Hi all, Some light reading for you to enjoy prior to the BETA launch! You can expect to see the beta branch appear within the next day. We will post an announcement when it goes live with full instructions on how to download!

::Barony V3.0.0 BETA Changelog::

GENERAL:

• Added new monsters!
• Added new items, including:
  • Throwing weapons
  • New tiers of armor
  • New tiers of weapons
  • Starting class specific armors
  • High tier spellbooks, magicstaffs
• Extended dungeon depth into 1 new tileset, slightly reworked ending. (Open BETA preview, more to come!)

MAJOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES

• Added 3 new starting classes:
  • Sexton: A temple officer who serves unseen, using stealth and magic to slip their way through the dungeon with the aid of a few rare tools.
  • Ninja: A highly specialized assassin. They ambush foes with swords or ranged weapons, using a few other tricks to get out of bad situations.
  • Monk: Disciplined and hardy. They have little in the way of offensive training and material goods, but can rely on their excellent fortitude and adaptability.
• New Animations:
  • Add "special attacks" for new monsters, allow monster AI to choose between different attacks depending on circumstance
  • Overhauled/replaced all monster animation
  • Added unique animations for all ranged weapon firing
  • Added unique animations for monster spellcasting
  • Monster animation now has a "windup" period before dealing damage, allowing greater opportunity to block and dodge
  • Monsters can now throw items
• Replaced randomly choosing 3 attributes on level up with weighted attribute growth for each class.
  • (E.g Warriors have higher chance for strength and lower chance for intelligence, opposite for Wizards)
• Add chance for gaining a "bonus" attribute point on level up if the player has gained at least one level in a skill since their last level up.
  • Each proficiency is tied to 1 of the 6 attributes. "Bonus" attribute point is tied to the proficiency's associated attribute.
  • E.g combat proficiencies like POLEARM will grant a chance for bonus STR, SWIMMING will grant a chance for bonus CON)
  • Levelling up will reset the chance.
• Shared experience from killing monsters by followers/other players is now based on proximity of other party members, rather than line of sight checking.
  • (Previously monster entities could disrupt the line of sight check and not share experience)
• Reworked melee weapon damage formula. Now linearly scales with weapon tier and durability, rather than multiplicatively.
  • (Previously it was possible for a DECREPIT and WORN weapon to display the same +attack value due to number rounding, now there will always be a +1 attack difference.)
  This results in a net-gain of attack power in most cases, monster stats have been shifted in damage output to mostly remain the same.
• Ranged weapons now use DEX attribute in calculation for damage instead of STR.
  • Monsters use a combination of DEX + PER to avoid monsters becoming too speedy
  • Adjusted goblin and skeleton stats to compensate
  • Ranged weapons now have a chance to "pierce" half the armor of targets, chance scales with PER attribute. Also applies to monsters.
• Mana regen now scales with a combination of INT attribute and SPELLCASTING proficiency.
  • Multiple sources of Magic Resist & HP/MP Regen now stack diminishingly instead of having no effect past the first point
  • (E.g 50% becomes 33%, then 25% resistance)
• Thrown potions/rocks/gems/throwing items now ignore half the armor of hit target, previously was reduced by all armor.
  • Additional damage is dealt depending on the RANGED proficiency of the thrower
  • Successfully hitting a target with thrown potions/rocks/gems/throwing items has a chance to increase ranged proficiency.
• New armor breaking formula for some new items. (E.g Crystal Tier items)
• Shield of Magic Resistance no longer provides reflection when blocking.
  • Changed to +1 additional resistance
• Movement speed from DEX attribute reworked, slower speeds overall at high DEX and movement speed has a upper limit.
  • Carry weight now has a larger impact on speed at lower STR levels.
• Add minor "blocking" animation for player characters in multiplayer
• Add “sneaking” mechanic when using the ‘block’ key when no offhand item is equipped
  • Sneaking reduces your movement equal to the blocking speed
  • Sneaking reduces monster vision of the player
  • Sneaking grants bonus to vision/light level depending on sneaking proficiency of the player
• Add “backstab” and “flanking” mechanics depending on the facing direction of the player and the hit monster.
  • "Backstab” applies bonus damage when hitting a target from behind that is currently not in combat or alerted
  • “Flanking” applies a chance for bonus damage when hitting a target from behind that is currently engaged in combat or is otherwise alerted. Bonus damage is less than a successful backstab.
  • Both mechanics display unique combat messages when successful.
  • Bonus damage is based on the stealth proficiency of the player.
  • Successfully backstabbing or flanking grants a chance to raise stealth proficiency
• Add "THROWN" item category for item types
• `Add 3 new glove types that grant additional unarmed melee damage
• Add capstones for reaching legendary tier in a non-combat proficiency.
  • APPRAISAL: Instant Appraise
  • SPELLCASTING: Makes magic missile cost 0 mana. You learn magic missile if you don't already know it.
  • LOCKPICKING: Lockpicking is always successful, and you find extra gold in chests.
  • LEADERSHIP: Recruit Goblins as followers
  • MAGIC: Gain exclusive spell "Dominate"
  • STEALTH: Permanent Invisibility
  • SWIMMING: Permanent Waterwalking
  • TRADING: Sell any category of item to any vendor

MECHANICS/BALANCE:

• Buffed fountains from dungeon depths past 10
• Buffed gravestones from dungeon depths past 15
• Improved chance of food sources in the labyrinth.
• Basic damage spells now break chests to match the effect on doors and furniture.

• Add beartraps and thrown items to chest items pools
• Reworked Beartraps, beartrap damage is now increased by the trapper’s locks proficiency, as well as the status of the item
  • Beartraps are now reusable, degrade by 1 status every use.
  • Add beartrap set sound effect
  • Successfully trapping a monster in a beartraps has a chance to increase lockpicking and ranged proficiency
  • Beartraps no longer target allies.
  • Fixed case where beartraps were incorrectly rendered invisible in multiplayer
• Enchant/Destroy Armor, and Repair scrolls now choose a random worn piece of equipment rather than helmet first.
• "Cursed" scrolls of Remove Curse now curse a random worn piece of equipment.
• Several potion effects reworked:
  • Confusion/Booze/Blindness potion duration are reduced depending on the hit target's CON and PER
  • Paralyze potion duration reduced depending on the hit target's CON
  • Bottle of water now heals 2 HP
  • Bottle of booze/juice/+1 water now heals 5 HP
  • Adjust DRUNK duration from booze to be random duration rather than fixed
• Lowered chance for random chests to contain "garbage" item pool (E.g rock/nothing)
  • "Random" chest item pool now is limited to 5 levels above current dungeon depth, avoids spawning ANY item.
• Equipped rings now apply a +1 attack bonus to fists. Damage bonus increases with enchantment

• Lowered chance to raise SHIELD proficiency when getting hit
• Slightly changed learning magic requirements for spells to match the current tier list in the proficiencies panel.
  • (E.g some spell requirements needed 25 magic but you could only tell if you had 20 magic or 40 magic. Requirement changed to 20 in that instance.)
• Rescaled magic and spellcasting proficiency levelling on spell cast.
  • `Casting spells of a lower tier than your current spellcasting proficiency level will have a diminishing chance to raise your proficiency.`
  • Increased the chance to level when using a spell that is closer to your spellcasting level.
• Reduced chance to level magic and spellcasting with magicstaffs
• Rescaled appraisal proficiency levelling on successful appraise. Cheaper items no longer guarantee an appraisal increase if your proficiency is higher.
  • Appraising high-value items such as gemstones will still provide a high chance for proficiency increase.

• Add “heavy bleeding” status condition. Applies slowness in combination with normal bleeding effect.
  • (Applied only by certain new monster attacks/spells.)
• Poison now damages every 3 seconds rather than 3.6 seconds for consistency.
• Poison/Paralyze effect duration from Spiders and Scorpions is now reduced by player's CON attribute.
  • Added chance to apply effect even if the damage received from the monster's blow was 0. (Reduced effect, rarer chance).
  • Successfully blocking and receiving 0 damage will avoid the status effect chance.
• "Fire" status duration and chance to extinguish now based on CON attribute. Now has a max duration the effect can last for, with chances to extinguish early depending on the CON attribute.

INTERFACE/QUALITY OF LIFE

• Add online player count feature to Steam version
• Add FPS slider in settings menu, added support for 60-144Hz refresh rates.
  • Add /fps XX command to set the FPS limit, XX is desired limit.
• Add “hotbar filters” to control what items automatically get added to the hotbar, only applies when auto add to hotbar setting is enabled. Accessible from “misc” settings tab.

• Add “Party Stats” to the inventory view, accessible by clicking a new button above the proficiencies panel. Displays all lobby player names, current HP/MP values and level.
  • HP/MP values are updated every 3 seconds for clients to minimise network traffic.
• Redesigned artwork for all spell icons
• Players now spawn with their class spellbooks in the right side of the hotbar, still need interacting to learn the spell
• Proficiencies with an unlocked capstone are displayed in green text in the proficiencies sidebar
• On level up: Display icons corresponding to the 3 attributes that were raised (& the bonus attribute, if any)
• Items now stack more consistently, will stack if their visible "world" models match rather than an invisible random "appearance" attribute.
  • Stacking items still need to have the same durability/blessing etc.
• Add attribute tooltips when hovering over them in the left attributes panel. Will show any bonuses from gear.
  • Add current mana regen rate to the INT attribute hover tooltip.
  • Add ATK power to the character sheet next to AC.
    • Add hover text over ATK stat to show the internal breakdown of bonuses applied to the equipped weapon.
• Slightly adjusted left attributes view to display Base Value -> Modified Final Value. E.g. now shows as STR: 10 -> 11 rather than 11 (10) for a 10 STR character with a bonus point from gear/status effects.
  • Green/Red highlighted text shows if the current stat is being positively or negatively impacted from worn gear/status effects
• Add missing impact particles for COLD spell
• Removed redundant combat log message when taking 0 melee damage. E.g:
  • "the skeleton hits"
  • "but their blow bounced off"
  • Is now:
  • "the skeleton's blow bounces off!"
• Add on-equip messages to items with additional effects (E.g boots of waterwalking)

• Slightly reduced magic trap spellcast sound volume
• Slightly reduced ambient liquid sounds/occurrence
• Troll footsteps are now louder
• Add damage sounds and screen shake when dying of starvation
• Added a small cooldown before turning off combat music to avoid music cutting in and out when darting between monster vision
• Add minor screen shake and sound effect when taking 0 damage from a ranged projectile.
  • (Helps determining whether it was an arrow trap vs another damage source)

EDITOR CHANGES:

• Add all new and existing monster types to be placable in editor
• Grave key functions as backspace in typing fields
• Item icons now change to in-game sprite if not random
• Add "Undo" support for sprites
• Remap map height cycle to SHIFT + SCROLLWHEEL or CTRL + U or P from just SCROLLWHEEL
• New "Point" tool (2nd position), now is the only editor tool that can select sprites. All other tools will ignore left/right clicking on a sprite and draw underneath.
• Add bulk sprite moving with "Select" tool. With an area selected, press ALT + ARROWKEYS to move selection and all entities underneath.
  • If the selection is moved, any new entities inside the selection tool will NOT be selected, and will need to be manually added by re-dragging the select tool over the area.
  • CTRL + ARROWKEYS will move the selection rectangle
  • SHIFT + ARROWKEYS will resize the selection rectangle
• Pressing 'C' when hovering over a tile with multiple sprites will cause them to cycle heights. Assists with trying to grab a sprite from the bottom of a pile but having to rearrange all the top pieces first.
• Add several new sprites/functionality to editor for existing in-game objects
  • Single boulder trap, direction specific. Configurable re-trigger amount/trigger frequency
  • Armed bear trap
  • Inverted gates
  • Timed lever. (Configurable duration)

• Add "properties" menu for certain sprites, F2 to access
  • Add properties for chests, can choose which pool of items to spawn or leave as random. Can also choose orientation
  • Add properties for items, can pick item type/status/qty etc or leave as default random
  • Add full monster equipment and stat editing
• Add support for "NPC" human monsters, accessible from the monster properties window to set the "type" of NPC.
  • They will patrol a boxed starting area like shopkeepers, and will cycle through dialog when interacted with.

• Add hover text for placed sprites in the map view to show select information at a glance
• Add hover text for sprite and tile selection window to show the descriptive name of the object
• Add menu dropdown button to toggle the map view hover text. CTRL + H also toggles this behaviour

• Add several new options for map properties window (CTRL + M)
  • Map-wide options: (Only if applied to the base map, e.g mines.lmp not mines01.lmp)
    • Map skybox, input a line number from tiles.txt to be the base ""sky"" effect for the map, similar to that found in ""hell"" levels.
    • Map ceiling, input a line number from tiles.txt to be the ceiling tile instead of the default grey stone.
    • Maximum/minimum number of total entities/monsters/items/decorations to generate in a level. ""Entity Qty"" is the total pool of object in a level, and monster/items/decorations fill this pool. Priority is monsters, then items, then decorations if there are not enough entities available in the pool for all.
    • Disable levitation/digging/teleportation, stop players using these mechanics in the level.
    • Alternate map generation, if selected will generated rooms from left-to-right in the base map, rather than placing rooms in a random location.
  • Room-specific options: (Can be applied once to the base map mines.lmp or individually for each room)
    • Disable monsters/traps/loot, stops the random generator spawning these kinds of entities in your room.

• Add "tile palette" to editor, allow persistent user saved 3x3 tile selection between editor sessions to quickly organise map tiles.
  • CTRL + SCROLLWHEEL or NUMPAD +- to cycle between 9 different "banks" of tiles.
  • NUMPAD * to "lock" the bank and prevent overwriting of palette when selecting new tiles.
  • LEFTCLICK/SCROLLWHEEL or NUMPAD 1 to 9 to select tiles from this palette. If selecting a tile on the map view or tile select, then will be added to the bank if not locked.
  • RIGHTCLICK to remove a tile from the palette.