Changes:

• Fixed issue where one barrier failed to appear in the dual Link.
  
• Numerous quality of life changes for dual levels.
  
• Fixed bug which caused security cores to sometimes become stuck after ejecting into an inhibition region.
  
• Fixed bug which caused 'Experimental' menu options to be displayed incorrectly.

Changes:

• Numerous quality of life changes for dual levels.
  
• Fixed bug which caused security cores to sometimes become stuck after ejecting into an inhibition region.
  
• Fixed bug which caused 'Experimental' menu options to be displayed incorrectly.

Improved overall performance and stability

Adjusted some animations and movement responsiveness

Minor visual polish on certain levels

Small bug fixes and UI adjustments

I’m trapped in my hotel room in Las Vegas right now. My wife and kids are here for a dance conference. This laptop and hotel desk isn’t well suited to heavy game dev, so this week I switched tasks from programming the Resource spells to what I can do well from a hotel: Work on the core game loops of the game.

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Eric Barone spent about 4 years making Stardew Valley. Most of us will agree: he did a good job.

One of the challenges he faced was becoming a better pixel artist by the end of year four than he was day one. That meant having to go back and re-art things he had already finished.

Over the years I have been working on Archmage Rises, I’d like to think I have grown as a developer and designer. I’ve been able to work on several titles, each very different from this one. I’ve worked with full time AAA designers, trained new designers, and put together a university course on game design. But most importantly, I’ve been able to converse with you the fans about deep design issues. Some of them have been monster long posts, but I appreciate and grow from the detailed feedback.

Taking all I’ve done and learned I’m going to finally codify the core game loop of Archmage Rises. What is it about? What makes it fun? Why am I playing it?

Many who worked with me on this will say, “It’s about time!”

While it looks and plays like an RPG, it’s actually a strategy management game under the hood.

It was a breakthrough to think of it as managing a series of Resources in “interesting ways”. You can think of any game this way, including the original Doom. It helped clarify some things I have struggled with for years, drop some things I shouldn’t have done, and simplify some things I over complicated.

I’ve spent 3 days straight going through every aspect to pull it into a (hopefully) cohesive whole. It’s going to take me 4 articles to explain it all: this week the overview, then one week on each core section. I’m excited to share it with you!

“What am I managing?

Archmage Rises is about living the full life of a mage, understood through a Triad of Triads.

Being a Human.

1. Health

2. Fatigue

3. Wellbeing

Being a Mage. (Craft as in excellence in a profession, not as in crafting an iron pot)

1. Spells

2. Experience Points (XP)

3. Tower

Being part of a Fantasy World

1. Relationships

2. Possessions

3. Legacy

Two Special Resources

Two critical resources sit outside of the triads: Time and Gold. Time is the fundamental resource of every game action. Gold is an exchange mechanism; for instance, you turn time into gold, then gold into a Tower room.

With this framework, I can now look at every action (Verb) in the game through the lens of “What Resources does it cost? What Resources does it provide?” And even more in depth, “What is scarce? What is a competing choice?” Because this is where the fun really lies: I want to do A and B, but I can only do one (for now), so I have to pick. Without competing priorities, no “Interesting Choices”.

It started to reveal there were a number of design dead ends:

• Resources that rarely went up - not useful

• Resources that only went up (no sinks)

• Resources that couldn’t really be spent

• Resources that only did one thing, or nothing at all!

This then allowed me to do something I came across years ago from a designer friend: Create Chen Diagrams (Jeff Chen of Activision, not Chen ER diagrams). I can map the inputs and outputs of an action and see what is over used, under used. What is OK and what needs attention.

Here is a terrible looking Work in Progress that shouldn’t be shown publicly, so just keep it to yourself m’kay?

I’m still working through all the verbs. There are a lot of them!

This suffices for an overview. Next time I’ll go deeper into the design on Self.

If you are a history buff like me, Audible has two of Ian Mortimer’s “Time Traveller’s Guide to…” books for free until Oct 21! I enjoyed Elizabethan England and am now listening to Regency England. Enjoy!

• fixed soft lock issue when playing too fast and ending turn
  
• inspire to no longer target self
  
• neon increased from 1 spirit to 3 (was never supposed to be 1)

Greetings, Mercs!

We’ve just released a new Demo Overview video on YouTube! A huge thank-you goes out to Nathan, whose brilliant work helped bring this video to life.

We plan to create more content like this, along with shorter videos focused on tips and tricks to help the community get the most out of In The Black. Let us know what you think — your feedback helps us deliver the kind of content you want to see.

Thank you, and fly safe!

We are delighted to announce that Requiem of Reuinis will participate Steam's October Next Fest (October 13th - 20th)!

At the same time, we will be rolling out a major update to the Demo.

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· Completely redesigned UI with a more modern interface

· Balanced several equipment

· Significantly reduced research consumption costs in the early game, allowing you to finish up new research faster. We've also optimized certain research items, lowering their level caps while substantially improving their effectiveness

· Removed the forced checkpoint in the \[Dusky Cave]. Now you can continue exploring even if you haven't completed \[Visit the Night Market] or \[Completed Potion Alchemy Research]. The game will still remind you to utilize these features as soon as possible

· Enhanced guidance throughout the tutorial area to help new players get started more easily

· Introduced a custom option feature that unlocks after completing the tutorial area. The demo version now provides the first custom option for you to experience

· Added convenient QoL features: for instance, the research interface can now display only items you can afford, map teleportation supports quick-jumping to the next arrow, and that breaking crystals now shows which key is consumed

· Added custom key binding settings, allowing you to rebind game controls to your preference in the settings

· Added new dialogue and hidden content, while improving some translations

· Added several special effects.

· Added several new achievements

· Fixed multiple known bugs (though we may have introduced new ones)

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We extend our heartfelt thanks to all players who played the previous Demo for discovering bugs and providing invaluable feedback!

If you enjoy Requiem of Reuinis, we sincerely hope you'll help us spread the word during Next Fest. Your support means a lot to our team.

Additionally, we invite you to join our community groups and connect with the developer and fellow players:

· Discord: https://discord.gg/Jq3va9JAyX

MateEngine 2.4.2 - Patch 2

- Added Volume Slider to Dance Player

- Mod List is now scrollable

- fixed a bug that was sometimes blocking the repair of workstations

Just a quick patch to fix a problem relating to Unity.