Hey folks!

Continuing a bit with the VFX updates :)
Will worked on the ranger lately, so i’ve recorded a few gifs to show them off. There’s really not much to say in this post, so i’ll let the gifs speak, even tho they don’t actually have mouths.








Join us on our Discord server!

MarkoP

*This post is written by Mia, our gameplay designer.*

Hello there!

With 1.0. release on the horizon we’re digging in and trying to polish the game on as many fronts as we can. A big part of this is in the hands of Will, our VFX artist, as he’s got a plate full of going over all the abilities and status effects and giving them a fresh face.

As we did not have a dedicated VFX artist before, there’s plenty of room for improvement and adding new effects to those we considered good enough as is with animations alone.
The Hand of Merlin is more sci-fi orientated than fantasy - the heroes that you select are still only human. The Mystic, for example, is not a wizard or a mage, they’re more of an alchemist or a shaman who can create these effects not through magic but through knowledge. We want the VFXs to properly communicate this difference as well.

The first thing we did now was to go over all the abilities and try to categorize them depending on 3 factors.

• Gameplay Effect
  Eg: Damage, Buff (damage, movement, evasion, etc), Debuff (damage, movement, evasion, etc), Movement, AP, DoTs, etc.
  
• Manifestation
  An in-character look at how the ability works (eg: physical, emotional, alchemical, corruption..)
  
• Animation Used

Next, we set some visual expectations on certain categories. The best example being the difference between ‘Physical’ and ‘Emotional’ manifestation.

‘Physical’ we want to keep as grounded and realistic as possible while still looking good and distinct. This includes motion blurs and lines, sparks of metal hitting metal, blood splashes and such.
‘Emotional’ on the other hand has more liberty in its visualization since it would not be possible to try and detect which facial expression a unit has (not that we show emotions on their faces or plan to) due to their size. Here the Gameplay Effects influence which color pallet should be used.

The abilities should mostly end up looking quite grounded, but not dull. We hope.
It’s the status effects which will pose a real challenge, as we need to make them stackable, readable, and recognizable while keeping the color pallets consistent.

If you’ve got any questions or are interested in the game feel free to drop by the steam forums or join us on our Discord server!

Mia

P.S. here are some gifs!

Hey folks!

The team is back from vacation this week. We had a long meeting on Monday to see where we’re at and what we’ve got left to do for the game. We talked about a potential release date, and while some rough dates were thrown around, none of them stuck to the wall yet, because they weren’t sticky enough.

The output of our meeting was a rough list of things we want done for 1.0.

• There’s one more Guardian Core we’re working on which is super endgame content and more of a penultimate reward. There won’t be any achievements bound to it since we can’t expect everyone to get it, and it would just feel crappy to have that one thing out of your reach due to difficulty. It's the most powerful core we've made, and will break the game when used, but because it's the very last thing you get, we don't really mind that. :)
  
• We've had legendary questline encounters on our todo list for a while now, and we're aiming on getting those in for 1.0. These encounters span several zones and reward you with very powerful relics on completion, so you'll likely want to chase them. Is Excalibur finally coming to the game? Only Mia knows!
  
• More map optimizations are also in progress.
  
• We’re currently writing guides for modding the game. A bunch of them are already done, and we want to have everything (or at least most of it) covered before release. The editor will also likely come with the 1.0 release, or soon after.
  
• Since we now have Will, our dedicated VFX boi, he’s redoing a bunch of older vfx made by other people to be consistent with the stuff he’s made. We have an internal list of all the things, and Will is hard at work to make all of them gooder.
  
• There are some bugs and issues we need to go through as well. The external QA team has been helpful in finding technical issues. Everyone that reported an issue on either our Discord server or on Steam, thank you!

The list isn’t overly long because these are just the large categories of things we’re doing. We’re confident we can release the 1.0 version anytime after January, we just have to see which date is the best to account for some final testing on our part, and maybe to not clash with some other big titles? Nothing is determined yet, and we’ll keep you informed as the information becomes clear.
If you’re interested helping out with some bug reports, post in the Steam forums or our Discord server.
Thank you!

MarkoP

Hello, everyone!

The holidays have arrived at last, and do you know what that means? Discounts, discounts, discounts!

Our favorite wacky 1950s-inspired social deduction game, First Class Trouble, recently released a plethora of cosmetic DLC packs! Now you can assist (or viciously betray) your fellow ISS Alithea residents in style!

Get into the Christmas spirit with the Christmas Pack, which includes outfits inspired by Santa Claus, his helpers, and Rudolph!

Feeling cold? The Winter Pack includes warm and cozy options such as sweaters, ponchos, scarves, and even a penguin outfit!

Additional outfits and other cosmetics are also available in the New Years Pack, Runway Pack, Supporter Pack, Vruumba Pack, and Wedding Pack.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Versus Evil! We'll see you all in 2022!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/953880/First_Class_Trouble/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1203710/UnMetal/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/600610/The_Hand_of_Merlin/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1206600/Almighty_Kill_Your_Gods/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222340/Sockventure/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/888530/Yaga/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/904400/Cardpocalypse/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1003120/Hitchhiker__A_Mystery_Game/

New features:
• Improved visuals of Ranger's Shiv skill.

General fixes:
• Fixed a crash when an enemy is killed in one shot.
• Fixed a possible crash when spawning units in a wave.
• Fixed a rare crash in combat related to using gamepads.
• Fixed an issue with Warrior's Raised Shield skill causing it to expend stacks when not intended.
• Fixed several typos in hints.

Optimizations:
• Cleaned up and optimized several combat maps, to reduce memory usage and improve performance.

Gameplay balancing:
• Changed the order Nourishment's effects are applied in relation to other sources to make Blacksmith upgrades constant.
• Mystic's Flash Hallow skill (upgrade of Hallow) no longer grants 1AP on casting, instead just on turn start.
• Salim's Measuring passive is no longer triggered by Spells.

This post is written by Mia, one of our gameplay designers.

Hello there!

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take the opportunity to look back at how far The Hand of Merlin has grown and changed. It’s not an overstatement to say that the game has matured significantly since its release into Early Access on March 17th this year.
Out of curiosity we dug through our patch notes and prior dev blogs and have some interesting data to show off!
Since the release in March there have been a total of 19 minor updates/patches, not counting today and not counting the 5 major content updates. Taking into consideration there have been a total of 39 weeks since, on average we’d have a minor patch every other week and a major update every two months. Looking back we are pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished and all that we’ve added to the game itself.

From the artists we’ve gotten hand drawn cutscenes, map variations, new vfx for spells, more encounter images, and their help in the realization of new enemies and heroes, visual improvements of skills, spells, and so much more. They made the game as beautiful as it is.

The programmers have worked their magic to add so many new features, quality of life changes, polishing every aspect of the game to work as seamlessly as it could. They managed to make the most out of our engine to make new things possible. Gamepads, porting, dealing with the designers… They’re the backbone of The Hand of Merlin.

The writers have built the story of HoM and fleshed it out to make it truly feel as if you’re traversing the multiverse, helping these worlds which are all different no matter how similar they may look. They’ve added quests, additional variations, and more stories to be told. Your choices matter thanks to them.

Mat and I as the designers have been doing our best to try and flesh out the direction for HoM to grow. There’s been a lot of balancing, reworking, and questioning old assumptions. From how to set up the different difficulties, making each hero feel unique, or simply adding more content (such as the new guardians, relics, enemies, etc.) to going through a complete skill overhaul. We’ve kept ourselves (and others) busy!

I can’t speak for everyone, but personally I’m very proud of what our team has accomplished this year. Especially for a small indie team, the Hand of Merlin has had a great year, and I hope it’ll continue to improve next year as well with it’s full release coming up soon.

Also, this lovely little team of ours will also be taking a well deserved two weeks vacation over the holidays!

Feel more than welcome to join our Discord server to tell us what you think, to chat, or ask questions if you have any! Or you know, just to hang out. Cheers!

Mia

This post is written by Mat, our gameplay designer.

Hi all, Mat here to give you all another glimpse to the plans we have after our latest patch, The Gathering of the Gods.

So, as MarkoP has been pointing out in both our Discord server and in the Steam page, we’re walking steadily towards a 1.0 (very) early next year. We’re nearing the end of content creation and adjustments, and focusing quite a lot on our console development as well.

Still, here’s a quick rundown of the features you can expect for when we leave Early Access:

• Questlines: We already introduced a few to test out the waters way back then, but we got several more quests spanning all three main zones, including some that feature unique relics, like Tudwal’s Whetstone.
  
• More Common and Rare Relics: If you are starting to see the same old Hunnic Arrows and Thunderstones a bit too often, worry no longer - we’ll focus on getting a few more cool Relics to make your runs a bit more varied.
  
• Capstone Reward: Mia had a pretty cool idea for a reward if you can defeat our hardest challenge - Hardmode with all curses enabled. Look forward to a bit of a gift!
  
• More VFX reworks: Will is hard at work revisiting spells now, but he’ll soon pivot to give the warband’s skills a bit more love and visual polish.
  
• Achievements: Not only do we have a few to rework, we added so much more content that some more achievements could find their way in! If you are the kind of player to platinum The Hand of Merlin, keep an eye out!

Your feedback was paramount to changes and adjustments until this point. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to hop on our Discord server and let us know!

Mat

Titled ‘Gathering of the Gods,’ the latest update introduces new features to the game including two new Guardians to aid you in your quest to stop the Cataclysm: Oberon and Atlantes.

As the king of faeries, Oberon communicates only through an emissary, but watches the battlefield closely. Treating the flora and fauna well gains his favor and raises your Faerie Reputation. The value of which can produce either a blessing or a curse upon the party later on.



Atlantes is a cosmic being like Merlin himself, but one who is not particularly bothered by the fall of each world. Amused by Merlin’s desire to save worlds, Atlantes provides aid to the party, but conceals his true motivations.

Each Guardian bestows a unique benefit upon the party, and gives you access to an array of powerful new spells to thwart the invading abominations.



The Gathering of the Gods update also adds a brand new Nourishment system, an upgrade to the current Supplies resource. You will now get stacking buffs (or de-buffs) based on how long you travel well-stocked or poorly stocked. These attributes will affect Heroes’ combat stats in a significant way!

New Relics are also introduced in the update along with sound effects for encounter events and improved visual effects for several existing spells.

In addition to these new features, the latest update will also include various small bug fixes, optimizations, and balancing:

Full Patch Notes – Early Access Build 676569

New features:

• Added two new unlockable Guardians: the scientifically-minded Atlantes, and Oberon, king of the Faeries. And between the two, 18 new Spells total!
  
• Added the Nourishment system. Players will now get stacking (de)buffs based on how long they travel well-stocked, or poorly-stocked. These (de)buffs will affect Heroes’ combat stats (health and armor) in a powerful way.
  
• Added six new Relics: Jade Statuette, Orpheus Set, Giant Cauldron, Irish Gorget, Selkie Medallion and Tudwal Whetstone.
  
• Added sound effects for encounter events, such as the bells tolling during Faerie encounters.
  
• Improved the visuals of several existing Spells.

General fixes:

• Fixed a rare crash in combat, related to ground effects.
  
• Fixed a bug causing Windows Mouse Keys to not work correctly with the game.
  
• Fixed a bug where Safir’s Paladin passive would pick its target in a deterministic way, rather than randomly (as is the intention).
  
• Fixed a bug where enemy “prepared shot” abilities could be started while under the Staggered status effect.
  
• Fixed a bug which could allow the “C-Combo” achievement to be awarded when not intended.
  
• Fixed a bug where the camera would not focus on the unit being selected (such as when pressing the Tab button to cycle through units).
  
• Fixed a bug where the tooltips in the Journal could flicker in some cases.
  
• Fixed a bug where relic and spell abilities on the Action Bar would show keyboard hotkeys even when using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed a bug where the map legend could show its tooltip if the currently visited node was underneath it while using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Man’s Best Friend encounter where the options/outcomes could potentially loop indefinitely.

Optimizations:

• Reduced the memory footprint of various combat maps, which also improves performance.

Quality-of-Life improvements:

• Added an option to confine the mouse to the game’s window, available in the in-game menu.
  
• Removed the unit fill/outline buttons from the Action Bar and added them instead into the Gameplay tab in the Options menu, to help reduce combat UI clutter.
  
• The Lobby and Journal UI now fully support navigational-style control when using gamepads, which should feel more intuitive to players accustomed to console dashboard UIs.
  
• Removed various references to mouse/keyboard controls from hints (and embedded images) when using a gamepad.
  
• Added display of player’s name (Steam profile name) to main menu, options and in-game menu.
  
• The undo operation in combat should now work with a broader selection of movement skills and movement-interacting effects, such as Tariq’s Bladedancer passive, Ranger’s Sprint skill tree, and various relics.
  
• Changed targeting rules for Ranger’s Volley skill (and its upgrades), so it’s more in line with similar skills for different classes.
  
• Hero passives (and some other non-scaling effects) no longer have stacks associated with them, to clarify their static nature.

Gameplay balancing:

• Slightly increased enemy stats in Marca Hispanica and Al-Andalus as counter-balance to the overall buffs of the Nourishment system.
  
• Hard Mode no longer requires 3 Supplies per character per node jump. Instead, the Dread Marches modifier is reworked to increase the amount of Supplies required per jump.
  
• Redcap’s tooltip should now better describe its ooze effect.
  
• Dire Redcap no longer restores health from its own oozes.
  
• Ranged bandits should now slightly prefer to shoot decoys over Heroes (but it’s still not a guarantee).
  
• The Reflex Bow, a blacksmith upgrade option for Rangers, no longer relies on a conditional damage effect, now being a flat increase to Power.
  
• Warrior’s Lunge skill (and its upgrades) now only costs 1 AP, but has reduced movement range.
  
• Warrior Heroes should now only gain 2 Health per level up, down from 3.
  
• Heroes hired during encounters will now use a random unlocked prowess, assuming at least one prowess for the hero is unlocked.
  
• Effects associated with Mystic’s Martyrdom skill now only affect allies, not the caster.
  
• Grail of Piety. Instead of reducing Cooldowns when healed, it now increases all healing by 40%.
  
• Grail of Honour. Instead of a refresh effect when killing the last hitter, it now uses a “duel” mechanic, where the target of your last attack deals less damage to other units.
  
• Circlet of Gold. Increased cost to 60 gold (up from 50).
  
• Increased the cooldown of Morgana’s Sacrifice spell to 4 turns (up from 1).

Since entering Early Access in May 2021, The Hand of Merlin has had five major updates on its path to 1.0. These updates have added a wide range of new features designed to improve the overall player experience, including new heroes, passive skills, Hard Mode, controller support, alternate maps, meta progression and more. We’re so happy with how the game has progressed since the EA launch, and are excited for what’s still to come as we near the release of 1.0!

This post is written by Mat, our gameplay designer.

Hello again! Mat back to introduce everyone to our next patch - Gathering of the Gods!

We are introducing two major content items here.

First and foremost, we got two new Guardians: Oberon and Atlantes.

Oberon, The Fey King, can be attained by making good deeds across the continents, calling the attention of his court. He features wondrous nature/fey-type effects, including the ability to absorb damage, creating flowery covers, and increasing movement based on the amount of buffs you have.

Atlantes, on the other hand, is a more recluse sorcerer. You already met him during your travels where he explained your fate, but there’s far more to be discussed with him. As you visit more Arcane nodes, you’ll know more about his stance in the Struggle, and eventually will be able to wield his technological powers, including removing enemy passives, applying global buffs, and even summoning a friendly automaton to fight for you!

But that’s not all! Introduced in the previous blog post, the Nourishment System is ready to be played with. Now supplies are a running resource that will increase your characters health and armor, if you can keep everyone fed. Standby for adjustments and updates on the exact numbers, and let us know what you think!

Of course, enemies received small attribute boosts across the board to account for the power creep - so play it safe as you get to know the new system.

We’re closer and closer to 1.0! Let us know what you think of the new update on our Discord server, and good luck out there!

Mat

This post is written by Mia, our gameplay designer.

Hello there!

This time Marko’s Wednesday post is being usurped by Mia. Hello! I’m the other game designer (other than Mat, that is) that is working on The Hand of Merlin!

Today I bring you news on what else is coming up in the next big content update, along with the two new Guardians. It is the “Nourishment System” which is an overhaul on how the supplies worked till now.

Supplies are one of the resources that you can gain, lose, and trade in the game. While having supplies (other than in easy mode) would virtually mean nothing, not having supplies would cost all of your heroes one health point for each node visited without supplies. It was apparently something that was easily ignored and not that impactful on the game. The damage may have been a bit more brutal in hard mode but it was still just not rewarding or interesting enough.

So, we sat down and brainstormed on what would make the supplies more impactful and actually make you want to go out of your way to buy or pick them as a reward. A lot of ideas were thrown around but what we settled for in the end is…


It’s based on the idea that if your heroes are (or not) fed, their physical capabilities change. A well nourished person is stronger, faster, and has more energy than a person which is malnourished and/or has not been fed properly for days.
As character attributes such as power, speed, and range are meddled with in so many different ways (status effects, abilities, relics…) we decided to tap into an area which we have not touched yet - influencing max health (and armor).

There are 5 stages of nourishment:
Deep Negative - decreases max health and armor by 30%*
Negative - decreases max health and armor by 15%*
Neutral
Positive - increases max health and armor by 15%*
High Positive - increases max health and armor by 30%*

*The exact percentage is suspected to change for balancing purposes



Starting on neutral, the hero's current stage of nourishment changes depending on supplies.
Traveling with supplies will gradually bring you up the scale towards “High Positive” and traveling without supplies will gradually bring you down the scale towards “Deep Negative”.
It’s not possible to skip a stage, so just as the body needs time to gain back strength that was lost so will you have to slowly make your way back up through each stage should you reach the deep negative state of nourishment.

Changing just the max health while keeping the current health unchanged was more often punishing rather than rewarding, so the current health changes along with the max health while keeping the ratio static.
This did bring along a number of issues, the main one being that should someone go up and down the scale they could see the original number change. Rounding up numbers does that, and it seems to be unavoidable. However, at least you can rest easy knowing that these changes will always be in your favor. So if you happen to gain that 1 health point, good on you! MarkoP hates me for it, I’m sure…(no, just unstable systems :) - MarkoP)

Do come join us on our Discord server to share your thoughts or ask any questions you may have!

Mia