SoaW: 28 new achievements

Version 3.3.8. is online:

- 28 new achievements ranging from easy to very tricky ones
- tremor status effect now affects orbs, arrows, bombs and throw weapons
- increased the starting hero skills in casual mode
- fixed bug when releasing the attack button with a bow in hand would initiate the backup knife attack
- fixed bug when typing in chat would activate the backup knife attack
- updated some of the translations

This version concludes the content I planned for the Early Access. I will dedicate the next month or so to extensively playtest the game for the final release, so only expect bugfixes and translation updates in this period. I have a bunch of new features I plan to add in the future, but I want the exiting Early Access release to be well tested and bug free.

SoaW: 24 bosses

Version 3.1.4 is online with the 4th desert boss: The War Elephant. This is an important milestone, because all the bosses I planned for the first full game release are now in the game.

The initial plan was actually 20 or 21 boss, but as the game has been developed many new ideas came and now we have 24. I do have some ideas for 4-5 more bosses, but those will come after Early Access.

Here's a short roadmap for the rest of Early Access development:

- Barbarian Hero with some special mechanics (shh, it's a secret)
- 12 special challenge modes to unlock the barbarian
- Hard mode
- 45 more achievements already planned "on paper", maybe more
- there might be some additional pets and items/weapons along the way
- a new trailer for the game

I plan to exit Early Access in May this year if all goes as planned.

There are also some ideas that might be implemented before we exit EA, but most probably afterwards:

- more mounts: baby elephant, horse, deer, green baby dragon (spit poison)
- additional quests and special rooms
- more weapons and items

SoaW: The final level

Version 3.0.9 is up with the final, 7th level of the story, the end-game boss and the final cut-scene:

- a new desert level with a new status effect (thirst)
- completed the game story w/ the final boss fight
- some enemies have petrify attacks. Drink the dragonfire potion quickly to remove or use the Life Staff
- 3 new enemy types
- 1 new boss
- 2 new weapons
- 2 new items (both were present in the game, but didn't drop before)
- fixed the drop algorithm for the Magnet item
- bugfixes for ranged AI
- fixed "on sale" name translations for the potion shop
- blood runestones now give you 20 HP on top of +20 health increase
- balanced archery weapons and items drop rate
- allowed special / quest rooms to spawn in casual mode
- fixed a netcode bug where the Book of Ice would freeze enemies who are immune to freezing
- added more detailed decorations to the forest area

The game can now be played from start to end, but this is not the final game and there's still a lot more content to add before we exit early access. The most important ones are the Barbarian hero and 12 quests that you will have to beat to unlock him. And after that, 2-3 more bosses for some variety in the desert level, a bunch of new items and Hard mode. Also, about 30 more achievements are planned now that the game is completely playable from start to finish.

SoaW: Big item and weapon drop

A new version is up:
- 17 new items with unique mechanics
- 5 new weapons with unique mechanics
- 4 new potion effects
- a new scroll: Confusion
- a new quest area in the forest where you can play baseball
- 6 new achievements
- all bows now come with a low-damage knife as a strong attack. You can use the knife to quickly break barrels and boxes and stay alive if you run out of arrows
- get a special reward from the shopkeeper if you buy all the items
- fireball + dark orb synergy now works
- fixed returning bow animation for the Archer
- fixed swoosh animation for melee swing attacks
- all Mom's Books can now be duplicated for increased effect (double poison/fire damage, double freeze duration, etc.)
- added a note showing which sword attacks are quick in the weapon description
- removed the Catacombs Shortcut from the daily challenge
- reduced the mana cost for the Bottomless Bag of Bombs
- show current run time on the pause screen
- fixed the Slime King boss netcode bug
- fixed bug when a player would get sticky feet if he walked into another player that had the effect
- added an option to show the timer during the game.

PvP fixes:
- sudden death timer is no longer running when the game is paused
- using twilight staff spell only increases power for the caster
- turret staff clones now shoot at other players and cannot harm the caster
- fixed the dead animation glitch for the winning player after he gets smashed with the huge hammer

SoaW: Yeties

A new version is up with a new boss, the Yeti Elder who is a huge beast whose jumps cause icicles to fall from the top of the mountain. He can also spawn smaller Young Yeti minions who also show up in various parts of the ice level.

- Yeti Elder boss
- Young Yeti enemy
- Achievement you can win when you defeat the Crazy Santa boss
- Fixed the pause overlay size for non-English languages
- Improved the death animation for the Crazy Santa boss
- Fixed the Reindeer pet name
- Fixed the Snailbite arrow name
- Added new graphics for the synergy of Dark Orb and Freezing Orb
- Fixed the gamble scroll - now it can be used multiple times in the same room and enemies would always change
- Added all the enemies into the Gamble scroll pool
- Fixed Fog and Toxic Cloud drawing for screens bigger than 1920x1080

SoaW: Level 6

The Winter is coming. A new version of the game is up with the Ice Mountain level:

- slide and glide across the snow as you fight - unless you have a mount
- 3 new enemy units
- 2 new ice weapons
- 1 new boss (Crazy Santa throwing exploding presents)
- added music and sfx volume adjustment to the pause screen
- fixed Mom Books drops for altars to match the achievement unlock description
- lightning now shoots through metal shields
- adjusted mana cost and base damage for some magic wands
- Fire sword now has 100% burn chance
- spawning minions no longer give you mana via Warbreaker (this is to prevent getting infinite number of points in daily challenge)
- fixed a couple of translation related bugs

SoaW: New bosses

Meet Ugh and Ogh, the cyclops. These brothers are a new boss in the forest. Cyclops is the weakest of all bosses, so there are two of them to make the fight fun.

Since the catacombs update I focused on adding new content to existing levels and bugfixing any problems. I also added 10 new achievements to make the game interesting for players who completed all the levels.

Another new boss is the Ringleader. He sometimes shows up in the dungeon instead of the Simerian Butcher. The Ringleader can jump on you similar to the way the thief does - except that he is faster and has greater reach. If he finds any bombs on you, he would use them immediately. He also steals and throws your other items around.

I also added a new themed area in the forest - a long jump competition. You get some items as rewards for jumping certain distances. To jump even further, you can find some speed buffs like The Rabbit Amulet, Blur Potion, etc. There's also a Steam achievement if you manage to jump really far.

SoaW: Catacombs update

A new version is available with a lot of new content:

• The 5th level, Catacombs, with 5 new enemy types
• New hero: Undead Skeleton Ranger
• Unlocking the new hero is done via a special quest in the old part of the catacombs which is a really dangerous place
• 2 new bosses
• 3 new special areas in the forest
• 1 new mount (zombie pig)
• 1 new pet (finds hidden runestones)
• Blue color skin for the sorceress character and achievement to unlock it
• Elemental altars where you can get some powerful items and weapons
• A dozen new weapons and items
• Improved game engine performance
• Darkness now increases your stats
• Item and weapon drops are now slightly affected by starting heroes (ex. you are more likely to get magic items when playing with mage)
• Avarice doubles coins
• Fixed Amanda's AI on the final screen so she doesn't get stuck
• Fixed problem with chat not being available on the character selection screen
• Co-op death countdown now starts from 60 during boss fights
• Increased lightning damage for the sword
• Bow descriptions update after damage upgrade
• Balanced runestone drops from rocks
• Rebalanced poison to make the Druid hero more viable
• Added more stats to pause screen
• Status effect icons show up in two rows in co-op
• Fixed many bugs

SoaW: Beta testing access

I want players to have a stable, well tested version to play so they don't run into any bugs. On the other hand, I understand that some players want to play the most recent version with the newest features. Because of this, I decided to make the beta testing versions public.

Beta versions are the testing ground for new releases. They could have bugs or crash. Benefits of running them are that you get all the newest content and you can help me find the bugs sooner and thus make the game better for everyone.

To switch to beta version, right-click the game name in your Steam library and select Properties option from the menu:

Then click the BETAS tab at the top of the Properties window. Select the "testing - Unstable" option from the dropdown menu:

Enter the password: minimum89012

Steam would then download the files that are different and let you run the beta. If you plan to play online multiplayer - both players have to have the beta version (there will be some periods in-between releases where beta version could co-op with stable version, but this is not guaranteed).

If you decide to go back from beta to stable just open the Properties again and select "opt out" from the dropdown menu in the BETAS tab.