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Development Digest June

Happy Friday, friends!

It's been a slow couple weeks over here as we all recover from a wicked cold that hit the whole family pretty hard. But we're mostly back on our feet and have been hard at work on the next update.

Our top priority right now is the skill trees and we're getting really close! Only one tree left to knock out and a few skills here and there from the other trees.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the abilities I finished up today for the Rogue's tree.



While I've been working my way through the skill trees I remembered that with the weapon stats and skill trees that weapon balance was going to be all over the place. Not to mention that bows and spears have been in a bad spot for quite a while now. And two handed weapons have felt a little left behind after we set up the combo system for the other weapons.

So I spent a few days last week working on a full rebalance of all weapons. This time based entirely on the weapon's level, so we don't have to spend time balancing every weapon we add to the game. This works really well and tweaking the strength of individual weapon types is very simple now.

Two handed weapons got a boost in not only damage, but their physical size, making them even more viable against groups of enemies. They also received two additional attack animations.

While working on those attack animations I decided that since the greatswords and warhammers were SO huge now that it wasn't very realistic for the player to hold them in the default idle state. So I dove into adding some basic combat idle states to make combat look a whole lot cooler.







Since the last digest I also took a break from the priority stuff and managed to sneak in one of the Kickstarter weapon design rewards, and with it I added a new spell, a new outfit and a new secret quest. I don't want to spoil too much about this one, though so you'll have to wait for the update to find it!

Since we're coming close to wrapping up skill trees finally we've been talking about the best way for you guys to fully experience the new class-based skill system and I think we've decided that we want to release them with the game's first official dungeon.

We're not sure on the details yet, or which dungeon we want to release first, but I'm sure you'll catch me on Twitch sometime this month working on it.

That said, since this is going to be one of the biggest updates we've ever done, right along size the Farmlands and Windless Woods updates, it might not be ready until later this summer.

Janna and I take a few weeks off every July to work at a girl's game dev summer camp, so be prepared for that next month as well. Though we'll still stay in touch via Discord throughout the camp.


If you want more sneak peeks or to just chat with Michael and I, join our Discord! We're in there daily!

Thanks for all of your support!

- Michael
Kindred Games

v1.7.18.8 Patch

Yet another update!?

I've been enjoying fixing up bugs and putting out smaller updates lately, so I thought I'd keep going. Hopefully not too many bugs are remaining from the quality of life update and I can move on to working on some bigger stuff like skill trees. That means you shouldn't expect another update for a little while.

[h3]Updates[/h3]

This patch also introduces multi quest tracking! This is something that's been requested a lot, for a long time.

Players have also been requesting quest markers over NPC's heads. While this kind of flies in the face of our immersive design principle, I did come up with a solution that meets you halfway. Now any NPC's that have a quest associated with them have a quest chalice icon next to their name when you approach them. If you've completed all quests they can offer, the chalice will disappear.

Keep in mind that this feature doesn't necessarily mean you're able to take that quest right away, as you might need to complete something else first, increase your town reputation or bring them a certain item before they'll offer it. But now you can at least tell when an NPC will have a quest or not.

I hope this doesn't discourage our players from seeing what other NPC's have to say, as we make it a point to sneak fun, sometimes informative dialog in whenever we can.

Also keep in mind that some NPC's who have secret quests or secret interactions don't show a chalice, so you'll miss out on some of those if you don't talk to everyone still.

Lastly, I fixed a bunch of bugs related to the auto depositing button for clients. Keep in mind that the method for auto deposit right now isn't ideal and I'm working on a better way to handle it. As of now, for clients (players joining others in multiplayer servers) with high latency (poor or slow connections) you may find that the auto deposit button is rather slow. Hopefully still faster than manually depositing items, but still quite slow as each deposit needs to wait for the server to okay the transaction before moving on to the next. This is to prevent your items from transferring before the inventory has had a chance to update, resulting in a lost stack of items. Sorry for the inconvenience here. I'm hoping to have a faster method soon.

Anyway. On to the patch notes!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]

New:
  • Chalice icon next to NPC’s names that can grant quests
  • Multiple quest tracking - can now track 3 quests at a time
  • Added gamepad stack splitting support by holding LT and RT while pressing A to drag and drop items
  • Can craft new Maple and Darkwood staves


Fixed:
  • Old Wedding Ring no longer droppable and is now labeled a quest item
  • Conjure Feast food buff is now removed as expected
  • Gamepad not being able to drag items in inventory
  • No longer locked out of the game if your chest is full when you auto deposit for clients
  • The issue where you can’t auto deposit into banks or vendors as a client


Improved:
  • Focus stat added to Conjure Feast
  • Conjure Feast now has a better chance of rolling multiple buffs dependant on mage level
  • Gamepad cursor movement smoother and less floaty now
  • Focus and Willpower both received a buff from 5% damage boost per point to 12%

Development Digest May

Happy Friday, Friends!

Normally I wouldn't do a dev digest in the same week as an update, but we're already making headway on new things, so I didn't want to wait to share!

One MUCH needed feature was the ability to track more than one quest. You can now track up to THREE!



Next to do with the quest tracker is making them different colors so when you look on your map, you can see which is which.

While typing this up, Michael did this:



Next most requested feature is being able to see when an NPC has a quest for you. We wanted to make sure this stayed very immersive. Michael came up with this solution: any NPC that gives you a quest will have a little quest icon next to their name like this:



The key here is that you'll know they have a quest for you, but you might not be able to do it yet. These are quests that are specifically in your log when you get them, not secret ones. Once you've done all quests available from the NPC, the little chalice will be removed. Places like the Eyre where you need reputation first, you'll see the chalice, but will need to increase your reputation before being able to do those quests.

Lastly, with the sneak peek of skill trees being put into the game (and then removed with the next patch), Michael has been streaming development of the different trees. Here's the Warrior's tree (icons still a WIP):



This tree is complete along with mage and hunter and now just needs our dedicated testers to test it. We're still working on half of the mystic tree, druid tree, and rogue tree. They are getting closer!

I've also been working on more of the decor in Delver's Pass. We've been so excited about all of the new things coming so we've just been bouncing around and getting things done.

If you want more sneak peeks or to just chat with Michael and I, join our Discord! We're in there daily!

Thanks for all of your support!

-Janna & Michael
Kindred Games

v1.7.18.4 Patch

Hey guys! This update handles a bunch of bugs that I may have accidentally introduced in the last couple patches. Sorry about that! I think we've caught all the nasty ones now, and if not, please report anything you can find so I can get them knocked out!

[h3]New Version Number[/h3]

Moving on, you may have noticed that I've changed the build version structure a bit. In case you're interested, we're doing this so I can introduce smaller patches without calling it a full update. The structure works like this now:

In our current version number, 1.7.18.4, we have:
1. - Game Version (in this case, beta)
7. - Major update (a massive overhaul, new system/features or a new zone)
18. - Minor update (a minor update. Minor features or systems, new content, quality of life changes)
4 - Patch or Update Revision (a minor minor update that fixes bugs, corrects an issue, balances content, etc)

This will allow us to better identify which version caused issues and allow us to keep pushing out smaller, more frequent updates without skyrocketing our version number.

Keep in mind that this also means you won't see many of the versions that go out. Each time our testers get a version, the number will keep counting up behind the scenes and you'll only see the ones that go public. Because of that, the version numbers may skip around a bit and hopefully that's not too confusing.

[h3]Updates[/h3]

Anyway. This update also introduces a few new things, such as a search function in your inventory, bank/storage containers, and the crafting window.

I'm going to get back to working on skill trees and other fun content updates, so stay tuned!

[h3]Patch Notes[/h3]

New:
  • Crafting window search bar
  • Inventory search bar
  • Container/Bank search bars
  • Map Markers now show your friend’s names
  • Can now cycle forward and backward through loadouts using X and Z respectively (Keyboard only, but keybinds available for gamepad)
  • Added a keybind for opening chat (Unbound for gamepad, but available if you want to sacrifice something else)
  • Fixed an issue with splitting stacks into merchant sell windows
  • Added a magnifying glass to the buy confirmation page to indicate that you can mouse over the name to inspect the item
  • Two new mid-game staves (craftable from carpentry)


Fixed:
  • Fixed some weirdness with the auto deposit button, specifically with multiplayer (to prevent issues, the deposit is recursive now and does take a bit of time, during which time, you’re locked out of interactions so you don’t lose items. Looking into a more instant option for a future update)
  • Amber at the Astral Portal in Farmlands was locking players out of the Bandit Betrayal quest when they were on another quest with her. We explained politely that she could do two quests at once and she’s cool with it
  • Setting Max FPS to OFF now properly unlocks your framerate
  • Placeable mirrors will no longer vanish in multiplayer and should correct themselves automatically
  • Placeable mirrors now properly show dismantle progress bar when being picked up
  • Fixed an issue with gamepads being stuck in a “look” state when first launching the game
  • Improved furniture and plant placing system to hopefully prevent being able to stack multiple items in the same spot
  • Fixed some weird bugs with new loadouts (Loadouts with identical names are not possible, so rename any you may still have around)
  • Fixed a typo in Xanthus’ dialog
  • Fixed an issue with weapons being stuck in the sheathed position
  • Fixed an issue with having multiple weapons equipped in the same slot at one time due to loadout shenanigans
  • Can now properly complete Sendu’s Mask related quests, even if you’ve stored your mask in the wardrobe
  • Withdrawing more gold than you have will no longer give you an empty bank note


Improved:
  • Sent Skeletons to minion training camp and they came back smarter and hardier
  • Made some slight changes to Xanthus’ dialog
  • Bought Xanthus a gym membership and he’s getting a bit buffer
  • Redesigned the Stolen Cap quest from Katherine. She now asks for a McGuffin belt item so you can keep the cap, guilt-free
  • When purifying corrupted weapons, their quality and enhancements now carry over
  • The stock in the bomb shop in Ramshackle was greatly increased
  • When creating a new loadout it duplicates the currently selected loadout to save time setting up a fresh one
  • Launch spell reduced from 16 magic to 5
  • Gold withdrawal pop up now explains that you’re going to withdraw a bank note for players who missed the tutorial all about that

v1.7.18 Hotfix

1.7.18 Hotfix


Fixed:

  • Joining password protected multiplayer sessions is now working as expected
  • Skill trees are back to coming soon (Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek!)
  • Fixed an issue with the demo that could get you stuck in dialog or your inventory
  • Fixed an issue with the UI disappearing when closing the wardrobe menu from a hand mirror