AVWW Beta 0.900 "Smooth As Butter " (Patch Only, So Far) Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2012/02/avww-beta-0900-smooth-as-butter-patch.html

At last we come to it.   This one is the very last release of beta phase 2, and marks the start of beta phase 3 for the game.  This version includes only some bugfixes and balance tweaks, as well as a change that really will help performance during battles quite a bit (stopping stuttering from background loading that was supposed to be pre-cached).

To reiterate from the last release's post, here's what our focus is going to shift toward for the next 3ish weeks until we hit 1.0 for the game:
- Enchant containers working better.
- Add hand-crafted touches into procedural exteriors and undergrounds.
- Walking monster interactions with cliffs to be better.
- Integration of mysteries-to-be-solved into the game (replacing what were memory crystals once).
- Multiplayer server listing and admin controls.
- More enchant-items and enchant-effects.
- More spells.
- More enemies, bosses, and environmental threats.
- More guardian powers, including ones for NPC skill level 4 and 5.
- More mission activities.
- A few more traps and other supplies to find in stash rooms.

More to come soon, including updated installers and more.  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.

[BobTheJanitor]

I feel like I'm monopolizing all the bug reporting on this one. So why the jump from .5x to .9x? Is there some arcane programmerish reason to use that number specifically, or is it just a nice number? Or is it just so the jump from .9 to 1.0 feels better?

[Terraziel]

I feel like I'm monopolizing all the bug reporting on this one. So why the jump from .5x to .9x? Is there some arcane programmerish reason to use that number specifically, or is it just a nice number? Or is it just so the jump from .9 to 1.0 feels better?

I was guessing the latter personally.

[x4000]

It's meant to more accurately reflect the state of the game, really.  When we hit beta phase 2 we should have made it jump to something like .6 or .7, but didn't.  Now that we are in beta phase 3, the 1.0 version of the game is well more than 90% complete.  The engine, the general mechanics, the flow, even the training elements are pretty much all 1.0-final or very close (minus whatever bugfixes and tweaks, obviously).

That puts us in the territory of adding content, content, content.  And while it's true that the current state doesn't remotely resemble 90% content-complete for 1.0 (you can breathe easier on that), adding content is actually just a small percentage of the overall workload for a game like this.  Having the general mechanics and engine, and even multiplayer (a few bugs aside) nailed down is a huge win for us.

Playing the early game now, versus in three weeks when we hit 1.0, isn't going to feel a whole terribly lot different.  But in terms of the breadth and depth of what you can do once you've gotten past your first hour or so as a new player... that's where content will hopefully explode in a positive way during this period.  As long as we can keep from getting lost in regressions and minor things that aren't worth the time during this particular period, that's the plan.

[KDR_11k]

Nice.

I'm not happy with how deep the crafting grimoire is buried though, I refer to that often to check which ingredients I still need. Oh and the current ingredient list for a spell doesn't display which ones you have at first glance, you have to mouse over each one to see how many you have...

[x4000]

Would a keybind for the grimoire help?  Basically a key to pop it up immediately, like the V key is used for getting the planning menu in general?

[KDR_11k]

Maybe. Another possibility would be a kind of shopping list, you tag spells as "I want to make that" and the list shows you the ingredients you need to make the tagged spells. That would be much quicker to check than the several layers of the crafting grimoire.

[x4000]

That's true -- that would be great for mantis, so we don't forget.

[Hyfrydle]

Just started a brand new game in celebration of Beta stage 3 and I really like the new blue background in the ice caves in the tutorial really great artwork!!!

How embaressing went back to the game after typing this post and promptly died. The mana increase on the ball lightening spell will take some getting used too.

[x4000]

Just started a brand new game in celebration of Beta stage 3 and I really like the new blue background in the ice caves in the tutorial really great artwork!!!

Thanks!  There's actually four...ish different dramatic backgrounds that now get used in ice caves.  That way people feel like the various caverns are more unique.  Actually that's true in a lot of areas now, including other types of caverns, mission buildings in various regions, and so on.  Lots more art suddenly got put to use in the last couple of weeks.

How embaressing went back to the game after typing this post and promptly died. The mana increase on the ball lightening spell will take some getting used too.

Yeah, the DPS is a little more balanced now, but it's definitely a bit different to use.

[zebramatt]

Maybe. Another possibility would be a kind of shopping list, you tag spells as "I want to make that" and the list shows you the ingredients you need to make the tagged spells. That would be much quicker to check than the several layers of the crafting grimoire.

I like this idea a lot. And to steal directly from one of my other favourite games, perhaps if you pick up an ingredient for something on your list, the game could make a sound. That way, you can chuck half a dozen different spells on there and even if you forget about one of them several play sessions later, the game lets you know with an audio cue that you've collected something towards one.

[x4000]

I think I'll definitely have to do the whole "shopping list" thing.

[zebramatt]

Mantissed for later!

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=6269

[Bluddy]

I have to agree that the blue backgrounds add a LOT to the caves. It's amazing how much something so relatively small can contribute. Most of the cave backgrounds are either monotonous or just plain-looking, and that hurts the enjoyment of fighting there. Travelling outdoors presents you with a beautiful background and really nice objects; travelling indoors is a mix of interesting hallways and windows to the outside. Fighting in caves involves being in large areas (the caves) that don't look that great for the most part. The blue background really changes the feel of that. The cave becomes mysterious, foreboding and majestic.

I realize that you're limited by whatever art assets you have, but I recommend going for the nicer cave backgrounds as much as you can.

[Oz33]

I'm loving this patch, got me hooked all the afternoon although i should have done other things The new backgrounds are beautiful, the "things to do" help a lot for players that have been away for a while and also the mission gating is great. Before i had so many missions that i had no clue where to start.