v1.3.0 Side Content | Patreon Poll #28

Hey Patrons!

With the final patch for 1.2 going out shortly, I’m now starting to work on content additions for v1.3! I already mentioned a fair bit of what I’m planning in the most recent blog post, but as usual there’s room for some additional side content; voted on by you guys! I’ve got five different options for various side content that I could work on for v1.3.0.

It’s also worth noting that some badge additions and UI/UX improvements are already planned for v1.3.0, so they aren’t included here.

The strength of support for each option will determine what side content I work on in v1.3.0!

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Please vote for all the options that you like, not just for your one favourite! I allow multiple votes as it means that a higher proportion of people will end up voting for the winning choice.

All patrons are encouraged to share their opinion by commenting and voting, but currently only the votes from Golden+ Supporters are counted when determining a poll winner. Votes from Shattered Supporters are worth double!

Further Alchemy Streamlining

Following the release of v1.1.0 and the general success of simplifying exotic potion/scroll recipes, I’m considering how the alchemy system could be further simplified. This might take a couple different forms, but the biggest one I am considering is removing alchemical catalysts from most or all recipes. There isn’t really a reason for them now that higher tier alchemy recipes could just have a higher energy cost instead. I don’t think I would remove catalysts entirely though, as they still have some value when used directly for their random effect. Other alchemy streamlining would likely take the form of further recipe tweaks and improvements.

Interface Shops

Just as with v1.2.0, I could easily work on some improvements to shop interfaces that would help lay groundwork for future shop improvements. The plan here is to move shops away from having items spread across the floor and instead contain them all in a list that exists in an interface, not the game world. This would be a more extensible system that I would expand on in the future with more shop types and would also let me add a buyback option! This sort of improvement also naturally fits into v1.3.0, as I’m making other technical improvements in this update as well.

Item Rework / Addition

There’s always room for more equipment additions or changes! If this option does well, I will likely run another poll for a specific item to add/rework, but here are some potential options:

For item reworks, I think a few artifacts are still in a spot where they could use some love. In particular the footwear of nature have a very boring active effect, and the chalice of blood is the only artifact without an activated effect at all.

As for item additions, I don’t have a specific best idea for a new item yet, but I think a new ring, artifact, or weapon is most likely. Just as one quick example, we don’t currently have a potion counterpart to the unstable spellbook. (The toolkit was actually planned to be a spellbook counterpart at one point, before alchemy as a system was fully concepted)

Harder Ascension Route

Especially with loads of new people playing the game via Steam, now might be a great opportunity to add a bit more to the endgame for dedicated players. I already hope to do a bit of this with new badges, but another obvious candidate for additional challenge is the game’s ascension route. I don’t yet know exactly what form this will take, but I’d like to do something that forces the player to engage with the floors a bit as they go back up (not just run from everything to get out), while also making these floors much more deadly than they were going down.

Curse Improvements

Finally, I’d also like to look into improvements to the game’s curse effects! Enchantments and glyphs have gotten continual improvements over the years, but aside from some additions in v0.6.5(2018), curses have largely been unchanged since v0.4.0(2016)! Some curses are already quite nice mechanic-wise (e.g. overgrowth and annoying), but others have mechanics that are too simple and do more to just directly hurt the player instead of giving them something to play around. Especially now that curse infusion has been buffed, I’d like to spice up some of the curse effects to be more interesting, while still being harmful overall.