Hello everyone!

In this release we made several changes to the player and the enemies to improve combat and game feel. Based on your feedback, we slightly adjusted the player's melee weapons and enemies hit boxes to make the combat feel and look better. We also made adjustments to how the enemies move to make it smoother in normal, hard, and rogue modes. The player was also improved by adding motion to the arms while changing direction. Finally, we made several art improvements to enemy types such as spiders and skeletons as well as improve balancing by disabling the morphs in the first chamber in the first level.

The primary focus with this update was to enhance the player’s feel of the game. One of the biggest changes is that the sword’s hit box was reduced to prevent strange feeling hits that were just beyond the reach of the weapon. Another major addition is arm motion. The arms now react to your change in movement making them feel more realistic. Lastly, dropped keys can no longer uplift the player slightly.

The enemies received feel improvements too. The most important change was tuning up their turn rates. Their turns were originally not that smooth but after playing with several parameters they now are able to turn with ease creating a better experience. The death animations for the skeletons and spiders also got a touchup. They now play faster and reposition themselves better when dying making it look more realistic. Another major improvement is that the enemies’ time to react to hits has been adjusted to give you more of the feeling of hitting the center of the enemy rather than the sides. The final change is that the rats in the first chamber at start of the game now don’t morph so you will not encounter morphs too early in the game.


Here are the full details of the update:

• Adjusted all enemy hit boxes
  
• Adjusted player melee weapons hit boxes
  
• Adjusted all enemies to make for smoother motion
  
• Added player arm motion effects for acceleration/deceleration
  
• Adjusted all spider death animations
  
• Disabled morphing in the first chamber in the first level
  
• Fix some minor issues found in our testing and reported by the community

New combat scene in The Mines:



New scene from The Battlements:



Key drop from a demon in The Alchemy Lab:



More loot in the Alchemy Lab:



Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made several changes to the player and the enemies to improve combat and game feel. Based on your feedback, we slightly adjusted the player's melee weapons and enemies hit boxes to make the combat feel and look better. We also made adjustments to how the enemies move to make it smoother in normal, hard, and rogue modes. The player was also improved by adding motion to the arms while changing direction. Finally, we made several art improvements to enemy types such as spiders and skeletons as well as improve balancing by disabling the morphs in the first chamber in the first level.

The primary focus with this update was to enhance the player’s feel of the game. One of the biggest changes is that the sword’s hit box was reduced to prevent strange feeling hits that were just beyond the reach of the weapon. Another major addition is arm motion. The arms now react to your change in movement making them feel more realistic. Lastly, dropped keys can no longer uplift the player slightly.

The enemies received feel improvements too. The most important change was tuning up their turn rates. Their turns were originally not that smooth but after playing with several parameters they now are able to turn with ease creating a better experience. The death animations for the skeletons and spiders also got a touchup. They now play faster and reposition themselves better when dying making it look more realistic. Another major improvement is that the enemies’ time to react to hits has been adjusted to give you more of the feeling of hitting the center of the enemy rather than the sides. The final change is that the rats in the first chamber at start of the game now don’t morph so you will not encounter morphs too early in the game.


Here are the full details of the update:

• Adjusted all enemy hit boxes
  
• Adjusted player melee weapons hit boxes
  
• Adjusted all enemies to make for smoother motion
  
• Added player arm motion effects for acceleration/deceleration
  
• Adjusted all spider death animations
  
• Disabled morphing in the first chamber in the first level
  
• Fix some minor issues found in our testing and reported by the community

New combat scene in The Mines:



New scene from The Battlements:



Key drop from a demon in The Alchemy Lab:



More loot in the Alchemy Lab:



Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made several improvements to all enemy types. The most noticeable are the changes to all enemy hit reactions including new hit animations for skeletons, insectoids, and wolves. We also added a new paralysis attack for the insectoids (watch out for the tail!). We also increased the enemy hit stun rates especially early in the game for better balancing and flow. Finally, we improved the look of the spiders. Enjoy the game and let us know what you think!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made several improvements to all enemy types. The most noticeable are the changes to all enemy hit reactions including new hit animations for skeletons, insectoids, and wolves. We also added a new paralysis attack for the insectoids (watch out for the tail!). We also increased the enemy hit stun rates especially early in the game for better balancing and flow. Finally, we improved the look of the spiders. Enjoy the game and let us know what you think!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made an update to the look of the player. We adjusted the position of the player’s hands and weapons slightly downward closer to the action. We also adjusted the orientation of the player’s torch and weapons to both look better and improve combat feel especially when swinging your melee weapons. In the future, we will add more player customization options and new game features as time permits. Enjoy the game and let us know what you think!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made an update to the look of the player. We adjusted the position of the player’s hands and weapons slightly downward closer to the action. We also adjusted the orientation of the player’s torch and weapons to both look better and improve combat feel especially when swinging your melee weapons. In the future, we will add more player customization options and new game features as time permits. Enjoy the game and let us know what you think!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made significant combat and game feel improvements as well as implemented many of your suggestions. How the enemies fight and move is now much smoother. It is also much easier to select items like torches, food, loot, and potions. In addition, we added mana regeneration to make it easier to use spells over time. We also modified some of the spiders to have different attacks and behaviors (e.g. poison attacks). Finally, we implemented several suggestions made by the community including double clicks to open files and using the select key to toggle messages.

At the start of working on the update, we investigated making the enemies move smoother to improve combat feel. After several bits of experimenting, the core of how enemies move and fight has changed. The most important change is the underlying way the enemies approach the player. Previously, the enemies would start the attack procedure at a further distance and then slide forward. While this gave the enemies a greater chance to hit the player and create more dynamic situations, it didn’t always look good because it caused the enemy to jerk and made it hard to dodge their attacks by pulling back. All of that was completely changed, the enemies no longer slide but can still be a threat to the player. This result is possible because they can get closer to the player before beginning their attack. These changes remove the jitter and hit guessing, however; it is not just enough to modify the core processes to make it look smooth. The way animation transitions occurred and the speed of each enemy were readjusted for each individual enemy type. The total of these fundamental changes creates the smoothest combat experience for Castle Torgeath to date.

Enemy differentiation was a big focus on this update as well. We wanted to add more to the variety of combat options the enemies had to create more excitement in combat. We added two in this update. The first addition was to give green and black widow spiders’ a poison attack. If you get hit by a poison attack your vision will be distorted and you’ll lose health over a short time. The other addition is the passive spider. Albino spiders will now only be aggressive if you attack or get too close to them giving you the option to avoid them if you don’t want to fight. We believe additions likes this give more flavor and character to the combat and we hope to add more soon.

The final big focus for this update was addressing some of the requests from our community. The biggest is that we’ve added mana regeneration in the game. The regen is slow, 1 unit per minute, but will allow you to get in a few extra shots or open magically sealed doors without having to always use a mana potion. Another big addition is that we made selection of torches, food, potions, and loot much easier by moving the selector closer to the player enabling you to get as close to objects as you want. Two other additions are that you can now use the “e” key to close clues and you can double click to access files. We will keep adding features based on your comments as much as we can to make the best game possible.

Here are the full details of the update:

• Changes to enemy combat for better game feel
  
• Adjustment to enemy motion for smoother operation
  
• Adjustment to enemy animations for smoother transitions
  
• Add mana regeneration
  
• Some spiders now have a new poison attack
  
• Some patrolling spiders are not aggressive unless you get too close
  
• Made it easier to select items such as torches, potions, food, loot
  
• Some minor art fixes in first three levels
  
• You can now open file from list with double clicks
  
• Use select key to both open and close messages e.g. clues
  
• Steam Stats Guide updated for mana regeneration
  
• Fixed various minor bugs

Scene from the Fog Hall in Level 3 (Smithy):



Here is a sample of new combat in Level 5 Armory:
https://youtu.be/hsvETqXvgyY
Here is a video of the new poison spider attack: https://youtu.be/iCmmk93SYNI

Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!

Hello everyone!

In this release we made significant combat and game feel improvements as well as implemented many of your suggestions. How the enemies fight and move is now much smoother. It is also much easier to select items like torches, food, loot, and potions. In addition, we added mana regeneration to make it easier to use spells over time. We also modified some of the spiders to have different attacks and behaviors (e.g. poison attacks). Finally, we implemented several suggestions made by the community including double clicks to open files and using the select key to toggle messages.

At the start of working on the update, we investigated making the enemies move smoother to improve combat feel. After several bits of experimenting, the core of how enemies move and fight has changed. The most important change is the underlying way the enemies approach the player. Previously, the enemies would start the attack procedure at a further distance and then slide forward. While this gave the enemies a greater chance to hit the player and create more dynamic situations, it didn’t always look good because it caused the enemy to jerk and made it hard to dodge their attacks by pulling back. All of that was completely changed, the enemies no longer slide but can still be a threat to the player. This result is possible because they can get closer to the player before beginning their attack. These changes remove the jitter and hit guessing, however; it is not just enough to modify the core processes to make it look smooth. The way animation transitions occurred and the speed of each enemy were readjusted for each individual enemy type. The total of these fundamental changes creates the smoothest combat experience for Castle Torgeath to date.

Enemy differentiation was a big focus on this update as well. We wanted to add more to the variety of combat options the enemies had to create more excitement in combat. We added two in this update. The first addition was to give green and black widow spiders’ a poison attack. If you get hit by a poison attack your vision will be distorted and you’ll lose health over a short time. The other addition is the passive spider. Albino spiders will now only be aggressive if you attack or get too close to them giving you the option to avoid them if you don’t want to fight. We believe additions likes this give more flavor and character to the combat and we hope to add more soon.

The final big focus for this update was addressing some of the requests from our community. The biggest is that we’ve added mana regeneration in the game. The regen is slow, 1 unit per minute, but will allow you to get in a few extra shots or open magically sealed doors without having to always use a mana potion. Another big addition is that we made selection of torches, food, potions, and loot much easier by moving the selector closer to the player enabling you to get as close to objects as you want. Two other additions are that you can now use the “e” key to close clues and you can double click to access files. We will keep adding features based on your comments as much as we can to make the best game possible.

Here are the full details of the update:

• Changes to enemy combat for better game feel
  
• Adjustment to enemy motion for smoother operation
  
• Adjustment to enemy animations for smoother transitions
  
• Add mana regeneration
  
• Some spiders now have a new poison attack
  
• Some patrolling spiders are not aggressive unless you get too close
  
• Made it easier to select items such as torches, potions, food, loot
  
• Some minor art fixes in first three levels
  
• You can now open file from list with double clicks
  
• Use select key to both open and close messages e.g. clues
  
• Steam Stats Guide updated for mana regeneration
  
• Fixed various minor bugs

Scene from the Fog Hall in Level 3 (Smithy):



Here is a sample of new combat in Level 5 Armory:
https://youtu.be/hsvETqXvgyY
Here is a video of the new poison spider attack: https://youtu.be/iCmmk93SYNI

Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!

Hello everyone!

In this release we have made several combat feel and gameplay improvements many of which are based on your comments. Blocking has been made faster and the inventory now has the much requested item count. We also readjusted enemy melee and ranged attacks so they are more in sync with what you see and expect. Finally, we changed the morphs to have a shield against all normal melee and ranged attacks but you can still affect them with magic spells and special powers.

The most significant change has been to how the morphs work. The morphs are created when another killed enemy is transformed by the morph fog and the odds of the fog appearing is shown by the HUD blue orb. All the morphs now have a new shield effect which prevents normal melee or range weapon attacks from hurting them. Only magic spells can affect the morphs. However, if you get the strength special power from the Ghost Trader your melee weapons will work against the morphs while the special power is in effect.

We also made some general combat feel improvements. Blocking is now much faster and much easier to use against all enemies. Also, the animal enemies now get much closer to you when they attack making it easier to tell when you are going to get hit or not. Other enemies, such as the skeletons, also get a bit closer when they do melee attacks. In addition, the motion of enemies when they are chasing you has been made a bit smoother.

Finally, we added an item count to the inventory window. This will make it much easier to tell when you are nearing the 300 item max limit you can carry. Note that spells, keys, and clues do not count toward the carry limit.

Here are the full details of the update:

• Player blocking is now faster
  
• Inventory shows item count and limit
  
• Readjusted melee attacks to be more in sync with what you see
  
• Readjusted range weapon colliders to be more in sync with visuals
  
• All morphs now have a shield against normal melee and ranged attacks
  
• Adjustment to enemy motion for smoother operation
  
• Steam Stats Guide updated for morph attacks and inventory
  
• Fixed various minor bugs

Sample of inventory window:



Here is a new scene in The Mines:



Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!

Hello everyone!

In this release we have made several combat feel and gameplay improvements many of which are based on your comments. Blocking has been made faster and the inventory now has the much requested item count. We also readjusted enemy melee and ranged attacks so they are more in sync with what you see and expect. Finally, we changed the morphs to have a shield against all normal melee and ranged attacks but you can still affect them with magic spells and special powers.

The most significant change has been to how the morphs work. The morphs are created when another killed enemy is transformed by the morph fog and the odds of the fog appearing is shown by the HUD blue orb. All the morphs now have a new shield effect which prevents normal melee or range weapon attacks from hurting them. Only magic spells can affect the morphs. However, if you get the strength special power from the Ghost Trader your melee weapons will work against the morphs while the special power is in effect.

We also made some general combat feel improvements. Blocking is now much faster and much easier to use against all enemies. Also, the animal enemies now get much closer to you when they attack making it easier to tell when you are going to get hit or not. Other enemies, such as the skeletons, also get a bit closer when they do melee attacks. In addition, the motion of enemies when they are chasing you has been made a bit smoother.

Finally, we added an item count to the inventory window. This will make it much easier to tell when you are nearing the 300 item max limit you can carry. Note that spells, keys, and clues do not count toward the carry limit.

Here are the full details of the update:

• Player blocking is now faster
  
• Inventory shows item count and limit
  
• Readjusted melee attacks to be more in sync with what you see
  
• Readjusted range weapon colliders to be more in sync with visuals
  
• All morphs now have a shield against normal melee and ranged attacks
  
• Adjustment to enemy motion for smoother operation
  
• Steam Stats Guide updated for morph attacks and inventory
  
• Fixed various minor bugs

Sample of inventory window:



Here is a new scene in The Mines:



Thanks for all the feedback and we hope you enjoy the update!