We are proud to announce that the German translation of LoX is in progress and already about 30% done. Very soon you will be able to play LoX in French and German, even during the Early Access phase.


As we promised in our crowdfunding campaign, we have created a new advanced class for an original play style. The Divine Summoner is a special class we want to include, because we feel it will add even more depth and fun to your adventure, if you can master it. As a Divine Realm class, he summons and commands the heralds of the Gods. There are 8 different Heralds, one per every Lord of Xulima except Yûl because as you know, his Heralds only serve to the will of the Guardian of Souls.

Every Herald has its corresponding skill to be developed with 30 different levels. Furthermore, the Divine Summoner has 5 more skills to improve different aspects of the summonings.

The Divine Summoner can summon up to two Heralds at the same time in combat. These Heralds take the two empty positions in the character position grid, creating interesting tactical scenarios. The Heralds only remain in combat during a short period of time. If you summon a Herald who is already in battle, it will be restored to their original state (summoning time, life, power...).

The Heralds have their own IA and personality. You decide which of them you summon in the battle, but what they do in combat depends on their own will.

Which of them will you choose to assist you during combat? Take a look at what they can offer you...




Improvements and New Features

• New available class: The Divine Summoner.
  
• New skill for Thieves: Shurikens. Now Shurikens can be bought in the store.
• Also it can be found in some containers.
  
• New skill for Barbarians: Steadiness that allow them to resist the stun effect.
• 10% per level, up to 100% (immune to stun).
  
• Now the game asks for confirmation before overwriting an old save game.
  
• When creating a new character, you are asked to choose a name after selecting gender, portrait and class.
  
• Miscellaneous items in inventory are better ordered.
  
• Added a new option to display the message logs in combat showing the attack/evasion rolls.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Some tweaks to the price of torches, food and lockpicks.

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed bug in clearing zones (it was only checked after killing a random encounter, not with static guardians). Also now it is checked when entering in a zone, for those with saved games that have not received the reward.
  
• Fixed some English and French texts.
  
• Fixed some minor bugs reported.
  
• Fixed bug in Trap minigame when after some combinations, the gears can move too slow.

The next update in scheduled for the end of the next week in which a lot of new content will be unlocked, about 30 hours more of gameplay!

We are proud to announce that the German translation of LoX is in progress and already about 30% done. Very soon you will be able to play LoX in French and German, even during the Early Access phase.


As we promised in our crowdfunding campaign, we have created a new advanced class for an original play style. The Divine Summoner is a special class we want to include, because we feel it will add even more depth and fun to your adventure, if you can master it. As a Divine Realm class, he summons and commands the heralds of the Gods. There are 8 different Heralds, one per every Lord of Xulima except Yûl because as you know, his Heralds only serve to the will of the Guardian of Souls.

Every Herald has its corresponding skill to be developed with 30 different levels. Furthermore, the Divine Summoner has 5 more skills to improve different aspects of the summonings.

The Divine Summoner can summon up to two Heralds at the same time in combat. These Heralds take the two empty positions in the character position grid, creating interesting tactical scenarios. The Heralds only remain in combat during a short period of time. If you summon a Herald who is already in battle, it will be restored to their original state (summoning time, life, power...).

The Heralds have their own IA and personality. You decide which of them you summon in the battle, but what they do in combat depends on their own will.

Which of them will you choose to assist you during combat? Take a look at what they can offer you...




Improvements and New Features

• New available class: The Divine Summoner.
  
• New skill for Thieves: Shurikens. Now Shurikens can be bought in the store.
• Also it can be found in some containers.
  
• New skill for Barbarians: Steadiness that allow them to resist the stun effect.
• 10% per level, up to 100% (immune to stun).
  
• Now the game asks for confirmation before overwriting an old save game.
  
• When creating a new character, you are asked to choose a name after selecting gender, portrait and class.
  
• Miscellaneous items in inventory are better ordered.
  
• Added a new option to display the message logs in combat showing the attack/evasion rolls.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Some tweaks to the price of torches, food and lockpicks.

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed bug in clearing zones (it was only checked after killing a random encounter, not with static guardians). Also now it is checked when entering in a zone, for those with saved games that have not received the reward.
  
• Fixed some English and French texts.
  
• Fixed some minor bugs reported.
  
• Fixed bug in Trap minigame when after some combinations, the gears can move too slow.

The next update in scheduled for the end of the next week in which a lot of new content will be unlocked, about 30 hours more of gameplay!

We know that we have as big of an audience in France as in Canada, so we are very happy to announce that the official launch of Lords of Xulima will have French among the available languages. As you can see, the main store page is available now in French.

We are now looking for a good German translator. We will hold both translations in parallel to have them ready for the final release. Any recommendation? If you wish to help us in this task you will be more than welcome. Please write us to info@numantiangames.com.

Anyway, after the official launch we will release a tool to add more languages to support fan translations. As LoX is UNICODE, it supports any language from Russian to Japanese. Finally, if someone wants to help us to include a new language for the official launch please write to us and we will talk about it.

We have available on our store page on our website, two special physical editions of Lords of Xulima that correspond to the ones offered in our Kickstarter campaign. They are limited edition, as once we order the production no more will ever be produced. Those collectors edition lovers and all the people that wish to support us even more can now order those special editions.
Between the rewards, you will have the boxed edition, the 200 pages hard-cover book, "Bestiary & Mythology of Xulima", the Game Guide Book and the printed color poster of the World map of Xulima.


Only some minor changes and bugs fixed. Thanks for all the awesome feedback you are giving us in our forum!

Here is the list of changes:

Improvements and New Features

• Added option to rename and delete save games.
  
• Skill points saved are shown in the help message of the experience bars (in portrait and in character sheet).

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Special items (not the divine artifacts) can now be sold in the store, including the Mausoleum Keys.
  
• Inn prices are fixed per Town.
  
• The price of Food, Lockpits, Torches and Teleport Crystals now depend on how many of them have you bought. The more you buy the more expensive due to the low availability of those items.
  
• Food seller only offers buying food reserves beyond the current party food reserves. Buying partial food reserves are taken in account to compute the price. For example if you only wants one day food and you have food for half day, only half the price will be charged.
  
• Food is not consumed while walking within town limits.
  
• Two-Handed weapons now do more damage.
  
• Monsters that run because of the Fear Song spell, now give 30% of its experience.
  
• Flaming/ Frozen weapon PP cost increased.
  
• Learning skill improved (more exp bonus)
  
• Some minor changes for the bonus of God Follower.

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed some English and French texts.
  
• Fixed some minor bugs reported.
  
• Fixed: Character creation does not allow to repeat names.

We know that we have as big of an audience in France as in Canada, so we are very happy to announce that the official launch of Lords of Xulima will have French among the available languages. As you can see, the main store page is available now in French.

We are now looking for a good German translator. We will hold both translations in parallel to have them ready for the final release. Any recommendation? If you wish to help us in this task you will be more than welcome. Please write us to info@numantiangames.com.

Anyway, after the official launch we will release a tool to add more languages to support fan translations. As LoX is UNICODE, it supports any language from Russian to Japanese. Finally, if someone wants to help us to include a new language for the official launch please write to us and we will talk about it.

We have available on our store page on our website, two special physical editions of Lords of Xulima that correspond to the ones offered in our Kickstarter campaign. They are limited edition, as once we order the production no more will ever be produced. Those collectors edition lovers and all the people that wish to support us even more can now order those special editions.
Between the rewards, you will have the boxed edition, the 200 pages hard-cover book, "Bestiary & Mythology of Xulima", the Game Guide Book and the printed color poster of the World map of Xulima.


Only some minor changes and bugs fixed. Thanks for all the awesome feedback you are giving us in our forum!

Here is the list of changes:

Improvements and New Features

• Added option to rename and delete save games.
  
• Skill points saved are shown in the help message of the experience bars (in portrait and in character sheet).

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Special items (not the divine artifacts) can now be sold in the store, including the Mausoleum Keys.
  
• Inn prices are fixed per Town.
  
• The price of Food, Lockpits, Torches and Teleport Crystals now depend on how many of them have you bought. The more you buy the more expensive due to the low availability of those items.
  
• Food seller only offers buying food reserves beyond the current party food reserves. Buying partial food reserves are taken in account to compute the price. For example if you only wants one day food and you have food for half day, only half the price will be charged.
  
• Food is not consumed while walking within town limits.
  
• Two-Handed weapons now do more damage.
  
• Monsters that run because of the Fear Song spell, now give 30% of its experience.
  
• Flaming/ Frozen weapon PP cost increased.
  
• Learning skill improved (more exp bonus)
  
• Some minor changes for the bonus of God Follower.

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed some English and French texts.
  
• Fixed some minor bugs reported.
  
• Fixed: Character creation does not allow to repeat names.

This is a quick update for the new Version 0.13. In this version we have fixed some of the bugs reported in the discussion forum and added some improvements that were suggested by the players.

The only big change is related to the balancing and gameplay rules. It seems insignificant, but it was the cause of a hot debate between the Numantian developers.

This quote from the legendary movie Conan the Barbarian is perfect to introduce this question. Which is more important, the power of the weapon or the power (strength) of the character that wields it?

We are trying to make the rules and mechanisms behind LoX as realistic as possible. In the case of weapons, the damage depends on the type (axe, dagger,...) and its quality (iron, steel,..). But when a character wields it, its damage is scaled by their strength as every point in strength increases damage by a 3%. With this, it keeps the difference in damage between weapons proportionally.

Although this approach is more realistic than giving a fixed bonus, it happens that combatants are a bit weak in the beginning but very powerful in the end. So finally we have decided that strength will give a fixed bonus independently of the weapon. We have worked in the best values for the bonus to follow these rules:
- One damage point per every 2 Strength Points (above 10).
- One damage point extra per every 5 Strength Points (above 10).

With these simple rules, now combatants are better in the beginning, and the difference in damage from a Barbarian and a Thief for example, are now more evident. In the last part of the game, the bonus would be lower than with the other method, but we will try to balance that part very carefully.


Next update will contain the new class The Divine Summoner and some new skills for the existent ones.


Improvements

• Improved management of load/save errors.
  
• Tooltip time can be set in the Options screen (it can be disabled too). Also tooltip is not removed until you move the mouse cursor out of the object that is showing the help.
  
• In the Level Up Window, at the bottom, it now displays the Next Skills that will be available in the next level.
  
• In the Shop window, the selected character can be switched with the keys (1,2...6)
  
• Dialog options can be selected using the Number Keys: [1] for the first option, [2] for the second one,....
  
• In Trap Window, the color of the green gears has been changed to silver. Red-green color blind players had problems with the old colors.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Strength bonus damage changed: Now it gives one point damage every two points and every 5 points it gives an additional damage point.
  
• Random values for Auto Lock Picking, Auto Trap Disarming, Herbs
• Collecting, and more... are now generated with the same saved seed. What this means is, save-scumming is now almost impossible.
  
• Flaming weapon and Icy Weapon now have some bonus to attack rating depending on the development. Also, in combat their hit rate and damage is now displayed.
  
• Mercantilism Skill now affects the prices of the town services: Inn, Food, Temple.
  
• There were some problems with the level of the skills for the hybrid classes Paladin & Arcane Soldier, that were affected when level up. Now the level required for shared skills (the ones specific to the two subclasses) are equal to: Level *1.5 +3. So for example: Lv1. Light Heal is available for Paladins at level 5.

Bugs Fixed

• Some computers had errors when using the user temp folder to create the temp files when saving. So now the temp files are created in the save game folder instead.
  
• Fixed: The greeting voice of the temple was executed after coming back from the "Need Spiritual Help" menu.
  
• Fixed: Some English & Spanish texts errors.
  
• Fixed: Message after fighting in the Arena (only the character who fights gains EXP).
  
• Fixed: Initiative help.
  
• Fixed: Turn time in combat list now is updated at the beginning of the turn too.
  
• Fixed: Cauldrons in the Temple near the Well of Souls were unclickable.
  
• Fixed: Some more minor bugs and graphic glitches.

This is a quick update for the new Version 0.13. In this version we have fixed some of the bugs reported in the discussion forum and added some improvements that were suggested by the players.

The only big change is related to the balancing and gameplay rules. It seems insignificant, but it was the cause of a hot debate between the Numantian developers.

This quote from the legendary movie Conan the Barbarian is perfect to introduce this question. Which is more important, the power of the weapon or the power (strength) of the character that wields it?

We are trying to make the rules and mechanisms behind LoX as realistic as possible. In the case of weapons, the damage depends on the type (axe, dagger,...) and its quality (iron, steel,..). But when a character wields it, its damage is scaled by their strength as every point in strength increases damage by a 3%. With this, it keeps the difference in damage between weapons proportionally.

Although this approach is more realistic than giving a fixed bonus, it happens that combatants are a bit weak in the beginning but very powerful in the end. So finally we have decided that strength will give a fixed bonus independently of the weapon. We have worked in the best values for the bonus to follow these rules:
- One damage point per every 2 Strength Points (above 10).
- One damage point extra per every 5 Strength Points (above 10).

With these simple rules, now combatants are better in the beginning, and the difference in damage from a Barbarian and a Thief for example, are now more evident. In the last part of the game, the bonus would be lower than with the other method, but we will try to balance that part very carefully.


Next update will contain the new class The Divine Summoner and some new skills for the existent ones.


Improvements

• Improved management of load/save errors.
  
• Tooltip time can be set in the Options screen (it can be disabled too). Also tooltip is not removed until you move the mouse cursor out of the object that is showing the help.
  
• In the Level Up Window, at the bottom, it now displays the Next Skills that will be available in the next level.
  
• In the Shop window, the selected character can be switched with the keys (1,2...6)
  
• Dialog options can be selected using the Number Keys: [1] for the first option, [2] for the second one,....
  
• In Trap Window, the color of the green gears has been changed to silver. Red-green color blind players had problems with the old colors.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Strength bonus damage changed: Now it gives one point damage every two points and every 5 points it gives an additional damage point.
  
• Random values for Auto Lock Picking, Auto Trap Disarming, Herbs
• Collecting, and more... are now generated with the same saved seed. What this means is, save-scumming is now almost impossible.
  
• Flaming weapon and Icy Weapon now have some bonus to attack rating depending on the development. Also, in combat their hit rate and damage is now displayed.
  
• Mercantilism Skill now affects the prices of the town services: Inn, Food, Temple.
  
• There were some problems with the level of the skills for the hybrid classes Paladin & Arcane Soldier, that were affected when level up. Now the level required for shared skills (the ones specific to the two subclasses) are equal to: Level *1.5 +3. So for example: Lv1. Light Heal is available for Paladins at level 5.

Bugs Fixed

• Some computers had errors when using the user temp folder to create the temp files when saving. So now the temp files are created in the save game folder instead.
  
• Fixed: The greeting voice of the temple was executed after coming back from the "Need Spiritual Help" menu.
  
• Fixed: Some English & Spanish texts errors.
  
• Fixed: Message after fighting in the Arena (only the character who fights gains EXP).
  
• Fixed: Initiative help.
  
• Fixed: Turn time in combat list now is updated at the beginning of the turn too.
  
• Fixed: Cauldrons in the Temple near the Well of Souls were unclickable.
  
• Fixed: Some more minor bugs and graphic glitches.

We have collected a lot of interesting feedback from the first players of the Early Access version. We would like to talk about the balancing specs and challenge level of Lords of Xulima, since it has been a common theme among community discussions.


First, while balance and difficulty often go hand in hand, they are a little different in their meanings. A lack of balance would mean that the game has mechanics and rules poorly implemented, which can damage intended gameplay. For example; a class might be much more powerful than others; some specific sets of equipment might make the party invincible, while others might be less effective; some skills might outshine the rest of what a character can learn, others may prove less satisfying; the in-game economy (too little or too much gold for the player), which is delicate to balance in a large game, could be off.

A game can be balanced, and still offer have a high level of challenge to the player, which is our goal with Lords of Xulima. The Classic difficulty setting is similar to what could be experienced in the good old days. If you are still building your familiarity with the RPG genre (which means Lords of Xulima should also be for you), it is normal to experience a bit of difficulty as you encounter everything the game has to offer. Especially in the beginning, when players have yet to learn various mechanics and understand all the tricks at their disposal.


In order to adapt the game a little better to general player expectations, we have renamed the difficulty modes in order to allow everyone to pick a mode better adapted to their preferences. The 3 difficulty settings are now: Normal, OldSchool Veteran and Hardcore, respectively.

Also, we understand that some players love to simply jump right in, and so have added an option to lower the difficulty setting without having to restart your game.

Many players are opting to go with the Classic setting, expecting it to be the smooth Normal mode they are used to. But, this was always meant to be for RPG veterans, and we admit that perhaps the choices offered were perhaps overly punishing to new players. We want you to enjoy a modern take on the old-school gems, and perhaps contribute to raising awareness on the great traditions of a great genre.


Improvements

• Help tooltips now appear when the mouse is over the elements (for one second).
  
• Combat Screen: Now it is displayed the time needed for the combatants for their next turn.
  
• The enemy presence detector now emits an animation when its state changes.
  
• The difficulty level can be changed in the options screen. WARNING! You cannot increase the difificulty level onces change it.
  
• Item Container Box: [Enter] Key now takes all items.
  
• Party Creation: A random name is pregenerated when creating a new character.
  
• Improved multimonitor support.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Changed the names of the difficulty modes to be more clear for the new users.
  
• Explorer Venom Strike now have attack rating bonus.
  
• Evasion (“blocking”) rating of a few creatures has been lowered.

Bugs Fixed

• Some minor crash bugs have been fixed.
  
• Fixed: Crash when typing backspace with no characters when entering a word in a text box.
  
• Fixed: Exploit when equipping and unequipping items with HP/PP bonus.
  
• Fixed: Achievement progress updating.
  
• Fixed: HP/PP class Ratios did not take in account the Difficulty modifier.
  
• Fixed: Crash in combat when the character's name has less than three letters.
  
• Fixed: Spells non identificated showed their description on the help tooltip.
  
• Fixed: Some cells on the map had wrong zone assigned.
  
• Fixed: LoX icon in taskbar is now displayed correctly.

See you soon!

We have collected a lot of interesting feedback from the first players of the Early Access version. We would like to talk about the balancing specs and challenge level of Lords of Xulima, since it has been a common theme among community discussions.


First, while balance and difficulty often go hand in hand, they are a little different in their meanings. A lack of balance would mean that the game has mechanics and rules poorly implemented, which can damage intended gameplay. For example; a class might be much more powerful than others; some specific sets of equipment might make the party invincible, while others might be less effective; some skills might outshine the rest of what a character can learn, others may prove less satisfying; the in-game economy (too little or too much gold for the player), which is delicate to balance in a large game, could be off.

A game can be balanced, and still offer have a high level of challenge to the player, which is our goal with Lords of Xulima. The Classic difficulty setting is similar to what could be experienced in the good old days. If you are still building your familiarity with the RPG genre (which means Lords of Xulima should also be for you), it is normal to experience a bit of difficulty as you encounter everything the game has to offer. Especially in the beginning, when players have yet to learn various mechanics and understand all the tricks at their disposal.


In order to adapt the game a little better to general player expectations, we have renamed the difficulty modes in order to allow everyone to pick a mode better adapted to their preferences. The 3 difficulty settings are now: Normal, OldSchool Veteran and Hardcore, respectively.

Also, we understand that some players love to simply jump right in, and so have added an option to lower the difficulty setting without having to restart your game.

Many players are opting to go with the Classic setting, expecting it to be the smooth Normal mode they are used to. But, this was always meant to be for RPG veterans, and we admit that perhaps the choices offered were perhaps overly punishing to new players. We want you to enjoy a modern take on the old-school gems, and perhaps contribute to raising awareness on the great traditions of a great genre.


Improvements

• Help tooltips now appear when the mouse is over the elements (for one second).
  
• Combat Screen: Now it is displayed the time needed for the combatants for their next turn.
  
• The enemy presence detector now emits an animation when its state changes.
  
• The difficulty level can be changed in the options screen. WARNING! You cannot increase the difificulty level onces change it.
  
• Item Container Box: [Enter] Key now takes all items.
  
• Party Creation: A random name is pregenerated when creating a new character.
  
• Improved multimonitor support.

Balancing and Game Mechanics

• Changed the names of the difficulty modes to be more clear for the new users.
  
• Explorer Venom Strike now have attack rating bonus.
  
• Evasion (“blocking”) rating of a few creatures has been lowered.

Bugs Fixed

• Some minor crash bugs have been fixed.
  
• Fixed: Crash when typing backspace with no characters when entering a word in a text box.
  
• Fixed: Exploit when equipping and unequipping items with HP/PP bonus.
  
• Fixed: Achievement progress updating.
  
• Fixed: HP/PP class Ratios did not take in account the Difficulty modifier.
  
• Fixed: Crash in combat when the character's name has less than three letters.
  
• Fixed: Spells non identificated showed their description on the help tooltip.
  
• Fixed: Some cells on the map had wrong zone assigned.
  
• Fixed: LoX icon in taskbar is now displayed correctly.

See you soon!

This is a quick update to announce that finally Lords of Xulima is available on Steam as Early Access. The price is $16.99, as it is not yet the full game, which will eventually increase. You are invited to visit our Steam Store Page, as well as write reviews and leave comments in the discussion forum. Thank you to all that have already written awesome comments and reviews praising Lords of Xulima. You are the best!!


We have implemented some of the Steam features such as Trading Cards. There is one card for every one of the Nine Xulnari, cool Badges and emoticons, and some backgrounds. There are also 13 new achievements and we will eventually be adding some more. By the way, there is one called, "The Lord of Xulima" which you get when you finish the game in Hardcore mode, (good luck guys...)


Here is what we have in our list of tasks for the next big update:

• Unlock the rest of regions: Rasmura, Devonia, Vilak, Varas Talak and the western part of Nagira.
  
• Include the awesome talking artifact, "The Talisman of Golot". But be careful because it was created by the same God as the one who created the
• Talking Skulls in the Towers of Sorcery. If you have entered in one of those towers, you will know what I am speaking about...
  
• MAC and Linux port, installer and Steam integration.

Finally, if you like Lords of Xulima please share it with your friends, and mention it in forums or in your social networks. Anything you can do to spread the word counts, we really appreciate your help.

See you soon!

This is a quick update to announce that finally Lords of Xulima is available on Steam as Early Access. The price is $16.99, as it is not yet the full game, which will eventually increase. You are invited to visit our Steam Store Page, as well as write reviews and leave comments in the discussion forum. Thank you to all that have already written awesome comments and reviews praising Lords of Xulima. You are the best!!


We have implemented some of the Steam features such as Trading Cards. There is one card for every one of the Nine Xulnari, cool Badges and emoticons, and some backgrounds. There are also 13 new achievements and we will eventually be adding some more. By the way, there is one called, "The Lord of Xulima" which you get when you finish the game in Hardcore mode, (good luck guys...)


Here is what we have in our list of tasks for the next big update:

• Unlock the rest of regions: Rasmura, Devonia, Vilak, Varas Talak and the western part of Nagira.
  
• Include the awesome talking artifact, "The Talisman of Golot". But be careful because it was created by the same God as the one who created the
• Talking Skulls in the Towers of Sorcery. If you have entered in one of those towers, you will know what I am speaking about...
  
• MAC and Linux port, installer and Steam integration.

Finally, if you like Lords of Xulima please share it with your friends, and mention it in forums or in your social networks. Anything you can do to spread the word counts, we really appreciate your help.

See you soon!