Of Blades & Tails News

Hey everyone!

The first content update is now ready and I'm excited to share all the changes that come along with it.

If you want to learn more about the new Stealth mechanics and improved enemy behavior, please read the preview post.

In addition to that, Of Blades & Tails is now on a 15% discount during the Turn Based Fest!


[h2]Changelog v0.11.0[/h2]

[h3]Talents & Abilities[/h3]

• A new talent line has been added: Stealth
  Including 3 active skills and 4 perks.
  
• Added a skill that can distract enemies and force them to change their position.
  
• Added a skill that allows to become invisible for a few turns and lose enemy attention.
  
• Added a perk that reveals the line of sight of an enemy.
  
• A new Visibility stat has been added to the player.
  

[h3]Enemy AI[/h3]

• Enemies can now enter Alert State if they get distracted by something or get alarmed by a nearby ally.
  
• An enemy will no alarm nearby allies if they enter combat state.
  (No more sniping a single enemy from a far without consequences ;) )
• All enemies now belong to one of the following factions: Bandits, Insects, Plants
  
• Insects and Plants will now attack Bandits and vice versa if they encounter each other.
  

[h3]Game World[/h3]

• A new stealth-based quest has been added to Immerfurt.
  
• New items have been added to the stock of some merchants (see below).
  

[h3]Items & Equipment[/h3]

• A new legendary item has been added.
  
• A Portable Dummy (useable item) has been added that can distract nearby enemies.
  
• An Adrenalin Potion has been added that resets all remaining cooldowns.
  
• An Invisibility Potion has been added that allows the player to become invisible.
  
• A Scroll of Fireball (consumable item) has been added.
  
• A Scroll of Teleportation (consumable item) has been added.
  
• A Toxic Spore (consumable item) has been added that can be dropped by Explosive Growths.
  

[h3]Misc[/h3]

• Fixed a potential crash in relation with dungeon levers and secret walls.
  
• The feedback form will now open again upon exiting the game.
  
• Godot Engine has been upgraded to 3.5.1
  
• Implemented a new Steamworks integration.
  
• A few minor fixes and balancing changes along the way.
  

[h3]Savegame Compatibility[/h3]

Savegames from version 0.10.x are compatible.

[hr][/hr]

[h2]What's next[/h2]

Next up will be the addition of Steam achievements and an all-new game statistics screen, where you'll find stats like "Defeated enemies", "Highest damage", "Discovered locations", "Looted items" and many more!
Expect this to be out within the next two weeks.

Cheers
Felix

Good day everyone!

It's the beginning of the new week and today we are happy to announce that Of Blades & Tails has been selected for the very first Turn Based Fest coming up this week!

On December 8th - 12th you will have a chance to check out over 100 turn-based titles, thanks to the TurnBasedThurs team that has put a lot of work into making this massive festival that celebrates all kinds of turn-based video games happen!

Our already announced Stealth Update will also make it just in time and will be available on December 8th.



We hope you are as excited for the new content as we are!

So mark your calendars and we will see you for the event with a fresh update!



Cheers,
Felix & Pineapple Works

Hey everyone!

Two weeks have past since Of Blades & Tails launched into Early Access!
Four minor patches already found their way into the game, adding a bunch of QoL improvements and a few fixes.

Before we dig into the upcoming content, I want to thank everyone who took the time and wrote a review on Steam! It's very much appreciated and already helps a lot to reach more players! So if you haven't done so yet, please consider writing a review. Even a few words will already do just fine!
I believe it's a good time now to give you all an idea of what I have planned for the first content update and how some of the new mechanics are going to work.
So the first update is about stealth mechanics and improved enemy behavior. It also builds the ground for future talents like Beastmastery or Summoning!

[h2]Enemy Sight[/h2]

Knowing the area that an enemy overlooks plays an important role when it comes to Stealth-based abilities. Therefore a perk will be available that reveals the enemy's sight on hover. This allows you to observe the area in which an enemy can detect you.



There will also be a new stat Visibility, that starts by 100% and by progressing the Steath talent line you'll be able to reduce it, which essentially reduces the range at which enemies can detect you.

[h2]Distraction and Enemy Alert State[/h2]

Enemies will enter an alert state if they got distracted by something or if a nearby ally enters combat! So that also means pulling out single targets from a bandit camp will become much harder, but also more immersive.
You will also be able to throw objects near enemies to lure them away or ...

(Please ignore the green mess after the explosion. Bug in my gif recording software.)

... to lure some hungry crawlers right into a camp of bandits!
As you can see both targets (Poison Bee and Bandit Warrior) are inside the affected area of the Distraction Throw ability. So both enter the alert state and start to check where this noise is coming from by moving towards the origin. If they see each other, they enter combat state and start to fight, while Reik keeps hiding in the back and waits for his opportunity...
You can also see that an Insect Drone follows after the Bee, even though it was outside the noise area. This happens because the Drone got alarmed by the Bee as she entered combat state with the Bandit.

To give a little more detail how this works: All enemies are assigned to a faction and they will chose their next target based on their standing with that faction.
(Now please don't expect any overly complicated reputation system or something :D)
For now at least, this faction system says that Bandits are hostile against Insects and Plants. Insects and Plants on the other hand are neutral to each other. They won't fight themselves, but they also won't "support" each other. If they see a Bandit however, they will go all in :)
New factions might be added in the future.

[h2]The True Stealth Ability[/h2]

Of course the one ability that every stealth gameplay needs will also be available: Vanish!
You'll be able to disappear from the battlefield for a couple of turns and any enemy that was in combat with you will enter alert state. You can now decide whether you want to retreat or just reposition to use a sneaky attack with increased damage while undetected ;)



Or imagine what might happen if you run into a bandit camp with a bunch of crawlers in your back and then you suddenly disappear..? Fun stuff probably! :D

I'm also working on a new type of item, that could make a great addition to stealth gameplay and distraction in general...



[h2]When?[/h2]

Soon!
But on a more serious note: Most of the mechanics shown here are in a good shape and already available for internal testing. I have still some more ideas around content that could be added along these new features, like a new quest, more items, and a few surprises maybe... :) So I'll take some time to work on these things as well.
I'm planning to have the Stealth Update ready early December.

Until then, take care everyone!

Felix

• Added a "Take all" functionality for loot.
  You can now press F to take all items. Also a button for this appears in the loot popup if there are more than 2 items on the ground.
  
• A keybinding for "Take all" has been added to the options menu.
  
• Your total money is now always visible in the inventory view.
  (The item entry for money has been removed.)
  
• The feedback form can now be accessed through a dedicated button in the main menu.
  
• Fixed a display issue with fog of war in the overview mode.
  
• Fixed a potential with issue the mages guild entrance quest reward.
  
• Fixed an issue with Narn repeating his dialog when trying to exit with ESC.