Since launch we have read every review, every forum post and every comment you have left us. Update 1.3 comes from there: it is the biggest update since release, and almost everything in it answers something you told us. Thank you for playing, for writing to us and for helping us make Murciavania better. We are always listening.
Map and navigation
You told us loud and clear: the map was hard to read. We have rebuilt it so it makes sense at a glance.
- Zone names on the map: every town and area now shows its name next to the explored part (pause map and crossroads map).
- Zones you can tell apart: the light border now marks where each zone ends; rooms of the same zone get a subtle line. No more grid where everything looked the same.
- Dedicated icons for save rooms, crossroads and bosses, on top of their colour.
- Cleaner minimap: only what you need while playing (rooms, exits, Ginés, your markers and what has just opened). The details stay on the full map.
- Names no longer cover anything: each zone name sits next to its zone, in the free space and underlined in its colour, without covering locks, save rooms or exits.
Ginés, smoother
- The run cycle goes from 8 to 16 frames, with new in-between drawings, for a much smoother stride with no stumbling.
- Jumping and falling now follow the real arc: the pose matches the rise, the apex and the descent, whether the jump is short, long or a double jump.
- The idle animation goes from 4 to 8 frames: Ginés breathes and his cape sways.
Combat: guarding
Many of you told us that some off-hand items looked odd when guarding. You were right.
- Every item is held the way it should be: the frying pan raised by its handle, the plank and the tray upright, the basket and the creel by their handles, the jar lid by its knob, the parrying dagger point up, the fan open towards the enemy, the playing card held high, the pavise resting on the ground and the lantern swinging. Before, they were all held the same way, flat against the chest.
- A steadier guard: the shield sits on the raised forearm and Ginés peeks over its rim. The pose goes up once and holds, without the old back-and-forth.
- Blocks that react: when a hit lands on the shield, it gives way and flashes. The perfect parry has its own animation: a push forward, a golden flash and an expanding ring.
- Instant crouching strike: if you keep attacking while standing and press down (straight or diagonally), the next strike comes out crouched.
Sharper enemies
- 37 enemies redrawn with clean edges: no more light halos, stray pixels or blurry outlines that made them look badly cut out.
- Fairer hits: the area where you can hit them now fits their body. You no longer wound them on the tip of a weapon, a muzzle flash or the light of a lantern.
- The Rampart Watchman's lantern now casts real light, soft and translucent.
Rooms that make sense
- Exits you can see: exits in the floor and exits under water are now marked just like the ones above; in flooded rooms they no longer get lost.
- What you see, you can stand on: the Mansion Pier and the upper gallery and ballroom of the Spa Hotel (and their Envés twins) are now real floor.
- Towers and shafts with landings: in eleven towers and shafts (and their eleven Envés twins) you no longer drop up to 19 tiles when entering through a side door; there is a landing at door height.
- The Alcazaba Pool now has water all the way down, as in its painting.
- No more mix-ups with objects: removed the decorative amphorae and jars that looked like breakable pots, and loose pots painted into the backgrounds. Now, if it looks breakable, it is.
- In the San Antonio de Padua Shaft and the Chapel of the Friars the planks no longer cut through the cage, the altar or the altarpiece; in the chapel you climb a ladder of planks along the wall.
- Backgrounds truer to their era: repainted the Spike Pit in Punic Cartagena (Qart Hadasht), which showed a Baroque city, and toned down the Baroque in the sunken city and the atrium of the Envés of Tartessos; also removed painted text, dates and signs that did not belong.
- Touched up the Medina Siyâsa (Cieza) background and a platform in the Envés Icehouse; the Water Bearer Friar in the Twin Cisterns now stands on his pillar; four legend tiles are back in place.
Equipment and secrets
- The Sword and Shield of the Custodia of Caravaca finally have their own technique: «The two-armed cross» and «The two guardians».
- The Cistern (Mula) hides a life vessel behind a thin wall, the twin of the Envés candle.
- A piece of equipment in the Walled-Up Woman of La Concepción that could be taken without the ability it asks for now requires it.
Interface and languages
- Long enemy names no longer stick out of their box.
- Reviewed the English from the last update: six translations corrected.
Quality
For this version we reviewed all 444 rooms of the game one by one and ran our suite of automated tests: room connections, arrivals, routes, combat, menus and languages.
Keep telling us what you like and what you don't on the community forum, ideally with the room name. Every message counts, and many of today's changes come from there.
MANZASOFT · Manuel Manzano