AVWW Beta 0.539, "In-Game Reference Window," Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2011/11/avww-beta-0539-in-game-reference-window.html

This one isn't what I'd planned on doing today, but I'm really glad that I took this detour -- and I think that even experienced AVWW players will be, too.

The big new feature in this version is the "reference window," which lets you get at full stats for crafting, civ-level unlocks, and materials.  No enemies yet, but that will be coming sometime down the road along with a related "scan" spell.

Also included in the reference window is an advice and tips section, which basically replaces the adviser guardian functionality with an available-anytime tips section broken out by category and subject line.  That's SO much better than a bunch of paragraphs that were sequential and semi-ordered (since only so much ordering could be done).

The reference window, on the one hand, might be seen as being geared toward new players.  And I certainly hope it will help new players quite a bit.  But actually, I think that this will become something that even experienced players use on an ongoing basis as more spells and recipes and so on are added.  The reference window essentially saves you from having to run back to town every time you want to look something up -- and it saves you from having to find some external wiki about the game, too, which was another goal of mine.

I had planned to spend today adding a bunch of new spells and enemies, but I really felt like the reference was something that was needed first.  It's something that a lot of different players have asked for the various component parts of, and it's something that can be extended over time in terms of the tips it offers, and adding in things like icons and whatnot later rather than having it just be textual like it currently is.

There's also a couple of bugfixes in this one.  The GC exception one should be particularly welcome.

More to come tomorrow, although some of my day is going to be spent putting together a new installer build since it's been a while and since we're going to be having the game come to some new distributors.  But my goal is to also get some new spells in there tomorrow, too.  Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.  If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.

[mrhanman]

I really like the new reference window! All the information a player could need right at his fingertips.

While going through the intro mission, I noticed that after killing all the monster spawners in an area, the enemies no longer drown.  I assume that's because they have no where to teleport.  I don't know if this was intentional or not, so I didn't put it on mantis.

That reminds me, the boss music doesn't stop once the boss is slain.  This goes for the bat and the giant skelebot.  Again, not sure if this was intended. 

Also, The rooms aren't being marked as former boss/gem vein rooms.  You also can't teleport in the skelebot chunk, as it's still marked as a boss room on the region map.  I'm pretty sure this is a bug, but I'm on a roll so I'll leave it here.  Unless you need it on mantis, then I would be happy to oblige.

[x4000]

I really like the new reference window! All the information a player could need right at his fingertips.

Glad you like it!

While going through the intro mission, I noticed that after killing all the monster spawners in an area, the enemies no longer drown.  I assume that's because they have no where to teleport.  I don't know if this was intentional or not, so I didn't put it on mantis.

Yep, that's working as intended.

That reminds me, the boss music doesn't stop once the boss is slain.  This goes for the bat and the giant skelebot.  Again, not sure if this was intended. 

That's... known, and intended-for-now.  How this sort of thing works is something I'm still trying to figure out for the context of multiplayer, so for now that's what this does.  It's based on the node type not changing (as you noted below).

Also, The rooms aren't being marked as former boss/gem vein rooms.  You also can't teleport in the skelebot chunk, as it's still marked as a boss room on the region map.  I'm pretty sure this is a bug, but I'm on a roll so I'll leave it here.  Unless you need it on mantis, then I would be happy to oblige.

Yep, same deal here.  It's correct-for-now, but not ultimately what I want to do with it.

[x4000]

New one: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,9457.0.html

[Teal_Blue]

Just a note, but things seemed to have gotten suddenly harder.
Will have to backtrack a bit and take things slower than i was before,
or maybe i am just getting a little reckless after getting familiar with an area,
which may be a dangerous thing to do.

Anyway Thank you,
-Teal

[x4000]

Nothing has been altered on the difficulty lately, although there was the bugfixes to make windstorms actually work. If you're running around in windstorms you may want to try to get some wind shelters up to cover you, or to quickly get inside/underground where the windstorm doesn't bufff enemies, etc.

I guess it's also possible that if you're using spells that are more than 10 levels out of date, that your damage output is getting really really low now. Make sure that you get some new gems and craft some better equipment every 10-20 levels or so. There's a big grace period before your equipment starts getting worse, but if you hit level 20 and are still using tier 1 stuff, it's going to get increasingly harder.

Without more details it's hard to say. Some regions and enemy types are also harder than others. So if you leveled up past a certain point and are suddenly seeing new kinds of enemies... That could do it, too.

Hope that helps!

[zebramatt]

Also, the environmental buffs sometimes make relatively pedestrian micro and mini bosses into absolute tanks against the wrong kinds of spells.

[x4000]

Yep, that's another good point!

[Teal_Blue]

yes, you are right, it was old spells, that and the inappropriate ones, I was getting used to using the tidal pulse alot,
and now i have to be careful who i use it on.

But all good, i think once i get some upgraded spells and figure out which spells is best against which monsters i will be fine.

I do like the strategy ? that goes into that, or is that tactics?


Thank you again for all the help,
-Teal

[x4000]

Excellent, glad we could help!  And I think that this would technically be tactics at this level, but there's certainly an element of strategic planning to what you choose to craft long-term, etc.  That was our goal!