Of Blades & Tails News

Hey everyone!

I'm happy to announce that the Demo version just got a big update!
It includes a lot of the features I showed in the last devlog.

[h3]Some highlights[/h3]

• New combat mechanics
  
• Reworked stamina management
  
• New enemy types
  
• Explosive environment
  
• 2 new talents: Unarmed combat + Athletics
  
• A magnificent new main menu screen
  

[h3]Savegame compatibility[/h3]

Existing savegames should remain compatible, but your attributes and abilities will be reset. You have to redistribute them once you continue with this new version.

However, I recommend starting a new game! :)

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[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

[h4]New enemey types and combat mechanics[/h4]

- New: Danger zones
- New: Slow moving projectiles (high damage on impact)
- The new mechanics should make you pay more attention to your positioning during combat. They also make it necessary to use more than one type of weapon (melee/range).
- Knocking enemies against other objects/enemies causes now extra damage.

[h4]New stamina management[/h4]

- Global (slow) stamina recovery has been removed.
- Bug meat now restores a great amount of your stamina when you're out of combat and lasts for a long time (~200 turns).
- The amount of bug meat that you find in loot (other than from common bugs) has been decreased.
- All weapon-based talents have a perk that can help you recover stamina when in combat.

[h4]Explosive environment assets[/h4]

- Explosive barrels and poisonous plants have been added.
- You can also knock enemies into them and enjoy the consequences from a safe distance.

[h4]New talents and abilities[/h4]

- Unarmed combat
- Athletics

[h4]New damage types[/h4]

- Elemental damage
- Spiritual damage (not in use yet)

[h4]More changes[/h4]

- UI: Absolutely magnificent new main menu screen!
- Gameplay: Added a new consumable item: Javelin
- UI: Added a display of your active status effects at the top of the screen.
- Gameplay: You can only use a consumable item again after all its effects on you have been expired.
- UI: Added a display of day/night cycle at the top right corner of the screen.
- Gameplay: You can now wait for another time of day at a bonfire.
- World: The first quest dungeon has been redesigned.
- Gameplay: A new unique item with a magic-based attack has been hidden somewhere.
- UI: All talent ability icons have been reworked and now use a talent-based color.
- Gameplay: A lot of balancing adjustments were made.
- Audio: Added a bit more variation to hit and footstep sounds.
- Misc: The player character has been renamed to Reik.

- Fixed: You cannot out-range enemies with long range shots anymore.
- Fixed: You cannot place traps on a tile that is already occupied by an enemy.
- Fixed: Charge effect triggered cooldown even if it couldn't be applied.
- Fixed: A lot more minor issues.

Hey everyone!

In this devlog I want to show you some of the things that I have planned for improved combat and what's the state of the magic implementation.

[h2]New Damage Types[/h2]

So after fixing the most important issues that people reported over the demo, my primary goal is now to add more strategic depth to the combat gameplay and to set the ground for interesting magic abilities.

I've started by adding more damage types and their related resistances to the game. Besides physical damage there's gonna be elemental damage and magical damage. I've struggled a bit if I should add more fine-grained types like fire, cold, lightning, etc... but for now I don't want to add more than I feel necessary.

Once that was done and resistances were implemented into armor generation, I moved on to the more fun side and created new skill effects.

[h2]New Skill Effects[/h2]

First of all an AoE with a configurable "danger indicator" so the player gets warned to better step out of this area to avoid massive damage.



Then I added slow moving projectiles that you need to avoid by estimating their rough line direction.



This probably helps to keep Riff on his toes! ;)

Next I worked on destructible/explosive environment and ended up with the golden standard in game design: Explosive red barrels! 😂



As you can see it's also possible to knock enemies into them and enjoy the consequences.

A new enemy type will also join insect forces: The self-destructive Poison Bee!
You really want to make sure not to end up in melee combat with this one... But hey, there's a second weapon set for a reason! 😉



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Okay, that was a lot of animated impressions from the ongoing development. I hope you like all the upcoming changes so far. I would love to read some comments about your thoughts on this.

And if you want to see much more of those in-dev snippets you're very welcome to join our growing Discord server.




Thank you all so much for your feedback and enthusiasm for Of Blades & Tails!
I will do my best to make it an amazing game!

Until next time, take care!

Felix