Warbell v0.16.0

Warbell v0.16.0 — sharper fights, a real shop, and a snowy ambush

Last release made the island prettier to walk through. This one gives you more to do
in it: a combat aim-assist that makes swings land where you mean them, a proper merchant
shopfront you can't miss, a rewritten early game that actually teaches the loop, and a
new snow-biome hazard that punishes wandering too close to the wrong "prop".

New

• Ambush snowmen. In the snow biome, some of those charming snowmen aren't decor. Step
  too close — or take a swing at one — and it lurches to life, shambles after you, and
  body-slams you in melee. It's slow and kiteable: outrun it and it waddles home and
  re-freezes into a harmless prop, ready to catch the next wanderer.
• A real merchant shop. The old shop stall was so plain you could walk right past it.
  It's now an unmistakable roofed shopfront with a hanging sign, goods on display, and a
  merchant standing behind the counter. The well and woodpile in the bailey got the same
  mature, textured treatment.
• Ambient fish. Fish glide beneath the water of the lake and the open sea near you, and
  every so often one leaps clear of the surface. Pure atmosphere for the shorelines.
• A rewritten early game. The opening quest chain now walks you through the core loop
  step by step — numbered instructions, a plain "why" for each goal, and a real in-game
  screenshot on every step — from raising your first House to feeding the town with a Farm
  and automating wood with a Woodcutter.
• Redesigned website. The Warbell site got a "War Table" visual overhaul, with the
  mobile layout and cramped phone text fixed.

Combat & balance

• Soft-lock aim-assist. A light, Witcher-style "soft target": when a hostile is near
  and in front of you, the game quietly picks it, marks it with a subtle glowing ground
  ring, and eases your knight's facing onto it — so your swing commits to the foe you mean,
  not empty air. It's never a hard snap or a camera lock, your own movement always
  overrides it, and it drops the instant no threat is in front, so exploring never
  auto-turns you at wildlife or workers.
• Killable rival workers. The desert rival's labourers can now be cut down like any
  other enemy, instead of being invincible set dressing.
• Later dusk. Nightfall holds off a little longer, giving you more daylight to build
  and prepare before the siege.

Fixed

• Shaman bolts no longer keep flying in broad daylight, and a raid alert no longer sticks
  on screen after the raid is over.
• The lake and marsh shorelines are smoother — the carved pools that foamed a harsh white
  are gone, leaving a clean lake edge.
• Leaping fish stay in real open water instead of flopping onto dry land.
• A fresh static loading screen while the world spins up.
• A batch of stability and run-state fixes (19 in all): logic bugs, performance, and
  save/continue coherence.

Under the hood

• Removed the old dynamic storm weather system.

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The Windows installer is self-signed, so SmartScreen may warn "Unknown Publisher" — click
More info → Run anyway to install. The Linux build is the portable zip.

What's Changed

• Attack aim-assist facing + camera terrain clamp by @miskibin in #35
• Fix daytime shaman bolts, persistent raid alert, killable rival workers, later dusk by @miskibin in #36
• Redesign early-game quest chain with step-by-step guidance + real screenshots by @miskibin in #37
• Add ambient fish: glide under water near the hero + occasionally leap by @miskibin in #38
• Fish: restrict to real open water (lake/sea), keep leaps inside the body by @miskibin in #39
• Fix 19 review findings: logic bugs, perf, run-state coherence by @miskibin in #40
• Static scene loading screen by @miskibin in #41
• Claude/forest paths boss ai v2oz50 by @miskibin in #42

Full Changelog: v0.15.0...v0.16.0

What's Changed

• Attack aim-assist facing + camera terrain clamp by @miskibin in #35
• Fix daytime shaman bolts, persistent raid alert, killable rival workers, later dusk by @miskibin in #36
• Redesign early-game quest chain with step-by-step guidance + real screenshots by @miskibin in #37
• Add ambient fish: glide under water near the hero + occasionally leap by @miskibin in #38
• Fish: restrict to real open water (lake/sea), keep leaps inside the body by @miskibin in #39
• Fix 19 review findings: logic bugs, perf, run-state coherence by @miskibin in #40
• Static scene loading screen by @miskibin in #41
• Claude/forest paths boss ai v2oz50 by @miskibin in #42

Full Changelog: v0.15.0...v0.16.0