Here are the changes in patch #2:
Atmospheric/Tactical camera:
- Camera changes - The game is now in 'Atmospheric mode' by default. This is more zoomed in than past builds, however the camera zooms out when you look/aim at a distance. We feel this makes the game less frantic, plus you can see more of that pretty pixel art!
Note: In atmospheric mode, the game will also zoom out during tactical pause (coming in a future patch). Also there's currently no option to swap back to tactical mode, but we'll add it when we fill out the options screen.
Enemies:
- New enemy: Forgotten Whaler. Watch out for the harpoon!
- New enemy: Jailer Mor'baz.
- Skeletons now correctly cycle between one of three running animations.
- Non-roaming Skeletons have new idle animations (sitting, etc).
Combat:
- We've temporarily given the Innkeeper a Tommy gun.
- Some melee, thrown and ranged weapon skills now rank up in combat. Higher skill ranks = a higher chance to hit with that weapon type.
- Improvements made to 'Quickfire' mode (LMB). No longer triggers the 'look' action, and now has a cooldown to prevent spam-clicking.
- You can now target/un-target enemies while aiming.
- Blocking is in the game! Characters with the skill can now block melee attacks on themselves and nearby allies, redirecting the damage to themselves and reducing it by 25%. Equipping a shield item will reduce blocked damage by an extra 25%. Only one shield can be equipped at a time.
- AI-controlled characters will no longer use potions out of combat.
- Potion code has been greatly improved and future-proofed. Healing potions can critically heal.
- Status effects and equipment can temporarily unlock defensive abilities (Evade Potions grant access to the Evade skill for their duration, etc).
Balance:
- Enemies can vary in level, and their stats and skills scale to match.
- Slightly reduced the accuracy of all attacks and weapons.
- Reduced several characters' access to Evasion. This should make spellcaster type characters, as well as static enemies (like the spawners) easier to hit.
- Tougher enemies now have AC (armor class), slightly reducing the damage of physical attacks made against them. 1 point of AC = roughly 1% to 2% damage reduced. Armor Class is capped at AC 50 and starts to drop in value at numbers higher than 20.
- Damage resistances slightly reworked - it's now percentage based, rather than in tiered brackets.
Levels:
- Mini-dungeon challenge! In order to beat the sewers, you must clear 5 rooms of a mini-dungeon. If you wipe you will not lose your progress but instead be transported back to the safe room with your HP/MP/STAM restored. *
- Extra level added to the sewers (entrance to mini-dungeon).
- Sewer exit room redesigned.
- Loot containers added to the following areas: Sewers Safe Room, Whale Interior (beach 3), Sewer Pipe Gauntlet.
- New hazard: Acrid Seawater.
- New hazard: Rushing Water.
* Note: Mini-dungeon rooms and encounters are currently linear, but they will include procedural generation in the future.
Story:
- 2 new cutscenes added to the sewers.
- Tweaked the timings and trigger proximity of the first Shelby cutscene.
- Added a 'Shelby wants to speak with you' trigger, which prompts the player to use their Shelby item at moments where he has something to say.
- Added several more dialogue outcomes to speaking with Shelby from backpack, in particular when asking him for directions.
Items & Looting:
- Several new loot objects added to the beach and sewers.
- Starter items have new tooltips/descriptions.
- New item 'Worn Shooting Gloves' added to the Beach starter chest.
- New item 'Driftwood Shield' added to the Beach starter chest.
- New item 'Leather Undershirt'.
- New item 'Wretched Sealskin Cloak'.
- New item 'Acolyte's Hood'.
- New item 'Potion of Evasion'.
- New item 'Tainted Rejuvenation Potion'. Smells like rotten eggs. Perhaps the Alchemist can do something with these when she's added to the game.
- New item 'Broken Spectacles'.
- New item 'Chicago Typewriter'.
UI:
- Added tooltip info for 'Armor Class' in the character pane.
Party screen and Character Creation:
- Lots of extra mouseovers, UI sounds and tooltips!
- 'Auto Party' renamed 'Reset Party'. Game now asks for confirmation when resetting/clearing non-premade characters.
- Trapper 'Marksmanship' (rifle upgrade) skill renamed 'Gunsmithing'.
Minor changes:
- Made improvements to the music code. Minor enemies should no longer trigger combat music.
- Entering a cutscene will now clear your current target.
- New SFX for waterfalls, levers, cages, being stunned and more!
- Created a universal system for shockwaves (used in spells and abilities).
- Added version checking, mostly to warn players who are trying to load savegames from outdated game versions.
- Added several new message log notifications.
- More physics objects (tin cans, bottles) have been placed around the sewer and beach levels.
Optimization, bugfixes and crashes:
- Players will no longer target friendly AI after taking friendly fire.
- Fixed some instances of the cutscene crash (level_switch variant).
- Optimised friendly and enemy AI (agro radius, status effects, stat checks).
- Fixed some resolution/UI issues on 16:10 monitors.
- Fixed a slowdown which occurred when looking/aiming over long periods.
- Fixed some issues with aiming firearms and weapon swapping, including one bug where you could softlock the game.
- Fixed an issue where enemies were regenerating HP in combat.
- Fixed a crash involving the Shelby backpack cutscene on Beach 01.
We hope you enjoy Patch #2. Be sure to send us your feedback and bug reports via discord or email!