FINAL BIG UPDATE OF THE YEAR: Alpha 0.8, Layer 2 update
A happy holidays to all our depth dwellers! 20% off BELOW THE STONE!!!
We got plenty for you to dig into, from new enemies to fight, sub-biomes being implemented, new biome hazards such as falling shale rocks and slippery ice, as well as new unique layer 2 structures to explore!
This update was spent adding more content that players have been asking for with layer 2, and there is much more coming your way with our following updates we have planned.
In January, we hope to have a public road map to show what we're planning for our 1.0 release of Below the Stone. We want to make 2025 the big year of Below the Stone! Please join our Discord for more news on this as time goes on.
[h2][New Features][/h2]
* Introduced "sub biomes" where a single biome will have other smaller biomes that can generate within it. For this update, the Ice Biome is now a sub-biome of the Arctic biome.
* Added many new static decor objects to many Layer 2 biomes
* Added "ice slick" entity to ice biome. Stepping on it gives you a cartoonish speed boost.
* Added Ice Slime
* Added Ice Bat
* Added Rock Golem
* Added Tiny Little Rat
* Added Goblin (just a basic goblin)
* Added Kamikrazy Goblin (he loves his comically large dynamite)
* Added Baby Radiation Scorpion
* Added stamina regen potion
* Added ore glow potion
* Added "biome welcome ui" that appears when you enter a new biome for the first time. Now you know what they are called!
* Added falling shale hazard to shale biome
* Added the ability to buy back certain items that you lost from your previous death (at goblin trader). This currently does not persist across game sessions.
* Added many new goblin structures to Layer 2 to replace the existing kobold structures on Layer 2.
* Added Stabilizing Crystal item (found in geode biome)
* Added Ectoplasm Crystal item (found in haunted biome)
* Added Ripe Lava Leaf (drops from lava ferns)
* Added Fire Troll Fur (drops from fire troll)
* Added sound that plays when an item drop hits the ground
[h2][Improvements][/h2]
* Refactored and Updated character movement (both player and other creatures) to be more realistic. Objects now have proper surface friction when on the ground, and don't when in the air. Due to this, objects now also move slower in water.
* Ice is now slippery
* Fixes+Changes to how knockback is calculated
* Updated radiation crystals to play a low hum when you stand close to them, but they also deal small damage. Highly recommend checking them out.
* Nerfed bone's (skeletons) melee damage from 20 to 15, and ranged damage from 15 to 13. Also slightly buffed the basic goblin enemy, since it is meant to be mostly a Layer 2 creature. This is to help make general combat on Layer 1 more forgiving for new players, we hope.
* Various minor adjustments to the spawn rates of static entities on Layer 2.
* Changed ordering of biomes on Layer 2.
* Various updates to existing Layer 2 static entities
* Lava fern now spawns sparsely in shale biome
* Various improvements to sound
* "Escape Pod Summon" sound now plays positionally in the game's space. So it's generally quieter, and you can hear if the escape zone is to your left or right.
* Very tiny changes to bat ai. They may be less likely to make small flight paths now.
* Small change to Haunted Skull ai to give an opportunity to the player to hit them twice before orbiting again.
[h2][Fixes][/h2]
* Fixed tooltips for applied effects
* Fixed some visual issues with some particle effects
* Fixed a bug where players could dash through gate entities in structures, this also means that creatures can't see you through gates as well.
* Fixed unnoticeable error messages that would happen when the player opened the sound settings menu.
* Fixed Haunted Skull journal description being a copy/paste from the small slime.
This is our last big update of the year, with many new layer 2 additions.
We got plenty for you to dig into, from new enemies to fight, sub-biomes being implemented, new biome hazards such as falling shale rocks and slippery ice, as well as new unique layer 2 structures to explore!
This update was spent adding more content that players have been asking for with layer 2, and there is much more coming your way with our following updates we have planned.
In January, we hope to have a public road map to show what we're planning for our 1.0 release of Below the Stone. We want to make 2025 the big year of Below the Stone! Please join our Discord for more news on this as time goes on.
Alpha 0.8 - Layer 2 Upgrade Update
[h2][New Features][/h2]
* Introduced "sub biomes" where a single biome will have other smaller biomes that can generate within it. For this update, the Ice Biome is now a sub-biome of the Arctic biome.
* Added many new static decor objects to many Layer 2 biomes
* Added "ice slick" entity to ice biome. Stepping on it gives you a cartoonish speed boost.
* Added Ice Slime
* Added Ice Bat
* Added Rock Golem
* Added Tiny Little Rat
* Added Goblin (just a basic goblin)
* Added Kamikrazy Goblin (he loves his comically large dynamite)
* Added Baby Radiation Scorpion
* Added stamina regen potion
* Added ore glow potion
* Added "biome welcome ui" that appears when you enter a new biome for the first time. Now you know what they are called!
* Added falling shale hazard to shale biome
* Added the ability to buy back certain items that you lost from your previous death (at goblin trader). This currently does not persist across game sessions.
* Added many new goblin structures to Layer 2 to replace the existing kobold structures on Layer 2.
* Added Stabilizing Crystal item (found in geode biome)
* Added Ectoplasm Crystal item (found in haunted biome)
* Added Ripe Lava Leaf (drops from lava ferns)
* Added Fire Troll Fur (drops from fire troll)
* Added sound that plays when an item drop hits the ground
[h2][Improvements][/h2]
* Refactored and Updated character movement (both player and other creatures) to be more realistic. Objects now have proper surface friction when on the ground, and don't when in the air. Due to this, objects now also move slower in water.
* Ice is now slippery
* Fixes+Changes to how knockback is calculated
* Updated radiation crystals to play a low hum when you stand close to them, but they also deal small damage. Highly recommend checking them out.
* Nerfed bone's (skeletons) melee damage from 20 to 15, and ranged damage from 15 to 13. Also slightly buffed the basic goblin enemy, since it is meant to be mostly a Layer 2 creature. This is to help make general combat on Layer 1 more forgiving for new players, we hope.
* Various minor adjustments to the spawn rates of static entities on Layer 2.
* Changed ordering of biomes on Layer 2.
* Various updates to existing Layer 2 static entities
* Lava fern now spawns sparsely in shale biome
* Various improvements to sound
* "Escape Pod Summon" sound now plays positionally in the game's space. So it's generally quieter, and you can hear if the escape zone is to your left or right.
* Very tiny changes to bat ai. They may be less likely to make small flight paths now.
* Small change to Haunted Skull ai to give an opportunity to the player to hit them twice before orbiting again.
[h2][Fixes][/h2]
* Fixed tooltips for applied effects
* Fixed some visual issues with some particle effects
* Fixed a bug where players could dash through gate entities in structures, this also means that creatures can't see you through gates as well.
* Fixed unnoticeable error messages that would happen when the player opened the sound settings menu.
* Fixed Haunted Skull journal description being a copy/paste from the small slime.
