Hello everyone, this is just a minor update after a major life change, that won't really affect any of you. This year I've closed down Hypnotic Owl UG, the company I co-founded 10 years ago. My former partner will continue his work under the name Hypnotic Owl, while I've created a new studio for myself, called Spell Loop. So, all I did was switching out the company logo and links and fixing a couple of minor UI issues, that I noticed. There will be new updates in the future, I still plan to add a couple of features, but that will most likely be next year. As always if you encounter any bugs, please use the Report Bug feature in the game menu! Thanks <3 Also if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat on the Spell Loop Discord or follow Spell Loop on Mastodon! Cheers, Jan

[ 2023-12-02 16:30:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello there! It has been a bit since the last update. What can I say? Life got in the way. And it looks like it will stay like that for some time, unfortunately. But rest assured, I will continue working on Kevin! Anyway, here is what changed:

• Added tooltips for effects on enemies
• Rewrote spell descriptions
• Improved map scrolling when selecting a path
• Increased upgrade button click area
• Tweaked spellbook ribbon animations

This update hasn't been quite as thoroughly tested as I'd like to, but I didn't want to deprive you all of at least some new improvements. Also this is good for the Steam algorithm... Well, if you encounter any bugs, please use the Report Bug feature in the game menu! Thanks <3 Anyways, thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat on Discord! Cheers, Jan

[ 2023-04-18 14:08:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here we go! As was promised in Update 1.1 we've added another 20 Achievements. Bringing the total count up to a nice 58 Achievements. You now get Achievements for completing the game on Strict, Demanding, Unforgiving and YOLO. We've also added a bunch of Achievements tied to specific actions, that you'll have to figure out yourselves
This will conclude our efforts adding Achievements. So, if you were waiting to 100% Kevin's Path to Wizdom, you're good to go now! There were also a couple of minor fixes and improvements, but nothing worth mentioning. Anyways, thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2023-02-17 15:59:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Achievement Hunters this update is for you! We've added 19 new achievements for you to collect Finally, you get a proper achievement for each spellbook you find in the game and for each boss you are able to defeat. Check out the achievements list to see if you found any of the hidden ones as well These will not be the last achievements we're going to add! Our talented artist Lucy is working on the next batch, which will award you for finishing the other game modes and doing some more obscure things within the game. So, keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming updates if you're an achievement hunter!
The rest are boring improvements, but here is the list anyway:

• Added 19 new achievements!
• Increased storybook size
• Updated setting slider handles
• Fixed stats mixup and reset user stats to make class averages in report cards more accurate
• Fixed bloom settings
• Fixed overblown lighting over the green water
• Fixed main menu button placement can be broken
• Fixed preset selection isn't updated correctly on slot change
• Fixed select slot button isn't disabled on click

Thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2023-02-03 16:16:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch v1.0.7 brings among various minor fixes and improvements, which you can read below, brand new achievement icons! They were all created by our talented intern and we jope you'll enjoy them as much as we do. She is currently working on the next set, so expect the next update to bring a set of new achievements for you all to collect.

• Cool new achievement icons!
• Added particle effect to spellbook pickup
• Added particle effect to opening chest
• Added option to abandon YOLO runs
• Added quit game dialog when pressing ESC in main menu
• Reduced volume of windling sound effects
• Reduced volume of trap sound effects
• Fixed reach of invisible enemies wasn't hidden
• Fixed tooltips weren't always closed correctly
• Fixed enemy sleep marker animations
• Fixed button highlighting gets stuck sometimes
• Fixed Null Pointer Exception when turn effects cancel each other

Thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server!

[ 2023-01-20 15:56:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Second week, second patch! Mostly minor fixes and improvements. Biggest change is the improved slot selection menu. It tells you now not only how much time was spent using that save slot, but also the active level and preset (fair, strict, demanding, etc.). The preset is now shown under the continue button as well, to remind you what setting you are playing on. If you haven't tried any of the other presets, maybe now is the time! They do give you a significantly different play experience ;)

• Stopped capturing cursor in splash
• Changed minor health potion into minor mana potion in the sewer
• Added preset name under continue button
• Fixed presets don't change on slot change
• Improved slot selection menu
• Limited "can't run" hint to once a level
• Added Website & Discord links
• Improved spellcasting reset tutorial
• Prevented hurt hint from showing up on death
• Fixed teleporter keys don't check for spot on load
• Fixed save isn't reset on death if you go back to menu

Thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server!

[ 2022-12-22 12:49:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's week one after the launch and I can happily say we didn't run into any bigger issues! We got just 2 bug reports, which I was able to fix with this patch. There are still some minor things I want to fix and polish, before I start adding stuff like more achievements. Stay tuned!

• Added missing level intros
• Improved teleporter camera movement
• Fixed typo in story
• Fixed blocking of belt slots
• Fixed level manager crash
• Fixed main menu button double clickable
• Fixed sinking enemies don't play death sfx
• Fixed teleport to blocked space dilemma

Also, thanks a lot to everyone, who reported a bug. It's a big help!

[ 2022-12-17 14:32:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm gonna be honest, the last two months, especially the last couple of weeks, have been hectic. But it's all been worth it. We present to you the biggest and best update we've ever done! In fact, we've changed so much about the game, that it felt it deserves a new name as well. What once was "The Wizard: WizHader Edition" is now "Kevin's Path to Wizdom"! And that is not all! There is still a long list of improvements and even one or two new features, that we plan to deliver in upcoming patches. So keep your eyes peeled!

Here is a quick overview over the biggest changes in v1.0:

• Spells now cost mana to cast
• Spell pages improve spell of your choice
• Chest+Key improves health or mana
• New belt to carry potions & keys
• Two additional spells (one hidden)
• Two additional levels
• Several new music tracks
• Remastered all music tracks
• Improved story
• A lot more secrets!
• Enemies are a little smarter
• Prettier menus
• Prettier spellcasting
• Prettier and improved levels
• and more!

We've been in Early Access for two years. Thanks to everyone who helped us in that time we were able to try various things and get valuable feedback. However much of that time was also spent doing contract work to keep on the lights here in the Hypnotic Owl headquarter. In that time we've noticed a understandable loss of motivation to try and retry the game. So instead of boring everyone with tedious little changes, we took a coupe of months to work on this update in secret to surprise everyone. Surprise! Of course we did lots of internal playtests to make sure everything works, but nobody is perfect and I expect that some new bugs will emerge. Rest assured that we will try and squish them as soon as possible. For that reason we also added a new "Report Bug" button in the in-game menu. Please use it, if you find anything! Thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2022-12-08 13:35:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes:

• Added remarks for Kevin to say
• Added ingame Tutorial toggle button
• Improved Tutorial: Clearer & less restrictive
• Improved Cinematics skip speed
• Improved walking path selection
• Improved camera to follow path selection
• Made exit sprites into arrows
• Made enemy infos visible on mouse over
• Fixed some settings getting reset on load
• Fixed ranged enemies don't act when they can't reach Kevin
• Fixed button overlap in Settings menus
• Fixed missiles can fly out of the level

[ 2022-06-24 14:56:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed items despawning if you reload a level before taking a turn - Fixed enemies registering for the score multiple times if you reload a level before taking a turn - Fixed summoned enemies getting scored - Fixed effect counter text alignment - Fixed level 2 get's loaded if players try to get back to the main menu in level 1

[ 2022-02-22 15:20:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Enabled Steam stats for the level scores report card! This means scores will now be collected and the score averages will be calculated and displayed on the score cards as soon as there have been enough submitted to do so.

[ 2022-02-18 14:37:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Fixed map drag bug in first levels when tutorial is enabled
• Fixed possible deadlock withing the tutorial

[ 2022-02-15 18:26:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

We had a game breaking bug, where you couldn't progress beyond the 2nd level when the tutorial was enabled. Sorry for the inconvenience, it's fixed now!

[ 2022-02-15 15:00:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello and a happy new year, friends! After a long time of testing and improving on our Preview Branch, we are finally able to bring you the new, interactive tutorial and a completely rewritten scoring system! Unfortunately this means we had to reset your saves. But don't worry! We saved a backup of the saves in your saves folder (e.g. C:\Users\[YOUR WINDOWS USER NAME]\AppData\LocalLow\Hypnotic Owl\The Wizard_ WizHarder Edition\Saves) and you can continue with the old save, if you switch over to the v0.4.x branch we added just for this case. To do that go to the game in your Steam client, right-click on the game, select "Properties..." then navigate to "BETAS" and select the v0.4.X branch in the dropdown menu. Then rename your last "Slot1Story.backup" to "Slot1Story.save" and you should be able to continue right where you left off! Anyway, go check out the new tutorial and score! Here is the full change log for v0.5.0:

• Added new tutorial!
• Added new level scores!
• Added brightness setting
• Added contrast setting
• Added bloom setting
• Added lens distortion setting
• Added postprocessing effects to main menu
• Added settings to skip tutorial, cinematics, story
• Added enemy sleep marker and setting
• Improved setting menus
• Fixed player keeps walking after getting hit

Thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2022-02-15 13:11:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes:

• Added animated level intros
• Added teleporting effect and sfx
• Added cool parallax effect to main menu
• Added pretty fireflies to the main menu
• Added casting delay + sfx to enemies
• Added more bloodmagic sfx
• Improved fading in and out of scenes
• Improve camera bounds and movement
• Improved Text Bubble overlap handling
• Improved loader and scene loading logic
• Gave black rats blue eyes (cause immune to ice)
• Updated to Unity 2019.4.29f1
• Fixed deleting current save slot wouldn't update loaded content
• Fixed enabling/disabling of continue button
• Fixed splash screen catching cursor even if game is not in focus
• Fixed enemies to walk over each other
• Fixed camera still following projectiles hitting walls

[ 2021-09-03 12:23:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! It's been a few weeks since the last update, hasn't it? Well, it'll probably be a few more until v0.4.1 will be released fully. The reason is simply that scripting individual intros to each level takes some time. Fortunately, we're introducing the new preview branch! The preview branch allows us to upload updates earlier without feeling bad about delivering an unfinished or potentially buggy build. So, if you want to get these preview builds, all you need to do is open the games page in your Steam client, open the properties window, select BETA on the left and then select the preview build from the dropdown menu!

You can revert this at any time should you change your mind. And this is what awaits you today, should you decide to make the switch: Preview Update v0.4.1

• Introduced Level Intro Animations (level 1-1 to 2-2)
• Added teleporting effect and sfx
• Added cool parallax effect to main menu
• Added pretty fireflies to the main menu
• Improved fading in and out of scenes
• Improve camera bounds and movement
• Improved Text Bubble overlap handling
• Improved loader and scene loading logic (maybe improving load times)
• Gave black rats ice blue eyes (cause they're immune to ice!)
• Updated to Unity 2019.4.26f1
• Fixed deleting current save slot wouldn't update loaded content
• Fixed enabling/disabling of continue button
• Fixed splash screen catching cursor even if game is not in focus

In any case, thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2021-07-05 16:57:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back, friends! We're happy to announce our first major update to The Wizard: WizHarder Edition! It's the Laboratory! The attentive students among you might be surprised that this wasn't even on the Early Access Roadmap, and that's right! We decided it would be a good idea to have an easily-accessible sandbox for all of you to play around in. This is also where new features and mechanics will be available for testing before we add them to the other modes. Additionally. we added save slots to make it even easier to do different playthroughs and try things out without fear of losing progress. So please, play around, break some stuff, and let us know if you find any bugs or have thoughts on features you'd like to see! Here is the full change log for v0.4.0:

• Introduced Laboratory Mode
• Introduced Save Slots
• Added Run in Background setting
• Added Statusbar position setting
• Added granular Screenshake setting
• Tweaked camera positions at level start
• Tweaked Screenshakes
• Tweaked Main Menu animations
• Updated to Unity 2019.4.25f1
• Fixed Ingame Menu could be opened multiple times
• Fixed casting Invisibility while invisible resulted in becoming visible
• Fixed some effect SFX issues

So, that's that! The next bigger update will probably be something of the Roadmap, but who knows? Life is mysterious and weird, and so is game development. In any case, thanks for reading and as always, if you want to be more involved with the development, or just to hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord server! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2021-04-30 15:06:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Well hello there, friends! We wanted to take the time to give you an update on our current plans and roadmap going forward. As always, if you want to follow the development more closely, join us on our Discord server, where we regularly discuss new changes and requests! So, let's talk about the main features we have planned and the rough order in which we want to tackle these (rough, because sometimes we're just in the mood to work on a specific feature, and are generally open to prioritize players' wishes):

• Potion Belt & More Potions
• Mana System
• Accessibility and Game Options
• Controller & Keyboard Support
• New Game+
• Scores & Achievements
• Daily Dungeon
• Roguelike Mode
• Twitch Mode
• Level Editor (possibly as DLC)

Step 1: Base Game

Essentially, our plan is to tackle the features that affect the story campaign first - beginning with gameplay changes - and make sure that as many people as possible are able to enjoy the game. That means accessibility features, controller and keyboard support, and additional options to tweak the gameplay to your individual preferences. The tutorial will also get a much-needed overhaul. Once everyone's able to play the game to their heart's content, we'll add the New Game+ mode, where you'll be able to restart the game with all the spells, stats, and potions you've collected. Of course the enemies will be way tougher than before, and you might even find a new spell or two! Finally, we'll focus on our fellow perfectionists and overachievers, adding better level scores that factor in the amount of turns you took, how often you got hit, and so on. Every level will get its own highscore list, so you can compete with your friends and classmates. We'll also be adding Steam Achievements at this point!

Step 2: New Modes

With the fundational features in place, we'll turn to randomly-generated levels for the Daily Dungeon and Roguelike Mode. The Daily Dungeon will function as a kind of testbed for all the new content, so we can test out spells, enemies and mechanics, and see how everyone feels about them before we introduce them to the Roguelike Mode. We'll talk about those two in more detail another time, but suffice to say, we have a couple ideas on how to include some sort of progression and make every run exciting and meaningful! Same goes for the Twitch Mode, which will allow Twich viewers to have some influence - if not control! - over how the enemies behave in the game. Our hope is that playing with (or rather against) your audience allows for a unique experience each time. And last but not least, we'll tackle the promised 'Mario-Maker-style' Level Editor. We are at this point considering releasing it as a separate DLC, the reasons for which are both practical and funding-related. On the one hand, it is a fairly big endevour, and our first time working with user-generated content, which will come with a variety of design and moderation challenges. The financial side, on the other hand, is a little more complex. You see, we developed The Wizard with the support of the German Games Fund, which ended upon the Early Access release in November. That means that, right now, we are back to developing on our own dime and need to raise funds in other ways (hence the chaotic update schedule, where sometimes you get updates on the daily, sometimes it takes a few weeks). There is an option, however, to apply for additional funding, if it results in a separate product, i.e. DLC. This would of course be our preference, because it would allow us to work on it full-time, rather than do contract work and the like to keep ourselves afloat. But for the moment, nothing is set in stone. Perhaps along the way, The Wizard will sell well enough to make all those considerations obsolete. We'll have to see, and we'll keep you updated of course! And that's it! Thanks for reading and please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions! If you want to be more involved with the development or just hang out, come have a chat with us on our Discord!

[ 2021-03-05 15:51:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Improved camera drag to work on click outside of levels as well - Improved walking path selection to allow player to control exact path (right click to reset to shortest path) - Improved Enemy movement behaviour (as is custom) - Updated to Unity 2019.4.19f1 - Fixed duplicated resolutions in settings - Fixed Djinn freezes when it should attack - Tweaked Desk & Bookshelf positioning

[ 2021-02-08 16:48:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Added Release Notes to main menu! - Shock/Lightning Bolt now hits closest enemies first - Magic Missile is now blocked by immune targets - Portal doors are now teleporters - Rats, slimes, spiders, scorpions now aren't alerted by effects - Enemies now don't buff/summon if they can't reach player at all - Improved Main Menu (Title + Links) - Improved Tower 1 & 2 (Checkpoints, Spell Pages) - Improved Reach Tiles visibility - Improved some minor stuff mostly visual - Fixed Fireball spreading through objects - Fixed Spell Pages didn't upgrade spells - Fixed Story Book showing wrong pages - Fixed Story Book not ending game - Fixed various minor bugs

[ 2021-01-28 16:00:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

The time has come! The Wizard is finally live in Early Access! That took only 6 years! So let's talk a bit about what that means, what we have done and what we plan to do:

State of Affairs

As you maybe saw in the Early Access notes, the game as it is right now is pretty much the original Wizard, with major visual upgrades, a remastered soundtrack, and a lot of small improvements that we'll keep on rolling out continuously. That includes the beginning stages of a new leveling system (instead of collecting XP, spells will now upgrade with use) and, of course, the checkpoints so many of you have asked for - nay, demanded! - for years. So the game is fully playable and we've tried our best to catch the most egregious bugs and mechanical inconveniences. But of course, the game is in active development, so things might not work as intended now and then. Such is the nature of the beast. But fear not! We tend to work quickly, so any bugs or requests you have should be swiftly taken care of. If you want to report a bug, talk features, or just hang out and follow the development, the easiest way to that is our Discord server. You can join us here: https://discord.gg/qfyND9D

Upcoming Attractions

Aside from improving and expanding the base game, we of course have grand plans for the future! Roguelike Mode This one has been on Hackenstein's bucket list from pretty much the first prototype. An endless Roguelike Mode, where you can wizard away to your heart's content, and Daily Challenges to measure yourself against your classmates! This will likely be the first major addition we'll tackle, and as it grows, we might also incorporate the new features, spells, enemies and the like, into the main campaign as it fits. There are a lot of cool ideas floating around already, and we'd really love to get your input and feedback! Level Editor If you follow our weekly Hootouts, you've heard us go on about how level editors are often our favorite part of a game, so naturally we want to include one for The Wizard as well! We're thinking of a Mario Maker-type approach, where you can build levels and have to be able to complete them yourself before submitting them to be played by others. Should be exciting to see what everyone will come up with! Customization and Accessibility Lastly, we really want to give players as much control over the game as reasonably possible. Especially when it comes to the Roguelike Mode, we know that everybody has a preferred way of playing, and we'd like to allow you to customize it just to your liking! Our goal is to expose a lot of settings, but offer setting templates, as not to overwhelm players who just want to get on with it. So instead of fixed difficulty modes, you'd have difficulty templates, and we'll also let the community help us determine what those templates should be. We'd also like to make the game as accessible as possible, so in addition to gameplay settings, we want to be sure to cover visual, control, and other settings that will help everyone have the best possible time with the game. Here, too, we'd really love to hear from you if there's anything in particular you'd like to see in the game.

Timeline

We still have a bunch of things we want to add, tweak, and improve in the base game, and there'll probably be more as more people play it. We also need to recover a bit from pre-release crunch and enjoy the holidays with the few loved ones we're allowed to see. So serious work on the big new features will likely begin January, and we would estimate that it might take us around 6 months to implement them. We also know that we're consistently wrong in our overly-optimistic estimates, so it'll probably be in development for a year or more. But as mentioned before, we always aim to not have Early Access mean a husk of game, but a fully enjoyable experience that we will continuously improve and update along the way. We sure hope you enjoy it, and if you want to join our wholesome little community, here's the link again: https://discord.gg/qfyND9D Stay safe and Happy Wizarding everyone! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2020-11-27 18:28:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey, guess what! We made our first wishlist goal! Which means: Hypnotic Discord Server! Hooray! It'll be a space for you to hang out and chat with us, get some exclusive insights into development, get stream alerts, vote on new topics, and just all around have a great time! We're also planning some other fun shenanigans in the future, but mostly we look forward to building a nice and inclusive community with you all! So come join the Hypnotic Family at https://discord.gg/qfyND9D!
It even looks like, in the time it took us to get everything set up, we made it almost halfway to our next goal, the regular dev streams which will offer a look behind the scenes and give you the opportunity to give feedback and take part in The Wizard's development! So wishlist away and tell your friends, neighbors, grandma, and everyone else you know to do the same! <3 Your Hypnotic Owl Team

[ 2020-09-05 13:40:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here is a current work-in-progress look at our efforts to find the right look for our turn-based dungeon puzzler:
With the upgrade to Unity 2019.4 came the new Universal Rendering Pipeline, shader graph and 2D lights. That's a lot of new toys to play around with! In addition to normal maps and emission maps, I've added bloom for a neat little glow effect and a lens distortion. Color adjustments and curves still allude me and unfortunately the experimental 2D shadows don't work with tilemap colliders out of the box.
Still I think we're making good progress towards a distinct and interesting look! We're currently having a bit of a debate whether it's still too dark for the lighthearted, quirky game we are making. What do you guys think?
Also, let us know if anyone is interested in a tutorial!

[ 2020-09-02 17:27:24 CET ] [ Original post ]