AVWW Post-Release 1.021 "Combat Journeys" Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2012/05/avww-post-release-1021-combat-journeys.html

This one reworks the least-popular mission type to be more palatable.  In this case, I'm speaking of Journey To Perfection missions, which are meant to be tense and fun hardcore combat challenges -- but which had a lot of platforming thrown in there as well, which threw things off quite a bit.  Now the focus is more squarely on combat with these, and they seem a lot more fun.

All of the non-jumping-related leg enchants now give you a boost to your max mana, so there's a greater incentive to pick up something other than double or triple jump for your legs slot.  We'll be having some more changes in that area before long, but for now this is a step in the right direction.

A couple of other player frustrations have also been addressed with this release.  First of all, the puzzle rooms for getting the the mystery clues were really far too rare.  They are now quite a bit more common and not always behind maze rooms.  Secondly, the four most-basic settlement buildings can now be purchased via the opal guardian stone's store; it's still generally better to get these through missions, but when the random number generator hates you, you now have alternatives.

Oh, and two new music tracks!  Both really cool ones in very different ways.

More to come soon.  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.

[TechSY730]

Yay about two things.

One, short range melee spells are now working properly again.

Two,

Lots of additions have been made to the terrain/interior/cavern generation logic in order to allow us to do a number of new things.

Yes! Does this mean that the API/logic is in place to start dealing with the "sameness" of every area and have the generator crank out more interesting but still somewhat random patterns instead of always the same "big blob room" shape that unconstrained randomness almost always produces? I know it is difficult to get random room generators to start having a "theme" or a "focus" (like a randomly producing a platforming focused area vs. a combat friendly area), but is this the start of this sort of logic?

[x4000]

Not remotely. But thanks for the backhanded insult. I think that each region type is themed, but varies pretty enormously within that theme at the moment.

[TechSY730]

Not remotely. But thanks for the backhanded insult. I think that each region type is themed, but varies pretty enormously within that theme at the moment.

Didn't mean it like that, though seeing that tipped me off that you knew I didn't mean it like that.

To clarify, buildings and surface areas are pretty well themed, I was mostly talking about caves that suffer from the "every room is blobbed shape and so are the elements in it" effect.

Anyways, room generator improvements in any form are always welcome, as new room generator logic eventually leads to or contributes to new variety of rooms/areas to explore.

[nanostrike]

I like finding more puzzle rooms...but I still hate the puzzles and find them so tedious that I find myself avoiding the clue rooms entirely.

Also, I saw that you made Plums more common.  Any chance of you doing that for Cherries too?  I NEVER seem to find them enough.

[Oralordos]

Sounds like others want better caves like me too. Here is my mantis ticket to it.

Again in Pablo's words, we also have the Warp Stage Theme "for when you jump into the warp area. It's only 1ish minute long (since you're not in that stage very long before you leave to warp), however... if you sit and listen to the whole theme, there's a nice little surprise in the second half."

Oh wow. I love that surprise there. I had been wondering if something like that would be added to the game at some point.

[Vinraith]

I like finding more puzzle rooms...but I still hate the puzzles and find them so tedious that I find myself avoiding the clue rooms entirely.

Also, I saw that you made Plums more common.  Any chance of you doing that for Cherries too?  I NEVER seem to find them enough.

Odd, I've seen several maps where they were so thick I don't think I've even bothered to collect one in the last tier or so in my game. RNG weirdness?

[tigersfan]

Again in Pablo's words, we also have the Warp Stage Theme "for when you jump into the warp area. It's only 1ish minute long (since you're not in that stage very long before you leave to warp), however... if you sit and listen to the whole theme, there's a nice little surprise in the second half."

Oh wow. I love that surprise there. I had been wondering if something like that would be added to the game at some point.

Yeah, not everyone will get it, especially the new folks around here, but, it's still fun.

[Misery]

I like finding more puzzle rooms...but I still hate the puzzles and find them so tedious that I find myself avoiding the clue rooms entirely.

Also, I saw that you made Plums more common.  Any chance of you doing that for Cherries too?  I NEVER seem to find them enough.

Eh?

Cherries should be EVERYWHERE in the Ice Age zones.  Multiple types of Ice Age zones, I know, I forget just which one had the extreme abundance of those, but....... at the start of a continent I generally take a trip to one of these, and just Miasma Whip every tree, and I come away with a kersquillion logs and cherries, and thus only have to do that once.


EDIT:  Also, this sounds like another good update.

I'm all for the changes to the double/triple jump bit, as well.  There's no denying that those ARE overpowered, and it makes all of the other types of enchants for leg slot be never used.

[Coppermantis]

Again in Pablo's words, we also have the Warp Stage Theme "for when you jump into the warp area. It's only 1ish minute long (since you're not in that stage very long before you leave to warp), however... if you sit and listen to the whole theme, there's a nice little surprise in the second half."

Oh wow. I love that surprise there. I had been wondering if something like that would be added to the game at some point.

Yeah, not everyone will get it, especially the new folks around here, but, it's still fun.

Gosh dangit, I've been sitting here listening to it and still not hearing anything special.  This makes me feel very out of the loop. 

It's a nice song regardless.

[timtim]

Love that there's more music - more music is always good and I reckon people / developers underestimate how important it is and what a difference it can make to the enjoyment of a game (honestly so sure Minecraft wouldn't be half as successful without its soundtrack - and tbh I prefer this one).

Not sure what changes you're planning to make (and not sure if this changes further in the game), but I find the body enchantments too limiting - there's one 'torso' slot, which means at the moment I have to go into water stages without light, which makes things obviously a lot lot more difficult. (as said, not very good at the game so may have missed something here) Would love more slots somehow - maybe at a massive cost in the shop (50,000 for another slot in whatever body place you choose, for instance).

[Misery]

Love that there's more music - more music is always good and I reckon people / developers underestimate how important it is and what a difference it can make to the enjoyment of a game (honestly so sure Minecraft wouldn't be half as successful without its soundtrack - and tbh I prefer this one).

Not sure what changes you're planning to make (and not sure if this changes further in the game), but I find the body enchantments too limiting - there's one 'torso' slot, which means at the moment I have to go into water stages without light, which makes things obviously a lot lot more difficult. (as said, not very good at the game so may have missed something here) Would love more slots somehow - maybe at a massive cost in the shop (50,000 for another slot in whatever body place you choose, for instance).

Try using either the Flash of Light spell (I think that's what it's called) or gathering a bunch of Moon Lamps, which each light up a pretty huge area.   Those are found in ice areas, in building stashes.

[x4000]

Or use the flare spell, or ball of light spell, or light snake, etc. The torso choices you have to make are very much intentional, and there are all sorts of alternatives.

[omegajasam]

My only worry with this update (along with shields, and the upgrade changes) is that the responses among my friends to the leg changes are less 'this makes other legs viable, yay' and more 'this change makes low mana characters even less viable, boo'.. because honestly, the mobility of a a double/tripple jump is huge.

It makes a lot of sense in the 'mobility makes you weaker' common occurrence, but I'm not sure it will work so well here.

It seems to me locking large chunks of spells AND mobility to mana charcters risks making other play styles less 'intresting'.

Though the buffs from the 'lesser' ones are intresting. On low mana characters you'll sometimes get more spell verity, if not movement.

[x4000]

Note that the double and triple jumps don't cost any mana anymore -- there will be a new stat, Dexterity, for that.  You're simply gaining some mana by using the stats other than jump-related enchants.

And frankly, if you want to use ride the lightning or even lightning rocket, it's not like your mobility is removed completely.