Boons & Burdens News

Note: These changes have been live on the beta test branch for some time, this isn't a glitch in the Matrix, you may have seen some of this before.

This patch is all about improving the quality of life of Boons & Burdens. A lot has changed in a really short time, and that meant some things didn't get the polish they deserved. Like the previous update, this is all about sanding down rough edges, but it adds a lot more to the user experience as well, and should improve playability too.

I still have more polish for sounds and visuals planned, but I've rolled the rest of that into future patches that add more content. Speaking of future patches and more content, I've mapped out the full roadmap to release from this point, and it looks like this right now:

Roadmap to Release: Subject to change

• Patch 0.30 - New Wizard Class (up next)
• Patch 0.40 - Difficulty 2 for Arena, New Enemies
  
• Patch 0.50 - New Boons
  
• Patch 0.60 - Difficulty 3 for Classic, New Burdens
  
• Patch 0.70 - New Cursed Boons
  
• Patch 0.80 - New Wizard Class
  
• Patch 0.90 - New Boons
  
• Patch 1.00 - Difficulty 3 for Arena (Endless Mode), New Boss, New Achievements
  

Note: new wizard classes will launch with alternate equipment to unlock, new unique boons, and achievements to unlock.

[h3]Patch 0.25 TL;DR[/h3]

• Optimization and framerate changes. New vsync toggle in the options menu.
  
• See all equipment/rings in your inventory
  
• Synergy sidebar added to inventory and shop, for clear info on upgrade types
  
• New art and animations
  

Quality of Life Features

• Your equipment and rings now show up in your inventory
  
• Synergy side bar in your inventory and boon shop allows you to better understand the types of upgrades. Note: Equipment does not currently work with this system, only boons for now
• Added animated icons above points of interest in the main menu hub
  
• Removed most intro texts for various zones of interest, updated some
  
• Added the ability to turn vsync on/off in the options menu
  
• There is now a confirmation popup when you try to surrender in-game
  
• Inventory can now be opened in the shop menu during Arena
  
• Beam Booster, Innlighten, Charging Totem, and Innate Surge have had their synergy icons updated
  
• All cursed boons are now listed as cursed type in their synergies and icons
  

Art Updates

• The weapon rack now fills up with the staves you've unlocked
  
• Tag Toteam Totem has new animations
  
• There is a new shielding effect when a ring gives you a shield
  
• There is a new persistent effect when Ring of Enduring triggers
  
• Heat Wave now gets a new visual effect when you take the Dragon's Breath boon
  
• The Ring of Totems totem now fires an appropriately green colored projectile
  

Optimization

• Decreased memory usage of a variety of sprites and effects
  
• Reduced objects stored in memory during various phases of the game
  
• Optimized various routines and actions during combat in both modes, preventing uneccessary code from running when not needed
  
• The frame rate is now capped at 60fps, down from 120. This may seem counterintuitive, but the game was always simulating 60fps, and the higher fps cap may have been causing some weird video issues that my previous games didnt have.

Bugs

• Ring of Self Serving now properly disables sacrifices in addition to its healing effects
  
• Combo meter no longer resets during shop phase in Arena
  
• The invulnerable timer will no longer appear at your destination before you do during a Pyro dash ability
  
• Objective icons will no longer cover elements of the shop menu in Arena
  
• Objective icons will no longer cover elements of the shop menu in Arena
  
• The Boon tree interface should now show the correct art with a dividing line between description and talents
  
• Inventory Text now properly clears when selecting an empty inventory space
  
• Infernicite can no longer randomly spawn from chests in Arena (sorry, lol)
  
• Chests should no longer get stuck in a sort of limbo where they can't be attacked. Note: Haven't actually been able to replicate this bug, but I put in some code to hopefully prevent the issue. If you find that any chests or enemy units become non-responsive to attacks and won't die, please take a screenshot of your loadout, and the current mode/burden/sacrifice (pause to get these details). Let me know if the units still move, animate, interact with you.

Patch 0.25 "Shiny!"

Patch 0.25 isn't quite done cooking, but I've made significant changes to framerate, stability, and optimization and I would love to know how they affect performance before the patch goes live. If you'd like to test out features and content extra early: Right click Boons & Burdens in your steam library, then select "Properties" > "Betas" and enter the code: "catmanapplebro"

You can join the discord here, to give feedback and chat: https://discord.gg/N34PwwuEYn

I still have more polish for sounds and visuals planned, but I've rolled the rest of that into future patches that add more content. Speaking of future patches and more content, I've mapped out the full roadmap to release from this point, and it looks like this right now (subject to change):

Roadmap to Release:

• Patch 0.30 - New Wizard Class (up next)
  
• Patch 0.40 - Difficulty 2 for Arena, New Enemies
  
• Patch 0.50 - New Boons
  
• Patch 0.60 - Difficulty 3 for Classic, New Burdens
  
• Patch 0.70 - New Cursed Boons
  
• Patch 0.80 - New Wizard Class
  
• Patch 0.90 - New Boons
  
• Patch 1.00 - Difficulty 3 for Arena (Endless Mode), New Boss, New Achievements
  

Note: new wizard classes will launch with alternate equipment to unlock, new unique boons, and achievements to unlock.

Quality of Life Features

• Your equipment and rings now show up in your inventory
  
• Synergy side bar in your inventory and boon shop allows you to better understand the types of upgrades you have. Note: Rings and equipment do not yet work with this system
• Added animated icons above points of interest in the main menu hub
  
• Removed most intro texts for various zones of interest, updated some
  
• Added the ability to turn vsync on/off in the options menu
  
• There is now a confirmation popup when you try to surrender in game
  
• Inventory can now be opened in the shop menu during Arena
  

Art Updates

• The weapon rack now fills up with the staves you've unlocked
  
• More art will be updated in this patch, but it is not yet ready for testing

Optimization

• Decreased memory usage of a variety of sprites and effects
  
• Reduced objects stored in memory during various phases of the game
  
• Optimized various routines and actions during combat in both modes, preventing unnecessary code from running when not needed
  
• The frame rate is now capped at 60fps, down from 120. Note: This may seem counterintuitive, but the game was always simulating 60fps, and the higher fps cap may have been causing some weird video issues that my previous games didn't have.

Bugs

• The invulnerable timer will no longer appear at your destination before you do during a Pyro dash ability
  

The first of several smaller polish patches coming over the next couple of weeks. This first patch is just fixing a pile of bugs, lingering and new. The next couple of patches will bring audio, visual, balance, and quality of life changes as I smooth out the rough edges, and prepare for the next chapter of new content in Early Access.

Bug Fixes:

• When swapping between classes, equipped rings of the previous class will no longer remain on
  
• Ring counts will now properly update to the currently selected class when switching classes
  
• Ring of Lore should no longer cause problems with rerolls in Arena
  
• Upgrade Beacons will no longer have a chance to show duplicate boons if a boon is locked from a previous level up event
  
• You can no longer lock a signature boon, buy the other signature boon, then reroll and buy the first locked signature, allowing you to buy both signatures in a single talent tree.
  
• The wizard sprite will no longer run in place if you run directly to the portal and select a game mode in the main menu
  
• Totem of Haste radius is no longer dimmed by the new radius visual changes in patch 0.20, making it easier to see
  
• Sacrifice Space should no longer incorrectly increase Arcane Mine radius effects in addition to the intended Phantom radius
  
• Rapid tapping the purchase button in Arena will no longer trigger an "invalid selection" effect or sound, and will no longer have a chance to cause the menu to get stuck open.
  
• The invulnerable timer will now appear over the Fire Giant's head instead of stuck on his face
  
• You should no longer need to press continue twice at the end of the game to return to the main menu
  

A couple of late night fixes before bed. Morning for some of you, almost morning for me.

• Fixed a bug that would stop your ability to shoot as the Pyromancer, if you leveled up exactly when you started using your Theurgic ability
  
• Fixed (hopefully) a bug that would prevent the Ring Bearer achievement from triggering
  
• Fixed (hopefully) a bug that would prevent the Ring Wraith achievement from triggering