Hi, dungeon-crawling fans! It's time for the last update of this year, and there is plenty to report! Numerous things have been worked on during the last few weeks and you can hear all about it in this month's video devlog. One highlight is the new magic system, which should be interesting for everyone who likes combining runes in Ultima Underworld. But, please, see for yourselves: [previewyoutube=McgacyJky4c;full][/previewyoutube] I just uploaded the latest patch to the Closed Beta branch and I am now completely focused on polishing everything for the Open Backer Beta. I hope to have it ready very soon. As always, you will find the transcription of the video below. You will hear from me in the new year. Thank you for your continued support and Best wishes, Michael ------------------------------------------ Hi dungeon-crawling fans! Another month has passed! Time just flies by as the year comes to an end. What is also slowly coming to an end is the closed beta of Monomyth. There has been plenty of progress over the last few weeks and we are getting closer and closer to the Open Backer Beta. So let’s take a look at it. This month I continued polishing mechanics. Last time I mostly did things related to melee combat, so I thought I could as well arrange these polishing phases around differrent playstyles. Generally speaking there is a distinct playstyle for warriors, mages and thieves. So I started this month by making some last changes to the warrior’s playstyle. To keep it short and simple: I removed the shield-bash and added kicking. I tried keeping it as balanced as possible and it strongly depends on your available stamina. Unlike other attacks its stamina costs are set to a certain percentage. So you will always require, let’s say, a third of your stamina when you kick. When the kick lands, your enemy either falls down or is pushed back, depending on your stamina. Of course, kicks are only really useful against humanoids. Most of this month's work was focused on the mage’s playstyle. I reworked casting mechanics, spell acquisition, spell mechanics and I also gave some spells a visual workover. Originally the player could cast spells at any time. You would press the “C” key and start casting a previously memorized spell. This system has been changed. It is now necessary to equip a spellbook to your weapon slot. You can then cast any selected spell with a mouse click. This is much more comfortable than the original system - especially while moving and aiming at the same time. Using the “C” key in such a situation always felt very awkward. You can still easily switch between a readied weapon and a spellbook mid-combat thanks to the secondary weapon slots. One element I wanted to have for the mage’s playstyle was some form of explorative spell acquisition. As you may remember, in both Arx and Ultima Underworld you had to combine specific runes to cast a spell. Monomyth does something similar, but it moves into a slightly different direction with its execution. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33913785/ded645daebb0f41730a7c44d48e012b88830d352.png[/img] In order to cast a spell you first need to memorize it. The number of memorized spells depends on your character stats. In order to memorize a spell you have to activate a spell pattern on a pentagram. To do so, you collect “Echo Stones”, magic artifacts of divine origin, each representing a god in the world of Ariath. The stones are fixed on the pentagram. If you wish to memorize a spell, you have to activate the correct order of Echo Stones. If your character is intelligent enough the resulting spell can be memorized in one of your spell slots. You will still find scrolls throughout the game, but these will just contain the required pattern for the spell. You can always memorize a spell once you have the correct Echo Stones. Once you find the correct combination, it is automatically added to your spellbook. Many of the spells also have different levels now. The magic arrow spell was completely reworked both mechanically and visually. Once the player acquires deeper knowledge of the related school of magic the spell will gain additional projectiles and eventually start homing in on a hostile target. To slightly nudge mages towards using specific armor sets, I introduced a weight penalty on focus. Which reminds me, I haven’t talked about focus yet. Focus is for the mage, what is stamina for the warrior. The difference is, stamina decreases once an attack is performed, whereas focus decreases steadily, as long as a mage is casting a spell. Different spells require different levels of focus making the decrease slower or faster. Once all focus is gone the spell either automatically releases or fizzles, depending on whether or not it was fully cast at the time. If a mage carries all plate armor, his focus will decrease much faster, due to the aforementioned penalty. The final part of this month’s work was focused on the Thief’s playstyle. First I fixed a lot of issues that still existed with archery. I properly implemented various mechanics that depend on the corresponding skill, like the sway while aiming, zooming onto a target and the range of a shot. I replaced the archery animations and while the new animation isn’t as realistic you have a much better view of your target now. I also changed a few things about arrows and how their damage is calculated. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33913785/20cd6396a0e27f5c83bc336ea8c7da25d7581dc5.png[/img] Another improvement was made to the stealth mechanics. I entirely reworked how audio stimuli are registered. Enemy reactions are now more realistic and, most importantly, their ability to hear everything through five walls has been was drastically limited. Just like with magic there is a weight penalty on sneaking. The heavier your equipment is, the louder your character will be. Besides all of this I implemented various bug fixes and a text log for the player to take notes in. Now that I have finalized most of the mechanical polishing I will move on to the more general things and mostly polish content and some visuals. Once this is done the open backer beta will finally start. With the start of the open backer beta all backers will receive their keys. I still have to work out some of the details concerning the method of distribution but you will likely get a retrieval link, for example from humble bundle or a similar site. Until then, I’ll keep you updated and see you soon!