Black Dragon Mage News

Fellow Adventurers,

Another update has landed, focused on squashing bugs. Here’s what’s new:

[h2]🔧 Tweaks and Adjustments[/h2]

• Improved environment culling interval to take into account your performance, resulting in less environment pop-in.
  
• Improved cleanup routines when exiting the main game loop.
  

[h2]✨ Improvements[/h2]

• Enhanced Steam Overlay UI support—now the game pauses properly when the overlay is invoked.
• This was critical for Steam Deck certification! Black Dragon Mage is now Steam Deck Verified.
  
• Addressed player movement issues when framerate was low or artificially limited. Now you can use the Steam Deck frame limiter (or other frame limiters on e.g. laptops, when trying to save on battery) without additional slowdowns.
  

[h2]🐞 Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Area text now hides faster during menu interactions and other transitions, as well as showing more reliably upon map enter.
  
• Resolved a bug causing the autofire button prompt to appear offset and overlapping with text, particularly in the Spanish version.
  
• Improved how sounds are cleared when exiting maps or shops, ensuring smoother transitions across various exit paths.
  
• Solved an issue where dashing wasn’t available after entering the shop post-match.
  
• Fixed redundant data migration processes that could result in shop currency loss upon first migration.
  
• Resolved a bug with shop menu pausing inconsistently.
  
• Fixed looping sound issue after dying to bosses and exit sequences.
  

Thanks for your support and feedback—it’s invaluable in Early Access!
I’m continuing to work on making the game bigger, better and smoother. 🛠️

What's next:
Content update, including more spell power and further improvements, is on the horizon for next week's patch. Until then, happy adventuring! 🐉✨

Fellow Adventurers,

Thank you for sticking with me and sharing your feedback, bug reports, and even your frustrations. I hear you, and I’ve been working to make your experience smoother and more rewarding. Here’s what’s new in this update:

[h2]💰 Loot and Spell Improvements[/h2]

• Reapers now drop better loot, making them even more worth the fight!
  
• Added new stat upgrades for the Pentagram spell. More serious upgrades for the spells coming soon.
  

[h2]🎮 Controller Updates and Fixes[/h2]

• Fully reworked the UI system for much more reliable controller gameplay.
  - Big thanks to vashTstampede for the log files
  
• Improved controller UI detection:
  - You can now leave a controller plugged in while playing with keyboard and mouse. This one’s for you, Moczan!
  
• Secondary mappings have been added to the controls list in the pause menu for easier reference.
  
• More accurate controller detection overall for a smoother experience.
  

[h2]🛠️ Bug Fixes and Adjustments[/h2]

• Fixed a bug where you could dash and shop at the same time (thanks cnote291 for pointing this out!).
  
• Potion counter achievements are now tracked correctly—no more missed milestones!
  
• Interact in the Hall of Relics has been remapped to E on the keyboard for consistency.
  
• Adjusted the perk upgrade selection algorithm for better variety and balance.
  

Thanks again for your patience while I work to make the game even better. I couldn’t do it without your help, and I really appreciate all the support you’ve shown—even when things haven’t been perfect right out of the gate. I'm committed to making Black Dragon Mage a great game during and after Early Access!

More updates are in the works, and I’m excited to share them with you soon! Until then, happy adventuring. 🐉✨

Fellow Adventurers, thank you for your letters filled with feedback, praise, and concerns.
I've read every single one of them! 📜

This first Early Access patch brings a collection of fixes and tweaks to make your next dragon ride even smoother.

[h2]✨ Improvements Based on Player Feedback[/h2]

• Base walk speed has been significantly increased for all player characters.
  
• Dashing in the Hall of Relics is now faster and snappier.
  
• Rerolls are now much more player-friendly:
  - Costs reset upon leveling up (!)
  - Adjusted formula for better scaling.
  
• Arcane Mutators that previously cost gold to equip during a run are now free!
  - Since you already paid for unlocking them in the Hall of Relics, this double charge felt unfair. I agreed, so it’s been changed.
  
• Reworked the Quest Reward UI for better clarity, making it easier to see where you can redeem rewards (auto-redeem is coming in a future update).
  
• Expanded upgrade outcome previews to include spell categories for better planning.
  
• Improved text colors in Arcane Mutator upgrades for easier readability.
  
• Settings are now saved using a new system to prevent conflicts with playtest/demo builds.
  
• Added a feedback button to pause menus where it was previously missing.
  

[h2]🔧 Tweaks[/h2]

• Dash mechanics tweaked for better balance.
  
• Various small balance adjustments across abilities and gameplay.
  

[h2]🐞 Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Improved boss AI movement, addressing a bug where Luminor could dart off over long distances.
  
• Fixed unreliable item unlocks, ensuring more upgrade choices are now visible.
  
• Resolved an issue where some upgrades appeared transparent.
  
• Fixed controller UI navigation glitches.
  
• Boss enemies are now cleared more aggressively when starting or leaving a game.
  
• Quest board icons now update more reliably.
  
• Area text now hides faster when paused in the Hall of Relics.
  
• "During a run" achievements are now tracked more accurately.
  
• Fixed missing metadata for the "Crimson Crown" item.
  
• Improved item data handling for smoother gameplay under the hood.
  
• Fixed display and logic issues with the mutator upgrade option view.
  

[h2]🌐 Localization[/h2]

• Updated German translations for better accuracy and style.
  

[h2]📜 Content & Other Updates[/h2]

• Added three new quests to enrich gameplay.
  
• Updated credits to include new collaborators, including translators and awesome helpers.
  

If you missed the last update, I shared details on how to provide your save file for bug reports, along with some topics that are on my radar:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2207230/view/546720876705350225

More content and more fixes are, of course, in the works!
Stay tuned for upcoming updates. ✨

Hi everyone,

We’re just over a day into Early Access for Black Dragon Mage, and I’m grateful for all the feedback you’ve shared so far. Thank you for taking the time to play and help shape the game’s future.

I know some players have encountered frustrating issues, and I’m working hard to address them. Early Access is about expanding and refining a game together. Your input helps guide these improvements as I add more content and tweak the foundation.

[h3]Here’s what I’m focusing on right now:[/h3]

• 🚀 Initial movement speed: Starting mobility on maps will be improved.
  
• 🪄 Overall spell and staff scaling will be increased in pace.
  
• 🐉 Dragon mode feeling more impactful: I’m adding the main weapon mastery effect to dragon mode to make attacks feel more impactful.
  
• 🐲 Mana pickups in flight: You’ll soon be able to sustain your dragon’s flight by gathering mana while airborne.
  
• 🔥 Pentagram spell vs. normal mobs: Pentagram will be adjusted so it’s not just useful against bosses, but more generally helpful.
  
• 💣 Decanted Dragonbreath (the exploding flask) spell improvements: Upcoming spell upgrades will ensure the flask feels more on par with summoned flame and spiral strike.
  
• 💎 Gold at the end of runs: Currently gold only exists in the material world (the Hall of Relics is a ghost realm) and I intend to keep it that way, but it feels bad to lose it at the end of a run. Sorry about that. How I intend to fix that, is to reward you with some Hall of Relics currencies for leftover gold.
  
• 🔓 Some of the content currently locked behind progression will be unlocked by default, to allow for more interesting runs right out of the gate.
  

[h3]Addressing Bugs & Balance:[/h3]
If you run into run-ending bugs, please help me investigate:

1. Close the game.
   
2. Navigate to C:\Users\[YOURNAME]\AppData\LocalLow\datablob\
3. Zip the contents of that folder (typically "Black Dragon Mage")
   
4. Please add a brief message detailing what you intended to do and what the game did instead. (a short bug report)
   
5. Send it to [email protected] with [Bug Report] in the subject, or share it on Discord

[h3]What's next?[/h3]

I have plans for the next batches of content updates, will keep you posted here - so make sure to follow the game's page if you're interested. More weapons, spell upgrades, among other elements that add more variety and depth. Further content is already in development!

I’m also looking at balancing difficulty, lowering upgrade costs, and making sure the game feels less grindy. The next layer of content will affect most of the game systems and hopefully add the depth we're all looking for.

If there’s a specific challenge you find too tough, let me know. If you have ideas on what would make the biggest impact for improving the game, feel free to send me your thoughts to [email protected] with the subject [Ideas] as well!

Thank you again for your patience, understanding, and support.
Let’s continue shaping Black Dragon Mage together. 💌

~ Datablob, solo developer.