Hey all,
[h2]1.0 version is available. [/h2]
Changing the version label to 1.0 was such a special moment for me - Lost Flame has been part of my life for past 8 years, and while I still have a backlog of over 500 items I would want to do, I think it's time to say that the game is finished. I plan to fix any major bugs that appear in the future, and most probably add new content too, I am still here.
This update mostly focuses on lore and polishing, but overall it's the largest update so far, considering the amount of time I spent on it. Main theme was bringing the game to full experience, so addressing tons of things that were always in the backlog, but there was always something else that grabbed my attention.
If you want to chat please join the Lost Flame's
discord server[h2]Flavor Texts[/h2]
This was a huge effort, I've added hundreds of flavor texts, so each single item and enemy have one.
[h2]Reworked End-Game Materials[/h2]
When I started developing Lost Flame, I treated obsidian and adamantite as placeholder names for materials and there was never a good time to change them. So - obsidian's real name is gryf-steel, so you can find gryf-steel equipment, fight gryf-steel golems, etc. The material is now also little bit heavier than it was before and more sturdy.
Adamantite is Lestrite now: This is something entirely new. It is a deep-red, biological stone recovered from the depths of the Abysm. It is much less common than adamantite used to be.
[h3]Lestrite Mechanics[/h3]
Lestrite is very light when it comes to encumbrance, as it bonds with your body.
The Carapace
Lestrite armor has 0 Armor. Instead, it provides Carapace. This is a layer that absorbs damage (like HP, or shield stat) and regenerates very rapidly - it drains your Stamina to fuel the regrowth. If you hit 0 stamina, the regeneration stops entirely.
Weapons & Shields
Lestrite weapons are light and scale with intelligence and have damage comparable to gryf-steel weapons, but they consume more stamina per swing than "normal" weapons. Lestrite shields offer significantly less block protection than normal shields, but they convert the force of the strike into stamina recovery for the user.
[h2]Graphical Improvements[/h2]
This update adds unique tile for each single unique item. It turned out that some of those tiles did not look well with the previous "golden glow" around such items, so I've changed how such items are represented.
This update includes a number of other smaller visual improvements, you can see some of them below:
[h2]Smaller Changes[/h2]
[h3]New Content/Content Changes[/h3]
- this update includes update to the game engine LibGDX and Java version on which the game is run improving stability and eliminating some weird random crashes
- added a few new lines to Arabelle
- moved the campfire from Castle Istimid 6 to the entrance to Marsh of Corsydd
- Laoise just doesn't end the game immediatelly when you visit her with specific conditions met, but will hand you a special item
- Changed some of the area names
- Moved the sisterhood around to a more accessible place
- added last text messages to post game character log
- added number of unspent soul shard to post game character log
- changed some of the endgame texts
- added new monster "phantom" they have strong weapons are fairly rare (but much more present in NG+) and all their items disappear if they die
- changed Gisea layout a little bit
- Violet Pepper can now be accessed without any scrolls of teleport/travel
- Ascetics now can only spawn with a single weapon (reduced one-shot potential)
- Changed how damage is calculated a little bit to reduce chance of player getting one shot
- when game starts/loads a completely random item or monster will be chosen rather than something from small pool
- added a small side location Eilian Quarters with nice prize (to incentivize an alternate path in game more)
- Minor changes to endings for Laoise, Arabelle and Rianne
- reduced tentacle HP to 1 so now they die from any random AoE damage (e.g. weapon with lightning damage affix)
- added some more conditions for Laoise ending (but also added a small hint to make it easier to figure out what's going on)
- lowered your sight range in Marsh of Corsydd greatly
- decreased the spawn rate for unique items
- primordial children of Iphe are now immune to petrification and stuns
- secret non-permadeath mode - type "iamawizard" in console/chat to enable it, once you die, you will respawn without any curses at last campfire you discovered (not the last you went through). In this mode you won't be eligible for leaderboard. I did test it of course, but I added it last minute so let me know if there are some bugs here.
[h3]QoL changes[/h3]
- Autoexplore will now work better around allies
- Added a short text message when player changes their encumbrance level
- when visiting campfire the menu will automatically select last campfire you traveled from (so you can just quickly return to wherever you were from Hythe)
- Autoexplore can now navigate to lever(s) in Hythe Monastery
- Autoexplore can now navigate through locked door, if you have the proper key
- clicking your character in top left part of screen will open your stats now
- mob abilities will be listed in the mob lookup box
- sped up autoexplore a little bit
- added icon representing your encumbrance as status icon
[h3]Bugs Fixed[/h3]
- fixed cooldowns getting reduced to 0 for evocations when swapping items that grant you those abilities
- Orran Thalric escaping to Neith looking like visual glitch fixed
- fixed some location names not fitting above the minimap
- fixed Commander Idwal having his name displayed wrong in his distorted version
- fixed name for "weightless heavy boots"
- fixed name for "light heavy boots"
- fixed description for skirmisher's ring
- fixed some abilities being displayed twice in mob descriptions
- fixed some issues with Rianne's health bar in prison
- fixed being able to identify which Rianne is real by inspecting mob details
- fixed Cadell sometimes appearing twice in fight with him and Rianne
- fixed sparkling elixirs causing a crash sometimes
- fixed Iphe's Dream leaving its essence on the nothingness tile
- fixed some random crash in Hall of Candles
- fixed not enough enemies being spawn in the confrontation in Violet's ending
- fixed some mapgen issues in Violet's ending
- fixed campfire menu acting wrong if you had visited too many campfires
- fixed one of the Abysm tunnels not being properly connected (and making the player appear on the Gray Shore if they leave it)
- fixed small lag that would happen every time after killing first enemy you encounter
- fixed Liver's HP bar appearing before you encounter him
- fixed Elevated Courtyard having the same background sounds as Uduuh Desert
- fixed enemy corpses sometimes flying too far
- fixed Parry sometimes having its cooldown pass twice as fast
- fixed elixir of life saving behaving inconsistently
- fixed Hollow Pass sometimes being stuck in a mountain
- fixed a bug where your run results would not be shown on leaderboard immediatelly after you won the run
- fixed a bug where dismissing large allies would proc Cadaverweaver
- fixed wrong text message for executioner's ring proc
- fixed Cadell's sprite (removed crown from his head)
- fixed text message when returning from being polymorphed
- fixed encumbrance label not being refreshed when in inventory and changing items
- Added some missing sounds
- fixed the death message when getting killed by acid explosion
- fixed the post game log going out of the text box
- fixed boss music playing sometimes at 0 volume
- fixed lunging and few other attacks behaving weirdly when in web
- fixed tendrilous grasp behaving inconsistently when targeting larger enemies
- fixed summoned enemies always appearing in top left corner from where they were summoned
- fixed birds summoned by Senka giving exp
- fixed Spirit Phial sometimes starting the game with 3/2 or 4/2 charges
- fixed dropped items sometimes getting stuck under automations in Istimid which made the autoexplore more tedious to use
- fixed some graphical glitches in mob lookup box
- added some missing status icons
- fixed all humanoid enemies being male (now it's random male/female)
- fixed trudging automations not behaving consistently in NG+
- fixed Violet Pepper not getting angry if you fight Serenity in NG+
- fixed Calven Dunning (and shield bash in general) being able to push you through bars
- fixed Laoise and Martell's lines being to quiet
- fixed square bottle displaying knight's stat in a little messy manner
- fixed mob shield not being displated in mob pop up window
- fixed flavor text for children of Iphe changing when the mob transforms into something
- fixed some stats being misleading for children of Iphe in mob pop up
- fixed map gen around path to Annora
I really hope you enjoy all those changes and have fun playing Lost Flame.
Bartek