Hey all,
Version 0.16 is going live! Join Lost Flame's discord if you want to follow the beta branch changes, or just chat!
This is another big update containing changes from the past 3 months of work and I can imagine in 2 or 3 such updates the game will reach 1.0 state (so somewhere between december and march).

The update introduces smoother "animations" for characters moving and attacking, monsters gibbing into pieces when killed and on-screen status and damage indicators.




You can also find elements of the UI updated:


The update introduces new optional semi-permadeath mode, which is explained in the new tutorial. When running the game for the first time it will be started in this mode.
In short: dying will reload the game to the last pyre that you've found (losing all progress since then) and get your character debuffed with more and more curses (which can be removed with some items). At some point you will get 'doomed' debuff, and if you die before removing it the game will be over.
This usually gives 2-3 additional chances, before the number of curses gets too overwhelming (although it's possible with some builds to survive more deaths).
This also replaces the previous difficulty level system - now the game is always played on former "normal" difficulty.

This update introduces several improvements for mouse control, including things such as better inventory management, "smart" skill usage, better character control. You can find the details below:

• added 'smart skills' when using mouse. When clicking an enemy that is 1 tile away your character will use the 'lunge' skill if it's available. If clicking an enemy that is 1 tile away and lunge is not available 'stab' will be used. When clicking behind a nearby enemy 'jump over' will be used if available. I plan to expand it with more skills in the future
  
• double clicking or right clicking an item in inventory will cause a default action to happen depending on item type (equip/unequip/use)
  
• when using mouse to walk around if any of allies stand in your way you will swap places with them instead of being stopped
  
• you can use mouse wheel to browse through your skills
  
• sped up the camera when using mouse controls
  
• hovering mouse on doors, chest or enemy, will properly mark the tile visually
  
• waiting using mouse (by clicking on your character) will rest until stamina is restored

Crimson pyre event is completely reworked. Now carrying cursed items for a longer time will result in the player getting cursed. Curses are various effect which usually debuff the player's character. At some point if the player does not address those curses they will get doomed. Getting doomed makes all of the equipment cursed. The player will no longer be forced into Neith when doomed, however if whole equipment is cursed, the player will be given the option to travel to Neith through a pyre.
There are some ways to remove those curses and doomed debuff - either use blessed scrolls of remove curse, which remove one of such curses, or travel to Neith where blight eaters can be found. Blight eaters are unusual type of shades - they uncurse your equipment and killing them removes one of the curses from the player.

The update introduces two small locations.
Desolate Lighthouse is a late game area just east of the Grey Shore accessible at the very start with a unique monster which built its nest around a blood-soaked scoria and absorbed some if its time controlling power.



The Buried Retreat hidden deep in the Abysm which introduces a campfire in a very remote location and an NPC offering a new way to trade with the player



The update also introduces a number of tunnels all over the Hiraeth. The tunnels are getting spread by the Abysm to reach something.. And you can use them to do some shortcutting between distant areas. One of such tunnels can be found before Tower of Mirth. Be aware that the tunnels are pretty dangerous!



All bosses received additional tiles showing them getting more and more hurt.





The update introduces new way to end the game - now you can try to restore the barrier that used to surround the Abysm.

• blood-soaked scoria can now be empowered with scrolls of power, using it will bring your character back to the Gray Shore and regenerate all areas with beefed up versions of monsters (NG+ style)
  
• achieving any of the game endings will show a text description of the consequences of the player's choices
  
• added flavor texts for all potions, scrolls and a bunch of other items
  
• scroll of travel now behaves slightly different, when used in some areas it will teleport you to other predefined places
  
• changed how cursed scrolls of travel work - now they will also grab all nearby allies and enemies with you
  
• Added a new type of "big" monsters abyss worms
  
• Reworked the early game tutorial - the original tutorial level got removed, now when a new player starts a game their early levels will be generated slightly differently and will include stone tablets that can be read for some tips on how to play the game
  
• Added 2 new types of shades
  
• various mainland areas have names now - there is no "mainland" area name displayed anymore
  
• added a simple rain effect to the swamps before the Tower of Mirth
  
• added 13 new Steam achievements
  
• added much more webs in the Northern Tunnel
  
• blood-soaked scoria can now also be found deep in the Abysm
  
• added a basic sea wave "animation" on the Grey Shore
  
• added a very basic campfire "animation"
  
• mages summoning flesh will no longer show blinking dots before the spell procs
  
• some minor changes around Arnet's Quarters
  
• when traveling through campfire you will appear on the other side of it, not top left corner every time
  
• changed slightly how player's stats are shown in the inventory
  
• added music to Sisterhood area
  
• updated sprites for Children of Iphe

• added missing sounds to several different effects
  
• fixed Deflector short sword's name being shown wrongly when unidentified
  
• fixed ring of regeneration desription being shown twice
  
• removed the mini blink when opening the first door at Tower of Mirth 3
  
• fixed binding short cuts to items not being usable in the turn they were created
  
• essence will no longer be generated cursed or blessed
  
• changed the death message for automations to "crumbles to dust"
  
• cleaned up description for brutality affix
  
• cleaned up description for bleed effects
  
• changed font in player inventory to a more readable one
  
• bosses blocking stairs will now also block campfires (this only affects one area)
  
• fixed scroll of power and scroll of travel interaction
  
• changed the ladder tile to the correct one on passage between Hall of Candles 2 and Hall of Candles 1
  
• cleaned up descriptions, fixed some typos for a bunch of items
  
• Fixed a bug where sometimes you would hear the waves ambient sound in menu when quickly closing the game after start
  
• Now both Arnet and Grand Executioner need to be killed to unblock the ladder at their area
  
• the small hp bar near player's character is no longer displayed
  
• fixed acid and web not being shown on an open door tile
  
• fixed distorted monsters not having full hp after an area reset
  
• Whirlwind spear no longer hits allies
  
• fixed some singular/plural text messages for plural items (e.g. trousers, greaves)
  
• fixed minimap not always scaling properly when changing resolution
  
• fixed the sea ambient sound starting before the game actually starts sometimes
  
• a small shadow no longer shows in the middle of a tile when standing below a "high" tile, such as a tree or Thayer's furnace
  
• removed any graphical artifacts that sometimes shown on some graphical scaling values
  
• killing children of Iphe will log them as children of Iphe, not whatever they were trasnformed into
  
• fixed some monsters having corrupted name when being distorted
  
• ring of blood spurt no longer harms allies
  
• fixed a bug where low-stamina heavy breathing would sometimes not stop on death
  
• fixed the color of feathered creature, depending if it's ally or not
  
• ring of fowl now works correctly if given to bottle knight and does not agro npcs in Hythe
  
• fixed a bug where game would behave weirdly if bottle knight had spear and rope and got disappeared when having a hooked enemy

• distortion level is shown near the area's name above the minimap
  
• when Calven Dunning is killed all other nearby enemies will die 1 by 1
  
• essence is now autopicked up, like other consumables
  
• using 'l'ook command will start the cursor from the player position instead of the mouse's cursor
  
• Brokbrog's 'feed items' screen will no longer close after selecting an item, making it easier to feed him multiple items
  
• increased the size of the box around status icons in top left corner
  
• when carrying a shield and the shield is not readied, an empty shield icon will be displayed in the status area (top left corner)
  
• changed the color of the chat notification whenever someone wins the game
  
• lowered volume of poison damage and sword attacks slightly
  
• changed the high pitched hound yelp into a different sound
  
• added visual notifications for "petrifying", "stunned" and "confused" effects
  
• Smasher great axe now has a text notification when its effect procs
  
• changed the game default resolution, when starting it first time ever, to full screen borderless mode
  
• added option to clear F1-F12 binding

• reduced the weekly run score for the easier wins
  
• added a few more campfires throughout the game
  
• fixed the flame wave not disappearing when The Archmage escapes to Neith
  
• Headguard of Frozen Dusk reduces sight even more, however enhanting it weakens the debuff
  
• executioner's essence can no longer be used to craft executioner's ring - changed to ring of punishment
  
• added petrification resistance for Archmage and Olivar Steros
  
• being invisible now grants a dodge bonus
  
• attacking from invisibility grants 20% to hit bonus
  
• increased the probability of scrolls of travel and scrolls of power to spawn
  
• sweep around greatsword attack no longer self stuns for 1 turn, increased stamina cost to 5
  
• soulless witches got higher cooldown for 'teleport enemy' attack
  
• scroll of antimagic - reduced the duration of the buff
  
• scroll of antimagic now also grants polymorph immunity
  
• when enemy disarms you, your weapon will always drop to the ground where you are standing. If any item was there before, the item will be displaced to a nearby free tile.
  
• eating Iphe's essence will cause a random debuff (similar as when attacked by ||Primordial Child of Iphe||)
  
• bottle knight no longer has a timer after which he disappears - he will only disappear when hurt heavily or after using square bottle again
  
• wand of ice storm - increased the damage
  
• executioner's ring - reduced the base percentage chance of beheading 20%->15%

Hope you have fun!
Bartek

This update fixes a bug where game would rarely freeze during world generation.

This is a small update which hotfixes the key in Sisterhood not matching the doors

This small update hotfixes jump away and jump over skill freezing the game on activation.

Hi all,
Newest update is on the default branch. This update is the biggest update yet, hope you find it fun. Join the discord channel if you want to be up to date with what's happening on the beta branch and access new content earlier, or just want to hang out.


The Hungry Caverns get 2 alternate new different layouts: The Bog and The Twisted Chambers. I have also added 6 new bosses, so that each of 4 types of Hungry Caverns has 2 bosses that you could meet.






This update introduces a bunch of items that grant stealth. The stealth is always gained for a short time, meant to manouever during combat, not avoid enemies completely.
There is also a bunch of items that give you specific bonuses when surprising enemies with attacks. An enemy is surprised either if you attack from stealth or if you attack them within 10 ticks after getting into 3 tiles range, which can be done even if you have no items granting stealth.





Each world has a seed that is shown after you die (or with "showseed" command in chat). The seed can be reused when starting a game which will make the generated areas identical. Achievements cannot be unlocked when playing with manual seed.
This update also introduces weekly runs which replace current leaderboard system. Each week there is a specific seed, the same for everyone, and you can compete with others on a leaderboard. You can play the weekly run only once, the leaderboard is reset each week on friday UTC 00:00.
The weekly runs will usually be standard random seed, however from time to time they will be curated, for example when there are new items introduced, the weekly seed might be predefined so the new items get dropped early in the game.
This week's seed will have a ring of stealth drop in the Ivar's cave.


The update introduces new rare items.
The Istimid Compressor allows you to extract a magic power from a ring or amulet and create an elixir out of it. The elixir grants you permanently the effects of the item used in the process. You can also find such elixirs randomly in different places.
This item gives the possibility to reset the current area - bringing all of the defeated enemies back to life while increasing their power and filling back all of the chests in this area. This includes unique monsters and unique items.

The update introduces several new areas, smaller and bigger.
The area is located close to the top of the Tower of Mirth. This is where Arnet the Honest spent his time experimenting on the inmates. The area has guaranteed either Blood-Soaked Scoria or Istimid Compressor.


The area is hidden near the swamps between Castle Istimid and Tower of Mirth. You can find a new NPC Violet Pepper with her 9-headed pet hydra Serenity there.


A new side-area with several new monster types and a fourth of the royal wardens. The area is hidden near Castle Gisea, although there is also a way to reach it earlier, during the crimson pyre event.


Spending too much time with cursed items also affects the bearer and at some points imbues the character with a curse which affects the travels through campfires.



The update fleshes out the deeper levels of Abysm, including its very bottom where you can try to destroy the being that created the Abysm. The passage to the deeper areas of Abysm is hidden.



The update introduces the ability to parry enemy attacks when wielding a 1-handed weapon. Parrying blocks all melee attacks in the next 10 ticks and strikes all the attacking enemies with a riposte attack dealing 100% weapon damage (and applying all on-hit effects). If more than 1 enemy is parried the ability will also stun all attacking enemies, the more enemies are parried the longer the stun.
If no attacks are parried then your character will self stun for 2 actions (or you can cure it within first action with phial). To help with visual clarity most essential statuses, such as stuns, will also be shown on enemy tile.



This update introduces 2 new alternate ways to end the game:
Venturing deep into abysm and defeating the being there will achieve this ending. The way to do this is pretty straightforward, although this is probably the most difficult way to finish the game.
Killing the four witches you can find throughout the game will achieve this ending.

• added character log when they die, you can find the log in the game folder and it looks like this, last 5 character logs are stored
  
• 21 new achievements
  
• more variation to the destroyed buildings outside of Castle Istimid
  
• 2 new music tracks - Abysm and Poison Vaults
  
• big rocks can now be pushed - when pushed into water they allow you to pass through it afterwards, there some random rooms and areas where this could help you
  
• acid now disolves ice tiles
  
• some more random rooms in Hungry Caverns
  
• added a few really strong enchant effects for staves
  
• scrolls of jump and other jump effects can now be used to jump over water
  
• scroll of jump has additional effects if cursed or blessed
  
• using fire damage on tiles with acid will make it explode
  
• added ~20 new monsters and ~30 new items
  
• flying monsters can now actually fly over some of the obstacles
  
• introducing polymorph effect - you and enemies can be temporarily polymorphed into rabid frogs via potions of polymorph or abilities of some of the more powerful enemies
  
• with this update you can wield rings and amulets instead of weapon/shields which will grant you the effect of the ring/amulet, giving some more flexibility in how you want to build your character

• added some missing status icons and descriptions
  
• fixed soulless torturers appearing sometimes in the cells in Tower of Mirth
  
• fixed "you feel better" appearing at start of the game on normal and easy difficulty
  
• fixed game sometimes freezing if Ivar would die to green mold acid mid-swing
  
• fixed the color of allies sometimes not being gray
  
• fixed the color of non-ally feathered creature being gray
  
• fixed ring of sight granting less sight range than in the description
  
• added missing sounds for some of the effects
  
• fixed ladder to the Traveling Laboratory not being red
  
• fixed columns in Castle Istimid 3 being ugly (Gargoyles' area)
  
• fixed cancelling of throw action making some time pass
  
• Tyrannical Stompers' won't play the *STOMP* sound when walking nearby automatons in Istimid
  
• "this is trousers" fixed a bunch of gramatical errors
  
• harming a webbed big enemy with fire will destroy a random web that holds them, instead of the one in the top left corner only
  
• The Blizzard's effect now won't hurt allies
  
• fixed the stone statues in Armory not appearing on mini map
  
• fixed the Furnace Flame effect not appearing after weapon skills on the skills list
  
• fixed/cleaned up how wielding 2 shields works - now the character will first block with his right hand shield and once it's "out of blocks" the left hand shield will take over
  
• Fixed bugmoon eggs and tentacles being able to be stunned
  
• Fixed Brokbrog taking an equiped item from you if it had the same as the one that you offered to him
  
• fixed items from chests sometimes appearing behind a nearby wall
  
• fixed shields in off-hand inreasing the character's AC
  
• fixed the Abysm stairs sometimes appearing too close to each other
  
• fixed butchered convicts sometimes exploding twice
  
• fixed issues with the "show item in game chat" functionality
  
• fixed Brokbrog being able to multiply your items if fed stackable items
  
• improved the performance of Annora Rise generation
  
• fixed acid damage not agroing the NPCs in Hythe
  
• fixed crafting items not working after save/load
  
• fixed crafting only taking one essence if it was cursed
  
• fixed being able to teleport into locked out areas in Armory
  
• fixed some chat messages not matching the VO
  
• dying to acid will display a proper message now
  
• fixed trying to use phial in the last ticks before death when petrifying not saving you
  
• fixed the description of statuses showing only after a delay when hovering mouse over them
  
• fixed too much time passing when traveling back from Neith
  
• fixed children of Iphe dropping gold when dying transformed into something that has gold (they still will drop gold if you hurt them when they are transformed into gold golems)
  
• fixed ice aura monsters (e.g. ice golems) harming other enemies
  
• fixed some enemies not showing in black color when hovering an attack over them
  
• removed the chat action for non-talking allies
  
• fixed a bug when some of the door in Armory were not opened after defeating Hiedra
  
• fixed the hidden passage to Abysm 3 sometimes not being generated
  
• fixed small areas sometimes not being displayed properly (one row of the tiles would be outside screen)

• after getting hurt movement and attack commands are blocked for a very brief moments (depending on damage but it's around ~0.5 sec) - should help in cases where you explore and something attacks you unexpectedly, say from out of sight)
  
• slightly changed the color of nothingness on minimap
  
• added red warning message when standing on acid/web
  
• added a tick sound when moving around the chat options when talking to other characters
  
• added a short cooldown before showing the name of the area after entering it, when walking on the edge of 2 areas back and forth
  
• damage received by your character is shown in red color in chat now
  
• when leveling up, all of the items in your sight range will be identified

• buffed the duration of Obsidian Handguards of Infinite Rage and added enchant scaling to the effect's power
  
• reduced the power of gauntlets of power
  
• reduced the amount of potions of poison in Poison Vault
  
• more potions will drop in different areas of the world
  
• Tyrannical Stompers' damage now scales with enchant
  
• Bottle Knight slightly more hp
  
• The HP threshold when Bottle Knight will hide to the bottle is slightly higher now
  
• gladiator's ring now also works for dual wielding 1-handed weapons
  
• Mending stone now heals and restores stamina (but only for yourself) in addition to restoring charges in phial
  
• skull helmet now scales with enchant
  
• potions with negative effects (liquid fire, poison, etc) will now explode on throw affecting all nearby mobs
  
• some of the NPCs in Hythe are *MUCH* stronger now
  
• ice drakes will create more ice around them
  
• bloodsuckers slight rework - now they suck much more life and are slightly faster, but the effect can be cured
  
• increased push away effects' cooldown for a bunch of bosses
  
• Arthar Duning - reduced the frequency of him applying blind
  
• amulet of life saving now grants short invulnerability after proccing (based on enchant level), but will always be destroyed afterwards
  
• potion of protection shield gain is additionally increased based on your permanent shield value
  
• the bugmoon infested Abysm will always contain the Bugmoon Elder Queen
  
• Dawnguard no longer grants protection from curses and the "destroy shades" effect is only proccing if the shield is not cursed
  
• Increased Liver's hp
  
• ring of jumping buff, now the jump range scales with enchant
  
• all attacks against stunned or confused characters are guaranteed to land
  
• stunned or confused characters won't be able to use their shields to block incoming attacks

Thanks to everyone who helped with beta testing and lmk if you have any issues!

Bartek

Hi All,
If you are looking for some new content please be invited to check out the Steam beta branch of the game and join the Lost Flame's Discord, where you will learn about any changes available for beta testing.
The beta branch already has quite a bit of new stuff (81 tasks mark as done in my backlog) - you can read about the changes here. I will upload the full changelog to Steam once the update goes to the stable branch (ETA: beginning of March), but the major points are:

• parrying! With some help from the Discord community, we have managed to pull off parrying in a turn based game - all single handed weapons have additional skill "parry". When parrying you block all incoming melee attacks in the next 10 ticks damaging all attacking enemies and stunning them if more than 1 enemy was parried. Failed parry will result in a short selfstun.
  
• several new hidden areas in mid/late game (e.g. you can try to find the passage to Abysm 3 and try to explore its depths, and a bunch of others), those areas give 2 alternate ways to end the game
  
• lots of different small content changes and bug fixes, such as allowing the player to wield rings and amulets in hands instead of weapon to gain their benefits, or making acid explode when damaged with fire and of course new items and enemies

Some teaser screenshots below.

Cheers,
Bartek

Hi all,
This is a small update which fixes Bugmoon Abysm 2 generation which would sometimes put the stair to Abysm 1 in an inaccessible place.
Cheers,
Bartek

Just a small update adding the option to disable in-game chat (in in-game options)

This is a quick update which fixes the game crashing when swapping in and out The Leafbringer staff. It also reduces the chance to have your items destroyed when receiving ice/fire damage to roughly 1/3 of previous chance.

Hi all,
0.14.11 update is officially out! You can read about the new stuff below and as always please be invited to Lost Flame's discord channel.

There are three major points of this release and around 50 smaller changes.

The Abysm area got 4 new alternate versions. You will encounter new monsters and minibosses there. Some of those can get really tense at times! The plain version of Abysm also received a makeover with more varied generation algorithm. The new levels introduce completely new mechanics such as fire breathing stone statues, monsters that can transform into any other monster or ice covered tiles



Those of you who have reached the final areas know that the boss fights there were mostly placeholders - well, not anymore. The Arthar Duning fight is a fully fledged fight now. The same goes with Rianne and The Archmage fight. When it comes to The Archmage - the Mages' Chambers got slightly reworked too with new miniboss to meet there! I have also rebalanced most of the mid-game boss fights as well.


With this update each and every dual-wielded 1-handed weapon combination will give you a special attack or two. There are 6 single handed weapon classes so in total there are around 36 such combo-skills, the skills also depend on which weapon is in right hand and which one is in the left - so bastard sword+sabre is different than sabre+bastard sword.


There is also a ton of other, smaller changes - here they are:

• Aerith the Green, Boneheaded Beldwin, Ngotraimuucs and all new minibosses give essence and have their crafts now
  
• 8 new achievements
  
• clubs/maces received new abilities: a small 2 tile slash strike and a lunge which attacks 2 tiles instead of one
  
• Some more possible crafts by Brokbrok added, some more secret than other:)
  
• Added some missing sounds
  
• There is another way to get the Cure ending now
  
• The alternate plane where most of the souls went after the Sundering is accessible for the player now, this is just a first taste though, more of it is work in progress:)
  
• killing Arabelle in Hythe will have consequences now
  
• 2 new non-level specific minibosses

• lots of additional key rebind options via options.config
  
• stamina bar now shows how much stamina will be used by a skill when you hover it
  
• fields that are outside your vision will not show that an enemy wants to attack it
  
• you can force an attack by a new advanced action 'a'ttack
  
• fixed tutorial message not disappearing - this time for sure:D
  
• you cannot feed equipped items to Brokbrog anymore (as it was too easy to do it by mistake)
  
• message log will no longer show duplicate messages that are not relevant
  
• polished the hp bar a little when having a temp or permanent shield
  
• bottle knight will also identify item that he carries when the player levels up
  
• improved inventory control via keyboard a little
  
• improved error logging
  
• Brokbrok will not drop items under himself or other characters anymore
  
• after feeding items to Brokbrok the hover will stay on "feed item" chat opions, so it's more convenient to feed him multiple items
  
• all friendly monsters are shown in white colour now - previously it was impossible to distinguish them from enemies

• significant improvements in the speed of level generation
  
• when killing a big enemy with elemental attack the elemental icon was only shown on of the tiles the monster stood fixed
  
• if the game crashes in ladder mode - you should get some points back for your run
  
• mature sand dragons will not activate their lightning aura if they are not fighting anyone (i.e. they will not zap you over a wall if you haven't seen each other)
  
• fixed strange behaviour when traveling via stair when stuck in web
  
• fixed blinking icon after drinking elixir of regeneration
  
• mobs will not attack air anymore and should use their skills slightly better now
  
• mobs' abilities not working during the first tick after their spawn fixed
  
• fixed sound of throwing items always being iron (except potions, which were fine)
  
• fixed soulless torturer special attack staying on map after he got killed
  
• throwing potions incorrectly giving "%%monster drinks %%potion" message fixed
  
• flying mobs will no longer get hurt by acid pools
  
• flying mobs can fly over some of the obstacles now
  
• throwing an item and zapping a wand takes consistently 10 ticks now (for default speed)
  
• fixed mobs making ambient sounds too often sometimes
  
• fixed cursor not reappearing when going back to menu after it was hidden in the game
  
• fixed description for ring of damage

• flamelobbers have higher attack delay now (12 ticks instead of 10)
  
• tower of mirth got harder - stronger native monsters and increased danger level of other enemies that can appear there
  
• big axes and axes - improved their attack speed
  
• nerfed heavy ring, ring of focus, absorption ring and ring of the slayer
  
• temporary shield decays much faster, especially for very high values
  
• soulless hybrids and soulless bugfiends will no longer use weapon skills
  
• Dismal Lowlife has slightly weaker weapons now
  
• bottle knight base stats got lowered (improved his scaling with enchant though)
  
• swap weapons takes 7 ticks now (so quicker than wielding a weapon from inventory)

Hope you have fun,
Bartek