1. Boons & Burdens
  2. News

Boons & Burdens News

Patch 0.15

Patch 0.15 ended up being too large for just one patch, so more content is on the way in the not too distant future, but I wanted to get this update out before March was over. I'll be waiting to see about balance and bugs in the new difficulty mode before adding the achievements for that, but they are coming. You can also expect that a lot of the new ring and equipment abilities will be getting updated sounds and visuals in subsequent patches.

As things progress, I'm getting a pretty good idea of what my content roadmap will look like all the way to 1.0, and how long that will take. When I first release a game in Early Access, I have a base idea of what i'll do to complete the game regardless of sales, and that's why I start small and try not to over promise. I can then look at sales and reception and let that determine which of my "dream features" or "bonus content" to add into my development roadmap.

There is a lot I'd love to do with Boons & Burdens, but its success will determine just how many of my dream features I can add. It's doing pretty well right now, so the future is pretty bright, but how bright is yet to be seen.

As always, if you're enjoying the game, and want to see it grow into something even greater, please leave a positive review. It's a big help!

[h3]For the more immediate future, here's a bit of what you can expect in upcoming patches, in roughly this order:[/h3]
  1. Potion powerups
  2. A new game mode, and new achievements
  3. A large polish patch: updated visual and sound effects, optimization, balance changes
  4. A new playable class: With alternate equipment, unique boons, achievements, etc.
  5. New boons, burdens
  6. Difficulty 3


Oh, and a "Confirm Surrender" pop-up will be coming in the next patch too.

[h3]Key Features of patch 0.15[/h3]
  • 30 unlockable rings that can be equipped and upgraded
  • Alternate unlockable equipment for both classes
  • Hard Difficulty (level 2) with 4 new enemy types


Rings
  • 30 rings divided into 5 categories
  • 5 rings can be equipped total
  • 2 rings can be equipped max from any category
  • Rings earn experience while equipped and can be upgraded once when their experience bar is full


Alternate Equipment
  • Each class has 4 new items that can be unlocked and equipped
  • These function more like sidegrades than upgrades, allowing you to customize your playstyle a bit
  • Not designed to be major alterations to the class's core playstyle so as not to encroach on future class archetypes.
  • Unlocked with achievements, not infernicite


Difficulty Level 2: Hard Mode
  • Unlocked when you achieve victory the first time
  • More enemies, faster spawns
  • Bosses have more difficult attack patterns
  • 4 new enemy types only found in Hard difficulty
  • 1 new medium enemy
  • 1 new hard enemy
  • 2 elite enemies: These are like boss rejects. Powerful for basic enemy types, but much weaker than their boss counterparts.
  • More punishing if you ignore the threat clock and take too long


Balance
  • The Pyro now gains invulnerability for the full duration of his Fire Giant's Horn Theurgic ability.
  • The Cryomancer's base Theurgic freezes enemies for 1 more second. Note: The text previously said it froze enemies for 6 seconds, but was only freezing enemies for 4 seconds. It now freezes enemies for 5 seconds.
  • The spinning enemies around the Qrystle Queen boss had their health reduced by 15
  • Steadyshot Cursed Boon: This is now a 25% damage increase for staff bolts instead of a flat 5 damage.
  • Psychic Splitter: Now has a brief recharge period of 1.5 seconds, bolts created by it now do damage based on a % of the bolt that hit it
  • Shadow Chant: Now also instantly resets any recharge time left when empowering the next trigger
  • Psyche Up: New effect: Psychic splitter now only changes directions when you recharge your staff. Still grants +2 staff charges.
  • Sacrifice Lethality: Now reduces damage by 2/3/4 down from 4/6/8


QoL
  • Adjusted a number of texts in the equipment menu to accurately reflect current stats
  • Any time you're invulnerable a small timer will appear above your head. Note: This will eventually be updated to be more accurate (only shows whole seconds), and will be coupled with additional effects, but works well enough for now.


Bugs
  • Fixed a bug that was causing achievements not to save locally. Note: This was not affecting steam achievement unlocks

Patch 0.15: Release Window Update

I'll keep this post brief, so I can get back to work.

Patch 0.15 is coming along nicely, and should release March 27th or 28th at the latest.

I had originally intended to get it out later today, but a few annoying bugs slowed me down. Now fixed, things are back on track, but I'm taking my time to polish a few more bits up.

The full patch notes will arrive with the patch, but here's what to expect:

  • 30 unlockable rings to equip and upgrade between rounds
  • 8 alternate pieces of equipment to unlock. 4 for each class.
  • Difficulty Level 2, featuring 4 new enemy types
  • A variety of balance changes to existing boons and equipment




A followup patch (0.20) will bring a few requested quality of life changes, achievements for the new content (once I'm sure everything is working as intended), and some additional surprises. That patch won't take as long as this one.

Patch Preview 0.15

For those of you that prefer your rogues to be more "lite" and less "like", patch 0.15 brings a ton of meta progression and unlockable options to play with.

Today's patch preview only covers one aspect of this massive update, with many surprises to come! And while the fine details are subject to change, everything is on track for release later this month (fingers crossed).

[h3]Rings of Power[/h3]
You'll finally have something to spend your Infernicite on when 30 new magical rings are added to Boons & Burdens. But how do they work, you ask? Well young wizard, stay awhile and listen...

Key Features
  • 30 Unlockable Rings
  • 5 Categories of Rings, each focused on a different aspect of gameplay
  • Equip up to 5 rings total, with a maximum of 2 per category
  • Each ring can be upgraded once, to unlock more power


Once unlocked, every gem collected, demon slain, burden completed, and boss defeated adds experience to your equipped rings. When the experience bar (not pictured) is full, you can pay a little more of your Infernicite gems to master the ring. Mastery can improve the ring's base effects or even add brand new effects.



I'm keeping this preview brief because I have a lot of work to do, and I want to save some surprises, but expect an update that does a lot more to freshen up and broaden your gameplay experiences!

Until then, if you've been enjoying your time with the game, please leave a positive review, it helps immensely as an independent developer. Strong word of mouth is the best way to help this game grow into the best version it can be!

And if you're not ready to leave a review, no worries, I'll keep working my butt off to make this game even better. Until next time!

Patch 0.13 - Controls and Balance

A little followup on Saturday's big 0.12 patch. Some balance adjustments based on community feedback, finally fixed the Gamepad trigger issues, and a couple other issues.

I'll probably release another update to polish up the Infested Pyromancer and final boss, Polymaw a bit more, and update some sounds, but I am now fully immersed in the meta upgrade systems for patch 0.15.

[h3]Gamepad Control[/h3]
  • Left and Right Trigger rebinds now available


[h3]Balance[/h3]
  • Qrystles (Diamond, armored enemies) can no longer be frozen while invulnerable to damage
  • Burden of Many - The mini portals now charge a little faster, and lose charge at half their previous speed
  • Sacrifice Vitality - Now reads: "Lose 10/12/14 health. This can not bring you below 1 health."
Infested Pyromancer Boss Updates
  • Higher threshold for damage before teleporting away
  • Fewer mortar attacks before reappearing, and the mortars are a bit faster
Polymaw (Final Boss) Updates
  • (Base Form) Slightly more health
  • (Final Form) Slightly less health
  • (Base Form) Slightly fewer spike mortars fired per state activation
  • (Base and Final Form) Higher threshold for damage before becoming invulnerable


[h3]Bugs[/h3]
  • High Beams Achievement will now properly trigger.
  • Polymaw (Final Boss) will always be forced back onto the battlefield at the end of his tornado and spike mortar attacks, even if he wanders off screen like a complete and utter fool
  • Fixed a bug with mouse controls that could cause menu selection in the Controls menu to become desynced/misaligned

Hotfix 0.12b

In my haste to hotfix the boss soft lock before leaving to help friends for the day, I left the boss debug health on. I made an emergency trip back to fix this, but hopefully nothing else happens between now and Monday, haha. Sorry about the inconvenience, but I hope you all enjoy the new update!

  • Final boss health in the first form should be correct now