Beta

This should be the final substantial update before merging the outstanding beta changes into the standard release. You can opt into these changes from the Betas section of the game's properties in your Steam library. I expect I may have a few fixes or tweaks to make before the merge to standard, but there are no significant to-do items remaining on my beta list. Sorry, again, for such a prolonged beta period; there is a lot in here that is sorely missing from the standard release, and I hope to correct that soon. Thank you for your continued support and patience totcordial!

What's New?

This is mostly a bunch of adjustments to the codex and other UI elements, but there are also (mostly) minor cosmetic changes to several characters, floors, and effects. Most notably, the Mangler and Conflagrator construct minions have been renamed and redesigned; they are now the "Jacked Hammer" and "Fryborg," respectively. I wanted the names to fall in line with the portmanteaus or wordplay of other construct names (like T-Wrecker or Dobermech), and I wanted their visual design to feel more distinctive than just "robotic human." "Mangler" always felt kind of generic, and "Conflagrator" was an awkward mouthful. There are some bug fixes, too, and the biggest one is a longstanding matching glitch, where you could kind of scramble the mouse around really fast and get the game to swap tiles mid-move. I guess you could sort of cheat this way, but it wasn't very controllable; it was just sloppy that it was possible, and now it should be resolved.

Changelog

Changes:

• Characters now have a subtle outline in the codex
• Codex has a new cover, which appears when it is dismissed from the screen
• Several characters received coloration fixes or improvements, some new accessories (cultists, pirate-types, deep ones, and bards, for sure--probably others)
• Something like a net 100 new names/honorifics were added
• Performance improvements, so hopefully the game can continue to run on toasters
• Renames and makeovers for the Mangler and Conflagrator
• Some characters probably received small stat tweaks, but I'll call out the Forest Spirit for a swap to a caster type unit with a corruption debuff
• The fog on the surface should now share assets with the same effect on other floors--it's a different style from before
• Smoke particles are less stylized than before; the old particles have felt out-of-place for some time, and I finally swapped them out
• When a controller is in use, the cursor is no longer rendered until the mouse is used

Fixes:

• Corrected a matching glitch where the grabbed tile could swap mid-move
• Clicking grayed entries in codex should go to their unlock page
• Floor previews were conflicting with the hoard cover at the bottom of the dungeon
• Corrupted character coloration/corruption drip were no longer applying correctly
• Corrections to XBox controller mapping
• Navigating character cards with a controller encountered multiple nuisances

[ 2023-01-09 19:31:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

(No new floors, just some new art.)

Beta

This is a continuation of the long-running beta branch. You can opt into these changes from the Betas section of the game's properties in your Steam library. I'm sorry. I know, it hasn't been updated in nearly three years--I can't even bring myself to check how long it's been since the last standard release. It's terrifying. The good news is that this update represents the last chunk of changes I expect to include in this beta phase before standardizing the branch. I will allow some time to gather feedback, make a few more improvements (e.g., a few tooltips still require updating, balance may need tweaking) and fixes. There'll likely be a minor release or two to address any issues, and then I plan to push these changes out to everyone.

Codex

The biggest changes in this release revolve around the in-game codex, which has received a complete face-lift.
This was partly necessitated by a move away from the game's tiniest fonts, which have been completely eliminated. The still-small-but-hopefully-more-legible outlined font has also been adjusted to have generally larger lower-case characters. The various icons used to represent almost everything have also gained an entire pixel in height, and maybe that will help with readability, too. There's definitely still room for improvement, and on many pages, you can see there's a fair amount of unused real-estate, so I hope to maybe include session stats, fold-out floor trees, or other interesting elements that are a bit more possible now.

Other Changes

The rest of the changelog is all over the place. There were a bunch of random art and flavor updates, and several important fixes (4K and controller issues) that are long overdue. Some floor prerequisites changed, new traits were added, and UI behavior and effects were altered in places. My notes say that at some point in the last three years, I fixed this little corner issue:
And I had completely forgotten about it. Do you see it? Maybe it's unnoticeable, but I think it's awesome, and I'm sorry I made everyone wait so long for it.

Changelog

Additions:

• New Codex
• New traits: Fey (elves, dark elves, sprites, gnomes), Giantblood (ogres, trolls, half-giants, giant rats/spiders), Earthly (humans, dwarves), and Flora (essentially unused so far)--I'm setting up these groups for more future effects

Changes:

• The two tiniest fonts in the game (a plain single-pixel font, and a sort of scrawly handwritten variant) have been completely removed
• The game's standard font and its double-resolution variant have both been modified to have taller lower-case characters and sometimes wider characters where the fonts felt overly compressed
• Nearly all icons have gained a pixel in height, to bring them in line with the font height
• Several pieces of floor art have been altered or improved; the most significant is probably the Undercroft
• When resources were very low with a large cap, the meter could appear empty, but now you will always see at least a sliver when you have some of a given resource
• Removed references to the heroes' motive system, which still technically exists, but is very nebulous and will eventually be phased out
• Improved dump details
• A lot of flavor text updates
• Renamed Coffers to "Treacherous Treasury" and adjusted Belfry to "Bellowing Belfry"
• If polling for new controllers takes too long, controller support will be automatically disabled to prevent the game from hanging every time it looks for controllers
• Simplified floor requirements; a floor can have no more than two prerequisites and can have no alternative prerequisites. The latter change results in some floors no longer being accessible to some paths: Belfry, Undercroft, Guildhall, Rookery, and Attic are most impacted.
• Battle Balm damage buff only applies to allied melee units now
• Giant Rat gained another point of agility
• Some Hoard effects, such as bobbing items or the various sparkles that erupt from collected tiles, are no longer affected by pausing

Fixes:

• Pixel scaling was capped at 4x, which meant the game did not scale well to 4K displays; now theoretically extends to 64x
• Controller disablement via the game's advanced config file wasn't working as expected
• Several character coloration and animation issues: elf bard jank, minotaur's axe, brood sister's legs, etc.
• Film grain effect doesn't pause in menus
• Punji no longer lists a defensive save in its description (this mechanic was removed in a previous beta update)
• "Bad color" exception could occur when player names included bracketed words
• XBox One controllers that didn't contain "One" in their reported name would use the wrong mapping
• Option menu bars weren't all using the same pattern
• Outlines on the hoard were missing a corner pixel on "L"-shaped regions
• Several scrolling/grabbing issues involving the character/floor buttons or trying to scroll on the surface level--just trying to make things feel more intuitive here
• The cycling arrows that appear on the Hoard would become faster or slower based on how many instances of the effect were in play

[ 2022-04-21 18:39:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Beta

This is a beta release that you can opt into from the game's properties in your Steam library. Beta releases include new mechanics or significant changes that require testing and refinement before they can be made standard.

Raw Damage

I am introducing a new mechanic called "raw" damage, which is a damage modifier (and not a new type of defense) that ignores standard defenses (but not firm defense or immunity). Raw damage is indicated by a flashing damage icon. Traps and damage-dealing items now exclusively deal raw damage types. This makes these damage sources slightly less effective, because previously, they ignored all defense (except immunity). For traps, this has been offset by the removal of trap saves, where each trap had a designated type of defense that ignored that trap. Replacing their current behavior, weaknesses now convert all incoming damage of the indicated type into raw damage of that type. This definitely makes weaknesses more impactful, but because characters gain firm defense as they level, their weaknesses diminish with advancement. The goal of these changes is to replace a handful of poorly explained mechanics (Why did trap and item damage ignore defenses? Where do you view trap saves? What do weaknesses really mean?) with a single, more visible mechanic. I had started to go down the route of having characters gain raw damage as they level, but I felt it was a little unintuitive. However, the mechanic may offer another thing for items, abilities, or banners to play with in the future.

Tooltips

All tooltips have been moved to a single tooltip bar at the bottom of the screen. One recurring and very reasonable category of criticism I hear from players is that the game is too busy, and the tooltips constantly popping up and changing right next to the mouse cursor felt like part (though certainly not all) of the problem. Additionally, many icons throughout tooltips and in the codex are now grouped in threes when they appear adjacent to other icons of the same category. This helps compress large amounts of icons, and also makes them easier to count quickly. All of the tooltips now appear on a single line, and in a few places, this meant trimming down the content. If there is any information you would like to see in the tooltips (whether it was there before or not), or you have any other feedback on this subject, I would love to hear it!

Miscellany

There's a new floor with an Orc Warlord; the appearance of a certain floor element is such that it would have been more timely about a month ago, but whatever. The Warlord is tough and he buffs physical damage on melee units, so he's pretty useful, if not so unique. There are a lot of goblin path floors now--I'll try to move away from that for a bit. Now that everyone has just a single attack, everyone's been given either a Ranged (this one was in the last update), Melee, or Caster trait. Some abilities have been altered to leverage these new traits. There have been some pacing changes to combat, to make it easier to follow how damage is being applied. A more deliberate pace means longer battles, which has balance implications. As always, let me know how the game feels to you. I also added a simple scanline filter; it could use some improvement, but considering the game's other graphical filters, this seemed like a glaring omission. Over such a long span of time, there have been other assorted modifications going on; I've included the nature of those changes below, but most of these are minor elements that haven't been closely tracked (such as individual pieces of art revision or character stat changes).

What's Next?

I didn't want to address this up front, but if you've been following the game for a long while, you may have noticed that it's been an entire frickin' year since the last update. And that update was also a beta; I don't even dare look at the timestamp on the last real update--the shame is too great. I don't want to dwell on that here, though. I want to focus on the short-term: making these beta changes standard. In order to push all of these elements into the standard release, I need help finding problems and improving balance. With your continued help, I hope I can make this happen in the next few weeks; it is long overdue. Thank you for all of your feedback, bug reports, and patience totcordial!

Changelog

Additions:

• Raw damage mechanic (a modifier for existing damage types that ignores standard defenses)
• Threatening Throne (Stockpile + Pens); Orc Warlord (increases melee allies' physical damage)
• Logging to ToTDump in your .prefs save folder when the game crashes unexpectedly
• Single tooltip bar at the bottom of the screen
• Melee and Caster traits added
• Simple scanline filter

Changes:

• Traps deal raw damage
• Items deal raw damage
• Weaknesses convert incoming damage of the specified type into raw damage
• Battle damage calculation was revised to be more consistent
• Battle pacing has been slowed to allow clearer visual damage application
• Many icons--especially damage types--have been altered, to increase visual clarity
• Some alterations were made to leveling bonuses; characters with countable passive bonuses (such as a damage boost) now gain an additional point to their passive rather than a second damage bonus
• Some character stat and ability revisions (for instance, to leverage the new Melee and Caster traits)
• Related icons are now grouped into threes to aid in countability at a glance
• Removed trap saves
• Lots of tooltip language and content revisions
• Assorted flavor text, floor art, and character appearance modifications

Fixes:

• There were a lot of passive application and eligibility issues in the previous beta release; I believe these have all been addressed
• Potion effects weren't scaling properly
• Codex "history" tabs at the bottom weren't cutting off items, traps, and banners
• At least one confirmed crash, involving the Taskmaster
• Tooltips no longer display during the epilogue

[ 2019-06-24 02:48:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update introduces two significant changes to combat:

• Characters have a single attack rather than different attacks or damages in all three slots.
• Attacks can deal multiple types of damage.

A single attack means less Codex clutter and slot positioning matters less than floor composition, which are both great things for more casual players. Multiple damage types per attack prevents this change from diluting the strategy by increasing the depth of floor composition. A lot of characters have received damage revisions, and you'll see a lot more non-physical damage, and ultimately more interesting combinations coming out of this. These changes required significant rework under the hood, and I have a few reservations about dropping that on everyone without more testing (there are also tutorial and help topic texts to update), so this is a beta release. Anyone can opt in to the beta by viewing ToT's preferences in their Steam library and checking out the "betas" tab. You will then automatically receive this and any future beta updates. Because this is a beta, I would love to hear your thoughts on these changes, and if you see anything that seems strange to you, please let me know!

What's Next?

Some of you may recall that I was working on a major beta release that never materialized last year; this update represents some of the changes that that build contained, and my goal is to gradually pull more of those features into the standard release in updates like this one. However, my development time remains very limited, and this update stretched into months, so I don't want to dive right back into another major set of changes. Instead, I'm planning to spend the next couple of months producing a few smaller updates with minor fixes, improvements, and content. Hopefully, bite-size updates will be more compatible with my current schedule. I'm afraid this changelog is highly abridged; individual changes were not closely tracked this time around--smaller updates may help with this, as well. I covered the key items, but I know there are additional changes and fixes, so I may amend this list if I recover further details. As always, thank you for your continued support and patience ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Killer Katabasis floor (Harbor + Cemetery); produces the Ferryman, a minion that can resurrect allies when they fall

Changes:

• All characters have a single attack--no variation by slot position
• Attacks can deal multiple types of damage
• Attacks are no longer classified as ranged or melee, but "ranged" has become a new character trait
• All character stats have been re-evaluated--particularly with regards to damages and special abilities
• New icons for most damage types
• Adamantiserum renamed to Battle Balm
• Magi-jack renamed to Siphon Sip
• A bunch of assorted graphical tweaks

Fixes:

• A bunch of these, too

[ 2018-06-01 03:41:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Over a year ago, I announced plans to rework major mechanics in the form of an opt-in beta. I provided details up front because I wanted to hear your opinions, and I'm grateful for everything you shared. However, over that year, the little development time I had spiralled from one experimental overhaul into another, and now a year has passed and the "big beta" still hasn't materialized--the beta build is currently a convoluted mess of insane changes. I've always wanted Tomb's development to be responsive and this year has been anything but; you all deserve more than the handful of meager updates I've provided in this time--there hasn't even been a new floor since last Halloween! Fortunately, while the big beta is far from releasable, there are a lot of elements that are completely ready to go--many of which I feel confident releasing outside of a controlled beta. So I've decided to spend the next few months porting those changes and some content from the beta copy into the standard release. My development time is still limited, so this may take a while, but at least you'll start seeing new stuff on a more regular basis, and I can continue to hear and iterate upon your thoughts. The first change I've brought over is the hiding of the original dungeon Hoard, so that the left-hand Hoard is the only one you'll play with. The dual-Hoard setup was the result of a desire to provide a more practical left-hand Hoard without ditching the one at the bottom of the dungeon--which was a core part of the game's original premise. However, a lot of players make comments about how silly or confusing this looks, and they're absolutely right. I am sorry it took so long to see that. Secondly, the Fence, Shop, and Guildhall have been collectively altered. These floors were unique in that they were the last example of floors altering what later floors provided; this one-off mechanic was being phased out, but these floors didn't get handled before beta development started. Now, the Fence will produce the existing Thief minion, the Goblin Sneak has been changed into a Goblin Swindler and placed in the Shop, and a new Goblin Ringleader has been added to the Guildhall. The net result of these changes is that all floors finally produce either a minion or a trap, and none of it is dependent upon other floors. As for those minion changes, the Swindler has a unique "bargain" ability; when a Swindler is purchased or resurrected, another minion will be purchased or resurrected for free. The Ringleader has a new "delegate" ability, which directs a more powerful minion to attack in their stead; you may place the Ringleader on a floor with one of your most powerful minions to essentially give that minion an extra attack every round. There's also a new Creepy Cabin floor that produces Psychopaths, some more shader revisions, a larger default window size, and some other assorted fixes and improvements. As always, let me know what you think!

What's Next?

There is still a bunch of finished stuff in the beta that I can pull into the standard release, and my current plan is to start with damage changes. The beta removes the separate-damages-by-slot mechanic and allows some attacks to deal two or more types of damage. This means that slot placement will matter a lot less than floor composition; previously, you could have a minion that buffed fear damage, and a minion that only dealt fear damage in a certain slot, and you would have to be sure you placed both correctly in order to benefit, but now that second minion may have an attack that deals some fear and some cold damage, so the fear buff will apply to them in any slot--and another minion could be buffing their cold damage, to boot! Of course, that change requires bringing in a lot of character damage changes, and while I'm at it, I will try to bring in some of the other character changes (new abilities and visual improvements). The game is moving away from all of those different damages and instead giving each minion one damage and possibly one special ability; as a result, more characters are receiving the latter. I'll also pull in another floor and maybe a new item or two from the beta. I'll slowly bring in most of this stuff, and maybe doing so will help me get a better grip on the focus of the beta, because it's pretty crazy right now. Thank you, again, for all of your continued suggestions and support this year, even in the face of sparse updates. I greatly appreciate all of it ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Creepy Cabin floor; produces Psychopath, a fear damage dealer
• Goblin Ringleader added to Guildhall; they can provide powerful minions with an additional attack
• More hats for the Masquerade banner

Changes:

• Dungeon hoard has been hidden
• Thief moved to Fence
• Goblin Sneak changed to Swindler and moved to Shop
• Guildhall now produces Goblin Ringleader
• Visual options now affect the pause menu
• Menu dims the background image slightly more, to reduce visual noise in the menu
• Several visual changes to some existing characters
• Minor improvements to shaders

Fixes:

• "B" button icon appeared on Codex when controller was detected, even when not in use
• Genies and Ifrit were not marked "hattable," so hat banners weren't affecting them--unacceptable!
• Minions wouldn't always receive a randomized visual appearance when newly spawned

[ 2017-11-24 15:40:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Over a year ago, I announced plans to rework major mechanics in the form of an opt-in beta. I provided details up front because I wanted to hear your opinions, and I'm grateful for everything you shared. However, over that year, the little development time I had spiralled from one experimental overhaul into another, and now a year has passed and the "big beta" still hasn't materialized--the beta build is currently a convoluted mess of insane changes. I've always wanted Tomb's development to be responsive and this year has been anything but; you all deserve more than the handful of meager updates I've provided in this time--there hasn't even been a new floor since last Halloween! Fortunately, while the big beta is far from releasable, there are a lot of elements that are completely ready to go--many of which I feel confident releasing outside of a controlled beta. So I've decided to spend the next few months porting those changes and some content from the beta copy into the standard release. My development time is still limited, so this may take a while, but at least you'll start seeing new stuff on a more regular basis, and I can continue to hear and iterate upon your thoughts. The first change I've brought over is the hiding of the original dungeon Hoard, so that the left-hand Hoard is the only one you'll play with. The dual-Hoard setup was the result of a desire to provide a more practical left-hand Hoard without ditching the one at the bottom of the dungeon--which was a core part of the game's original premise. However, a lot of players make comments about how silly or confusing this looks, and they're absolutely right. I am sorry it took so long to see that. Secondly, the Fence, Shop, and Guildhall have been collectively altered. These floors were unique in that they were the last example of floors altering what later floors provided; this one-off mechanic was being phased out, but these floors didn't get handled before beta development started. Now, the Fence will produce the existing Thief minion, the Goblin Sneak has been changed into a Goblin Swindler and placed in the Shop, and a new Goblin Ringleader has been added to the Guildhall. The net result of these changes is that all floors finally produce either a minion or a trap, and none of it is dependent upon other floors. As for those minion changes, the Swindler has a unique "bargain" ability; when a Swindler is purchased or resurrected, another minion will be purchased or resurrected for free. The Ringleader has a new "delegate" ability, which directs a more powerful minion to attack in their stead; you may place the Ringleader on a floor with one of your most powerful minions to essentially give that minion an extra attack every round. There's also a new Creepy Cabin floor that produces Psychopaths, some more shader revisions, a larger default window size, and some other assorted fixes and improvements. As always, let me know what you think!

What's Next?

There is still a bunch of finished stuff in the beta that I can pull into the standard release, and my current plan is to start with damage changes. The beta removes the separate-damages-by-slot mechanic and allows some attacks to deal two or more types of damage. This means that slot placement will matter a lot less than floor composition; previously, you could have a minion that buffed fear damage, and a minion that only dealt fear damage in a certain slot, and you would have to be sure you placed both correctly in order to benefit, but now that second minion may have an attack that deals some fear and some cold damage, so the fear buff will apply to them in any slot--and another minion could be buffing their cold damage, to boot! Of course, that change requires bringing in a lot of character damage changes, and while I'm at it, I will try to bring in some of the other character changes (new abilities and visual improvements). The game is moving away from all of those different damages and instead giving each minion one damage and possibly one special ability; as a result, more characters are receiving the latter. I'll also pull in another floor and maybe a new item or two from the beta. I'll slowly bring in most of this stuff, and maybe doing so will help me get a better grip on the focus of the beta, because it's pretty crazy right now. Thank you, again, for all of your continued suggestions and support this year, even in the face of sparse updates. I greatly appreciate all of it :totcordial:!

Changelog

Additions:

• Creepy Cabin floor; produces Psychopath, a fear damage dealer
• Goblin Ringleader added to Guildhall; they can provide powerful minions with an additional attack
• More hats for the Masquerade banner

Changes:

• Dungeon hoard has been hidden
• Thief moved to Fence
• Goblin Sneak changed to Swindler and moved to Shop
• Guildhall now produces Goblin Ringleader
• Visual options now affect the pause menu
• Menu dims the background image slightly more, to reduce visual noise in the menu
• Several visual changes to some existing characters
• Minor improvements to shaders

Fixes:

• "B" button icon appeared on Codex when controller was detected, even when not in use
• Genies and Ifrit were not marked "hattable," so hat banners weren't affecting them--unacceptable!
• Minions wouldn't always receive a randomized visual appearance when newly spawned

[ 2017-11-24 15:40:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

First off: this isn't the beta you're looking for. Many of you have been patiently awaiting the big beta overhaul, and while this is a beta release, it is just the standard build with a couple of potentially volatile items that I need tested. This update contains changes to the launcher and primary fragment shader, which are two things that can cause a lot of unforseen headaches on different OS and hardware setups, necessitating a beta release before pushing these changes out to everyone. You can opt to receive beta releases at any time by looking for the betas tab of the game's properties in your Steam library. So why am I pushing these volatile changes out now instead of holding them for the big beta? This shader change aims to address one of the more common complaints I've seen: why does the game have to look so retro? I get it, you like pixels, but these ones are too big, or the pixelated fonts can be hard on your eyes, or you're just not in the mood to have sharp, saturated blocks of color pumped into your retinas. I've done things in the past to assist with this: various filters and the "double-res" fonts, but nothing's done the trick!
So I'm introducing new "smooth" and "artsy" pixel filters (leftmost section of images is "hard" pixels). The "smooth" setting is replacing the default "soft" pixel setting (which was virtually indistinguishable from "hard" at most standard resolutions), while the old, rubbish "artsy" filter has been completely discarded in favor of a much smarter smoothing algorithm of my own design (I had a great vacation this year!).
The "smooth" filter intelligently rounds the corners of non-contiguous pixels to create a subtle softness without compromising sharp pixel edges. It even helps improve the double-res fonts:
The old "artsy" filter was a poor attempt to disguise the game's pixels, but it ended up a mess; the new version, on the other hand, is very playable. However, the double-res fonts are not usable with this filter (it makes them look worse, while the low-res fonts actually look quite smooth and legible).
Other changes: the double-resolution fonts are now the default, and the launcher no longer keeps a console window open while you're playing (an inadvertent side-effect to launcher fixes from last spring). Changing the default shader and font set is a significant design change for me, as most of the game was developed to adhere very strictly to the grid (no rotating, scaling, or offsetting pixels), and compromises were available but never pushed in the past. Development on the beta has me re-evaluating a lot of priorities, though, and I need to offer the best default experience I can. Please let me know whether you feel this is a step in the right direction, and of course, please report any issues you have with this release so I can prepare the standard release quickly. Thank again, everyone!

Changelog

Changes:

• "Artsy" filter is completely different, no longer sucky
• "Soft" filter (the default setting) replaced with "Smooth" filter with slightly rounded corners
• Double-res font set is now enabled by default (for new players)
• On Windows, launcher no longer leaves a console window open while the game is running

[ 2017-07-30 21:16:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

First off: this isn't the beta you're looking for. Many of you have been patiently awaiting the big beta overhaul, and while this is a beta release, it is just the standard build with a couple of potentially volatile items that I need tested. This update contains changes to the launcher and primary fragment shader, which are two things that can cause a lot of unforseen headaches on different OS and hardware setups, necessitating a beta release before pushing these changes out to everyone. You can opt to receive beta releases at any time by looking for the betas tab of the game's properties in your Steam library. So why am I pushing these volatile changes out now instead of holding them for the big beta? This shader change aims to address one of the more common complaints I've seen: why does the game have to look so retro? I get it, you like pixels, but these ones are too big, or the pixelated fonts can be hard on your eyes, or you're just not in the mood to have sharp, saturated blocks of color pumped into your retinas. I've done things in the past to assist with this: various filters and the "double-res" fonts, but it seems nothing has quite done the trick!
So I'm introducing new "smooth" and "artsy" pixel filters (leftmost section of images is "hard" pixels). The "smooth" setting is replacing the default "soft" pixel setting (which was virtually indistinguishable from "hard" at most standard resolutions), while the old, rubbish "artsy" filter has been completely discarded in favor of a much smarter smoothing algorithm of my own design (I had a great vacation this year!).
The "smooth" filter intelligently rounds the corners of non-contiguous pixels to create a subtle softness without compromising sharp pixel edges. It even helps improve the double-res fonts:
The old "artsy" filter was a poor attempt to disguise the game's pixels, but it ended up a mess; the new version, on the other hand, is very playable. However, the double-res fonts are not usable with this filter (it makes them look worse, while the low-res fonts actually look quite smooth and legible).
Other changes: the double-resolution fonts are now the default, and the launcher no longer keeps a console window open while you're playing (an inadvertent side-effect to launcher fixes from this past spring). Changing the default shader and font set is a significant design change for me, as most of the game was developed to adhere very strictly to the grid (no rotating, scaling, or offsetting pixels), and compromises were available but never pushed in the past. Development on the beta has me re-evaluating a lot of priorities, though, and I need to offer the best default experience I can. Please let me know whether you feel this is a step in the right direction, and of course, please report any issues you have with this release so I can prepare the standard release quickly. Thank again, everyone!

Changelog

Changes:

• "Artsy" filter is completely different, no longer sucky
• "Soft" filter (the default setting) replaced with "Smooth" filter with slightly rounded corners
• Double-res font set is now enabled by default (for new players)
• On Windows, launcher no longer leaves a console window open while the game is running

[ 2017-07-30 02:47:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am sorry to say that I still do not have a beta release date in sight, but I feel I owe you all some insight into the changes you can expect when it arrives. First off, for those who are unaware, my last few months have been spent working on some massive changes to the game's mechanics which I will eventually release in a beta form, for additional workshopping. Progress has been slow on account of this now being a part-time gig for me along with having had a new child recently, but I am trying to make more time available. My relative silence is mostly due to difficulty justifying talking over working, but I really do want to keep you all in the loop, so it's about time I share some more. My general goals for this beta period are to:

• Reduce the number of core mechanics and types of interaction
• Increase the clarity and depth of remaining mechanics
• Introduce end-game content and victory scenarios
• Emphasize an escalation in complexity over time

This post will be focusing on the first couple of points, but I want to make it clear that while some of this may sound like "dumbing down" the game, this beta is really about growing the game's scalability (and enjoyability) from casual to core. The aim is to achieve this by distilling the early game into fewer essential elements--so it is more approachable and well-defined--, and then ramp up the complexity and interplay of those elements through the unlocked content (increased minion synergy, advanced items, and layered late-game rules). Possibly the largest mechanical change going into the introductory beta release is the removal of the traditional inventory and refactoring of item functionality. In the beta, you will no longer have a ten-slot inventory of passive and usable items; instead, each resource will now have an assigned item--chosen before the game starts--, and these items will relate more directly to their associated resource. In conjunction, the current resource-specific matching bonuses are being removed. These are the effects inherent to each resource--like healing when matching Flesh--, which were introduced to give resource-matching a little more weight beyond buying things. At face value, these changes may sound alarming, but here's my reasoning: The game's inventory and item mechanics went through a lot of iterations before settling where they are today, but most items currently fall into one of two categories: static items that give you a bonus in exchange for an inventory slot, and usable items that you have to remember to click every so often. I suppose this system works fine, but neither of these options are really engaging; many of the usable items encourage immediate re-use over careful planning, and the passives are essentially a trade-off that keep you from having another usable. The matching bonuses were poorly explained and easily ignored; by design, they were rewarding even for players who did not pay attention to them, but that didn't make them feel relevant. Even if you did pay attention to them, it was easy to dismiss the resource effects you didn't care for. It was all about saving those Bone matches, right? The resource/item changes are designed to address these shortfalls, while maintaining the benefits of both mechanics. At the start of a game, you will be able to swap freely between any unlocked item (between games, the hoard area has been changed to offer options for this and banner selection), with each item retaining the level it was last at, so you can level each item across multiple games, then trade it out for a round without feeling punished for trying something new. Each item is now tied to its resource in a deliberate fashion, and currently, they fall into five basic categories (category names are, as any of this, subject to change): Artifacts, Contingencies, Potions, Conduits, and Modifiers. Most of the game's passive items are becoming Artifacts and Contingencies; these are passive categories, but with a minimum or maximum required resource threshold, respectively. For example, the holy damage reduction from the Helm only remains in effect so long as you maintain an indicated level of the Gear resource. On the other hand, the Punji contingency now offers a bonus trap on all trap floors whenever the Growth resource is low. The previously usable Potions now function similarly to the past matching bonuses; the item's effect is activated per every so many points of the target resource. The key difference is that partial progress toward the next activation carries between moves. For example, the new Lazarus Lotion requires (currently) 10 Bone to activate, resurrecting a minion for free; this is steeper than the old bone-matching bonus, but it can be activated across multiple matches. (If you are concerned about timing the larger quantity to coincide with the loss of a minion, check the miscellaneous updates below for a relevant change to resurrections). Conduits are similar to Potions, but offer a bigger bonus that require larger single matches to activate; progress does not carry across moves, and while a potion can be triggered multiple times in a single move, the conduit's effect is detonated once per move. When gathering a large quantity of Ruin, the Balding Bomb now detonates any remaining Ruin tiles (explosion size scaling with Bomb level), gathering neighboring tiles and building upon the current move's multiplier. Finally, we have Modifiers, which create different Hoard matching behaviors when grabbing tiles of the same color. The Magnet, for instance, will now cause all Scrap drags to have a range within which Gear matches with Scrap; the Gear will gain an orange Scrap background, but be collected as Gear--of course, the increased multiplier will also benefit any Scrap gathered. These items are generally the most experimental, but everything here is subject to change based on how the beta plays. So there are more types of items than before, but I've removed several forms of interaction (clicking usables, managing inventory items, selling items, etc.), and these new mechanics don't rely upon any new interactions. Aside from possibly some Modifiers, none of these effects strictly require player knowledge, either; they are bonuses that can simply occur through standard play, but the new model should reward strategy far more than before and allow players to better customize the mechanics to match their playstyle. The thresholds will also make it easier to balance passive items--I am aware that there are some rather OP items in the current release...
This is the WIP Hoard with composite sample resource bars taken from multiple sessions--I thought you all may be able to chime in on your preferred layout for the min, max, and resource icons. The first six bars use a 30-pixel height to represent any maximum; notice how the 17 Growth appears higher than the 20 Gear. The last two resources use a different bar with a 1:1 pixel:unit height, where the total max possible is 40 but the meter's level is a truer representation of its value. I am leaning toward that sizing, but I'd like to have others weigh in. The entire Hoard frame and background should be receiving a facelift, as well, but I can't really work on styling things until these other decisions are settled. I would also love to hear your thoughts on which items should become the new default for each resource. I am thinking the four pillar Potions (Cordial, Quaff, Adamantiserum, and Magi-jack), a couple of Contingencies and a couple of Conduits, but I am not sure. Other things you may notice about this image: the rituals are missing and the moving tile queue is gone. The rituals were temporarily removed from this build, because I have been experimenting with reserving them for another mechanic; this is not likely to be in the initial beta release, so you can probably expect those to appear on the edges, as before. However, the moving tile queue that catches falling tiles and reserves cleared rows is out, because in this build, I have removed the clearance requirement for new floors. You'll be able to build any floor you can afford without clearing room, and there will instead be an overall space constraint that increases with the wave count (this rule will itself change later in the beta). There are a lot of other things going on, too; here are some of the other changes slated for the initial beta release:

• All characters are receiving stat and ability revisions
• No more resurrection time limit on minions; minions always resurrect to their previous selves (so long as they are not dead when the dungeon crumbles), but this means minion purchase prices go steadily up as the game progresses and your minions increase in level
• Heroes no longer build checkpoints but instead establish them on undefended floors
• Floors are "fortified" by placing three defenders on them; each floor bestows a different bonus when fortified
• About a dozen new items to build variety

And there are many other changes (and additions!) planned for this extended beta period. It is just going to take longer to get there than I had expected. Of course, throughout all of this, the standard release will remain the standard release. The beta is open to all, but requires an opt-in from the game's properties in your Steam library; you can actually opt-in right now to receive the beta branch as soon as it goes live, and it will replace the standard release in your library. Please let me know what you all think, either here in the comments, or over on the thread I've set up for more in-depth discussion. Thank you again for all of your ideas and patience ːtotcordialː !

[ 2017-06-01 00:25:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am sorry to say that I still do not have a beta release date in sight, but I feel I owe you all some insight into the changes you can expect when it arrives. First off, for those who are unaware, my last few months have been spent working on some massive changes to the game's mechanics which I will eventually release in a beta form, for additional workshopping. Progress has been slow on account of this now being a part-time gig for me along with having had a new child recently, but I am trying to make more time available. My relative silence is mostly due to difficulty justifying talking over working, but I really do want to keep you all in the loop, so it's about time I share some more. My general goals for this beta period are to:

• Reduce the number of core mechanics and types of interaction
• Increase the clarity and depth of remaining mechanics
• Introduce end-game content and victory scenarios
• Emphasize an escalation in complexity over time

This post will be focusing on the first couple of points, but I want to make it clear that while some of this may sound like "dumbing down" the game, this beta is really about growing the game's scalability (and enjoyability) from casual to core. The aim is to achieve this by distilling the early game into fewer essential elements--so it is more approachable and well-defined--, and then ramp up the complexity and interplay of those elements through the unlocked content (increased minion synergy, advanced items, and layered late-game rules). Possibly the largest mechanical change going into the introductory beta release is the removal of the traditional inventory and refactoring of item functionality. In the beta, you will no longer have a ten-slot inventory of passive and usable items; instead, each resource will now have an assigned item--chosen before the game starts--, and these items will relate more directly to their associated resource. In conjunction, the current resource-specific matching bonuses are being removed. These are the effects inherent to each resource--like healing when matching Flesh--, which were introduced to give resource-matching a little more weight beyond buying things. At face value, these changes may sound alarming, but here's my reasoning: The game's inventory and item mechanics went through a lot of iterations before settling where they are today, but most items currently fall into one of two categories: static items that give you a bonus in exchange for an inventory slot, and usable items that you have to remember to click every so often. I suppose this system works fine, but neither of these options are really engaging; many of the usable items encourage immediate re-use over careful planning, and the passives are essentially a trade-off that keep you from having another usable. The matching bonuses were poorly explained and easily ignored; by design, they were rewarding even for players who did not pay attention to them, but that didn't make them feel relevant. Even if you did pay attention to them, it was easy to dismiss the resource effects you didn't care for. It was all about saving those Bone matches, right? The resource/item changes are designed to address these shortfalls, while maintaining the benefits of both mechanics. At the start of a game, you will be able to swap freely between any unlocked item (between games, the hoard area has been changed to offer options for this and banner selection), with each item retaining the level it was last at, so you can level each item across multiple games, then trade it out for a round without feeling punished for trying something new. Each item is now tied to its resource in a deliberate fashion, and currently, they fall into five basic categories (category names are, as any of this, subject to change): Artifacts, Contingencies, Potions, Conduits, and Modifiers. Most of the game's passive items are becoming Artifacts and Contingencies; these are passive categories, but with a minimum or maximum required resource threshold, respectively. For example, the holy damage reduction from the Helm only remains in effect so long as you maintain an indicated level of the Gear resource. On the other hand, the Punji contingency now offers a bonus trap on all trap floors whenever the Growth resource is low. The previously usable Potions now function similarly to the past matching bonuses; the item's effect is activated per every so many points of the target resource. The key difference is that partial progress toward the next activation carries between moves. For example, the new Lazarus Lotion requires (currently) 10 Bone to activate, resurrecting a minion for free; this is steeper than the old bone-matching bonus, but it can be activated across multiple matches. (If you are concerned about timing the larger quantity to coincide with the loss of a minion, check the miscellaneous updates below for a relevant change to resurrections). Conduits are similar to Potions, but offer a bigger bonus that require larger single matches to activate; progress does not carry across moves, and while a potion can be triggered multiple times in a single move, the conduit's effect is detonated once per move. When gathering a large quantity of Ruin, the Balding Bomb now detonates any remaining Ruin tiles (explosion size scaling with Bomb level), gathering neighboring tiles and building upon the current move's multiplier. Finally, we have Modifiers, which create different Hoard matching behaviors when grabbing tiles of the same color. The Magnet, for instance, will now cause all Scrap drags to have a range within which Gear matches with Scrap; the Gear will gain an orange Scrap background, but be collected as Gear--of course, the increased multiplier will also benefit any Scrap gathered. These items are generally the most experimental, but everything here is subject to change based on how the beta plays. So there are more types of items than before, but I've removed several forms of interaction (clicking usables, managing inventory items, selling items, etc.), and these new mechanics don't rely upon any new interactions. Aside from possibly some Modifiers, none of these effects strictly require player knowledge, either; they are bonuses that can simply occur through standard play, but the new model should reward strategy far more than before and allow players to better customize the mechanics to match their playstyle. The thresholds will also make it easier to balance passive items--I am aware that there are some rather OP items in the current release...
This is the WIP Hoard with composite sample resource bars taken from multiple sessions--I thought you all may be able to chime in on your preferred layout for the min, max, and resource icons. The first six bars use a 30-pixel height to represent any maximum; notice how the 17 Growth appears higher than the 20 Gear. The last two resources use a different bar with a 1:1 pixel:unit height, where the total max possible is 40 but the meter's level is a truer representation of its value. I am leaning toward that sizing, but I'd like to have others weigh in. The entire Hoard frame and background should be receiving a facelift, as well, but I can't really work on styling things until these other decisions are settled. I would also love to hear your thoughts on which items should become the new default for each resource. I am thinking the four pillar Potions (Cordial, Quaff, Adamantiserum, and Magi-jack), a couple of Contingencies and a couple of Conduits, but I am not sure. Other things you may notice about this image: the rituals are missing and the moving tile queue is gone. The rituals were temporarily removed from this build, because I have been experimenting with reserving them for another mechanic; this is not likely to be in the initial beta release, so you can probably expect those to appear on the edges, as before. However, the moving tile queue that catches falling tiles and reserves cleared rows is out, because in this build, I have removed the clearance requirement for new floors. You'll be able to build any floor you can afford without clearing room, and there will instead be an overall space constraint that increases with the wave count (this rule will itself change later in the beta). There are a lot of other things going on, too; here are some of the other changes slated for the initial beta release:

• All characters are receiving stat and ability revisions
• No more resurrection time limit on minions; minions always resurrect to their previous selves (so long as they are not dead when the dungeon crumbles), but this means minion purchase prices go steadily up as the game progresses and your minions increase in level
• Heroes no longer build checkpoints but instead establish them on undefended floors
• Floors are "fortified" by placing three defenders on them; each floor bestows a different bonus when fortified
• About a dozen new items to build variety

And there are many other changes (and additions!) planned for this extended beta period. It is just going to take longer to get there than I had expected. Of course, throughout all of this, the standard release will remain the standard release. The beta is open to all, but requires an opt-in from the game's properties in your Steam library; you can actually opt-in right now to receive the beta branch as soon as it goes live, and it will replace the standard release in your library. Please let me know what you all think, either here in the comments, or over on the thread I've set up for more in-depth discussion. Thank you again for all of your ideas and patience :totcordial: !

[ 2017-06-01 00:25:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

It has been another busy couple of months--just not for Tomb of Tyrants, I'm afraid. But with my newborn finally settling into a sleep pattern and a major release wrapping up at work, I found a bit more time for Tomb than usual this week; hopefully that is a sign of things to come. The beta still isn't ready, but a few important fixes have accumulated which needed to be added to the standard release. I would love to offer an updated estimate for the beta, but I've already put my foot in my mouth a few times there. However, it isn't fair of me to continue to leave everyone hanging for weeks or even months without an update, so, from now on, I will try to make an announcement at least once every couple weeks, even if I don't have any releases going out, just to keep everyone apprised. I'll try to focus on specific topics and request your input. Of course, you can already read some of the details and offer your thoughts here. Thank you for your patience, and for your continued suggestions and assistance in identifying and implementing the fixes below! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Fixes:

• Character outlines weren't always on when turned on in settings
• Resetting prophecy progress wasn't functioning as expected
• Another possible "track 7" crash for some legacy players
• A 64-bit Windows library loading crash on start-up

[ 2017-03-20 01:42:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

It has been another busy couple of months--just not for Tomb of Tyrants, I'm afraid. But with my newborn finally settling into a sleep pattern and a major release wrapping up at work, I found a bit more time for Tomb than usual this week; hopefully that is a sign of things to come. The beta still isn't ready, but a few important fixes have accumulated which needed to be added to the standard release. I would love to offer an updated estimate for the beta, but I've already put my foot in my mouth a few times there. However, it isn't fair of me to continue to leave everyone hanging for weeks or even months without an update, so, from now on, I will try to make an announcement at least once every couple weeks, even if I don't have any releases going out, just to keep everyone apprised. I'll try to focus on specific topics and request your input. Of course, you can already read some of the details and offer your thoughts here. Thank you for your patience, and for your continued suggestions and assistance in identifying and implementing the fixes below! :totcordial:

Changelog

Fixes:

• Character outlines weren't always on when turned on in settings
• Resetting prophecy progress wasn't functioning as expected
• Another possible "track 7" crash for some legacy players
• A 64-bit Windows library loading crash on start-up

[ 2017-03-20 01:42:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm afraid all I got you was some fixes and minor gameplay changes, but that's because I'm still busy working on the next big beta release. In fact, some of those changes are the reason I needed to make this standard release. First, there was a complete rewrite of the character animation system to allow for some advanced character types in the future--I'll need your help to spot any glitches here--, then there was some precautionary code for loading saves that are newer than the release--for those who opt back out of the beta. I also temporarily removed anchor stones (and dirt). If these tiles were in your Hoard when you last played, they will still be there, but no new anchors will appear. These (and other tile-based) mechanics are being reserved for later use in situations where they can be given adequate introduction and visibility. It has been a busy few months preparing for the beta (I also had a baby!), but it is still on the way. In the initial release, you can expect a complete item overhaul (no more inventory), removal of the Hoard view beneath the Sanctum, and some significant combat streamlining (simpler attack readouts and more special abilities). I am looking forward to trying these (and more!) out and seeing what you all think. Thank you, again, for all of your patience and support ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Changes:

• Save rules to accommodate saves that are newer than the current build
• Massive animation rewrites
• Many character previews are now animated
• Some item graphics have been revised
• Improvements and corrections to many character animations
• Item drop rules now allow items to drop multiple times in a single session, but only if you aren't currently holding the item in your inventory
• Removed anchor stones and dirt tiles
• Eliminated excess attacks when the target character is already doomed
• Capped early hero levels

Fixes:

• Crash on some Windows XP 32-bit setups
• Physical damage was inappropriately listed on some character tooltips
• Start-up crash for outdated track overrides
• Sanctum capacity breach message spam
• Gremlin welder's healing ability was hidden

[ 2017-01-14 05:03:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm afraid all I got you was some fixes and minor gameplay changes, but that's because I'm still busy working on the next big beta release. In fact, some of those changes are the reason I needed to make this standard release. First, there was a complete rewrite of the character animation system to allow for some advanced character types in the future--I'll need your help to spot any glitches here--, then there was some precautionary code for loading saves that are newer than the release--for those who opt back out of the beta. I also temporarily removed anchor stones (and dirt). If these tiles were in your Hoard when you last played, they will still be there, but no new anchors will appear. These (and other tile-based) mechanics are being reserved for later use in situations where they can be given adequate introduction and visibility. It has been a busy few months preparing for the beta (I also had a baby!), but it is still on the way. In the initial release, you can expect a complete item overhaul (no more inventory), removal of the Hoard view beneath the Sanctum, and some significant combat streamlining (simpler attack readouts and more special abilities). I am looking forward to trying these (and more!) out and seeing what you all think. Thank you, again, for all of your patience and support :totcordial:!

Changelog

Changes:

• Save rules to accommodate saves that are newer than the current build
• Massive animation rewrites
• Many character previews are now animated
• Some item graphics have been revised
• Improvements and corrections to many character animations
• Item drop rules now allow items to drop multiple times in a single session, but only if you aren't currently holding the item in your inventory
• Removed anchor stones and dirt tiles
• Eliminated excess attacks when the target character is already doomed
• Capped early hero levels

Fixes:

• Crash on some Windows XP 32-bit setups
• Physical damage was inappropriately listed on some character tooltips
• Start-up crash for outdated track overrides
• Sanctum capacity breach message spam
• Gremlin welder's healing ability was hidden

[ 2017-01-14 05:03:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Halloween! I'm celebrating with a classic Halloween monster that I'm sure some of you were missing: the vampire! This is a high-level undead unit that deals corruption damage; his health, defense, and damage are somewhat low compared to some top-tier minions, but he comes with rapid healing and a leech ability that gives additional health when successfully harming others. The new Bedchamber prophecy also comes with a new banner, the Midnight Masquerade. This banner increases Corrupted unit defense by 1, and--in the spirit of Halloween, and in the vein of past holiday hat updates--gives suitable characters a random "costume" hat. Finally, there is a new Sleepless Cemetery floor, which is the new home of the Ghoul, which has been divorced from the Wight and Barrows. If you previously had the Barrows unlocked, the new prophecy will also be unlocked. The patch notes are a little slim this time around; due to the upcoming beta period, the game is now in a branched state, where new fixes (and in this case, content) are added to two separate versions of the game. As a result, I think there may actually be more fixes and other minor changes in this patch than are listed below. I am sorry for any inconvenience or confusion.

The "Beta"

Some of you may recall the previous beta period, during which a whole bunch of game mechanics were overhauled, and your feedback was used to create and refine those changes and bring about a better experience. Well, it's about that time again. For the next few months, major updates will likely be marked as beta releases. These updates will only go out to players who have opted in to the beta branch (you can do this right now from the game's properties in your Steam library). Everyone else can continue to enjoy the game as-is, with occasional fixes or improvements. Unlike the last beta, which was focused on mechanical changes and UI revisions first and foremost, the primary intent this time around is victory scenarios. The game has grown to a point where players feel significantly invested in these dungeons and minions that they have build up over several sessions, and it's time for that to pay off, in the form of elaborate machinations that require multiple Tyrants to achieve, and which result in an ultimate victory for the player. That said, there are tons of revisionary goals, as well; you can read up on most of these plans and leave your preliminary feedback over here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/340360/discussions/0/333656722968833525/ If you enjoy the game and would like to see it evolve into something more significant, I hope you'll join in on the beta and help me make it even better. Thank you, again, for all of your support! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Bloody Bedchamber (Belfry + Cemetery)--produces vampires
• Sleepless Cemetery (Catacombs + Grotto)--produces ghouls
• "Leech" ability; successful attacks heal one point of health (vampire and vampire bats have this)

Changes:

• Barren Barrows now requires Catacombs + Warrens and produces only Wights
• Adjusted volume for death audio cues (higher-level minions receive a louder sound)
• Several language changes to improve clarity or style

Fixes:

• Crash caused by rare fear damage situation
• Gift-bearers would drop the same items over and over if all item drops had been exhausted in this run (they will now ignore the item drop limits and give any unlocked item)

[ 2016-10-31 02:30:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Halloween! I'm celebrating with a classic Halloween monster that I'm sure some of you were missing: the vampire! This is a high-level undead unit that deals corruption damage; his health, defense, and damage are somewhat low compared to some top-tier minions, but he comes with rapid healing and a leech ability that gives additional health when successfully harming others. The new Bedchamber prophecy also comes with a new banner, the Midnight Masquerade. This banner increases Corrupted unit defense by 1, and--in the spirit of Halloween, and in the vein of past holiday hat updates--gives suitable characters a random "costume" hat. Finally, there is a new Sleepless Cemetery floor, which is the new home of the Ghoul, which has been divorced from the Wight and Barrows. If you previously had the Barrows unlocked, the new prophecy will also be unlocked. The patch notes are a little slim this time around; due to the upcoming beta period, the game is now in a branched state, where new fixes (and in this case, content) are added to two separate versions of the game. As a result, I think there may actually be more fixes and other minor changes in this patch than are listed below. I am sorry for any inconvenience or confusion.

The "Beta"

Some of you may recall the previous beta period, during which a whole bunch of game mechanics were overhauled, and your feedback was used to create and refine those changes and bring about a better experience. Well, it's about that time again. For the next few months, major updates will likely be marked as beta releases. These updates will only go out to players who have opted in to the beta branch (you can do this right now from the game's properties in your Steam library). Everyone else can continue to enjoy the game as-is, with occasional fixes or improvements. Unlike the last beta, which was focused on mechanical changes and UI revisions first and foremost, the primary intent this time around is victory scenarios. The game has grown to a point where players feel significantly invested in these dungeons and minions that they have build up over several sessions, and it's time for that to pay off, in the form of elaborate machinations that require multiple Tyrants to achieve, and which result in an ultimate victory for the player. That said, there are tons of revisionary goals, as well; you can read up on most of these plans and leave your preliminary feedback over here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/340360/discussions/0/333656722968833525/ If you enjoy the game and would like to see it evolve into something more significant, I hope you'll join in on the beta and help me make it even better. Thank you, again, for all of your support! :totcordial:

Changelog

Additions:

• Bloody Bedchamber (Belfry + Cemetery)--produces vampires
• Sleepless Cemetery (Catacombs + Grotto)--produces ghouls
• "Leech" ability; successful attacks heal one point of health (vampire and vampire bats have this)

Changes:

• Barren Barrows now requires Catacombs + Warrens and produces only Wights
• Adjusted volume for death audio cues (higher-level minions receive a louder sound)
• Several language changes to improve clarity or style

Fixes:

• Crash caused by rare fear damage situation
• Gift-bearers would drop the same items over and over if all item drops had been exhausted in this run (they will now ignore the item drop limits and give any unlocked item)

[ 2016-10-31 02:29:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

As with the last, this update makes a small change to the build tree to increase consistency by moving the Tartarean Taskmasters from sharing the Overlook to their own floor: the Pitiless Pits. This floor is similarly positioned in the tree (Lode + Portal), and some prophecies that previously relied upon the Overlook (the Pitchfork, for instance) now require the Pits instead. If you previously had the Overlook unlocked, the Pits should automatically unlock to avoid conflicts. I have also removed all floor restrictions from non-starters. This means that the only floor "decisions" that you have to make are the five starter floors that you select. There were only a few other floors that had these restrictions, and they could feel like they were blocking off content, especially if they were fortified and routinely carried over to the next round. There are some new audio cues for minion death, several fixes for reported bugs, and some small usability improvements. Thank you for all of your reports and suggestions over the last couple of weeks, as well as your patience with some of these fixes. Please keep them coming! :totfedora:

Changelog

Additions:

• Pitiless Pits (Lode + Portal)--new home for the Taskmaster
• Audio cues for doomed minions, as well as their countdown timer

Changes:

• Floor restrictions removed from all non-starters
• Overlook has some new art
• Final battle lighting has been increased
• Optimized some lighting code to improve performance
• Renamed Greater Grasp to Grasping Gauntlet (I was previously reserving "gauntlet" for later use, but I no longer think I'll need it, and it's more descriptive here)
• Baths prophecy now only requires a 5x multiplier instead of 6x
• When moved, floors make a similar sound to the elevator clacking
• A little more ability info in character tooltips when dropping them on a slot
• Taskmaster and Butcher have new heads and more color options
• Lightened backgrounds slightly during combat

Fixes:

• The Tyrant was not always participating in Sanctum fights (he will try to join the last-most unassigned slot, or kick out the last slot, if all slots are assigned)--this was causing a lot of "fire marshal" endings due to Sanctum capacity being reached
• Previously discovered but incomplete prophecies were disappearing when closing the game, making it difficult to find them again in your next session
• Ritual now explode more consistently when completed
• Sometimes, only one hero would join a battle immediately, while their friends waited an extra round
• Some ability damages were misreported when dragging characters over a slot (these tooltips also still do not take potential passives into account)
• Projectile speeds should now be more consistent for different distances

[ 2016-09-12 03:10:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

As with the last, this update makes a small change to the build tree to increase consistency by moving the Tartarean Taskmasters from sharing the Overlook to their own floor: the Pitiless Pits. This floor is similarly positioned in the tree (Lode + Portal), and some prophecies that previously relied upon the Overlook (the Pitchfork, for instance) now require the Pits instead. If you previously had the Overlook unlocked, the Pits should automatically unlock to avoid conflicts. I have also removed all floor restrictions from non-starters. This means that the only floor "decisions" that you have to make are the five starter floors that you select. There were only a few other floors that had these restrictions, and they could feel like they were blocking off content, especially if they were fortified and routinely carried over to the next round. There are some new audio cues for minion death, several fixes for reported bugs, and some small usability improvements. Thank you for all of your reports and suggestions over the last couple of weeks, as well as your patience with some of these fixes. Please keep them coming! ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• Pitiless Pits (Lode + Portal)--new home for the Taskmaster
• Audio cues for doomed minions, as well as their countdown timer

Changes:

• Floor restrictions removed from all non-starters
• Overlook has some new art
• Final battle lighting has been increased
• Optimized some lighting code to improve performance
• Renamed Greater Grasp to Grasping Gauntlet (I was previously reserving "gauntlet" for later use, but I no longer think I'll need it, and it's more descriptive here)
• Baths prophecy now only requires a 5x multiplier instead of 6x
• When moved, floors make a similar sound to the elevator clacking
• A little more ability info in character tooltips when dropping them on a slot
• Taskmaster and Butcher have new heads and more color options
• Lightened backgrounds slightly during combat

Fixes:

• The Tyrant was not always participating in Sanctum fights (he will try to join the last-most unassigned slot, or kick out the last slot, if all slots are assigned)--this was causing a lot of "fire marshal" endings due to Sanctum capacity being reached
• Previously discovered but incomplete prophecies were disappearing when closing the game, making it difficult to find them again in your next session
• Ritual now explode more consistently when completed
• Sometimes, only one hero would join a battle immediately, while their friends waited an extra round
• Some ability damages were misreported when dragging characters over a slot (these tooltips also still do not take potential passives into account)
• Projectile speeds should now be more consistent for different distances

[ 2016-09-12 03:10:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am doing some floor restructuring in this update; I want to move toward all floors offering a single, unique type of minion or trap. There are only a few floors that break this rule, but changing them will also affect other floor requirements. So here's what's changed so far:

• Alchemist now requires Cellar + Study and produces Mad Scientist
• Laboratory now requires Alchemist + Catacombs and only produces Flesh Golem
• Overlook now requires Lode + (Portal OR Dwelling); this will also change later, though (because it currently produces two different units depending upon other floors)
• Vibrant Vein is no longer parallel or mutually exclusive to the Lode; it now requires Lode + Study and produces Stone Golems

If you had the Lode unlocked before, you will automatically have the now separate Vein prophecy unlocked. Many players have stated in the past that they hated having to choose between the Vein and the Lode, but mostly because the two were so similar and it was easy to choose the "wrong" one for their resource needs; I believe this change should help rectify this while also fulfilling my goal of giving every floor a unique minion (rather than both producing the Goblin Miner). As some of you may know from the community forums, streams, or direct conversations with me, I am preparing for another big opt-in beta period to try out some major changes and additions. Before I dive into that, I want to make sure that the current standard release is in a good place. To that end, I am re-organizing some of the floor/prophecy tree for consistency, making some UI and usability improvements, and working on general stability. While I continue with these things, I am also trying out some mechanical changes that are less volatile or inter-dependent than the big stuff I have planned. This update contains two such changes: traps can now trigger during combat and support abilities no longer take up a combat slot. The trap change means that traps can now harm minions (although minions will not trigger the traps), and allows you to have battles on trapped floors without losing the effects of the trap. The best use of this would be to place minions who are immune to that trap (either due to damage resistances or due to defense type) on that floor. The only downside is that you may have to babysit these floors a little more than a typical floor, because new minions will not come in to supplement those who perish there. The support change is even more significant: all support abilities are now in the "special" ability spot, and will always apply when a character is in combat, regardless of slot. Before, players had to make a trade-off between an extra attack or having a support role in their line-up, and I think the advantage of the support role wasn't always obvious compared to having an additional attack, somewhat discouraging this synergy. This is a non-trivial change, and I will need to gather more feedback on this, but I definitely think it will motivate players to build more effective bands of minions. Because it has been over a month since the last release and there are some significant underlying changes, I am especially concerned with stability in this update; please let me know (here, in the forums, via personal message, etc.) if you experience any issues at all! I know it's been a very slow summer for me and the game, but I am continuing to listen and work on improving it. I hope you'll all keep sharing your thoughts and suggestions on how things are going and where you'd like them to head. Thanks again for all of your support! ːtotcordialː [Edit: I forgot to mention, originally, that the game is currently on sale for its deepest discount to date. If you have, by any chance, owned the game for less than a couple of weeks and put in less than two hours (I think these are the limits), but feel like you would still enjoy it, you can request a refund and re-purchase at the lower price. Due to some changes in my personal life, it is unlikely that future discounts will be quite this low, so now is the time to abuse the system! ːtotfedoraː]

Changelog

Additions:

• Stone Golem (tough, worker construct with explosion weakness)
• Separate Vein prophecy (this floor was previously tied to unlocking the Lode)
• Traps now track and report kills

Changes:

• Removed support slot, moving these abilities into an always-on special slot
• Traps can now trigger during battles
• Traps can now harm minions
• Floors provide more trap information in their tooltips (damage, cooldown, and kills)
• Vibrant Vein now 4 tiles tall, requires Lode + Study
• Alchemist now produces Mad Scientist, requires Study + Cellar
• Laboratory now only produces Flesh Golem, requires Alchemist + Catacombs
• Overlook now requires Lode + (Portal OR Dwelling)
• Reduced leveling-oriented prophecy goals
• Trap codex damage now uses verbose tooltips--like character abilities
• Abilities that boost recovery rates now have their own verbose tooltip, rather than using the default format
• Merged characters now retain the old character's slot assignment (or absorb that of the mergee, if the original was unassigned)
• Clicking on the "Heroes are nearing your Sanctum" message will jump to the floor where this is occurring
• Minor changes and edits for epilogue and codex text

Fixes:

• On some systems, controller polling would cause a momentary stutter every 20-30 seconds
• Crash involving specific actions during the tutorial
• Crash associated with merging and replacing a character assigned to a slot
• Epilogue kill count was including those killed by the destruction of the previous dungeon
• Inconsistency with support abilities that reduced melee or ranged damage (by slot and not by damage type)
• Abilities that buffed recovery rates were not always being used

[ 2016-08-28 02:58:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am doing some floor restructuring in this update; I want to move toward all floors offering a single, unique type of minion or trap. There are only a few floors that break this rule, but changing them will also affect other floor requirements. So here's what's changed so far:

• Alchemist now requires Cellar + Study and produces Mad Scientist
• Laboratory now requires Alchemist + Catacombs and only produces Flesh Golem
• Overlook now requires Lode + (Portal OR Dwelling); this will also change later, though (because it currently produces two different units depending upon other floors)
• Vibrant Vein is no longer parallel or mutually exclusive to the Lode; it now requires Lode + Study and produces Stone Golems

If you had the Lode unlocked before, you will automatically have the now separate Vein prophecy unlocked. Many players have stated in the past that they hated having to choose between the Vein and the Lode, but mostly because the two were so similar and it was easy to choose the "wrong" one for their resource needs; I believe this change should help rectify this while also fulfilling my goal of giving every floor a unique minion (rather than both producing the Goblin Miner). As some of you may know from the community forums, streams, or direct conversations with me, I am preparing for another big opt-in beta period to try out some major changes and additions. Before I dive into that, I want to make sure that the current standard release is in a good place. To that end, I am re-organizing some of the floor/prophecy tree for consistency, making some UI and usability improvements, and working on general stability. While I continue with these things, I am also trying out some mechanical changes that are less volatile or inter-dependent than the big stuff I have planned. This update contains two such changes: traps can now trigger during combat and support abilities no longer take up a combat slot. The trap change means that traps can now harm minions (although minions will not trigger the traps), and allows you to have battles on trapped floors without losing the effects of the trap. The best use of this would be to place minions who are immune to that trap (either due to damage resistances or due to defense type) on that floor. The only downside is that you may have to babysit these floors a little more than a typical floor, because new minions will not come in to supplement those who perish there. The support change is even more significant: all support abilities are now in the "special" ability spot, and will always apply when a character is in combat, regardless of slot. Before, players had to make a trade-off between an extra attack or having a support role in their line-up, and I think the advantage of the support role wasn't always obvious compared to having an additional attack, somewhat discouraging this synergy. This is a non-trivial change, and I will need to gather more feedback on this, but I definitely think it will motivate players to build more effective bands of minions. Because it has been over a month since the last release and there are some significant underlying changes, I am especially concerned with stability in this update; please let me know (here, in the forums, via personal message, etc.) if you experience any issues at all! I know it's been a very slow summer for me and the game, but I am continuing to listen and work on improving it. I hope you'll all keep sharing your thoughts and suggestions on how things are going and where you'd like them to head. Thanks again for all of your support! :totcordial: [Edit: I forgot to mention, originally, that the game is currently on sale for its deepest discount to date. If you have, by any chance, owned the game for less than a couple of weeks and put in less than two hours (I think these are the limits), but feel like you would still enjoy it, you can request a refund and re-purchase at the lower price. Due to some changes in my personal life, it is unlikely that future discounts will be quite this low, so now is the time to abuse the system! :totfedora:]

Changelog

Additions:

• Stone Golem (tough, worker construct with explosion weakness)
• Separate Vein prophecy (this floor was previously tied to unlocking the Lode)
• Traps now track and report kills

Changes:

• Removed support slot, moving these abilities into an always-on special slot
• Traps can now trigger during battles
• Traps can now harm minions
• Floors provide more trap information in their tooltips (damage, cooldown, and kills)
• Vibrant Vein now 4 tiles tall, requires Lode + Study
• Alchemist now produces Mad Scientist, requires Study + Cellar
• Laboratory now only produces Flesh Golem, requires Alchemist + Catacombs
• Overlook now requires Lode + (Portal OR Dwelling)
• Reduced leveling-oriented prophecy goals
• Trap codex damage now uses verbose tooltips--like character abilities
• Abilities that boost recovery rates now have their own verbose tooltip, rather than using the default format
• Merged characters now retain the old character's slot assignment (or absorb that of the mergee, if the original was unassigned)
• Clicking on the "Heroes are nearing your Sanctum" message will jump to the floor where this is occurring
• Minor changes and edits for epilogue and codex text
• Melee attackers are now always rendered in front of defenders (because this looks better)

Fixes:

• On some systems, controller polling would cause a momentary stutter every 20-30 seconds
• Crash involving specific actions during the tutorial
• Crash associated with merging and replacing a character assigned to a slot
• Epilogue kill count was including those killed by the destruction of the previous dungeon
• Inconsistency with support abilities that reduced melee or ranged damage (by slot and not by damage type)
• Abilities that buffed recovery rates were not always being used
• Glitch with some melee animations that caused them to end and jump back very abruptly
• A couple of trap icons were being misplaced in the Codex

[ 2016-08-28 02:47:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

I have been doing a lot of traveling this month--and that will continue for the next couple of weeks--, but I still read all of your suggestions and bug reports, and this update represents an accumulation of responses. Now that the mechanics have settled in the wake of the last beta period, I am working to improve clarity across the board: new tutorial entries and help topics, better tooltips, and more intuitive controls. There is a small start here, and certainly more to come, but this is an area where player input is especially critical, so I would love to hear your thoughts! There is a conspicuous lack of content in this update, and there are a couple of reasons for that: one is that I have begun working on assets for the next beta period (which will be content heavy), and the other is that I am planning to restructure some of the existing prophecies, so I am withholding a couple of things in case I need to offset a prophecy removal or two with new stuff. I wish this were a more interesting update, but I'll try to get you all some new toys soon. Thank you for your reports, suggestions, and especially your patience this time around. I finally licked an issue with the launcher on systems with pre-existing, strictly conflicting Java installations, and while it may not have affected many people, it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders, and I'm very thankful to those players who helped test a number of experimental builds in my search to resolve this longstanding problem. Thanks everyone! ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• More verbose descriptions for many usables (these are automatically generated)
• The same improvement has been applied to tooltips for abilities and effects in the codex
• Character placement tooltips also carry these longer ability descriptions
• Codex help topics for each resource and anchor stones

Changes:

• Minions can now be unassigned from a floor by dragging them off the dungeon (previously, this could only be done by replacing them or clicking their status icon)
• There were a couple of prophecies with a "traps triggered" requirement that did not also require a trap floor to activate
• Numerous minor adjustments to existing tooltip text and icons
• Several small performance improvements
• The game is more likely to drop resources that you are low on
• The game drops fewer tiles when you are close to building a new floor (that is, if you have one queued and currently meet the resource requirements for it)--this and the above will likely require additional input and tweaking
• The game avoids dropping an item if you already have a max-level version of it
• The Tyrant now has one armor by default; he was always armor-based, but this should make it more apparent that he is affected by armor-related abilities and effects
• The message log no longer displays a tooltip for the currently selected message when you hover over it
• Many early prophecies, their goals, and their requirements were re-evaluated; many "spend resource" goals were changed to "gather"s (which are much easier early on), and some character pack dependencies were altered to make them rarer relative to floors and items (which are more important to a budding Tyrant)
• Removed category icons from prophecy popup message portraits

Fixes:

• Under some configurations, the launcher could crash on systems with a conflicting Java installation (game's .jar had to be loaded directly by the player, ugh!)
• "If you want something done right" achievement could become perpetually un-earnable if it was first done while playing without a Steam connection
• Some character ability targets/effects were wrong
• Quicksilver Quaff's range buff wasn't being applied properly (damage was buffed in codex, but was not actually being used in combat)
• Characters should only move up in combat if there are no damage-dealers and their current ability does not deal damage
• A couple of specific and obscure combat situations could cause the game to crash
• Character images in prophecy message icons were being cut off
• Tooltips for dragging/dropping characters were not very consistent
• Hovering over a combat slot could render a recently deceased assignee

[ 2016-07-19 05:32:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

I have been doing a lot of traveling this month--and that will continue for the next couple of weeks--, but I still read all of your suggestions and bug reports, and this update represents an accumulation of responses. Now that the mechanics have settled in the wake of the last beta period, I am working to improve clarity across the board: new tutorial entries and help topics, better tooltips, and more intuitive controls. There is a small start here, and certainly more to come, but this is an area where player input is especially critical, so I would love to hear your thoughts! There is a conspicuous lack of content in this update, and there are a couple of reasons for that: one is that I have begun working on assets for the next beta period (which will be content heavy), and the other is that I am planning to restructure some of the existing prophecies, so I am withholding a couple of things in case I need to offset a prophecy removal or two with new stuff. I wish this were a more interesting update, but I'll try to get you all some new toys soon. Thank you for your reports, suggestions, and especially your patience this time around. I finally licked an issue with the launcher on systems with pre-existing, strictly conflicting Java installations, and while it may not have affected many people, it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders, and I'm very thankful to those players who helped test a number of experimental builds in my search to resolve this longstanding problem. Thanks everyone! :totfedora:

Changelog

Additions:

• More verbose descriptions for many usables (these are automatically generated)
• The same improvement has been applied to tooltips for abilities and effects in the codex
• Character placement tooltips also carry these longer ability descriptions
• Codex help topics for each resource and anchor stones

Changes:

• Minions can now be unassigned from a floor by dragging them off the dungeon (previously, this could only be done by replacing them or clicking their status icon)
• There were a couple of prophecies with a "traps triggered" requirement that did not also require a trap floor to activate
• Numerous minor adjustments to existing tooltip text and icons
• Several small performance improvements
• The game is more likely to drop resources that you are low on
• The game drops fewer tiles when you are close to building a new floor (that is, if you have one queued and currently meet the resource requirements for it)--this and the above will likely require additional input and tweaking
• The game avoids dropping an item if you already have a max-level version of it
• The Tyrant now has one armor by default; he was always armor-based, but this should make it more apparent that he is affected by armor-related abilities and effects
• The message log no longer displays a tooltip for the currently selected message when you hover over it
• Many early prophecies, their goals, and their requirements were re-evaluated; many "spend resource" goals were changed to "gather"s (which are much easier early on), and some character pack dependencies were altered to make them rarer relative to floors and items (which are more important to a budding Tyrant)
• Removed category icons from prophecy popup message portraits

Fixes:

• Under some configurations, the launcher could crash on systems with a conflicting Java installation (game's .jar had to be loaded directly by the player, ugh!)
• "If you want something done right" achievement could become perpetually un-earnable if it was first done while playing without a Steam connection
• Some character ability targets/effects were wrong
• Quicksilver Quaff's range buff wasn't being applied properly (damage was buffed in codex, but was not actually being used in combat)
• Characters should only move up in combat if there are no damage-dealers and their current ability does not deal damage
• A couple of specific and obscure combat situations could cause the game to crash
• Character images in prophecy message icons were being cut off
• Tooltips for dragging/dropping characters were not very consistent
• Hovering over a combat slot could render a recently deceased assignee

[ 2016-07-19 05:32:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

I have barely kept up with your requests and reports over the last few weeks. It's been three and a half weeks since the last "real" update, but there have actually been several quiet updates since then (we were up to 2016.06.04i!), due to reported issues that were deemed too important to ignore. As a result, many of the things on the changelog below were introduced in the interim builds, but are listed here for completeness. The new content this time around is a pack of dangerous heroines: Elf Sohei, Dwarf Blademaster, and a Demon Hunter (she is actually a demon, so she does benefit from demonic effects, like the Pitchfork). These are all relatively tough opponents, and they come with a banner that boosts the damage of all female characters. This is a bit of a gamble; if you use a lot of female characters (dark elves, brood sisters, witches, harpies, succubi, gorgons, or nighblades), it should be pretty powerful, because the boost affects all damage and not just one type or another. While there are a lot of fixes included below, many of these come with changes that could potentially cause new issues (there's a new version of Steamworks, a new 64-bit build, and several underlying overhauls to different bits of game logic); please let me know if you experience anything out of the ordinary, so I can get things cleaned up quickly! I continue to rely upon and appreciate all of your reports and suggestions; I cannot thank you enough for your support! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Pretty Deadly hero pack (requires Fighters and either Forge or Baths); Elf Sohei, Dwarf Blademaster, Demon Hunter, and Every Rose banner (+1 damage for all female characters)
• There is now a separate 64-bit Windows release; previously, both were bundled together, which caused rare issues for some users
• The Codex now has a brief set of history buttons for re-visiting recent pages
• Gamma correction slider added to the options menu
• Message icons can now shake when updated, or if important
• "ControllerDisabled" introduced to ToTAdvanced options, for completely disabling controller functionality

Changes:

• Updated to a more recent version of the Steamworks API and its Java wrapper
• Flipped minions to the right-hand side of battles, so the slot assignment order reads 1-2-3, as expected
• Removed the klaxon; I will substitute a less obnoxious sound soon, but in the mean time, there is a visual warning indicator now
• Score and warning messages cannot be removed from the message log
• Dynamic music is now "dynamic" in the sense that you might expect; the track changes every couple of plays; previously, this option selected a track based on which floors were built, causing most dungeons to only play a single track repeatedly
• Minions may be stationed in any slot in the Sanctum again (so your Tyrant can take a back seat)
• Merge information isn't displayed in the Codex if any of the details are still locked
• Legacy minions are no longer awarded for hero checkpoints
• Rituals can now repeat so they will never be exhausted; this generally makes them easier, as well, because simpler ones are likely to re-appear early on
• Per-kill XP awards have been diminished significantly (especially for high-level kills); this affects both minions and heroes
• Hid "Biped" trait, which is no longer used by any character or item effects; it now only determines which characters can wear hats, so I will be phasing it out

Fixes:

• Prophecy progress wasn't always saving to the leaderboard when appropriate (but was saving to Steam stats for achievement purposes)
• Skirmisher was listed as "Leader" in Codex
• Two unrelated OS X crashes involving controller issues
• A crash if Java's access bridge features were only partially enabled by another application
• Checkpoints weren't immediately fortified upon starting a new game, so heroes wouldn't always be able to teleport in appropriately during the first wave
• Completed prophecy messages weren't going away on their own
• Characters would shake when healed, as though being damaged; most noticeable when matching flesh and healing all minions at once
• There was an issue with Steam cloud saves being reset, due to an API wrapper change
• Tyrant was still avoiding Sanctum fights sometimes
• Scarecrow and Deep One fear attacks were behaving unpredictably
• Heroes would occasionally walk right on through a checkpoint without awaiting the next wave
• Minor adjustments to the wording and positioning of several tooltips
• "Fire Marshal" ending was not triggering appropriately; criteria has been adjusted
• Some controller drivers or profiles could cause controller UI elements to flicker off and on
• Epilogue listed pack unlocks in the wrong order (floors should go first, followed by associated characters, etc.)
• Original banner colors couldn't be restored once changed
• Characters could ignore an elevator if there were lots of people waiting and another on the way; resolving this should improve the flow of characters through your dungeon
• Options menu cycled banners in reverse alphabetical order
• Some characters could strangely come to occupy multiple combat slots, resulting in a crazy pile-up of characters standing in the same spot, expecting to take the same turn; this required some substantial re-writes, so keep an eye out for any new, bizarre activity--thanks!

[ 2016-06-30 22:41:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Courtesy of your reports and requests this week, 2016.06.04 is an accumulation of fixes and minor features alongside a new hero pack: Forest Forces, featuring a Centaur Skirmisher, Forest Spirit, and Unicorn. And a banner that removes corruption immunity from characters like the Paladin and Unicorn. Thank you again for your continued support; the notes don't cover quite all of the stuff I've deployed over the last few days, but some items are very minor (like additional Codex entries or adjustments to certain character abilities). Please, keep the feedback coming! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Forest Forces hero pack (requires Trusty Steed, Druids, and either Wildwood or Snare); Centaur Skirmisher, Forest Spirit, Unicorn + Dark Horse banner
• Advanced settings file (ToTAdvanced, found in your system's user folder /.prefs), allowing explicit overrides for framerate and full screen resolution--experiment at your own risk (but if you have problems, please let me know)!

Changes:

• Match effect bonuses, like Flesh healing, are now capped at 5 bonuses per resource per match
• Reduced hero spawn levels assaulting smaller, younger dungeons
• Barrows prophecy no longer requires levelling skeletons

Fixes:

• Reinforcements that had an additional floor pre-req (such as the Ghoul or Wight) were shown as buyable (incorrect), but unavailable with no explanation
• Minions and heroes could lose their position in combat when restoring a session
• Lots of level up sounds were playing when restoring a game session
• Music could be superseded at start-up and fail to continue playing
• Potions could heal doomed minions, placing them in a weird limbo between dead and alive
• Corruption immunity wasn't applying to the Conscience

[ 2016-06-04 05:27:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tonight, more fixes and balancing (especially for larger dungeons). A lot changed during the beta period, and I am grateful for your feedback regarding the game's balance. I have heard a few say that the early game is too rough, so I will be looking at that for the next update, but this update is more for those who say the late game is too easy. Hero checkpoints now fortify by number of floors built rather than number of floors fortified; the previous checkpoint now fortifies when a new one appears. This way, you can't avoid fortifying floors in order to prevent heroes from adding portals; this also means dungeons brought over from a previous game will begin with hero portals throughout--should be more interesting this way, but let me know what you think! Drop rates have been tweaked a bit, the XP ramp has been bumped up, and hero spawn rates have increased slightly for later waves. In combat, minions are now always on the left and heroes are always on the right. This should help with some confusion identifying sides in the heat of battle. There are Liches in the air! The Macabre Mausoleum hosts a suitably powerful undead/eldritch enemy with high ward defense and a big arcane damage buff--they also raise Skeleton Acolytes, the same way Necromancers raise Skeleton Warriors. The Acolytes deal arcane damage and heal undead, so this is some great stuff for undead or magic-focused dungeons. Keep the feedback coming, and let me know what you really think! I appreciate it ːtotbaconː.

Changelog

Additions:

• Macabre Mausoleum (Nexus + Offering); produces Lich

Changes:

• Minions should now always be associated with a particular slot when stationed, if you do not target a specific slot, a suitable one will be selected
• Tweaked drop rates to vary by number of heroes in the dungeon (heroes should drop more stuff when there are fewer around)
• Increased hero spawn rate for later waves
• The previous hero checkpoint now fortifies when a new one is built
• Level ramp is significantly steeper
• Minions are always on the left side of a battle, and heroes always on the right
• If a target character perishes before all opponents have taken a stab, the turn swaps to the other side instead of finishing out unnecessary moves

Fixes:

• Shuffling floors would lose slot assignments for characters on that floor
• Resolved a couple of issues with unused controllers while using the menu
• Quaff was stacking with itself, allowing for very large ranged damage buffs

[ 2016-06-01 04:06:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thanks for all of your excellent feedback and bug reports this weekend, following the beta merge; the update notes below cover version 2016.05.30, as well as some of the minor interim releases I've made over the last couple of days. Lots of bug fixes and adjustments, as expected--keep the reports coming! There's a little new content, a sort of pseudo-Memorial Day, but in name more than theme. The Moldering Memorial is a floor dedicated to the memory of past Tyrants, and it produces a single Phantom Tyrant. This unit is innately pretty weak, like your Tyrant, but it has a few interesting properties: First, it has the Undead and Spirit traits (and Construct, if you're flying the Jolly Wrencher), so it can benefit from many effects that your Tyrant wouldn't. Second, if you using Steam, it will pull the level of your past Tyrant and spawn at that strength--and at the strength of any Tyrants on your friends list. That is, if I ended my last run with a level 8 Tyrant, my friends can receive "Jake Huhman the Tyrant," a level 8 Phantom Tyrant. I have some other weird friends list cross-over mechanics planned out; this update is testing those waters a bit. Third, it can merge with the Tyrant to produce a Tyrant...or rather, your Tyrant can absorb it to gain its experience. You can then order up a new Phantom and continue to harvest the XP of your friends' former Tyrants. You may have noticed that the Tyrant can level up more easily with the beta changes, by matching loot, and leveled Tyrants can take a bit more punishment; the Phantom Tyrant offers an easier way to level up your Tyrant, if that survivability is important to you. The new floor requires an item: the Tyrannical Tiara. This item increases the Tyrant's defense (and also the defense of the Phantom Tyrant) by one point per level (up to a bonus of +5). Thank you again for all of your support; I am loving the feedback on all of the big beta changes, and I want to hear more so I can continue to make improvements. ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• Moldering Memorial (Catacombs + Tiara); produces Phantom Tyrant
• Tyrannical Tiara (Reliquary or Coffers); increases Tyrant defense

Changes:

• All attacks now have a minimum base damage of one
• Reduced Dire Delivery character appearance rates
• Anchor stones now obey gravity (players were ignoring them until they had dug under them and then had difficulty removing them)
• Anchor stones are destroyed at the beginning of a new game, for a cleaner starting Hoard
• Reduced "level up [character type]" prophecy goal thresholds by 5
• Reduced "destroy items" plot goal threshold by 1
• Plot goals that involve a resource category now display the resource icon and name, in the appropriate color
• Magijack no longer requires prophecy completion
• Tile tooltips now describe match effects (like healing when hovering over a flesh tile)
• Minion merges now combine the XP value of both characters
• Fortification plots now select themselves (and expand) when they appear, unless you have just recently selected another message yourself

Fixes:

• Bone match resurrections were saving the doomed minion with the highest timer instead of the lowest
• Prophecy completion flags weren't always saving properly (resulting in the same prophecy being instantly "completed" again upon loading a session)
• The game could fail to fully launch on OS X
• Setups with more than four controllers could generate crashes

[ 2016-05-30 06:30:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

After five months of a split release favoring an opt-in beta branch, I am finally merging the releases, confirming all of the huge beta changes and additions that many of you have helped test and shape over those months. I am so thankful for all of your insight and reports that aided me in directing development over this time, and I look forward to working with all of you on similar major additions in the future. But first, I want to spend the next few weeks focusing on polish and bug fixes, to ensure that the standard release has regained the stability that allowed the previous major release to stand alone for so many months. There will be other minor additions and content, too, but no huge new features for a little while. I do still have more of that planned, though =). If you haven't been following along with the beta releases, there may be some shock when you load up this build, but almost everything about the beta changes was designed to improve the user experience, so don't be intimidated if things look a little different. To make things easier, the changelog below is a bit more on the abridged side than usual--just brass tacks. New to this release versus the previous beta release (a week ago) is an enforced camera fixation on the Sanctum when your Tyrant is in danger (and a slight slow-motion effect), and a brief "epilogue" following your Tyrant's demise (there will probably be some more expansion upon this in the future). I anticipate several minor follow-up releases over the next couple of days, to address any major bug reports; please report anything out of place--either on the forum, or to me directly (you are all cordially invited to send me a friend request at any time!)! Thank you again for all of the support over the beta months; I hope you all enjoy the end result as much as I do! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

New and Different Stuff:

• Fresh leaderboards for high score and plots completed. These aspects of the game have changed too much, and I'm sorry for the inconvenient reset. I have kept the old leaderboards available to the community for posterity, though, and now the worst item on the list is out of the way!
• The Hoard is now always visible on the left
• All minions can be dragged/dropped; portraits for all characters are now over on the right
• Generally lower minion and hero counts; everyone is named, and everyone feels more important and more manageable.
• Combat has been overhauled to be 3v3 without position shuffling; there is less guesswork when it comes to minion placement.
• Characters heal slightly after they have been targetted, at the same point where they draw fatigue.
• No more "deployable" items--only usables and passives.
• Items can be leveled up by collecting duplicates in subsequent playthroughs.
• Early hero checkpoints now gain portals that allow heroes to teleport into your dungeon directly.
• No more legacy points; instead:
  • All items carry over
  • Resource caps carry over -5 (never dropping below the base cap)
  • Floors are "fortified" by completing plots; fortified floors survive destruction
  • For each fortified floor, one of your highest ranking minions will survive destruction (the chosen minions' portraits will be marked in orange).
• All minions level up by gaining experience; 10 levels.
• Recently slain minions can be bought back from the dead (all experience in-tact) at an increased price
• New corruption mechanic for turning heroes to your side
• Removed the score multiplier
• Removed casual mode
• Added cloud saving support
• Added controller support
• Several achievement goals have been slightly adjusted
• Matches grant simple resource-determined bonuses to your characters; for example, flesh matches now heal minions. Sometimes, it is now beneficial to save a match for a time when your minions will need it.
• There are a couple of new Hoard elements: dirt blocks, and anchor stones. There is the potential to add a few more things in this vein down the road.
• Major change to messagelog layout
• Lots of UI changes and improvements
• Five or six new floors and other such stuff
• Plenty of other stuff that I've either forgotten to mention or felt wasn't super important.

[ 2016-05-28 02:51:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tonight's update adds two of the most requested features to the beta release (you can opt in from the Betas tab in the game's Properties in your Steam Library), but *there are some caveats and areas where I'll need your help! I'm afraid I only have access to two controllers and one OS in my workspace,so the only controllers that are definitely supported are XBox 360 and XBox One controllers, and they *may* only work on Windows. That should cover a bunch of you, but it's still awfully restrictive; fortunately, if you have access to some other controllers or OSes, you can help me add support for your controller/OS combo by using a simple controller debugging option I've included: see this thread for details! The game is almost completely playable with a controller, minus a few advanced UI elements (floor movement, option menu sliders, and most noticeably codex navigation--it can be opened and closed, but there is no mechanism for browsing). I think there is definitely room for improvement; I am still working on adding appropriate tooltips for all elements and giving the navigation a bit more clarity, but this is something I can continue to work on while gathering feedback and building controller profiles. Please let me know your thoughts on anything and everything controller-related =). Steam Cloud deployment is directly tied to the little icon that tells people that the game has Steam Cloud support, but because this is a beta release and not a standard release going out to everyone, I cannot tick the box to turn this completely on. There is, however, a secret checkbox that allows cloud saving to work for intrepid individuals without making it immediately available to everyone; if you are interested in helping me test cloud support, shoot me a friend request, and I can help you enable it on your end. Here, too, testing across non-Windows OSes would be greatly appreciated! Controller support represents the last of my major objectives for this wave of beta changes. I plan to spend the next week polishing, fixing bugs, updating in-game help, adjusting some achievements, and making some other minor additions. If all goes well, I hope to push the beta changes out to the standard release by early next week. Thanks again for all of your excellent suggestions and bug reports; everything's coming together thanks to you! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Controller support
• Cloud saving support (prophecy progress and current game)
• Controller polling debug output--can be accessed from the main menu with F2
• Added a message log warning when heroes are nearing the Sanctum

Changes:

• Rearranged some save data. The only noticeable thing should be that your banner settings will reset (sorry), because it is being saved differently to persist across the Cloud
• Prophecies message icons now display items, heroes, or banners they unlock, if they don't unlock a floor (they previously looked very plain)
• Removed Casual Mode; the "full experience" is generally cleaner than it was when Casual Mode was introduced, and the game is a bit smarter about scaling now--and continued improvement is likely
• First wave timer now starts only when a floor has been built and a move has been made; legacy floors will cause the game to start with the first move, as before, but a fresh dungeon will be safe until a floor is built--this is to aid beginners
• Gave plots and prophecies some new icon frames in the message log

Fixes:

• Banners unlocked count was off by one
• It was possible to set "negative" colors using the option sliders

[ 2016-05-23 04:28:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

I have several more fixes for the beta combat changes today. Most significantly, the weekend update introduced some buff/debuff calculation issues which should now be resolved. There was also an issue with poison potency. I have reintroduced the Necromancer's raise dead ability as the first in a series of special properties that I'll be adding to various characters. These abilities always apply to the combatant, regardless of slot, so the Necromancer doesn't need to be playing a support role to raise a Skeleton Warrior. Speaking of which, the Skeleton Warrior is now exclusively acquired by the Necromancer. The Bonehoard now only produces the Skeleton Archer, and it also requires the Camp. This is a significant change to the build tree, but the impact is lessened by the Barrows being altered to require the Catacombs and not the Bonehoard (so anything that requires the Barrows won't be affected by the Bonehoard change). The new Festering Feast floor will replace the Bonehoard as a Catacombs + Lair combo. Thanks again for all of your help and ideas this week! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Festering Feast (Catacombs + Lair); produces Lynch Worms
• Extreme healing (heals 4 hearts at the end of a turn)
• Healing support abilities can now improve
• Support for additional "Special" character rules, starting with the Necromancer's raise dead ability

Changes:

• Non-trait-specific healing support abilities have been bumped down to Quick Healing, rather than Rapid (but they can now level up to Rapid and even Extreme)
• Minor changes to several other character abilities
• Bonehoard now requires Catacombs + Camp (and not Lair)
• Barrows now requires Catacombs + Grotto/Warrens (and not Bonehoard)
• Bonehoard produces Skeleton Archer
• Skeleton Warrior unlocks with the Nexus and Necromancer
• Skeleton Warrior counts as a corrupted character, so raised dead share the same cap as corrupted characters (currently 5)
• Gave upgraded Brood Sisters a new carapace to help distinguish them from lower level ones
• Hovering over a floor now highlights all of the slots currently in use
• The game will scroll to the top of the floors list on new game, much as it does with the character list
• Quicksilver Quaff no longer requires prophecy fulfillment to unlock

Fixes:

• Many buffs/debuffs from various abilities, items, and banners were being processed incorrectly, due to the recent change in how some abilities are shared across multiple slots
• Poison calculation was off, making it very difficult to actually kill something with poison
• Character portraits were not always reflecting the correct ability in use
• Corrected some character and floor art inconsistencies
• Firm defenses would display as firm armor on the battle HUD, even when it was representing firm agility or ward

[ 2016-05-03 20:31:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thanks for all of your feedback on the big combat overhaul. The most critical feedback I received revolved around heroes not stopping to fight when players expected them to; the problem is that not all characters fit into every one of the new melee/ranged/support slots, and if there wasn't a suitable opening in the battle, they would just walk on by. This could seem awfully random, and improving clarity was one of the goals of the combat change, so: This update goes back to numbering each slot rather than dedicating each to melee, ranged, or support. Every character now has three abilities corresponding to each of these three slots, and sometimes this means that a character has two or three melee or ranged abilities. This way, characters should always join a battle that has an opening, because they can fit into any slot. As always, let me know what you think =). Other stuff: I finally nerfed a few items that were very overpowered (a level 5 Holy Helm could render most low-level holy heroes completely impotent), I've made some improvements to character button organization, healing abilities take a passive approach by improving the natural healing that each character does after being targeted, and there's a new floor with some Dride--uh, totally non-infringing spider/dark elf hybrids. Thanks again for your help and patience as we work through this prolonged beta period. With your assistance, I hope to close out the beta soon ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Execrable Eggsac (Dwelling + Gallows + Grotto); produces Brood Sisters

Changes:

• Slots have gone back to being numbered, and all characters can now fit into every combat slot
• Nerfed several artifacts; the Blueprints, Kibble, Pitchfork, Helm, Falchion, Grenade, and Lamp now improve every other level (i.e. 3rd and 5th)
• "Healing" abilities now give allies a higher recovery rate, so they heal more after being targeted (this means these abilities have diminished or no effect on characters with naturally higher recovery rates)
• Character purchase buttons are now sorted into two columns, if UI margins allow
• Duplicate purchase buttons are now stacked
• Resurrection buttons are now placed below purchase buttons, so you can see them while still looking at your living minions
• Floor construction buttons now list row clearance requirements
• Several other minor adjustments to character and floor button positioning/scaling
• Abilities no longer display a target icon if the target is the standard enemy target
• Hero levels scale a bit more aggressively in later waves
• Adamantiserum is now unlocked by default (its prophecy has been replaced by the Eggsac)

Fixes:

• Scrolling the mouse over floor buttons caused the button tooltip to flicker
• Dragging a character over a floor slot caused the same slot on other floors to be highlighted
• Character classes would sometimes be broken into multiple lines, even if they would have fit on a single line
• A couple of characters had animation glitches

[ 2016-04-29 22:33:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

There's still some glitchy weirdness going on with some of the big combat changes, but overall, players seem to be responding pretty positively to the new approach. Some further improvements are brewing over in the super beta feedback thread, and I really appreciate all of your input! There are a bunch of random fixes and improvements here--most in response to your suggestions--, as well as a new floor that produces ogres. Although I have added a prophecy for the Hulking Hill, I have actually removed the prophecy for the Curative Cordial, and the next few content packs will similarly replace the prophecies for Adamantiserum, Quicksilver Quaff, and Magi-jack, so that these four items can be available to all players from the start. I believe many of the early item unlocks have long been a bit rough for beginners, and these four seem like the essentials. Thank you for all of your great feedback and support over the last couple of days; I expect there will be several more updates this month as I thoroughly iron out the new combat, so be sure to let me know what you think! ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• Hulking Hill (Stockpile + Barrows): produces Ogres

Changes:

• Curative Cordial prophecy removed, so the Cordial is available from the start
• Plot messages are now expanded by default, if no other messages are expanded when the plot appears
• Gift-bearing heroes will now try to upgrade one of your current items, if possible (they should obey the items' "only one per playthrough" rule, though)
• Minion station assignments can be reset by clicking the icon in the lower right-hand corner of their portrait
• Some character stat/ability tweaks here and there
• Portraits now draw a line to their character when hovered over
• On new game, the minion list should scroll to the top (to ensure that any purchase buttons are immediately visible)

Fixes:

• Several different combat issues, many of which interacted in unpredictable ways (still some of this going on, though)
• Plot/prophecy progress fill around the message log icon was broken (always appeared full)
• Codex icon tooltips could still disappear
• Particle performance improvement
• Inconsistency in hat offsets
• Lots of effect icons were popping on characters at start-up
• Removed "champions defeated" figure from stats (no longer means anything)
• Character-related particles could clip through the ceiling of the topmost floor
• Found some strings that were not pulling from localization files (not that this makes a difference, since there are no alternative localizations)

[ 2016-04-17 04:17:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is the longest I've gone between updates, but it's not for lack of activity; I have been working hard on some experimental changes to the game's combat system, and I think I'm finally ready for your feedback. Combat flows a bit differently now. There are three slots on each side of the battle: a melee slot, a ranged slot, and a support slot. The slot that a character is placed in determines the ability they will use (some characters only have a melee or ranged ability, and some fit into multiple slots), and they will only use that slot's ability during that battle--no more order shuffling. The current target will cycle between slots instead of always hitting the character in front. Here are some of the anticipated advantages:

• Players will have more direct influence over the outcome of a battle; the order shuffling previously obfuscated a lot of tactical decisions
• 3v3 with ability restrictions will help keep character counts more manageable
• Characters will generally be using their best stuff, rather than cycling through weaker or absent abilities to get to their "good" turn--this means fewer wasted rounds
• Color-coded slots and icons should better convey the slot-to-ability connection, and be easier to explain when I get around to updating the tutorial

The tutorial isn't the only thing that I'd like to be improve, though. Every character received a stat pass, mostly to revise abilities into those three categories, and will require balancing--and overall hero wave strength will undoubtedly need to be tweaked, too. I'm not completely sold on all of the UI changes, either, so please chime in! With your help, I expect the next couple updates will come much more quickly. If you haven't already opted in to beta updates and would like to try it out, you can do so on the Betas tab of the game's Properties in your Steam library. You shouldn't lose progress, and you can revert back to the standard release at any time (with perhaps a little weirdness in the initial load). Oh, and if you have a Steam controller, might I recommend checking out this thread; a wonderful community member is looking for feedback of their own =). There are a ton of other fixes and revisions in here (including a single-icon option that should aid color-blind players). As always, this is thanks to your reports and support! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• Option to use a single icon to represent each of the game's resources (Bone, Leaf, Bolt, Steak, Helm, Staff, Column, Moneybag)
• Physical damage (replaced melee and ranged, which now describe ability slots)
• Arcane damage (replaces shadow damage--some of these attacks have been turned into fear attacks, as well)

Changes:

• Lots of core combat rule changes
• Battles are 3v3
• Passives folded into support abilities
• Relevant combat slots are highlighted while dragging a character
• Character recovery speeds have changed to Average, Quick, and Rapid (no more Slow)
• Characters draw fatigue after being targeted; they also heal at this time (if they are not dead)
• Healing no longer reduces poison
• Reduced hero counts
• Heroes no longer "fight fair," requiring them to engage in equal or lesser numbers
• Changed several resource and combat icons, mostly to avoid similar graphics for different things
• Lots of character ability revisions
• Some hero class names have changed, to avoid using the same class twice
• Floor movement and access rule have been moved to the floor's nameplate
• Floors can no longer be moved during a battle
• Floor movement cost has been reduced to 2 scrap per move
• Mystic Kunai banner adds arcane damage to ranged slot
• Quicksilver Quaff boosts ranged slot damage (regardless of type)
• Adamantiserum boosts physical damage (regardless of slot)
• Character legacy rules have changed; players now keep 1 minion per fortified floor in the dungeon--selection is by level then strength (a level 10 T-rex is worth more than a level 10 kobold, but a level 10 koboldwill be selected over a level 9 T-rex)
• Legacied character portraits are now marked with orange backgrounds
• Floor buttons now use the character button scrolling
• Floor and character buttons will no longer overlap the message log
• Floors no longer grant resource cap bonuses (these could be re-introduced later, with another mechanic I'm working on)
• A few improvements to rendering performance

Fixes:

• Scrolling over the surface above the character buttons would scroll the buttons, even though the cursor wasn't over them
• Legacy character rules weren't always obeyed; sometimes, legacy minions would die during destruction--sometimes, non-legacy minions would survive
• Unbuyable character buttons are now hidden during Tomb destruction
• Character portraits could report armor values incorrectly
• Dead minions awaiting respawn would still render on the minimap
• Some UI particles were freezing with the pause button
• Item appearance per session wasn't loaded when restoring a game
• The top floor of the dungeon wasn't properly clipping tall characters (most noticeable with extra short floors, like the Hallway or Hut)
• Gift-bearing heroes weren't always retreating
• Icon tooltips on floors were displaying where the floor tooltip goes
• Character render order wasn't maintained on elevators
• The game could assign duplicate checkpoint names
• Codex tooltips could break
• T-Wrecker idle particles emitted incorrectly when facing left

[ 2016-04-15 02:17:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update focuses on some preparatory changes for a future combat overhaul and other upcoming content. Most significantly, I have reorganized all of the game's character assets in order to better accommodate large, non-humanoid characters and optimize some of the game's texture usage. There is a new thing called "firm defense," which are points of defense (armor, agility, or ward) that never fatigue. Some of the tougher characters have been given a natural point of this, but mostly firm defenses will develop as a character levels up. There are a lot of other changes here based on your feedback and requests; thank you so much for continuing to make reports and suggestions! Remember that this beta update is optional, and you can opt in from the game's Properties in your Steam library. Oh, and we have a T-Rex! Last weekend was my son's first birthday, and we had a nice dinosaur-themed party, so this felt appropriate =). It can look a little funky in the elevators and the fourth combat slot, because it's quite large, but I'll be addressing this soon. It can also be merged with Gremlin Welders for something extra nifty...

Changelog

Additions:

• New Floor: Prehistoric Park (Jungle + Laboratory)--produces Tyrannosaurus minions, which can evolve into T-Wreckers when merged with Gremlin Welders
• Firm defenses--characters can develop points of defense that never fatigue
• Tooltips for most of the game's options in the menu
• New minimap backgrounds for trapped and checkpoint floors
• Minimap scrolling
• Offline Mode option (to disable leaderboards and other future online features)

Changes:

• Completely reorganized character assets (keep an eye out for animation glitches)
• Recruitment goals have been changed to level up goals
• Reduced experience gain slightly (this will go down more before the end of the beta period)
• Paladins and Students are now immune to corruption (Students will lose shadow immunity when shadow damage is phased out soon)
• Spruced up the large combat health hearts
• There is now a cap on the number of heroes that can survive destruction on a fortified checkpoing

Fixes:

• Codex button was not closing the Codex, if the Codex was already open
• Whether or not an item has appeared in a round is now saved across sessions
• Health and defense awarded by leveling up were not always consistent
• Some longstanding animation glitches (but there may well be new ones to discover now)
• The Surface would flash when heroes gathered on it (just looked unnecessary)
• Restored some missing fear attacks
• An issue with tooltips while the main menu is open

[ 2016-03-10 22:07:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The super beta continues with some more changes and another classic villain for your dungeon: the Succubus! She is the first minion to deal corruption damage, and she also heals corrupted allies. Alongside this are some changes to corruption to help balance it out a bit more. Most importantly, you are now limited to only 5 corrupted minions at a time (this number may increase with certain items or floors in the future, but it is static for now). Fear no longer accumulates alongside health, but instead depletes health like regular damage--and can be blocked by defenses. However, when a character is "killed" by fear damage, the character retreats as before, and all nearby allies take an automatic point of fear damage (which can snowball, if that point finishes off additional opponents, and so forth). This should make it easier to understand, but it is still more powerful than most standard damages. Characters that dealt fear before have been adjusted, and the Cthulhu banner now increases all fear damage by one point. I've made some updates to the game's launcher; these should be invisible to most users, but I cannot test enough platforms and configurations myself, so please let me know if you experience any issues! Remember that you can opt in to these beta updates from the game's properties in your Steam library (you won't lose any progress by participating); there are some big combat changes coming, and I'd love to have your input! Thanks again for all of your suggestions and bug reports! ːtotcordialː

Changelog

Additions:

• New Floor: Beckoning Baths (Overlook + Sewer)--Succubus (demonic corruption dealer)

Changes:

• Updates to packaging procedures and configuration
• Fear functions as a regular damage with an added effect upon defeating an enemy--fear is then applied to nearby opponents
• Many fear-oriented abilities have been adjusted
• Old Ones banner now increases fear by 1 point
• Can no longer resurrect a character if the floor is no longer present
• Improvements to some graphical functions
• Floor tooltips appear while hovering over floors in the minimap
• Floor tooltips have changed slightly
• Corrupted characters capped to 5 at once (current number is displayed on Corrupted icon tooltips); additional heroes defeated by corruption will be killed instead of become corrupted
• "Pause on focus lost" option now uses the in-game pause instead of opening the main menu (previously, this would have penalized the score)
• Plots and prophecies can be canceled; canceling a prophecy may reproduce the exact same prophecy if no others are available, but can otherwise be used to cycle through prophecies when more than two are eligible

Fixes:

• Some animation glitches with Hellhounds, Wargs, and similarly constructed characters
• Human Monk sometimes appeared female (but with a man's name...)
• There was some level-up message spam for heroes that teleport in

[ 2016-02-25 03:59:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Due to the prolonged (and continuing) beta period, it's been a while since the last floor update. So here are some harpies; a Hut + Lair combo that should pair well with the Beastmaster. This is still a beta release; anyone can opt in to the beta from the game's properties in the Steam library. It's pretty stable, with a lot of interesting changes. You shouldn't lose any progress for participating--nor when the beta period comes to a close--, so it's pretty risk free, as well. I greatly appreciate the feedback I receive on these changes. And there are a few more additions in this update. I am slowly introducing some new Hoard elements, and there are two in this update: dirt blocks and anchor stones. Dirt blocks are a minor nuisance that randomly appear in the Hoard as you dig; they disappear when they drop any distance, but they help convey that there are tiles that behave differently from the typical resources and items. Anchor stones are a bit trickier; they lock their row/column, preventing slides that would otherwise move them. They can be matched with any color, but do not count as a tile toward a match (you must match four other adjacent tiles--they can be used to link two regions, though). However, they do bump up your multiplier a bit when removed. My eventual goal is to use these and other new elements in plot goals to increase the challenge as you progress. They'll become less prominent outside of plots (and nonexistent in Casual Mode). The details of their appearance and role is up for debate, though, and I'd love to hear your thoughts! ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• New Floor: Avaricious Aviary (Harpies)--Hut + Lair
• Dirt blocks
• Anchor stones
• Tile tooltips while hovering over the Hoard
• "Grainy" pixel style option

Changes:

• Heroes receive larger XP bonuses for reaching lower checkpoints, growing stronger the deeper they delve into your dungeon
• Swapped resource meter order
• Updates to floor button tooltips to more closely match character button tooltip formatting
• Resource pool maximums only decrease by 5 between sessions (down from 10)
• Slightly increased drop rates
• Greatly changed hero spawn count formula (I may need a lot of feedback here!)

Fixes:

• Multiple issues with item power and stacking effects
• Tertiary banner color was non-selectable in the options
• Surface character hero counts were broken
• Banners weren't initializing early enough to get picked up for some visual connections in the codex and messages
• Casual Mode price maximums weren't being applied to character costs
• Level up "poof" on characters was missing
• Slain character particles and associated lighting could linger
• Surface heroes were being killed off during destruction
• All characters should face the same direction on resurrection buttons
• Some messages were not displaying an appropriately brief version
• Level-5 color scheme changes were not always using the correct palette options

[ 2016-02-07 06:17:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Due to the beta's more coherent and condensed UI and controls, I am knee-deep in controller support implementation, so this update is mostly minor additions, changes, and fixes to keep the beta going until the next big component is ready. The most significant addition here is that fortified checkpoints gain portals that allow new heroes to spawn within your dungeon (these spawns come from the same wave pool as those on the surface). Thank you for your continued feedback on the beta; I am seeing a few comments that run contrary to my expectations, and that's a big part of why I beta these major changes first. I'll see what I can do to keep the game feeling fresh and fun for as many of you as possible! Remember, if you are interested in trying out the beta, you can opt-in from the game's properties menu in your Steam library. Thanks again ːtotcordialː!

Changelog (Including Some But Not All Interim Changes)

Additions:

• Fortified hero checkpoints gain portals that allow heroes to spawn within your dungeon
• Tooltips added to built floors, including a breakdown of minion and hero counts, as well as assigned defenders
• Streamers banner now also causes characters to burst into a shower of confetti when slain
• Cap on number of heroes waiting on the surface

Changes:

• Destruction camera was adjusted significantly
• Improvements to tooltip icon handling and versatility
• DHV is now centered vertically
• Lots of minor message log adjustments
• Item level icons changed to yellow, to better indicate that the level cap is 5 and not 10
• Many trap cooldowns have been slightly lengthened
• Sanctum always appears fortified
• Respawns count toward recruitment prophecies
• Some prophecy and plot goals have been slightly reduced
• Character buttons are now sorted by minion archetype name, then level
• Resurrection costs now increase slightly with minion level
• Bone matches now resurrect minions who are closest to death first
• Hovering over a floor will highlight character buttons for minions on that floor--and a lighter highlight for those who are assigned to it
• Corrupted heroes can no longer be resurrected

Fixes:

• Floor shuffling arrows no longer render during destruction
• Lots of item leveling stuff
• Slain minions could appear "shivering" on their respawn buttons
• After loading a session, assigned minions sometimes wouldn't relieve one another properly
• Double-res fonts now play nicely with hard and artsy pixel options
• Mounted minions could be re-created many times over
• HUD particles now continue to animate while the action is paused
• Minions were always going first in combat--should be random which side goes first, unless the Tyrant is involved
• Surviving minions will remain on fortified floors during destruction, instead of being re-located to the Sanctum
• Low-level minions could still survive destruction

[ 2016-01-23 06:00:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tomb of Tyrants turned one year old on Steam today! It's been a great year with a lot of big changes and additions; remember when you all wanted that pause feature? Or when I finally added full session saving because the games were getting too long? How about the addition of the Dedicated Hoard View, or when I completely changed the matching mechanics to something far more unique and engaging? Or when we hit the double content milestone? I have a lot of great memories from this year, and I have to thank you all for pushing me to improve and advance the game in ways I never would have considered otherwise! I still have a lot of plans, as you can tell by the ongoing beta, and I hope you'll join me in crafting even more fun and entertaining experiences this year! The big addition for this update is item leveling; gathering a duplicate item will now increase the level of that item in your inventory, increasing its effectiveness or decreasing its cooldown time. I'm sure this will require additional balancing, but it will also help some of the existing items to shine a bit more. This is still a beta release. I had been planning to wrap up the feature set and push it out to everyone for the anniversary, but there are so many large changes--with more on the way--, that I've decided it would be best to hold off and await additional testing and features; I think the end result will be worth it =). If you'd like to try out the changes, you can opt in to the beta from the game's properties in your Steam library. Thanks again, everyone! Today's sale (which lasts for the next week) actually saw the game's single-day sales record, which just feels perfect ːtotcordialː. Here's to another great year, whether you spend it with Tomb of Tyrants or other games you love ːtotfedoraː.

Changelog Highlights

Additions:

• Item leveling; collecting duplicate items will now increase the level of your held item, increasing its effectiveness or decreasing its cooldown time
• Fortified floors have altered nameplate and trim
• Some Streamers banner--bipeds wear party hats! No prophecy required for now.

Changes:

• All character prices were bumped up, due to increased survivability
• "Reinforced" floors now called "Fortified" to avoid confusion with buying "reinforcement" units
• Fetish works like Ouroboros
• Tutorials use larger font (the Codex is now the only place that uses the tiny font--something I hope to address soon)
• The basic version of many items has been nerfed

Fixes:

• Boy, there were a lot of these...

[ 2016-01-14 04:59:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tomb of Tyrants's first anniversary is right around the corner (the 13th), and I've been preparing some massive changes to trim the stuff that doesn't gel so well and refine the things that do. As a result, this release is a "super beta"; I have not had adequate time to test many things myself, and I desperately need your bug reports and feedback on the changes and balance of this build. If you are interested in trying it out, you can opt in by visiting the "betas" tab under the game's properties in your Steam Library. Please share your experiences and opinions in the comments below, in the community discussion boards, or with me directly! This is a pivotal update to core mechanics based on your feedback, and only you can help me push the game farther in the right direction. I expect I'll be doing several small updates over the next couple of days (I'll post comments below when I do), to make additional improvements. There are definitely bugs, and there are many necessary updates to tutorial entries, general help, and even achievements. Impossibly, I want to wrap up this beta by the 13th (the game's anniversary), so I can focus on the next batch of major changes: new Hoard elements! Also, now that all characters receive names, I need to dump more names and titles into the system, so feel free to share some ideas below =). Thank you again for all of your support and suggestions; I think the best is yet to come, thanks to all of you ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• New horizontal message log system
• New character button format
• Matching tiles now provides a resource-dependent dungeon-wide bonus for every 4 points received (similar to the Harvest and Bull's Eye banners):
  • Flesh yields 1 point of healing per minion
  • Bone resurrects 1 minion
  • Growth restores 1 point of agility fatigue per minion
  • Arcana restores 1 point of ward fatigue per minion
  • Gear restores 1 point of armor fatigue per minion
  • Loot grants 10XP per minion
  • Ruin inflicts 1 point of fatigue to a randomly selected heroic defense type
  • Scrap reduces or resets trap cooldowns
  • Multipliers greatly increase this effect, as a 4-tile match is worth 1 (4 * 1 / 4) point, but an 8-tile match is worth 4 (8 * 2 / 4)
• Experience-based 10-level ramp
• "Gift-Bearing" trait for the delivery heroes

Changes:

• All minions and heroes now have names and level up
• "Champion" now refers to characters who are level 5 and above--this is the point at which they receive their updated appearance
• All minion champions survive tomb destruction
• No more pillaging
• No more minion "packs"--minions individually priced
• Traps don't need to be replenished
• All characters require only two resource types
• Minions can be resurrected by re-buying them quickly after death
• Reduced minion counts (2 per floor)
• Reduced hero wave sizes
• Removed score multiplier
• No more deployable items--these are all now usables that affect all floors on use
• Lower drop rates for former deployables
• Removed Item, Champion, Floor, and Resource legacy points
• Plots now focus on "reinforcing" floors--this is the equivalent of the old legacy system, except they target specific floors (later, reinforcing may offer additional advantages)
• All floors can be reinforced (not just ten, as with the old legacy system) except the Sanctum and the ten first-tier floors
• Heroic checkpoints will become reinforced as you reinforce your floors; saving heroes across sessions
• All items carry over to the next round
• All surviving minions carry over
• All resources carry over with a -10 penalty (never dips below starting cap)
• Dedicated Hoard View no longer optional
• Inventory et al moved to DHV
• Only two active prophecies at a time (down from three)
• All prophecies/plots reduced to no more than two requirements
• Condensed score and wave data
• Minion UI merged with purchase UI
• Scrap "cog" resource icon changed to a "screw," because it was easy to confuse with "gear"
• Agility icon now green (for future reasons)
• Defense type now reflected by color of defense on minion portrait
• DHV can no longer move above the surface
• Other UI stuff
• Yeti trait and appearance tweaks
• Genie is now "Gift-Bearing," posing no threat to your Tyrant
• Character type and level displayed in Codex instead of price when viewing a specific character
• "Frosty" Fissure now "Frozen," due to future name conflict; some art tweaks here, as well
• Standardized character tooltips and added level and archetype info

Fixes:

• Lizardman Mummy graphic glitch
• Floors could be moved multiple levels at a time, if done while pausing
• Hero target floors weren't always updating when their current floor was moved
• Messages didn't decay while paused
• A few characters were missing appropriate biped traits
• Tiles could appear over the lower border of the Hoard while making a move (previously difficult to spot, due to inventory placement)
• Game could spawn multiples of the same artifact in a single playthrough
• Fixed a camera-related crash
• Changing to or from Tangled Lights banner wasn't updating characters already in play
• Fixed a rare but repeating crash during destruction
• Reindeer and Steed portraits were off (only noticeable while corrupted)
• Klaxon was firing too aggressively
• "Blocked By" floor was reported by internal tag rather than name
• Random name generation would eventually begin selecting similar names for some characters

[ 2016-01-11 05:44:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy preferred holiday season or whatever you're currently experiencing! I am still working on major changes for a near-future beta release, but I wanted to share some of my Christmas cheer with everyone, so here's a dose of holiday content! Here's what's new:

• The Frosty Fissure floor (Crossing + Lair), which comes with some Yetis (tough, troll-ish brutes that deal ice damage)
• "Dire Deliveries" hero pack (requires steeds, Workshop, and Forge) containing the Dwarf Postmaster, Messenger Owl, and Reindeer Express. All three of these heroes are just trying to deliver a package to your Tyrant; if they make it to the Sanctum, they will gift you an item and retreat to the surface
• Tangled Lights "banner" that unlocks with the hero pack. It causes all biped characters to wear Santa hats. They may not fit everyone so well, but it's just for fun =).

There isn't much else in this update, due to all of my changes going into the upcoming beta, but there are a few notes below for the quiet 2015.12.07 b-d patches. As always, thank you for all of your support and reports--merry Christmas! ːtotfedoraː

Changelog

Additions:

• Frosty Fissure (Crossing + Lair)--produces Yetis
• Dwarf Postmaster, Messenger Owl, and Reindeer Express delivery heroes
• Tangled Lights banner--Biped characters wear hats

Changes:

• A couple of minor changes to some minion traits and abilities [2015.12.07b]

Fixes:

• Some issues with passive effect calculations [2015.12.07c]
• A crash involving a couple of specific codex pages [2015.12.07c]
• Tyrant kill achievement wouldn't always trigger [2015.12.07d]
• Cheapskate Challenge could glitch and unlock early [2015.12.07d]

[ 2015-12-21 04:14:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

[Uploaded 2015.12.07c to address a handful of minor issues and make some adjustments to character stats.] This update addresses a number of outstanding bugs, makes some minor changes and additions, like true passive abilities (rather than "faking it" with third- and fourth-slot abilities), and includes a couple of new floors to keep things interesting: the Hostile Harbor (pirates!) and the Shivering Shipwreck (g-g-g-ghost pirates!). Thank you for all of your reports and screenshots over the last couple weeks; some of the bugs crushed here include saving issues for large dungeons, broken elevator AI, dying legacy champions, graphical glitches, and more--thanks to your assistance! I am planning to enter another beta phase with several major and experimental changes over the next couple of weeks, so this may be the last standard update for a little while. I would love to hear your opinions on the beta changes when they are ready, though ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Hostile Harbor (Camp + Pool)--pirates
• Shivering Shipwreck (Harbor + Barrows)--ghost pirates
• Character passive abilities that automatically affect the battle rather than using tertiary and quaternary abilities to simulate this
• New shader capabilities

Changes:

• Savefiles re-named to avoid conflicts
• Combined multiple "+2 max resource" messages
• Revisions to some ability icons
• Slight changes to some icon tooltip terminology
• All characters reduced to no more than three ability entries (including passive)--only a few characters actually affected by this
• Legacies now reset when you reset your stats (due to cleared prophecy progress)
• Improvements to a couple of ability visuals
• Warning klaxon sound is more intelligent; it now triggers when heroes are only one floor away and there definitely aren't enough minions to keep them from continuing on to your Sanctum--it should no longer be ignored

Fixes:

• Elevator AI was behaving very poorly, causing tremendous congestion on the surface, in particular; everyone should move through the dungeon more efficiently now
• Extremely large and busy dungeons with tons of heroes and minions could fail to save all characters
• Legacy champions could mysteriously perish during dungeon destruction
• A Shader problem on some older nVidia hardware
• A couple of prophecies had recruitment objectives that could be impossible on a given playthrough, if the "wrong" floors were built
• Legacy champions could end up erroneously assigned to the Sanctum in the next game
• A single Balding Bomb use could count as multiple item uses
• Items weren't always awarding resources when collected
• Unnecessary healing pop-ups would appear on characters that had the maximum amount of health (9)
• Animated particle animation glitch
• Trap animation glitch when trap-disabler entered a floor while the trap was firing

[ 2015-12-07 06:36:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here's an oft-requested high-level, brute-force minion: the minotaur! The Laborious Labyrinth requires the Promenade, Workshop, and Lair (you must also have previously unlocked the Wildwood in order to see this prophecy--no hidden item requirements this time, though). The prophecy also unlocks a "Bull's Eye" banner that temporarily buffs ALL melee damage (including that of heroes) when you match flesh tiles. There are also a number of fixes (some of which were quietly deployed yesterday in a minor update) and small changes. Thanks for your reports and suggestions ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Laborious Labyrinth floor (Promenade + Lair + Workshop)--minotaur minion (lots of health, melee damage, and the beast trait)
• Bull's Eye banner (ALL melee damage buffed when matching flesh tiles--beware!)

Changes:

• Advantage/disadvantage lines changed over to red/cyan outlines; cyan outlines indicates a character that is a good match-up for you, red bad
• Minor adjustments to Hut graphics
• Witch now carries a crooked walking stick instead of the knife
• Witch now has Eldritch trait

Fixes:

• Plot difficulties (which typically escalate over the course of a session) would reset when loading a game
• Stationed minions would leave a floor if it changed position
• Obscure crash occurred while mousing over a specific champ portrait element during tomb destruction
• Character indicators would spawn at the top of the map upon loading, and then fly down to their owners
• Characters could become invincible by failing to die in specific circumstances
• Some minions could walk out into the ground during tomb destruction (harmless, but weird)
• Ritual count could be off for those who had participated in previous beta

[ 2015-11-25 04:53:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm pushing the new atuo-saving out to everyone! The game now saves when you close the game, as well as at the start of each wave (just in case). There may still be some room for improvement or some kinks to smooth out (and please let me know if you encounter anything horrible!), but this feature has been requested for ages, and I'm glad I was finally able to provide it =). Now that saving renders longer sessions more tenable, I am planning several changes and additions that will steer toward greater player investment in each game, and hopefully lead to more memorable reigns. I noticed that with this update's new floor (the Hexed Hut, a goblin witch alternative to the kobold shaman's Hazy Hovel), there are now 70 floors in the Codex, doubling the launch version's 35. This was the last content category to double in quantity, as there are now 99 vs 42 characters, 31 vs 12 items, 10 vs 4 traps, and, uh, 22 vs 0 banners. We're getting very close to the 100 prophecy mark, as well. Thank you for keeping the game alive, everyone ːtotbaconː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Hexed Hut floor (produces Goblin Witches, dealing ice and poison damage)
• Queued floor is now saved

Changes:

• Minor adjustments to some ability animations
• Champion portraits are now sorted by rank then name, to promote determinism when loading saved games
• Improved button spawns to produce slightly less bouncy floor/character buttons on deeper dungeons
• Checkpoint floors are highlighted in red when mousing over them (rather than an inviting yellow that suggested you could interact with them equally)

Fixes:

• An obscure save-loading crash
• "Send [mounted-/spirit-trait] minion pillaging" plots weren't properly named
• Trash/Sell inventory "slot" looked like a normal slot briefly when trashing/selling items
• Champions could appear odd colors on the minimap (not just shades of blue or red)
• Missing line break on deployable tooltips when replacing an existing deployable
• Loading music track could cause the track to skip about a bit

[ 2015-11-23 05:44:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've made numerous saving-related fixes and improvements this week, and I'm feeling pretty good about it now; barring any disastrous bug reports in the next 24 hours, I'll probably push saving out to all players sometime this weekend. Thank you ːtotcordialː!

Changelog

Additions:

• Some new effects on a couple of attack types
• Visual time of day is saved
• Camera position is saved
• Music track bias is saved

Changes:

• Reduced overall savefile sizes by as much as 80%
• Slight hero wave size adjustments

Fixes:

• Champions could become disassociated from their floors after loading a save, allowing them to be replaced without losing them
• A couple of rare loading crashes
• Tile queue saved in the wrong position
• Some things would load incorrectly after saving during destruction
• Saved resource counts were capped
• Sanctuary deployable wasn't saving
• Pillagers weren't saving as pillaging
• Ritual progress wasn't saving
• Inventory wasn't saving
• Minion floor assignments weren't saving
• Some unnecessary effects and feedback would trigger upon loading a save (new floor construction smoke, for instance)
• Game was capable of generating rituals beyond the intended maximum dimensions
• Champion codex pages would always list "[price] for 1" instead of using pack size
• There were a couple of visual glitches with the battle HUD

[ 2015-11-20 04:38:24 CET ] [ Original post ]