Netherguild News

Hey Guild Leaders!

Today I have a new update with improvements to the speech system, new character lines as well as other small fixes and improvements.



[h3]Updating Speech in Existing Saves[/h3]
In the past, for players to update their character's speech lines, they'd have to start a new save - but no more!

Now when you load an older save, it'll update character speech - which means I can add new speech lines and they'd appear in your saves, just like that. To those who stayed here for a while, you might recall I added something similar with updating skill trees in existing saves before.


[h3]Added tech for new classes to appear in the guild[/h3]
(Work in progress gif above)

It should be extremely easy for me to unlock these classes using the faction system :D Look forward to that in the upcoming big update! (hopefully in a few months from now).


[h3]Speech Interruption[/h3]
Before, characters would ramble on before enter combat - and then the new speech bubble would overlap the old one. I didn't like how it looked so I changed it up a bit to look more natural!

Also don't worry, this doesn't make you miss any text - you can still see what characters intended to say in the action log in the bottom left of the screen.

[h3]New Speech Lines[/h3]
Characters can now chat about additional enemies joining combat, about killing enemies, about unlocking new currencies (like the silver crowns) and more. They can also be aware of which weapon they're holding when talking - so a shield holding Mercenary Knight has a small chance to comment on wanting to repair their shield when they rest near a bonfire.

You can also check out the full patch notes here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1464220/view/3882729325726400950




Working on new areas and classes
-A week and a half
I want to focus on making focused progress on the new areas and classes! I might work on other small additions during this time too.

Expanding the Bandit Stronghold
-Two weeks
I wanted to add a new rare enemy and an oddity to the Bandit Stronghold


That's all for this update!!
Thank you for reading and see you with all with an exciting new progress update in a week and a half hopefully :D

-David

Change log 6/1/2024 | Version 0.221

Character Speech Upgrades:

• Added the tech for adding other faction-based classes to the guild in the future
  
• Added the tech for updating character speech in existing saves
  
  
• Speech interruption system - when a character is interrupted while talking (like entering combat) they pause in the middle of a sentence like this-
  

Text additions:

• Characters can be aware of their held weapon when speaking
  
• Added sentences that are triggered on killing enemies or when enemies join combat
  

Additions:

• Added settings: Mouse Lock and Controller Vibration (Rumble).
  
• Added settings: Hover animation (controls whether there's an animation for the hover window or if it appears and disappears instantly)
  

Changes:

• Made feedback screen unavailable for controller and steam deck users to comply with Steam Deck rating
  

Hey Guild Leaders,

I wanted to write a quick update reviewing everything that was added to Netherguild so far since release in late March 2023 as well as my plans for next year. Here's a short summary of what was added!





That's excluding bugfixes, quality of life features and other improvements- such as making sure that dungeon generation never locks you from advancing (added two weeks after early access release) and the recent fix which prevents enemies outside the current room from joining combat when it starts.





In 2023, I feel like a lot of work was put into release and the more general aspects of the game such as fixing and polishing it, in addition to content that was added to add more depth - and while this it was absolutely necessary and helped improve Netherguild by a lot, in 2024 I want to super-charge progress on new content in Netherguild to get a step closer to the ultimate finish-line of a final release.

This means that I'm going to work my hardest to add new classes and areas as soon as possible.

Stay tuned for more info about them in future news updates!



That's about it for this post! I hope to release an update later this week which includes some new features for character speech (like the ability for me to update the speech of characters in existing saves!)

Sorry for the delay on it too, I got pretty sick throughout development but I'm feeling better now.

Thank you for reading and have a fantastic 2024!!!

-David

Change log 6/12/2023 | Version 0.22(A)

Bugfixes:

• Fixed crash caused by clicking too fast past the "start game" part in the main menu
  

Guild leaders,

After a long month (and a half) of preparation, controller support is finally here!



Feel free to try out Netherguild using a controller / Steam deck with full joystick support!
Feedback for everything you like & dislike about the controller support is more than welcome too :D

I've been copiously playtesting this update many times over, with and without a controller in hand (playtested it a couple times before writing these lines too), so hopefully everything should work as intended.

If you encounter any bugs, please report as soon as possible in the bug reporting Steam forum or on the Discord!



I'll likely spend the next few days resting up after the update, fixing any new bugs players might encounter due to the new changes and additions, and fixing a few rare bugs that have accumulated this last and a half month.

Afterwards...!

More Speech
-Three weeks
There's two things I want to add during this update;
1. A system for updating the speech of existing characters
2. Expanding the speech system, adding more lines, context (for characters) and other improvements.

This update made me realize that I want to add new content - mainly new classes and new areas. Therefore, in the upcoming months I plan to do just that! Other planned updates of improving the UI are currently put aside in favor of more content.

Updates like More Speech one are crucial for adding new content (due to how classes and character personalities work).

I also really want to add three new skills. Might find some time to do that during this next update or right afterwards...

Thank you for reading and for your patience!

-David