Javelin 1.7 (beta 20)

[This is a pre-release with "alpha" levels of testing! The wall of text is a progress report for those interested - if you're just stumbling here, don't mistake it for an "official" release!]

This is an unstable release requested by SpiralRazor on Discord but I'll use this opportunity to go over what I've been working on from late 2019 to early 2021. Besides the usual playtesting and minor improvements and some noteworthy developments listed later, the major highlights are Rune Gear, dungeon Branches, Planes and a lot of love going into making each dungeon feel unique.

Let's start with Branches and Planes. This is a complex system that will be the basis for the eventual end-game for Javelin. Speaking plainly, this is an affix-based system where a Dungeon or Wilderness may occasionally branch out into procedurally-generated thematic levels - for example, while exploring a wilderness you may come across an entrance to a Dense forest of evil or a Windy rugged hill. Each branch can create even more branches inside itself, while inheriting characteristics from the areas it spawned from, so be prepared to venture into some deep, dangerous, deranged areas!

Although somewhat basic for the moment, each Branch has been designed with the potential to have anything from unique rewards, to mutated enemies, custom fight mechanics and a whole lot more. This will be a major avenue to adding new content to the game moving forward and with two affixes interacting with each other per instance, each new Branch type added will create dozens of possible scenarios when applied to other branches, map and dungeon types, etc.

Dungeons have gained a lot of personality, with changes that aim to affect not only gameplay but also adding cosmetic-only "hints" meant to give players just enough food-for-thought to spark their imagination. Dungeon decorations (including but not limited to chests, crates and fountains) make each dungeon visually unique - with 7 different decoration categories and almost 400 individual images which the game tries to sensibly mix-and-match to subtly give each dungeon its own particular flavor. The goal here is to give just enough visual feedback to trigger the player imagination, while having some minor gameplay effects such as hosting hidden traps or treasure!

Dungeon lore is an entirely new system that allows players to discover details about dungeons before even entering them - this includes anything from the monsters that inhabit them, to common or rare features to be found inside and even individual items contained in chests! This creates plenty of opportunity for short- and long-term planning - for example:

1. If you've discovered earlier the next dungeon you're venturing into is populated with Elementals, you may want to stock up on items that will grant you resistance against energy damage; or...
2. If you find that a high-level Dungeon has a powerful piece of gear, you can decide to make obtaining that item a major goal in your playthrough. The more information you gather about that particular Dungeon, the more you can prepare your party ahead of time to face the challenge of eventually going there and finding that loot you've been hungering for!

Speaking of loot, specialized dungeon chests now provide thematic rewards for Dungeon exploration. For example, one of the 8 types of chests is the Bookcase, which can only contain Scrolls - which means magic-heavy parties would want to thoroughly clear a dungeon containing many Bookcases and, conversely if your party has no magic-users, you want to go find more rewarding places to explore elsewhere.

Some of these new types of chests will reward you with Rune Gear which is a major new type of equipment that contains up to two enchantments in it: one is passive and will grant a unit bonuses as soon as its equipped, while the other is active, in the form of a spell that the wearer can now cast once per day - allowing even pure warriors to have access to a strong spell or two and for mages to expand further their versatility and power! There are 20 types of Rune Gear to be found and used, with over 500 individual items already in the game!

With Rune Gear comes also Rune crafting! Build your own Rune Gear by finding or shopping for the 50 runes that empower them. With up to 2 enchantments per piece of gear, there's ample opportunity to tailor your equipment to the needs of your party in each playthrough, no matter how weird or unique your build turns out! You can even give those old items you've found 10 levels back a tune-up by replacing their less impressive enchantments with stronger ones!

Javelin now also has an item identification system, which is a staple of RPGs and the roguelike genre in particular. This only applies to consumable items, giving players the option to use unidentified items even if they're not really sure what's about to happen... which may help them in a desperate situation or force them to adapt on-the-fly to make the most out of an unexpected outcome! Items can be identified either through the Spellcraft skill or by using the Identify spell.

Again: this is an unstable release and while all of these new features are already in the game, many of them aren't polished to the degree I'd want them to be for a full release. There are also more noteworthy changes than the ones discussed so far, check the full list below!

• Rune gear and rune gear crafting
• Dungeon Branches and World Portals
• Specialized Dungeon chests
• Dungeon Decoration (plus randomized chest, crate and fountain images)
• Dungeon lore system
• Item identification for consumable Items
• New dungeon features: passages, maps, crates and recipes
• Body types for all units (determines available gear slots)
• Miniature Parlor world location (miniatures mini-game)
• Redesigned the diplomacy and questing system
• Redesigned district Mines
• Removing independent scenarios and mini-games
• Removing Temple keys
• Separate screens for using items and equipping gear
• Rune shops in districts
• Hidden traps and chests in decorations
• Quick heal (Camp action) now also uses items
• Multi-threaded Dungeon generation during World generation
• Wildernesses now have paths that (somewhat unreliably) guide players to points of interest