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[zircon]

I will say that the UI is definitely going to be reworked a bit - it's coming. I think all the HUD stuff will be put along the bottom, and then 'letterbox' the game so the UI doesn't go over it.

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, fair enough--that makes sense, I think. ^_^

Hmm... Given that monitors seem to tend toward the wider aspect ratios these days, have you considered putting the UI on the sides rather than the bottom? That way the play-area is diminished in the more spacious axis, where it's thus less of a loss.

[zircon]

There is a lot of UI info to display - in our mockup, it should fit nicely along the bottom. Hotbars, buffs, combat log, etc. I don't think it will take up too much space, ultimately, but we'll see.

[Thaumaturge]

If both sides are used, the amount of space available there should be similar, I think, to what's available at the bottom--although that does split the UI.

However, fair enough! As you say, we'll see how your layout works--I may be concerned over nothing at all. ^_^

[zircon]

Oh boy! I never thought it would happen but the Tangledeep Kickstarter, with 24 hours left, is closing in on the final stretch goal - a full remix album from OverClocked ReMix! :D

And let's add to the hype with a

NEW BUILD!

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

Today we have a patch chock full of bug fixes and quality of life improvements, plus a smattering of art and UI upgrades. Lots of stuff related to shops, sorting, and the inventory screen, and helpful things for mouse users too. But even more notably, I'm introducing version 0.1 alpha of ITEM WORLD! Inspired by the Disgaea series, Item World is a way to go inside a piece of gear, generating a mini-dungeon on the fly (with unique map layouts) and upgrading the item if you can beat the boss.

To enter Item World, you first need to find an Orb of Item World (placeholder name...) from champions or boss monsters. Use it in Riverstone Camp, then drop a piece of equipment (weapon, offhand, armor) to enter.

Again: This is just v0.1, so there may (probably will) be bugs, and there will be much more content associated with Item World before development is done. But in the meantime, have at it! :D


The elusive Goldfrog


Items pour out of monsters/chests instead of stacking now!


New inventory hotbar - drag and droppable!


Dialog borders and animations!

ART
* New bookshelves in the bandit library
* New tileset: cobblestone! Looking dope!
* Sprites now draw in a consistently correct order based on Y position (i.e. if you go "behind" a character, you will actually be covered up by that character)
* New crate and barrel visuals
* Dialog box UI borders!
* Dialog box animations!
* New battle effects for: Fire Evocation, Qi Wave

BALANCE
* Side areas no longer have monster spawning crystals. Clear the maps and you're done!
* The cost of blessings has been reduced
* Sword Dancer's "Dust in the Wind" now costs Stamina instead of Energy
* Flat damage resistance from shields turned down slightly
* Proc damage mods (Soldier, Warrior, Gladiator) will no longer spawn on the same weapon
* Plunderers now have a poison proc on attack
* Mystery monster eggs are now a little more common

BUGS
* Attempt at fixing a hard-to-catch bug that corrupted saves by not writing the Town properly to save file
* Fixed bug where exiting the targeting UI would sometimes consume the item you were trying to usebanker:
* Stairs now spawn in the bandit library
* Fixed errors in the casino blackjack UI (game would not close properly)
* Escape key can now be used to quit the casino properly
* Several defense/attack down effects were multiplying their effect each turn. This has been fixed!
* Fixed error with monster eggs used at a high level
* Cleaned up visual targeting of Jade Beetle's charge (now "locks" to character)
* Abilities like Wild Horse or Jade Beetle charges will now land at the closest possible square to the original position of the attacker
* Fixed major exploits related to free abilities (flask, ability toggle off) - these now don't enter turn logic at all and simply fire off
* Fixed bug where after saving -> loading a game, champions/bosses would not give the appropriate experience boost
* Fixed bug with loot drops scaling in a weird way
* After getting a heal from Percy, your stats should refresh instantly
* When hotkeying a weapon to your hotbar (1-4 on EQ screen) in the dungeon, you will no longer try to use an ability in that slot (1-4)

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* ITEM WORLD can now be found in Tangledeep! This is a way of powering up a piece of gear (weapons, armor, offhands), increasing its raw stats and possibly adding a new magic mod. Here's how it works.

1. Find an "Orb of Item World" (placeholder name...) which has a chance to drop from any champion.
2. Use the Orb in Riverstone camp.
3. Drop the piece of gear you want to enter. This creates a new mini-dungeon! Item world floors have a different open layout and interesting new challenges. Poison water fills each floor, but you can build planks with the Plank Builders you find. Crossing the water is not a death sentence but it will drain your life fast if you're not careful.
4. Reach the bottom of the Item World and defeat the ^ITEMBOSS^ to find an upgraded version of the item you dropped to spawn the world. Picking up the item exits the world!

Each individual piece of gear can be upgraded up to 3 times! Also, you may find the mythical Goldfrog in Item World. What happens if you catch him?!

NOTE: This is just the first iteration of the concept. Ultimately I want Item World to be even weirder!

QUALITY OF LIFE
* The Inventory screen now has a hotbar at the top that can be used to drag-and-drop consumables for easy ingame usage. (You can also still hotkey stuff by hovering over an item and pressing 1-8)
* You can now bet 100 OR 1,000g at the Casino
* You can now bulk sell items at most merchants
* Hovering over portal/flask icons will show the default keybind
* The plank builder item can now ONLY be used on water, as intended
* Monster tooltip now shows their 'family' (beasts, frogs, insects, etc)
* Monsters you summon will now have charm hearts above their heads to indicate they are on our side
* Your summoned pets will no longer destroy objects summoned by you (i.e. Floracondas destroying your own vines)
* "0turns" is no longer displayed when a summoned pet is around forever
* The critical effect of axes (defense break) now shows up as a status on enemies
* The critical effect of swords (parry next attack) will also show up as a status on yourself
* New tutorial tip while equipping items in the dungeon
* Inventory sorts are now back on the Equipment screen again
* You can now sort items by type or value in the shop interface
* Clicking any sort button on any interface twice will reverse the sort order
* Monsters shouldn't spawn on top of stairs
* When monsters or chests drop multiple items, they will spread out instead of stacking on a single tile
* When Grove Pests steal food, a message will pop up above them

[Thaumaturge]

The Item World seems like a neat idea--an engaging means of upgrading items, potentially more interesting than simply applying some other item to the one to be upgraded. ^_^

A hotkey for consumables may prove very useful to me: I do sometimes forget my consumables, which may be made less likely by having them be visible on-screen.

Regarding items spreading out out to adjacent squares, a minor suggestion, if I may: perhaps have them arc up, then back down, as they move: that might convey the idea of the items being thrown into the air and falling back to the ground, and add a little animation to those remaining in the monster's erstwhile tile.

I have not been keeping up with the most recent builds--nevertheless I have the latest downloaded, and hope to play it soon, as per usual!

[zircon]

Unbelievable.. with just hours left, we surpassed the final stretch goal of the Tangledeep Kickstarter. I can't thank everyone here enough for your continued support of this dream game of mine <3

But there is no time to rest. Dev dev dev. And that means a

NEW BUILD!

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

This build has a major bug fix related to wandering monsters causing game errors, which is the main reason I'm pushing it out today. It also has a couple major gameplay-related changes and I'm interested in seeing how they play out. First, powerups have generally been made more useful and more frequent. You are more likely to find ones that you need, champions always drop them, and you can get two from a single monster. Also, you won't ever get powerups for a resource you're full on. These things should - in theory - make it easier for all jobs to use their abilities a bit more often.

At the same time I've adjusted the monster-attracting gem in a way that may make the game harder. Previously, destroying the gem was almost always optimal so you could make a floor safe. Now, there will always be wandering monsters. However, destroying the gem (which is now "Monster Surpressing Crystal") will yield a larger reward of XP, JP, and gold. The tradeoff is that future wandering monsters will be a bit harder - maybe by 10-15%.

Another key change is that destructibles can generally no longer spawn loot at the same level as the monsters you're fighting, with some exceptions (like gold chests). I think that fighting monsters should be the best source of loot to reward beating challenging encounters.

There are other changes coming up too but for now, I wanted to get these into the world!

ART/VISUALS
* First pass on transparent overlay system - objects behind other objects should be dimly visible

BALANCE
* Appease monster / food delivery rumor is now done with just one piece of food instead of 3
* Limit HP damage requirement has been relaxed further
* Airacudas are now tagged "Flying" and will not take ground terrain damage/mud root
* Ice Daggers champion mod now has a brief cooldown period. Also, they now spawn and move over collidable tiles. Also, they die with the champion.
* Changed loot scaling for destructibles (chests, barrels, etc) and treasure sparkles - these now scale somewhat slower than monsters at the same level
* Champions are now less likely to get rooted in mud
* Champions now always drop a powerup
* All monsters now have a chance to drop a second powerup (half the drop rate of the first one)
* The type of powerup that drops is now influenced by your resources missing/remaining. Also, if one resource is completely full but the other one isn't, you will always get a powerup of the missing resource.
* Powerup drop rate up 10%

BUGS
* Fixed display bug with hover/examine and the Keen Eyes perk (displaying some items in a multi-item tile as blanks)
* Possibly fixed error with wandering monster spawn
* Adjusted "Examine" mode behavior. This is now entirely keyboard-based. The mouse no longer moves the box: mouse in examine mode was redundant anyway, since hovering has the same effect...
* (Probably?) Fixed edge cases where trying to use an ability without enough resources would STILL trigger a cooldown
* Attempted fix at a rare bug where toggled abilities would be stuck on cooldown forever

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New Rumor type: kill a handful of a specific type of monster using a specific element.

* ITEM WORLD: Small chance of a special, particularly blinged out floor.

* Changes to the monster-attracting gem. This is now the Monster Surpressing Crystal. While the crystal is intact, wandering monsters spawn with light scaling as normal. If you destroy the crystal, you will get XP, JP, and gold, scaling with level. These numbers have been increased from what they are now. However once broken, the monsters that spawn from that point on will be somewhat tougher (higher HP, damage, mitigation)

ENGINE
* Added extra error checking for errors with spawning wandering monsters
* Added additional error checking in game load to track down some problems

QUALITY OF LIFE
* "Drop Item" is now a bindable hotkey, instead of being hardwired to "D"
* There is now an area on the EQ sheet where you can drag items to drop them on the ground

WRITING
* Added text to Sharktooth Cleaver noting that it has lower accuracy
* Added easter egg related to Budoka's "Arrow Catch"

[Thaumaturge]

Unbelievable.. with just hours left, we surpassed the final stretch goal of the Tangledeep Kickstarter. I can't thank everyone here enough for your continued support of this dream game of mine <3

I've said so already on Twitter, but let me say it here, too: congratulations on so successful a crowdfunding campaign, and on hitting all of your stretch goals! ^_^

First, powerups have generally been made more useful and more frequent. You are more likely to find ones that you need, champions always drop them, and you can get two from a single monster. Also, you won't ever get powerups for a resource you're full on. These things should - in theory - make it easier for all jobs to use their abilities a bit more often.

Ooh, I really like that! Getting to use my abilities more often is quite welcome, I believe! ^_^

At the same time I've adjusted the monster-attracting gem in a way that may make the game harder. Previously, destroying the gem was almost always optimal so you could make a floor safe. Now, there will always be wandering monsters. However, destroying the gem (which is now "Monster Surpressing Crystal") will yield a larger reward of XP, JP, and gold. The tradeoff is that future wandering monsters will be a bit harder - maybe by 10-15%.

I'm... not a fan of that idea, I fear. Constant spawning of monsters is something that I've generally disliked in previous roguelikes, and its (optional) lack something that I liked in Tangledeep, as I recall. :/

[wurthers]

This looks fantastic! A bit sad I found your post right after your kickstarter ended, but I'll have to give some money on PayPal when I can to help out. Good luck on finishing up!

[zircon]

The Kickstarter might be over, but I'm not slowing down. Not now, not ever!!! So let's do a NEW BUILD, but first, I should mention that the game has been GREENLIT FOR STEAM! HOORAY :D

NEW BUILD!

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

** I forgot to update the build text ingame sorry **

Besides the usual round of bug fixes and QOL/polish, this build offers some new buffs to the Floramancer, Budoka, and Gambler, plus new weird stuff in Item World. Rumors and Medium Armor are also better/more unique now. All good stuff I think!

Also, to expand on the reasoning for the wandering monster change I made last build: The issue with how I had it before was that players would destroy the crystal ASAP, because it was always the best option. There wasn't much decision making involved. This made it a lot easier to kite and hunt monsters one by one. This should be a valid tactic, but not one without risk, and if no new monsters spawn... there isn't a lot of risk involved.

Now, destroying the crystal is worth even more, but it makes life a little harder, too. The choice is yours. (Remember, if you're very high level, monsters will run from you, so eventually, each floor WILL become safe.)

ART/VISUALS
* Stair directions reversed, because in Tangledeep you start at the bottom and you're going UP...

BALANCE
* Gambler's "two pair" Wild Cards hand now lasts 25 turns (up from 20) and gives an additional 5% crit chance
* Gambler's Wild Cards ability cooldown is now 2 turns (down from 3)
* Gambler now starts with 200g (other characters start with 100g)
* Gambler's "Snake Eyes" dice roll no longer does 50% max health damage to champions/bosses, but 50% current health instead
* Gambler's "High Card" ability now scales a little more with cards in hand (+5% dmg per extra card)
* Mint and Fat Herb Brews now heal more
* Rumors are now less expensive (60 + 15 per level)
* Rumors now reward more XP
* "Lightweight" weapon mod now reduces dual wield penalties when used in either hand - this effect stacks
* You now gain 3 max Energy per level (up from 1), and 3 max Stamina (up from 2)
* Floramancer's Photosynthesis now lasts 11 turns (up from 9)
* Floramancer's "Creeping Death" costs 400jp (down from 500)
* Floramancer's Bed of Thorns can no longer be stacked on the same square(s), and can only trigger once per turn (per monster). However, it now does more damage.
* Sword Dancer's "Phoenix Wing" now uses a 'burst' shape, costs 25 Energy instead of 30, and has a shorter cooldown
* Budoka: Reduced cooldowns of Hundred Fists, Palm Thrust, Iron Breathing, and Qi Wave
* Spellshaper now starts with a Simple Codex (offhand) instead of Chai Qi Cookies.
* Goldfrogs are jumpier
* The GUILE stat now has more impact on crit and parry chance

BUGS
* Fixed bug where using elemental weapons would not count toward the "Burned Monster" type rumors
* Fixed game load error when saving/loading vs. fighting monsters using charge/pass turn abilities
* Hovering over a blank hotbar slot no longer pops up a blank window
* You can now blow up your advanced Summoned Floracondas with Detonate Vines
* Fixed bug where saving/loading in item world would return you to town (!)
* Probably fixed bug where monsters would sometimes push you (or themselves) into map edges
* Fixed bug where the sword crit special effect (auto-parry next attack) was not working
* Plunderer's weak venom proc should work again
* Budoka's "Iron Breathing" should work again

CONTENT & GAMEPLAY
* ITEM WORLD: Chance that a floor will have lots of fountains
* ITEM WORLD: Chance that a floor will have tons of food
* ITEM WORLD: Chance that non-champions will love you from the start
* Floramancer: New ability, "Grow Spitting Plant". These are stationary turrets that have a ranged thorn attack with a chance to poison!
* Floramancer: Improved Floraconda (1000jp + max unlocks) now has a Constrict attack instead of a ranged thorn. Constrict will root a target and cause damage over time.
* Budoka: Hundred Fists, Qi Wave, and Palm Thrust all grant you a stacking defense boost for a brief time when used.
* Medium Armor: While wearing this armor type, your dodge chance also applies to dodging many damaging abilities
* New armor mod: CONSTITUTION. Gives you a 20% chance to shrug off a negative status effect before it can be added.
* New weapon type: STAVES (Staff). These ranged weapons (range: 3, shorter than bows) scale off a mix of Spirit and Swiftness, instead of just Swiftness like other ranged weapons. The Floramancer's starting weapon is now this type. Two additional staves can be found in the world.

ENGINE
* Trimmed save files a bit

QUALITY OF LIFE
* There is now a short tutorial the first time you enter Tangledeep. Let me know what you think!
* "Sell All" menu options now sell gems too
* You no longer spawn in dangerous terrain in Item World

WRITING
* In item world, the water is now displayed as "poison water"

[Thaumaturge]

Congratulations on being greenlit! ^_^

Also, to expand on the reasoning for the wandering monster change I made last build: The issue with how I had it before was that players would destroy the crystal ASAP, because it was always the best option. There wasn't much decision making involved. This made it a lot easier to kite and hunt monsters one by one. This should be a valid tactic, but not one without risk, and if no new monsters spawn... there isn't a lot of risk involved.

Now, destroying the crystal is worth even more, but it makes life a little harder, too. The choice is yours.

I see your point, and indeed, I think that the crystal as it previously was didn't make for a particularly interesting decision. If this change fits your intentions for the game, then fair enough!

(Remember, if you're very high level, monsters will run from you, so eventually, each floor WILL become safe.)

That's a fair point.

In my case, I think that it still results in something that's more or less a non-decision, albeit a slightly more complex one: "always ignore the crystal until the floor is safe (by virtue of all monsters in that level running), then smash the crystal." However, this may well not be the case for other players!

* Floramancer's "Creeping Death" costs 400jp (down from 500)
...
* Floramancer: New ability, "Grow Spitting Plant". These are stationary turrets that have a ranged thorn attack with a chance to poison!
* Floramancer: Improved Floraconda (1000jp + max unlocks) now has a Constrict attack instead of a ranged thorn. Constrict will root a target and cause damage over time.

Ooh, those changes sound promising! ^_^

[zircon]

NEW BUILD!

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

Tonight's build has some important key new features and changes that I'm eager to see in action. First is a rework of the main HUD. All of the key information has been placed along the bottom of the screen and cleaned up. The gameplay now centers on the hero and not the dead center of the screen, so you should no longer have cases where the UI covers up crucial game content. You can of course hide the hud with H still. This IS a work in progress and it will be improved more over time but it's a big step!

Next we have level up bonuses. Previously, your core stats (Strength, Swiftness, etc.) rose slightly each level, between 1.3 to 1.75 points, based on your current job. Now, in addition to these bonuses, you can select a core stat to boost even more. This +3 stat boost is received on every level up. Over the course of even 5-6 levels this should help you customize your character further.

I'm also trying to make sure that you can't screw up your character. All stats are useful to all characters, and there should be no "dump stats". A melee fighter can still use Discipline for elemental resistance; a ranged fighter wants Spirit for powerup recovery and buff duration; a mage still enjoys the physical defense boost from Strength.

Lastly there is the Monster Corral. The visual implementation here (a single placeholder shark NPC) is VERY INCOMPLETE as the corral will be integrated into the entire new town expansion map, coming soon. But the basic functionality is done. Buy (or find) a Monster Mallet, weaken a monster to <15% health, then knock it out with the mallet and bring it to the Corral. Monsters in the Corral have their own charming interactions and personalities. They also grant you combat bonuses against those specific monster species and their family.

There's a lot more too but I'll just list the rest in the log!


Knocking out a monster with the Monster Mallet.


Hey, what happens in the corral...

ART/VISUALS
* Rework of main HUD UI, which (mostly) no longer blocks gameplay. Camera centers on character instead of screen. Can still be hidden with "H" as needed.
* Improved text boxes / dialogs in opening and character creation
* New Paladin and Spellshaper run cycles!
* New vine wall/swinging vine art

BALANCE
* The "elemental kill" type rumor now allows for Physical damage. Also, it will ONLY give you an element that you have access to in your learned skills.
* The "no flask" rumor requirement now yields even more rewards if you can complete it
* Electrified champions use their lightning storm ability more frequently
* Slightly decreased penalties for dual wielding
* Reduced wandering monster spawn chance by about 55%
   NOTE: Wandering monster chance continues to scale based on initial monsters in level and # of killed monsters. For example, if you haven't killed any monsters, new ones won't spawn. If you've only killed one or two on a level, the spawn chance is much lower than if you've killed a whole bunch of them.
* Goliath Beetles no longer have an armor break attack
* Plunderers no longer have a self dodge buff
* Guardian Sphere's "Self Destruct" now only triggers at 15% health (down from 35%)
* Champion Icedaggers uptime has been reduced another 2 turns

BUGS
* (Visual) Casino text boxes now have borders
* Illusions of champions no longer drop powerups or item world orbs
* Champions should now correctly give more XP, JP, and gold
* Tornado Stance now only reacts to enemies in melee (as intended)
* You should now correctly auto-equip accessories to your second slot, if that slot is empty
* Fixed error with Floramancer's Bed of Thorns
* Fixed numerous issues with Spellshape abilities that I apparently introduced last build
* Fixed bug that was causing every floor to have (up to) 1 more champion than intended
* Obsidian Daggers and Warhammers should no longer drop from monsters at lower levels
* Sword damage has been reduced to intended levels
* Fixed bug with Item World Orbs and saving/loading

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* The MONSTER CORRAL (v0.5) has been added to the game! This currently lacks any visuals, but the functionality is there! Talk to the shark (placeholder) in town to learn more. In a nutshell: The Monster Corral is a place where you can bring a monster you've knocked out with a Monster Mallet (new item). You can have up to 3 monsters in the Corral. For each monster in the corral, you get a bonus while fighting them AND their family (less damage taken, more damage dealt.) This persists from character to character as well, just like the banker.

* The BANKER will now store your money. It costs 200g per deposit, but you can store any amount above that for no extra charge (and withdraw for free)

* When you level up, you can give any main stat (Strength, Swiftness, Discipline, Guile, Spirit) an extra bonus. This bonus is permanent. ALL your stats still go up a bit every level (unchanged)
* Added 5th tier of weapons (this probably only drops from high level champions)
* Guardian Spheres now have a "Vortex" ability that pulls you closer
* Floracondas summoned by Verdigrizzlies now have a short-range heal
* ITEM WORLD: IW-only Knight's Shovels now also spawn at random
* ITEM WORLD: Added more ground and wall tiles in the ocean
* ITEM WORLD: There is now a chance that a floor will be full of monsters that are prone to attacking one another.
* NEW CONSUMABLE: Butler's Bell. Summons a random assortment of food.
* NEW SIDE AREA: Stalker Nest (mid-level)
* New monster: Guardian Arachnoid
* New monster (with placeholder art): Vine Stalker

ENGINE
* Improved engine code for dragging actors around

[Thaumaturge]

The monster corral sounds interesting--especially given that it's part of the meta-game layer. On a minor note, I like the little interactions between monsters (are those just flavour, or do they have effects?), and was pleasantly surprised that dragged monsters move "around" obstacles. ^_^

[zircon]

BUGFIX BUILD (MOSTLY)

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

ART/VISUALS
* Removed job and current level from main HUD in favor of current money (xp level will be added back soonish...)

BALANCE
* "Spirit" enemies now have their own enemy type ('Spirits')

BUGS
* Destroying the Monster Crystal now (properly) grants money, as intended
* You should no longer get quests involving the caged Verdigrizzlies in the casino
* Fixed a game load bug
* Fixed minor bug with saving/loading duplicate hero feats
* Fixed some display errors with Sheltering / Shielding magic mods
* Selling stacks of consumables should now take into account the size of the stack
* Abilities that proc on-attack effects (i.e. Qi Wave procs Thundering Lion), should now also check to CONSUME effects which are normally consumed by attacks.
* Champion illusions should really probably not drop item world orbs
* Fixed buggy behavior with Monster Mallet on certain enemies
* Gambler - Straights and related hands (straight flush etc) should evaluate properly
* (Visual) Fixed Gambler hand overlap issue
* (Visual) Fixed summoned pet overlap issue
* (Visual) Fixed camera centering issue in some side areas
* (Visual) Fixed slow Paladin walk animation
* (Visual) Fixed issue where KO'd monsters would sometimes use the wrong sprite when dragged to a new zone

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* New weapon mod: Spirit Slaying
* GAMBLER: New effect for FLUSH (repeated through Full House, for now), massive haste!
* Percy now offers a Blessing of Mastery (boosted JP gain)
* Guardian Arachnoids (non-boss) now spawn in the main dungeon too
* Bandit Buffslingers also now spawn in the main dungeon

ENGINE
* Trimmed some extraneous data from save/load
* Added an extra new line of sight check to hopefully prevent cases where monsters are inexplicably visible (when they should not be)

QUALITY OF LIFE
* On the character sheet (C) you can now hover over core stats (Strength, Spirit etc) to see EXACTLY how that stat is impacting your character
* Trying to move while rooted (if the root chance is 100%) will no longer take a turn. You can still attack nearby enemies while rooted, use abilities, and pass turns.
* Cleaned up display for magic mods that give resistances to 5 elements
* Your summoned pet will now show its name in the lower right, instead of the generic "Summoned Pet"
* Added tutorial tip on the passage of time ingame (which currently is how shops are restocked)
* The Monster Mallet no longer allows you to target champions/bosses (who are immune to it anyway)
* "NEW!" text appears above the heads of merchants who have restocked their goods since you last talked to them
* When using 'sell all items', you will not sell your last equipped offhand item (i.e. swap from 1h+shield -> bow, the shield will not be sold)
* When saving and loading the game, your last equipped offhand item will properly save/load

WRITING
* Updated Monster Mallet's description to clarify that it does not work on champions or bosses.

[zircon]

END OF APRIL BUILD!

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

Alright, strap in... I've been working overtime on this build and there's a whooole lot here. From classic RPG-style "typewriter text" (surprisingly hard to do with colors, sizes, etc.) to a new town EXPANSION, magic trees, and cooking... Tangledeep has definitely risen above 50% completion! I'll focus on some of the key changes here...

Magic trees can be planted in your GROVE, which is in the all-new town expansion (south of Riverstone Camp). Trees grow over in-game time, and continue to grow even when a character dies. As trees mature, they will begin to drop food as you play the game. This is a great way of stocking up on food items. With 5 mature trees, you can expect a decent amount of food with each new character or floor you explore! BUT, you can also cut down trees for a quick XP + JP bonus. Another way to boost a fresh character OR help put you over the edge to the next level.

To plant trees, you'll need to find magic seeds which drop rarely from common enemies, and more often from champions & bosses.

Next, we have the cooking system which is still in its infancy with lots of possibilities ahead. Talk to the campfire in camp to see what recipes are available. Recipes are more powerful than normal food items, so when you want to maximize every turn in the dungeon, these are the best way to do it. More recipes will of course be coming!

You can also enter accessory Item Worlds now, which can yield new magic mods and is guaranteed to give a boost to max Energy and Stamina.


A fully developed grove! (More tree art is coming...)



ART/VISUALS
* Buff/debuff icons now start from the left instead of the right
* New Item World tileset! (Work in progress)
* New "NEW!" art for merchants
* New art for Plank Builder (it's actually planks now)
* "Typewriter" style text boxes! (Will iterate and work on this as well)

BALANCE
* Topaz Earrings no longer absorb lightning damage - they now reduce it significantly.
* Cheese Wheels and Boxes of Mints now restore more Stamina/Energy, respectively
* Airacudas fish rush (jump) ability now drains CT when it lands nearby
* Frosted Jellies now summon a whole bunch of ice tiles when they land
* Champion Ice daggers are now destroyed when you touch one
* Jellies now Slime Hop at shorter ranges to close the gap
* Monsters across the board are no longer limited by Energy and Stamina
* "Find Item" rumors will send you back at MOST one previous floor than your lowest explored (as opposed to -2)
* Dodge bonus has been increased on all light armors
* Mint Fat Brew (HP tier 2 potion) buffed slightly
* All tier 2 potion cost 300 -> 250, challenge value lowered (should spawn at lower dungeon levels)
* Spellshaper's "Spellshape: Square" is now 300 jp (down from 500)

BUGS
* Guardian Arachnoids that spawn in the world no longer always drop Item World Orbs (and are no longer counted as bosses)
* Treasure chests in the Stalker Nest are now properly accessible
* 'Spirit' type monsters now have champion names again
* Equipment and statuses that modify spirit power, stamina costs, energy costs, crit damage and many other "battle data" properties should now be saved/loaded properly
* Fixed bug in Swiftness hover display
* Fixed Spellshaper toggle bug (FOR REAL this time? I think?)
* Fixed a number of irregularities causing mouse movement to not work properly (dead zones, unresponsiveness etc)
* Fixed (newly introduced) bug with armor not displaying physical resist properly
* Skill sheet: scrolling through more than 1 page of skills should now display the proper skill descriptions beyond the 1st page
* Goldfrogs now warp when hit at range again
* "Toggle Log" keybind disabled
* Dropped items should now also sort on the Y-axis properly
* If you level up while another dialog is open, or you somehow gain multiple levels at once, you will still be able to boost your stats. You will just get multiple level up dialogs.
* (Visual) CT/extra turn bar will now show at the correct visual state on game load
* (Visual) Rewrote UI cursor aligning... should work much better overall now in dialogs
* You now get rewards for killing enemies with Gambler SNAKE EYES

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* COOKING: You can now "talk" to the campfire in town to cook food! These recipes are more powerful than regular food, and will give you the most bang-for-your-buck (or, more accurately, bang for your hunger)
* New TOWN EXPANSION area! Just go SOUTH from Riverstone Camp! (The corral has been moved here, along with...)
* MAGIC TREES! Look for Magic Seeds in the dungeon (killing bosses or champions is a safe bet.) These can be planted in your tree grove, in the town expansion. Trees grow over time, and across multiple characters. They will produce food for you as in-game days pass. Or, chop them down for an XP & JP reward! Older trees = more XP and JP!
* You can now enter ITEM WORLD of an Accessory. Upgraded accessories may get a random magic mod (as with other equipment), and will always get +5 max Stamina and +5 max Energy per upgrade.
* Multiple save slots have been added!
* NEW LIGHT ARMOR: Ivory Cloak. No dodge chance, but adds parry chance instead.
* NEW MEDIUM ARMOR: Samurai Armor. Increases all damage output.
* NEW HEAVY ARMOR: Mirror Plate. 25% chance to reflect magical projectile attacks.
* NEW HEAVY ARMOR: Goldmail. 50% chance to resist any pull/push attempts.
* NEW ACCESSORY (low lvl): Glowtorch. Boosts Fire and Lightning damage.
* NEW CONSUMABLE: Shadow Shurikens. Strong single-target shadow damage at range.
* NEW CONSUMABLES: Tier 3 potions (health, stamina, energy restoration at higher values)
* Armando (armor merchant) now stocks even better armor for high level players
* Lady Hildegarde now stocks meals at higher levels
* Katy in Bottles n Brews now stocks better potions at higher levels
* When you clear a side area with no stairs up (i.e. a one-floor side area, or the final floor of a multi-level area) you will now get a message indicating you've cleared the area, along with some bonus JP
* When you have mastered a job, additional JP gained will be converted into XP at a ratio of about 10:1
* Sword Dancer: "Ice Tortoise" reworked. This now summons the same kind of shards as champion Ice Daggers. :D

ENGINE
* Reduced save file fat further (~10% savings)
* Added a debug command to help diagnose mouse issues. Hold W and tap A with the mouse over the game world if you are having issues and tell me what it says (should report whether mouse is in game world, UI, or both)
* Added a debug command to diagnose issues with line of sight - monsters being in sight when they should not be. Hold left bracket [ and tap A, then save+exit and send your output_log.

QUALITY OF LIFE
* When viewing skill information, you'll now see information about damage/healing calculations. (Some skills may be missing info - working on it!)
* Mousewheel can now be used on the Skill sheet (S)
* When getting a Rumor, you can choose not to take it. You still have to pay though, and Erin still only has a limited number of rumors at any time. (No cheesing to get easier rumors!!)
* If you are wearing Knight Gloves, you will not auto equip offhand items.
* Reverted change w/ root chance; if you are rooted and you try to move, you WILL pass a turn again
* The game now tracks playtime, both on a per-character and "meta" basis!

[zircon]

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

Bugfix build... heh heh...

ART/VISUALS
* New item world "water" art (it's now 'deadly void')
* New monster art for Vine Stalkers

BALANCE
* Chance to parry ranged attacks is now the same as melee attacks (i.e. higher)

BUGS
* Fixed bug where after dying + restarting, your list of recipes would multiply with duplicates
* Fixed bug where menu cursor would disappear in some dialogs
* Fixed bug where you could not travel to the town expansion after reaching B5F in the dungeon
* The tutorial level will no longer show up in rumors
* Probably fixed bug where style tags like <size=50> would show up in dialog windows
* If the level up window gets closed for some reason before you can spend a stat point, it will re-open within your next step
* Attempted fix of crates/barrels spawning in walls

CONTENT/GAMEPLAY
* Added two extra tiers of Gems that sell for even more money (found at higher levels, naturally)

QUALITY OF LIFE
* When entering the town expansion, if any food is available in your grove, you can harvest it all at once.
* The level up dialog now shows your current stats

[Thaumaturge]

That's pretty impressive progress--and well done on passing the fifty-percent mark! ^_^

[zircon]

Now that we're in May I've been cleaning up lots of bugs... This is where the complexity of the engine I've built so far begins to rear its ugly head, as interconnected systems can produce all sorts of unwanted behaviors. Most of my focus over the last few days has strictly been bugfixing.

However I've also created the first Legendary item - one of many! Legendary items are (naturally) both rare and quite powerful. They can't get normal "magic mods" like other items but they DO have unique effects you can't get anywhere else. Some will be generally useful by basically any job or build. Others will modify specific skills for certain classes, or even grant access to new skills altogether. Plus, legendaries CAN be upgraded in Item World!

[Thaumaturge]

Those legendary items sound intriguing--I'm interested to see what individual abilities you come up with for them. ^_^

[zircon]

Massive, massive progress throughout the month - I'm really happy with how things are going. New side areas and quests, total UI overhaul, new input manager / in-game resolution switching, full controller support, LINUX builds are now working natively (!), lots of new graphics, monsters... man, it's great!

We're heading for an EARLY ACCESS launch in July - probably July 11th. Between now and then we're going to get the final leg of the game implemented, along with at least one new job and core animations for all characters. It's gonna be fun.

Here's some images of various progress:

New characters...




New tile sets...



New UI...