Today, February 20th 2016, starting at 1pm PST Turning Wheel LLC is having a LAUNCH PARTY for Barony: Cursed Edition. We've scheduled an event to encourage you all to participate in the LAUNCH HYPE by:

• Broadcasting and Streaming Barony: Cursed Edition
  
• Watching Broadcasts and Streams of Barony: Cursed Edition
  
• Taking and uploading Cursed Edition Screenshots
  
• Creating and uploading Barony fan art to the Community Hub
  
• Hosting and joining Steam Multiplayer Lobbies
  
• Posting your Barony: Cursed Edition reviews
  
  At our meat-space party, we'll also have the game going with our friends and family occasionally playing on my Twitch stream here:
  http://www.twitch.tv/mistersneak/
  If you wanna watch some newbs in action, and occasionally one of the devs, tune in between 1pm - 9pm PST.
  
  Side Note: The Windows build has received a hotfix as of last night to fix some crashing and visual issues, and a bug with the healing / cure ailment spell. This won't change the version number and Steam should download it for you automatically. We will get this fix out to Linux and Mac users ASAP.

Today, February 20th 2016, starting at 1pm PST Turning Wheel LLC is having a LAUNCH PARTY for Barony: Cursed Edition. We've scheduled an event to encourage you all to participate in the LAUNCH HYPE by:

• Broadcasting and Streaming Barony: Cursed Edition
  
• Watching Broadcasts and Streams of Barony: Cursed Edition
  
• Taking and uploading Cursed Edition Screenshots
  
• Creating and uploading Barony fan art to the Community Hub
  
• Hosting and joining Steam Multiplayer Lobbies
  
• Posting your Barony: Cursed Edition reviews
  
  At our meat-space party, we'll also have the game going with our friends and family occasionally playing on my Twitch stream here:
  http://www.twitch.tv/mistersneak/
  If you wanna watch some newbs in action, and occasionally one of the devs, tune in between 1pm - 9pm PST.
  
  Side Note: The Windows build has received a hotfix as of last night to fix some crashing and visual issues, and a bug with the healing / cure ailment spell. This won't change the version number and Steam should download it for you automatically. We will get this fix out to Linux and Mac users ASAP.

Hello Everyone,

After several days of testing, we've decided to make the leap and release Barony - Cursed Edition to the public free of charge. This brand new major update includes several brand new features:

• A complete overhaul of all existing artwork
  
• Improved enemy and follower AI, including allies which can follow you through multiple levels
  
• New gameplay mechanics like monster summoning, enemy war bands, new rare boss characters and several new and modified game levels
  
• Integrated Steam lobbies and matchmaking for easy multiplayer setup
  
• Server flags to customize mechanics like Hunger, Minotaurs, Friendly Fire, etc.
  
• Numerous bugfixes, gameplay tweaks, and more.

A full changelog which sums up all the differences between this new version and the previous stable release (v1.0.6) can be found below.

Changelog

• added Steamworks lobbies & matchmaking
  
• added basic language features: all game strings exported to text files in lang folder
  
• fixed Baphomet invisibility exploit
  
• fixed monsters hit with confusion potions not forgetting their target
  
• fixed Baphomet being super vulnerable when flying off the main platform during his boulder drop phase (he now blasts fireballs with every fist pound)
  
• kills with beartraps now award XP
  
• XP now divides among players who are within line of sight of each other
  
• fixed NPC allies not giving XP to leaders on downing a named monster
  
• extra food spawns as player count increases
  
• fixed some text input bugs
  
• arrow and magic traps can now be destroyed with pickaxes/spells
  
• modding: creature limb offsets now user-modifiable via limbs.txt files
  
• added /god, /buddha, and /friendly cheatcodes
  
• fixed game crash when touching burning object that is not an NPC
  
• /restart command (which isn't valid anyway) no longer causes black screen
  
• /summon now spawns monster directly ahead of the player
  
• modding: color index 0 now valid for voxel models
  
• critical startup error now produces an error message box
  
• all weapons now use HD-model variants
  
• multiplayer games with incompatible saves no longer possible
  
• game frame rate now fixed to 60 fps
  
• fixed fps counter not reading correctly on Mac/Linux
  
• fixed amulet of life saving not reviving burnt players
  
• unresponsive players now auto-kicked from game
  
• added /kick <playername> command
  
• added chat log to multiplayer lobby
  
• fixed magicstaff item stacks degrading all at once when used
  
• fixed occasional crash while screenshotting
  
• improved AI: intelligent creatures now strafe at range
  
• improved AI: creatures with ranged weapons keep their distance
  
• improved AI: many creatures will now retreat when wounded
  
• chests now destructible
  
• added running water animation to sinks
  
• shields now held at an angle on most creatures
  
• removed mysterious Herx endgame speech (detracted from feeling of victory)
  
• modified herx endgame text slightly to accomodate missing speech
  
• added numerous new human hero characters and special monsters
  
• added monster gangs (monsters with their own followers)
  
• added five new server flags: minotaurs, hunger, traps, friendly fire, cheats
  
• added weapon and shield switching animations
  
• fixed shopkeepers occasionally selling broken "spell" items
  
• fixed boss trigger activating when not all players are within the arena
  
• added player and ally obituary messages
  
• nerfed throwing items (reduced fire rate)
  
• fixed monsters getting stuck on door frames
  
• rebalanced offensive spells
  
• rebalanced class loadouts
  
• cleric now starts with three summoning scrolls
  
• ally NPCs now follow you between levels
  
• fixed rare crash while generating dungeons
  
• fixed inventory space exploit
  
• fixed monster pathfinding occasionally crashing the game
  
• fixed FMOD using wrong sound output device on some systems
  
• fixed savegame bug occasionally crashing clients
  
• fixed game crashing when outdated savegame data is present
  
• optimized item physics somewhat
  
• hell now uses portals instead of ladders
  
• cheating in Sokoban now punishes unwary players
  
• shield of magic resistance now reflects when blocking
  
• shields now take damage far less frequently when blocking
  
• minetown now only available half the time, gnomish mines always available
  
• added new bow drawing animation and sounds
  
• switches now passable
  
• rebalanced ranged weapons
  
• sling item replaced with slingshot
  
• amulet of water breathing renamed to amulet of olympic swimming
  
• injured monsters run away to a random location when they lose sight of their target
  
• added hue-shifted creatures (signifies ally status)
  
• fixed stacks of >9 items in the hotbar from overflowing the item count into the next hotbar slot
  
• fixed poisoned arrows poisoning even when damage is 0
  
• optimized monster pathfinding significantly
  
• demons now see better in darkness
  
• added iron bracers
  
• campfires now passable, don't disappear completely when extinguished
  
• weighted monsters now move faster
  
• swamp levels now have significantly more water than before
  
• rebalanced herx fight slightly
  
• added several additional human races
  
• fixed clients occasionally being left behind on past levels
  
• fixed clients occasionally failing to load new levels
  
• added colorblind mode
  
• fixed some graphical lines and circles being invisible on certain video cards
  
• fixed hell-sky clipping world objects
  
• fixed hell-sky edges being visible in certain level locations
  
• removed MAXFACES limit on voxel models
  
• fixed game crash when loading non-32-bit images
  
• added colored log messages
  
• fixed many spells not being able to destroy doors and other furniture
  
• shopkeepers now hold grudges against players
  
• leadership now requires only 4 points instead of 20 for an additional follower
  
• added a restart game button to multiplayer pause menu
  
• minotaurs can now levitate over water and open pits
  
• elaborated game loading messages
  
• light spell now consumes mana at 25% the previous rate
  
• monster death by fire or poison now rewards XP
  
• fixed level exits spawning across open pits
  
• fixed NPCs occasionally getting stuck on furniture
  
• raised default FOV to 65
  
• added option to disable pop-up messages
  
• fixed boulders being blocked by open gates
  
• fixed some random memory leaks
  
• fixed several additional random crashes

Known issues:

• certain systems display chronic crashing behavior: we're doing our best to fix this!
  
• friends-only lobbies cannot be found by friends searching for lobbies. Invite them manually instead or set the lobby to public so they can find it themselves
  
• host direct-ip and join direct-ip options not accessible via mouse - use keyboard instead
  
• steam multiplayer somewhat resource intensive compared to direct-IP multiplayer
  
• linux version may fail on startup; quick fix is available on discussion board

Additional News

After deliberating over some user feedback over the past several months, we've decided that due to the added value the Cursed Edition of Barony brings to the game, we will raise the game's price to 9.99 USD from the previous 6.99 USD on March 1st. This decision wasn't made lightly, which is why we plan the next two weeks to act as a grace period between now and the point in time when we actually raise the price. So if you or someone you know is still deliberating on whether or not you want to buy the game, now is definitely the time to do it!

That's all for now... we hope you enjoy the Cursed Edition of Barony as much as we enjoyed making it.

Cheers!

Hello Everyone,

After several days of testing, we've decided to make the leap and release Barony - Cursed Edition to the public free of charge. This brand new major update includes several brand new features:

• A complete overhaul of all existing artwork
  
• Improved enemy and follower AI, including allies which can follow you through multiple levels
  
• New gameplay mechanics like monster summoning, enemy war bands, new rare boss characters and several new and modified game levels
  
• Integrated Steam lobbies and matchmaking for easy multiplayer setup
  
• Server flags to customize mechanics like Hunger, Minotaurs, Friendly Fire, etc.
  
• Numerous bugfixes, gameplay tweaks, and more.

A full changelog which sums up all the differences between this new version and the previous stable release (v1.0.6) can be found below.

Changelog

• added Steamworks lobbies & matchmaking
  
• added basic language features: all game strings exported to text files in lang folder
  
• fixed Baphomet invisibility exploit
  
• fixed monsters hit with confusion potions not forgetting their target
  
• fixed Baphomet being super vulnerable when flying off the main platform during his boulder drop phase (he now blasts fireballs with every fist pound)
  
• kills with beartraps now award XP
  
• XP now divides among players who are within line of sight of each other
  
• fixed NPC allies not giving XP to leaders on downing a named monster
  
• extra food spawns as player count increases
  
• fixed some text input bugs
  
• arrow and magic traps can now be destroyed with pickaxes/spells
  
• modding: creature limb offsets now user-modifiable via limbs.txt files
  
• added /god, /buddha, and /friendly cheatcodes
  
• fixed game crash when touching burning object that is not an NPC
  
• /restart command (which isn't valid anyway) no longer causes black screen
  
• /summon now spawns monster directly ahead of the player
  
• modding: color index 0 now valid for voxel models
  
• critical startup error now produces an error message box
  
• all weapons now use HD-model variants
  
• multiplayer games with incompatible saves no longer possible
  
• game frame rate now fixed to 60 fps
  
• fixed fps counter not reading correctly on Mac/Linux
  
• fixed amulet of life saving not reviving burnt players
  
• unresponsive players now auto-kicked from game
  
• added /kick <playername> command
  
• added chat log to multiplayer lobby
  
• fixed magicstaff item stacks degrading all at once when used
  
• fixed occasional crash while screenshotting
  
• improved AI: intelligent creatures now strafe at range
  
• improved AI: creatures with ranged weapons keep their distance
  
• improved AI: many creatures will now retreat when wounded
  
• chests now destructible
  
• added running water animation to sinks
  
• shields now held at an angle on most creatures
  
• removed mysterious Herx endgame speech (detracted from feeling of victory)
  
• modified herx endgame text slightly to accomodate missing speech
  
• added numerous new human hero characters and special monsters
  
• added monster gangs (monsters with their own followers)
  
• added five new server flags: minotaurs, hunger, traps, friendly fire, cheats
  
• added weapon and shield switching animations
  
• fixed shopkeepers occasionally selling broken "spell" items
  
• fixed boss trigger activating when not all players are within the arena
  
• added player and ally obituary messages
  
• nerfed throwing items (reduced fire rate)
  
• fixed monsters getting stuck on door frames
  
• rebalanced offensive spells
  
• rebalanced class loadouts
  
• cleric now starts with three summoning scrolls
  
• ally NPCs now follow you between levels
  
• fixed rare crash while generating dungeons
  
• fixed inventory space exploit
  
• fixed monster pathfinding occasionally crashing the game
  
• fixed FMOD using wrong sound output device on some systems
  
• fixed savegame bug occasionally crashing clients
  
• fixed game crashing when outdated savegame data is present
  
• optimized item physics somewhat
  
• hell now uses portals instead of ladders
  
• cheating in Sokoban now punishes unwary players
  
• shield of magic resistance now reflects when blocking
  
• shields now take damage far less frequently when blocking
  
• minetown now only available half the time, gnomish mines always available
  
• added new bow drawing animation and sounds
  
• switches now passable
  
• rebalanced ranged weapons
  
• sling item replaced with slingshot
  
• amulet of water breathing renamed to amulet of olympic swimming
  
• injured monsters run away to a random location when they lose sight of their target
  
• added hue-shifted creatures (signifies ally status)
  
• fixed stacks of >9 items in the hotbar from overflowing the item count into the next hotbar slot
  
• fixed poisoned arrows poisoning even when damage is 0
  
• optimized monster pathfinding significantly
  
• demons now see better in darkness
  
• added iron bracers
  
• campfires now passable, don't disappear completely when extinguished
  
• weighted monsters now move faster
  
• swamp levels now have significantly more water than before
  
• rebalanced herx fight slightly
  
• added several additional human races
  
• fixed clients occasionally being left behind on past levels
  
• fixed clients occasionally failing to load new levels
  
• added colorblind mode
  
• fixed some graphical lines and circles being invisible on certain video cards
  
• fixed hell-sky clipping world objects
  
• fixed hell-sky edges being visible in certain level locations
  
• removed MAXFACES limit on voxel models
  
• fixed game crash when loading non-32-bit images
  
• added colored log messages
  
• fixed many spells not being able to destroy doors and other furniture
  
• shopkeepers now hold grudges against players
  
• leadership now requires only 4 points instead of 20 for an additional follower
  
• added a restart game button to multiplayer pause menu
  
• minotaurs can now levitate over water and open pits
  
• elaborated game loading messages
  
• light spell now consumes mana at 25% the previous rate
  
• monster death by fire or poison now rewards XP
  
• fixed level exits spawning across open pits
  
• fixed NPCs occasionally getting stuck on furniture
  
• raised default FOV to 65
  
• added option to disable pop-up messages
  
• fixed boulders being blocked by open gates
  
• fixed some random memory leaks
  
• fixed several additional random crashes

Known issues:

• certain systems display chronic crashing behavior: we're doing our best to fix this!
  
• friends-only lobbies cannot be found by friends searching for lobbies. Invite them manually instead or set the lobby to public so they can find it themselves
  
• host direct-ip and join direct-ip options not accessible via mouse - use keyboard instead
  
• steam multiplayer somewhat resource intensive compared to direct-IP multiplayer
  
• linux version may fail on startup; quick fix is available on discussion board

Additional News

After deliberating over some user feedback over the past several months, we've decided that due to the added value the Cursed Edition of Barony brings to the game, we will raise the game's price to 9.99 USD from the previous 6.99 USD on March 1st. This decision wasn't made lightly, which is why we plan the next two weeks to act as a grace period between now and the point in time when we actually raise the price. So if you or someone you know is still deliberating on whether or not you want to buy the game, now is definitely the time to do it!

That's all for now... we hope you enjoy the Cursed Edition of Barony as much as we enjoyed making it.

Cheers!

Quick heads up, adventurers! The Barony Beta Build has been updated and now Linux, Mac and Windows builds are alll supported. We've made numerous fixes and have revived the Direct IP connection feature. We are expecting to ship the full Cursed Edition update within the next couple of days. Thanks for your continued patience and support!

Note that the full changelist will be available with the Cursed Edition update. For those of you who have been playing the Beta builds, thank you! Please continue visiting our discussion forums for any bug reports.

Thanks!

Quick heads up, adventurers! The Barony Beta Build has been updated and now Linux, Mac and Windows builds are alll supported. We've made numerous fixes and have revived the Direct IP connection feature. We are expecting to ship the full Cursed Edition update within the next couple of days. Thanks for your continued patience and support!

Note that the full changelist will be available with the Cursed Edition update. For those of you who have been playing the Beta builds, thank you! Please continue visiting our discussion forums for any bug reports.

Thanks!

As of January 31st eager players on Windows can now take part in the open beta for Barony: Cursed Edition. This version of the game includes COMPLETELY OVERHAULED ART and EXCITING NEW FEATURES such as Steam Lobby support!
To activate the beta build, follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to your Steam Library and locate Barony
   
2. Right-click and select Properties
   
3. Go to the BETA tab
   
4. Click the dropdown and select the Beta build

We had hoped to do the full release in January, but as is often the case with game development, things take a bit longer than expected. But more importantly, we want to make sure the new features are well tested before we subject all players to them. So if you'd like to give it a try, we would love it if you could report any problems you discover to our Steam Community Discussions board.

We have very little work left before we're ready for the full release of the updated game. In addition to fixing any surprise bugs, we're also creating a new and exciting trailer to help spread the Barony vision to potential players.

For your viewing pleasure, here are screenshots of the Cursed Edition in action that we've prepared for our Steam store page:

As of January 31st eager players on Windows can now take part in the open beta for Barony: Cursed Edition. This version of the game includes COMPLETELY OVERHAULED ART and EXCITING NEW FEATURES such as Steam Lobby support!
To activate the beta build, follow these simple instructions:

1. Go to your Steam Library and locate Barony
   
2. Right-click and select Properties
   
3. Go to the BETA tab
   
4. Click the dropdown and select the Beta build

We had hoped to do the full release in January, but as is often the case with game development, things take a bit longer than expected. But more importantly, we want to make sure the new features are well tested before we subject all players to them. So if you'd like to give it a try, we would love it if you could report any problems you discover to our Steam Community Discussions board.

We have very little work left before we're ready for the full release of the updated game. In addition to fixing any surprise bugs, we're also creating a new and exciting trailer to help spread the Barony vision to potential players.

For your viewing pleasure, here are screenshots of the Cursed Edition in action that we've prepared for our Steam store page:

Hello everyone,
It's been a while. Perhaps too long. But we have been hard at work! So here's what's up.

Steamworks Multiplayer Integration
Programming-wise, this has easily dominated our attention for the past two months. As it turned out, Steamworks is a surprisingly poorly documented API, and to make matters worse, it's written in C++, with no official bindings for C (which the entirety of Barony was written in). That means, before we could even begin using its networking features, we had to decipher and wrap every tiny function we needed (and lots, it turns out, that we didn't need) into C equivalents. We then had to integrate these wrapped functions into Barony, and smack the resulting Frankenstein of a program with a debugger until it worked. Needless to say, the process was very arduous. But, it has yielded great results.

Gone are the days that you must memorize IP addresses and port numbers to connect. Gone are the days that you must manually configure your firewall and forward your ports. Starting with the next update (which I can now say with confidence, is coming SOON) creating and joining lobbies is as quick and painless as it should've always been.

So why isn't it in your hands already?

Well, we literally just got the primary features working all nice and reliably today, so it's missing a lot of polish and expected features, like filters, private/friends-only lobbies, names, and other dull stuff. On top of that, we're still deep in the middle of a couple other important projects, like...

The Art Update
Since September, the mega-art-update thingy has been pushing along steady as usual. With the texture art completed, Josiah (aka mistersneak) has gone on to redo tons of decorative models, all of the item models, all of the human models, many more creature models, and more models, models, models, and models. He's even begun to produce HD variants of all the weapon models in the game to be viewed when a player holds said weapons in first person. Snazzy.

Which brings us to our last point...

DLC? Sequels? BRAND NEW GAMES?
In a previous update, we mentioned that we were planning new DLC for Barony that would add some new areas to the game, as well as various other gameplay goodies. Nonetheless, the work we've had on our plate with this next big update has kept our small team very busy for the past couple months, so we haven't been able to spend much time developing these ideas yet. However, I will say that we are not done with Barony yet: in fact, our ideas for new content have gotten only bigger since we last talked about it. To answer a few specific questions publicly:

1. Rather than DLC, we are now pursuing the idea of creating a full-blown sequel.

2. Said sequel would involve a significantly bigger, more interconnected world. A fully 3D environment would replace the flat dungeon floor plans of the past.

3. It would contain all of Barony's primary gameplay elements, such as: a proper RPG system, persistent dungeon environments, full cooperative multiplayer, and roguelike elements.

4. Rather than a singular goal with a linear path to victory, there would be several goals, sidequests, and branching paths.

That is all for now. Here in the states I wish everyone a happy thanksgiving, and to everyone else: cheers!

Hello everyone,
It's been a while. Perhaps too long. But we have been hard at work! So here's what's up.

Steamworks Multiplayer Integration
Programming-wise, this has easily dominated our attention for the past two months. As it turned out, Steamworks is a surprisingly poorly documented API, and to make matters worse, it's written in C++, with no official bindings for C (which the entirety of Barony was written in). That means, before we could even begin using its networking features, we had to decipher and wrap every tiny function we needed (and lots, it turns out, that we didn't need) into C equivalents. We then had to integrate these wrapped functions into Barony, and smack the resulting Frankenstein of a program with a debugger until it worked. Needless to say, the process was very arduous. But, it has yielded great results.

Gone are the days that you must memorize IP addresses and port numbers to connect. Gone are the days that you must manually configure your firewall and forward your ports. Starting with the next update (which I can now say with confidence, is coming SOON) creating and joining lobbies is as quick and painless as it should've always been.

So why isn't it in your hands already?

Well, we literally just got the primary features working all nice and reliably today, so it's missing a lot of polish and expected features, like filters, private/friends-only lobbies, names, and other dull stuff. On top of that, we're still deep in the middle of a couple other important projects, like...

The Art Update
Since September, the mega-art-update thingy has been pushing along steady as usual. With the texture art completed, Josiah (aka mistersneak) has gone on to redo tons of decorative models, all of the item models, all of the human models, many more creature models, and more models, models, models, and models. He's even begun to produce HD variants of all the weapon models in the game to be viewed when a player holds said weapons in first person. Snazzy.

Which brings us to our last point...

DLC? Sequels? BRAND NEW GAMES?
In a previous update, we mentioned that we were planning new DLC for Barony that would add some new areas to the game, as well as various other gameplay goodies. Nonetheless, the work we've had on our plate with this next big update has kept our small team very busy for the past couple months, so we haven't been able to spend much time developing these ideas yet. However, I will say that we are not done with Barony yet: in fact, our ideas for new content have gotten only bigger since we last talked about it. To answer a few specific questions publicly:

1. Rather than DLC, we are now pursuing the idea of creating a full-blown sequel.

2. Said sequel would involve a significantly bigger, more interconnected world. A fully 3D environment would replace the flat dungeon floor plans of the past.

3. It would contain all of Barony's primary gameplay elements, such as: a proper RPG system, persistent dungeon environments, full cooperative multiplayer, and roguelike elements.

4. Rather than a singular goal with a linear path to victory, there would be several goals, sidequests, and branching paths.

That is all for now. Here in the states I wish everyone a happy thanksgiving, and to everyone else: cheers!