It is time to merge the beta build to the main/default branch increasing the game version from v0.9.0 to v0.9.4 :D 

Before we dive into the changes, I wanted to let you know I plan to do a small streaming session on Monday 4pm EST(UTC -5) on Rogue Empire's twitch channel [www.twitch.tv]. I will be playing some Rogue Empire but that is just an excuse to do a small meet and greet/Q&A. This is the first time I would do this and If I see a few of you there that would be awesome and I would probably redo this at some other point.


Without further ado, here are the main changes ( I might have missed some) introduced into the game:

New Features

• General game play additions:
  • Added +16 new “regular” enemies. 
  • Added 4 type of shadow pylons to the game. These are destructible structures that buff nearby enemies.
  • Added a new ability to the hunter’s deck: 
  • Added Barricades that impede your movement till destroyed. If in corridors this can cut off an escape or give you some time to engage an enemy coming at you. In the case of outdoor environments something similar comes in the form off Vine Walls.
  • Dungeons now have fenced walls characters can see through. These walls let through ranged and spell attacks! Dungeon forming algorithm tries to put these in interesting spots.
  • Resting inside a closed (or even better a locked) room highly reduces the chance of getting spotted and interrupted by an enemy.
  • Added the spell 
  • Added the spell 
  • Added the spell 
  • Added the spell 
  • The Green blob enemy is now... more unique.
  • The Blue blob enemy is also... more unique.
  • Added potions of unfreeze and quelch fire. "Warning: only use when intended ;)"
  • Archer enemy type AI was improved: Enemy will try to figure out where is the best place to shoot at you as well as try to get at least 1 shoot at you before you can engage in melee. Range characters should not notice much difference, except the enemy will try to get in firing range instead of running away if out ranged.
• Quality Of Life Additions
  • Hitting the level change key binding when cycling(tabbing) through exits now navigates your character to the corresponding exit.
  • Improved auto explore. Locked doors you can pass by should be now ignored. 
  • Added the option to skip leaderboards when dying.
  • Battle texts now have 3 modes: Disabled, classic (Similar to what was now but a little faster and less obstructive) and modern (very compact but also gives more information revealing the direction of attacks).
  • In game log text was improved.
  • Level up screen now shows the amount of current stats you have for easy comparison. 
  • Level up gold focus option now shows the exact amount you will be getting (which is rolled when you level up. 
  • Restore from previous backup tool: This is mainly a just in case tool that I hope you won’t need to use. The tool enables you to restore a game to a previous state (a previous level you were exploring). This is done when loading a game using the wrench icon. Important to know is this operation cannot be undone so don't use it unless you are sure your game is broken. 
  • Games now can be saved in a compressed mode which is enabled by default (you can change this in settings). It is recommended you run with this mode as saving uses a fraction of the space it used to and will sync much faster in steam.
• Graphical related improvements
  • Updated the game's font to be mono spaced. 
  • Improved the grass and ruins theme tile set.
  • When dying you now see your character shatter and its soul fly away. ;)
  • Critical hits now have a specific special effect to them.
• Dawn of Shadows Campaign: You can now complete the main game. Balance might be off. If you do beat it let me know what you thing of the ending you achieved and if the message I tried to transmit made any sense ;). 
  • The with its boss encounter is now accessible in the Dawn of Shadows Campaign.
  • Added a the lava/hot tile set skin for a late game dungeon of the Dawn of Shadows campaign.
  • Added 11 new story sections for the main campaign with its unique beautiful illustrations.
  • Added a new mid game "town" to the world map with specific merchants.
  • Added a late game "town".
  • A total of more than 30 new dungeon levels where added to the Dawn of Shadows campaign
  • Added a new boss that acts as the .
  • Added several new random encounters on the world map.
  • Added the final? boss of the Dawn of Shadows (main) campaign.
  • Added multiple endings to the Dawn of Shadows (main) campaign.
  IMPORTANT: Ongoing games won’t have access to all new areas mainly because the worl map as a whole changed a little.
• Challenge Dungeon
  • Added a new type of stacked challenge to the challenge dungeon: .
  • 1 new stacking option to the challenge dungeon. This is: 

Balance Changes

• Changed xp formula to make leveling more spread out. Changed dungeons in the campaigns accordingly. This will affect ongoing games.
• Some type of champions (high dmg ones and high speed ones) will only appear later in the game.
• Rats in crates and barrels no longer have a first strike on you.
• Rooms where a character enters a dungeon by regular means (e.g. stairs, two way portals) shall generate much less enemies.
• Armor penalties for casters and stealth users are now based on the equipped weight. UI was updated to show your current equipped weight.
• Some enemies have had their mana pool increased.
• Reduced disarm duration from 4 to 3 turns.
• Enemies do not aggro at each other over friendly AOE fire anymore.
• Reduced fast champion archetype speed and damage as these where able to one shot unprepared travelers to easily. 
• Range attacks now can fire through other entities towards the target. How ever doing so comes with a penalty to the to hit rating modifier in the case of ranged weapons. 
• Made challenge dungeon slightly bigger and with more enemies to compensate for the previous patch level slowing at start.
• By popular demand, you will now see a status effect icon when somewhere on the current the magician merchant shows up!
• You can no longer get robbed by resting.
• Dodge chance now depends on the attacker's perception and fate. In general dodged has been reduced on higher levels to avoid constant dodging. Also make perception more valuable in general.
• Low level champions now won't have new abilities only stat increases.
• Higher level champions will have more hp.
• Low tier enemies eventually can level up spells if encountered in high level dungeons.
• On higher level dungeons low tier enemies will drop less powerful items. On the other hand high tier enemies will drop more powerful items.
• Item prices where re balanced.
• Restocking from the same merchant appearance increases in cost with every restock.
• Chests have higher chances to be unlocked in low tier dungeons. The opposite is true for higher tier dungeons.
• Player summons now get destroyed when exiting a level.
• The amount maximum summons a summoner can maintain in a level now depends on the square root of the summoner's level. This can be change with an ability for the mage.
• Ring of speed modifiers where reduced. This change only affects new rings found.
• Buffed up human druid starting weapon.
• Because of their high hp pool bosses got their hp regeneration reduced to 1/3.
• Hunters now start with the "create ammo I" skill.
• Nature regeneration duration improved greatly for lower levels of the spell.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where some holes would crash the game by making the character fall off the screen on the next level.
• Added some improvement to memory allocation within each rendering frame in hopes to help with the memory issue some are having.
• You should no longer go swimming in the world map.
• The game should be in general more stable.
• Fixed auto explore when sometimes it would freeze having all reachable areas explored.
• Volley of Knifes now correctly targets crates and barrels when they are the only target available.
• Fixed freeze issue when hitting enter to using potions from the inventory.
• Armor effects for spell casters and characters with stealth are now shown immediately when loading a game.
• Fixed issue where flare shot was making a stealthed character unstealthed indefinitely in the area of the flare shot.
• Fixed bug where the mage's 
• Eghoss campaign final boss 
• Just being out of sight is not enough to start resting. 
• Fixed bug where sometime enrage would not trigger for enemies.
• Fixed achievement issue that prevented them to show on steam.
• Fixed sound issue with frost traps.
• Spawning to a new dungeon level should now properly avoid a place where the character would be surrounded.
• Fixed issue where AI would cast wind shield on barrels.
• Fixed issue where champions where getting too much additional damage.
• Fixed several typos.

Other

• Armor effects for characters with stealth is shown always regardless of if the character is currently in stealth.
• The game should be running in borderless window mode now.
• Most off view abilities should be executed instantly now.
• Resting is disallowed on world map now.
• Frame rate default is now 30 fps.
• Game disk size reduced around 30%.
• Memory usage reduced around 70%.
• Map transition speed improved by around 10% to 60% depending on your hardware.
• Game performance improved considerably.

As always feel free to pop up at discord and discuss with me about whatever you want!

Cheers and happy crawling!
GW