Version D0.40 (Arcane Steel) released!

Game

Immortal Sins

2 years ago

After months of work, I am happy to announce that I have released version D0.40 (codename "Arcane Steel"). This version of the game comes with a ton of quality-of-life changes, re-works, and the overhauled Northbridge Platform. Although, there's still work to be done, the new foundation will allow me to further refine the game.

Game

Added a new side-mission.
Updated renderer to 0.62.
Balancing changes to the characters:
- Maria
  - The "Wish" skill can be learned. Sacrifices half of the remaining HP in order to heal an ally (2 X sacrificed HP).
  - "Cure" and "Mega Cure" skills were transferred from Zero to Maria.
  - If Maria heals an ally, the spare HP is given to Maria.
  - Raised the Pharmacology and Recovery Boost to 20% (items and skills heal 20% more health).
- Elena:
  - The "Mana Burst" skill can be learned. Grants unlimited mana, boosts MAT, and nullifies cooldowns for a brief time (at the cost of damage received from mystical arts being boosted as well).
  - The "Mana Claw" skill can be learned. Part of the damage is converted into MP damage.
  - The "Overturn" skill can be learned. Flips the buffs and debuffs of everyone.
- Zero:
  - The "Super Guard" skill was replaced by Iron Guard. Part of the damage is converted into MP damage.
  - "Healing Aura" skill can be learned. Can heal multiple allies over time, at the cost of MP (for upkeep).
  - Replaced "Provoke" and "Cover" with a re-worked version of "Guardian Angel". When active, the damage to allies is redirected to Zero instead (also grants higher defense).
- Rick
  - Damage now scales based on how much HP is missing.
  - Received the "Provoke" skill.
- Jena:
  - Will receive the "Adrenaline" state when DP is max. Boosts her stats but loses DP until it reaches 0.
  - The "Life Drain" skill was replaced by "Blood Drive". When active, all attacks steal some of the HP.
- Axel:
  - The "Pure Might" skill can be learned. For a few turns, the user cannot do anything. Once that time passes, the damage that he has received is returned two-fold.
- Sierra:
  - Added the "Corrosive Ammo" skill. For a brief time, Sierra's attacks can corrode the enemy's armor (reducing their defense for a brief time).
  - The "Accurate Shot" skill was re-tooled into "High Impact Shot" (reduces physical defense for a brief time. Can Stun). This skill requires a rifle to be equipped.
  - Added the "Rapid Fire" shot. Reduces the cooldown of Combat Arts skills, alongside a boost of agility and evasion. Requires pistols to be equipped.
  - Removed the "Armor Break" skill as it was redundant.
  - He's more likely to be targeted by the enemies if he has a rifle equipped.
  - The "Assassin's Gambit" skill can now be learned. Any excess damage dealt when the enemy is killed is transferred over the next attack (within one action).
- Gus:
  - "Lifeline" skill can be learned. Adds a state to the target, where if he/she's healed, Gus will also receive some of the heal (also applies in reverse).
  - The "Assault" skill has been replaced by the "Morale Boost" skill. Provides a boost to attack and defense stats.
  - The "Goddess' Embrace" skill was replaced by "Burden Transfer". Pulls all of the negative status ailments to the user. Heals his allies (depending on how many of them had).
  - Removed "Nightmare" from the learnable skills.
Enemy Balancing changes:
- Strikers' damage scales depending on their missing HP.
- Strikers can no longer use Titan's Blessing.
- Mana Drain was replaced by Mana Siphon.
- Re-tooled the behavior of the Enforcers (including their skill set).
General Balancing changes:
- Pistols can be dual-wielded.
- Most weapons now have a piercing percentage (varies per weapon, applies to enemies too).
- Boosted Mana Regeneration per turn to 3%.
- Mana Recovery (activates when a Liquified Mana Fragment is used) now grants 10% Mana Regeneration per turn for 3 turns.
Added the option for Full Screen.
Added AutoSave.
Added achievements.
Changed the Loading Screen.
Fixed misaligned choice boxes.
Fixed some issues with the text.
Fixed an issue where the deleted save would still be selectable from the Save/Load menu after deleting it.
Improvements to memory management.
Fixed an issue where the states counter wouldn't render properly on actors.
Brought back the fix where the armor and the weapons were stored as separate entries in the inventory when they shouldn't.

Northbridge

Overhauled Northbridge Platform:
- Simplified the main UI.
- Re-worked the backend of the Platform, utilizing Prism.
- Re-worked code into modules.
- Improved the reliability of the diagnostics system.
- The startup of the game and the save/settings backup of the engine have been moved to a separate executable.
  - Allows easier startup while skipping the launcher.
  - The package manager's unpack/cache update progress is shown here.
- Platform settings now save on the same folder as the game saves and settings.
Support for Long File Paths (Windows 10 (Version 1607) and newer).
Package Manager Improvements:
- Improved performance of the package manager.
- Added the option to re-build the cache for the Package Manager.
Improved the reliability of the Backup System.
Added code to prevent the launcher from launching multiple times.
Added a link to this board.
Updated to .NET 6.
Fixed a bug where it referenced the wrong path for WebView2 Runtime.
Removed the following settings, as the newer version of the renderer has removed the necessary flags:
- Show FPS. Press the F2 key to show it instead.
- Force 60 FPS.
- VSync.
Removed Discord Rich Presence as it was pointless.
Temporarily removed the Restore option from the Backup and Restore Menu. It will return after an overhaul in a later update. Until then, use the Import option from the Save Manager.