This is a small patch to address a few issues that players have run into with the most recent update.
Please note that there is currently a bug with cutscenes where cutscenes will randomly not complete correctly for different users in different places. We are unable to reproduce, but thanks to the information provided by users we’ve put together a potential fix. Please let us know if this solves the issue, if not please provide us with as much information as possible including save files, videos and screenshots.
It’s been a while since our last demo update. This update focuses on addressing feedback from the last update, adding new assets, and some adjustments and improvements. See the change log for the full changes.
Our Winter Beta Update is now here! This update finishes off the story in Lakure! Look forward to traveling the province, conversing with locals, and convincing Lord Katerina to help you!
This update also contains a large number of technical improvements we made over the summer which were previous released in the demo update a few months ago. Another thing of note is that all of SFX has been redone and updated, and we’ve added some new features like books and eavesdropping.
We recommend making a copy of your save files (the .sqlite files) in your game directory before continuing. There should be no issues, but we do upgrade the files in this release.
If you come across any issues, feel free to send us a Tweet or DM, message on the Discord Server, or shoot us an email. Bug reports and feature requests can also be logged here.
Release Notes
Added
Added a number of enemy, player, and equipment name strings to the translation file
Added new debate facts
Added new debates
Added new cutscenes
Added new skits
Added more SFX, and added new SFX to existing cutscenes
Added new item icons
Added new audio
Added NPCs and houses to Lakure, and unblocked the city
Added new character sprites
Added books
Added eavesdropping events
Added new overworld tiles
Fixed
Fixed UI briefly appearing after transitioning screens before an event plays
Fixed lists accidentally cutting off Text
Fixed flashing when starting a cutscene
Fixed flashing when changing maps during a cutscene
Fixed actors during cutscenes sometimes not appearing
Fixed Shop Confirm Button not working
Other
Upgraded to Gamemaker 2.3
Converted & consolidated all of the cutscenes to a new system
Converted & consolidated all of the skits to a new system
Refactored how quests are stored and loaded
Refactored how debate statements are stored and loaded
It’s been almost one year since we released our graphical overhaul demo! This demo was really big since not only did we redo a TON of assets, we also switched game engines to Gamemaker, adjusted story content, and addressed a lot of feedback.
We’ve been working hard on development since then, and decided to release an update to the demo with all of the improvements we’ve made! We hope you all enjoy it, and maybe find some requested features down below!
We recommend making a copy of your save files (the .sqlite files) in your game directory before continuing. There should be no issues, but we do upgrade the files in this release.
If you come across any issues, feel free to send us a Tweet or DM, message on the Discord Server, or shoot us an email. Bug reports and feature requests can also be logged here.
Highlights
Status Point Shortcut
We often watch people who post Let’s Plays or do live streams of the game, and something we noticed a LOT was that people would often forget to use their status points they gained when levelling up.
Generally speaking, setting one or two points can make a very big difference in battle, so after going through a whole area, and then facing a boss, you might find yourself in a lot of trouble. In fact, lots of people failed when fighting the first boss battle because they forgot to set points.
Although we have a reminder in the main menu screen, it wasn’t enough, and we wanted to provide an unobtrusive way to remind you about it. So now when you have status points to spend, you will have a shortcut on the HUD to the skills screen beside the main menu icon!
Full Screen Support
Something that was highly requested was the ability to fullscreen the game. A big reason why we haven’t supported it thus far is that Gataela’s UI is not pixelated, while the game itself is. This means that either the pixel art is blurry or the UI is pixelated when scaling.
We took the first step to add this to the game, and it’s now available in the demo!
Please keep in mind this is more “experimental” and will be improved over time, but we hope that this will help those who had difficulty with the smaller windowed size of the game.
Difficulty Options
We’ve started to add difficulty options! Two options that are now available in the demo is “Enemy HP Multiplier” and “Enemy EXP Multiplier”.
If you’re finding turn-based battles take too long, try decreasing the amount of HP the enemies have. If you dislike grinding, increase the amount of EXP you get from battles! These options can be changed at any time while playing, so we hope you can tweak the game to your preferences!
Battle Improvements
We have made a TON of battle improvements within this release such as displaying levels, adding criticals and misses, adding chances to fail escaping from battles among other fixes such as fixing the block and dodge skills, and how stats are used during battle!
Please see the release notes for full details on what sort of changes we’ve made!
Release Notes
Added
Added a block animation for when the Block skill plays
Added a dodge animation for when the Dodge skill plays
Added swapping party members
Added a level indicator to enemies in turn-based battles
Added NPCs in the market when coming back from Cole’s encounter
Added a number of enemy, player, and equipment name strings to the translation file
Added new debate facts
Added an animation to text boxes when they appear
Added Battle Critical Font
Added load from save on the game over screen
Added color variations for Bandit Girl and Bandit Boy characters
Added the ability for enemies to have randomized color variations & ensured they matched the overworld when engaging with them
Added dialogue to man outside Vuni’s inn
Added a blocker to Wiska Forest to prevent early entry
Added a chance to fail escaping
Added max and min inventory item counts
HP bars will now change color to better reflect remaining percents
Added gameover modals
Added a short input delay when a text box appears to prevent spamming the button and missing key dialogue
When a character levels up, they will gain new skills if appropriate
Added a shortcut to adding points to your character’s stats
Added Criticals and Misses to battles
Added confirm changes modal to a number of menu screens
Added new difficulty options: modify the enemy’s EXP and HP values using a multiplier.
Skills can level up after use
Added first pass of fullscreen mode
Fixed
Fixed UI briefly appearing after transitioning screens before an event plays
Fixed camera abruptly jumping to follow Rob in opening cutscene
Fixed crash in inventory when no items exist
Fixed camera during Cole’s encounter from having a tangent with the outside wall
Fixed lists accidentally cutting off Text
Fixed player sprite ordering issue in mountains near border with chimney
Fixed transition bug to the north east of Pharyon
Fixed missing boundaries near the mountain flower field
Fixed transition bug when heading between the Villa and the Town in Wynoa
Fixed main menu opening with interact key
Fixed text for post-Wiska Forest quest to be clear where to go in Wynoa
Fixed being unable to interact with the innkeep npc or use the inn in Vuni
Fixed learned recipes not being saved properly
Fixed crafting resulting in the wrong learned recipe
Fixed key items not being readded to the crafting grid after experimenting
Fixed a bug where you could accidentally soft-lock the game by interacting with the minimap just after starting a cutscene
Fixed typo in opening cutscene
Fixed player getting stuck when transitioning in to western Wynoa
Fixed sprite overlay issue in eastern Wynoa
Fixed character walking in place after battles
Fixed ambience audio blipping out when transitioning screens
Fixed area name continuously appearing when standing on a trigger
Fixed hidden collidable objects being interactable
Fixed transition bug in mountains
Fixed a HMS format bug when playing for over 10 hours
Fixed Big Meanie skit not being removed after the relevant quests
Fixed Block and Dodge to now work correctly
Fixed skill information not being included when calculating battle damage
Fixed equipment information not being included when calculating battle stats
Fixed boss battles being marked as being escape-able
Fixed line beside skit button on the HUD
Fixed party members not correctly executing their actions in the right order during battles
Fixed shadow appearing wrong in Vuni behind a house
Fixed a number of bugs in the Equipment Screen
Fixed tile checking for water was incorrect
Fixed a potential save crash
Fixed flashing when starting a cutscene
Fixed flashing when changing maps during a cutscene
Fixed actors during cutscenes sometimes not appearing
Other
Replaced Battle Damage Font
Made running children unstoppable
Refactored how quests are stored and loaded
Made the Turn Based & Debate Battle Results Screen show all characters that leveled up
Updated cutscenes and overworld NPCs to use the new bandit color variations
Adjusted some dialogue during the flower hunt quest
Upgraded saved files to gain facts in previous cutscenes
Upgraded to Gamemaker 2.3
Converted & consolidated all of the cutscenes to a new system
The Summer Beta Update is here! As mentioned previously, this update is quite large, as we’ve finished off the story in the province of Wynoa for now, and have moved on to province of Lakure!
We’ve added a large number of maps, skits, story, a new dungeon, a new party member and new art, along with more bug fixes and enhancements.
Please note that due to the current work to rebalance the economy and battles that the new province lacks items and enemies in the overworld. This will be adjusted over time, as the next beta update plans to flesh out the province more.
We recommend making a copy of your save files (the .sqlite files) in your game directory before continuing. There should be no issues, but we do upgrade the files in this release.
If you come across any issues, feel free to send us a Tweet or DM, message on the Discord Server, or shoot us an email. Bug reports and feature requests can also be logged here.
Release Notes
Added
The province of Lakure: 24 new overworld maps
Note: The game now has 50 overworld maps.
The towns of Itaea, Roatte and Lakure
Note: Lakure is temporarily blocked off for the next content update.
A new dungeon
More skits
A new party member
A chance to fail escaping
Max and min inventory item counts
Gamepad configuration options – not currently available
HP bars will now change color to better reflect remaining percents
Gameover modals
A short input delay when a text box appears to prevent spamming the button and missing key dialogue
New enemy types
When a character levels up, they will gain new skills if appropriate
A shortcut to adding points to your character’s stats
Criticals and Misses have been added to battles
Debate results screen will show everyone who has levelled up, similar to the Turn-Based results screen
A new cutscene system.
Note: There is a mixing of old and new cutscene systems now. After the 2.3 Gamemaker update during Q3 or Q4 we will be transitioning to the new cutscene system to fix a number of annoying bugs, such as flashing screens, or disappearing NPCs.
Confirm changes modal to a number of menu screens
New difficulty options: modify the enemy’s EXP and HP values using a multiplier.
Skills can level up after use
Fixed
Block and Dodge now work correctly
Skill information not being included when calculating battle damage
Equipment information not being included when calculating battle stats
Boss battles being marked as being escape-able
Line beside skit button on the HUD
Party members were not correctly executing their actions in the right order during battles
Shadow appearing wrong in Vuni behind a house
A number of bugs in the Equipment Screen
Tile checking for water was incorrect
Potential save crash
Other
Added a number of unit tests to verify stability of the game in key areas going forward. Along with adding the framework for simulating battles to balance the game better, this will help avoid users finding potential bugs.
Added command-line building of Gataela and a nightly process to run unit tests. This will ensure that if the game breaks, we’re notified the day of, instead of during testing. Should result in more stability going forward.
