Tormentis News

As announced in the last Development Status Update, the public demo will is coming! Over the past few weeks, we have been working very focused on the release, and through regular testing, we have found and fixed all known bugs. Thanks to the great feedback, a lot of suggestions for improvement, both in terms of gameplay and user experience, have made their way into the demo.



Regarding the content of the demo: the demo includes the first chapter of the SinglePlayer Story, which includes 10 dungeons with increasing difficulty up to the first boss enemy, the Undead Knight. Additionally, with each mission, new gameplay functionalities are unlocked, such as the blacksmith or even your own dungeon.



By creating and validating your own dungeon, you can earn gold over time through placed treasure chests. In multiplayer mode, you can also attack other players' dungeons or have other players try to break through the defense of your own dungeon. The multiplayer mode is not part of this demo.



The public demo will be available from tomorrow, February 17, through Steam and our website.

We would be very happy if you could share your feedback with us!

A lot has happened since the second alpha test. We've reviewed all of the feedback and improved and reworked many game features.

Our next big goal is the release of the public demo version in the first quarter of 2023. The Tormentis demo will be playable offline. Even though core elements of the game like raiding other players' dungeons or trading equipment may only be available online, we really like being able to play the story and the random dungeons in single player offline mode.



It took a while, but we finally decided on a consistent design that runs through all Tormentis menus. The header controls provide access to essential functions from all menus.



The dungeon editor has been completely overhauled and the controls on the bottom control bar have been merged instead of being spread all over the screen as before. We've also tried to make it easier to use and reduce the number of clicks required.



In one of our first prototypes we already played with large scaled stats tree, but for various reasons it didn't make it into the alpha versions. After the desire for an original solution arose during the second alpha test, we also worked out something new here that can also be controlled well with a gamepad or touch input.

Players will receive two stats points per level, which can be freely distributed to best support the chosen skills and refine the build. Stats points can contain simple bonuses, but they can also cause very strong changes in the goal of the game.



The skill selection has also been completely revised and rearranged. Now it becomes obvious that the available skills depend on the equipped weapon. Skills are now divided into mana-generators, offensive skills, defensive skills, and tactical skills.



We want to display hero data as clearly as possible! That's why we spent a lot of time designing a stats overview where the most important numbers and values are easy to see at first glance and all the details are available via tooltips.



A lot has changed in the gameplay as well. By revising the lighting and some technical adjustments, the frame rate could already be improved to a constant 50+ fps. This will be sufficient for the public demo, but we still have some opportunities to make significant gains here later.



We would love to read your feedback and wish you happy holidays and a good start into the new year 2023.

The second closed alpha test ended last weekend and we are really happy with the results of the polls and feedback. More than 50 people took part in the test, some of them were extremely active.

The test focused on the dungeon editor, the gameplay and the stability of the server infrastructure.



The revised dungeon editor was rated positively overall and the controls were described as intuitive. In the storage and purchase menus, quick actions for adding have been requested, which we will implement in the coming days.



Hero controls were rated as simple and easy to use. The visual representation was not varied enough for some testers. A darker atmosphere was desired, matching the mood of an unknown and dangerous dungeon. Performance was not sufficient, especially on older PCs (below 30 fps).

For this reason we have been working heavily on the gameplay performance over the last few days and also completely overhauled the lighting of the dungeon. With the latest changes, we're having a consistent 55-60fps on an average PC, and we've identified more ways to tweak that.

The server infrastructure was stable the entire 3 weeks without a crash. A few problems have been logged, but they occurred in areas that will need to be reworked over the next few weeks anyway.



Our next goal is a public demo version that gives a good impression of what Tormentis' game mechanics are and what the scope of the game will be at release.

As you can imagine, the game concept offers endless possibilities for extensions or new game elements that can expand or change the game again and again. From our point of view, this can also happen after the release, as long as the game already offers sufficient options in the area of ​​hero builds and dungeon design and options for trading items at the time of release.

Therefore, in the next few weeks we will work out the scope of the game at the time of release - also to be able to give you a date.

We'd love to read your feedback.

I would like to give you an overview of the current development status, because a lot has happened. The scope of the second closed alpha test (abbreviated: Alpha2) has been expanded because I want to make sure that the critical infrastructure is really working. Therefore, the Alpha2 is postponed by two months to August.

All of the feedback from the first closed alpha test has been evaluated and almost completely implemented. Among them were mainly suggestions to improve the operation and user-friendliness in the dungeon editor and many ideas related to the controls in the dungeon.

(new traps preview)

At the moment I am mainly concerned with the archetypes and the skills that are available in the Alpha2. More traps and monsters are already finished and extensively tested. Hero Stats and Hero Customization has also been integrated.

As previously described, Alpha2 will not take place until August. However, this enables us to gain initial real experience with the planned server infrastructure and to identify errors at an early stage. In Alpha2, all dungeons will already be running under server authority, and the dungeons will be split across multiple processes. The division later enables us to easily scale as the number of users increases. About 50 testers will take part in Alpha2.

(preview hero appearance menu)

The short weekly technical devlogs have been discontinued as they were not informative enough for many interested players. I am currently working on a new concept of how I can present the development progress to you in a better, more informative and more exciting way.

If you would like to participate in Alpha2, please email us. There are still a few places left.

You are cordially invited to join our Discord, where we will start running polls in Alpha2 and involve you much more on balancing issues.

We always appreciate your feedback.

The first closed alpha test (02/26 to 03/12) went very well and we received great feedback. Particular attention has been paid to usability and some improvements have been proposed to simplify operations in the dungeon editor or to save clicks here and there.

(improved dungeon editor UI with tooltips)

For the past two weeks we've been working out the schedule and content for the second closed alpha test. After making sure that the dungeon editor usability and gameplay feels good and is fun to use, we want to focus on balancing as soon as possible. The next test is planned for late spring (May/June).

Goals and key points of the closed alpha test:

• access to gear and skills for three typical archetypes (melee warrior, archer and mage)
  
• the first 3-4 test dungeons of the campaign in which random loot can also be collected
  
• more monsters, traps and furnishings to use in the dungeon
  
• more testers
  
• ensuring stability of the server infrastructure
  

Based on this test and the resulting feedback, we will plan the first publicly accessible demo.

If you want to take part in the next closed alpha, please send us an email and let uns know.

You are cordially invited to join our Discord, where we regularly publish devlogs and provide further insights into our development. We are always happy to receive your feedback.