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[zircon]

Mini-followup build, early morning :D

BALANCE
* Mud no longer drains stamina. However, the chance to get rooted while walking through is higher now.
* More balance changes are coming, but for now, Panthox nerfed a bit
* Bandages now heal Poison. If they remove a status they heal 10% of max HP instead of 5%.

BUGS
* Jewelry merchant no longer carries a ridiculous number of items
* Fixed error when killing enemies in certain special areas (such as Bottles n' Brews)
* Vault to the left of the Banker is now collidable
* Turning off tutorial tips should work now
* Options should save/load again...

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New wandering merchant: Wando. Sells various specialty Slaying weapons
* New MAGIC MOD (any item type): Lucky. Chance to find extra gold on monsters.
* New STARTING PERK Rage. You deal +15% damage when at 50% or lower health.
* Bandages now heal HP conditionally - only if they removed a status first.

ENGINE
* New support for magic mod 'flags', allowing them to be grouped or filtered in various interesting ways
* New support for status 'flags' like Bleed or Poison, also allowing grouping/filtering and processing
* Support for abilities to have conditionals based on the results of the first effect. For example, remove status -> if statuses were removed, run further effects.

[Thaumaturge]

The game continue to progress well, by the looks of things. (In particular, the inclusion of drag-and-drop controls to the UI seems to me to be a very good idea!) ^_^

Since WINE doesn't seem to run the Windows version terribly well any more, I may stick to playing in Windows for now; since I so seldom boot into Windows, I fear that my feedback is going to become more sporadic for now. If I discover a means of making WINE run it more quickly, or a Linux build is released (or, I suppose, I end up using Windows more often), this may change. Sorry about this! :/

Nevertheless, I intend to keep downloading the new builds, and to still be present in the thread! ^_^

[zircon]

Ladies and gentlemen, we've done it!

Tangledeep has been fully funded! Now I can ad all that delicious polish, AND, since the Kickstarter isn't over yet, there are more stretch goals (and more awesome polish) ahead.

For example, composer Grant Kirkhope (GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Civilization: Beyond Earth, Yooka-Laylee...) will be joining the project as a guest composer if we can hit the $21k goal. How awesome is that?!

NEW BUILD DAY!

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

Of course, we're not resting on any laurels here - I've been putting every spare minute into Tangledeep to make it better and better.

This build is pretty major from a balance and content perspective. Notably, the dungeon is now 20 floors total, and all enemies and loot drops have been rebalanced to compensate for the additional length. That means new monsters have been added, abilities have been changed, HP/damage values tweaked, and new side areas available to explore. My goal is to smooth over the difficulty curve so there is not such a dramatic spike between certain floors, also giving you time to learn enemy behaviors/powers and build up loot.

While dungeon expansion is the main thrust of the update there's tons of other great changes and additions too. Check it out!



ART/VISUALS
* New Brigand, Sword Dancer, and Floramancer walk animations!
* New animation for breaking wood
* New art for "Frozen" ice blocks (smaller)
* New levelup visuals (w/ audio)

AUDIO
* New gameover music (Sorry you died)

BALANCE
* Hand-tuned monster levels and mlvl to player level ratios. Generally speaking, as you level up, it will take longer for a monster to register as less dangerous (and thus give less XP).
* Monster xp/loot values adjusted across the board
* Monster power/hp also adjusted across the board
* Monsters will now run from you by default IF you are so powerful that they give no rewards
* Sale values of some hand-priced items reduced
* Blazing champion mod: Chance to proc their DOT reduced to 50% on hit instead of 100%. Also, the DOT refreshes duration but will not STACK duration.
* Electrified champion mod: Casts more frequently
* Staircases to side areas / branching paths no longer display destination name until you use them once
* Nord's Helm now increases Stamina and Energy in addition to giving you the Nordic Shout ability
* Multiple dodge-enhancing mods will no longer spawn on magic items
* Bandit Chemists can now heal their allies
* Summoned pets will now scale in level proportional to your character (previously, their level number did not increase, leading to lower combat effectiveness)
* Summoned pets gain a little more HP in proportion to your level
* Monsters below your level now scale up a little bit more
* Weapon damage no longer scales up quite as fast
* Champion mobs no longer drop loot above their challenge value (but they do have a greater chance of magical items!)

BUGS
* Trying to use an ability with insufficient Energy/Stamina will no longer put the ability on cooldown
* Brambles/Thorns mods, as well as Flaming/Thorned skin now react ONLY to melee attacks
* Adjusted some rendering layers related to trees
* If you are reduced to 0 HP by a DOT, you should die immediately
* The "caged" Verdigrizzlies in the casino are no longer champions and can no longer ruin your casino experience. Unless you release them
* Map generation should now properly cap monster density
* Monsters should now save and load their ability cooldown states
* Job change scrolls / dungeon maps no longer consume the entire stack when used
* Ability animations should now properly display on an actors' current position (was causing mismatches before if player was moving - monsters could cast on the previous square)
* Champion powers will now be properly read from save files (!!!)
* Various abilities should now properly play their animations even on empty tiles, such as the Lightning Storm champion mod
* Fixed error/bad behavior when you had more than 6 displayable buffs or debuffs (extra statuses will, for now, not show)
* "On Move" status effects will now only run or tick if the player actually moves (attacking no longer counts as a move)
* Fixed obscure game load bug
* Summoned monsters should now immediately appear, not 'pop in' after a moment
* Clicking to fire at an enemy with ranged weapon should now work with either mouse button

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* Significant rework to the dungeon. It has been extended down to 20 floors! Many monsters have been rebalanced, three new ones have been added (see below), and there is a new boss fight. These drastic changes might mean balance gets thrown off, so be sure to let me know how your runs go!

* New low-ish level side area: Flooded Temple!
* New mid-level side area: Bandit Enclave!
* NEW POTION: Brew of Rapidity. Increases your CT gain for a brief time! Action economy!
* NEW MONSTER: Crabbit. You'll find these not-so-threatening dudes on the lower levels, but don't get too complacent: if they grab on to you, they won't let go!
* NEW MONSTER: Airacudas. A swarm of snapping fish in midair... why not!? Watch out: if they smell blood, they go berserk!
* NEW MONSTER: Bandit Spellshaper. This dangerous enemy uses shadow, ice, and acid to ruin your day!
* NEW CHAMPION MOD: Blademaster. Summons lots of spinning, moving blades!
* Food restructured and expanded further for consistency. All heal-over-time food has two types: a faster heal, and a slower heal (with more overall power). MEATS restore health. CHEESES restore stamina. MINT restores energy. FRUITS restore all stats. The Choco Bar has been repurposed and now gives you an instant +50 CT. (It does still fill you up, though.)
* Sword Dancer's "Thundering Lion" ability has been remade. Now, when toggled, you will gain an Electric Charge each time you move, at the cost of 5 Energy. You can hold up to 3 charges. Each charge gives you a bonus to Parry, and will be unleashed on your next attack as lightning bolts. (More charges = more damage). This should synergize better with the flowing, movement-heavy gameplay of the Sword Dancer, and fills both an offensive and defensive role.
* Jade Beetles no longer have a wind-up charge, but instead, will rush at you with a jump attack.
* Accessory flasks removed from the game (will come back in another form)
* Stone Labyrinth removed (was mainly a test thing)

ENGINE
* Wrote some useful code to calculate expected monster damage
* Fine-tuned several dungeon map generation algorithms
* Added more tweaking control in XML files for dungeon generation
* Rivers can now spawn randomly and cut through any part of a dungeon level (more organic this way)
* AlterBattleData effects now support changes to Spirit Power and Crit Damage (more elegant!)

QUALITY OF LIFE
* "Examine" is now user-mappable on the Input tab at game launch
* Food consumables now show how much they heal up, and over how many turns
* When attacking an enemy, their information will pop up in the info bar at the top of the screen (this can be toggled with H, as with the rest of the hud)
* Job change scrolls are no longer consumed if you exit without using them
* Special effect text in combat log from some monster abilities is now highlighted in yellow
* Toxic clouds are more visible now
* Build date is now displayed on the title screen
* Champion bombs now draw over most other actors so they are more visible
* Monsters should no longer spawn on top of stairs

WRITING
* New damage flavor text for bite attacks
* New combat log text when switching jobs

[Thaumaturge]

Congratulations on hitting your Kickstarter goal! Good luck with the stretch-goals. ^_^

I have the new build downloaded, and hope to try it soon. ^_^

My apologies that I'm a little late with this, but I have a bit of feedback on the previous build. If anything below has been dealt with in the new build, then simply ignore! ^^;

 - The new UI feels much better, I think!

 - I like that hovering over an occupied weapon-bar icon results in the weapon's power being shown--I found it useful and convenient to have that information on-hand.

 - The bridges crossing the various streams are a welcome addition, providing a means of crossing without paying in stamina.

 - The animated water is an improvement, I feel.

 - It feels a little weird to right-click to move to an adjacent square--especially since the right mouse-button doesn't also interact with menu-items. (I tend to prefer single-tile movement--although this may just be a matter of becoming accustomed to using the pathfinding mechanic.)

 - A suggestion: In the equipment screen, if the player drags a weapon off of the weapon-bar and drops it onto another weapon, swap the latter into the slot from which the former was dragged.

 - An odd bug: I switched to another window to type something. I then returned to the game--only to find that the mouse-controls no longer worked! The keyboard controls still did, however--and indeed, opening the equipment screen seemed to restore mouse control.

 - I had an instance in which a set of stairs was hidden behind the leaves of a tree--I only found it via the map, I believe.

 - It feels difficult to restore stamina compared to energy--and especially compared to health.
  -- This is perhaps exacerbated by the stamina-draining effect of water--there seems to be no analogue for the other stats.
  -- Perhaps it might be worth allowing stamina alone to restore naturally? (Perhaps by uncovering new tiles on the map, or granting a flat amount when moving to an unvisited floor?)

[zircon]

Thanks for the feedback! You CAN left click to move to an adjacent square, right? Just click and you'll move there. No problemo. Will keep working on the rest...

NEW BUILD!

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

As we approach the Kickstarter campaign's first stretch goal (character portraits!) I've got a new update ready to go! This introduces the rumor system. Rumors are a way to get extra items, JP, XP, and gold, as well as get info about parts of the dungeon you've not yet explored. There are 4 types of rumors to start with, which you can obtain (for a price) in Riverstone Camp. There are also 'conditions' which sometimes appear with rumors, adding extra rewards - but extra challenges too.

Aside from this - which took most of my dev time since last build - there are quite a few bug fixes, some balance tweaks, and a key fix that should make the UI more usable at resolutions lower than 1920x1080. Check the full log out below!

p.s. Hit "Q" to view your current rumors, this can be re-bound in the Input tab on launch

BALANCE
* Blademaster champion: Spin blades will no longer hit twice in the same turn. Also, they don't double-summon blades anymore.
* Goliath Beetle's jump attack now has a one-turn windup, and cooldown has gone from 4 -> 6
* More fine-tuning over number of champions per floor, and max mods per champion (this can now be set in mapgen data.) Crucially, side areas no longer *automatically* support up to 4-mod champions!
* XP/JP awards from destroying monster-spawning crystals have been increased based on your level
* You can no longer see enemy status durations unless you have the "Keen Eyes" perk

BUGS
* Opening your inventory, equipment (etc) while in a shop will now close the shop instead of drawing behind the shop
* Fixed "Test 123" message when toggling player HUD (info bar will not show if it's blank)
* UI should now be more usable at lower resolutions (UI anchors/scaling adjusted)
* Recovery/Buff effects will now follow characters instead of staying in the square they were spawned
* Fixed impassable fountains in the Flooded Temple 2F
* Fixed missing stairs up in Flood Temple 2F
* Banker should save items now if you die and continue the game right away
* You can no longer use Knight's Shovels on boss maps or in the town.
* Tile visual types (like earth vs. stone tile set) are now properly saved and loaded with the game
* Items with multiple inherent magical properties (i.e. Woodland Vest) will now save/load properly and not stack their effects
* Fixed bug where some magical mods would make weapons gain more power with every game load (lol)
* Left-clicking on enemies with a ranged weapon will really actually attack them now (as long as you're within range)
* Fixed game restart bug when you selected "restart with same character"

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* The RUMOR system has been added! RUMORS are a blend of: tips about potentially useful areas or items, quests that yield rewards, and challenges that take extra skill and care to complete. RUMORS are told to you by a new NPC in Riverstone Camp, for a price. You can have up to 3 at once. For now, there are four possible types of rumors, which can be made more difficult (yet rewarding) due to extra completion conditions. Once rumors are completed (or failed), you can learn of more, but you must keep exploring deeper into the dungeon to unlock them. PRESS Q TO VIEW RUMORS

* New low-level side area: Jelly Grotto. What could possibly be inside?
* TWO NEW MONSTERS: Fire and Electric Jellies, found in the easier levels of Tangledeep
* New champion mod: PULLER. Will randomly pull other monsters into the fray, causing damage if they land near you.
* Added a tier of magical items between "Magical" (2 mods) and "Artifact" (4 mods), called "Ancient" (for now)
* MUD now dampens LIGHTNING damage

ENGINE
* Wow that rumor system. It saves and loads too!

QUALITY OF LIFE
* Game now tracks champions defeated (actually this was last build, but I didn't write it in the notes)
* Blessed Hammers and Blademaster swords will now indicate their direction of movement
* Branched paths/side areas now count toward "lowest floor explored" (which also impacts things like merchants restocking)
* Poison clouds now draw on top of actors (more visible)
* Tiles destroyed with Knight's Shovels are now more obviously destroyed from the surrounding area

WRITING
* Expanded the champion name generator

[zircon]

Had a very productive evening and morning, so here's another build! :D

ART
* Gorgeous visually expansive art for Riverstone Camp!

BALANCE
* Spellshaper's Delayed Teleport now uses 20 Stamina instead of 10 Stamina and 10 Energy
* Crabbids slightly nerfed
* Rumors with conditions now give even more rewards. "No Flask" condition gives yet more still. "Damage Taken" has been made more lenient.
* The cost to learn a rumor now scales +25g per level, but you also earn more gold rewards.
* Rearranged the golem boss fight a bit
* Turtling and Barrier champions now reflect projectiles when their shields are up, if you fire into the shield!
* Gems drop less frequently

BUGS
* Summoned pets really shouldn't take powerups now
* Stamina bar no longer flashes when moving through mud
* Crabbids will now move again after you disrupt their grab
* Fixed some incorrect Spellshaper icons
* You can actually finish rumors that point you toward magical items
* Abilities that hit multiple squares will no longer sometimes take much longer to resolve
* Hovering over status buffs/debuffs now shows info again
* Charge time display on the main HUD is now synced with the character sheet (also, the sheet version is more readable)
* Visual - Grass now correctly spawns in side areas

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* NEW ITEM: Tent. Just like in all the classic JRPGs, this heals your stats to full! However, it can ONLY be used in town... (Todo: Sleep music)
* NEW SIDE AREA: Applewood Grove, complete with a Grotto Flyer variant (Grove Pest)

ENGINE
* Support for totally custom, one-off ability effects

QUALITY OF LIFE
* Death screen now shows your character level and job

[Thaumaturge]

Thanks for the feedback! You CAN left click to move to an adjacent square, right? Just click and you'll move there. No problemo.

I can, I believe--and indeed, I perhaps didn't convey very well what I was doing.

Outside of combat, I tend to move my character as though it were controlled by a directional key: I point the mouse in the direction in which I want to go, and hold down the "move" key, adjusting the mouse position as called for. This doesn't require that I be clicking on the square beside me--just a square that lies  in the right direction. Since movement is turn-based, I still have control over which squares I enter (with occasional errors, I daresay), but don't have to click on each in turn.

Unless I'm mistaken, the left-mouse controls don't work quite that way: the choice of tiles is determined by the pathing algorithm, with little input from me aside from selecting the destination.

This introduces the rumor system. ...

Ooh, this sounds like a rather interesting take on quest-giving!

* NEW ITEM: Tent. Just like in all the classic JRPGs, this heals your stats to full! However, it can ONLY be used in town... (Todo: Sleep music)

That seems useful! The requirement that it be used in town is interesting--we'll see whether the inconvenience of going back is greater than the temptation to sleep frequently...

As per usual, I have the latest build downloaded, I believe, and hope to try it soon! ^_^

[Thaumaturge]

Feedback!

First of all, I had a lot of fun playing this build! The game really feels to me as though it's coming together. ^_^

The rumour system adds a fair bit for me: I find it fun to have specific goals to seek out while exploring the dungeon.

I also rather like some of the new side-areas; the jelly cave (the proper name of which I forget) was a nice low-level encounter, and the Applewood Grove was a fun little adventure. In the latter, I particularly like that the insects steal fruit--it provides a new incentive to engage with them.

The "Blademaster" champion effect is an interesting one!

On a similar note, I like the new monsters now available, especially the varieties of slime--their various abilities provide a little extra interest to the combat, I find.

I kinda like that monsters that would provide no XP on defeat now run from the player: it reinforces, to me, the sense of the character increasing in power, as well as providing feedback that there's little profit in killing them. The "worthless" tag is similar, I think. (Although both do also feel a little sad, the former especially!)

There are some really cool items turning up in the dungeon now. ^_^

You mentioned the presence of a tent item--where does one get it? I didn't notice it in any of the stores that I visited. (Is it dropped by some creature, perhaps?)


Bugs and issues:

 - Chicken Dinners seem to have the same price as Turkey Legs, which feels a little off.
 
 - With Energy and Stamina so limited, I find myself avoiding the use of my evocations when playing as a Spellshaper; instead, I tend to save them for more dangerous encounters. This feels to me like a bit of a pity, and somewhat contrary to my impression of the class. :/

 - I had a case in which the game would not let me cast a materialised, square-shaped shadow invocation. I had 43 Energy and 88 Stamina, I believe. The spell-shape did include some obstructed tiles, but not all were, and I think that I was clicking on a non-wall tile. A fire evocation did work, if I recall correctly.
  --That said, I think that I may have had some instances of clicks being "ignored" elsewhere, so the issue may have come from that.

 - I got the same rumour twice--the same down to the item to be acquired and its stats, and the creature from which to get it--but with different rewards offered. (I died before I reached it, so I don't know what might have happened if I had completed "both" quests.)

 - Unlike food, potions that heal stats don't seem to display the amount of healing that they provide.

 - The key-binding for the "rumour" screen doesn't seem to be shown in either the help screen or the "readme" file--although it's possible that I simply missed it!

 - It seems that sometimes deactivating a spell-shape consumes a turn--is that intended?


A few thoughts:

 - Breakable walls hide secret areas, but they seem to be displayed on the map in a colour other than that of normal walls, which can somewhat give them away. That said, they're also distinct in the level, too, so perhaps they're intended to be clearly visible?

 - A suggestion: In the equipment screen, have item-comparison information show when the player drags one item over another, presuming that the two are compatible. For example, if I have two suits of armour in my equipment (aside from the suit being worn), I might compare the two by dragging one and hovering it over the other.

[zircon]

Great feedback, noted all the bugs/inconsistencies, will look into it more.

Stamina/Energy are indeed supposed to be limited, but food is (relatively) plentiful - between that and powerups you should be able to use abilities regularly enough. No job can get by right now without a decent amount of physical fighting and I think I like that design because of the variety of weapons, the weapon hotbar for easy switching, and all the possible weapon mods you can have.

That being said as the game goes on you can find more and more ways to mitigate energy costs. More on that next patch...

[Thaumaturge]

Stamina/Energy are indeed supposed to be limited, but food is (relatively) plentiful - between that and powerups you should be able to use abilities regularly enough.

I did find foodstuffs to be very useful, I will admit. I think that I did feel that I was pressing up against the limits of my gold, but then I seem to recall that I still had food in my inventory when I died, so perhaps I was nevertheless a little too parsimonious with it.

No job can get by right now without a decent amount of physical fighting and I think I like that design because of the variety of weapons, the weapon hotbar for easy switching, and all the possible weapon mods you can have.

Fair enough.

I think that I tend to be frustrated when a game offers a class that appears to be a pure- or near-pure- spellcaster--but then nevertheless expects me to rely primarily on standard weapons. That, however, is a matter of personal taste.

I have been thinking about giving the Floramancer another shot; in light of this, perhaps I'll like that better. (While I do recall using standard weapons rather a lot with the Floramancer, I suspect that, given the class's flavour and abilities, I'm less likely to feel that I'm missing out on a pure-spellcaster experience.)

That being said as the game goes on you can find more and more ways to mitigate energy costs. More on that next patch...

Fair enough again--I wait to see what those are. ^_^

[zircon]

NEW BUILD!

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

OK! This build introduces an all-new job with the most custom ability coding I've done yet... the Gambler may or may not be balanced, but she'll take those monsters for all they're worth! This is a job that relies on high-risk, high-reward playstyles and (of course) some luck too.

On the balance side, you can expect a greater challenge from floors 9 and up, as monster damage was not scaling anywhere near enough previously. The aggro/stealth system has been revamped and is ab it less abusable. Recovery abilities have also been scrapped or reworked; there are no longer any jobs who can simply heal themselves on command.

Lots more too... see the full log below!

ART/VISUALS
* New sparkly effect for even common items to help them pop. All loot should shine. Even meat!

BALANCE
* Monster damage + health has increased starting w/ monsters that appear in dungeon floors 9 and up. This means significant damage boosts for some monsters. Let's see how that goes. Watch out!
* Rumors now start at 75g instead of 125g
* Brigand's "Sneak Attack", as well as other abilities that require you to be 'out of combat', should now more accurately check to see if you are actually hostile/aggroed to enemies.
* Scavenging magic mod has been halved in effectiveness (was offering a huge drop rate boost before!)
* Scavenger perk also modestly reduced in effectiveness
* Magic Books (offhand item) no longer give you Energy on attack. Instead, they reduce Energy costs (scaling up per item tier)
* "Max Steps" condition for rumors will now scale if the target floor is further away, making it easier to complete
* Max number of equipped passives / support abilities is now 4 (down from 5)
* The Bandit boss fight is tougher now - all mobs have been buffed, there are now Bandit Spellshapers, and the King has a new trick up his sleeve
* Dark Panthox' Claw Rake attack now has an expanded range
* Paladin's "Heavy Guard" no longer takes Stamina to toggle on/off
* "Elemental Shielding" and "Elemental Protection" offhand magic mods no longer stack
* "Quick Step" ability from perk now only costs 15 Stamina down from 25
* GUILE stat now has more of an effect on your chance to crit and parry.
* STRENGTH stat no longer scales healing received from items
* Prices of magical items have been generally scaled back a bit (includes sale prices)
* Slow-healing food (that heals MORE over time) is now slightly more expensive

BUGS
* Monsters in secret areas will now react if you attack them from outside the secret area
* "Number of healing items" counter on death screen now accounts for stacks of items
* Fixed some weird behavior with Floramancer's "Aura of Growth" that caused vines to not spawn in some areas
* Fixed bug with "ronin" type monsters generating errors (i.e. in Applewood Grove)
* Fixed some text alignment issues in dialog boxes
* Hopefully fixed some bugs related to saving/loading (corrupted saves somehow)
* Fixed exception/error when switching jobs with status overlays active (Steadfast magic mod for example)
* Added error checking for loading quests from save
* Status effects and items that affect crit chance should now be reflected on your character sheet (crit chance)
* There should no longer be impassable planks
* You should no longer get duplicate "Find Item" rumors

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New job: The GAMBLER! Gamblers throw caution to the wind, relying on high-risk high-reward abilities with just a pinch of luck. If you like to shoot the moon, roll the dice, and let the cards fall where they may, this is the job for you! (NOTE: Gambler is missing some art and some rare hand effects, but this is coming.)

* Recovery job abilities have been reworked because they generally have been throwing off game balance. Recovery should come from your Flask, food, and potions - if some jobs have simple self-healing abilities, then restoring Energy suddenly becomes that much more valuable for those specific jobs. Here's what changed.

   FLORAMANCER
   1. Photosynthesis ability has been altered. This is now a self-buff that improves your damage and defense by 15% if standing near a summoned vine.
   2. Floramancers have a new innate passive - when your Summoned Living Vine dies, recover 15% of your max HP.

   PALADIN
   1. Close Wounds removed.
   2. New ability: Radiant Aura. This is a toggle that restores Health when you block an attack. (Balance note: Does not work when fighting trivial enemies!)

   BUDOKA:   "Iron Breathing" costs 15 Energy down from 20, but now ONLY heals if it also removes a status. However, it does heal for more than it did before. (Also, it will not heal if the status was applied by a trivial monster.)

* "Stealth" effects such as the Intimidating perk, Brigand's Smoke Cloud, Light armor and Stealth equipment have all been changed. They no longer reduce the enemy's aggro/sight range. Instead, they reduce the chance an enemy will aggro/notice you if you are within their range. Thus, even with a lot of stealth, you can still get noticed by an aggressive monster if you spend too much time nearby.

* There is now a chance that a side area will be hidden / not discoverable until you hear a rumor about it. (That's what I was going for to begin with)
* Spellshapers have a new innate job passive: Stamina powerups now restore a little Energy too.
* New side area: PET SHOPPE (also a wandering merchant). And some new items exclusive to there.
* WAYPOINTS! As you explore deeper into the dungeon, moving to the entrance of Tangledeep will allow you to select a floor to jump to (increments of 5)
* Confusion status effect added to the game

ENGINE
* Support for ability effects that reduce Energy and Stamina costs (rather than hardcoding this!)
* Support for abilities that cost % of current or max health
* Support for Status Effects to use conditionals like ___ damage taken since previous turn
* Effect components can now be created in XML and read individually, then attached modularly to abilities and statuses

QUALITY OF LIFE
* Equipping or unequipping gear with Health, Stamina, or Energy bonuses now only increases your MAX stat and not your current stat. Which means you can't kill yourself unequipping a Hood anymore!
* Various tweaks to Riverstone Camp map grid

WRITING
* Orbs of Summoning are now Mystery Eggs
* Clarified when a weapon must be Projectile for certain effects, vs. just being ranged (i.e. spears)

[zircon]

NEW BUILD...

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

Well there sure were a lot of bugs with that last build! Oops! This new one fixes lots of them, plus older bugs that have been around for a long time. I made some deep engine changes to map generation, saving, and loading, so hopefully nothing will break this time?

This build also adds a much-requested feature, a healer in town! Percy doesn't do much at the moment other than heal you to full, but that's pretty good, right? Of course, healing isn't free, and it only gets more expensive each time you do it per character level. In other words: you won't pay much earlier on, but as the XP curve slopes upward and you spend more time on each experience level, you won't be able to rely on him as much.



And here's the Gambler styling on some enemies...



ART/VISUALS
* New art for monster eggs

BALANCE
* Mint Herb Brew buffed
* Breakable tiles leading to secret areas no longer show up on the minimap
* Paladin's "Radiant Aura" no longer costs Energy to toggle
* Paladin's "Radiant Aura" and "Heavy Guard" toggle cooldowns reduced
* "Confident" magic mod now gives you +20% attack damage if you're above 75% health (as opposed to at 100% health)

BUGS
* Fixed visual bug with getting an ever-increasing number of Gambler cards on-screen; also, cards will no longer draw over ability hover text
* Fixed error when getting a One Pair with Wild Cards
* Fixed bug where the Knight's Shovel would not work on some floors with generic tiles (it should only be unusable in areas with custom tiles)
* Character sheet now shows block chance modified by status effects like Paladin's Heavy Guard
* Lightweight magic mod will no longer spawn on 2H weapons
* Fire Jellies should no longer throw fire away from you
* Gambler's "Hot Streak" should leave fire trails now
* Toggling abilities off (such as spellshapes) will no longer take a turn
* Fixed some deep engine bugs related to saving/loading discrete areas
* Actual Rumor cost should match the displayed cost now
* Fixed rare map generation error/hang
* Misc icon fixes for some status effects, recentered pivot for some jobs

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* A reluctant new friend has joined Riverstone Camp: Percy, the healer!

ENGINE
* Rewrite of how "areas" (rooms, corridors) are handled, saved, and loaded

QUALITY OF LIFE
* When returning to an area with merchants, if they have restocked their inventory you will receive a message in the game log
* Potions now show about how much they heal in their description

[Thaumaturge]

As per usual, I believe that I have the most recent build downloaded, and hope to try it soon. ^_^

All loot should shine. Even meat!

It's the iron content.

* Magic Books (offhand item) no longer give you Energy on attack. Instead, they reduce Energy costs (scaling up per item tier)

Ooh, I like that! I had previously not found much use in the energy gain from books (or at least the ones that I was managing to afford before death...), but a reduction in energy costs is a very appealing feature! (Especially given the above-mentioned issue of not getting to use evocations as often as I might like.)

* Spellshapers have a new innate job passive: Stamina powerups now restore a little Energy too.

Hmm... Between this and the change to books, above, I'm tempted to forgo my plans to try out the Floramancer again...

Well there sure were a lot of bugs with that last build! Oops!

Hah, I'm glad that I missed that one, then!

This build also adds a much-requested feature, a healer in town! Percy doesn't do much at the moment other than heal you to full, but that's pretty good, right? Of course, healing isn't free, and it only gets more expensive each time you do it per character level. In other words: you won't pay much earlier on, but as the XP curve slopes upward and you spend more time on each experience level, you won't be able to rely on him as much.

Ahh, interesting--that does seem like a neat feature, especially given the scaling!

[alaNintendo]

Very good! 

[zircon]

NEW BUILD! 4/12/17

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

This essential update fixes some map generation issues and other big bugs, while also making key balance tweaks, and adding an all-new map layout style. There are also a bunch of new items, the 2nd boss fight has been redone, and Percy - the turtle healer - can now change your job anytime, and give you temporary 'blessings' too!


The new "Shadow Sanctum" boss fight

ART/VISUALS
* New 'outlines' for equipment sheet when you're not wearing items in a specific slot
* Visual improvements and new details in Riverstone Camp

BALANCE
* Gambler: Chance to get a Wild Card draw increased (it is now base 100% chance per crit or monster kill, scaling down with easier enemies)
* Gambler's "High Card" poker hand now scales up in damage slightly with each card in your hand, so blowing a whole hand on a single attack is a bit better
* Gambler's "Sharp Eyes" buff no longer lasts forever
* Increased drop rate of tents
* Halved drop rate of Job Change Scrolls
* The (placeholder) final boss is harder now.
* Money received from monsters scales slightly less with monster level now
* Sale prices of items reduced a bit

BUGS
* Rumors ACTUALLY COST THE RIGHT AMOUNT, really (75g base, +50g per char level)
* Fixed bug with Hunter's Blood Tracking that continuously lowered all your resistances. (Oops)
* Fixed bug with Blessed Hammer causing major errors
* Flask charges should update more consistently on UI now
* Fixed some bugs with Ruins map generation creating cut-off "islands" of ground
* Attacking with elemental weapons should now actually use that element (applies to monsters too)
* Fixed a bug with consumables not stacking properly if a monster picked up a stack
* Fixed a bug where Grove Pests would steal from themselves and multiply the amount of fruit they had...
* PROBABLY fixed bug where some dungeon levels would have unreachable areas. Let me know if this continues.
* Equipping gear that gives you more HP will no longer affect current HP

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New map generation type, currently found on floors 14 and 18... introducing a new environmental hazard: poison atmosphere! Stand in rooms with Purifiers to save yourself!
* You can now talk to Percy (turtle guy) to change your job anytime! This gets more expensive each time you do it, and scales up with character level
* Percy can now also give you blessings, buffs that can make life in the dungeon easier. Blessing cost is based on your level, and they only tick down while in the dungeon.
* Spirit Sanctuary has been renamed Shadow Sanctum. The layout has changed slightly, the air is now poisonous, and the boss is different... :D
* NEW FOOD: Hearty Carrot! Grants immunity to negative status effects for a brief time. (Doesn't affect existing statuses you might have.)
* NEW FOOD: Briny Fish! Allows you to effortlessly move through water, gaining an extra 5 CT per step.
* NEW WEAPON: Sharktooth Axe. A particularly powerful weapon that is less accurate than most, but hits like a truck if it connects.
* NEW ACCESSORY: Judo Sash. Grants you the basic unarmed fighting ability of a Budoka.
* NEW ACCESSORY: Topaz Earrings. Allows you to absorb incoming lightning damage.

ENGINE
* Status effects can be flagged as "dungeon only"

QUALITY OF LIFE
* Added "MISS" text when you miss your target with a regular attack
* Monsters killed by the player will always show up in the combat log regardless of distance

WRITING
* Added clarifying text in Percy (healer) dialog explaining his pricing

[Thaumaturge]

I intend to download the new build a little later, and hopefully try it soon. ^_^

That said, I have some feedback on the previous build. A few of the points that I noted for feedback seem likely to have been fixed--they were a single-tile dungeon on level five, which stopped my progress, and rumour prices not seeming to be as expected, I believe.

I decided to try out the Floramancer this time, and had fun doing so. I miss my evocations, but the often-persistent nature of the Floramancer's art perhaps results in my feeling that I'm getting more use out of them. Perhaps a multi-class run is in order--especially now that job-changing can be handled via Percy...

First of all, I very much like the Floramancer's more-animated sprite; I think that the walk-cycle adds somewhat to the aesthetics of the game. Similarly, I like the new tile for the "Bed of Thorns"; the animation is a nice touch, I think.

I also rather like the Spark Staff as a starting weapon: it's different, and it feels appropriately "magical", unlike the fairly basic slingshot that I recall the class previously starting with.


Issues:

 - Bank prices feel frustratingly high at times. Leaving a run, I had some rather nice gear that I wanted to keep--only to find that the price of doing so was significantly more than the money that seemed to be available to me. :/
  -- Come to that, what is the purpose of requiring payment for deposits? The player is already sacrificing access to the weapon in question, or the gold that could be had by selling it. There's also a limitation on how many items may be stored. Why prevent the player from storing things?

 - The bank's storage functionality doesn't seem to work properly--at least, if I'm understanding it correctly. If I'm not much mistaken, this is what happened: I had one item in the bank. I then deposited another, and performed a save-and-quit. That done, I started the game again and created a new character. Going to the bank, I found the original item present, but not the second.

 - There seems to still be a large area around the bottom-right UI in which mouse-clicks don't work.

 - I'm uncertain about the application of the "Cloth Quiver": does it work with weapons like the spear? It refers to "ranged" weapons, and the spear has a range greater than one. I gather that "projectile" weapons are considered to be separate from merely "ranged" weapons, and it would make sense for a quiver to be associated specifically with such as these--but the description isn't clear on this.

 - In fullscreen (under Windows 8.1), seams seem to appear between tiles when moving.
  -- Of the tiles that I saw, this only seems to affect water, mud, and wooden bridges. I don't think that I found lava during this run, so I don't know whether it was affected.

 - Similarly, some sprites seem to "shake" when the camera moves.
  -- For example, in the camp area, the banker shakes, but the rumour-vendor doesn't.

 - It seems to be possible to move while the "rumour" screen is visible.

 - The sprite used for the swinging vines could use a bit more contrast, I feel--I find them a little too easy to miss, I believe.

 - While having sprites become transparent when overlapping is quite helpful at times, it looks as little odd to me when applied to the player-character standing in front of and overlapping an NPC.

 - In the bank, I believe that I saw cases in which a deposit would cost more than I had, but in which the text wasn't coloured red.
  -- It seemed that losing sufficient money did cause at least some of these items to turn red.
  -- Is it perhaps using the base sale cost of the item, rather than its deposit cost?

 - Pressing the escape key to open the options menu seemed to toggle the "Camera Scanlines" feature. o_0
  -- This may stem from the presence of an options file generated by a previous build; I note that the issue disappeared eventually--possibly after restarting the game.

 - The lowest setting for the "Zoom Scale" doesn't seem to do anything.

[zircon]

Again thanks for the feedback. I haven't been able to replicate the Banker issue... tried that exact setup and it seems to be working here, but I'll keep an eye on it. Some of the visual things you noted are on the docket. Addressed a couple other things with this hotfix patch...

NEW MOSTLY BUGFIX BUILD! 4/13/17

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

BALANCE
* Storing items in the bank now only costs half as much
* Some new battle FX for Gambler

BUGS
* Fixed major error with game saving/loading (related to some engine changes)... sorry
* You can no longer move or take combat actions while the Rumor screen is open
* Fixed the red text indicator for when an item is too expensive to deposit in the bank
* For now, the "Ruins" map type has been removed, hopefully fixing any issues related to it (unreachable areas). Don't worry, there are still 6 other map types and counting.
* Fixed some visual bugs with legacy code on the character sheet (red/green stats)

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* On the character sheet, you can now see your lowest floor explored *all-time*, as well as your total number of characters (runs), and your most favored job
* NEW MAGIC MOD (Weapons): Frostbite, chance to freeze enemies on hit
* NEW MAGIC MOD (Armor): Frostscale, chance to freeze enemies attacking you in melee

WRITING
* Clarified text for Quivers - these only boost CT when using bows

[Thaumaturge]

I haven't been able to replicate the Banker issue...
...
* Fixed major error with game saving/loading (related to some engine changes)... sorry

Hmm... I think that I may have been using the bank after reloading a save--could that have had an effect?

Oh, thinking of which, there may be a minor exploit in the save-game system: as far as I've found, quitting the game via Alt-F4 bypasses the save-system, allowing the player to return to an earlier point in the same run.

I've downloaded the new build, I believe--I had intended to play the game a little tonight, so a build that addresses some of those issues (the bank especially!) is quite welcome! ^_^

[zircon]

NEW BUILD! 4/15/17

WIN: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestWinBuild.rar
OSX: http://tangledeep.com/builds/Tangledeep-LatestOSXBuild.zip

OK! Lots of bug fixes here addressing some annoying issues. Map generation received quite a bit of love (and art), and there are some diabolical new upper-level challenges such as expanded side areas and new monsters. It's a pretty great patch! I've also laid the groundwork for the upcoming ITEM WORLD. What is Item World? You'll see next patch! :D


The new "Ice Daggers" champion mod in action!


The dungeon is looking great!


New Thunder Spirit now electrifies nearby enemies, which in turn can electrify you :D

ART/VISUALS
* New and animated lava!
* Nando's kin have their own palettes now
* New plank art
* New graphics for the rumor giver in town
* More dungeon decor - flowers and bushes

BALANCE
* Bandit Spellshapers no longer have an intrinsic stun in melee (this was not intended...)
* Equipping items in any dungeon area other than 'safe' floors (merchants with no enemies) will now use a turn. Cycling weapons in your hot bar will NOT use a turn
* Shields have generally higher block chance across the board, but slightly lowered flat physical damage reduction
* 1st boss fight mobs all have a bit more HP
* King of Bandits HP increased
* Increased damage from areas with poison air/hazardous areas

BUGS
* Attempted fix for regen flask charges sometimes not being consumed.
* Lava should now spawn again
* Fixed placement bug with Fungal Toad & Bog Frog jump impact visuals (now shows under them, as it should)
* Fixed some deep engine bugs (again) related to saving/loading chunks of the map
* Probably fixed obscure bug related to wandering monster spawns
* Budoka's "Steel Resolve" now works properly against stuns caused by maces/hammers
* Wandering merchants should no longer overlap poor Katy
* Crabbids will no longer lose their movement range if their grab wears off normally
* Fixed major bug where many things that boosted your core stats... would seemingly not do that
* Fixed display bug in item comparisons where some low values would round to 0 instead of showing the decimal
* When doing the "appease monster" type quests, the appeased monster will only drop 1 food item (as intended)
* Fixed display bug with banker prices, along with other banker bugs
* Flooded Temple should be flooded again

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New side area: the Bandit Library! I heard you liked Bandit Spellshapers...
* New monster: Bandit Buffslinger! (I wonder where you might find it)
* New map generation type! Also a bunch of mapgen changes adding some more variety and (good) randomness
* Modified version of the Demon Spirit now spawns in the main dungeon, later on!
* Elemental Lair has been expanded to 3 floors with a smoother difficulty curve from start to finish
* Added more room variations, shapes, and layouts throughout the dungeon (20 new templates)
* New champion mod: ICEDAGGERS

ENGINE
* Monsters can now use buff abilities on other monsters, even AOE buffs and AOE heals!
* Enhancements to summoned objects - they can now have directional movement regardless of how their summoner moves

QUALITY OF LIFE
* Colorized some text in the combat log
* Shield block chance is now shown in item descriptions
* Trying to attack while disarmed/paralyzed no longer consumes a turn.
* Summoned objects like Toxic acid pools that are not collidable will not show up on the mini map
* Hitting "Escape" will exit examine mode without popping up the Options menu
* You can now drag inventory items on to the "Drop Item" button to drop them. (You can also drop them by tapping "D" with the cursor over an item)

[Thaumaturge]

Ooh, quite an interesting update. As per usual, I intend to download the game later, and hopefully try it soon. ^_^

I did play the previous build, I believe, but only have a few notes from that session; most I'll hang onto until I've tried the new build, I think.

Three that I do want to mention, however:

First, having the UI cover the corners of the dungeon is still a bit of a nuisance. To that end, a suggestion: simply extend the map outwards a little, filling it with whatever wall tiles edge the play-area at the point from which it's being extended. This might allow the camera to move the UI out of the play-area when the player approaches the edges of the map, without filling the screen with blackness.

That said, I don't know how well this might play with varying resolutions and zoom levels. :/

I like the new equipment slot outlines--they seem likely to be useful to new players! That said, I'm not sure that the icons for the "offhand" and "accessory" slots are terribly clear--perhaps it might help to simplify them a bit? (And in the case of the "accessory" icon--which I think is a set of objects, including a helm and a ring--separate the objects a little.)

This build was the first in which I noticed the information regarding the summoned pet that's shown below the "extra turn" information. The health readout here is useful, I find! That said, the Floramancer's Floraconda is indicated to have "0 turns"--I presume that this is intended to show the duration of other summons, but looks a little odd here.