Update Set 0.106.X - Quality of life improvements, new hazards & item upgrades

Hey Folks,

Here are some of the most recent updates we've been working on by category:

New Hazards and Opponents

Freeze burst

These icy mines spray large freezing shards in all directions (potentially knocking out unlucky nearby enemies too).

Flower of Fierce Frost

More intelligent and reserved than the former. Don't let its decorative disguise fool you; once the intruder is in striking range, it will track them down to land a few deadly petals.

Clockwork Turrets

Comes in tripod and ceiling varieties.
We figured a Steampunk automation shooting charged gears matched the theme of the earlier areas more than futuristic metal.

They're less damage-spongy and easier to hack but still pack quite a punch!

Here's what they look if you turn them friendly:

For comparison here's the old more futuristic sprite (we may use this in a latter area after some adjustments).

Adjustments to other enemies and traps

• All skeletal snake species drop throwable skulls on defeat.
  
• Fixed glowing eye sprites for skeletal snakes.
• Ice Phoenix now fires much more radial projectiles when enraged.
• New lava texture.
• Fixed issue with rising lava tide getting drawn behind lava pools.
• More enemy types drop money on defeat.
• All slimes have demise animations!
  

Status effect reworks

You can apply upgrades to your gear can be applied at an Anvil. Some of these had a chance status effect modifiers to weapon strikes based on the damage output and consecutive hits.

While this worked, it still felt too random for some of the effects. Particularly in a game where you can plan your approach to every situation.

So now modifiers of poison, flame, and sapping (armor break) aspects are all guaranteed to apply a lighter version of the status effect with every weapon hit over a more extended period. If you chain enough strikes together, you can stack them.

Item buffs

• Daggers are now much faster to recover after hitting a target,
• Field of slowing has a larger radius and duration, even if you don't fully charge the spell.
• Sap spray applies armor break (sapping) for much longer with a more fluid projectile.
• The guaranteed health potion chest on most levels; will now always give you money. Additionally, if you can't carry more health potions, it will drop a few life orbs and an additional small item (usually an emergency teleport or grenade) instead.
• Fixed up chances of shotbow and orb of stunning appearing in chests once unlocked.

Level Generation

• Overhauled slope generation in cavern-like areas (Grotto of Guidance, Cold Crust Caverns, and the upcoming Mantle's Edge biome).
• Level exits and entrances are more consistent according to the area.
• Increased variation of hazard pits.
• A slightly more even distribution of enemies, item drops, and traps.
• Various fixes to rare dead-end situations.
• Improved traceability.

Other balance changes and bug fixes

• Fixed disproportional chance weighting of ranged weapons to proc with status effect modifiers.
• Fixed issue with rebind dodge roll mode not being saved on quitting the game.
• Fixed rare music silencing bug.
• Patched some visual changes with the blink ability.
• Reworked the second level of the tutorial to be more friendly and intuitive.
• Drastically increased chances of shotbow and orb of stunning appearing in starting gear and shop selection once unlocked.
• Accelerator platforms will no longer get stuck if just beneath a jump-through platform.
• Jumping through platforms and objects is now more consistent and less sticky.
• Multiple other improvements.

Patch 0.106.18 (3rd of July 2022)

• Fixed rare level generation bug of hazard pits eating into hand-made templates.
• Fixed rare bug of hazard pits being too wide to jump
• Fixed visual alignment issues with lava.
• Fixed bug where the slowing field couldn't be re-used
• Fixed uncommon bug of lava pit self-destructing.
• Fixed frost shard spell not being drawn on player's hand while being charged.

Upcoming Biome: Mantle's Edge

Sorry for having to tease this a bit longer. We're taking some more time on this one because we want to deliver a more polished and challenging experience with the 5th biome (avoiding the temptation of rehashing previous areas).

Without giving to much away, here are some development snapshots from last month, May:

Thanks, everyone!
The community's advice and suggestions have been essential for refining the game!

We hope that you enjoy the updates and keep well!