Dungeon Dwellers, welcome to version 1.5.0!

New content:

Hidden realm: Space New weapon: Blaster New room layouts/variations Update the game and see if you can find and defeat the Sentinel! (Check the Orangepixel website WIKI for help with all the special Realm entry points).

Info

I wanted to squeeze out one more update before the end of the year, so its not a HUGE one, but it does come with a whole new realm, new enemies, and a new weapon which is somewhat of a weird one in the world of Heroes of Loot! Most focus will now be on getting the Nintendo Switch version done and released in early 2025!

Full changes list:

• added: Space Realm
• added: Critter enemies for Space Realm
• added: Hypergate to access Space Realm
• added: Hyper Shard to acticate the Hypergate
• added: Hypergate+shard placed in game
• added: Sentinel End boss
• added: Weapon Blaster
• added: New room-layout variations
• added: Sharp Heart (passive item)
• added: Jar of Souls (passive item)
• changed: Small balancing on Rogue Skully (slightly easier, less chaotic)
• changed: Lowered energy on Critters with shields
• fixed: Difficulty mode select doesnt listen to X to continue
• fixed: Quest target now ignores extra realms
• fixed: Summoner creatures limited to Realm

[ 2024-11-20 14:30:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dungeon dwellers: Welcome to patch v1.4.0 !

New Content:

Hidden realm: The Temple New unlockable character: The Rogue New friendlies New enemies Update the game and dive in to unlock the new character, find the new area, and make some new friends!

More info:

Besides adding the new realm and characters, I made some small changes to balancing things out (especially for the easy mode). I also made the realms more of a choice to go into or not, as it will mean you now skip one or two levels. So if you are in a hurry and want to speedrun the game, knowing where to find the entries to these realms is certainly key.. but I can imagine it might sometimes be more interesting to NOT take the realm-route and grab some extra loot in the levels you would otherwise skip. If you need a little spoiler on how/where to find the Rogue unlock tokens, make sure to check the Orangepixel website for the Games Wiki.

What's Next

I have at least two more realms planned for future updates, and one of those will introduce some sort of "fire power" but I haven't fully figured out yet how to introduce it to the current weapon system. The new realms will of course come with new enemy types, and possibly a few friendlies. Originally I wanted to add a few more room-layout variations to this update, but I just ran out of time! So those are most likely happening in the next update!

Full changes list:

• fixed: Difficulty select using gamepad blocks the selection
• added: Rogue level up audio fx (and updated original ones)
• added: Rogue visual variations for difficulty modes
• added a Rogue unlockachievements for each difficulty mode
• added: Medooza
• added: Ooze worm big
• added: Rogue unlock-shard locations
• added: Crab creatures to Temple Realm
• added: new Temple world
• added: Beetle creature (Temple Realm)
• added: Temple End boss (Sandy)
• added: new Fiendlies-type
• changed: small difference on fire-rate for some creatures
• changed: DragonBall now also restores 2 hearts
• changed: Dark woods also functions as shortcut to dungeon 3 (skips 2)

[ 2024-10-15 07:32:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dungeon dwellers: Welcome to patch v1.3.0 !

New Content:

- Hidden realm: Dark Woods - The Black Smith - Friendlies - New Achievements Go grab the new version and see if you can find the entrance to the Dark Woods, unlock the new achievements, and make some new friends!

What's Next:

With the first alternate realm added to the game, it's also the ground work done for more of those. I have a few ideas that will slowly drip into the game over the next few updates. This version also adds all the things needed to add various Friendlies, the first friendlies are simply helping you in your attacks, but it would be cool to also have some Friendlies that maybe collect the loot for you, or maybe defend you? I also have plans to add a new unlockable character to the mix, which will use the Knife as the base weapon, so stay tuned for that one! And finally, high on my list, is a change to the weapons. Right now all weapons fire at the same fire-rate, which is nice, but it would be pretty interesting if not all weapons have the same fire-rate! That would add some extra tactical decisions on what you mount and where you mount it. It will also open up the game to add a couple of items to increase fire-rate on a weapon or specific type of weapons. The downside is that I need to do a lot of balancing tests after I make some of those changes happen! And that usually takes a lot of gameplay sessions and time. I'll try to have a BETA branch setup for that once I'm ready, and hopefully you can help me out testing it! [previewyoutube=A9RViFaL9t0;full][/previewyoutube] -- Full changes list

• fixed: Fairy Crown appears in shop
• fixed: Dice changes in shop are not permanent (return to shop and they are reset)
• fixed: achievement progress for biologist and collector was not showing correctly
• added: new achievements for each character and difficulty mode
• added: achievement for Pill Tester
• added: Black Smith
• added: Black Smith: Unmount option
• added: Black Smith: Swap weapon options
• added: Black Smith: Repair/Fix weapon option
• added: new Wood critters
• added: Dark wood area
• added: boss: King Stout
• added: Friendlies - Fairy
• added: Item - Fairy Crown
• added: Realm names to Dungeon progress bar
• added: Blacksmith: Move option
• changed: "Doctor" rooms now folded into "Specialist" rooms (can be BlackSmith + )
• changed: Slightly lower HP on Rogue Skully
• changed: Small increase in Mimic spawn rate

[ 2024-08-23 11:55:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Adventurous Dungeon Dwellers, beta 1.3.0 is here! For access to the Beta Branch: 1. Select the game in your steam library, right click and select Properties 2. Go to Beta's and at the top right drop-down box, select the Beta version!

New content

- The Black Smith (modify the weapons in your Gauntlet) - First of the new realms: The Dark Woods - First Friendlies - they help you on your adventure! - New achievements

Beta test

I hope to have this up and live for everyone pretty soon, but it wouldn't hurt if some of you brave adventurers could help me check out this version first to see if there are any bugs in there! The main points of testing are: The Blacksmith, see if you encounter him and if he actually helps you out and not destroy your Gauntlet or even crash the game (never know!) Also, find the entrance to the Dark Woods, and defeat the King Stout end-boss, think he's interesting enough to fight against, and he should ALWAYS spawn the same item.. you'll understand it when you see it. If you run into any other weird things, let me know.. I'm fairly confident there aren't much weird bugs introduced and if there are, they should really be in the new things like the black smith, the friendlies and the dark woods.

Launching in...

I'll run some test, and I kinda hope to be launching this into full release within a week, but any beta feedback on this would be appreciated!

[ 2024-08-15 12:30:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dungeon dwellers: Welcome to patch v1.2.0 !

New Content:

- Choose from three difficulty modes - More room layout variations - A "Doctor" with a lot of interesting pills! - 2 new weapons - Combat stats on map screen (activate in Options > Preferences) - Fixed Steam cloud save for Linux Besides those, I also did a lot of balancing and difficulty tweaks and improvements to this build, added a few new "things" you'll encounter in dungeon rooms, and fixed a host of tiny and rare issues.

What's Next:

For the next update I'll be focussing on "alternate areas" that you can uncover. So let's say you get to push one of those statues at a certain room in a certain level, and it then reveals an opening towards a new special area where you can find an extremely rare item only found in that area?! Or perhaps you find a "charger" which is needed to operate a Hypergate and gets you in a Space Grunts level to grab a futuristic weapon, opening up all sorts of new combo's and unions? .. I got some ideas here! Besides that I'm also beta testing the Nintendo Switch version, still some things to fix there and then it takes a few months to get it all setup for a release on Nintendo's platform, but it will launch with the latest updates! Same goes for an Atari VCS release!

Thanks!

I'd also like to thank all the lovely reviews and comments and feedback I'm getting! Don't forget you are always welcome to hang out on The Orangepixel Discord and talk about the game, give your thoughts and ideas and who knows, they might make it into the next update!

Merch!?

If you really like the game and want to support me some more, I got some cool Gauntlet of Power mousepads available over on the Orangepixel website if you're interested!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ -- Full changes list

• fixed: Codex totals on main-screen aren't correct (does achievement unlock?)
• fixed: Floorswitch doesn't keep room doors closed
• fixed: Floor switches are reset when resetting the room
• fixed: Final-boss progress-dots don't reset on a new game
• fixed: Cap'n'bones knife should hammer down more often
• fixed: Mimic shows interaction info even when not visible
• fixed: Steam Cloud-save
• fixed: Difficulty not shown in character art
• fixed: Hit count blinking not showing
• fixed: missing shadow on player
• fixed: Forged card Heart didn't unlock when King Loot said it would
• fixed: Floor spikes are not restored when reentering a room
• fixed: Monk room has obstacles when returning to it
• fixed: Using Compass doesn't store room state
• fixed: Cocoon die animation sometimes stalls
• fixed: Cocoon sometimes bugs out when destroyed
• fixed: Room-switches keep respawning when re-entering room
• fixed: Forged Card Dungeon Love now properly restores 1 heart on next level
• changed: Block XXL creatures from spawning in small rooms
• changed: less chance of empty-corridor rooms
• changed: small changes in player-collision box
• changed: Quick-restart after death now shows character select first
• added: Doctor Pill
• added: pill effect Tripping (reversed controls)
• added: pill effect Invisible
• added: pill effect Upper (+HP)
• added: pill effect Downer (-HP)
• added: pill effect Knowledge (+XP)
• added: pill effect Dumber (-XP and -1 Level)
• added: pill effect Energizer (full HP)
• added: pill effect Placebo ( )
• added: "Killed by" stat for last run
• added: show "hitpoint per heart" stat on map screen
• added: Weapon Wild Fury (Union)
• added: Weapon Ryzor (Union)
• added: Extra stats to map screen (Options > Preferences to turn it on)
• added: Option to turn on/off Statistics on map screen
• added: Make cocoon spawn more critters
• added: Difficulty select
• added: cobwebs - slow down player
• added: Floor switches mechanics
• added: Floor-switch room layouts
• added: room variations
• balancing: wizard dodge/slowmo slightly shorter
• balancing: lowered wizard initial loot-magnet attraction
• balancing: slight increase in critter hp
• balancing: small change in player XP increase levels
• balancing: small change in Wizard + Warrior initial movement speed
• balancing: Made Bouncy Blob a bit weaker (especially in later levels)

[ 2024-07-26 13:05:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Adventurers! I'm working towards the v1.2.0 update which will be mostly a balancing and difficulty update. Had a lot of reports that people breezed through the game (but not everybody luckily!) and most people found the Wizard a bit over powering. Now I originally designed it that way on purpose, and that's the reason both the Elf van Wizard are unlocked at the start as they provide a somewhat different experience! However, I hear ya! so in v1.2.0 there will be a proper difficulty-select, adding an Easy, Normal and Hard mode (old difficulty would be somewhere between Easy and Normal) and I'm rebalancing some other things to make the game more challenging at the start, and more fair at the end! For access to the Beta Branch: 1. Select the game in your steam library, right click and select Properties 2. Go to Beta's and at the top right drop-down box, select the Beta version! (don't worry: you can always disable this and go back to the non-buggy official release in case of problems) I'm still heavily tweaking these difficulties, which takes a bunch of time as it requires me to do a lot of playthroughs ! And this is where you can help me out, activate the Beta 1.2.0 branch on Steam and give it some play-sessions.. then let me know if it feels right in your preferred difficulty - preferably you let me know over on the Orangepixel Discord where I have a Gauntlet of Power channel setup for this. The beta version will receive a bunch of tiny updates very rapidly until I get it right and am ready for a release hopefully within a few weeks from now. There's also a few new features in v1.2.0 and a few others I'm working on before it releases, so look out for those changes also ;) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ - Pascal

[ 2024-07-16 13:00:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Adventurers! It's time for the first update to the game! Based on a lot of your feedback in discussions and over on the Discord a bunch of tiny balancing and gameplay tweaks have been made and a few bug fixes here and there are solved in this update. BUT! The dungeon also received a host of new inhabitants, new creatures, new enemies, and some of the existing enemies and bosses learned a few new attack patterns and skills .. so be ware! You'll run into the Summoner, who will be summoning a bunch of creatures and won't stop until you kill him! Also say hi to Blobby : he looks happy and cute, but looks can be deceiving !

Key changes in this update:

- Weapon evolutions at higher levels will create a higher-level evolution (never more than 2 levels below the weapon you are evolving). So you can still evolve a level 6 arrow into something new, and not worry about it becoming a level 1 Evolution, it will be a level 4 evolution! (and Evolution weapons are stronger than the base weapon by nature). - You now have a max-amount of heart containers available to fill from the start. So you start with 3 hearts, and you have a max of 6 heart containers. BUT you can find a Gold heart to increase the maximum amount during your run! - And the only real big bug is now fixed, some players were "randomly" losing weapons at later levels of the game. This is now resolved!

What's next

Next on my plan is to add more "NPC" like areas, comparable to the monk. Already got a few interesting ideas for that, and the aim is to add alternate dungeon area's for special items or weapons. I also plan on designing some Character-specific weapons that can only be unlocked and used by a specific class. If you got ideas, don't be shy and come hang out on the Orangepixel Discord, and I'll see you there! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ Full changes list:

• added: Codex-Statistics now opened after a run
• added: Heart-container limit
• added: Gold heart - increases Heart-container limit
• added: Forged-cards now always visible on start of new game
• added: Last-Run statistics to Codex
• added: Item: Wings of Perseverance, Elven Stone, Orbus Magicus, Valkyrie Helmet, Liquid Haste, TrueHeart, Arrow of Time, Ooze Rage
• added: New monsters: Mimic, Summoner, Blobby, Cocoon, Shielded Skullies, Imp XL, Skull XL, Bat Buff, Imp Buff, Flame Buff
• added: Increased Temporal Chest pool, so no "return" of items
• added: max "Dungeon" for each character to Codex page
• changed: Balancing tweaks
• changed: Balanced Wizard, lower Magic starting level and longer cooldown on Dodge move
• changed: Shooting critters have better reach and stand still for the shot
• changed: Chef's Cap only triggers if at 50% or less HP
• changed: ToFu now protected against attacks outside his circle
• changed: Random critter spawns now take into account player's location
• changed: increased chance of a Monk
• changed: lowered effect of the Blood Drip (forged card) to 1hp per 15 seconds instead of 1hp per second
• changed: Evolution weapons never more than 2 levels lower than the origin weapon
• changed: lowered requirements for RichyRich achievement
• changed: double powerup items (Chefs cap) now correctly increase usage count
• fixed: Temporal Chest bugging out in later dungeons
• fixed: added extra checks for creatures spawning inside statues
• fixed: D6 always gives health, no other items
• fixed: Stats losses isn't updated correctly
• fixed: Dutch language credits color highlight is wrong
• fixed: Block "map"+compass when player is already moving to next dungeon
• fixed: Crash on level-up when "no option" is selected
• fixed: cheat-way to play as locked characters
• fixed: Statusbars on "jumping" creatures doesn't move up with them
• fixed: Some "single drop" items were dropping at later dungeons
• fixed: some Evolved weapons didn't level up according to Book items
• fixed: weapons disappearing later in the game
• fixed: Only one Rune of Fire shows up when multiple mounted
• fixed: Item info-box in shops sometimes not big enough
• fixed: Using Panic button in Boss room, generates different Boss
• fixed: Some rooms spawn 2 statues when returning to it
• fixed: Union weapon removes both slots next to the "new union" slot
• fixed: Valkyrie helmet has no information
• fixed: unlocking x2 and x4 XP and 6hearts runes
• fixed: ToFu energy bar is always very low
• fixed: Certain monster kills weren't registered in Codex
• fixed: Codex weapon info resetting

[ 2024-06-21 13:59:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Looters! It's been a wild first couple of days of releasing this game! But I think the dust is slowly settlings and we can venture deeper into the dungeons! I've been hard at work preparing the first "big" content update, and decided to make a Beta Branch available for those that want to help out and take a early look at the game and see if I messed up anything ;) If you got stuff to talk about based on this Beta branch, drop by on The Orangepixel Discord For access to the Beta Branch: 1. Select the game in your steam library, right click and select Properties 2. Go to Beta's and at the top right drop-down box, select the Beta version! Steam will now download that version and it's updates and you can check out all the new stuff that's coming! I plan to push this v1.1.0 live in a few days, it mostly needs a bit of gameplay/testing to see if I didn't wrongly balance things with all the new stuff added!

[ 2024-06-19 12:54:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Adventurer! Welcome to version 1.0.0 of Gauntlet of Power!
Last weeks Next Fest demo got a lot of new fans into the game, and I've been watching a lot of Youtube and Twitch videos playing the game, which is so cool to see :) Based on those videos I was constantly making small changes and tweaks and fixes to the game, so this version isn't only the official release, it is also a very nice balanced update to the demo and the Steam Playtest build! So go enjoy your time in the dungeon ! If you run into any issue or got questions, I'll try to monitor Steam discussions , but you are also more than welcome to visit the Discord (discord.gg/orangepixel) where I'll be hanging out most hours of the day in the coming week. I'm already working on things for the first content update, but all ideas are very welcome, as I think together we can really build this game into one of our favorite roguelikes !
Full changes list

• added: Gauntlet now shown on "game over "screen
• added: playing-time now properly shows 2-digits for HH,MM,SS
• added: load game now shows 2 digits for time played
• added: Blackcard of Power now also triggers powerup
• added: Blackcards to Codex ("Loot")
• added: Forged cards to Codex ("Loot")
• added: Monk now locks room until done talking
• added: Run stats tracking
• added: extra union-weapon info to Codex pages
• added: Statistics to Codex
• changed: balance changes to droprates
• changed: Gem-trade rooms appear less frequent
• changed: minor balancing tweak to Flame critters and their dropped-falmes
• changed: small improvement to Muddy's attack patterns
• changed: improved Cap'n'Bone attack pattern
• changed: balance-tweak for tiny-key droprate in later dungeons
• changed: new Monster-spawn effect
• fixed: energy-decrease digits sometimes seem to render wrong
• fixed: Bombies were sometimes attacking due to a level-up event
• fixed: using panic-button when in start room does take Loot, does not give HP (and should be blocked maybe?)
• fixed: ToFu energy decrease is instant (bug)
• fixed: Blackcards not activating
• fixed: rebalanced Rogue Skully energy levels (less grindy)
• fixed: King Loot giving forged card animations
• changed: Changed dungeon-level progress (avoiding player confusion on dungeon 2 and 4)
• fixed: when in boss-room, minimap doesn't show boss-icon
• fixed: Shoproom pool is not reset, only spawns hearts at some point
• fixed: Shovel of descent should be "blocked" before dungeon 5 is reached
• fixed: Leave gold key, return to room, gives double gold keys
• fixed: continue game from pause menu can trigger a button press in-game
• fixed: End-level or Pause sometimes show glowing Mount directions

[ 2024-06-17 18:40:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

What if Binding of Isaac and Vampire Survivors had a Zelda like love baby, with a kick-ass weapon system?
Mount and upgrade your weapons unlocking special combos and other weapon-alteration effects in this randomly generated action RPG shooter. Mow down thousands of dungeon dwelling creatures and survive as you descend deeper into the dungeon! Unlock items, complete quests, and find all the secrets to help you reach the boss of bosses in this Infinite Roguelike! Check out some gameplay footage while the developer explains some of the gameplay features like the weapon-upgrade system, various room types, some tips and tricks! Don't forget to grab the demo and try it out for yourself, and Wishlist the game: it will launch right after Next Fest!

[ 2024-06-11 11:00:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey ! Thanks for checking out Gauntlet of Power, I just pushed a new Demo build which improves a few things based on feedback from players. These (and more) improvements will of course all be available in the full release coming June 17th!

Biggest changes

• Replaced the "snappy" camera movement when going from room to room, for a more smooth experience
• Default Arrows now fly straight, instead of auto-target enemies
• Target-Arrows is now a combo-weapon you can (fairly easily) unlock in the demo!
• Alchemy bomb pickup now turns only your current bombs into Alchemy bombs (and new bombs will be normal bombs)
• Working on proper Chinese localization, we're almost done with that!

There's a bunch of other tiny improvements and things added to the demo, so make sure to give it another play through before or during Steam's Next fest! Got ideas, questions or just wanna say hi? discord.gg/orangepixel ! Cya! - Pascal

[ 2024-05-31 10:24:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ Calling all Adventurers and Dungeoneers! We are nearing an actual release of the game, and I figured it was time to update the previous demo with a fresh new one ! This comes with a long list of changes and improvements, and is a much more stable demo than the previous one.
I am working towards doing a public Beta test here on Steam, so make sure to wishlist the game and keep an eye out for that one. There will be some more "closed" tests before that, which I will run from: The Official Orangepixel Discord Normally I place a nice list of changes and updates on these posts, but honestly, the list is extremely long, so some of the main changes:

Load / Save

The demo now has proper load/save implemented, something that I normally don't do when the game isn't nearing completing yet, but hey, now it is!

Quests

Might be hard finding it in the current demo, but there are Monk's hovering about to hand out quests with nice goodies as payment!

More balanced

The gameplay/difficulty/spawn rates, it's all been tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and.... you get the point! It's better now! And then there is a long list of tiny stuff, like proper hit-feedback, improved weapon-mounting, combo's, union's, new items, new monsters and so.. so ... much more! So GO PLAY THE NEW DEMO ! There will be one more demo coming before the final release, and in that demo I'll unlock the Wizard as playable character.. so .. let's say we'll do that somewhere in June? ;) See you around! - Pascal / Orangepixel https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/

[ 2024-03-22 14:48:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new demo drops just before the holidays! So come and play in the warm dungeon full of loot! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ Since it's been a month (and a day) since the last demo update, and I've been working on the game every day, the list of new things, changes and improvements is extremely long, so let me highlight some of the more important things here: New enemies added, like that happy Skully chap in the GIF above, but a few others will cross your path New boss-fights, although they are on a "low" spawn in the current demo, you will probably encounter them every now and then Weapon-tree/level up system - FINALLY got around to this, more on that below Hit feedback for the player (most requested by demo players) So let's dive into the weapon system, it was always the goal to make this more interesting then just mounting weapons in all directions! Just had to figure out what I wanted to do with it exactly.. and I couldn't decide on just one way, so there are now multiple ways to upgrade your upgrades, here's a little cheat-sheet I made (will be extended, might change over time, but for now this is accurate) :
So we have combo weapons, these require your main weapon to be at max level of 6, and then you can combine it with another weapon to turn it into a "combo weapon" The other thing you can do is create a "union" of two weapons mounted next to each other on the Gauntlet of Power, and once they have the correct level, you can decide to union them into a new cool gadget like the Rune of Fire! On top of all that there are modifiers that will modify any weapon at a specific level. Right now if you level up that weapon the modification will be gone! I might change this later. I'm still play-testing the weapon system myself, but very open to feedback on these things as you encounter them (although it can be hard to experience all these upgrades during the duration of the demo) I'll have this weapon sheet uploaded and updated over on the -> Orangepixel Support Wiki alongside all the new items that got added to the game as a nice reference. Full changes list:

• added: Moved player-preference save file location
• added: Little bump effect when player gets hit
• added: "Hurt" Sound effects to player getting hit
• added: made Gauntlet fire when near wooden crates/obstacles
• added: Slight increase on loot-pickup vanishing timer
• added: Compass drop chance early in game increased
• added: Small Health flask to restore a single heart
• added: Gauntlet can now be checked in Pause screen
• added: Shields are now upgrade items, not Gauntlet slots
• added: Combo weapon functionality
• added: Combo-Weapon Twirl Arrows
• added: Combo-weapon Soul Sword
• added: Combo weapon Chaos Knife
• added: Combo weapons options now light up (feeling the power)
• added: Combo weapon: Magic of Impact
• added: Weapon modifier: Vampiristic
• added: Weapon modifier: Fire
• added: Weapon-union system
• added: Union weapon - Sword of Light
• added: Union weapon - Rune of Fire
• added: Union weapon - Stormbreaker
• added: Union weapon - Blades of Fury
• added: Axe of Protection
• added: enemy Skully
• added: enemy Bolt - can electrify your Gauntlet weapons on touch
• added: new enemy: Bombies
• added: Boss - ToFuMagic
• added: Boss - Muddy
• added: Boss - Shelly king
• added: Boss - Ironicle
• added: Bombies can spawn from objects in later area's
• added: Visual distictions for Magic-weapon levels
• added: Temporal-chest will now show the item it would unleash at current level
• added: Active item Dice - rerolls the pickup items in current room
• added: Active item recharging now done from previously-collected purple/blue gem
• added: Item Blast protection now defends against all hits
• added: charge item Book of Darkness
• added: charge item Lamp of Shinies
• added: Shields now also block fire/flame/bullets from creatures
• added: Blood-debris setting
• added: Dungeon progress bar
• added: Dungeon # to status bar hud
• added: Score word shown in HUD
• added: Blue and Purple gems now shown in side-hud
• added: Separated GUI gamepad controls from game-controls
• added: remapped default gamepad controls (B - bombs instead of A)
• added: Credits screen
• added: Codex access from settings menu
• added: selected mount-direction in level-up now glows
• added: Active charge item now more visible in HUD
• added: Codex pages for missing items
• added: general visual effect for Active-item usage
• added: Upgrades now include character class in weapon drops
• added: Extra spawn-effect, warning player of incoming critters
• added: Rebalanced dungeon obstacles first-appearing level
• changed: Bombs now drop at actual location (no velocity added)
• changed: slight increase in bomb-explosion delay (after dropping one)
• changed: removed loot-drop on mini Flames spawned by Flamehead
• changed: Made gems more shiny (and proper palette use)
• changed: Bolt won't spawn in starting room of a dungeon
• changed: Dungeon progress now area-based
• changed: Shovel of descent now takes you to next "area" not level
• changed: Charge items only use gems when used, not just when collected
• changed: Bombies now have lower HP, and move into "explode mode" when shot
• changed: Lamp of shinies usage - loot shouldn't be collected instantly, make it fly towards player
• changed: Added proper GUI key controls (framework upgrade)
• changed: Weapon-max levels and branching now more uniform across all weapons
• changed: Balancing difficulty and loot drops
• changed: Made starting Gauntlet room smaller
• fixed: Unique (single-drop) items can still be dropped multiple times
• fixed: Secret room can't be re-entered after leaving
• fixed: hit-feedback on player/screen
• fixed: healing potion doesn't restore full health
• fixed: Wizard slide+exit animations aren't updated to new looks
• fixed: Reflection rotated images is wrongly positioned (Framework fix)
• fixed: Screenshake preferences aren't remembered
• fixed: Exit screen doesn't fit on all resolutions
• fixed: Secret room to the right has treasure infront of door
• fixed: Visual explosion seems off from the actual blast area
• fixed: Cyclo-brothers always move to lower-right corner of the dungeon
• fixed: Bolt moved outside the room walls
• fixed: Boss fights will hurt player before they are fully spawned
• fixed: Crash bug opening pause menu
• fixed: Spooky, Bolt and Skully have no spawn-delay when entering a room
• fixed: Active-item recharge should be gradual, not instant
• fixed: Proper difference between Bomb and Interact key settings
• fixed: Codex crashes on last item on the page
• fixed: Backing out of pause menu drops a bomb
• fixed: Shellies can bump things out of room boundaries
• fixed: Rendering bug in dungeon walls
• fixed: optimized dungeon rendering

[ 2023-12-07 17:04:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey adventurers and new party joiners! This is a somewhat unplanned update to the demo, but I noticed there were some crashes caused by Spooky (the pink ghost) it was important to make sure those known crashes aren't happening anymore, so here's a "lite" update that does bring you some interesting changes. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ I improved the generation of the dungeon layout, so there's now more "splits" and dead-ends (which can be used for interesting future rooms!) Also introduced a couple of different dungeon room sizes, and in those tight places some good bullet-heaven fights can be had (or a well placed bomb does wonders).
Finally I've been tinkering a bit with balancing things concerning enemy-skills, loot-drops, level-up speed, etc. So this new demo might feel a bit different! I was planning on more features, but as mentioned, I consider this a lite-update mostly to fix some crash issues. Full changes list:

• added: More variation/splits in dungeon generator (bigger levels)
• added: Different room sizes
• added: Shop rooms now use unique graphics
• added: bombs and keys now flash in hud when picked up
• added: tiny-room specific room designs
• added: render MAX on items in upgrade-screen at max level
• changed: Treasure rooms are now smaller
• changed: Secret rooms are now tiny
• changed: Room light depends on room-size
• changed: Renamed Tiny key to Silver key
• changed: Renamed Boss key to Gold key
• changed: Bombs and Silver keys don't give pop-up messages anymore
• changed: Improved message overlap order/importance
• changed: Narrow rooms won't appear in first 2 levels
• changed: rebalancing tweaks
• updated Gauntlet of Power support site with new items
• fixed: some interface text position bugs
• fixed: Various books for level-up weapons didn't level-up all weapons
• fixed: bullets would vanish after the wizards time-bubble
• fixed: Menu navigation from preferences back to options has no selection when returning
• fixed: Spooky monster can crash the game
• fixed: key spawn in wall-pilar room can be pushed away/made ungrabable
• fixed: Treasure throws item into door-passage making in unpickupable
• fixed: secret room coverings re-appear when moving back to non-completed room

[ 2023-11-07 04:17:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

You can't have a great adventure without a bunch of friends! So the Heroes of Loot are reunited again as this demo brings the playable characters for Wizard and Valkyrie! I'm still balancing their weapon stats and dodge moves, but take them for a spin and let me know how far you got! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/
So the update list is LONG this time, if you prefer shorter ones, come hang out on the Discord for the shorter "day by day" updates thanks to my Ori bot. Version 0.0.7 of Gauntlet of Power comes with a bunch of fixes, improvements and of course new features. Like the playable characters, new enemies, and a collection of new items (my goal is to increase this towards a hundred items before we release..!) There are als a couple of extra boss battles in there, and I randomized the order of encountering them for even more fun.
Next on the list of features is more special rooms where you can encounter NPC's who give you a quest, or maybe trade items with you, or other kind of adventurous interactions. Besides that a big missing feature is still weapon-combo's to unlock new special weapons.. I just have to figure out what kind of weapons ! So that's a couple of big things I plan on working on for the next demo! Full changes list:

• added: save/restore functionality to rooms for entities in it
• added: persistent debris (blood,bones,etc)
• added: little HUD flash when XP bar is increased
• added: bombs can now destroy room-obstacles
• added: Compass shows in HUD near mini-map
• added: a codex with info on the various items
• added: "wood-breaking" sounds to floor-arrows being hit
• added: Fireball cannons
• added: Bouncing enemies
• added: Shellies (enemy type)
• added: master key "auto open" doors and treasures when touching them
• added: Shellies and Choompa's drop loot when hit
• added: make fireball-cannons destroyable with bombs
• added: 360 fire turrets
• added: Slowmotion time when player does a pickup-stance
• added: Shellies and Choompa spawn count should increase in later levels
• added: Alchemy - upgrades your bombs, so they can blow up treasure-room doors
• added: Max-level to weapons
• added: Weapon max-level status to level-up screen
• added: tiny Choompa critters
• added: Cyclo Brothers boss
• added: code for the Minotaur mini-boss
• added: slow "boss energy" increase when boss appears (dramatic effect)
• added: Proper character-select screen
• added: Time-slowdown to Wizard dodge move
• added: new Monster Spooky
• added: Valkyrie character
• added: Assign gauntlet weapons with controller using 360-degrees method
• added: Wizard's use of Magic is more powerful
• added: Visual changes to the Knife weapon (per level)
• added: item Wings of Metal
• added: item Wings of Wood
• added: item: Blast Protector
• added: item: Temporal Chest
• added: item: Shovel of Descent: allows you to dig down to the next floor (skipping boss fight)
• added: item: Ring of Teleportation - moves you to a random room on current floor
• changed: Panic button now needs charging, but can be used multiple times
• changed: cleaned up monster-generation and basic movement code (Re-usable)
• changed: Screenshake moved to Render instead of World (Framework change)
• changed: Improved key spawns (treasure room, tiny chests, etc)
• changed: Improved look of Choompa's because of Tim's post :P
• changed: tweaked the Axe weapon's movement some more
• changed: randomise the boss order
• changed: Title screen
• changed: Made active items appear on special pedestal
• fixed: Shellies shouldn't drop loot with every hit
• fixed: destroyable objects sometimdes show statusbar (after room re-entry)
• fixed: floor-arrows don't "delay" when in slow-motion mode
• fixed: getting stuck in walls when moving from room to room
• fixed: Panic button is not available in "starting room"
• fixed: mouse cursor remains as visible pointer during gameplay
• fixed: Player is invinceable when making a pickup-stance
• fixed: Vertical room has vertical fireball gun on the edges. Should be horizontal
• fixed: Choompa's can jump outside the level
• fixed: Shellies can still get out of the level area. Rare ones even spawn outside of it
• fixed: weapon mounting doesn't take into account the "new max" of the weapon
• fixed: Warrior's dodge move's slide is way too long
• fixed: Huge wall spike pillars don't pause when player has a Pickup-moment
• fixed: dungeon-generation endless loop
• fixed: compass teleportation to vertical/horizontal room should land near door, not room-center
• fixed: Bomb-count not reset between games
• fixed: Bosses being massively damaged by a single shield hit
• fixed: Pickup-flare lasts longer than pickup-stance
• fixed: Last item not shown in Codex

[ 2023-10-20 14:15:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Pretty quickly after the 0.0.5 demo drop, this demo brings you a lot of new goodies, and a small change to how things work. I rewrote the whole item-pool-usage system and split things up into proper item categories. Make sure to download the demo from Steam and don't forget to Wishlist + Follow! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/ What this means is that we now have active items, passive items, and consumables/trinkets. You can carry only one active item at a time, and it will now be activated (once charged) with a special button, instead of the automatic activation in previous builds of the game. The other items are either instant usage (like the Book of Magic will automatically level-up all your magic weapons, but also heart-containers, potions, etc.) and other items will have some sort of triggered use (like the Dash-boots). I created a Support page for Heroes of Loot 3 over here : Orangepixel Game support and I'll update it as new items are being added, and eventually will also include information on the various monsters and other things of the game. For now you can find all current items that I've been adding in this build and figure out some information on what they do (there will be an in-game codex eventually). Besides all the items I've also been working on more variation in the dungeon layouts. So there are now narrow hallways, obstacles, and more will be added as we turn this game into a worthy dungeon (action) adventure! I'm now fairly confident with the state of the game, and I'd think we can call this a proper vertical slice! So if there are any publishers out there interested, make sure to contact me (already talking to a couple!)
Full changes list:

• added: Treasure room now needs key+player interaction to open (no more auto-open if player has a key)
• added: visual changes for the Axe for 6 levels
• added: visual changes to the Arrows for 5 levels
• added: Dashing will break wooden obstacles
• added: little puff indication effect for when dodge-move is "active" again
• added: wood-debris to arrow-hazards being broken
• added: new danger-room (floor spikes everywhere)
• added: Big Map view (keyboard input might need reset-defaults)
• added: 35% chance a completed room drops an item of value
• added: Active items, requiring charging and button-press to activate
• added: Improved dialog and pop-ups
• added: item: Book of Elves - level up arrows
• added: item: Book of Magic - level up magic weapons
• added: item: Big coin - gives 10 coins
• added: item: Panic button - teleports you back to starting room
• added: item: Hourglass - freezes enemies for a few seconds
• added: item: Dungeon-map - reveals current dungeon layout and room locations
• added: item Voodoo doll - revives you after death
• added: item: Master-key to open all chests and treasure rooms
• added: item Compass for quick travel on map
• changed: Showing empty heart containers in HUD
• changed: improved working of floor-spikes
• changed: rebalancing difficulty of creatures in later levels
• changed: unified look to hud + interface
• changed: Tiny keys won't vanish like normal loot
• changed: Book of skill is now an item, not a weapon-upgrade
• fixed: If at Tinychest or Doors that need interaction, bomb's won't be dropped by accident anymore (Same button)
• fixed: some collision detection issues/inconsistencies for bullets/walls
• fixed: exit on gameover screen not clickable
• fixed: shortened duration of the boss-appearance effect
• fixed: start room of a dungeon will remain empty from obstacles spawning
• fixed: monsters not moving / attacking
• fixed: shop-prices are all $00
• fixed: removed big-coins from the shop
• fixed: "single-drop" items now properly checked across all item pools

[ 2023-09-05 13:06:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demo version 0.0.5 is here with a couple of minor changes and tweaks. The most important one, requested by the Discord chat, is having the Bomb's attached to an action button instead of the dash movement. This version also comes with brand new music from the hands of Rob aka Fractures, and it should get you pumping through those dungeon levels at increasing difficulty! Besides those two key things it's just a few little tweaks here and there to improve the overall demo. Didn't have a lot of time to work on it in recent weeks (partly because of the Regulator City demo also getting a big update) but I wanted to push out a fresh demo, so enjoy!
Full changes list:

• fixed: tiny-chest in same room as Boss key could spawn endless Boss keys
• fixed: secret doors show a shadow marker (give away their presence)
• fixed: some collision detection inaccuracies
• fixed: random dungeon crash
• fixed: some confusing controls with mouse in level-up screen
• added: Bombs now thrown with action button (not with dodge/dash move)
• added: Slight slowdown and invulnerability when level-up appears
• added: Item description for Shop items
• added: Light-up effect on certain items of interest
• added: Different map-icon if you already grabbed the treasure-room chest
• added: Random objects along the walls of dungeon rooms
• added: New music
• changed: Made axe movement more subtle
• changed: cleaned up settings menus
• changed: cleaned up Keyboard+Gamepad input settings
• changed: disabled bomb-dropping in the shop room (no need there, and usually happens by accident)

[ 2023-08-17 16:07:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Gauntlet of Power demo v4 is here, and it's a huge leap into the right direction! Last couple of demo builds were mostly me still poking at the prototype and trying to see which direction it wanted to go.
With this demo release we now have a fairly clear direction and it still contains the Gauntlet of Power as main differentiation from other games in the dungeon-crawling genre. But we now pivoted slightly away from the Vampire Survivor mold and a bit more into the direction of Roguelikes such as Binding of Isaac and of course the original Heroes of Loot games. And the demo is now available from Steam! So don't forget to Wishlist and Follow it, while you take the demo for a spin: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power The game now comes with the first two boss battles, a shop-room got added, tiny treasure chests and a secret room with more goodies! The amount of items is still somewhat limited, but a lot more are coming. I'm first building out the whole system to handle the various items and how they are spread across the various ways you can find them. Is it a shop-item? exclusive to a treasure room? A Gauntlet upgrade? or only found in Secret rooms?
I also modified the health system and invulnerability of the player once hit, still fleshing out the system and trying to balance it all out, but that's an on-going challenge and especially this early in a game's development it's hard to get right - as things constantly change anyway! Full changes list:

• added: traps are disabled in completed rooms
• added: Warrior dodge move now rolls
• added: Item - Magnet ; increases attraction for loot near you
• added: Boss : King Fire
• added: Boss : Rocko
• added: improved the mini-map
• added: improved item-pickup event
• added: proper Treasure room door
• added: Treasure room can now spawn rare-items
• added: Item: Horn of Boreas - needs charging to activate
• added: basic controller instructions
• added: Tiny keys (now needed for treasure room)
• added: Gauntlet-levelup event/animation
• added: Shop rooms
• added: Secret rooms (work in progress)
• added: Tiny locked chests
• changed: invulnerability after being hit lasts big longer
• changed: improved Bomb blast radios
• changed: Treasure chest always gives some food
• changed: improved door code for open/closed states on entering a room
• fixed: main menu now fully working with mouse input
• fixed: Axe flying against wall vanishes
• fixed: Bombs only get thrown if enemies are near while dashing
• fixed: creatures spawning outside of room behind the doors
• fixed: rendering glitch with shields
• fixed: Rocko can throw himself against the walls and go out of map

[ 2023-07-17 14:49:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

A fresh new update to the Heroes of Loot: Gauntlet of Power alpha demo is here, and it brings a lot of fun goodies in the shape of new playable characters and a bunch of improvements to the weapon system. My main focus for this update was on making the weapons more interesting and unique, and also make sure that various characters have a different feel to them. This, for now, mostly comes from those weapons.
Every character has a "base weapon" and that weapon will be more usable by them than the other characters. So the Elf shoots a couple of extra arrow's, and they will fly longer compared to the other characters shooting arrows. The warrior wields the Axe, and it will be stronger and fly longer when wielded by the warrior. Of course the wizard comes with the most powerful magic - and right now that still keeps him somewhat weaker than the others, but I plan on compensating that magic with other items you'll get to use in the game. Valkyrie will come with the knives/swords weapons, but I haven't gotten to create that character yet for this update, so stay tuned for that one!

Bombs go BOOM

The bombs in the previous versions weren't really useful, as they would be dropped randomly and do little damage when exploding. I'm trying out a new method for that in this version: bombs will be dropped when you dodge/slide only. So you can somewhat trigger them when you think it's best needed. They will be thrown a little bit behind you, bounce a bit, and then do more damage than before. I also worked on some of the weapon visuals, and they will now have different visuals when you level them up. The axe becomes bigger, the arrows become stronger, the magic becomes more magical(!?) and I will add more improvements in future updates! And the usage of some of the weapons changed, arrows will now "target the nearest" enemy, magic will create an extra "push" against all nearby enemies when it hits one of them, and the Axe does some nice twirling, taking down a lot more. Now go check out the new demo, and come chat about it on the Orangepixel Discord!

[ 2023-05-23 13:05:05 CET ] [ Original post ]