0.5.4 Released

Hey everyone,

I'm very excited to say that translation of Axu is now supported! If I have missed any text, please let me know. I worked very hard the last two weeks fixing bugs, adding new content, and overall making the experience much smoother! 0.5.4 is a "something of everything" kind of release. I've fixed numerous bugs that you guys have brought to my attention, made random artifacts much more interesting, tweaked the UI, added NPC sprites, updated world generation to be less same-y, and rebalanced quite a few enemies. Check out the changelog below to see all the good stuff!

So what's next for Axu? Right now I'm working on restructuring the game's balance. The initial plan was to have a low power curve, but I feel that this is not the best direction to go, since there are so many systems in place. I've seen players have ridiculous stats, and nothing to challenge them. So I need to beef up the mid-game, and start working on end-game content. This is a very difficult task, given the diversity of characters. I want all playstyles to be somewhat viable throughout the entire game, given enough skill. I'm also working my way towards a slimmed-down UI as a toggle-able option. Roguelikes are an information-heavy game, given their usual lack of animations and other tells. I feel that the combat log is still necessary for understanding exactly what's going on, so I am going to leave that in, though taking up less space. Other necessary interface elements include HP, ST, status effects, and the minimap. I've been drawing mock-ups for the past few weeks, but have yet to stumble upon anything clear and functional, yet visually appealing. Aside from those two major focuses, as always, I am slowly working through the main story quests. It makes me sad that Axu is not fully playable from start to finish, but I want to make sure the base game is fun before plowing through the story. Rest assured, I am doing all I can!

On another note, I will be attending the Roguelike Celebration in San Fransisco on November 11-12. I hope to do a talk related to Axu, and would love to meet you guys!

Cheers,

Matt (Cynapse)

    CHANGES/ADDITIONS:

        Misc Additions:

• New item modifiers, including firearm-specific ones.
• Daily Hunt and Arena quests once you pass a certain thresholds.
• Villagers and Farmers have new tiles to be more diverse.
• If you have any followers, while in 'L'ook mode, press the Enter key to pick a target for them to attack. You can even harass villagers by having your party follow them.
• Added a sound effect for missing.
• An animation for fang-like weapons.
• New objects: Anvil and Web. The latter causes you to struggle to break free for a random amount of turns while caught. You can still attack, but normal movement is not possible while stuck.
• New traits, including one that increases storage capacity.
• Random Artifacts (Named Items) are now even more versatile. They can have increases or decreases in damage/armor, inherent abilities, and even extra properties the base item does not.

        World:

• Reworked world map generation to produce more interesting results.
• World generation time improved by a significant amount by removing cellars (will put them back in once I work around an issue)
• New random Tundra maps.
• Sanctarix now has a static bottom floor.   

        UI:

• Default damage numbers are dice.
• Reworked status effects in general. All of them now have a set duration rather than a random chance based on Endurance to go away.
• Ported Limb Replacement, Amputation, and Called Shot screens to the new UI system.
• Ported the Look tooltip over to the new UI. It conforms to screen edges, making sure it won't clip.
• New Status Effect UI with icons instead of text.Hover-over tooltips for status effects.
• New combat log and map name UI.
• New poetry panel + art.
• UI panels are slightly more opaque.
• Map quest pointer now displays while not traveling.
• Better handling of the feature list while on the world map.
• Map editor tiles now scale better with different resolutions.
• The screen properly centers if the local map is smaller than the camera's view port.

        QoL:

• Reduced a starting save file to a ridiculously small size by comparison.
• During one of the Ensis' quests, statues can be toppled by walking into them with a digging tool equipped.
• Arrow keys can be used for movement and menu actions.

        Balance:

• Ambushes only occur on the world map.
• While being ambushed, you get a chance to hand over money or a specific item to go free before the bandits attack you.
• Bandit attack severity increased.
• Added a "Hit and Run" AI type.
• Doctors and Book Merchants shuffle their inventories.
• Summoned slime creatures are now considerably weaker, and have new art.
• Felonies can now have HP and ST bonuses.
• Reduced the chance of acquiring Vampirism via a bite.
• Seed Spitters have unlimited ammo.
• Enemies with ranged weapons will attack with that item instead of fists.
• Shovel and Pickaxe are no longer Two-Handed.
• Removed negative item modifiers, but decreased the chance for them to appear.

        Modding:

• Moved all text in the game to the Text.json file, which is editable by modders. This allows FULL translation of the game!   

    FIXES:

• Quests shouldn't take all items of a specific category upon completion anymore.
• Bandits no longer spawn in Friendly areas when returning to a map.
• Virash Saints now have their proper tile.
• Capped ability levels at 5. Tomes can no longer increase that level beyond that cap.
• Fixed a crash dealing with Leprosy taking off all the player's available limbs.
• Severed limbs can no longer spam the message log saying they were severed again multiple times.
• Player should more effectively be warned of starving while on the world map.
• No more crash upon getting the alert that you're starving while on the world map.
• Fixed an inventory duplication bug and memory leak.
• You can no longer equip an Off hand item with only one arm.
• Stat tooltips go away when you close the character panel.
• Enemies respawn underground.
• Fixed some pronoun issues with poetry generation.
• Fixed a rare crash when generating poems.
• Tall grass will more rarely show up in water.
• Hopefully fixed an issue with certain glyphs not displaying correctly on some platforms.
• Weapon/Armor proficiencies should no longer display as leveling up +1 from your actual skill.
• The Experiment felony no longer always starts with 9 HP and 3 ST.
• Fixed an issue where multiple quest events weren't happening all at once.
• Fixed a crash with summoning NPCs before SpawnController is initialized.
• Abilities given by mutations will be removed when that mutation is cured.
• Throwing items won't be overwritten by a firearm, if the latter is equipped after the former.
• Money is no longer taken from the player by just entering the limb replacement service screen.
• Fixed an issue where, when saving underground, reloading, then going back up stairs, all items would be moved to the top left corner of the map.
• Item mods are saved in NPC inventories.
• Firearms will no longer stack in your Ranged slot.
• Camera jitter with varied resolutions resolved after temporary fix from before.
• Group spawning for quests works properly now.
• Un-equipping items with an ability you already innately have no longer gets rid of the ability for good.