Author Archives: Chris

Legends of Amberland II version 1.16

Version 1.16 released

This version proudly presents localization. For starters German, French and Polish language with more to come later. Next there were adjustments in spells. A new “Improved heal” spell (accompanied with “mass” version) were introduced to act as a solution for the healing gap around level 20. This went straight into regular features (omitting experimental rules) because I concluded it does not upset balance and is really, really needed. Also continuous heal spells type added. Those are pure convenience heal spells which can be used outside of combat only. Another nice feature was redesign of the interface to allow better items comparison when shopping. Technically, no new feature was added, but the small adjustments how the UI behave made comparing items while in shop much easier (now the interface will be smart enough to guess you just want to check items and will try to allow you to do it without exiting shop and will adjust it’s behavior accordingly). I tried it and it works quite nice in my opinion (but if there is still a need for it, we could think of a full blown compare items feature I guess). Some traditional fixes and experimental rebalances entered the scene as well.

And a small announcement some of you waited for a long time. Most likely this is the last version before the big rebalance one (v1.20) where a bunch of rebalances will be introduced all at once (everything in experimental rebalance and many more). As usual in such case, the old branch v1.1x will be preserved as an optional Beta branch in case you wanted to finish your existing game using the old rules. Note the rebalance version will auto convert old saved, so you can switch in the middle.

If you wanted to take part in the Big rebalance version testing, hop in to the Discord where we organize such things. Thanks!

– [feature] Continuous heal spell type introduced. Variable cost spell which can be used outside of combat only. It will heal the target to full heal by spending X MP per Y HP healed.
– [feature] If started with fewer party members than 7 (using “Extra New Game options”), then experience required to level up is reduced by -10% per missing party member. Works retroactively with old saves.

– [misc] Game was localized to German, French, Polish (more to come). Might be incomplete and/or full of mistakes (will be improved later is needed). Also manual was not translated yet (this will be done after Big Rebalance version).
– [misc] All professions with access to “Heal” spell got a new spell “Healing Touch”, which is a continuous heal.
– [misc] Elven Touch spell redone to continuous spell. Note it still has remove poison which makes it distinctive from the regular “Healing Touch” spell.
– [misc] Added Improved Heal and Improved Mass Heal spells (better than Heal, worse than Power Heal).
– [misc] New icon for Heal all party members spell, to distinguish from Heal a single target spell.

– [balance] Replaced most Snow Lizards with more dangerous Ice Lizards in Northumbia (this affects new saves only, you will see no change in your old game in progress).

– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Snow/Ice/Great Ice Lizards got significant level up.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Barbarians got level up (from 15/20 to 20/25).
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Trolls got Fear attack.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Green Beetles level increased.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Mantis level increased and more deadly attack types added.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Shows Critical Hit Chance on the Character/Hit tooltip.

– [interface] Redesigned interface behavior to allow more convenient items comparison while shopping. Now, when entered shop, the interface will enter a special mode in which it will attempt to conveniently show you inventory whenever possible without exiting the shop. For example clicking on character portrait will bring you to inventory by default and when you close inventory (or any other screen you attempted to visit) you will be back to shop. Works with keyboard, mouse and gamepad. This, while not a full fledged “compare items” feature by itself, greatly improves shopping interface and should remove most of the annoyances related to shopping.

– [fix] Not a fix, but added several safeguards to interface modes, so some potential low priority interface bugs should be avoided.
– [fix] Info button did not close the screen when clicked.
– [fix] Was able to illegally enter magical restricted zones using Flee from combat option.
– [fix] Incorrect tooltip for Griffin when on Desert/Lava or Boat/Ship.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Stellar Monarch 2 version 1.18

Version 1.18 released

This version is a bag of various changes. First, the bankruptcy mechanic was redesigned. Now you don’t get a direct stability drop from negative treasury but it causes a small penalty to administrative points generation and triggers bankruptcy audience events. The end result is similar, the fall of the Empire due to stability drop if treasury is negative for too long, but now you have more options to react to it and you can pretty safely allow to run negative for a few turns. A similar mechanic for private treasury was introduced, but with less severe penalties and events. Next, the Houses minimap mode was removed. This was a think I thought for a long time but I don’t want to drag it any longer. The placement of fiefs is too distracting, sure, it looks cool but it plainly do not work. And I don’t like to keep things that do not work, so removed. Now the exact placement of fiefs is irrelevant. Next, a small rebalance to Centralization was done, the tax efficiency boost might seem like not useful in practice but it’s logical, intuitive and might become more important once I implement some events I planned for future. The last thing is a bunch of smaller changes and traditional fixes.

– [feature] Negative Imperial treasury causes penalty to Administrative pts generation (at least -10 per turn, increases over time).
– [feature] Negative Imperial treasury triggers an event each audience which makes you select one penalty (default being Stability loss). The longer the deficit the higher the penalty.
– [feature] Negative private treasury causes penalty of Authority -10 for the Royal House (lifted after balance is positive).
– [feature] Negative private treasury triggers an event each audience which makes you select one penalty.

– [remove] Removed stability drop from negative money mechanic (replaced with Bankruptcy audience events).
– [remove] Removed Houses minimap mode (it made an incorrect impression that the location of fiefs is very important). Also removed all mentions of Noble Houses Homeworlds from all tooltips.

– [misc] Mechatrons will now run out of supply after around 100 turns after unburrowing (no more reinforcements). There is a proper event announcement about it.
– [misc] Hidden battle markers on starmap when there is no Recon (it was plain confusing).
– [misc] Removed dev “triangle” notice (to avoid confusion).
– [misc] Removed the option to Expand Ministry of Protocol (Ministry of Protocol has no bonus, therefore the option was pointless).

– [balance] Centralization decreases legislation points needed to pass laws to -2% per Centralization point (before -5%).
– [balance] Centralization increases Tax Efficiency by +1% per Centralization point.

– [interface] Improved Corruption tooltip to clarify that all income is affected by Corruption.
– [interface] Houses summary screen lists grudges next to relations.
– [interface] Rebels tooltip improvements: Removed rebel points gained from events (this information is redundant here and just confusing) and cleaned up the tooltip so % modifiers are listed separately.

– [fix] Cities started being constructed before colonization is completed. Same for infrastructure points generation.
– [fix] Main menu help right side section items (left side was correct) “Back” button closing the whole help screen instead of moving one level down.
– [fix] “Unexplored” was off on the planet short info box.
– [fix] Spelling corrections.

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Legends of Amberland II version 1.15

Version 1.15 released

This version finally makes a permanent solution for “Auto recast Party Bonuses at midnight”, now those are controlled by drawing runes (a new spell type all characters which has access to Party Bonus spells got). There are also two new options, one to play extra sound on secrets (in addition to the eye) and an obscure one (which was requested by some people) to totally disable minimap (don’t ask, it was an easy change to implement and some people actually wanted it). There is a bunch of interface improvements and one measly and totally unimportant bug fix. There is a also a very mild rebalance regarding Arcane and Sharpness effect, I decided to put those directly to the regular version since those are very intuitive and do not mess up with your gameplay in progress (I concluded those two changes are what everyone would want to have instantly). Of course there is a bunch of extra rebalances hidden behind Experimental Rebalance option. Have fun!

Of yes, if you play using the experimental features enabled I could use your feedback on those. You know, to evaluate those and decide what to discard and what to eventually move to a regular version (on the promised Big Rebalance version in future).

– [feature] Option to play an extra sound upon secret detection, in addition to the eye marker (it makes finding secrets easier).
– [feature] Option to disable minimap (yup, some people actually requested this).
– [feature] Added “Draw Midnight Rune” & “Erase Midnight Rune” spells to all characters who have access to party bonus spells. This rune, when drawn, will attempt to recast all eligible party bonus spells at midnight (this replaces the experimental “Auto recast all active Party Bonus spells at midnight” option).

– [misc] Removed Sorcery resistance/immunity from all monsters (it had no sense, since a heroic party would never use evil sorcery in the first place).
– [misc] Many gameplay options got reset (because those were redesigned and some were obsoleted). Go to Options/Gameplay and set those again to your liking.

– [balance] Battlesmith’s “Sharpness” changed to “Damage of melee and ranged weapons increased by additional 1/10” (which makes it more into what you intuitively expect, compared to the previous additive +10% Damage bonus).
– [balance] Reduced Arcane cost for Power Heal and Mass Power Heal, especially for mastery 5 (1000 was way too high).

– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Troll Slayers got extra +2x HP multiplier (to a total of 9x HP), making the class the highest HP in the game (to compare: Warrior has 6x HP and Knight 7x HP).
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Archers got +x1 Damage multiplier and +20% Critical Hit Chance (previously +10%) when using bows.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Bards (and Troubadours) got +1x MP multiplier.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Mage Knights got +1x HP multiplier and +1x Arcane multiplier (on par with Wizard) also access to Resist Elements spell.
– [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Lava environmental damage x3, Extremely cold environmental damage x2 (lower grades of frost damage not changed).

– [interface] Main quests are listed using a different color, so that they differ from the other quests. Also “*” marker is added next to the quest name and it explicitly says it’s a main quest in the quest tooltip.
– [interface] More options button on gameplay options. Moved some options to extra options (with recent additions the screen run out of space).
– [interface] Right side menu auto adjusts the font size if needed (useful if you play using a translation to a language with long words).
– [interface] Localization selector shows “Translation partially finished” notice if the translation file is half done.
– [interface] Display saves location on Options/Gameplay (in “More options”).

– [fix] Small inventory display bug (shadow below “Magic bag of carrying” not displayed sometimes).

Reminders
You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

Soundtrack for Legends of Amberland II is out!

Music of Amberland

Second Amberland is the first game of mine where I commissioned a custom, hand crafted especially for this game, soundtrack. It was composed by Christopher Loza who was tasked with a request of making it feel like in the good old RPGs of the 90s era but without the technical limitations and quality limitations of the era. Yet, it had to be pleasing to people who have not played those old games as well. So, not a trivial set of requirements. I really feel he nailed it. Since I was observing the whole process (and merely providing feedback) I know first hand it was tricky. Various special filter were used to emulate the feel of the old hardware and other musical wizardry I do not comprehend (equalizers, frequencies and other complex words I do not understand). Definitely, it was much harder to make than a regular soundtrack.

So, here it is, released as a separate soundtrack DLC for all the music maniacs or hard die fans of Amberland. It includes both regular mp3 files and optional high quality flac files.


Don’t forget to write a Steam review! Thanks for your support!

Expansion for Stellar Monarch 2 “Old Dynasties” can be wishlisted!

So, here it is, the first expansion to Stellar Monarch 2 called “Old Dynasties” entered production and can be wishlisted now!


Wishlist “Stellar Monarch 2: Old Dynasties” on GOG

Planned release: somewhere in 2024 (Steam and GOG).

Website: https://www.silverlemurgames.com/stellarmonarch2/expansion1/
Press kit: https://www.silverlemurgames.com/stellarmonarch2/expansion1/presskit/

ABOUT THE EXPANSION:
Old Dynasties expansion focuses on noble houses and internal politics of the Empire by introducing new mechanics and events.

MAJOR FEATURES:

  • Vassals – Minor noble houses that are always vassals of a great house. The great houses compete for the vassal contracts.
  • Traditions – Each great house has a tradition, the tradition bonus is active if the relations with the house are Cordial or better.
  • Renegade houses – Great House can be made Renegade which make them lose all votes in the Council and lose a lot of F.E.D. shares, fiefs, authority and so on. But if too many houses become renegade the people might start losing faith in the whole monarchistic system.
  • Star Knights order – An early game guaranteed event which allows you to establish Star Knights, a force loyal to the Empire which can be sent on various missions.
  • Duels between nobles – Offended nobles can decide to solve their disagreement via a duel. Such duel can be made with the approval of the Emperor or organized illegally.
  • Dissident organizations – Those organizations can activate via events and then increase rebel points generation depending on their power and radicalism level.
  • New events – Brand new random events (in addition to Star Knights, Duels and Dissident organizations events) divided into early, mid and late game.
  • Other smaller things – Some new projects, perks and other smaller additions.

    • Legends of Amberland II version 1.14

    Version 1.14 released

    This version introduced some mild changes to gameplay (like no longer being able to call a griffin while on a ship or boat, one location slightly adjusted and a tiny, unimportant change to Champion class). Those do not change a lot and do not mess up with existing games at all, that’s why I introduced them to regular changes. Next, is the interface improvement which should be especially nice to those who play on Steam Deck or laptops with small screens. Basically, the game will try to display item properties using as big font as possible, also colors were adjusted for better visibility. The last thing is bug fix to respawn monster and some smaller fixes.

    One more thing. I know some people are waiting for localization, so I’m happy to announce that the first batch of localization is half done. Actually, this version physically includes some partially translated files to some languages (disabled). So, if you happen to really need them now, drop by Discord, I posted there a file which you can manually upload to your game to enable those half finished translations (and possibly download a more complete localization file). Of course, I recommend to wait till those are included in the regular version, so it’s more like an option for people who can not wait any longer.

    – [misc] Griffin can no longer be summoned while on boat/ship (but can still land on those). I got tired of all those support requests “I have lost my ship”, this change should greatly reduce the instance of “forgotten ships”. Note that gameplay wise it changes nothing, since you can always dock the ship and disembark before calling a griffin, also you can always return via griffin to the ship, since the griffin can always land on those.
    – [misc] Slightly adjusted lava area to allow landing next to the fountain via griffin.
    – [misc] Champions always hit Sorcerers and Warlocks.
    – [misc] “Unrestricted Party Creation” option renamed to “Extra New Game options”.

    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Hit/Evade tooltip lists chance to hit table vs example values (it shows with experimental hit/evade formula only, the standard formula can not be trivially represented as simple % chance).
    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Offensive spells power +20%, level 1-29 offensive spells power +50%.

    – [interface] Improved some tooltips (on Character screen).
    – [interface] Item properties colors adjusted to increase visibility (lighter colors overall, Armor color changed to grey).
    – [interface] Slightly bigger item properties font size.
    – [interface] Dynamic font size for items properties (so the biggest possible that fits is displayed whenever possible).
    – [interface] On Steam Deck resolution (1280×800) the item area is automatically made bigger, which allows to fit even bigger font size and therefore the item properties text is even bigger (which is handy when playing on handheld), at the expense on the number of items displayed at once. This is screen resolution based, so while designed specifically for Steam Deck, it will behave the same way on any hardware.
    – [interface] On Nintendo Switch resolution (1280×720) the item properties font was made bigger at the expense of stuff being more cramped (which is a good tradeoff in this case). This is screen resolution based, works the same on any hardware.

    – [fix] Respawn Monsters Option was incorrectly active only when Experimental Features were enabled (now it works as it should, as a regular optional feature).
    – [fix] Inn opening on Deposit items screens in some rare occasions.
    – [fix] One small unimportant tooltip (regarding caching) was slightly incorrect.

    Reminders
    You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

    Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!

    Legends of Amberland version 1.29

    Version 1.29 released

    This version backports from Legends of Amberland II several fixes to various, usually small ones, bugs, as those were discovered in the sequel. Note that some of those bugs might not apply to the first Amberland, still, patched those, just to be sure.

    – [misc] Development markers (small triangle) not shown unless those indicate an error (to avoid confusion).
    – [misc] Other smaller improvements.

    – [fix] Language tooltip can be shown when “How to Play” menu from the main menu screen is called.
    – [fix] Mute on focus lost audio settings not saved.
    – [fix] Quests scroller incorrect position sometimes.
    – [fix] Language selector flickering on main menu.
    – [fix] Clicking on close button made select a monster in some circumstances.
    – [fix] Incorrect mapped keys when using spells if party character changed position.
    – [fix] Quick load NPC dialog not closed.
    – [fix] And some other smaller ones.

    Soundtrack DLC for Legends of Amberland II out in February!

    Soundtrack for Legends of Amberland II out soon!

    Second Amberland is the first game of mine where I commissioned a custom, hand crafted especially for this game, soundtrack. It was composed by Christopher Loza who was tasked with a request of making it feel like in the good old RPGs of the 90s era but without the technical limitations and quality limitations of the era. Yet, it had to be pleasing to people who have not played those old games as well. So, not a trivial set of requirements. I really feel he nailed it. Since I was observing the whole process (and merely providing feedback) I know first hand it was tricky. Various special filter were used to emulate the feel of the old hardware and other musical wizardry I do not comprehend (equalizers, frequencies and other complex words I do not understand). Definitely, it was much harder to make than a regular soundtrack.

    So, here it is, released as a separate soundtrack DLC for all the music maniacs or hard die fans of Amberland. It includes both regular mp3 files and optional high quality flac files.

    Will be available very soon, in just 2 weeks.

    Don’t forget to write a Steam review if you purchase it! Thanks for your support!


    https://store.steampowered.com/app/2789160/Legends_of_Amberland_II_Soundtrack/

    Legends of Amberland II version 1.13.1

    Version 1.13.1 released

    Hot fix for a new serious bug introduced in v1.13. A tiny, small change in the game over screen made it crash whenever it pops up. Just a single character was incorrect. This warrants an immediate hot fix. In addition a few smaller bugs were fixed.

    – [fix] v1.13 introduced a new bug, the Game Over screen crashed the game.
    – [fix] Some water tiles around deep north also caused frost damage.
    – [fix] One tile in Silent Forest was not properly marked as part of the the Silent Forest.
    – [fix] Several small spelling fixes.

    Legends of Amberland II version 1.13

    Version 1.13 released

    This version, in addition to the usual fixes and smaller interface improvements, focuses on experimental rebalance. The idea is that for most players there is no change, they play using the old stable rules. But for the more adventurous spirits, there is an option to opt-in to experimental rebalance changes. Which allows to experiment with the rebalance without upsetting most players who just want to play the way it is. The plan is, after all this rebalance is properly tested, to make one big rebalance somewhere in future (v1.20 or v1.30 most likely) in a single big update (with the old rules v1.x being preserved as Steam beta branch). Oh yes, also Respawn Monsters option was moved to regular features, so now you can officially grind as much as you want, if you so desire (it can be enabled/disabled anytime, it works with both old and new saves), well except if you play on Insane since on that difficulty you are not granted the luxury of infinite resources.

    – [feature] Experimental Rebalance option (need to be enabled in Options). When enabled it will use an alternative rebalance settings (presumably better than the standard one). This rebalance can change from version to version (so the gameplay can be somewhat chaotic, therefore it’s not recommended for most players) and is aimed to forge out the final rebalance. Around v1.20 I plan to move this experimental balance to regular balance in one big batch (with an alternative build that uses the old balance preserved in Steam beta branch for people who liked the old one better).

    – [misc] Respawn monsters option moved to regular features.
    – [misc] Development markers (small triangle) not shown unless those indicate an error (to avoid confusion).

    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Monsters got Dexterity attribute (Dexterity value depends on level, also Trolls got it significantly lower), which affect hit and evade.
    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Dragons got better armor.
    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: New hit chance formula (taking Dexterity into account more).
    – [experimental] Only if enabled Experimental Rebalance: Whirling item ability chance increased significantly (to 25%).

    – [interface] Added list of known trainers locations to each individual skill level tooltip (the skill tooltip was frequently overlooked, now the information is duplicated which makes it much harder to overlook).

    – [fix] Notices (like Evil Aura notice) not cleared on load and new game. Also, one tile in DarkWood had no proper aura.
    – [fix] Experimental feature “Auto recast party spells at midnight” was not taking into account the level of the caster (which made it possible to cast the spell by inappropriate character in some cases). BTW, I could use some feedback on this feature, I want to move it to regular features at some point.
    – [fix] Spelling and other story related cosmetic stuff.

    Reminders
    You can follow my Steam Developer Page if you wish to be notified each time a new game or expansions is being released.

    Also, if you have a moment to leave a Steam review of the game it would be appreciated. It makes a big difference to an indie developer like me. Thanks!