• New Reagent reaction: Reagent + Mana gas = new Mana Charged status effect for all nearby friendly iridians (temporary infinite mana).
• You can now toggle an "overhead view" of your area with the map button by tapping, and opening the world map by holding.
• Charging your Slash can now increase mana on hit by up to 2x (4x on Polearm with the double charge).
• With mouse/keyboard, you now need to hold shift to charge your Slash (meaning you no longer need to spam click enemies for combos).
• All weapons now have their own base mana on hit property. Daggers: 5, Swords: 10, Axes: 10, wands: 20, polearms: 20 (previously, all Slash hits gave 10 mana).
• New damage ranges for player weapons. Daggers: from 4-15 to 4-10. Swords: from 7-23 to 6-20. Axes/Polearms: from 10-30 to 8-30.
• Status effects such as burning, poison, and electrified now base particle effect amount on strength of status effect.
• Mana debt doesn't last as long anymore.
• Holding Shift in Tactics Mode now prevents snapping.
• Iridine Anvil now shows how many upgrades you have previously gotten on a specific item property.
• Iridine Pylon now warns you when a custom abilities Per Second ability might not trigger, due to short lived Base Ability.
• Bear traps now only drop in quantities of 1, rather than 5-6.
• Fixed various bugs.
• Various tweaks.

[ 2024-10-31 22:04:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

I heard y'alls feedback in regards to the emerging story not being overly clear in the Bridgebourn demo. Bridgebourn isn't just an ARPG. It's focused on having a unique, crazy and bold story in an immersive fantasy world. So, I decided to move the ending in the demo a bit further out to include more exposition and what I think is a more meaningful place to leave the journey hanging. As a bonus, this will include a location where you can get a mount! Now if you don't mind, I'll be back on the grind (to get more Bridgebourn into your hands). Stay on the lookup for my updates! Happy treasure hunting!

[ 2024-10-11 22:48:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Available in the demo, you can now play with 4 people total! It's local-coop based, so you choose someone's client and save file as a host. However, using Steam Remote Play, it's basically multiplayer! Just plug in some controllers/invite steam friends on Steam Remote Play, load up a save file, and activate the other players in the Co-Op menu found on the Pause menu! Happy treasure hunting!

[ 2024-08-10 15:43:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

I was able to get access to a Steam Deck for a bit and patched out the bugs pertaining to Steam Deck and other hand held gaming devices. The bugs included interacting with UI and party manager mode with the mouse cursor via joystick, and a crash at the Aghash boss fight. If you ran into issues previously, please give it another try! Only issue withstanding is the game uses Xbox button icons regardless of controller used. Also fixed a crash for any device that had no audio source. Let me know if you run into any more issues, thanks!

[ 2024-06-17 19:43:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

I just launched a big Bridgebourn update (available in demo)! The goal is to solidify the game experience by adding new content, iterating on problematic content and balancing the player/party. Let's get into the changelog and the reasoning behind some of the changes. Death Bank

• Added Esse Finis, a new map
• Added Vizaresh, a new boss. Found in Esse Finis
• Added portals in the overworld that take you to Esse Finis
• Player now loses half experience and any levels that it makes up on game over (Vizaresh accumulates this experience and restores it upon its death)

Previously, a game over would clear whatever experience you had in your bar and you had no way to get it back. Due to this, I couldn't make the death penalty that bad and it seemed to have no real consequence. Losing a lot of levels would also make the player feel like they are going backwards with progression, which never feels great in an RPG. So, I introduced a "death bank". You lose half of your total experience, which could lose you levels. However, the more experience you lose, the more likely you are to stumble across portals that lead you to a new boss. This new boss will restore your lost experience if you defeat it. However, doing so will make the boss even more challenging the next time you fight it. This change is trying to add some more skin in the game with a game over, while also giving the player a new goal rather than making them feel like they lost progression. Mana Rework

• You can now spend mana even when run out, though that puts you in mana debt
• Added mana debt stage system - reapers start hunting you when in mana debt
• Added Reaplet, a new enemy for mana debt stage 3
• Added Maar, a new enemy for mana debt stage 4

Previously, Mana Reapers would spawn when you spent your mana past a tiny line indicator. This felt unintuitive and distracting in battles. This new system allows you to perform abilities regardless of how much mana you have to allow for flexibility. However, when spending mana past 0 mana, you'll start going into deeper stages of mana debt. The screen will flash to indicate this. Past the first warning stage, you'll start being hunted by more and more challenging reapers. The deeper the mana stage, the longer cooldowns you'll have on your mana based abilities. To exit mana debt, just wait it out and survive the reaper onslaught. Doing so will replenish some mana. This change is intended to add more emergent behavior and flexibility to combat. If you really need more mana, you'll need to make a deal with the devil. Let's hope you survive! General

• Added Meteor, a new ability
• Added Secondary abilities (12 of them! Go find them all!) - cannot be equipped on ability bar, but can be used for custom abilities
• Added a new crying gesture for Bahj during round table cutscenes
• Added a new game over animation
• Added a shield parry window telegraph for the Player
• Added a heavy attack windup completion telegraph for the Player
• The party now comment on nearby elites
• You can now restore charges on custom abilities by spending iridine crystals
• Various bug fixes and tweaks

Balance

• Added 11 new equipment slots for Bahj and Pahri
• Added a new node for Bolt to allow teleporting of the entire party
• Added item property brackets
• The extract cost of an item property now increases based on how much you already upgraded it
• Player base mana regen per sec decreased from 1 to .75
• Increased Slash/Punch slide by 1.143x
• Heavy Slash has 1.364x more thrust
• Base slash now comes with a small thrust
• Phantom Slash now poisons you
• Increased merchant starting gold
• Merchants inventory now restocks
• Item drop rate slightly reduced
• Reduced Rare item chance from 8% to 7%
• Increased Enchanted item chance from 32% to 33%
• Ability glyphs now drop 1.3x more often
• Ability scrolls now drop .9x as often
• Cursed ability scrolls now drop .975x as often
• Player and party no longer get hit and parry stunned
• Increased the cost of various item property extractions
• Chest items can no longer roll Max Mana or Damage to Mana properties
• Leg items can no longer roll the Damage to Mana property
• Shoulder items can no longer roll the Mana Regen property
• Glove items can no longer roll Max Mana or Mana on Hit properties
• Increased Daeva experience from 500 to 600
• Decreased the experience that many general enemies give

The Player's exponential power curve was too steep. This was due to item extractions being too cheap, and mana feeling too abundant, even without Slashing. A lot of armor types will no longer be able to roll some mana stats and mana item properties now roll smaller numbers and are more expensive to extract. The purpose is to limit the use of very powerful magick abilities, and give Slash more reason to be used as a mana gain mechanic. Players were also gearing up too quick, so I reduced item drop rates and Rare quality chances. This should make a great item drop feel more special. In contrast to the Player, the party members felt like they were lagging behind in terms of power and becoming obsolete. I gave Bahj and Pahri more equipment slots and a lot more items to fit them! This should help them keep up. UI/UX

• Added an icon demonstrating that you cannot revive the party during battles
• Elite icons now only show when nearby
• You now have to press and hold to chat to your party and NPCs
• Ability bar now shows hourglass icons and text for explaining why you failed to perform an ability
• You can now wishlist merchant items to prevent them from restocking
• Pahri now comments on how to neutralize their status effects
• Added a visual damage indicator on the ground for some attacks

Music

• Added Pahri's theme, playing during their intro cutscene
• Added Foothills theme
• Modified Hunted theme to have both combat and non combat variations
• Added 2 more Secrets tunes

[ 2024-06-01 18:52:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am so honored to have been both the investors and audience pick for the first episode of OTK's Pixel Pitch! It was such a blast to be on the show. Where do we go from here? In the short term, I'll be fixing bugs and monitoring the response from the demo. It's currently getting a very large influx of new players. I'm so excited to hear what y'all think of it. Because of this wave, I'm expecting to receive bug and feedback reports. Rest assured, I'll be working to fix these ASAP. In the long term, I'll be back on track with working toward the final release. I'll be posting updates frequently via the Bridgebourn Discord server and Twitter, so you'll be in the know. I hope you enjoy the demo, and let me know if you run into any issues! Bonus points if they are replicable. Now, back to developing! Cheers!

[ 2024-03-29 23:02:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

After receiving feedback from the demo launch, I worked on this update bringing new content, modifications and fixes to the demo. I'm confident this greatly improves the players experience in the world of Bridgebourn. If you've already tried the demo, I still recommend giving this update a whirl! As always, let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy.

• Added more character dialogue. Venture out and find it!
• Party Members now have their own equipment tabs in the inventory window, as well as new Pahri and Bahj accessory items.
• Blocking now knocks back and halves Slash knockback.
• Added shield block parry. Time it right to stun and greatly knock the enemy back.
• Added new Wisp ability.
• Reagent Gas now destroys multiple abilities it reacts with, but still only reacts once.
• Pahri now levels up separately from the player.
• Pahri spends levels automatically to recharge the Throw Reagent Bomb ability.
• Added lore to the world map locations during round tables.
• Dual wielding now creates two separate slashes.
• Added Slash range and arc stats for weapons.
• Added 2-handed Polearm weapon.
• You can now drag and drop ability slots.
• You can now click to toggle commands in Party Manager mode.
• Party Manager mode commands now have visuals.
• Added more decoration/sprites throughout the world.
• Improved shield block graphics and sound feedback.
• Fellmaws Flame Slash ability now leaves a trail of fire.
• Kakodemons can now use the Jump ability.
• Phantoms can now use the Acid Mortar ability.
• Mana reapers can now use the Wisp ability.
• Changed Phantom attack speed from .75 to .5.
• Changed Mana Reaper damage from 10 to 8.
• Changed Gremlin damage from 8 to 9.
• Changed Gremlin attack speed from 1 to .6.
• Improved Gremlin Howl behavior.
• Improved level up animation.
• Added custom ability in-game demonstration.
• Fixed an issue preventing the game from launching on Linux and Steam Deck.
• Various tweaks across the board.
• Various UX improvements.
• Various UI improvements.
• Various bug fixes.

[ 2023-12-19 00:39:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

What a Launch!

Wow, this has been a LONG time in the making! 1 week ago, after 8 years of development, I deployed the demo of Bridgebourn. I can't express how crazy it has been. Seeing people play it and share their thoughts has been surreal! As expected, some issues and bugs came up. I've been carefully watching and updating the demo as necessary. The latest build should be a lot better. If you run into any issues or have any suggestions, please let me know. I want Bridgebourn to be the best game it can possibly be.

What's Next?

I've been fixing issues in the demo as well as working on post-demo content for the full release. I hate to cut the demo so short, because I've been working on such cool new content that I'd love people to play with! Mounts, sailing the seas, open world content, etc... But don't fret! The demo is packed full of content, and is replayable too! Try to find some cool mythical gear, or create some crazy custom abilities! Additional demo content may be introduced in future versions if it seems necessary - will play by ear.

How Can You Help? How to Stay Up to Date?

Bridgebourn needs your help! Simply spreading the word, wishlisting the game, staying tuned for updates and giving feedback to me goes so far to help with the development. I'm constantly posting updates as I work on Bridgebourn, whether it be the Discord server, Twitter, etc... I'm planning on creating a mailing list and will announce that here and there.

[ 2023-10-09 03:09:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Grab your arms and loot sack, adventurer. We're going treasure hunting! Bridgebourn will have a huge announcement at Realms Deep 2023! Tune in on September 30th. Saturday, September 30th 2023, live show airing at 8 PM CEST / 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT.

[ 2023-09-16 02:45:58 CET ] [ Original post ]