The Curse of Feldar Vale News

Hi All.

As promised in V1.026, we have just released an update to bring the movement options that were developed for Mystery at Morgoth (MaM) to The Curse. There is also a small bug fix included.

* Jump Move - The party can immediately move to any point on the map it has previously visited. There are two new options in the Interface Options dialog that control the behavior of jump moves (Jump Move Uses Real Time and Confirm Jump Move).

*** IMPORTANT NOTE *** This feature only works in a game that is in progress from the current position moving forward. Prior to this update the game will not have recorded which tiles your party has visited.

* Swap Position - Player unit tokens can change position (marching order). Can be used at any time but very useful when in confined spaces. There is a new option in the Player Options dialog that controls this behavior (Swap Position Consumes Action).



* Fix: The achievements for Zombie Hunter and Zombie Slayer were not updating their score correctly.

There will be more MaM features to come in future updates. Stay tuned!

We have found during testing that the two new features above, significantly enhance movement during the non-combat parts of the game.

We hope you enjoy this upgrade and please let us know if you encounter any problems.

All the best.

Ian & Jann

Hi Folks.

Just a small update to introduce a new feature requested by the Community, a game play improvement and fixes for some minor issues that we have uncovered while developing The Dark Tower.

• New Advanced Rule: Experience Balance. Only applies if 'AI Hit Point Bonus' is not zero. Adjusts the experience received from melee and ranged attacks so that characters receive the same XPs as when there is no adjustment to the AI unit's hit points.
  
  
  
  This means that your units will level up at roughly the same speed regardless of the AI Hit Point Bonus.
  
  
• Change: If a unit resists a spell due to its Magic Resistance attribute, the text "Magic Resistance" will float above the unit.
  

Due to changes in Steam's platform support, we have upgraded The Curse to run as a 64-bit executable only.

Please let us know if you have any problems with the update and we hope you enjoy the game.

All the best.

Ian & Jann

Hi All.

Just a quick note to let you know that we have updated the DEMO to V1.028. This is a demo specific build and the main game remains at V1.027.

The demo now has all the latest updates/fixes etc.

All the best.

Ian & Jann

Hi All.

Just a small update to fix a few minor issues and add a small feature requested by the Community.

• New: Additional Party Banners. We have added two 'dread' banner choices for the flag that is displayed on the adventure map, to give your party that 'dark' feel.
  
  
• Change: The AI behavior for spellcasters has been improved so that units will attempt to fight, rather than cast, when they are short on mana (or only have cantrips available) and player units are nearby.
  

We have also fixed a couple of small bugs that we discovered in testing.

Please let us know if you have any problems with the update and we hope you enjoy the changed features.

All the best.

Ian & Jann

Hi All.

We have just released a really big update to add a number of improvements that we have developed in The Mystery at Morgoth (MaM). All the bug fixes that been identified in MaM over the last few months have also been included.

* New Feature: The game will now automatically create a Saved Game when the player wins. This is so the player can return to this point at a later date or if they have Autosave set to greater than 1 turn (which may mean having to repeat some turns if coming back to the game later).

* New Feature: We have added an information dialog that indicates a unit is a spell casting unit when it is created. It highlights the fact that the unit can Memorize spells before entering the battlefield. The dialog can be disabled if required.

* New feature: Improved tooltips on the Rest and Back to Base buttons.

The tooltips will now display a list of reasons why the button(s) are disabled. For example, a nearby enemy preventing the party from resting.



* New feature: We have added an attribute Recurring Effects: True to the Extended Spell Help dialog (invoked when you right click a spell icon or spell help button). This works in conjunction with the tooltips above to help identify any spell that may be preventing a further action (like resting or back to base).

* New feature: Potions are now more powerful (potent). Previously the spell stored within the potion, for example Cure Serious Wounds, would affect the character as if cast by a level 1 spellcaster.

Now Cantrip and Level 1 spell potions will be cast as if by a level 2 spellcaster. All other spell levels are treated as if a spellcaster was at the minimum level required to cast that spell.

For example, the aforementioned Cure Serious Wounds is a level 4 spell. It requires a spellcaster of level 7 to normally cast this. Thus when a character drinks a Potion of Cure Serious Wounds, the contents will be applied as if a level 7 character had cast it upon the consumer (i.e. the potion will heal a lot more hit points than it did before).

* New feature: The New Unit Dialog which is found in the Create Your Party and the Velarin scenes will now issue a warning if you try to recruit a unit that would exceed game limits.

The unit can still be created in case you are intending to dismiss another unit that would bring the total Experience Levels within the limit.

* New feature: The Unit Dialog, where you find all the information about each unit, will now display flashing messages for things that may require your attention (for example, if you have unused Spell Slots on a unit). This behavior is controlled by a new toggle on the Options > Interface Dialog where you can turn the flashing off if required.

* New feature: You can now reorder the unit cards anchored to the left side of the screen. There is a new button at the top left of the screen that will invoke a dialog for you to display the cards in whatever order you wish (for example, if you always handle your units in a certain order).



Note that changing the order of the cards has no effect on the position of your tokens on the battlefield.

* New feature: We have added a new Advanced Rule called Experience Overload. This will allow any of your units to accumulate Experience Points beyond the game limits (although the unit will still be level capped). If the party is then imported into Mystery at Morgoth, the excess points will be applied and the unit will level up immediately.

* New items: We have added +1 to +5 variants for all of the following normal weapons:

Bardiche, Partisan, Spear, Stabbing Spear, Te yari, Morning Star, Spiked Club, Club, Cutlass, Rapier, Scimitar, Quarterstaff, Short Staff.

* New minor encounters: Additional enemies have been added to the 'dead' areas of a few maps for those who like to explore the entire map. The scenes affected are:

Darrett's Farm, The Old Mill and Feldar Palace.

Note that scenes that are part completed will not have the encounters.

* Changed spell: The Breathe Fire spell has been changed to increase damage (2-3 per level instead of 1-2). This is because it was underpowered compared to comparable spells of the same level.

* Bug fixes: Quite a number of minor issues that we found in testing that haven't been reported, so hopefully have not affected anybody too much!

This is the first in a number of upgrades where we will retrofit MaM improvements to The Curse. The next release in a month or two will include the new 'Jump Move', so stay tuned for that one.

We hope you enjoy this upgrade and please let us know if you encounter any problems.


All the best.

Ian & Jann