative: Regenerates a percentage of Health every turn
- They appear at certain days in both Lakeburg and Glenwald
- For now, not all enemies have an elite version but the goal is to have all of them
Rework of the wound system
- Wounds thresholds and effects are now custom for each enemy type
- New wounds effects were added (wound that blocks the use a certain skill, wound that reduces an attributed to zero… )
- Wounds thresholds now scale with the max Health of the unit. The more max Health a unit have, the more difficult it will be to wound them
- Addition of a display for wounds in the HUD of enemies and heroes
Items
- When Health, Mana, Armor, Action points or Move points maximum value changes, the current value changes from the exact same offset (whether it’s from equipping an item, obtaining a new perk…)
Example: a Hero has 90/110Health, and a new armor gives him +20HP. Upon equipping the new armor, the hero will have 110/130Health instead of 90/130. - New item: “Potion of Cleansing”, this potion will remove all your negative alterations
Heroes
- Addition of an option in the character sheet to dismiss the hero
- Addition of an option in the character sheet to hide hero’s helmet
Misc
- Addition of a reroll button in the shop to refresh all the content in exchange of some gold
- New option in the main menu to rewatch the intro scene (you can also now skip the intro with the escape key)
Modding
- Addition of a new modding system to import custom fonts to support more language
[h3]Qol[/h3]
- Addition of a “turbo mode” available during the night phase to accelerate both heroes and enemies turns (configurable in the option panel)
- Animation from the night report panel can now be skipped with a button
- New shortcut for heroes’ selection (by default mapped to F1, F2, F3…)
- Upcoming poison damage for the turn are now displayed directly in the health gauge of the unit and new feedback shows when an enemy will die from poison on his turn
- Rework of the enemies turn's staging: enemies should no longer act off screen and the camera movements are smarter, accelerating the turn
- Saves are now stored by steam user (allowing to play with multiples steam account on the same computer)
- Optimization of the game
[h3]Balancing[/h3]
Enemies
Splitter:
- Added new skill single target to target heroes
- Reduced the damage of the skill shred
Accursed:
- Replaced the skill “Curse” with a new skill “Magic Exhaustion”: drain 3 mana from the target
Waves
- Reduced slightly the number of enemies in waves with elite enemies
Items
- Added a new skill on the “Holy Ring” trinket: “Cleanse” 3 mana cost, 0-5 range, will remove all negative alterations from the target