Devlog #4: Stillwater rebuilt and a smoother horde (demo v0.1.6)

The demo is now on version 0.1.6. This post covers everything that changed since 0.1.4, across two updates: 0.1.5 and 0.1.6. No new rules this time: this round was about making the hill run better and look more alive.

Smoother with big hordes

Healers no longer slow the game down when a lot of them come at once.
With 80 enemies or more on the road, the horde stops casting shadows. They come back when only a few are left. Champions and bosses always keep theirs.
The small 3D figures in your deck and power bar hold still during a wave and start turning again between waves. Enemy health bars are now drawn all together.
The demo download is lighter: it no longer carries files the demo doesn’t use.

Stillwater and the Trapper, rebuilt

Stillwater has new houses: a small thatched cottage with whitewashed walls, a two-story house with a wooden-shingle roof and a guard tower with a balcony. Chimneys rise above the roofs and the tower shows its upper room with a window.
The Trapper finally has his own cabin: planks, a porch, antlers over the door and his woodpile. If you lose him, it stays in ruins with the embers still glowing.
His drying rack breathes with the wind. The hides sway with their own weight, a small hare flaps on the post, a feather charm turns among the skins and leaves blow past in the gusts.

The armorer at his anvil

The armorer of Farpost now works at the anvil of his forge. He hammers a red-hot sword slowly, hammer in one hand and the other resting on the anvil, and sparks fly. At the Workshop he rests.

Bosses, champions and enemies move better

Sir Roderic has a new idle stance, his pauldrons no longer come loose when he walks, and the violet in his veins drips from him like blood.
Ser Aldric the Anvil now attacks with a two-handed cut, and Zhira Lightfoot stalks in a guard stance.
The Plate Knight waits in guard and attacks with a cut.
The Healer no longer looks full of holes when he walks: his robe follows his legs and his veil follows his arms. The Thurifer’s robe follows his stride, and the skirts of the Mist Pilgrim, the refugee and the possessed woman of Stillwater no longer tear as they move.
In the Bestiary, the portrait no longer shakes and the bosses’ dripping shows there too.

Small things

Every new enemy now debuts for sure in its own wave: the first one out on the road is the new one. Before, with bad luck, you could miss it in its first waves.
The Armor Piercing benefit of the Ballista and the Archer has its own icon in STATS.

That’s 0.1.6. If something breaks or you have an idea, use Report a problem in the pause menu: it reaches us directly. Add The Long Watch to your Steam wishlist and join us on Discord. See you at the palisade.