Aura of Worlds News

• These companions that will follow you around as you navigate the labyrinths of death and the realms beyond.
  
• As with most systems (starting gear/worlds/character backgrounds/skins) their unlock cost is discounted during early access.
  Keep an eye out for those egg collectables...
  

Additional sound effects have been added to the grotto.

We also have a new boss 🎶 piece for the necromancer


Leading to over 27 new cosmetic combinations since the previous update set.





A few players have asked for a more gradual difficulty curve.
The easy mode provides a much more forgiving game experience, whilst retaining a degree of the core challenge.

In case you're wondering what the differences are between the 3 difficulties:
Easy:

• Most noticeably there is no timer for the hunter's appearance, so you can take as much time as you like without having to evade it.
  
• Special pursuit level themes (lava,gas,fading lights...) move slower.
  
• Your attacks are stronger
  
• Take 12% less damage.
  
• Many enemy moves are nerfed including having slower and fewer projectiles.
  
• Health potions are more effective.
  
• Be warned though that world/boss completion achievements are disabled in this mode; XP is also earned at a 30% slower rate.
  

Moderate: The Standard experience.
Note that health potions have been adjusted slightly due to the addition of the previous mode.

Hard 💀: Designed for the masters

• Bosses have more health and enter their enraged phases sooner.
  
• Certain enemy moves are faster and happen more frequently (e.g. skeletal warriors become much better at dodging).
  
• Enemies are more resilient to harm and will deal out more damage per attack.
  
• Starting health and recovery is smaller.
  
• Pursuit level themes (lava/pollen flood/fading light etc.) move faster.
  
• Made slightly harder as of this update.
  
• Bonuses: + 30% XP, hardest achievements and bragging rights.
  

This is a handy spell that knits the life energy of creatures together, allowing you to chain up opponents.

Injuring one opponent in the chain, injures them all. Setting one on fire also spreads the light through the connected...
Can be particularly powerful against groups of enemies or for hitting more elusive monsters with the right planning.

• Added shield gauntlet collapsed state; actively drawn on character.
  
• New menu for purchasing pets.
  
• Better scaling of existing menu elements for wide screen.
  
• Notification icons now appear when a new item/character background/pet becomes available.
  
• Fixed up the control rebind menu so it is fully compatible with the Xbox controller.
  
• Additional background set pieces including parallax statues for the grotto and chains for the temple.
  
• Updated credits screen.
  

We added an intro transition screen for a bit of exposition.
Some environmental art has also been added to convey more of the setting
It's no substitute for an epic story, but it does set things up for the narrative we have planned for the game...

• Fixed bug with Ghost Lover achievement and stats not unlocking properly. Sorry about that, if you've met the pre-requisites it should now auto-unlock the next time you play.
  
• Added additional Steam stats regarding unlockables. These will go to automatically unlocking some new achievements in the future...
  

• Reduced the number of draw calls and render textures created across the entire game.
  
• Render textures are cached more instead of creating new ones to save on memory and performance.
  
• Fixed Rare OpenGL memory issue which randomly skipped rendering the lighting layer for a chunk.
  

• Behavior for grapple release adjusted to be more intuitive on controller.
  
• You can stand on fallen stalactites now.
  
• Nerfed orb mage pre-hard difficulty. It will no longer jet away from you as fast to dish out pain.
  
• Skeletal soldiers will roll away from you at close range.
  
• Crystal eye telegraphs where it's going to fire.
  
• Repeater dart trap have been slowed slightly
  
• Firebrands/embers are no longer acting like straphnel.
  
• Fixed issue with notification text not appearing
  
• Multiple other tweaks
  
• Additional time before the hunter's summoning is given on the higher levels.
  
• Progress Menu now shows character backgrounds and pet unlocks at the end of each run (not just equipment items).
  

15th July

• Certain pets now glow.
  
• Fixed uncommon generation glitch where 1 block waterfalls could spawn.
  
• Updated Steam stats: added world unlocks, tied unlocked_equipment stat to Shining Collector achievement
  

20th July

• Pets cloak along with their owner.
  
• Fixed bug where steam stat for unlocked_equipment didn't get uploaded until game was closed.
  
• Added new version of level end stinger for completing a boss level.
  
• Items in quick slots are now much more visible.
  
• Added Advanced Graphics Options menu.
  
• Changed damage resistance of Easy mode from 12% -> 15%
  
• Added an option to change how quick slots are displayed (see advanced graphics options menu)
  

• Added Legacy Tile Render option (for the rare case of older drivers running out of OpenGL memory).
  Go to Graphics->Options->Advanced->Tile Renderer on starting the game.
  
• Added a couple more background art objects to the temple.
  
• Health potions and vampirism orbs now heal you 8% and 20% more respectively on Easy mode.
  

11th August
Changed the default tile renderer back to legacy for any new players.

This was in light of a windows 10 update throttling the amount of memory available to OpenGL on certain drivers. This lead to a rare Out of Memory exception on a few machines (crash/white fog)
steamcommunity.com/app/841600/discussions/0/1840188800808448613/

If your driver is updated to have enough memory you can change this in
Graphics->Options->Advanced->Tile renderer.

• Added options to invert X/Y axis on controller right analog stick.
  As well as an option to swap them. This could give better support for PS4 controller.
  
• Added more clarity to grotto foreground tiles.
  

We've been working on much more for the next update set in the background...



Have fun!

We don't judge people by their attire, race, background or... (and neither will the monsters...).
Now you can choose your clothes and set your skin tone (which will otherwise be set randomly each run)!

The options available this will be expanded even further as development progresses. Also unlike world shortcuts, gear blueprints and character backgrounds; skins can currently be accessed for free!


Players have said they were looking for something more heroic for the first area so...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1s4siCIcjQbgIyTTRwTPFM2p5juTxyxKd

• Confirm dialogues
  
• Skins menu
  
• Some internal tools such as a tilesheet editor (this should help us to get more content in each update set).
  

• Numerous additional sprites, including:
  
• Grotto has been given additional parallax depth, including randomized light beams
  
  (Note: as these beams are randomly placed they appear in world rather than infinitely scrolling Splash menu)
  
  
• Garden background recolored slightly to improve readability.
  

We added an alternative fullscreen mode to accommodate moore computer setups.
The new mode will use your native desktop resolution when deciding what modal to scale up; whilst the legacy fullscreen mode will continue to scale up the lowest resolution.


All your most crucial files are shared between your computers.

• game.progression: keeps track of your achievements, gear, character background and world unlocks.
  
• Player.customization: 'cause style is important!
  

• Numerous in menu texts readjusted.
  
• Fixed bug with vases from different areas sometimes appearing in the temple.
  
• Fixed bug with infinite jump using High jump background.
  
• Prevention of accidental clicks from unintentially closing the menu/game.
  
• Multi-jump is no longer a starting item; though it's possible to find it in shops or chests.
  
• Usual rebalancing and squashing smaller bugs.
  

Bugs detected (27th of April):

• ̶ J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶c̶o̶v̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶c̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶p̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶u̶ ̶(̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶l̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶c̶k̶)̶.̶ ̶
  
• F̶o̶r̶c̶e̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶A̶i̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶m̶o̶r̶r̶o̶w̶.̶
  

Fixed, 28th April



The above isn't all we worked on.
Besides some internal tool enhancements that should make the process faster; we've still been chipping away at the ice world behind the scenes (though that's for another update set...).

Have fun!

With this new system comes 9 different player trait/passive ability sets which allow for further customization of play-style.

These range from increased defence to gaining double jump & infinite wall vault.

Beware that the perks they offer are not without trade-offs.
One of our favorite is bloodthirsty which will gradually drain your health but allow you to heal from injured enemies (with a number of other augments to your damage).

• 5 New achievements
  
• Redesigns of 2 previous achievements.
  
• Steam stat integration.
  
• Tracking of multiple new player metrics behind the scenes for future unlocks.
  

Getting hit carries more impact and taking heavy damage (particularly from ranged, melee or explosions) can stun you for a split second.

This makes running through encounters a fair bit more challenging...

• Much better widescreen support.
  E.g.
  
  • Shadow sight target markers scale properly.
    
  • Multiple menu/hud elements reworked to resize with larger resolutions.
    
• New graphics for character background sets and unlockable items menus.
  
• Mouse locking now available (See Options->Other).
  
• Cleaned up player HUD of many extraneous details.
  

• Level generation for the Grotto is much more varied.
  
• New Sound effects for picking up items.
  
• Skeletal warriors move more predictably when fighting.
  
• Multiple medium and high tier enemies have a much greater chance of dropping coins or other items.
  
• Now all the bosses have enraged phases. For example the bronze knight now becomes considerable faster and more aggressive below a certain HP.
  
• Damage and knockback adjusted to take into account how player damage has been reworked. Health potions also heal for a little extra.
  
• Made dodge rolling faster and longer range.
  
• Multiple other balancing changes.
  

• Fixed rare issue of 2 textures disappearing from the multi-thread rendering
  
• Disabled buttons are now faded out.
  
• Fixed bugs with enduring and resourceful achievements triggering without meeting the conditions.
  
• You can no longer pick up and carry temporal fields.
  
• Numerous title and description texts fixed.
  
• Multiple other.
  

• Updated all status/collectable/helper prompt text in game to scale with the resolution (previously they were blitted onto a render texture which was scaled); though testers have told us they've found this much smoother.
  
• Various tweaks including:
  
  • Most enemies in the grotto have lower health on normal difficulty.
    
  • Dodge rolling works against skeletons on hard mode.
    
  • updated a couple of icons:
    
    
  • Aquatic enemy pools are a bit less crowded.
    
  • Fixed mouse detection for weapon wheel at different resolutions.
    
  
  
  
  

• Adjusted enemy health scaling for temple and grotto enemies.
  
• Aquatic pools have less enemies during pursuing toxic pollen.
  
• Pursuing toxic pollen is slightly slower on moderate difficulty.
  
• Ceiling lickers retract with their catch more slowly.
  
• Fixed glitch with Chakram unlock.
  
• Added more knockback resistance when the player is hit under water.
  
• Several other adjustments.
  

If you have any feedback or suggestions; please let us know in the forum or comments!



Enjoy :D!

• Enthral:
  
  Turn your opponents into temporary allies.
  Side Note: lighting was disabled for this GIF.

Frost:

Wrap your opponents in ice.

• 2 New status effects.
  
• Reworked knockback physics of all melee weapons.
  
• Chakram is much more versatile now:
  
  
  
  • Can stun unaware opponents.
    
  • Can hit more often
    
  • Can travel under water
    
• The targeting system has been vastly reworked to accommodate how quickly alliances can change...
  

• Substantial rework of Gnarled Gardens plants for much better performance.
  
• Fixed bug where continuous sounds could loop indefinitely; if played at the same time as an identical non-continuous sound.
  
• Fixed bug where using quick swap with a given item didn't deactivate the shield (thanks Rubenmenton for flagging that)
  
• Fixed weird bug where the player's equipped item would appear to be stabbing them at an awkward angle; after being knocked from a ledge they were holding.
  
• The item order is now consistent on the weapon wheel
  
• Adjustments to some item descriptions.
  
• Fixed bug with dart traps not triggering.
  

• Multiple new sound effects 🔉
  
• New particle animations
  
• ...
  

We're still working on the ice world in the background (though want it to have more polish before putting it out)

Here's some (slightly older) artwork

• Added 1 achievement.
  
• Poison flowers in the garden can be picked up and thrown.
  
• Fixed bug with dragon fly rebounding off and immediately dealing when knocked against a wall with force.
  
• A lot of polishing work with how Grotto's background tiles generate.
  
• Added much more randomisation to the grotto of guidance parallax.
  

Last patch of this update: 2nd January 2019


We're pretty close now...
There's a lot of new features coming in mid-February...

• Dashing:
  
• Sap of Weakness: The fluid derived from a rare plant can be used to lower the defence of your opponents.
  
  

• New Status effect.
  
• Chests can be carried to block projectiles.
  
• Lucky dip for unlockables: Optionally spend tokens on a random item at a lower cost.
  
• Temporal field: now properly slows down special level threats such as pursuing pollen. You can also expand it by holding down the control.
  
• ...
  

• Bronze Knight's arena now has semi-destructable floors; with a couple of alternative ways to fight em'.
  
• Rush level themes (lava, poison etc.) have longer levels.
  
• Flooded corridors are longer.
  
• Traps take longer to reset (spears, dart traps etc.; following feedback from PAX players)
  
• Nerfed giant bat (following feedback from PAX).
  
• Cost of unlockables has increased as has the max level.
  
• Several parts of the 2nd tutorial, were remade to be much more forgiving and instructive (following feedback from PAX players)
  

• New algorithm for tile-render allows caching of the entire map's terrain rather than one chunk at a time.
  
• Rewrote multiple collision and physics routines to use less processing power.
  
• Fixed several issues with flickering framerate with vsync on older systems.
  

• Weapon wheel and grid inventory controls have been rewritten slightly to be more intuitive. e.g. you can override which slot certain items go to with just the right/left triggers. You can also instantly consume potions/execute most powers with a single button instead of having to equip them.
  
• Multi-jump ability can still be used even if it's not in the hotbar.
  

• New Weapon wheel graphics
  
• Some minor bug fixes with humanoid arms.
  
• Particle and HUD elements for new abilities.
  
• Larger mini map
  
• ...
  

- 21st of November

• Cleaned up HUD by removing debug variable display.
  
• Removed links to unfinished editors.
  
• Other:
  
  
  
  • You now recover more health before entering the knight's arena.
    
  • Adjustment to laser traps in the tutorial.
    
  • Updated controller prompt icon.