Patch 2.0.0

It's been years since Nour got lost in the dungeon, now a new group of explorers find themselves pulled to it... and there's been lots of changes in that time! Here's the short version:

• Art and visuals rework!

• UI rework!

• Tutorial!

• New difficulty system!

• Dressing room!

• Game modes rework!

• Area mechanic rework!

• Character progression rework!

• Weapons!

• Class and spell reworks!

• Upgrades rework!

• Improved map generation!

• Lots of gameplay improvements and bug fixes!

Notes

• Since changes have been made to unlocks and other save stuff, this patch will reset your progress

• This is a very large patch, so if you come across a bug please post it in discussions and I'll do my best to fix it!

• Thank you to everyone who has played Witchinour so far, I really appreciate so many of you having taken time to tell me about your experience with the game. It means a lot to me and I'm so excited to finally be able to share this patch with you all!

• Purchases should be re-enabled shortly (likely today or Saturday) - apologies to those of you who found the game and were interested in playing it while they were disabled, I really wanted new players' first impressions of the game to be of 2.0!

Art and visuals rework

• Almost every sprite in the game has been remade or improved

• Visual effects have been added for various abilities, spells, and upgrades

• The scanlines option has been renamed to "CRT mode" because it features CRT-style screen curvature now

• Scanlines CRT mode now defaults to off

• A color correction shader has been implemented so that color output is the same whether CRT mode is on or off

• Some font and text color changes have been made for better readability

• Player and enemy shadows are now sprite-based, giving a more consistent look than when they were drawn as primitives

• Projectiles now have shadows

• Projectiles now have a contrasting glow effect. This is used to show effects on player bullets (for example, if the player has energy) and to make enemies' projectiles easier to spot (especially thrown weapons, which were easy to lose track of before).

• Projectile impacts are now shown when player projectiles hit enemies

• Projectile impacts are now shown when player projectiles are destroyed by reaching their maximum distance

• Enemies no longer flash when hit

• The player now leaves a body behind when killed

• Enemy bodies slide more now

UI rework

• Added a splash screen

• Menus are now mouse-controlled when playing on keyboard and mouse

• Screen transitions have been improved

• Pressing escape now goes back on menus

• The gameover screen no longer exists and has been integrated into the game scene

• Text pop-ups have been added and are used for things like damage numbers, showing HP/MP/XP gains, and letting the player know their ability is ready

• The HUD is now displayed on the level up screen

• The HUD now displays your upgrades in the order they were chosen

• The HUD now displays your current location and descension level in the upper-right corner

• Improved visibility of enemy health bars

• Spell/ability HUD elements' order has been reversed to reflect the order that they're chosen in

• A HUD element that shows the direction of bosses has been added

• The "how to play" option has been removed from the title screen. Its purpose was to hint to the player how the alert mechanic works, which is no longer necessary

• Window scale is now changed through the options menu instead of a hotkey

• Camera effects are split up into camera shake and camera recoil now and the screenshake option has been turned into a general camera option that can turn them on and off separately

• The keyboard and gamepad rebinding menu options have been turned into one option that takes the player to the appropriate binding menu based on what control method they're using

• The "loading" text has been removed from the screen during map generation

Tutorial

• A brief in-game tutorial has been added that needs to be completed before the player can enter the first floor of the dungeon

Difficulty system

• Alert is now called difficulty

• Difficulty is displayed as a percentage in the top-left corner of the HUD

• Difficulty increases the amount of projectiles ranged enemies fire and melee enemies' movement speed

• Unlike alert, killing enemies does not reduce difficulty and there are no upgrades that affect it

• Difficulty is linear - if the current difficulty is 200%, the increase to the amount of projectiles ranged enemies fire is double what it is at 100%. The exception to this is difficulty's effect on melee enemies' movement speed, which eventually maxes out.

• As a reference, 250% difficulty is about the same as loop 2 in pre-2.0

Dressing room

• A dressing room option has been added to the title screen. In the dressing room you can customize how you look or let the game generate a look for you with the randomize option. Your initial appearance is generated by the randomize option as there's no longer a set protagonist!

Library

• A library option has been added to the title screen. Inside the library menu you can go to two little encyclopedia screens that lets you see what upgrades do (once you've seen them in-game) and notes about the different classes of weapons.

Game structure rework

• A single loop now uses every area (Rogues' Hideout -> midgame areas (randomized order) -> endgame areas)

• Battlemages' Lair Control Room is now three floors, like every other area

• Trackery area has been removed

• The book room at the end of each loop has been removed

Modes rework

• Selectable difficulty modes have been replaced by descension levels. Descension levels add game-wide effects that make things more difficult, like limiting the amount of weapon drops or the player's regen.

• Descension levels can be unlocked by completing loop 1 on the highest descension level you have unlocked. Right now the maximum descension level is 6.

• Boss Rush has been removed

• The leaderboards available now are:

  • Distance

  • Loop 1 time

  • Loop 2 time

• Each leaderboard has a descension level 0 version and a maximum descension level version

Area mechanic rework

• Each area now has some unique mechanic or danger to the player. For example, some enemies in Rogues' Hideout now have a stealth effect and the cavemen's monkey friends in the Cavemen's Ruins now start out sleeping and can't be damaged until you wake them up.

Character progression rework

• The player no longer gains HP and MP through potions or XP by killing enemies. Instead, when a floor is cleared, three bonuses will spawn around the floor's stairs and the player can take one of them. The bonuses that spawn are:

  • Medkit: recovers 50% HP and 2 MP

  • XP: gives you XP towards leveling up. Leveling up will give you 1 upgrade point and, on levels 1-10, increase your minimum damage (the damage that you do when at 0 energy).

  • Weapon box: contains two weapons and 50% energy. Better weapons drop the further into the game you are.

• There is no longer a level cap but XP gained scales down every 10 levels

• Player HP now regenerates

• Enemies can drop energy packs that give 50% energy and 1 MP

Weapons system

• You're able to carry two weapons

• Some weapons have unique features, looking at the notes in the weapon library is advised!

• Having energy increases the damage that your weapons do

• Energy is shared between both of your weapons

• If you run out of energy your weapons will continue to function, but with reduced strength

• If an enemy is carrying a non-melee weapon, that means it's currently possible for it to drop from a weapon box

Outfits rework

• Outfits are now called classes and offer abilities that are mostly similar to Nour's outfits, with some additions and changes

Spells rework

• The player is now limited to one spell

• Like abilities, spells have undergone some additions and changes

Upgrades rework

• Many of the game's existing upgrades have been changed and many new ones have been added. In total, there are now 40 upgrades, compared to pre-2.0's 23. The purpose of the upgrades rework is to provide the player with more choices and to make the effects of upgrades more interactive.

Unlocks rework

• The order of class and spell unlocks has been changed to have players unlock the easier to use classes and spells first and the more specialized ones later

• Unlock progress is no longer tied solely to total kills and the unlock bar has been removed from the title screen. Classes and spells are now unlocked by reaching and completing different areas or by reaching certain amounts of total kills.

Miscellaneous gameplay changes

• New, non-static game camera

• Map generation will now try to generate cover in open areas. The more open an area is, the more likely it is that cover is generated in it.

• Player movement has been modified to feel a little heavier while still being as agile as before

• Adjusted handling of analog input so that fine movement can be done more easily with thumbsticks

• Various changes to bosses

• Enemy projectile speeds have been decreased

• Enemy drops are now predetermined so that in seeded runs the same enemies will have the same drops. As potions no longer exist, this change only applies to energy pack drops.

• Decreased the range at which enemies will target the player regardless of sightlines

• Bullets fired by the player can now critically strike

• Player bullets created by abilities and spells are no longer affected by upgrades

• Boss room size has been increased

• Enemies' movement no longer stops if they touch the player

• Enemies that spawn projectiles when killed now must be at least a certain distance away from the player for their effects to be triggered

• Player bullets no longer slow enemies' movement

Bug fixes

• Enemy health bars are now rendered at the correct depth. Previously they could become hidden under walls.

• Enemies will no longer aim their weapons at the player before they've acted

• Fixed the last of the instances of enemies firing at the player at the beginning of a floor before they were supposed to

• Fixed a handful of enemies not having targeting distance applied to them

• Fixed enemy drops not happening on kills caused by Dragoon's Assassin's ability

• Fixed enemies not leaving bodies behind when killed by Dragoon's Assassin's ability

• Fixed Orcish Lair's boss spawning closer to the player than other bosses

• Mouse is now properly unlocked when player is not in-game