Since our last Beta update in March, we have been busy, busy, busy. I implied last time that we were very close to release, and that is unfortunately still the case. We are going through certification and have some external technology dependencies that no amount of work on our end is going to speed up. But we don't sit on our hands here at Turning Wheel LLC, so we're doing everything we can to continue making Barony more rad. We are in pursuit of the biggest, best launch possible once we finally pass through some of that red tape. This build represents what we expect to release to everyone. Aside from some hotfixes we may need, discovered through faithful Beta player feedback, we don't expect to push another big update before we finally release this build to the entire Barony audience. To let you know that I mean it, internally, some of our time has already moved onto development of content for our next DLC. Not gonna show you any spoilers yet though.

Lighting & Rendering

One of the great things about making a game with your own game engine is that you can rip out its guts and replace them when it seems like a good idea. In this update we've included a complete overhaul of how the game's environment and voxel mesh geometry is lit and rendered. This not only means the game will look better, but it should also run better, and it gave us some opportunities to change how lights work all through the game.

• Barony now features HDR, allowing the game camera to adjust to different lighting conditions [quote]What to Expect: From a distance, dark areas may appear darker, and bright areas may appear brighter. Enter these areas and your vision will adjust.[/quote]
• An HDR On / Off setting has been added to the Video options if you prefer a static range of lighting (note, the lighting of the game has been tuned for HDR, and we recommend playing with HDR on)
  
• The Gamma setting now correctly adjusts Gamma, making it more appropriate for use on glossy screens in brightly lit rooms
• Voxel meshes are now lit from the lightmap instead of based on their tile's light value [quote]What to Expect: Previously, any individual voxel model would be rendered with 1 light value, based on how much light the tile it's in was receiving. Now meshes receive light much like the rest of the environment, so they blend in much better with the environment. Big decorative meshes and characters alike now fit much better into the world.[/quote]
  
• Light values have been uncapped (they no longer have a maximum / 100% value) [quote]What to Expect: Previously, Barony's lighting would only display art at its original authored value, or lesser / darker. So no matter how many torches you had in the room, the grey stones in the wall would only ever be as bright as the texture defined. Now, if you have enough light sources in a small room, things may appear seriously bright (HDR will adjust to these conditions).[/quote]
• Lights may now contribute different color (R/G/B value) to the subjects they are lighting
• All lights in the game have been given a color profile appropriate for gameplay and aesthetic [quote]What to Expect: Previously, all lights were "white", so no mesh or texture would ever vary in color, just brightness. Thanks to the new lighting method, fire gives of a warm yellow/orange glow. Shadowy areas near the player now show up in a cold blue-gray, and spells give off bright colors depending on the spell projectile. The dungeons in Barony are now a much more colorful place thanks to colored lights. (Disclaimer: Light sprites in the level editor still only emit white light)[/quote]
• Torches and other light sources have been given increased falloff to reduce light-source overlap and the blowout that would result from too many light sources hitting the same subject
• Light spell range has been slightly improved
• Sneak light bonus has been made dimmer than the standard player ambient light, but longer range
  
• Some areas of the game have been populated with additional torches to account for an overall average reduction torch lighting influence [quote]What to Expect: There should be fewer areas that have no light at all (though dark levels do still exist), but fewer rooms that are completely lit up by torches.[/quote]
  
• The PER stat no longer aggressively adds to the player's ambient light; The player now receives up to +2 visibility range depending on how high their PER is, and then the effect of PER on visibility is capped [quote]What to Expect: In previous Barony builds, once your PER hit a certain level, your local visibility was so bright that darkness was no longer a part of the game. This meant that light sources became irrelevant, but also the game just looked very flat, and the most interesting lighting was only visible in the early game while your character had poor PER. Now, every area has interesting lighting, and light sources may always be handy.[/quote]
• Players in split-screen no longer see each other's ambient lights
• Lights have been attached to Death Boxes
• Ceiling lights have been added to the Citadel to add variety and brightness that doesn't depend on Crystal Shards mounted on the walls
• Dithering is now used to fade meshes in / out when they cross visibility thresholds
  

Overall, light is much more part of the game thanks to these changes, and the game has a lot more screenshot-worthy moments. But your experience with light and dark is likely to feel quite different, especially in the late-game, making the Light spell, or hot-bar torches, important for more of the game, especially for shield-toting melee playstyles. It may take some getting used to, let us know how you adapt!

Level Design

After revisiting the Mines, Swamps, Underworld and Hell, the Labyrinth is the next tileset to get a major overhaul. That means your next trip through the Labyrinth will contain a richer aesthetic, built off the foundation of what we had before, and you'll run into brand new traps and puzzles.

• Every existing level has been revisited, made compatible with our second stage of room randomization (sub-maps!), and redecorated
• 150+ brand new rooms have been added
  
• 30+ new Labyrinth tile textures added
• Several new Labyrinth pillar and ceiling decor meshes added
• Destructible wall, wood barricades, and webs added to some areas of the game
  
• Wallmake sprite given a visual effect
• Submaps now respect the following map settings in the editor: Disable Loot / Traps / Monsters
• Many maps updated where traps would previously break submap behavior or cause softlocks

Allies & Followers

• Ally humans now receive a random name when recruited, which is displayed in-world for their leader
• Followers no longer attempt to occupy the player's tile, instead following in a checker pattern to the sides and behind [quote]What to Expect: You should experience far fewer scenarios where NPC followers are stepping in front of your attacks (such as when breaking down a door) and managing them passively is more viable.[/quote]
• Ally / follower characters now have a different and much smaller hitbox when testing for hits (also applies to enemies who are allied with one another), making it much less likely to accidentally hit friendlies with Friendly Fire on (positive thrown potions use the standard hitbox) [quote]What to Expect: Fighting side-by-side with a friend, or shooting between two NPC followers who are attacking a foe in melee, is now a much more viable strategy. Your followers are less likely to friendly-fire each other (though it's not impossible), and named NPC groups are now much less likely to friendly-fire and kill each other when fighting with you.[/quote]
• NPC pathing optimizations; NPCs will no longer continually attempt to, and fail, to get to locations where there is no viable path, improving performance and making them look a tad smarter

Brewer

• Brewer stat growths changed to better facilitate the class' playstyle, making INT far rarer in favor if greatly increased CON and even more DEX

Misc. Tweaks and Fixes

• Updated default controller bindings [quote]What to Expect: Our previous default gamepad control scheme required you to take your right thumb off the thumbstick in order to press the bottom face button (A on Steam Deck) to interact / activate. We have changed that to RB, so you can pick up items, open doors, and flip switches while running and turning. As a result, Cast Spell has been moved to LB, and Quickturn has been placed on LS-Click. To give it a try, go to your Bindings in the game and click "Restore Defaults". If you're comfortable getting used to a new scheme, play a while and let us know what you think! You can, of course, stick with whatever bindings you prefer.[/quote]
• Updated skill-increase sound effects, so some are more or less attention-grabbing depending on the context where the skill is typically increased
• Blocking with a torch now may improve Blocking proficiency
• Colorblind preferences are now updated for all players in-game to change Deathbox / XP Bar / Nametag / Chat colors when a player in the lobby has it activated
• Item Tooltip Height slider 50%-100% added to General settings
  
• First-person fist positions updated; Fist is no longer held out in front of your face at all times
• First-person fist models for all humans, incubus, succubus and goatman improved
• Kobold mesh updated to have more visual contrast, and permit the wearing of more helmets
  
• Added 3D voxel gate meshes to every area of the game where planks were being used to signify a large door or drawbridge
• Ring of Strength has been renamed to Ring of Might
• Boulders no longer require 5 STR to roll, but a Ring of Might, or Potion of Strength is required, each providing the `Push` ability [quote]What to Expect: Since the Gods of Sokoban will always clear your path to the exit if a boulder gets in the way, rolling a boulder is never required to complete the game. Rolling boulders thus becomes a much rarer ability for players who seek it out, rather than something every character does by the end of every successful run.[/quote]
  
• Barbarian now starts with Ring of Might
• Class / Race descriptions updated, and set to load from JSON
• Minimap scaling / resizing behavior adjusted
• Fixed Shaman form hotbars not saving properly
• Equipped spells now remain equipped when you quit and reload a game
• Hotbar layout set to "Classic" by default when launching for the first time with mouse & keyboard
• Rotation Speed Limit option removed, mouse isn't capped anymore
• Using a Magicstaff of Light now removes existing lights cast from a Magicstaff by that player
• Fixed issue with aim assist tooltips not updating making Trial 7 difficult to complete when recruiting a follower behind a gate
• Added console command `/noxp` to disable xp gain
• Fixed mouse cursor being temporarily visible when opening the follower menu on gamepad in singleplayer
• Thrown +10 weapons count for #Blessed achievement
• GUI Scaling values are now more precise so that 75% / 50% scaling on more common resolutions will reliably result in square pixels

Gyrobot Plush Shipped!

Last bit of news, we're excited to see that Barony fans who bought a Gyrobot are starting to post pictures! We had a blast doing this with Makeship. Do you have a fun picture of your Gyrobot you'd like to share? Show us in the #fan-art channel on Discord, or Tweet at us!
It looks like we're going to be doing another plush, and we're super excited for it.

That's all I'll say for now!

Thanks!

As always, thanks for hanging in there with us! We hope you love this new build. Feel free to post on the Steam Discussion board, or hit us up on Discord to give some feedback after you've given it a try!

[ 2023-05-15 04:32:39 CET ] [ Original post ]