Heroes of a Broken Land Beta 7.4 released!

Beta 7.4 is a mostly a bug-fix release, addressing some dungeon generation bugs and some UI improvements.

A Wwarning: Due to a change in how dungeons are generated (to prevent broken teleporters) all in-progress dungeons will be reset. You may want to consider completing dungeons before upgrading.

  • Fix issue where multiple teleporters were placed on the same spot
  • Added keyboard shortcuts to item menu
  • Added favorites skill list (starred skills, click next to MP cost to toggle)
  • Prevent monster spawning from Tutorial Dungeon
  • Fix bug with save games while party is on teleporter
  • Added keyboard shortcut for auto-attack (Z)
  • Prevent selling of key quest items
  • Fix hang when removing parties from the guild
  • Add Restore MP ability to fully restore MP by items
  • Teleporters can now be activated by Passing while standing on them
  • Fix farm income not showing in overview screen

Heroes of a Broken Land Beta 7.2 Released

No big news here – Beta 7.2 fixes some save game issues people had with Beta 7.0, and hopefully fixes the auto patching (which will make future updates easier!)

Unfortuately the updater in Beta 7.0 was broken so you’ll have to update manually (this link is in the update message!)

Heroes of a Broken Land Beta 7.0

Beta 7.0 brings a huge amount of fixed and improvements!

The most noticable change is you now choose your Wizard! Each wizard has a unique power that improves your heroes in a unique way.

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Plus lots and lots of bug fixes:

  • Stables added – build to increase movement points
  • Quest log will now focus on quest location if known (double click entry)
  • World map now shows treasure, dungeons and monsters. Clicking will focus view.
  • Fix Holy Light – will now heal even if monsters defeated
  • Skill list scroll bar overlap fixed
  • Books will now be grayed out of skill is already known
  • Monster stats show kill count
  • Fame Lv popup will not correctly handle when multiple fame levels are gained
  • Fixed dungeon quests auto-ending after completing a main Quest
  • Mouse wheel now scrolls lists
  • Items now show stats in stores and inventory (via tooltip)
  • Monster gold drop tweaked
  • Resist spell fixed, was not properly calculating resitances
  • Skill list now has tabs to filter skills (All, Healing only, Fire only, etc)
  • Fixed stupid bug with non-combat skill levels wrong for Elite classes
  • Hero statistics now tracked and viewable (# kills, total damage, etc)
  • Add Auto-heal button to item screen, uses potions to heal party to full health
  • Fix potential bug causing ladders to disappear
  • Level-up screen attributes fixed
  • Teleporters added to dungeons
  • Can modify hero names in Adventure’s Guild
  • Any party standing on a Town or surrounding tile is considered in Town (found in Guild, etc)
  • Waiting in dungeons will auto-collect loose items (gold, potions, etc)
  • Updated SFX for many spells
  • Music playlist more varied inside dungeons
  • R-click town icons to center view
  • Fix Main quest breakage – you can now finish the game once more!
  • Fixed Void altars not giving MP
  • Wizard selection enabled
  • Tweaked ladder collision, should now be able to click through to disarm traps
  • Added tooltips to describe items (books & potions) in stores and inventory
  • Added weapon class info to class help screen
  • Fix issue when locked doors are clicked on to close
  • Added damage/duration info to more spells (Burn, Poison, etc)
  • Keyboard shortcut for save/load (F5/F9 by default, change in settings)

Whew! That’s a lot of fixes.  HOBL is getting closer and closer to the first final release.  It’ll be mostly fixes and balancing for the next while.

Heroes of a Broken Land Beta 6.0!

Beta 6.0 is now out in the wild, this update includes new dungeon graphics and a new UI look, among many other fixes and changes. Try out Heroes of a Broken Land Beta 6.0 for yourself.

Changes in Beta 6.0:

  • Dungeon texture update – most dungeon textures have been updated to better match UI resolution
  • UI graphics updated
  • Added quit button
  • Added some new events to make waiting too long a poor strategy
  • Prices adjusted (mostly up) for skills in world trainers
  • Forge graphics updated
  • Fix scroll bar behaviour, should be better behaved
  • Various typos and formatting issues fixed
  • Tweaked difficulty of higher level monsters (a bit harder now at higher levels
  • [Demo Only] – display demo info and fix XP loss when max level reached
  • Updated bug auto-reporting to supply some world info
  • [Windows Only] Patching is automated, no more manually unzipping
    NOTE: this will only take affect after Beta 6.0, so if you do have issues with patching I suggest re-downloading the full game.

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Updated UI

I’ve been spending the last little while updating the UI.

In the Alpha build the UI was very simple and looked like a prototype. Function over form. In the first Beta build I updated the UI’s look a little – cleaned up icons, better layout, etc – but it was still very plain.

Keeping the UI simple has actually saved me a lot of development time, because I never cared too much about how it looked, it was easy to re-do screens and rearrange the UI layout.

However a gray background doesn’t cut it for the full game. Now that the game’s features have been pretty much implemented, I’ve been spending some time updating the look.

What do you think?

hobl_beta_060_ui
hobl_beta_060_ui

I’ll probably touch it up a little bit before it’s complete, but the overall direction I’m pretty happy with so far.

Heroes of a Broken Land – Beta 5.0

A new day, a new version: Heroes of a Broken land Beta 5.0!

Lots of improvements all around, tons of new world events that give quests, some involving multiple dungeons, giving you a much more lively world. Plus the much-requested auto attack button, for those easier encounters.

List of Changes:

  • Fixed a bug where multi-floor dungeons could change on reload
  • Auto-attack toggle added, automatic melee attacks for easy encounters
  • Added basic mini-map feature to the world
  • World monster made more dangerous, damage is % of total gold, monsters are more agressive
  • Keyboard shortcuts are now user-configurable
  • You can now select your party by keyboard (1, 2, 3, etc)
  • Added basic Dungeon generating events – random dungeon creation w/reward
  • Fix potential crash with certain events on Tiny sized worlds,
  • Tiny worlds are a little bit bigger
  • Rescue quests/events added
  • Treasure hunt quests added
  • Artifact quest added
  • Custom portraits
World Map

World Map

Heroes of a Broken Land – Beta 4.0

Once again Heroes of a Broken Land has been updated and now downloadable.

Upated builds should be available on Desura and GamersGate “soon”

What’s new in Beta 4.0?

  • Game now downloads new versions automatically (full auto-patching still TODO)
  • Fix Spell Focus and Healing Prayer skills to properly boost damage/healing
  • Event system upgrade – multi-stage events, world awareness (karma, danger levels, etc)
  • Undead Hoards & Rat Plague Events added – quest spawing events
  • Alchemist Huts can now be found on the world map
  • Fix bug where reloading on turn 1 would give a new party
  • Higher level recruits may now be from Elite classes

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What’s coming next?

The event system upgrade should mean that games become more interesting and varies.  I will be adding more world events as well as adding more detailed and complex events. The choices you make will have consequences, both short and long term.

I will start taking a second look at shops and trainers, balancing their prices and skill availability.

Plus I’m going to start filling in some basic missing functionality that I’ve been promising: keyboard customization and customizable portraits.

We’re getting closer and closer to the final 1.0!

Heroes of a Broken Land Updated – Beta 3.0

Beta 3.0 is now out!

A much requested feature has been added: help screens! Now you can see the various classes and their skills. You can also read up on defated monsters.

There was also quite a bit of skill balancing, especially Fae and Lizards, but Priests and Mages also now have some new unique skills.  Unfortunately if you’re using a save game from a previous version your skills won’t be updated.

  • Help Menu (shows class skill list, building info and monster stats)
  • Tweak loot drops (slightly more armor drops)
  • World object tool tips
  • Speed now has more influence on action timings
  • Lizard skill tree adjusted, many more unique options on level up
  • Fae skill tree adjusted, Fae’s main attack changed to Fae Blast an upgradeable, unique spell
  • Mage and Priest skills adjusted, now more difference between classes
  • Skill descriptions now show stat adjustments
  • Ice Storm skill fixed, Ice Elementals should behave better
  • Skill selection now keyboard selectable
  • Fixed crash when player had 100% resistance
  • Fixed bug where Golem, Fae and Lizards could become Adventurers

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