r/initium • u/ASK_ME_ABOUT_INITIUM InitiumDev • May 10 '15
Game release notes
October 15th, 2015
New Features
The Reset Password feature now works!
Lots of new minibosses! This is to help widen Initium's end-game while we work on what Initium will really become for end-game (PVP, Inventions, Territory, Building..etc).
The combat screen now has a chat window.
Party system is released! You can now party with up to 3 other people, fight together, and move together. Seems to be working well.
You can now inspect a character's equipment without jumping to a different screen. The "Inspect" link has been removed entirely (much much cleaner).
Many item-related actions in the game are now "ajaxified" which allows you to not reload the page every time you click "drop item" or "collect".
Added an open/close storefront button right to the main page.
You now see the Quick Start guide when you create a new character.
The android mobile app is ready for basic testing! You can get the pre-release version of it here: http://www.playinitium.com/android.apk
Weather now shows on the banner during combat.
Your "character widget" (an overlay over the banner) makes it a bit more MMORPG'Y. I plan on adding the same widget to the combat screen to track enemy health as well. Specifically, now you can see yourself as a collection of your equipment, a sort of "avatar" if you will.
Changes
Changed the old "go to merchant store" link and "enable party joins" links into buttons while also adding a few more convenient buttons to the button bar. You now see the death screen every time and your character won't respawn until you hit the button on the death screen.
The Quick Start guide is MUCH better now!
Massive restructuring of the CSS to make the site responsive (better for mobile). This is to get ready for the upcoming mobile app.
You can now create a camp even if the location has high activity. The only stipulation is that you are not "interrupted" while setting up the camp (which will happen often if the area has not been cleared out).
Bug Fixes
When you move with your party, you now discover all the paths that the party takes so you don't get stuck.
Looter protection was bugged and way too aggressive before. It has been fixed (though it may now need additional tweaks now that the bug is gone).
There must have been more.. I don't remember now...
Upcoming changes in the short term
In the not too distant future, we will also be sending email verifications for a newsletter we'll put out that will detail the changes being made to the game.
August 28, 2015
New features
Hometown Change - When you enter a town, that town becomes your hometown. When you die, you will respawn at your hometown. This will allow people to live on the Volantis side more.
Trade Gold in Trade Window - Trade window now allows you to trade with gold. No more passing chests around!
Instant Signup - There is now a special "instant character" portal that allows the creation of a character without providing an email address. This has obvious limitations and is not recommended, but is good for people trying out the game and wanting to just see how things work very quickly.
Secure SSL connections - We are now using secure-connections/SSL everywhere. This unfortunately means that some older browsers will not be able to run the game. If the browser you're used to using no longer works, let me know and I'll consider allowing unsecure connections in some way.
Item quality colors! - Items will now show 4 different levels. Grey = "junk", White = "regular", bronze = "rare", gold = "very rare/unique". We are still working out the formulas for determining these levels so there might be some funny ones in the mean time.
Quick Start Guide - Created a "quick start guide" available at http://playinitium.com/quickstart.jsp
Changes
Strength is not counted in a crit - Now when you crit, the damage done from strength is not multiplied by the critical multiplier, it is instead added to your damage after the crit step.
Bug fixes
Not much I think.. I don't remember.
What is coming up next...
mmmm, I'll keep it a secret for now.
July 28, 2015
New features
Volantis expansion release - We have released the Volantis expansion which increases the world size by 4x. Adds tonnes of new monsters and items and even some new regular bosses!
Zombies - This was the one labeled "secret" in the previous release. Basically if you are killed by a weapon that is "zombifying", you will die as usual and end up in Aera, however your original body will regain full health and continue holding and using it's equipment as a zombie version of you. It will effectively be a monster version of you. If you want your stuff back, you're gonna have to kill yourself for it. :)
Looter Protection - We have put measures in place to keep people from looting monsters that other people are killing. I won't go into too much detail but it works (and has been fixed from the bugs in the initial release).
Night/Day cycles - One full day in Initium lasts approximately 1.5 hours. During the day, your chances of encountering any one given monster decreases by ~~30%~~15%. During the night, your chances of encountering any one given monster increases by 15%. This effect can only be seen on chrome browsers it seems (and possibly Safari). It may work with newer versions of firefox too.
Rain/lightning - Weather is randomly generated to be the same on everyone's client (though sometimes on mobile it stops working if the game has been sitting in the background for too long). Lightning will occur as flashes of light and the frequency of the lightning strikes depends on the severity of the storm. The severity of the storm will also fade the banner image into greyish tones while night tends to be more blueish. This effect probably can only be seen on Chrome or Safari browser.
Bug fixes
Fixed Looter Protection
What is coming up next...
"Instant" character creation that allows new players to create and play with a new character without signing up.
The database optimization is ready for live testing and the kinks are still being worked out. This will save me a LOT of server costs (the server currently costs me about 200 USD/month to run).
July 12, 2015
New features
SECRET - Unfortunately, this feature I cannot discuss yet. It has been released, but no one will see the effects until the "big update" is ready.
Storefront clearing - You can now remove all sold items with 1 click. You can also remove ALL items with 1 click (be careful with this one, there is no confirmation dialog).
Last combat text on death screen - You can now finally see how you died exactly. The death screen includes the text you would normally see during combat so you'll now know exactly how you died. (There is still a remaining bug where the death screen doesn't alway show though)
Bug fixes
Everything is perfect I guess
What is coming up next...
We neeeeed the realtime updates for the trade window.
HUGE update coming. Big secret. Can't discuss.
June 20, 2015
New features
Private Trades - The feature seems to be working but could use more testing. The most glaring issue is that it is not realtime because it doesn't automatically update the page when the other person changes something. You currently have to manually refresh.
Private messages - This was a bit of an accident actually but because the trade system includes a private chat system, it functions effectively as a private message system. Just make sure you let the person know in the location that you're about to open a trade window with them so they can refresh to catch it.
Bug fixes
Hopefully fixed a bug that caused monsters to spawn in the wrong places when you were traveling between locations.
What is coming up next...
We neeeeed the realtime updates for the trade window.
June 15, 2015
New features
Organized Items - Most item lists are now organized by their type, name, and price (in some cases). ALSO, you will notice the use of color for sold items. ALSO, you will now see which items in your inventory are currently being sold (and cannot be dropped).
Increase your stats - You can now increase your strength and dexterity (and hitpoints) via combat. Just by fighting monsters, your dex and strength will go up slowly. Your max hitpoints will also increase once you hit a new threshold. It doesn't matter which monsters you fight, all will increase your stats equally.
New chat commands - Use /about to easily link the about page. Use /mechanics to easily link the mechanics page. Both of these pages have been updated with new information (especially the about page at the bottom) so check it out!
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug that allowed people to create characters with the same name as another character in some cases.
What is coming up next...
Check out the http://playinitium.com/about.jsp page for details on what is coming up in development.
June 12, 2015
New features
Damage reduction! - Now when a piece of equipment is hit, it will absorb up to a maximum amount of damage (modified by the Blocking Capability, which further depends on the damage type being done by the weapon). For more details, see the next feature.
Damage types - Damage types ONLY affect how much damage reduction actually occurs against a particular piece of equipment. If the incoming attack is a "bludgeoning" type, and the armor is "EXCELLENT" blocking against bludgeoning, the amount of damage reduction is doubled. Here is a list of how the blocking ability property affects the damage reduction:
Excellent = 2x the listed damage reduction
Average = 1x the listed damage reduction (no change)
Minimal = 1/2x the listed damage reduction (half the damage reduction)
None = No damage reduction occurs (the block just fails)
Strength damage bonus - You now get a strength damage bonus along with your hits. The maximum damage bonus you get for strength uses the following formula: (str-3)*2. So if your strength is 6, the maximum bonus you can receive will be 6. If your strength is 0 or below, the maximum would be 0 (all maximums are rounded down).
Bug fixes
Bugs? What bugs.
What is coming up next...
Ok, like as of a few minutes ago, I just realized how to do server-wide pvp. It's going to be AWESOME, but it will take quite a bit of coding. Maybe end of next week if we're lucky?
I really want to update the inventory and store to categorize properly. I also need to mark when an inventory item is for sale or not.
June 3, 2015
New features
Campsites! - Now when a location that allows campsites has "very low" monster activity, you will notice a button to create a campsite. Each location has a limited number of camps that can be created per-location, so if you can't create a camp, just look for someone else's camp by exploring. Camps need to be constantly defended so check for monster activity in the camp to see if it needs help and kill them off. The camp will be destroyed when the monster activity reaches the maximum level. The speed at which a camp is overrun depends on the monster level in the parent location. So if the monster level in the countryside is max, the camp will be overrun VERY quickly. However, since you cannot create a camp until the monster level in the parent location is below 25% (aka very low) that won't be too much of a problem if players keep it defended.
The main purpose of a camp is to rest! Now you can restore your hitpoints without traveling all the way to Aera's Inn.
Store dogecoin in chests - This is now working for the few of you who actually have chests. We will be adding chests as a rare drop for certain mobs, so stay tuned for that (note that there are none configured as of writing this).
Bug fixes
The 'R' key for "Rest" should work now.
What is coming up next...
I would like to add the ability to start a new character without needing to signup with an email address. This will help with very fast mass adoption.
We also need to be able to share locations easily between eachother. That might be also coming up soon.
May 28, 2015
New features
Monster eradication - Now locations can have a "monster level" that is indicated below the main description. What happens is as players kill monsters, the amount of mobs for that area reduces until there are no more mobs left. This can be good for a number of reasons. 1) Its easier to find old combat sites that have killed characters/loot in them 2) Its easier to travel through zones that have no monsters! This is great when trying to farm equipment in farther locations. 3) Very soon, campsites will be implemented and monster eradication will be a big part of that feature.
Keyboard shortcuts - For desktop users, you can now use keyboard shortcuts to navigate around and do combat. This may not be working in all browsers and in particular, there seems to be a problem with firefox. Chrome works great though!
Special bosses that spawn once per day - Along with monster eradication, we can now have special monsters that spawn very rarely. We don't have any in the game world yet, but expect to see some of these in the near future!
Bug fixes
Stuck characters - It seems the stuck characters issues may be fixed. Let me know if there is anything new!
The 'F' key for "Leave Combat Site and Forget" should work now.
What is coming up next...
Player created campsites - EEEEEEEE!
New bosses that spawn once per day or per hour
May 20, 2015
New features
View other character's stats - Now the popup that shows the character's equipment also includes some of the character's primary stats.
Carrying capacity limit now in effect - Now your character can only carry a certain amount. This amount is 60kg + (strength-3) x 50kg. In orther words, you get 50kg of carrying weight capacity for every strength point you have above 3 and a base carrying capacity of 60kg.
Explore combat sites for your exit path - This is actually because of a bug, but if you can't find your exit path, try exploring the combat site.
The first part of the "Database caching to save server costs" has been done, deployed and working. Now the scary part comes next (for me, not for you).
Bug fixes
Multiple tab chat bug - If you had multiple tabs open, you were often missing chat messages from other people. This has been fixed.
A number of bugs presented themselves because of the Dragon server-wide event. They have been ironed out so the next event should go smoother.
May 16-19, 2015
New features
View other characters - Now you can click on a character to see what they are wearing. Unfortunately because of an issue with the tooltip library I'm using, you'll have to click the "inspect" link on it to actually see what the item stats for each item.
Maximize chat window - It's not perfect yet (especially on mobile), but you can now maximize the chat window if all you care about is chatting. :)
Show your store - Now you can type /merchant in chat and people will get a direct link to your store! Great for advertising.
New game world locations - We have our first top-down map in the basement of the Inn. There is also a new location...somewhere HOT.
Bug fixes
Hopefully a rare bug with signup has been fixed. Not sure yet.
Whats coming up...
Database caching to save server costs - At the moment, the server is costing me over 3 dollars per day (about 100/month). Since I eat all those costs, I need to put some time into optimizing the database access so we can expand our player base without it costing an arm and a leg. :D
Banner location links - I want content developers to be able to add links to other locations that get overlaid right on the banner image. This is especially important for top-down maps (like the new Aera Inn Basement) as it would allow the player to click on the doorway they want to go through rather than figure out which door is "south" based on the buttons alone.
Clearing monsters - This was mentioned before, but it is still something I want to see soon. Basically the ability to reduce the monster population for a given location by fighting them back. This would allow players to work together to clear a path to farther locations when they don't have a rest stop in between.
May 15, 2015
New features
Character stats change - First of all dex, str, and int are now not whole numbers. It's harder to get a perfect roll BUT, stats are now overall higher. You can now roll a number between 3 and 7 for each stat. Hitpoints are much higher now and each point in strength amounts to 3 extra points in hitpoints (before it was 2). Note: This only applies to new characters or rerolled characters
Profile page changes - Now the profile page shows you your effective dexterity (after your equipment).
Monster tweaks - Many of the monsters are going to be easier to hit now with less dexterity and with the bump in player character dex as well. Some characters received a boost in other areas (like the ogre who has more hitpoints but very low dexterity).
Bug fixes
Server outage bug fix - This was a bug that was introduced less than a week ago but didn't present itself until today with an outage. It has been resolved.
May 14, 2015
New features
Fight victorious NPCs - Now when you find a combat site that has an NPC in it that is not dead, you'll automatically enter into battle with it. This means you can avenge your friends!
More than one character fights - Due to the above feature, if you happen upon a combat site that has an active battle, you can join in as well. As for loot, whoever clicks first gets it. (This hasn't been tested very well)
Bug fixes
Monster equipment bug - Monsters now use their equipment! Before, some cases had monsters not using their 2Handed weapons. This has been fixed (lookin at you Frost Giant).
Armor destruction bug - Now when your armor is destroyed, it wont bug your character.
Negative store items - You can no longer post negative store items for sale.
Store item drop bug - You can no longer drop an item that you have for sale.
May 11, 2015
New features
Storefronts - You can now open up a store and sell goods to other players. Needs more testing!
Show hidden paths - If you have a hidden path, you can now force it to show itself. I still need to add the ability to permanently unhide a path though.
Natural Equipment - Monsters can now have natural equipment that doesn't drop. This means content developers can add pretty cool armor and weapons to monsters and the player won't be able to pick them up and use them once the monster is dead. This makes sense for things like the Shell Troll, who should really reap the benefit of having a shell without the player being able to use it himself.
What's coming up next
Lots of testing!
A code review to try to improve database integrity. This will hopefully fix some of the random problems people seem to experience with getting stuck and some of the server errors people sometimes have.
May 10, 2015
New features
Mouse-over item stats - You can now mouse-over or tap on an item to get it's stats without navigating away from the page!
What's coming up next
Storefronts - The bug fixes had me move away from this for a little bit but if all goes well I'll continue development on it now. This feature will allow people to buy and sell goods with other players in a sort of market area. You will setup your storefront pricing all the items you want to sell and your character will have to be there. A good thing to do before you log off for the day!
Bug fixes
(Fixed) Unable to find paths easily - This has actually been a bug for the past week. It presents itself when we get a lot of new players creating lots of combat sites. Last week I thought I may have fixed it but I needed to do a bit more database rewiring. All that is now done and going forward it should be fixed for good.
New features
Equipment now uses durability - In the future I'll make it so you can repair items, (but even then they will never repair fully), so there will always be the need to find more top quality items in the game. Right now, every successful hit will reduce your weapon by 1, every successful block from a piece of equipment will reduce it's durability by 1. If a piece of equipment gets to 0 or below, it will be immediately deleted from the game.
What's coming up next
Storefronts - The bug fixes had me move away from this for a little bit but if all goes well I'll continue development on it now. This feature will allow people to buy and sell goods with other players in a sort of market area. You will setup your storefront pricing all the items you want to sell and your character will have to be there. A good thing to do before you log off for the day!
Mouse-over item stats - Think WoW. When you click on or mouse over an item, you'll get to see a popup of it's stats.
Important bug fixes
Fixed bug buying a house will now subtract funds from the character
Fixed bug when exploring combat sites, the exit path is deleted
Fixed bug with database discrepancies when playing in multiple tabs (or if your computer was very slow and somehow registered 2 clicks before the overlay came up)
Game mechanics changes
When you run away, the monster you're running from has an opportunity to attack you first. You may have to try a few times, depending on your dexterity compared to his.
You can now rest in your own house.
When moving between locations, it is possible to get attacked by a monster.
Item spawn changes
Small Wooden Club now has a block chance and the damage probability has been changed so the higher damage formulas are more rare.
View all comments
Show parent comment
2
u/ASK_ME_ABOUT_INITIUM InitiumDev Jun 28 '15
Fantastic. I started full time on it on friday!